AN: I would just just like to say that in the first chapter I started it off with the first flashback that occurred on the show. I do not own that particular scene, I just simply wrote it out how it was portrayed on the show. I will be adding in some of the other flashbacks further on in the FanFic because I would like to keep it as close to the show as possible, but this is still going to be my own work. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Brandon was extremely excited to start kindergarten; he had put on his favourite Spiderman outfit and was rearing to go. "Mommy, come on!" He called up to her as he tugged on her shirt. Stef was stood in the bathroom, plaiting her hair. "Hang on" she said, trying not to mess it up as Brandon began jumping up and down beside her. "Go and say goodbye to daddy, before he leaves for work. I will be down in a second, B." Brandon darted out of the bathroom without hesitation. Stef could hear him thumping down each step as he made his way down to find Mike. She smiled to herself; she loved seeing her son get so excited and enthusiastic about things. He was her bundle of joy. Once she had finished up in the bathroom, she made her way down the stairs to find her husband standing by the front door. He grabbed his keys out of his jacket pocket before looking up at Stef, "right, I'm off" he explained. "Are you sure you don't want me to drop Brandon off at school?"
"Uh, no it's okay. I'd like to see him in." Stef looked around for her things, barely realising Mike leave for work. "Brandon, time to go" Stef called out as she collected his things together. Brandon darted straight into the hallway from the kitchen with a juice box held tightly in his hand. He had managed to let some of the orange juice trickle down his face but he didn't seem to care. "Oh Brandon, look at you. You're a mess." Stef crouched down to his level and pulled out a tissue from her purse and dabbed his face roughly, getting rid of the sticky mess. When they were finally ready to leave, Brandon excitedly ran to the car and climbed into his booster seat with very little difficulty. He attempted to buckle himself in but couldn't quite manage, so Stef took over. He sat up, straightening his back, feeling proud that he was finally going to join kindergarten. Stef looked at him with a smile before she shut the door and climbed into the driver's seat.
As they came up to the school, Stef took a while in finding a decent place to park. There were children all over the place, some in groups, some individuals and some clinging onto their parents. She helped her son out of the car and leaned over the booster seat to grab his lunch box. "Don't forget this, bud" she said as she handed it to him. She looked down at Brandon who had the widest eyes as he looked around at all the other children around him. She laughed to herself and took his hand, guiding him over to the school entrance. There, she noticed Lena Adams greeting the children and smiling sweetly at each and every one of them. Stef decided to head towards her and as she did, Lena looked up and acknowledged the blonde headed mother among the crowd and waved happily. Lena stepped to one side as she let the children pile into the school building, she nodded her head in the direction she was standing, motioning for Stef to join her. As Stef got closer, Lena realised Brandon following closely behind and the smile on her face grew brighter. "This must be Brandon" she said, welcomingly. Stef smiled as she looked down at the little brown haired boy who had suddenly gone shy. She nudged him on the shoulder gently, "are you going to say hi, B?" she laughed. Lena looked at him for a moment before realising he wasn't going to say anything, so she decided to bend down and point at what he was wearing. "I take you like Spiderman? I think we have a Spiderman colouring book inside" she said calmly, hoping that would take his interest and put him at ease. Brandon hid slightly behind Stef, giving Lena shy eye contact. "This is Miss Adams, B. She's going to be one of your teachers." Stef placed her hand on Brandon's back, in attempt to comfort him. "Do you want to go with Miss Adams? She'll show you what you have to do and where to put your lunch box, baby." Brandon shook his head suddenly and shut his eyes tight. Stef could tell that he was holding back from bursting into tears. She crouched down beside him and began to rub his back gently. "Hey, baby, what's wrong? I thought you were excited to start school?"
"It's not as scary as you think. All the other kids here are very friendly." Lena added as she also came down to Brandon's level to join the two; she looked at the little boy before her sympathetically. Brandon stood there with no response, just his big green eyes looking down at the ground as he clung onto Stef's shirt. "I'll tell you what, how about if mommy sticks around for a while, until you settle in?" Lena looked towards Stef, who exchanged a friendly smile. "If that's okay with you, mommy?" Stef gave a nod and responded, "of course it is. How about that, B? Do you want me to stay?" Brandon instantly nodded and looked back and forth from Stef to Lena.
"Great." Lena burst out as she jumped back onto her feet and cupped her hands together. Stef stood back up, taking Brandon's hand and smiled down at him. Lena then pointed towards the school entrance, "just follow me, I'll show you where you need to be." She turned in the direction they were about to head and began walking at a suitable pace for Brandon to keep up.
