Burn // Charlie Weasley

17. Too Close for Comfort

Staying late at the office was Gabi's only option. She had a mountain of paperwork to get through, a lot of it time sensitive and needed to be completed before the weekend.

She hadn't even realized how much time had passed after Charlie left her in the gym until she got back up to level three and noticed the sun only a few hours off from setting.

Cameron offered to help her get through some of the stack, but he had plans that evening so he only stayed for a little while. Gabi was appreciative of his help nonetheless, and promised to repay him with coffee every morning for the next week.

The rest of the night went by faster than she thought. It wasn't like she had Charlie to watch out for. His office door was wide open, but his chair sat empty. Gabi glanced up at it a few times, wondering what he would say to her for being at the office this late. Would he even care? Or would he have scolded her for letting the work pile up to the point where she had no choice but to put in overtime?

When she needed to stand up and stretch her legs, she found herself hesitantly wandering into his office. She traced her fingers along the edge of the wooden desk, thinking about the trainers who had sat there before him. Gabi knew very little about the history of the sanctuary, she didn't even know who Blake was before Charlie had brought her up.

She wondered how long Charlie had planned on staying here. Would he ever find someone who would live up to his standards for head trainer? Gabi stifled her laughter at the thought of Charlie being dragged out of here, kicking and screaming.

Picking up his copy of Red Dragon, Gabi noticed he had read quite a bit in the last week and his bookmark was shoved deeper in the novel. She had absolutely no idea when he found the time to read, though.

A light flicking on in the distance had Gabi dropping the book back where she found it. She lifted her head, but it didn't take long to realize that the light had come from outside Charlie's cabin. Was he just getting back? Had he been dealing with the Ridgeback all day?

There was a very low possibility that he could actually see her standing in his office from that distance, if he for some reason was looking, but Gabi still retreated out. The last thing she needed was another reason for Charlie to despise her.

Gabi walked back into the main office area, her eyes going to the gauze that Cameron had left on his desk. Before leaving, he told her it would be in her best interest to replace the bandages around her knuckles. She had completely forgotten about her bruised and bloody hands until now.

So she quickly discarded the old wrappings and did her best to mimic what Cameron had done for her earlier. Her hands had stopped bleeding by now, but they were still sore and it wasn't smart to leave the wounds exposed.

After her best attempt at playing healer on herself, Gabi promptly went back to work. There were only a handful of files left. If she was lucky, she'd be out of the office by midnight.

Or at least, that's what she thought until she came across a document that left her stumped. A transfer of dragon ownership file.

She had dealt with transfers of temporary ownership before. They were common when it came to requesting miniature dragons for fairs or events. But the fair in question was happening this upcoming Sunday in Scotland and paperwork like this almost always took at least 48 hours to approve.

Had she seen this document first thing this morning, she could have expedited it, but it was nearing midnight now. If she were to finish it and send it off, there would be no telling it would fall into the right hands in time.