A/N: Here we go again! I hope you enjoy. Blitz and I merged two ideas to formulate this one. ;)

"When I was in high school I was bullied," the tall slender blonde spoke into the microphone quickly gaining small whispers throughout the ornate auditorium. "I know what you are thinking, 'That's not possible.' But it was, I was different and other kids didn't accept that."

Looking at the shock in the young students eyes, she continued, "I came to St. Francis Preparatory at age 16 to escape the torment I had experienced at my school in NYC. It meant I moved here alone, leaving my parents and sisters behind. I had to move in with an aunt I was only used to seeing during holidays. My whole world changed because of a few kids hate for me."

She let her words sink in for the younger students. Once the murmuring stilled, she picked back up, "Bullying is a real thing. If you repeatedly pick on someone because you don't like them it's bullying. If you plan ways to hurt a person it's bullying. You might be able to stop and change your behavior, but even years later the person that you tortured will still have those wounds. If you see it, report it. If you hear of it, report it. If you experience it, report it and let us help you."

Finishing her part in the bullying seminar, Alexandra Cabot sat down in her seat with the other teachers of Saint Francis Preparatory School. She was happy to be a contributor to this yearly event for incoming middle schoolers. She truly felt that it made a difference in how students learned to treat one another. She just wished someone had held these assemblies back when she was a kid. It could have changed her world significantly.

Leaving work that day, Alex found herself driving up the green winding road to her aunt's house. It was a place she visited often, but today she especially needed the comfort of the older blonde. Seeing her hostas lined driveway, she turned her Audi up the trail.

Meandering her way up the drive, Alex found herself remembering the day her parents brought her here to live out the remainder of her high school years. She'd been terrified and so lonely. In the end, she was thankful to live with her mother's sister. Aunt Liz had been more than kind, she'd become another mother.

Parking outside the old stone colonial style home outlined in meticulous gardens, the tall blonde school teacher left her car and headed to the side yard. Calling out, "Aunt Liz?"

She knew for the hour of 3 her aunt was most likely elbow deep in soil or clipping her roses. Crossing the old stone path carefully in her heels, Alex again called out, "Aunt Liz?"

Finally hearing a return, "I'm in the green house!"

Heading that way, Alex kicked off her shoes and walked barefoot through the damp ground. Reaching the doorway, she found her lovely blue eyed aunt waiting. "How was the day, Kiddo?"

"It went well," she answered as she looked at her toes in the wet grass. "I stayed after and answered lots of questions. Hopefully, it helps prevent what I went through."

"What you went through was flat out hate," Liz Donnelly huffed at her niece. She held the now thirty year too many nights as she cried from the wounds those awful boys had inflicted on her. "It was despicable."

Turning to look at the young blonde, she nodded in understanding, "I'm just happy you can create something good from all that awfulness."

Seeing her niece perk up, at her praise, Liz grabbed her basket of vegetables, and wrapped an arm around her. "I think I'm finished here, why don't we go inside and make a pot of tea. Then we can cook ourselves a nice dinner, and you can tell me when you are going to start finding a nice woman to bring home."

"Ha!" Alex laughed, "Where am I going to meet someone here?"

"Work?"

Opening the side door to the mud room, she shook her head, "Not a chance, they have a zero dating policy, not to mention I'd be out of a job if they knew I was gay."

"Such archaic nonsense," her aunt huffed as she set her basket of fresh veggies down on the counter. "I can't believe the Catholic Church hasn't joined us Episcopalians with being more accepting of all people."

"Maybe one day..." Alex sighed as she picked up the kettle and began filling it with water.

"What about your friends Abbie and Serena, don't they have a single friend?"

"You do realize the three of us are probably the only lesbians in all of Fairhaven right?"

"What about a dating site? I mean you haven't brought home a girl since college." Her aunt offered as she began busily cleaning veggies.

Laughing at the unexpected matchmaker, she held her hands up in surrender, "Fine, I'll see what I can do."

Walking down another empty hallway of the large classroom building, the young twenty four year old redhead could feel her heart begin to race as she looked over the school map one more time. "Building 7, Room 118...now where the hell is that?" She muttered to herself as her footsteps echoed through the lonesome halls.

"Do you need help?" A warm voice offered from an open doorway. Looking towards the sound, she found a welcoming smile from an early forty year old black woman, standing near a lab bench.

"Thank you, I'm so lost." The young woman spoke.

"What room are you in?"

"118, in building 7," she recited. "I'm new here, name's Casey Novak."

"I'm Melinda Warner," the older woman clarified, "I teach science obviously, from your location, I'm assuming you teach Language Arts or Math."

"I teach Language Arts, or at least I've been hired to..."

Sensing the apprehension in the younger teacher, Melinda placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "You'll do fine. Best advice I ever got was fake it till you make it."

"How long have you been teaching?" Casey asked as she followed the kinky haired teacher.

"I'm going on seventeen. Thirteen of which have been at St. Francis. How long have you been teaching?"

"This is my first year," the short haired redhead explained, "I just graduated from NYU."

"Oh," Melinda responded.

Casey didn't say much more, she picked up on the tone in her new cohort's last response. Clearly she wasn't what was initially expected.

Walking through an open breezeway to another building, Melinda opened the door. "Now, it can get a little confusing in this building. The rooms are built into pods, which means you'll share bathrooms and office space with the teacher across from you. Now, I don't teach Language Arts, but I believe your counterpart will be Alex Cabot. Alex is moving down from high school."

As she tried to remember her co-teacher's name, Casey also tried to leave mental breadcrumbs. Suddenly she found herself wishing her mother would hurry up and arrive with bulletin board supplies so she wouldn't feel so alone.

