Monday afternoon brought no let up in the constant barrage of stress for Erin. There was another Raw episode to finalise before the show went live, as well as the inevitable meetings with people who wanted to request changes or tweaks to their part of the show. Plus there was the vitally important meeting planned with Clementine. Erin hoped to be able to talk Clem out of leaving WWE. Frankly, she needed to. WWE's public image and stock price had already taken a kicking lately because of the revelations about Hank, and Clem walking away because of how the company's executives treated women would be another PR disaster, as well as a tremendous loss to the women's division.

Sat at her desk in her office backstage, Erin had sent someone to fetch Clementine. It was time for the vital meeting to take place. If she could pull off getting Clem to commit her future to WWE, it would be a hugely positive start to her reign in charge of the company before it officially started. If not, then the opposite would be true.

There was a knock at the door and Clementine walked in. She looked apprehensive, and like she hadn't slept much. The situation was upsetting for her, but Erin already knew that.

"Come in, Clem. Have a seat and let's talk," Erin said warmly.

"Boss. I don't know that we're going to get anywhere, but I did say I'd talk to you." Clem sat down, perched on the edge of her seat, a sure sign of discomfort.

"I'd like to hear your side of what happened when you talked to Kelton."

"I'm sure you've spoken to him," Clem said tensely.

"Actually, I haven't. To be honest I can't stand the man. So I have no idea what either of you said to each other. I'd like to hear it from your point of view."

That seemed to put Clem a fraction more at ease. "We met to discuss my contract coming up in January. I had to request the meeting, rather than WWE wanting to talk to me. That alone had been offending me for some time. It was like I was the only one who cared whether I re-signed or not."

She was right to be offended, Erin thought, already angry at Brian Kelton and her dad for their behaviour. She had no doubt that feeling was going to get worse as the conversation went on.

"When we started talking," Clem continued, "I gave my starting position. Said I'd be happy to re-sign, but my current deal doesn't pay me what I'm worth. There can't be any doubt I'm one of the top stars in the company, and I said I deserve to be paid accordingly. Said I want Jay Halstead money. Understand that was just my opening pitch. What I expected was to start negotiating."

"What did he say?" Erin asked, bracing herself.

Clementine mimicked Kelton's arrogant, condescending tone. "We're never going to pay someone like you that kind of money."

"Oh, Jesus," Erin groaned.

"I don't know if 'someone like you' meant a woman or a black person. Or both."

"I'd like to think it wasn't a racist comment."

Clem grunted. "Don't be so sure. Kelly Severide was at HQ a few months ago and he went to the bathroom. He heard Kelton and someone else come in, and I guess they didn't bother noticing that one of the cubicles was occupied. Severide heard Kelton make some kind of joke about Raquel, calling her a wetback. Severide told Stella, and Stella told me. So yeah, the man's a racist."

"I'm so sorry, Clem," Erin said. She realised she was going to have to go for broke if there was to be a successful outcome. "As you can imagine, I put a lot of thought into what I might say to you today. What I'm about to tell you wasn't something I planned. Before I do, I need your word that this stays between us. Your word is something I believe to have value."

Clem seemed intrigued, maybe despite herself. "My word does have value, and you have it."

"Alright," Erin said, leaning forward. "Behind the scenes, there's a lot going on. My dad's out. I'm in. It'll take weeks, how many I don't know, but I'm going to be taking over. And you have my word that things will be a lot different when I do. Brian Kelton's ass will be fired day one. And there will no more racism, sexism, misogyny, or any other inappropriate behaviour. I'll clear out anyone who doesn't fall in line with that. And as for your contract, I want you to give me some time to look at all the metrics so that I can offer you a fair deal on a new contract. And I do mean a fair deal, no bullshit. I'll pay you what you're worth."

Having listened to all of that, Clementine thought for a moment and sighed. "Thank you for telling me that, and for promising change. I hope you deliver it. But I already told Alexa I'm going to quit wrestling. The decision is made, and I can't go back on it."

There was a lot of pride in Clem, Erin could tell. Pride in her work, and pride in herself as a person. That pride had been badly wounded, and that couldn't be undone in a five minute meeting. It needed time. Thinking time, and possibly time for Alexa to talk Clem out of walking away from the job she loved, and from so many female wrestling fans who saw her as a role model. Knowing better than to try to force things, Erin gave a pleasant smile.

"Take some time, Clem. Think about what I've said. Talk it over with Alexa, and talk it over with me again if you like. You have my number and I'm always available, any time of the day or night."

Clementine nodded and got up, seemingly not knowing what to say. "I'll see you in the ring," was what she went with, referring to their segment on that night's show.

