Rory had been bouncing off the walls kind of excited in the weeks and days leading up to starting their new jobs. She could remember it vividly, those moments when they both received their phone calls from the headmaster of the new school, within minutes of each other. The stress had been overwhelming, and Rory wasn't ashamed that she had cried with relief and joy all wrapped into one when both she and Maris were offered positions at this new school. It felt like such a cathartic moment, all the stress and worries that they'd been holding onto evaporated as they suddenly had stability right in their grasp. Rory hadn't even been that aware that she had been holding so tightly to stress over their situation until that relief came swiftly. Their whole future felt like it opened up now that they had jobs that would fund that. Their home improvements, their travel, maybe even their family if and when they got to that part.

Then the curriculum preparation began, as Rory began to pore over the materials provided and begin to figure out which books she wanted her students to read. There was an Austen, of course, and she already decided that Keats would have a strong showing when she dipped into the romantic poets later in the first semester. She laughed when she saw that Shakespeare was a requirement in the curriculum, and decided to pick a comedy and a tragedy, one for fall and one for spring.

She also had to start practicing where and when to add a "u" to certain words. Something that made her American-English hands tremble.

Her classroom was bigger than she thought it would be, and in the week before class was to begin, she'd spent a fair amount of time decorating it just so, getting freshly bought books onto shelves, set supplies for her students, putting some bright and colorful decor here and there. She went a bit more minimalist than she had in her American classrooms, figuring she didn't want to spook the gloomy skied Brits too much.

It was the calm before the storm, and Rory pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she finally got her papers settled and role ready for her first class. She wore black slacks and a soft cream colored sweater, suitable attire for a new teacher. But of course, Rory was easily distracted when she leaned her chair back just so and could see at an angle into her wife's classroom. It wasn't as idyllic as they'd once had, but she certainly wasn't going to complain.

In fact, with the time she had left, Rory pushed herself away from her desk and headed straight across the hall. She saw her wife's name on the plaque outside of the door, frowning a little at her wife's singular surname that didn't match her own singular surname on her door. A clerical error, but still a little annoying.

But it was hard to be sour about anything at all as she leaned in the doorway, spying on her wife for a few precious seconds before announcing herself. This was the element where she'd first fallen madly in love with her. It felt good to be back in it. "How am I supposed to get any work done with you over here looking this good all the time? I'm supposed to be making a good impression here."

Maris was relieved to be working again and not just on the money front. She hadn't taught in years. For a time she hadn't missed it, even thought that maybe she really could make a go of it as a full time writer, but inspiration was a fickle thing even when you weren't writing fiction. Wasted time spent not writing just made Maris feel bored and useless like she wasn't contributing anything, especially after Rory had entered the equation again.

Maris was prepared as could be. She'd taken notes, even drawn up a few lesson plans on Tudor history in advance after she'd gotten hooked on Dr. Kat's videos and done a smattering of her own research. Her newfound obsession inspired her to put a poster of Anne Boleyn (or at least the painting with the B necklace that people thought was Anne Boleyn) behind her desk. There was a small bookshelf directly underneath it and Maris was crouched in front of it, placing books on the very bottom row.

She laughed as she heard Rory's voice, raising herself up to full height and wiping her palms on the side of her brown slacks before turning around. The blazers were back and most of her outfit was new.

"Did you see the door?" she said, referencing the plaque outside it. "Rub in your mistake why don't you? I hope they realize I'm gonna put in a request for a new one as soon as I'm settled in around here."

She reached for Rory, pulling her in by her hips with a wicked grin. "Have fun paying those engraving fees, guys."

Rory would have been glad to get a job and get back to work even in a new and unfamiliar place, but her excitement was unreal because she was doing it with her wife. It brought back some of their best memories, and it thrilled her that they'd be making a lot more in their new home. She also had loved to see Maris in her element as she taught, and hoped that they'd get to collaborate on some of their lesson plans as well.

But there were some first day jitters Rory was trying to stave off, that seemed so much easier to forget all about when she was in the same space with her wife. She loved to look around and see how Maris had placed things in her room, the portrait not lost on her, either.

And damn, did she look good.

