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The next few weeks passed, but the NFL had not changed in its opinion so far. The lawyers Mike had provided Elle were working with every little chance they could get to get Elle her job back.

All the uncertainty took its toll on Elle, even though she tried to be brave. She didn't always succeed. Especially at night, Joe had woken up once or twice from her sobbing or her restless tossing and turning, and had held her in his arms until she fell back asleep.

Everyone tried to distract her as best they could. Ja'Marr visited them both often. Elle's parents visited several times. Zac ordered her in to babysit. Nick invited her to dinner. Leila showered her with chores for upcoming events for the future is female. And Joe also tried to keep her busy every free minute.

But the biggest support besides Joe was still Celine. Her best friend didn't give up on Elle. She dragged her along to clubs, bars or concerts, used every free minute to get Elle out of the house and when Joe went with Sam and a few old friends from his Ohio State days on the long-planned golf weekend, Celine took Elle on a spa trip lasting several days.

Joe had considered canceling the golf outing, but Elle had demanded that he go. She would feel bad if he missed it because of her, after all, he had been looking forward to it for a long time and really deserved it. Besides, the few days away from each other would be good for the two of them as well. After all, they had been hanging on each other for over three weeks almost all the time.

In the meantime, Joe had postponed the idea of a vacation together. As soon as the whole thing was finally settled, no matter what the outcome, Elle and he would go away for a week. He had decided against hotels and in favor of a vacation home and was just waiting to finally book it. A week of just the two of them. No cell phone, no disturbances, no media.

Speaking of Media, to put a little more pressure on the NFL, the Bengals Media channels had released a statement from Mike explaining the situation and at the same time announcing that the Bengals would fight this decision.

It had sparked a real wave of online hate. While many people were upset about the baseless decision to fire Elle, many ATs or staff members from other clubs had also come forward and complained about it.

They reported situations or events like having dinner together or similar with players of their club and claimed that after all it was the same as Elle's situation and they should be prosecuted for it too.

They also complained that this ruling seemed to be saying that there should be no personal relationships between staff and players and that was total nonsense.

Also, many players or other important personalities associated with the NFL or other sports, even from the ranks of the Bengals posted the hashtag elle stays in cincy, which in a few days already had countless tweets.

No statement came from the NFL since then. They had withdrawn and had also no longer contacted the lawyers, who conducted the purest telephone terror every day.

Elle had already looked around for job alternatives. She had written to all the football teams and any other jobs she could possibly get as an AT that weren't too far from Cincinnati, but even her old internship had to turn her down.

There had been no jobs for her anywhere in the area, so she had widened her circle and with the help of her old coach and his contacts, she had gotten an offer from Auburn University.

Auburn's football team had just had a new AT position open and wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to bring a woman into their ranks, they had also assured Elle at the same time that she would even have a chance to move up to head AT over the years, which was definitely not a bad option.

Together with Joe, she had set a deadline. If the NFL hadn't made a decision by then, she would accept Auburn's offer. It wasn't Cincinnati, but the flight there would only take three and a half hours, and Joe and Elle would surely manage to see each other often.

Along with the deadline, they had also decided that Elle would move out of her apartment the day before. Two days later would be the first of the month, so it was the only right time to make the move out. All of her things would go to her parents in Mansfield for now, until she found an apartment in Auburn.

The deadline to move out was today. The mood had been somber all morning while Elle, along with Celine, Leila, and her mom, packed the boxes her brothers and Joe carried down to the moving truck. Nick and their dad were taking apart individual pieces of furniture. Tammy was at Joe's house with Ian, preparing food for lunch.

With each piece of the apartment that Elle boxed up, she grew sadder. This apartment had been her home for the last few years, even though she had been at Joe's more often than hers the last few months.

She associated many happy moments with these rooms. The many evenings with Celine and a little too much wine. Her whole family and her squeezed onto the couch at pizza dinner. The first time she had slept with Joe.

Even worse, this moving out meant not only saying goodbye to her apartment, but goodbye to Cincy as her home. She didn't want to leave. Auburn would be nothing like it was here.

There, her family wouldn't be with her in a matter of hours. There, she had no Nick or Zac to rebuild her while she worked. There, she didn't have Ja'Marr to annoy over and over again. No team that was there for her, like countless big brothers. Most of all, there was no Joe there, no Celine.

They didn't have much left to do as they made their way back to the apartment after lunch and Tammy's delicious meal. Joe sat in Nick's car with Elle, comfortingly holding Elle's hand, who had barely spoken today.

Suddenly, the ringing of a cell phone interrupted the depressed silence in the car. "Sorry, that's mine" Nick gave the two in the back seat an apologetic look as he pulled over to the side of the road and answered the call.

