Work Text:
Sally’s alarm went off at the same time, to the same radio station it always had since she moved to Leeds. She groaned and rolled over contemplating exactly how terrible it would be if she took a personal day right now before shoving the though out of her head just as quickly as it had arrived. Everything was exactly the same as it had been for the previous six months.
Except for one very tall, curly haired, adorable difference. A difference that was currently wrapping his arms around her waist and grumbling “Not time yet.” as he nuzzled closer to her.
“Sadly it is.” Sally scratched at his scalp and offered a small good morning kiss as a consolation prize. Her attempt to slide out of bed was thwarted when instead of loosening, the arms of her gangly bedmate tightened instead. “Steven” She half giggled half whined.
“One more. One more and I’ll let you go be the responsible one.” He breathed over her lips before closing the smallest gap to ever offer such great reward. The electricity that shot through Sally’s body as his tongue melted into her mouth from this far more thorough kiss was almost enough to make coffee irrelevant.
“ I have to get in early, they are announcing the re-org today and I need to remind Christine not to..”
“Be herself?” Steven suggested. Sally rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him back into the pillows.
“She’s not that bad. She just needs some,”
“A lot”
“Of support.” Sally finished. “It’s a lot of change very quickly.”
It had been a week since Roger’s untimely passing. The rest of the Butterworths leadership team had decided that due to the collective trauma of him dying on site, a temporary office shut down was in order. It was said that the week off was to give everyone time to ‘process their grief’
What it gave Sally, was a week to be snogged and shagged senseless. With no outside interference other than the occasional comments from their respective flatmates, supportive ones from Tash and oblivious ones from Vince, they had truly fallen head first into the honeymoon phase of their relationship. Which made this morning quite difficult.
“Sorry” She said sympathetically.
“For what?” He asked confused.
“For talking about work, without you.”
“Sal, for goodness sake I can’t expect you never to talk about work.” Steven shook his head in mild disbelief. “Besides, my fault for quitting.”
“I’m sure you could ask for your position back. “ Sally pulled a dress out of her closet and pulled it down over her head. “You wouldn’t be Alyson’s PA any more, you would be with the new COO.”
“I think a little more distance is needed than that would provide.” He said matter of factly. Steven got out of bed and put on his jeans and trainers. “But, on the bright side, since I do not currently have anything on my social calendar I can certainly take you to dinner tonight?”
“No, I told you- you’re not to spend money on me until you find a new job.” This time it was Steven’s turn to roll his eyes and sigh.
“Well, I do have to do some grocery shopping today.” He paused briefly to locate his shirt that had been tossed haphazardly the night before in a bout of enthusiasm. He put it on quickly before reaching for Sally’s hand. “If I happened to pick up enough to make a spaghetti bolognese for two, could you be convinced to join me?” He gave his best smoulder while his thumb brushed gently against her palm. She bit her lip and nodded. “Well then, I guess I’ll see you later.” He smiled and kissed her one last time before heading out the door whistling.
Everyone must have been having an equally hard time getting going this morning because the canteen line was taking forever. Sally sighed and looked around, watching as no one bothered to chat or even so much as look at each other. She thought back to a couple weeks prior when Steven tried to make her laugh by saying he could predict people’s coffee orders based on their socks.
“ No one who wears white socks with black trousers ever orders a latte. Mark my words.” She heard in her head as a hapless finance employee placed his order in front of her. He had been right of course. He was right annoyingly often. Sally walked up the stairs with her drink in one and her coat slung over her arm. As she dumped her belongings on the desk she glanced over at the abandoned workstation to her right. The whole situation was going to take some getting used to.
“Oh good you’re here.” Christine dropped another five files on Sally’s desk. “Apparently they want me to screen the candidates for the next…” She trailed off and gestured vaguely at Steven’s empty desk.
“PA?” Sally offered.
“Exactly. And you know better than me so I want you to do it.” Sally stared at the pile of work, then back at Christine. “Please?”
“Fine. But that means you need to take these back.” Sally traded another pile of folders. Christine groaned. “All you have to do is sign them.”
“Signing. I can do signing.” Christine sounded like she was trying to convince herself. She turned around and then turned back. “How are you with, you know, things? Are you good?”
Sally couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on her face. “ Yeah, yeah I’m good. Thanks.” Christine nodded quickly before turning back to her office “First reorg meeting in an hour.” Sally reminded her and was rewarded with a thumbs up as the glass door to her office closed.
The conference room was set up for 3 sessions of reorg announcements. The idea was that smaller groups would lead to more open and honest discussion. The first two groups went off without a hitch but the next one was going to be the challenge: Administration and Marketing were teamed together.
Tash supportively sat close to the front, having been able to read Sally’s ‘Help me’ face from 20 yards since they were in primary school. As the rest of their bizarre social circle arrived, Sally thought that maybe this wouldn’t go too badly. Things were progressing smoothly until the new org chart was revealed.
“And with Alyson’s promotion to CEO, we will be welcoming Peter Clark from research and development into the role of COO.” Christine read off the slide.
“Wait- Who is Teebed?” Max asked
“Sorry?” Christine asked frantically skipping through her notes.
“Teebed. There, underneath Peter on the chart. Odd looking name.”
“That’s T.B.D” Sally explained. “It means To Be Determined. That role is currently being recruited for.” Christine tried to continue but was interrupted again.
