Chapter Text
“Welcome to Overwatch Day Care, how may I help you?”
“Hi, I was wondering how much an hour it was for a single child in your daycare?”
“Well, that depends on the age of the child and how long you’d lik-, oh, one second please.”
“Oh, of course.”
“Jamison, sweetie, Mercy’s talking on the phone. Yes, you can use the explosives in the kitchen to blow up Mako. Make sure you put them back when you’re done.”
“…”
“As I was saying, it depends on how long…”
Beep beep beep.
“Aaand they’re gone.”
Angela Ziegler let out a small sigh, carefully placing the phone back on the wall, running a hand through her snowy blonde hair. Things had been going on like that for a while now. It wasn't like she meant it literally. They were children. There was no way in the world she was going to let a five-year-old child blow up another kid. Why did people have to be so difficu-
"Who was on the phone?"
The older woman was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked over at the voice, eyebrow raising. It took her a moment to put a face to the voice, before recognizing it as the one and only Jack Morrison.
"Oh, just another possible mother..." She sighed softly, sitting down at her desk, grabbing a golden pen from behind her ear, "And before you ask, it wasn't Hana, it was Jamison."
Jack groaned, taking a step towards the door, "You know what this means, right? I'm gonna have to-"
"You're gonna have to put Dynasty to naptime, I know, you and Gabriel have this bet every week." As annoyed as she was, she couldn't help but let a small smirk slide onto her lips.
"He bites, Angela!" Jack announced, his own grin beginning to form as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket, "Can you send me a message when Ana gets here?"
Angela nodded softly, leaning over to grab ahold of the staff attendance sheet as Jack made his way out of the room. Quickly checking the time, she let out another soft sigh. 8am. Monday morning. Luckily for her, not all the usual children had checked in yet. There were still a few minutes of freedom before things turned crazy.
Getting up from her chair, she slowly began making her way around the daycare facility, keeping an eye on how many children were there. Jamison and Mako were usually the first children checked in, each of their parents dropping them off as they made their way to work. It would probably be an understatement to say that they were inseparable.
Not much was known about their family. Jamison was Australian, obviously. There were periods of time in which he would be missing for weeks on end, only to return with souvenirs and an even thicker accent from his country of origin. His closest friend, Mako, was apparently of New Zealand descent, however. He certainly wasn't one for talking, which most of the staff members were thankful for, but he certainly got up to the same amount of trouble as his buddy. It was rare for a day to go by without hearing at least two children scream either 'Mako!' or 'Jamie!'
Looking over at the plastic castle in the corner of the room, Angela was able to notice Dynasty acting as the ruler of his own kingdom, confidently looking over his land – something he did quite often. ‘Dynasty’ was the nickname given to a young boy by the name of Genji. His elite and noble family had almost seemed fake, dropping their child off at a 10-dollar-an-hour daycare every morning. Gabriel had made a bet with Jack that he was the heir to a royal Japanese family, and would soon become the Prince of Japan. It wasn’t true, of course, but the nickname given to the boy had simply stuck – and he certainly didn’t mind it. He was playful and carefree – probably one of the most energetic kids in the entire facility.
However, the older woman did notice that the same young man dropped Genji off every morning – even going so far as to constantly pay for his fees. Angela wasn’t sure if he was his caregiver, or if his parents were simply too busy in the morning. She was certainly able to sense a little family troubles there – but it wasn’t her place to pry. All in due time.
Continuing to make her way around the daycare, she noticed Gabriel, allowing her to check him off of her list. One of the main supervisors, Gabriel Reyes had been with them since they first opened the place - but that was a few years ago now. Children had never been his strong point, Angela would state that quickly, but he certainly did have a soft spot for a few of the kids that had become a strong part of the community.
Angela couldn't help but smile lightly, beginning to walk away, before hearing a voice over near him. Raising an eyebrow, she quickly turned, looking over with a rather confused expression.
