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malmuses · 7 years ago

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A Very Human Risk - Part 1 - Sam

Author’s Notes:

My very first fanfic, not to mention the first thing I’ve written in at least 10 years. Eek! This tumblr is really for myself, to prove that I can do it... but just in case anyone stumbles across it, here’s a quick Authors Note and summary.

There are 6 parts to this fic, from various character points of view, and an epilogue. (So technically 7 parts I suppose....) They are all already complete, but I plan on posting them separately over the next couple of weeks after proofing and editing. If anyone reads, I’d love a message or comment to say hi! I’ll likely post a more in-depth authors note when I’m done.

This fic is set during early to mid Season 13, shortly after Cas’s return from The Empty.

Summary

Team Free Will’s thousand mile journey home from a routine hunt is going to take a little longer than planned. Sam’s patience with Dean and his Angel’s lack of true communication doesn’t last that far...

Destiel, Humor, Optional Smut. GO!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

A Very Human Risk

Part One - Sam

Blood. Miscellaneous viscera. A small chunk of what might be intestine… more blood. Sam idly examined the stains on his pants while he waited for the lights to change. He was sat shotgun in the front of the Impala, ignoring the thump of his possibly-concussed head so that Dean could swing them through the drive-thru of a small mom-and-pop burger joint near Zebulon, North Carolina. Something clear and kinda greasy… was that spinal fluid? Some days, it was definitely better to pick a food option where they didn’t have to get out of the car. In the wide back seat, Cas shifted his weight forward and reached into the driver’s space. He seemed miraculously clean himself, but he had no qualms or squeamishness about the lump of something-or-other he flicked out of Deans sandy hair. There was a tiny plop as whatever-it-was landed on the dashboard.

“Hey, watch the tunes…” Dean grumbled mildly, pushing a slightly yellowed cassette of Styx songs away from the chunk.

Cas made no response, instead retreating to his often worn silent-but-listening expression and returning his gaze out of the window.

A few minutes later, Dean passed a large brown bag of warmth and questionable nutrition over to Sam, who settled it on his lap among the stains and began to rifle through as they made their way back to the highway. “They forgot a fork for my salad…” Sam lamented quietly.

“Guess you’ll have to eat it straight out of the bowl, like a true rabbit.” Dean offered with a slight grin. His words were teasing, but his tone was thin and tired. He shifted in his seat, wincing sorely at an assortment of minor wounds.

They had been on the road for several hours since they ganked a whole nest of vampires near the coast, trying to make sure they’d shaken a particularly curious traffic cop who pulled them on the way back from cleaning up the remains. He’d found no issue with the license of a certain Edward Halen, thank Chuck, but had seemed more than a little disturbed by the state of the car and its occupants. Dean had thought it best to ditch their plan to wash up in a nearby motel and stay on the road until they were well clear. Although filthy, beaten and in several cases bleeding, none of them were gravely wounded and they figured a good few hours of the road back home couldn’t hurt.

“You should rest soon.” It was a statement from Cas in the back. “Or at least shower…”

We must smell awful to him, Sam contemplated.

Dean opened his mouth to offer a quick retort, but after a couple of seconds he merely sighed and agreed.

“Yeah. Let’s find somewhere with a room for tonight. It’s over a thousand miles back to Kansas, so we’re not getting back to the Bunker today anyways. Or at least a by-the-hour with a ton of hot water.”

He paused briefly to check the traffic before swinging the car out onto the highway. “I’ll head towards Raleigh, there’s bound to be some kinda motel before we hit the city.”

Sam nodded idly, distracted by more pressing matters. “Dean, did you seriously order three cheeseburgers?”

“Yes.” His brother snapped, before rolling his eyes and relenting. “One’s for Cas, bitch.”

“Cas doesn’t eat, jerk.”

“Oh, but I can.” The speed with which Cas snatched the offending item from Sam’s hand was really unnecessary. Sam watched Dean’s eyes slide back to look at the angel as he unwrapped the greasy package, biting into the burger with a contented little sigh. His brother looked pleased with himself, a tiny smile curling his lip as their eyes caught and hovered for just a second too long, before Dean had to return his gaze to the tarmac. Sam said nothing; he’d been around these two long enough to know moments like that weren’t his to intrude on. The silence that followed though… that bugged him a lot more than it used to before.

* * *

Throwing the motel card to Dean, Sam ducked down into the driver’s seat of the Impala.

