Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Enjoy your breakdown,” Alice said, her voice harsher than she intended. “Just keep it quiet, some of us are trying to work.”

“For god’s sake, Alice—”

But Alice wasn’t listening. She’d put her earphones in and watched as Sam stormed out of the room, angry in a way she hadn’t even seen when they’d broken up.

She didn’t care. He wanted to investigate the Magnus Institute, and get himself killed? Good on him. Alice wasn’t going to let herself get dragged into it, though. She was done.

Part of her was more upset with herself, though — she knew it was irrational, but she… didn’t like this, the fighting with Sam. Letting out a puff of air as she pressed the shuffle button on a playlist of her favourite songs, she pushed those thoughts away. They’d be fine in a day or two, and then it’d be back to their usual banter. 

Probably.

Alice didn’t know how long she just sort of stared at Sam’s computer, hoping that it’d reveal its secrets if she looked at it with a judgemental enough style. 

She was only snapped out of her daze by the sound of a sudden voice, which was also when she realised that her music had abruptly come to an end.

“You know, you won’t get any work done by just looking at the computer.”

Alice groaned internally, but spun around on her chair to face Gwen, crossing her arms. “And what would you know about that, miss ‘new fancy job’?” She witnessed an unreadable expression flicker across Gwen’s face, a mix of annoyance and… disappointment? She snorted. “Or did being teacher’s pet with Lena already get to you?”

At that, Gwen cast her eyes to her feet and mumbled something quietly. Alice, unable to make anything out, looked at her in confusion. “What?”

“I lost the job.”

Alice’s eyes widened. Out of everything she was expecting, that wasn’t it. “Ah.” She paused. “And how exactly did you manage that?”

Gwen sighed. “Look, Alice, I’m not in the mood to talk about this, especially since not only did I lose the job, but I have to pretend like I still have it for the next few weeks!”

“Oh, poor you,” Alice said, her voice dripping with fake sympathy that Gwen caught onto. “So, what, you’re back in data processing with me, Sam and Celia?” She spun around on her chair so she was leaning forward on it instead, and looked up at Gwen. “You know, if you missed us so badly, you could’ve just said so, Gwenny,” she teased.

“Oh, ha ha,” Gwen responded. “By the way, Sam and Celia just left the building. They were looking quite close.” Alice tried to avoid letting anything flash across her face but didn’t manage. “Oh? Hit a sore spot, have I? I heard you two arguing when I left Lena’s office. It didn’t sound like it went well.”

Alice rolled her eyes, trying to pretend like her face wasn’t heating up. “Hey, if Sam wants to get himself killed at the Magnus Institute, that ain’t my business. I just hope it isn’t too much paperwork,” she said, stretching back in her chair.

Gwen’s reaction, though, was unexpected. “How do you — how do you know that name?” she asked, her voice shockingly quiet.

Don’t tell me Gwen believes in all this shit too, Alice thought with a groan, but she was… too intrigued by Gwen’s reaction not to ask. “A couple of the cases have mentioned the institute — I think it’s nothing, but Sam, on the other hand…” She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling. “He got rejected by the institute a few years before, y’know, it burned down. Now he’s obsessed with it again. How do you—”

“Not important,” Gwen interrupted, and though Alice raised an eyebrow, she didn’t seem willing to divulge. Alright. So everyone here had secrets. Wonderful. 

The longer she stared at Gwen, though… the longer Alice noticed something was wrong. Her hair looked like it had been hastily brushed, and the bags under her eyes were more pronounced than usual as her gaze seemed flickered around the room. There was a smudge of lipstick under her bottom lip. Gwen would never have let such a thing happen.

Something was up, and it wasn’t just Gwen losing her new ‘Externals Liaison’ job. “Alright,” she sighed, “neither of us are willing to talk about what’s going on. Why are you still here, Gwen? If I got demoted, I’d be out at the bar, or sitting on my sofa watching shitty movies. But you’re… hanging around.”

Gwen shrugged, looking slightly lost as she fiddled with her hands. “Don’t feel like going home yet, I suppose,” she admitted after a moment. 

Alice snorted. “That fond of this place, are you?”

Gwen scoffed. “Need I remind you, you’re the one who’s been staring at the computers for the last few hours. Try not to turn into Colin,” she said. “I don’t think the OIAR would be that pleased if another employee lost their mind over the IT in this building.”

“I’ll try,” Alice replied, tilting her head to the side. “Hey, look on the bright side,” she smirked. “Now you’re gonna be stuck with me again.”

“Oh, god,” Gwen groaned dramatically, and Alice chuckled. “Is it too much to hope you’ve worked at all on your caseload?”

“Nope,” Alice responded, jumping up onto the desk and swinging her legs, before pointing at Gwen. “Don’t tell Lena that, she’d have my throat before the sun came up. She wasn’t too… aggressive with the let-down, was she? Y’know, I could always mix up all the casefiles in her office — give you a break,” she joked, but Gwen didn’t smile. “Alright, not in the mood for jokes, I get it.” She paused. “I mean, what even is an Externals Liaison? Doesn’t sound that fun. Honestly, Gwen, you’re better off, and I don’t see why you’re so worked up.”

Gwen shook her head. “It— never mind, you wouldn’t understand.” 

Alice sighed, realising this was the best she was going to get. “Well, I’m officially bored and working hours are over, so I’m getting out of here.” For a moment, her expression turned a bit more sincere. “Hey. Don’t stay here all night, okay? I know I joke, but it would be a lot of paperwork if one of us died.”

“I’ll try.”

Well. Alice was no closer to any sort of explanation for why everyone in this office was acting weird, and now even Gwen seemed to be losing it. “Bye, Gwen. See you tomorrow.”

She hesitated by the opening doors, but Gwen seemed lost in thought, and after everything that had transpired today, Alice didn’t feel particularly inclined to intrude.

When she stepped outside, the sun was already coming up.

***

The next night, Alice came in late, as per usual. Sam and Celia were already there, and they exchanged a rather awkward greeting before getting to their respective workstations.

