A/N: Katie's the newly divorced English teacher at Grandview Middle and Ned's son is her student. They went to high school together, but were never that close. AU
Ned sighed, running his hand through his hair in frustration. He looked through every folder of paperwork that he'd gotten from his son's school but couldn't find the school supply list. He was sure he'd gotten almost all of the stuff he needed, otherwise his mother probably got the last.
He moved across the room and to the hallway, going into his son's room. He grabbed the new backpack off the hook and opened it, looking to see if the list happened to be in there.
"Cooper, where is your supply list?" He asked as he searched through his son's backpack.
"I dunno," responded the almost-twelve-year-old blond-haired, blue-eyed boy from behind a giant Lego tower in front of his bed. "I thought you had it."
"Coop, I thought we talked about this. You need to keep your school stuff together this year. Middle school is different." He groaned with some menace in his voice.
"I don't know where it is! Check the kitchen counter," the boy yelled this time, his voice ending in a shrill whine.
He sighed, running his hand through his hair again as he walked out of the room and searched through the pile of papers on the counter in the kitchen. It was high time that his son learned to keep his school things in order. He was in middle school now.
However, the reality was that Cooper was only just becoming comfortable with being independent after the events of the last couple of years. The boy had been devastated when Ned and his mother had broken up, and it had gotten worse when she had moved across the country to pursue her college degree. As much as it had hurt him, after a few years, he was able to forgive Leah and move on.
They'd been together since high school and Ned knew that Leah had always dreamed of getting a chance to leave Grandview. She'd given that up when she'd gotten pregnant with Cooper, but when he was six she'd put in an application at Stanford on a whim. She'd gotten in. It was a once and a lifetime opportunity, one that he could forgive.
His son's normally upbeat nature would not reveal how much he missed his mother desperately and could not comprehend a world in which his mother would not want to be with him every single day. It broke Ned's heart every time and made it very difficult to be hard on his boy.
"Okay, I guess we could pick up another list at orientation tonight. You ready to go, little dude?" He asked.
His son gave an exaggerated sigh from behind a second tower as he worked to create an intergalactic city from the giant box of lego pieces. Ned knew that sigh meant that his son was engaged in a very important project, from which he did not want to be disturbed. Having given up on trying to get Cooper to cooperate, he examined his outfit as the boy worked, making sure his clothes were clean and his socks at least matched.
He never ceased to be amazed by the uncanny resemblance the boy shared with him. Landon had the same chin, nose and mouth as his father, even the shock of curly, blond hair. The only thing one could recognize of his mother was the color of his eyes. As his friend, Devon, liked to say, there was no way he could deny that he was his son.
"Bud, I'm going to the door and I'm leaving you in one minute if you don't get your shoes on. We're going to be late," he groused. "You don't want to make a bad impression on your new teachers do you?"
"Are my friends going to be there?" Cooper asked as he landed his X-Wing Fighter on the roof of one of the towers.
"Of course! All the parents are invited to visit the homeroom classes, so I'm sure you will see your friends." This argument was persuasive enough to make his son get up and put on his own sneakers. "You get to meet your new homeroom teacher, too. Do you remember who she was? I think Grandma told me, but I don't remember." Ned continued as he grabbed the car keys from the counter and shut the door behind them.
"Uh, Grandma did tell you. It's Ms. Clancy. She wasn't there last year." Landon explained as they waited for the elevator. "Carson's mom met her at Walmart when they were shopping and he said she was old!"
"Really?" He chuckled. "What else do you know?"
They were soon on their way down to the lobby of their building and then in his car to drive to the school as his son continued to share his version of gossip with this father.
"She's, like 30 years old, dad!" Cooper became close to hysterical over the summer and though he didn't want to encourage him, he couldn't help but smile at the way his son found such great pleasure in flatulence. "Carson's mom also said something about her getting a divorce. What's that?"
Ned glanced over at his son as they walked out onto the street in front of the school. His teacher had gotten a divorce? How did he know that?
"Well, that's when two married people don't want to be married anymore, so they get a divorce." He explained. "But that's not something you talk about with your teacher, okay?"
"Okay, dad. I won't." The boy sighed. "Is that you and mom did?"
"Your mom and I never got married, bud. We were together for a long time, almost ten years, but that's in the past son." He said, rubbing his back. "But we'll be in the cafeteria no time and you'll be able to see just how old Ms. Clancy really is." He quipped as he opened the front doors, eliciting another round of giggles from Cooper.
