(A/N): We're back with Amelia, Nolan, Jules, Logan, Spencer, Annette, Marta, and a few miscellaneous gardeners.

Trigger Warnings: Amelia monitoring Nolan's diet, at his request.

October 19th, 1967

Amelia

Panic. Panic and dread. Those were the emotions I was feeling- panic, dread, and the tiniest bit of relief; relief that perhaps we didn't have to hide anymore, because even if our relationship got leaked and Cipicia and Sebastien terminated our employment... well, at least then we could finally get married. That wasn't exactly how I had wanted things to go, but every cloud had a silver lining, I suppose.

"I- Er, what?" Nolan squeaked- squeaked, which was quite the feat for him, and for Jules to have brought it out of him- and from the corner of my eye, I saw Logan roll his.

"You know," She said, gesturing between Nolan and I with a large, but now somewhat befuddled, smile. "How long have you and Amelia been going steady?" He blanched, and her fair brows drew together. "Or... is it more of a casual thing? I didn't think you were the type, Nol, but-"

It was too late now, anyway- or at least, that's what I told myself, as I stopped trying to fight the urge to help Nolan deal with this. He certainly needed the assistance, but I doubt I was going to take things in the direction he expected me to. "He isn't," I said firmly, and felt even more eyes on me than before- of course it was the secret relationship drama that everyone was hanging around to hear about, and not Leonides's disappearance. Typical. Other than a single initial wary glance, Nolan very pointedly kept his gaze on his own feet, probably in case anyone could recognise the love he failed to hide there... which seemed fair, considering how quickly Jules had sniffed us out.

She stared at me curiously- which I thought was a little odd, since Nolan was right next to her and far more expressive than I was, both in general but especially right now. Logan huffed out a laugh and wiggled me by the shoulders. "They were trying to keep that under wraps," He told her in a stage whisper, and Jules flushed as though she was just as embarrassed as Nolan and I were.

"Oh. Oh! Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't-" I raised a hand to wave her off.

"It's... fine. It's not- I'm not worried about the opinion of anyone who would feel comfortable in this place-" I paused, tilting my head to the side- away from Logan, of course. "That sounded rather backhanded, didn't it?" I didn't expect a response, but Logan nodded heartily- well, at least he was being honest. "I only meant... As long as no one informs our Master or Mistress, who both hate it here, I have no qualms about you all knowing that Nolan and I are... involved." It didn't come close to conveying the depth of our feelings for each other, but since I doubted such a word existed, I was alright with that designation for the time being, if not satisfied.

"Better," Logan said quietly, which I appreciated, even if I wasn't sure his colour commentary was quite necessary. "Besides, you weren't exactly being subtle. I'm sure we all knew by now, anyway." Spencer nodded, which wasn't surprising considering he had redirected our letters, as did Annette- again, not all that surprising. What was somewhat surprising was the way Marta, along with most of the remaining gardeners, followed suit.

I blinked, and got to share my first real look with Nolan now that we weren't concerned about revealing how familiar we were with each other- pity it happened to be one full of confusion and embarrassment rather than love, but the matching relief I found there was reassuring, at least. "...were we really that obvious?" Logan snorted- clearly he thought so- but Marta only hesitated very briefly before shrugging.

"You were fine. Let's just say Nolan didn't miss his calling as an actor, and leave it at that." He blushed all the way to the tips of his ears, and she gave him a contemplative look. "I've never seen you jealous before," She told him, and the glance he shot my way was almost apologetic. "'course, I think Logan was riling you up on purpose, the way he's oh-so good at."

The man in question smirked broadly from beside me, and as he waggled the fingers of the hand attached to the arm he had over my shoulders at them, Nolan openly glared at him. I suppose, now that we no longer had to hide it, he could be as blatant about his distaste for Logan's flirting as he wanted- or needed- to be. "Lovett, would you kindly-" Undoubtedly, something along the lines of, 'take your hands off my girlfriend' was set to follow that, but Logan shook his head affably, almost airily; as if he didn't know that what he was doing could possibly be wrong, or irritating.

"Montgomery, be honest. You don't want to ask me to do anything 'kindly'- you want to punch me in the face right now." Nolan didn't look like he could disagree, nor wanted to. "I'm enjoying this so much- this is so much better than stealing your biscuits." Biscuits? What biscuits? By the guilty glance Nolan flicked my way, I had the feeling these were secret, illicit biscuits he had been hiding from me, in order to get around the sugar limit I'd given him. Don't misunderstand me, I couldn't care less how much sugar he had typically, but he'd been having trouble with sleeping and energy, and we'd found that cutting down on sugar helped him deal with those things better. Nolan, however, had some minor issues when it came to impulse control- at least in terms of diet- so he had asked me to keep an eye on things for him. He wasn't supposed to hide his snacking from me, or the system wouldn't work... which was why he was shooting me guilty looks.

"Logan, can you do me a favor?" He blinked heavily, pausing and turning his head to stare at me as if this was the last thing he'd expected, and he was apprehensive because he thought I might be about to snap at him. Even so, he looked surprisingly eager to fulfill any request I might make. "Those biscuits? Whatever snacks he's hoarding? Take them." An instant, devious grin bloomed on his lips, and only grew as Nolan groaned. Then, I saw the confusion start to hit him as he seemed to realise how strange this 'favor' truly was. "He's not meant to have them- he can't sleep with too much sugar, and no sleep means a grumpy Montgomery, which no one wants. Assuming you don't have the same problem-" He shook his head oddly proudly. "-I think it would be best if we removed the temptation."

Nolan glared at Logan again, just as hard if not harder than when he'd tried to tell him to take his hands off me. Well, I guess I should feel flattered that it was such a close competition, given how seriously I knew Nolan took his snacking. "Lovett, hands off my snacks- and my... Amelia." It was, as ever, hard to find a term to accurately describe our relationship, which Logan obviously took note of.

His grin was particularly wolfish, and while he did acquiesce and take his arm off of my shoulders, he did so about as slowly as was possible without making me uncomfortable; he wanted to annoy Nolan, not make either of us genuinely uncomfortable, that much was clear. "My, my, my," He practically purred, and if I were interested in any way and it had been directed entirely at me, I might have found myself shivering at such a tone. Jules seemed to appreciate it at least, even if she and Marta were both equally amused and exasperated by its appearance. "Monitoring his diet for him, already?" He asked rhetorically, then arched a dark brow pointedly at Nolan and I. "Sounds like marriage material to me." Oh. So that's where he was going with this. "The question is," He said slyly, turning most of his attention to me, even if he was clearly speaking to Nolan- as if he was more interested in my reaction, rather than Nolan's answer. "Does it go both ways?" He focused on me fully, now. "Do you think Nolan is 'marriage material', Ms Rochester?"

(A/N): Yes, that is a 'would you kindly' reference from Bioshock. I have no regrets.

Illicit biscuits, lol- or as I, an Australian, would call them: Illicky Bikkies.

Also, I recently forgot which character had been described as 'taking their snacking very seriously' (I thought it might have been something Evie said about one of her friends, Pip being the front-runner), only to remember that it was Nolan, here. To be fair, I think that's true of a lot of my characters.

I'd just like to remind/let everyone know that the next chapter will be posted on Christmas Day (the 25th), and then the last one of the year on the 30th. The first chapter of next year will be posted on the 1st, then after that, every regular chapter will be posted on a Monday, so the next chapter after that will be the 6th. To sum it up, there will be a special chapter for Christmas Day and New Year's Day, other than that, there will be a new chapter every Monday until other special chapters come into play (the first one being Valentine's Day).