She winced at the way Sam seemed to be ignoring her, but fine. If he wanted to give her the cold shoulder, then two could play at that game.

One thing surprised her, though.

By the time an hour had elapsed, there was still no sign of Gwen.

And when the woman who had routinely shown up half an hour early to every day of work for the last three years was over an hour late, something was wrong.

With a sigh, she moved over to Celia’s cubicle, not willing to talk to Sam just yet, that wound still fresh. “Hey, have you seen Gwen?” she asked casually, although a tone of curiosity came through.

Celia shook her head. “Doesn’t she still have that… Externals Liaison job?” she asked, and Alice bit her lip, unsure whether or not to respond honestly. 

“Yeah, yeah, that’s probably all,” she said, deciding not to let the others know just yet. If Gwen was, in fact, just late, Alice would be dead on the spot when Gwen found out she’d told half the office. 

“Why do you want to know?”

Alice grinned. “Well, I need to be a nuisance to someone today, don’t I?” she said. With that, she headed back to her desk.

Until she saw Lena coming out of her office, and quickly headed towards her instead. “Lena,” she called out, and her boss turned around.

“Ah, Alice. Shouldn’t you be at your desk? I believe your break isn’t for a while yet.”

Alice shrugged. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Lena sighed, exasperated. “Alright, but make it quick — I have meetings to attend to.”

“Just wondering if you’ve seen Gwen today?” Alice asked, and Lena looked slightly taken aback, before looking at the desks.

“She’s not in yet?” she asked, sounding just as confused as Alice was. “Hm. Well, this is unusual behaviour for Miss Bouchard, and I’ll have to make a note of her absence.” With that, she strode off, and Alice watched as she disappeared around the corner. Hm. She looked genuinely surprised by that.

“It’s probably nothing, Alice,” Celia said, and Alice jumped at the sudden appearance of the woman behind her. “Just… Gwen’s busy, alright? Maybe you can use today to work on your caseload?”

“Maybe,” Alice murmured, but, standing there, she couldn’t shake the suspicion that something was wrong.

Chapter Text

When Gwen woke up, she felt like her limbs had stopped functioning. With a groan, she pushed herself up into a sitting position — only for her head to start spinning right afterwards.

Well, that wasn’t a good sign.

Faintly, she noticed that though her curtains were drawn, no light shone through. It was already night out, she realised, the thought taking a moment to register.

She was late for work.

In a moment of panic, she tried to push herself out of bed, but her every movement felt sluggish as she managed to get into a sitting position. She resisted the urge to shiver, and absent-mindedly took note of the fact that she’d wrapped herself up in a blanket. When had it gotten so cold?

She needed to get up. She needed to get to the OIAR, she needed to prove she was worth something to everyone, to Lena. Bile rose in her throat as memories came back of the previous shift. Willing herself to stand, Gwen placed a shaky hand on the nightstand, pushing herself up. Her vision swayed, but it was fine. She had been through worse. She could manage.

There was a knock on the door from somewhere further in the apartment, and Gwen almost jumped out of her skin.

She was tempted to just leave it, and, after a moment, did just that, instead moving to her dresser. Her hair was plastered to her face in loose blonde strands, and she took a moment to brush it out of the way. It wasn’t working, so she settled for pulling it up into a ponytail and hoping no one commented on it. Wouldn’t be easy. Even Gwen could admit that she… wasn’t looking great. 

Her legs almost buckled under her, but she was fine. Then another knock came, persisting. “I’m busy,” Gwen called out, her voice hoarse.

A pause. “Gwen?”

Oh, god damnit.

Because unfortunately, Gwen knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

And she’d never wanted more to just crawl back into bed and not answer the door.

Unfortunately, the need to maintain some basic dignity and semblance of normalcy persisted, so, after a moment of hesitation, she headed towards the door, crossing her apartment with only slight difficulty. 

Gwen swung open the door and sighed when she saw Alice there. “What on earth do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

Alice, though, just frowned. “Your hands are shaking.”

Gwen cursed under her breath, shoving her hands behind her to hide them. “I’m fine,” she said, “I was just about to leave for work.”

Alice raised an eyebrow. “In a nightgown? And here I thought I was the one with the questionable fashion choices.”

“Why are you even here?” Gwen asked again, exasperated.

“Well, given your usual tardiness and the fact that no one in the office had seen you since last night… I figured something was wrong. Also, I called you, like, three times and you didn’t pick up.”

“Alright, I— come in then, I guess.” Gwen rubbed her eyes in exhaustion, pulling out her phone. She had missed texts from Alice, an email from Lena… Oh, was all she thought as her mind started to catastrophize.

She hardly noticed herself stumbling a moment later.

She did notice an arm coming out instinctively to support her, though, and Alice calling her name. Wh—

“Shit— Gwen? You still with me?” Alice asked, and it was then that Gwen realised that the only thing steadying her was the redhead in front of her. 

She wanted to repeat that she was fine and tell Alice to leave, but it was at that moment that the floor started to sway again. In fear of collapsing, she just nodded, and Alice pulled back, still holding her, although there was a slight flush on her face that must have been from the heat in the room. Huh. The temperature was rather inconsistent.

“You’re burning up, Gwen, you need to sit down,” Alice coaxed, and Gwen had to fight off the urge to relax.

“I can’t,” she murmured, her hands shaking slightly. “Need to get to the office, I’m late already — how on earth did you — did you even get away?” she asked.

“I told Lena I had a family emergency,” Alice shrugged. “Honestly, she’s so worried about the ministerial visit I think she’ll take any chance she can to make sure I’m not screwing things up at the office,” she grinned. “Now sit,” she repeated, and, succumbing to the much stronger force of gravity, Gwen allowed herself to be seated on the couch.

“Alice, you don’t understand,” Gwen managed to get out, “I need to —”

“You need sleep, Gwen,” Alice said, crossing her arms and sitting back on the footrest opposite her. “I mean, you look worse than Colin, and he’s the one on mental health leave,” she continued. After a moment, her expression softened and she furrowed her brows. “What happened?”