“Recruited? Isn’t that Steven’s job?” Max asked again.
“He quit” Small Karen said.
“What? When?”
“The day Roger, you know” Vince added.
“Why did he do a thing like that?” Sally felt several pairs of eyes land on her while she handed out the next batch of memos to be discussed. She heard whispers along with an “Oh” of understanding from the marketing manager.
So much for not making a big deal of things. She thought. Thankfully the session wrapped and it was time for lunch. Just as she was about to leave the conference room Sally’s mobile beeped with an incoming text.
Miss me yet? Sally smirked.
Not as much as your adoring fans. Just had to break it to Max you weren’t coming back. I think He’ll need to see the grief counsellor.
Get Tash to wear her purple skirt to work and Max will forget the operations department even exists let alone that I’m not in it.
You like her purple skirt? Maybe I’ll have to steal it.
Nah, Though if you are taking suggestions I do have a fondness for that cream top of yours you wore to the pub…
“Christine I need-“ Sally looked up and saw Alyson standing in the doorway. Alyson’s jaw ticked as she swallowed whatever sentence she had been trying to say as well as whatever emotions seeing Sally had brought on. “Have you seen Christine?”
“Um, no?” Sally said unsure as she looked out the window. “ I think she had a meeting at lunch though. I’ll tell her you are looking for her?”
“Thank you Sally. Please do.” Alyson turned on heel and made her way back towards Jenny’s desk. When Sally exited the room a few minutes later the glances the CEO and her new PA were giving over the documents they were discussing made their opinion of her perfectly clear. Sally was no longer to be treated with warmth and understanding, but with as little contact as possible.
The rest of the day continued in similar fashion. Sideways glances, conversations suddenly starting and stopping as soon as Sally entered or left a room, and lots of random questions that were totally not excuses just to walk by their desks and confirm that Steven was in fact gone. She did her best not to notice and managed to have the list of his potential replacements on Christine’s desk before she left.
Sally was downright exhausted as she sat on the bus on the way to Steven’s flat. Leaning her head against the cool window helped but it was still a lot to absorb. She hated change, well most change. She knew today was going to be different but living it had put her through the ringer.
She buzzed his door and heard the sound of stairs being taken two at a time before the door was flung open and she was swooped into a hug. The arms around her and the smell of Steven’s cologne took a solid layer of stress off her shoulders. This was a good change, an incredibly good change.
“Survive?” He asked finally releasing Sally to close the door and lead her back to the unit.
“Mm hmm” She offered. “How about you?”
“I managed. Forgot how boring not having a job is. But, got the shopping done and got a few feelers out.” He found a wine glass and poured her some red before returning to the stovetop to stir the sauce. “One of those works then you’ll have to accept my dinner out offer.”
“You know that doesn’t matter to me. I am perfectly content right here.” Sally confirmed. She took a sip of the wine. “Besides, maybe staying in more often right now isn’t a bad thing.”
“Right because we really get a lot of space to ourselves around here?” Steven gestured glibly. He looked at her before putting his spoon on the rest and covering dinner to simmer. “You’ve got that look.”
“What look?”
“The ‘Sally is picturing disaster’ look.” She bristled at his correct assessment. “What’s got you spooked?” Sally looked down into her glass. “Someone say something?” He asked. “Was it Alyson?” He added, indignation growing in his voice.
“No, no she didn’t say anything.” Sally soothed as he released a breath. “In fact it was more what she didn’t say. What everyone didn’t say. “ Sally sighed taking another sip of wine.
“And what exactly was everyone not talking about?” Steven asked.
“You, and me.” Sally admitted.
“And does that bother you?” He asked. Sally saw the concern that had lifted a moment ago settle back onto his face.
“No, I mean, not in that way.” She took his hand. “I’m just, not used to being the centre of attention. I mean I’m not Tash or you.” Steven squeezed her hand and then used his other to brush a piece of hair behind her ear.
“Well, Sally Newman, you better get used to being the centre of MY attention at the very least.” He leaned in and gave her a small kiss. “As for the rest,” He said making his way back to the stove. “I’m sure that if you give it a few weeks, someone else will make a total arse of things and you can go back to being wallpaper.”
“Wallpaper?” Sally laughed. Steven nodded.
“Very lovely wallpaper though.” He teased. He opened the lid on the saucepan and gave it a quick stir before lifting the spoon. “Now come on, try this.” Sally moved to take a small taste. She gave a little moan, the man could cook. A little bit of sauce stayed on the side of her mouth. Steven graciously swiped it off with his thumb, grazing her lips in the process. She looked up at him, her appetite for more than just spaghetti evident. It was her turn to pull him in, grabbing a bit of his shirt and tugging him down to replace his thumb with his mouth.
As exhausting as it all was, it was also completely worth it. Every look, every snarky remark, whatever else the day threw at her from now on, she knew she could handle it all. Because at the end of it, would be this man whom she was falling for faster than she would ever care to admit.
The next morning, Sally’s alarm went off at the same time though it went off to a different radio station. She still contemplated exactly how terrible it would be if she took a personal day because sure enough, she was stopped by a pair of arms refusing to surrender her to the outside world without a proper kiss.
It was a marked difference from her first six months in Leeds, but she hoped it was a sign of how she would spend the next six months, and all the months after that.