Storms and Everlasting Silence

Modern Christmas AU

This is basically in the same world as the Modern AU's before but a little bit later in the story. Kind of like Silent Night is to Storm and Silence! Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!! 

Lilly sighed in relief and closed down her laptop for the night. After an exhausting day of filing files and retrieving them from the system, her eyes were tired and strained. She packed up quickly, glancing at the thick snow outside the windows. She left her small office space, closing the door behind her and locking it. Mr. Ambrose still sat at his desk, which was of no surprise to her. She knew he stayed up until at least 12 to finish up his work. That bugger. One day he was going to wake up and find that 50 years had gone by, everyone had moved on, he was the richest man in the world, and he had no family or kids. 

"Sir?" Mr. Ambrose looked up from the pad of paper he was writing on. 

"Yes?" He said impatiently. 

"I'm going home now." 

"Go home then." Mr. Ambrose looked down again, disregarding her. 

"Well," Lilly started nervously. "It's Christmas Eve sir, shouldn't you be celebrating with your friends and family?" 

Mr. Ambrose looked at her like she was dumb. "What family? What friends? No, Ms. Linton, I did not become the second richest and man in the world by celebrating unnecessary holidays like Christmas." Despite his cold voice, Lilly detected a small hint of remorse in his tone. Having worked as his private secretary for almost a year now, she knew and could decipher his behavior. She sighed, hoping Flora, Eve, and Patsy wouldn't mind another addition to the celebration. 

"If you want, sir, you can come with me to the party my friends and I put on. Don't worry, it's probably only going to be the five of us, seven if Eve and Flora managed to get dates. There'll be no reporters." Lilly told him. Mr. Ambrose regarded her for a few moments, then glanced back at his laptop. Then he sighed, shutting it off. 

"I'll meet you there." 

Lilly ran into the house she shared with her best friends ten minutes later. The warm, homely smell of Eve's scrumptious Christmas Meal was already wafting through the house. Underlying it was the sharp scent of the pine tree in the middle of their living room. Flora poked her head out of the kitchen from where she'd been helping with the preparations. "Lilly's here!" 

"Mr. Ambrose is coming!" Lilly exclaimed. Almost immediately, Patsy, Eve's, and two guy she didn't recognize poked their heads out too. 

"Mr. Ambrose!!" 

"Yes! Tidy up the house please, he'll be here soon!" Eve and Flora heeded her request but Patsy just turned away, rolling her eyes. Lilly ran up to her room, donning jeans, a red 'ugly' sweater, and a santa hat. Downstairs, she heard the doorbell ring. She ran down the stairs, cramming the hat over the brown tangled mess she called her hair. Lilly opened the door, smiling widely. "Hi Mr. Ambrose! Glad you could make it!" 

Mr. Ambrose stood outside, carrying a bottle of expensive champagne that she recognized. He inclined his head to her, and she opened the door wider, letting him step through. He started to hang his coat and scarf on the coat rack next to the door, Lilly taking the liberty to take the bottle from his grip and carry it to the kitchen. Eve's eyes widened when she saw the label engraved on gold foil on the bottle. Ace of Spades was written in neat calligraphy. 

Lilly returned to the foyer, her voice catching in her throat. He was wearing a black silk shirt that stretched tightly across his chest. He looked quite good. "Lilly?" Mr. Ambrose snapped his fingers under her nose, and she jumped, her eyes flying back up to his face. He seemed to be smirking slightly, but she wasn't sure... "Well, aren't you going to introduce me?"