How The Team Found Out
Today it was Jenny’s, and she opened her eyes to look at her still-sleeping lover. Would anyone at the newly-built ARC believe their PR guru was always running ten minutes behind in the morning, just because she loved sleeping in?
“Jenny…” she said teasingly, tracing the rose tattoo on Jenny’s lower back. That was another thing their coworkers probably wouldn’t believe…
“Mmm… Five more minutes,” Jenny mumbled into her pillow.
“Jen, it’s half past seven,” Ashley said, and watched the madness begin. Jenny jumped up immediately and dashed into the shower. Ashley knew better than to join her - “We don’t have time, Ash!” she would always say - so instead, Ashley busied herself with straightening up the room, putting yesterday’s clothes in the hamper, and making coffee. When she heard the tap turn off, she jumped into the shower herself, braided her damp hair, and got dressed.
By the time she came back out to the kitchen, Jenny had poured the finished coffee into travel mugs and was impatiently tapping her high heels. “Come on, we have to go,” she said, chivvying Ashley out the door.
“And if you didn’t sleep in, we wouldn’t be in such a rush,” Ashley teased as she got into the passenger side of Jenny’s car.
“And whose fault is it that I was tired? You’re the reason I was up half the night.”
“Oh, do you wish I hadn’t kept you up? I thought you were having fun, myself…”
Jenny gave her a death glare as they drove off, and Ashley relented, still amused but deciding now wasn’t really the time to needle her girlfriend. But morning-Jenny was so much fun to hassle, because she was always so edgy.
A block from the ARC, all Ashley’s humor vanished. “Well, here’s my stop,” she said quietly. They’d agreed that she would get out of the car near the ARC so it would look like she’d taken the bus in and walked up to the ARC from the bus stop.
“No, we’re not at work yet,” Jenny said absently, as though she wasn’t contradicting an idea that had been hers in the first place. She either didn’t see or ignored Ashley’s stunned expression. She’d been waiting so long for this, for even one small gesture that showed Jenny no longer cared if their coworkers knew about their relationship, and here it was. Finally.
When they got out of the car, Ashley pushed Jenny against the car, kissing her hard and long. “I love you,” she whispered in her girlfriend’s ear before she backed away. She was in such a good mood that she only laughed at the sight of a dumbstruck Connor standing not far away in the parking lot.
“Oi, Connor, close your mouth or you’ll catch flies,” she called out teasingly as she walked by. Jenny, half a pace behind her, simply arched one eyebrow at the student, who gulped and quickly turned back to Abby’s trunk, where he’d accidentally left his plans and equipment for a reworking of the anomaly detector.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered, shaking his head. Those two? That was a really odd combination - and a really hot one too, from that kiss. But if he ever said that where either of them could hear… Jenny would kill him with her high heels, and Ashley would bring him back only to kill him again, in some slow and torturous way. Still, he wondered if he was the first to know, and decided to keep his mouth shut about this completely, in case he was. After all, he didn’t have a death wish.
~ ~ ~
Sarah wasn’t entirely sure why Jenny wanted to see her. She rarely went into the field, having been hired as a researcher, so she didn’t usually have the chance to upset anyone and cause problems that Jenny needed to fix. But she walked into the PR woman’s office to find a steaming cup of her favorite tea waiting for her.
“How… Jenny, what’s this about?”
“Not much, really,” Jenny said lightly. “Oh, curious about the tea? I noticed you sneaking your own tea bags into the break room - the standard tea’s terrible, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but… I don’t think I’ve done anything to create a PR disaster, have I? This isn’t to soften me up so I’ll take it better when you fire me, is it?”
“For one thing, firing’s Lester’s job. And you’re not in trouble; I just wanted to talk, see how you’re settling in. I know you haven’t been here long, and you joined a team that’s already established. That was me a year ago, so I wanted to see if you’d had any problems.”
