Jamie
“Poppins, you good?” She turns to the taller blonde, after the third wave of coughing fits, and she pushes the mug of hot tea towards her again. She’s worried, just a little, the au pair’s eyes darkening a bit with sleep, or lack thereof. Dani smiles gratefully, albeit tiredly, at Jamie, and takes another sip of the liquid, hot enough to burn a bit down her throat, but not enough to scald her tongue.
“I’m okay, just a little cold.” She averts her eyes, and leans in further. “Hey, that reminds me, Owen told me to tell you that he and Hannah can’t make it on Monday.” She looks down at her fingers, then back up at the brunette, who’s eyebrows draw inwards.
“Why not?” She questions, and Dani smailes at her again, hesitating. “Come on then, out with it, Poppins.”
“It’s Miles’ birthday!” Flora calls from the front, before returning to her task of smelling every flower in the shop.
“It’s Miles’ birthday, on Tuesday,” Dani repeats, “And they usually spend the night in order to surprise him in the morning with gifts, and breakfast. Or so I’m told. I feel like you should know this, you’ve known ‘em longer than me.” She pauses, coughing a bit into her fist. “Anyways, you should join us. It’s not like you don’t know everyone there, well, except the man of honor himself,” Jamie chuckles. “And besides, it’ll be nice to hang out on, well, not a Thursday.” Dani half-smiles, and Jamie nudges her arm.
“Sure, I’d like that. Might have to close up early, but who cares? Anything from my best customers.”
“Yeah, right, we haven’t even spent a dollar here.”
“Hey! You buy me lunch most Thursdays! And wait ‘til you hear how much that moonflower costs.” She trails off, mumbling the last words, and Dani’s eyes snap to her, pestering her over what she got herself into…
Bly Manor is, well, it’s freaking enormous, and Jamie stands in awe at it for at least a minute before knocking on the door, the cast iron lion’s head roaring at her when she raps it against the heavy wood.
“Jamie! How lovely to see you! Dani told me she invited you, and it made me wonder why we hadn’t before! Come one, come in!” Hannah helps Jamie remove her coat, a thicker red and black flannel more suited for the winter months, but Jamie’ll never get used to the nippy fall weather at Bly.
“Eh, Flora’s a peach, but we’ll see about this Miles kid.” She jokes, and Hannah just smiles warmly, before ushering her into the kitchen, where the smell of cinnamon and turmeric swirl, mellow and comfortable, over the wooden table, where she catches a glimpse of Dani, a laughing Flora in her lap, smiling wide into the smaller girl’s hair.
“Jamie!” The seven year old scrambles down from Dani’s lap, and Jamie sees the taller blonde wince when Flora’s thin, sharp elbow snags her in the ribs accidentally.
“Hey, Capability Brown!” She catches the small girl when she jumps, swinging her up on her hip, and she watches as Dani coughs again, harder this time, and takes a sip of her water. Owen greets her, setting a plate down for her across from Dani, who grins happily around a bite of roasted potato, a gesture that makes Jamie’s heart ache, the blonde’s cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk around her smile. She’s introduced to Miles quickly, and his familiarity with her grows fast, like he’s catching up to Flora, in a way, only increasing when Jamie presents his gift, a crisp, rolled Batman poster she’d picked up in the bookstore across the street from The Leafling.
The night is enjoyable, and she’s able to pick up where she left off with everyone, and she doesn’t know why she hadn’t done it sooner, hadn’t been here sooner. After her third drink, she decided to call it quits, despite the protests from the kids, nearly dragging her back by her sweater.
“You could, stay, you know, if you wanted to.” Dani’s soft, welcoming eyes distract her from the task of prying tiny fingers from her clothing.
“No, you don’t want me to-”
“Really, you can! Really. I mean, you’ve had three drinks, it’s dark, people do stupid sh- stuff, at night. Just stay, and we can celebrate tomorrow.” She touches Jamie’s wrist, and her fingers feel like warm sand on a beach.
Jamie is silent, for a moment, but then she feels her shoulders relax, and she nods her head.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” She relents, and Flora and Miles rejoice in the news.
