beautiful mistake - joe burrow

48

The next week was one of the best Elle had had in a long time. Although she had to take over night shifts again, well, she had asked for it, since her shoulder was well again so far that Nick even took off her brace, but still warned her to go slowly and not necessarily to do sports, she spent her free evenings with Joe.

They usually cooked together, always at Elle's, since it was just easier since she usually still had to work until eight or nine. After dinner they just sat on the couch and talked, telling each other fond memories from childhood or just stories.

Elle talked a lot about Ian and Celine, Joe often talked about his college days. After the second meeting, it already felt to Elle like she had known Joe forever, and lying on her couch with him and cuddling was the most normal thing in the world.

Still, Joe went back home to his place every night because Elle didn't know if she was ready to sleep in the same bed with him yet and just didn't want to rush into it.

It was Sunday by now and the Bengals' last preseason game against the Dolphins was coming up. For Elle it would be another very exciting game today, not only was it the first game her parents would be at, it was also her first game at Paul Brown Stadium and although there wouldn't be as many fans there, she was really looking forward to playing at the home stadium.

She hadn't seen Joe since yesterday at noon because even though she had last night off, they couldn't do anything together because her parents had arrived and she had cooked with them last night.

Today she arrived just in time to tap all the players, but she hadn't run into Joe there either. Afterwards, it was back to the medical staff meeting and then out onto the field to supervise the warm-up.

Elle took a quick detour to see her parents, who were standing on the edge of the bleachers, smiling and waving at her. "We wish you a good game" her mother raised her crossed fingers in the air.

"Thank you, I wish you too" Elle replied smiling. "And of course, that you don't get too busy" her father added. Elle laughed. "That's sweet of you, dad. You guys can go back to my place after the game, by the way. I'll check in with you guys when I'm done here,ok?" her parents nodded in agreement before her mom sent her an air kiss and Elle walked away from them waving.

As the players headed back inside, the entire staff began to prep the sidelines. The athletic trainers set up the treatment tables and prepared the blue tent in case they would need it, the other staff members set up water bottles and checked to make sure the benches were prepared.

They also distributed the tablets that would allow the players and coaches to view previous plays during the game to the coaches' seats and checked the radio and phone lines with all possible receivers.

Elle was just thinking that she finally had a few minutes of nothing to do so she could finally fix the water supplies and snacks for the ATs they were secretly snacking during the games, when Paul suddenly came up to her.

"You're needed in the locker room" he informed her. "Me, can't Michael take over? I'm in the middle of something" she held up the water bottles she was about to carry to their area.

"You were explicitly asked for" Paul shrugged and took the water bottles from her. "You go ahead, I'll fix the rest here" he smiled at her as Elle nodded with a sigh. "Alright, I'll go see what the problem is".

When she ran to the locker room, she was confused to find that the whole team was already standing in the aisle, waiting to finally be allowed to run out, but that could take a few more minutes.

She made her way to Zac, whom she spotted at the edge of the commotion. "Hey Zac. Paul sent me here because apparently I was explicitly requested. Do you know what's going on?" she asked him when she got to him.

Zac just sighed in relief. "It's a good thing you got here so fast. He's still in there" "who?" confused, Elle looked at Zac who just quickly pushed her into the locker room and closed the door behind her.

Unsure, Elle looked around the locker room. "Hello, anyone here?" she asked. "I'm here" only now she spotted Joe sitting in his seat with his head hanging, his helmet on the floor between his legs and looking rather depressed.

"Hey, why aren't you out there with the others? Something wrong with your knee?" she walked over to him, knelt on the floor and pushed Joe's head up by his chin so he was looking at her.

"Yes and no" Joe sighed "What's wrong Joe? Why did you ask to have me come especially?" Elle asked lovingly, stroking his cheek. Something was bothering him a lot and Elle knew that wasn't good if he was about to play.

"As ATs, you are also responsible for our mental state, aren't you?" Joe asked. Elle nodded. "we are there for your health, physically as well as mentally" she added. "What's on your mind?"

Joe sighed again and lowered his head again. "I...I feel like I can't trust my knee yet. I don't know why, but something in my head has been telling me all day that it's going to fail today because of my knee" he confessed.

"That's totally normal after an injury like that and the break like it was in your case, Joe. You just have to get back into the game, get used to it and realize that your knee is fully back to the way it was before the injury" Elle tried to comfort him.

"But, what if it causes me to mess up the game today?" "you're not going to blow it. You just do your best out there and just don't worry too much about everything, ok? It's a preseason game, Joe. The game today is for you to get back on the court. To get back that feeling of what it's like to play quarterback in the NFL. To get you to trust yourself and your knee again."

"Haven't I had long enough to do that?" Joe asked, sighing. "No, Joe. Nobody expected you to be back on the field this early and nobody expects you to make the perfect play today, you know?"

"Are you sure about that? You've said several times, too, that I'm the hope, the shooting star. Everyone expects me to be the best" "I'm pretty sure, Joe, that no one will hold it against you if you throw all your snaps to the opponent today. You're playing a real game for the first time since your injury and no one cares how the game turns out"

There was a knock on the door and Zac stuck his head in. "we have to run out in a minute. You guys ready?" he asked, giving Joe a worried look. Elle nodded. "Just give us a minute. We'll be right out, okay?" Zac nodded and disappeared again.

"Joe, I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to take time for you to fully trust your knee again, but I want you to give yourself that time, okay? Now grab this helmet..." she picked the helmet up off the floor and held it out to Joe. "...And show everyone out there what Joe Burrow can do, even if he's been injured this long".

A smile flitted across Joe's face as he took the helmet from Elle and stood up. "Thanks, that really felt good" Elle returned the smile. "No problem, I get paid for it" she winked at him before they both laughed and Joe pulled Elle into a hug. "You do me good" he murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead before letting go.

He took another deep breath before tucking the helmet under his arm and opening the locker room door. "Ok guys, let's show them what tigers do to dolphins" he called out to the team, who clapped in agreement before running out onto the field led by Joe.

Grinning, Elle exited the locker room and ran into Zac, who had apparently been waiting for her. "You did a pretty good job. Seems like he gives something on your word" he smirked. Elle shrugged her shoulders. "Seems like it, doesn't it?" she grinned.

Ok, I need your help! I can't decide if I should split up the story into a second half or not. The thing is, the story is almost at 50 chapters and I have more chapters pre written but didn't even finished half the season in the story line and I have many different scenes plant that will bring the story to probably another 50 chapters.
there is a scene soon that will work as an end for the first half so I can post the second as a new story (a sequel). I just don't want that the books are too long, so idk.
Should I split into a sequel or is it not a problem if this story as prob more than 100 chapters at the end?

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