A Week Later
Rya'c was beginning to understand more and more of how school worked. Mrs. Jeske had explained to him what the numbers on the board of other classes meant, and he had started completing his assignments on time. He had read four books on grammar, two on Tau'ri history, and the entire textbook of Tau'ri magic.
After the first test, he'd even figured out how to take tests.
So when they give him his report card, and tell him that it explains how he's doing, he thinks he's going to be able to figure this out. But all he sees is a bunch of letters. He walks from his home room back to Mrs. Jeske's room.
"Can you help me?"
"With what Rya'c?" she asks.
"I don't know if this is good or bad," he says, holding the card out to her.
"Well, an 'A' means that you are doing the best that you could be doing in that class. A 'B' is good. A 'C' is ok. A 'D' or 'F' means you're doing poorly."
Rya'c frowns at his paper. "Why was I given this mark of shame?"
Mrs. Jeske takes the paper from him to look at his grades for the first time. "It's math; are you having trouble in math?"
"It is very difficult, but I have worked hard to comprehend it," Rya'c says.
"If you talk to your teacher, they could probably tell you why you aren't doing well. The rest of your grades are really quite good. You have an A in my class."
"If I question the teacher, he may become angry, and give me an even lower grade."
"No, it doesn't work that way. I'll go talk to him with you if you want."
He looks up at her with gratitude in his eyes.
-0-0-0-
"Hi, Henry," Mrs. Jeske says as they enter the room, "Rya'c has a question to ask you."
Rya'c hangs his head in silence.
"He wants to know what he can do to improve his grade," Mrs. Jeske says, seeing that her student isn't going to ask anything.
"He's missing a lot of assignments."
"Rya'c just moved here from Africa. He doesn't understand assignments being posted. I have never seen a student work harder, though. If you could provide him with a list of what he's missing, I'm sure he could get caught up."
"His grades are on the website."
"Computers are really hard for him, could you give us a paper copy?"
The algebra teacher, Mr. Morris, nods, and goes over to his computer. "It's printed in the computer lab, you can pick it up from there."
Rya'c walks forward, "I am sorry my assignments have been of an inadequate quality in the past. I will try to rectify this in the future."
Mr. Harris smiles, "You are a good kid. Algebra is hard, but I am sure you're going to do all right. You've gotten good grades for the last couple of weeks."
-0-0-0-
"I have done you dishonor," Rya'c says as Shelby picks him up from school.
"What?" she asks.
"I have received an unacceptable mark in algebra," he says, holding up his report card.
"Just one?" she asks, looking at the others.
"You have very little faith in my abilities," he says.
"No, I'm sorry. I just mean, you've missed three out of these nine weeks. That means you were gone for 1/3 of it. It would be pretty amazing if you did well this grading term," she says, taking the report card from him. "Rya'c, there are a lot of As here. This is amazing."
"Mrs. Jeske helped me procure a way of improving the unacceptable grade," Rya'c says.
"Maybe we'll have to re-think your graduation. With grades like these, you might be able to actually get the credits that you need by the time you're twenty. That's not bad at all."
One Month Later
Daniel has a splitting headache. He earned it by translating all night with the bad lighting so he wouldn't wake up his family.
He reaches into his medicine cabinet to get some pain relief, and is greeted by an empty bottle. He shakes it quickly just to make sure it is well and completely empty. Then he walks into the girl's bathroom, the nearest source of medicine.
He reaches in, and grabs a bottle, but knocks something into the sink the process. He down a pill quickly, before he reaches down to pick up the thing that he dropped. He freezes at the object in his hand.
Birth control pills.
He grasps them in his hand so tight that he crushes the cardboard that contains them. "Janet!" he calls.
She's not in the bedroom. She must have got up early. He wouldn't know, since he'd neglected sleep. He tries the kitchen. Cassie is flipping pancakes by tossing them in the air much to the amusement of her younger siblings.
"Janet, can I speak with you?" he asks.
He's still holding the pills, and Cassie sees them. A pancake flops to the floor. "Dad," she says in horror.
