14. Pour It Into A Tin

Maisie had ninety-nine problems, and being kicked out of college was currently one of them.

She hadn't told anyone, half from the embarrassment of failing at something she paid half her life's worth toward and half because she really wasn't in the mood to get a call from her half-assed father down in Florida with her half sister yapping off in the background. Because that phone call would mean that she would also hear about the new baby on the way, how they're gonna paint the nursery yellow and that they're renovating the backyard to fit in a pool.

So she could hear about everything she wasn't going to get.

Maisie hadn't told her mom and Tony because frankly, at the end of the day, she just didn't have it in her anymore to be the cause of a huge problem that would only stress everyone out. It was better if she just went on for a bit and told them later. It will be better later.

Yet when Maisie lay on her bed the night after finding out, eyes to the ceiling and arm under her head, she felt her entire body shaking. She glanced over at the draw in her beside table where the letter lay, tucked away in its envelope, and just sighed. She felt heavy, her head hurt and the only thing that was in her thoughts was the fact that she had failed, plain and simple.

Maisie's phone went off beside her head and she flinched, yanking her arm out and grabbing the little device. The screen lit up with a text from an unknown number and she frowned, unlocking her phone.

Maisie blinked in surprise and sent a text back after saving his contact.

Maisie dropped her phone onto the bed and closed her eyes. She didn't want to sleep because then that meant she would blink and then have to wake up. She didn't want to stay awake though because then she started thinking more and more and talking herself into a stupid situation wasn't really on the top of her to-do list for the rest of the day. She sighed through her nose and rubbed at her stinging eyes. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat on the edge, reaching for the draw in her bedside table.

The envelope was sat on top of a ton of junk she had lying around and Maisie reached in and fished the offending paper out. Maisie opened it up and read over the contents once more. Then she read it a second time, then a third then she clenched her teeth and gripped the middle of the paper before ripping it in half.

The sound shot through the silent house and Maisie let out a shaky breath, scrunching the papers into a ball and shoving it back in the draw. Maisie closed her eyes but she didn't sleep. How could she sleep beside a piece of paper that was telling her she was a failure?

***

The bakery had picked up some pace.

There wasn't a line going down the streets or a rush hour mad panic to get everyone served but there were always people inside during the busy hours, even if it was just one and Maisie took that as a good sign. Things were looking up. And if the celebration cakes hit it off then Maisie could see this bakery finally getting back on its feet, going somewhere.

Not failing.

But when Maisie walked into her bakery that morning, she wasn't expecting Andrew's new boy toy to be sat at a table, nursing a mug and talking to Charity and Nick.

Maisie closed the door behind her, making the three of them look up and walked over to their table.

"Um hi," she said.

Tom nodded. "Hi," and gave her a small wave, "I'm just waiting for Andrew."

"It's fine," Maisie said with a little smile. "I'm not gonna go crazy on you or anything. I've realized by now that you're not a spy with the intention of destroying me."

Tom laughed, a little more easily now.

"Might not be destroying you but he's definitely destroying Andy's a-"

"Nick," Maisie snapped quickly, "don't you have places to be, things to do, words not to say out loud?"

Tom shifted uncomfortably and rubbed scratched his cheek while looking at the floor. He cleared his throat and Nick just rolled his eyes.

"Oh don't be shy. It's fine to say it...we all know it's happening," he snorted.

"Nick for fucks sake," Maisie sighed.

"Well I think it's cute," Charity said with a smile to Tom then a leering glare at Nick. "Not weirdly sexual."

The bakery doors dinged open and Andrew walked in with the officer that was assigned to watch them all, Ben. Andrew's face lit up when he saw Tom and immediately walked over to him, taking the space beside his boyfriend. They talked quietly to each other as Ben slumped down into a chair, kicked his legs up on a table and close his eyes.

"Do you ever not sleep?" Nick asked.

"Do you ever not ask stupid questions?" Ben retorted and for a moment Nick looked mildly surprised at the response.

"What's got you in a bad mood?" Maisie asked, leaning back against the table the rest of the guys were sitting at.

"All your annoying faces," Ben grumbled and Maisie raised an eyebrow when he glanced at her. Ben sighed and ran a hand through his hair before knocking his head back and looking up at the ceiling. "My girlfriend broke up with me last night."