"I did. I could practically hear your growl from my classroom." She made a face, but came in close as soon as Maris pulled at her. That familiar warmth spread through her, a grin taking over her features as her own arms slid around her wife's waist.

"You know I can't resist you when you're putting people in their place." She grinned, leaning in and stealing a quick kiss. "How do you feel? Ready for the onslaught of accents we'll hopefully understand?"

It was no surprise that Maris 'classroom wasn't as colorful as Rory's. Ever the minimalist, there wasn't much in the way of decor at all, but it was tidy. Organized. And much bigger than what she was used to. So big in fact, that even she was beginning to wonder if she should go out and buy a few more things to fill an awful lot of empty space.

The classroom door may have had the wrong name on the plate outside it, but it did have one feature her previous one didn't. A little blind to cover the small glass portion up top if she wanted.

Maris hadn't bothered using it yet, but she had a feeling it would come in very handy throughout the year if history was anything to go by.

It was early, a few hours before the bell and Maris was sure everyone else on staff was busy getting their affairs in order the first day of the semester.

So she pulled Rory in for another kiss and this one lingered a little longer than the last. "When I'm putting people in their place?" she asked playfully, tugging Rory in a little bit closer. "I thought I was irresistible all the time. Don't tell me I'm losing my touch."

Maris groaned ever so slightly at the idea of dealing with their well to do students. She was sort of used to students who had come from money. Rory and Maris' last school had been private too, after all, but it had also had more than it's fair share of scholarship students. From what the headmistress, Katie had told her, Maris was pretty sure this one only took in a handful.

Maris' family had never really struggled growing up, but her upbringing had been fairly average. The Forresters were more or less middle class and while her dad naturally valued education in his line of work, she hadn't gone to private school herself. It was a luxury John simply couldn't afford, nor did he really see a need for. Maris had thrived just fine in public school with everyone else.

She was slightly nervous. These rich kids were well, richer. An entirely different breed even if you took how much money their parents had out of the equation.

Maris had never dealt with British students before. Posh or otherwise.

She let out a little snort to play off her nervousness. "Oh, please. None of these kids are going to come in with some thick, chavvy accent. It's probably going to end up sounding like an episode of The Crown." Maris put on a British accent that was exaggerated, but surprisingly good. "Mummy and daddy probably got them elocution lessons before their second pony."

Even down to their classroom decor, Rory and Maris seemed to have a perfect balance with each other. She actually wondered too late for the moment, but if she should keep a framed photo of the pair of them on her desk. Usually a little too sentimental even for Rory, the personal touches and being able to be openly proud about their marriage ... it felt like a rare thing she might take advantage of.

Before when they had to hide everything about their relationship for professionalism felt very different to now, when they were hired with full disclosure that they were in fact married to each other. The clerical error notwithstanding, it felt good to have that kind of freedom. Though she did wonder how long it would take any of their students to catch on. Girls were of course far more apt to gossip than boys, but that was kind of fun to think about.

Rory laughed softly as she leaned her body into her wife's her arms tightening around her waist. "Not even a little bit, you just better watch yourself, missus." She couldn't even hold back a laugh, one that drowned against Maris' lips as she leaned in and kissed her again. It was too obvious that Rory wanted her wife all the time. She could just be walking through the same room as her, not even making eye contact or otherwise, and she'd feel it in her bones that she had to have her, immediately. It was going to be a challenge going from their days home alone together to full work days. But they'd manage.

They had before.

Rory had similarly had an average upbringing, but one that with a single mother, had its fair share of struggles. Times living with her grandparents, her mom working to support their family. Rory had worked her ass off in school and sports to make sure she could qualify for scholarships when the time came for college. She'd gone to school with rich, entitled kids. Growing up in the Bay Area, there were a hell of a lot of them.

Dealing with these girls would be ... interesting. For as soft as Rory could be, she had a very low tolerance for bullshit from her students in particular. She did wonder how these girls would differ to the students she'd had back in New York and Maine. Probably similar, to some degree. Teenagers were teenagers.

Rory was in a fit of laughter as Maris imitated the poshest of students, shaking her head as she bowed her head against her wife's shoulder. "You're an absolute nut." She grinned, kissing her neck noisily. "God. Should we poll them to see how many of them do have ponies?"

