September, 1927

Bunty hadn't meant to peek into Newt's room.

Okay, maybe that was a lie. But Newt had never been late getting in to give his beloved creatures breakfast and she was concerned. It was really in his best interests that she went upstairs to his bedroom to go check on him. He could be hurt, or sick. And, besides that, he never let her feed the kelpie on her own and that beast would become especially ornery, even for a kelpie, if she didn't receive her breakfast within the hour. Of course, maybe Newt had just overslept his alarm and needed a wake-up call... and if, when she ran upstairs to check on him, she just happened to see that beautiful man with his shirt off, well, that was quite besides the point.

Feeling giddy with growing excitement that she was trying to outwardly tamp down, she raced up the stairs and then quietly creaked open the door that led to the main floor of the house and, more importantly, towards Newt's bedroom. The parlor room was still dark, save for the sunlight that streamed through the threadbare curtains. She needed to make a 360 degree turn around the room to get her bearings; normally, she flooed straight into the animal care space. In fact, in the eight months she had worked with Newt, she had only ever been up in the main floor of the flat once before, six months ago. Newt had just returned from the first of his soon to be many trips abroad to America and had been too haggard to refuse her offer to cook him a meal. She smiled fondly at the memory: watching Newt hungrily down the stew she had made him as she peeked around the flat just enough to figure out which of the two doors in the flat would lead to Newt's bedroom. It wasn't a problem that was hard to solve.

Bunty stepped in front of Newt's closed bedroom door and was taking a long moment to reign in her excitement and gather together her courage when she heard a 'thump' on the other side, followed by a muffled, 'sorry.' She had no idea Newt talked in his sleep, but if anything it somehow made him impossibly more attractive. She wondered what he was dreaming about. A little mishap with one of his creatures, perhaps? Maybe she was in the dream. Quietly so as no to startle him awake, she turned the knob and began to push the door open, but then stopped abruptly when she heard a woman's voice.

"It's okay."

Newt already had a woman in his bedroom? Bunty's mind erupted in a clatter of conflicting thoughts. How very… unlike Newt. Or, at least, she had thought it was. Perhaps he wasn't the shy, retiring gentleman who he had always presented himself as, after all. Or the situation could be completely innocent. Perhaps he honestly was injured and she was a healer? Curiosity getting the best of her, Bunty brought her face to the door, closed one eye, and squinted through the crack she had created to look inside. She saw the bare back and slender shoulders of a dark-haired woman positioned on all fours on the bed with her head bent down as her body moved up and down in fluid motions. Blankets covered her from the waist down, but the outline of several legs could be seen beneath the covers. Bunty shifted her eyes downward, following the eyeline of the mystery woman's bent head and saw a hint of chestnut brown hair and the side of Newt's face. He was looking up at the woman with a nervous yet adoring expression.

"I – I didn't mean to bump you like that."

The woman laughed softly. "Newt." She said his name in a low purr Bunty had only ever imagined using with a man. "You're fine."

"I must say, I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing you say my name like that."

The woman leaned down more and kissed Newt on the mouth. Bunty had never seen Newt kiss anyone – had never even seen him look very hard at a woman – and watching this new side of him felt both alien and exciting.

"I hope I never get used to seeing you look at me like that," the mystery woman said once their kiss was broken.

Newt went very still and Bunty squinted extra hard to more clearly see the side of his face. If only she had an enchanted eye she could toss into the room, this would be so much easier. She could tell though that Newt's eyes were wide and earnest.

"I love you, Tina," he said simply.

Tina. She had heard him talk about a Tina, back when he had left for that trip to America six months ago. His behavior surrounding that trip had been rather queer, now that she thought about it. He had just gotten the latest edited version of his manuscript back from the publisher and was waving it around as he exclaimed excitedly that it was finally going to print. Then he had said something about needing leave immediately to give a copy of his book to a friend of his named Tina and if she had any trouble with the animals to send a letter via the albatross to New York City. He returned over a month later after having extended his trip for two weeks and with no explanation as to why. Well, Bunty thought with burning ears, mystery solved. It also all of a sudden made sense as to why he kept travelling back there, even during trips when his book tour agenda hadn't scheduled him to visit that city. How many trips had he taken to New York since she had started working for him? Three? Four? Did he do this with Tina every time?

"I love you, Newt," Bunty heard Tina whisper in reply.

