Drabble 92: Parent-Teacher Conference

Fitz waited outside the classroom, his nerves climbing every minute he waited to be called inside. He hated parent-teacher conferences. He found himself sweeping one leg back and forth across the floor, and forced himself to sit straight.

After all, this conference wasn't about him. It was about his son.

He thought it was amazing how just being involved in a conference like this brought him back to his experiences with them as a kid. The positive experiences, with his mother. And the… less positive ones, with his father.

"Mr. Fitz?"

Fitz jumped out of his thoughts and to his feet as the teacher called for him. He smiled nervously at the woman as he ducked in after her, taking a seat at the chair in front of her desk.

"Thank you for coming, Mr. Fitz."

"Of course, it's good to see you again Ms. -." He scrabbled frantically for her name. Peters? No, that was Anna's teacher. Shaw? But that was Benji's. He had met this woman a month ago, when term started! "Ms. Hunt." He said, biting the inside of his lip. He hated looking like a fool. "Sorry, bit of a long day."

"I understand completely." Ms. Hunt said with a laugh. "You have two other children, don't you? I think Andrew's mentioned them."

"Another boy and a girl." Fitz said, relaxing slightly. "My wife is at a meeting for our daughter right now." He quickly wondered how she was doing.

"I hope to have them in the future." Ms. Hunt said. "Andrew is a wonderful child, perfectly polite. Though he is very quiet."

"Yeah, I think he gets that from me. Except when he's nervous, then he tends to stammer a bit and keep talking, like Jemma… and I suppose like I'm doing right now." He finished lamely, his cheeks burning.

"It's not a problem, really. Every child is different. But he might have a harder time making friends, since he doesn't engage with the others very much outside partner work. Nothing to worry about," she said quickly.

Fitz nodded. He understood that comment all too well. In this case, father really was like son.

"… said you haven't made any friends yet. What's that about, Leopold? You want to be alone for the rest of your life?"

"Don't say that!" Mum said in shock. She touched Leo's arms bracingly. "Leo is doing just fine!"

"His teacher knows better than we do, and he says the boy doesn't talk!" Dad said. Leo looked at Dad's shoes. "He barely even talks around us, and we raised him! You've got to speak up, Leopold." He stopped suddenly, and Leo half-closed his eyes. He knew Dad wasn't done talking, and what was coming was bound to hurt more than what he'd already said. "If you've got anything to say. Is that the problem? You aren't bright enough to talk to those other children?"

"Alistair!" Mum cried. She turned Fitz round so he faced her, and he was thankful for it. It kept Dad from seeing the tears in his eyes. "Leo, don't you think for a second that we believe that. You're brighter than either of us before you've fully woken up in the morning." She smiled at him. "Your teacher just worries that you're so quiet, but I'm not worried. My boy is just so busy thinking, he forgets to talk to the others. Is that right?"

Leo gave her a watery smile as he nodded. Mum always knew what was really going on, and just what to say.

"We'll just have to brainstorm something you can work on with the others. That'll start a friendship."

Fitz blinked out of the memory. Andrew was just like Fitz had been at that age. "He likes to analyze things, to figure out how they work and could be improved. But he likes to do it in his head."

"Which doesn't invite much conversation." Ms. Hunt said. "He's excelling academically. I'm really impressed by his cleverness, especially in our last chapter in science."

Pride rushed through Fitz at this. Yes, Andrew was definitely his and Jemma's kid.

"He can have a bit of a hard time staying with the class, though. We were reading as a class just today, taking it in turns, and when it was his turn he had to ask where we were. I told him the correct spot, and he had to flip back three pages. And he completes his math sheets when I've only asked them to do the first few problems."

"Andrew doesn't like to wait when he knows how to do something." Fitz admitted. His son was perfectly patient when he wanted to be. He could sit with a design for hours and be completely content. But he hated waiting for a group to accomplish something he could do by himself in half the time. Which, Fitz realized, didn't help him make any friends. It certainly hadn't helped him.

Leo swung his feet as he sat outside the classroom. Thankfully it was Mum who was taking the meeting this time. Dad wasn't around enough anymore to attend one of these meetings.

He looked up when Mum came out of the room, his teacher right behind her. Leo waved to her as they walked to the car, and once they were out of earshot Mum started telling him what his teacher had said.

"Mum, I just don't understand why I have to keep pace with them." Leo said as they drove home, once Mum had assured him it was a good report. "I can read so much faster on my own. Why should I get in trouble for it?"

"Because you're supposed to be reading as a class. It's a class assignment."

Leo grumbled a little in the backseat.

Mum met his eyes in the rearview mirror and smiled. "I know it's hard to stay with the others. But try to think of it like working in a team. Someday you'll find something you can't figure out on your own, and having others to help you will be an asset."

"I'm thrilled at how accurately he works," Ms. Hunt said, drawing Fitz's attention back. "but I wish he would wait for the class to catch up before moving on."

"Yeah, we'll try to work on it." Fitz said.

Ms. Hunt looked at something on her desk. "I believe that's everything. He hasn't gotten in trouble or anything. He's a model student. Just a very quiet one."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Fitz stammered, standing up and holding out his hand. They shook and Fitz walked out of the classroom.

He pulled out his phone and texted Jemma to ask which room she was in. She didn't answer. He frowned and racked his memory, because he knew she'd said the number this morning… got it. He set off towards the right room, arriving there just as Jemma was walking out.

"Jem!" he called, raising a hand.

She stopped and turned and, far from returning his warm smile, appeared almost angry.

"What did I do?" he asked, stopping.

"You got me in trouble!" she hissed. "My phone went off in the meeting. I had the sound on in case Daisy needed anything for the kids, but you texted me!" she looked back at the door. "Ms. Peters wasn't at all pleased."

Fitz felt himself start to laugh and forced himself to keep a straight face, so Jemma wouldn't actually get angry. "Well I was a rambling daydreamer during my talk with Ms. Hunt. Does that make you feel any better?"

Now she half-smiled. "I suppose."

"So do we have good kids?" Fitz asked as they started walking to the car.

"Yes, but we already knew that."

Fitz pretended to hesitate. "I'm still not sure on Benji. He's a mischievous little elf, too much like his mum."

"Well we've got his conference tomorrow." Jemma said, pointedly ignoring his last comment.

"Amazing how these conferences feel more like comments on us than our kids, isn't it?" Fitz asked.

"Perhaps that's because they're very much our kids." Jemma said. "They're just like us."

Fitz realized she was right and sighed. "I'm sorry."

She seemed truly surprised at this. "For what?"

"I was quite the awkward teenager. We've got that to deal with in a few years."

Jemma shoved him.