Well here is chapter two of this...thing also fun fact, all of the titles of these chapters are based off of songs that I feel fit the mood. Anyway enjoy and do review and what not.
Dawn was anything if not an agreeable ewe. While she did not like Lionheart in the slightest, she was willing to "work" with him if it meant she could get a job and some form of steady income that was legal. So she accepted the offer to go work at his friend's construction company. That was how she ended up in her current place.
Leodore's friend, as it turns out, was a rather talkative Ox named Dean Deauting. He explained to Dawn all her duties as a secretary of Deauting Construction Company, the various ins and outs of the place, and who to transfer different calls to.
"—and this will be your desk, Miss Bellwether. Work hours are between 6:00 and 10:00. Any questions?" Deauting finished with a smile on his face. Dawn simply shook her head and took a seat behind her desk. Deauting nodded and left Dawn to her own devices.
The office of Deauting Construction was slightly larger than her old office at Zootopia Town Hall, but that may be due to the fact that her current office wasn't a boiler room in the basement of the building, so that was always a plus. In addition, the job paid moderately well. The only downside was she had to deal with Leodore on a daily basis, but that was a small price to pay to have some income.
"Dawn! I'm glad you made it," she heard his obnoxious, booming voice say from her side. Speak of the devil and he shall come.
"Leodore, how . . . good to see you . . . ." Dawn managed through a strained smile.
"So, how do you like the office?" he asked her as he leaned his elbow on the edge of her desk and gave her a small smile. "I helped build it myself." His smile grew with pride. Dawn rolled her eyes.
"The office is . . . fine," she offered tentatively as she went to typing on the company's computer. When she noticed that Leodore had yet to leave her desk's side, she turned to face him.
"Don't you have something better to do than bother me today, Leo?" she asked him irritably before turning back to the computer screen.
"Hmm. Oh, you're right! Well, I'll see you at lunch then, Dawn," Leodore waved enthusiastically before sauntering off and leaving Dawn with some peace. That peace, however, was short lived as she heard another person speak to her.
"Oh! You must be Dawn, am I right?" Dawn heard a chipper voice say. She turned to locate the source and saw a rather large female elephant standing next to her with a big grin on her face and a box of what Dawn presumed to be some form of pastries.
"Yes, I'm Dawn. Can I help you, Miss . . . ?" Dawn trailed off, awaiting a name to be given.
"It's Missus, actually. I'm Tabitha Wheelwright. Nice to meet you! Leo has told us so much about you," Tabitha greeted excitedly as she put the box of food on Dawn's desk. Opening the box revealed a few doughnuts of assorted flavors. "It's a 'welcome to the company' present. Anyway, nice to meet you. Gotta get back to work—talk to you later!" the joyous elephant said and stomped off, leaving Dawn alone once more.
Her work continued unimpeded for most of the day, which mostly included writing up a few reports and taking calls and transferring them to the right departments. Time seemed to fly rather fast doing this job, she noticed, as 12:00 finally rolled around. However, Dawn didn't really care to go out or do anything for lunch so she instead continued her typing.
"I see you're still hard at work," she heard that smug voice, that had been nothing but a thorn in her side for the past few days, say. He was holding a paper bag and a cardboard drink tray. "I figured you would do something like this, so I brought you this." He waved the bag for emphasis before sliding it up to her and placing the drink with it. Rather than acknowledge his offer, Dawn continued to type. Leodore frowned.
"You know you can't ignore me forever," he said, his enthusiasm disappearing as he leaned back on the desk, much to Dawn's growing annoyance. Rather than dignifying the lion with a response, she continued to type away. Shrugging his shoulders in defeat, Leodore left her alone again for the rest of the day until it was time for her to clock out. Gathering a few items she brought with her, Dawn stepped out into the rather cool night air—of course being trailed by what might as well be her shadow at this point.
"Mind if I offer you a ride?" Leodore asked, his usual grin present on his face. Dawn frowned in frustration; how many times was he going to pester her in a day? She let out another sigh and spoke up.
