A/N: Hey guys, here's a little something Zap and I cooked up due to Olympics fever. I hope everyone enjoys it. It's really just an intro, so if you want more please let us know. Also, don't worry, work is still happening on the newest chapters of Devil of Barden and Forgive & Forget, as well as some of Zap's stuff. I just wanted to get the start of this done and out before the Closing Ceremonies. Onto Zap's note...

Zap's Note: I'm so sorry, I had hoped to get this out before now, and to have things further along than this, but there are extenuating circumstances that made it not possible. It was very important to me to get this out before the closing ceremony, because what's the point of an Olympic fic when the Olympics are over? I had been advocating adpating it for Pyeong'Chang or Tokyo. Regardless, it's out and I hope you enjoy it. Also, is she's reading this, to the Heather that left the review on Pitchswapped, I'd like to thank you for your review, it meant a lot. We will be continuing it at some point I promise, I just can't say when.

A/N 2: Alrighty, with those out of the way, we're on to the fic. I hope you guys like it, and if you want more leave a review and let us know that we ought to continue this!

Olympic Exploits

Chloe knew that her jaw was hanging open. She knew it, but she also knew that she couldn't do anything about it. The entire spectacle before her, the majesty of it, the wonder, the sheer relief at finally standing here… Well, it was all too much for her to handle. So her mouth was wide open as she surveyed the vista before her.

Now, she wasn't completely unfamiliar with strange new places. She'd gone on vacations with her family before, when she was younger. But this was more than just seeing a new city, a new continent even. This was the pinnacle. And she knew very well she'd probably start squealing soon.

A look to the side showed her that she wasn't the only one who was anticipating the building squeal. Even as Aubrey looked around the scene, the blond taking in every incredible aspect of it just as she was, she could see her friend bracing for what was to come.

"Oh. My. God… Bree!" Chloe was proud of herself for holding it back as long as she had. But she wasn't able to keep it in anymore. Reaching over she took hold of her best friend's arm and clung for dear life. This place… What it meant, to her, to them, to everyone who was here. Of course, it wasn't even fully open yet. Things didn't officially kick off for another couple days. But even so, it was simply…

"Incredible…" Aubrey murmured, her voice much quieter than Chloe's had been. But laced through each syllable was the complete and utter reverence that this place deserved. The color of it all was a bit jarring at first, and not necessarily from the buildings themselves, but the flags that were everywhere. However when she realized what they meant, what they represented, it filled Chloe with a sense of… Achievement.

"We did it. We really, actually did it, Bree…" Chloe said, her voice having dropped to a low whisper, the excitement previously inundating her words now gone, replaced by the same quiet reverence that her blond friend's voice had had.

"Chlo'… I've been telling you for weeks that… Well, whatever. We really did. We're here." Aubrey's voice didn't hold the usual amount of exasperation it normally did when explaining things to her. Not that she needed things explained to her very often. Bree just liked doing it. And since it made her best friend happy, it made her happy.

A quiet cough drew their attention back to the young woman who was standing nearby waiting for them. Surprisingly enough she didn't seem very put off by the display she'd just witnessed from the pair of them. Then again, she'd no doubt seen it all before many times over. However she did have a job to do, which she reminded them of as she spoke in fairly decent English, "Miss Beale, Miss Posen please, if you'll come this way I can show you to your room."

The pair, jostled back into the reality of the situation, turned and followed her across the wide, well decorated courtyard towards one of the large towers. As they walked, Chloe took hold of Aubrey's hand and started up a running commentary, complete with squeals and excited pointing of the shared hands. The blond, despite the weary expression in her eyes and exasperated look on her face that Chloe had a feeling was faked, did nothing to discourage it.

A quick elevator ride took them up to their floor that was sparsely filled with people. She knew that it would only get more and more crowded as the start of this shindig drew nearer, and that made her even more excited. Stopping outside the door, the young girl withdrew one of the keycards and slid it into the lock, which lit up green and clicked. As their escort pushed the door open she also reached towards them, two keycards held in her hands. Aubrey took them both with a soft thank you as Chloe moved into the room.

It wasn't much to look at, no better or worse than any hotel she'd stayed at in the States, but at the same time it was the most amazing hotel room ever. Two fairly small, though comfortable looking beds took up most of the space with a night stand in between them. A dresser, table, tv, and chair rounded out the major furniture pieces of the room. Chloe poked her head into various nooks while Aubrey and their escort moved inside.

