Here's my new Banna fic, it's my first Modern AU fic, Anna is a teacher as Levinson Academy, she gets close to the Bates family, John and his daughter 15 year old daughter Ruby. I am claiming some ignorance of the English police and school system, I do know a few things about it, but not very much.
Chapter 1:
Ruby Bates sighed heavily as she peeked out into the rain. "Why does it rain so much?" She asked.
"Because this is England." Her father responded, He pulled into the long drive of Ruby's school- Levinson Academy.
"But it's the first day of school."
"And we both know you would complain if it was sunny," John Bates told his daughter. "I know you haven't looked forward to this school year since Abby moved."
"True." Ruby acknowledged, "at least it matches my mood. Why do I have to go to this hoity toity school anyway, Dad?" She tugged at the skirt on her uniform.
"Because I want you to have a good education." Her father pulled into a parking slot. "Have a good day at school."
Ruby sighed heavily again as she grabbed her book bag and an umbrella. "Bye Dad, have a good day at work, don't play with Isis too much." When her dad leaned to kiss her on the forehead she made a face, pulled away and muttered something that sounded like "Ugggh Dad, not in front of my school mates." She opened the car door and went out into the rain.
John watched his daughter disappear into the school and hoped she wouldn't have too hard of a day. Her best friend Abby had moved away during the summer and Ruby was not looking forward to having to make a new best friend.
As he prepared to drive to work however, his attention was drawn to a short blond woman who was walking to the front doors, struggling with a box. John knew from experience that the doors to the school were heavy and she would need to set the box down to open them. So he ducked into the rain to open the doors for her.
The wind swept her in, and set her box down to shake the rain off. "Thank you so much." She said, looking up at him.
"You're welcome,"
"Now, where am I supposed to go?" The blonde woman was clearly speaking to herself but John spoke up as he closed the door.
"That depends, what are you here for?"
"Teaching, it's my first year here." The woman said, her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun and he could see bright blue eyes peering out from the longest lashes he'd ever seen. She had defined but graceful features and had the aura of being a very pleasant person to be around.
"Anna!" Both John and Anna turned as they heard Mrs. Crawley's voice.
"Hello Mrs. Crawley," Anna's voice was warm, it was clear she knew the woman. "I was just trying to figure out everything, where I'm supposed to go and all that. Aren't I supposed to help with the morning assembly ?"
"We had to change the times at the last moment you've got time to finish getting your room ready before, be in the library in an hour."
"All right, I remember where my room is. Thank you." Anna bent to pick up the box only to find that John had picked it up.
"This box is heavy and there are a lot of stairs, I'll be happy to carry it."
"Thank you," Anna smiled, John's heart flipped in his chest. "Follow me." She lead him through a series of hallways and stairwells to a classroom in a part of the school he had never been to before. "I'm going to guess you have a child who attends school here."
"My daughter, Ruby. She's in year ten." John said.
"I teach year ten, I don't recall there being a Ruby on my list of students."
"She's registered under her full name Ruben E. Bates. Her mother insisted on the name, but I got to pick the nickname." John said. "I'm John Bates, by the way, and you are..."
"Anna Smith, I teach English for years nine, ten and eleven."
John smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure's all mine, thank you for helping me with my box." Anna told him.
"I'd best get going and let you finish with your classroom." John said, he nodded to the woman and then turned around and left. As he walked through the bottom floor of the school he could see Ruby looking at her new schedule. "Bye Ruby!" he called, Ruby looked up, not recognizing the voice for a moment.
"Bye Dad." Ruby sounded embarrassed. He could see some other children looking at Ruby and talking to their friends. His heart clenched, he didn't like to see his daughter so alone.
"Years ten, eleven and twelve, please make your way to your first class so that you can drop your bags off before morning assembly." He heard Cora announce to the older students. Ruby's shoulders dropped and she began to make her way to the stairwell. As she passed him, she glanced up and smiled sadly.
'Love you Dad.' She mouthed to him.
'Love you more.' He mouthed back. He left the school then, thankfully the rain had abated and he was able to get to work on time.
"I thought you'd be late, with the rain and taking Ruby to school again." Jimmy, one of the Inspectors spoke.
"You learn organizational skills when you're a parent, such as how to get up several hours before you have to leave for somewhere to make sure you're there on time." John said, he went to his desk by the Superintendent's office. "Having a child teaches you responsibility."
"Didn't her mother leave?" Inspector Barrow drawled from his desk. "Sure didn't seem to teach her responsibility."
"She was responsible enough to leave." John looked Thomas in the eye, daring him to say any more on the subject.
Thomas raised an eyebrow and turned back to his desk, muttering to himself.
"Keep muttering Barrow, I'll put you back on the beat today." John said slowly, keeping his eyes on the paper work that Robert had put on his desk.
Work was slow that day, hours later when all his paper work was done, John approached the superintendent's office to request that he go home an hour early to pick Ruby up from Chorus. It had started raining again and he didn't want his daughter- however independent she was- to walk home in the rain. Just as John got to the door of the office though, Robert got a call. He motioned to John he'd be a moment but after a moment, he motioned Bates inside. "Cora, let me put you on speaker, Bates is right here." He motioned for John to come in and close the door. "It's about Ruby."
John closed the door, his heart and mind racing, what had happened at school? And why hadn't they called him first? After all, he was Ruby's father.
"We have a bit of a situation, there has been some vandalizing to the school, spray paint on the wall, Ruby was found at the scene of it. She seems to have been the one who did it."
"Seems to be?" Robert asked.
"I don't believe she was acting alone but no one else was in the room and she hasn't said who else she was with."
John sighed, "Will the school be pressing charges or filing a report? I wouldn't blame you or try to convince you not to."
"Since this is a first time offense, we won't but if she doesn't do it again, we'll have no choice. We do want you to come down to the school for a meeting, if you can today, that would be good, tomorrow would be fine as well."
"I'll be down there as soon as I can," John said, "It should take about 20 minutes."
"All right, I'll see you then."
John left then, no longer needing to get permission to leave early. The drive was short, but by the time he pulled into the school parking lot, he knew one thing. Ruby would be grounded until the end of the year.
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