"Oh, yeah, we'll just slip it into the conversation very casually," Maris said through snickers of her own. She managed to pull herself together for a moment and put on her serious teacher giving a lecture voice. "Alexander the Great rode in with his army in 331. You know, on horseback. Hey, do any of you have horses? Show of hands, please. Raise them high." She barely finished the sentence before cracking up again, laughing so hard she fell into Rory a bit, causing their bodies to sway.

Once they'd righted themselves both on the laughter and balance front, she reached up to brush some hair out of Rory's face.

"We're gonna be fine," she said softly, resting their foreheads together for a moment.

She wasn't just talking about work. Maris had been a lot better over the past few weeks. It was still a bit of a struggle to get to sleep. Bad dreams had kept her from staying asleep a few times, but they had been much less frequent since her talk with Rory and practically nonexistent once landing their new jobs made it next to impossible to think of anything else.

Distraction was doing Maris a world of good even if she hadn't had a chance to talk to the doctor (and probably wouldn't for a while) yet.

"See? You've already got it down perfectly, that was seamless." Rory giggled, her own spurred on by her wife's laughter. Now she knew that if any of her students happened to bring up having a pony or a horse, she'd struggle not to burst into laughter. Her arms circled around her wife as they laughed together, her lips dropping a kiss on her shoulder and the side of her neck as they began to subside a bit.

"We are." She affirmed with a nod, her smile softening as she just held onto her for a little while longer. She could feel the depth of which she meant that, what it meant beyond their classrooms and their new jobs. It would make her emotional to really think about, but she cut that off with giving her wife another kiss.

"And, don't think just because we're new here that means you're gonna get out of collaborating on lessons with me. I want them all to know what an asshole Shakespeare was beyond his words, and you're really great with that." She chuckled, tugging her wife with her just so she could lean against the desk a little bit.

Like any good student, Maris had loathed group projects as a kid. She had something of a reputation as a braniac. Maris' classmates knew she was smart. They knew she cared about her grades, so naturally they figured they could dump all of the work on her shoulders and manage to earn themselves a good grade too. Maris wasn't a doormat. She often made her displeasure at having to do everything known, even threatening to rat out her lazy classmates to her teachers, but she never did.

She did the work because they were right. All she really cared about was getting a good grade, even if she had to share it with people who hadn't really done anything to earn it.

It was different with Rory. They were just as good of a team when it came to work as everything else. A lesson plan was what had kind of brought them together in the first place.

Maris had never really forgotten their first real collaboration because it had also lead to their first real conversation and helped Maris realize that the new English teacher wasn't just a pretty face.

"An asshole with an inaccurate history book," she reminded her playfully, pressing her hips into Rory's so she was forced to sit back on the desk.

But she was still caught up on remembering when they first met and memories of before caused her expression to soften ever so slightly.

The woman she'd invited into her apartment to wait out the storm on trivia night was her wife now.

Rory knew things about her that no one else ever had. Hell, she'd learned deep, dark family secrets right along with her. And now, fingers crossed, they were going to have a family of their own.

If Maris' mother didn't fuck that up too.

No, a dangerous train of thought. One that had no place in a moment like this.

Maris felt like they'd sort of come full circle, even though she had been on (uncharacteristically) good behavior during Rory's first few days at their old school.

"I wanted to kiss you so badly," Maris confessed softly as she traced her lower lip with her thumb, somehow knowing that she wouldn't need to explain herself because Rory knew she was talking about sitting together in her office working on that first lesson plan all those years ago.

It was probably no secret that Rory had thrived in a group project environment when she was a student, even if only because she took a lot of the work on herself. She was a little bit of a control freak in that way, and not to lean into the Zodiac, but it was definitely the Gemini that she would reach a breaking point when she had too much to do and not enough help.

Of course, that was never the case with her wife. Lesson plan or otherwise, she always felt like such a partner with her. Their load was shared in joy and stress, and everything in between.

"Oh I really hope you lead with that." She grinned, a soft huff of sound escaping her lips as she sat back against her wife's desk.

This was thrilling for so many reasons, and it all brought back the absolute thrill of the first time they'd gotten together, too. Sneaking around in classrooms and their offices, finding places to kiss each other or fuck each other as their burgeoning feelings wrapped themselves around the lust they had for each other. It was almost crazy to Rory that that desire they had for each other never waned in the slightest, but only grew.

