February 15th 2024

Chapter 46
The Trouble With Consequences

December was always one of her favorite months at school. Part of this went to the holidays approaching, but even beyond that, there was a mood in the air that made everything and everyone feel so much more… jolly… It might have helped that they all knew they had a break coming up, but Maya chose to believe that it was just that December magic that Riley would still insist existed. She'd never been wrong so far, although for sure this month had been challenging her back home. Out here, it became that much more important for her to be there for her students, to see to it that they continued to have a great time at school, and they could learn, while also coming away from it with good memories. It wasn't so easy for some of them, and she did what she could to honor those difficulties as much as she tried to lessen them. They were all headed closer and closer to the break now, and everyone was excited, plenty of them counting down the days and talking about what they were planning to do while they didn't have school… And then there was Jonah Killian, who'd just earned himself a month's detention.

When he'd been caught, after he'd broken the school's trophy case and sent its contents in shambles, he'd apologized at once. He didn't explain himself right away, but they'd eventually gotten some of the truth from him. He had been dared into it, and though he now claimed he knew how stupid it all was, he'd done it anyway. He wouldn't name names, though Lita and Alistair both had pretty good ideas of who had talked him into it. Either way, it didn't matter. Yes, he'd admitted what he'd done, and he'd apologized, but he'd still done what he'd done, and he'd have to suffer the consequences. What they wished even more was for him to learn from this, so he would not allow himself to be swayed like this in the future. They knew he was better than that.

He'd be in detention up to the break and then again once he came back to school in January, while over the break he'd be expected to do some work and present it at his first afternoon back. It ended up coming down to Maya to watch him on those afternoons. She'd accepted as soon as Alistair had asked. She was as stunned as everyone else that he'd done this, maybe even more stunned than them. Even if he didn't know it, he was essentially family to her. He was Ezra's uncle and he didn't even know it. When he'd seen her arrive, his first day of detention, he'd looked relieved at first, but almost right away his expression had turned to one of shame. He'd let her down, or he felt that he'd let her down, and he was sorry about that now… on top of everything else.

Sitting in class, just the two of them every afternoon, Maya had plenty on her mind to keep her occupied, between Mackenzie's injury, and the loss of Patty, and the baby just under three months away… She would look at Jonah though, and she would see how he was using this time, how he was actually reflecting on what had happened, and how he might move forward from it. Whatever else might have been going on in his life, she didn't know much more than what he volunteered, both in words and in his diary. Maya had talked to Agnes since this had all started, and she was surprised, too. Their parents were very upset, too, and he had been grounded on top of his detention. Whether he'd still be grounded after the month was up remained to be seen.

Maya had a pretty good idea about the instigators, too, and it was just as well that they weren't in her class, but they were for sure on the boys' basketball team. Jonah had been benched, naturally, and Maya knew that Dylan only needed proof to kick the other boys off the team. But Jonah would not give them up, and for what it was worth, Maya and Dylan both respected him for it.

The room was so quiet that they should have heard anyone approaching along the hall, and yet when there was a knock at the open door, both Maya and Jonah were startled into looking up. Jonah did not know the man standing there, but Maya knew him very well. She'd watched him go from being someone's younger sibling, to student, to now being her son-in-law. That last part had been odd for him at first, because of who they'd been to each other up to that point, but now, years and two babies later, he greeted her with a big, familial hug that she matched in kind.

"What are you doing here?" Maya asked Taylor as she sensed this was very much a social visit.

"Well, I wanted to ask you about something, and I've been curious about seeing the school since the big change, so I figured why not do both at the same time?" he smiled, and it made her smile back.

"What do you think?"

"It's great," Taylor nodded. "Wish I'd come here, too." He looked over to Jonah, who had gone back into his own head. He turned to Maya, asking with a look, but she excused herself and led him out into the hall.

"So, what's up?"

"I want to do something for Ella, a present for when she finishes up school at the end of the year," he revealed, and had he ever picked the right person to go to for inspiration. Maya loved a good surprise on any day, but a surprise for one of her kids, for a big occasion like this? It was even better.

