Disclaimer: If I owned Make It Or Break It, there would be several more seasons of Lauren and Jake.

Author's Note: The idea for this little 5 part story started because I loved the name 'The Cult of Otis' – it just sounds so Indiana Jones and awesome. And it helps that I absolutely loved Jake/Lauren and the Lauren-Payson friendship, and out of all that arose this. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Read and review: The only way my writing will get better is if you review it and tell me what I'm doing wrong. So please help me out and review it.

The Cult Of Otis

'The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.'

William H. Borah

'You're packed already?' Payson asked, disbelief flavouring her words.

'Yeah, there's stuff I have to do,' Lauren had barely finished her reply before exiting their room, Payson close on her heels behind her.

'But you're never packed early, never,' Payson protested, briefly wondering if this was some sort of strange side effect of her heart surgery before dismissing it as ridiculous. She'd gone through each and every side effect a million times and early packing wasn't one of them. 'Lauren? Lauren,' she sighed, grabbing her arm to bring her to a standstill. 'Lauren, what's going on?'

'Otis is gone,' the words tumbled out of the smaller blonde's mouth. 'The wrestlers have stolen his head again.'

'Yeah but do you really need it?'

'Yes,' Lauren's voice broke with what sounded suspiciously like a sob that she quickly reined in. 'Yeah, I do need it Pay. When I told them Wendy had done it,' she carried on reluctantly at Payson's pressing look. 'I saw the team they'd decided on. It didn't include me. I wasn't in the top 5 – I shouldn't really be going to London, Payson, so if I need that stupid head to make sure I prove them wrong, I'll do it.'

Payson paused, looking at her closely and wondering how stupid one girl could be. 'You really think you don't belong on the team? You're an idiot. You've just had heart surgery and did a beam routine successfully that was better than most of the other girls-'

'Most, but not all of them,' Lauren interrupted her, close to sniffling by now.

'Lauren, you're an idiot. And you're less than a week post-operation and you're going to get better and better and win at least one gold medal.' Payson looks at her thoughtfully. 'But if you need the stupid head of Otis, I'll help you find it and steal it.' She can't help the smile that spreads across her face as Lauren squeals and squeezes her tight in a hug. Whatever pros and cons there might be, it was definitely fun to be Lauren's friend.

Twenty minutes later found them scouring the edges of the field, for any signs of a hidden Otis head but without any luck so far.

'You've never been the luck kind of person, Lauren. Why are you so dead-set on getting Otis?' Payson curiously asked.

Nearly a minute lapsed before Lauren decided to answer. 'You know, when I thought I would have to have open heart surgery, Summer came and visited me. She said that 'no' was an answer from God too, so I finally gave up. I prayed to...accept that I would never get to go to the Olympics or have a gold medal. And then Jake brought Otis' head to me, for luck.' A painful, twisted sort of smile curved Lauren's face at the memory. 'So that I could still compete in the Olympics, maybe get a medal. And now here we are. God zero, Otis one.' She shrugged a little deprecatingly. 'I don't know, I know it's stupid but just since finding out I wasn't actually originally going to be part of the team, it's knocked my confidence. And from prior experience, praying to God didn't make my mother choose me over drugs or have Summer become my mum, so if there's anything that's got a chance in hell of working, it's gonna be Otis.'

Payson didn't have anything to say in reply.

An hour later found them by the pond area where they had found it last time- more of a Hail Mary than truly expecting it to be there again but it was worth a try.

It's as they're staring in the different parts of the water that Lauren's mind wanders. She knows it's stupid, but she wonders about Jake and weddings, about OTC and Otis. She's got a lot more faith in Otis than God, at this point, and if people from other religions can marry in different ways, a part of her wonders if she could involve the Head of Otis in some way in her wedding ceremony. She's opened her mouth to voice these questions, ridiculous as they are (but one thing she's learnt is that Payson is a true friend – who'll mock her and will never let her live this down, but will also discuss it seriously if she wants to).

Fortunately, before she can utter more than Payson's name, Jake announces his presence with a well-timed 'Barbie'. Squealing more from the shock about what she'd been about to ask, Lauren also jumps, and when combined with trying to simultaneously turn around, it results in a loss of balance and ending up in the water on her backside in a very ungracious fall.

Payson would have helped her up if she wasn't too busy laughing along with Jake. 'Damn,Barbie. That wasn't graceful at all. Is that what you're gonna do on the gym floor?'

Sparing a dirty look at the laughing blonde, Lauren scowled, ignoring the gentle fluttering in her stomach. 'Shut up. You'd better hope I haven't hurt myself, otherwise I'd kick your ass!'

'Wait, you haven't injured yourself, have you Lauren?' That idea had stopped Payson's laughter swiftly.

'I'm fine,' she grumbled, dripping wet as she got out of the water, scowl getting stronger by the second as the humiliation set in.

