Work Text:
Present Day
Benedict never pictured himself working at his family’s company—and to be perfectly honest, neither had Anthony—but here he was some odd years later finding joy in the collaborative work his design team made. Benedict is proud that his space looks out of place from every other floor in this building—materials are strewn around, people move and create freely—it’s a space he wished he had found when he was in art school. It’s a reflection of who he is. His father would have loved how easily Benedict had made it his own. Edmund had hopes that his children would one day join him, but Benedict proved different. His interests were in colors and nature. Benedict knows now that his father would never force him when the time came, so Edmund engaged him in other ways. He would come home after long days and kiss his mother in greeting, help Anthony with his homework, tuck his younger siblings in bed, and he’d then pull a set of Lego blocks and build whatever Benedict would draw up for him. The last thing he had drawn for Edmund had been his poor attempt at capturing Aubrey Hall in the summer. They never got around to getting all the pieces put together, it was late, and they could finish it the following night. Edmund would never make it home the following day.
Two Years Ago
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], others…
Subject: Secret Santa/White Elephant/Yankee Swap or what have you
Hello all,
Thanks to Phillip we were able to get a site up and running where you will be able to use your personal employee code to reveal who you got for Secret Santa. A link is attached at the end of this email.
Please be sure to have your gift ready in time for this year’s holiday party being hosted at Whistledown Pub. And no hinting at who your person is until then. You are also not obligated to reveal yourself as their Secret Santa.
If you are having any issues with the site, please let Phillip or I know ASAP.
Link: www.tinyurl.com/b8nfwz
Yours truly,
Penelope
Benedict finds the small silver box among the other Secret Santa gifts that surrounded the Christmas tree on the night of their holiday party. The only name that the small tag read had been his and when he pulled the lid off, he had been expecting everything but what he found inside. It took Benedict several minutes to gather himself in the restroom before he set out to find his Secret Santa. Anthony had smiled at the contents of the box Benedict held out to him but swore it had not been him. Eloise had seen the look on his face and forced him outside for a smoke before she told him it would be best to start with Penelope. He had found Penelope at the bar going shot for shot with Colin and Michaela. He had to explain to his brother that he would only need Penelope for a few minutes before she joined him outside.
“I need to know who my Secret Santa is.” Benedict pleaded.
“Oh, Ben that would defeat the purpose of the entire thing. Those who wanted to go ahead and reveal themselves did, and those who didn’t well… didn’t.” She explained but Penelope saw the look on his face then and immediately composed herself. “Ben, what is it?”
He handed her the box and saw a few tears collect in her eyes. Penelope was practically family so of course she knew that this was more than just a silly gift to him.
“Ben, I really wish I could just pull up a list and tell you, but the way Phillip built the site made it so that nothing could be traced back to individual people. I told him it didn’t have to be elaborate, but he was bored and took it as a challenge. There’s no way to know.”
“You should head back in; Colin will be looking for you and it is freezing out here.” Benedict nodded his head and breathed out.
“If I hear, or even suspect anything. You’ll know.” She promises and pulls him into a comforting hug.
“Thanks, Pen.”
Present Day
The miniature Lego version of Aubrey Hall has sat on top of its original gift box at his desk for the last two years. No leads, no clues, nothing. Phillip had offered to help but he was too good, as Penelope had explained. The thoughtfulness of it all is why it has stuck with him all this time he just wants to sincerely thank whoever it was for giving something so meaningful. His fixation with finding them had become somewhat of a joke with his family. Anthony informed him that his enthusiasm would scare anyone away from revealing themselves, so he stopped.
“Earth to Benedict. Hello?” Eloise is waving her hand in front of his face from across his desk. “Did you get any of what I just said?” She asks.
Eloise wasn’t ready to let it go and had continued to share her theories on who his Secret Santa could have been.
“El, you don’t have to do this. In fact, I’d prefer it if you stopped.” He mutters.
“I’m not doing this to humor you, Ben. This is obviously important to you, and I want to help you get the answers you want.”
