Chapter Text
“Enjoy your breakdown,” Alice said, her voice harsher than she intended. “Just keep it quiet, some of us are trying to work.”
“For god’s sake, Alice—”
But Alice wasn’t listening. She’d put her earphones in and watched as Sam stormed out of the room, angry in a way she hadn’t even seen when they’d broken up.
She didn’t care. He wanted to investigate the Magnus Institute, and get himself killed? Good on him. Alice wasn’t going to let herself get dragged into it, though. She was done.
Part of her was more upset with herself, though — she knew it was irrational, but she… didn’t like this, the fighting with Sam. Letting out a puff of air as she pressed the shuffle button on a playlist of her favourite songs, she pushed those thoughts away. They’d be fine in a day or two, and then it’d be back to their usual banter.
Probably.
Alice didn’t know how long she just sort of stared at Sam’s computer, hoping that it’d reveal its secrets if she looked at it with a judgemental enough style.
She was only snapped out of her daze by the sound of a sudden voice, which was also when she realised that her music had abruptly come to an end.
“You know, you won’t get any work done by just looking at the computer.”
Alice groaned internally, but spun around on her chair to face Gwen, crossing her arms. “And what would you know about that, miss ‘new fancy job’?” She witnessed an unreadable expression flicker across Gwen’s face, a mix of annoyance and… disappointment? She snorted. “Or did being teacher’s pet with Lena already get to you?”
At that, Gwen cast her eyes to her feet and mumbled something quietly. Alice, unable to make anything out, looked at her in confusion. “What?”
“I lost the job.”
Alice’s eyes widened. Out of everything she was expecting, that wasn’t it. “Ah.” She paused. “And how exactly did you manage that?”
Gwen sighed. “Look, Alice, I’m not in the mood to talk about this, especially since not only did I lose the job, but I have to pretend like I still have it for the next few weeks!”
“Oh, poor you,” Alice said, her voice dripping with fake sympathy that Gwen caught onto. “So, what, you’re back in data processing with me, Sam and Celia?” She spun around on her chair so she was leaning forward on it instead, and looked up at Gwen. “You know, if you missed us so badly, you could’ve just said so, Gwenny,” she teased.
“Oh, ha ha,” Gwen responded. “By the way, Sam and Celia just left the building. They were looking quite close.” Alice tried to avoid letting anything flash across her face but didn’t manage. “Oh? Hit a sore spot, have I? I heard you two arguing when I left Lena’s office. It didn’t sound like it went well.”
Alice rolled her eyes, trying to pretend like her face wasn’t heating up. “Hey, if Sam wants to get himself killed at the Magnus Institute, that ain’t my business. I just hope it isn’t too much paperwork,” she said, stretching back in her chair.
Gwen’s reaction, though, was unexpected. “How do you — how do you know that name?” she asked, her voice shockingly quiet.
Don’t tell me Gwen believes in all this shit too, Alice thought with a groan, but she was… too intrigued by Gwen’s reaction not to ask. “A couple of the cases have mentioned the institute — I think it’s nothing, but Sam, on the other hand…” She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling. “He got rejected by the institute a few years before, y’know, it burned down. Now he’s obsessed with it again. How do you—”
“Not important,” Gwen interrupted, and though Alice raised an eyebrow, she didn’t seem willing to divulge. Alright. So everyone here had secrets. Wonderful.
The longer she stared at Gwen, though… the longer Alice noticed something was wrong. Her hair looked like it had been hastily brushed, and the bags under her eyes were more pronounced than usual as her gaze seemed flickered around the room. There was a smudge of lipstick under her bottom lip. Gwen would never have let such a thing happen.
Something was up, and it wasn’t just Gwen losing her new ‘Externals Liaison’ job. “Alright,” she sighed, “neither of us are willing to talk about what’s going on. Why are you still here, Gwen? If I got demoted, I’d be out at the bar, or sitting on my sofa watching shitty movies. But you’re… hanging around.”
Gwen shrugged, looking slightly lost as she fiddled with her hands. “Don’t feel like going home yet, I suppose,” she admitted after a moment.
