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Leaving Nurse Remi and her patient alone while Quinn headed to the office felt like that very first day when Quinn left for work after Remi arrived. All of the situations that could go wrong wracked her mind throughout her commute. The  stereo stayed off.

She had a brief period of calm at her desk, as others in the office filed in group by group, and then, back of the pack, Jordan appeared: bundled to the top of her head in knitted garments of various colours. She practically skipped to their section, mouth slightly parted as though she couldn’t hold in all of the words straining to spew out.

Before she could bombard Quinn with questions, Quinn held aloft a gift bag. “Your clothes.”

“Oh!” Jordan glanced over her shoulder, and Quinn suddenly realised maybe announcing the sharing of clothes wasn’t appropriate in a work setting. Jordan took the bag, confident that the area was clear.

“Thanks!” She smiled, a little guilty. “Yours are midway through my laundry basket,” she admitted.

“Don’t worry, there’s no rush.”

Jordan sunk into her seat and began unravelling her woolly barrier against the November chill. “How’s your friend?” she asked, so casual and easy that Quinn temporarily forgot that Jordan had even met Wes. A solid poker face was not something Quinn would have attributed to Jordan.

“He’s okay. Resting a lot. Remi is fussing over him.”

“She’s a sweetheart.” Jordan sighed. “I’m so glad Wes was okay after dipping from the hospital.” She layered her outer clothes over the back of her seat. “I got a call about it.”

Quinn fought not to show how rattled those last six words had made her. “Oh?”

Leaning over the crack between their desks, Jordan lowered her voice to a whisper. “The police wanted to check what happened when he up and left the hospital. I told them exactly what I told the nurses and they said they’d be back in contact if they heard anything.”

A long, slow breath slipped out between Quinn’s pursed lips. “That’s good.” At least, she hoped it was. “It’s all over with, then.”

“What will happen to him now?”

“We’re letting him rest up with us.” There was no point mentioning the great duress Quinn was under to allow it. “Once he’s well again, the government will find somewhere for him,” she lied.

Jordan nodded, serious.

“He said something about you.”

A surprised blink. “Really? He didn’t say anything to me.”

“That your phone was ringing non-stop in the hospital.”

“Ah-”

“And when you picked it up, the person on the other end wasn’t being very… patient.”

“Y-yeah.”

They stared each other down for a moment. “Is that person Jay?” Quinn asked.

Jordan hesitated. “Yeah.”

Phones buzzed, the printer whirred angrily at being expected to print, and everyone else in their widely-spread office continued with their work. Quinn didn’t ask the question they both knew she wanted the answer to. Instead, she waited.

After only a couple of minutes, Jordan cracked.

“Things got serious faster than I expected,” she said, ultra-soft. “I like her… but she’s very intense. You think that a possessive partner is hot until they start having an issue with you rather than other people.”

Quinn had no experience to agree or disagree, so she kept her mouth shut. As an alpha, she was expected to be the possessive party in a relationship, but she’d never been in a relationship that was serious enough to warrant worrying over someone else’s behaviour or interest… Well, now she had Remi. Just as Jordan put it, though, Quinn could only see herself behaving possessively if someone else was making a move on her mate. She trusted Remi’s affections not to stray. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have asked her to be her mate.

“I really like her,” Jordan said again, as though to convince them both. “We’ll work it out, so take that scowl off your face.” She winked and Quinn blinked back. It was difficult to force a neutral expression, but she attempted, for Jordan’s sake.

“Okay. If it doesn’t work out, though, let me know.”

Jordan nodded and the conversation slipped easily into work topics. Quinn just about upheld her end, while impatient for midday. The earliest that an office worker could take their lunch without being branded a psychopath.

When the clock hands settled in a stack at twelve, Quinn hopped up, ceremoniously laying her tupperware on her desk, and muttered something about needing paper towel from the kitchen. Before Jordan could ask her to bring anything back, she strode away. Straight through the open-plan communal kitchen she stalked, and through to the opposite end of the floor that their company took up. This side included the office for accounts.