Sometimes Rory just had to stop and take a moment to appreciate how far they had come, the journey they'd had with highs and lows. But they landed here, in each others' arms and just as in love as ever. She could tell that her wife's mind was full, the way she was looking at her made her think they were thinking about the same things.

Her heart was racing before she even realized it, the words her wife spoke doing as much as her thumb along her lips. Her lips curved into a slight smile, her arms around her wife squeezing her a little tighter against her. "I could barely focus, I wanted the same." She leaned in a little closer, her lips just ghosting against her wife's. "You were so smart and articulate and the outfit you wore that day. I wanted to do a whole lot more, honestly. Starting with ripping that shirt open and paying for a tailor to fix your buttons later."

"Oh, as long as you paid for the buttons," Maris teased, a faint smile on her lips and amusement in her voice because Rory had never told her that before. She wasn't very sure Rory was into her (or women at all) until that rainy night at her old apartment. Kissing her had kind of been a leap of faith, even if they'd teased each other a bit beforehand.

There was no uncertainty now in more ways than one. Maris knew Rory wanted her. She knew she loved her. She was her wife now and all the obstacles that had been in place before that happened were gone now too. Rory wasn't with anyone else. She was hers. Maris had stopped being so goddamn proud all the time and just admitted that she wanted her. All of her all the time and come around to the idea of marriage because it was a way of asking Rory for and celebrating just that.

They didn't have to worry about landing jobs. Maris finally felt like she could take her first real, deep breath in the UK. They were finally settled in, contributing something even to their new home country.

But all she could really focus on was her wife sitting on her desk the way she had a thousand times before.

She'd missed the sight and was frankly a little surprised by how much it turned her on. A sense of deja vu washed over her, but so many things about this situation were new, that she didn't have a chance to dwell on one particular feeling about it.

She just knew she wanted Rory.

Maris shrugged off her blazer for ease of motion and there were no buttons to worry about now. She was left in her silk, cream colored tee shirt, though it was firmly tucked into her slacks as she leaned forward and let their lips brush in earnest. The kiss was slow and deep, her tongue nudging Rory's lower lip sooner rather than later.

She knew that getting too carried away on their first day was a terrible idea for a multiple reasons, but she was nervous and she told herself that a few kisses from Rory would help her calm down. It was a thin excuse. There was a simpler explanation.

She wanted her wife. She always did. And she'd been waiting years to have this particular experience with her again.

"I know how serious you are about your style. Well, I know now. I'm no button-ruining heathen." Rory smirked at her wife, a warmth in her chest at that long-kept confession she hadn't even realized she'd kept to herself. Little moments, particularly ones before she'd finally had her wife all those years ago blurred into what felt like just "before times".

Their current space was bringing up a lot of those memories. The butterflies she'd get when Maris walked in the room. The heat rising up into her cheeks when she'd catch the other woman's eye in the hallway, or across the hall when her gaze would wander into her classroom. Little moments that should have screamed how into Maris she was, even if she was nervous about it.

But as with everything, they made it in their own time. On a rainy night after trivia, they hit the ground running ... again, and again if her vivid memory of the night in question was anything to go on. Being back here even in a new classroom, a new school, a new country, it felt like all of those butterflies came raging back. Just mingling beautifully now with her desire and love for her wife. She always got a certain thrill when Maris entered the room, like a absolutely soft part of her had missed her, just being in another room.

This was their new beginning, something that would launch them towards something... unknown, but entirely welcome. Whatever it was, they'd be together.

Maris wasn't the only one indulging in that feeling of deja vu. The relief of having work, and the kind of work that they loved at that had given her this light feeling. The way her wife looked at her now was anything but light, and she knew her own gaze mirrored the same desire she felt radiating from Maris.

Rory leaned into Maris immediately as their lips found each other, wordless communication as she slipped her arms around her wife's waist and pulled her closer. Her lips parted instantly, welcoming her wife's tongue as her own met hers with slow, but eager movements.

Her hands slid down Maris' back, raking her hands over her slacks and giving her ass a squeeze as her own hips pressed against hers. She didn't mean, necessarily, to get so riled up, but it was hard not to.

