Title: Nervous
Fandom: Supernatural
Characters: Jimmy Novak, Claire Novak
Prompt: 31 Day Place Challenge – Day 28: A school, be it elementary or high school
Word Count: 535
Rating: K
Genre: Family
Summary: Jimmy was nervous.
Author's Notes: I like Jimmy. And I like exploring his relationship with his daughter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing …
The second day of September in the year 2002 was a Monday. In Pontiac, Illinois, it was warm and it rained. By most standards, this was an average day. But his weren't most standards.
Jimmy was nervous.
He had tied and re-tied his favourite blue tie three times in an effort to straighten it. He couldn't get the knot to sit straight. In the end, he gave up and left it, despite the fact that it was facing the wrong way.
In the kitchen, he'd spilled his coffee and narrowly missed having to change his crisp white dress shirt. After wiping up the mess from the counter and floor he remade his cup and took a sip – which he choked on when he realized he'd accidentally added his wife's rice milk instead of his creamer. He remade it a second time.
After breakfast – which he was admittedly glad he hadn't prepared because he secretly believed he'd have actually set something on fire today – he couldn't find his left shoe and he ripped his favourite grey coat. He sighed, glad his wife had recently gifted him a new tan trench coat. He pulled that onto his shoulders instead.
His car wouldn't start and he found himself glad he'd started his day earlier than usual. He switched to his wife's car and took a shaky breath before he pulled out of the driveway and left.
Finding a parking space was nerve wracking. There were a lot of other cars he had to navigate. Inside the building was not much better. He was jostled a couple times when someone ran past him. Referring to a piece of scrap paper in his hand with directions hastily scrawled on it after leaving the main office, he wandered down one hallway and then another before finding the room he was looking for.
He paused a few feet from the open door and took a deep breath before looking down.
"So, are you ready?"
The little five-year-old girl holding his hand looked up at him with wide blue eyes. Her long blond hair in a neat plait, secured with a yellow elastic band with two happy looking bees attached to it. She smiled up at him, a sparkle in her eyes, and giggled.
He kneeled down in front of her and she immediately wrapped her little arms around his neck. "I love you, Daddy."
He wrapped his arms around her small frame. The nervous knot in his stomach only slightly easing. "I love you too, Claire."
He watched her dash into the classroom, a little pink backpack on her shoulders to match her yellow and pink rain gear. It was evident that she would have no problems making friends as she stated talking with the other children in the room. His nervousness eased a little more.
He stayed as long as he could before it became necessary for him to leave the school and go to work. He'd had to force himself to leave the building and get back into his car. He'd see her again at lunchtime with he returned to pick her up.
He already couldn't wait to hear all about how his little girl's first day of kindergarten went.
-30-
Completed: February 26, 2017