Who: Merlin, Audrey & Izzy When: 22nd January Where: Baxter Bakery What: There had been a break-in (Part of this plot) Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Apparently it happened some time between closing the night before, and when the baking crew was supposed to arrive and start the morning’s pastries and bread. Must’ve been around midnight. Audrey got a call, and she woke Merlin. The two of them put Ben in the backpack (which suited the sleeping infant just fine) and headed to the bakery to check out the damage.
There wasn’t a whole lot of damage, actually. Thankfully. Mostly just broken glass at the doors, a broken lock, and some stuff strewn about when the would-be burglars realized that they couldn’t get into the safe. There wasn’t anything else of value in the place, though.
There were a couple of policemen who were taking statements from the overnight bakers, and other employees who’d shown up. Audrey frowned as she looked at the broken windows. Who would have done such a thing?
Merlin had been speaking to the policemen about their insurance policies and anybody they could think of who might do this but Audrey and Baxter’s was well liked by everyone as far as they knew. “They don’t think it’s personal love” he told Audrey as he joined her, “Apparently they’ve seen an increase in this kind of thing lately”
It was then that Izzy came bursting in looking worried and disheveled, “Audrey, Merlin” she said rushing over to them, “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe this happened when I said I’d look after everything for you” Despite Izzy being able to do nothing about it she still felt guilty.
Audrey had both of her arms wrapped around Ben in the front sling that she was wearing. It was likely as comforting to him as it was to her. Maybe more. She sighed, nodded to Merlin’s words, and then turned at the sound of Izzy’s voice. “It’s not your fault, Izz. No one could have known this was going to happen.”
Audrey shifted. “It was probably just some teenagers who were trying to get some extra money, or something. The alarm system must have scared them off.”
Merlin rubbed Audrey’s back before turning to look at Izzy, “Audrey’s right, this isn’t your fault at all” he agreed reaching out to pat the young girls arm.
“I just feel terrible” she said, “Did they take anything? Or break anything apart from the window?” she asked, looking around. Hopefully it wouldn’t actually take that long to clean up, especially with a little help from Audrey’s magical husband.
“They tried to get into the safe, but couldn’t.” Audrey said, motioning. “I guess when they realized they couldn’t get anything out of it, they messed some things up. Emptied my desk, turned over some chairs… but nothing too serious.” Audrey sighed, and turned to wrap an arm around Izzy’s shoulders. (It was hard to hug with the baby in the sling against her chest.) “Don’t feel too bad. It’s not your fault. We can fix this place up quick.”
“As soon as the police leave I can make it look like nothing ever happened” Merlin promised before moving off to see when exactly the police would be leaving.
Izzy hugged Audrey back, leaning in to press a gentle kiss to Ben’s head, “Hey beautiful” she whispered before looking up, “Thanks Aud”
“Hey, you’re welcome. I know it’s not your fault. I feel terrible, too. This is my baby. Well, my store baby, and I want it to be safe.” Audrey frowned. “I want all of my employees to be safe, too.”
“We are safe. If this had happened when I was here they’d be seriously regretting it right now, in a jail cell” Izzy said, she had no doubts whatsoever that she could handle herself in that kind of situation.
Audrey laughed. It felt good to laugh. She was exhausted, and could feel Ben stirring against her chest, but the laugh was nice. “I know. I have no doubt in my mind. We’ll have to see if there’s any magical way to figure out who did this. And I’ll contact… someone… about getting some security cameras installed. I bet Valarnet has someone who can help me with that sort of thing.”
“It’s happening so much more now” Izzy said, “Some kind of crime wave or something, I wonder if it’s dream related?” she mused out loud before she nodded, “There will definitely be someone”
“I don’t know.” Audrey said, though Izzy was making sense. It must have been Dream related. That was the only explanation. “I don’t like it. It must be--you’re absolutely right--but I really don’t like it. Some people have really horrible Dreams. Do you think it’s someone’s Dream come true?”
“God I hope not. We really don’t want that to start happening, the crap from my dreams would be awful” Izzy said, though it really did make sense. “I am surprised nobody has come forward yet with a theory though, that usually always happens”
“There’s usually something like that on Valarnet, but I haven’t seen anything.” Audrey had been spending a lot of time trolling the board, since she was stuck at home all day every day with the baby. And up at random, odd hours of the day and night. “I’ll keep my eyes open for any new news.”
At that moment, the cops finished up their report and all started to leave the scene.
“We should send people home. Don’t you think? We should close today. At least pretend like it’ll take a day to fix everything.” Audrey asked. She didn’t want to raise questions about how quickly everything got fixed.
Merlin came over then, “I agree. It’ll look too suspicious otherwise. Looks like you have a free day” he added to Izzy.
“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip, it didn’t feel right to leave. Even if she was being told to.
“Just… you come up with the cover story? And post it to the social media sites to let everyone know. That we’ve got contractors in today to fix the windows, and that we’ll reopen as soon as the repairs are made. Then we can act surprised that the contractors--” she used air quotes around the words, “--got everything finished so quickly.”
“Of course I can do that” Izzy nodded, “You know what this place is like I doubt anybody will question them finishing so quickly. Especially if I insinuate that I used by female whiles to charm them” she said with a little grin.
Audrey gave a little laugh. She nodded. “That sounds perfect. Thank you so much, Izz.” She motioned to where Merlin was thanking the last of the police to leave. Everyone else had already left.
“I think we should put something up in front of the windows, and get cleaning.” And with that, Audrey drew out her wand. Ben was still asleep in the pack against her chest.
Merlin closed the door and turned, “Why don’t you let me take care of it love?” he suggested, “You check the back room and maybe make tea?” he suggested hopefully as Izzy nodded.
“I can do that.” Audrey sighed deeply. It hurt her to the core to know that someone was so unhappy with the business that they broke windows and tried to steal from the bakery. She was fighting off tears as she headed into the back to make them some tea.
Izzy followed her, “Don’t you go taking this personally now. Whoever did this they were just stupid kids probably who didn’t care about anything” Izzy said as she saw the look on Audrey’s face.
Audrey nodded, though it was going to take her a while to get over this. She put the kettle on after setting a broom to start sweeping the back room on its own. “I know,” she said, once that was done. “Still.” She couldn’t help it.
Izzy moved closer to hug Audrey, careful of the baby, “People love you and this place, they’d never do this. It couldn’t possibly have been anybody who has been here as a customer before”
“I know.” Audrey repeated. The broom was sweeping the back room on its own, and Audrey magicked a feather duster to dust the shelves. Cleaning was one of the things she did to relieve tension, and the poor girl was running on no sleep as it was, taking care of the newborn. “I know.” She said, trying to calm her own nerves.
“You and Merlin should head home once he’s done, I may not have magic but I can still clean up. Then he can run you a bath and make sure you relax” Izzy told her.
“I completely agree” Merlin said, as he walked in, moving to hold his wife and son in his arms. “You employ smart people Aud” he told her, throwing a wink at Izzy.
Audrey nodded, then rested her head against Merlin’s shoulder. Ben was starting to wake in his sling. “He’ll need to nurse and have a diaper change,” Audrey spoke softly. “Then we both need a nap.” Her probably more than the infant. “Can we go home now?”
What would Audrey do without Izzy to help her take care of things?
“Of course we can love” Merlin said, “Everything is taken care of out there but I’ve put a spell on the front so it still looks like people are working on fixing it” he told Izzy, “Are you going to be okay?” he checked with the younger woman as he wrapped an arm around Audrey.
“I’ll be fine. You get your family home” Izzy said, moving forward to give him a one arm hug before kissing Audrey and the baby. “I’ll see you all soon”