Chapter 97: The Olympics Begin

"I got on my laptop and read a lot of the articles from the various papers," Warren told Sophia at lunch the next day. "They were great. You got them back on our side, I think."

"Even though I am a pregnant nympho?" Sophia teased.

"Even though. You know what? I love you."

"I love you, too, Snugglebear."

"I hope that took care of everything. I want to enjoy the Olympics."

"We will."

After they ate, they took a little walk around the Olympic Village. It was a lot of fun. They saw athletes from all kinds of sports.

"Hey, isn't that Liesl Schraeder, the Austrian skier?" Sophia asked Warren.

"Yeah, it is. She's great. Best slalom and giant slalom skier in the world," Warren confirmed.

"And look, over there, that's that new American downhiller, Shannon Gentry."

"This is great. I'm so excited," Warren admitted. They strolled through the village, meeting and introducing themselves to athletes from all over the world. Lots of them knew who Sophia and Warren were, which was neat.

They ran into Jennie Sellers and Denis Poulin, the Canadian pairs skaters.

"Hi guys!" Sophia greeted them. "Nervous?"

"Oh, yeah," Jennie told them. "We skate tomorrow, you bet we're nervous."

"Are you guys going to skip the Opening Ceremonies?" Warren asked them.

"Nah," Denis told them. "We thought about it, our coach said we should, since we're competing tomorrow. But, we figured, what the heck--this might be our only Olympics, right?"

"Yeah. I'm glad we have a week, didn't have to make that decision," Sophia said.

"Good luck to you guys," Jennie said.

"Same to you!"

"I skipped this last time--not making that mistake twice," Liz Cushman was telling Warren and Sophia, as they gathered in the staging area, getting ready to parade into the opening ceremonies.

"I've been waiting my whole life for this," Sophia said. "When I first started dancing, when I was a young kid, I dreamed about going to the Olympics, of course. Then when I stopped, I thought I had given that dream up. Even when Warren and I started skating together, we just did it for fun. I never thought we'd make it this far. Somebody pinch me!" Warren and Liz both laughed at that.

"You getting tips from the Olympic veteran?" Christine Arsenault said as she came up next to them.

"Not a veteran at this," Liz told her. "I skipped opening ceremonies last time."

"Geez, I wouldn't dream of doing that," Christine said.

"I know. Which is why my agent and parents are not here yet, dig?" Everyone laughed at that. "I got talked into it. Not this time." Liz sighed. "Everybody treated the Olympics four years ago as a deadly serious thing. Everyone around me, I mean. It was, at the same time, deadly serious and 'just another competition'. Well, it's neither, and I told all the people around me that I wasn't going to do that this time. This is the Olympics, for Goodness' sake. I plan to enjoy myself. I told my coach I'd see him at the rink for practice and not before or after, I told my agent to stay home, and I told Rich to get his ass over here!" She giggled.

"Is he coming?" Warren asked.

"Yup. He's either here or on his way right now. He flew in today, was hoping to make it in time for the ceremonies, but, if he didn't, that's OK, too. At least he's going to be here."

They chatted for a few minutes more, and then Christine and Liz wandered off, greeting other friends.

Sophia and Warren stood there, looking around, when they saw a tall, wiry guy with blonde hair approaching them.

"How you doing? Alan Zimmer, downhill skiing."