A polite knock, and Quinn ducked her head into the room. It was lacking the murmur of conversation that the other areas had, only a radio on the lowest possible volume brought any noise to the hidden team. Ultimate quiet was a requirement when dealing with the company’s funds. All heads lifted, some appraised her with recognition. Probably from team bonding activities, since Quinn’s department had no overlap with finance outside of reporting and predicting spend in relation to micro-trends.

“Jay?” Quinn said to the woman in the back corner. “Could I have a minute?”

Jay hesitated, glanced around her colleagues, and decided not to kick up a fuss. She followed Quinn back out into the corridor, it was empty bar a fake plant whose pot clashed with the beige walls. She shut the door behind her, blocking the silent audience.

“Invoices don’t pass your desk,” Jay said in place of asking why Quinn wanted to speak with her.

Quinn admitted, “They don’t.”

“Then what business do you have with acc-”

“You need to calm down, both with me and with Jordan.” Jay’s eyes flashed, but before she could argue, Quinn continued, “I’m not your enemy, yet, and you don’t want me to be.”

“You wanna threaten me?” Jay scoffed. “I’ll go to HR!”

“You think this building is the only place I’d beat your ass?” Quinn looked her up and down, slow. “Stop rushing Jordan, she deserves to be treated with love and respect. For some reason, she likes you, so stop getting in your own way by acting like a dick.”

“You’re a dick,” Jay grumbled.

Quinn raised a brow and turned away. She’d said all that she intended to, and would still have time to eat the chilli and pumpkin bread that Remi had prepared for her.

When she dropped back into her wheelie chair, Jordan reminded her, “Paper towels?”

“Uh, all out.”

Usually, Quinn would hurry home on a Tuesday to be ready to head back out again for their painting class. Today, she already knew that wasn’t happening before she loped through the front door, a weight falling on her back as she returned to the crime scene that was her house.

“He’s still feverish,” Remi called as she hopped down the stairs.

“Hello to you, too,” Quinn mumbled.

Remi looked up at her from the bottom step, puppy eyes on full beam.

“Sorry.” She kissed Remi’s forehead and pulled off her shoes. “How was your day?”

“Full of worry,” Remi answered with a sigh. “Wes’ wounds have closed but I think he’s fighting some kind of infection.”

Quinn dropped her backpack and hung her coat. Gently, she told her, “We can’t take him back to the hospital, they’ll be on high alert.”

“No, we’ll just have to do what we can ourselves.” It sounded like Remi was talking more to herself, her gaze dropped, and her mind turning over remedies she could try.

“Just tell me what I can do, and I will.” And she meant it, although only for Remi’s sake.

The evening they should have spent painting had Quinn running bowls of water up and down the stairs, putting on loads of sweat-soaked laundry, and a late-night supermarket run for herbs, oils, and powders that Remi had specified were antibacterial… or antiseptic… or antisomething…

Either way, it was expensive stuff. Which made even less sense when Quinn looked over her receipt and thought about how everything in her basket had been some form of plant. They needed to re-prioritise their vegetable patch if this was the kind of money they’d be spending on tea tree, ginger, aloe vera and clove. Potatoes were a pound a kilo, they didn’t need to be growing those in the garden.

A little after Quinn’s usual bedtime, Remi dismissed her, promising to join soon. Quinn took a shower, dressed in her pjs, and sat in bed and waited. She couldn’t sleep while her precious mate toiled away over some sweaty dog in their guest bedroom. The minutes clunked by, slow but methodical. She couldn’t bear to even read or flick through her planner, it seemed so insensitive while Remi was being so selfless. Despite her frustration at the unwelcome intruder, Quinn was in awe of Remi’s tender heart.

Just before midnight, Wes’ fever finally broke, and Remi slunk into bed beside Quinn without bothering to replace the clothes she pulled off with pajamas, pawing at her for comfort. Quinn was more than happy to oblige, pinning Remi down into the pillows and digging her tongue between her folds until she squealed under clasped hands. She deserved it. All the pleasure, all the love, all the rest.

Comments

Aristoph

75?! Time flies when you’re having fun 🥹

Gustaf

When you are the Alpha, and a member of your pack (whether you have realized it or not) is having troubles...

LaDeeDa

Tell me about it! A few months and it'll be time for the next omegaverse genderbend poll 🥺

LaDeeDa

The instincts are jumping out before the rest of her can stop them 🤭