"Alright, I found the rope, not so sure about the cones, though." Jesse McCree spoke, dumping a pile of rope in front of Gabriel. Rookie mistake.
"And why are you giving it to me?" The older man asked in his usual harsh tone, his arms slowly crossing.
Jesse raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as well, trying to seem the least bit intimated by his superior, "You asked me to get the rope, so I got it for you."
Not really one for drama, Angela quickly made her way over, swiftly ticking Jesse McCree off of the staff list as she did so. Okay, well, he wasn't technically a staff member. He was lucky enough to be given a volunteer position after he graduated, meaning he was certainly younger than most of the other workers here - only fresh out of school. Angela wasn't particularly sure why he chose daycare, he certainly didn't look the part. But, similar to Gabriel, he had a soft spot for the kids, which was why it made it all the more fun when she made Gabriel Jesse's boss.
"Have either of you seen Mei?" Angela asked, walking up to the two men, placing a foot down on the rope. Both of them dropped their mantra quickly, Gabriel shaking his head.
“Probably in the kitchens with ‘Zarya,” Jesse replied, gulping a little. Angela smiled at the two men, holding the clipboard up to her chest, thanking them, and walking away.
She was able to hear the banging and clanging of pots from miles away.
“I tell you, Mei, you use three eggs for the scrambling, not two!” A voice boomed, the thick Russian accent pounding through the walls. Zarya, their cook, had only been with them for a few years, having left her country of origin a few years back. Whilst she certainly was a good cook, a lot of her ideas were heavily focused on…. protein. And four pounds of meat wasn’t really the ideal lunch snack for a kid in a daycare.
“B-But, Zarya...” Mei began, her own Chinese accent complimenting well with the larger woman’s, “T-There only kids! We can’t feed them too much!”
Mei, on the other hand, had joined the community only a few months ago. Whilst Zarya had been able to keep up with the demand for healthy food and drink for a few years, the growing number of children gradually began to make the task more challenging. And that was where the smaller girl came in. From what Angela could tell, she’d worked with children before – the way she spoke and acted around the children made it easy to pick up. And she wasn’t that bad of a cook. The decision was pretty unanimous in the end.
“Ah, it is okay!” The Russian woman exclaimed, grabbing ahold of a nearby spatula, holding it into the air, “We shall make the best eggs, no matter the number!” The act caused Mei to freeze for a moment, looking up at the older woman anxiously, before letting out a gentle giggle.
The smile on Angela’s face only widened, ticking both Zarya and Mei off of her list. Five down, five to g-
“MEEEEEEERRRRCCCCYYY!”
Oh, god.
The older woman quickly turned, a look of concern on her face as she struggled to find the source of the distressed noise. Quickly exiting the kitchen, she held the clipboard close to her chest, fingers tapping worriedly as she made her way into the main room.
“What’s wrong?” She quickly began, before noticing the lack of children within the space. Her eyes quickly scanned the area, before spotting the young Shimada boy in the corner of the room, still happily playing with his castles. The two made eye contact, Angela’s soft eyes giving him a look of concern before the boy pointed in the direction of the girl’s bathroom. She gave the boy a smile, thanking him, causing him to let out a little giggle. She couldn’t help giggling herself, before quickly making her way into the bathroom. Some of the children weren’t toilet trained yet, so any trouble that happened in the bathroom was usually just more work for Torbjorn.
“And what is going on in here?” Angela swiftly asked, making her way inside, giving a stern look to the two young girls sitting on the bathroom floor. One was in tears, one had her arms crossed, and there was a plush toy stuffed down one of the potties. Gotta love Monday mornings.
“M-Mercy!” Lena Oxton whimpered, quickly getting up from the tiles and running over the woman, wrapping her arms around her legs and holding on for dear life. It’d be an understatement to say that the young British girl tended to overreact, and this seemed to be like one of those situations. Coming from what seemed to be an extremely close, tight-knit family, Angela couldn’t really blame her. Being only about 5 or 6, emotions came quickly and went just as fast – something that all the staff had to get used to. Jack used to say it was because she came from a family of mostly women. He stopped after he received a rather displeased lecture from Ana.
