Emma stared hard at her ceiling, purposely ignoring the wailing noise of her phone's alarm going off for the tenth time that morning. The noise was grating and gave her a headache, but she couldn't convince herself to silence the noise once more. It felt like she had only managed to fall asleep the very moment her alarm went off and keeping her eyes open felt impossible.
The sun was peering in through her windows, and while it appeared to be a beautiful day, Emma wasn't happy about it at all.
She turned on her side with a grumpy huff and glared at her phone when it finally silenced itself. Greyson had to know her true thoughts after her misguided texts. After what she wrote in her text message, the idea of facing Greyson seemed like a miserable prospect, and her stomach knotted painfully at the thought. Emma absolutely could not face seeing Greyson that day. Wallowing in her misery felt like a much better use of her time.
Emma was in the middle of debating if she could pretend to be sick when a light knock at her door pulled her from her thoughts.
She stared warily at her door and hid her face in her pillow when it started to open. Perhaps she could pretend to be asleep and leave much later. And by later, she meant when everyone had already left for the day.
Soft steps crossed her floor, and the mattress dipped with the weight of someone sitting down, but Emma refused to move. As far as anyone was concerned, she was still very much asleep and didn't spend the past hour ignoring her alarm.
"I know you're awake, sweetheart," Remus said gently, brushing his knuckles against Emma's cheek until she turned her face to look at him. His smile was sweet, almost sympathetic, and Emma suppressed the urge to groan. Out of both of her fathers, Remus always seemed to know when something was wrong; Sirius was far more oblivious. She wasn't going to be able to escape the morning without having to explain why she still hadn't gotten out of bed.
Remus's hand came up to run through her hair, and his lips pressed into a thin line as he tried to work out Emma's thoughts. Emma's brows lifted slightly in curiosity at the thoughtful expression on her father's face. He was thinking and thinking hard, and the entire household knew Remus putting too much thought into anything was dangerous.
"I'm sure it's fine," Remus suddenly said.
Emma was almost immediately more awake, startled by her father's words. She blinked owlishly at him several times before narrowing her eyes at him.
"What do you mean, 'I'm sure it's fine?'" Emma questioned.
"I mean that I'm sure it wasn't obvious," Remus said with a sheepish smile. "I doubt Greyson thinks that you meant anything by what you wrote. I'm sure he has no idea that you have a crush on him."
Emma shot up and stared at Remus with wide eyes of horror. She had never said to either of her fathers about her crush on Greyson before. If Remus knew, then that meant that Sirius had realized something was up with her at work. Sirius was oblivious about many things, but he was eerily quick to pick up on the faintest hints of romantic feelings; Remus was not.
"W-why would you say that?" Emma asked with a nervous giggle. She could feel her face starting to heat up, and she quickly cast her attention elsewhere to avoid looking at her father. "M-me? With a crush on G-Greyson?"
"Oh, sweetheart," Remus sighed, leaning forward to press a kiss to Emma's forehead. "You really like him, don't you?" He sighed again, cupping Emma's chin and lifting her face to look at him. "I haven't seen you turn this red since you told us that you and Persephone were dating."
"Well, I was terrified to tell you two that I was bi," Emma muttered. "Although, thinking about it now, it was rather stupid that I was worried."
Remus chuckled and nodded. "It was a bit silly," Remus said lightly. "But I could understand the fear. Her parents weren't too sure of how to take it, and even though your situation was different, it was still scary. I know that we practically exhausted the conversation ages ago, but I hope you know that Papa and I love you dearly, yes?"
"I know," Emma whispered, returning the smile Remus wore. "I guess Papa figured it out?"
"Oh, knowing him, he probably knew before you even did," Remus replied. "I fear that you have picked up my obliviousness on most things romantic."
"Can't have been too oblivious if you and Papa got together."
"Ah, but Papa also practically had to hold my hand and walk me through his feelings for me. Otherwise, I would probably still be completely oblivious. I suppose I should have realized when he started asking me on a date nearly every hour." Remus pressed another kiss to Emma's forehead and stood up. "Come on, get yourself ready and meet me downstairs for breakfast. Today's going to be a good day – you'll see."
