Stealing the Show

"Did Stephen Jones really just call the DCC a bunch of bitches? Unbelievable."

"He only said what he was thinking. You think those women are innocent? A club executive makes a call, and they're there."

"Whatever you think of them, he's insulted every cheerleader in the NFL."

"It was a stupid thing to say. There's no excuse for it."

Nolan read through a sports message board. Stephen's remarks had angered plenty of people.

On the Angels' forum, hostility toward the Jones family mixed with sympathy for the DCC. Whatever else anyone thought, the cheerleaders had helped build Dallas's enormous following.

Some posters urged Nolan to treat his squad better. Others wanted him to help Rachel get justice. As the story spread, the reactions grew more complicated.

Katherine came around the desk and settled into his lap, bringing his free hand to her stomach.

Her pregnancy was becoming more obvious. The women who had vacationed with him in Key West had conceived around the same time. Susan finally had the pregnancy she had wanted; Katherine and Lisa were expecting their second children. Kelsey had been the most anxious. She hadn't been ready at all.

Katherine shifted against him, and he recognized the invitation, though her pregnancy limited what she could comfortably do.

"It's all right. Just take it slowly." She rested her cheek against his.

'Katherine, you weren't always like this.'

He gave her a light pat to make her settle down, then looked across at Grace.

"Oh, now you remember me." Grace got up and joined them on his other side.

"I'll make up for your share this time, Katherine." She leaned in to kiss him.

The women had grown less inhibited around one another, increasingly inclined to do everything together. Two could only watch for now, leaving Grace to take the lead.

Their attention soon drew Nolan away from his work. He stood, and Grace was ready to continue.

Katherine stayed close. At first she had blushed at sharing moments like this with the others.

Familiarity had changed that. She had begun enjoying it, teasing him and joining in rather than hanging back.

The encounter at his desk didn't last long before someone knocked.

"I'm back!" Kelsey called.

Before Nolan could answer, Katherine went to the door. Kelsey had joined them unexpectedly before.

This time Katherine stopped short as soon as she opened it, pulling her unbuttoned blouse closed.

Grace looked up to find Kelsey standing in the doorway with two unfamiliar women. Both stared at her in surprise.

"Oh. I..." Her face went red. She straightened, shot Nolan a furious look, and hurried to put her clothes in order.

"I wasn't feeling well. Nolan was checking on me." She stepped down from the desk with a rigid smile and tried to straighten her hair.

Rachel Browning had come all the way from Dallas and walked into this. For a moment she could do nothing but nod.

Nolan, meanwhile, seemed entirely unembarrassed. Rachel had assumed he would be busy. Apparently, this was what kept him occupied.

"Welcome. Katherine and I have something to do. We'll leave you to it." Grace couldn't get out fast enough, taking Katherine with her.

Both glanced at Kelsey before they left.

Kelsey looked amused. The look on her face seemed to say they had brought this on themselves by sneaking off without her.

Once the two had gone, she brought the visitors inside and closed the door.

"Welcome, both of you. Lacey, it's been a while." Nolan looked her over with interest.

Lacey had been Kelsey's friend at the DCC. After seeing this side of Dallas's management, she had decided to leave with Rachel and join the Angels.

"Nolan, I can see why Kelsey likes you so much," she said with an awkward laugh. They had seen more than they had expected at the door.

Kelsey had already told her far too much about her private life with him.

"Want to join us sometime?" Kelsey teased, one hand on her pregnant stomach.

"Don't joke about that." Lacey shook her head at once. She had come for a job, not a man.

"As if I don't know what you like." Kelsey glanced at her friend.

'Is she embarrassed because Rachel's here?'

"Let's talk business." Nolan cleared his throat.

Kelsey let it drop and took a seat on the sofa with some fruit. There was time; she didn't think her friend would hold out forever. For now, she had completed the job Nolan sent her to do.

"The squad is full-time only," Nolan began. "There's a base salary, a training allowance, and benefits, including health coverage and the usual retirement and unemployment provisions. You get paid separately for each performance. Once the squad has a bigger following, we'll produce individual photo books, and you'll receive a share of sales. We're also planning dance classes. Teaching younger cheerleaders could give you another source of income."

"Beyond that, there could be magazine covers, film appearances, television, variety shows. Kelsey's probably told you. And remember who owns the team: Michael Ovitz."

He was bringing the old Shine Plan to the Angels and using Ovitz's name for all it was worth. Ovitz probably couldn't even tell them how many women were on the squad.

Rachel asked what they would actually take home each month.

"Right now? Between three and five times what the DCC pays."

It wasn't extraordinary generosity. NFL cheerleading was generally part-time work, and the women had been paid so poorly that offering more wasn't difficult.

