Fanfic: I'm Here To Help (Sacramone/ OC, USWGT, PG/ light R, 3/?)
Title: I’m Here To Help
Rating: PG/ light R (mild swearing)
Pairing: Sacramone/ OC
Fandom: USWGT
Notes: I do not own ANYONE, except for the OC, Lindsay and Riley (of whom you will encounter later).
Summary: She’s there to help, but she doesn’t know what to do with it.
1. Blue Bears With A Punch
2. Washed Up
She didn’t know why she sent a text. She didn’t know why she wanted to talk. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have other people to turn to, but… she turned to her. She could feel her heart thump loudly in her ears as she brought her phone up to her ear.
“Hello?” She shut her eyes and realized what she was doing. She quietly sighed and leaned back against wall opposite of Nastia and Shawn’s door. “Alicia, if you’re there, answer me.”
“Hey,” She reluctantly replied back, trying to keep a light tone despite her raspy voice. She wrapped her free arm around herself as she looked up at the ceiling, wondering what she was meaning to say.
“Hey, what’s up?” Nathan’s voice sent tingles up her spine and she didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing.
“Nothing really, how are you?” Alicia heard the quiet laugh from Nathan and deeply sighed.
“You can skip the small talk, you know that?” The other woman responded back.
“Life sucks,” Alicia flatly replied back, only to hear another chuckle from the other woman. She glanced down the hallways, hoping no one would hear her.
“No duh, life sucks; we can’t do anything about it but move on and deal with it. But that wasn’t what you were about say.” Another silence hovered onto the conversation and it seemed that nothing else would be said. Alicia remained hesitant, she feared that saying too much would be completely stupid considering Nathan was practically a stranger to her, but the amount of hesitancy wasn’t strong enough since she still made contact with the other woman. She opened her mouth, ready to say something, when she heard another voice through the line.
“Nathanial!” A female voice called out from the other end, drawling the name. Alicia heard a loud grunt and supposed it was Nathan.
“Lindsay! Ugh, get off! I’m trying to talk to someone here!”
“Is it Alicia?” The Brown gymnast froze in the hallway. The idea of being caught-that didn’t appeal to Alicia at all.
“Ugh, none of your business dear friend, now please get-ugh!” A muffled thud and laughter sounded through the line.
“Nathanial!” Another female voice called out.
“Riley, get off! What’s with you two?” Alicia shut her eyes once again when she realized her conversation with Nathan had been completely interrupted.
“Seriously, is that Alicia?” Alicia heard the voice and guessed it was Lindsay. She was praying strongly, hoping that Nathan wouldn’t reveal her.
“Why do you think it’s Alicia and why would you care?” Nathan’s tone and reply was somehow comforting.
“Okay, well you and Alicia Sacramone have been pretty close these couple of days. And I care because you managed to make me care. Tell her I’m sorry about insulting her.” Alicia furrowed her brow and scratched her head. She was gaining some sort of apology?
“Whatever you say, now…” The line went silent until Alicia heard a faint thud and a grunt. “I’m going to take this call outside. I’ll be back.” The sound of footsteps, heavy breathing and a door clicking open then close occurred. “So, yeah, what were we saying before I got my behind jumped?”
“She’s apologizing?” Alicia immediately asked, unsure of how to take the indirect apology from the UCLA gymnast.
“Yeah, Lindsay apologized… sort of.”
“Why?”
“Because I decided to put everything in perspective for her; she went on a guilt trip and everything happened from there. I said that I would talk to her, didn’t I? Anyways, are you okay?” Nathan explained, only to cut to the main point.
“I’m perfectly peachy,” Alicia lied; wondering if that would throw the other woman off. She heard the scoff and knew what she said didn’t do anything.
“I saw the look on your face earlier. Dude, I didn’t know if you were about to run off, cry, or knock me out.” The line fell silent and Nathan wondered if Alicia had hung up on her. She leaned back against a wall and waited for some kind of response.
“You suck, you know that?” Nathan raised her eyebrow at the words. She started to make her way down the hallway.
“I do?” She heard a loud exasperated sigh and knew she was about to hear an emotional response.
