Archive of Our Own

James is sitting back on the couch, feet kicked up on the coffee table, football game on TV, and shitty essays in his hand, when he senses a presence in front of him. He glances up from Boone’s rambly, excessively detailed essay on how the American dream was portrayed in the Great Gatsby—which seems to have turned into him ranting about the homoerotic undertones between Nick and Gatsby—to find Juliet standing beside the TV with a suspicious smirk on her face.

“What’s up?”

The smirk turns into a grin, and he can almost see the excitement bubbling out of her. “Guess what I just agreed to?”

“What?” He reaches up and nudges his glasses up his nose.

“I’m going to be in charge of the haunted house.”

She says it in such a cheery voice, but it doesn’t stop him from frowning. 

“The one they do in the gym every year? Don’t parents usually do that?”

Now she frowns, crossing her arms. “Yeah. But I wanted to do it. I love Halloween.”

Oh, he knows. From the countless horror movies he’s made to watch to the elaborate costumes he can never get out of to her decorating the hell out of their house each year (he can’t count the amount of complaints they’ve gotten) it’s clear she has a favorite holiday. Despite what seems like displeasure, he actually finds it adorable. Besides, he jumped once during The Exorcist and now she holds his hand whenever they watch anything remotely scary. He won’t complain about that.

“Besides,” she continues. “I’m not not a parent. Clementine’s here half the time.”

“You’re also a teacher.” But she has a point. And there’s no harm in it. “I think it’s a great idea. You’ll have fun with it.”

“Thank you,” she says pointedly. “I’m excited.”

“What, you going to get some fake ghosts or something? That fake sticky spider web shit?”

All she does is smile. “You’ll see.” And then she turns and walks back down the hall.

He shakes his head, sighing and looking back down at the paper. She’s got something up her sleeve; he can tell. Knowing her, she’s going to go all out. Hell, she might get actors to be in it or something. He’s excited to see.

But for now, back to these essays. He doesn’t know what he thought he was getting into when he became a high school English teacher, but it wasn’t this. Maybe he’s just an idiot. At least not as big a one as some of these kids.

Well, they aren’t going to grade themselves. He’s got a fun night ahead of him.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

The last students from his fourth period class are wandering out into the hall when Miles pokes his head in, tapping his fist against the door.

“Yo, Jim.”

James nods, spinning around in his chair. “Hey.”

This is routine. Miles—the gym coach—had the same lunch as James during his first year. The two hit it off, and by hit it off he means had loud, sarcastic arguments in the teacher’s lounge every day. He’s probably James’ best friend, if he had one. It’s so juvenile to call him that. It sounds like they’re going to trade bracelets at recess. But he usually stops by his room on the way to eat.

“I heard Jules is doing the haunted house this year,” he says, leaning against the wall. 

James grabs his lunch, raising an eyebrow. “How’d word spread already? It’s noon.”

“No, she told me,” he says, following James when he heads out the door, shutting it behind him. “I saw her on my way in.”

“Hm. She’s excited ‘bout it.”

“She’s going to go all out.”

“Oh, yeah.”

The hall’s are mostly empty, half the kids in class, the other half at lunch. But when they get to the stairs to head down to the second floor they’re met with Shannon pulling Boone by his arm up the stairs.

Boone’s eyes light up. He stops, and Shannon groans.  “Hi Mr. Ford! Coach Straume. How are you?”

“Hey, Boone. I’m alright,” James says, feeling just a little awkward. He’s 99% sure this kid has a crush on him, which . . . is a weird situation to be put in. “Shannon.”

She glares, smiling vilely. “Mr. Ford. We were just going.”

She goes back to dragging Boone, who waves back at them. “See you in class!”

“See ya,” James says, quickly turning around and hurrying down the stairs.

“You think he has a thing for you?” Miles asks.

James reaches out to grab the handle to Juliet’s classroom. “Let’s not talk about it.” When he opens the door, Juliet glances up from whatever papers she’s going through at her desk, grinning at them.

“Hey!”

“Hey,” they both greet. “You mind if we eat in here?” James asks, as if they don’t already most of the time.

“Go ahead. I have to grade these lab reports.”

Miles plops down in the seat beside the skeleton in the corner. “Boring.”

James scoffs. “You’re one to talk. You don’t hafta grade anything.”

“I grade stuff.”

“Like what, who gets out first in dodgeball?” Juliet jokes.

He scowls. “I am sick of you two shitting on my job. We are all the same."

“Are we, though?” James asks, shooting Juliet a look. She stifles a giggle.

The conversation is interrupted by a knock at the slightly ajar door. They all turn, finding Clementine’s tiny figure in the doorway. For a brief moment, James’ fatherly instinct kicks in, and worry pounds in his chest. But she’s smiling, and nothing seems wrong.

“Hey, Clementine,” Juliet says. “What’s up?”

“Can I eat lunch in here?”

“You don’t wanna eat lunch with the other kids?” James asks, raising an eyebrow. Last year he had made this big case for moving her up a few grades. She’s insanely smart (obviously inherited from her father) and maybe he wanted to keep an eye on her. She tested into ninth grade at only eleven years old, and he’s so proud of her. He couldn’t tell her more.

But he’s beginning to doubt that it was the best decision, to move her out of her class and into this new school full of older kids. He envisions her getting shoved around, or berated in the halls. It fills him with such anger, just the thought.

“No. It’s so loud in there.” She sits down in the seat beside James, opening her little lunch box and pulling out a yogurt tube.

“I don’t blame you,” Miles says, tossing a ball up into the air and catching it. “Those kids are fucking assholes.”

“Hey, language,” James snaps.

“You should hear what the other kids are saying,” she says. “I’m in high school. I’m not a baby.”

He looks at her sadly. That makes the regret ten times worse. He should’ve let her stay his little girl as long as possible.

(But god, she’s so fucking smart. He knows this is better for her.)

“I know, sweetie.” He ruffles her hair and she pushes him away. 

He’s the one who brought her here. It’s his job to make sure she’s adjusting well. As her dad, it’s his job to make sure she’s okay. To make sure she’s happy.

He’ll get to the bottom of this. No matter what it takes.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

“Hey, Boone. Can I talk to you a second?”

He perks up like a dog hearing the word treat, turning around and scrambling over to his desk. “Yeah, of course. What is it?”

James sighs. He wishes it didn’t come to this, but he needs a student he trusts. And despite . . . his situation with Boone, he knows he’ll do whatever he asks. He just has to ignore the reasons why.

