All That Still Matters

"Nice going, Mase," Louie said to no one in particular as Daphne told him that she had walked in on Mason and Piper. "Didn't know he had it in him," he added with a laugh. "You must be happy," he said, and Daphne nodded her head. "Does that mean you'll stop focusing on them and start focusing on your run?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

Daphne couldn't help but smile at him. "Yeah, it does," she nodded her head. "You're going to be there tomorrow, right?" she asked him.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Louie told her.

"I'm nervous," Daphne admitted. "Do you think that's stupid? To be this nervous?"

"What?" Louie questioned. "Why would that be stupid? This is the freaking Olympics. Of course you're going to be nervous. This is one of the biggest things you could ever be a part of," he told her, but when he saw the look on her face, he realized that he wasn't helping her anxiety. "You'll be fine," he told her. "Piper will be there for you. I'll be there for you. Scotty and Mase will be cheering you on."

"What about Katrina?" Daphne suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Louie asked, a confused expression on his face. "What does Kat have to do with anything?"

"You know she's going to get into my head. She can do that for some reason. I won't listen to anyone else, but for some reason whatever she tells me gets into my head, and I start freaking out."

"Piper and I will make sure that she doesn't," he assured her. "Trust me," he said, and Daphne couldn't help but to do just that, put all of her trust into him.

"Thank you," she told him, kissing him.

The next twelve hours seemed like complete torture for Daphne. She couldn't sleep all night, tossing and turning, anxiously waiting for the preliminaries this morning. Now, she was wide awake, sitting at the top of the pipe waiting to do her run. She had just two runs to qualify for the semifinals, and if she did well enough, she could bypass that and go directly to the finals. Obviously, that was her goal, but she knew she just needed enough to get to semifinals.

"Piper, what do you think? Easy run just to make sure I make it to semis or harder run to get to finals?" Daphne asked Piper.

"You know…" Piper began before she was cut off by Katrina who was sitting behind them.

"What does it matter?" Katrina sneered. "You're gonna fall on either of them. I don't know why the US chose you. It was a bad move on their part. You're going to embarrass yourself in front of the entire world. But, good luck!" she added in a fake tone at the end.

Daphne turned back around towards Piper, fear evident in her eyes now. "Daph," Piper began, putting a hand on either one of her shoulders. "She's trying to get in your head. Don't listen to her."

"Louie said this was going to happen," Daphne said quietly. "That Kat would say shit to drive me crazy."

"And, that's exactly what she's doing," Piper told her. "Don’t listen to her. Focus on your run. You're going to do great," she assured her. "Now get ready to do that run that gets you in the finals," she winked at her, answering the question Daphne had asked her before she had been interrupted by Katrina. "You're going to stomp it, I promise."

"Thanks," Daphne said with a small smile, grabbing her snowboard, heading towards the edge of the pipe. Mercedes Nicoll had just finished her run, and she was waiting for her score to come up on the screen. Daphne took a deep breath, searching through her ipod for the song she wanted, finally settling on one from a rapper that Louie had introduced her to.

She took a deep breath as it was time for her to go, and she began her run great. It wasn't until her backside nine came up, a trick that she hadn't had a problem with for well over a year, that she began having trouble. She couldn't get the full rotation, and she ended up hitting the lip on the way back down. She quickly got up, though, trying to finish whatever run she could manage, feeling completely dejected.

She got to the end of the pipe, and she didn't even want to see her score. She found Louie in the crowd who gave her a small smile, and she made her way over to him. "You're fine," he told her, as she hung her head down low. She glanced up to see a terribly low score, and she knew she had to hit her last run if she wanted to make it to the semis. "Daph, you can do this," he said.

"Come on, show 'em what we all know," Scotty spoke up from his spot next to Louie. "Show 'em that you're the best," he said, tapping her on the arm.

"Thanks, guys," she smiled at them.

"We'll be waiting right here so we can celebrate when you make finals," Louie called out to her.

"You better be," she smiled at him before heading back up to the top of the pipe.

She had just reached the top of the pipe when she heard Katrina's voice ring out. "I knew you'd crash and burn," Katrina told her.

"I'm going to beat you," Daphne said, feeling confident after her pep talk from Louie and Scotty. "I'm better than you, and I'm going to prove it to everyone."

"That's my girl," Piper said proudly, coming next to Daphne and putting an arm around her shoulder as Katrina walked off, scoffing. "Wow, whatever Louie said to you must have worked," Piper smiled at her cousin. "You're all pumped up right now."

"I am," Daphne admitted. "I'm going to beat that bitch."

"And I can't wait to see it," Piper beamed.

Daphne sat around, watching all of the other women perform, waiting on her turn once again. Kelly had already guaranteed herself a spot in the finals, doing a near perfect routine her first run through, and Daphne couldn't help but be jealous of her, as she didn't have to put everything into her last run.

Just before it was Daphne's turn to go, Piper sat down next to her. "Listen to me, Daph, no matter what happens right now, you should be proud of yourself. You've made it to the Olympics, and you've got so much to be grateful for. You're an amazing snowboarder, and everyone knows that. You've got an awesome boyfriend who's there for you no matter what. And, you've got a ton of friends who have your back at all times. Whether you stomp this run or fall on it, just know that you should be proud of your life."

Daphne turned to look at her coach. "Thank you," she told her sincerely, pulling her in for a hug. "Thank you so much! And, I'm ready to stomp this run."

"Then let's go for it," Piper smiled, watching as Daphne stood up and strapped on her snowboard.

Daphne looked out at the crowd, and she immediately spotted Louie standing out there in his snowboarding gear. She smiled at him, once again finding the perfect song on her ipod. She smiled to herself as she dropped in. She felt good as she made it through her first two tricks, and after she had completed the backside 900 and landed it perfectly, she was extremely psyched. It all came down to her last trick, which she nailed, and she finished off the run, pumping her fist in the air before unstrapping her snowboard and rushing over to Louie.

"You did it!" he told her as she put her hands on either side of his face, pulling him close and kissing him for all the cameras to see.

"I did it," she smiled as she separated from him just long enough to take a glance at the score to see she had scored high enough to go straight to the finals.

"You're going to the finals!" he exclaimed, kissing her once again.