Marjoreece - Date Night

Reeces Visit

The couple eventually went up to bed. Marjorie fell into a disjointed sleep, waking up at irregular intervals, just not being able to let herself go properly. Reece, on the other hand, didn't sleep at all. Every time Marjorie woke up, he was still sitting up on his phone. She'd seen him google facts, statistics all sorts of information. She knew he was desperately looking for any way he could help. She knew he wasn't going to find it, but if this was what he needed to do for his own sanity, then she wasn't about to stop him. When her alarm went off for work, she noticed he was already up and in the shower. She went downstairs and made them both a coffee, taking them back up to the bedroom. He was back from the shower and getting dressed. "You're up early." She said, wrapping her arms around him from behind and burying her head in his back.

"Yea, I don't want Aut to be on her own, so I want to make sure I get over there before Winter leaves for work." He replied, turning around to return her hug, Marjories head now against his chest.

"That makes sense." She said. "My car's still at the bar. Can you drop me off there on your way, please? I'll get ready now so you don't need to wait for me."

"Yea, of course. How's your head this morning? How much did you and Aut drink yesterday?"

"Well, I don't know about Aut, but she was slurring by the time she left. I don't feel too bad. I think I stopped early enough that it's not hit me too hard. That and with everything going on, I think I was too preoccupied for my body to absorb the alcohol properly."

"Aut was slurring? I didn't even think that was possible. She must have hit it hard." He could feel himself panicking again. What state would his sister be in when he got there this morning? Would she have changed her mind by now and not want him there?

Marjorie quickly showered and got ready, Reece had made her some coffee and toast while she was getting ready. She poured the coffee into a togo mug and grabbed the toast to eat on the way. "Come on, let's go. I don't want you waiting any longer than you need to to get to Autumn."

They drove in silence to the bar car park. Marjorie kissed Reece goodbye and told him to call or message her if he needed anything at any point today. She set off for work while Reece set off for his sisters house.

He parked up on her drive, making sure he'd left his car out of the way of Winter's so he could still pull out to go to work. He sat in the car for a few minutes, bracing himself for what was to come. He had no idea what state his sister would be in, and he had no idea how he would deal with it. It had been over 20 years since they had been close enough for him to be there for her like this through any of her problems. Would the ways he comforted her when they were children still work, or did she need different things now that he didn't know about?

He got out of the car and walked to the front door, taking one last deep breath before knocking. It wasn't long before Winter answered. "Reece. Thank you for coming over, I know it will mean a lot to Autumn."

"It's no problem, honestly. Winter, I'm so sorry. How are you?" He asked awkwardly. He didn't have a particularly close relationship with his sisters boyfriend. This really felt like he was being thrown in at the deep end.

"Thank you, I'm OK. I'm more heartbroken for Autumn than anything else."

Just as Winter finished his sentence and was going to ask Reece how he was, the blonde looked the worst Winter had ever seen him look if he was being honest, Autumn appeared at the top of the stairs. Reece didn't know it, but she was in the same clothes as yesterday. She locked eyes with her brother and ran down the stairs towards him. Just as Reece was starting to speak, Autumn threw her arms around his body and buried her head in his chest, "Aut, I'm so...." was all Reece got out before he was shocked into silence by his little sisters open display of emotion. He wraps his arms around her and hugs her back, resting his head on top of hers. This is the first time they've hugged like this since they were children, and Reece had not been expecting it. Reece followed Autumn's lead and held her until she decided to let go, Winter watching the two of them with tears in his eyes. Yes, this is exactly what she needs today. Her brother will be a huge comfort to her. Eventually, Autumn pulled away.

Winter cleared his throat, "Ahem, well my sweet, I'm off to work. I'll see you tonight." He said, kissing her cheek as he finished his sentence. "Bye Reece, look after my girl for me."

Autumn rolled her eyes at the last comment. "Bye, my love. I hope work is ok, I'll see you later." With that, Winter left the siblings to it.

There was an awkward silence for a while before Reece started talking. "How's your head? Marjorie said you were slurring last night. Didn't realise that was possible. Have you eaten this morning?"

"My heads fine, I think the slurring was the alcohol mixing with the painkillers from the hospital, and yes, Winter made me breakfast."

"Good, good.... I just wanted to... you know... check..." Reece replied, looking anywhere but at his sister.

"Reece, shut up." Autumn said to him with a slight smirk on her face at the fact he was obviously desperate to help but had no idea how to. She grabbed the tv remote and put on Texas Chainsaw Massacre before leaning into her brother and pulling his arm around her. She didn't need his words at this moment. She just needed him.

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Winter walked into the office to find Marjorie. "Morning, Marjorie."

"Morning, how are you?" She asked

"I'm OK. Thank you for asking."

"And how's Autumn this morning?"

"She's actually doing better this morning, I think whatever you two did at the bar last night helped, and I think knowing Reece was going to be there with her today is also helping her. Bless her, when he arrived this morning she just flung her arms around him and the two of them just stood there for ages hugging. How did he take the news?"

"Not great, which was expected. He just shut down to start with. The only time I've seen him anywhere close to last night was that girl in the car park. He was desperate to get to Autumn last night, but he knew you two would want your evening together, so he was up first think to get to her today."

"He looked like he hadn't had a wink of sleep."

"He didn't. I woke up at various points throughout the night, and he was judt sitting on his phone, googling facts, statistics, and information. I think he's so used to being able to throw money at a problem that he was feeling really helpless."

"Well, he's not, I think he's just what Autumn needs today. Reece probably does as well. This can't have been easy for him either."

"No, when she told him she was pregnant, he started looking at houses closer to you guys so he could be a hands-on uncle. I was steering him towards the bigger houses, thinking I'd be living in it too and thinking of kids' sleepover and everything you know."

"That might still be a good idea, I'm sure she'd love to have her brother close by. If you could steer him towards one with a pool, and a hot tub?"

"Will do, before you go, a lit of the staff have guessed about Autumn. Do you want to be the one to tell them?"

"No, I can't have that conversation again. Could you do it?"

"Will do. The parents have also been discussing it in the WhatsApp group, but you don't have to deal with any of that ok. Me, Char, Sorscha, we'll shut it down if anyone so much as mutters OK."

"Thank you, Marjorie." With that, Winter left the office, and Marjorie called the rest of the staff in for a quick meeting before the nursery opened.

"Right, I know you'll all be wondering what this is about, but I need to share some bad news with you guys. I know you pretty much all have figured out about Autumn's pregnancy?" Every head in the room nodded in response. "I thought so, well yesterday, unfortunately, she lost the baby. Now Winter has come back to work and has decided that's what's best for him, Autumn is still at home, Reece is spending the day with her today, which I think they both need. We need to make sure we are all here to support them however they need it, OK? I also know there has been talk in the parents WhatsApp group, I'm relying on you guys to put a stop to any gossip regarding this before it's gets to either of them, OK? I don't care how you do it, and I will have your back 100% because chances are, anything you decide to do to deal with it will be deserved. Besides, anything you do can't be any worse than when Autumn's gone Stone Cold Steve Austin on parents in the car park so better we deal with it than her."

Everyone agreed and went back to work. All in full protective mode.