Jay felt a moment of panic hit him as he heard Hank's question, then his heart sank. He wondered what he had to do to catch a break. Things were just starting to get real between him and Erin, and now her dad was about to take his head off over it. Jay figured he ought to be honest, though. If there was any path through this conversation that let him keep his job and his budding relationship with Erin, that was how to get started.

"I've slept with her once," he admitting, making sure his tone was as diplomatic as it could be.

"God fucking damn it!" Hank raged as he turned around and kicked his chair.

Jay had half expected Hank to come across the desk at him. At least that hadn't happened. It was a very inconvenient time to be someone who struggled to put his emotions into words, but he knew he had to find a way to speak up about his relationship with Erin before Hank's anger went any further.

"Hank, I get that you're pissed and you don't want to hear from me right now. But if I can please just tell you how things are from my point of view? I wish I was better a putting my feelings into words. What I'm trying to say is this is not what you might be thinking it is. It's not just sex. I'm not taking advantage of her. It's something deep and real between us, that neither of us expected when we started working together."

"There are two things stopping me firing you, dragging you outside and beating the piss out of you right now," Hank growled, locking eyes with him. "One is I can tell what you're saying is true. I knew it before you came in here. No one knows Erin like I do, and I've never seen her happier than she has been this week. There was only one reason I could think of for the sudden change, and that was something between the two of you. The second reason is I'm well aware that if I fight you both on this, I'll lose where Erin is concerned. She can be headstrong. If I tried to keep you apart, she'd move out of my house and continue seeing you anyway."

"I don't want to fight you," Jay said. "I don't want to make you angry, and I certainly don't want Erin out of your life. As I said, I never expected this to happen when I started working with her. But it has." Jay could see he was winning the boss over a little, so he upped the ante. "I'm looking you eye to eye like a man, Hank. I promise you I won't do anything to hurt Erin, ever. I'm not playing games, using her, or anything else negative you may be worried about. I'll always treat her the way she deserves to be treated. I give you my word."

Hank was starting to look more upset than angry. "She's better than dating wrestlers, Jay. She's better than this. Better than all of us."

"I know," Jay admitted frankly.

"I'm going to hold you to that promise," Hank said in a rather menacing tone. "Break it, hurt my daughter, I'll ruin your life. Are we clear on that?"

Jay nodded, knowing Hank meant it too. Apart from WWE, Erin was all Hank had in the world, as everyone knew. Being protective was only natural. "As crystal," he said seriously.

"Get out of here."

Jay wasted no time in heading for the door.

"Oh," Hank said, stopping Jay in his tracks. "Because business is still business, I booked you to win the rumble match tonight. You'd better not make me regret that, either."

"I won't. And thank you," Jay said before quickly leaving the office.

Outside, he walked away, keeping appearances up for those waiting in line to see Hank by not rushing down the hallway. He couldn't even think about the fact that he was going to win the men's rumble match. He had to go back to Erin and let her know that the cat was out of the bag.

As he walked, he considered that Hank's reaction was actually quite reasonable, all things considered. More reasonable than Jay had expected. The man deserved credit for wanting his daughter to be happy, even if it was due to a partner that he didn't particularly approve of.

To Jay's frustration, when he walked back out onto the stage in the arena, Erin was no longer there. "Must have gone to the locker room to get changed," he muttered to himself, turning and heading back through the curtain. Now he was faced with the awkward prospect of asking someone to get her to come out for him. He always hated having to do that.

Making his way down a hallway, Jay heard Raquel's voice behind him.

"Jay! Wait up! You'll never guess who's going to win the rumble match?"

Stopping and turning to face her as she jogged up to him, Jay knew he couldn't piss on her bonfire. She didn't deserve that. But at the same time, he had bigger fish to fry right now.

"I heard, Raquel," he said, giving her the biggest smile he could manage. "You deserve it. I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you! I can't believe it," Raquel said, surprising Jay by hugging him. Since it was already happening, he hugged her back. "They're actually having me win from the number one spot."

"Really?" Jay exclaimed as they released each other. Despite the situation with Hank, he couldn't help devoting a moment to that news. During the rumble matches, two competitors started in the ring. The rest would enter one at a time, in two minute intervals. Winning from the number one spot meant that Raquel was going to have to wrestle for an hour at the absolute minimum, which would be a huge pysical test for anybody.

"Really," she confirmed. "I'm nervous, but excited."

"You'll knock it out of the park, girl," Jay said, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He felt awkward doing it. "Raquel, I hate to change the subject on you right now, but I need you to go get Erin for me."

