[A/N] Hello, my faithful readers! I'm back! I told you all I would update at Christmas Eve and so I have! I also said I would update more than one chapter but unfortunately, like the unlucky person I am, I managed to get a 39.7 degrees Celsius fever… on Christmas Eve. Aren't I lucky? I wanted to give you the first chapter, however so here it is! I'll be updating throughout these next few days so keep a look out, yeah?

I hope you like the new versions of the stories I write. Whereas there might not be many changes in the beginning, you will notice that they will gradually increase.

So without further ado, Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

Slow, gentle steps were taken as the soft wind traced the figure now making her way towards the beautiful shop at the top of the hill in Quantico, Virginia. It was a small 5-minute walk from the main part of the town, but the little shop was well visited and well loved. It was positioned on the top of the hill and surrounded by nature. Trees, flowers and healthy green bushes framed the place, and it was a truly stunning sight. There weren't a lot of places where you could see such beautiful greenery. The shop itself was a two-story one. The space where one could sit was from glass, created especially so one could admire the nature while eating their foods and drinking their beverages. A large, two-door entrance was made out of glass also, and huge, indestructible iron walls protected the fragile shop when it was closed. It covered every window, ensuring there would be no possibility for break-ins.

The figure stepped into the light framing the doors. It was still early and her employees would come in a little less than an hour and thus she had enough time to get everything prepared for the upcoming day. She was planning on introducing a new dessert to the shop and it would take some experimenting to get it right which was why she would be retreating to her personal corner in the kitchen, testing and tasting new possibilities. It would take some time, but she already knew she wanted at least one dessert with blueberries in it. They had been asked for by multiple costumers as she didn't have one yet and she finally decided to do something about it, which was why the shop would be in the hand of her employees for the whole morning. She would be available for emergencies only.

She put the keys into the lock and turned it, opening a secret little door where she pressed the password, conveniently her sons' birth date, and pressed on the small blue button making the large iron walls pull back into the building itself. Then she pulled out a second key and unlocked the door, stepping inside. She turned on the lights as she took off her coat and hung it over her arm, taking a deep breath and sighing as she looked around her shop. It was a beautiful place and she absolutely loved her shop. There had gone so much work into it and most of it had been done by herself and her parents who had gone back to Baltimore a few years ago. They still visited every month or so. As she looked towards the little table next to the door, where normally just a vase with flowers stood, she saw a letter. Her full name, Sarah Victoria Richardson, was written on the envelope in beautiful cursive letters. She took it from the table and walked towards her office, holding the letter in her hand.

Sarah unlocked her office, walked in and placed the letter on her table after hanging up her coat on the coat rack next to her door. She took another key from the large amount of keys she had and unlocked the drawers in her office. Sarah looked around to see if anything was out of place, and when she saw it wasn't she turned and left her office with a writing pad and pen, closing the door behind her. She walked through the hallway, as her office was on the ground floor, and placed the writing pad down. As she wrote the tasks left for the employees en the new menu down on paper she made her way towards the kitchen. It was her heaven and a place she normally would allow only two other people into, just like she would only allow her best friend in her office when she wasn't there. Her two cooks, Thomas and Janet. They were an elderly couple who had both worked in kitchens before. Thomas used to be a chef and Janet a pastry chef. Sarah herself was both and with the money she had saved over the years she spent as chef in some fancy restaurant and the amount she had inherited from her late sister she had created her own little place. She had named it after said sister. Marigold's was the name of her kingdom. It was simple, yet it held so much meaning.

Finishing with the task list she would leave to her best friend and head-server Katherine, or Katie, a separate list from the new menu she had drafted and placed on the kitchen table, she placed it on the To-Do board. They were simple tasks- Replacing the water of the flowers, watching the new servers and keeping everything rolling. She was still going to talk to her before she left for the kitchen to start testing the new desert but Katie easily forgot things and so it was not a bad thing to write a note otherwise it was very possible that things wouldn't get done.

Sarah made sure to open all the curtains, cleaning the tables one more time and remove the old flowers from the vases on the tables. Replacing the old menus on the table with new ones, she carefully placed each and every one of them on their respective tables and got rid of the old ones, throwing them in the bin. She took the old flowers and went outside where daylight was already pulling through the heavy clouds. It was lighter already. Sarah walked to the tiny shed at the back of her garden and opened it, entering it and throwing the old flowers into a trashcan for greenery only. Then she left towards the garden, taking one of her garden scissors and a basket with her. She was in a good mood and so she made her way over to the back of the garden where her most prized flowers were. They were the first flowers she had planted when she came to Quantico- 'French Vanilla' Marigolds. Almost all of the back of the field was filled with them.

Sarah carefully, making sure she didn't kneel on any of the flowers, knelt down and placed the basket on the ground next to her. Taking one of the Marigolds, she cut the flower at the bottom of the stem, making sure it was long enough for the vases. She carefully put the flower in her basket. As she took her last flower, a beautiful bloomed one, she stood up and put the last flower away before standing up and dusting off her clothes. She took the basket back inside and placed it on one of the tables as she started creating little bouquets placing them in the vases. When she finished she placed the basket in the cupboard under the stairs leading towards the second seating area, closing that door also.

Sarah could hear the laughing and crunching of the little stone pathway towards the shop. She knew that her employees were arriving. It was already eight A.M. after all. The shop would not open until nine, but she had to make sure everything was settled and that everyone knew their tasks. Normally Sarah would not have allowed and elderly couple like Thomas and Janet walk all the way up and she had one of her employees on stationed at the bottom of the hill for transportation to the shop, but both Thomas and Janet insisted that the walk would be healthy and thus refused the help. Sarah could understand though, the walk up towards the shop was beautiful. Just like the place itself it was surrounded by greenery.

