working l a t e (aurors/open)

[potter]

Elliot yawned, she had not worked this late since she was an intern and been expected to do several days' worth of paperwork in a single evening. Though the last mission she had gone on had gotten messy, muggles being hexed and going to muggle hospitals before ministry personnel could get there, buildings damaged, it caused a whole mess of paperwork. Elliot was just glad that she was not part of the team scrambling around to modify memories, and that their team had managed to escape unscathed. But still, she would rather not be filling all this out on her own.

She abandoned her quill for a moment to take a quick sip of coffee and light up a cigarette. She had told herself that she was going to quit, but Elliot found that the rehabilitation process of getting over her anorexia was enough change for her at the moment. The cigarettes she would have to keep until she felt comfortable giving them up. Elliot took a long drag on the cigarette before perching it between her lips so she could continue with the dreaded paperwork. Things always got so complicated when muggles got involved, it was cases like these that made her tentatively consider another career.

Elliot did like her job, just not when it required her to stay long into the evening and be back early the next day. Well, she had accumulated some vacation and sick time, perhaps she might use some of that to take the next day off and get a proper night's sleep. Maybe Erik might also have the day off, she forgot what his schedule was that week. Elliot sighed when someone knocked on her office door, stomping her cigarette out in the ash tray and using a simple spell to get rid of the evidence that she had been smoking only a second ago. "It's open," said Elliot, not looking up from her papers.

[abigailwatson]

Abigail stretched in her chair, wincing as she rubbed the lower part of her back. By now she'd usually be home from work, indulging in a relaxing bubble bath, or simply cuddling up with Ransom on the sofa. However due to the state of the last few missions, the aurors who could go out had been on, she had stuck behind to help with the paperwork. To say she missed being out in the field would be an understatement, she hated being stuck behind the desk, it made her feel useless, especially when they're own people had been going missing over the last few months...and even with all the hours they were putting in out in the field, and the hours she was putting in, in the office they still had no leeds.

Pushing up from her desk, Abigail arched her back a little trying to stretch out the kinks, before her hands ran over her stomach. She was 7 months now and had the bump to show for it, it still amazed her after all these months that there was a little life growing inside her. Smiling softly down at her stomach she shook her head and stepped back from her desk, pulling open her top drawer which held her stash of sweets. Grabbing a chocolate bar she smiled brightly before locking the drawer again, her craving for chocolate was insane.

Unwrapping the bar, she took a bite before looking around, her eyes scanning the other Auror's hard at work outside her office, before making her way outside. With her chocolate bar hanging out of her mouth, half unwrapped, Abigail knocked on Elliots door. As soon as she got the okay to go in, she pushed it open and walked inside. "Man all these late hours are not even putting a dent in all that paperwork I still have left to do..." she sighed, sitting down opposite Elliot.

[potter]

Elliot was faintly surprised that it was Abigail who had come in, she had thought that she would be the last one left in the office- apparently she had thought wrong. Nevertheless it was a pleasant surprise, she felt like they hadn't talked in a long while despite working in the same office. With both Abigail and Violet stuck doing desk work because of their pregnancies, it meant that Elliot was going on more missions to make up for the slack. And coupled with the fact that she hated pushing her paperwork onto the interns, it made very little time for any socializing.

"You're telling me," sighed Elliot, laying down her quill, thankful for the distraction, "eleven muggles got hexed by some anti-muggle demonstrators and they went to those, whatcha-ma-call-ems, doctors. Makes quite a mess." Elliot made a little bit of a face as she tipped back in her chair slightly, only then noticing the slight cramp in her hand that radiated down her arm from writing for several hours. She picked up her coffee and took a long sip. It didn't have quite the same effect as the cigarette, which she had only half-finished, but it would have to do at the moment.

Abigail was one of the few people that knew about her smoking, but Elliot had the courtesy to not light up around her since she was expecting. She smiled a bit when she noticed the chocolate bar, she still didn't allow herself many sweets, but she had worked her way up to an occasional treat. It was obvious that Elliot had gained weight, she looked healthy now, rather than sickly. "Aside from the tediousness that is paperwork, how is life treating you?" asked Elliot, and then sipped her coffee.

[abigailwatson]

Abigail listened to Elliot carefully, shaking her head and sighing. She hated the fact she was stuck in the office, she wanted so bad to be out there with her fellow Auror's, helping them to deal with all the trouble they'd had to fix over the last few months. "I wish I was out there with you guys..." she said with a little frustrated sigh. Sitting behind a desk hadn't been what she'd expected to be doing when she became an auror, then again, she hadn't expected to be pregnant yet, unmarried and with a man who kept part of himself hidden away from her.