Quickly and efficiently their guide pointed out a few of the more important features: AC, tv functionality, bathroom, the safe in the closet. After that, she gave a little half-bow and excused herself from the room. Chloe, no longer able to contain herself, walked over to the windows and threw the curtains open. Sunlight streamed in the windows and the pair were easily able to see the sweep of towers and other newly constructed buildings spreading away from them. Taking it all in, Chloe once more took hold of her best friend's hand and said, her voice nearly overcome with emotions, "We did it, Bree. We made it…"

"Welcome to the Olympics, Chlo'."

Three steps, and spin… Spin again. Jump and land… Whew, ok, a little bit of fluff to get to … Deep breath. And … dismount!

"Looking good, Mitchell. I think that gets better every time I see it." The voice broke through the bubble of concentration Beca had been in for the last couple minutes. Turning to where whoever had spoken from was, Beca sees one of the assistant coaches standing there. Probably had been for the whole routine, but Beca hadn't really noticed. She'd been in her own world up there, as she always was. Just her and the music that she normally always had playing.

Except when she was on the beam. She'd broken one too many Zunes that way to not learn from that mistake. Nodding her thanks to the coach, she didn't really know his name and didn't really want to talk. She saw her mom watching from off to the side and that was all she really needed. Her mom was her real coach, these others, well, they worked for Team USA, sure, but they didn't know her or her routines like her mom did.

The assistant coach didn't seem to take any mind of Beca's disregard for him, they'd all gotten used to it by now. Martha Karolyi was the only one she really listened to or paid much mind to. But then again, Coach Karolyi had earned her respect by now. The assistant nodded and turned to join one of his fellows watching Simone do her floor routine which saved Beca the trouble of telling him to take a hike. Isntead she just walked over to her mom, who held out her precious mp3 player. Beca had searched long and hard to find this one after she broke her last one, so now she was extra careful with it. Popping one of her ear buds into her ear she shot a sideways glance at her mom and asked quietly, "So, how was it?"

"Becs, I've seen you do that routine a hundred times now but that might be the best one yet…" Her mom said kindly, wrapping an arm around Beca's shoulders and pulling her in for a one armed hug. Beca tried to hide her grin. She knew that her mom was her biggest fan, she always had been, but she was never one to mince words. If her routine had sucked, she'd have said so. A yawn cracked Beca's grin, however, and her mom rolled her eyes before looking at her watch. Releasing Beca from her grasp she sighed and said, "Don't even bother asking. You can go. You ran through all your warm-ups and did each routine. That's all I wanted to see this morning. Go on back to the Village and get some food, nothing heavy, then you can catch a nap. But I'm counting on you being back here this evening for team practice, Becs!"

The last had to be shouted, because Beca had already started hurrying towards her bag. She had known that she'd have to be back, the morning practice was an informal one. Coach Karolyi let each of their own coaches, if they'd come down, handle their charges. But the night practice was one she ran, and it would be much harder. Then again, the Games opened in a couple days, so Beca couldn't really fault Coach for pushing them hard. She waved over her shoulder to her mom to acknowledge that she'd heard her and nodded at her fellow gymnasts who looked a little envious at hearing that Beca could go back to sleep before dashing towards the exit to the gym.

She paused in the locker room to throw on her Team USA branded pants and the shirt she'd grabbed when her mom had pounded on her door for the third time this morning and insisted she get up. Actually getting a decent look at it she smiled as she recognized recreation of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album cover. In a way it was fitting because, if it weren't for the fact that the Olympic Park was quite well lit, despite it being some god awful time of the morning, Beca was fairly certain that it would have been nearly as dark as the aforementioned side of the moon.

Grabbing her headphones from out of her bag she swapped them for the ear buds. The things were nice for practice but they had no low end on 'em so everything sounded tinny compared to her slick, and rather expensive, headphones. Satisfied that she was prepped for the short walk from the Rio Arena where the gymnastics were being held to the Athlete's Village Beca zipped her bag back up after tucking her earbuds into it, shouldered the bag and headed out.

It didn't take her long to get outside where she was hit with a wave of heat. Sure it was winter here in Rio, but that didn't mean it felt like the middle of August normally felt back home in Seattle. Pulling her sunglasses out of the outer pocket of her bag she slid them on before continuing her trek. The place was starting to get more and more crowded as athletes, coaches, and media folks showed up. The opening ceremonies were only a few days away now, as her mom had reminded her when Beca protested getting up this morning, so she wasn't really surprised to see new faces wandering the park.

