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Aaron tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as he got closer to the pumpkin patch. He knew he was late, but he wasn’t exactly sure how late. His meeting in DC ran later than it was supposed to, and as soon as he landed, he made his way to the pumpkin patch.
Finally pulling in and parking, he quickly made his way out and headed towards the entrance. His eyes grazed over the various people as he looked for Jessica.
But he paused when instead of seeing her, he saw you. Crouched down beside Jack. Why were you here? Where was Jessica?
Taking out his phone and checking it, he saw he had a voicemail from Jessica.
“Hey Aaron! I had an emergency at work and couldn’t take Jack to the Pumpkin Patch, I wasn’t sure what else to do so I went to your office to see when you were coming back. I ran into Y/n, and they offered to take Jack to the pumpkin patch for me. They should be their waiting for you! I’m sorry about this, but I hope you have a good time. Don’t forget to pick out a pumpkin for me. Bye!”
As he listened, he watched you with Jack inside the patch. You were going through small munchkin pumpkins and laughing about them. He smiled to himself as he saw how happy Jack looked.
Watching you with him made something tingle in his stomach and chest. Something that had been happened a lot more recently when he was around you. Something he was almost afraid to pay attention to, or figure out.
Putting his phone back into his pocket, he began to make his way to the two of you.
You laughed as Jack pointed out a small pumpkin with bumps all over it “It has warts!”
“Yes it does. And look, this one is old, like a grandma pumpkin.” You said while picking up an old wrinkly pumpkin, making Jack giggle.
“Hello you two.” A familiar voice said from behind you, making both you and Jack turn to look.
“Dad!” Jack greeted excitedly as he saw his dad. Running over to him, he jumped into his arms as Aaron leaned down to hug him.
Aaron looked over Jack’s shoulder at you and smiled, which you returned. “I’m sorry I’m late.” He said as he stood back up.
“It’s okay dad!” Jack began “We were just looking at the small pumpkins until you got here, we haven’t gone to the big patch yet, we wanted to wait for you.”
Aaron smiled “Thanks bud. Did you pick out some small ones?”
“Yeah, look!” He said as he pointed to a basket by your feet.
Picking it up, you showed Aaron “Plenty of munchkins.” You said with a smile, making Aaron smile a little wider at you.
“Okay, let’s go to the big patch, I wanna find a huuuge pumpkin!” Jack said while grabbing his dad’s hand and pulling him towards the main patch “Come on Y/n.” He called back at you, and you chuckled, sharing an amused smile with Aaron.
As you got to the patch, Jack let go of Aaron’s hand and ran into the field. Aaron looked over at you. “Thank you for bringing him. I actually didn’t get Jessica’s voicemail until I got here, and saw you with him.”
You smiled “When she mentioned where they were supposed to go, I couldn’t resist. I haven’t been to a pumpkin patch in years. Plus I didn’t want Jack to have to sit around the office waiting, I figured it would be better if I just brought him here and killed some time.”
He smiled at you gratefully “Well I really appreciate it, I’m sure Jack does too.”
You cocked eyes for a moment and Aaron felt that now familiar tingle in his stomach and chest again. And you yourself were feeling a long-familiar clenching in your chest as he smiled at you.
Breaking eye contact you looked over at Jack, seeing him checking on some pumpkins. You could feel Aaron still looking at you for another moment before finally looking away. You took a breath and tried to internalize your nervousness.
You knew you shouldn’t have feelings for your own boss, but boy did he make it hard sometimes. Especially when he looked at you like that.
“I’ll go grab a cart.” Aaron said as he walked away.
You watched him for a moment before looking back at Jack. And as he tugged at a large pumpkin you went over to him.
As Aaron got to the carts, he turned back to look at you, and saw you now helping Jack to pull out a pumpkin. He smiled as he grabbed the cart and made his way back over to you.
“This is a good one Jack, nice choice!” You said happily as you picked it up with a lightly grunt. “Nice and heavy.” You said with a chuckle.
Turning, you see Aaron pull up with a cart, he looked at the pumpkin and smiled as you placed it in the cart. “That’ll make a good jack-o-lantern.”
“Jack’s Jack-o-Lantern!” Jack said happily, making you and Aaron chuckle.
“I saw some big white ones over there.” You said while pointing, and Jacks face lit up.
