Chapter Fifteen: To Mend A Broken Heart

The end of school bell finally rang, letting all of the students in John Smith's class to leave for the weekend. Smith said his goodbyes to the boys and girls, especially one particular student who he admired that year named Sarah. Before leaving school, Sarah and Smith talked in the hallway for a brief time, pointing out how there were a few short months left before the end of the year and how much she would miss his class. Smith assured Sarah that as long as he was a teacher at Storybrooke, she would always see him around, whether it was in school or anywhere else in town. With this assurance, Sarah left school with a happier attitude, which gave some relief for Smith.

That relief was short-lived when he saw Kathryn Nolan walked briskly down the hall, passing right by him and bumping into the gym teacher without apologizing. "Watch where you're goin'," he said to her, although she was not listening. Shaking his head, he looked to Smith as he passed, gesturing to Kathryn and saying, "We get better respect outside of school, am I right?"

Smith merely acknowledged his complaints with a simple nod, bothering more to see why Kathryn was at the school in the first place. He saw her walk directly up to Mary Margaret, who stood in the middle of the hallway after receiving a phone call, and slapped her right in the face. The action took Smith by surprise more than everyone else that saw and heard it. All activity ceased and all eyes focused on the furious Kathryn and the shocked Mary Margaret.

The conversation between the two women was mixed with soft and high tones – the latter coming mostly from Kathryn, who accused Mary Margaret for having an affair with David. Mary Margaret tried to plead her case and tell Kathryn how she and David should have informed her about their relationship, but Kathryn was quick to reject her. It suddenly became evident to Mary Margaret that David had not been honest with his wife, which was the main cause for the confrontation happening there and then. After acerbically wishing her good luck on their relationship, Kathryn left Mary Margaret standing alone and distraught in the hallway, with every student, teacher, and parent in the school eyeing her.

Smith hurried to her, not wanting to see her be so isolated and helpless in the one place where she felt the safest. "Mary Margaret," he said as he approached with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Go home."

"Wh-What?" she uttered, barely catching what he instructed her to do.

"I'll cover here for you." Smith assured. "Just go home. Please."

It was as if he had read her mind, because it was exactly what she wanted to do that very second. The tears were already flooding her eyes at the moment she put one hand over her mouth and ran away, being careful not to bump into anyone as she left. Smith felt very cold, having witnessed one of the worst spats ever, and in a school of all places. He was also very angry – not with Kathryn, but with her husband, David.

David could not believe what he was seeing as he walked up to his car. There, spray-painted in large red letters over the windows and doors, was the word "TRAMP." It was plain as day and readable to everyone who passed by and saw it. Disgusted, David hoped that one of the nearby places had a bucket of water and a sponge available for him to watch the spray paint off. As he turned to start checking, he bumped directly into John Smith, who afterward thrust him against the side of his vandalized car.

"John, what're you…?"

"Shut up! Just…shut your mouth!" The furious Smith demanded. "What the hell is the matter with you? Huh? You have any idea what you put your wife through…what you put Mary Margaret through?"

It was clear to David why the schoolteacher was so angry. With a heavy sigh, he innocently said, "John, I didn't want any of this."

"Oh, sure you did. You wanted to be with Mary Margaret. Well, now you've got her! It's just too bad you had to lose the respect of your wife and everyone else in town to get it!"

Smith's retort was enough to drive David over the edge. He advanced on Smith and furiously yelled, "Who the hell are you to judge me for…"

"I make it my business to…"

The two men were shouting so loudly that many bystanders stopped and watched the confrontation. Only one bothered to step in between them and break things up before matters got worse; that person was Jack Harkness, who seemed to be doing his duty as deputy. "Hold it, guys! Hold it! Stop it, the both of you!"

Smith viciously pointed to David and demanded, "You stay away from Mary Margaret! You've done enough to her!" After making the demand, Smith walked away from Jack and David.

With Smith gone, Jack turned to check on David. "Are you alright?"

David nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I expected that kind of reaction."

"That's not what I meant." Jack said.

David saw the concerned look on the deputy's face and realized what he was referring to. "No…No, I'm not." He gestured to his ruined car and added, "This got more out of control than I intended it to be. All I wanted was to be with Mary Margaret and for Kathryn to be happy."

"Sometimes happiness can only happen when people are honest with each other." Jack indicated.

David knew how right Jack was, but it did not make up for the situation that he was in. "There's no way to fix it, is there?"

"Maybe. Only time can mend a broken heart." Jack remarked and patted David on the shoulder. "C'mon. Let's get this tramp off your car before she starts asking for money."

Even though the joke was in bad taste, especially with what was going on, David somehow managed to build up a chuckle from it. He went with Jack to the nearest store to grab some soap, water, and sponge, momentarily leaving his vandalized car alone on the street corner.