Chapter 53
I want to dedicate this chapter to the most awesome man I have ever met; Odo Neverglad (yes that is actually his name). He's the reason I survived so many awful years of school and I am thankful for the 7 years I got to be his student. He's the kindest, funniest and loveliest man there ever was and I hope his wife knows how happy she makes him. They're the reason I believe that true love really exists. (And Nandrea of course but that's a different story.)
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."
-Henry Adams
"Hey, mom." I held the receiver between my shoulder and cheek, putting more books in boxes as she spoke.
"Hello, darling. How's it going?"
"My living room's completely empty and I should be done with my room by the end of the day, too." I bragged.
"How's our little soccer player?"
"He's practicing with my bladder and I'd rather he wouldn't." I sighed.
"Aw well you're getting close to the third trimester, you better become friends with it."
"How come he has so much energy and I'm basically dead no matter how much I sleep?"
"4 more months, sweetie." She encouraged me.
"I can't decided whether that's good or bad." I sighed, wondering when so much time had passed. It seemed like only yesterday that I'd felt him kick for the first time and now something so magically was already almost annoying me.
"You don't really have a choice." She laughed a little but fell quiet.
"Mom?" I asked worriedly. "Is there a reason you called?" I asked suspiciously.
"It's Mr. Gibbs."
How could I ever forget him? "Is he..." I stuttered. "Is everything alright with him?"
"His cancer's back and the doctors say he doesn't have much time left."
I swallowed. Tears dwelled up in my eyes of course, I couldn't even throw a bad sandwich away without feeling like I kicked a puppy.
"Have you seem him?"
"Yes he has a new joke but I think he wants to tell you himself."
"Aw." I got up to check my calendar. I had a seminar that I had to attend on Saturday. "Can I come Saturday in a week?"
"JJ." Her tone revealed that it had to be this week.
My heart started to race. I sat down on the floor and leaned against my bookshelf. "It's ok. I'll look for a flight on Friday." I nodded.
"I'm so sorry." My mother's voice broke.
"Don't worry." I wiped the few tears away. "Guess we all knew this was gonna happen sooner or later."
"If-" she started but my work phone interrupted her.
"That's my boss. I'm sorry, mom. I gotta go. I'll call you when I know my flight dates."
"Ok, sweetie. Take care!"
I hung up to accept Hotch's call.
"Hey, are you free this weekend after all?" I called Will as soon as I'd ended the conversation with Hotch.
"I gotta work." I heard him frown. "I thought you had a meeting on Saturday?"
"I did. I have to cancel it. I gotta fly home to see my old gym teacher. He's dying and I haven't visited him in years."
"I'm so sorry, love." Something broke on the other end of the line. "Ouch." It sounded like he was kicking something in the corner.
I giggled.
"I really wish I could come with you but I switched shifts with a colleague so I can have next Thursday and Friday off.
"It's ok. I probably wouldn't have much time for you anyway I think my mom's got every minute of the weekend planned through."
"She'll be happy to see you again."
"I know." I groaned as I got up from the floor.
"You sound like you're pulling an elephant through town."
"Shut up." I went to the kitchen.
"Grumpy as always." He sang.
"I'm sorry I just feel bad that I never visited him although I promised he would. I was sad when he wasn't at the class reunion. I think you would have liked him."
"I'm sure I would." He said sincerely.
I sat down at the dining table. "He was the kind of teacher everyone should have in their lives, you know. He took students for what they were and helped them develop their individual selves without influencing them, yet none of us would have turned out the way we did if it wasn't for him."
"He sounds like a great man."
"He was." I agreed sadly.
"I always thought he was immortal." I laughed a little. "He was already over 60 when I left school more than 20 years ago, yet he never seemed tired or any less motivated than the younger teachers."
"Tell me about him."
"You can't really describe him." I took a sip of water. "He retired in my junior year and everyone was crying. I never thought I'd be sad to see a teacher go but he was just... different. He was my gym teacher since 6th grade. He was the one who suggested I should join the soccer team because I was hopeless at anything gymnastic related but somehow he could see in my eyes how much I wanted to get out of there. He's the reason I survived the strictest soccer coach ever in my senior year. Because I saw my scholarship right in front of my eyes and when he sometimes came to our games he would come up to me and say 'you grow more beautiful every day-'"
"I can confirm that." Will interrupted.
I ignored him. "'If you weren't so clever, I'd say find yourself a rich husband and lie down by the pool.' But he knew I wasn't the type of girl that could only be a housewife. You know, I've never met anyone again that seemed as happy as he was. I don't even know if he knew what the teacher's room looked like. I always saw him in the hallway, barefoot, a cup of coffee in his hand and a smile on his lips. He told the lamest jokes but there was no way to not laugh." I chewed my lip. "When we asked him what he had been doing before school or what he was going to do after school, he said be with his wife and he smiled a smile that almost broke my heart. Cause when you're 17 and you just broke up with your first boyfriend you believe that you will never find anyone who loves you as much as he loves his wife. But he always reassured us that we would. 'He just wasn't around yet and we had to wait patiently because only the best would be good enough.'"
Will made a weird 'aw'-sound.