“White ones?” He asked, and as he followed your finger, his face lit up “Cool! Ghost pumpkins! Come on Y/n, we can pick one out!” He said as he began to run over to them.
You let out a soft laugh and looked back at Aaron “Come on cart man, I got a feeling he’s gonna go pumpkin crazy.”
Aaron chuckled at you as he began to follow you. “He always does.”
After filling the cart with various sized pumpkins, Aaron watched as you and Jack ran over to another type of pumpkin. Both of you had excited looks on your face, and Aaron couldn’t help the grin that formed on his face.
As he watched you with Jack, he felt that now persistent tingle again. And this time, he finally realized what it was. Somewhere along the way of knowing you, working with you, and becoming your friend, he had fallen for you. He wasn’t quite sure when it happened, but he had a feeling it had been pushed down subconsciously.
He always had a feeling that you felt the same. The way you treated him, looked at him. He ignored it for professional reasons, as well as some personal ones. But the longer he knew you, the more relieved he felt when it happened, like he would be disappointed if you longer long did.
And now as he watched you, saw your smile, and how you acted with his son, he couldn’t push it away anymore. He liked the feeling, he liked the idea of you and him. Not just that, he liked the idea of you, him and Jack, all of you, together.
It was like a light turned on in his head, and he couldn’t shut it off. And every time you looked at him and smiled, it got brighter, blinding almost. And he loved it. And he had a feeling, that not so far in the future, he would love you too. When he was going to do something about it, he needed to figure out.
He was brought out of his thoughts as your laugh rang out. Looking up, he saw you making your way over to him, another pumpkin in your arms. “Oh boy.” Aaron said with a chuckle.
“Last one, we promise.” You said with a smile.
He shook his head with a laugh “Looks like it wasn’t just Jack that went pumpkin crazy.”
You and Jack shared a look and laughed. You shrugged your shoulders “Must be contagious.”
Aaron laughed “Okay, well we’re gonna have to stop now, I don’t think I’ll be strong enough if this cart gets any heavier.”
As he pushed the cart, you all made your way to the front of the patch. Jack, skipping around ahead of you, stopped and turned back “Hey dad, can Y/n come carve pumpkins with us since Aunt Jessica can’t?”
Aaron looked over at you, and you had an almost blank look on your face. “It’s fine with me, it’s up to Y/n.”
Jack bounded up to you “Come on Y/n it’ll be fun! We carve pumpkins each year while watching Halloween movies. Please come!”
Your heart was beating rapidly in your chest. Looking over at Aaron, he smiled at you warmly. There was that look again.
Looking back at Jack you smiled “Of course I’ll come, it sounds awesome.”
“Yes!” Jack said as he jumped a little.
You chuckled lightly and looked back over at Aaron. His smile widened a bit as you continued to walk. Your locked eyes seemed to both hold something that made your ears grow hot.
“Wait! We gotta get a picture with the scarecrow!” Jack suddenly said as he pointed at the large straw scarecrow nearby.
“Oh yeah. How could I forget about that?” Aaron said with a hint of realization.
“Another tradition?” You asked and he nodded.
As you approached the scarecrow, Jack ran over to it. You stopped and looked at it for a moment, before Aaron came and stood next to you.
“Is it just me or is it kind of creepy?” You asked in a low voice.
“Oh yeah, definitely creepy.” He agreed. You both chuckled and locked eyes again. “I’m glad you came Y/n.” Aaron said suddenly, and you felt butterflies in your stomach.
You smiled brightly at him “Me too.”
“Come on guys!” Jack said, gaining your attention.
As Aaron broke the eye contact, he began to walk over to Jack. Seeing that you did not move he looked back at you “Come on.”
“Huh? Oh, no it should be a family picture.”
Aaron shook his head with a soft smile and walked back over to you “You are family Y/n.” He said softly, making your heart skip a beat. “Now come on, we can’t break tradition.” He said as he rested his hand on your back and began to walk you over to the scarecrow. He handed his phone to the employee as you passed by.
You let out a soft chuckle as you made your way over to Jack. Ignoring how low on your back Aaron had his hand.
As you and Aaron sat on one of the hay stacks in front of the scarecrow, Jack sat between you. Leaning back a little, you set your hand behind you on another block of hay behind Jack.