“It’s— hard to explain,” Gwen said, making a vague gesture with her hands. “I was meant to deal with an— with an external, and…” She shivered, still remembering the rain pouring down as she ran from them, only saved by that… thing. “They tried to attack me. I got away, and it was my fault, and…” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I— I shouldn’t have ran.”

Alice looked taken aback by that, and a part of Gwen felt smug in finally managing to shut her up. “Oh my god,” was all she said. 

Gwen winced. “But I promise I’m alright, okay? It’s just a cold from the rain, probably.” She sighed. “It’ll only be worse if I avoid coming into work.”

Alice laughed. “What, never taken a sick day, have you?” When Gwen didn’t respond, her eyes widened. “Holy shit, I meant that as a joke — really?” she asked, and Gwen shrugged, heart more focused on keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground. “Well then. All the more reason to take some time off.”

“I’ll just take some ibuprofen,” Gwen responded, “I’ll be fine in half an hour.”

“I don’t think you understand how ibuprofen works, but if you want to get some… be my guest,” Alice said, gesturing to the apartment.

“I will, thank you,” Gwen said, making a motion to stand up —

Only for her legs to give out under her. With that, she was back on the couch. Her breathing was shallow as she steadied herself, fighting off a pit of nausea building in her stomach. She probably looked pathetic like this, but for once, Alice looked at her with an expression of what… might have been genuine sympathy.

“Look, I’m not stopping you from going to work if you want to. But I think your body is,” she said, and Gwen tensed up as Alice placed a hand on her forehead. “See? Burning up.”

Gwen just curled into herself, not willing to talk. She didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but eventually Alice spoke again. “Hey, if you want me to leave, I can go, y’know. Just wanted to make sure you hadn’t died.” With that, she stood up, heading back towards the door.

“Wait.” Gwen winced at how weak her voice sounded, but carried on, forcing some strength into it. “I— can you stay? …I don’t want to be alone.” The last sentence was quiet, but Alice had come to a stop.

With an exasperated sigh that was almost certainly played up for dramatic effect, Alice nodded. “Alright. But I’m sitting far away from you,” she said, pointing her finger at Gwen. “I’m not catching whatever the hell you have.”

“Deal,” Gwen muttered, and Alice stood up, before going over to the kitchen area. Letting a small sigh of relief escape her, Gwen closed her eyes, hoping some of the spinning in the room would stop. It was, unfortunately, short-lived relief, as moments later Alice was talking to her again.

“Here,” she said, passing a glass of water to Gwen that she took carefully, willing her fingers not to shake. “Drink this.”

Gwen didn’t want to, but… she forced herself to down the entire thing. Admittedly, she felt less parched now, but that still didn’t mean she was very happy about it. “Thank you,” she mumbled quietly. 

Alice just threw a blanket that was lying on the edge of the couch over to Gwen, who took it immediately. With that, Alice sat down by the base of the couch, grabbing the remote. “Alright. Since it seems like neither of us is coming into work tonight, got any movie ideas?”

“I don’t mind,” Gwen said, and Alice just nodded slightly before turning away and starting to flick through different apps. Part of her would have laughed at the absurdity of the situation, but that part of her was gone with all of her logical reasoning. All that was left was exhaustion setting in, now.

Gwen pulled the blanket around herself. This was a problem for the future her. For now… she was tired. Really tired.

She fell asleep sometime after that, her last thought being that if Alice picked a horror movie and woke her up, she was going to kill her.

Chapter Text

When Alice woke up, the first thing she noted was the pain in her neck.

But as she looked around and spied Gwen curled into herself, a pile of blankets she’d thrown off and a TV still playing the third High School Musical, everything came back to her. Ah. Right.

She looked at her watch — 6 am. God, her sleep schedule was going to be so off after this, but hey, just part of working the night shift, wasn’t it? 

With a groan, she shifted herself into a more comfortable sitting position, stretching as she did so. What to do now?

Looking around, she took note of the room properly — the main entrance to Gwen’s apartment led into the conjoined kitchen and living room, both of which had a rather… minimalist style.

That was to say, the area was devoid of any life. There weren’t even any dumb family photos or paintings of some kind. It felt… unlived in. She cast her gaze to Gwen again — in her sleep, she looked younger, no longer like the ‘old woman’ Alice always joked she acted like. Her hair had come loose again, falling around her shoulders as she leaned against the couch.

Abruptly, her phone buzzed. Alice reached into her pocket and pulled it out, only to find a message from Sam. Maybe he wants to talk?

She swiped, opening their chat history.

sam 🦐

6:08

you left work in a hurry,

what happened?

6:15 

look, i know we’re in a fight

and all, but i haven’t heard 

from you for the last few hours?

Alice hesitated, before typing out a quick response.

6:16

i’m alive, no worries lol

6:16

left work for a ‘family emergency’

6:16

oldest trick in the book, eh?

6:17 

someday lena’s gonna stop

falling for that, you know

6:17

oh yeah that reminds me —

can you tell lena gwen won’t

be in for the next shift?

6:17

she’s got a fever

6:18

okay.

6:18

...hang on a second, why are

you with gwen?

Ah. Perhaps she had divulged too much information.

6:18

alice

6:18

idk man she’s sick and i

wanted to make sure she 

hadn’t died

6:18

is someone starting to care about 

the safety of all of us?

6:19

nuh uh

6:19

anyway i’m not exactly in lena’s

good graces and you KNOW

gwen won't do it herself

6:19

so i need you to email her

6:19

alright.

6:20 

but alice, we need to talk.

6:21 

you read that message i

know you’re still lurking

6:27

…see you at work, alice.

She closed her phone after that, bumping her head lightly against the base of the couch as she squeezed her eyes shut and resisted the urge to chuck it across the room. Now she had to hold a proper, open conversation. Eugh.