“Go grab the first shower Dean, so we can get your injuries patched up…. Cas and I will run to that grocery store we passed and grab some beer and snacks for later.”

Without waiting for a response, Sam spun out of the Motel 8 parking lot. Looking over his shoulder he caught Cas’s slightly confused expression, but the angel said nothing and remained in place on the back seat, almost eerily immobile as the Impala lurched over the uneven gravel. It took only a couple of minutes to get to the Food Lion parking lot. As the car settled, Sam took the key and slipped it into his pocket, but didn’t immediately move.

“Perhaps I should fetch the beer, Sam.” Cas rumbled mildly. “For once, I may draw less attention.” He gestured to Sam’s splattered clothing.

“Yeah, I really took the brunt of the spray when Dean hacked that brunette.”

The door creaked as Cas began to open it.

“Cas?”

“Yes, Sam?”

Sam took a moment, before turning his giant form in the seat so he could look at the angelic face in the back, who still had one hand on the door handle. “Do you love my brother, Cas?”

A ghost of something shot across Castiel’s brilliant blue eyes before he responded. “Of course, Sam. You’re both family to me.”

Sam chuckled slightly, but it was a sad sound.

“Of course.” Despite his tone, his smile to the angel was genuinely fond. “But… I watched Dean grieve for you when you were in the Empty, Cas. I’ve seen him grieve plenty over the years…Grief for family. Dad. Mom. Bobby… For friends, for Charlie, Kevin, Ellen and Jo…. We thought you were really gone, Cas. Christ, I missed you too. It was awful. But Dean…. I’ve never seen him grieve like that Cas. He lost himself.”

The silence in the trench coat loomed for several moments.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Sam.” His voice a soft, frustrated growl. “It was a stupid move on my part… I was reckless and you paid for that.”

“You made a snap decision Cas, we’ve all done worse,” Sam comforts. “But that’s not my point.”

Castiel’s gaze dropped down and he began to fidget uncharacteristically with his tie.

Sam thinks for a moment about how mad Dean would be if he knew this conversation was why he had kidnapped the angel from the motel. Eh. At least he’ll have something valid to be angry about this week.

“He broke, Cas. He hasn’t told you, but… When I say he lost himself? He almost died. I think he tried…..” Sam’s gentle voice trailed off momentarily as he became aware that he was now using the same tone to speak to Cas as he used to soothe distressed victims and the inevitable bereaved family members they often came across during hunts. “…I mean, I don’t know that he made the conscious decision, but… the day that you came back, he died. To find a ghost. He was gone for a long time… too long. I don’t think he really cared if he came back. Not with you gone.”

When the angel’s eyes rose back up to Sam’s face, the blue was dangerously dark and his brow furrowed noticeably. “You think Dean would give up like that? Because of me?”

“I think….” Sam spread his hands in a calming gesture. “I just think he was grieving for something… more.”

In a moment of bravery, Sam reached awkwardly into the back seat and rested his hand on the angel’s knee. “I just thought… if I told you, maybe…..” He trailed off, unsure now.

Cas looked down at the hand resting on his dress pants, his gaze giving away that it was a strangely alien sight. Cas and Dean shared friendly touches and personal space often. It was comfortable now, normal. But despite the occasional hug or shoulder clap in their history, Sam didn’t usually invade his space more than he had to. His brief smile was grateful.

His otherworldly blue eyes drifted out of the window and rested on an elderly man headed into the grocery store with a cart, following him for a long moment before he eventually looked back to the younger Winchester.

“Sam, you know that… closeness between Humans and Angels is frowned upon.”

It wasn’t quite an admission, but Sam caught it, a small smile breaking his huge face.

“Being a rebel is hardly new to you, Cas… and it’s not like you and Dean could create a Nephilim or anything. At least, uh…” Sam’s brow furrowed. Could they? Angels didn’t even have a gender, so how much did the vessel really…..

As if watching the cogs in Sam’s brain turn, Cas interrupted briefly. “No. Male human, male angelic vessel. No Nephilim risk there.” He seemed slightly amused by Sam’s momentary confusion, something akin to a smirk briefly passing his lips.

“Right.” Sam’s laugh was somehow relieved. Good. That would be weird as fuck.

Minutes passed, in not totally uncomfortable silence.

“Sam?”

Pushing his hair back behind his ear, Sam quickly brought his attention back to the angel. “Yeah?” He tried for his best open, accepting smile.