“I just want to put it behind me. Get some closure you know?” He’s willing to move on from this. It’s high time he did.
“I know what you’re doing. I’m not Anthony or Colin, you don’t have to hide your disappointment over this from me? If someone had given me something that meaningful, I would have asked Phillip to build that website back up from the ashes of its digital remains.”
“That man would build anything if you so much as suggested hinted at it.” Benedict quips. “I’m still waiting to be let into the sticky note doodle club.”
“There is no club to be let into. In fact, here.” Eloise scribbles something on the last sheet of his memo pad. She turns it around to show him the result.
“Is that a pipe scrubber?” He takes the pad and turns it upside down in his hands.
“Fuck off. It’s a pine tree.” Eloise begrudgingly corrects him.
Eloise eventually drops it. He knows she’ll be back in two weeks to pore over various photos from that night. Penelope had spent a lot of time scrubbing through people’s posts from that night—swearing up and down that someone must have caught something. Benedict is a little relieved that they managed to move their conversation to actual work-related topics. Benedict’s workspace does not have a door so the knock on the bench where the stack of paint samples lives still manages to interrupt their conversation.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I’m here to drop off the supplies you requested.”
Eloise and Benedict turn to face the voice at the other side of the room. Sophie is wheeling her little cart full of supplies into view.
“Sophie, hey.” Eloise greets her first. “A little late for supply deliveries, no?”
Sophie Baek is the company’s services manager in charge of making sure people have what they need. Benedict doesn’t know her very well since he is only ever at his desk in the afternoons and Sophie makes her necessary deliveries during the day. She has only ever been pleasant but a bit shy during the little interactions they have had.
“Hi, El. A few delays with deliveries and an exceedingly long yap fest with Penelope later, and well, yeah. Everything sort of got away from me after that and now I’m paying for it.” Sophie laughs as she moves around the space to drop off supplies and other necessities on the work benches that encircle the space.
“We need a proper night out soon. You, Pen, me. I miss hanging out.” Eloise moves to stand and make her exit. “Just say when and where. Pen and I will be there. I do have to go now. I led my assistant to believe that I would be back in ten minutes and that was forty-five minutes ago.” She rounds Benedict’s desk to give him a quick hug and waves goodbye to Sophie before she disappears into the hall that leads to the lifts.
“You could come to trivia night.” Benedict opens. “Eloise doesn’t play, and Penelope only joins if Kate can’t make it so you ladies can catch up without having to plan something elaborate. I don’t know, maybe you like to keep work and life separate. And I feel like I’m intruding somehow.” Benedict says sheepishly.
Sophie grabs a few supplies off the cart she originally wheeled in and holds them to her chest.
“I appreciate the invite, Mr. Bridgerton-”
“Benedict. Please.”
“I appreciate the invite, Benedict. Life has been a little hectic lately, but I’ll keep your offer in mind.” She grabs a few more supplies from the cart before placing them on his desk, right below his mini-Aubrey Hall. “This piece should be up here.” Sophie grabs the small Lego piece that had fallen off at some point and sticks it back in its rightful place. “There. Now it’s complete.”
Anyone else and he would have told them to stop but the way Sophie carefully straightens the structure stirs something within him.
“Do let me know if you need anything restocked on this floor and I’ll be sure to bring it by on my next run. Have a good evening, Benedict.” Sophie grabs her cart and disappears down the hall in the same way El did.
Benedict follows after Sophie because he’s sure it’s her. There is something in him that feels strongly about it possibly being her. He is rounding the hall and just manages to catch a glimpse of Sophie as the lift doors slide closed. Benedict should seek her out he needs to know. He settles on opening the group message Eloise and Penelope added him to when they took it upon themselves to track down the person behind his gift. A majority of the messages are El and Pen going back and forth on their theories, there are only a handful of his own responses. He can feel his heart racing in his chest as he types out the only thing he can manage in the moment.
“Sophie?”