Emma wasn't convinced that it would be a good day, but she agreed.
Sirius, like most days, had left early to open up the office and get ready for the day, leaving Emma and Remus on their own in the morning. As long as they all had dinner together, Remus didn't entirely mind the quiet mornings. Emma and Remus were very similar in their breakfast habits – coffee for her, tea for him, and toast. They would share the morning paper, silently swapping sections with each other with well-practiced ease. It was their way of setting themselves up for the day, but Emma found herself unable to relax. She wasn't at all ready to go to work, and breakfast went far too quickly.
Both dressed and with their things, Emma quickly attached Padfoot's leash to his collar. Emma wished that she could have Padfoot's enthusiasm for the situation – dancing around excitedly and with a wide smile. She had never dreaded going to work more in her life.
The drive to the office was just as quiet as breakfast, and Emma was thankful for the music Remus played that blended into the background. Classic rock was the music of choice when she was growing up and never grew old. Though Emma's tastes were far more eclectic than both of her parents, she appreciated the familiarity of the music playing. Her hand found Padfoot's head as he wedged it between the two front seats to rest on the center console from the back seat. It reminded her of her final years of high school when they were all together on a family trip, and she drifted off quickly to the sounds of Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith.
Emma woke back up as they rounded the corner to the office. She heaved a heavy sigh and sunk down in her seat, resting her head against the window. Remus reached over to squeeze her knee, and Emma turned her head to give him a smile.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Remus said. "No one will suspect a thing."
"Right," Emma said, lifting her phone from her lap and cringing at the texts she had been avoiding from both Persephone and Justin. Her best friends had been quick to notice her silence, but Emma wasn't willing to break the quiet yet. It was to the point that they spammed their group chat, but Emma was too afraid to open it. They would both want all of the details, and she didn't want to chance sending a text to the wrong person again. With her luck, she would accidentally open the wrong group chat. She wouldn't be able to live it down if she made the same mistake twice.
Remus turned into the parking garage, and Emma took a deep breath. They were getting closer and closer to her impending doom, and she wasn't ready for it. She got herself out of the car agonizingly slow, carefully reattaching Padfoot's leash and gathering her things. Remus waited patiently for her, messenger bag slung over his shoulder and his arms crossed.
"Sorry," Emma said quietly when she straightened up.
"It's all right, love," Remus said. "Come on, let's head in."
Emma took a deep breath and nodded, begrudgingly leading the way towards the office building. She supposed that it had always been a lovely area; it was undoubtedly a nice building to work in.
House of Black was built in what was once a residential neighborhood and was made up of converted, five-story brownstone condos. The offices took up an entire block of homes, the publishing house taking over every bit of space that it could. Every other door on the main floor was functional, special access given only to employees through a swipe of their ID. The main entrance was adorned by a set of ornate set double doors placed directly in the building's middle. Front lawns added dotted green along the way as if they were still homes and not offices and settled in nicely with the rest of the neighborhood. Sirius wouldn't have picked anything less than the safest place for his employees to work.
"Oh, fuck me sideways."
Emma paused, turning around to look at Remus, who was going through his things and looking more puzzled as he went. It was common for her father to swear, he certainly didn't hold back even when she was younger, but he didn't swear for seemingly no reason at all. She watched him for a few minutes as he crouched down and began searching his messenger bag a little closer.
"Dad? Is everything all right?"
Remus sighed, peering up at Emma. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," he said, opening his bag once more with a frown. "I left my laptop and my flash drive at home, and I haven't uploaded my latest chapter to the cloud yet." Remus hesitated for a moment, his shoulders lifting apologetically. "Will you be all right heading in by yourself?"
Emma frowned, peering down at Padfoot, who was struggling to move towards the building. She didn't want to go into the office by herself but waiting for Remus to return would be pointless. It wouldn't be worth making the ride back with him, especially knowing that Sirius expected her to be there mostly on time. She tried to swallow down her annoyance that of all days her father had to forget his things was when she needed him most.
"Yeah, I'll be all right," Emma said, turning back to Remus and giving him a shaky smile. She felt Padfoot tug her forward, and she huffed out a laugh. "I think someone is excited to head in."