"One time." I remembered. "We asked if it was his birthday because someone had said so and he said he didn't know, we should ask his wife she always kept track of that stuff. So we concluded that his wife must be a smart one then and he looked me in the eye and said 'the smartest, the most beautiful, the best.' My best friend and I never got over it, I suppose." I looked down at my free hand. "When I was having a bad day he sang nursery rhymes for me and then said that he's looking forward to the day he sees me on the streets with my little ones. Now here I am, 4 months too late."
"I'm sorry."
"He'll be happy when he sees me. But then again, when wasn't he." I realized that I had switched between tenses a lot. "I feel sorry for everyone who never got a chance to meet him." I gently stroked my belly with my left hand. "I don't know who I would have become without him."
"Guess I owe him many thanks."
"Oh you sure do." I nodded.
"Well tell him I'm thankful he made such a wonderful woman out of you."
"I will." And I knew exactly what he was going to answer.
"Are you ok?" He asked skeptical.
"He believes that he lived the greatest life anyone could ever have. I don't even think he regrets anything he ever did. He changed so many lives. I suppose he deserves to rest, doesn't he?!"
"I'm really sorry." He repeated.
"Me too." I shook my head and took a look at the clock. "It's 10:30?" I gasped.
"Umm... In Virginia, yes."
"I suppose I should get my stuff ready for work tomorrow then."
"Ok. Call me anytime."
"Thank you. Love you."
"Love you too."
I hung up.
Two days later I sat on a plane 'back' to Pennsylvania.
My mother was more than thrilled to see me and I absent absentmindedly answered all of her questions while I watched the familiar scenery pass us by as we drove to East Allegheny from the airport.
The next morning I knocked on my coach's hospital door.
"Surprise visit." I cheered quietly.
"Look who's here." His wife came around the corner and formed a big 'O' with her lips once she saw me. It occurred to me again that there were still so many people I hadn't told the news yet.
"How have you been?" She asked, leading me to the bed where he was half lying half sitting..
"Good, thank you." I focused my attention on him.
I wondered how a person could look so pale and half dead while still lighten up an entire room with his smile. He was skinny and dark shadows surrounded his eyes, yes he welcomed me like nothing was wrong.
"My favorite student." He smiled widely. "What did the green grape say to the purple grape?"
"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders but cracked up. He began every lesson with a joke and I always laughed long before he'd even started telling it.
"BREATHE, Idiot. Breathe."
It was most likely the lamest joke he ever told me but I couldn't stop laughing like in the old days.
"You know, because the grape thinks the purple one doesn't have enough oxygen."
"I know." I was happy to see he still explained even the easiest jokes after all these years.
"And I see you brought my successor's future favorite student." He pointed out.
"I was gonna call you." I said.
"A visit is much better than a phone call." He reached his hands out. "May I?"
"Of course." I came a few steps closer.
"You always told me you didn't want kids but I knew I would still live to see this day." He put both his hands on my belly and smiled the most content smile, as if he was enjoying to feel life in its most purest form one more time, before his body left his forever.
"Well it wasn't exactly planned." I confessed.
"Nonsense. Children are always planned. Whether you know it or not." I was relieved to see how clearly he could still speak. He had a lot of hair on his head though which wasn't a good sign because I supposed he was too weak for another chemo."And the baby daddy?" He asked. "Carol, can you get a chair for young Jennifer."
"Oh no." I refused to have a 80 year old who still looked remarkably fit, pull up a chair for me and got it myself. I put it right next to his bed. His wife sat down on the opposite side, clearly interested in my stories as well.
"He's great. I wish you could have met him." I choked a little on my use of the past tense again.
"You should have brought him."
"He couldn't come. He has to work." I apologized.
"Can't even take a weekend off? Are you sure he's good enough for you?"
"He's moving a thousand miles to stay home with our baby so I can keep on doing the job I love so yes. I may not be sure if I'm good enough for him but he's definitely good enough for me."
He smiled warmly and it broke my heart to see how much effort it cost him.
"Thank you." I whispered. "For everything you taught me."
"Don't be ridiculous. You had the world to your feet even before we ever met."
"He talked about you a lot." His wife told me. "He was so proud."
"He talked about you a lot, too." I smiled. "I've never again met a man so in love as he was through all my years of highschool."
"I know how lucky I am." She took his hand.
"I'm the lucky one, my dear." He squeezed it gently. "Our wonderful kids visit us every single day." He said proudly. "You and your... boyfriend must be so excited."
"Everything's still a little surreal." I admitted.
"Don't worry, that's normal. But once your little boy or girl is here you'll wonder what you ever worried about."
"I'll be the luckiest mother in the world if he's even the slightest bit like you are."
"Don't be ridiculous." His cough sounded very unhealthy. His wife handed him a glass of juice.
"You know it's true." My voice was shaky.
"What could go wrong with your genes." He sat up. "Now tell me more about you. I hear you work for the FBI?"
"Yes, I work for the behavioral.-"
And then I told the story of how I applied for the job right after college and what it was like to work with such people and how I met Will and all the other stories I'd already told a million times. But with him it felt like I was reliving them again right then, right there.
It was the last time I ever spoke to him while he was still alive.
His wife didn't cry at his funeral. "He didn't want me to." She told me. "He said he wants to be remembered with joy and happiness." And we both knew, that there was nobody out there that could remember him with any other feelings...
