"Jack, you need to pull over, I'm going to barf," Kelsey announced.

"No, you're not," Jack answered, putting a calming hand on her neck and rubbing gently. "You just think you are, like the other three times you said that." He glanced over, giving her a wink and a smile, trying to reassure her.

They were on the freeway, headed to the huge sports center in Pasadena where the swimming scenes were going to be shot. It was crowded on the freeway, and he had to keep one eye on the traffic, but he was doing his best to calm Kelsey down.

"Take a deep breath, Kelseylove," he directed.

She obeyed, smiling at the nickname, taking his hand from her neck and squeezing it.

"Now have a drink of your smoothie," he continued. "Go on," he insisted when she made no move do to so. "It has things in it that will relax you."

Kelsey dutifully took a sip of her smoothie, which was bluish in color today, and definitely had blueberries and almonds in it. It was delicious, as usual. Jack wanted to go to their IHOP for a good luck breakfast, but Kelsey didn't think her stomach was up to solid food, so Jack had insisted on preparing her a celebratory smoothie instead.

"You can't have an Olympic swim on an empty stomach," he'd informed her. Then he switched on the blender, drowning out her response, and the results were in a travel cup in her lap, with a straw poked in it.

"Coach, what if it was a mistake?" Kelsey began. "What if I'm shit at swimming? What if it shows in the rushes and everyone's afraid to tell me? What if I--"

"You're not shit at swimming," Jack told her. "I'm your coach, and I'm stupid about a lot of things, but swimming's not one of them, I promise." He kissed her hand. "You don't have the speed, but you have the technique, you do." He kept his eyes on the road, but nodded, returning her hand to her lap. "I taught you myself, didn't I? And my entire family watched you at my house, remember? They all said you looked like you'd been swimming for years."

Kelsey nodded, remembering. Of course Jack's family would be kind to her, but they wouldn't lie, she could tell this about them, just from the few hours she'd spent in their company. They'd all been amazed at how good she looked.

Mollified, she looked out the window and took another drink of her smoothie. And they made it all the way to the complex without anyone barfing.

They ran into Marian on their way in, and Jack was a little disconcerted to see that she, too, was carrying an equipment bag.

She saw Jack looking at it and hastened to reassure him. "I brought it just in case," she said. "I know I'm not swimming." She turned to Kelsey. "I've spent enough time in the water to last a lifetime," she said with a grin. "When Mr. Turturicci called me, he seemed worried that I'd be upset about it, but really, it's no big deal."

The three of them went out to the pool deck, which was already teeming with activity. Jack had never seen such a large venue with no people in the stands, and it was a bit eerie. Everything echoed, and sounds carried really far.

Kelsey saw him looking around and informed him, "The crowds will be CGIed in after." At his raised eyebrows, she continued, "We couldn't get the venue for that long, and didn't want to have to deal with that many extras, you know, getting them in, directing them, getting them out, all that?"

A girl with a headset and clipboard approached and said they wanted Kelsey ready to start filming in thirty. "So whatever warming up you need to do, just hop in and do it, okay?"

Kelsey nodded and turned to Jack. "I'm going to get changed, back in a sec, coach," she told him, pecking him on the mouth.

He nodded and patted her on the behind as she walked away. She felt it and turned back to him, eyebrows raised.

He shrugged, grinned and winked. "I'm your coach, it's what we do," he seemed to be saying. As she continued to look at him, he pulled a whistle out of his pocket and put it around his neck, as if to drive his point home.

Next to him, Marian patted his arm. "Very nice," she remarked.

Jack turned to look at her. "Thank you," he replied, smirking.

The last thing Kelsey saw as she entered the locker room to change was the two of them standing on the deck, laughing together.

She had been working out the last few days in the suit that Marian wore in Rio, with the same cap and goggles, just to get a feel for everything, to make sure she could dive in and not have the goggles flip up or anything. The suit was definitely more confining, and way more tight, yikes.

Kelsey walked out on deck when she was ready, and looked over at Jack, who was still talking and laughing with Marian.

Marian caught sight of her, and stared. "Wow, it's like looking in a mirror," she said. "Well done, Kelsey."

Jack, too, was staring, though he was smiling as well. He'd seen her before. He gave a sharp blow on his whistle, making Kelsey smile and shake her head.

"Do twenty free, nice and easy to warm up, okay?" he said. "Really stretch it out."

Kelsey nodded and dove in, concentrating on moving like Marian moved, on lifting her arms like she did, on working her flip turns like she did, on all of it.

On the pool deck, Jack could see her slipping into character, starting to swim like Marian and not like herself. Kelsey liked a more energetic stroke, and tended to a six beat crossover when left on her own. He really believed that Kelsey was a natural swimmer, and could have done something if she'd discovered it early in her life.

Next to him, Marian was impressed as well. "This is kind of weird," she admitted. "Almost like watching video of myself."