"I need to speak to your mother," he says, with a voice cooler than she's ever heard it before.
Janet follows her husband.
"These are prescription," he says, throwing them toward their wife as soon as they are alone in their bedroom.
Janet remains silent.
"You're her doctor."
Silence.
"They are Cassie's, aren't they? I mean, you're four months pregnant, so they aren't yours. Not that you usually kept your pills in our daughter's bathroom."
Janet just looks at him.
"Our daughter is having sex. You knew, and you didn't discuss it with me?"
"I was trying to protect her."
"Protect her? I'll protect her by kicking the ass of that boyfriend!"
"You mean the boyfriend she's been with for almost a year? The kind and respectful one?"
"Respectful? He's sleeping with my teenage daughter! I don't consider that very respectful! You know what else isn't respectful? The fact that my wife knew about this, and didn't tell me!"
"I tried, but when I heard how against pre-marital sex you were…" she begins.
"That's all the more reason to tell me about it! I could have talked her out of it!"
"I only found out about it after the fact."
"Well, I could have talked her out of doing it again!"
There is a knock at the bedroom door. Janet walks over to answer it, and sees a very nervous-looking teenager standing there. Cassie tucks some hair behind her ear. "The kids have their breakfast, and I just thought… we'll, you're talking about me, so I should be here."
They stand their silently for a minute.
"You're grounded, and I'm taking your pills," Daniel says.
"Oh, no, you're not," Janet argues, "She needs those."
"She won't need them, because she's not having sex anymore."
"Daniel," Janet protests.
"No, we're not discussing this. She has lost my trust, and she's not leaving the house or having a boy over until she's gained it back."
"She's my daughter too, and she's not being punished for being a normal teenager," Janet says firmly.
"Normal? You think that children having sex is normal? I just… I can't do this," he says, walking past them. The two women stare at each other as he pushes past them into the hallway. They listen as he walks out of the house.
"Did he just… leave?" Cassie asks.
Janet doesn't answer, because she's terrified of what her answer would have to be.
"He left us because of me."
"I'm sure that he's going to come back," Janet assures her daughter, even though she isn't actually that sure.
The two women return to the kitchen, hoping they don't look too shaken.
"Where did Daniel go? He said he was going to take me to the library today," Olivia says.
"He went to work," Janet says quickly.
"Is the world going to end?" Olivia asks seriously.
"Everything is fine, it's not an emergency. He's just doing some research," Janet says.
"I'll take you to the library," Cassie offers.
"It's not the same, because you don't know the librarian. You won't get her to let me into the rare book room."
"Sara has let you in before, she'll do it again," Cassie says, smiling at her little sister. Cassie knows that it's her fault that Daniel isn't there to take her sister to the library. She's going to do anything she can to make up for it.
-0-0-0-
Daniel wakes up on the couch in his office, feeling his headache has abated. He remembers his broken promise to his younger daughter, and feels awful.
He remembers the things he said to his older daughter, and feels even worse.
He decides that he'll deal with all of that after a shower, and some breakfast. He also decides that he's a bit too old to get away with an all-nighter anymore.
-0-0-0-
The house is silent when he comes back. He walks through the house, looking in room after room. He finds his son first, sleeping in his crib. It is naptime, he remembers. His wife is lying in the bed. He debates waking her up, but this pregnancy has not been any easier on his wife than her first, so he doesn't want to wake her up.
He's about to walk out of the room when she says his name.
He sits down on the edge of the bed, and swipes some hair out of her eyes, "Sorry."
"You left," she says.
"I stayed up all night working on a translation like an idiot. I had to get some sleep so I wouldn't be such a bear."
"I thought you left," she says almost the same words again. Now he understands what she means.
He crawls into bed behind his wife, and wraps an arm around her growing stomach. "I'm never going to leave you. Especially not over a fight. Where are the girls?"
"Cassie took Livvy to the library," she says.
"I'm sorry. I was supposed to do that. I'm not going to be staying up all night doing a translation ever again, it's not very responsible parenting."