“Am I to take it then, that… You would not be adverse to any change in mine and Dean’s… our… relationship? Such as it is?” Cas seemed to stumble a little with the wording, finding his tongue betraying him in his moment of need, attempting to voice something he had kept unspoken for the best part of a decade. “I’m… nothing, really. Not quite an angel anymore, not quite a human…. and my vessel is male. Dean hasn’t ever indicated that he would, uh, want….”

Cas’s voice gives up the ghost entirely, a flush working its way out of his white shirt collar, much to Sam’s slightly cruel delight. He took a second to bite back a teasing response, not wanting to spook the angel in a pivotal moment.

“Castiel.” Using the angel’s full name seemed to calm his gaze and bring his attention back to Sam. “You’re my brother, man. Maybe not by blood born...but damn, by blood spilled, you’re my brother. I can’t tell you what Dean wants, or for sure how he’ll react….but I know what I’ve seen, these past years. Life is too short… human life, anyway. I just wanted you to know so that… if you wanted to talk to him, you’d know you had my blessing and my support. Whatever happens.”

“What if he doesn’t want me, Sam?”

The gigantic Winchester was suddenly floored by the raw vulnerability in the angel’s voice. From his awkwardly turned position in the front of the Impala, all he can do is firmly squeeze Castiel’s knee.

“Well… that’s a very human risk, Cas. You may be an angel again, but you out of them all know what it is to feel…. and I think even as an angel you’re capable of sharing that terrifying little part of humanity. All I can tell you is that I’m here for you dude, as trite as that sounds.”

Cas can only nod, his gaze resting soulfully on Sam’s comforting hand.

--------------------------------------

That’s it for today! I’ll be back in a couple of days with Part 2, where we pick up with Dean.

Edit: This fic is now complete!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

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authoressskr · 7 years ago

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Ugly Sweaters

Pairing: None ++ Word Count: 2352 ++ Warnings: Language, Questionable Knitting Skills (Disclaimer: I don’t knit.), Avoiding Finishing Things, Christmas Fluff, Group Hug

Note: Do NOT repost, copy and paste, post or share my works on any other platform without my EXPRESS PERMISSION. -+- REBLOGGING is fine! -+-

When Cas had suggested knitting to relax you, you’d scoffed but hadn’t totally shot down the idea.

Nearly five months later, looking at the knitted messes - to be hereafter referred to as “the Abominations” - adorning your bed...you should have known this would end up stressing you out. Relaxing my ass.

You’d been working hard on these stupid things and now that you were nearly eighty or maybe ninety percent done with these eight stupid Abominations, you wanted to throw them away. Or burn them. Now there’s an idea!

It was still early, you reasoned. You could absolutely find other things to give all the boys.

Mary’s Christmas gift you’d gotten nearly a month and a half ago when you were in Raleigh for a double poltergeist case. It was wrapped, labeled and sitting beside your desk.

But the boys, well that had been a different story…

The angels (that Chuck had hand-delivered to the Bunker nearly eight months ago...no warning, just “Here you go! This is their new home.” to you guys and “Don’t kill anyone in this room. Rest up and good luck.” to them. It had been a tense first week after that...) could snap up whatever they wanted. And now that Jack had begun learning that ability you’d nearly written the nephilim off the ‘To Buy’ list too.

Sam and Dean wouldn’t know Christmas or celebrate if it bit them in the ass. So, with firm knowledge about their holiday past (slim to none) and your own firsthand account of their attempts at birthdays (one would mutter ‘happy birthday’ to the other and usually get whatever take out the birthday boy wanted; if at home, this may include breakfast), you had decided against buying them anything for Christmas as well. They tended to replace things immediately, so this didn’t give you much chance to buy or even plan to buy for them.

Which had led to the happy, easy decision to make their gifts.

After all, you’d made scarves AND successfully made a pair of black mittens for Jack.

With a few months until Christmas, you had put your faith in your limited abilities - which in hindsight wasn’t the smartest thing you’d ever done - and began looking up simple sweater designs. After choosing the simplest one you could find, you’d made the 3-and-a-half-hour trek to both craft stores in Lawrence, gathering colored heavy-duty yarn like a hoarder.

Giving the Abominations a glare before swiping a tired hand down your face, you simply shoved the mostly finished things to the side and grabbed your laptop. Sure, you had missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday but there was still time to order them all something. It was, after all, only the second day of December.

