Drew myself in an outfit that would give my father an absolute heart attack.

I can't dress like this irl, so I'll manifest it in artwork ✌🏼 and for a quick lil fun fact, I color-dropped my hair, skin, and eyes for this drawing from a real picture of myself, so those colors you see are 100% accurate, my friends.

Also, I have been SLACKIN' on chapters lmao. Sorry ab that. At least it helps build up suspense😂

Fawn's POV

It only ended up taking Alastor a few days to move all of his supplies over into the head office.

My heart was so full watching him move all of his belongings into the office he's always belonged in.

Don't get me wrong, Tom was a great boss, but Alastor is the one who runs the show most of the time. Not only that, but everyone in the office already sees him as their boss anyway.

I've only been here for a short time, but in that time I could see how much he loves this studio, probably more than he loves me.

It's about time it finally belonged to him.

Moving offices, however, has been a living hell. Not only does Alastor have more knickknacks than any one human being should ever own, but he also hoards shit.

Going through his drawers and files, he has documents that date back to when I first got here. When I asked him why the hell he was holding onto those, he shrugged and said "you never know."

To which I rolled my eyes and proceeded to start throwing them all away. He didn't protest or stop me, so I'm guessing he didn't mind too much.

His old office has completely lost its purpose, and there's no job position that requires an office like that one anymore.

So naturally, he's turning it into a play room for Julie.

When he told me he was doing that, my jaw dropped. His first big decision as the owner of the station, and he chooses to turn his old office into a recreational room for our daughter.

Why am I not surprised?

He spoils the hell out of that girl.

It's a wonder she's such a good baby, you'd think she'd be rotten with all the spoiling that goes on. No one can say no to her cute little face.

There was a smile on my lips as I sat behind the large oak desk, organizing all of Alastor's supplies and knickknacks.

Since I don't do much around the office anymore, I offered to put his new workspace into order.

My eyes lifted to see Juliette on the floor with Alastor a few feet away. He had his coat jacket off and his sleeves were rolled up as he played with our baby.

Wrestling is their favorite game now.

Which just consists of Alastor grabbing Julie and rolling around with her before laying on his back and putting her on his chest to pretend she beat him.

She always claps and giggles like he's just put on the best performance she's ever watched and begs him to go again. 

Yet another sight that makes my heart flutter with joy is the two of them having so much fun and bonding time.

I smirked and chuckled, shaking my head slightly as I went back to alphabetizing the files.

My body shifted when I moved to grab a paper clip, and I jumped slightly when my foot bumped into something firm.

Titling my head, I looked under the desk to see there was a box shoved under it, shrouded in shadows. My brows furrowed and I reached into the space and grabbed the box, pulling it out and up onto the desk.

It was medium sized, and not too heavy but it was obvious there were items in it.

Opening the box, my eyes widened slightly.

Sitting there was a roll of loose film, neatly wrapped so it wouldn't crease or tangle. Under that, I saw newspapers.

My fingers grazed over the box carefully, and my lips pursed as I stared at it. This box feels familiar...is it Alastor's? I don't remember bringing this in here...

Pulling out the film, I set it aside gently and then grabbed the newspapers, looking through them.

They were just old newspapers from a few years back...my confusion grew, and I wondered why on earth he would save these.

Until I noticed something about them.

All of them were murders of his. The only newspapers that weren't were a couple with the earliest dates, but the rest were all from murders of Al's that made the front page...

Beginning with his parents. 

Why would he keep these...?

As I was looking through them all, there was suddenly a baby placed on the desk with me and I looked up just as Al leaned over to observe what had caught my attention.

"What is all this, my dear? Old papers?" He hummed, sliding one to himself to look over it.

Julie crawled over to me, looking at the paper I was holding. She can't read yet, so I let her sit there so she wouldn't feel left out.

"Uh, yea...looks like it. Are they yours? I found this box under the desk," I commented, not taking my eyes off the paper as I flipped the page.

