Chapter 1; What If We Don't Really Know

(The Premise: We, viewers of the show, only ever really see Amy and Jonah at work. What if we're just like anyone else at work, that doesn't realize that they already hooked up, but they don't want anyone to know? They are acting as normal as possible when anyone is around... but what goes on outside of Cloud9 is much different than what it seems like when Amy and Jonah are together at work...)

A little background;

At work, Jonah and Amy have tried their best to keep up the illusion that they can barely stand each other. At times when that isn't possible, they might appear (to an outsider) to be, at most, casual, friend-like coworkers. (Their text messages would give them away, and Jonah's neighbors have probably noticed his new frequent visitor, but so far, they hadn't aroused any suspicion where it really counts.)

None of their Cloud9 coworkers had noticed them spending any more time together than usual, and they had been careful to keep their public interactions pc. Then again, from the very first day Jonah had started at Cloud9, it was clear that he had a thing for Amy. He was rarely more than a few steps away from her whenever possible.

Anytime the two worked at the same time, they'd become basically inseparable... though if anything, the change in their relationship OUTSIDE of work, had meant that they were consciously spending LESS time in the store together. If anyone at Cloud9 HAD noticed that their relationship had changed significantly; they hadn't said so to either of them, and Amy and Jonah were trying to keep it that way.

Anymore, their shifts at least partially overlapped, often ending at closing together- a situation Amy had created anytime she was able to do the scheduling for the floor. She found that it was easiest to keep up appearances and still manage to have plenty of their shifts overlap, if she scheduled them both to close. This had the added benefit that she wasn't expected home at any specific time, since closing meant getting done at random times, and, on occasion, staying well after closing.

It used to bother Amy that her husband was so clueless about 'adulting' in general, but lately, it was awfully convenient that he didn't. If Adam paid more attention to "adult" things (like their bills or their bank account) he should (and easily could) have noticed that Amy's pay didn't reflect the extra hours she was spending "at work" - but that part of adult life had always been one that he intentionally avoided. Now a days, it was really to Amy's benefit that her husband was so clueless. He probably didn't even know what her pay check normally was, so he wouldn't know the difference. She'd once confided this to Jonah as one of the many things about Adam that bothered her, when he topic came up. Anymore, though, Adam was rarely mentioned when the two could avoid the subject.

But I digress...

It's August 2016. After a harrowing 18 days, the Olympics were over and with it, the craziness of the in-store Olympics promotions. Jonah and Amy have known each other a little more than nine months. About a month ago, everything changed after a night of drinking - they ended up at Jonah's apartment after work and what happened, well, that's a story for another time. What happened that night changed their relationship for good.

On this particular night in August (the night of Dina's 'closing ceremonies'') Jonah and Amy stood in the parking lot along with the rest of the regular employees from the store. They all stood in silent awe, watching the fireworks over their closed Cloud9. One might have found the setting romantic, standing in the dark lot, watching the red, white and blue fireworks go off over the closed store - if it wasn't for Dina's obnoxious bullhorn, anyway.

Had they not been surrounded by their coworkers (from whom they'd been hiding the depth of their relationship for weeks) Jonah would definitely have put his arm around Amy while they watched. Often times, anymore, it pained him to be so close to her and unable to be affectionate towards her- but he knew the rules to their situation. He couldn't reach out and pull her close like he wanted, but he defiantly watched more of Amy than he did of the fireworks. She had a quiet, calm look on her face, like she was totally relaxed. He thought to himself that he rarely saw her look so peaceful... at work anyway.

As the fireworks (and the crazy show Dina had planned to upstage Glenn) came to an end, Glenn announced that he'd see everyone tomorrow and the staff dispersed, each turning to head off to their cars, some alone, others in small groups that walked together.