Slowly the front doors opened and the team of seventeen people entered the café, which was part of the cake shop and restaurant. Actually, Marigold's was all three in one, which is why Sarah was mostly calling it a shop. It was quite annoying to constantly say all three functions of the shop and thus she refrained from doing so.

The whole shop was in rich, warm colours. Brown, orange, red and dark or emerald greens mostly. Sarah herself wasn't that big a fan of green but it worked amazingly well with the dark brown wooden walls. No, Sarah had always been a blue and purple girl.

Slowly the hall was filled with the employees as they hung up their coats and jackets. Normally they would hang them in their lockers, but Sarah felt that it gave a homey feeling and had thus, from their very first day, requested they hung their coats at the entrance.

Katie let out one last laugh before moving towards Sarah, giving her childhood friend a tight hug. Sarah returned at and smiled. Then Katie let go and stepped next to Sarah. She knew that Sarah was about to start the briefing because of the expression on her face. Sarah was a kind-hearted and amazing girl, but when it came to her business she was ruthless. This was her home, her baby. Her hard work was put into every inch in this place.

"Pay attention, please."

The group stopped talking as they turned towards their boss. They, too, knew it was business now. Yes, they were all friends. Some kind of messed up family even. But business was business.

"The last few weeks have been hectic, we've had lots of costumers, both new and old, coming and thus I have decided to change our menu around a bit. You will find the complete menu in the kitchen, be sure to memorise it. I will not accept slacking off, but you all knew that already. Now, I want Michaela, Kensy, Hailey, Freddie and Grant on service for the next few days. Gracie, you'll help Thomas and Janet in the kitchen. Don't destroy anything or I'll cook you alive. Bonnie, Jason, Simon and Chris are on garden duty for the next few days. Now, take extra good care of my lilies, they're drying out. Henley, you're on transportation. Ashton, Rayden and Hayden, you are on cleaning duty. Your actions last week were unacceptable and you did not work as you should. I'm sorry, but this is a bit of punishment, I guess. Katie, you're on cash. You know the code and you're the only one, but take extreme measures in keeping the register locked and safe. Also, make sure Darren gets his lunch on time and feed him proper food, not microwave meals. I want my son healthy. I spoke to his teacher and she promised to look after him for a bit after school until I or one of us come pick him up. She is our neighbour after all. I expect to not get any complaints. Customer is king. However, if a customer-"

"-is unreasonable, refusal is acceptable. Sarah, we know the rules. And little D will be fine. All of us have been working here for a long time. We know how it works. You need to stop worrying and just enjoy your experimenting for today. You have never taken a day off and you deserve some You-time even if it is for fixing up the new dessert. Also, don't feel guilty about putting us on cleaning duty. We deserve it." Hayden said as he put his arms around Rayden and Ashton and grinned.

Sarah couldn't help but smile a little. Those guys could always make her laugh. Yes, they truly were family. Somehow Sarah had gotten known as the Marigold Matchmaker. She matched almost all of her employees and even some costumers got together after visiting the café. Hayden and Rayden were twins and were dating Gracie and Kensy who were, coincidently, sisters. Ashton's girlfriend was Michaela and Chris was living his fantasy with Bonnie. Jason and Simon were the resident homosexuals and they were the most amazing couple ever. Freddie had fun with Hailey and Grant and Henley were perfectly content being single. Both were ladies' men. Katie was dating a resident police officer named Mark. Sarah however was a completely different story.

Being 5"6 she wasn't the tallest out of the box, but she wasn't small either. She wore her chestnut brown hair proudly and her blue eyes were features she was proud of. She had curves, but wasn't fat. She wouldn't deny being a little chubby though. She preferred wearing heels, because they gave her just the little bit of height she so desired. Currently she was wearing a black blouse and a red flower-printed skirt that reached a little over halfway her thighs. She also wore a black vest over it. Sarah was definitely pretty, but she herself didn't think so.

Sarah's son, Darren, looked so much like her it was scary. He shared her hair colour, eye colour, features etc. Darren was her little sunshine.

She sighed and shook her head lightly. "All right, well, I guess that's all. I should really be going. Please, if anything's wrong, and I mean anything, please come to me." She said. Her employees smiled at her.

"Yes, yes, darling. Now run along. We'll be fine." Janet said, waving her hand in a way that clearly said Sarah should go. When she still didn't move Janet walked towards her and gave her a soft push in the back. "Shoo!"

Sighing, Sarah did as told and moved away towards the kitchen, away from her staff, though she had to admit she was a little worried. As she put on her apron and gathered her supplies she did what she always did when coming up with new things for the menu.

She shut everything else out.

It was hours later when she woke from her trance and looked at her new project with pride in her eyes. It had taken her a while to find the perfect flavour balance, but she had to admit, this dessert was her best one yet. She smiled to herself, wiped her hands off on a towel and turned towards the door. It was closed, but a note was taped on it.

She walked towards the door, put the towel down and grabbed the note.

Sarah,

Everyone left. The store is closed, cleaned and prepared for tomorrow. I put the register in your office in the safe. I look forward to the new dessert. See you tomorrow!

-Katie

Sarah smiled and put the note on the counter before leaving the room. As she walked along the corridor she caught sight of someone walking towards the doors of the café. It was a woman and even when she was still a few meters away Sarah could see the tears running over her face. She was clearly distraught.

Sarah moved towards the door, opened them and looked at the woman.

"Hey… I know you're closed, but could I possibly get a coffee still?" the woman said, looking at Sarah with desperation.

Sarah simply smiled before answering, "Yeah, of course. Come in. My name is Sarah Richardson. I own the café."

The woman smiled back, her face lighting up.

"My name is Penelope… Penelope Garcia."

And with that Sarah put her arms around the woman and brought her inside, closing the door behind her.