Alice would’ve stayed like that way for an indefinite amount of time, but she was pulled out of her sulking by the sound of Gwen’s breathing getting heavier. She turned around, expecting her to be awake, but… the blonde was tossing and turning in her sleep, her eyes still firmly shut but flickering at high speeds. Her fists were firmly clutching the blanket, knuckles white from digging in, a death’s grip.

Ah, fuck. This was not something Alice was prepared to deal with.

Still, she hesitated before choosing to climb onto the couch, approaching Gwen hesitantly. “Gwen? Gwen, wake up,” she said, quiet enough so as not to startle her.

Unfortunately, that plan went out of the window. Gwen’s eyes opened, and fear immediately set in. “Don’t!” she yelled, her breath coming in short gasps.

“Gwen, you were having a nightmare, it’s fine — you’re in your apartment, remember?” she said, tempted to reach out, but figuring it would only be a horrible idea, stayed back. “Eyes on me,” she said, “don’t worry.” She winced at her own words, not sure if she was saying the right thing or not. But, eventually, that fog seemed to lift, and her gaze fixed on Alice slowly. Huh. Alice had never noticed the way her grey irises were surrounded by a ring of green-brown. 

“I— Alice,” Gwen said, running a hand through her hair as she let a long, steady exhale escape her — forcing herself to calm down, perhaps. “I didn’t realise you were still here.”

Alice hummed. “Hard to realise much when you’re half-asleep. Are you alri— no, stupid question. Do you need anything?”

“I—” Gwen’s voice came out hoarse, raw-sounding. “I mean, I wouldn’t say no to a coffee right about now. I need to wake up.” She shivered as she said that.

“Hm. I’ll make you some tea, but that’s all I’ll settle for. If you drink coffee right now, you’ll feel worse.” As Gwen protested, Alice got up. “Where do you keep the teabags?”

“Bottom right drawer,” Gwen sighed, and Alice began pulling out what she needed. “Anyway,” she said, her voice still holding a shake she tried to force down. “Why are you still here?” she repeated.

Alice tilted her head to the side. “I thought you wanted me to stay. And you’ve only been out for… five hours?” she noted, checking the clock which now read half past six. She switched on the kettle before turning back to Gwen.

“Oh,” Gwen said, evidently not having noticed how little time had elapsed.

To break the awkward silence between the two of them, Alice asked, “How are you feeling? Ready to admit you’ve been crushed by government work like every other person on this planet?” she grinned.

Gwen scoffed. “I’m— not great,” she said, her grip tightening on the sheets. “I think I might be allergic to you,” she joked weakly, and Alice smirked.

“The feeling’s mutual,” she responded, leaning on the kitchen counter. 

“And yet you’re making me tea,” Gwen pointed out. “Hypocrite.”

“Nerd.”

Some of the tension in the room broke at that, and a minute later, Alice was passing a cup of tea to Gwen, while keeping one for herself. “Your mugs suck, by the way,” Alice noted. “No ‘Women Want Me, Fish Fear Me’? No ‘World’s Worst Employee’? Although that one might not apply to you, since you seem to be the only one in this office who gets any work done,” she snorted. 

Gwen looked like she was going to retort, but instead just took a sip of her tea. “You’re a nightmare, I hope you know that,” she said, her hands holding onto the tea like a lifeline. 

“What about ‘thank you for the tea and convincing me now to work myself into an early grave, Alice, I am forever in your debt’?” she asked, and Gwen just raised her eyebrows. “No? Oh, alright,” she said, taking a seat. “And by the way — you’re not coming into the OIAR either, if you’re planning on that,” Alice said.

“Wh—”

“You threw up twice in the night, in case you don’t remember, which is not a sign of a perfectly functioning individual,” she said, patting Gwen on the shoulder with a slightly condescending tone. Still, she had to admit that even she had been worried — grossed out, mainly, but like… 10% worried too. “You’re already off today — and if you’re worried about the job, Lena knows you’re taking a sick day.”

That was clearly not what Gwen was expecting. She slumped back on the couch, lost for words. “Oh. Okay.”

Alice chuckled at that. “I, however, am not that lucky, so I will be leaving you tonight. I know, I know,” she said before Gwen could interject, “it’s tragic.”

Gwen rolled her eyes, a weak smile appearing on her face. “You won’t be missed,” she said, knocking her foot against Alice’s.

“I mean, what do you even do in your free time?” Alice asked, looking around the room for any sign of a hobby or something.

“Research,” Gwen shrugged.

“Oh my god,” Alice coughed, choking on her coffee. “I swear, one of these days I am going to drag you out for company drinks, whether you like it or not.”

Gwen hummed non-commitally, but there was a flicker of acknowledgement in her eyes. “I feel — cold,” was all she said after a moment, pulling the blanket around her.

Alice sighed. “That’d be the fever.”

“And the spinning?”

Alice raised an eyebrow. “Also the fever — you’ve been sick before, right?”

“Of course I have,” Gwen retorted, “I’m just not used to doing anything other than powering through it.”

“Ah, and here we see the workaholic in action.”

“I’m not— you know, it’s very hard to like you,” Gwen said, her voice dry. Alice just smiled wryly, the words stinging a bit but understanding it was (hopefully) in jest. “Now I have to pay full attention to this,” Gwen said, gesturing vaguely, “and that’s the last thing I want to do right now.”

Alice hadn’t thought about it like that, but… she tried to understand where Gwen was coming from (even if she understood none of it). The last thing she wanted was to get on everyone in the office’s bad side. “I get that,” Alice said, “but… is it worth destroying yourself over?” When Gwen shot her a look, she continued. “You collapsed twice , Gwen.”

“Right,” Gwen exhaled, rubbing her head blearily. “I just— everything’s getting to be a bit loud, and I… I’d rather be alone. Right now, that is. Thank you, Alice, truly, but I… need some time to decompress.”

Alice offered her a small smile, ignoring the way the words hurt a little. “Alright. But if you come in tonight, I will make sure everyone in the office is in on a plot to drag you back to your apartment kicking and screaming,” she joked, getting up and tying the sweater she’d been wearing around her waist. 

