Warning: Mentions of body dysmorphia, negative body image, bigotry, and death

Avery's eyes snapped in Thomas's direction, "Thomas!" She exclaimed flustered, "How would you like it if I told Harriet about how much you talked about her!" Avery exclaimed. "Oh, I already know all about that." Harriet's voice rang out as the doors to the elevator opened. "Thomas and I tend not to keep secrets," Harriet said grinning meaningfully over at Avery.

"I'm aware," Avery replied with a snide tone. The two women stared at each other before grinning. "Do you need any help getting anything together?" Harriet asked Avery who sighed, "Cribs are hard to figure out these days." She complained rubbing the back of her head. "I'm pretty good with my hands, I could help." Thomas suggested, "Oh that would be great, I'll make dinner too!" Milo said pleased, Avery grabbed the rest of the bags from Milo. "I'll make dinner, you need to sit." She said chidingly.

"I'll help decorate." Harriet gave herself a job, "And also help with the crib." She added, "Thanks you guys." Avery looked pleased, "That's what neighbors are for. As soon as Thomas and I have the groceries put away we'll be down." Harriet replied before grabbing some bags from Thomas.

"I could carry them all easily." Thomas remarked, "I know, but you shouldn't have to." Harriet replied, Thomas, grinned. The two couples stepped into the elevator, Milo and Avery got off first. Then Harriet and Thomas spent the rest of the short time in the elevator alone.

The silence wasn't deafening but it was comfortable, in the last few months of dating Harriet and Thomas seemed to have gotten used to each other very easily. In all honesty, it felt like they had been together for much longer than they had.

Thomas and Harriet chatted about where things should go once in the apartment. Everything was put away very quickly and they headed back to the elevators for Avery and Milo's place. Avery was already cooking when Milo answered the door much to her dismay. A little white cat came trotting up to Harriet and Thomas meowing.

"Lulu." Harriet greeted as the cat meowed, she kneeled down and the cat jumped on Harriet's shoulder meowing. "I can't believe he did that to you." Harriet replied in a dull tone as the cat rubbed against her head. "He locked you in your pin again?" She asked as Lulu purred rubbing their faces together.

Thomas chuckled, "You can speak with cats?" he asked amused, "Not all of them, just this one. That's the limit of my powers." Harriet deadpanned in a completely serious tone, Thomas getting what she was doing nodded looking just as serious. "I see." he replied amused.

Avery and Milo gave them looks, "Very funny you guys." Avery rolled her eyes while Milo sighed. "I can never tell when she's joking," Milo complained mostly to Avery. Thomas silently scoffed looking over at Harriet who shot him a quiet grin as she set the cat down. They left the topic at that and headed into the extra room together while Milo rested under Avery's orders and Avery cooked.

Thomas worked together with Harriet putting together the overly complicated crib. "Part Z goes with A." Harriet read from the directions, Thomas followed her instructions and only paused when he caught sight of some of the baby clothes already laid out on top of a dresser. Tiny shoes with tiny accessories.

It was amazing that something that small could grow into something as big as a person. "Thomas?" Harriet asked, Thomas, flinched realizing he had been caught. While the topic of children hadn't been brought up since they last spoke with each other about it. He still wanted to eventually have a kid with Harriet someday.

"Sorry I just spaced out." Thomas apologized, "It's fine." Harriet replied though there were silent looks exchanged between the two of them. Both of them knew exactly why Thomas had spaced out. He didn't remember much of how they managed to get the crib put together but it was done.

Thomas and Harriet tidied up the room and were putting up decorations after. Nothing too complicated, just putting lamps on tables and books on shelves. Thomas picked up a plastic dog toy and accidentally pressed the button. "The cat goes 'Woof!'" The toy said in a childish voice. Thomas and Harriet paused.

"What?" Harriet asked, "It just said a cat goes woof." Thomas stared at the toy horrified. Harriet took the toy from him and eyed it. "I've seen this thing at the store it's like fifty dollars. Why the hell is it so awful?" She complained. "And it's cheaply made." Thomas sighed picking up the plastic ear that fell off and snapping it back in the socket.

The two of them stared at the toy and without thinking both of them spoke. "I could do a better job than this." Harriet and Thomas met each other's eyes. "We could, couldn't we?" He asked, "Easily. This is ridiculous." Harriet insisted, "How does this help with development at all? I'm no child psychologist but I'm sure this company didn't contact one either." She said turning the toy in her hands.