"How do I know any of this will happen? Will there be guarantees in the contract? A minimum number of performances each month? And when would I get to do a movie?"

Kelsey had been partly talked into coming, and she could put her nursing work on hold without much worry. Rachel had more questions because she had more to consider.

"I can't guarantee all of that. Nobody can predict the future."

"But look at who we're putting together. Captains from last season's Jacksonville and New Orleans squads. You. Kelsey. I want the best. Before long, the Angels' cheerleaders could represent the whole league in a way even the DCC never has."

Rachel and Lacey exchanged a look, then nodded. He had persuaded them at least part of the way. Even if they doubted Nolan, Michael Ovitz's name carried weight.

"There's one more rule," he said. "While you're on the squad, you can't be in a romantic relationship. We need to keep the male audience interested."

Rachel could see the reasoning, given that he intended to market them as stars.

"Does dating you count?" Lacey asked.

"What do you think?"

"Probably not." She stuck out her tongue and said no more.

He signed contracts with both women. During the conversation, Rachel told him why she had resigned from the DCC outright.

"Jerry actually sent someone to offer me hush money. He wanted me to shut up. What does he think I am, a hooker?" She was still furious.

Nolan had thought of her as gentle. There was more steel in her than he had realized.

"Leaf should be grateful he didn't get any further. I'd take him to court and keep going as long as I had to. I don't care about getting a cent. I want him held responsible."

If she did sue, Nolan would help privately. He wouldn't put himself in front of the cameras to support the case.

There was enough ugly business around other squads that he didn't want to make too many enemies yet.

Rachel and Lacey brought the Angels' squad into double figures, still less than a third of Nolan's target. The DCC had thirty-six women. He wanted quality before numbers, though. It would take time.

The next day, even the NFL issued a statement. It acknowledged the cheerleaders' contribution to the league, promised stronger protections, and announced a help line. Stephen Jones and the Cowboys received additional fines for remarks detrimental to the league, and Leaf was suspended. The announcement also thanked the Angels for helping the women.

Dallas accepted the fines and promised closer oversight. With the league behind the Angels, the Cowboys could hardly keep attacking them. They even added their own thanks. For the moment, the public dispute was over.

A few days later, Los Angeles hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jacksonville had been in the league for less than a decade. After a rough first year, it had become a contender near the top of the AFC Central. Nolan remembered a run of four straight playoff appearances.

This year looked no different. Through five weeks, its only loss had come by a point against the newly renamed Tennessee Titans in Week 3. Jacksonville had beaten Pittsburgh 17-3 in Week 4 and opened with a 41-3 rout of a San Francisco team caught between generations. The Jaguars led the AFC Central.

They had also hired former Panthers head coach Dom Capers as defensive coordinator. He had helped close their defensive gaps; through five games, no team had allowed fewer points.

That combination put this matchup ahead of the games featuring the resurgent Colts and the established Packers in the same television window. Interest was high before kickoff.

The Rose Bowl drew more than seventy-eight thousand spectators, a new high for the Angels.

At the mouth of the tunnel, the cheerleaders waited in white uniforms trimmed with feathers.

Rachel stood at the front as acting captain. The official explanation for Kelsey's absence over the next few months was surgery. In reality, she had stopped performing to protect her pregnancy.

Behind Rachel stood Kristen, the former Saints captain. She had been in Los Angeles for almost three months and had seen Nolan privately fewer than five times.

'He really did bring me here just to be a cheerleader.'

At first the realization had embarrassed her. She had assumed too much. Then her feelings became more complicated.

At least she had escaped being caught up with him.

That was a relief. It was also, annoyingly, a disappointment.

'What do Kelsey and the others have that I don't?' She couldn't answer that.

She turned toward the players waiting behind them. Nolan stood at the front, holding his helmet and talking to a teammate.

As if he had felt her looking, he turned slightly.

Kristen faced forward at once and shook her pom-poms a little harder.

Behind her, Belinda stared up at the tunnel ceiling, imagining the shopping she would do once she was famous. An absentminded smile spread across her face.

McKenna kept glancing back at Nolan. She had hardly seen him lately, not wanting to bother him when he seemed so busy. She had no idea how much of his office time with the club's senior women had nothing to do with football.

Lacey, farther back, couldn't stop hearing what Kelsey had told her the night before.

"He fools around. I know that. But he's good at what he does, especially in private. None of those men chasing you could make you as happy."

"He really does treat us well. He doesn't play favorites. And we'd have each other."

"You think other men don't cheat? At least he isn't lying to you."

The more Lacey thought about it, the more unsettled she felt. She shook her head, trying to push the conversation away.

A staff member gave the signal. Each absorbed in her own thoughts, the women stepped out to a lively Britney Spears track.

