"Ex Memoria"

5. Field Trip Day

May 2012 – Lima, Ohio

The way they understood it, the plan had not always been for the senior class to be brought into this field trip, but somewhere along the way it had changed, and so now it was all of them who were waiting in the McKinley parking lot bright and early that May morning to get on one of the buses headed out. As the teacher she was presently replacing had been meant to be one of the chaperones, Principal Figgins had called on Miss Harrison to substitute her there as well.

Those among the students who knew the woman's true name to be Gemma Lucas had seen her as they'd approached, and it seemed the general consensus that she looked odd that morning. They all knew by now it was near impossible to get one by her on any other day, but this morning she looked distracted and focused all at once, which shouldn't have been possible, and yet here she was.

"What if it's something bad?" Mercedes wondered aloud to Kurt and Blaine, who were walking up with her.

"Bad how?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"Maybe she just doesn't like field trips," Kurt suggested, trying to make himself sound less invested than he actually was. They still didn't know about his turn with the Doctor.

But then as they'd joined up with the others in their group, the others had noticed it, too, and they all seemed to agree that something was off, and something had to be done about it.

"We're about to leave," Artie pointed out.

"One of us can go and sit next to her on the bus and ask her… maybe?" Sugar suggested. The others looked amongst themselves, wondering who should do it, and Sugar became determined then that it should be her, so before anyone else had a shot of speaking up… "I'll do it."

The plan became that much easier once they got on the bus and saw that Gemma was by herself. Sugar would have had no problem taking it upon herself to eject whoever was sharing her seat, but now she didn't have to. She waited until they'd been on the road for a few minutes, and then she stood and sidled up the row before dropping in at the fake substitute's side.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked, while Gemma jumped. When she saw it was Sugar, she relaxed. "Sorry…"

"It's fine, I… What's up?" Even as she said this, she looked so very out of it, and Sugar was concerned.

"Something happened, didn't it?" she asked, and the look Gemma turned on to her showed the shift in the conversation. Suddenly they weren't teacher and student anymore. Sugar was addressing her in her capacity as the Doctor's companion. Sitting up straight, Gemma couldn't help but be mindful of their surroundings, on a crowded bus in motion. There were enough voices going around them where it could seem as though they'd be able to talk without concern of being heard, but Gemma wouldn't be the kind to take the chance, and neither would Sugar – or at least Padra.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself over," Gemma told her.

"Are you sure?" Sugar asked.

Of all the answers she could have given her, Gemma knew the truth couldn't come anywhere near it, especially with Sugar. She would turn it around and believe it was because of her, and in some aspects of course it was. But there was so much more to it, things Gemma herself was still attempting to make heads or tails of. She had a fairly good idea of what it was that would have led the girl sitting by her side to come up and talk to her, but she couldn't tell her the truth, no matter how much she wanted to.

"More than sure," she volunteered a smile, hoping it would help to put the girl's mind at ease enough to leave her be. Sugar knew she was lying, and she almost looked hurt to discover it. Maybe she thought because of the secret they shared, the one that was to do with her identity before Lima and Earth altogether, she would have opened up without a moment's notice. Gemma did wish she could talk to her about it, and maybe someday they would have a chance at it, but for the time being, it just needed to be something she kept to herself. "I will talk to all of you when we get there," she went on to say, and here at least there was no need to think too hard on how to fill in the blanks. Gemma would be telling them about whoever it was they had to talk to next once they made it off the bus. Maybe she wouldn't tell her what was bothering her, but it was something.

"I'll go and…" Sugar pointed to the back of the bus, moving to stand.

"You can stay if you want to," Gemma offered her, and seeing the sliver of a smile on the girl's face made her feel more at ease than she'd felt all day, ever since she'd gotten the Doctor's message.

As the bus ride had gone on, Sugar had decided that, even though Gemma wouldn't tell her what was really going on, maybe she didn't have to. By allowing her to stay seated next to her, Gemma had inadvertently given her all the opportunity she needed to observe her from up close. Maybe she wasn't some great detective, but there were plenty of things for her to glean out of their time together. One such thing that Sugar picked up on over time was the way Gemma would just stare at her sometimes, like she was trying to find something. She didn't know what that thing was, but it seemed very important to her. Sugar only wished she could figure it out.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)