In the morning, Claire woke early and did a few quick laps in the pool. She was waiting in the lobby for an elevator, and when the doors opened, she was pleasantly surprised to see Jon. He was dressed in his workout gear, on his way to the gym. "Hey you, you must've been up early," he said, taking her in. She had her hotel robe over the top of her wet swimsuit, her hair wrapped up in a towel and flip flops on her feet. I bet I look ridiculous, she lamented. "Yeah, I slept well, and wanted to get in the pool to start the day. I'm going to be a busy bee today, so it needed to be early." He beckoned her into the elevator. "Come on, come with me."

She stepped inside the elevator and he pushed the button for the basement. He took her hand and they found the stairwell. He sat down on a step, and as Claire positioned herself to sit down next to him, his arms slipped around her waist and he pulled her onto his knee. She let out a laugh and kissed his cheek. He smiled softly , not removing his hands from around her. "Everything alright?" he asked. "You've been a little… not-Claire these past couple of days." Have I? she wondered. His thumb was moving softly across her knee. "Yeah, I've just been busy and tired," she replied. "But, after a good night's sleep and a few laps in the pool, I'm feeling ready to face the day. And then my first ever trip to Nevada," she added, with a sly grin on her face. She leaned down to kiss him, and he turned her soft, innocent peck into a full, open mouthed kiss. She found herself falling into him, one hand cupping his face, and pushing her tongue into his mouth. A soft chuckle emanated from his chest and he copied her action. His hand on her knee slowly ran halfway up her thigh and back again, and the robe fell away from her skin. Jon's hand repeated its journey, feeling warm against her cool skin. Claire felt goosebumps emerge on her arms as his hand moved up and down her leg. She wrapped both arms around his neck and deepened their kiss. She recognised the tingle building between her legs, and did her best to ignore it.

They both took a couple of deep breaths. "You should probably go workout more than your tongue." He chuckled, shaking his head. "What if I've changed my mind?" he asked with a cheeky spark in his eyes. "Tough luck," she said, standing up, against his arms trying to hold her back. "Get it done. Because I need to go have a shower. I stink like chlorine." Jon smiled. "Yeah, it isn't your best look," he chuckled. "So, see you in Tennessee?" he asked hopefully. "Yeah, I won't know the allocations for another couple of hours, but I'll text you when I know," she replied. "Are we leaving from the venue?" Jon nodded. He'd paid for her ticket to Vegas, and arranged a late night flight from Knoxville. "Be prepared to sleep on the flight, I've got plans when we land." He leaned forward and kissed her quickly, before running up the stairs. Claire headed back to the elevator and rode it to her floor. I wonder what those plans are….

Following the planning meeting en route to the venue, Claire was feeling confident. Zane had applauded her work on the analytic reports and mentioned some of her findings when addressing the team. Also, Carl had spoken to her before the meeting and apologised for his behaviour. "I really was pissed at Zane, not you. I shouldn't have been a dick about it." Claire acknowledged that it wouldn't have been easy for him to say sorry, so accepted it and gave him a hug. He had even complimented her work recently and wanted to catch up next week to discuss strategies. That had really boosted her mood, which was already positive. She was glad things would return to normal.

She had been allocated Brie Bella, the Wyatts, Rusev and Dolph. Carl would be dealing with Jon again, and she was much more comfortable with it now that they'd put shit behind them. It was another frantic night; running after the talent, liaising with them about what shots would work, taking the pre-shots, creating written content and uploading to the storage drive for the team at HQ to use on Thursday night, and the same with post-shots. Having four allocations was a heavy workload, but she was happy for the distraction. As excited as she was about heading to Vegas with Jon, she was equally nervous. Having a busy schedule kept her mind free from overanalysing. It would also ensure she would be tired enough to catch some sleep on the plane. Although that didn't work so well when heading to Atlanta…

Claire had offered to help Zane with a few things at the end of the show, which doubled as a convenient excuse to get out of a ride to the airport with Lucy. Once she'd picked up her bags from the storage room, she met Jon in the parking lot. He was leaning against a wall, smiling at her. Far out, she thought to herself, no wonder he had girls throwing themselves at him. "You ready?" he asked, taking her bags from her. They got into a waiting cab, and within seconds, Jon's hand found hers. Claire felt like a kid on Christmas, and the smile on Jon's face replicated that. "Totally. Sin City here I come," she laughed. "You high roller," he scoffed, squeezing her hand.