“Because you do! I mean, you’re so logical it’s sickening! The way you perform during competitions, it’s way too perfect! Everyone’s brushing me aside because of you, you’re suddenly the number one player and I’m some washed up has been. I decided to try gymnastics one last time, but then you appear and completely wipe the mats with me and it isn’t fair! I wanted to have a great final run, but then you decided to play Houdini and ruin it for me! You totally suck!” Alicia retorted back, nearly yelling into her cellphone. She took a deep breath and ran her free hand through her hair. Nathan, on the other hand, cringed at the reply. She had a feeling Alicia was holding back her emotions, but she had no idea how much she was holding back.
“I didn’t mean to-”
“You didn’t mean to show up out of nowhere and blow me out of the water? Bullshit, I bet you totally planned this out! You knew that I wouldn’t be in shape to perform and that would give you enough time to plan out a new strategy!” Alicia shut her eyes and slammed her free hand against the wall near her. “Holy shit man! I’m trying to do my best here and I want to be remembered for something more than falling during the Olympics, but you… you show up and screwed things up! NCAA should be mine! Sure, I sound like a selfish jerk, but it sucks like hell that I’m starting to be pushed aside so easily!” Nathan raised her eyebrows and deeply sighed, running her hand through her own hair. She turned the corner of the hallway and saw Alicia pacing feverishly down one end, away from her.
“Alicia…” was all she whispered as she noticed the frustration in the other woman’s actions.
“Damn it, Nate, it’s not fair! I just… I don’t want to feel so weak!” Nathan took a quiet breath and walked down the hallway, her free hand behind her neck.
“I know it’s not fair, Alicia, but you have to take it into stride. You overcame Beijing and you can overcome this. I’m sorry you feel that I’m upstaging you, but I didn’t plan on it and you know that. I worked my ass off to get where I am and you worked yours to get to Beijing and you made it!” Nathan stopped herself and knew her tone started to sound unbecoming. She shook her head and tried to remain cool as she continued, “You worked yourself so hard that of course you’ll feel weak; you practically kicked your ass to make it on the Olympic Team. You recovered from the Olympics, but did you really recover? There will always be that thought that if you came back, would you really have anything left after the Olympics? You went back to Brown and then you’re back on the gymnastics team. You’re ready to run yourself into the ground.” Alicia clenched her free hand into a fist and faced the wall, leaning her forehead against it as she let out a shaky breath. She felt tears begin to sting her eyes, but she let them fall; fighting them didn’t seem worth it.
“You’re so… logical.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Alicia, I’m here to talk. I told you, if you need or want to talk, just call me and you did. I’ll only tell you generally what you should hear and it’ll be your choice if you heed or ignore it.”
“Why do you care?” Alicia quietly asked, her voice breaking near the end, with tears falling down her face.
“Because I do… turn around,” Nathan whispered as she stopped walking and watched as Alicia slowly turned to her direction. She closed her phone and placed it into her pocket when she saw the other woman tightly clutch the phone and run towards her. She quietly grunted when Alicia ran into her, arms around her body; crying. She didn’t expect the reaction she received, but nonetheless, all she could do was carefully wrap her arms around the shorter woman, letting her cry. “Alicia…”
“I hate this, Nate… I hate this…” Alicia whispered, clutching onto Nathan as tight as she could. Her thoughts stopped running and all she could do was cry. All the pent up emotion within her started to pour out with every word, every tear and every breath. Her energy began to disappear with the release of emotion and the next thing she knew, her legs gave way underneath her, but Nathan managed to catch her before she fell.
“Alicia, we should get to your room,” Nathan quietly suggested, knowing the hallway wasn’t an ideal place to be. She looked down and saw Alicia’s face buried against her shirt, remaining unmoved even with the broken sobs against her chest. She felt her heart break with every choked breath and it made her sick to think that Alicia thought of herself as weak when she wasn’t.
“No,” the other woman flatly answered, turning her head slightly to breathe.
“But-”
“Let’s go for a drive,” Alicia croaked, hoping Nathan would say yes. She refused to see any of her teammates or her friends in the current state she was in, it was too… humiliating.
“Are you sure-”
“Yes, please… I need to get out of here.” Nathan took a deep breath as she reluctantly agreed, carefully standing up, helping Alicia onto her feet.
