A/N: This is my first fanfic that I am posting on here! I have been reading amazing writing from this site for years, and now I am finally joining in. This is a Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman story set in the present day. It explores Brian's feelings about losing his mom and Mike and Sully's relationship in a modern day setting. Names are slightly changed, but you can easily distinguish who is who.
-Jess =)
Meadows Elementary School was bustling with activity on Thursday, April 11. Spring sports had started and all of the students were anticipating the weekend.
"Who can tell me what twelve times twelve is?" asked third grade teacher Mrs. Campbell. Eight year old Brian Turner's hand shot up as soon as his teacher spoke these words. Unlike most young children, he loved school, learning, and being the teacher's pet.
"Brian, please tell us", said Mrs. Campbell.
"One hundred forty four", Brian responded without hesitation.
Mrs. Campbell smiled, "Excellent, Brian. Now, class, we are finished with mathematics. We will now be moving on to our Open House projects. For those who are new to Meadows Elementary, Open House is a time when all of your parents tour our classroom. All of your projects will be displayed for them to view, so we need to get started."
Brian squirmed in his seat. Third grade was almost over and has turned out to be a blast! New friends to play with, an extremely mothering teacher, and now he was going to create a project that his family was going to love! The whole thing was more than exciting in his innocent eyes.
"This year's Open House project is called the family chain." Mrs. Campbell motioned to the table in the front of the room. "Here are some cutouts of people for you to use. There is a man, a woman, a boy, and a girl. Some of you may want to include your pets, so I've also supplied a dog, a cat, a rabbit, and a fish."
Brian beamed as he looked around at his friends, who also seemed jovial about this assignment. Everyone in the class stood up and scurried to the front of the room to pick up their cutouts. When it was Brian's turn, he chose a woman, two boys, one girl, and one dog. This was his family and he could not stop a proud smile from spreading across his lips. Suddenly, one of Brian's "friends", Stephen, came up behind him and started to tease him.
"So when's your mom getting married, Brian? Bet you won't have a dad by Father's Day."
Some of the nearby students snickered. Brian froze. He could not understand why his friend would say something like this, but he wasn't raised to back down from a threat. He felt like crying and punching Stephen at the same time. Fighting off tears that welled up in his eyes, he said,
"I bet I will, and you can count on that."