“See you… when this clears up, I suppose,” Gwen said, closing her eyes and leaning back on the couch.

When Alice left, she shut the door quietly, so as not to wake her.

Chapter Text

“Christ, what the hell happened here?” was the first thing that came out of Alice’s mouth when she stepped into the OIAR.

Sam and Celia had, in the brief time they’d been at work, managed to cover their desks with what looked like… case files? “You know, we have the computers for a reason,” Alice drawled, and they looked up.

“Oh,” Celia said, “hey. We’re just… doing research.” She gestured to the files around them.

Alice snorted. “And research means losing yourself in stacks of casefiles taller than you both are? By the end of this, we might need a new subcategory on the computer database for supernatural events just titled ‘paperwork’.”

“They’re not… technically supernatural,” Sam said vaguely. “The case files, that is.”

Alice picked one up and flicked through it briefly, before shutting it again. “This is on the Magnus Institute, isn’t it?”

“Wh— no—”

She raised an eyebrow, holding up the case file she’d been flicking through so they could see the green ‘PROPERTY OF THE MAGNUS INSTITUTE’ emblazoned on the cover, before tossing it back on the pile. She shrugged. “It’s fine, Sam. Just don’t let Lena see all this mess, alright?” Before Sam could pull her aside and talk to her like he was evidently about to, she moved over to her desk, shifting a case file out of the way.

Half an hour later, though, she was bored. And the sound of Sam and Celia theorising was going to be the death of her. So, with a sigh, Alice pulled her chair up to where the two of them were sitting.

“Alright, I’m intrigued. Where exactly did you get these files from? And what have you found?”

Sam looked uncomfortable, but Celia was the one who spoke. “First of all, Alice, what do you know about what the Magnus Institute actually… did?”

Alice shrugged. “I know they ran a program a few years back, and… I know it didn’t go down well with you, Sam.” She still remembered him opening up in college — he’d barely even told her anything, but she remembered him shaking the entire time. 

“Sort of,” Celia said eventually. “The Magnus Institute collected statements and recordings of abnormal events in the way that the OIAR does. But… then it burned down in 1999. Most of the staff went to different occupations, or moved on with their lives.”

Alice squinted. “But not… all of them?”

Celia sighed. “The head of the institute, Elias Bouchard — he went missing after the fire. No sign of him was ever found… or a body.”

“Huh. Creepy,” Alice said, then it hit her. “Hang on a second — Elias Bouchard? Like, Gwen Bouchard? Any relation between the two?”

Sam shrugged helplessly. “I mean, the institute burned down over two decades ago, and since Gwen doesn’t talk about her family, like, ever…”

“No way of knowing for sure.” Alice’s mind had already begun to wander. Could she ask Gwen? Nah, better not to. ”Would Gwen even know she had a spooky uncle and or other relative who disappeared mysteriously in some fire a while back?”

“No clue. As for how we procured the case files, we tried printing off as many as we could find in FR3-D1’s drive, but…”

“They’re all over the place,” finished Sam. “None of them are useful, or even connected. We have a few other theories, but now…”

Alice leaned back on the desk with a sigh. “Just looking for evidence, then.” She tried to ignore the closeness between Sam and Celia, and how it brought up a pang of guilt in her chest. “Well,” she said, jumping off the counter, “you two lovebirds have fun.”

Sam furrowed his brow, and Celia said something quietly to him. He sighed “Alice—”

Here we go.

“Can we talk?”

She was tempted to say no and run as far as possible in the opposite direction, but… screw it. This conversation was going to happen eventually. So, she just shrugged. “Sure.” When Sam gestured to the breakroom, she followed him, shutting the door after waving a quick goodbye to Celia which came out a lot more like a signal for help. 

She crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. “So.”

“So,” Sam repeated, and Alice wondered at how such a distance could have been built up between the two of them in the span of a few weeks. “This… isn’t working.”

“What?”

“I— I don’t know,” he said with a helpless shrug. “It feels like I can’t trust you anymore, Alice, and… we’ve gone backwards, somehow?”

She pursed her lips. That, at least, they agreed on. “So… what do you suggest we do?”

“You need to stop going through my computer, first of all. For all you talk about me not ‘losing my mind to this place’, I can tell that even you’re starting to get too fixated on this thing.”

“I’m just worried—“

“But it’s not your job to worry,” Sam emphasised. “Look, I… I promise I’ll be careful with the whole Magnus Institute thing. It’s just research, alright? I’m not going to let myself get hurt. But you need to trust that.”

Alice steadied her gaze, exhaling. After a moment, she nodded. “Okay. I’ll… I’ll back off with the Institute thing,” she said, spreading her palms semi-apologetically. “I guess that’s all, then?”

Sam nodded, but as she turned around, he called out again. “Are you sure you don’t want to come investigate with me and Celia on Sunday?”

Alice didn’t meet his eyes, shaking her head firmly. “No, I’m fine.” At that, she turned back. “But if anything bad happens, just… promise to call, okay?”

Sam exhaled. “Okay.”

Suddenly, Alice remembered what she’d been planning on asking Sam and Celia before she stumbled across the endless sea of files. “Oh, that reminds me, Sam — how would you feel about going out on Saturday? We used to do movie night with the old lot, but that fell apart.” A hopeful look appeared in her eye, and Sam sighed.

“Alright. Who’d it be with?”

Alice listed off the group on her fingers. “Celia, you, me —” she paused — “maybe Gwen, but that’d take a miracle,” she chuckled. 

At last, some of the tension lifted. “I don’t think Gwen would want anything to do with us outside of work,” Sam replied, amusement in his voice, “but you can try.”

Alice smiled, giving him an awkward pair of finger guns. “Well then. It’s a plan.”

Chapter Text

When Gwen woke up on Friday, she felt… better. Better than she had in years, somehow. Her head wasn’t imploding in on itself, she wasn’t drenched in sweat, and everything seemed… fine.