“It’ll be okay.” The two walked down the hallway to the elevator, both with relatively heavy hearts. Their departure, however, wasn’t left unseen.
Rating: PG/ light R (mild swearing)
Pairing: Sacramone/ OC
Fandom: USWGT
Notes: I do not own ANYONE, except for the OC, Lindsay and Riley (of whom you will encounter later).
Summary: She’s there to help, but she doesn’t know what to do with it.
1. Blue Bears With A Punch
2. Washed Up
She didn’t know why she sent a text. She didn’t know why she wanted to talk. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have other people to turn to, but… she turned to her. She could feel her heart thump loudly in her ears as she brought her phone up to her ear.
“Hello?” She shut her eyes and realized what she was doing. She quietly sighed and leaned back against wall opposite of Nastia and Shawn’s door. “Alicia, if you’re there, answer me.”
“Hey,” She reluctantly replied back, trying to keep a light tone despite her raspy voice. She wrapped her free arm around herself as she looked up at the ceiling, wondering what she was meaning to say.
“Hey, what’s up?” Nathan’s voice sent tingles up her spine and she didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing.
“Nothing really, how are you?” Alicia heard the quiet laugh from Nathan and deeply sighed.
“You can skip the small talk, you know that?” The other woman responded back.
“Life sucks,” Alicia flatly replied back, only to hear another chuckle from the other woman. She glanced down the hallways, hoping no one would hear her.
“No duh, life sucks; we can’t do anything about it but move on and deal with it. But that wasn’t what you were about say.” Another silence hovered onto the conversation and it seemed that nothing else would be said. Alicia remained hesitant, she feared that saying too much would be completely stupid considering Nathan was practically a stranger to her, but the amount of hesitancy wasn’t strong enough since she still made contact with the other woman. She opened her mouth, ready to say something, when she heard another voice through the line.
“Nathanial!” A female voice called out from the other end, drawling the name. Alicia heard a loud grunt and supposed it was Nathan.
“Lindsay! Ugh, get off! I’m trying to talk to someone here!”
“Is it Alicia?” The Brown gymnast froze in the hallway. The idea of being caught-that didn’t appeal to Alicia at all.
“Ugh, none of your business dear friend, now please get-ugh!” A muffled thud and laughter sounded through the line.
“Nathanial!” Another female voice called out.
“Riley, get off! What’s with you two?” Alicia shut her eyes once again when she realized her conversation with Nathan had been completely interrupted.
“Seriously, is that Alicia?” Alicia heard the voice and guessed it was Lindsay. She was praying strongly, hoping that Nathan wouldn’t reveal her.
“Why do you think it’s Alicia and why would you care?” Nathan’s tone and reply was somehow comforting.
“Okay, well you and Alicia Sacramone have been pretty close these couple of days. And I care because you managed to make me care. Tell her I’m sorry about insulting her.” Alicia furrowed her brow and scratched her head. She was gaining some sort of apology?
“Whatever you say, now…” The line went silent until Alicia heard a faint thud and a grunt. “I’m going to take this call outside. I’ll be back.” The sound of footsteps, heavy breathing and a door clicking open then close occurred. “So, yeah, what were we saying before I got my behind jumped?”
“She’s apologizing?” Alicia immediately asked, unsure of how to take the indirect apology from the UCLA gymnast.
“Yeah, Lindsay apologized… sort of.”
“Why?”
“Because I decided to put everything in perspective for her; she went on a guilt trip and everything happened from there. I said that I would talk to her, didn’t I? Anyways, are you okay?” Nathan explained, only to cut to the main point.
“I’m perfectly peachy,” Alicia lied; wondering if that would throw the other woman off. She heard the scoff and knew what she said didn’t do anything.
“I saw the look on your face earlier. Dude, I didn’t know if you were about to run off, cry, or knock me out.” The line fell silent and Nathan wondered if Alicia had hung up on her. She leaned back against a wall and waited for some kind of response.
“You suck, you know that?” Nathan raised her eyebrow at the words. She started to make her way down the hallway.
“I do?” She heard a loud exasperated sigh and knew she was about to hear an emotional response.
