Winter opened the door and gasped… The room was a total disaster. There was junk piled high, low, and in every crack in between. There were chairs, books, toys, a few desks, couches, and who knows what else. A lot of it was covered under sheets to keep the dust off. The only bright side was a large window that took up most of the far wall. The city was sprawling out beneath them, and Winter felt her heart skip a beat.

"Yeah, it's… a bit of a fixer-upper. That's what James says at least" Amy gave a nervous laugh as she rubbed her arm and looked everywhere but at Winter. Winter took a few steps into what she could only describe as the landfill of the office. The only difference is that it smelled nice in the room, like cherry.

"That's an understatement" Winter couldn't help but let just a little bit of venom out when she talked, but Amy either didn't hear or didn't care. expected me to work in this tomorrow? This is gonna take hours to clean! But, maybe this was some kind of test? Winter thought, trying to see some reason for what was going on.

"I'm not sure what James is thinking, but I'm sure there's a reason" Amy tried to sooth but failing to reassure Winter in the slightest. "Do you want any help moving this? This seems like a lot for one person, and it's no trouble at all" Amy almost sounded excited to help with this nightmare. Winter was about to accept the help, dreading doing all the moving by herself, but then a thought struck her. This has to be a test. He's probably testing her to see how dedicated she is. Just like father. It's the only explanation. I can't prove myself if Amy helps…

"I appreciate it, but I should be fine!" Winter beamed, trying her best to flash a confident smile.

"Well, if you're sure… I'll leave you to it. Let me know if you change your mind or just want some company" Amy sounded confused, but didn't try and push Winter at all. Amy waited for a minute like she was waiting for Winter to say something, then she slowly walked out the door and back to her desk.

Winter sighed and looked around the room. This was gonna take hours. Good thing she didn't have anything else to do with her Sunday. "Alright… Let's get to it"

A brutal two hours later and Winter was sitting on the floor of the room wiping sweat from her forehead, her jacket thrown to the side and her heels discarded. Her arms and legs both hurt a lot more than they did when she moved her boxes, but the result was a lot prettier. After clearing the walls, Winter found out that the whole office was a calming light tan color that reminded Winter of an autumn day. The color also looked beautiful with the crisp sunlight beaming through the window.

After clearing out a lot of the junk Winter found a lot of really good things to use. There were a few shelves that she liked and decided to put some of the random books that were around the room on them. A lot of them were old psychology textbooks, a few Winter had owned before, but the oddest she found was a romance book that was about something called the love languages. It was filled cover to cover with handwritten notes. WInter knew it was silly, but she always pictured her office having a bookshelf like this, the look of it made Winter feel official.

She also found a few chairs that looked good enough to keep. None of them were from the same set, which annoyed her slightly, but she needed something for kids to sit on. So she had a big fluffy couch, a black leather chair, a brown leather chair, and even a few bean bags. Winter's biggest find though was her new desk. It was large and stained a beautiful dark brown-red, looking as professional as you could get. The draws were filled with garbage, which sucked to clean, but the look was worth it. Everything else, including the countless toys, Winter slowly and agonizingly moved down the hall.

While admiring her hard work, Winter heard the soft steps of Amy approaching the office. Her, office. "I think I really fixed it up, what do you think?" Winter laughed as she sprawled out on the hardwood floor.

"I couldn't agree more," Said a slow, deep voice that was not the small secretary. Winter turned to look who was talking.

"Doctor Ironwood!" Winter squeaked, shooting up to a standing position. Winter had completely forgotten that he was coming into the office, and her face was flush thinking about how she must look. Sweaty and gross isn't the impression she was going for.

"Not the person you were expecting?" chuckled as he folded his hands behind his back. He was a tall man dressed in a white suit that looked freshly made by the best foreign tailor money could buy. He had well combed black hair on top while his sides had turned a light gray. Even with the gray though he looked fairly young, probably in his mid-forties. His posture was incredibly ridged, like someone in the military. He also had a very calm air about him. At least while he was giving a small smile that is.

