The next morning, conversation over breakfast had begun with Erin praising Jay's work on the final segment from the previous night's show. She told him that it was getting rave reviews online, and that 'Final Boss' was still trending even now. Clem's return had been a success, it was safe to say. But Jay had other things on his mind.

"What's more important to me is that she agreed to the consultation with the knee specialist, and to the surgery assuming we're right about her needing one. You should have seen her face, Erin. When she thought about the rehab, she went pale. It's kind of haunting me. Rehab is such a horrible, agonising thing to go through, although it won't be as bad this time if they can take care of it with a keyhole procedure."

Erin tapped her knuckles on the table top. "Knock on wood, I've never had to get a surgery. I know things like the complete knee rebuild she had to have last time are very hard to recover from. As you know, taking care of my talent is important to me, so I'm pleased you were able to get her to go for it."

Bringing up what Dr Mikami had said about Erin was a tricky thing to do, but Jay wasn't happy with that situation. Erin mentioning looking after talent had reminded him of it. Communication between the boss and the doctor responsible for all of the talent ought to be open and constructive. He couldn't help wondering how many other people might be currently working with injuries that hadn't been properly addressed due to that breakdown in communication.

"I wasn't sure what to do about this," he began. "When I talked to Doc Mikami earlier, she surprised me by saying she agreed that Clem needed surgery."

Erin nearly spat out her coffee. "What? Why didn't she say something?"

"That's what I asked her. She said she's been working on the instruction your dad gave her, which was no surgery unless absolutely unavoidable. 'If they can work, they work' was apparently the exact wording. I pointed out that you've been in charge for some time now, and she told me that she's not had instruction from you, and that when she approached you not long after you took over, you snapped her head off."

Erin had that sour taste in her mouth look on her face again for a moment. She didn't like criticism, but Jay was strong enough in himself and within the relationship to give it to her when she needed to hear it.

"Well, I can't remember that. And it doesn't matter anyway..."

"Calm down," Jay interjected as she started to get fired up. "My suggestion is don't get angry about this. I don't believe Mikami would say you snapped at her if it wasn't true. She probably approached you when you were highly stressed, and you reacted in a way you usually wouldn't. We all do it. The reason I'm saying this to you isn't to drop her in the shit, or to criticise you. What I'm getting at is you should talk to her in a positive manner and re-open communication between you. We both know that line of communication should be functional at the very least."

The deepness of their connection meant that although Erin didn't like being criticised, she was willing to listen to it from Jay. He saw her going through the process of taking it on-board and coming to the conclusion that he was right.

"It was a very stressful time to say the least," she admitted. "Maybe I did snap at her when she didn't deserve it, and she took it to heart? I'll pull her into my office next Monday and have a chat to smooth things over." She had a bite of her toast, then smiled at him. "I appreciate you saying things that need to be said, at times. Please don't stop doing that."

"I won't," he said seriously, considering that to be enough to close the subject. That was good because he had something else he wanted to discuss, knowing she would be able to help him.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, in tune with his emotions as ever.

Jay took his time drinking some of his coffee in order to organise his thoughts. "Yesterday, I think I made some progress with Alexa in terms of trying not to constantly think of her as an FBI interrogator every time I speak to her. I saw her in a new light when she was talking to me about Clem's knee and the pain she's living with."

"You mean you saw her as a person," she said, sounding pleased with the development.

"Well, yeah, I guess that's the way to put it. Feels like I've made a start at least. You know things take me time to work on. My question is how do I continue to improve on that? We're going to be working together a lot, so I don't want there to be distance or awkwardness between us. The way I produce good TV and draw money is by working together with my people. I'm not explaining it well."

"You're explaining it just fine," she said in that warm voice that always encouraged him and put him at ease so quickly. "My advice on this is simple. You're already working on forming a friendship with Clem. Continue doing that, and do the same with Alexa. The only note of caution is don't forget that if any tough decisions need to be made you're their boss first and their friend second."

Jay nodded, taking that seriously. "Thank you for talking it over. These kind of conversations probably seem dumb and repetitive to you, but they help me a lot with getting things sorted out in my head."

Erin leaned across the table, where Jay met her and they kissed each other softly. "Whatever I can do to help you is never dumb, Jay. You're doing great, so just keep at it."

"I will," he promised himself as much as her.

The way Jay had decided to keep at it was by offering to go to the appointment with the knee specialist with Clementine. She had replied to his text and said she would appreciate it if he did, and that Alexa would be going too. That had hardly been a surprise, but he had considered it a good thing as it offered a chance to spend time with both of them outside of work.

And so it proved to be. The consultation was at the doctor's office at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Jay had taken the WWE jet down there courtesy of Erin, and had met up with Alexa and Clem there when they got in from Orlando.

Early for the appointment, they had gone for coffee at a cafe near the hospital. By no means an expert on body language - there was one of those elsewhere at the table - Jay could still sense nervousness from both women. He figured he was the one to try and assuage those nerves if he could.

"I noticed you're walking fine today, Clem. That's got to be a good sign."

"Some days are better than others. The pain's not too bad today. I can't stop thinking about how much rehab I'm going to have to do. And how much it will hurt."

"You'll get through it. If it's a keyhole surgery, that rehab won't be anything like as bad as last time."

"That's what I've been telling her," Alexa said, clearly glad to have a second voice on her side.

"The word 'if' is doing some heavy lifting there," Clem said. "What if it turns out the problem isn't treatable and they tell me I've got to retire?"

Jay was surprised by that. It told him how little faith Clem had in her own body right now. He needed to help her find that confidence again. "That's not going to happen. If you were that badly hurt, Doc Mikami would know. We're going to get you patched up, you're going to suck it up and power through the rehab, and you're going to be back to your best a few months from now. And Alexa and I will help you with the rehab as much as we can."