"You're going to make this extremely difficult to work with you." She mumbled her warning against Maris' lips, her breathy voice barely above a whisper as she chuckled softly. She was sure she'd given Maris a similar warning all those years ago a time or few, but she meant it just as much now as she did then. Maybe even more so.

The Maris Rory had met all those years ago was different than the one she was kissing now. Losing Rory had hardened her somewhat (yet helped her realize it was okay to embrace how much Rory made her feel and realize she was the only person who could draw out that kind of emotion in her). There was no denying the conversation she had with her father in New York had changed her too, but this Maris, the one that came out during sex was always the same.

If anything, she had a little too much self control. In her day to day life, Maris could reign herself in. She could turn off her emotions (again, unless they involved her wife) like a tap, but one of the reasons why she liked sex so much was the feeling of freedom and endless possibility that came with it. She couldn't just hit the pause button when it came to wanting Rory either.

So while she knew going further was a bad idea and the last thing she wanted to do was get caught in a compromising position on her first day, she grabbed Rory's hand and tugged her into the walk in supply closet behind her desk.

It was pretty empty at the moment, which meant Maris had plenty of room to press her wife up against the nearest wall once she'd shut and locked the door behind them.

As silly as it sounded, even it showed a bit of growth on Maris' end. Back in the old days, Maris probably would have just had Rory on the desk then and there. She'd always thrived on doing things she wasn't supposed to do. The thrill of being caught always added a little extra something to their encounters. Hiding behind a locked door did take away some of the thrill factor, but there was still a chance of being discovered, which meant a certain gleam in Maris' eye hadn't dulled much.

She kissed her wife hard, harder than she had when they were technically out in the open and quickly slipped her hand into Rory's slacks, purring into her mouth the moment her warmth and wetness greeted her fingertips.

All those years ago, Rory would venture to say that the woman she had been wasn't as sure of herself as she was now. Not that she was ever particularly meek or shy. Back in those days, she'd just been a little moon-eyed over Maris, this brilliant and beautiful woman across the hall she just wanted to know more about. She wondered if the security of their relationship and the way they loved each other was part of what bolstered her. Maybe in part it also had to do with their time apart, that now she knew the folly of her own faults and how it almost cost her the love of her life. Rory today was bold, and wildly protective over her wife and the life they had.

She didn't dwell on that time now, but rather was able to take the lessons of the dark years and be so grateful that they'd come through to the other side. So the memories working together now brought to the forefront felt good, And only to be approved upon, really.

Logically, Rory knew that they should behave themselves. They should share a little kiss or few, but be careful to make a good impression. But they were them and they had quite a bit of time... so thank god her wife was reading her mind.

"Oh love what you've done with the place." Rory said with a cheeky grin, her tone entirely distracted as she slid her arms around her wife and pulled her close once they were inside the closet. There really was a closet joke to make here, but Rory couldn't really speak anymore.

Rory kissed Maris just as hard, one hand sliding up the back of her neck and stopping just shy of twining in her hair, instead gripping at the collar of her shirt. She moaned into her lips, her shoulders hitting the shelf as her hips jutted towards her wife's hand. "Fuck." She gasped, a grin across her face as she moved her own free hand to make quick work of undoing Maris' belt. Her tongue stroked her wife's as she dipped her hand into her slacks, finding her clit easily with her fingertips and matching Maris' movements as she felt her slick against her fingers.

Waiting for this moment for years, meant Maris had plenty of time to imagine what it would be like. A quick, desperate at work fuck had been a popular fantasy during the dark years, though naturally one she tried (and failed) to avoid. She often wondered if it would be different now that they were married.

They'd lived apart when they were together the first time around, after all and some of their at school trysts started because one of them would mention something about missing the other the night before. They'd made up for lost time and they could have each other any time they wanted these days.

They'd even had each other the night before, an especially enthusiastic sort of last hurrah before they gave up their freedom to have sex all day every day if they wanted now that they had jobs and someplace to be every morning. She knew they'd still be spontaneous and that even bedtimes wouldn't slow them down, but they knew that at least one portion of their honeymoon phase was over now that they'd gone back to the real world and the workforce with everyone else.