"Here you are," Melinda said interrupting the young woman's rambling mind as she unlocked the door. "This is your new room. If you find anything you don't need left behind by the former teacher throw it out. Otherwise this is all yours. If you need anything I am in building 5 room 75. But, Cabot should be around soon to greet you."

Casey was sure she'd forget every word, but shook the nice woman's hand and entered the dark room alone. Turning on one set of overhead lights she observed the bare space. The desks were stacked to one corner, a table and bookshelves in another, and cabinets along one wall. Opening her blinds a little to let in natural light she again assessed her room layout. It was very gray and very plain. So unlike her. She didn't even know where to begin setting up.

Walking to what she assumed was the office, she attempted to open the door only to discover it too was locked. Pulling her new set of keys from her pocket she moved to unlock it, when someone from the inside did so for her.

"Hi," a smartly dressed blonde woman said as she walked through the door. "Are you the new English teacher?"

Casey sighed at the woman, as she looked around the room for her map again. Clearly, Melinda had been confused as to who her co-teacher would be, or led her to the wrong room. "I think so, I mean yes."

The blonde smiled at the nervous redhead. She had to admire the beauty of the young woman. Her milky white skin, short chopped red hair, and emerald eyes that seemed easy to get lost in...

Regaining her footing, she righted her thought process, "So, you are the new English teacher?"

"Yes," Casey affirmed, "I'm teaching 7th grade Language Arts."

"Right, Language Arts. I'm going to eventually correct my curriculum lingo," the blonde said as she moved past the redhead to the thermostat. Turning the dial below, she indicated, "We are all green friendly here at St. Francis, you've got to turn it to make it come on."

"Oh," Casey replied meekly. She stared at the skinny blonde before her. The woman was dressed nicely even for organizing a classroom. She had colorful blue yoga pants on and a black thin zip up hoodie with what appeared to be a white tank top underneath. Not to mention, her blonde hair tied into a neat ponytail and she wore matching sneakers. For being dressed down, she looked remarkably put together. She suddenly felt very over dressed.

"Is this your first year teaching?"

"Yes, I graduated from NYU in May."

"That's great," the other woman replied, "They have a fantastic teaching program. You should be well prepared. I went to Boston College."

"Thank you," she replied, "By the way, I'm Casey Novak."

Pausing for a moment, Alex shook her head, "Oh my goodness, I forgot to introduce myself," she laughed, "I'm Alexandra Cabot."

"You are Alex Cabot," Casey more stated than questioned. "Okay, well I am in the right room then."

"You were expecting a man?"

Biting her lip for a moment, she admitted, "Yes."

"It happens all the time."

"So, do you prefer Alexandra or Alex?"

"Well, most people around here call me Cabot, and they'll call you Novak, so be prepared. However, you can call me Alex. That's what my friends and family call me."

Smirking at the older woman, Casey nodded, "And you can call me Casey."

For a moment neither woman spoke, they just stared at each other.

"I have a meeting in about twenty minutes for the 'Book Burning Committee-'" Alex started only to be interrupted.

"The what?"

"Oh, sorry," she laughed, "It's our committee nickname. Technically it's called, Literary Prevention Committee. Our job is to read novels parents want censored for classrooms. Basically, it's-"

"To prevent book burnings?"

"Yes," Alex laughed. "I like to save the books."

"How Guy Montag of you."

Alex beamed at the feisty redhead, "Nice Bradbury allusion. I think I'm going to enjoy working with you."

Again silence filled Casey's classroom. The younger teacher couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something insanely attractive about her new counterpart. Yet, she had to remember her boundaries.

"Anyway," Alex picked up with a sigh, "I need to be going. I'll be held up most of the afternoon, but if you need anything you can help yourself to my classroom. Also," she added grabbing an abandoned whiteboard marker from the tray, "this is my cellphone number. Feel free to text me if you need anything."

"Thank you," Casey replied.

"You are welcome," Alex said checking her watch, "I've got to run now. See you later."

"Later," the younger teacher called back as she watched the blonde run off.

Sitting alone in her room, she couldn't shake the thought of Alex Cabot. She found the woman insanely attractive. It was a thought she'd have to bury for so many reasons...

Later that evening, Alex found herself sitting in her best friend's kitchen, watching the flustered brunette butcher a piece of chicken. "I don't think you are supposed to trim that much meat off with the fat."

"And I don't remember asking for your input," Abbie Carmichael spat as she looked at what she was being accused of, "But if you can do a better job be my guest."

"Happily," Alex said standing to take over, "When is Serena due home?"

"Any minute now," Abbie explained, "Her shift was up thirty minutes ago."

"Well that's good, I feel like I haven't seen her in weeks," Alex said as she tried to fix the mangled chicken.

"Yeah, ever since the new head nurse started at the hospital she's been psycho busy. But, I get the feeling things are starting to settle back down now. She's been getting home at more decent hours."

"Alright, your chicken has been cleaned," She replied as she passed the meat off and washed her hands.

Letting her friend take over the cooking process, Alex picked her phone up. Seeing an unknown number pop on the device with two text notifications, she frowned. Unlocking it, she quickly navigated to the messages.

The first message read, "Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for earlier. You really helped me to feel welcome. I look forward to planning with you tomorrow."

The second one, "By the way, this is Casey Novak."

Reading the messages made her laugh at the adorable nervousness of her new cohort. As she quickly responded, "It was my pleasure. I am looking forward to planning with you."

Putting her phone away, Alex looked up to suddenly realize both Abbie and Serena were staring at her. "When did you get here?"

"The better question," Serena asked, "is who has you blushing that much?"