Issue 1 Downtime

It was nearly 1:30 in the morning and the light was still on in Stephanie’s office. She sat in her broom closet of an office staring at student responses from power control homework. Staring was an apt word because she wasn’t really reading the responses at this point—she was just replaying the incident in the cafeteria the other day in her mind over and over again. And several other incidents

Maybe she really wasn’t cut out for this…

Stephanie let out a snarl, picked up her keyboard ripped it off her desk, slamming it onto the floor before collapsing onto her desk and sobbing.

The door opened and Ryan peeked his head in. Despite the scene, he looked a little relieved. "There you are," he said, walking in. "Got worried when you still weren't home this late."

Steph quickly pulled herself upright and tried (and failed miserably) to hide the fact that she was crying as soon as she heard the door handle start to turn.

"Hey," she said shakily. "Just...working late, trying to get some stuff done," she sniffled.

"Okay, I have a really great idea for that. How about we skip the part where you pretend I don't know you well enough to know when you're messed up, even if it wasn't completely obvious to everyone?" he said, taking a seat on the edge of her desk.

"I...don't know if I can do this anymore Ryan..." she said, her voice thick and her eyes filling with tears.

Ryan leaned forward and pulled her into a hug, kind of awkwardly since this tiny office didn't have another chair for him to sit in to be on her level. "Neither did I," he said, quietly. "Remember that? Who was the one who said I couldn't give up?"

Steph just sobbed into his shoulder for a while before she realized how uncomfortable Ryan probably was. She pushed him away, sniffling. "Gosh I'm sorry...this office..." She stood from her chair, busily shoving some things to the side and then just sitting up on the desk with Ryan.

"I...but you're actually good at this. The kids like you. I...do you know what they call me? I'm just 'Detention Oprah.'"

"Funny, I figured you were better at this than I am. What the hell am I? That feathered pretty-boy." He put his arm around her again. "I don't know... maybe we shouldn't try being their teachers? I mean, we're supposed to be the ones they come to with their problems, right? Maybe we should leave all the detentions and punishments to the higher-ups unless it's something really, really nuts? I mean... it's not like we didn't do all kinds of crazy against-the-rules stuff when we were their age. Swearing included," he said, gently teasing at the end.

"You know I'm weird about that...only she swears..."

She sniffled, trying to put on a smile.

"At least they listen to the feathered pretty boy. Or at least state at him longingly," she teased.

"Well, they wouldn't want you to feel left out..." he teased. "They listen to you, too. Only... well, I don't know. What happened today, anyway? That's a decent place to start."

"There was a food fight-turned shoving match in the cafeteria. I think our newest student got into it with that little twerp Wayne. It sounded worse than it actually was, but the whole cafeteria was chanting. I shifted and ran in. It...well it had the desired effect of startling them into stopping for at least a minute."

She sighed, "In retrospect, it made it far easier for me to lose my cool which promptly happened. Detentions started flying, I may or may not have threatened to confirm Wayne to his room for a week, and several students may have a month or more of groundskeeping work ahead of them."

"...Are you having any problems with Her lately? Or does she just have much less patience for snotty kids?"

"The latter," she sighed. "My patience in general is shot lately."

"Any reason?" he asked. "I mean, there's a lot of stuff that's been going on. I thought it was my turn to be the impatient, broody one, if you've got stuff going on that I've been not noticing, I'm sorry."

"Losing two students. They snuck onto a plane and I didn't notice. Having a good friend be the target of some strange shadow corporation that's literally trying to erase him from history. Spending time in a body that didn't belong to me...shall I go on?" she smiled bitterly.

"Look, if the kids are going to sneak off, they're going to sneak off. They could never keep track of us that well when we wanted to get in trouble, you think we're going to do any better than they did? It's been a shit month. It happens. Everyone is on edge. You can't beat yourself up because you're part of 'everyone.'"

He hesitated a moment. "Besides... I can't do this without you."

"I'm just being harder on myself because I feel like I almost smelled them on the plane, but I was so in the zone getting ready for the mission I just dismissed it and didn't even think to bring it up or look." she sighed.

"And I know it's been tough on everyone...just been feeling more and more lately like I've been doing an awful job. My grades are slipping, this, I hardly get to see my boyfriend, and I miss my family. I know they don't miss me, and it's odd after all these years but...god, I can't even remember what my parents' voices sound like."

Ryan sighed and gave her a little squeeze. "Yeah, I hear you. My little sister apparently remembers me as just some cool guy that came around sometimes. Tells her kindergarten class that she doesn't have any brothers or sisters, then gets all confused when dad tells her that isn't right."

"You're doing a good job, Steph. I mean, yeah, good luck getting snotty high schoolers to say it, but I sure as hell will."

"Well your family reminds your sibling that you exist. My family literally took the time to ship me every picture with me in it and told me never to contact them again."

"Well, they're dumb, then," Ryan said, his voice getting a little heated, but calming down quickly. "Seriously, I can't think of any possible way that anything would be better without you."

Steph flashed him a bashful smile and wasn't doing a very good job of hiding her blush.

"You always do know how to say the right things."

She sat more upright next to him rested her head on his shoulder in a position that was likely much more comfortable for them both. "You're a great guy, Ryan. I'm really glad that you're here for me."

He smiled, leaning his head against hers. "Hey, we make a good team. I can't go letting that go, now, can I?"

Steph sat up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "So how about we tag team some takeout Chinese? I haven't eaten all day."

"Geez, no wonder you're moody," Ryan teased, kissing her cheek in return. "So... meat, spicy, and lots of it?"

"Meat, yes, spicy, don't care. Lots, yes." she chuckled.

"So spicy, only if you don't want to be a hopeless wimp. Got it," Ryan joked.

Steph growled at him and punched his shoulder playfully.

"Careful, no flirting with me if you aren't going to follow through," he joked as he slid off the desk. "Delivery to a room that isn't a closet?"

"Get over yourself," she teased with a mischievous smirk. "If I were flirting I would be far more direct. And yes. Anywhere but here."

"A guy can wish, you aren't the only one having a sucky time of it," he chuckled. "Your place or mine?"

"Yours. I need to get away from my usual routine."

"Awesome," Ryan teased. "C'mon. Let's get out of here. I'll put the order in while we walk."