Marcus turned to Jonah, but he quickly realizes that Jonah is already ten steps ahead of him, lost in conversation with Amy, and so he spins to head off towards his apartment on foot (it's just a few blocks from the store.) Sometimes Marcus asks Jonah for a ride home, but after the craziness of the closing ceremony, Jonah and Amy were already deep in conversation. Despite Marcus's lack of tact, he decides against interrupting their conversation, giving one last glance back at the two. He notices that they are walking so close together that at first he thought they were holding hands, but he blinks again, realizing that they weren't, and he shrugs it off.

"Those two really need to just bang and get it over with," he says out loud, to no on in particular. He shrugs off the thought, and heads home on foot; He has no idea they've already been hooking up for weeks.

As usual, Jonah and Amy's cars are parked facing each other, in the North end of the lot. The fireworks were a really nice end to the night, and both had stood in silence watching them. When Glenn had said goodbye, and everyone started walking towards their cars, Jonah and Amy's conversation picked back up where they'd left off when they were leaving the store.

They were walking side by side, so close their hands touched twice, perhaps that's the moment Marcus had seen. Both were painfully aware that most of their coworkers were still lingering about just a few dozen yards away. Parked a few lanes over, Justine was sitting in her car, lighting a cigarette. Cody plugged in his cell phone and was probably rolling a joint before he rolled out of the parking lot. And lastly, Glenn was sitting in his car with Dina standing beside his driver's side window, presumably continuing to mock him for the "higher quality" closing ceremony she'd been able to put together.

"Anyway... that was...nice," Jonah said, smiling at Amy.

He was ALWAYS in a good mood, it seemed. To the point that it would annoy her at times. Amy rolled her eyes at Jonah- she was, after all, tired. It had been a long few weeks, and a long day on top of it, but Jonah was EVER the optimist, he *always* had something positive to say. She couldn't really argue with him this time though. Despite being tired, she had voluntarily stayed to watch the crazy show Dina had set up, and the fireworks were a nice way to end the evening.

"No, you're right,'" she said, conceding with his optimism this time.

"Ooh, you can never say that enough," Jonah laughed.

Amy looked at him quizzically, she raised an eyebrow.

"That I'm right," he explained, laughing a little at his own joke. "You hardly ever admit that I'm right about anything,"

"Well, maybe if it happened more often... " Amy teased back. The two reached Amy's car. Like many nights, they weren't ready to head off towards their homes, so she leaned back against her driver's side door, and Jonah stood near her. For a moment they were quiet, looking around the lot at who was still there. Even if everyone was gone, they would never risked being seen together in any sort of compromising position- but at the moment, there were still at least a dozen other employees that had yet to leave. Still, neither was ready to part for the night.

"This was actually really great tonight, I'm surprised that Dina was able to pull this together. When Garrett told me that she fired him from the planning committee, he said that she had some insane plans involving fireworks and a helicopter, but never in a million years would I have believed that she could actually make it happen." With that, Jonah leaned back against the car beside Amy.

"Just when I think there are no more surprises left in this job... " Amy said, smiling. She took off her vest, and unpinned her name tag from it.

Jonah kind of let out a small snort, that made Amy look back up at him.

"I resent that," he said with a little laugh in his voice. "With me around, you shouldn't be surprised by moments like this."

Amy couldn't help but let out a small smile. "Moments...of beauty?"

Jonah blushed, remembering his very first effort to win Amy over. He was glad that it had made an impression back then, but it still made him blush when she'd bring it up now. Amy always had a way of teasing him - she'd tell him he was being condescending- hell she had told him as much just moments after meeting him for the first time. Elitest. Pejorative. Cheesy. She was always giving him a hard time.

"I'm still impressed that you pulled off the stunt with the stars on the ceiling. I will never know how you got that all done. It was very sweet."

"It was sweet, wasn't it?" Amy smacked him playfully on the arm. It was true. She hated when he was right.