“You know my daughter, right? Clementine. She’s a freshman.”

He nods. “Yeah. The kid.”

The kid. Do they all know about her? Is she some joke to everyone? It makes his stomach flip, and he chews on his lip to busy himself.

“Yeah. Do you think you could . . . I don’t know. Make sure she’s doing alright. I worry she ain’t fitting in with everybody else.”

“Oh, yeah. Totally,” he says. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

He nods. Perfect. That’s all he wants, just one person that’s not a teacher looking out for her.

“Thanks. She’s a good kid.”

“Oh, I’m sure. She’s your daughter.”

He smiles. Even if the intention behind it seems a little off, the compliment is always nice to hear. He’s proud of her. She's the light of his life.

“Don’t want ya late to next period,” he says, gesturing his head toward the door where kids are already pouring in for the next class.

Boone nods, but he doesn’t make any more to leave. 

“Clementine. Is she . . . Dr. Carlson’s?”

James’ eyes widen, and he shakes his head. “No. No, she’s . . . my ex’s. Why?”

“No, nothing.” He smiles determinedly. “I’ll do that for you, Mr. Ford.”

“Thanks, Boone.”

He watches him go, shaking his head. It’ll be fine. He doesn’t even have the time to worry about it, if he was going to worry about it. He has a class to teach. 

He stands up and smiles at them, filing into their seats. “Hey, guys. How’re we doing today?” 

A chorus of grunts comes from the seats. Sounds about right.

Yeah. He definitely made the right career choice.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

James reaches over Jack’s legs to grab one of the extra red pens on the coffee table. His ran out, due to all the typos he’s circling and notes he’s scrawling. He had a student once complain they couldn’t read his handwriting and he told them they should try writing an essay that doesn’t need any notes, then.

He really does love his students. He swears.

“Come on, Stafford,” Miles shouts at the TV, gone ignored by everyone else. Juliet’s over at the table, apparently planning her haunted house. She didn’t want anyone to sneak a peek at her notes. She has this idea in her head that it’s some big, secret thing. And he’s happy to play along if it makes her happy.

Jack’s sitting beside him on the couch, face screwed up tightly as he looks over his own papers. It’s a common sight, a face James could draw with his eyes closed if he had any artistic ability. Jack’s the other biology teacher—Juliet’s friend from before James knew either of them—and he’s over their place more than Miles is. But, well, of course he is. Miles is James’ best friend, but Jack’s closer to both of them than he is. The three of them went to Vegas together last summer. 

James just doesn’t like to call him his friend.

And Miles is, of course, in the chair yelling at the football game. Because he has no work to do, which James would point out if he wasn’t so kind.

“They’re all idiots,” he complains.

“You act like you could do better,” Juliet says from the table.

“I could.”

Jack and James both look up, furrowing their brows. 

“You wouldn’t last a minute out there,” James snorts, shaking his head. 

“Sure I would. I’m fast.”

“They’d pummel you,” Jack says, gesturing toward the TV.

He rolls his eyes. “That’s what you think.”

“We need to do a faculty football game,” Juliet jokes, looking back at them over her shoulder.

Miles sits up, pointing at her. “That’s actually a good idea. Girls vs guys.”

“No. That’s unfair,” Juliet argues.

“We just pick teams,” James offers.

Jack speaks up, “We get Sayid on our team. That’d be good.”

“Maybe John. I feel like he could be some good muscle,” James says. 

“As long as Linus isn’t on our team, I’m good,” Miles says.

James huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “Might be the only guy you could take.”

They fall back into silence, save the scratching of pens on paper and the noise of the TV. After a few minutes, Miles sighs and stretches his arms.

“I should probably go. I got a date tomorrow.”

“With who?” Juliet asks. 

He shakes his head. “Some girl. Pretty.”

“You met her online, didn’t ya?” James asks, teasing.

He shoots him a dirty look, grabbing his sweatshirt. “Ha ha. What if I did?”

“I’m joking. Good luck.”

He grunts, heading over to the door and offering a small wave. “See ya guys later.” They all mumble good-byes, returning to their respective work. 

After a good ten minutes James finally finishes with the essays, tossing them onto the table and leaning his head back with a relieved sigh. Remind him to never assign another essay again. (He says this every time.)

“How’s the haunted mansion coming?” James asks, glancing at Juliet.

“Very good. I have lots of ideas.”

He nods. “That’s nice.” He glances over at Jack, who’s staring closely at the paper in his hands. He shakes his head and sets it down.

“It’s getting late. I should go,” he finally says.

James frowns. “Why?”

“Yeah,” Juliet says. “Stay.”

He shakes his head, getting his things in order and standing up. “No, it’s fine. I’m tired.” He pats James’ knee and steps over, hand brushing Juliet’s shoulder on his way to the door. They both watch him go, all three mumbling parting words.

When the door shuts, Juliet turns and meets James’ eye.

“Where do you think he’s going?” she asks.

James smirks. “Maybe he’s got a girlfriend.”

She smiles, sarcastic, and turns back around. He’d never.

“Maybe he’s still pissed we didn’t invite him to San Diego.”

Juliet scoffs. “He is not. We were taking Clementine!”

“I’m just saying!” He stands up, stretching his arms and yawning. He walks over to her and she quickly shuts her notebook. He fights the urge to roll his eyes, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. “Don’t mean we can’t have some fun.”

She chuckles, but leans into his touch, hand reaching up to rest on his shoulder. Her eyes slip shut, smiling softly, and god, he’ll never get over how in love with her he is.

He’s one lucky son of a bitch.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

Clementine switches the radio to one of the pop stations, lighting up at the sound of an upbeat Taylor Swift song and immediately singing along. He sighs, flipping on his turn signal. Whatever she wants. 

Juliet runs Science Olympiad with Jack after school today, which means Clementine and him have the afternoon together, just the two of them until dinner. He loves his weeks with her. Often, he selfishly wishes she was just his and Juliet’s kid. It would make it all so much easier.

“You know, these kids came and sat with me at lunch today,” she says during an instrumental break.

His eyebrows shoot up, all attention going to her. “Did they, now. Were they nice?”

“Yeah. Or, at least one of them was.”

His hopeful smile shifts into a frown, glancing at her. “What happened?”

“No, it wasn’t anything bad. She was just kind of scowling the whole time.”