Shaking her head she refused to think on her worries over Ransom and instead looked back at Elliot, "Well aside from eating everything in sight, having a constant need to pee, backache, and feeling like I look like a whale...life is...okay..." she said, wishing she could say it was more than that but she couldn't help but feel something was amiss. Ransom was keeping secrets, she'd known for a long time. Thing was she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what it was he was hiding from her, all she wanted was to be with him, though their 'relationship' seemed strained, forced. She loved him dearly and wanted him just as bad, she couldn't help but wonder if he felt the same.

"How about you? Isn't it about time you took an extended vacation somewhere hot...forgot about this place for a while?" she asked Elliot, well aware her friend was working three times as hard. Another reason she felt guilty, Elliot was having to put in the work where she couldn't anymore, the girl was working constantly. That said, Elliot was looking better than Abigail could ever remember her looking.

[potter]

"It'll just be a little longer before you're back out there, dealing with the lunatics," said Elliot, half-smiling, though she understood Abigail's frustrations. She didn't know what she would do with herself if she was stuck behind a desk all day. Actually, she wasn't sure what she would do with herself if she got pregnant. Elliot liked kids and everything, but for whatever reason she never saw herself being a mother. She was too dedicated to her work, she didn't think it would be fair of her to mother a child that wouldn't be her number one priority.

Perhaps it was just this place in her life, but whatever the reason Elliot did not envy neither Abigail nor Violet. They would be good mothers of course, but she didn't see how it was possible to have that kind of a career/family balance. She had a difficult enough time as it was making time for herself and Erik, she could hardly imagine throwing a baby into the mix. Elliot smiled sympathetically as Abigail explained how she was feeling huge, achy, and uncomfortable. Yet another reason that Elliot did not want to experience pregnancy. It seemed to be an awful lot of stress on the body. She sipped her coffee again, leaving herself with half a mug.

"I'd never be able to relax," said Elliot when Abigail expressed she thought it was time that she took a vacation. If she went away all she likely would do would be pacing around, wishing to be back at the office. Unless of course someone in particular came with her... Erik took her mind off work like none other, it was like it never existed when she was around him. "Besides, I wouldn't want to be on my own for longer than a few days," Elliot added, smiling a bit for a short pause before continuing, "I'm seeing someone now."

[abigailwatson]

Abigail felt her ears prick up and she looked at Elliot a bright smile spreading over her tired features at hearing this news. Sure she'd had suspicions, Elliot had this glow about her recently, but knowing how private her friend was Abigail hadn't wanted to start poking about and asking questions. She'd vowed to wait until Elliot gave her the go ahead before she got onto the topic, "I knew it! Who is it? Do I know him? How long have you been with him...?" she asked, letting her hand run over her stomach gently as the baby did another turn.

If there was one thing she loved, it was feeling the baby move, she seemed to do it more when Abigail played music, much to Ransoms amusement. He seemed to love it as much as Abigial and would often sit there with his hand on her stomach waiting for the baby to move, which she always did when her Dad was around. Abigial already knew the baby would be a Daddy's girl, and even after all the talks they'd had, and Ransom agreeing he wouldn't, she knew without a doubt he was going to spoil their daughter rotten.

Looking at Elliot she smiled softly, inclining her head to the side slightly, "It suits you anyway...being in love...I'm really happy you found someone who can make you happy Elliot, if anyone deserves it, it's you." she said to her friend, genuinly happy she was in fact happy.

[potter]

Elliot chuckled a bit when Abigail immediately began asking for information Normally she didn't initiate conversations that seemed so... girly, but even the thought of Erik seemed to have a giddy sort of effect on her. Now that they had gotten back together after breaking up in their sixth year she had almost forgotten what it had been like without him. Almost like they had never seperated to begin with. "His name is Erik Truelove," said Elliot, "he was in my year at school, a Gryffindor, I don't know if you've ever met him. We went out for a time in sixth year, but we got back together in June."

Now that she was talking about him, Elliot realized that she hadn't ever told anyone that she and Erik had gotten back together again. She wasn't ashamed of her relationship, she was simply a private person. That and she had no idea how her family would react, things hadn't exactly ended on a positive note when they were in school- even if it had been just as much her fault as his. Her father likely wouldn't approve, so she wanted to hold off on telling him for as long as she could.

Elliot blushed slightly, though beamed all the same when Abigail said that she desrved to have someone who made her happy. It was true that she had been miserable for such a very long time, to have even a fraction of a normal life brought her the contentment she had been unable to find for years. Elliot sipped her coffee again, glad to be neglecting her mountain of paperwork.