"Absolutely," Alexa agreed.

"Thank you both. I hope that's how it turns out. I really do."

It wasn't long before they met with the doctor, a friendly-seeming man in his late fifties by the name of Dr Andrews. He talked through Clem's knee pain and the history of the injury with her, then as expected sent her off for a scan so that he would be able to have a detailed look at the situation.

Jay and Alexa sat in a nearby waiting area while Clem was in the room getting the scan done. Jay subtly paid attention to Alexa as he sat beside her. She kept shifting her weight and fiddling around with her fingers. Anxious was an understatement, he thought.

"It'll be fine, Alexa," he said, well aware that he sounded like a broken record. He was glad he had come to the appointment because it seemed both women badly needed the moral support.

Alexa looked at him. "I can't handle Clem suffering, Jay. I could go through this myself and deal with it much better than how I deal with her going through it. I love her so much, all I want is for her to be happy and healthy. Is that too much to ask?"

"No, it's not. I understand how you're feeling. If it was Erin in this situation, I'd feel exactly the same way. The thing is, Alexa, anxiety isn't what Clem needs to see from you. You've got to be strong for her. Encourage her. Tell her it's going to be okay. Show her strength, not vulnerability."

She spent a moment taking that in and processing it. Jay had felt okay about talking straight to her because she was an intelligent and strong person. She had to be, given that she had worked for the FBI. Sure enough, her reaction proved him right. He visibly witnessed her draw on some inner strength and toughen up.

"You're right," she said. "Thank you, Jay. I needed to hear that."

"Yes, you did. Because you're not working for the FBI anymore, meaning you'll be around full time to help her with the rehab. That'll be your job. I'll come down and visit when I can, but it's going to be mostly on you to be there when she's hurting."

She nodded. "Again, you're totally right. I can't promise I'm not going to be worried about her. That would be lying to you and to myself. But I'll internalise it and show Clem nothing but love, support and positivity."

"Good," Jay said. He felt like he wanted to give her an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder, but he felt awkward because he wasn't confident they were close enough for him to touch her and he didn't want to do the wrong thing. So instead they sat there in silence for a few minutes until Clem returned to the waiting area.

Less than an hour later, the three of them were back in Dr Andrews' office and he had the scan of Clem's knee fixed up on a screen for them all to look at. He explained that she had a significant amount of cartilage missing in her knee, which left bone to grind on bone when the joint moved, causing pain. Jay wasn't surprised that Dr Mikami had been right. You didn't get to be WWE's doctor without a lot of expertise in such injuries.

"So this is fixable?" Clem asked Andrews.

"Absolutely. We can replace the missing cartilage with a keyhole surgery." He went on to explain how the surgery would be carried out.

Jay saw Clem and Alexa look at other, showing relief as well as love for each other. Then, taking him by surprise, Clem gave him one of those looks too.

"You see," was all he could manage to say. He had wanted to sound happy, but he felt it came out more knoew-it-all than happy.

"What's the recovery time on a surgery like this?" Alexa asked.

Andrews said, "Clementine, we'll have you on crutches for a week after the surgery. Walking normally for a couple of weeks after that, then we'll get into the rehab."

"Will I be pain free when it's all rehabbed?" Clem asked hopefully.

Jay took note of that being her question, not when she could wrestle again. The pain was dominating her life.

"It's possible. If not pain free, you'll be in a lot less pain that you are now that's for sure."

The relief hitting Clem was plain for Jay to see. This time he gave her shoulder a squeeze, feeling more comfortable doing it to Clem. Meanwhile, Alexa did the same with her good knee.

"That's great news!" Alexa said.

"And how soon will I be able to wrestle?"

"I'd say total recovery time around three months before you're cleared to compete. When we were chatting earlier you mentioned having to wait until after Wrestlemania in early April for the surgery, right?"

"Yes. We'll get her in for the surgery the week after," Jay said, speaking on behalf of WWE in that moment.

"Okay, so surgery mid April, you're looking at being cleared to compete mid July, or sooner. I know what physical machines you wrestlers are," Andrews said.

The attempt at humour was appreciated all round, especially by Clem, who giggled. "I'm a bit of a rusty, broken down machine these days."

"We'll get you all repaired and ready to go," Andrews said.

"You'll come back better than ever," Alexa added, now providing the encouragement that Jay had suggested.

"I'll try my hardest," Clem said with determination.

The doctor talked to them for a few minutes with more details regarding the surgery and the rehab program that would follow it. Jay ended the conversation by saying that WWE would be in touch to finalise the exact date they wanted the surgery to be done. With that, they were free to leave.

"That went quite well, I think," Clem said to Jay and Alexa once they were outside in the hallway, heading for the exit. It was remarkable to Jay to see the contrast in her demeanour now compared to before seeing Dr Andrews.

"Yes. Back to wrestling and possibly pain free in three months sounds great," Alexa said in an upbeat tone.

"Anything you need from me or the company, all you have to do is call me and its yours," Jay said, addressing the offer to both of them.

Clem stopped walking, and when Jay did likewise she hugged him. "Thanks so much for all your help, Jay. It's so nice to work for and with someone who genuinely cares."

When the hug ended, Jay was surprised to receive another one from Alexa. "Yes, thank you for everything you've done for us. A mere thank you doesn't cover it, but I don't know what else to say."

The gratitude made him feel somewhat embarrassed, but also happy that he could make good things happen for good people. "You don't have to say anything. It's my pleasure, guys. What do you say we go get some lunch? You've got time before your flight home."

"Great idea," Clem said. "And we're paying. It's the least we can do."

"Ah, thank you." Jay allowed a grin to form on his face. "Anyone know the most expensive restaurant in Atlanta?"

All three of them laughed, which felt nice after an emotional morning.