Ok, so Boone brought Shannon with him. It makes sense, he supposes. He doesn’t know if he expected Boone to actually talk to Clem at all, but he did ask him to make sure she was alright. He didn’t specify how.

“What did you guys talk about?”

“School, and stuff. I liked the guy. He had a funny name, though. Boone.”

There you go. “Yeah. He’s one of my students.”

“He told me.” She goes back to singing along, only slightly off key, and James smiles as he rounds a corner. She seems happy. He can’t determine if what happened at lunch was the cause, but even if it wasn’t her happiness is a good thing. It’s one of the only things he strives for in life.

“Ta da,” he tells her, pulling into a parking lot.

She gasps excitedly. “Ice cream!”

“Before it gets too cold.”

“Yes! Thank you!” She reaches her fist out and he grins, bumping it with his. She’s scrambling to unbuckle herself and get out of the car, and he laughs, getting out to join her. They’re both going to order mint chocolate chip; they always do. It’s both of their favorites.

She’s just like him, his daughter.

A long time ago he never would’ve believed he was capable of a thought like that.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

James is standing outside his classroom door, sipping from his travel mug full of hot coffee. The steam is fogging up his glasses, so he almost doesn’t believe it when he sees his daughter in the hall, deep in conversation with Boone. But then he slips the glasses off, and no, it’s them. She doesn’t even look up when she passes his room. She always says hi. Instead, she’s grinning and saying something that makes Boone let out a laugh.

Wow. Would you look at that?

This is probably good. She needs friends here, and he guesses Boone isn’t a terrible option. There are far worse, potheads and jocks and the goth kids. Any of the ones who he would've hung out with when he was younger. God, if sixteen year old James was somewhere around here he’d probably ban her from even looking at him.

Boone’s not the worst option.

She has a friend.

He’s smiling when he steps into the classroom, in a better mood than he was when he woke up this morning.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

“Look at this one!” Clementine’s laughing, wearing a quite terrifying rubber clown mask on her head. When Jack turns, he jumps, sighing deeply. 

“Jesus.”

“I like it,” James says, tugging it off of her head. “Don’t know how your mom’d feel about it, kiddo.”

“Ugh,” she groans, hanging it back up. “She hates scary stuff.”

James pats her shoulder, pushing her down the aisle. “You should talk to Juliet. She’s the queen of scary stuff.”

That’s why they’re here. Juliet dragged them all to the Jack o Lantern Jamboree to get supplies for her haunted house. Clementine needs a costume anyway, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone.

“I like this one,” Jack says, holding up a Dorothy costume from the Wizard of Oz.

Clementine huffs. “Everyone’s done Dorothy a million times.”

Jack’s eyes go wide, hanging it back up. “Sorry.”

“I have to find something cool, and different. But something people will still recognize.”

“That’s a lot of criteria,” James says, glancing at a witch costume a size much too small for her. He resists the urge to tell her all of the costumes here someone is bound to have.

Juliet comes walking down the aisle, arms full of stuff. She drops it all in the cart. “This stuff’s expensive.”

“Didn’t deter you from taking the whole stock.”

She slaps James on the arm. “The school’s paying for it.”

“I hope people know that’s what their tax money’s going toward.”

Clementine gasps, and they all turn to look. 

“What is it?” James asks, trying to peek over her shoulder.

She turns, holding it up. It’s a Chucky costume, dirty looking overalls and a rainbow shirt.

“Don’t think that’s the most unique one,” he tells her, thinking about what she said.

“But it’s cool! And it’s not like it’s Dorothy .” She frowns at Jack, who puts his hand up in surrender and turns around to busy himself with the plastic axes. “I like the overalls.”

James sighs and grabs it. “I don’t think your mom’ll like this one either.”

“Who cares?”

Cassidy will care. And he’ll care when he gets a long talking to next week. 

“It doesn’t even come with the wig.” Yet, they charge sixty dollars for it. Jesus christ. 

She looks at him like he’s stupid. “So we buy the wig.”

He looks at her seriously, a face he knows she knows well. It’s the one that means no jokes, just for a moment. They can read each other like that.

“Do you really want to do this one?”

She nods vigorously. “I do. I watched Chucky at Kaitlyn’s house last week and it was so good.”

That’s all he needed to hear. He nods and hands it to her. “Then, we get it. But I ain’t explaining it to your mom.”

“Thank you!” she exclaims, looking at the bag with big, twinkling eyes. It makes him smile, and feel all warm inside, so he supposes it was worth it. 

He reaches his fist out, and she grins and bumps it with her own. It’s their thing.

“I think the wigs are over here,” Jack says, pushing the cart around toward another aisle. Juliet already disappeared again, off looking for god knows what.

Halloween may not be his favorite holiday, but you know what? Maybe it isn’t so bad.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

“They taste like you’re eating a brick of toothpaste.”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” James argues. “The middle part’s sweet. Refreshing.”

“It isn’t refreshing,” Miles says. “How can it be refreshing?”

“Because it’s mint!”

He shakes his head. “You’re insane.”

“I’m insane. Okay, sure.”

As the two of them approach the steps down to the second floor, they stop. Boone and Clementine are sitting on the landing, a deck of cards in between them on the floor. They both look up at the noise of footprints, staring at James and Miles.

“Hi, Daddy! Hey, Miles.”

“Hey, sweetheart,” James says, eyeing the two of them. This is . . . interesting. It’s not all something he expected to see today. Actually, not something he expected to see ever. If he’s being honest.

“Hey, Mr. Ford,” Boone says, grinning proudly.

“We’re playing rummy,” Clementine says. “Boone’s teaching me.”

“Can you even play rummy with two people?” Miles asks.

Boone nods. “Gin rummy. It’s a little different, but same game.”

“Hm.” Miles nods.

“You don’t gotta sit on the floor,” James says. “We’re going to Jules’ room. Y’all can sit in the back.”

Boone’s eyes widen. “I don’t want to intrude or anything.”

“Who’s intruding? Let’s go.” He says it probably a little too hard, despite the smile stretched across his features. But he can’t help feeling a little weird about this.

He asked Boone to make sure she was alright. That’s all. And yeah, he’s glad she has a friend. But Boone’s a senior; eighteen years old. And she’s eleven. Making friends with other freshmen, a three year difference, is a little less drastic.

He knows whole-heartedly it isn’t romantic or anything. (Just the thought almost makes him laugh.) But maybe his protectiveness is going into overdrive, seeing her so close to someone he didn’t realize she was close to. Who maybe she shouldn’t be close to.