She hesitated, before climbing out of bed and planting her feet firmly on the ground. Okay. Not threatening to buckle under her, so that was good. 

A half-empty bowl of soup she’d forced herself into making sat on the nightstand, and she winced at the idea of getting any stains anywhere. Quickly, she walked over to the kitchen, beginning to sort through the apartment. God, it was a mess, and Gwen didn’t like that.

What she remembered from the last few days was vague — bits and pieces came back to her. She remembered feeling awful, mainly. She also, for some reason, remembered Alice coming over, although she struggled to remember if that had happened—

Nope, she thought, spotting an empty mug of tea on the counter as the memories came back. That happened.

Internally, Gwen scolded herself for struggling to maintain any sort of professionalism with her coworkers. She and Alice weren’t friends, and fellow employees rarely came over to each other's houses when one of them fell ill. She poured out the dregs of the tea hoping it’d get rid of the fact that she’d just ruined that barrier she’d worked so hard to create over a stupid fever.

Well, she’d come into work tonight, and, if everything went smoothly, maybe she could replace that barrier as though nothing had even happened. Had she— she squinted, trying to remember — had she been watching High School Musical with Alice?

Oh, she was never going to recover from this.

The urge to go back to her room, bury her face in her pillow and scream incoherently was strong, but the need to remain put together won out. Gwen ran a hand through her hair, letting a small sigh escape her, smoothing the strands back into place. The smell of sickness still hung thick in the apartment, strong enough to make Gwen want to gag. She’d always hated anything medicinal, smells of hospitals and antibiotics, but the smell of sickness was worse. It made her want to crawl out of her skin, and she rubbed her arms in discomfort, feeling like her clothes were plastered to her.

Shower and clean first. Panic later, her brain supplied. That, at least, Gwen could do.

***

When Gwen stepped out of the shower, she hated to admit that everything that had been bugging her before had fallen into irrelevance. She checked the time — three in the afternoon. Everything was off now, and she had to fight the nerves that came from being out of her usual schedule. It was fine. She’d be tired when the shift was over, sure, but she could get through it.

Then her phone buzzed, and Gwen looked at it in surprise, although she had a sneaking suspicion as to who it was. She opened the message — and immediately wished she had just gone back to bed.

Alice Dyer

17:47

gwen

17:47

gwennnnn

17:48

gwendolynnnnn

17:48

What?

17:48

we’re doing movie night tomorrow

17:48

…I don’t think that’s a good idea.

17:48

yeah, but here’s the thing

17:48

you don’t get a choice :)

Gwen’s fingers hovered over the buttons. She was tempted to decline — it was what she’d usually done with these types of events. But something stopped her.

17:49

Are Sam and Celia coming?

17:49

as long as they don’t cancel last minute, yeah :)

17:49

come over to mine at seven, 

or whenever you’re ready

Gwen paused.

17:50

I’ll be there.

Feeling as though she may have just signed her death warrant, Gwen closed the chat. Alice didn’t text her after that, so she assumed she’d made the move to leave Gwen alone for now. She was thankful for it. 

She was about to turn off her phone. She’d even moved towards the dresser, ready to organise it. Her illness had created a mess, and Gwen didn’t like that, preferring to keep everything well-kept and less covered in sickness.

But then it rang, and Gwen saw the contact name. She froze. Then she picked it up again.

“Gwendolyn!” came the voice from the other end of the line. It was warm-sounding enough, but the stiffness of her name made Gwen wince.

“Hello, mother,” she responded, not sure what else to say. 

“How’s the office job going? I heard you were promoted — excellent work, Gwendolyn.” Gwen’s chest tightened. It was rare that she received praise from her family, but… they didn’t need to know she’d lost the position as Externals Liaison, did they?

“It’s — it’s going well,” she managed. “Is there something you wanted?” Although it was a question, she knew the answer.

“Well, that’s just the thing — your father’s decided to throw a party next week, to celebrate his raise at work.”

“Right,” said Gwen, her voice cracking for a moment. Of course her mother hadn’t called just to congratulate her. “Sounds good.”

Her mother evidently caught her tone. “I know we haven’t met as a family for a few years, now, but really, Gwendolyn, it’s just a party, and you get so fussy over these things.”

Gwen didn’t think she got fussy, but perhaps her mother was right. The bright lights, the music and the conversation with a few dozen stiff-looking relatives in suits and cocktail dresses was… overwhelming to say the least. “Your father and I expect you to come as per usual,” her mother finished.

And what could she say? It had been over a year since she’d seen her parents, let alone her extended family. “Alright,” Gwen conceded.

“Wonderful!” her mother said. “I’m glad to hear you’ll be there. It’s next Saturday, so the invitations will get sent out any day now.”

Despite her cheerier mood earlier, now Gwen felt as though everything had a damper put on it. Still, she forced herself to sound emotionless. “Understood. Bye, mu—”

But then the phone hung up, and Gwen was left alone in her apartment, feeling worse than when she was sick, if that was possible.

Chapter Text

The next day came and went with little incident, thank god. The weekends were always a bit hard considering the night shift got your whole schedule out of whack but eh, Alice was coping okay.

(She coped a lot better on the days when she didn't have to see Sam and Celia dancing around each other like lovestruck morons and tell them to just make out already.)

So it was that on Saturday evening, Alice found herself hearing the first knocks on the door and wondering where the time had gone. Sam and Celia were the first to arrive, of course - well, it was Sam first, but the minute of stiffness and unsureness of how to greet each other gave enough time for Celia to come up the stairs.

"Hey, Alice - thanks so much for hosting this," she said with a tired smile. "Needed a chance to get a break from, well, everything."

Alice chuckled slightly. "No worries. I guess this is to do with your whole… 'complicated immigration status' situation?"

"Exactly," Celia nodded, though she didn't divulge any further. Alice let her and Sam in.

