my moonflower. - damie.

eleven.

dani's eyes opened to see jamie's face inches away from hers, her eyes shut and her mouth barely open as she slept peacefully. there was nothing dani loved more then waking up next to the gardener, she preferred it very much as opposed to an empty bed. 

she yawned quietly, stretching her legs under the covers before she careful got out of the bed as her feet touched the cold wood floor. grabbing a book off of her bedside table, she made her way to the bench that was placed in front of her bedroom window, sitting down and opening the book to a marked page. 

dani rarely slept through the night, so, she'd wake up and read by the window in the moonlight. although it was morning now, the sun had barely rose and it was too early for jamie to be awake. so, she read. her eyes raced over the words marked on the paper as the descriptive texts made movies in her mind. she could see the scene the book was describing, a peaceful countryside covered with flowers.

she'd read this book thousands of times before, it was one of the few things she brought with her from america. her mother had given it to her when dani turned 20, a small yet simple gift. 

dani had always been a bookworm, ever since she was little. she'd gotten awards all throughout school congratulating her for the amount of books she'd read. her love for books overflowed into her adult life, yet she rarely ever read anymore. reading reminded her of her life before bly, which she was desperately trying to escape. i mean, there was a reason she'd moved here so quickly with barely anything to her name, she was running. 

she wasn't running from something or someone, she was running from her previous life. her life that was filled with plain, boring people and a bland town that she'd spent virtually her whole life in. after edmund had died, everywhere she went she was getting looks of remorse and worry, eyes were always watching her.

so, she did the thing she thought seemed most reasonable, pack very little of her belongings and immigrate to a new country to which she'd never been to before. 

to be fair, dani might not have been thinking quite clearly, seeing as edmund had just died and all. but, she was so happy that she escaped from her town, from those eyes that were constantly monitoring her. if she hadn't come to bly, she would have never met jamie. quite frankly, if jamie hadn't stumbled into dani's life, dani wasn't quite sure where she would be now. 

dani's thoughts broke as she looked up from her book to find jamie waking, stretching her arms out above her head and yawning. 

jamie propped her head up on her arm, facing dani. "well, what have we got here?" jamie teased, her voice still raspy and soft from her sleep. "i didn't know you liked to read."

"oh, it's nothing really." dani shut the book, placing it down beside her. "just helps the time go by." 

"i was never really much of a reader myself, it was borin' and tedious to me ever since i was little." jamie said, sitting up in bed.

"oh, i've always loved to read, ever since i was in primary school." dani chuckled, "i was a complete nerd."

"well, you're definitely the cutest nerd i've ever laid my eyes on." jamie laughed as she saw dani get flustered over her remark. 

dani stood up, walking back to the bed and sitting on top of the covers next to jamie. dani rested her head on her shoulder, letting out a breath. 

"somethin' on your mind?" jamie asked, grabbing dani's hand in hers.

"oh, it's nothing. just thinking about everything that lead up to this." 

"no need to burden your mind thinking about that, all that matters is that you're here." jamie said, turning to dani. "you're here, and we're together, we're okay." 

dani smiled, pressing her forehead against jamie's momentarily before jamie leaned into her in an attempt to kiss her. dani put a hand on her shoulder, pushing back. "brush your teeth first, please."

"oh, for god's sake, is my mornin' breath really that bad?" jamie exclaimed, frowning.

"no, it's not bad. i promise. but, come on. i'll do it with you." dani said, grabbing her hand and standing up to lead her to the restroom.

jamie closed the restroom door behind the two as she grabbed her toothbrush off of the counter and placed a dollop of minty toothpaste on the bristles, shoving it in her mouth as she glared at dani. jamie nudged dani with her elbow as the two brushed, teasing her.

dani furrowed her brow, pushing her back. jamie leaned down to spit, dani following her and doing the same. 

"can i kiss you now?" jamie pleaded, looking at dani as she nodded a simple yes.

jamie stepped in front of the au pair, dani's back was against the cold counter of the bathroom as jamie pushed her up against it, pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss. jamie's hands were on the counter as she kissed her lips, slowly moving down to her neck.

dani chuckled softly, her hand holding the back of jamie's head. "jamie, we can't do that here!" her voice was barely above a whisper, her face red.

jamie frowned, "why not! you already said no in the bedroom." dani lifted the gardeners head level with hers, "i'll make it up to you later, but not right now." jamie pouted, slouching her posture slightly. "fine." she sighed, leaning away from dani.

dani walked to the door of the bathroom, looking back to the still frowning dani as she opened the door and walked towards the children's rooms to wake them up for the morning.

"miles, flora! good morning!" she almost yelled outside of their bedroom doors, she knew that was enough to wake them up. 

the au pair walked downstairs into the kitchen to see jamie alone, eating a bowl of cereal leaned against the countertop. 

"where's owen and hannah?" she asked, perplexed as the two were here every morning.

jamie shrugged, shoveling more cereal into her mouth. "probably off somewhere together on the grounds enjoying a little alone time." 

dani walked to the fridge, getting out the milk and placing it on the table along with two bowls and the box of cereal. 

"so, what are you teaching the goblins today?" jamie asked, her mouth full.

dani stood next to her now, "trying to get them to grasp the solar system, but they can never get the order of the planets right." she sighed, "it's alright though, they'll get it eventually."

"i respect you for teaching them, i was a terrible student back in my day." jamie chuckled, "you'd hate to be my teacher, i wouldn't listen to a thing you'd say."

"i'd just take that on as a challenge to work harder." dani winked as she walked to greet the children who were racing down the stairs.

"good morning guys, cereal's on the table." the kids ran past her on either side, not acknowledging she'd spoken before they sat down.

"i beat you!" miles shouted, triumphantly as he touched the table before flora. 

"you cheated! you skipped the last step on the staircase." flora frowned, sitting down at the table and glaring at her brother. 

"there were no rules!" miles retorted, grinning. "don't you agree, dani?" he turned to the au pair.

dani shrugged, "i'm staying out of this, it's strictly between you two."

jamie walked up next to the children, "i think it was unfair, personally." she said, looking to flora who smiled at her remark. 

"see, miles? it's not fair! you're older, and bigger, you're always gonna win!"

"just means he'll be the first to die." jamie said to flora, which earned her a nudge from dani. "you can't say that!" dani said, her eyes wide. 

"of course i can! these kids are way too familiar with death at their age, it doesn't even phase 'em." she turned her attention back to the kids who were each devouring their cereal. 

"i'll see you lot later, i'm off to the statue garden if anyone needs me." jamie said, kissing dani on the nose before she turned to head out of the kitchen. 

dani turned to watch her leave, making a split second of eye contact met with a smile before jamie was out of the large doors of the entrace to the manor.