Maybe he’s being paranoid, over protective. He should be happy she’s happy. She needed this.

After they collect their cards, the four of them walk down the hall to the room. When James opens the door he watches Juliet go from a soft smile to wide-eyed.

“Oh, hi.”

“Hey, Dr. Carlson,” Boone says, and James wonders if he’s the only one who hears a bite to his words. He follows Clementine to the back of the room, where she begins setting up the cards on the table.

Juliet raises an eyebrow at James, who just shakes his head. He’ll explain later.

“How’s the whole haunted house thing going?” Miles asks, sitting down in one of the seats in the front row.

She nods. “It’s going well. I’m actually really excited. We’re going to set it up next Thursday, so it’s ready for the Friday.”

“Yeah, I heard. You’re closing off my gym for a while,” he grumbles.

“This is more fun anyway,” she jokes. “You wanna test it out once it’s ready?”

“Can I test it out?” Clementine asks, raising her voice from the back of the room and reminding them they have company.

“Of course,” Juliet says. “You’re going to like it.” She looks back at the adults in the front. “We’re setting it up so it’s like a maze.”

“Sounds cool,” James says, taking a bite of the leftover pasta he brought for lunch. “‘M excited.”

“I am too.” She grins, and it makes James smile. He likes that she’s happy about it. That’s enough to make his day, just the knowledge that she’s excited.

“Boom!” Clementine exclaims, jumping up behind them. “I win.”

“Wait, what?” Boone scrambles to look through his cards. “How?”

“I pay attention.” She smirks, victorious, and James shakes his head as he turns back to his food. It’s a face he knows he makes, dimples and all.

“I was about to make my final move,” Boone argues. But Clementine’s up and doing an elaborate victory dance, so she’s not listening.

Yeah, she’s alright. He’s got to stop worrying.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

“Don’t forget to have ‘em ready on Monday,” he calls out as the kids begin to rush out of the room. He sighs, shaking his head and setting his book down on the desk. He’d actually been excited for this project, writing a scene from one of the Edgar Allen Poe stories they read in play form and performing it in front of the class. But no one beside the theater kids seemed that into it. 

“Jim!”

Miles comes rushing into the classroom, practically shoving some of the students making their way out.

He frowns, not appreciating the scene. “What?”

“Can I talk to you?” he asks, eyes wild, voice urgent. 

James’ gut twinges, worry creeping into his chest. He doesn’t even know how Miles got here this fast from his class ending, unless he ran. Which means it’s important.

“What?” he asks.

He steps close to him, speaking in a hushed voice. “The rumor. Did you hear it?”

The first thing he thinks of is Clementine. The kids are spreading some nasty lie about her. That she’s sleeping with someone, or that James paid someone off or pulled some favor to get her here. 

“No. What is it?”

“They’re all talking about some faculty orgy? You, Jules, Jack, me. Apparently we’re all fucking each other.” He huffs out an astonished laugh, shaking his head. “You and Juliet obviously, but where the hell did the rest of that come from?”

Fucking hell.

“Son of a bitch,” he mutters, rubbing a hand down his face and glancing around. “Where’d you hear it?”

“I don’t know. Brian and his fuckwad friends asked me about it. We have a bet going. Which one of ‘em gives the best head? Assholes.”

James isn’t listening anymore. “Make sure they all get out of here,” he says. He pats him on the shoulder, and hurries past him toward the door.

“Where are you going?” he calls after him.

He glances back. “I gotta find Juliet.” He rushes through the hall full of kids wandering around and rummaging through their lockers, almost running down the stairs and toward her classroom.

The door’s open, kids filing out, and he slides past them to get inside.

Her eyes go wide, standing behind her desk. She glances at the classroom still full of kids gathering their things and then looks back at him. “Hey, what’s up?”

He walks over to her, stepping close so he can lower his voice. 

“Did you hear?”

She frowns. “Hear what?”

“The rumor. ‘Bout us. Miles heard it.”

“What rumor?” she asks, voice betraying panic.

He sighs, eyes shifting away from hers. “They’re saying we’re fucking Jack. And Miles? I don’t know how the hell he got into the mix.”

“Miles?” she cries, and then looks at the class, realizing how loud she was. She turns back to him, leaning in closer and whisper-shouting, “What the hell?”

“I don’t know!”

“Miles . . .” She shakes her head. “We’re so careful.”

“Well, who do you think it is?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. Because it’s already all clicked into place in his head.

She frowns. “Who?”

“Clem,” he says, shaking his head. “Who else would know.”

“You don’t know it was her.”

“Come on. Give me one other option that makes more sense.”

She sighs, pushing her hair back off her face.

“Bye, Dr. Carlson!” Alex shouts on her way out the door, and Juliet puts on a smile, waving.

“I’ll talk to her.”

Juliet looks at him, cheek indented from her working it between her teeth. “She’s at Cassidy’s tonight.”

“No, she’s at the football game.”

“James.” She shakes her head. “Don’t embarrass her.”

“Don’t embarrass her!” He scoffs. “I ain’t gonna do nothing. She’ll be fine.”

She’s chewing on her lip now, and he resists the urge to stop her even though he does the same thing.

“Do you think anyone believes it?”

“They’re kids. Their brains ain’t developed. ‘Course they believe it. Sides, it’s true, ain’t it?”

She slaps his arm. “Not all of it! I love Miles, but not like that.”

“I know. I’ll take care of it.”

She pats her hand on his chest. “Alright. Love you.”

“Love you.” He leans in and presses a chaste kiss to her cheek, one of the five kids still there muttering gross on his way out.

“Grow up!” he snaps, softening and shooting Juliet one more smile before turning and leaving to head back to his classroom.

They’re in hot water, aren’t they.

Shit.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

James gets out of the car, shutting the door and making his way toward the field. He avoids these things most of the time, even though Miles is the coach and it’d be nice to support his friend. He just finds it somewhat awkward to be around all of his students outside of class. He doesn’t need to see that. It’s like seeing your dentist at the grocery store, or he supposes what it’s like for your dentist to see you at the grocery store. Whatever it is, it’s weird.

But he doesn’t really have a choice right now, entering the stadium and walking around the group of kids gathered in the walkway, avoiding their eyes.

Where is she?

He steps onto the bleachers and looks up to scan all the rows as he walks past, searching the crowd of blue and gold colored shirts and hats and props. Finally, halfway down the field, he spots her in the third row, sitting between Boone and Alex.