'Hey, not my fault you were so deep in thought – I know it's not an activity you barbies participate in daily,' he teased her with a megawatt smile. 'What were you so focussed on anyway? Planning your wedding or something?'

His eyes were too distracted by the wet clothes clinging to strategic parts of Lauren's body to notice the red flush that rose immediately, but Payson wasn't.

'Shut up,' groused Lauren. 'We were just searching for Otis' Head, you dingbat.' She tried to futilely dry herself, but the weather was neither hot enough, nor dry enough for that.

'Why?' Jake's eyes searched her face closely. 'I thought you'd made it on the team.'

'Yeah, by default because of pretty much a technicality,' she mumbled and Payson's eyes widened at the open, frank discussion the blonde was having with the wrestler. In all the years she'd known Lauren, she'd kept the cards close to her chest most of the time, letting others see them only when she was past her breaking point and in tears. She apparently had no such qualms with the wrestler, though, and it made Payson wonder how they'd become so close in such a short space of time.

'So? As long as you're on the team, you can do what you need to do.' The tension left Jake's body, as his eyes returned to roaming the more interesting parts of Lauren's body, the clothes clinging to her like a second skin.

'The way my luck's going, I'll be as graceful as I was there,' she grumbled back instead, carefully avoiding both pairs of eyes.

'The way I see it,' Jake said, humour absent again from his voice, 'you got through a heart surgery that the surgeon had never done before without any complications, returned to competition level gymnastics, and default or technicality or not, you're on the Olympics team. Damn, Tanner, you're going to London. And with everything that's happened to you, that's a damn miracle. Knowing your luck the way it's going, you'll probably pick up five gold medals.' He'd never admit to it, unless drunk off his face, but his chest felt just a little lighter when he saw the small smile dancing across her face.

'Whatever, meathead,' she glanced at him, eyes warm with an emotion she didn't want to give words to just yet. 'Anyway, I'd better get back to my room and finish packing. My dad'll be here soon. See you in London?'

'I'm holding you to our deal,' his smile held warmth and a promise of more, growing bigger as he heard her reply that she was counting on it as she walked away with Payson.

'You haven't finished packing?' squeaked Payson, momentarily distracted. 'You told me you had?'

'White lie,' shrugged Lauren. 'I kind of thought searching for Otis was more important.'

'Which you don't now,' surmised her blonde friend. She took a deep breath in, before plunging ahead with what she had to say. 'I just want to know if I'll be a bridesmaid when you get married.'

'Wha-' Lauren nearly tripped over her own feet as she gaped at Payson. 'What – How- Why- Why are we even talking about my hypothetical wedding?' She turned her eyes, wide and startled, on Payson. 'I'm single, I don't even have a boyfriend.'

Payson snorted at that. 'I've seen the way you and 'meathead' act. He's been more of a boyfriend to you than anyone else has been.' She stopped abruptly, realising how awful that sounded. 'Sorry.'

'It's fine,' Lauren grinned all of a sudden. 'It's kinda nice knowing that I've been rubbing off on you.' Her grin grew wider. 'I always knew you had the force to make snarky comments in you, young padawan.'

'Shut up, and don't change the subject,' Payson returned to the matter most important to her right now. 'I know you and Kaylie have your girlie girlie friendship going on but...I am going to be one of your bridesmaid's right? I mean,' she tried to phrase it more graciously. 'I'd love to have the honour of being one of your bridesmaids.'

She bristled at the sound of Lauren's laughter. 'Pay, that's like the most romantic proposal I've ever heard.' She stopped as she saw the hurt expression on Payson's face. 'Pay, why are you talking about my wedding? I mean seriously, my previous terrible relationships aside, I don't actually have a boyfriend.'

'I've seen the way you act around Jake, and I've seen the way he acts around you. It's inevitable, really. And don't tell me you weren't thinking about it when he came up behind you,' she added in an accusatory tone.

The flush rose in Lauren's face again. 'Okay, fine, it's stupid. I might have been wondering if we could include Otis' head in our – my – wedding ceremony, in the way, way out future.'

'What, like start a cult around Otis?' Payson's lips twitched at the humour of it all and Lauren joined her.

'Yeah, like the Cult of Otis or something.' A moment later, both teenagers were doubled up laughing, ignoring all the strange looks thrown their way.

'You swing that and you'll be my maid of honour,' Lauren said breathlessly, once she'd stopped laughing. 'Besides, you'll be my maid of honour either way,' she bumped her shoulders with Payson's.

'You really like him that much, huh?' She smiled with happiness for her friend.

'It's just...I don't have the greatest track record with boys and he makes me feel like he's chasing me instead of the other way round,' she tried to explain some of her feelings. 'He just...makes me feel like I'm good enough,' she finished quietly.

Payson squeezed her elbow. 'It's more like we need to make sure he's good enough for you,' she said firmly and sincerely. 'And then we need to decide on the ten commandments of the Cult of Otis.' They were both still laughing as they entered their room to finish their packing.