"If you promise not to bother me at all tomorrow, I will ride with you. Okay?" Dawn finally answered, weary from the lion's constant attempts to get through to her.
"I give you my word," Leodore promised with a cross of his heard as he led her to the company's parking lot. He had apparently, in the three years they hadn't seen each other, traded in his old car for a slightly new one. Not that Dawn really cared. While driving to her apartment, Dawn asked the only question she could really bother to think of.
"Leodore, why do you keep trying to be friends with me?" She stared out the window as she said this, watching the passing cars and lights of the city go by. Leodore thought in silence for a few moments.
"Dawn, I think we have gotten on the wrong foot in our relationship. I would like to rectify that," he answered as he continued to drive. Dawn rolled her eyes.
"A bit late for that," she replied, her head on her fist as she leaned her arm against the door. "If you truly wanted to be my friend, you would have come and visited me while I was locked up." Her venomous tone caught Leodore a little off guard.
"I would have, but I was dealing with a few things," Leodore offered vaguely, a frown having formed on his face.
"That's bull and you know it. I spent three years in prison. Three fucking years!" Dawn shrieked and Leodore flinched. This was the first time he'd ever heard her swear. "You had three years to come and visit me and try to reconcile, but no! You choose to stay outside and just let me rot!" Tears had begun rolling down her face in her tirade. The car stopped just ahead of her apartment.
"Dawn, I—" But she cut him off.
"Save it, Lionheart!" she shouted, before her voice quieted. "Just . . . save it. Nothing you say will make any of this better." She opened the car door and jumped out, slamming the door behind her in anger. Weakly, Leodore spoke, finishing what he was originally going to say.
"I'm sorry, Dawn," he said with a sigh of defeat.
Dawn stormed into her apartment and let out a frustrated scream before flopping onto her bed. Her face was wet with tears and she was just so angry.
The next couple of hours were spent with her pacing around her apartment, trying her best to calm herself down. She had eventually managed to fall into a restless sleep at around 1:00 in the morning, waking up at 5:00 to get ready for work. Upon arriving at the construction company, she could see that Leo was holding up his end of the bargain and not bothering her. His lack of constant attention gave her peace.
She did much of what she did the day before, working on reports and answering calls. By the end of her shift she had managed to level her emotions somewhat, and she was working up the courage to apologize as best she could to Leodore. She saw him outside, just about to enter his car, and walked up to the lion.
"Leodore, I'm . . . I'm sorry," she managed, keeping her head down to avoid looking at his eyes. "I shouldn't have yelled like I did."
"No, you were right," Leodore admitted, prompting Dawn to look up. He had a rather uncharacteristic frown displayed, as if he was combating something internal. "I should have come and visited you while in prison. I know you have your reservations with talking to me, let alone being friends with me." He let out another long sigh before resuming.
"It's selfish to think you would to want to be friends with me after all that's occurred. I'm just, I'm sorry, Dawn." He opened the car door and gave a weak gesture with his hand. "I can—I can still give you a ride, i-if you want. I won't talk to you on the way back if that's what you want." To his surprise, she accepted. The ride was silent, but when they finally arrived at her apartment, Dawn spoke to Leodore before she left.
"Listen, Leo, I don't know if we'll ever be able to be friends, but I know you want to try, so just . . . ." she didn't couldn't finish the sentence.
"Don't worry, Dawn. I'll try my best. And who knows? Maybe you'll even grow to like me," he replied and his usual hearty laugh followed it. Dawn couldn't help but smile at this.
"Yeah, maybe. Thanks for the ride," she thanked him as she closed the door. He drove off, leaving her to go back to her apartment.
"Alright, Leo. Let's take this one step at a time," she said to no one but herself as she laid her head down on her bed and drifted off to sleep.
Well that was a rather somber chapter,not as good as I wanted it to be but whatever. I hope you guys liked this see you next chapter.
