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Elle was quite nervous as she and Joe drove to the facility the next morning and walked together to the conference room. They had agreed last night that they would make their relationship public and not, as the other option would have been, dismiss it as a fling and a one-time thing.

Making it public did not mean that from now on they would have to play influencer couple and post every detail about their relationship on social media. On the contrary, they had decided together to keep their relationship as private as possible.

So why publish it at all? The press would rather lose interest in all this if Elle and Joe confessed to their relationship, could show themselves publicly without risk, and just didn't make a big deal out of it, than have to be constantly on guard not to be discovered and face ongoing articles if they were seen together after all, if they denied the relationship.

Elle was about to enter the room when Joe stopped her and took her hands in his. "Hey, calm down. No matter what is about to happen in this room, it's not going to change anything for us, okay?" he kissed her on the back of her hand.

"Maybe we're driving ourselves crazy and they just brought us here because they're throwing us a surprise party to celebrate our relationship and we're about to be handed a big cake with the words "congrats"" Joe quipped, which made Elle laugh a little.

"Let's not put it off any longer. Get in there" Joe smiled encouragingly at her before opening the door and entering the room still holding Elle's hand.

Already seated at the table were Zac, Nick, Paul, Mike Brown and a woman and a man, both in suits, that Elle didn't know. "Hey everybody" Elle raised her hand briefly in greeting.

"Miss Simmons, Mister Burrow, we've been waiting for you" the woman stood up and extended her hand to Elle. "Lindsey Bradley. This is my colleague Brock Lowman" she pointed to the man who had also stood up to shake hands with the two.

"We are here on behalf of the NFL. Please sit down" she pointed to the chairs across from them, which were between Zac and Paul. Joe and Elle exchanged glances before sitting down.

"Miss Simmons, Mister Burrow, as you might have guessed, we're here because of the pictures and videos that have been going around since Sunday night showing you two....well, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about" Lindsey Bradley opened the file that was on the table in front of her.

"We're supposed to be clarifying some details on behalf of the NFL, so we can decide after that how we're going to proceed" Brock Lowman added.

"Proceed? What could happen?" Paul asked in surprise.

"We can't say until we know all the important facts, Mister Sparling. Before then, we don't expect Miss Simmons and Mister Burrow to receive any consequences" Lindsey explained.

"Consequences?" this time Zac was the one staring at the two suited people in surprise, but they simply ignored the reaction, as well as the confused looks everyone else was exchanging with each other.

"In order to get a clear picture of the situation, we would like to talk to all of you individually. First, please, with Miss Simmons and Mister Burrow. The rest of you will be questioned afterwards" Lindsey explained. "Is there somewhere around here where we can talk without being interrupted?"

"We...we can go to my office" Elle suggested. The whole thing just seemed suspect to her and now having to go in for one-on-one questioning felt like she had committed a crime.

"My office is free too" Nick offered. The two NFL representatives seemed to agree and exchanged a few unintelligible words with each other before standing up.

"Miss Simmons, you're coming with me to your office" Lindsey stated and followed by Elle stepped out of the room with Joe following Brock. When they arrived at Nick's office, Elle unlocked the door, giving Joe and her a brief moment to talk.

"Just be honest. We didn't do anything wrong. They can't hurt us" Joe muttered to her. Elle just nodded, "I know. It still makes me nervous"

"You can do this. I love you" he mumbled as Elle opened the door. "I love you too. Good luck" she murmured back before moving on with Lindsey.

In her office, Elle settled into her office chair while Lindsey took a seat across from her in Michael's chair. Nervousness spread through Elle as Lindsey remained silent for a while, seeming to read the file on the table in front of him.

"are you okay with us recording the conversation?" she asked, already placing a recording device in the middle of the table. "No, no problem" Elle replied, forcing herself to smile while anxiously tugging on her bracelet.

"Okay, Miss Simmons, let's get started. For completeness, first I'm going to ask you to state your name, age, and occupation" Lindsey let the pen click as Elle took a deep breath before speaking.