"How come?" Keith asked.

Ben rolled his eyes. "She said it wasn't working, I had a shit job where I do nothing, had no friends and that I was an inexperienced dweeb."

To be fair, the more Maisie looked at him the more she realized that he did look a little dweebish. He had a I-took-only-technology-classes-for-my-last-year-of-highschool-and-loved-it kind of vibe. But it wasn't exactly a substantial enough reason to dump a guy.

"Do you have a shit job?" Keith asked.

"I mean I do nothing but you guys aren't that bad," Ben admitted and Maisie smiled a little.

"Do you have any friends?" Keith continued.

Ben shrugged and then laughed flatly. "Not really."

"Fuck that, friends are stupid anyway," Keith proclaimed and two high pitched shouts of indignation flew through the room.

"What the fuck do you mean I'm stupid?" Nick asked.

"I thought I was your favourite, what the hell?" Andy screeched from his position half on top of Tom.

Keith looked up at the ceiling. "I tolerate you."

Nick and Andy paused before spluttering out a mess of protest. Maisie looked over at Ben and frowned. "She dumped you just for that? How did it happen?"

Ben sighed. "We went out for a dinner I'd been planning for a while and she was talking for a bit while I was getting ready and then she dumped me."

"What were you planning?" Maisie asked.

Ben reached into his back pocket and carelessly threw a little black box onto his table. It smacked against the top and popped open. All six of the bakery workers stared at the giant stone that sat on a ring band on awe.

"Holy shit," Charity breathed.

"Luckily she didn't see it otherwise that would have been embarrassing as fuck," Ben mumbled.

"Fuck man," Keith winced.

"Yeah," Ben scoffed. "Great night. I still have this wedding planner I know on speed dial so if anyone wants to get married some time, hit me up and you'll get a great wedding at an affordable price."

That started off a round of laughter and Ben cracked a little smile.

"You okay though?" Maisie asked. "Long term?"

"There's better things I could be crying about."

***

"So where's Logan?" Charity asked as she kneaded a large pile of dough.

"Juno's sick so he's looking after him," Maisie said.

"Isn't Juno's friends party today though?"

Maisie frowned. "Oh yeah, guess he won't be going then."

Charity shrugged and placed the dough in a baking tin. She put it in the oven to bake and wiped her forehead with the end of her pink apron. Maisie leaned against the counter and jumped in surprise when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She fished it out and unlocked the screen.

Maisie looked over at Charity and bit her lip. "Hey Char? Will you and the guys be okay getting the birthday cake to the party? Something came up with a delivery and I need to go down and fix it."

"Yeah of course, four hands is more than enough," Charity smiled.

"Great, thanks," Maisie smiled. "So get the cake there for twelve, make good impression and then leave straight away. Maybe keep one person back to handle the bakery, it won't be busy today and there's nothing new to make."

Charity nodded. "Okay got it."

Maisie slid her apron off her head and hung it up before going into the back room and grabbing her bag and sending a reply to Logan.

***

Maisie hopped off the bus and headed down the street, counting the house number of each building until it matched the number on the address Logan had texted her. She hadn't paid any attention to what the houses looked like until she came to the number she needed.

And holy shit was it big.

The place was practically a mansion with a giant rounded driveway which had a centrepiece in the middle, two floors and so many windows it was unhealthy. The length of the house was big enough to intimidate Maisie as she stood at the bottom of the driveway with her bag clutched to her chest, looking past two big iron gates.

Said gates suddenly popped open and Maisie jumped a foot in the air, looking around and seeing no camera. She hesitantly walked past the gate and up the driveway towards the front door where she knocked loudly, her knuckles aching a little afterwards.

After a few moments the door opened and Logan's familiar face came into view, immediately relieving Maisie's worries of getting the wrong house and suddenly walking into a horror movie.

"Hey," Logan said. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem," Maisie said as she stepped inside and was even more blown away than before. The floor was perfect marble and the walls a clear white. The furnishing was a million different things all clumped together in harmony.

Logan shut the door behind her and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know what I'm doing. Juno's just lying in bed like a lump and I keep throwing chocolate at him but it's not doing anything. I put Netflix on and nothing, I even offered to give him beer, not that I was actually going to, but got no reaction."