Newt's arms wrapped around Tina's middle and Tina giggled as she collapsed onto him. Beneath the covers, Bunty could see Newt begin pumping his hips harder. She should… she should really look away. She felt her whole body flush with a mixture of embarrassment and arousal as she mentally ran down her list of fantasies and made a few moderate corrections concerning Newt's behaviors. No, she should walk away. The floorboards creaked as she took a half-step backwards and Tina furrowed her brows and craned to look at the door. With her heart thumping loudly in ears, Bunty held her breath and stood as still as possible, hoping against hope that she hadn't been noticed. It didn't seem she had, because a moment later, Tina turned her face upwards and gave Newt a hard kiss on the mouth, the door seeming to have been all but forgotten.

Before long, Tina was moving in tandem with him as she met his pace, both in speed and vigor. He kissed her gently on the mouth and then laid gentle kisses along her jawline. Tina bared her neck to him to give him better access. He moved his head in a way that looked like he was nuzzling her where her jaw met her neck. The nuzzling motion made Bunty think of the way mating pairs of graphorns cuddled; it was a comfort for them to smell their partner's scent. Bunty had spent a fair amount of time wondering about Newt's lovemaking style. In all her fantasies, she had imagined that he would be gentle and tender like this. She had enjoyed that thought. Knowing it was true made Bunty flush with excitement. She imagined Newt's lips on her jaw, his nose buried in her neck as he enthusiastically thrust his hips into her and shivered at the thought.

She could make another attempt to back away – should, really. But what if Newt or this Tina person heard her again? Maybe it was for the best that she stayed where she was. She should plan her exit for a better moment – the perfect moment, she told herself, to make sure she would go undetected. For as slim as her chances of ever being with Newt seemed now, they would dwindle down to nothing if he knew she'd caught him en flagrante with another woman. And on some level she didn't even care how much of her reasoning was an excuse. She had never seen Newt like this before, but had of course always hoped to, albeit under different circumstances. She wondered what it was about this woman that was so alluring to him that he was willing to make multiple trips across the Atlantic to be with her when she, Bunty, was literally right in front of him every day and more than willing to be on the receiving end of his affections. She thought back on the days she and Newt fed the occamies together and cooed over the baby nifflers. Was this Tina woman as excited over learning about obscure magical creatures as she had become? Was she as maternal? Was she shy like she and Newt were? As willing to put her hands into the mud to work? Or perhaps Newt didn't really like those things at all in a woman. Bunty leaned in further to see more, as if looking harder would give her the answers to her questions and quench the heat burning deep inside her abdomen, and in doing so she inadvertently pushed her face against the door hard enough to silently slide it open another fraction of an inch.

Newt began making muffled, breathy moans, quietly at first but as he and Tina continued their enthusiastic thrusting, Newt threw his head back and Bunty could clearly hear the rhythmic sounds of pleasure escaping his mouth every time Tina completed a downwards thrust. What's more, because his head was firmly against the pillow, from her view of the side of his face, she could plainly see his ecstasy. He was enraptured. Unconsciously, she moved forward a step and the hinges on the door squeaked as it crept open about two inches wider. Mortified, Bunty grimaced and froze. There was no explanation she could conjure to why she would be standing just outside the bedroom, slowly opening the bedroom door inches at a time. Fortunately, both Newt and his paramour were so thoroughly enthralled with each other that they hadn't seemed to notice. Bunty could nearly peek her whole head into the room and, while she didn't quite dare do that, she used the better vantage point available to her to peek in far enough to see most of Newt's face. Tina was bouncing up and down on Newt in earnest and making her own little rhythmic gasps and moans roughly in time with Newt's. Newt's eyes were screwed tightly shut, his mouth was wide open in an "O", and he was breathing like he had just run several miles. Bunty she felt her vaginal muscles tighten and throb knowing she was about to see him climax. She had wondered many times as she had sat alone in the dark of night what he would look like during such an intense moment.

Tina's screams of ecstasy brought her out of her reverie.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Tina shouted as she pumped her hips fast and hard, her former rhythm breaking into staccato movements.

Newt stopped pumping and he gripped her arms tightly as he watched her come undone on top of him. His eyes opened wide as if he was searching her face. It wasn't long before Tina's screams quieted and her erratic movement became sluggish and then rhythmic once again.

Newt whispered something softly, so softly that it took Bunty a few seconds to put it together, but it sounded like, "May I?" Tina nodded and, with a confidence Bunty didn't know he had, Newt flipped them around in a series of quick, fluid motions and began riding Tina. From here, frustratingly, Newt's face was turned away from her but she could see his entire back, which was very muscular in the way that only comes from years of hard, backbreaking work and covered in a light spray of freckles exactly like Bunty had imagined it might be. His movements sent the blanket slipping down off of them and Bunty was unexpectedly treated to a view of his buttocks and thighs. Her eyes went wide and she blinked. Oh my. They were muscular, perhaps moreso than she would have expected for his slight frame.

