When we arrived at the exercise room I was surprised by how busy it was. Apparently, management had reserved the room, and everyone there was associated with the tour in some way. I recognized some of them from show days, but some of them were complete strangers to me. I immediately regretted agreeing to come and work out with them.

"Matty, I thought it was going to be just us," I said nervously.

"Well, it is, this is all people we work with." He looked at me and nudged my shoulder. "Relax, no one is paying attention to anyone else, everyone just wants to get in some exercise after spending days on a bus and in a hotel, that's all." He smiled at me. "You don't have to do anything if you don't want to, just hang out and talk to me or something."

This last wasn't exactly true. The moment we entered, a large man approached Gethin and clapped him on the shoulder, greeting him with, "There you are, mate! Been waiting for you! Ready?"

Gethin didn't look too happy to see him, but he responded cordially enough, smiling and saying, "Always ready, Randy. Shall we get to it?"

"Who's that?" I asked Matty. "The huge guy?"

"Ah, that's Randy, he's crew. Always has to be the strongest, best, you know the type. Always challenging Geth to something. It's stupid because Geth doesn't care, but Randy won't leave him alone. If there's table tennis, he wants to wager, if there's a football net, he wants to count goals, if there's a basketball hoop, he wants to see who can shoot the most, it never ends. Who knows what it'll be tonight. Geth can't overexert, we have a show in a couple days, Randy knows that, too." Matty seemed concerned.

I decided that I'd just keep an eye on Gethin, and when Ronan and Teddy saw me walking toward him, they seemed glad. But when I got to him, Randy turned to me and eyed me up and down in a way that I really hated. Gethin wasn't thrilled, either, and stepped closer to me, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"So who's this young thing then? She with you?" he asked genially.

"This is Tinker Bell, our interpreter," Gethin said, hugging me even closer.

"Tinker Bell, how appropriate," said Randy with a smile. "Is that because you're such a cute little thing? Or because you're amazing in other ways?" Eww.

I stood there, wishing I'd worn something other than the yoga pants and sports bra I'd chosen. I was comfortable enough in front of the boys, but not in front of Randy the perv.

"So you going to work out with us, then? You've come dressed for it, haven't you?" he continued. Randy eyed Geth as he spoke, knowing that it really bothered both of us to have him paying so much attention to me. I just wanted to hide, and Geth was starting to really get wound up.

"Actually, no, I've changed my mind. I'm just going to hang out, keep Gethin company," I said cheerfully, putting my arm around Geth's waist and hugging myself to him.

"Brilliant," Randy said. "Geth and me, we have a friendly rivalry in the exercise department. Pushes both of us to work that much harder, doesn't it, mate?" He clapped Gethin on the back again.

"But Geth has a show in a couple days, right, Geth?" I chirped. "No overworking this close to a show. You could pull something." I turned to Randy. "After all, he's the reason we're here. Nothing works if he doesn't, right?"

"Right, right. We'll be careful, won't we?" Randy looked at Gethin and winked. What a creep. "We'll keep it low impact, how about that?" He stood still as an idea hit him. "In fact, I have a great idea! This hotel has a pool! How about a swim? It doesn't get lower impact than swimming, does it? How about that, Gethin? You fancy a swim?"

Gethin was staring at him. "A swim? That sounds like a right bother. I mean, we're already here, dressed for a work out and all. We'll have to go back to our rooms and change, then find the pool, and what if it's being used? Let's just stay here and work out, what do you say, man?"

But I could tell by the look on Randy's face that he wasn't going to let go. He saw an opportunity to beat Gethin on a new playing field, and he wanted another notch on his belt.

"Ah, come on, mate, we've never done this before, it'll be fun, a nice change of pace. And it'll be nice and cool, no getting all hot and bothered like working with the weights down here. This time of day no one'll be there. Come on. You thinking you're not as strong a swimmer as you'd like to be? Is that the problem?"

Gethin's brow knit in irritation, and his arm tightened around my shoulder. He was getting seriously pissed, and now people were starting to notice their conversation and stopping what they were doing to listen. Great.