He didn't know exactly what kind of present he wanted it to be. Would he buy something? Build something? Create something? He had a few months ahead of him, so anything was possible, but he really wanted it to be something special, something to mark this big moment in his wife's life, as she would then move on to her residency, the last step before she went and worked with Lucas over at the ranch. He could have waited to do something like this when that day came, but then the way he saw it, Ella's parents would be all over that milestone, especially Lucas, as he'd spoken on and on about how much he looked forward to welcoming his big girl into the Sullivan Stables family.

Maya could confirm as much, and she bit back a laugh. So, with all this in mind, Taylor had decided to set his sights on this, the end of this chapter in her studies, to surprise her. Maya agreed wholeheartedly, and she assured her son-in-law that she would be right there to discuss his plans whenever he needed her. As she pointed out, it wouldn't be long that she'd be home, on maternity leave, with a newborn. She would so welcome the opportunity to get her brain spinning on something else than feedings and diapers.

She had met her future son-in-law before she'd ever known that her eldest daughter existed, which was always the funniest way to tell people the story of Ella and Taylor. She had gotten to know them as a pair when they had gotten to know each other at all, and she hadn't given it much thought back then because why should she, right? Ella hadn't been her daughter yet. Ella hadn't even been Ella yet, and when she did become Ella, it took a while more before she and Taylor became an item. But once they were, there was no going back. Tori loved her mother's boyfriend like a second father already, and soon that was what he became. Then little Sunny came along, and baby Melly… Ella and Taylor had not closed the door on maybe having one more child, or maybe even two or more, but they had been doing their best to make it so that this didn't happen so soon after their last one, especially with where Ella was at in her studies. When the time would come, everyone would be sure to know.

They didn't get all that far in the brainstorming right there, mostly because they could have gone on for a long time and she was meant to be keeping an eye on Jonah, but they did what they could, which so far meant coming up with the best way for them to communicate in secret without anyone misinterpreting anything. Then Taylor thanked his mother-in-law and went on his way. As he went, Maya knew that he spotted her memorial for his late best friend, Lambert Day. No matter the changes to the school, she could not see herself letting his memory fade.

"Sorry about that," she told Jonah as she walked back into the room. He looked up.

"It's okay," he shrugged. Instead of returning to her chair, at her desk, she went and sat at the station where he was. Getting up on that stool was not her favorite thing to do at this point, and the way he looked like he wanted to reach out and help her, she must have shown it in her face.

"I got it, I'm good, thanks," she promised. "It was completely different being pregnant the first time," she shared, letting out a breath. "I was twenty-seven, and now by the time this guy comes I'll be… not twenty-seven…" she frowned. He tried not to show, but this made Jonah smile, and she was glad to see it. For all he'd done to get himself here, she didn't want him to lose this. "How are things at home?" she asked. "Since… all this…" she gestured between him and her and around the room.

"Mom and Dad are pretty pi… upset about what I did," he corrected himself mid-word, but she left it alone. "They have a right to be." He felt enough remorse about what he'd done that she knew he wasn't likely to do it again. As far as she was concerned, he had learned his lesson and his detention could end, but that wasn't likely to happen, so at this point all they could do was make the most of things. His time was in her hands.

"You know, as fun as it is to sit here in silence every afternoon, I'd rather get some things done, especially seeing as I don't know exactly when I'll end up starting my leave, so I guess I'll leave it up to you. Do you want to sit here and think or do you want to help me out?"

He chose to help her, as she had guessed that he would. There wasn't so much to be done as there might have been at this point, with how she'd given the place its most thorough cleaning over the summer, ahead of the 'grand opening,' but then the fact that she had eight groups instead of four did go a long way in accelerating a lot of things. Her supplies were diminishing faster, the pieces to store away or display increased faster, as did the supplies and the surfaces in need of cleaning. They started by going through the supplies closet, running an inventory even as they replaced anything that might have been left where it didn't belong. She'd have a trip to restock in her near future, and she knew several young blondes who would be very excited to be along for the trip. As she worked with him, Maya found that it had never been so easy to look at Jonah and be reminded of Ezra. Maybe it was that she was moving along in this pregnancy and it was putting her in touch with those feelings more and more, but it was there, and she had to pull herself together not to end up giving Agnes' secret away.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners