Author's note: Alright, I hope this story actually appears this time *fingers crossed* anyway, I hope y'all enjoy! And I seriously hope it's fixed. . . Like really...

Roderich

"Dad… Dad! We are going to be late for school!" Roderich's oldest daughter, Felicia, calls out while shaking him with a surprising amount of vigor for a ten year old.

"Feli… Okay, alright, I'm up." He answers groggily. There is never enough hours in the night.

She stands up straight with a large smile on her face. Today is going to be a big day, and not just because it's her pet rabbit's second birthday, but because today is her first day of fifth grade. The grade that is finally old enough to have middle recess eliminated for more time in class, and to get yelled at for playing on the playground because they are 'too old'. To her, she's finally all grown up.

"Dad, it's my first day of fifth grade! And Eva's first day of school! We have to hurry!" She grabs his right hand and helps pull him out of bed. He takes his glasses off the nightstand and puts them on, blinks a couple of times, then smiles at Felicia.

"You know, when I was kid I was never this excited about school." He says with a hint of laughter in his voice. This makes Felicia smile. She may be ten, but she understands the hardships that her family has been through… She tries to make everyone smile, so the perpetual stress and sadness can break. "Okay, go make sure Eva is ready. I'll meet you downstairs." She nods and rushes out of his bedroom.

She already made sure Eva was ready before waking her father… Actually, Eva is in the living room watching Doc Mcstuffins. She is already dressed in what Felicia thinks is her cutest outfit, her hair is done into pigtails with red ribbon, and her backpack is already packed with paper, pencils, crayons, markers, a ruler, glue, and her lunch box. Felicia has even given Eva her allergy medicine already. (Non-drowsy of course.) And Felicia herself? Well, she is in her best outfit as well, and put her hair into a ponytail, letting her bangs be the only thing framing her face. Her own backpack is already packed as well, with all the same stuff Eva has except with the addition of a package of multi-colored gel pens.

Felicia sits next to her sister and watches the cartoon with her. She actually likes Doc Mcstuffins although it's a 'baby' show. Because just like the girl in the show, Felicia too wants to be a veterinarian. It's been her passion for a while now, plus animals are just so cute! Who wouldn't want to help them?

Roderich doesn't make his appearance downstairs until the episode is over. That's when Felicia proceeds to tell him everything is packed and ready to go. He smiles at her and calls her his little helper. This makes Felicia happy.

"Alright, well… We should get moving. Wouldn't want to be late on your first day of school." Roderich comments. He turns the TV off and leads the girls to the front door. He lets them out and locks it behind them. Felicia helps Eva into her carseat then skips over to the front passenger seat door and gets in.

"Felicia… Don't you think you're still a little too small to ride in the front seat?" He asks her.

"But mom lets me do it.."

"Yes, but mom is unfit to be taking care of you, so go to the back seat." Felicia sighs and moves to the backseat.

The school is actually quite close to the house… A bus stops at the end of their neighborhood for it, but Roderich is paranoid about the safety of his daughters and prefers driving them himself. Speaking of the school, it's very nice and clean and honestly prestigious. It better be, since you have to pay the school for your kids to attend. Roderich wouldn't let his kids be caught dead at a public school. He even says the words 'public school' with disgust. They are for poor people… Those are his words, not the narrator's. Anyway, Rosewood Elementary has won many awards for their education, teachers, and appearance. It's one of the best private schools in the country, and helps enlarge the pool of bright young Americans going into High school. (Because we all now in America that pool is draining and at quite an alarming rate… Tsk.) Roderich parks the car and helps Eva get out of her carseat.

"We have five minutes! We're going to be late!" Felicia reminds.

"Okay, alright… You know where your homeroom is yes? I'll walk Eva to her class." Felicia nods and then runs off to finally start her first day as one of the 'older' kids.

"Are you excited, Eva?" Roderich asks. She simply nods once. He smiles; she can be so quiet. He hopes she makes friends. But to more pressing matters… Where exactly is the kindergarten wing? Oh yes, he remembers, the beginning of the room numbers matches the grade they teach… That means 200 is second grade… 100 is first grade… ahh, 000 must be kindergarten… Right? He opens the door and immediately feels relief. Yes. This is the kindergarten room.

"Oh hello! Eva, it's good to see you again sweetie!" The woman who must be the teacher says quite enthusiastically. She seems familiar but he can't quite place her.

"Did… You used to work for the preschool?" He's quite sure this is where he recognizes her from… He's not sure though, his ex-wife used to take care of the whole school thing…

"Yes, I did… But sadly they had an opening for this position two years ago and I moved here." She says.

"Sadly?" Roderich asks.

"Yes. The main kindergarten teacher passed away… We have a bench in the playground and near the front office actually dedicated to her. It as her name on it… It was such a sad and terrible loss, she was the best kindergarten teacher this school has seen in a while." Roderich lifts an eyebrow. Wow… How come he never heard of this? Usually news like this travels in the city… Maybe she didn't live in this town… But still…

"That's quite unfortunate…" The bell that marks the start of school rings.

"Welp, that's the starting bell… Thank you for walking Eva here, I know she like to wonder sometimes.."

"Oh, yea of course. She does have quite the curious mind…" He bends down and kisses her on the forehead. "Have fun, little one. I'll be back to pick you up around three."

"I will… Love you." The first thing Eva has said today. Roderich smiles and leaves the room. He feels like he could cry honestly… His little Eva… Starting school… Time moves so fast…

A white bench catches Roderich's eye… This must be the dedication bench… He walks up to it to get a better look at the name engraved in it. . . Nothing would have prepared him for the name he saw.

In loving memory of Louise Beilschmidt (1988 - 2016)

Louise. . . The Louise? The same Louise? .. . His high school crush? His friend. . . His rival's wife? It has to be… No one else has that last name…

Roderich immediately enters the front office and approaches one of the ladies working.

"Hello, sir, are you here to sign in a student late?"

"Umm, no… I have a question. That bench out there… That used to be a teacher that worked here?"

"Oh, yeah… She was the head kindergarten teacher. . . Her, her husband and son got into a bad hit and run car accident… The husband's arm was severely injured, the son become blind in one eye and has a nasty scar on his face, and she died at the hospital… Tragic really.."

"Rebecca! Stop gossiping about that poor family!" One of the other office ladies says.

"Jessica, he asked! And I'm not gossiping… Louise was the nicest person I knew! I'd never!" Roderich looks at the time… He's going to be late… But he has to ask this last question.

"Umm, do you happen to know the name of the husband and son?"

"Yeah, the husbands name is Gilbert and the son is Ludwig… Why?"

"I. . . I used to know them."

"Oh, I see…"

Roderich quickly leaves the office without excusing himself and rushes to his car. He feels like he's dreaming. . . The events of the last few years have been nightmarish, and just when things start to look up he gets hit with this news… To him, Louise was the one that got away. . . The one that his best friend/rival ended up marrying for some crazy reason. . . He wants to tell someone.. But who?. . . He had half a thought to call his ex-wife Elizaveta but. . . She probably wouldn't answer… Not that she would care. Elizaveta is the reason Roderich, Gilbert and Louise fell apart. She was jealous of Louise and feared that she would ruin the marriage. . .

Roderich sighs as he pulls up to his office… He works at the Kirkland and Finch law offices as a paralegal for Mr. Kirkland himself. . . Mr. Kirkland is going to have an aneurysm at Roderich being late…

"I think it is absolutely splendid that you think work starts at 9:30 Edelstein." And here it is.

"My apologies sir. It was Eva's first day of kindergarten." Mr. Kirkland raises an eyebrow. Surprisingly he doesn't yell at Roderich anymore. He drops the subject.

"Hmm, little Eva is already in kindergarten?" He asks.

"Yes, sir. She is growing up quite fast."

"Indeed… My youngest just started the fifth grade today." Before Roderich can say that he too has a kid in the fifth grade, Mr. Kirkland changes the subject.

"Anyway, I need you to research this case for me. I have a meeting with the founder and owner of Wang financial, then I have a conference about the upcoming election for senate." He places a very good sized packet of paper down in front of Roderich and walks away.

Sigh. . . Roderich swears he's the real lawyer. . . He should of gone to law school. . . But no, he decided to get his girlfriend pregnant. . .

Right when Roderich thought things couldn't get any worse today, Mr. Kirkland's cocky, spoiled, loud son walks into the office… Late… But of course he doesn't get yelled at for it…

"How's it going Edelstein? Got any interesting cases today?" Alfred Kirkland asks him.

"Umm, I suppose."

"Hmm, doing my dad's work again. . . I swear you're the real lawyer." He walks away and disappears into Mr. Kirkland's office…

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Arthur Kirkland's son seems really nice… And yeah he can be sometimes, but he still boils Roderich's blood. He's a spoiled, rich, white boy who has had literally everything handed to him… And the worst part about it? He totally deserves it! He's smart, cunning, funny, powerful, tall, handsome, young, everything! And it just make Roderich want to get sick. Life can be so unfair. . . So, so, so terribly unfair.

After about three hours of reading and researching the case; Roderich decides to do some stalking. It's almost his lunch break anyway, and had already left for his meeting. . . So might as well.

He searches Louise Beilschmidt on facebook and finds her account. The last thing she posted was two years ago. . . She has pictures of her son and husband, of their dogs, of the house they bought, family reunions, their trips to Germany to see family…. He grows sorrowful looking at all these memories of hers… All these things he couldn't be apart of. . . He looks up Gilbert but he doesn't have an account… He looked him up on Instagram too, but to no avail. He opens up a blank google tab and searches Gilbert's name there… Maybe he'll find something like where he works. . . He's probably some deadbeat honestly. He was the type of person who was really smart but was always getting in trouble. He drank so much too and started dabbling a bit in drugs… Roderich feels sorry for the boy… Louise was the only thing keeping Gilbert in line. . . He probably has to take care of Gilbert now. . . And with a blind eye at that? Or, he's just like Gilbert. . . Maybe the boy is a deadbeat too? Without the light that is Louise they are both probably suffering and getting into trouble.