His wife snuggles against him, "I should have told you."
"You made a tough call. It is better she confides in one of us than in neither."
"What are we going to do with her now?" Janet asks softly.
"I'm going to tell her why I don't want her to have sex. Then I'm going to give her pills back, and treat her like an adult. She's a junior in high school. Two years from now, she'll be making all of her own decisions; she might as well start making some of her decisions now."
She sighs contently.
"Go back to sleep," he whispers gently. She grabs his hand, and he settles in next to his wife to sleep.
-0-0-0-
Daniel wakes up at the sound of the front door opening. He untangles himself from his wife, and goes out to meet his daughters.
"I'm sorry I didn't take you today," he says to Olivia.
"That's ok. Cassie makes the librarian talk about different things than you. When she's around you, she talks about old books. But when she's around Cassie she talks about the policeman she's dating, Pete."*
"Well, I'm glad that you guys had a good day. I'd like to talk to Cassie for a bit."
"Ok," Olivia says taking her bag of books to her bedroom.
"I think we'll need the privacy of your room," he says to his older daughter.
When they enter Cassie's bedroom, they both sit on the bed. Daniel has the uncomfortable thought of what this bed might have been used for, he gets up and moves to the desk chair.
"I'm sorry about before. I was overtired because I stayed up all night."
"Please don't leave mom because of me. It wasn't her fault," Cassie breaks in.
"I'm not going anywhere. Ever. Sweetie, you could do a lot worse than this, and I still wouldn't leave. I just went to work to sleep on my couch at work for a couple of hours. I'm not even going to punish you. I'd rather you did this honestly than dishonestly. So you can have these back," he says, pushing the cardboard pill container, which is worse for the wear, back to her. "But I do want to talk to you about why I don't think you should be having sex."
Cassie nods her head, and looks anywhere in the room besides her father's face.
"I'm not going to give you any line about how virginity is a precious gift. Mostly because it's crap."
Cassie giggles at the unexpected comment.
"I'm not even going to do much talking about the risks involved. I think you are smart enough to know what they are. Just know that no matter how much protection that you use, there is still a risk. Honey, someday, you're going to be getting married, and I don't want you to have to squirm when you and your husband start talking about how many partners you've had. Every time you have sex, the person takes a little bit of your heart, and you give them a little bit of yours. If it does fall apart, like most relationships do, then it's going to hurt more because you were having sex."
"But it's Dominic," she protests.
"I know that, but do you really think you're going to marry him?" Daniel asks. Suddenly he finds himself really wishing that he hadn't asked that question. His daughter might say yes. Considering the fact she's been dating him for a year, and that in her culture she'd be married by now, he might believe her.
"We're way too young to even think about that."
Daniel breathes a sigh of relief.
"Just because it all crashes and burns doesn't mean it was wrong. It doesn't have to end well to be good. Sometimes, the in-between is worth the pain. Even if I end up hating Dominic, it doesn't mean I'm going to be sorry we dated, or had sex, or were in love."
Daniel is temporarily stunned by the wisdom of his daughter's words, he taps her on the knee, "Ok, well I had to put my two cents in."
"Daniel… what you said about talking to my husband about… multiple partners, that was really about Mom, wasn't it."
"And that's where the line is," Daniel says, starting to stand up.
"Not fair. I didn't want to take about me and Dominic just as much as you don't want to talk about Mom and you," he says.
"I have trouble believing that is true," he says carefully.
"I just want to know if you love her less," the girl asks sadly.
"No," he says honestly, and then even more honestly, he adds, "But sometimes I do wish there had been… fewer. Not that there were a whole lot. I don't want you to think badly of your mom," he stammers.
"I am a little scared that someday someone's going to think less of me because of this," Cassie says softly.
He suddenly feels protective of his daughter, "Well, if that ever happens, you just tell me his name, and I'll beat him up. Awkward conversation done?"
She nods.
"I love you, Cass," he says as he leaves the room.
*Yep, the woman that would have been Jack's wife, and the man that would have been Sam's fiancé are together.