Archive of Our Own ^beta

Robin’s never really been an alpha who aims to prove herself to the world, never one to feel like possessing a dick meant that she should swing it around to make points, or use it to get to where she wanted to be in life.

All that being said, Robin isn’t exactly proud of where she ended up.

Sharing a tiny place with two of her best friends, repeatedly putting off going to college like her parents wanted, and moving states in order to live before life caught up to her.

Unfortunately, after Steve and Eddie finally took the plunge to move out of their shitty New York apartment and get a cozy little place in Ohio to mate and settle down, there was no choice but for her to make more money in order to afford the rent. The family-owned pizzeria they all busted their asses at had been enough to cover her expenses before, but if she wants to avoid getting evicted from their (mostly) rat-free building, she’d need to make more money.

A lot more.

The fact that the first place she applied to happen to hire her on the spot, despite her lack of clerical knowledge, and offered her a decent salary too might’ve been fate.

It also might’ve had something to do with the “colorful experience enhancers” Eddie offered to sprinkle into her resume.

In most cases, Robin is an avid fan of telling the truth as much as possible. Lying makes her sweat uncontrollably and she has a hard time keeping her stories straight. Hazards of growing up in a household with parents who could sniff out any deception and having a scatterbrain.

However, in this particular scenario, she was grateful for the help.

Without those little white lies, she’d probably be moving back to Indiana and living with her folks again in a matter of weeks. Or worse, she’d be crashing on Steve and Eddie’s couch in Ohio- which they’d gladly allow and she'd feel terrible about. They deserve to have some privacy for their first time as newlyweds.

As it stands, she’s anxiously ready for her first day at Cunningham and Co. as their newest office bitch.

No, that wasn’t the actual title on the application she filled out. It said something about ‘office support staff’ or whatever, but Robin can read between the lines. When she’d asked her interviewer what the dress code was, all the man had said was, “Business casual, but wear sensible shoes… you’ll need them. Think of them more or less as your chair.”

She got the message very quickly. No sitting down when you’re going to be working for eight hours straight (with one half hour paid lunch break) for one of the most lucrative and bustling businesses in the area.

Not that she could say for sure what Cunningham and Co. even sells (or represents or manages or endorses). As far as Robin can tell, it’s all a front for whoever makes printer paper to hock as much product as possible.

The instant that she steps foot off the elevator and onto the second floor (where the front desk had directed her after she was given an official photo ID to wear), she’s overwhelmed by messy desks covered in the stuff.

“Hey, new girl- you gonna get started some time today?”

Robin seeks out the owner of the voice, her eyes darting around the sea of white until it lands on a freckled man. He can’t be much older than her, but he’s giving her an impatient look like she’s a nuisance to him. Which is frankly absurd because she just got here and she really needs this job, so how could she mess up without even opening her mouth, that doesn’t make any sense and—

“What, are you deaf or something? Do you speak English?” the guy asks this time, rolling his eyes at her and speaking in an exaggerated slow manner.

Unable to control her temper, she signs ‘Fuck you’ back, but he doesn’t seem to catch it.

Probably for the best.

Before she can verbally address the rudeness of his comment or tell him off for the ableist remark, someone else chimes in with, “Tommy, you know you can’t say stuff like that anymore. Do you want HR up our asses again? Cool it, man. Just show her where the copier is.”

That deflates her outrage enough and seems to remind Tommy not to be a piece of shit.

She’s not trying to ruffle feathers.

“C’mon, the copier is over here,” he says, exasperated, leading her over towards a small and empty cubicle where a clunky block of metal is taking up half the space and buzzing away loudly.

The thing is yellowed, ginormous, and looks older than her, which is fascinating considering the state of the otherwise pristine building. From the outside, the company is sleek and shiny, windows modern and clean to match the rest of the busy district it’s plopped in, and has signage that is up-to-date and aesthetically pleasing.

And yet.

This fucking atrocity.

“That’s the copier?” Robin confirms, pointing at it to make sure Tommy knows what she’s referring to in her disgust. “You guys are like a Fortune 500 company and you can’t afford to replace it with something from this century?”

She can tell right away that she royally fucked up.

“Whoa there. Aren’t you feisty? Coming in here and telling us how to run our business like you have the right to boss anyone around,” Tommy sneers at her. The urge to backtrack and apologize in order to keep the peace is strong, but he doesn’t even give her the chance. “Just because you’re an alpha doesn’t mean you get to run with the big dogs, Fuckley.”

For a moment, Robin forgets that she has an ID badge on because Tommy’s insult is so poorly done that it sounds nothing like her last name. When she does finally realize that this jerk has just tried to intimidate her, she’s a bit outraged.

Not because no one has ever bullied her or decided they didn’t like her for being a female alpha, but because she just started at this job.

She’s not even given him a good reason to dislike her.

“Oh, hi there! You must be Robin!”

The melodic greeting hits her ears and immediately grabs her attention away from the idiotic beta in front of her. When she sees the newcomer, Robin almost wishes she were still dealing with Tommy.

To be honest, she’s never had the best luck with dating. An omega here or a particularly bold beta girl there, but nobody special enough to hold onto and nothing worth pursuing past a meaningless night of subpar sex.

But the woman in front of her is nothing like anyone she’s come across in a shitty bar or crowded cafe before. She belongs on a runway, not stuck under the fluorescent lights of this corporate hell.

She’s gorgeous.

Long strawberry blonde hair that’s tamed in a way that Robin could never get her messy bob to behave. The cutest nose that scrunches a tiny bit from her smile, with teeth that are just imperfect enough to be real. Stunning blue eyes that keep Robin’s feet planted firmly onto the floor, stuck in place.

Somewhere during their discussion about the copier, it must’ve spontaneously blown up and sent her straight to heaven because the woman is a literal angel.

“Was Mr. Hagan giving you trouble on your first day? I know this hunk of junk is a bit old, but it’s been around since the company started and it’s become something of a good luck charm to the staff, y’know?” She bats her eyelashes softly as she explains this.

Robin is utterly dumbstruck.

And were it anyone else, she’d say something about how luck is all just human superstition and a piece of low quality tech can’t impact a business beyond slowing everyone down. Maybe launch into a tirade about the amount of electricity it must consume from how inefficient old machinery tends to be or explain that it’s a damn fire hazard since the cords are likely fraying by now.

But she’s so pretty.

“Oh. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Like- like a lucky rabbit’s foot or something?” Robin suggests, realizing a bit too late that maybe that’s an outdated reference.

Isn’t taking an animal’s foot solely as a souvenir a bit barbaric of a practice nowadays? Should she have just nodded and shut up instead? Did she blow any chance of impressing her?

Despite her panicking, she makes the woman giggle anyway, a sweet noise that Robin would like ingrained into her brain forever on a loop.

“Yeah, totally,” she agrees through her chuckles. “I’m Chrissy, by the way. It’s very nice to meet you, Robin.”

A well-manicured hand is held out towards her and Robin has never regretted her habit of biting her nails more in her entire life. Not that they’re unkempt or anything, but they’re not smooth and painted with a soft baby pink polish like Chrissy’s are.

As she steps forward to greet her and take her hand, her beautiful coworker’s scent finally hits her nose and confirms what she was already beginning to suspect.

Powdery soft, floral like freshly picked roses, and a hint of vanilla too.

Chrissy is an omega.

The prettiest one she’s ever seen with the most lovely scent she’s ever had the pleasure of encountering.

God help her… or Sappho help her? Robin would accept help from quite literally anyone who might be able to remind her that she really needs this job and falling in love with a coworker on the first day is not the way to pay her rent.

Outside of work, Chrissy wouldn’t even give someone like her the time of day anyway.

“Nice to meet you too, Chrissy. I’m- I’m Robin Buckley,” she blurts out, feeling inexplicably breathless. “Oh, but you already knew that because you said my name. Sorry. I didn’t even really think about that-”

Another giggle.

That giggle is going to be the death of Robin.

“No worries, sweetie. I try to personally greet every new employee if I can. Makes for a better work environment, I think,” Chrissy says with a dash of questioning intonation at the end, as if Robin’s input on this matter is needed.

She nods her head frantically, willing to say damn near anything to make this literal angel happy. Chrissy could have suggested that releasing bloodhounds into the office would increase work productivity and she would probably have agreed with her at that moment.

After all, if Chrissy thinks it’s a good idea and Chrissy looks like she’s made of cotton candy and unicorns, how can she possibly be wrong?

“That makes complete sense to me,” Robin replies with a smile that feels too big for her face.

She never smiles this much. If Steve were here, he’d probably ask her what was wrong because there’s no way it looks natural, but she can’t stop. Chrissy makes her want to go out and buy a bouquet of flowers or write a poem dedicated to every inch of her gorgeous face.

“I’m glad you understand my vision. Well, I’ve got to head upstairs, but it really was great to meet you, Robin. I look forward to working together. Let me know if you need anything at all and I’d be more than happy to help however I can.”

Chrissy gives her a little finger waggle with the hand that isn’t holding both an expensive looking handbag and a takeout coffee. She must be just coming in for the day. Maybe her department doesn’t have to be at the building as early as Robin’s does.

“I’ll see you soon- er, I mean, I’ll see you around sometime. Maybe?”

Robin snorts nervously, the sound loud and nasally. She barely holds back her own wince in response to how harsh the noise is in the mostly silent office.

At least the copier is still clunking away with all the finesse of an elephant performing ballet.