“Because you do! I mean, you’re so logical it’s sickening! The way you perform during competitions, it’s way too perfect! Everyone’s brushing me aside because of you, you’re suddenly the number one player and I’m some washed up has been. I decided to try gymnastics one last time, but then you appear and completely wipe the mats with me and it isn’t fair! I wanted to have a great final run, but then you decided to play Houdini and ruin it for me! You totally suck!” Alicia retorted back, nearly yelling into her cellphone. She took a deep breath and ran her free hand through her hair. Nathan, on the other hand, cringed at the reply. She had a feeling Alicia was holding back her emotions, but she had no idea how much she was holding back.
“I didn’t mean to-”
“You didn’t mean to show up out of nowhere and blow me out of the water? Bullshit, I bet you totally planned this out! You knew that I wouldn’t be in shape to perform and that would give you enough time to plan out a new strategy!” Alicia shut her eyes and slammed her free hand against the wall near her. “Holy shit man! I’m trying to do my best here and I want to be remembered for something more than falling during the Olympics, but you… you show up and screwed things up! NCAA should be mine! Sure, I sound like a selfish jerk, but it sucks like hell that I’m starting to be pushed aside so easily!” Nathan raised her eyebrows and deeply sighed, running her hand through her own hair. She turned the corner of the hallway and saw Alicia pacing feverishly down one end, away from her.
“Alicia…” was all she whispered as she noticed the frustration in the other woman’s actions.
“Damn it, Nate, it’s not fair! I just… I don’t want to feel so weak!” Nathan took a quiet breath and walked down the hallway, her free hand behind her neck.
“I know it’s not fair, Alicia, but you have to take it into stride. You overcame Beijing and you can overcome this. I’m sorry you feel that I’m upstaging you, but I didn’t plan on it and you know that. I worked my ass off to get where I am and you worked yours to get to Beijing and you made it!” Nathan stopped herself and knew her tone started to sound unbecoming. She shook her head and tried to remain cool as she continued, “You worked yourself so hard that of course you’ll feel weak; you practically kicked your ass to make it on the Olympic Team. You recovered from the Olympics, but did you really recover? There will always be that thought that if you came back, would you really have anything left after the Olympics? You went back to Brown and then you’re back on the gymnastics team. You’re ready to run yourself into the ground.” Alicia clenched her free hand into a fist and faced the wall, leaning her forehead against it as she let out a shaky breath. She felt tears begin to sting her eyes, but she let them fall; fighting them didn’t seem worth it.
“You’re so… logical.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Alicia, I’m here to talk. I told you, if you need or want to talk, just call me and you did. I’ll only tell you generally what you should hear and it’ll be your choice if you heed or ignore it.”
“Why do you care?” Alicia quietly asked, her voice breaking near the end, with tears falling down her face.
“Because I do… turn around,” Nathan whispered as she stopped walking and watched as Alicia slowly turned to her direction. She closed her phone and placed it into her pocket when she saw the other woman tightly clutch the phone and run towards her. She quietly grunted when Alicia ran into her, arms around her body; crying. She didn’t expect the reaction she received, but nonetheless, all she could do was carefully wrap her arms around the shorter woman, letting her cry. “Alicia…”
“I hate this, Nate… I hate this…” Alicia whispered, clutching onto Nathan as tight as she could. Her thoughts stopped running and all she could do was cry. All the pent up emotion within her started to pour out with every word, every tear and every breath. Her energy began to disappear with the release of emotion and the next thing she knew, her legs gave way underneath her, but Nathan managed to catch her before she fell.
“Alicia, we should get to your room,” Nathan quietly suggested, knowing the hallway wasn’t an ideal place to be. She looked down and saw Alicia’s face buried against her shirt, remaining unmoved even with the broken sobs against her chest. She felt her heart break with every choked breath and it made her sick to think that Alicia thought of herself as weak when she wasn’t.
“No,” the other woman flatly answered, turning her head slightly to breathe.
“But-”
“Let’s go for a drive,” Alicia croaked, hoping Nathan would say yes. She refused to see any of her teammates or her friends in the current state she was in, it was too… humiliating.
“Are you sure-”
“Yes, please… I need to get out of here.” Nathan took a deep breath as she reluctantly agreed, carefully standing up, helping Alicia onto her feet.
“It’ll be okay.” The two walked down the hallway to the elevator, both with relatively heavy hearts. Their departure, however, wasn’t left unseen.