The Haunting of Bly Manor One Shot
Since you had started living in Bly Manor, you had struggled to get a full nights sleep, in part to do with worrying about the children you cared for or being awoken when they had bad nightmares but there had just always been an off feeling about the house. You had awoken at three and within an hour, you had given up on trying to get anymore sleep but you weren't too fussed as it was Christmas Day. You knew that it wouldn't be long before Miles and Flora would wake up and come to find you and Hannah to start celebrations early.
Knowing your day would start bright and early, you headed down to the kitchen, still in your pyjamas to get a cup of tea and try to ready yourself for the day that awaited you. You were slightly baffled to hear someone in the kitchen as you rounded the corner, half expecting to find one of the children having come to get a glass of water but rather Owen stood there in the midst of a mess of a kitchen.
Owen had been the cook for the family, long before you had been hired as the au pair. As soon as you started working at Bly Manor, you had become rather fond of one another and shared general flirtation without admitting your feelings in fear of the awkward working experiences you'd have if the relationship wasn't requitted.
"What are you doing here?" You questioned.
Owen cocked an eyebrow at you. "Merry Christmas to you too."
"Merry Christmas," you corrected. "I thought you were spending Christmas with your mother."
He shrugged his shoulders. You knew he struggled with his mother's illness and did tend to use Bly Manor as an escape, finding a family in those living there rather than struggling with the pain that he found in his own home.
"I didn't want to come back to a household of food poisoning from your cooking," he joked, trying to change the subject to not show any vulnerability.
You feigned offence although you knew pretty well that you sucked at cooking. As it was the holidays you had offered to cook the Christmas dinner to allow Owen to spend time with his family. You and Hannah both lived at the Manor so would be there to care for the children as neither of you had family locally to spend it with anyway and Jamie, the gardener, was coming up too, preferring the households company than her own family.
"My cooking isn't that bad," you frowned. "It's somewhat edible."
"Well I thought I'd treat you all to the best roast dinner you've ever had," he grinned.
"And that involves working on it at four in the morning?" You questioned. "We don't normally eat until gone three."
Owen looked like you had said the most peculiar thing in the world to him.
"Perfection takes time," he assured you. "But I promise you that it will be the best meal you will ever eat."
~*~
Written by Charlotte/