Things should have been different now. The night before should have meant Maris should have been somewhat sated. Even behind a closed door she should have been a little quieter, but the moan that was only partly muffled by Rory's mouth was proof she wanted and loved this even more than she used to, her fingers quickly picking up the pace once she realized Rory was just as into the idea.

Her free hand pulled down Rory's sweater. There was no time to take it off. They both knew it wouldn't be wise to, but when the kiss broke, Maris' mouth immediately found Rory's collarbone, her lipstick leaving marks her sweater would hide once she eventually let go, marks she hoped Rory would let stay there throughout the course of the day. They would be their secret, a reminder of what they had done. She kissed her lips again as she slipped two fingers inside her, knowing she would probably need to muffle her again as she slowly but very purposefully started to thrust.

Rory hadn't realized just how affected she would be by a moment like this one, but she probably should have anticipated it. They were spoiled over the months in Maine and the months since their wedding that they could (and often did) have each other anytime and anywhere they wanted. She'd almost forgotten the absolute thrill of this, of needing her so desperately and not being able to act on it immediately.

And god did it feel amazing.

This had almost a different energy to it. It wasn't something that Rory could describe, but she knew that their whole new career here would give them more of what they wanted. More of each other. Rory felt incredibly lucky that they'd managed to pull this off. It felt exciting, thrilling even that they could be so close, work together, spend their days and their nights together like they used to - just going home at the end of the day together this time. She might not feel like it would be appropriate to give her wife a kiss in the hallways when crowded with students (there were probably some rules about that), but she would proudly make it known Maris was her wife. Another new thing for them. And this closet was a perfect place to start.

Rory gasped softly as Maris' fingers worked faster, that gasp turning into a moan she should have been a little quieter with too as Maris' mouth found her skin. Her free hand dragged up and gripped the back of Maris' neck, holding fast to her as she rolled her fingertips over her clit a little faster, a little more deliberately.

Her next moan drowned into Maris' mouth, her hips jutting toward her wife's hand as she thrust inside of her. "I can't get enough of you, ever." Rory grinned as she spoke, sliding her own fingers along her wife's pussy. That much was obvious, but she wasn't exactly logical in the things she said when she was fucking her wife. Being with her always felt like she was entering another plane altogether. She kissed her hard, recapturing her lips again as her own fingers slid inside of Maris, two of them as well, as she began to match thrusts and go a little faster.

It didn't take long for Maris to feel the signs that she was close. She was a little surprised at how much or maybe more accurately, how quickly the moment was effecting her but the logical part of her brain (which was definitely not firing on all cylinders at the moment) chalked it up to finally getting something she'd been craving since Rory left their school for Maine.

While wide, the closet wasn't really quite tall enough for women as tall as Maris & Rory. She reached and gripped a wooden beam with ease as she came, her Rory's mouth just barely muffling her soft cry of release as Maris' fingers did the best to bring her wife over the edge with her. She let out a little laugh, resting their foreheads together before letting their noses then their lips brush. "We still got it," she murmured.

Rory always loved touching her wife, pleasing her even more, but there was always something particularly magical when they were pleasing each other at once. It felt intense and overwhelming, her whole body giving way to the pleasure her wife gave her, while she remained hyper-focused on pleasing her wife. She moaned into Maris' mouth, knowing she was close, feeling how close her wife was as she drove her fingers in faster, deep thrusts.

Feeling her wife come around her fingers earned a moan from Rory that echoed after Maris', her fingers moving in slower thrusts, her hands trembling as her own pleasure mounted. She rubbed her wife's clit, drawing out the kind of intense orgasm she loved to give her when her own climax hit. She came hard, her shoulders slamming back into the wooden shelf. Her own laugh bubbled up, breathless as it was. "Fuck yeah we do." She kissed her quickly, still breathless as she slowly drew her fingers out of her wife. "This is going to be so fun."

As lost in the moment as she was, Maris found herself automatically looking down at her watch (a graduation gift from her dad that she was going to have to get used to wearing again now that she had places to be) to see just how much time she and Rory had before school started. Since they still had a half hour or so before they even needed to be back in their classrooms she relaxed a bit, her expression softening as she rested their foreheads together again. "You don't need to finish up over there do you?"