Then I looked up at him to see him giving me a confused stare.

"No...I throw the paper away after I read it every morning," he said, and I blinked.

Then...they must be Thomas's but...why the hell did he keep these?

What would he need with papers that address Al's murders? And they're not even just the ones he was here for, these papers go back to before he even moved here.

It was slightly unsettling...but not that concerning. Maybe he just found them intriguing, and wanted to look back on them.

Setting the paper aside, Al took the one I'd been reading and casually examined it as well.

"Man, these are old..." he mumbled, and I hummed as I dug in the box, pulling out a couple of old records.

Something about all of it felt so familiar...I couldn't place it, so I just shrugged it off and looked at the covers for the records.

They were blank, not having a name or title, and I showed one to Alastor.

"You think Tom left these behind on purpose? Should we give them back to him?"

Al looked at the record, and took it from me gently. Julie crawled over and held her arms out, so I picked her up and held her against my chest as I watched him study the record.

He didn't answer me, simply slipped the record out and walked over to the gramophone that was in the office when we moved over.

Once he got it set up, he turned the handle on the side and we both listened carefully as a song began to play...

My eyes widened as I recognized the song...it was one of my favorites that gets played over the radio. Alastor went on to play the other record as well, and again, one of my favorite songs came through...

How odd. Why does he have these burned into records? Tom must've really liked them too, I guess.

They are popular songs after all.

"How strange he would leave this behind," Al mumbled as he began placing the records back into the box.

I shrugged, "he probably just forgot them. If he comes back for them, we'll have them here," I said, not thinking anything of it really.

Carefully, I placed the newspapers back into the box, along with the loose roll of film on top where it wouldn't get smushed.

Sighing, I stood up from my chair and put the lid back onto the box. Then I walked over to Al, and handed him Julie.

"Well, I guess I'll put it in a safe space for if he ever needs it," I said nonchalantly, kissing his cheek before picking up the box.

He hummed softly in agreement, and I walked out of the office with the box in my hands. Looking down at it, my brows furrowed and I raked my brain for why this feels so familiar to me.

Once I reached a door that was on the far end of the hallway by the break room, I opened it up and looked down into the darkened space.

A shiver ran up my back and I took a deep breath.

Let's get this over with.

Slowly, I began descending into the basement, wanting to be in and out as quickly as possible. The basement was never used, really, and smelled like mold with spiders crawling around everywhere.

Once at the bottom of the concrete stairs, I flipped the light on, and it blinked to life, giving the creepy basement a dingy orange glow.

Walking over to one of the metal shelves, I sighed and placed the box onto an empty spot with all the other storage.

As soon as it made contact with the shelf, my eyes widened and a memory hit me fast and hard.

The memory of me in this same position, grabbing a box that looked exactly like this but a bit older off this same shelf.

My mouth fell open slightly and I looked down at it.

Carefully I let go of the box, staring at it in wonder. Then, a smile curled up my lips and I turned to walk away, leaving it there.

And there is where it'll sit, tampered with only by the later library staff until I can get my hands on it in the future.

And that's where it all started, this is the day I truly set my past, present, and future into motion with just one split second decision to put a box in the basement.

Quickly I climbed back up the stairs before a spider could crawl on me, and shut the basement door.

It didn't take long until I was back in the office, smiling at Alastor and Julie. He had her on the desk, a small deck of colored cards into his hand as he taught her which one was which.

When he noticed me, he smiled, greeting me warmly.

"Hello, my love and welcome back!"

I giggled and went over to him, sitting in his lap before snatching Julie up and holding her to my chest.

"Hello, handsome," I kissed his cheek, "were you bored in those short five minutes that I was gone?"

He rolled his eyes, a subtle blush covering his cheeks.

We sat like that for a few minutes until I realized Juliette had fallen asleep. Tsk'ing, I slid out of Al's lap.

