2

Not really having a choice, Elle grabbed the file on Burrow's injury and training schedule that Paul had handed her and headed for the training room. Michael had wished her good luck before vanishing to do his chores.

Sighing, Elle skimmed the file in her hand. Of course she knew Joe Burrow, he had been quite the shooting star, breaking records pretty good last year as a rookie before getting injured.

She had also dealt with his injury in her first week here, which is why the report of the torn ligaments and surgery didn't surprise her as much or make her shake at the thought of it as it had the first time she read it.

Torn ALC and MLC, damage to PCL and meniscus, still sounded pretty painful to Elle and she was glad that among her countless injuries she had never torn a ligament.

Joe looked up from his phone as the door opened and a young woman entered the training room, her gaze focused on the file in her hand. She wore light jeans and a black Tshirt with the Bengals logo and black Nikes, her light brown hair tied back in a tight ponytail. She couldn't have been much younger than him.

She stopped against the wall, set her backpack down, and apparently still hadn't noticed him when she turned a page in the file and Joe thought he saw a picture of him in the corner.

When he cleared his throat, she flinched briefly before her gaze lifted and Joe got lost in her eyes for a few seconds, hazel eyes, golden brown and green . The lower part of her face was covered with a mask, but now she took it off. A slight uncertain smile appeared as she flipped the file closed and took a step toward Joe.

"Sorry, didn't know you were already here" she apologized and the slight nervousness that was already evident in her smile could also be heard in her voice. "No problem, was just a bit early today" Joe smiled briefly before eyeing the woman in front of him again.

She had a nice athletic figure, you could clearly see that she worked out regularly. At the edge of her right sleeve, Joe could make out parts of a tattoo on her skin, but when she seemed to notice his gaze, she quickly crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I...am Eleanor Simmons, I think you've caught on that I'm supposed to take over Nick's job of rebuilding you, right?" Joe nodded. "the coach told me this morning. I'm Joe Burrow" "I already knew that" Elle muttered softly, which made Joe grin. Was she that nervous because maybe she was a fan of his?

She opened the file again and skimmed a few pages until she put it aside and turned back to Joe. "Well, it looks like we'll start by seeing how well you can bend your knee already. You still have your brace on?" Joe nodded. "ok, take it off please and sit on the bench there. Legs should not be touching the floor" she ordered him.

Joe immediately jumped up and had to grin when he realized he was almost two heads taller. She reached just to his shoulder, probably around 5'6 tall, but looked small and lanky next to him.

"Ok, I'm going to try to bend your knee now, as soon as you feel pain, you report back, ok? Don't play strong here, if you try to play in pain, you can mess up your knee all the way. Then it's bye bye career. Got it?"

Joe nodded. He had also gotten this speech from Nick several times before, so it wasn't new to him. He knew himself the risk of going back to the field too soon, but Nick was very pleased with his progress and pretty sure he would make it back in time.

Hesitantly, Elle took Joe's leg in her hand and bent it slightly. When Joe made no move, she returned it to the starting position and began again.

A little bored, Joe watched the action. His knee felt normal, no pain, which is why he decided to relieve his boredom by asking questions to the new athletic trainer.

"Eleanor, I can call you that, can't I?" he looked at her questioningly. "They mostly call me Elle. Well, around here they usually call me Simmons" she replied without looking at him.

"Elle..." he started from the beginning. Briefly Elle stumbled, she hadn't thought he would call her by her nickname instead of last name like everyone else here. "...How did you manage to get a spot here as an athletic trainer?"

"Why do you ask?" still Elle bent his knee back and forth. "Well, you're still young..." "you're just a few months older than me and you play in the NFL, but I can't be an athletic trainer?" "how do you know when my birthday is?" was she really a fan, maybe even a groupie?

For the first time, she raised her eyes and gave him a confused look. "it's in your file that I had in my hand earlier" she replied. Suddenly Joe felt stupid. After all, he had seen earlier that his picture was in that file and could have guessed that his master data was in there.

"well, but as a football player it's normal to play in the NFL so young. The mostly athletic trainers I've had have been significantly older and mostly male"

"Oh, so just because I'm young and female I shouldn't be allowed to work here?" Elle replied, affronted. "No, I didn't say that. I just meant that I am surprised that you are young and female and got a job here"

Elle sighed. "Well, let's just say I had some good contacts that made it possible" she admitted. " I knew it" Joe grinned, realizing at the same moment how bad that sounded, as Elle's gaze was already darting up to him as well, and she gave him a nasty glare.

"Really now? Why don't you just be glad I'm even here doing your recovery training? I know I don't have that much experience in the field yet, and I'm female on top of that, how dramatic. but I'm willing to apply everything I've learned here so you, the awesome shooting star, can train again in two weeks. So please just let me do my job. If you doubt my competencies, feel free to complain to Nick, Paul, or your coach about how they could possibly come up with the idea of assigning you the young, inexperienced, female atheltic trainer. Say you want someone else, but then don't expect to be on the field in two weeks" she snapped at him.

"Elle, that..." Joe was about to clear up the misunderstanding when Elle interrupted him. "it's Simmons for you and please keep it down. I need to concentrate on my work, I'm still so inexperienced, or I'll accidentally hurt you" "cocky idiot" she muttered softly after, but Joe had heard it anyway. sighing, he decided to keep his mouth shut before he made the whole thing worse here.