“Oh,” Sarah said, surprised. “Not really, I mean… Well, it took a bit of adjusting, obviously, but I like it here. Nothing to what you had to deal with when you got here, what with…”
“Meeting Claudia and discovering that my parents - and hers - had neglected to mention when they explained about our adoptions that there were two of us? Yes, that did make for an extra complication, but even without that it would have been a while before I was comfortable here. Still, I imagine you’ve had help - from Becker, perhaps?”
Sarah nearly spilt her tea in shock. How had Jenny…? “I… Well, that is…” She sighed, defeated. “How did you know?”
Jenny laughed. “Well, Sarah, you’re not very good at being discreet, unfortunately. At least not to me - I wouldn’t worry about the others. The soldiers won’t care, same goes for Abby. Connor wouldn’t notice unless you snogged Becker right in front of him, and Nick and Claudia won’t want to look like hypocrites. But I don’t think anyone but me has noticed.”
“You’re just that much more observant?” Sarah asked, curious.
“No, that much more experienced. I really have been in your shoes, with that as well.” Jenny grinned at someone behind Sarah, who turned to look. Ashley was leaning in the doorway.
“This is cozy,” she said lightly, walking over and perching on the edge of Jenny’s desk.”
“Get off,” Jenny ordered the scientist, scowling.
“Oh, relax, Jen.”
Jenny rolled her eyes, putting a hand on Ashley’s lower back and shoving. The other woman yelped, but landed on her feet. “Oi!”
“I did tell you to get off,” Jenny said, all innocence.
“You two…?” Sarah said, surprised.
“Hmm?” Jenny said. “Oh, yes, actually. As I said, I’ve been in your shoes.”
“Right…” Sarah said, stunned. She’d never suspected, not even a little. “I don’t suppose the pair of you have advice for a secret relationship?”
“Sure,” Ashley said, having taken up a spot leaning against the wall. “Don’t bother. No one here cares - do you even know how many office romances are going on ‘round here? Even Lester - he’s shagging Lyle, and I have a feeling that Alex, our DESI rep, has an eye on both of them, so God knows what’ll happen there. Then there’s Ryan and Stephen, Nick and Claudia…” She trailed off at the expression on Sarah’s face. “You didn’t know?”
“Nick and Claudia, yes, everyone knows, but the others, no.”
“Alex has her eye on Lester and Lyle?” Jenny wanted to know. “Did she say as much?”
“No, I’m just guessing from observations,” Ashley said. To Sarah she said, “Well, there’s so much office romance going on that no one will call you out for it.”
Sarah left Jenny’s office thirty minutes later with a new understanding of the interpersonal dynamics at the ARC and in possession of some information she’d never thought to get. She would have to pay more attention to the office grapevine - if nothing else, she wanted to know how long it would take for anyone to notice Jenny and Ashley were together.
~ ~ ~
“Apparently trying not to be boring isn’t working,” Nick said in mock-sorrow. Usually he didn’t have a hard time keeping Claudia’s attention when they went out - probably because they had so little time to date properly that they both wanted to make full use of the chance when it arose.
“Hmm?” Claudia said. “Oh, I’m sorry, Nick, but I thought I saw… No, it wouldn’t be.”
“Saw who?”
“No, I’m sure - Oh my God, it is them,” she said, gesturing off to the right. Nick looked over and saw Jenny sitting at a table in the corner of the restaurant with… Was that Ashley? The two women were completely focused on their conversation, and they were holding hands across the table.
“They’re together?” Nick said blankly. That didn’t make sense, though; Jenny and Claudia were identical twins, even if they’d been raised apart, so they should have the same orientation, shouldn’t they? After all, you were born with that, so…
“Apparently so,” Claudia said, as surprised as he was. She’d never even considered a relationship with another woman, but Jenny looked as happy with Ashley as she was with Nick. So good for them then.
A little while later, a waiter brought a bottle of red wine to their table. “I didn’t…” Nick began, confused, but the waited interrupted.