"Well, make yourselves at hme," she said, gesturing to the apartment. It was small, the kitchen joined to the living room and her bedroom further in the corner, but it didn't fel cramped. Sam didn't hesitate to sit down on the plush orange sofa she had by the TV, while Celia perched herself on one of the arms. The three of them made small talk for a while - the inspection was on all of their minds (and how could it not be, when Lena and Gwen brought it up at every chance they could?) - and though Alice didn't know much about Trevor Herbert MP, she was almost certain he would be a nightmare to deal with.

It was at five on the dot that the final knock came, and, with a grin, Alice swung open the door. "Gwen - wasn't expecting you to actually show!"

Gwen looked out of breath, and when Sam and Celia poked their heads out to wave at her, she looked mildly apologetic. "I - sorry for running late, Alice, just… traffic, and-"

"Gwen?"

"Hm?"

Alice grinned. "You're not late. It's five - you pretty much got here down to the second. Now come in before you catch another damn cold," she said, practically pulling Gwen out of the hall which she knew probably had a permanent draft running through it at this point. Gwen sighed, but let herself be pulled through with surprising ease.

When they made it into the living room, Alice wasted no time joining Sam and Celia on the couch and pulling out a remote, beginning to flick through everything and see what looked good. Gwen, however, stayed standing. Alice looked at her in confusion. “You know, Gwen, people usually tend to use a couch for sitting?”

Gwen scoffed. “I know what a couch is, Alice, I just — I think I’ll stand for now.” Her arms were crossed, and she leant back against the wall in a typically shut-off fashion. Now, Alice was usually one for pushing Gwen’s buttons. It was something she considered herself an expert at — she excelled at it. 

But then her eyes turned back to the TV, and a grin spread across her face at the same time as Sam groaned. “Alice, no,” he began. “You do this every time we have movie night—”

She grinned. “Isn’t that part of the fun?”

Celia frowned in confusion. “You watch the Twilight movies every movie night?”

Alice’s ‘not all the time’ came at the exact second as Sam’s desperate ‘yes’. With a sigh, Sam said, “Maybe we need a different opinion,” he said, glaring at Alice. “Gwen? Any input on the situation?”

They all turned to her expectantly, but Gwen just gave a half-hearted shrug. “I wouldn’t consider myself the most licensed on this subject, since I’ve never watched the movies, but — what?” she asked, after noticing the expression on Alice’s face which could only be described as a mixture of horror and manic glee.

Sam leaned his head back against the couch in defeat. “We’re not watching Twilight again,” he protested.

They ended up watching Twilight.

Despite Sam’s initial protests, he quickly realised it was futile — and both Celia and Alice took some amusement from the way he gave in the minute Celia told him it could be fun. Of course, it didn’t stop there, since Alice made it her life’s purpose to quote the movie the entire way through, but after a few threats to have pizza slices thrown at her, she quietened down.

Before they knew it, though, it was well past three, and Alice was blinking sleep from her eyes as a yawn escaped her. “God,” she said, “never feel this tired when working the night shift, do you?” 

Celia checked the time and jumped. “Ah, shit — I should’ve kept track of time better, babysitting gig’s finishing up now — sorry to leave so soon, Alice,” she said, standing up.

“No worries,” Alice just laughed, stretching as she got up too. “I get it. Some people have kids, some are still watching the Twilight movies well into their twenties.” She shrugged. “Besides, it is late — unless you’re planning on staying the night, you two should probably head out too.” She nodded to Sam and Gwen.

“Thanks so much, Alice!” Celia called out, already halfway out the door. Alice gave her a thumbs up, then the door shut.

Sam had started pulling on his coat, and Alice said a quick goodbye to him too — but Gwen hesitated by the doorway. “Before I go,” she began — “we need to talk.”

“You’re not going back there,” protested Alice once Gwen had said it out loud.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why not? Look,” she said with a sigh, “I know I screwed up the job the first time, but if I try again, I’m sure I can—”

“What, sure you can die?” 

“Sure I can investigate whatever that thing was that stopped Inksoul,” Gwen finished. There was a fury in her eyes — Alice met her gaze. Ah.

“Look, Gwen,” she said, her tone softer this time. “I’m not saying we can’t investigate — but you getting that job back won’t be the way to do it. I’ve already watched Sam miss one job opportunity, and it’s been driving him up the wall for weeks!”

Gwen frowned. “Are you… worried about me?”

”What?” Alice’s voice was incredulous. “No, I just — Colin’s on mental health leave, Sam’s investigating the Magnus Institute… something’s wrong, and going off on your own won’t do anything. Isn’t that like, the number one rule of horror movies?”

“Working as a team,” Gwen murmured. “Not what I’d preferably do, but… unless.”  She looked up, and Alice raised an eyebrow. 

“Yes?”

“It’s a horrible plan,” said Gwen, starting to pace back and forth. “It poses dozens of risks, it’s got no real chance of working—”

“Horrible is my middle name,” said Alice with a grin. 

Gwen looked at her then, usual scrutiny giving way to something else — intrigue, perhaps. “Yes,” she murmured, “that’s rather what this plan relies on.”

Chapter Text

Though Alice knew it was bound to happen eventually, she was still taken slightly aback when the summon to Lena’s office came. 

“God, Alice,” Sam laughed, “I know you don’t have the best approach to doing your caseload, but did it really get that bad?”

Alice just gave a wry smile. “Guess we’ll find out,” she said with a wink. “As for my caseload, I’ll have you know I’ve been staying perfectly on top of it.”

Celia looked over her desk to where Alice was sat. “And I presume that’s why your computer isn’t even on yet?”

She laughed then, before reluctantly standing up. “You learn quickly!” she replied, before disappearing down the hallway.

Lena’s office wasn’t far — it was off to the side of the breakroom, and unfortunately, that did make coffee breaks a lot harder. If Alice had a nickel for every time she’d been taking a minute only for her boss to show up right behind her, well, she probably wouldn’t be working this job in the first place. At least the breakroom gave her a moment of respite before she had to go in. Running a quick brush through her hair to get the mess of red curls under control and wondering absent-mindedly what this was about, Alice took a deep breath —

Before pushing open the door. 