The omega gives her one more gentle smile and nod before heading towards the elevator and disappearing into it, leaving Robin frozen in her absence. Whatever just happened, she’s sure it wasn't normal around here and all she could hope for was that it happened again every day for the rest of her life.

Tommy breaks her daydreaming with a pointed clearing of his throat, clearly intended to make her look at him once more.

“Anyway, you heard the boss. No replacing the copier. It’s your teammate. So either figure out how to make it work for you or go ahead and turn your ID badge into security on the way out. There’s no room for excuses here,” he tells her bluntly.

Seeing as the alternatives are quitting or disappointing Chrissy, Robin resigns herself to making the dinosaur function. She’s not much of a tech person, but how hard could it be to use? Surely with the vast knowledge of the internet at her fingertips, she could troubleshoot it well enough if it gives her any problems.

“Alright,” she mumbles. “What exactly am I doing? They just said it was an administrative role, but I wasn’t given specific details.”

Tommy’s responding grin makes her regret even asking.

He walks over to a nearby desk, presumably his own if the photos of him and his perfect little family mean anything, and grabs a huge stack of disorganized papers. Without preamble, he drops the massive pile onto her meager desk space and whistles low, like he’s impressed by the workload.

“This. This is your job for today. Smith dropped it on the floor and got them all out of order, but it’s the only copy we have, so I need you to put them back in order, scan each page into the hard drive, and file this into the workroom before you leave tonight.”

As menial as the task sounds, the stack is around six inches thick. She’s got several hours to handle it, but it’s still going to take a very long time to complete. Surely there’s better things she could be doing for what they’re paying her to be here.

“There’s got to be at least a thousand pages here. Are you sure there’s not a simpler option? Like a backup copy of the file somewhere maybe?” Robin questions, looking wearily at the daunting task before her.

Tommy scoffs.

“No, Buckley. This was the only copy of a vital document and it’s closer to fifteen hundred pages. Just do what you’re asked. Thinking is above your pay grade and Ms. Cunningham won’t be pleased if she doesn’t have it in time for her meeting tomorrow morning.”

Ms. Cunningham is the CEO of Cunningham and Co., as is clear by her last name. From the very little info Robin had gathered during the interview, the business had been passed down from her father to her.

Disappointing the head of the company would be a bad start to her career here, so Robin gives up arguing and gets to work.

She sighs, plopping down into her chair and grabbing the top of the stack so she can begin. At least the first page is the cover already. Only one thousand four hundred ninety-nine pages to go.

This is the worst fucking day of Robin’s entire life.

She normally can’t stay focused without a lot of motivation, but her impending doom is a great factor to keep her on task. For as many paper cuts as she gets, Robin continues to work tirelessly to smooth out the wrinkled pages, find their proper place in the numerical system she established, and even skips her lunch break to stay on pace.

All that and she still can’t finish by five o’clock in the evening.

This job is salaried and pays the same no matter whether she stays late or not, so it’s not as if she needs to get overtime approved, but Tommy’s frequent smirks in her direction say that clocking out along with everyone else is not an option anyway.

“Oh, it looks like poor Fuckley won’t be getting home in time to feed her cats and watch the latest The Bond And The Bondless tonight, huh fellas?” Tommy teases loudly, making sure the entire office is listening to him.

Her initial instinct is to ask how this son of a bitch even knows about Scoops and Ahoy (the cats she and Steve adopted way back when they first moved to New York, named in honor of their first job together), but she quickly realizes that Tommy is trying to make yet another shitty joke.

“Ha,” Robin states without emotion. Her parents always taught her not to react to bullies. It’s had mixed success, but the idea of giving Tommy any satisfaction makes her want to scream aloud. “That’s hilarious, Thomas. I guess you’ll just have to give me the play-by-play of the episode tomorrow since you’ll be right on time to watch it.”

A chorus of laughter rings out amongst the other idiots of the office and Robin can’t restrain a little grin from sneaking onto her face.

She may still have hours of work left ahead of her, but at least Tommy is red in the face and spluttering out something about how ‘bitch alphas should know their place.’ As if Robin hasn’t been facing prejudice as a female alpha since high school and doesn’t take bullying to heart.

Tommy’s the kind of person who could never stand someone like her. Funny, considering she can’t stand people like him either.

“Robin, the building is open until about eight, but then they lock up for the night unless you get special permission. Do you think you’ll be able to finish in time? If not, you could get here an hour early tomorrow. I don’t think Ms. Cunningham’s meeting starts until ten,” Heather, a cubicle neighbor, informs her politely once everyone else has left.

Robin gives her an appreciative smile before waving off the concerns and returning to her work. Having no distractions might actually make this go by quicker anyway.

“Yes, thank you. I’m just about done organizing, so it’s only a matter of scanning these into the hard drive and then I’ll be finished. Shouldn’t take more than another hour or so,” Robin reassures her.

Based on what she’s been hearing about Ms. Cunningham over the course of the day, Robin prays that she’s correct about her time estimation. Apparently, her boss is a fierce woman who leads with an iron first. She’s strict, unyielding, and terrifies most of the office into compliance.

She has no interest in ever meeting their CEO, let alone having their first meeting be Robin explaining how she didn’t complete the only task she was given for the day.

Failure is not an option if she wants to keep this job.

“Oh honey, you’re still here?”

Robin’s strict commitment to ignoring distractions quickly goes out the window when the same angelic voice from earlier trickles into her ears and practically lights up the whole room with a glow.

“Hi Chrissy,” she greets the omega excitedly, realizing a moment afterwards that it was not an appropriate response to the question she was asked. “Uh, yeah. Still here. Probably will be for a while longer, to be honest.”

Chrissy frowns at that, moving from her spot near the elevator and approaching Robin’s desk. She sets a patent leather briefcase on a nearby filing cabinet along with her designer bag and car keys before coming up right next to the alpha.

“What’s all this?” Chrissy asks with a wrinkled brow.

Robin has the insane urge to kiss her forehead and smooth out the stress lines from her stunning face. Pretty girls like her shouldn’t worry over problems that don't even belong to them.

This is Robin’s issue, not hers.

“Oh, uh, it’s just some paperwork to process. I guess there was an accident or something and they told me to put these back in order and scan them all in before I left for the night. Only- um, there’s a lot of them,” she explains quickly, trying to downplay the task at hand.

It doesn’t work. Chrissy’s perfect pink lips pucker into a soft pout, showing obvious annoyance for the situation.

“That doesn’t seem quite right. You’re sure there wasn’t another copy of this document somewhere? I know we do a lot on paper here, but most of the important things are already in the database or we at least have a few extra copies as backup,” she ponders aloud.

Robin chuckles nervously.

Part of her wishes that she could just get back to her stupid assignment and get it done with. They’re wasting precious time by discussing something that Tommy already insisted wasn’t possible.

“Mr. Hagan said that it was necessary and that I shouldn’t question it. So that’s what I’ve been doing all day,” Robin explains, grabbing the finally sorted stack of paper and placing them in the top tray of the copier. She’ll have to do it in a few chunks since it’s so large, but at least this is the last step before filing.

Without looking back to see what Chrissy has to say about it, she presses the ‘scan’ button, the ‘upload’ button, and then the ‘start’ button, one right after the other.

“No, wait!”

The machine lets out a grating noise that belongs more in Jurassic Park than in an office. It’s a terrible screech, loud and unpleasant to the ears. This precedes an even worse sound. Not because it’s louder, but because the sound of shredded paper is a distinct one that should not be heard when in the process of scanning a document.

It takes half a second for Robin to fully realize that the machine is actively ripping every page that feeds into the top tray, coming out in absolute ruins at the other end.

It takes another half a second for Chrissy to practically jump across the desk and smash the big red ‘stop’ button with all her might, bringing the copier to a sudden and jarring halt.

And then they stand there in silence, both of them staring at the small billow of smoke that slowly trickles from the top of the machine.

Fuck.

Robin quickly yanks the cord out of the wall after a moment, not wanting to start an electrical fire with whatever she did wrong. The copier at least ceases to make any more concerning noises after that.

“Oh my god. I’m going to get fired so hard,” Robin mutters as she watches, transfixed by the wreckage of her attempt to complete a simple task. Her voice grows louder as she spirals into despair, thinking about how bad things are now, “I’m going to get the boot and then they’re going to send me to county jail for destruction of property and I’m going to lose my apartment and live on the streets because I can’t pay my bills and my cats are going to be orphans all because a goddamn copier from another century decided to fuck me up the ass!”

Her chest heaves, trying desperately to intake air that doesn’t feel tainted by thick anxiety and sheer panic. Everything is terrible and Robin is a failure. She should’ve just moved back in with her parents when Steve and Eddie left.

Now everything is ruined and it’s all her fault.

“Hey, you’re okay. It’s just a stupid bunch of papers, Robin. Nothing that can’t be replaced,” Chrissy reassures her kindly, wrapping her arms around the alpha and pulling her into the first hug she’s had since Steve left for Ohio last week. “I’m just glad that you didn’t get hurt. That would’ve been just horrible!”

There’s a near six inch gap in height between them, but Robin’s the one who feels small with her body cradled up against the sweet scented omega’s.

“No, but- but I destroyed that document. You saw it, Chrissy, there’s no way I’ll be able to fix those pages. Especially not in time for the big meeting tomorrow morning,” she blubbers, feeling hot tears already falling down her overheated face. “I might as well quit right now and save them the trouble.”