He hops up the steps, the kids’ eyes going wide when they see him.

“Daddy! Hi!” Clementine shouts over the noise, grinning. She’s painted gold strips over her freckled cheeks.

God, how could he ever be mad at that face.

Boone and Alex (and Karl, sitting farther down the row) all greet him, turning back to the game rather quickly. Well, Boone stays looking up at him with those piercing blue eyes.

“Hey, Boone. Alex. Karl. How’s the game?”

“We’re losing,” Alex says, rather casually. “But we always do.”

He nods. He’s heard plenty from Miles.

“Well, that’s too bad.” He focuses in on his daughter. “Clementine. You think I could talk to you for a sec?”

“Yeah! About what?” She’s chewing on a mouthful of popcorn, kicking her feet excitedly. 

He sighs, ducking his head and giving her that serious look. “Alone.”

Her face falls, begging him with her big eyes. “Come on.”

“Clementine,” he says, stern. He hates when he has to get hard with her. He wishes he could be the cool, fun dad all of the time and leave all the disciplining to Cassidy. Usually, he can. But this is a pretty big fucking deal, and he kind of has to take care of it himself.

She groans, standing up. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”

Jeez, she fits in with all these teenagers so well. He thinks maybe someone should remind her she’s eleven and still a baby. He should. He kind of wants to squish her back down into the six year old who used to ask for just one more book at bedtime. 

She follows him down the steps, and he has the decency to lead her all the way down the bleachers and to the side where no one can really see them. Fun dad! He isn’t going to do this in front of the whole student body.

“What?” she asks, still eating from the popcorn bag in her hand.

He crosses his arms. “There’s a rumor going around. ‘Bout me, and Juliet, and Jack, and Miles.”

She frowns. “What kind of rumor?”

God, she’s a good liar too. He raised a monster.

“Clementine, you know what I’m talking about.”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t.”

“You ain’t in trouble unless you lie, so. I’d fess up, Regina.”

She sighs, eyes looking anywhere but his before her shoulders finally drop and she quietly admits, “I might have told Boone about you guys.”

“No, you lied to Boone about us.”

She screws her face up, looking at him incredulously. “I’m not an idiot. I know you’re all together.”

“Yeah! Sometimes we have a thing with Jack. But Miles?”

“He’s always at your house!”

“Because he’s our friend!”

She crosses her arms. “You told me Jack was your friend when I was little. How am I supposed to know who’s actually a friend and who you’re screwing?”

“Whoa! Language.”

She puts a hand up, exhaling long and deep and staring hard at the ground. “Sorry.”

He sighs. She’s growing up so quickly, it makes his heart ache. He kind of wants to send her back to fifth grade, where she’ll come home talking about who beat who during Johnny Come Across on the playground instead of admitting to have spread a rumor about him to the entire school.

But deep in his heart he knows it was the right decision, even if it resulted in this.

“Look. I ain’t mad at you, sweetheart.”

She looks at him, and her eyes are sad. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“I didn’t think this would happen.”

“It’s okay. I know.”

Next thing he knows, she’s lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his body, hugging him tightly. He hugs her back, closing his eyes. 

She’s still his little girl. He knows it, and so does she. She always will be.

“Just don’t spread anything else about us. Please,” he half-jokes, even though he means it.

“I promise,” she says, pulling away. He leans down and ruffles the hair on top of her head and she pushes his hand away. “Can I go back now?”

He nods. “Go. Have fun. Cheer on Miles for me.”

She grins and reaches her fist out. It makes him laugh, bumping it with his own. He could never be mad at her. This is nothing compared to the shit he did as a kid. At least she’s not selling alcohol in the alley behind the building.

He watches her run back to the bleachers, and there’s a bittersweetness in the sight. She’s his little girl, but she isn’t quite little any more. 

And you know what? Maybe that isn’t so bad.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

“So, everyone knows now.”

James and Juliet both turn to look at Jack, lying down on the other end of the bed. He’d been staring at his phone, but now it’s down on his chest and he’s looking at them.

“Most ‘a the kids will know by Monday,” James says. “It’ll probably get around to the teachers after that.”

“Do you think they’ll believe it?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“They’ll ask,” Juliet says, head on James’ shoulder. “Even if they don’t.”

“We shouldn’t lie,” Jack says, and they all nod in agreement. “But I don’t even know what I’d say. If someone asked.”

“The truth.” James looks at him.

He stares back, brow furrowed in the slightest. “What is the truth?”

“I don’t know, Jack. You tell me.”

None of them really know. He’s not their boyfriend. He’s made that clear. But he’s also not, not their boyfriend. At least in James and Juliet’s eyes. He doesn’t live with them, but he’s here most of the time and he has a whole dresser drawer that’s his and he goes to Juliet’s sister’s house for Thanksgiving every year. 

But no, he’s not their boyfriend. 

Jack sighs, looking back up at the ceiling. “I guess it’ll just . . . come out.”

“You’ll just come out,” James jokes, and Juliet slaps him. Yeah, probably not the best time.

“Did you tell Miles?” Juliet asks, because they’ve realized he doesn’t really know. He guesses he just assumed Jack was also their friend? Which, he guesses makes sense.

But James shakes his head. “Didn’t have time. With the game and all.”

“Oh, that’ll be fun,” she says dryly, eyes flicking back to the book in her hands.

“I’m sure.”

“No one’s going to look at us the same,” Jack says emptily, ignoring the conversation, seemingly still stuck in his head.

“How’d they look at you before that was so great?” Jack shoots him a glare and he sighs. “I’m just saying. If you don’t wanna deal with it, you can stop being with us and then it ain’t a lie when you say we got nothing going on.”

“James,” Juliet scolds.

“What? He knows I love him.” He looks at Jack. “You know I love you.”

He nods. “I know. I love you too.”

James looks at Juliet again, gesturing to him. “See.”

She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. He’s smiling too, and he leans down and kisses the top of her head.

They’re going to be fine. They always are. They aren’t sixteen, a rumor isn’t going to ruin their lives. It won’t change anything, or at least not anything important.

“Oh, I know what we’re doing for Halloween this year.”

James groans. “What?”

“The lion, the scarecrow, and the tin man,” she says, grinning.

“So that’s great, but my suggestion for Clementine to be Dororthy was so bad. I see how it is,” Jack complains, sending James chuckling while Juliet argues that she wasn’t a part of that conversation and having her as Dorothy would’ve been the cutest addition.