"I'm so sorry, love," Remus said, straightening up and pulling the strap of his bag over his shoulder. "I know you didn't want to go in by yourself…"
"I'll be all right," Emma repeated, grimacing as Padfoot tugged her forward again. "Just get home and get back. Papa will be expecting me, I'm sure."
Remus reached out to give Emma's arm a soft squeeze and immediately reached for his pocket to pull out his phone. He frowned and began patting each of his pockets and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Left your phone, too?" Emma asked.
"Sometimes, I think if I didn't have my head attached, I would leave that too," Remus replied. "Tell Papa I'll be there as soon as I can?"
"Yeah, I will," Emma said, shaking her head when Padfoot tugged her forward once more. "I'll see you at lunch?"
"See you at lunch, love."
Padfoot was in his element as he pulled Emma towards the office building. He stopped at every single dog he found still milling outside with their owners. Padfoot sniffed and barked happily at the dogs he considered his friends. Padfoot was even more excited to greet the dogs he was unfamiliar with, bending low on his front legs and wagging his tail with sheer joy. Emma couldn't help but snicker when Padfoot seemed enamored by a tall and sleek fawn-colored greyhound named Willow.
"C'mon, Pads," Emma laughed, tugging the black dog closer to the building. "I'm sure everyone is waiting for us. You are not going to be the one to make me late, thank you."
Once Emma was in the office building, her trek to the fifth floor and her department was much more manageable. Padfoot kept his nose to the ground and lead her straight to the elevator, something that was no small feat. If he wasn't fascinated by all the scents, Emma wasn't entirely sure she would have really made it into the building at all. She figured that she could deposit Padfoot in the massive playpen set up for the dogs and then quickly visit Sirius and update him on Remus's whereabouts. It wouldn't be the first time Remus had forgotten something back at home, and Sirius would find it funny.
The higher the elevator rose, the more anxious Emma started to get. She watched as the illuminated floor sign changed from 2 to 3 to 4, and she held her breath as it shifted to 5. She held tightly to Padfoot's leash, wrapping it tightly around her hand and giving him a gentle warning to not run off. Unfortunately, Padfoot seemed to have other ideas.
Padfoot was in pursuit of something the very moment the elevator doors opened. Emma let out a surprised yelp as she was pulled out of the elevator and immediately smacked into something hard in front of her. It took Emma a moment to realize that she had been pulled directly into someone very solid. She let out a gasp of surprise as she felt Padfoot's leash begin to tangle around her legs and pull her closer to whoever she smacked into.
Emma couldn't help but be incredibly embarrassed, and she held tighter to Padfoot's leash, worried that he would somehow make the situation worse. It was bad enough that she was pressed against someone and didn't know who it was just yet. Her attention was focused too much on Padfoot to bother looking up.
"Padfoot!" Emma said sharply. "What did I tell you?"
"Er…you all right?"
Emma's body ran hot and cold simultaneously at the voice that just spoke out. She swallowed hard, keeping her eyes trained on Padfoot as she tried to figure out what to do next. There was no possible way that this could be happening to her. Why did Padfoot have to drag her right into Greyson Fenmore?
It took Emma's mind a few moments way too long to realize just exactly what position she was in. One of her hands was pressed firmly against Greyson's chest, the other very firmly wrapped in Padfoot's leash. Greyson had a firm grip on her arm, and he kept a steadying hand on her lower back. He smelled amazing, and it took Emma every bit of willpower to keep herself from inhaling deeply, but she couldn't stop her embarrassed flush.
"I, uhm," Emma cleared her throat, giggling helplessly. She lifted her face just enough to barely meet Greyson's gaze. "I'm so sorry."
"It's all right," Greyson said softly, his thumb skimming the skin of her bare arm almost absentmindedly. "I forgot just how excited Padfoot can get."
"Er, yes," Emma said, forcing herself to meet Greyson's eyes. She had never been so close to him before in her life, and she wasn't sure if she was mistaking the light pink in his cheeks or not. Luckily, he didn't seem annoyed, but Emma was embarrassed by Padfoot's behavior. Of course, he would finally decide to sit down and be calm, staring at Emma and Greyson with his tongue out with a wide smile.
"This is very 101 Dalmations," Emma blurted out stupidly.