It’s mortifying, crying in front of someone she barely knows.

Even her platonic soulmate hardly sees her lose her absolute shit like this. Between the two of them, Steve is the one more likely to cry and Robin is usually the one grabbing the pint of ice cream, two spoons, and a fuzzy blanket.

“Don’t say that please, I’m sure we can figure something- wait, you mean the meeting at ten? All the paperwork for that is already prepared, Robin. We’ve had that sorted out for a week and I’m not aware of any other boardrooms booked for tomorrow morning.”

Robin takes a moment to process Chrissy’s words, trying to force them to make sense in the midst of the sorrow she’d dove headfirst into.

She sniffs, aware that her nose is about to start dripping snot if she keeps it up.

“What- what do you mean?”

Chrissy pulls back just far enough for them to be (mostly) eye to eye, not completely removing her arms from around the alpha’s form. The wrinkles in her face are smooth once more, her expression one of calm reassurance now.

“Let me double check on my laptop, but I’m fairly sure that we already have what we need for the meeting. Do you happen to remember the document title by chance, sweetheart?” Chrissy asks patiently, searching her gaze for recognition.

The use of yet another affectionate pet name does not escape Robin’s notice, but pretty girls like Chrissy tend to call everyone nice little terms of endearment. It seldom means anything more than friendliness, so she reminds her own heart to not explode with excitement.

“Um, yeah, of course. It was like, ‘Implementing Strategies To Enumerate Variability In Class Four Errors,’ I think,” Robin recites from memory.

After so many hours of staring at the front page of the stack, she’d absolutely memorized it verbatim.

“That’s perfect, honey.”

Chrissy releases her and Robin regrets speaking up if that’s what causes her to lose the omega’s touch. At least until her coworker throws open her briefcase, snatches her laptop out of it, and has it set up on her desk in a matter of seconds.

“Give me… two seconds here,” Chrissy mutters, tapping away at the keyboard in intense concentration that Robin can only openly stare at. Her very serious focus is hot in a way that Robin is mildly embarrassed to say will stick in her brain for a while. “There we go. Implementing Strategies, blah, blah, blah. All one thousand four hundred seventy-eight pages of it!”

In the past ten minutes, Robin had gone from thinking her life was over to owing her life to someone she just met that morning. The feeling of overwhelming gratitude and relief washes over her in tides.

“Chrissy, I cannot thank you enough for your help. If you hadn’t been here, I probably would’ve turned in my resignation before anyone even realized there was already a copy saved. I don’t know what the hell to do about the copier though. I had no idea that it would freak out like that.”

Chrissy’s mask of calm breaks for just a brief second, her eyes narrowing and her smile dropping for the tiniest moment before returning to her pleasant look.

Weird.

“It was an accident. Accidents happen and nobody is to blame for them. Why don’t you go home for the night and I’ll take care of the rest.” Robin opens her mouth, ready to argue that she’s an adult and can handle her own messes, but Chrissy cuts her off with a firm, “It’s been a long day and you’ve done wonderfully, baby. Now go get some beauty sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.”

Baby.

Robin’s heart is going to give out if Chrissy keeps speaking to her like that. Her voice is sugary sweet with just enough force to make the alpha in Robin want to go belly-up in submission. She’d happily beg on her knees for anything and everything the omega would willingly give her.

That’s new.

And terrifying.

“Okay,” she agrees, moving to grab her own small handbag from below her desk. “Goodnight.”

Carrying a purse is new for her, but it’s not like she could just bulge out the pockets of her blazer with her phone, keys, and wallet without looking like some deformed monster.

“That’s cute. Is it a new purse?” Chrissy asks with a giggle, reaching out to touch the faux leather clearance bin item that’s resting on Robin’s shoulder now.

“Yeah, I actually just bought it the other-”

The omega yanks at something quickly, holding up her prize with an amused smile. Apparently Robin left the tag on her purchase like an idiot. The price tag with the highly discounted price makes her flush the same awful shade of crimson.

“You gotta pay more attention to the little things. Always check for tags, you silly goose.”

Robin is going to spontaneously combust and it’s going to be all Chrissy’s fault. 

She’s not confident that this is flirting, but god she wants it to be. Even knowing that office romances are a terrible idea, she hopes. Robin’s seen all the romcoms with Steve and she knows they always end in disaster.

But wouldn’t it be nice if just this once… there was a happy ending?

Despite Chrissy’s assurances that she would stay and clean up the mess from the night before, Robin is still fully expecting to walk into work the next morning and immediately be fired.

That’s not exactly what happens.

Instead, she arrives a few minutes early (just in case the police are waiting to arrest her for breaking the copier) and gets to her floor before anyone else.

Which is a very good thing because her reaction to the brand new shiny copier sitting at her desk is much louder than she intends it to be. After all, in the course of about twelve hours, someone had managed to dispose of the old eyesore and replace it with a piece of equipment that can only be described as top of the line.

Robin is dumbfounded.

Chrissy has to be harboring some very strong connections in order to pull off a feat of pure magic like this. Getting the approval for a company purchase so expensive would already be an accomplishment, but having it delivered and set up before anyone even arrived at the office for the day?

Insane.

Clearly, she’s dreaming. There is no other explanation. Maybe the copier really did explode and now she’s in a coma in a hospital somewhere. Perhaps Steve and Eddie raced back from Ohio and are sitting at her bedside, already dividing up her collection of rare snow globes in the event of her untimely death.

Eddie may have insisted that he had no interest in any of them, but she’s seen him eyeing the exclusive one from Slayer’s world tour back in 2016. It rains ‘blood’ when shaken up and Robin had thought about selling it to get a few bucks, but making Eddie jealous was too much fun.

She’d sooner die than let him have that snow globe.

“What the hell happened here last night? Where did that come from?” Tommy interupts her internal monologue with obvious contempt in his annoying voice.

“The copier broke, so we got a new one,” she states concisely and with as much confidence as she can muster.

Who the hell knows how they actually got a new one. Robin will not make herself look stupid though.

He pulls a sour face.

“What, did you press the buttons too quickly? I told you that you have to do it slowly or the machine overheats and the sign was on there to remind you too. Did you even finish getting that document ready for today or did you already manage to mess things up?”

“What are you talking about? You never told me anything about the buttons and- and there wasn’t any sign. I would’ve noticed a sign!” Robin argues.

The lack of caffeine in her system is no match for the fiery hot anger that’s flowing through her blood.

Tommy lights up, as if Christmas has come early for him.

“So you didn’t get to finish your assignment? Man, that’s rotten luck, Buckley. I guess you’ll just have to tell the boss that you’re not cut out for this job. Turns out it’s more suited for an omega after all,” he tells her with mock sympathy.

And oh, how Robin wishes she had a camera to capture the look on his dumb face when she tells him how very wrong he is.

Alas, she’ll have to settle for the mental image.

“Actually, it’s already uploaded and everything. Thank you for your thoughtful concern though.”

She conveniently leaves out the part where she found out it was already in the hard drive and needed no work. He doesn’t need to know all the details, only that the task was completed and nobody needs to fire her about it.

“There’s no way you managed to finish all of that if the copier broke. It was impossible to begin with. What did you do, take it home and do it by hand?”

His persistence about proving her wrong only serves to make this much more fun. It’s almost like his parents never taught him to keep his cool like hers did. Go figure.

“It’s done. What else is on the agenda for today then? Put toothpaste back in the tube? Pick a needle out of a haystack? Find the solution to world peace?”

Tommy does not appreciate her sarcasm, apparently.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crumpled up piece of paper. It looks like an old receipt maybe, except there are words scribbled all over the back.

“Coffee orders for the whole office. There’s a coffee shop down the street that has our card on file for business. Just give them our name and place the order. Oh, and come back afterwards with the drinks, in case I have to spell that out for you too.”

“Not a problem.” Robin grabs her coat and purse from her chair, barely having time to take them off before her unwelcome company had joined her. “What’s the name of the cafe?”

Tommy hums like he’s not even listening.

Fuck this guy.

She’ll figure it out on her own. How many coffee shops can there really be on one block?

The answer is a lot. There can be a lot of coffee shops on one block and Robin had managed to visit every single one of them before she found the correct place with a cashier who didn’t look at her like she was crazy when she mentioned a corporate account for Cunningham and Co.

After that it was a matter of decoding Tommy’s shit handwriting, stacking several cup holders full of burning hot beverages, and navigating back to the office without a free hand to pull her phone out for directions.

Unfortunately, the entire ordeal ended up taking more than an hour.

Robin’s not exactly proud of that, but at least the damn thing is done. Nobody can say she didn’t try. Without all the necessary information, the task had been near impossible and the fact that she completed it at all feels like a miracle.

“Jesus, Buckley, did you go to a farm and dig the coffee beans up from the ground yourself? My grandmother would have got our drinks faster than you,” Tommy greets her, pleasant as ever, upon her return.

“They actually come from coffee trees,” she replies, carefully setting down the flimsy cardboard that’s barely held on for dear life the entire journey back.

“What?”

She sighs, already knowing that this correction is wasted on someone who won’t appreciate it.

“Coffee beans come from coffee trees. Not in the ground like you thought. Not in the dirt like other vegetables. There are trees,” Robin explains plainly. “And no, I wasn’t doing anything but what you told me to do. You just failed to provide all the additional details, so I had to figure it out myself. No problem. Now I know for next time.”