Suddenly feeling a hand placed on top of yours, you looked over, thinking Aaron did it on accident. But as he glanced over at you, and smiled, you could see in his eyes it was on purpose.
Hoping the heat rising up your neck and ears was not visible, you gave him a soft and shy smile before looking to the photographer.
“Okay, everybody smile on three! One. Two. Three!”
After the man took the photos, Jack jumped up and ran over to the man, who began to show him the photos. As Aaron stood up, he squeezed your hand lightly and gave you a small glance before letting go and walking over to Jack.
You let out a soft sigh, and felt a shy smile tug at your lips as you stood. Aaron looked back at you as you walked over to them “Follow us back to our house?”
You smiled and nodded, following behind him and Jack as you left the patch. Your heart would not stop pounding as you thought about the changes in Aaron’s actions. When did he suddenly feel something for you? Is that what this was? Or were you misinterpreting something innocent?
These thoughts plagued you all the way back to Aaron’s house, and worsened as you arrived. Your anxiety grew, but you tried to push it down. If something was going to happen between you, it wasn’t like it was unwelcome.
- - - - -
The rest of the day went relatively quickly, with only a few burning glances from Aaron, as well as one or two close brush-by’s as he passed behind you. His hands gently lingering on your shoulders as he squeezed by.
Now, as the sky was getting darker, you were sat on the couch, Jack completely asleep between you and Aaron. The various jack-o-lanterns were lit up on the table, as the end credits to Hocus Pocus played on the screen.
Looking over at Jack you smiled, seeing him sleeping peacefully. And as Aaron began to lean forward, you only then just realized that his arm had been back behind your shoulders. When it happened, you didn’t even know. How did you miss it?
“I’m gonna take him to bed.” He said softly, and you nodded.
You watched as he carried Jack away with a soft smile on your face. Thinking back on the day, you let out a deep breath. Looking at the pumpkins, you smiled again. Jack had carved various hero-themed pumpkins. Aaron a scary face, and a haunted house. You carved a crow, as well as a goofy face.
After a few minutes, you stood up and walked over to the pumpkins. Pulling out the small tealights, you blew them out. As you did so, you weren’t aware of Aaron now watching you from the doorway. Only until he spoke did you become aware he was there.
“Today was great.”
You turned and looked at him, seeing him leaning against the doorway with a small smile. You set the last tealight back down and nodded your head with a smile “Yeah, it was. I can’t remember the last time I did something like that. I haven’t really done anything to celebrate Halloween in years.”
Aaron smiled as he walked over to you “I could tell Jack really appreciated it.”
You smiled shyly, Aaron was standing quite close to you. “I’m glad. Jack’s really great Aaron, you really won the lottery with that one.”
Aaron’s smile widened a bit as he nodded. “Yeah I really did.” He paused for a moment as his eyes seemed to graze over your face. Years ago you’d think he might be profiling you, but now, you could tell he was just looking at you, admiring you almost. “Jack likes having you around.” You smiled lightly. “We have that in common.” He added on.
You felt as though your heart short-circuited for a moment as you processed his words. Before you could speak he took another step closer to you. Now he was mere inches away, as he stared into your eyes. Bringing his hand up, he gently caressed the side of your face.
You could see the unspoken feelings behind his eyes, as they reflected your own. “When did this happen?” You asked softly, your voice just above a whisper.
Aaron, knowing you were referring to not only his feelings, but your own, shook his head lightly. “I don’t know. I think it’s been building up over time. But either way, I don’t think it really matters when it happened. Just that it did.” He smiled lightly “And I’m glad it did.”
“Are you sure?” You asked, a little softer, your voice holding a hint of caution.
Aaron nodded his head, understanding why you might be cautious. “Entirely.” He answered, as he cupped your chin in his hand gently. “Are you?”
You knew that this was a chance at something you could not give up. Something you wanted badly, and needed greatly.
Gently nodding your head, you smiled softly. “I am.”
Aaron smiled adoringly at you as he titled your chin up. His eyes grazed over your lips for a moment before he leaned down to meet your lips with his. The kiss began softly, and grew in passion as he wrapped his arms around you.
He knew he would have to deal with more later; paperwork, interviews, and telling the team. But no matter how stressful that part would be, he now knew what it felt like to have you in his arms, to kiss you, to be with you. And no matter what the future would bring, it would be worth it.