---

Fucking stress.

Fucking knitting.

Fucking pair of rogue demons.

Leaving Jack, Samandriel, and Balthazar at the Bunker, you, Sam, Dean, and Gabriel had headed out December 5th to track down the demons and gank ‘em. Castiel was helping Mary with a nest of vampires in Montana, stating he’d join you all in Colorado in a day or two.

But by the time you got to Boulder, they’d fled up to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Black-eyed dicks.

Once you’d hauled ass to Cheyenne and tracked them down, you’d only managed to find some lower level peon who they’d convinced to run interference. He’s easily given up their next location. And was just as easily dispatched.

So, on December 17th, you’d finally cornered them in Portland fucking Oregon. By then you had added Balthazar and Gadreel to the roster, so they could pop in and lay the trap while you, Sam, Dean and Cas could kill the few demons on guard and, as your luck would have it, a pair of newly turned werewolves.

When you guys had returned home in the late evening hours of the 20th, you could have wept.

Or pull your hair out. It was five days until Christmas. Fuck.

---

After a few hours rest, Jack had come into your room practically vibrating with excitement.

You had, after all, promised him a Christmas tree when you returned from the hunt. And who could say no to that sweet little face? You’d shooed him from the room to dress, your eyes once again falling on the Abominations that lay in a haphazard pile on the top of your desk. Sighing, you knew what had to be done.

They’d have to be finished.

After the Christmas tree was found. And decorated. And you had a few shots of whatever was handy.

---

Christmas tree shopping was going surprisingly well. Considering.

When Jack had explained to his uncles where you two were headed, they’d all volunteered themselves to tag along. Not that you minded - they had behaved.

Well, they’d behaved as well as could be expected.

Then there had been a trip to a local Hallmark store so that you could get the angels proper ornaments.

“We just bought the colorful ones in town. Why are these different?” Jack queried, running a careful finger over a nutcracker ornament.

“Because we are doing Christmas how I grew up. That means that you get to choose one ornament that you like best. And when Christmas is over we will carefully put it back in the box, and tuck it away until next year. Then we’ll do this all over again.” He’s carefully studying every ornament when you reach past him and press the button on the Mickey Mouse ornament. His eyes light up as he begins searching for more buttons on the ornaments only to pause.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we get this one for Dean?” He points up the little pie on a cutting board.

“Of course, sweetie. Let’s find the box then we’ll find one for you and Sam.”

“And you.” Jack supplies happily as he hands you the tiny pie ornament box.

---

After getting the tree and two big bags full of ornaments home, you’d coerced Dean and Sam out from their rooms to help with decorating the giant tree it had taken four hours for the angels to find and agree on.

Anything to keep the thoughts of your homemade sweaters away.

By the time you called it a night, the nearly eleven foot tree was dressed to the nines. Were the lights evenly spaced? No. Were the ornaments distributed evenly? God no. Was there more purple and silver garland on one side? Yes. Were there giant clumps of tinsel hanging in random places? Yes.

And it was one of the most beautiful things you’d seen in years.

Seeing that wonderful, off-kilter tree had filled you with the thought that maybe the sweaters weren’t perfect, but you’d spent lots of time on them for the boys...so, you guess, maybe, they deserved to be finished.

In the morning.

---

By Christmas eve, you only needed to finish Cas’s sweater. One sleeve end was simply refusing to work with you, making you unravel a couple inches to reknit it properly. You’d have to work on it before bed since you and Dean had been in the kitchen most of the evening prepping as much as you could for Christmas dinner.

You’d also been fighting off Gabriel, Jack and Dean who had all kept coming in to ‘help’ (to unabashedly steal cookies or the little pudding cups you’d made from the leftover lemon, chocolate and coconut cream fillings) you finish baking that afternoon.

Not that you were too upset about it. There was an easiness in the Bunker you hadn’t really experienced before.

You made them watch “Year Without a Santa Claus” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” - your favorite Christmas cartoons - before bed, promising Jack you’d watch more tomorrow.

Scurrying back to your room, you grabbed your knitting needles and set to work.

---

At nearly two in the morning you had all eight sweaters nestled into their boxes, carefully setting the little journals you’d gotten each of them atop the not-so-terrible-now Abominations. After securing each boxes lid you prayed to Cas to distract Jack, if he was anywhere between your room and the tree which is in the main entryway between the library arch and the base of the stairs.