Newt wasn't setting the pace as quickly as Tina had right before she had climaxed, but he was physically shaking. Tina wrapped her legs around Newt and pushed her heels into his buttocks, encouraging him on. It seemed to work: Newt buried his face in her breasts and his pace got both faster and harder and before long both he and Tina were moaning at every one of his thrusts. She sounded quite into this change in their position, so much so that Bunty wondered if she was about to have another orgasm. Newt appeared to be be thinking the same thing because he raised his head quizzically and Tina nodded.

"Go ahead." Tina then kissed him on the ear and whispered something that, even straining, Bunty wasn't able to hear. Whatever it was though spurned Newt onward. His thrusts grew faster and faster and then stuttering as he moaned and shook through his climax. He was a loud climaxer, or at least louder than Bunty would have guessed given his usual soft-spoken manner. She took advantage of the noisy distraction and hoped it would mask any further sound of her exit. Fortunately, no more floorboards squeaked as she crept away from the door and towards the basement. She could hear the rustle of clothing and Newt's voice behind her suddenly exclaiming about the time, about how Bunty must be wondering where he was, and a promise to Tina of seeing her again later. Silently, Bunty shut the door to the basement behind her and then scampered down the many flights of stairs as quickly as her legs could carry her.

She was tossing some raw chicken to the dugbogs when Newt arrived in the basement several minutes later, fully dressed but with his hair slightly more tousled than usual and wearing a wide smile.

Bunty put on her best casual smile, which she knew couldn't possibly look natural and tried to meet his eyeline. She tried once, then twice, and then a third time before giving up. "You look chipper," she said to the floor.

Newt stopped short for a minute and Bunty chanced a glance up at his face again, the same face that just moments ago she had seen contorted in the most exquisite ecstasy. Did he perhaps look a bit guilty? Or was that her own guilt she was seeing?

"Oh, I am, thanks," Newt said warmly. "Tina just got in last night and I'm expected to show her around London today. I'm very excited."

She had just seen him very excited. "You know," she said, putting on the most confident, flirtatious smile she could muster and forcing her eyes to look at Newt's face even if she couldn't quite look into his eyes, "you can show me around London anytime."

Newt looked at her, confused. "You already know London."

"Not the way you would show it to me."

Newt looked as if he was trying to figure out if she was making some kind of joke and Bunty felt her face flush in embarrassment. Of course he had no idea what she was talking about, or what innuendo she was implying. All of her attempts at flirtation, from this to encouraging him to take his shirt off to feed the kelpie had fallen flat. She wondered how Tina had gotten him into bed in the first place. It quickly occurred to Bunty in that moment that Newt had mentioned Tina all but once to her, and never in the context of what she was to him. Was he aware of that? Was he testing her?

"Tina?" Bunty asked in what she knew was the worst fakery of an innocent tone.

"Oh!" Newt's cheeks flushed a little with color. "I suppose I never mentioned. Yes, Tina is my..." He grabbed several slices of chicken from Bunty's bucket and began tossing some to the dugbogs as well. "Well, she's my girlfriend." His face broke out into a lopsided grin and he bashfully ducked his head at little at the word 'girlfriend.' "We met nearly a year ago now, during my first visit to New York. First visit to America, really. This is her first trip to England and I want to make it special for her, so I'll be taking her out sightseeing later."

"So, you must really care for her then."

Newt blinked, looking surprised at Bunty's invasive line of questioning. "I do," he said slowly. "I love her, actually. Very much."

Bunty quickly gazed back down at the floor as she felt her last vestiges of hope for herself and Newt vanish like the pieces of chicken quickly being swallowed by the log-like dugbogs. "Congratulations," she said matter-of-factly.

Newt gave her an odd look for a couple beats. "I think a few of the baby nifflers are missing. I hope they haven't escaped upstairs again. Have you seen them?"

"No!" Bunty said a bit too quickly. "I mean, no, I haven't. Perhaps they're upstairs. I wouldn't know whether they were or not."

Newt raised an eyebrow and gave her an amused smile. "I'll just go check. Could you ready the meat for the kelpie for me?"

"Of course! Yes, that's me. Always here to help. At your side."

She watched him go, imagining seeing that backside again without clothes on. Just then, one of the nifflers jumped out from her pocket, a shiny gold galleon in its little paws. She sighed exasperatedly. She was going to need to get that back if she hoped to get an enchanted eye anytime soon.