She then looked at the brand at the bottom and groaned, "Well that explains it." She complained, "It's made by Sive manufacturing. They got ranked the lowest last year for product quality and employee retention." She said pointing at the 'S' logo on the butt of the dog. "They're currently drowning the market with low-quality toys advertised to be educational." Harriet informed Thomas, "Yeah didn't they contact us to get a quote for our programming services?" Thomas remarked rubbing his chin, this was ringing some bells.

"Yeah, and they dropped the contract saying we were too expensive." Harriet replied, "They were extremely rude, Jack had to deal with them and nearly lost his mind over it." Thomas pursed his lips. "We'd have to do a lot of research." He remarked, "We like research." Harriet replied, "family products are always popular..." Thomas mumbled mostly to himself.

"We could create the next toy craze." Harriet encouraged, "Oh God, what if they fight in stores over it?" Thomas laughed finding the thought amusing. "if we market it right they will." Harriet replied coyly. Thomas grinned, "Harriet." He said, "Yes?" Harriet replied, "We just found our market." He said leaning close to her. "So it would seem." Harriet chuckled, the two of them kissed and they heard a groan near the bedroom door.

"I swear to God if you two start having sex in here I'm kicking you out," Avery complained. Thomas and Harriet parted from the kiss and looked over. "Fine, we won't tell you what we were talking about." Harriet deadpanned with her arms still wrapped around Thomas's neck. "Probably spreadsheets." Avery replied without any sense of irony, "You two seem like you'd get turned on by that."

Thomas and Harriet froze upon hearing this. It hurt that Avery wasn't far off.

"Dinner's ready." Avery rolled her eyes turning around.

Harriet and Thomas walked out following Avery, and the four of them sat around the table. Avery and Milo on one side and Thomas and Harriet on the other. Thomas and Harriet were caught up on what was going on with Avery and Milo. 

It was a pleasant evening between the two couples. Though Thomas and Harriet were admittingly a little distracted, only managing to make eye contact a couple of times. Thomas already knew that just like him, Harriet's mind was churning out ideas a mile a minute.

When they arrived back at their apartment later, Harriet and Thomas stayed up late that night doing what they did best.

A whiteboard was rolled into the living room, the dining room table was covered with papers and both Harriet and Thomas's laptops. The coffee machine burned hot for most of the night as they worked together creating their business plan. By the time the alarm for work rang out, Thomas and Harriet were jolted out of their sleep at the dining table.

Thomas saw Harriet groan and pull off a piece of paper that was stuck to her face. He stretched and chuckled seeing some ink stains left behind by the paper. "Sleepy?" he asked Harriet who looked at him blearily. He got up out of his chair stretching as he walked over and grabbed Harriet into his arms.

They were tired but satisfied, they were already halfway done with their business plan.

When at work, things had settled down from where they were days after the incident. Most everyone moved on and a new policy was created which Thomas had dubbed professional privacy. This allowed individuals to be involved with each other so long as they were able to separate their personal from their professional lives.

Sure it wasn't right only having the policy after Thomas and Harriet got caught with one another. But it wasn't fair to continue that policy afterward. Thomas had always been the sort of person to never expect his employees to do things he couldn't personally do himself.

Harriet and Thomas drank coffee heavily that morning though he noticed not much was done for Harriet. "Are you alright?" he asked as they rode the elevator. "I don't sleep well if I'm not sleeping next to you," Harriet mumbled looking exhausted. Thomas perked up hearing this and smiled slightly. "We'll take a nap at lunch," he said holding her hand briefly. "Mhmm," Harriet replied leaning against Thomas.

For a moment hearing her deep breaths, Thomas wondered if Harriet had fallen asleep standing up. "Harriet?" Thomas asked after a moment, Harriet shifted when he moved. His eyes softened, "Oh Harry." he mumbled turning to her, he embraced her for just a moment. Then the elevator dinged for the top floor.

Harriet was jolted awake and Thomas let go of her, she hissed through her teeth annoyed. "We should've called off." She complained as the door opened. "We used all our vacation time." Thomas reminded her, and Harriet winced, "Shit." She grumbled to herself.

Thomas chuckled amused, Harriet didn't curse often but hearing her smooth voice say such rough words always made him laugh. The two of them walked out of the elevator together putting on their stoic appearances. The proceeding work day was normal, well as normal as it had been for them.