"No sir, not at all" Winter stammered, trying her best to match his posture. "I was expecting Amy"

"I'm sure. I was talking to her for a while before coming in. She was sad when you didn't want any help with cleaning. She offered to come in today to help. She thought it would be a good chance for you two to get to know each other a bit. She knew you just moved to the city and probably needed a friend"

"I had no idea" Winter stuttered out, feeling a pit of guilt form in her stomach that burned like acid. Any thought of this being a test flew out of her mind. Not only did she get that wrong, but she also missed out on the chance to make a new friend…

"I wouldn't worry about it. There'll be plenty of chances for you two to talk from here on out. After all, you start tomorrow. Sorry for making you clean this up by the way. But the building custodians have been having a rough time cleaning up some mess on the fifth floor the past week. So they couldn't get to this, no matter how much I begged" sighed as he started to walk around the room, looking at her handy work. Even on the hardwood floor, his step was soft-sounding, Winter had no idea if he was doing it on purpose or not.

"It's no problem at all "

"Nonsense. I would've been here myself to help, but I had a meeting that I couldn't get out of. A lot of stuff crashed together in a bad way this weekend Winter, you have my apologies" looked out the window down at the street.

" , it wasn't any trouble" Winter moved to take a step forward, but stopped herself. She wasn't sure if he wanted her to move or not. "Doctor… I just wanted to say thank you for this opportunity, and apologize for how last minute and, odd, it all is" Winter hesitated, saying every word slowly. She wasn't sure exactly what to say, but she felt like she had to say thank you somehow.

turned to her, "Winter, do you know I hired you?" his expression was unreadable. She thought for a second, not sure how to respond.

"My grades?"

smiled, "As impressive as they were, and they were truly impressive, no. Not your grades. When I seen you in that lecture hall I instantly knew who you were. The white hair, the clothes, the eyes especially were just like your mothers. But there you were, Jacques Schnees perfect heiress, who I heard was going to business school, sitting in the back at a guest presentation about child growth and psychology. At first, I thought you were just there for extra credit, but I watched you take notes during my whole presentation" Winter blushed, she had no idea he had been watching her so close that day.

"So when I found you in the hall after, I thought that you might need… A helping hand, let's say. Do you remember what I told you?" asked, stepping closer to her. Winter had stopped trying to keep her back straight, her mind was a million miles away now.

"You told me that if I ever needed advice, help, a job, or anything, to give you a call day or night. You also told me to keep up the good work, and that I'd… That I'd be a great Psychologist. Then, you handed me your card and wrote your cell phone number on it" Winter felt burning tears at the corner of her eyes at the memory.

She hadn't said a word to him when they first met, he had just strolled up to her and started to talk. That one small interaction validated everything that she had always been too scared to believe. It was one thing for Weiss and her mother to tell her she could do it, but … It meant more to her than she could say.

"Exactly right. So when you called me a few days ago, in the middle of the night in a panic, I wasn't going to turn you away. I think you're going to do amazing things in this field, and I want to help you as much as I can on your way. Thank me by proving me right" smiled as he put his hand softly on her shoulder.

"Does my father know I'm here?"

"I don't think so. I haven't gotten any messages, or threats, from him yet. But I expect he'll find out soon enough, and I'll deal with that when the time comes. But don't that's not for you to worry about" He smiled and started to walk around the room again, "I do love what you've done with the place. But, could I offer one bit of advice?"

"Of course doctor. What is it?" She had to bite her lip, just slightly, to keep her tears in.

"Get a toy chest. It might distract some kids, but it'll also get them to like you a bit more."

"Aright Dr. I'll get right on it" Winter smiled, tears finally subsiding within her. He nodded at her and walked to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Winter. Have a nice night"

"Goodnight, Sir. See you in the morning" she smiled up at him. Then, just as quietly as he came, he left. Winter let out a huge sigh when she heard the door to the lobby close. Bending over and resting her hands on her knees looking like someone who had just run a marathon.

She felt emotionally exhausted after that conversation, her head pounding ever so slightly. It felt so nice having someone in her corner she could count on right now. She felt like crying, sobbing, right now. If she was in her apartment, she probably would have. As a matter of fact, that's where she was gonna go right now. The toy box could wait until tomorrow. For the first time, shocking Winter to her core, she was excited to go back to her mold-covered apartment building. How about that?

-Authors note-

Tell me how you guys are feeling about the story so far. Do you like it, have some issues with it, or what? Hope you guys enjoyed these chapters, see you next week!