It’s unclear whether it’s her ‘fun fact’ or her cheery optimism that makes Tommy go red in the face. Frankly, Robin doesn’t really care. Knowing that she’s accomplished her goal of getting back at him for being a dickhead is more than sufficient for her.

“Aren’t you gonna hand out the orders?”

Well.

Robin has no good response for that because she threw out the paper once she had all the orders checked for accuracy. It hadn’t occurred to her that she’d need to keep it for any reason.

Shouldn’t everyone know what they ordered?

She picks up the first cup and reads it aloud.

“Small dark roast with seven cream and… fifteen sugars?” Robin looks around the room, waiting for someone to volunteer themselves as the coffee’s owner, but nobody does.

She reads it again, confused by the snickers that go around the office. Finally, she looks at Tommy, who is now fuming with anger.

“Just give me the stupid coffee,” he hisses, reaching for the cup with a stick up his ass, evidently. “I’ve got a meeting to get to.”

Robin checks the clock on the wall. It’s five minutes until ten, which means she barely made it back in time. God only knows how Tommy would’ve acted if he hadn’t got his caffeine before his big important meeting.

She proceeds to hand out the rest of the drinks with no issue from the remaining staff. As far as she can tell, nobody else dislikes her aside from Tommy. Unfortunate, since it seems Tommy is the one in charge of the whole floor.

Luckily, that also means nobody gives her anything to do once Tommy leaves.

Robin counts her blessings and logs into the desktop set up at her desk. Her login and password were written on a piece of paper for her by the security office the morning before, although she hadn’t ended up using them yet.

Logging into the computer is a breeze and she decides to try her company email as well, wanting to make sure everything is in order before Tommy returns.

To her surprise, she already has an email sitting in her inbox.

She clicks into it, less surprised to find that it’s a company wide email that she was included on simply because it was sent to everyone. Still, she skims it quickly and finds herself having to take a pause almost immediately.

It turns out that Chrissy must’ve spoken up about what happened last night because the entire email is focused on two things. First, it includes a highlighted part of the company handbook detailing the prohibition and zero tolerance policy of hazing new employees. Second, there’s a less than polite reminder to not remove signs from machinery because it can be dangerous to those who use them.

All of it is signed by C. Cunningham at the bottom, the CEO of Cunningham and Co.

Despite her best efforts, Robin had gotten her boss’ attention. Now it’s just a matter of whether her little incident will become a bigger one.

Had Tommy already read the email? Is that why he was extra pissy with her that morning? It seems unlikely since he was as equally mean yesterday, but maybe he was toning it down for their audience.

Shit.

Maybe she’ll get extra lucky and the new copier will break too.

Robin grabs her own mocha and stands, ready to pop it in the break room microwave since it’s gone cold by this point. As she’s crossing the room, someone else decides they should not look where they’re going and she has to sidestep quickly, trying to get out of their way.

All this manages to accomplish is putting her directly in the trajectory of a door that happens to open as she’s passing by it.

It swings, smacking into Robin before she can do more than let out a yip of panic.

Luckily, it manages not to hit her in the face. Unluckily, it smacks the cup of dark liquid right out of her hand and most of it sloshes all over her formerly pristine blouse, soaking her front in a way that is extremely unpleasant.

“Oh my goodness! Robin, I am so sorry!”

Chrissy.

The last person on earth she wants to see while her shirt is ruined and her cheeks are burning with embarrassment.

She wants to hide or sink into the floor entirely, but it’s too late. Chrissy has already seen the state of her, seen the way she’s about to start hyperventilating over this whole thing.

In fact, Chrissy is the one who opened the door.

“C’mon, sweetie, let’s go somewhere more private and get you cleaned up,” Chrissy whispers kindly, taking Robin by the elbow and leading her to the closest bathroom.

She’s sure they have to cross in front of a few more offices, but her gaze is directed firmly at the ground, sticking to the theory that if she doesn’t see them, they can’t see her.

It’s a nice thought at least.

The bathroom door closes behind them and Robin completely forgot it was a single person room until her eyes meet the tiny mirror above the sink and she catches Chrissy’s reflection behind her.

She looks like something straight out of a horror scene in a movie, the dark color of her drink almost resembling blood now that it’s sunk into her yellow shirt and stained it beyond recognition.

There’s no way she’s gonna be able to save it.

“Fuck. Steve is gonna kill me when I tell him what happened. He loves this top,” Robin mumbles to herself.

“Oh. Who- who’s Steve?”

That question actually pulls a small smile from her, even on the edge of a nervous breakdown. It’s not even been that long, but it’s hard not to miss her dingus when they’ve been joined at the hip for years.

“He’s everything. My platonic soulmate, my partner in crime, the other half of my brain, probably. But- uh, to normal people, he’s like my best friend in the entire world.”

When she doesn’t get a response from Chrissy, she turns back to find the omega with a conflicted look on her face. It’s hard to figure out exactly what she’s thinking at that moment, so Robin just asks.

“Are you okay?”

A quiet hum of affirmation.

Chrissy shrugs her blazer off slowly and sets it on a hook mounted on the back of the door. She then crosses her arms on her chest, grabs the hem of her tan sweater and pulls it over her head, leaving her in a lacy tank top with her hair only mildly ruffled by the action.

She holds the sweater in her clenched hands, seeming to hesitate about something.

“So Steve’s not your omega then?”

Why are they still talking about Steve? Chrissy is like an eighth of the way naked and her boobs are way too noticeable now with less layers covering them up. It’s practically Christmas for the gift she’s being given here.

To hell with Steve right now, Robin can mourn him later.

There are perfect perky titties practically in front of her face!

“Uh… no. He’s an omega, but not- not mine. He’s actually mated to my other good friend, Eddie. They moved away though, so now they live in Ohio and I live here- alone. Which isn’t so bad now that I have a real job or whatever, but I still feel kind of out of sorts about it and maybe I could be handling it better, but it’s not like I can ask them to move back,” she rambles, trying very hard not to stare at Chrissy’s breasts.

She definitely oggles.

When she manages to convince herself to tear her gaze away and up to the omega’s face for a second, the woman is openly smiling at her now, like whatever was bugging her was no longer an issue.

“I’m really sorry about your friend. Well, and your shirt. If you wanted to take that one off, I’ll gladly give up my sweater since I’m the one who didn’t look before opening the door. It’s the least I can do for you.”

Robin’s always been told to turn down offers of generosity, no matter how genuine they seem. It’s rude to just accept nice things, especially things you don’t deserve, without at least a polite refusal first.

But Chrissy seems so sincere.

And her sweater probably smells like her, like roses and vanilla and omega. Robin can feel her mouth watering just thinking about it. Admittedly, not a great look to be drooling over her omega coworker, but then they shouldn’t be locked in a bathroom together either.

“Yeah, that would be great. Thank you, Chrissy.”

She reaches for the sweater, but Chrissy just tilts her head slightly, like she’s waiting for something.

Oh. Right. It’s hard to put a clean top on without taking the old one off.

A brief instance of terror floods her veins before Robin recalls that she’s wearing a semi-cute bra at least. If she had put on her ratty ol’ faithful that morning, she may have just stayed in the strained blouse all day in order to avoid Chrissy seeing it.

Robin still turns away (as if facing a wall would make it so her coworker can’t see her undressing) in order to unbutton and shrug her shirt off. Once she’s free of the mess, she grabs a paper towel, wets it down, and quickly wipes her chest and stomach so there’s no lingering stickiness from her drink.

She tries to forget Chrissy is still in there while she does all of this and it mostly works, at least until she has to turn back and physically take the sweater.

Part of her is expecting to find a blushing omega who’s staring at the floor, but Chrissy is returning her gaze with confidence, glancing down once at Robin’s chest before meeting her eyes once more.

“Cute bra,” she comments, as casually as she’d commented on Robin's purse the night before.

Suddenly, it’s not a problem that Robin was salivating over Chrissy because now her mouth goes totally dry.

Is Chrissy hitting on her or is this still that thing that pretty girls do to other girls in order to assert dominance? Do pretty girls compliment each other’s bras and offer up their sweaters? Do they stare at their lips and hum softly like they’re amused?

If her life were a movie, Robin would dramatically excuse herself from the situation in order to make a phone call to her best friend two states away and ask him if any of this was remotely normal. She’d run from the bathroom and not return until she had the answer.

Alas, life is not a movie, so Robin just wheezes out, “Yeah?”

Chrissy’s smile turns into something less sweet then. Not quite sinister, but with more intention than simply being friendly and pretty. It feels flirty. It feels seductive and enticing.

There’s hunger in her eyes, or something like it.

“Go ahead and put this on for me, honey.”

It’s a demand, not a suggestion.

Robin takes the sweater and obeys, only breaking eye contact for the moment where the fabric covers her eyes entirely. Otherwise, she manages to get it on without looking at anything but Chrissy, feeling pinned in place by the force of her gaze.

“There you go. Doesn’t that feel better, Robin? It’s soft, right? I bought it in a little boutique in Paris last spring and the cashmere always rubs so nicely on my skin,” Chrissy says, dragging out every syllable so it feels like the words are washing over Robin’s skin.

Even fully clothed, she feels utterly naked standing in front of the omega and her mouth full of flowy sentiments.

“It’s really soft.”

There’s more she wants to say, but her own words escape her. Robin has never been described as quiet, always more than happy to fill the silence with any and every thought that fills her head.