Roderich lets his mind think all the worst about both of them, quite unfairly honestly. The search brings up a lot of useless stuff until the name of the high school comes up. Malibu Point High School… Hmm… He clicks on the websites teacher page and is shocked to see that Gilbert works there.

Gilbert Beilschmidt is a teacher? He could laugh… And he does, which earns him a weird look from the secretary. He has to see this. He watches the clock turn from 12:29 to 12:30 in the worlds longest minute before quickly getting up and rushing to his car. Again, earning a weird look from the secretary. He always brings a packed lunch, so he decides to eat in his car while driving. He's not really sure what he's doing or why… But the prospect of seeing Gilbert excites him and also terrifies him. He's scared to see a different man.

The high school is only fifteen minutes away from the office thankfully, (he only has one hour for lunch) and the parking is actually quite good. But what know?

Should he go inside? Should he just wait here? Why is he doing this? He should just go back… This is weird, right? If Elizaveta was here she would yell at him for being so desperate and stalker-like. . . You know what? If it'd piss her off it's probably the right thing to do. He gets out of his car but then immediately goes back in when the bell rings and students start walking around. He decides this was a bad idea and drives straight back to the office. . . A+ for effort Roderich.

.

-words-more-words-

.

"How was your first day of school, Felicia?" Roderich asks as she and Eva enter the car.

"It was great! I made two friends today!" Felicia says excitedly.

"What about you Eva?"

"Yeah…" That's a weird answer. . .

Once they get home and settled, Felicia starts elaborating on her first day.

"Our teacher is so cool! She's nice and not scary like the last one. . . Plus there was this new boy who was getting made fun of, and me and my new friend helped save him! He became our friend after. We all ate lunch together and everything!" She says excitedly while Roderich starts preparing dinner.

"Really? What are your friends names?"

"Peter and Ludwig." Roderich's first thought was, 'oh great, boys', until the second more pressing thought entered his mind. Ludwig? Like. .. Ludwig Beilschmidt? Oh no… His little girl will not, absolutely NOT befriend a Beilschmidt.

"Felicia. . . Are you sure this Ludwig. . . is a nice boy?"

"Yes! He's really shy though. . . And stutters. . I asked him why and he said something about an injury. Peter says it's just because he's scared." Roderich furrows his eyebrows. That poor kid. Still. He's a Beilschmidt.

"I don't know honey. He might not be as nice as you think he is." Before Felicia can ask why, the front door opens, scaring Roderich. He drops the knife he had in his hand. Thank goodness it just hit the floor and nothing else.

"Nice to see you still dropping everything, Roderich." The voice he has grown to hate says. Whose voice? None other than his ex-wife Elizaveta's that's whose.

"How did you get in?" Is the only thing Roderich can think about right now.

"I have a key. You didn't change the locks, idiot. . . And anyway, I came to personally deliver this letter to you." She approaches him and hands him a yellow letter. He slowly takes it and opens it. He reads a couple of lines before he knows what this is. . . She. . . She's trying to get full custody of the kids…

"Felicia go to your room." Roderich says lowly. Felicia nods and walks upstairs. They both wait for her door to close before they say what they want to say to each other.

"Over my dead body you're taking them, you are an unfit mother." He says.

"The law is on my side Roderich dear. I look great, feel great, and make 140,000 a year. They will hand my kids right back to me." She says, lacing her words with hatred and annoyance.

"This isn't right. . . "

"There are a lot of bad things in this world Roderich, I thought you of all people would understand that. They are my kids, okay? I carried all of them for nine months, gave birth to them, nursed them, raised them. They are mine."

"They are mine too, Elizaveta. They are happy here, at this school, in this house, in this to-"

"Like hell they are! I bet they suffer everyday having to come home to this cursed house! Why do I keep having to remind you of what happened here! Our daughter died in that room upstairs! This house is painful!" Roderich can never understand why she feels the need to bring up their youngest daughter Amanda every chance she can get. He doesn't have to be reminded of her. He misses her every single day! But he also understands that they need to move on as best as they can for their other two children. When Amanda died, Elizaveta went off the deep end. Quit her job, took up drugs and alcohol and ruined herself and her marriage. She was gambling their money away, scaring the kids… Roderich had to divorce her and kick her out. . . And if like that wasn't enough she is trying to take the girls? This day honestly couldn't get any worse.

"I think you should leave." He tells her. He's done with this day. . . He just wants it to end. She gives him a nasty look but does as he asks, slamming the door on her way out.

Roderich picks the letter back up. . . They are going to take his girls away from him. . . The system favors the mother so much it hurts… If she appears better, just for a second, they will fling those children at her so fast it'll give Roderich whiplash.

He prays that tomorrow will be better.