"It's all Kelsey," Jack replied. "I mean, obviously I taught her to swim, but she must have spent a thousand hours watching video of you swimming, along with clips of herself, you know? Over and over, just trying to match what you do in the water. Even the in between stuff, like how you scoop the water in your mouth and spit it into the lane of the person next to you?" He laughed. "Or how you hook your elbow over the lane line to adjust your goggles? All that stuff."

"Do I do those things?" Marian laughed, embarrassed. "You guys know my habits and routine better than I do, it sounds like." She nudged Jack's arm with her elbow.

"We probably do," Jack said, smiling at her. "You're a beautiful swimmer, though, it's been a pleasure watching you swim."

"Thanks," she replied, touched.

"What next, Jack?" Kelsey called from the wall.

"IM time," Jack answered. "But from the blocks, okay?"

Again, Kelsey nodded, and hoisted herself out of the water to climb on the block. Jack started her with a sharp whistle, and Jack and Marian watched her, along with some of the crew.

Jack couldn't help but beam with pride as he watched Kelsey do her butterfly. He could hear the powerful, double beat of the butterfly kick as she swam across the pool, the beautiful, even waves of water created by her arms.

"She really couldn't swim before this?" Marian was asking from her place next to him.

Jack nodded. "She could swim in the sense that she wouldn't drown, like most people, you know? But she couldn't do any of the strokes or anything."

Kelsey hit the far wall and transitioned smoothly into her backstroke, streamlining deep and long under the water, timing her breakout perfectly to begin her arms.

Gorgeous.

"Do I do that?" Marian questioned, nudging Jack again, pointing. "Do I do that thing with my chin right there?"

Jack nodded. "You didn't before your accident, but in all of the footage after London, you do."

Kelsey was coming in to the wall near them to do her back to breast turn.

"And she learned the turn?" Marian asked. "The suicide?"

Jack nodded again. "Watch."

Kelsey saw the flags and counted her strokes without slowing down, a maneuver which had taken her some time to master, and angled backwards under the water to plant her hand on the wall to give herself a firm push off as she tucked and flipped. She went right into her pulldown, getting a lot of distance and momentum off the wall.

Perfect.

Jack was clapping as she came up for her first breath, and Jack could see her grinning as she took her first stroke. He blew short blasts on the whistle to coincide with her strokes, to set her rhythm, and to encourage her to keep a good pace and not slack off.

Next to him, Marian was silent, just watching as Kelsey tagged the wall, lifting one arm over her head to streamline for her final lap of freestyle. Marian watched Jack as he watched his girlfriend, the joy in his eyes, the hint of a smile as she blew his mind.

Jack could see that Kelsey was a little tired, a little winded, breathing a bit early as the adrenaline wore off.

She swam in to the wall and boosted herself out to sit on the side. Jack walked over to her, arms spread, and she rose to meet him, smiling gleefully, just for him.

"Oh my god, Kels, that was beautiful, just perfect!" Jack crowed. He smacked her loudly on the cheek as he hugged her.

Kelsey was surprised and pleased at his response. Apparently Coach Jack was a lot less reticent and shy than Swimmer Jack or Student Jack, or even Human Jack. Wow. The crew, who were still wandering around laying mats over cables and things, watched and grinned.

"Really? I looked okay?" she asked uncertainly. "I looked right?"

Jack leaned in as if he were going to kiss her, on the mouth this time, but was interrupted by Marian, who called out, "You were amazing, Kelsey, you were!" as she strode over to them, smiling. She pulled Kelsey into a hug of her own. "I can't believe how well you swim, my goodness!"

"Thanks, Marian, that means a lot to me," Kelsey answered.

Kelsey was called away then, as they were ready to begin filming, and Jack and Marian were taken to sit next to Robin to advise.

Jack noticed that the equipment, and the people running it, was different from when they were at the soundstage, and he asked about it. Robin explained that filming sports scenes was very different from regular action sequences, and you needed a whole different set of skills.

"These guys know what they're doing," she assured Jack. "We'll get maximum bang for our buck."

So they began, and Kelsey went through her paces, from walking out on deck in her parka with her headphones on and waving to the crowd to adjusting her goggles to climbing up on the blocks. These scenes went very smoothly, though Jack was a little concerned that she'd spent too much time out of the water and would need to warm up again before filming in the water began.

Kelsey seemed fine, however, and did take after take of her start, leaping off the block with the other swimmers at the starter's beep.

Jack began to relax. Next to him, Marian leaned over and said, "You did an outstanding job as her coach, Jack, I'm so impressed."

He looked at her and saw admiration and affection in her pretty blue eyes. "Thank you," he said, smiling, "but the praise really should go to Kelsey, she did all the work, you know?" He gestured toward the pool, where she was now doing her butterfly, and looking outstanding doing it, too. "She blew my mind, every day. And after the summer she had, too."

Marian nodded soberly. "I know. That was really terrible. And it sounds like you really helped her get through that mess as well, you know?" She nudged Jack with her knee. "You really are a prince, Jack."

And Jack was too busy watching Kelsey to notice how Marian's eyes lingered on him. Kelsey, however, had swum back to the wall to call something out to him, and she did see it, very clearly.