Claire woke as the hostess announced their decent into Las Vegas. She'd managed to sleep through most of the flight, helped by the upgraded tickets Jon had arranged for them. It's so comfortable up here! She looked out the window at the lights of the city. They dazzled even at 5am. She'd always wanted to come to Vegas; see a show, take in the lights, try her hand on a blackjack table even though she'd never played in her life. She didn't know if Jon had any of that planned for their days together or not. She imagined that most residents of city probably didn't hit the strip every night. Oh well, she thought, hopefully there's a next time.

Jon had left his car at the airport when he left last week. After he loaded their bags into the trunk, he turned to her and said "Are you ready to see Las Vegas by sunrise?" He'd scouted a place last week where they could watch the sun come up over the city. He figured it would a better way to start their time together than going straight back to his place, where either of them might be tired enough to want to catch some sleep. He wanted to delay the potentially awkward sleeping arrangement scenario for as long as he could. Claire smiled. "It's been a while since I've seen the sun rise," she replied. "Me too, on purpose," he told her as they got in the car. As he drove, took the occasional glimpse over to her in the passenger seat. Despite only a few hours of sleep, she was wide eyed, taking in the sights. He smiled. Las Vegas had a personality all of its own, and depending what you were looking for, you'd see a different side of the city. He didn't move here for the gambling or debauchery, although that suited Dean Ambrose down to the ground. He actually moved here for a tax break. He'd not spent much time on the Strip; he'd visited the odd bar when some of his old indie friends had come to town, but most of the time, he was too tired from the road to want to leave the house. He enjoyed not being around people. He couldn't tell if Claire would want to see any of the touristy crap. He assumed she'd be into shows, maybe big dancing ones, but the rest of the kitschy stuff, he couldn't tell. He hadn't planned anything like that for their two days together, but if she wanted to see it, he'd show her. Plus, there's always next time….

He parked up halfway up the road to the National Park. From here, he'd be able to show her the Strip, the plain suburbs beyond the city, and the desert. He pulled out the blanket he'd prepared last week and lay it on the ground next to the car. They had picked up coffees at the airport and finished drinking those looking out to the city. The darkness of the night was starting to disappear, with the first signs of light emerging on the horizon. Perfectly timed, if I do say so myself. "Do you think every city is pretty by sunlight? Or maybe it's the desert that adds that something extra," Claire asked him. He shrugged. "I've seen some pretty plain cities in my time. I think if you've got something natural, like mountains, or oceans or trees, or in this case, a desert, the colours accentuate it." He put his arm around her, and she snuggled into his shoulder. The sun slowly peered over the horizon, turning the city orange inch by inch.

"So, what do you want to do while you're here?" he asked casually, as if he didn't already have a bunch of plans. Claire shrugged. "I don't mind. I was hoping that the local resident would take me all the places I needed to see." He laughed. "If I was playing tour guide, the places I think you need to see aren't anywhere near the Strip. Getting out here, up the mountains, out in the desert, that's what you'd need to see." She smiled. "Sounds perfect. Although, to be honest, I don't really care what we do. It'll be nice to have more time just us." He placed a hand on her cheek and guided her lips towards his. "That's the answer I was looking for," he said, kissing her softly. He looked at her and thought about how many songs and movies mentioned seeing the sunrise; how romantic and special it was. He doubted it was the colour of skyline, but she did look very kissable. He couldn't resist, lowering his head to kiss her again. "Well, why don't we drop the bags off and come back here. We can hike one of the tracks and then see where the day takes us. And later head out for dinner somewhere." She shook her head, which surprised him. He thought that sounded like something she'd enjoy. "We always eat out, or have food provided for us. I'd like to cook tonight." This time, he was the one to shake his head. "No way. You're my guest. I should offer to cook for you, but I can't really cook so I'll take you out for a meal." Claire sighed. "No, Jon. Please. You know that I already feel uncomfortable with the amount of money you spend on me. You've paid for me to be here. The least I can do is cook for you. And I'd like to." He pursed his lips. "I wish you didn't feel that way, I'm not keeping score. But sure, that sounds lovely. We'll swing by the store on the way to pick up what you need."

He meant what he'd said about not keeping count, but as they lay back watching the sun get higher, their fingers linked together, he thought about the logistics of her offer. At least we won't have to waste any time driving home tonight… Hewas hoping that by suggesting an evening at home, Claire had a similar train of thought as he did. Even if tonight wasn't the night, he still intended on trying to advance things from last Saturday, so long as she didn't object. He wasn't one to wish his life away, but he found himself wishing the clock would jump forward 12 hours. How am I not meant to go crazy between now and then?