"My name is Eleanor Simmons. I am 24 years old and I am an assistant athletic trainer for the Cincinnati Bengals" she dutifully gave the data she was asked for.

"Thank you very much. Miss Simmons, do you know why you are here?"

"Yes, to be interviewed on behalf of the NFL about an...incident between Joe Burrow and myself".

"That's right. How would you describe your relationship with said Joe Burrow?"

"Joe Burrow and I have a romantic relationship".

"So you two are a couple? For how long?"

"We started seeing each other in mid-August. Then in early October we officially became a couple"

"When did you tell the organization?"

"The day after we got together"

"Did anyone within the team know about your relationship with Mister Burrow before that?"

"Yes, Ja'Marr Chase and my supervisor Nick Cosgray".

"When did you tell the rest of the players and staff? How did they find out?"

"A day after we told the board, we had told the players after a team meeting. The rest of the staff was informed a few days later through an email from Mike Brown"

"Have there ever been any issues with other staff or players since your relationship became public within the organization? Have there been any complaints? Did you feel that anyone felt wronged or thought you favored Mister Burrow?"

"No. There have been no complaints, no problems, no players who have felt disadvantaged. If there had been any, I'm pretty sure those individuals would have approached us or the supervisors directly about it. We're like one big family here"

"Mister Burrows recovery training had become your responsibility due to the Covid illness of your supervisor Nick Cosgrays prior to training camp, correct?"

Elle nodded in agreement.

"Was Mister Burrow still under your responsibility when the two of you entered into an intimate relationship? I am referring here to the statement that you began seeing each other in mid-August"

"Since Joe Burrow is the quarterback of the team I work for, he as well as any other player are always part of my job and therefore my responsibility. However, his rebuilding training was over or taken over by Nick Cosgray at that time, so I would answer your question with a no."

"Alright, Miss Simmons. Last question, do you think your relationship with Mister Burrow in any way affects your work as an Athletic Trainer?"

Elle shook her head. "No, I can say with certainty that my relationship with Joe Burrow has no influences on the quality of my work"

"I thank you for your honesty. You may leave now. Would you be so kind as to send Mister Sparling to me for questioning?" Lindsey folded the file shut while Elle stood up on wobbly legs and just nodded.

Time just didn't seem to pass while Elle waited with Joe in the conference room for the other four to finish their interviews. Joe's attempts to calm her down and cheer her up led rather to the opposite, although she was very grateful that he tried to give her security and strength, which she needed quite a bit right now.

After what felt like an eternity, Zac and Mike finally returned from their questioning and sat back down at the table with the others, sighing. "Where are the two reps?" Nick asked, confused. "They are in your office conferring. We're supposed to wait here" Zac explained.

Elle zoomed out of the room completely while the men debated the results of the interviews. Everyone agreed that Elle and Joe had broken no rule and had done nothing criminal or wrong and the two had nothing to worry about because of it.

Finally the two representatives came back and sat down in the seats they had been sitting in before. "Miss Simmons, Mr. Burrow. We have come to a conclusion in your case. But first, we want to thank you all again for your honesty. Because of your cooperation, we were able to end this case quickly" Lindsey smiled gratefully at the group.

Joe took Elle's hand in his under the table and squeezed it encouragingly, while Brock opened the file and looked at the group. "We got the impression from all of you that, despite the relationship between Miss Simmons and Mister Burrow, there were no problems with other staff, players, or the work they were doing. In fact, one would think you believed that the quality had improved."

Lindsey took over talking again, while Elle nearly squeezed Joe's hand to the bone under the table. "Nevertheless, we have come to the conclusion that a relationship like this can affect not only the health of the players but also the equitable treatment and unfortunately we cannot condone this relationship"

"Meaning?" Joe asked, startled, as Elle slumped further and further in her chair and it looked like her face was getting paler and paler.

"That we have to order the organization to fire Miss Simmons due to unprofessional conduct" Brock announced.

Is it logical? I don't care, it's my story and if I want to fire Elle, I fire her! What do you think will they do?🤔

Thank you so much for 180k reads!! And for getting my on the one for #nfl! Never would have imagined!!

WHO-DEY🧡