And yet the air between them stays silent, too full of something more powerful than words.

Her head stays empty, blissfully peaceful and cottony and soft, like Chrissy.

“Good. That sweater suits you, pretty girl.”

Robin almost chokes on her own tongue.

Chrissy called her a pretty girl.

Chrissy thinks that Robin looks good in her very expensive sweater even though it’s a little on the short side to actually fit well and she doesn’t have much in the way of breasts to fill it out properly.

Chrissy is looking at her.

“Should- um, should I have it dry cleaned before I give it back or are there special laundry instructions?” Robin wheezes out, desperate to maintain any control here.

She would like nothing more than to get on her knees for this omega. Even if the tiles would be hard and painful on her joints, Robin would do it without complaint if it made Chrissy’s nose scrunch all cute and pleased.

Robin is surprised to realize that there isn’t much she wouldn’t be willing to do for this woman she just met.

“No, that’s okay. Don’t even worry about it. Why don’t you just keep it? As long as you don’t have an omega who would be upset about my scent being all over you… I think it’s a fair trade since your blouse is ruined,” Chrissy suggests, her tone returning to her usual sugary sweet one.

It’s a bit of a whiplash.

But she’s grateful for the opportunity to collect herself, even if her brain is now fixated on the concept of being scent-marked by Chrissy.

“As long as you’re sure?”

Chrissy nods, reaching for her blazer and shrugging it back onto her shoulders.

“Totally sure.”

Robin swallows hard, takes a deep breath in through her mouth and out her nostrils, trying not to inhale the scent of a happy omega too much. It’s a miracle that she hasn’t felt herself get affected too much yet, but she can only hold out so long because the proof will be evident in her pants if she keeps this up.

When Chrissy reaches for the door handle, she finds herself grasping at straws to keep making conversation, not wanting their interaction to end just yet.

“Oh, how was the meeting, by the way? Did everything go okay with the document? I read the email, so I wanted to make sure Ms. Cunningham didn’t have any issues.”

Chrissy’s eyes narrow slightly and her mouth barely opens and closes a few times, like she’s taken aback by whatever Robin said. Had she managed to offend Chrissy by asking about the meeting? Is it none of her business?

Finally, she lets out a small chuckle and a toothy smile fills her lovely face.

“You’re really funny, Robin,” Chrissy starts sincerely. “Yeah, the meeting went okay and Ms. Cunningham didn’t have any issues with the document. Hopefully the email is enough to remind everyone that we were all new at one point, but let me know if anyone keeps giving you a hard time and I’ll deal with it personally.”

Robin just smiles, a little confused and unsure as to why the way Chrissy said their CEO’s name sounded like it should have air quotes around it.

Maybe Chrissy doesn’t like their boss? If the rest of the office’s opinions on the woman were true, that would make sense. It sounded like she was a hardass about getting their work done properly.

Still, Chrissy doesn't exactly strike her as the kind of person to dislike anyone.

She sets it aside in her mind for now.

“Thanks again for everything today. And for the new copier too. I wasn’t expecting it to be dealt with so quickly, so I really appreciate your help. You’ve been more than welcoming and I don’t know how I could possibly repay you.”

Chrissy doesn’t hesitate to reply to that with, “Would you want to grab lunch with me today then?”

Robin thinks about the pre-packaged salad that she picked up from the mini mart near her house on the way to work that morning that’s sitting in the break room fridge. It wasn’t fresh even when she bought it.

“I would actually love that, Chrissy.”

When Steve and Eddie first talked about moving to Ohio, Robin did not take it well.

She couldn’t imagine a world where she’d come home from a bar late at night and be unable to crawl into bed with her best friend and his grumbling alpha.

It hadn’t sat right with her to know that she couldn’t just warm her feet under Steve’s legs on the couch anymore or steal his bathrobe when she forgot her own after a shower.

Robin did not want to have so much physical space between her and her soulmate that they’d have to schedule regular phone calls so that she wouldn’t forget what his laugh sounded like.

After a few months of their new arrangement though, she’s doing much better.

Her and Steve have a mandatory FaceTime session every single Sunday and Thursday night around eight o’clock in the evening. Sometimes Eddie joins them or ducks in to say hello, sometimes they shoo him away so they can gossip on their own and give their life updates in privacy.

“So, let me just see if I have all of this correct, Robs. You and Chrissy literally go to breakfast or lunch almost every single day, she brings you fresh flowers once a week, she glares at anyone in the office who looks at you the wrong way, and you’re… still not sure if she’s interested in you?”

Which is a very unfair thing for Steve to ask.

Because he knows damn well that Robin doesn’t think Chrissy is into her. This is just a girl friendship. A friendship between girls who are friends and who do not have wet dreams about their beautiful friend where they wake up with a popped knot from imagining aforementioned omega friend naked all night long.

No. This is normal.

“It’s not like that, Stevie! We’re just really close and she’s really nice, so of course she goes out of her way to welcome me to the office and make sure I feel like I fit in. The woman is practically the office ambassador of congeniality. She walks in the room and everyone is suddenly polite and helpful, it’s amazing!”

Steve rolls his eyes.

“I saw that,” she comments, pointing a finger at her phone camera.

He rolls them again, pulling his own phone closer to his face so there’s no choice but for her to see the action is intentional this time.

“Listen, Robin, you know that I love you, right? You know that everything I do or say to you is because I have your best interest in mind and that I would never lead you astray because- short of being the man who literally put a ring on it- I love you more than anyone in this world?” Steve confirms with her.

It’s not like she can argue with that. He’s her best friend and she’s never doubted his intentions once.

If the entire world is against her, it’s only because Steve has dropped dead. The guy is her ride or die, with the emphasis being closer to the word ‘die.’

“I already know what you’re gonna say,” she starts, attempting to get out of this as quickly as possible. She’d rather discuss the newest episode of their favorite cooking show, Great British Slick Off, than her love life (or lack thereof). “But it’s easy to say I should go for it when you’re mated to your high school sweetheart already.”

Steve pouts at that, not truly offended about her remark, but evidently going to pretend that he is.

“Rude.”

Robin smiles at that.

“You know I’m right though.”

He hums, not entirely willing to agree with her. She doesn’t need him to because she already knows that she’s right and so does he.

“You think I wasn’t terrified to waltz up to the alpha who was always talking shit about the basketball team and put myself out there like that? You think I wasn’t shaking in my sneakers just imagining all the way that Eddie Munson could laugh in my face when I asked him to go to prom with me in front of the whole cafeteria?”

Okay. Fine. Steve also has points here.

“Well, no, but, it’s diff-”

Steve lets out a loud hiss, cutting her off. It’s not a noise he makes very often, but if someone upsets him enough, it comes out in full swing from the feisty omega.

She backs down, allowing him to say his piece.

“It’s not different. You’re not the only one who’s ever been scared to put themselves out there, Robbie! And you know I’m not gonna force you to do anything that you don’t want to do, but you can’t spend your entire life being afraid. I love you and I think you’re the best. Hell, Eddie still has nightmares about you crawling into our bed drunk and puking all over our sheets and he thinks you’re the best. Is it so crazy to think that maybe Chrissy sees it too?”

Jesus Christ.

Somebody needs to get this boy a law degree so he can get paid to argue with people because his bitchy popular boy attitude would be profitable in times like these.

“Steve…”

He gives her his puppy dog eyes, knowing that Robin is usually powerless to their hold.

“Please Robin. It sounds like she really likes you. I can’t see another reason why anyone would be showering a person with gifts and wanting to be with them like, all the time. I love my alpha more than life itself and even I would strangle him if I saw him as much as you and Chrissy see each other!”

Hmmm.

“Okay.”

Steve squints at her, like he doesn’t entirely believe her yet.

“Okay, what?”

It’s Robin’s turn to roll her eyes. She flops over on her bed where she’s lounging to make the phone call and grabs a pillow to scream into. Even through the cotton muffling her ears, she can hear her soulmate laughing at her dramatics.

When she feels like she’s done more than sufficiently overreacting to the situation, Robin removes the pillow, rolls back onto her side, and faces the phone screen where Steve is still waiting patiently for her to return.

She lets out a deep breath.

“Fine, you jerk. I will think about taking a leap and asking Chrissy out on a real date.”

Steve is cheering before Robin is even done with her statement, whooping and hollering in a way that he could never do when they lived in their poorly insulated apartment together.

The neighbors would’ve been pounding on the front door in seconds.

In Ohio, his only neighbors are cows and a field of corn. Or something like that. Robin’s never been, but she’s planning a trip in a couple months when she has the PTO to take a few vacation days and visit them.

“Steve, are you alright in here? Is someone being murdered?”

Robin recognizes Eddie’s voice just a second before Steve moves the phone so she can see his alpha enter the room. He looks very concerned, which says something because he’s mostly used to their shenanigans by now.

Steve, the little traitor, rats her out with, “Ed, Robin’s finally gonna ask Chrissy out on a date!”

She immediately cuts him off with, “I only said that I would think about asking her! I’ve made no blood oaths yet and you cannot hold me to this! I only said it to shut you up!”

Eddie shakes his head in fond exasperation at both of them, but plops down next to Steve on their couch, throwing an arm around his omega and managing to fit their squished faces on the tiny screen.

