In Her Darkest Hour ✞ Theseus Scamander

xxii

All was peaceful and quiet in Andrew and Orla's apartment the following morning. Orla had refused to acknowledge that she was awake, and lay in bed, pretending to be asleep as her fiance dressed himself for work. She was tired, not physically, but emotionally. She didn't want to fight that morning, she was still reflecting on the night before. Her team, her friends, all sat in the living room discussing how to capture Archie and eventually having to tell them about her turmoil with Andrew.

From their shared bedroom, Orla could hear Andrew make himself breakfast, heavy sighs escaping his mouth every once in a while. Whether it was because of their arguments and he had grown used to them, or because he had to make his own breakfast that morning, Orla didn't care. Her mind was resting on Theseus and if he really did have the missing puzzle piece. The door went and Orla looked at the clock, 8:15, the usual time they would both leave for work together.

Andrew was grateful that Orla was still asleep when he got ready for work, he hadn't quite figured out an explanation or a way around the lie he had been hiding from her. As he left their apartment, he noted how today was the first in a while that he actually managed to walk to work.

Closing the door on his way out, a familiar face came rising up the stairs. "Ah," Andrew let out, "good morning, Newt."

Newt stopped in his tracks, which Andrew found to be strange but not unusual for Orla's friend. Newt gave him a crooked half-smile, "and to you, Andrew, good morning." Newt looked to the half closed door, "is Orla up yet?"

Andrew shook his head, "I'm not too sure, if she is, she hasn't made me aware of it, although I'm sort of relieved to have the quiet morning." Andrew sighed hard once more, "that doesn't sound very nice of me to say. Don't worry about it." Andrew looked back at the door, and pushed it open, "you can wait for her to get up, or force her out of bed, up to you. I just want to say to you, thank you. For looking after Orla, I know you've been spending more time with her again and I really appreciate you being able to keep her somewhat sane in all this matter."

Newt nodded his head as he curiously looked at his face, "and what did Orla say about that black eye of yours?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Andrew muttered, "I was working late last night, lost in old case files and walked into the corner of the cupboard in my office. Orla hasn't seen it yet, and she'll probably cause a fuss out of nothing, so please keep this between us until I get home tonight."

Newt nods his head, "very well. Good luck today at work, I know you and the team need it."

Andrew thanked him as he stepped aside to let Newt into his apartment.

Newt shut the door behind him as he walked in, he didn't bother to remove his coat as he wasn't planning on sticking around too long, he had other issues to worry about today, ones predominantly including a Lethifold apparently on the loose in Hyde Park.

Stepping into the living room, Newt saw the flash of Orla hastily making her way back to her bedroom. "It's Newt, Orla," he called out to her, "Andrew's left already." He heard the sigh of relief from her, she turned around and made her way into the living room.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" she asked.

Ignoring her question, Newt proceeded to his new information regarding her fiance. "Andrew has a black eye, it's fresh and he asked me not to tell you."

Orla simply rolled her eyes, "I haven't seen him since yesterday morning," she stated, "whatever he did, I'm sure he deserved it."

"He said he got it from walking into the cupboard in his office when he had his head buried into an old case file," Newt informed her. "How likely is that to be true?"