"Hey, Nick here. Who is this?" he asked. "Oh, hey...yeah, they're both with me" Elle and Joe exchanged confused looks as Nick ran his hand over his forehead. "Yeah, we can do that. Ok, see you in a bit" already he had hung up.

"Guys, we're going to take a quick detour" he reported to the two and merged back into traffic.

"Can you finally tell us what we're doing here?" Joe asked, sighing as Nick parked in the lot in front of the facility, unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped out of the car. Elle and Joe had trouble following him at that pace.

"Like I said, I don't know either. Paul just asked me if I was with you guys and asked me to take you to the facility right away. It would be urgent" he explained again as they chased him through the hallways.

He stopped in front of the same room where Elle was announced to be fired last time, which sent a cold shiver down her spine as Joe literally pushed her into the room.

Just like last time, Mike, Zac and Paul, as well as a stranger in a suit were already seated at the table. "Miss Simmons, Mister Burrow, Mister Cosgray, glad you could come so quickly. Then we are now complete" the unknown man pointed to the empty chairs, on which the three quickly sat down.

"As you might guess, I'm here representing the NFL. My name is Markus Olsen. After we got the message from your lawyers, I was put on the case to review it one more time" he explained as Elle and Joe exchanged surprised glances and Joe encouragingly took Elle's hand in his.

"I must say, Miss Simmons, I was quite surprised. All the 20 years I've been in this job, it's never come to my attention that because of one decision, over 100 letters have reached me, all about how good your work is here and how unjustified your firing is," Mark gave Elle an admiring look.

"Every single player, as well as most of the staff or associates of this club have testified on your behalf. In addition, the approval and support you have once again received from the Internet" Markus smiled.

"I have to agree with my colleagues. There is not a single reason to suspect that your relationship with Mister Burrow affects your work in any way, nor to think that other players or staff feel disadvantaged by it"

"Meaning?" Elle asked, spellbound, and the sound of hope was also reflected in her wide eyes with which she stared at Markus.

"It meant that I can't agree with my colleagues in their decision and I passed it on to our superiors like that. Congratulations, Miss Simmons. You get to keep your job."

Mark had barely uttered the words before Elle had jumped up squealing and thrown herself stormily around Joe's neck, while Mike and Paul shook hands happily, Zac clapped his hands delightedly, and Nick thanked Mark a thousand times.

When everyone had calmed down again, Mark said goodbye to the group and the other four also moved out of the room to give the couple some time to themselves.

"We did it, Joe. I can stay. I'm staying here" Elle did a few pirouettes before throwing herself back into Joe's arms, who gave her a laughing hug.

"Yeah, you're staying here. You're staying with me" he beamed at her. "Oh my god, this is insane. I have so much to do again. I have to call Auburn and cancel. I have to call my landlord and ask him if I can get the apartment back"

"Slow down, slow down. Now let the joy celebrate properly before you worry about all that" Joe reassured her.

"Oh my god, I need to get a hold of someone in the apartment to get them to stop packing up my stuff" Elle pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

"Ah ah..." Joe took the phone from her. "Let them go ahead" confused Elle looked at him. "But...why?"

Joe wrapped his arms around her body and looked at her with a grin. "What do you say instead of moving back to your apartment, you officially move in with me? After all, you're with me all the time anyway."

Elle stared at him in surprise for a moment before squealing and placing her lips on his. "Wait a minute..." Joe broke away from her. "Is that a yes?" he asked.

Elle beamed at him. "YES. Of course that's a yes" she replied before placing her lips on his again.

THE END

Damn, the story ended quicker than I thought it would and Im kinda sad about it. I really liked to write and create the story of Joe and Elle or as their ship name is JOELLE and Im so glad to tell you guys that I will definitely write a sequel about this season so Elle and Joe, as well as all the other characters will return, I promise!!But i want to wait for this season to be not over but further so I wont catch up with the story in real time.Don't worry! In the meantime I will write a second story, again with Joe as the love interest and again about last season but its going to be different. Im going to take a break for some time to start writing the story and because my new semester starts next week, but I will be back soon!!

Thank you so much again for all the love and support I got while writing and posting this story. Without your comments and texts it wouldn't have been as much fun to create this story. I appreciate every single read, like and comment and I hope that I could give you all this love back by posting the chapters.

Special thanks to all the people who helped me getting some details right and who endured my despair during my writing blocks. But the biggest thanks goes to my shiesty trio. So glad I met you two and thanks for being the most supportive people on this planet as well as the best people to talk to when it comes to football and Joe. Glad I found some people who rave about Joe as much as I do!

Can I get a last WHO-DEY 🧡?