“You two,” Dani directs her attention towards the children, “Need to go brush your teeth and put pajamas on.” Miles groans, but Flora nods, and scurries upstairs, with her old brother trailing behind her at a slower pace.
“Wow, Poppins, you really know how to whip ‘em into shape.” Jamie smirks, and bumps her shoulder against Dani’s. Dani smiles proudly.
“I used to teach, back in Iowa, so I know how to handle a few kids. Especially good ones, like Flora and MIles.” Jamie watches Dani’s eyes dull a bit, when talking about Iowa, and her mind pricks with curiosity, an instinct that she tamps down.
“Well, you certainly must have been good at it then.”
Hannah and Owen say their goodnights around ten, leaving the women with some empty time to fill, after putting the children to bed.
“We could… watch a movie?” Dani suggests, Jamie nods, letting herself be tugged upstairs, and she blushes when Dani pulls her by the wrist into her bedroom. The brunette wills herself to chill out, instead deciding to comment on the TV.
“You have a TV in your bedroom? Whew!” She fans herself playfully, and Dani raises her arms, as if calming a crowd.
“Yes, yes, don’t be too impressed. It’s all the Wingrave wealth. Even the guest bedroom, or, well, one of them, has a TV.” Jamie picks through a basket of tapes, before settling on the paper casing of Poltergeist.
“Aha!” She pulls it out, and Dani rolls her eyes. “Come on, Poppins, what? Don’t believe in ghosts?” Dani scoffs, and shrugs her shoulders.
“God, no. And fine, we can watch it, but don’t wake me up in the middle of the night when you get scared of the big dark room.”
Jamie slides the tape in the VCR, and steps out of her shoes in order to join Dani on the bed, the only form of eating, but still, she blushes anyway. In such close proximity, she can hear the uptick in the blonde’s breath perfectly, when there’s a jumpscare on the screen. She can smell the perfume that she knows Dani douses on her neck, and her wrists, and she thinks about the quiet possibility of dipping her fingers in the slope of Dani’s collarbone, exposed, now, by the breeze of the fan having pushed the collar of her shirt slightly to the left.
She notices Dani’s hand inch closer over the duvet, but when she looks up, Dani’s eyes are trained intently at the screen, and she does the same, it must have been an accident.
The movie ends, and Dani is nodding off against Jamie’s shoulder, and the brunette pats her arm lightly.
“Movie’s over, Dani.” She murmurs, smiling softly when the blonde blinks her eyes sleepily at the interruption.
“Oh, sorry.” Her voice is thick, a little gravelly from sleep, and she pulls away to rummage in her dresser.
“No worries, sleepyhead. You need your sleep, what with that cold an’ all.” As if on cue, Dani coughs, and smiles a bit at Jamie.
“Yeah, you’re right. Don’t worry, I’m not contagious.” She tosses a pair of sweats and a T-shirt at the shorter girl, before turning into the attached bathroom to get changed herself.
Jamie changes quickly, the breezy chill of the manor urging her to get into bed quicker, and she burrows under the covers.
Her breath catches when the blonde walks out in a big sweater, the hem hanging to her mid thigh, where a hint of her red spandex shorts peek out, most likely a product from her Saturday exercise class, and thick socks, looking unbelievably cute for a regular Monday night.
“Sorry if the pajamas are a little big, I- um. Yeah.” Dani yawns, and stretches her arms, the sweater inching up to reveal more of her thighs. Jamie averts her eyes, mouth draining of saliva. The blonde climbs in beside her, and Jamie fights the urge to wrap her arms around the taller girl, and burrow into her as she did the blankets.
“Hey, thanks for coming tonight. The kids, they love you, and I had a good time, with everyone, with you. You should come over more often, um, if you’d like.” She turns her head towards Jamie, on the pillowcase, and Jamie smiles, turning to face the blonde.
“I had a good time too, Poppins. With everyone. With you.” Despite herself, she draws in closer, trying to reach the buzzing warmth that is Dani, and she smiles at the pink that dusts Dani’s cheeks. “Goodnight, Dani.”
“Night, Jamie.”