"Okay, mate," Gethin said. No. No, no. Shit. I remembered Geth saying he didn't enjoy swimming, and I was worried about him."Let's do it. Let's swim."

Then, because things weren't bad enough yet, Randy had to turn to me and say, "Let's make a little wager, mate, just to make things interesting, what do you say?"

Gethin sighed. "What kind of wager?"

Randy considered. "How about this? We swim four lengths of the pool. If I finish first, I get to have the pleasure of your Tinker Bell's company for dinner in my room tonight?" Oh. My. God. I looked around. Teddy and Matty looked horrified. Ronan looked flat out disgusted. All three took a step in our direction. Gethin's arm tightened painfully on my shoulder. He was so upset that he couldn't see this was just another way for Randy to get under his skin.

"No. No way. I won't agree to it. That wager doesn't even involve me. How could I wager for someone else's time?" Gethin asked angrily. "You're being disgusting, Randy. How could you even think such a thing?"

"How is it disgusting? Dinner's all I'm asking," Randy said pleasantly, looking around. The entire room was silent now. He was pushing all of Gethin's buttons, just for fun, using me, and Teddy had gotten involved, now, too, stepping up to my other side, looking furious, hands balled into fists.

Normally, I would just want to disappear, but they were talking about swimming. This was my world. I was furious. It felt good. I wasn't a carnival prize to be won on a bet, goddammit. I pulled on Gethin's arm. He leaned down to me, and I whispered in his ear.

"What?" he said, very loudly. "Are you mad?"

I whispered some more.

"Are you sure?" He stared at me. I nodded.

I turned to Randy. "It's not a real wager unless both sides stand to win something. What does Geth get if he wins?"

Randy considered. "Name it," he finally said.

"First of all, I don't need anyone to fight my battles for me. Or swim my races for me. I'll swim for myself. Four lengths of the pool. Freestyle. Diving start. Touch the wall on each lap. If you win, I'll have dinner with you in your room tonight. If I win, you never bother Geth with this competitive exercise crap again. Not on this tour. Not ever. Agreed?" I held out my hand. Wow. Apparently Aileen the Mouse had taken a powder. Who was this new girl? Teddy took my hand and squeezed, and I squeezed back.

Randy looked at Gethin. "You okay with this?"

Gethin looked at me. "Really?"

I nodded.

He looked back at Randy. "Yeah, I'm fine with it."

Randy took my hand in his big, meaty paw and we shook on it, him taking in my size and obviously resisting the urge to laugh.

"See you at the pool in ten minutes, Randy," I said, and walked out of the exercise room with as much dignity as I could muster, considering that my knees were shaking and I wanted to throw up.

The boys all followed me, and the exercise room pretty much emptied in about thirty seconds as everyone headed up to the pool.

I made eye contact with Matty as we entered the elevator and shook my head slightly at him. He wouldn't give my secret away. I could tell, just from the meaty legs and beefy shoulders on Randy that he was all muscle mass and strength training and probably had no endurance. He would get winded before he'd swum one lap. And he was a bully. I hated that.

As I entered my room to change, Gethin stopped me and put a hand on each of my shoulders. "You're sure you can do this? I mean, I'm no swimmer, but I can give it a go. The thought of you in that animal's room for one minute makes me sick to my stomach; it really does." I hugged him.

"No worries, Geth." I smiled at him.

Teddy followed me into my room, and I wondered if he intended to watch me change. I raised my eyebrow at him as I pulled my workout bikini out of the drawer.

"Don't worry; I'm going to turn around at the critical moment. I'm just feeling very, um protective, for some reason. Weird, huh?" He turned to face the wall as I put on the suit.

"All clear," I called as I untwisted the straps on my royal blue suit.

He turned around. "Wow," was all he could say.

I looked down. "What?"

