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They talked briefly with Zac, Paul and Mike alone, deciding that the staff would get the news via email, while they would tell the players in person at today's team meeting later this afternoon.

Mike assured them that he would be there to show that the club really was fully behind the decision to allow the relationship and that players who had a problem with it could still contact him personally.

Elle knew that if they told the players, it would go well, but still, nervousness rose in her as they stood together with Nick, Paul and Mike in the back of the large meeting room that reminded Elle a bit of a very large classroom.

All of the Offense, Defense and Special Teams players plus the entire practice squad were sitting on wooden chairs with a built-in table where they were taking down important news or information on their pads.

All the coaches and coordinators sat at a long table that looked like an elongated teacher's desk, also taking down important aspects, while usually one or two of them stood in front of the big screen showing the presentation they were commenting on. Occasionally a large tactical board or a flipchart board was brought in to help clarify what was being said.

Normally only Paul or Dan was present to represent the ATs, and only when Zac or one of the other coaches asked for it, but no one seemed to notice that there were a few too many ATs plus the President present today.

When the coaches had finally gone over the topics the meeting was supposed to cover and the players had no more questions either, Zac stood up and cleared his throat. Immediately, he had the attention of all the players.

"We're not quite through yet. There's one thing missing, but for announcements I'll ask Joe and Elle to come forward."

A confused murmur went through the players as Joe rose and with a confident gait pushed his way forward through the tables. Elle hesitated a little longer until she felt the nudge from behind. As she turned, Nick grinned encouragingly at her and raised his crossed fingers in the air.

Elle smiled back before taking a deep breath and walking forward. She stopped next to Joe, who looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?" he asked. Elle nodded. "Are we going to do it?" she nodded again before lifting her gaze, nervousness only growing as she saw everyone, really everyone, staring at her excitedly.

"Okay, so...." Joe began to speak and his voice immediately triggered a sense of calm in Elle. Still a little awkward, she looked at him. He should keep talking, she wouldn't be able to get a sound out. Without words, Joe immediately understood what Elle meant, nodded to her and turned back to his colleagues.

"We have something to tell you" he said smiling as he took Elle's hand and squeezed it lightly, making Elle smile. For a brief moment there was dead silence in the room, everyone stared at the two of them in surprise.

But suddenly it broke loose, Elle couldn't tell who started it, but everyone broke into clapping, whistling, cheering. The whole room went wild. The first clear words she heard were C.J.'s. "You're really together? Like, really together?"

The room went silent again, everyone staring intently at Elle and Joe, who just grinned at each other before both nodded. Immediately, the noise started up again. Elle didn't even know what was happening as she was suddenly closed into countless hugs, everyone congratulating her and telling her how happy they were. She was told again that they had speculated for a long time that something was going on, and so on.

Elle was totally overwhelmed, almost overpowered with all the encouragement and joy about the announcement and just mumbled a thank you to everyone, while she realized that she was beaming up to both ears.

As she left the room with Joe, it felt like she was floating, on a pink, oh nonsense, on a black and orange cloud of happiness.

"That part would be done" Joe brought her out of her thoughts as they sat in her office. Elle nodded with a smile. "I never expected this much joy" she admitted. Joe laughed. "Well, neither did I, but well, we're all like one big family, you just get so excited" he shrugged laughing.

"Next will be our parents and Celine, she'll behead me if she doesn't get to meet you soon" Elle laughed. Joe joined in. "Then I guess it looks like I'll be meeting your best friend soon. What do you think about tomorrow night?"

Elle looked at him in surprise. "So soon?" "sure, before I lose my girlfriend because she gets decapitated" Elle giggled. "that sounds good" "not getting decapitated?" Joe asked, grinning. She shook her head. "Girlfriend" she smiled. "Yeah, I think so too" Joe nodded with a grin.

"Tomorrow night then? If you want, we can take her and her boyfriend, what's his name, Xavier..." "Javier" Elle improved on him with a grin. "Oh, that's right, Javier. If you want, we can have them over to my place for dinner" Joe suggested.

"That...that's a nice idea, but I don't think we should go to your place" Elle ran her hand over her arm. "Why?" Joe asked, confused. "Well, I've told you before that Javier is very big Bengals fan, right?" he nodded.

"So I know it's going to be totally overwhelming for him to meet you in person tomorrow. If he then also gets invited to your extremely large, modern, expensive house right away, he's going to go completely nuts" Elle explained with a shoulder shrug. Joe laughed out loud. "You're probably right"

"if you don't mind, we could go to Celine and my regular bar" Elle suggested. "Yeah, that sounds good" Joe replied smiling. "The bar is pretty out of the way and most of the people who are there know me and know by now that I work for the Bengals. So we don't have to worry about anyone chatting that you were there too" Elle added. "Well, let's go there tomorrow" Joe grinned.

Elle returned the grin. "Sounds good to me. I'll let Celine know right away and check with her" happily she jumped up, grabbed her cell phone and left the room.

Less than two minutes later, there was a knock at the door. "Come in?" Joe answered confused. The person who knocked certainly wasn't looking for him, and was he even authorized to invite someone into the office that wasn't even his?

"Oh, hey, I'm looking for Elle" Nick entered the room and also seemed to momentarily flinch when he spotted only Joe. "Oh..uh, yeah, she's on the phone right now" Joe explained. "Oh, ok, well, it's not that important" Nick shrugged, but closed the door behind him and eyed Joe.

"Elle told me that she finally told you what went on between her and her asshole of an ex" with his arms folded Nick leaned against the wall and looked at Joe.

"Yeah, she did" he sighed "Terrible that she had to go through something like that" Nick nodded in agreement. "You don't wish that on your worst enemy" he added. "The worst part is that he got away with it" Joe sighed again.

"It...it took her a long time. She was in therapy, that helped her a lot, but when the stress came for graduation, she couldn't go anymore. I try to help her as much as I can. Zac and I promised her father to keep an eye on her so she doesn't slip back into a hole somehow" it was clear to see that the whole thing had left its mark on Nick as well. After all, Elle was like a daughter to him. She was family and watching family suffer was the worst.

"You two are a very big support to her, it shows. She's very lucky to have you guys" Joe said appreciatively. Nick nodded with a sigh. "That's exactly what I was getting at Joe" he looked at Joe seriously.

"You've become a great support to her now too. She has told me several times that your closeness, you give her security, safety. She feels very comfortable around you" Nick started talking without taking his eyes off Joe. "I don't want to make you feel insecure or obligated to do anything, but I do want to ask you to be considerate. She's been through enough. Please don't hurt her, Joe."

Joe nodded. "I don't intend to, Nick. Elle deserves the best and I'll try to give her that as best I can" he assured him. Nick nodded in satisfaction. "I didn't expect anything less from you either, Joe. It may be hard, but she is worth it"

"I know that, Nick. She's worth everything" Joe added.

Thank you so much for 53k read!!! It's fcking amazing!!!

Question for today: Do you watch/ are you interested in the trial of Johnny Depp against his ex wife Amber Heard? Who's side are you on?

My answer: Im watching all the highlights of the trial and I hope that Johnny will finally get the justice he deserves! Amber is a real bitch and all her trying to look innocent and sad in court is so fucking annoying. Even her lawyers are fucking clowns. Sorry, i have way too much time and therefore i am way too deep in all this drama lol.

comment your answer, i know this has nothing to do with the story haha but it's just something that's a big thing on the news rn, and leave a like!!

WHO-DEY 🧡