Grandview Middle School was a small neighborhood school in east Grandview. Normally, he and Cooper walked to school (it was only a couple blocks from their apartment) but the weather report promised rain in the evening and Ned did not want to be caught in a storm on the way home.
They arrived in the main office to get a new supply list, where they were redirected to the or the cafeteria which doubled as an auditorium, where a brief presentation would be taking place. Ned took his place next to his friend Devon and his wife Kasey while Cooper proceeded to climb under chairs try to find somewhere fun too with Jacob, their son.
"Coop! Chairs are to sit in," Ned said helplessly as he and Jacob crawled their way towards Carson in the next row.
"Kid keeps you in shape, right, Ned?" Devon cackled. "That little trio of hooligans are all in the same homeroom. I wish that new teacher good luck."
Kasey laughed. "Oh, you'd be surprised! They act better when they aren't around their parents. Anyway, I met Ms. Clancy. She seems like the type who can handle them."
Ned was about to respond when he looked up at a table covered in pamphlets and captured the glance of the most amazing brown eyes he'd ever seen, completely fixed on him as he spoke. However, the moment he made eye contact, her eyes flitted away and she continued to fuss with the materials on the table, turning her back to him.
He felt the heat rush to his ears and was sure they were the color of ripe tomatoes. Her skin was a clear olive-tone and her dark brown hair was fixed in a neat bun that was secured to the back of her head. She was tall, maybe 5'9." She had more of athletic build, but her curves were perfect for her size. She stretched across the table to reach for a pen and he could not help admire the curve of her hips and thighs that the jeans she wore only accentuated.
Ned hadn't really dated anyone since he'd broken up with Cooper's mother six years ago. First, there was the fact that he had a hard time getting over Leah, but then, of course, he was just plain scared of dating. He had been with Leah since they were in high school and were going on their tenth anniversary when she decided to move away for school. He had no clue what it meant to date anymore and he didn't want to bring a parade of women in front of his son. Especially not after the one time he had and Cooper didn't even remotely like the woman.
Meanwhile, though, there was this woman who was absolutely gorgeous and looked so familiar. Had he seen her before? He certainly would've remembered seeing her before, wouldn't he? Ned swallowed, his mouth having gone dry, and he panted slightly. Those deep and warm eyes seemed to flit towards him every time he looked away. At one point, he forgot his manners and simply stared at her. Just as he was sure he had made a perfect fool of himself, but the lights dimmed and the Powerpoint presentation began. He scanned the chairs around him and was relieved to find Cooper, Jacob, and Carson sitting together in the row in front of them, the light from Jacob's cellphone illuminating their features as they played with an app.
Normally, he paid attention to these presentations – there were slides about school grades, extra-curricular activities and upcoming events but he could not help but steal a look at that beautiful woman every few minutes, occasionally catching her in the act of studying him also.
When the presentation was over, the lovely woman had disappeared and something in his chest plummeted. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen her leave. Filled with a vague disappointment, Ned followed Devon, who made sure he had a map and chatted amiably with him as they made their way to room 104, where their sons would start their sixth-grade adventure.
Ned physically shook himself – there was no reason to feel the way he was feeling. He had no business worrying about a woman, no matter how attractive, when Cooper took so much of his time and energy. Not to mention that he worked at the Grandview Police department and that took up a lot of time too.
When they arrived at Ms. Clancy's door, there was a crowd of parents milling about the room, some signing in at the sign-in table, some studying the classroom library, which was substantial. Ms. Clancy taught one of the sixth-grade homeroom blocks and English, according to the class schedule that was available next to the sign-in sheet.
"Hey, Dad! There's Ms. Clancy!" Cooper said excitedly as Jacob and Carson giggled.
He waited patiently while the other parents cleared out to make his way to the area where he heard a raspy, throaty woman's voice describing the expectations of the class. He became almost light-headed when the woman at the front of the room turned out to be the elusive woman in the cafeteria. She spoke calmly and precisely as if she had delivered this speech at least one hundred times.
"Grades will be awarded by assignment type and weighed according to a scale adopted by our grade level team…" her words trailed off when her eyes fell on Ned. For a moment, her mouth opened and closed without a sound before she appeared to remember that there were two other parents that she had been speaking who were hanging on her every word. "…eh, um, team. Right and uh, homework…students have a…uh…standing homework assignment to read at least 20 days…I mean 20 minutes each night," she ended breathlessly.
When the couple walked away, she turned towards Ned, visibly gulping in a deep breath before offering him her hand. "My name is Ms. Clancy. I will be your child's homeroom and English teacher this year." She said, rushing each word out of her mouth.