"I'm going to go lay her down for her nap..." I whispered to him, turning to leave the office.

On my way there, someone else rounded the corner, and my eyes widened slightly but I made no noise as to not wake Julie.

Thomas smiled brightly at me, and raised his hand, opening his mouth.

Then her noticed the baby in my arms and his mouth quickly shut as he blinked a few times. We met right in front of Al's old office door, which is where Julie's playroom and napping cradle are.

"Hello, dear!" He whispered to me, and I nodded, a silent greeting.

I then held up one finger and opened the office door, walking in and quickly laying down the baby, kissing her forehead before I went back out quietly and shut the door softly.

Then I sighed and looked up at him with a big smile.

"What's up, long time no see," I joked, since it's only been about 4 days, "what did you forget?" I teased him.

He sighed, looking away as he rocked on his heels, "oh, dear, it's nothing too important...I believe I left a box in my office that had a few old newspapers in it...a bit of film, as well. You haven't happened to run across it, have you?"

I froze, but only for a split second. My answer came quick, and without full consent from my brain.

"Nope," my mouth said before I could stop it, and then I shrugged casually, "we cleaned the whole place, and all we found was a love letter from Niffty with a little kiss mark on it," I smirked at him devilishly, and watched his face heat up.

I wasn't lying, we actually did find that...but I needed to distract him from my real lie. He cannot know I found that box...

He chuckled nervously and pulled at his collar, "o-Oh really? Well," he cleared his throat, "I must've just misplaced it, then..."

His words were sheepish and I chuckled, waving as he turned to head back where he'd come from.

"See ya, Vox," I said cheekily, and he snapped and pointed at me.

"I love that." He said very seriously, then shot me a smirk and slipped back towards the main office.

I stood there a moment longer, making sure he'd actually gone before I turned to head back to Al's office.

Once I stepped in, I leaned my back against the door and closed my eyes, sighing heavily. The rustling of paper caught my attention, and I opened my eyes to see Al at his desk, reading the paper with furrowed brows.

Walking over, I hopped up onto the desk and glanced over the paper before looking at him.

"What's up?" I asked curiously, and he hummed lowly, obviously thinking.

"It's strange...the front page of this paper should've been my recent victim, but instead..." he turned it fully to me, and I began to read.

I didn't even need to read the article...the header said it all.

'WALL ST. IN PANIC AS STOCKS CRASH'

My eyes went wide and I sucked a hiss through my teeth, "holy fuck, I forgot about the stock market crash!" I blurted, making Al jump.

He looked up at me quickly, "the what?" He asked me, sounding perplexed.

My heart was pounding suddenly, worry spiking my chest.

Oh my god, I hope I'm not too late warning him!

"Al, baby, the stock market crashes fully in 1929, but by the sound of that paper, it's already starting. The entirety of North America is about to enter what will be known as the Great Depression."

I explained this as I dragged my hand back through my hair, and laughed nervously.

"We need to go get all of your money out of the bank, before they run out..."

His eyes were wide as he stared at me in shock.

The entire room was silent, and he slowly folded the paper and set it aside, gently coaxing me off the desk and into his lap to hold me. It wasn't until then I realized I'd been shaking.

This is such a huge thing and I completely forgot...what if we aren't fast enough...what if we run out of money and can't feed Julie, what if—

"Darling, we will be ok..." Alastor's voice whispering in my ear stopped my horrible thoughts, and I relaxed slightly into him.

He kissed my temple and then laid his head against mine.

"Tomorrow I will go to the bank, and I will withdraw my savings," he reassured me, "there will be more than enough to last us through this 'Great Depression'."

He kept soothing me, and I took a deep breath, and relaxed into him more.

Yea...we'll be alright. But there's so many other people...I wish I could help them all...

I wish I could warn them all about The Stock Market Crash of 1929.

**

A/N: If this chapter confused you, go re-read Ch 1