Title: Growth Spurt
Author: S J Smith
Rating: K+
Summary: Chris notices changes in Roy when he comes home for Yule.
Disclaimer: If I had any part of this, I wouldn't be living in Boxtown
When Roy came home for the Longest Night celebration that year, Chris noticed how quickly the younger staff members took notice of him. He'd grown in the last six months, more than just in height. He moved easily, gracefully. Absent was the gawky boy she'd watched for the past twelve years, the one whose fascination with alchemy was only slightly eclipsed by his burgeoning interest in the opposite sex.
In his place was a young man, consciously aware of the effect he was having on the younger staff, particularly those who didn't know him as her son. Chris hid her amusement behind a cloud of smoke, watching the younger girls stumble around him, ogling him as if he was a particularly toothsome morsel. The older girls were better at hiding their admiration – and the fact they found the newer girls' fascination with Roy funny.
Chris didn't blame them, but if she didn't put a stop to it, it could hurt business. "Roy-boy!" she raised her voice just loud enough to be heard over the chatter of the bar. "In my office."
"Yes, Madam," he called back, flashing that charming grin he'd always had, the one that conned the girls into getting him candy and reading him books when he was younger.
Chris fixed him with a gimlet stare, making his smile falter just a split-second, before she waved him down the narrow hall ahead of her. Catching Basima's arm, she told her, "Tell the younger girls who Roy is, and that he's off-limits." She smirked, unaware how eerily Roy's smile sometimes mirrored her own. "And share the disappointment with me later."
In her job, she had to take her kicks where she could get them.