path of heal - j.b.

8

Sighing, Joe stared at the alert message on his lock screen. "Elle's Apple Watch, elevated heart rate," his phone told him. The message was already a few hours old, but he still didn't like the notification one bit, so he quickly deleted it to stop staring at it.

In the off season, Elle and he had paired her Apple Watch to his phone so that as soon as Elle's heartbeat got too fast during one of her panic attacks, Joe would be notified immediately and could help as soon as possible. In addition, Elle could set off the alarm herself in case of an emergency, which immediately transmitted her location to Joe.

In fact, he was supposed to then immediately be there to help her. Reassure her. Protect her. Just stand by her side until the worst was behind her. Everything he had not been able to do today.

It had been so bad to see everything from a distance. At first he hadn't noticed that Elle was the one lying in the circle formed by players. It wasn't until Nick's walkie-talkie buzzed and Michael's voice rang out to tell what had happened and that he was going to take Elle inside that Joe had known.

Watching his girlfriend's exhausted, weakened body being hoisted onto the cart like a wet sack had sent goose bumps all over his body. He knew that it wouldn't do any good to run to her. It would just cause too much attention and he knew Elle wouldn't want that.

Reassuringly, Ja'Marr had been at Elle's side. Besides Nick, Zac and him, Ja'Marr was the only one on this team who knew what had happened to Elle and how to help her during her panic attacks.

She had not been alone. Even though he watched helplessly as his girlfriend was driven off the field while she gave him that agonizing look, he knew his best friend had been by her side.

He hadn't seen Elle yet. He knew, from another static from Nick's walkie talkie, that she was fine. He had heard her voice. About three-quarters of an hour after she had been driven off the field, she herself had announced that she could go back to work.

Actually, he had wanted to check on her between meetings and training, make sure she was really okay and not just throwing herself back into work, but he just couldn't find the time and hoped that at least Nick was keeping an eye on her.

He let the phone slide into his pocket and put a few things in his locker before shouldering the bag and making his way out of the booth. As is often the case, he was the last one out. He had to put in the extra work to really be 100% fit for week 1 against the Steelers.

But now he would finally have to see his girlfriend. Until he would hold her in his arms and was really quite sure she was okay, there would be no releasing this tension from his body.

He was pushing open the door to the dressing room when he looked puzzled into the face of Aaron Donald. Rams players were housed in the guest cabin, so they really had no business being here.

"Ah, Burrow, I was looking for you" Aaron exhaled in relief and ran a hand through his short hair "Listen, I...wanted to apologize for what happened on the field today. I know she's your girl and all. If I had known it would shock her like that..., well, I just lost control" a guilty expression spread across Aaron's face.

"Uh...okay. Thanks, I guess. But shouldn't you tell Elle yourself instead of me?" he inquired. Of course, he knew that everyone knew that Elle and he were together, yet most of the Bengals organization acted like there was nothing going on as long as they were at work. Hearing a player from another team now call Elle his girl threw Joe off a bit.

"I tried, but my God, that girl is hard to get" Aaron sighed. Joe scoffed. "Tell me about it" he muttered. "I've tried several times, but she's just untraceable. I really wanted to apologize to her though. I feel really bad and I thought before I don't say anything, I'll tell you and you'll deliver it to her? If I see her tomorrow, I'll definitely still tell her in person" Aaron assured him.

"It's all good, Aaron. It's nice of you to apologize. I really do appreciate it. But it's not your fault. It's nobody's fault, so don't worry about it, okay? Elle's fine" Joe reassured him, although he had to admit, seeing the scary, burly Aaron Donald so contrite was a very rare sight.

"Still...I'll go see her tomorrow" Aaron turned away and walked down the hall after mumbling a quick goodbye, but turned around again. "Joe, whatever happened in her past to make her panic like that...I'm sorry for her" a weak laugh escaped his lips before he turned to leave.

"Me too" Joe mumbled as he leaned against the wall sighing. For a moment he was lost in thought, but the vibrating of his cell phone snapped him out of it. A text from Elle.

Will you pick me up at my office and take me home as soon as you're done?

He pushed himself off the wall while texting back at the same time.

On my way

He didn't even think to knock when he arrived outside Elle's office and immediately burst into the room. "Hey..." he hadn't even gotten the greeting right before Elle had jumped up from the couch she was curled up on and threw herself into his arms.

"Hey" Elle mumbled against his chest as Joe dropped his bag to the floor and wrapped his arms around Elle before sighing and hugging her close. "I'm so glad you are okay" he mumbled into her hair as Elle snuggled into the crook of his neck.

"Sorry" she mumbled, suddenly sounding fragile again. "Don't ever apologize for this, Elle. The most important thing is that you're okay, okay?" he brushed her hair behind her ears and pushed her face up to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked as Elle's eyes stared tiredly at him from below. "If I say no, will you never let me go?" she asked, pushing her lower lip forward. Joe had to smile. "I'll never let you go anyway" he breathed a kiss on her lips.

"But first I'll take you home" he wrapped his arm around her shoulder before grabbing his bag and slinging Elle's backpack over his arm as well. "Ready to go home?" he asked as he stroked her arm and pushed towards the door.

Elle just nodded. "Nothing I'd rather do" she stated as she turned off the light and pulled the door shut behind her before letting Joe push her down the hallway. "I don't know if there's anything left to do with me tonight. I think I just want to sleep" Elle muttered as she yawned.

"I forbid you to do anything else" Joe clarified as he pressed a kiss to her hair. Elle had to giggle. "Will you at least lie with me until I fall asleep? I could sure use a strong body to cuddle with"

Joe laughed. "I hope you're not reducing me to just my strong bodies, Miss Simmons" he raised an eyebrow questioningly. Elle smirked. "No, no. The other stuff is just fine too, Mister Burrow" she winked at him.

Joe gasped indignantly. "Just fine? Well, listen. Someone's about to sleep on the sofa" he shook his head. Elle laughed before pulling a pout and staring at Joe with her big puppy dog eyes. "Please don't. I really need you" she pleaded.

Joe sighed. "Alright, I can't resist that look anyway. Dinner and then bed?" he asked. Elle nodded. "That sounds very good" she agreed.

"Oh, by the way, Aaron Donald will be visiting you tomorrow" Joe nudged Elle lightly. Surprised, she stared at him. "Why is that?" Joe shrugged with a grin. "Let it be a surprise"

Okay we won but wtf was that?!

Thank god our defense only allowed 3 points in four red zone drives cause OMG offense, you were nothing in the second half...

After our first two offense drives and the 2 TDs (so happy for Yoshi!!! And joe making sure he gets his ball 🥰 ) i was so happy and really confident and then the drama started and every time i thought that it couldn't get worse, the offense proved me wrong...

But this defense?! CTB, love this man. Mike Hilton looking like a WR and Trey just pressuring? Waaaay too good!! Sam looking hot as always while running down players? Give me more of that!!

But offense, oh my god, get your shit together!!!

Well anyway hope y'all had an amazing start into this bye week!!

WHO DEY 🧡