Jonah smiled back at her. He had really pulled out all the stops... but that was back before he found out that Amy was married. After he HAD found out, he had backed off on the grand gestures. For months, their painful work-flirt went on, but he often felt it was one-sided. Now, though... now that the two had been secretly meeting up outside of work sometimes twice a week, Jonah was back to his normal... always trying to think of ways to show Amy how he really felt about her, without letting on to anyone else. It was difficult - she had been VERY clear: No one at the store could find out about them. Not only would it endanger her home-situation, which would affect her daughter, but it would affect both of their jobs.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Cheyanne was one of the last to drive away from her parking space, and she pulled up beside Jonah and Amy, and rolled down her window.

"Night guys. See you tomorrow," she said. She still looked sad, which in turn made Amy feel bad. She pulled away, and Jonah noticed that the smile was no longer on Amy's face.

Jon ah broke the silence; "Aimes... what I was saying earlier? Before the circus started up... ? You shouldn't feel bad about bursting Cheyanne's bubble. You were just doing what you do for everyone - you were just trying to help. You were being a good friend and looking out for her - her AND her baby. You were absolutely right to be concerned when she started talking about dropping out of school - she hasn't been known to make the best decisions... I mean, it didn't sound to me like she was just enjoying the dream... I absolutely thought that she was serious."

Amy looked over at Jonah. "I know. She just looked so sad when she told me that I'd stomped all over her dream. I thought she was actually going to drop out of school. That poor kid..."

"I know. I'm sure being a pregnant teenager is hard, but then again, it was her poor decision making that got her into that mess..." Jonah stopped, too late, only realizing what he'd said after the words tumbled out. Why did that always happen to him around Amy.

If Amy had looked sad moments earlier, now her expression just rad cold. Jonah hadn't meant to insult her. He knew that she had her daughter young- he didn't mean to draw a parallel between the two, but he couldn't take his words back. Amy didn't speak and Jonah drew in his breath sharply. He hated to say something stupid, but saying something that hurt her was beyond stupid. The worst thing he could do now was to say more...but it's Jonah.

"I didn't...I didn't mean to..." Jonah sputtered, looking for the right words.

"I know what you meant," Amy said, with an edge to her voice. But more than that, she sounded sad again.

"I didn't mean you," Jonah tried to argue, "Your situation was different."

"Not that different," Amy said quietly.

"I'm sorry." Jonah decided the best thing he could do was to be quiet. The few times he genuinely felt like he'd upset Amy, he truly felt horrible. He already knew that Amy had so many regrets about marrying young, about having her daughter when she was just nineteen - she had confided to him that she felt like she'd missed out on so much- why did he have to say something so stupid. He was mentally kicking himself.

Jonah looked around the parking lot, realizing that they were finally alone.

"This might be a bad time... maybe I shouldn't even... maybe I..." Jonah tripped over his words, but he couldn't find the right ones.

"Did you still want me to come by your place tonight?" Amy said, finding the words for him. Jonah had no idea what to say. He thought he'd upset her, but now he was just confused and his words got all jumbled, "I do... if you... I mean... you still... did you..." he trailed off.

Without looking back at him, Amy unlocked her car, and got in. "I'll be over in ten... I'm going to stop at 7-Eleven. And hey..." Jonah stepped away from her car as she started it. He was really surprised that she wanted to come over after what he'd said.

She looked out the window at him, "You good on... um..."

Still surprised by her weird behavior, Jonah completely blanked on what she was asking and he turned to look at her confused.

"Condoms. Do you have. any.. condoms?" She couldn't have been anymore blunt. It wasn't like her at all, and Jonah was concerned. He just nodded his head and Amy pulled away, leaving him standing there.

It wasn't often that Amy confused him so completely, but he had expected some sharp words about how stupid he'd been to insult her like that, or a witty but sharp comment about how he should think before he speaks, but instead she wanted to come over... and have sex? Without another word, Jonah walked to his car and got in. He watched Amy's car turn right from the parking lot as he put his messenger bag down on the passenger seat of his car. Still confused, he drove out of the parking lot and headed home.