When lunchtime rolled around Thomas grabbed Harriet pulling her into his office. The two of them made their way over to the couch he had put in just a few weeks ago. He took off his blazer and the drowsy alpha woman yawned. She had gotten her second wind earlier but now she was exhausted.

Harriet slipped off her shoes silently and Thomas sat down on the couch only to have Harriet climb into his arms. He placed his jacket on top of her and turned laying down. Within moments the alpha woman was fast asleep and Thomas smiled. He held her tightly in his arms and found himself letting out growling purrs happy that his alpha was with him.

The door to his office opened carefully at first, once the door opened wide enough for his desk to be seen, Thomas heard a sigh of relief. Then a man that looked much like Thomas and his father stepped in. "Tommy where's that growling coming from-?" Thomas's uncle spoke but he went silent when he saw Thomas's glare.

"Be quiet. Harriet's sleeping." Thomas warned lowly, his uncle stared and then chuckled. Thomas's uncle Lucius snorted at his threat. "Of all the things I've heard about that woman. The first time I see her is asleep in your arms? Your mother made her sound like a monster." Lucius teased softly.

"Why are you here?" Thomas questioned annoyed, "I set up a dinner party so the new missus can meet the rest of the family." Lucius sat on the edge of Thomas's desk before pausing. "Maybe I shouldn't sit here?" He asked teasingly, Thomas glared, "Come on now Tommy, I'm curious what kind of trouble she'll stir up once she's awake."

"Why?" Thomas sighed, "I'm bored." Lucius replied with a grin, "Has your assistant quit again?" Thomas deadpanned, and Lucius went stiff, "I dunno." he grumbled clearly displeased, "What was her name again? Riley?" Thomas asked, "Ridley." Lucius corrected with a glare.

"Look it's scheduled for tonight," Lucius remarked looking annoyed. "Show up." he demanded, "What if I have plans?" Thomas replied in a relaxed tone, normally, Lucius's behavior would've gotten under his skin but with Harriet around Thomas felt much calmer. "Just come, Father wants to meet her," Lucius said exasperated.

Thomas sighed, "Fine." He replied feeling exasperated, why couldn't have Lucius said this earlier?

With that Lucius left and lunch hour ended shortly after. Thomas laid there on the couch not wanting to move. Seeing Harriet this relaxed these days was precious and rare. When Harriet was awake behaving as she usually did at work. She seemed almost unapproachable even for Thomas. The cold front that Harriet could naturally put up was absolutely frigid.

Though Thomas didn't mind it in all honesty.

Harriet's lack of reaction or choosing her words carefully was charming in Thomas's eyes. It made her seem unshakable and honestly very cool. There was nothing more Thomas loved to see than Harriet putting people in their place with just a few words.

Thomas brushed the hair from Harriet's face with a smile on his lips. He loved this side too, this soft warm side that he got to see. He loved the little jokes and games Harriet would play with him. The difference between home and public made Harriet seem like two different people but it was all her.

It was all his Harriet.

"Harry." He called after a few moments, "Harry wake up." He sounded off again, Harriet groaned, "No..." She mumbled in her sleep. "Come on..." he encouraged, one eye opened after the other. She let out a long sigh, "It's just a few more hours." He reminded her, "I wanna nap after work." Harriet complained, Thomas was about to agree but then he remembered and sighed.

"My grandfather wants to meet you as does the rest of the family," he told her, Harriet laid there on Thomas and shot him a dirty look. He expected her to storm off or say something but Harriet turned her head and closed her eyes. "Harriet!" he exclaimed in exasperation, "Five more minutes," Harriet grumbled wrapping her arms around Thomas, to be honest, she looked comfortable under his blazer.

Feeling his heart waiver, Thomas let out a sigh, "Five more minutes." He mumbled hugging her tightly. Harriet ended up getting away with an extra twenty before Thomas had enough. Though he felt instantly guilty when Harriet left his office looking less warm without his blazer on her.

Staring at the closed door he groaned resting his head on his desk. "I'd cuddle all day if I could," he complained placing his hand over the claw marks on his desk. It had been covered up by a desk mat and sure he could get another desk. But he didn't want to, "Harry," Thomas grumbled feeling annoyed. He wanted to spend more time with Harriet.