"Why, what's happened?" she asked, looking at him warily, due to his tone as much as anything else.

"Hank knows about us. He figured it out. He just confronted me about it in his office like two minutes ago."

"Fuck's sake," Raquel breathed. "Okay, you stay right here. I'll go tell Erin to come meet you straight away."

"Thanks, Raquel. Oh, I'm winning the men's rumble by the way. Hank said business is still business."

"Wow. I don't know which bit of news I should be reacting to now," she said, wavering between staying to talk about his upcoming big win, or heading for the locker room.

"Just get Erin for me. Please," he quickly added. "We'll talk wrestling later, okay?"

Instead of leaving, Raquel moved closer to him and attempted to put him at ease. "Jay, if Hank was pissed, I mean really pissed, about this, we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation. Take a breath, okay?"

"Okay," Jay said appreciatively. But as Raquel walked away, Hank wasn't Jay's only concern. He didn't know how Erin was going to react to her dad figuring out that she was dating a wrestler. What if she decided to break things off? As soon as that thought came into his head, the lack of self-esteem that often plagued him when it came to relationships kicked into high gear. Within moments he had a voice in his head telling him that he and Erin were done.

A couple of minutes went by. To Jay they seemed like weeks. Then Erin came around the corner, hurrying towards him. She was now wearing black jeans, a plain black sweater, and a concerned look on her face.

"Jay? What's going on?" she asked.

"In here," he said, opening the door to a nearby empty office and going inside.

"What did my dad say to you? I figure that's what this has to be about, right?" She closed the door behind her.

"Yeah. He knows, Erin. He knows about us."

"Shit," Erin groaned, putting a hand over her face for several seconds. "How?"

"He figured it out. Said you looked so happy all week and he suspected it was because I had... I mean because we had slept together." He had thought better of using Hank's actual phrase.

"How pissed was he? Clearly he didn't hit you."

"He was pissed. But not as bad as I thought he would be. Erin, we don't have to break up over this."

"What?" she asked, looking at him like she was pretty sure she had misheard him.

"I said we don't have to break up over this. Please don't decide..."

"I'm not breaking up with you," Erin said, making it clear that she found the suggestion ridiculous. "Why would you think that?"

"My mind does that kind of thing to me," he admitted. The fact that he was able to say that to her said a lot about how he felt about her.

"Oh, Jay. Come here." Erin hugged him and they held each other tightly for a long moment. It served to calm them both down. "Okay, let's take a minute and think this through. You should know the same thing my dad knows: No one makes decisions about my life but me. The only reason I'm going to break up with you is if you don't treat me right, or if it proves to be that we're not a good match. Right now, I have no concerns on either of those fronts. Do you?"

"Of course not," he assured her. "So you're saying everything is going to be okay?"

"Everything is going to be okay. My dad will be sore for a few weeks, but he'll get over it. Anyway, I'm already looking for a place of my own. I told him that a few weeks ago, so he can't blow up over that now. Once that's done, he won't have any say over who I see and when."

The property search was news to Jay. "You hadn't mentioned looking for a place."

Erin shrugged. "I haven't found one yet. Dad gave me a budget to work with, I just haven't come across the right place."

Must be nice having a rich dad, Jay thought. But he tried to feel happy for Erin instead of jealous. It was part of his ongoing battle to be able to relate to other people. Then a suggestion that Raquel had made came to mind.

"Speaking of places to live, I've been thinking of inviting you to stay at my place. Need to clean it up first, but when that's done you're more than welcome. That's if you think it's a good idea right now. We might not want to push it with your dad for a while?"

"Jay, don't worry about my dad. I get the whole 'that's easy for you to say' thing, but trust me. It'll be fine."

"Alright," he said, still in some doubt.

"What we should be worrying about is tonight's matches. That's our immediate concern. I still don't even know who's winning the men's match."

Jay managed a smile at last. "I do. Me."

Erin squealed in delight and grabbed him in another hug. Seeing her so excited and happy for him felt amazing to Jay. Having someone in his life who truly cared, who found happiness in his successes, was something he had lacked his entire life. He held Erin tightly, determined that no matter what problems came their way, they would get through them together. He wondered if the strange sensation in his stomach and the smile he couldn't get off his face were what happened when starting to feel love for someone. He hoped so.


A/N: Hank was pissed, but he's not going to stand in the way of Jay and Erin so long as she's happy.

Jay and Raquel are both winning the rumble matches, and Erin is going to step into the ring as a competitor for the first time, where we already know she's going to have to take Raquel's Chingona Bomb.

The women's rumble match will be in the next chapter, so how do you think it will go for Erin?