"See you out there."

Erin watched Clementine leave, happy that she had done as much as she could for now. Whether it would be enough to convince Clem to stay remained to be seen.

Erin and Jay had established a rule that after a show there was no talking business until they had eaten dinner. It was a way to make sure they didn't fall into the trap of talking shop too much. On this particular night, Erin had looked forward to being able to bring up work however. She wanted to talk to Jay about the meeting with Clem. The moment she chose was while he was in the hotel suite's bathroom, brushing his teeth in preparation for getting into bed. Erin was already under the covers.

"The meeting with Clem went well, I think," she called out.

"Mmmmm?" Jay replied with his toothbrush in his mouth, meaning 'Oh?'

"She's big time pissed at WWE, for good reason quite frankly. Apart from my dad's behaviour, which I managed not to talk about, she was treated appallingly by Kelton."

"No surprise. Man's an asshole," Jay called through from the bathroom.

"Not just an asshole. He's a racist."

"He said something racist to Clem?"

"Not overtly, but she thought a comment he made was racist, and I tend to agree with her. She also told me Kelton previously referred to Raquel as a wetback – definitely a racist comment."

"Oh my god, really?" Jay asked, walking out of the bathroom and over to the bed. He was naked apart from his boxers.

"Yeah, really."

"I'd love to see him do that in person. She'd put her fist through his face."

Erin could imagine Raquel doing exactly that. "That would be glorious. But unfortunately I'm trying to run a business, not a fight club. Kelton's out day one when I take charge, and I told Clem that. And I promised to offer her a fair wage for what she brings to the company, which would obviously be a big increase on what she makes right now."

"Do you think she'll re-sign?"

Erin sighed. "I hope so, but I don't know. The fans sure showed her how they felt tonight. It was surreal out there in the ring when she made her entrance. A real outpouring of love and support."

"That's hard to walk away from," Jay agreed. "You're doing a great job. I think you'll get her to stay."

"Thank you. Are you getting into bed?" she asked, confused as to why he was standing there near the bottom of the bed.

"I thought we might have some fun before we go to sleep."

"Oh, what are you thinking?" Erin asked excitedly.

"Well, I've got something for you." He went over to his jeans, which had been discarded on the floor. Picking them up, he reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a pair of blue nitrile gloves. "Thought you might enjoy these."

"Very nice," Erin said, sitting up in the bed and immediately feeling turned on. "Where did you get them?"

"Stole them from Doc Mikami's room. I had to go in there because she wanted to talk to me about how we're going to do handle rehab after I get the elbow surgery. She got called out of the room for few minutes and she had a box of these sat right there next to where I was standing, so I helped myself."

"Love that," Erin said, trying not to think about Jay's elbow surgery, which was only a week away now.

"Hope you like these ones?" he asked, giving her the gloves.

"Very much so. Any rubber or leather ones do it for me. Did you only get two?"

"Yeah. How many do you need?" he asked with a laugh.

"Two for me, should have got two for yourself too."

"That would turn you on as well?"

"Of course," Erin said as she worked the gloves onto her hands, loving the feel of the rubbery material against her skin, in addition to how they looked on her. Her fetish had her warm and wet already, as Jay would likely soon discover. But she had a treat in mind for him first. "Since we only have these two gloves, I'd better let you enjoy them too."

"And how do you plan to do that?" he asked, getting onto the bed beside her.

"Take those boxers off, lay back, and I'll show you."

"Now that I like the sound of." Jay wasted no time in taking his boxers off and throwing them onto the floor. He was already hard in anticipation. "You do give very good hand jobs."

"I give even better ones with sexy gloves like these." She moved into position and started pleasuring him, working him in all the ways that she knew he enjoyed most. For he part, wearing the gloves made it as much a turn on for her as it was for him, essentially making it foreplay for both of them.

Jay lay back, eyes closed, thoroughly enjoying the sensations she was creating for him. Within a few minutes, he reached his first climax of the night and shot a load. Most of it ended up on Erin's hand.

"I'd better go clean this glove. I want to wear it the rest of the night," she said, moving up the bed to give him a light kiss on the lips. "Thank you for indulging my kinks."

"I'm not indulging, I'm embracing. Or trying to. Next time, I'll wear gloves too. And you can tell me what else turned you on about Raquel's scuba gear the other day, because I know there was more to it than the gloves she had."

"Okay," Erin said, feeling her cheeks warming up as she made a quick exit to the bathroom.

A/N: Do you think Erin will win Clementine over and get her to sign a new contract?