Yeah. They’re going to be fine.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

Juliet’s standing in front of the gym doors when they round the corner, hands clasped together in front of her and a wide grin stretched across her face.

“Hey, guys!” she says, rocking back on her heels excitedly.

They all greet her, walking over to the door. Jack and Miles are to his left (Miles continuously glancing at Jack, since he hasn’t gotten over this new revelation about his friends’ lives. James had to go over the whole thing four times until he got it.) and he’s holding Clementine’s hand tightly on his right side.

Beyond that is her guest.

When she said she wanted to bring a friend to try out the haunted house, he thought she meant one of the kids from her old school. The girls she has sleepovers with and goes to birthday parties for. Not Boone, who’s over a foot taller than her and keeps giving him heart eyes over her head.

Look forward , he keeps telling himself, trying to ignore his presence. He already has to deal with him every day, he does not need him to invade his nights too.

“How’s this work?” Jack asks, looking at her curiously.

She nods. “Well, when I open the doors you’ll see there’s a couple of ways to go. Two, actually. Two ways to go, if you want to split up. I don’t want to give anything else away.”

“Sounds good to me,” Miles says.

“So,” James starts. “How ‘bout me, Clem, and Miles, and then Jack, Jules, and Boone.”

Everyone agrees except Clementine, who jumps and shouts, “What? No! Boone’s my friend. I wanna go with him.”

“I can go with Jack and Juliet,” Miles suggests. “That’s fine.”

James sighs, wanting to argue and rearrange the groups again because he does not want to have to deal with Boone the entire time. But he doesn’t know how that would go over and he doesn’t really want to out himself as an avid hater of this child in front of everyone.

“Works for me,” Boone says, excitedly. Of course it does.

“Great,” Juliet says, clapping her hands together. “We shall begin.” She pushes open the gym door, revealing the dark interior. They all file inside, and James looks around as his eyes adjust to the purple and blue and green fluorescent lights.

He’s impressed. She actually did make it like a maze of sorts, setting up temporary sort of walls. He can see cobwebs covering some of them, and wonders what awaits them inside this thing.

There’s a left entrance and a right entrance.

“We’ll go left,” Miles says, leaving them to the right. 

“Let’s go!” Clementine says, dragging him inside. He makes sure to keep her from running too fast, wanting them to take their time going through it. He wants to appreciate all the work he knows Juliet put into it.

First point they reach is a pretty creepy looking ghost statue, pointing down the path. That’s nice.

“Ooo,” Clementine says, rounding the corner. 

The footsteps behind them, Boone’s, are probably inciting the most paranoia in him. He doesn’t like not knowing what he’s doing back there.

Clem jumps, inhaling sharply at the sight that meets them when they round the corner, the wall full of clown heads and beside them a long, fuzzy mirror with You should run written on it in red paint. Ok, yeah, that’s pretty cool.

“Damn,” Boone mutters from behind them as they pass it. Clementine giggles and James stifles an eye roll.

The next display is . . . interesting. Not something he was expecting. There’s a tall bear statue, claws reaching out toward them, and a fake bear trap open on the ground. It’s actually kind of awesome; the bear looks pretty real.

In an effort to amuse his daughter, he jokingly stretches his foot out and holds it above the plastic bear trap. “Oooo.”

She giggles. “Stop!”

“What? What am I doing?” He smirks mischievously and gently puts his foot down, careful not to break Juliet’s prop or anything.

Snap.

He looks down.

The trap closed. Around his leg.

The shock tapers off, and now there’s nothing to mask the excruciating pain that shoots up his leg.

“Son of a bitch!” he about screams, tears springing to his eyes as he falls down to the ground.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit. He’s taking deep breaths, trying to overcome the extreme pressure pressing into his leg from both sides; trying to overcome the agonizing pain of the metal digging into his flesh through the denim of his now blood-soaked jeans.

Clementine shrieks. “Oh my god!”

“Holy shit,” Boone says, shock bleeding through his words like James is bleeding through his jeans.

“Oh god,” James moans. He’s trying not to cry, he's trying not to cry, he's trying not to cry but he’s crying. It’s too much, the pain too sharp. Too real.

“Why would you do that?” Clementine says, voice an octave higher than it usually is.

“I don’t know,” he cries. “I didn’t think it was real.”

“Why is there a real bear trap in here?” Boone asks.

“I don’t know!”

“Juliet!” Clementine shouts, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Jack! Miles! Help!”

“What?” Juliet’s voice comes loudly from somewhere in the gym.

“Daddy got his leg stuck in a bear trap,” she yells.

It’s Jack talking now. “What do you mean a bear trap?” 

“Shit,” they can hear Juliet say. “I’m coming!”

“What do you mean bear trap?” Jack asks again, louder.

“Uhhh, like a bear trap,” Boone says. “A real one.”

“Why is there a real bear trap in here?” Miles' voice asks, bewildered. 

“They were running a sale online!” Juliet defends. “I thought it would be cool.”

James presses his thumbs to his eyes, shaking his head. “Not cool!”

For a good minute, there’s silence except for James’ soft cries and the noise of feet shuffling throughout the gym.

“Where are you guys?” Miles shouts, but his voice is closer.

“Over here!” Clementine yells.

It takes another minute or so before they’re finally rounding the corner, stumbling to a stop at the scene in front of them.

“Oh my god,” Juliet gawks. She rushes over and kneels down, putting a hand on James’ back. “What happened?

Before he can explain, Clementine speaks up. “He put his foot in it. As a joke.”

“Why?” Everyone asks at the same time.

“I don’t know!” He sniffles, wiping the back of his nose with his hand. “Oh fuck. Someone get this off of me.”

“Let me see,” Jack says, stepping over and getting down too. He frowns, looking at the trap. “Can someone turn on the lights?”

“Yeah,” Miles says. “I should probably call 911, too. Right?”

“Please,” James whines.

He nods, running off to work on that.  Jack reaches out and touches James’ leg, causing him to flinch and cry out.

“Ow!”

“Sorry!” He looks at Juliet. “Did it come with a manual or something?”

She shakes her head. “Just this.”

“What,” James asks, annoyed. “This just showed up on our doorstep like this?”

“Well, it came in a box.”

“Aren’t you guys doctors?” Clementine asks, face all scrunched up.

“Yes!” Jack and Juliet both say at the same time.