After an hour or so, Brandon had already managed to make two new friends; a petite red headed girl who wore glasses almost as big as her tiny face and a blonde headed boy who seemed extremely quiet but followed Brandon around wherever he went. Stef was sat at the crafts table, watching Brandon and his two friends playing with the musical instruments in the opposite corner of the classroom. She was pleased at how well he had managed to settle in. "He looks happy" a voice came from behind Stef. She peered round to see Lena standing there with her usual friendly smile. Stef got up from the tiny seat that had now made her butt feel incredibly numb. She nodded with content and folded her arms as they both watched Brandon. "I think he really likes it here" Stef announced before turning to Lena. For a moment, they stood there looking at one another in silence before Stef coughed slightly and looked away. Lena's eyes led back to Brandon, "he seems to be enjoying himself" she finally responded.
"This is a really good school" Stef complimented.
"I'm really pleased you think so. The kids, they're all wonderful."
"Do you have kids of your own?" Stef turned to her once again, in query. Lena shook her head. "No, no. I love kid's but-" she paused for a moment with a hesitant look across her face. "I've just never found the right partner." Stef stuck out her bottom lip ever so slightly and nodded in understanding.
"So," Lena started, as she went onto a new topic, "there's a fieldtrip coming up. We're taking the kids to a pizza restaurant and-"
"Oh yeah, I saw that on the, uh, the sheet you gave me last week. B loves pizza. I showed him the list and he got overly excited when he saw that on there."
Lena laughed softly, before continuing "well, we kind of need volunteers." Lena looked at Stef, trying not to put pressure on her.
"I'm up for it" Stef replied. "I mean, I'm not big on homemade cooking because I'm hopeless in the kitchen, if it was up to me, I would live off of microwave meals and takeouts but I'd like to see how Brandon gets on." She stood there laughing awkwardly as she unfolded her arms.
In the middle of their conversation, a kid from the crafts table got up with the paint pallets and turned in their direction. As he stepped forward, his back foot got caught on the chair leg and the paints went flying straight towards Stef's chest. The paint pallet landed on the hard ground, causing a loud crashing sound but Stef was stood there, frozen, with different coloured paint splattered all over her top. Lena gasped before she bent down suddenly to help the little kid up. "Adam, are you okay, dear?" From what she could tell, he seemed fine and got up without a struggle. Lena looked round at Stef instantly. "I am so, so sorry about that. Um, I, there's probably something in the main lost property closet. I'll run and fetch you something." Lena looked at her with the most apologetic, guilty looking face.
Stef stood there and began to laugh. She looked down at the kid who looked worried, as if he was about to be told off. "It wasn't your fault, bud. It was an accident." Lena's guilty look turned into admiration, she was surprised that Stef was acting so calm about it. "If you go in there and get yourself cleaned up, I'll go and find you a decent top to wear." Lena pointed towards the staff bathroom before she turned and jogged out of the classroom.
Stef made her way over to the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and pulled out a dozen paper towels from the box that hung on the wall and rinsed the towels under cold water. Stef began to dab the paint splodges on her top before realising it was soaking through. She placed the towels down and grabbed the ends of her shirt before lifting it over her head, avoiding getting any paint in her hair. Stef was stood there, looking in the mirror just in her plain white bra. She sighed to herself as she looked down and realised just how much paint there was on her top. She was hoping that it would come out, although she wasn't extremely bothered as it was a cheap shirt anyway. She continued dabbing it with a wet towel before the door swung open. "This was all I could-" Lena burst in and held her hand over her eyes as soon as she realised Stef was stood there half naked. "I am so sorry. I-" she struggled to get her words out as Stef stood there awkwardly holding her arms around her body. Lena allowed the door to swing shut before she reached out, handing a light green t-shirt with floral patterns all over. "Thanks" Stef responded under her breath, awkwardly taking it from her. Lena looked around the bathroom, trying to avoid looking at Stef's body. Suddenly, their eyes awkwardly met and they stood there looking at each other. Stef blinked but didn't look away. For a moment, they contained eye contact until Lena broke away and headed back for the door. "Right, um, I, uh, I'm sorry about that." They both laughed uncomfortably before Lena carefully slid out of the room, trying not to let the door open too wide for any others to see. Stef's eyes travelled back to her reflection in the mirror. It hit her that the discomfort wasn't due to the fact that Lena walked in on her half naked, but the fact that they were in a public bathroom; anyone else could have walked in. Stef decided to not over think the situation; instead she pulled the top over her head and fixed her hair before heading back out into the classroom.