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The Teacher's Pet (Stonetribe x Midnight Lass)

"Ah okay then!" Abe replied, glad to see that Deja wasn't terribly worried either. Though he knew that using the thermostats would be a much better and more practical way to stay warm, a part of him hoped that they would have to put the fireplace to use instead merely because of how pretty he thought it would look. He didn't want to seem childish and admit that out loud though. "Where do you think we can find the thermostats then? Upstairs somewhere maybe?"
 
"One right there on the wall," Deja said, pointing to a glass enclosed electronic control next to the door of the office they were in. "Unfortunately, I don't have a key on my ring to open up the case. Let me look through the desk drawers to see if I can find the key. Why don't you see if you can find a bag and then raid the pantry and walk-in for food we can take back upstairs with us?"
 
He looked behind them, only now noticing the thermostat already in the room. "Oh, heh heh silly me.." He said, blushing a little. Not wanting to seem like a kid who needed her to take care of him, he was rather happy that she gave him a job to help out with. "Ah, okay then!" He replied, playfully giving her a little salute. "Are there any snacks in particular that you enjoy by chance?"
 
"Anything but a ton of potato chips," Deja said with a laugh, as she started opening desk drawers, looking for keys. "I don't want your parents getting you back stuffed with nothing but junk food."
 
"Aha ha, I can manage that!" He said with a chuckle of his own. Walking back into the kitchen, he briefly searched for a bag of sorts to store the food in, eventually finding a box of small trash bags. He then set about gathering food from the pantry, making sure to keep the snacks to a minimum.
 
"Bad news and good news," Deja said, leaving the office and rejoining Abe in the kitchen. "Bad news is that I can't find keys to the thermostat. Good news is, there's at least two cords of tarp covered wood outside, and we do have two fireplaces, one in the dining room, and a second in the loft above it. Once you get our snacks together, I say we head to the loft and see what we have up there."
 
He turned his head when she addressed him, and despite his previous desire to hide the fact that he wanted to see the fire place lit and failed to remember to hide his apparent smile at the news. "Ah really? Okay then, let's go check it out!" Hurriedly gathered enough food to fill the rest of his bag and then proceeded to head upstairs, his innocently transparent nature clearly showing. He looked over to the doors leading outside. "Do you know exactly where the wood outside is?" He asked, hoping that it wouldn't be too heavy or taxing to bring inside.
 
"Why don't we head upstairs first?" Deja suggested. "There might be some firewood up there already. If we're lucky, we can get a fire started and then worry about bringing the wood in."
 
"Oh, well that's convenient!" Abe said, setting down the bag of food. "Students aren't normally allowed up there either, right? I'm really getting the full tour ha ha!"
 
Deja took out her set of keys that opened up the stairs leading to the loft. Unlike the stairs to the basement, the stairs to the loft were solid, old oak. Once they got to the top landing, there was a door opening up to the left, and a ladder built into the wall that led to the attic.

"I have to confess to a certain curiosity about what might be up in the attic," Deja said. But let's see what's in the loft first."

The door opened up to a large open room filled with an eclectic collection of furniture ranging from the mid nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. There was a small dining area, a sitting area around the fireplace, including a bear rug in front of the fireplace and a large radio that looked like something from the 1940s. A large bookcase dominated one side of the room, and two doors could be seen opening up to two small rooms, one with a large brass bed, the other with a large, iron claw bath tub.

By the fireplace there was a set of brass fireplace tools and a small stack of wood.

"Well, that should be good to get the fire going," Deja said. "Once I get it going, I'll see about the firewood. You want to set up our dinner?" Deja said, pointing to the table.
 
As they walked up the stairs and Deja commented on the attic, Abe was quick to playfully chime in. "Oh, you don't know? What a mystery!" He said with a snicker, quite curious to find out what might be up there himself. When they opened the door and entered the loft, he let out an involuntary 'Ooooo" as he his eyes explored the antic looking room. "Woah, what a cool room!"

He nodded helpfully when she asked him to fix the two of them a more proper meal while she started up the fire place. "Yeah sure thing!" He brought the bag of food over to the dinning table and rummaged through it for something that the two of them eat for tonight.

"Heh, you know how when a movie or TV show cuts to someone in a robe smoking a pipe and sitting next to a fire place who's supposedly narrating the story? Doesn't this look exactly like one of those rooms?" He said, happily making idle chit chat with her.
 
"It does look like something from a Masterpiece Theatre intro," Deja remarked, as she got the fire going.

In no time at all, Deja got the fire going.

"I'm going to get some more firewood," Deja announced, standing up. "You stay put, and I'll be back in ten minutes."
 
Considering that he didn't have a whole lot to work with, Abe decided to settle on some granola bars, dried fruit, and some beef jerky as their evening meal. He was in the middle of setting them out on the table when Deja told him to wait here while she went and got more firewood. "Ehhh?" he said as he turned his head. "Hey now, you shouldn't have to do that all by yourself! Let me help you!" His offer was accompanied by a warm smile. He hated the thought of sitting around while Deja did all the work.
 
Deja looked down at what Abe was setting out and frowned. "Okay, I know I saw a lot better down in the kitchen than that. You can at least get the fixings for sandwiches, milk and fruit juice, and a pie out of the walk in fridge. The door's still open to the basement. You do your job right, and I'll do mine.
 
Abe blinked a couple times as Deja scolded him, a blank expression adorning his face. "Oh uh, sorry Ms Williams.." He said blushing. "I guess I was thinking to only grab like non perishable foods, like stuff you'd bring in a camping trip. I'll uh, go get some real food right away!" His usual chipper tone was absent, genuinely embarrassed to look so foolish in front of her. He hastily gathered up what he set out and quickly left the room without another word to correct his mistake.
 
"We have refrigeration just two flights of stairs away," Deja admonished the young man as she watched him head down the stairs. She then look out the window and saw the snow flying. "Well, let's see how much wood I can get inside," she said to herself. With that, Deja headed to the front door.
 
Once Abe was back in the kitchen, he shook his head a little to regain his composure. "Okay okay, let's see now" He said out loud to himself. Looking around, he was now determined to bring back a proper meal for them to eat, ready to make slightly more liberal use of the food available than he probably should have. Like she suggested, he began to assemble some sandwiches, carefully selecting what he put in to make something especially tasty!
 
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