Boone leans in and whispers to Clementine, “Not very good ones.”

“Boone, please!” Juliet snaps. She takes a deep breath and turns, forcing a smile. “Please, could you maybe take Clem away. She doesn’t need to see this.”

“Oh, yeah I do. This is fucking awesome.”

“Language,” James whimpers through the tears that won’t stop. God, he thinks he can hear his bone crushed in there. He’s never going to walk again. And his daughter thinks it’s fucking awesome.

(To be fair, that’s something he would say.)

“You know, maybe after this you should be a pirate for Halloween,” she says, giggling. 

Juliet looks at her dryly. “Not the time, sweetheart.”

(To be fair, that’s also something he would say.)

“You know, this is like a real life Saw trap,” she says next, brain seemingly running a mile a minute. 

“No,” Boone argues. “That’s a reverse bear trap.”

She pouts. “Yeah, but I’m saying this is like a Saw trap.”

“Wait, when did you watch Saw?” James is sweating through his shirt, feeling like it’s one hundred degrees in here. He wipes his forehead with his arm.

She shrugs. “I saw it at Kaitlyn’s house.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t let you go to Kaitlyn’s house anymore.”

Suddenly, all the lights come on, and they all wince at the sudden brightness. James shuts his eyes, leaning back on his hands. He shivers, despite his state of overheating. He blinks his eyes back open and stares up at the ceiling.

“I’m going to die.”

Juliet scoffs. “You aren’t going to die, James.”

“I am. This is it for me.”

“Daddy, you’re being silly.”

He leans back farther to look up at his daughter, staring down at him with a hard look, and he sighs. “I’ll leave you all my CDs.”

“Yesss.” She pumps her fist celebratory. 

“You’re not dying,” Jack says. “I think I know how to get you out of this.”

“Do you need any help?” Boone asks. “I can do anything. If Mr. Ford needs to bite down on my hand or something for the pain, that works for me.”

“What?” Jack asks, frowning at him, brow furrowed in deep confusion. “No. This isn’t going to hurt.”

Even if it did, James would rather suffer through it than put that child’s hand in his mouth.

“Ok. So it looks like maybe you need to press down on these two springs here to loosen it,” Jack explains. James isn’t even listening. He doesn’t care what they do, as long as they do something. It’s like his leg is on fire. His flesh is burning, his bone aching. “Juliet, you push down on that side, I’ll get this one.”

“Jack, can I help?” Clementine asks, standing eagerly behind James. As if he’s making dinner and not helping her father escape from a bear trap.

He shakes his head. “No, I think Juliet and I got it.”

“Why don’t you call him dad?” Boone asks, and everyone whips their head around to look at him.

“What?” they all question, really not needing this shit on top of James’ leg slowly losing circulation.

“I don’t know, when my mom got remarried she wanted me to call him dad.”

“We ain’t married,” James says, shifting slightly and wincing at how the metal digs into his skin.

“Yeah, but you’re fucking.”

“Okay,” Jack says, putting a hand up. “I don’t think this is appropriate.”

Clementine ignores him. “Well, Juliet and him are together way more and I don’t even call her mom.”

“Yeah, but that’s different,” Boone says.

Juliet frowns. “How is it different?”

“Juliet,” Jack says, shooting her a pointed look.

“Sorry.” She looks back at them. “Guys, stop. We can talk about this later.”

James, feeling like he’s on the brink of death, raises his hand. “I opt to not talk about this ever.”

Jack nods. “Yeah, I’m with James.”

“I’m sure you are,” Boone says, and everyone gives him a strange look.

James groans. “Can we please go back to my leg?”

“Yes,” Jack says. “Okay, on the count of three. Everyone ready?” 

Juliet and James both nod. 

“Great. Three, two, one.” Simultaneously, Jack and Juliet both press down on either end of the trap, slowly releasing the pressure from James’ leg. He sighs in relief, sliding back and pulling his leg out of the trap. He rests his heel on the ground and while it still hurts like hell, skin stinging and muscles screaming, not having the pressure from the trap is much appreciated.

The two of them let go and the trap snaps together with a sharp clang. They both jump, and then Jack turns and looks down at James’ leg. 

“Let’s see,” he mutters, attempting to pull up his bloody pant leg. But he pulls away, tears pooling once again in his eyes.

“Don’t,” he says, voice wobbling.

“Well, the paramedics are going to, so I figured you’d rather I do it.”

“Yeah, Mr. Ford. Don’t you like when Dr. Shepherd touches you?”

They both look at Boone again, faces contorted in perplexion.

“What are you talking about?” Jack asks, not even accusatory, just confused. Boone just shrugs.

“Juliet, you do it,” James says.

“What? Why?” Jack asks, sounding offended.

He shakes his head. “She’s softer. Your hands are too big.” He turns and glares at Boone briefly before he can make another comment.

Juliet smiles, satisfied with this turn of events. “Let me see.”

“I think I’m very soft,” Jack argues as she leans over to assess the situation. Though James still flinches when her fingers brush against his ankle, her touch is indeed softer as she slowly but surely rolls up his jeans.

His leg is burning red, already bruising. There’s a thin line where the skin’s broken, dried blood caked around it. It doesn’t look as bad as he thought it would; as bad as it feels. But it’s still bad.

“You think I got rabies?”

“Rabies?” Juliet asks. “Why would you have rabies?”

“I think he means tetanus,” Clementine corrects.

He smiles up at her weakly. “Thank you, sweetie. My little genius.”

She grins proudly.

“They’ll probably test you,” Juliet says. “Just to be safe.”

Jack looks around. “We should probably get you out of here. I can carry you.”

“That’s so romantic.”

Everyone looks at Boone yet again, and Juliet says, “Maybe you two should go ahead. Make sure Miles is okay.”

Clementine nods. “Good idea.” She turns to Boone. “I have a story for you, anyway.”

“Don’t tell him any stories!” James yells as they go. He sighs, flexing his leg and wincing.

“Okay,” Jack says. He gets up to his feet and crouches back down, sliding a hand under James’ knees and putting one on his back. With a grunt, he attempts to lift him up, arms shaking from the weight.

“Ok, this might not work out,” he says, struggling. Next thing he knows, his arms give out and James topples to the ground.

“Son of a bitch!” he shouts, groaning. Now everything hurts. “You’re going to kill me.”

“I’m sorry! You’re heavy.”