Maisie fought a smile. "Okay, I'm no doctor but let me look at him."

Logan led the way up the stairs towards Juno's room. He pushed the door open and Maisie heard the TV blasting in the background on a kids show with the blinds all open and a boy rolled up in a cocoon in the middle of the enormous bed. The walls were painted in a mural of a jungle landscape with animals and his furnishing was all decorated to match. Logan walked over to the bed and sat on one side so Maisie sat on the other.

"Hey No-No," Logan said softly. "Remember Maisie from yesterday? She's here to make you feel better."

Maisie suddenly felt stupidly nervous. What if she wasn't able to actually fix the kid at all?

The cocoon of blankets folded back and Juno's little head peeked out. His eyes were a little bloodshot and his cheeks were an unhealthy red. Maisie leaned forward and put a hand on Juno's forehead.

"You're a little warm," she said as she ran her hand down his cheeks too, feeling the flesh. "Are you hot or cold?"

"Cold," Juno sniffled and Maisie looked to Logan.

"Can you get him a box of tissues, bottle of water and do you have a hot water bottle?" Maisie asked him.

Logan nodded. "There's medical stuff in his bathroom cupboard."

Maisie smiled and thanked him as he left before turning back to Juno. "Does your head hurt?"

"Yeah," Juno said.

"Okay," Maisie said and grabbed the remote for the TV and switched it off. She then closed all the blinds and switched on his nightlight.

When Logan came back, Maisie was rubbing some Vick onto his chest and then getting him to lie back down. Logan put the tissues on the bed beside Juno with a plastic bag for him to use as a garbage. He handed the hot water bottle to Maisie who tucked it under Juno's body with his help. Juno took a few long gulps from the cold water before sighing and lying back down, eyes drooping.

Logan watched as his little brother slowly fell asleep. Maisie walked over and stood beside him.

"I gave him some tablets for his headache, just the usual amount for his age. If he sleeps and drinks lots then he'll be fine in no time. Just a bad cold and a little sinusitis. He'll be okay, let him sleep."

Logan nodded and they walked out of Juno's bedroom. "Thanks, Maisie."

She just smiled at him as they began walking back downstairs. "Can I ask you something?" she asked and he nodded. "Why did you ask me to help him?"

Logan shrugged. "You were the first one I thought of."

Maisie's face warmed and her smile brightened.

"Do you have any soup or bread?" Maisie asked and Logan winced.

"Yeah there's a loaf of bread and some cans of soup in the kitchen," Logan said.

"Perfect, when he wants to eat again he should start slow with toast or soup seeing as food makes him feel nauseous right now."

"Right," Logan nodded. "Right. The kitchens this way."

They walked in together and Logan got out a loaf of bread and a can of mushroom soup which was disgustingly Juno's favourite and he could never understand why. Maisie sat on the bar stool at the breakfast counter and Logan leaned against the other side of the counter opposite her.

"Thanks for coming," Logan said. "Really, I had no idea what I was doing."

Maisie shook her head. "Honestly don't worry about it. Juno's a good kid. I wanted to come over anyway."

Logan gave her a tight smile, wishing that Juno wasn't the reason she'd come over.

***

Three hours later, Maisie and Logan looked up from the couch when they heard someone walk into the sitting room. Juno had his bedding wrapped around his body like a cloak as he waddled into the room, a plush version of a goofy looking Captain America hanging from his fingers. He stopped beside the couch and pouted.

"I can't go to the party can I?" Juno grumbled.

Logan shook his head. "Sorry No-No, you're too sick. Come here."

Logan hauled Juno up onto the couch between himself and Maisie and got the kid comfortable with his bedding wrapped around him and Captain hugged to his chest.

"You hungry?" Maisie asked.

Juno frowned and shook his head slowly. "Not yet."

Maisie stroked his hair. "That's not a problem, just say when you are."

The TV played in the background as Juno lazily blew his nose every few minutes and Maisie looked over his head at Logan who had an arm around his brothers shoulder and smiled fondly at him.

She was starting to really like him.

Thanks to plaintively for the gorgeous banner!!

- Ellie x