Using her headphones, which were pumping music into her skull, combined with her sunglasses, which effectively hid her eyes, Beca managed to make her way through the crowds fairly quickly. It was a technique she'd perfected over the years which allowed her to slip through crowds without being disturbed overly much, and she was glad to see that it worked even here in Rio. She'd almost made it back to the building that housed her room, the one she shared with Aly, when a vibrant red color stood out from the crowd of athletes by the Village. Pausing with her hand on the door to her building, she let herself look in the direction of the brilliant shade of red and after a moment of her mind acting exactly like a puddle of goo she noted that that the red belonged to the hair of a girl.

A super-hot girl.

A super-hot girl wearing Team USA gear.

Beca gave her head a shake, drooled for a second longer, and was about to turn away and run into the sanctuary of the building when the girl's red mane moved as she turned her head. For a second the girl seemed to be scanning the area as though she'd felt Beca's gaze, and that was enough to finally start the short brunette moving again. Until the owner of the red hair turned towards her.

The bluest of blue eyes trapped her. Cerulean pools of purest emotion pinned her. She could almost feel herself sinking into the cool, friendly gaze that made the most picturesque skyscape seem drab and boring, a blue so blue that it made the Caribbean Sea look like the slate blue waters of the Puget Sound in her hometown of Seattle. Beca was frozen in place as the girl's eyes found her and despite her best efforts she was unable to will her legs to move.

Until the eyes began to sparkle just a little brighter and Beca registered that the girl's face was breaking into a delighted grin. Fearing that the amazingly beautiful creature was about to approach her, Beca's fight or flight instinct kicked in and she did what she'd always done best.

She fled into the sanctuary of her building.

"Chloe!" Aubrey shouted, well almost shouted. She'd been trying to get her friend and partner's attention for what felt like ten minutes but was probably more like only two. The almost shout seemed to have done it, however, as her friend's head slightly turned around towards her.

"What? Sorry Bree. Did, uh, did you call my name?" The redhead said, still obviously distracted as she looked over into the distance. Aubrey rolled her eyes, and resisted the urge to go smack her friend. Instead she walked over to stand beside her and waved in front of her face.

"Earth to Chloe. I've been calling your name for, like, five minutes." The blond said, finally getting the redhead's complete attention. Now that she was closer she saw that her friend had raised her hand slightly, almost as though she was about to wave at someone. Looking off in the direction Chloe had been staring, Aubrey didn't see anyone in particular that she recognized. Then again, this was only their first time qualifying for the Olympics and they hadn't really met a lot of the other athletes yet.

"Oh, uh… Sorry. I, ummm. I thought I saw, well, nevermind. What's up?" Chloe said, shaking her head one last time before shooting a beaming grin at the blond. She was fairly certain that she'd just seen someone she recognized, and was dying to meet, but the girl had fled so quickly that Chloe wasn't sure. It was that uncertainty that kept her from running after the short brunette girl.

"I was just saying that we should go get something to eat then wander around a little. I want to get out to check out the courts later, but I planned for us to have an hour or two to wander the Park and take everything in." Aubrey said, looking down at the schedule she'd written out for the pair of them. She'd given Chloe one too, so the redhead should have known all this. But her best friend was notorious for losing things. Especially things like that.

"Yeah… Yeah, food sounds good, let's do that." Chloe said, casting one last look over her shoulder. She was almost positive that that had been Beca Mitchell, the gymnast who had earned a fond place in Chloe's heart, and a rather naughty place in her dreams, after her multiple gold medals at the London games four years earlier.

"If I didn't know better, Chloe, I'd think you saw that alt-girl Mitchell you've been drooling over with how you're acting. The way you drool after those gymnasts… I just don't get it, but whatevs. Come on, map says that there's a place to get food over this way." Aubrey said, looking back down at her map and completely missing the blush from the redhead at her words. After confirming that there was a place to eat nearby, Aubrey looked around for a moment before pointing off in the direction she thought it to be and saying, "Yup, I'm fairly sure it's that building over there… Shall we?"

"Haha… Yeah, ummm, no. It uh, I dunno. It could have been…" Chloe mumbled, though she wasn't sure if Bree had heard her because the blond had started off in the direction her map said to go without really waiting. But then again, Chloe wasn't sure she wanted to have been heard, all things considered. Hurrying up after the blond she determined to stake out that building, because if there was one person she really wanted to meet… It was Michael Phelps, but if there were TWO people she really wanted, they'd be Phelps and Beca Mitchell. When she finally caught up with the blond she said, "Also, you're not allowed to give me a hard time about her, or any of them. I know you how you feel about some of the swimmers on Team USA. I fully expect to find you in the stands drooling over them, errr cheering them on when we aren't playing or practicing."

