"The Mistaken M. Jones"
5. One Life & Another
March 2012 – Lima, Ohio
When she'd sat to figure out her lesson plans, now that 'the near future' was shaping to be only the beginning of so much more, she'd realized it. Even without telling her, it had all been headed this way, all these weeks. The books she'd been given, the books she'd read, they'd all been working together to build her knowledge, and that knowledge she had was just what she needed… to teach this class, from this point on through the end of the year, without falling on her face. She had half a mind to shut her eyes tight and send the Doctor a strongly worded comment…
But for now she had other things to worry herself over, like her classes for that day, and students, both in and out of her class. So the Doctor, for now, would have her reprieve.
She knew Quinn had done what she'd asked her to. When she saw Mercedes, the girl had a look on her face like a veil had been lifted off her eyes and the world was freshened up, opened up. She wished this didn't have to involve leaving her to wonder which of her classmates had met the Doctor, same as she'd done, but for the time being, that was how it had to be. She wouldn't have been told about her involvement either, if all was going as it was supposed to.
Of course, now that those days from the summer before were being freshened up in her head, it might have only been a matter of time before the memory the woman in the sunglasses connected with the image of her substitute teacher. Gemma had kept her sunglasses on when she'd gone over that morning before getting in to work, hoping it would manage to keep the image blurry enough in Mercedes' memory that she wouldn't connect the dots. She'd tried and misdirected her by imitating the Doctor's accent, the only one she could think of, but even then she wouldn't have been surprised if she figured it out.
"Hey there!" she was greeted by a cheerful Coach Beiste when she stepped into the teachers' lounge. She still felt like a bit of an intruder in that place sometimes, but she had friends now, like Shannon Beiste, and that helped. "Heard you're sticking around here."
"Yeah," she confirmed, taking a seat at the table where the coach was.
"Well, good, we could use teachers like you around here." Gemma tried not to smile so wide, but she couldn't help it.
"That… That means a lot, really," she nodded. Now that she was swimming in happiness, it was only half a surprise just how fast her mind conjured up Walter's face. But then she did remember the anxiety underneath this upcoming date, and her smile faltered.
"You alright?" Beiste asked, catching on.
"I… yeah…" she shook her head, deciding she shouldn't put this on to the coach.
"Hey, come on," Beiste gave her an encouraging smile. "No sense in keeping things bottled up, trust me, I used to do that… It wasn't pretty," she chuckled.
Gemma hesitated, looking at her. The two were nothing alike, but sometimes when she'd talk with the coach, it felt like talking with her mother. She'd been missing her, and her father, her whole family, more and more each day, and with this… promotion… it only made her feel the days they'd been apart more and more. At least when she was travelling with the Doctor, everything they did, it made time go by in a different way, made the gaps in between her visits home that much more bearable. Today, neither of her parents had even been born, she couldn't get to them. She could have used the vortex manipulator and it would have been a piece of cake. The Doctor hadn't actually told her she wasn't allowed to do it, but Gemma had put the rule on herself. With how long this whole thing had been going, and would keep going, the temptation existed. All it took was her slipping once, and she'd be done for. And then there's Walter…
"I have a, uh… I have a date coming up…" she finally explained, and Beiste smirked.
"Nice guy?"
"The best," she admitted, to the coach and herself both.
"Alright, well then what's with the face? You look like you're already trying to break it off with this guy." It would be the kind thing to do. I can't stay with him.
"His heart is whole, why break it?"
"Hey, Ginny, come on. I know we haven't known each other that long, but I see how you are with the kids, with us… This guy, if he's as good as you say he is, then the two of you might have something together. You just need to take a chance."
She wished she could tell her the truth, the whole truth. Then maybe she'd understand why it wasn't so simple. Maybe it is. That's what her mother would say; they really would get along, her and the coach, wouldn't they… But no, it really wasn't that easy, and she would hope that her mother, knowing what she knew, would get that.
She'd gone deep into her own world, so deep that it took feeling someone's hand on hers for her to come back up, and she turned to find Beiste was holding her hand. Did she really look that sad? Judging by her face, she must have.
"Don't give up before even trying. Otherwise you'll always remember it that way. At least go out with him once, and if you really can't make it work, then… find a way to let him down easy."
By the end of the day, it would have been the longest she'd gone without thinking whether or not to cancel the date. And it went on that way the next day… She might not have known whether or not they would have a second date, but she'd committed to this one and she would go through with it. It might well be that, by the end of the night, she'd know for sure. The date would tell her which way to go.
TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)