He scoffs, face pressed against the gym floor. “That’s real sweet ‘a you to say.”

“Try piggy back,” Juliet suggests. “That’s always easier.”

Jack nods. “You’re right.” He bends down. “Get on.”

“Well, give me a sec. My foot’s dangling off.”

“Your foot’s not dangling off,” Juliet says. “You’re fine.”

He glares at her, pushing himself up and swinging his arms around Jack’s neck. “You know, I think y’all are being real mean to someone who’s suffering. Especially when you caused it.”

“It was a mistake!” Juliet defends.

“Alright,” Jack says, holding onto James’ knees and standing up. He rocks forward a bit with the motion but soon steadies himself. “There we go.”

“Onward,” James says, pointing forward.

As they start walking, Juliet speaks up. “So. What did you think of it all? Was it scary?”

He turns his head, looking at her incredulously. “Y’know I think it was pretty fucking dangerous.”

She rolls her eyes. “I mean, beside the bear trap.”

“I can’t really just put aside the bear trap,” he says, resting his cheek on the top of Jack’s head. “You almost killed me.”

“You weren’t going to die. And you shouldn’t have been putting your foot in it in the first place.”

“You shouldn’t have put a real bear trap in a maze for kids!” he argues.

Jack falters. “Okay, I might . . . it’s too much. Shit.” All of a sudden he stumbles and falls to the ground, James coming down with him. It’s not as bad as before, using Jack’s body to cushion the drop, but it still isn’t great. His hurt ankle hits the ground and pain jolts up through his leg.

“Fuck!”

“What happened?” Juliet asks.

Jack groans. “My back hurt.”

“What does that have to do with your feet?” James asks, rolling off of him.

“I don’t know, okay!” He gets up to his feet with a grunt. “You know, you could be helping, Juliet.”

“Me? How?”

“I don’t know! Grab his legs and I’ll grab his shoulders.”

She crosses her arms. “I feel like this is a lot for someone who has one working foot. Can’t he just hop out the rest of the way.”

He frowns at her. “You know I’d carry you if our roles were reversed.”

“I’m also not a six foot one man.”

He rolls his eyes. “That ain’t my fault.”

She sighs. “Fine. Let’s go.” She walks around and reaches down to grab onto James’ calves, right above where the injury starts. “On the count of three.”

Jack puts his hands under his arms and after a moment, they both lift up. This position feels a lot more pathetic, but he can’t lie, it works a lot better.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Juliet says.

Jack, through labored breaths, says, “I thought it was great. Really cool.”

James rolls his eyes. “Aside from the Saw trap, it was great. The kids are going to love it.”

She grins, proud. “Thank you. I’m glad you think so.” Jack accidentally bumps into the wall behind him and she frowns. “Watch where you’re going.”

“I am!”

Soon enough, they’re carrying him out into the front of the gym. Boone, Clementine, and Miles all rush up to them as Jack and Juliet place him down onto the ground. 

“You good, man?” Miles asks, looking down at him surprisingly concerned.

James nods, despite the fact that his leg still stings and now his back hurts. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

“I called 911. An ambulance is on the way,” he says. 

“Can I ride in it with you?” Clementine asks excitedly. “Please, Daddy.”

He sighs. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, sweetheart. Ain’t really a place for kids.”

She pouts, flashing these big, sad eyes that almost make him give in. But he stays strong and shakes his head.

“I can drive her back to your place,” Jack says.

James shakes his head. “No.” He looks at Clementine. “Call your mom. See if she’s home. If she is, drive her there. I don’t know if I’ll be out tonight.”

Jack nods. “Right. I’ll take Boone home, too.”

“Oh, yeah. You can take me home, Dr. Shepherd.”

His tone is so suggestive, Jack looks at him in utter shock, tainted with vague confusion and horror.

“Why did you say it like that?”

“Like what?” He flutters his eyelashes, innocent as ever.

Jack shakes his head, sighing deeply and looking away. “Nothing.”

Juliet pats James’ hand. “I’ll go with you.”

“Oh, so now you care,” he jokes, and she rolls her eyes. 

Suddenly, the gym doors open and paramedics come in, wheeling in a stretcher. 

“James?”

He puts a hand up, sighing. As if they couldn’t see who the injured party was. This is exactly what he wanted to be doing on a Thursday night.

“Daddy, can I tell all my friends you got attacked by a bear?” Clementine asks as they lift him up onto the stretcher. 

He nods. “Yeah, sweetie, sure. That rumor’s alright.”

She grins. “Yay! Have fun at the hospital.”

“I will.”

She puts her fist out and he chuckles, reaching out and bumping it with his. 

Jack reaches out and grabs his hand next, squeezing it tight. “I’ll meet you there. Once I take everyone home.”

James nods. “Thanks.”

“Y’know, I think I should come too. I’d like to check on—”

“No, Boone,” they both say at the same time, shutting him down.

Before they can take him into the ambulance, Miles nods his head in parting. “See ya later. Text me so I know you didn’t die.”

James mockingly salutes him. “I will.”

They lift him up inside the back of the truck, and Juliet climbs in with him. They both wave to everyone as they shut the doors, and then he finally leans back and sighs. His ankle is throbbing.

Juliet gently brushes the hair out of his face. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I know.” He smiles up at her, leaning into her touch. “I love you.”

She smiles back. “I love you too.” After a moment, her face shifts, brow furrowing. “What is up with Boone?”

He just shakes his head. “I don’t even know.”

“It’s so strange.”

“I try not to think about it.”

She cracks a grin, chuckling softly. If he was a little out of it, he’d think he really had died and was staring up at an angel, hair glowing from the harsh white lights of the truck.

“Your haunted house was awesome,” he tells her, because it was. Up until the incident. “Maybe take out the bear trap.”

“Noted,” she says, nodding her head. “You know, Clem’s right.”

“About what?”

“The pirate thing. It’d be funny.”

He laughs, shaking his head. “Whatever you want, baby.” And then after a moment, “You’re right. It would be funny.”

“Right?”

The siren of the ambulance sings in the background of the silence as they ride, and despite being in not the most comfortable situation he’s surprisingly content. He’s happy. He has a good life. Not everyone has two people who love them enough to carry them out of a haunted maze, or a daughter as wonderful as his. He’s one lucky son of a bitch.

(If you ignore the whole getting his foot caught in a bear trap thing, or the whole one of his students is probably unhealthily obsessed with him.)

Apart from that, luckiest guy alive.