As stealthily as you could, you carried the first of your load to the tree, carefully arranging them on the dark red Christmas tree skirt that Sam had found in the Bunker storage room.

On your second trip, you ran into Balthazar, who simply raised a blonde eyebrow at the four boxes in your arms.

You prayed a big thank you to Cas before curling up in your bed, a happy tiredness dragging you down to sleep.

---

The doorknob hit the wall with a thud, jolting you awake.

Your heavy eyelids finally managed to open, revealing an excited Jack. Sam was leaning against the doorframe, chuckling.

“Y/N!” You notice he’s dressed in the pajamas you bought him a few weeks ago before you shove your face back into your pillow. “It’s Christmas!”

“Jack…”

“We got everything ready. Dean even let me make the toast. Are you gonna get up?” You groan into the pillow before Jack calls out for Gadreel, whose hands are suddenly under your covers, wrangling you from your bed. You groan out a sleepy Merry Christmas to appease Jack as you tuck your face against Gadreel’s chest, letting him carry you down the hall.

“I though,” *yawn* “We were gonna eat breakfast first…”

“We set it up in the library,” Sam informs as you struggle to wake up still.

By the time Gadreel carefully sets you down in a library chair, you’re more awake, but still yawning like it’s going out of style. You rub the sides of your finger against your eyes to chase the sleep away as Dean places a plate in front of you.

“Morning,” Mary says from across the table before taking a generous bite of bacon.

“Merry Christmas.” You mutter in reply before making grabby hands at the cup Dean is filling up with grape juice. He chuckles, shaking his head before handing you the cup.

‘Merry Christmas’ is said all around as the angels loiter around the room, Balthazar and Gabriel laughing at the fact humans celebrate Jesus’s birth in the winter when he was born in the summer. And at how pagan traditions are more prevalent in your ‘holy holiday’ than most people think.

“Says the pagan god,” Gabriel smirks at your words then shrugs.

“I’m not gonna argue with you when you aren’t running on all cylinders.”

“Bite me.”

“Finally! A gift I can really get behind!” His snarky comment just earns him a glare. Gabriel remains unfazed as he and Balthazar both wink at you.

“Eat.” Jack nudges your arm with his, happily shoving the majority of a piece of toast with jam into his mouth.

You obey, working through the mountain of food Dean gave you - pushing it away before you had even finished half.

Now that you’ve eaten, you are feeling much more awake. And as you help Sam gather the dishes and follow after him, a small tendril of anxiety and worry curl in your belly.

They’re going to hate your knitted Abominations. Oh god, what have you done? It’s far too late to take them back. Maybe later you could hold a giant bonfire out back and burn them?

“Hey.” Sam takes the plates from your hand, wrinkling his forehead. “You zoned out there. Still sleepy?” His tone is light and teasing, and you give a huff of forced laughter.

“Not anymore.” No, not at all now that that little thread of fear had wormed it’s way back into your thoughts. You follow him back to the Christmas tree, trying to push the niggling Abominations away.

There seem to be a lot more presents than you remembered from early this morning, sinking down into the comfortable loveseat beside Samandriel.

“Youngest to oldest,” you order cheerfully as you nod at Jack. In a moment of panic, you pray to Gabriel (since he’s doling out the presents) that your 8 identical boxes go last.

You watch in horror as he hands Jack the light blue wrapped box containing your gifts.

I know where the holy oil is AND the enochian handcuffs are! You snap out the prayer watching as he arches an eyebrow in your direction with a broad grin.

Kinky, sugar plum.

Jack pulls the dark leather covered notebook from the box and then grasps the dark green thing, holding it aloft with the biggest smile plastered on his bright innocent face.

Welp, this is it, you think. You’ll have to move out. Change your name. God, this was a terrible idea…

The nephilim eagerly tugs it on, his eyes falling on you as he holds his arms out, showing off the horrible sweater.

“Thank you!” He envelopes you in a tight hug before running a hand down the material. “It smells like you. Did you make it?” You manage a nod, not realizing that all the boys have opened their boxes.

You’re actually taken aback at how well every ugly sweater fits and how even Balthazar and Gabriel have shirked theirs on.

They have you on the edge of tears when you hear Mary.

“Hey, where’s mine?”

“What?”

“Well, they all got nice sweaters.”

