"Coming down here was quite inspiring," Erin said as they were being driven to the hotel they were booked into.

"It definitely was," Jay said. He was still trying to process what had happened to him following Kylie Estevez's reaction to working with Clementine, and his subsequent text exchange with Raquel. Something had clicked in his head, almost literally. He felt awakened, that was the only way he could have put it. There was a sense of self confidence in him now that he had never known before. The question was how to explain what had happened to Erin?

Maybe it was best not to explain at all, he thought. It would be better to start living with the new confidence and to let her see it rather to be told about it. Yes, that was the best approach.

"You know that feeling I get when an idea for creative comes to me and I know it's going to be good?"

Jay nodded and played up his excitement in order to amuse her. "Uh oh, she's cooking!"

Erin did smile, but she wasn't focused on the humour because she was indeed cooking. "After you left to go to the bathroom, something Kylie said to me really got my mind going. I asked her why exactly she was so overwhelmed about working with Clem."

"Oh? What did she say?"

"Quote: Are you kidding? Clem's the best to ever do it."

"Wow. High praise," Jay said. And a bit over the top. One of the best women to ever do it, he could go that far. But he guessed there were fans who would agree with Kylie's assessment. Clem sure was great at the most important job a wrestler had to do. As Hank Voight himself had once said to Jay: 'You've got to make them believe in your shit.' It had been a point well made, if not made eloquently.

"For a while now I've had Clem's character on my mind. She's been referred to as The Diamond in the Rough ever since she made the main roster. It was a great nickname then. Now it makes little sense. So, let's say for a moment we change it to The Best To Ever Do It."

Jay grimaced. "Sorry, honey. Can't see that as a nickname for a babyface. Sounds too arrogant."

"What if I'm not talking about a babyface?"

Jay's eyes widened. Now that he had not expected. "You're thinking of turning Clem heel?"

"Sounds crazy, I know. But she has asked me about it before. I turned her down. But now, I might go for it. Doc Mikami has warned me to cut Clem's in ring time down too. Apparently she gets a lot of pain with that knee she blew out. Mikami thinks weekly wrestling is overworking it."

Jay could understand that. A knee injury as bad as the one that had put Clem out for over a year was about as serious as wrestling injuries got without involving paralysis or death. It could have been a career ender. An injury like that never healed fully.

"So you're saying what, have Clem turn heel and work less, while calling herself the best to ever do it?"

Erin nodded, getting more excited by the minute. Jay found her passion for the business endearing. "Yes, exactly. We make Clementine matches something of a rarity, rather than happening every week on TV. Sometimes we'll go weeks at a time without even seeing her on TV. But when she does show up, we'll have her presented like she's a big fucking deal. We'll make the fans feel like they're lucky to be in the presence of greatness."

So you want a heel who gets a big pop when her music hits just because she's there, but when she's in the ring ready to talk or fight the fans boo her because she's an arrogant bag of shit?"

Erin pointed at him in approval. "Yes. And we keep the championship on her. Maybe we make her the longest reigning women's champion of all time. She might cheat to win at times thanks to Raquel or Kylie or whoever, yet she'll still keep claiming to be in god mode."

Jay felt his newfound confidence itching to come out. Let it, he told himself. "I'd like to take this on and talk it through with Clem."

"What?" Erin asked in surprise.

"I love the idea. I understand it, and I work very well with Clem. Let me work this through with her. You know how she is with details with her character and her matches. I'll sit with her for however many hours it takes to get this perfect, if you'll let me take this on."

"You've never had much to do with creative, Jay. Producing is your thing."

He continued pushing, which wasn't like him when talking to Erin. He barely even recognised himself. "Only because I've not been given the chance. Put me in, coach."

Erin looked surprised too, in a good way. "Alright," she said, warming to the idea. "You're very passionate about this. Take it to Clem and work it through. Show me what you can do. Later on, the three of us can meet and if I approve of what you've got, I'll instruct the writers."

Jay leaned in and gave her a kiss as the car pulled up in front of their hotel's entrance. "Thank you, honey," he said, and got out of the car. He imagined Erin sitting there for a second or two wondering what the hell had just happened. It felt good. There was a new Jay emerging, and she was going to continue getting to see that.

The next morning, Jay was feeling great as the WWE private jet roared its way off the ground in Orlando. How or why his state of mind had suddenly changed he really wasn't sure. It had changed, that was what mattered.

He had asked for and been granted permission to take responsibility for working on the specifics of Clementine's character change. Then, that evening, there had been sex in the hotel room, as he had expected. He had been more forceful than usual with Erin, which she had been outright asking for. To say the least, she had enjoyed it. That was probably why he could tell she was in a great mood this morning too, albeit while having to work on her laptop. An entire day out of the office left her with a lot to catch up on, and Jay didn't begrudge that.

