What goes on behind the words (is there pity for the plain girl)

Drinks? (they're on me)

Marjorie resumed her seat and for a few seconds, they sat in silence with the occasional typing and writing. "Autumn, I-"

"Save it, Marjorie." her tone was cool and indifferent with no malice but the older woman flinched all the same.

"No, I am sorry. I shouldn't have pushed so much, I was just worried about you two and thought that if you told us, we could help you but I didn't think about how much it would affect you both so I am sorry and if you like, we can go to the bar after work and drinks are on me just to show I really am sorry and that I really care about you and I-"

"Marjorie," Autumn interrupted her rambling. "It's ok, I understand. And I can pay for my own drinks." A ghost of a smile graced her face. Marjorie beamed and nodded, not quite sure how to respond. Throughout the rest of the day, Marjorie continued to monitor Autumn closely, albeit, discreetly. Throughout the rest of the day, noting Autumn's faintly shaking hands and jerky movements, though, she refused to comment. Instead, their day was fairly silent, with the exception of the odd phone call. Yet, Marjorie could not stop thinking about that morning. When Autumn left to go to the bathroom, the manager immediately called Reece.

"Hi my love, I just wanted to apologise for this morning I shouldn't have pushed and I'm so sorry for how it affected both of you and I just wanted to make sure you were alright and that you weren't mad at me because I'd understand if you were but I just wanted to check and-"

"Marjorie," for the second time today, a Knight sibling cut her rambling off. "It's ok. I know why you did it and that's why I shared some of it. I'm not mad, I promise." Reece sounded faintly amused.

"Oh, good, good." Marjorie breathed a sigh of relief. "And umm," she checked that Autumn still wasn't back, "about Autumn, I- how long- does she, is she-" she trailed off.

A deep sigh sounded from the other end of the phone. "Aut's been having panic attacks since she was 11. They used to call me from my class to go to her during lessons because she wouldn't calm down without me. I had no idea that she still had them but my best guess is she suppresses them or lashes out with anger to hide the panic."

Marjorie covered her mouth with her hands, shocked. Her heart went out to the poor girl who'd been subjected to this mental torment since she was a child. "Are there any triggers?"

"I don't know what they are now, they may have changed, but when she was younger, she hated loud noises, locked doors and small spaces, people getting too close to her and people sneaking up or scaring her," Reece replied.

"...loud noises, small spaces, right ok thank you." Marjorie quickly scribbled it down on a Post-it note. "And if it happens again...?"

"Call me straight away," Reece said immediately. "And until then, don't touch her unless she initiates it, don't walk towards her out of her line of sight, make sure she can see you and try to keep the office door open if possible if you can do so whilst maintaining privacy. I'll be over straight away so I can take over from there."

Marjorie scribbled that down as well. "Right ok thanks," she repeated the information back to him to make sure she had got it all correct.

"Yep that's all," Reece said. "And Marje, thank you. Thank you so much for looking after my sister and for asking us those questions to help us. It was brave to fight against two Knight siblings so thanks for caring enough to do so." Marjorie smiled sadly.

"It's fine, please don't worry. And you mean more than the idea of bruised shins, so I didn't really risk anything. Look, I've got to go," she heard footsteps approaching. "I'll talk to you later. I love you."