“Hi, baby,” Eddie greets his mate with a kiss on the cheek. It’s so cute that she doesn’t even bother to fake a gag for once. “And I’m happy for you, Bucks. This Chrissy chick is a real lucky lady if she managed to get your attention,” he says sincerely.

She knows she’s waited long enough to handle this situation if Eddie’s not even bothering to roast her for finally giving into Steve.

They’ve been talking about her new job and new coworker for a while now and since Steve tells his alpha everything, Eddie must be well aware of her feelings. Secrets don’t exist in their weird little trio.

“Thanks, man.”

Her brain keeps rewinding to what Steve said long after their phone call is over.

It’s true.

If Steve and Eddie are such great people and they can more than tolerate her, why couldn’t Chrissy maybe return her feelings? Maybe the pet names and casual touches mean more than just friendship?

Truly, Chrissy is such a nice person that even if she rejects Robin, she knows it will be done kindly. She can’t imagine the sweet omega laughing in her face or being disgusted with her.

The worst case scenario is probably that she’d have to quit her job, but it’s not like there aren’t other corporate positions in the city that could use an office bitch. So maybe it’s a leap, but perhaps it’s a calculated one with estimable odds and predictable damage?

From what she’s learned about Chrissy on their coffee dates and lunch outings, she’s always talking about how her family expects a lot out of her and how overwhelmed she is. She also repeatedly mentions how nice it is to be around someone who treats her like Robin does.

Chrissy is an angel. An angel.

And although they haven’t had any more intimate moments like in the bathroom where it felt like Chrissy might eat her alive, she can feel the chemistry they have with each other. Can’t she?

Maybe that’s not a flashing green light for Robin to confess how in love she is with Chrissy, but it’s certainly not a red one either! Maybe it’s… more of a cotton candy pink light, and that’s good enough for her.

Robin is ready to ask her out.

She stopped by the little flower shop down the street from her place that Steve recommended, paid a disgusting amount of money for a dozen red roses, and made it all the way to work without losing her breakfast from anxiety.

Anytime she and Chrissy don’t have breakfast plans, she knows the omega will swing by her desk in the morning, drop off flowers or an extra coffee for her, and touch her in some overly innocent way.

Sometimes it’s a brush of fingers tucking her hair behind her ears or a gentle hand resting on her shoulder to admire her necklace, but without fail, Chrissy always shows up to say hi before heading to her own office.

Truthfully, Robin has no idea what floor Chrissy works on. She just knows it’s one that’s above hers because Chrissy says she’s stopping by on her way up.

Also truthfully, Robin doesn’t really care. As long as her department doesn’t mind when they take longer lunch breaks or show up a bit late when breakfast runs over, it doesn’t matter.

Regardless, Chrissy is always there.

The problem is that Robin underestimated how long the flower shop would take. Picking out a bouquet sounded like quick work that could be done in a matter of minutes.

Walk in, point at flowers, pay for flowers.

But she panicked and started overthinking about what kind of flowers to get.

Chrissy brings her flowers every Monday morning, but she alternates exactly what sort. She’s usually sweet enough to tell her what they are too (gloxinias, gardenias, jonquils), although Robin isn’t sure why.

When the shopkeeper asked what they were for, Robin blurted it all out in a rush of excitement and nerves. The kind older woman only smiled at her tale, told her the red roses would be best, and sent her on her way with reassurances that it would work out.

Now is the moment of truth, but since she was late, the entire office gets to watch her try and hide a huge bouquet behind her back on the way to her desk.

Because the universe has a sense of humor, Chrissy is already waiting there.

“Oh, Robbie, I was so worried! You didn’t show up and I was about to call and see if you were under the weather and needed some soup delivered. Are you feeling alright? You look a little flushed.”

Robin nods jerkily, showing too many teeth as she tries to look completely natural and not at all like a robot who’s imitating a human without ever seeing one in person before.

“Yeah, yup, totally. I’m good. Are you good?”

Chrissy blinks, giving her an even more concerned look now.

“Why don’t we go sit for a second, honey?”

God, she’s fucking this all up.

And everyone is watching.

Robin whips out the bouquet from behind her back, as if they’re a shield that will protect her from any additional humiliation. The appearance of roses seems to take Chrissy aback, but they do bring a little smile to her face at least.

“Are those for me?” she asks quietly.

“They’re why I was late,” Robin explains with an awkward shrug.

That makes Chrissy smile even wider, lighting up her pretty face once more, so brightly that the sun itself could probably go out and Robin would still be able to see whose lips she wants to be kissing.

She takes a shaky breath, ready to ask the hard thing. The thing about going on a date thing.

Chrissy beats her to it.

“Would you want to stay late tonight? I have a few things to finish up after work, but then I’m all yours. We could have some food delivered and do dinner together?”

Okay, so they’re doing this.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Robin admits, handing her the bouquet before her shaking hands manage to drop them.

The omega accepts the offering and sniffs them cutely, her nose scrunching just slightly as she inhales the scent. Part of Robin is mortified to realize that even this is attractive to her.

Just about everything Chrissy does is attractive, but she’s not proud of the fact that her coworker turns her into someone who’s no better than the average knothead.

Seeing someone sniff flowers should not be a turn on.

“See you at six, baby,” Chrissy whispers, glancing around to see if anyone is looking before getting on her tiptoes and pressing a quick peck to Robin’s cheek. “I’ll be the cute omega waiting for you in the courtyard.”

Robin scurries off to the bathroom to spray some scent neutralizer and adjust herself before returning to her cubicle.

“Jesus, Buckley, how many times did you print that email? I only needed one copy,” Tommy grumbles as he grabs the large stack of papers from the printer.

He mostly only insults her under his breath nowadays since the first time Chrissy overheard him make a joke about her and she tore him a new asshole. He became a fairly decent coworker after that.

For some reason, pretty much everyone has been much kinder to her since her first couple days. Robin likes to think it was the email their CEO sent out that nipped it in the bud, but it also could just be her natural charm and ability to win people over.

Either way, he’s justified in his whining for once.

She’s been a mess all day since Chrissy decided to put her lips on Robin’s actual skin. That was enough to apparently melt her brain and make her unable to perform any of her usual duties.

“Sorry. Hit the wrong button,” Robin shoots back, unconcerned about upsetting him.

His annoyance is palpable, but he wisely chooses to keep his mouth shut and walk away. Probably too afraid of Chrissy to risk being nasty to her.

“Have a good weekend, Robin. Any exciting plans?” Heather asks as she packs away her things to leave for the night.

Robin isn’t sure if workplace romances are really allowed (she’s been meaning to check the handbook, but keeps forgetting), so she just musters up something about having dinner with a friend.

With a couple more pleasant salutations between coworkers, Robin gets her own things stashed away and grabs her purse. Before meeting Chrissy, she ducks into the bathroom to touch up the small amount of makeup she wears and tries to tidy the messy waves of her bob with little success.

By the time she’s done texting Steve with the details and doing her best to calm down, it’s just about time to meet Chrissy downstairs, so she grabs the next elevator.

To her surprise, there doesn’t seem to be anyone else in the building.

It’s not as if the place is packed once five o’clock has come and gone, but usually there’s at least a secretary or receptionist at the front desk to handle any after hours business until they lock up the building at eight.

Robin continues on, pushing the confusion away in order to stay focused on what’s most important right now: Chrissy.

The omega is sitting on a spread out blanket in the middle of the short grass of the courtyard.

It’s a nice amenity that most companies can’t boast about. Even if there’s no windows that look out into the space, staff are encouraged to come eat at the picnic tables nearby or sit by the koi fish pond that’s set into one of the corners and well maintained.

For New York City, it’s a paradise.

“There you are, Robin! Come join me, sweetheart. Our food just got here, so dig in,” Chrissy waves her over, patting the free spot next to her on the blanket.

Robin acquiesces, doing her best to be graceful as she plops down onto the ground next to the omega. She notices right away that Chrissy didn’t change, so she’s in a relatively short skirt, her legs tucked to the side in a ladylike manner.

Cute.

Always so damn cute.

“Thank you. You’re cute too,” Chrissy giggles.

Which- that was not supposed to come out of her mouth. Ever.

“Sorry, that was meant to stay in my brain.”

Robin lets out a choked laugh, staring at the spread of food so she doesn’t have to see her date’s reaction to her lack of charisma. It looks like Chrissy ordered the entirety of a Greek restaurant if the wide variety of options before her is a good indicator.

Chrissy answers her unasked question, “I wasn’t sure what you’d want, so I just had them give us one of each dish and I figured we could split them. Unless you hate that idea, in which case, we can leave and go to a real restaurant!”

She freezes in surprise before her gaze travels back to the omega next to her.

It had almost sounded for a second like Chrissy was nervous too, but that couldn’t possibly be true. Chrissy is outgoing and well-liked by everyone, so there’s no reason that she would be anxious about their first date.

Except she definitely is.

Her eyes are wider than normal and she’s chewing on her bottom lip as if it personally offended her in some way.

Chrissy is nervous.

Robin laughs again at the realization, this time even less restrained than before. Why would she make anyone nervous? She’s just Robin, just some lesbian failure who can hardly even be in the same room as a pretty girl without tripping over her own feet!

The close proximity to Chrissy makes it easy to notice when her smell goes sour and that kills her laugh in its tracks almost immediately.

Right away, she knows that she needs to explain her reaction.

“I promise I wasn’t laughing at you, Chris. I just- I cannot for the life of me figure out why you’d be nervous about us having dinner when we eat at least a meal a day together.”