“You think they’re nice?!” It comes out louder than you expected, confused. “They aren’t nice. They’re terrible, knitted Abominations.” You sigh, slumping down in your seat a little. “I severely overestimated my abilities and - and, this is where it got me.”

“But we like them.” Samandriel speaks up, the other boys nodding.

“And we are wearing them because you made them for us.” Gadreel confirms.

“It’s … comfy.” Dean supplies, the angels and Sam shooting him a look that clearly said ‘Shut up, you aren’t helping.’

“Really?” You ask hopefully.

“Really,” Cas affirms, his dark blue sweater visible under his ever-present trenchcoat as he pulls you in for a hug.

Then you’re suddenly surrounded by a circle of angelic bodies, each latched onto each other around you.

“Don’t expect us to do this all the time.” Balthazar mutters loudly.

“The group hugging or the sweater wearing?”

“Both.” He answers as you chuckle against Cas’s chest.

For reference: This is the ornament Jack picked for Dean.

@lucis-unicorn @chelsea072498 @clockworkmorningglory @sakurablossom4 @nobodys-baby-now @thewhiterabbit42 @unleashthemidnight @ourloveisforthelovely @sumara62

#supernatural christmas #supernatural reader insert #knitting nightmare #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #jack kline #gabriel #balthazar #gadreel #samandriel #mary winchester #chuck shurley #December 2nd #23 more to go #authoressskr writes #tis the season #ugly sweaters

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fidelityjobs · 7 years ago

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You are where you work: North Carolina

This Fidelity region is located in the city of Durham, about a 30 minute drive from Raleigh and four hours from the famous beaches of The Outer Banks. The campus was established in 2002, with its call center opening five years later. Now, approximately 3,700 associates are working and enjoying these unique aspects in the region:

Fitting into "The Triangle"

Fidelity's North Carolina office is located in Research Triangle Park (RTP), a geographic region shaped by three surrounding universities – Duke, North Carolina State, and North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Triangle is the one of the largest research and science parks in America, home to hundreds of high-tech companies. The convergence of business, government and universities in RTP fosters an innovative and active community. With its location amidst a pine forest, The Triangle has been summed up as "trees and PhDs."

Considering its location in The Triangle, it's not surprising that FidelityLabs opened its second location on the campus in 2012. Since its opening, the group has grown to more than 12 associates, focusing on scaling innovation, emerging technology, research and incubators.

Uniting their workforce

The North Carolina offices are clearly designed with an eye toward creativity and collaboration, involving ping pong tables, bright colors, motivational art, and shared spaces. Soon, opportunities for collaboration will grow even more as associates are brought closer together.

Housing the future of IT

Three times a year the North Carolina region opens its doors to new entry-level Fidelity technologists. On average, 100 associates join with each class of the Leap Program, whose U.S. headquarters resides in Research Triangle Park. Leap is Fidelity's development program designed to equip recent IT grads to become best-in-class technologists.

Candidates are recruited for Leap from all over the U.S. and more than 262 different colleges. Regardless of where they call home, the Leap associates reside in North Carolina for the program. Leap graduates are then placed in full-time roles, making up approximately 14% of the company's IT workforce. While around 60% will leave the North Carolina nest for other Fidelity regions, the remaining 40% begin their technology careers in North Carolina.

Eileen, Leap Global Implementation Director, added, "The really cool thing about the Leap program is the network that associates build while they're here. We all work on global teams and remote teams, so we don't take that for granted. The strong peer network that associates build during the program remains with them throughout their careers."

Designing like a park

Any visitor to the North Carolina campus can tell you the site is beautiful and surrounded by woodland. Its long-term warm weather means a lengthy growing season for plant life, as well as more time for associates to spend outside.

Chuck, the campus' Landscape Design Director, explained "the design intent was to create a parklike setting that also embraced the Neuse River Basin."

To emulate this, a dry riverbed runs straight through the center of campus. Find yourself on a walking path – office buildings out of sight – and you'll forget you're at work. There is drip irrigation everywhere on campus, meaning no visible spray heads. And the vehicle drop-off area is better described as a colorful courtyard doubling as a road.

If associates don't have time to venture outside, they'll likely pass one of the two interior atriums on their way to a meeting. The atriums are filled with trees, one being a huge birch tree that was craned in at 30 feet during construction. Come spring, associates can even watch irises floating through the creek bed.

#fidelityjobs #fidelity investments #financial services #technology #north carolina #workplace

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