He made a twirling motion, and I did a little twirl and stopped, looking at him inquiringly. He shook his head. "Foster, you make no sense. How can you get embarrassed wearing that polka dotted dress which covered all of you but your arms and legs, and then not care that practically everyone on the tour is going to see you soaking wet in that?"

"This is a swimsuit," I explained. "It's like a uniform. This is how it's supposed to look. It's hydrodynamic, see? It's made of Lycra and compresses here, and here, but it's only for workouts, so it's open here..."

He smiled and approached me, putting his hands on my bare midriff. "What? Show me again how it compresses? Here? And it's open where?" He reached around my bare waist and kissed my neck. Oh god. I knew he was teasing, that he did it to all girls, but I wasn't equipped to deal with this kind of behavior. I'd never been touched like this in my life.

"Stop, it tickles." I laughed and removed his hands. I rummaged in the drawer for my cap and goggles. "Okay, I'm ready." I turned around.

He was still staring. "Ready for what, I believe is the question."

"Have you never seen the Olympics before? Have you never seen a person in a swimsuit?" I asked. "Snap out of it. We have to go shut that asshole down."

He shook his head like a wet dog. "You're right, okay, let's go."

He opened the connecting door. "You guys ready for this? She looks amazing. But don't say anything about it. No, she won't get embarrassed this time; she'll just get pissed off. I know, she's weird."

We entered the pool area, which was full of people. It seemed Teddy was right, practically everyone on the tour was there to watch. I was used to that, though.

Randy was already there, looking pretty big in swim trunks. A twenty meter pool wouldn't give me tons of room for a streamline, but I could adjust for that. And there were no lane lines, so there would be a lot of waves, but, again, I could adjust. At least there were lines painted on the bottom, so I could swim straight.

"Well, let's get this going," I said, stepping up and curling my toes over the edge. Randy seemed a little daunted by the fact that I had a cap and goggles, so I offered him my spare pair, which he adjusted and put on. "Who's going to start us?" he asked.

"I will," Ronan volunteered. He stepped up. "Ready, steady, GO!" And we were off.

Sure enough, he was huffing and puffing before he completed two laps, and I took it easy, worried that he'd push himself and have a coronary or something, but I outpaced him easily and won, to much cheering and clapping. Matty, hooting and hollering, recorded the whole thing on his phone. After I finished, I was a little winded, so Teddy pulled me out of the pool and wrapped me up in a towel, hugging me and twirling me around as he continued to cheer.

"Careful," I shrieked. "It's wet, you could fall and kill us both!" He kissed me on the cheek, over and over.

"That was amazing!" he declared. "I was so proud of you! I wanted to ask for your autograph!"

Randy finally finished his laps, swam over to the ladder on the side, hauled himself out, and sat on the pool edge for a few minutes while he caught his breath. I walked over to him, went down on the balls of my feet, and held out my hand. "Good race," I said with a smile.

He gave me a small, insincere smile and shook my hand. "Good race," he repeated.

And my boys boosted me onto their shoulders and carried me off the pool deck. It was the proudest I'd ever been to be a swimmer.

Later that evening, after we'd all bathed and put on warm, soft pajamas and ordered up a ton of food, we talked over every minute of my "epic swim", and Ronan took an adorable pajama partyesque picture of the five of us, surrounded by the remains of our meal.

"Matty, you knew she could do that?" Ronan asked.

He nodded happily. "I googled her, there's video of her at the Junior Olympics when she was only thirteen."

Gethin looked at me with a gleam in his eye. "You know my particular weakness is for athletes, right, Tink?" he said to me with a raised eyebrow.

"Why, Mr. Wren, what are you trying to say? Are you asking me out on a date?" I asked owlishly, "I'm flattered. But I'm not really an athlete anymore. I haven't swum competitively in, oh, five years." He held his arms out to me, took me into his lap, and enveloped me in a huge hug which went on and on and on, to the point that Teddy noticed and started to stare. He finally released me, saying, "That was for getting me out of ever having to exercise with that wanker Randy ever again." And he planted a big kiss on the corner of my mouth before letting me go completely. And Teddy saw that, too.