"Chloe, not here." Aubrey said, managing to hide her blush. She certainly didn't want her preferences known, she wasn't ready for everything that would bring.

"Sorry Bree, I wasn't thinking." Chloe said. The redhead didn't press it further, because she knew that Aubrey had her reasons. Besides they'd been best friends for years, and teammates for the last three, so instead they settled into a companionable silence and strolled arm-in-arm through Olympic Park towards food.

Grabbing her shades from her blond hair, Aubrey pulled the glasses on as she stepped out of the food pavilion into the bright, midday Rio sunlight. Pausing momentarily, the blond stretched for a second, basking in the warm air. Chloe was still lingering inside, having ran into a couple of members of the track and field team she'd met, so Aubrey took the chance to soak up some of the sun. Despite them spending most of their time on beaches, it was still one of her favorite things to do.

Glancing at her watch, she rolled her eyes. They were behind schedule, already. Sometimes Aubrey wondered if her teammate and friend had any sense of time keeping. She knew that Chloe was aware of time, but she wasn't sure if the redhead actually knew that time and dates mattered. It was why she made schedules for them in the first place. Maximizing their time here in Rio.

Grumbling to herself she turned back to look into the pavilion so she could try and catch Chloe's eye and hurry the redhead along. Thankfully she saw that her friend was, apparently, just wrapping up her conversation with the runners and let out a sigh of relief.

Glancing from Chloe down to her watch she saw that they were only off her schedule by fifteen minutes, something she had a feeling they could make up if they pushed it, and maybe shaved some time off taking in some of the lesser venues. Looking back up she saw Chloe walking towards her and said, "About time, Chlo'. Now come on, we're going to be mmmphht!"

Her words ended in an indistinguishable jumble as she turned and landed face first in soft, welcoming flesh. Knowing her face was going to be beat red, she quickly stepped back and took a good look at the rather impressive cleavage she'd just planted her face in before quickly moving her eyes up to the face of the owner of said cleavage who was grinning at her.

"I'd normally say you'd at least have to buy me dinner before burying your head in the girls, but I make exceptions for cute blonds." Aubrey nearly choked as the brunette she'd just accosted spoke. It was Stacie Conrad, the most decorated female swimmer at the London games. Her Olympic crush, if truth be told, which was something only Chloe and her sister were aware of. The words, spoken casually and with a quirky grin might have been simple banter, except just at the end Aubrey could have sworn the girl winked slightly. She wasn't sure how to react in the slightest, and would probably still have been standing there gaping at the gorgeous creature before if she hadn't finally heard Chloe's peals of laughter at the incident.

"Uhh… Wow. I mean, sorry. God, I'm so sorry. I wasn't… I didn't mean." The blond, normally the more composed of the two of them, suddenly seemed unable to find a word with two dictionaries and a thesaurus. Somehow Chloe seemed to have overcome her fit of maniacal laughter enough to come to her rescue, or so she thought.

"Honestly, not one of Aubrey's best first meetings with someone new. Hi, I'm Chloe, Chloe Beale, and this is my bestest friend, Aubrey Posen who you've already had the pleasure of meeting." All in all, not the worst thing the redhead could have said, but the emphasis on the word pleasure had the blond ready to run out of the building and jump into the nearest body of water, no matter what it looked like.

"Stacie, and the pleasure in this case was all mine…" The brunette said, and then ran her hands down her sides in an extremely sensuous manner which had Aubrey blushing all over again. She couldn't help it, her crush was standing in front of her and pretty much blatantly flirting with her. Chloe meanwhile did nothing to hide her amusement at the situation.

Aubrey was just opening her mouth to respond with something she hoped was more intelligible than her previous foray into speaking with Stacie when another voice called out over the crowd, "Yo, Conrad, if you want to eat before Coach wants us in the water warm-ups then you need to get your tits over here."

"Shame, well, maybe next time we'll be able to get to know each other better, Aubrey Posen…" Stacie purred sinfully before slipping past the two and heading over towards the voice who'd called out to her. Aubrey, still a little dumbstruck by the entire encounter, was only able to watch the brunette go, her gaze slipping passed a thoroughly amused Chloe to land on the person who had called Stacie away. And, of course, it would have to be one of the few other faces that Aubrey recognized instantly. Chloe hadn't been wrong earlier as she'd called out Aubrey's type, and watching Stacie Conrad shoot her a winking grin as she sat down beside Missy Franklin, the blond knew she was going to be in trouble.

Chloe knew it too, if the redhead's next words were anything to judge by as she said, "I know these are the Summer Games and all, Bree, but I think scaling those mountains might just be your Olympic exploit…"