Chrissy’s teeth release her lip, but she’s still pouting.

“Of course I’m nervous, Robin. I’ve been trying to figure out if you were interested in me for months and you just showed up with my favorite flowers in hand this morning like my own personal knight in shining armor. How could I not be worried about messing this up when you’re everything to me? I feel like I’ve just won the lottery,” she spits out, almost rivaling Robin for quickly they come out of her.

Oh. Okay.

So maybe this thing between them was even less one-sided than she was imagining. That’s something to think about at a later time- maybe when she has to listen to Steve gloat about how he was right all along.

“Wait, so like, this whole time?” Robin questions.

The entire situation feels like some elaborate prank on her. Pretty girls do not pine for Robin. There’s no world where that information makes sense to her.

Chrissy lets out her own nervous laugh.

“Yeah. Literally since the day you started here. I’ve been trying to get your attention, but I thought maybe I was misreading this because you never asked me out when I was all but throwing myself at you.”

Flashes of casual touches and pet names and sweet smiles over the last few months pass through Robin’s brain like a slideshow and suddenly the tightness in her chest releases entirely.

Holy shit.

Chrissy likes her.

She didn’t fall in love with her because she’s delusional. She fell in love with her because they were both falling for one another.

Just to confirm, she asks, “You like me? As more than your friend?”

The question makes Chrissy reach out with both hands, her soft touch cradling Robin’s face between them as she answers, “I think we’re beyond that, pretty girl. Calling this a crush would be an insult to the way you make me feel when I’m with you.”

Her cock twitches in her pants. Being manhandled by sweet omegas is decidedly high up on her list of things she likes.

“Oh. So then you-?”

Chrissy steals the words from her mouth with a deep kiss that makes her forget how to breathe. She forgets everything that’s happened to her before this moment and lets herself enjoy, lets Chrissy take control and show her exactly what she needs.

It doesn’t last nearly long enough, but neither of them is anything but breathless and panting when they break apart. Chrissy doesn’t pull back all the way, slotting her nose right against Robin’s like it belongs there.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

She’s not sure which of them says it first. It doesn’t matter. Neither of them could have said it at all and it would still be more than apparent by the bouquet of scents emanating from the both of them.

They fill the air of the courtyard with love, but also with lust. It’s been a while since Robin was up close and personal with an omega, close enough to smell the way their pussies leak slick.

It shocks her brain a bit, a reminder that maybe they’re getting carried away.

“Wait, should we go somewhere else? Somewhere more private? Couldn’t someone see us here?”

“Nope. The building is empty and locked. Nobody but us. Trust me,” Chrissy says.

Robin doesn’t ask how Chrissy knows that. As long as she’s sure, then it’s safe enough for her.

Their kisses resume, this time with Robin on her back as Chrissy gently guides her there, pressing her weight against the alpha’s body so easily.

For as cool and collected as Chrissy is, she’s just as turned on as Robin. Where Robin’s dick is throbbing in her trousers, begging to be released, Chrissy’s own cunt is practically begging for attention.

“Fuck,” Robin rasps out when the omega’s mouth travels to her neck and sucks at the sensitive skin there. “That feels so good.”

Chrissy hums in agreement, her mouth finally releasing from its hold with a little pop and very likely leaving behind a mark for later.

“Want to make you feel good, honey. You gonna let me do that? Let me give you what you need?”

Her voice is much lower than it normally is, the enticing words rolling off her tongue in a way that says she knows what she’s doing and Robin is more than safe in her capable and loving hands.

“Please, Chrissy,” she whimpers when Chrissy reaches over and pops open the button of her pants, quickly taking the zipper down too.

The omega makes quick work of knocking her thighs apart and getting a hand in her panties and around her erection, wrapping her perfectly manicured fingers around it and giving it a teasing tug.

“Aw, your poor cock is all swollen, Robbie. My pretty girl had to keep this all tucked away,” Chrissy coos out sweetly, her voice just bordering on something that makes Robin’s lower belly clench. “That’s alright, I’m gonna take care of it now.”

She leans down, pulling the head of Robin’s cock past her beautiful lips and into her mouth with no warning.

It takes every ounce of self control to keep her hips in place and not buck them up to get more of her length into Chrissy’s warmth. The feeling is amazing and maybe it’s due to her long dry spell, but she swears it’s never felt this good in her life.

“Oh god.”

Chrissy gives her a hard suck before pulling back enough to just lick the head teasingly instead.

“I prefer omega, if you don’t mind, baby?” she requests sweetly. 

Robin would literally call her girlfriend anything she asked her to in order to not lose the heat of her perfect mouth ever again.

Her whole body is tingling, on the edge of losing it way too soon if Chrissy is intent on sucking her entire soul out of her through her cock. For the skill she has with her tongue, Robin’s not convinced it’s impossible.

A couple more well-timed kitten licks have her keening and whining, the noises probably sounding like they belong coming out of an omega in heat and not an alpha being pleasured.

She could not care less what she sounds like.

“Chrissy, omega, please! Please let me cum. Oh fuck- please!”

Chrissy giggles at that, her grip tightening in just the right way that her fist slides quicker, aided by the copious amount of pre that’s coming from Robin. She’s never gotten this wet with other girls, but Chrissy seems to have the magic touch and the magic mouth.

“Give me your hand, sweetheart,” she instructs the alpha, not losing her rhythm as she continues to work Robin’s cock over like it’s her fulltime job.

Robin has just enough brain cells left to listen, offering her hand.

The omega adjusts her stance on her knees, yanking the edge of her skirt up and widening her legs as much as she’s able to.

Robin’s wide awake now, her eyes locked on the smooth thighs and lacy pink panties she’s getting an eyeful of now.

When Chrissy takes her hand and leads it to the inside of her thigh, Robin finally gets the message and pulls the omega’s underwear to the side, exposing her drenched cunt. To nobody’s surprise, even that’s pink and pretty.

“What do you think? Can you be a good girl for me and put your nice longer fingers inside of me?” Chrissy almost purrs, grinding down onto the light touch where Robin is grazing against her.

Part of her is worried about messing up or not being enough for someone who knows what they’re doing, but this is Chrissy.

Robin’s Chrissy.

She stops overthinking it and just listens, letting the sound of the omega’s voice guide her into it. It’s so easy to just be Chrissy’s good girl. She wants to be Chrissy’s good girl.

The wetness drenching her thighs says that Chrissy is more than ready for her to do this, so Robin presses two of her fingers together and drags them along her slit, gathering slick and coating them thoroughly.

Robin flicks her thumb over her girlfriend’s clit once, then twice, before sliding back down to her hole, slipping two inside with no hesitation.

“There you go, baby,” Chrissy tells her, reaching down to grab Robin’s wrist and control the pace of her actions as she crooks them to find the right place to please her. “Oh, right there! Yes, there, Robin. Keep going.”

In all the excitement of getting to finger Chrissy, she almost forgot that the omega had her cock in hand. She’s quickly reminded of this when she works her hand faster, matching their speeds so they’re both panting and moaning into the open air.

Chrissy leans down, managing to find a position where she can keep up their mistrations and still plant her lips on Robin’s.

It doesn’t even bother her that much to taste her own cock on Chrissy’s perfect mouth. If that’s the price she pays to do this with the woman she wants to be with, then Robin will get over it.

Life is short and sometimes you have to taste your own genitals, for love.

“I can feel your knot growing. Are you close, sweet girl? Gonna cum in my hand for me?” Chrissy whispers against her lips.

If she keeps talking like that and tugging on Robin’s cock? Yes.

Now that she’s mentioned it though, her knot is absolutely about to pop. Chrissy’s quivering thighs and the way she’s clenching on Robin’s fingers say that she might also be in a similar predicament.

“Wanna cum for you, omega. Can I make you cum too, Chrissy?”

Another kiss, this one with a warm tongue searching her mouth for equal amounts of hunger.

Her soft hand speeds up, closing around the base of Robin’s dick and milking the knot that’s trying to catch on something that will take her load.

It’s not Chrissy’s pretty little cunt, but it will do for now.

Robin loses control of her hips as she finally spills exactly where her omega had been trying to get her to. Her cum coats the omega’s dainty fingers and her lavender painted nails.

It’s almost a shame to ruin something that beautiful, but her knot twitches even as she breathes through the aftershocks of her orgasm. Her alpha brain loves the fact that she’s marked her omega.

That thought alone gives her the energy to keep fingering Chrissy, to slide her thumb up and rub little circles on her clit in order to get her to feel what Robin is. She comes apart with a scrunched face.

“Fuck, fuck.”

Doesn’t take much for her to get there, her thighs tightening to keep the alpha’s hand firmly in place as she squirts all over her hand, coating her down to the wrist in slick.

The moment her hand is freed and Chrissy seems to have relaxed enough to slump over onto Robin’s chest, she wastes no time bringing her fingers up to her mouth to have a taste.

It seems only fair.

“Robin, please don’t tell me that you’re licking that off your hand?”

She freezes at that, fingers very much already in her mouth and sucking off the slick from them like a starving alpha.

Pulling them out slowly so as to make sure they’re clean, she asks, “Would that be a problem if I was?”

Chrissy lets out a noise halfway between a groan and a laugh.

“No, not exactly. I just think you could be drinking directly from the source if you’re gonna do all that work,” she explains plainly.

And- well, that’s an option too.