“What’s happened?” Angela quickly responded, her spare hand coming down to gently run through the younger girl’s hair, comforting her as best as she could.
The other child – Amélie – stood a few feet away, her arms crossed. It appeared as if she was attempting to be unfazed by the fact that she was about to get into trouble, but Angela was able to tell that there were tears beginning to creep into her eyes. Amélie was another mysterious child, not much known from her family background. She was of French descent, as many had pointed out, but from what Angela could tell, her family wasn’t exactly picture perfect. Either her mother or father would drop her off each day, but never together. Again, it was only small things – and it certainly wasn’t in Angela’s place to pry. She’d leave Ana to do that.
“A-Amy...” Lena began, tears still streaming down her face as she sniffled uncontrollably, “T-Threw Zenny down the t-toilet!”
“Amélie? Is this true?”
“…”
Angela gave the young girl underneath her a small hug, before pulling away, making her way over to the toilet. It was a little closer to the ground, causing Angela to bend down, before yanking a small, robotic plush toy out of the bowl – one that Tracer had developed quite a close bond with – even going so far as to name it ‘Zenny.’
“Amélie. This is not a nice thing to do. Say sorry to Lena,” Angela spoke, turning to look down at the girl, a stern tone to her lips. Amélie looked over at Lena for a moment or two, before quickly turning away and shaking her head. Angela couldn’t help but sigh, before handing Lena back the plush toy.
“Here, Lena, go find Mr. Dad and ask him nicely to dry Zenny, okay?” Angela explained, squatting down in front of the much smaller girl. Despite her eyes being extremely red and puffy, with snot dripping down her nose, Lena nodded eagerly, a wide smile appearing on her cheeks.
“O-Okay Mercy!” She quickly exclaimed, before sprinting out of the room, calling out “Mr. Dad! Mr. Dad!” as she did so.
“Now,” Angela began, turning back to Amélie, kneeling down in front of her. Looking at her face, she took both of the younger girl’s hands into her own, giving her a safe yet stern look, “Why did you throw Zenny into the toilet? He’s just a nice robot, he doesn’t want to be thrown into the toilet.”
“I-I..” Amélie began, sniffling a little as she looked down at Mercy, “L-Lena kept poking me... A-And she wouldn’t s-stop! S-So I took her t-toy and threw it.”
Angela let out a soft sigh, before giving Amélie a patient smile, “But that’s not nice. What do we do if someone is hurting us?”
“W-We tell s-somebody..”
“So, why didn’t you?”
“I-I don’t know..” The younger girl looked down, sniffling once again before hugging the older woman, “I-I’m sorry!”
Angela was a little taken back, but eventually let out a gentle laugh, wrapping her arms around the girl as she reciprocated the hug, “It’s okay, Amélie, but you have to promise never to do it again, okay?”
Amélie nodded quickly, pulling away as she wiped her nose,“But don’t say sorry to me. Go find Lena and say sorry – so you too can be friends again!”
The tears were once again replaced with a happy smile, Amélie nodding eagerly as she ran out of the bathroom, her long ponytail swaying rapidly as she ran. Angela let out a gentle sigh, looking down at her tear and snot covered beige coat. She couldn’t help but smile – even though there were some gross parts to the job, she loved every second of it – and she certainly wouldn’t have it any other way.
However, she was quickly snapped out of her thoughts as she felt the buzzing of her back pocket, eyebrow raising. Her hand reached around to pull her phone out, before looking down at the phone, noticing that none other than Ana Amari was calling her.
“Hello?” She began, holding the phone up to her ear as she made her way out of the bathroom.
“I’m having a little trouble at the front office.”