We Fell In Love In October - Wintumn Flufftober

Locked In/Trapped

A/N - Still playing catch up...

It was a very quiet day at the nursery. The forecast called for snow and lots of it, so a majority of the parents had decided to keep their kids home for the day. They probably could have and should have shut down the nursery, but Roger would never have let that happen. Even if one parent was willing to bring their child out in the storm, they were going to stay open so they could collect their money. But not a single kid showed up and the wind had picked up making it so unsafe that the city was not letting the plows out until it was less dangerous. The staff members who had showed up for the day were going to have to wait out the storm.

No one on the staff was thrilled about waiting around, but no one was more upset than Autumn. She was furious that her father had made his staff come in at all when he most certainly had not left his house all day. It was just another reason she had never wanted to work for her father. He didn't care about anyone or anything that wasn't making him money. For the longest time working in the Knight Nursery was Autumn's worst nightmare. Not because it was a nursery; she actually quite enjoyed working with the children and they all liked seeing her just as much, if a kid got a high five from Autumn they would brag about it all day; but because she didn't want to deal with the parents. Her hatred of working in the nursery came from her father expecting her to keep the parents happy; to believe the customer and only the customer and whip the staff into shape accordingly. Having to listen to all the parents whining was her own personal hell. Thankfully Marjorie had convinced her to try to be a better manager and so the torture of dealing with parents as a business person was gone.

That didn't mean work was easy for her. No, now she had to deal with a new form of torture. She had to work with Winter all day while trying to keep their new relationship a secret. It was Autumn's own fault she had to do this, she was the one who insisted that they keep it between them for now. They'd only been together for about a month and even though they had done anything but "take it slow," Autumn still didn't want everyone to know about them just yet. Aside from not wanting to deal with the emotions from their coworkers she didn't want to deal with the judgment from the parents and Roger about the interoffice romance. Even though she had already decided that this was it, this was the relationship, the couple hadn't really discussed the future yet. She didn't want to deal with the "I told you so's" if the relationship failed. So they kept their distance at work as much as they could.

As much as they could...that wasn't much. The more time they spent together, the more they realized that they just couldn't go a whole day avoiding each other. There were stolen glances in the staff room and every so often one of them would pass just a little too close so their hands could brush against each other for even just a second, their eyes meeting with a quick wink or half smile as they both got the comfort they needed just out of a single touch. On days she was particularly stressed, Autumn would "forget" an important piece of paperwork in the office so she could take a second trip to the preschool room. Just little things to get them both through the day until they are finally reunited in the privacy of their own home.

But as the day went on and the wind kept whipping past the office window, Autumn couldn't help but worry that their secret wouldn't be safe much longer.

"Excuse me, Autumn?"

Winter's voice was all business as he knocked on the door, not looking up from the paperwork in his hands. Ever since they had started seeing each other he always kept himself occupied when they were around each other, knowing that if he looked at her he wouldn't be able to control his expression.

"It's alright, we're alone," Autumn laughed, seeing just how "interested" Winter was in the papers. "Carly's filling Marjorie in on the staff gossip, she'll be occupied for a while."