"I'm Cooper's father, Ned. I know he is dying to meet you, though I think he is messing around with his friend at the moment." He chuckled as he watched the boys play around in the small reading area in the classroom.
"Yeah, well, kids will be kids. I like to take them out a couple of times a day, in addition to their PE time. Kids just need to move and our schedules don't build in enough time for the kids to get really good physical activity." Ms. Clancy blushed furiously as she said this.
Ned watched his son, thinking about the way some days, Cooper was on the go non-stop, not unlike to when he was a kid, according to his mother. "Cooper will climb the walls if he doesn't get to burn some energy." He smiled, looking down at her, a feeling of euphoria inexplicably washing over him at the fact that she had not gotten away.
"Cooper Banks. I remember seeing his name on the roster and remembering we went to high school together." Ms. Clancy explained. "He's a cute kid, looks just like you."
His eyes widened in surprise. She did look familiar! He only remembered a little, she had been on the complete opposite side of the crowd than him in high school. She had been the student body president and all about school. The mousy, quiet girl who ran the study center in the library.
Yes, that was her. Katie Clancy.
Her smile faltered when she realized what she just said. She looked down, shuffling a handful of unsharpened pencils in her fidgety hands. "I didn't mean that you...he is…" her sentence trailed off in confusion.
He bought his head down so no one could hear him. "You're not half bad yourself, Katie." He whispered smoothly, leaving her speechless as he straightened up to watch his son play.
"You remember my name?" She asked.
"Student body president," he said. "I voted for you because you wanted to give seniors an open campus for lunch. Best idea ever."
She laughed, nodding. "I got a lot of people with that. My dad's idea."
"Genius," he said, chuckling. Turning toward her, he became serious. He made it a point of letting Cooper's teachers know about his home environment so they could address any needs that might arise as his son continued to adjust to his mother's absence. "I...ah, about Cooper. You see, he is a really great kid and is smart, but he's had a rough couple of years." He said carefully. "His mother...my ex...she kind of walked out on us when he was six. He doesn't see her very often, only on skype… it's hard on him." He took a deep breath, shocked that even after so much time, it never failed to get him how easy she was able to leave. He glanced at Ms. Clancy, who had gone pale at the confession. "So...if you see him struggling with anything… let me know, will you?"
Ms. Clancy placed her hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry, Ned. I never even knew that you and Leah had broken up. I guess I should be more connected, but things have been rough these past couple of months. That's why I moved back home and took this job. I'm sorry, you didn't need my sob story. You were telling me yours."
"It's okay. I mean, I'm still struggling it, and he's just barely a teenager…" He couldn't finish. "I heard about your divorce. I'm sorry about that."
"Oh, you did?" She sighed, rubbing her temple. She changed the subject. She didn't want to talk about it, that was obvious. "But, back to Cooper. It's hard losing a parent, it compounds with being abandoned. I understand where he's coming from." she said, her eyes clouding over with an internal sadness and he suddenly wished he could know every secret buried in her heart. The overwhelming intensity of that feeling left him somewhat breathless. "I'll keep an eye on him, I promise," she said with obvious sincerity.
He smiled, thinking to himself that someone like her would never get near him now, especially not with knowing him and Leah from high school and having just gotten divorced. He held out his hand to her. "Thank you for letting us take a tour of your classroom. I think the kids will really like it."
Ms. Clancy nodded at this. "Your welcome. If you need anything at all, you know what room I'm in and my email is on the take-home sheet." She said, taking his hand in turn, a wave of warmth radiating from the point where they touched.
"Of course. Thank you." He held onto her hand for a beat too long before dropping her hand in embarrassment. He began to move away to find Cooper when she stopped him.
"Wait! Take this." She scribbled something on the back of the classroom schedule paper. "In case you want to get in touch with me...about Cooper. Or maybe you want to talk more about other ways to help him be successful." She smiled sheepishly. "Or maybe if you just want to talk. I'm not good at this..."
He looked down to see a mobile number written in neat, cursive handwriting. He folded it carefully and placed it in his shirt pocket, his heart doing backflips in his chest. "I'll be getting in touch with you, Ms. Clancy. Thank you," he said before turning towards the boys who were waiting outside the classroom door. "I thought you said she was old?" He tousled Carson's hair, laughing at him.
"But she is!" Carson insisted, making Cooper and Jacob giggle in response.
Casting one last glance over his shoulder at Katie, Ned said, more to himself than to Cooper, "You know what, buddy? I think this is going to be an excellent school year."