She gets the feeling it’s going to be a long night.

It was a long night.

Then it was a long weekend, the two of them escaping to the nearest hotel (it was determined that both of them lived too far away and it seemed like a good idea at the time) to continue their fuck fest.

The time they spend together is pure bliss. Cuddling, scenting, and exploring bodies with great enthusiasm and affection. There’s little talking, but that’s on the bottom of their priorities at the moment.

They’ve been talking for months. Now it’s time to put their money where their mouths were (or really, their mouths where their mouths were).

Robin finally goes home well-sated on Sunday night, getting there in time to tell Steve all the updates on her life. She’s still too blissed out to care when he and Eddie brag about how right they were.

When she walks into work on Monday morning a few minutes earlier than normal, she’s practically floating on clouds.

The sky is clear, the birds are chirping, and she spent the weekend getting laid with the woman she loves! Things could not possibly be better.

Except for the innocuous note waiting on her desk that tells her to report to HR as soon as possible.

Immediately, all the worst case scenarios come to mind, but one particular one stands out the most. Robin and Chrissy had sex in the courtyard. Sure, it wasn’t full penetrative sex, but it was fluids being exchanged and body parts out where they shouldn’t have been. She’d trusted that the building was empty and they wouldn’t be caught, but now she realizes that maybe more caution could have been exercised.

After all the struggle she’d gone through to win her girlfriend, she and Chrissy were going to be fired.

Robin doesn’t even bother to unpack her things, grabbing the note and heading straight for the Human Resources manager so she can get to the bottom of this. Maybe if they can get through this quickly, she can be escorted off the property before everyone shows up.

If they’re going to arrest her for public indecency, she’d like to get that over with too. Steve would probably have to drive all the way from Ohio to bail her out and she’d like to give him a head start if possible.

She knocks on the door and is told right away to come in.

Before the man can fire her or call the police, Robin blurts out, “I’m really sorry, I know it wasn’t a good idea, but I wasn’t thinking and I take all the blame for my decisions, just don’t fire Chrissy, it wasn’t her fault!”

Her manager blinks back at her, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

She prepares to plead her case further, but the guy just pulls a packet of paper out of a folder sitting on his desk, and slides it over towards her.

“These are the forms you need to sign in order to officially acknowledge the workplace relationship you’ve entered into. It’s just standard protocol that says you won’t be suing us if things end poorly. You can take all the time you need to read and sign, but they’ve already been reviewed and signed by your partner if that helps reassure you.”

Oh.

That’s not what she was thinking whatsoever, but honestly not the end of the world. Chrissy must have reported their relationship to HR first thing this morning in order to make sure they were following the rules and protecting them both.

Something about that is remarkably sweet.

She doesn’t see their relationship going sour anytime soon, but the paperwork is probably important and if Chrissy already signed, then Robin doesn’t see why she should have to read a bunch of legal jargon too.

Robin grabs a pen out of her purse, finds the empty lines that are marked with x’s and scribbles a signature on each one.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Buckley. Here’s a blank copy for you own records as well, in case you need one,” the man offers, pulling out an extra packet that’s blank.

She gratefully accepts the papers and gives him a nod, exiting the office so she can breathe and let out the adrenaline.

Going from thinking you’re about to be fired to being in an HR-approved relationship is a hell of a whiplash.

Robin’s a bit disappointed to find that Chrissy is too busy to see her that morning. She’d texted to tell her that she would come by in the afternoon when her meetings slowed down, but it didn’t make up for the absence of her girlfriend being around.

Still, the goofy messages she gets sent throughout Chrissy’s meeting manage to make her smile at her phone far more than usual.

Apparently, it’s noticeable.

“Just because you’re sleeping with the boss doesn’t mean you can slack off, Buckley. I mean, Jesus, if I thought that fucking my way to the top would work, I would’ve tried her out first,” Tommy remarks offhandedly.

The comment makes her blood boil and Robin shoves her phone in her pocket, sitting up straight in her chair to give his back a death glare.

“What the hell are you even going on about, Hagan?”

He lets out a dramatic huff of air, turning around so he can look her in the eyes. She doesn’t back down, not entirely understanding what he was getting at, but knowing it had something to do with her omega.

Robin is not the kind of alpha to allow anyone to insult her partner.

“I said,” he starts again, much louder than before, “that maybe Ms. Cunningham likes bitch alphas and that’s why you can be so bad at your job. The rest of us actually work for our paycheck.”

What in the fuck does their CEO have to do with Robin? She’s not even met the notoriously cutthroat woman. As much as everyone talks about her, she never deigns to visit the office when Robin is around.

Maybe he’s referring to the fact that she must’ve signed off on Robin and Chrissy’s relationship?

“You’re full of shit. I work just as hard as anyone else here and you’re just jealous that I’m so much better liked than you,” she spits back, full of venom for the beta who’s never made her life any easier.

Tommy does not appreciate this.

“Yeah? Well, at least I don’t need the CEO to bring me coffee and flowers in order to do my job, Fuckley. Nobody is sending out emails or buying new equipment for me!”

He slams his laptop closed and storms onto the elevator, leaving the office in complete silence at his very loud exit. It seems that nobody wants to say anything after watching a fully grown man throw such a temper tantrum in front of them.

Except. Tommy’s words have her thinking.

He said that the CEO had brought her coffee and flowers, but the only one who’s ever done that is Chrissy.

That doesn’t make any sense. Chrissy isn’t the CEO. Chrissy works in sales or something important on the upper floors where she attends meetings and makes her own schedule, but she doesn’t run the company.

Their CEO is Ms. Christine Cunningham, some feisty woman who took on her family’s business and helped it flourish into one that can handle having a prominent office building in the middle of New York City.

Holy fuck.

She reaches into her bag, snatching out the blank copy of the paperwork she signed just that morning with HR, her eyes scanning the words as fast as possible until she finds what she’s looking for.

‘I, the undersigned, acknowledge that my relationship with Christine Cunningham shall not affect the terms of my employment in any financial manner that might be…’

Robin is dating the CEO of Cunningham and Co.

She’s never actually been to most of the floors in the building, but Robin is willing to brave that unknown territory in order to get to the one that has Chrissy’s executive office on it.

Part of her is surprised that nobody stops her from pressing the button that takes her up there, but maybe that’s what security is for at the front and it’s assumed that employees won’t go rogue like this.

Robin is going rogue for good reason at least.

Their entire friendship (and their very short relationship) they’ve shared is running through her mind and it doesn't add up. Sure, Chrissy talked about the pressure from her family to follow their footsteps and make them proud, but Robin thought they were referring to normal family problems.

Nowhere in their time together had Chrissy out and said that she was the boss. There was no explicit mention of the fact that she owned the company or that everyone in the building reported to her.

It’s more than a little bit of a shock to learn.

Robin doesn’t feel like she’s dating C. Cunningham, CEO of Cunningham and Co. She feels like she’s dating Chrissy, her sweet omega girlfriend who goes out of her way to grab doors and offers up her favorite scarf if Robin looks cold.

This is beyond her.

By the time she reaches the correct floor, she’s on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Whatever happens, things have changed between them in a matter of hours apart.

Things that she can’t undo.

“Oh, hey Robin. I just got out of my last meeting and I was about to head down to see if you wanted to sneak out early with me. Maybe a late afternoon snack at the cafe, if you're up for it?”

She stands still, taking in the visual of her Chrissy sitting at a massive desk with a full window view of the city around them. It’s a distractingly nice office, to the point that Robin almost forgets why she’s there.

“You like the view? I kept meaning to take you up here, but it’s such a long elevator ride. Honestly, I didn’t even realize you knew how to get to my office since you never come to visit,” Chrissy teases her, hopping up to meet Robin where she’s planted in the doorway.

The omega takes her hand, threading their fingers together and dragging her over to the corner where the view is absolutely stunning. You can see so much of New York from this spot.

“Wow,” Robin breathes out.

Chrissy chuckles, leaning her head against her girlfriend’s shoulder and looking out with her.

“Yeah. It’s my favorite place. This didn’t even used to be the executive office before I took over, but I liked the windows too much to give it up. There should be some perks to running this mess.”

She looks down at the omega nestled up against her and the brief moment of panic and outrage that she felt on the ride upstairs is gone in an instant. Wherever they got lost in translation, they’re on the same page now.

That’s all that really matters.

“Beautiful,” she replies with a whisper, not looking away from Chrissy. “Just beautiful.”

The omega lets out a soft purr, one that says she’s totally content with where she is. It’s a lovely noise and Robin secretly hopes she never has to go a single day without hearing it.

“Robbie?”

She hums to show she’s listening.

“It sounds like maybe you found some things out today that I thought you already knew and I hope the shock wasn’t too much for you. I really do love you and I’ve already taken care of Mr. Hagan. He won’t be returning to work here ever again.”

Robin isn’t even that surprised that Chrissy already heard about Tommy’s little incident, but she is impressed by the speed with which her girlfriend gets shit done.

“I love you too, but… Chrissy?”

Chrissy squeezes her hand, not moving from her cozy position.

“Yeah, honey?”

Work ethic and fancy titles aside, she has every intention of having filthy sex in here. Maybe not right now, but before the week is done, she is determined to be kneeling for Chrissy under her massive desk, eating her pussy and pleasuring her omega in ways that would make a pornstar blush.

What other perks are there to dating the CEO of the company anyway?

“Does your office door lock?”