Alice snorted. “That fond of this place, are you?”
Gwen scoffed. “Need I remind you, you’re the one who’s been staring at the computers for the last few hours. Try not to turn into Colin,” she said. “I don’t think the OIAR would be that pleased if another employee lost their mind over the IT in this building.”
“I’ll try,” Alice replied, tilting her head to the side. “Hey, look on the bright side,” she smirked. “Now you’re gonna be stuck with me again.”
“Oh, god,” Gwen groaned dramatically, and Alice chuckled. “Is it too much to hope you’ve worked at all on your caseload?”
“Nope,” Alice responded, jumping up onto the desk and swinging her legs, before pointing at Gwen. “Don’t tell Lena that, she’d have my throat before the sun came up. She wasn’t too… aggressive with the let-down, was she? Y’know, I could always mix up all the casefiles in her office — give you a break,” she joked, but Gwen didn’t smile. “Alright, not in the mood for jokes, I get it.” She paused. “I mean, what even is an Externals Liaison? Doesn’t sound that fun. Honestly, Gwen, you’re better off, and I don’t see why you’re so worked up.”
Gwen shook her head. “It— never mind, you wouldn’t understand.”
Alice sighed, realising this was the best she was going to get. “Well, I’m officially bored and working hours are over, so I’m getting out of here.” For a moment, her expression turned a bit more sincere. “Hey. Don’t stay here all night, okay? I know I joke, but it would be a lot of paperwork if one of us died.”
“I’ll try.”
Well. Alice was no closer to any sort of explanation for why everyone in this office was acting weird, and now even Gwen seemed to be losing it. “Bye, Gwen. See you tomorrow.”
She hesitated by the opening doors, but Gwen seemed lost in thought, and after everything that had transpired today, Alice didn’t feel particularly inclined to intrude.
When she stepped outside, the sun was already coming up.
***
The next night, Alice came in late, as per usual. Sam and Celia were already there, and they exchanged a rather awkward greeting before getting to their respective workstations.
She winced at the way Sam seemed to be ignoring her, but fine. If he wanted to give her the cold shoulder, then two could play at that game.
One thing surprised her, though.
By the time an hour had elapsed, there was still no sign of Gwen.
And when the woman who had routinely shown up half an hour early to every day of work for the last three years was over an hour late, something was wrong.
With a sigh, she moved over to Celia’s cubicle, not willing to talk to Sam just yet, that wound still fresh. “Hey, have you seen Gwen?” she asked casually, although a tone of curiosity came through.
Celia shook her head. “Doesn’t she still have that… Externals Liaison job?” she asked, and Alice bit her lip, unsure whether or not to respond honestly.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s probably all,” she said, deciding not to let the others know just yet. If Gwen was, in fact, just late, Alice would be dead on the spot when Gwen found out she’d told half the office.
“Why do you want to know?”
Alice grinned. “Well, I need to be a nuisance to someone today, don’t I?” she said. With that, she headed back to her desk.
Until she saw Lena coming out of her office, and quickly headed towards her instead. “Lena,” she called out, and her boss turned around.
“Ah, Alice. Shouldn’t you be at your desk? I believe your break isn’t for a while yet.”
Alice shrugged. “I wanted to ask you something.”
Lena sighed, exasperated. “Alright, but make it quick — I have meetings to attend to.”
“Just wondering if you’ve seen Gwen today?” Alice asked, and Lena looked slightly taken aback, before looking at the desks.
“She’s not in yet?” she asked, sounding just as confused as Alice was. “Hm. Well, this is unusual behaviour for Miss Bouchard, and I’ll have to make a note of her absence.” With that, she strode off, and Alice watched as she disappeared around the corner. Hm. She looked genuinely surprised by that.
“It’s probably nothing, Alice,” Celia said, and Alice jumped at the sudden appearance of the woman behind her. “Just… Gwen’s busy, alright? Maybe you can use today to work on your caseload?”
“Maybe,” Alice murmured, but, standing there, she couldn’t shake the suspicion that something was wrong.