Lena gave her a tight-lipped smile as she entered. “Ah, Alice. Take the empty seat, why don’t you?” she said, gesturing to the chair to the left of the room.

Alice frowned. “The empty —” Then she noticed. Oh. Right, she thought, staring at Gwen sitting in the other chair. Gwen gave her a look of apprehension, and Alice crossed her arms instinctively. “Is there a matter which requires both of us?” she asked.

An exasperated sigh escaped Lena. “Just sit down, Miss Dyer.” It was, quite frankly, the last thing Alice wanted to do, because the uptightness in the room was giving her a headache already, but, after a moment, she sat. “Now,” said Lena, “I presume you’re both aware of the upcoming inspection coming next Friday.” Alice had to bite her tongue to hold back a how could I not? It was the only thing Lena had talked about for half a year — hard to ignore, regardless of how much Alice had tried to. 

Still, she gave a curt nod, and Gwen did too. “Good. Now, tell me — how long have both of you been working at the OIAR?” 

Alice didn’t understand why this was relevant, but, after a moment, said ‘six years’ at the same time as Gwen said ‘four’. Lena hummed in interest. “And yet you, Miss Dyer,” she said, turning to Alice, “have never once applied for a promotion here. Is there a particular reason for that?”

There were a lot of reasons. Mainly that Alice had never expected to be working this job longer than a year or two, but she assumed that wasn’t the answer Lena wanted, so she just shrugged. “I don’t know — never saw an opportunity, I guess?”

A crease appeared between Lena’s eyebrows as she looked at Alice with intrigue. “You know, right before this, I was just having a conversation with Miss Bouchard about a… failed job opportunity she had.” Alice saw Gwen bristle out of the corner of her eye, and even though she didn’t even like the woman all that much, she still had to force herself to keep her mouth shut.

“Where is this leading?” Alice asked, not quite catching her drift.

“I was planning to fire Gwen from the Externals Liaison position, and simply pretend she still held it for the inspector visit,” said Lena. “But,” she said after a moment, “after a conversation with her and a… situation with one particular external,” she said, “I had to reconsider.”

Gwen looked over at Alice, then, though she’d been actively looking everywhere but her up until that point. “There’s a particular external the OIAR is interested in,” she explained, in such an apprehensive manner that Alice immediately knew it was the same thing that had attacked her that first night. “Lena can explain the rest.”

Alice tilted her head to the side as Lena looked at Alice through thick-rimmed glasses. “…Do you believe in the inexplainable, Alice?”

“I —” No was the response that would normally spring from her mouth, but after the last month… “I’m not quite certain,” was what she settled on eventually. 

“And what if I told you the OIAR has been actively interacting with these phenomena for years now?”

She had to stifle the urge to laugh. “Rather open way of putting it,” said Alice. “And what does interacting mean? Because if it means contributing to the stuff we hear on the computers…” Alice shook her head. “I don’t think I believe you — or can help.”

“It’s not about contributing,” said Lena. “Regardless of how it may seem to you, this job is essential. What you’ve seen on the computers is only a piece of it— the larger scale?” put a hand on the table, sliding a sheet of paper in front of her. “I wouldn’t normally offer someone a case like this, and, to be fully honest with you, Miss Dyer, you wouldn’t be my first choice.”

“Then why choose me?” asked Alice. “And what does this case even entail?”

At that, Lena looked her over once — before evidently making up her mind about something as she leaned back in her chair. “The case entails a lot of what you usually do — looking through the computers, but for more… specific casss tied to this external. Then, when we’ve gotten more information…” She sighed. “That’s a matter for later,” she said, as though she knew full well what she was going to do, but didn’t want to divulge that. “And, if it eases your mind, you weren’t the only person chosen for this case.”

Alice paused. “Surely you don’t mean —” Her gaze met Gwen’s again. 

“No,” she and Gwen protested at the same time. 

“I highly doubt her qualification for this—”

“Well at least I didn’t already get fired from this job!”

Lena cleared her throat, silencing the two of them. “Now. I understand there may be some animosity between you two, but it’s the best way to prevent the situation from escalating. It’s not my preferred choice either,” admitted Lena, “but given how time-consuming preparing for the inspection is and how every other OIAR member is either a new hire or on leave,” she said, “it was the only logical choice.”

“Right,” said Alice, a sour taste in her mouth. So she was simply the last resort. 

But she didn’t say anything. And when Lena pulled out a document Alice was sure was going to mark her doom, she knew her answer. “Alright,” said Alice. “Where do I sign?”

“That was the plan?” she began to argue, unable to hold it in the minute they stepped out the doorway. “Gwen, I get you want that job, but you should have at least told me!”

Gwen just rolled her eyes. “I got us closer to investigating this external, didn’t I? Sure, you’re not preferable, but—”

Alice froze, suddenly all-too aware of the blood rushing through her veins. “Oh, please,” she drawled, “first Lena, now you? Look, Bouchard,” she said, “you asked me to help, and I’m going to stick to that. But that means communicating,” she continued, pointing a finger at her, “not getting us both killed!” 

Alice started walking down the hallway and Gwen, with a frustrated groan, followed her. “You know what? I thought for a bit maybe you would listen, that you were becoming less insufferable to deal with, but no! You insisted on me not going back to the job alone, only to—”

Alice spun back around. “You know what? I don’t get where you’ve got the implication that this,” she said, gesturing between the two of them, “means you getting to be as obnoxious as possible, and me just along for the ride. Just because we have to work together, that doesn’t mean we have to like that. We sure as hell haven’t for the last four years, and I think we’ll manage fine for the next.”

“Well,” said Gwen, her voice cold. “Guess that settles it, then.” 

“Guess it does.” Alice crossed her arms, and Gwen stood there, neither of them willing to concede first. 

Then Gwen turned around. “I’m going to the breakroom,” she began — “you should get back to work, Alice. …I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, and though Alice wanted to mention that the shift had barely just started, she was certain that would only make the sick feeling in her stomach worse.