“Oh, no, sir, this was sent to your table by another customer,” he explained.. “Friends of yours, I believe? They wanted you to get this note as well.” He placed a folded piece of paper on the table, uncorked the wine, and left. Claudia reached for the note and read it aloud.
Nick & Claudia,
Enjoy the wine. And next time, don’t stare quite so openly.
Ashley & Jenny
They glanced at the women’s table, to find them looking back. Both Jenny and Ashley waved, alarmingly similar smirks on their faces, before they turned back to their conversation.
“Well,” Nick said at last, “we shouldn’t let this wine go to waste, should we?”
~ ~ ~
“So, how was the concert?” Ashley asked when Stephen and Ryan came into the break room.
“Brilliant,” Stephen said. “Even Ryan enjoyed it, though he whinged about it all the way there.”
“Quiet, you,” Ryan said, rolling his eyes.
“Well, at the risk of sounding unforgivably girly, I think it’s good you two got to go on a proper date for once,” Ashley observed brightly.
“Oh, is that why you wanted to know?” Stephen asked slyly. “They’re still playing for another week - you planning to take Jenny? I don’t think it’s her style, myself.”
She nearly choked on her coffee. “What? Jenny? How did you…?”
“You honestly thought you were being subtle? We knew months ago,” Ryan said, speaking a bit slowly as if he thought she wasn’t that bright. “Lyle’s been laughing about it for ages - something about Eowyn shagging Galadriel, and what would Tolkien have said.”
“Oh Christ,” Ashley muttered.
“Relax,” Stephen said. “No one cares, really. Oddly enough, though, I think the only people who didn’t work it out are the rest of the team - well, except for Abby, and that’s only because she overheard Lyle telling Stringer.”
“Oh, I know the team didn’t know - we’ve seen some of their reactions already,” Ashley said, humor chasing away her surprise.
~ ~ ~
“So you’re requesting a week off,” Lester said, looking down at the form in his hand.
“Yes,” Jenny said.
“Mm-hmm. Tell me, Ms. Lewis, is it a coincidence that Dr. Stafford has requested the same exact week off that you have?”
“I really couldn’t say, James.”
“Really? So the pair of you aren’t planning on spending the week together off in some exotic locale - or possibly staying indoors for the entire week? I don’t think it’s your honeymoon, or we would have heard something about the wedding.”
Jenny nearly choked at his comment about staying indoors, but shook her head, trying to ignore the blush on her cheeks. “Ah, no, sir. We’re going to Brighton, for her family reunion.”
“Ah,” Lester said mildly. “So you’re meeting the potential in-laws. My sympathies.”
“That is one way to look at it, James…. If you don’t mind my asking, why did you assume I would be with Ashley? It can’t be simply because we requested the same week off.”
“I am a highly trained civil servant, Ms. Lewis,” Lester said coolly. He waited a moment, and then added. “And, of course, the soldiers worked it out first and Lyle found it absolutely hilarious. Something about an author rolling in his grave?”
Jenny just stared at him. “Yes, it was complete blather to me as well,” Lester said, “but there you have it. Take the week, Jenny, and if you’re lucky, they’re not as bad as my ex-wife’s family.”
With that rather odd dismissal, Jenny left, making a beeline for Ashley’s lab.
“Hey, what’s up?” Ashley asked, looking up from her latest project.
“Nothing,” Jenny said. “Lester gave me the time - and made it quite clear he knows we’re together and doesn’t care.”
“Oh, well, that’s good.”
“Yes… He also wished me luck with the, er, ‘potential in-laws.’”
“‘Potential?’ Oh dear… You know, one of these days we’re going to have to tell them about what happened when we were sent to that international conference UNIT held out in California…”
“Actually, I rather thought we could just stage another wedding, and have no one be the wiser, including our families. Well, except your brother and sister, since they were there,” Jenny said.
“That could work.”