"You look happy," he commented, sitting opposite her at the table where she was working.

Erin looked up from her laptop and smiled at him. "I am happy. Yesterday was a good day for a lot of reasons. You stepping forward to work on the character change with Clem was a nice surprise. And last night..." She chose not to finish that thought because Lacey, the stewardess, was within earshot. "That was a nice surprise too."

Hearing that Erin had noticed and appreciated his efforts meant a lot to Jay, but he chose not to comment on it. Instead, he took on the other subject. "I've been thinking about the Clem thing. It'll take some time to get it right. Like I said yesterday, you know what she's like with details. It might be best not to have the conversation at a busy arena before a show. I might ask her to come to the office if you can find somewhere to put us?"

"Better idea, have her come to the house. You'll have the place to yourselves if I'm at the office. Tell her we'll get her a flight and a hotel room." By we, she meant WWE, Jay knew. The company paid for wrestlers' travel and accommodation fairly often.

"Alright, that sounds like a plan. I'm looking forward to working on this."

Erin leaned over the table and kissed him. "And I'm looking forward to hearing what you come up with."

Back in New York, Jay and Erin had parted ways when she had been dropped off at the office. The car was now taking Jay home. Part of him still wasn't comfortable with the lifestyle he now had, but there was no doubt that private jets and chauffer-driven cars made travelling very easy.

Still riding the high that his mental breakthrough had put him on, Jay decided to make the most of the dead time he was spending in the back of the car. He could call Clementine and tell her what had been discussed. After all, it was his responsibility to do that now.

He called Clem's number and apparently caught her with her phone already in her hand since she answered so quickly. Understandably, she sounded a little surprised about seeing his name on her screen.

"Jay. Hi."

"Hey, Clem. Uh, sorry if I caught you at a busy time?"

"You're all good. What can I do for you?"

Jay felt his confidence dropping, but this time, unusually, he was able to push through and stop it from happening. "I need a few minutes of your time. Erin and I have been talking about your creative and your character. We want to make some changes."

Clem's response was cool and collected. Typical of her. Easy to talk to. Easy to work with. "I've got all the time you need. Alexa's at work, and all I had planned for today was lying on the couch and binge watching Breaking Bad."

"Good show. Well worth a binge," he said. "I'll try not to keep you too long."

"So, a character change? A heel turn, I hope? I have asked Erin about it a few times."

"Yes, we're going to give you a heel turn." It was pretty momentous news. Based on her previous comment, Jay could already tell it was going to be received positively.

"Finally. Thank God," Clem said.

Jay had to laugh. "You're pleased, then?"

"Yes. I've been a babyface for too long. For now I'm still getting the same reactions from the fans, but personally I feel like I'm getting stale. Besides, I've wanted to work heel for ages. As you well know, working heel is a lot more fun."

"Right," he agreed. "So, do you want to hear what Erin and I talked about for your new character? I'll give it to you in brief now, then I'd like you to come up to our house for a day and sit with me to go over it in detail. We'll cover your flight and hotel."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Jay. You know I like you and enjoy working with you, but why am I having this conversation with you instead of Erin?"

A fair question, and meant with no malice, Jay understood. "Because I asked for the responsibility. I wanted to take this on, to commit my own time to it as well as yours to make sure we make the next version of Clementine the very best it can be. Erin showed trust in me and you by letting us do this. Obviously we'll need to report back to her before anything is final." As he finished speaking, he felt very pleased with his own answer.

Clem took a moment to process that. "You know what I really appreciate, Jay? You understand the way I work – the amount of thought and effort I put into everything I do on TV. It means a lot that you want us to do this together. The invite to your house also means a lot. Let me know when you'd like me to come up."

"I'll message you when I've set it up with Erin. We're going to do something special with this, Clem."

"You didn't tell me what the idea is yet," she pointed out with a laugh.

Jay gave a very brief description of what he and Erin had talked about – a character with the nickname 'the best to ever do it', who would be presented like a megastar who the fans would pop for just by being honoured with her presence when she chose to show up, yet she would be an arrogant ass who cheated to win if it needed to be done.

"I've got chills, Jay," Clem said. "To hell with Breaking Bad. I'm going to spend today thinking about this."

"Then I'll leave you to it," Jay said. "Talk soon, Clem."

"Thanks, boss. Talk soon."

Clem ended the call, and Jay sat there looking at the phone. Boss. Clem had never called him that before. In fact, no one had. She must have detected some change in him and responded to it, maybe subconsciously. That could only be a good thing.

A/N: What do you make of how Jay has been able to step up following his mental breakthrough?

And what do you think about the new character idea for Clem? I know some readers have mentioned in past comments that they wanted to see a heel Clem.