"I'm sorry, what?" Greyson asked.
"I…the uhm…the movie?" Emma said slowly. "When Roger and Anita got caught up in Pongo's leash?"
Greyson stared at her for a long moment, his expression confused. Emma wondered how she never noticed the dark brown flecks in his otherwise amber eyes before, and she found herself breathless. If their predicament wasn't so awkward, Emma might have found herself enjoying being so close to Greyson for the first time. Instead, she was trying to figure out why he wasn't immediately throwing her off of him, and her brow furrowed when a smile broke on his face. His smile was even more brilliant when they were incredibly close, Emma decided.
"That is absolutely adorable," Greyson laughed. "Making a Disney reference seems like a very you thing to do. It's sweet."
Emma's mouth fell open, and her brow furrowed with her confusion. Did Greyson just say something she said was adorable? And then followed up with sweet?
Oh. Was he making fun of what she wrote in the group texts?
"I, uh, thanks?" Emma offered, turning her attention back to Padfoot and her face heating up once more because she was still very much pressed against him. "I'm sorry, er…let me just…" Emma began to fumble awkwardly with Padfoot's leash to try and untangle them from their predicament. She froze when Greyson dropped his hold on her arm to grab the hand with Padfoot's leash.
"Let me get us out of this," he said lightly. "You're smaller than I am, so it'll be a little easier if I do this."
Emma nodded, carefully unwrapping Padfoot's leash to allow Greyson to take it instead. It was a much better idea for him to handle the situation as he had them unfurled from the tangle of Padfoot's leash in seconds. Emma silently and reluctantly admitted to herself that she already missed being so close to Greyson. With more of his leash available, Padfoot immediately began to sniff everything he could get his nose on, and Greyson chuckled.
Greyson handed Emma Padfoot's leash with a slight smirk and took a small step back. He stared at her for a moment, shoving his hands in his pockets and taking a deep breath.
"Well," he said, "I can always count on you to make the day interesting."
"I'm really sorry again, Greyson," Emma said quickly. "I don't know what's gotten into him today. He was doing so well, and then the elevator doors opened and –"
"Emma, it's fine," Greyson chuckled. "It was cute. Like I said, I can always count on you to make the day interesting. If I was going to be tangled up in a leash with anyone, I'm glad it was you."
Emma was so taken aback by Greyson's comment that she had no idea what to say. She managed a weak giggle and a half-hearted shrug. Greyson's smirk turned into a genuine smile, and he shook his head with a soft laugh.
"I've got to go see Sirius, so I'll see you in a bit," he said. "Just because the dogs are around, I still expect you to work. Can't use Padfoot as an excuse to not get work done."
"Oh," Emma said softly, smiling slightly at Greyson's teasing. "I have to stop and see him too."
"Oh!" Greyson said in surprise. "Did you…did you want to head to his office together?"
Emma was fully prepared to say yes until she looked past Greyson and spotted Persephone and staring at her with wide eyes. Justin looked surprised, and Persephone wore a smug look on her face. Leave it to her best friends to be practically gawking at them.
"I, uhm…I'll be a bit getting Padfoot settled," Emma said. "M-maybe I'll see you there, yeah?"
Emma thought she was going to escape Greyson noticing Justin and Persephone staring at them for a moment. He nodded in response to her before looking over his shoulder and spotting the two, who immediately froze in alarm. Greyson chuckled as he turned back to Emma with a far too knowing look on his face, soft smile, and eyes crinkling at the corners with his genuine amusement.
"Right then," he said. "Perhaps I'll see you there," Greyson added with a wink. "Get yourself set up. I'm sure, ah…your friends are really looking to talk to you. If you're interested in meeting Sprinkles, she's sleeping at my desk. Perhaps you can tell me if you find her as sweet as her owner when I come back."
Greyson walked away, and Emma let out the breath she had been holding. She wanted to quietly scold Padfoot for his antics, but her mind was completely and utterly blank. Greyson absolutely noticed what she wrote in her text, and she was horrified.
Emma's gaze lifted back to Justin and Persephone across the room. She was now going to have to try and explain a lot more than the texts, and Emma wasn't sure she would survive the day.