Weeks of rehearsal had improved the show considerably. Rachel's arrival brought extra attention, and CBS was happy to put the Angels' pregame performance on the air.

"Holy shit." Some spectators were only now taking a proper look at the squad.

The white uniforms made them stand out immediately. Nolan had chosen every woman with care, and together they looked markedly different from the other squads.

"Look at Rachel in that. She looks like a movie star."

"The one beside her was with Jacksonville last year, right? She's gorgeous. Callahan must love having her around," someone said enviously.

"And that's Kristen! What the hell is she doing here?"

"It's like the NFL's own Spice Girls. I don't know where to look."

"I love Rachel! How do I marry her?"

"I need to buy one of those outfits for my wife. Let me live like Callahan for a night."

Within seconds, people were struggling to take it all in.

Then the dancers moved into the harder parts of the routine, changing formations without a break, and the cheering grew louder.

"Now that's an American cheer squad!"

"They actually come out here and smile at people. I'll take them over Hollywood any day."

"Best girl group in the country!"

Some fans were already comparing them to the pop groups they knew: the Spice Girls, Destiny's Child.

Groups were everywhere around the turn of the century: the Backstreet Boys, Westlife, TLC. Blue would follow, Nolan knew.

Months of work had begun to produce something different. Only a few people were making those comparisons yet, but for Nolan and the squad, it was a considerable success.

"I think we can safely say the Angels' cheerleaders have made an impression today. We'll be seeing more from them. Now, let's get to the main event."

The stadium announcer brought the crowd's attention back to football.

People watched the women leave with obvious reluctance. Still, they had bought tickets to see Nolan play.

The Angels came out first. Instead of the reserved expression he had worn in recent games, Nolan smiled and waved to the stands.

He had heard the cheering from the tunnel. One worry, at least, had eased.

Then Jacksonville came out, and his expression tightened again.

This would be hard.

He spotted a familiar face among the Jaguars.

Fernando Bryant had played with him at Alabama. Since entering the NFL, he had changed positions, lost weight, and become a starting corner for Jacksonville.

They had met the previous night to catch up. Fernando had even told him something about the Jaguars' game plan.

"Coughlin wants to split the snaps among all three quarterbacks. They're close enough that the starting job's still a competition. Changing them around should also make it harder for your defense to settle."

"You're telling me this the night before we play? Aren't you worried about what happens if you lose?" Nolan asked, smiling.

He had been offered pregame information before. He wasn't going to believe every word immediately.

"Actually, Coughlin told me to tell you when he heard we were meeting. He thinks knowing won't help you. Or he wants you wasting preparation on it. That's part of the plan too."

Jacksonville's first head coach had earned some confidence. He had kept the team near the top of the league for years. Without Brunell's poor performance in the previous season's divisional loss to the Jets, the Jaguars might have gone farther.

Nolan saw Mark Brunell next. They had faced each other in the Pro Bowl quarterback skills competition, and Brunell had lost.

As he passed Belinda, Brunell gave her a long, unreadable look.

Then he noticed Nolan, and anger sharpened his expression, as if Nolan had taken her from him.

He had waited a long time for this game. Today he wanted payback.

The game began with the cheers of the crowd and the squad still ringing around the stadium.

Fernando hadn't been lying. When Jacksonville's first-quarter offense stalled, Coughlin replaced Brunell with Jay Fiedler. Fiedler had spent the previous season behind Randall Cunningham in Minnesota. Cunningham's outstanding year had kept him on the bench, but that didn't make him a poor quarterback.

Where Brunell relied on his passing, Fiedler offered a dual threat. At six-one, he didn't have a striking reach or size advantage, but he could change direction quickly and run unusually well for the position.

The Angels struggled with the change. Fiedler immediately got things moving, and a succession of gains carried Jacksonville close to the end zone in a few minutes.

"Coughlin read that right," Reid had to admit.

The Angels had the league's youngest roster, and most of their players lacked experience. Abrupt changes in the attack left them scrambling to adjust.

That might have been Coughlin's real reason for using the rotation.

Rhodes kept working. The defense began to change its approach.

Then the Jaguars brought in their third quarterback, Jonathan Quinn. Two starts the previous year had earned him Coughlin's trust.

He played differently again. Frequent short throws kept the defense turning, and Jacksonville finished the drive with a touchdown.

"Changing quarterbacks is giving this young defense problems," the CBS analyst said. "Coughlin's asking them a difficult question."

The Angels' three senior coaches conferred on the sideline. None had an immediate answer.

Nolan could see it too. Jacksonville had more variations than his defense could handle.

He needed another way to win.

If they couldn't stop the Jaguars, he would have to outscore them.