Title: Mismatched Shoes, Chapter 2 (Reflection)
Author: DianeB
Rating: PG-13 (K+)
Pairing: Martin/Louisa
Chapter 2 Summary: This chapter fits between the two significant conversations Louisa had with Martin during the S4 episode "The Departed." That is, it fills in a small blank between the "odd shoes" conversation and the one when the pair bump into each other outside the Wenn's as Louisa's delivering Theo's homework. This chapter emerged entirely from my marginally-fertile imagination.
A/N: Please see Chapter 1 for original Author's Notes and Disclaimer.
When she was certain she was out of sight of Martin, Louisa stopped and leaned on the low stone fence, peering over her rounded stomach to see the shoes she had hurriedly slipped on that morning. As she found herself doing more and more in the past month, she spent a moment (this time leaning there in front of God and everybody) rubbing her belly and thinking back over the conversation she'd just had with Martin, trying to determine if there had been a deeper, more personal, meaning behind his curt remarks and gruff manner.
She sighed and looked toward the water and the distant boats, deciding no, there really hadn't been. Same as every other time. Okay, he hadn't caught her jealousy of Edith, which was a good thing, but it was obvious he had caught the fact that her hormones were wildly out of balance, the damn shoes being a very visible example.
Sighing again, and realizing with some dismay that she'd been sighing an awful lot lately, she dusted herself off and continued on.
oOo oOo oOo
Once back in the village proper, Louisa couldn't bring herself to return to Mr. Routledge's cottage, which she had yet to think of as her cottage. It was just too soon, and no amount of scrubbing would change that. So she went to one of the few other places in Portwenn that gave her comfort.
oOo oOo oOo
An hour later, sitting in front of a pile of colorful children's artwork at her desk in the empty school, with only the sound of the fish tank's bubbler for background noise, Louisa leaned back in the chair and rubbed her eyes, trying to imagine how it was that she'd come to be in this state.
"Oh, well, love," she said aloud, sitting up and addressing her belly, "I guess you know how you came to be in this state, now don't you?" Snickering at herself, she stood, yawned and stretched, and decided that no matter how unfamiliar it felt, she'd probably be better off going back to Mr. Routledge's for a snack and a nap than staying here, staring at pink dinosaurs and stewing over the abrupt turn her life had taken.
Glancing around the room, she took in all the aspects that made it so wonderful: The books, the child-sized desks and chairs, the chalkboard, the very smell of the chalk dust itself, the fish, the plants, and even the big wall clock that ticked unevenly but still managed to keep excellent time. Soon enough, she'd have a child of her own attending this very school.
Cradling her belly by instinct and also to relieve some of the stress on her back, she sighed (again) and walked toward the deserted cloakroom, intent on getting a storybook from the shelf beside it. Nearing the pegs, she passed the full-length mirror on the wall and her reflection revealed what she'd forgotten: the mismatched shoes.
Sighing (again!), she dropped her arms and shook her head. The shoes really weren't that far off one another, and she had, in fact, spent the better part of the day traipsing around in them without anyone else noticing…
In an instant of perfect awareness, she froze and looked hard at the face reflected back at her. It was probably not true that others hadn't noticed her shoes. Of course others had noticed, but only Martin had said anything. Turning from the mirror toward her original goal of a storybook, she couldn't quite figure whether that was a good thing or a bad one.
As her hand drew a book from the shelf, the phone rang shrilly in the office down the hall, piercing the silence and causing Louisa to nearly drop the book. Who on earth would be calling at this time of day, knowing there'd be no one here to answer? Even as she asked herself the question, she pushed the book back into its place and began lumbering to the office. She didn't reach the phone until it was on its eighth ring. "Portwenn Sch—"
She was rudely cut off by a sharp female voice. "Well, yes, finally. Miss Glasson? This is Juliet Wenn."
Louisa held the phone out, looking incredulously at it. How did Juliet Wenn know she was here? Bringing the phone back to her ear, Louisa realized that of course Juliet couldn't have known she was here; Juliet had simply been lucky anyone was here. "Hello, Mrs. Wenn."
"You must bring Theo's homework. I know he's missed quite a lot of it already, and I don't want him getting any further behind."
Louisa huffed to herself. As if Theo Wenn ever cared about homework or where he stood in the school's pecking order. Still, the woman was right. Theo had already missed quite a bit of work, and whether or not he would actually do the homework, it couldn't hurt for him to have it. "Um, yes, Mrs. Wenn, I can deliver it to you."
"Today, please."
This was clearly not a polite request, and gave no consideration for the fact that Louisa had already been out to the Wenn's that day on another delivery mission for Theo. For a moment, Louisa felt just exactly as if she were talking to Martin. Swallowing hard against a reflexive desire to snap at her, Louisa simply told Mrs. Wenn she'd be there as soon as she could and hung up before she could be further demeaned by the woman.
Waddling back to her room and glancing again at her reflection, she recalled the shoe task still at hand and wondered for a moment if she should bother. Yes, she decided, she should bother, if for no other reason than to reassure the rest of the village that her pregnancy had not rendered her incapable of properly dressing herself. Gathering the requisite homework for Theo, she made her way slowly out of the schoolhouse.
She knew, of course, there was another, much more compelling, reason for changing her shoes.
End Chapter 2