Maris would definitely understand and send Rory back over to her classroom if she hadn't gotten fully ready for the day, but she wanted to keep her with her a while yet, especially after what had just happened.

She stole a quick kiss, murmuring, "And you're coming over for lunch like we planned last night?"

In the moments during their panting come-down, Rory let out a breathy little laugh when she noticed they hadn't even bothered to pull at each others' tops. Probably a smart plan, but very unlike them. She reached forward and brushed her fingers playfully through Maris' hair, straightening some stray strands that had made their way into more haphazard patterns. "Mm-mm, I'm all set." She said softly, just as gentle and content as she leaned into her wife. In this moment she felt so grateful for how far they had come, and that the universe opened up to give them these jobs. She could hardly believe their luck, working back together again.

Rory certainly wasn't ready to let go of her just yet. She kissed her back, smiling against her wife's lips. "Of course I am. We've got to scope out and see just how well the Brits eat as opposed to us heathen Americans." She smirked, pulling her wife a little closer by the hips, but slowly, blindly working to get her belt back in place.

"I like knowing we've got these secret places already. Really helps set the whole tone."

Maris only had a mild case of claustrophobia, but being stuck in a closed in space when she hadn't quite caught her breath meant she buttoned her pants and stepped out of the closet (no matter how grateful she was that she & Rory had already found a spot too) fairly quickly to continue their conversation in her classroom.

She still had a few odds and ends to deal with, so once she scooped her blazer off the floor and draped it over the back of her desk chair, she picked up a purple dry erase marker, letting it hover over the center her dry erase board for a moment before shrugging and writing what was on the plaque outside her door in her tiny, slightly illegible cursive.

Ms. Forrester.

She immediately made a face at it and let out a sigh, but she didn't reach for her eraser.

It looked and felt wrong but... did she really want to let the cat out of the bag about her and Rory or maybe even potentially confuse her students on the first day?

"How are we gonna handle this?" she asked, brow raised as she capped her marker and turned to face Rory. "I would say we pretend to be siblings for a while, but that's so White Stripes."

Upon exiting the closet (hilariously), Rory made sure that her sweater was straightened and that everything was buttoned and properly in place. Her hair too, though they seemed to have managed to be careful with their handsiness. Miraculously.

Rory moved over to her wife's desk, leaning against it while she watched Maris move to the whiteboard. She wasn't sure exactly why it charmed her that Maris had picked up a purple marker, but it did.

But it did feel a bit nostalgic, sure, but not in the best way to see Maris' name by itself like that. It felt naked in a way, just as her own did. They'd gone through so much to take one anothers' names, it felt wrong not to have them.

It could also be a little fun. If they let it.

"How do they get on with having five teachers with the last name Johnson or Smith? I think it'll be fine." She chuckled, shaking her head at Maris' comment. "Honestly I'm ever surprised we weren't pegged as "roommates" and "sisters" more throughout our relationship considering most people cannot comprehend that a pair of women would love and desire each other when the almighty MAN exists." She said with a sardonic smile, entirely jumping onto her soapbox for a moment. "I reckon by the time they get our name plates fixed, our students will know us individually enough ... but I guess it could still be kind of fun to see how long it takes any of them to catch on."

"I never had that!" Maris said knowing that even she, something of a teacher's pet during her elementary & middle school years would have had trouble of keeping track of two Mr. Smiths during the first few days of school, yet another reason why she thought it was probably best to go (uncharacteristically) easy on their students and just use her maiden name for the time being.

"Well now you just sound like me," Maris said, amusement dripping into her voice as she gave Rory a quick kiss and reached for a plastic bag propped up against the side of her desk.

It was a bit of a miracle they hadn't been mistaken for sisters more often. Rory had a slightly darker complexion than her, but they were both dark haired and looked more alike than Maris and the other lovers people had pegged as her sister, including a barely 5 ft blonde haired, blue eyed blonde named Bethany with an Australian accent (how the heck was that supposed to work?).

Maris pulled a small package of Oreos and honey wheat pretzels out of the bag and put them in her top desk drawer. A classroom snack stash was essential when you couldn't or just didn't want to leave the classroom, though she'd learned long ago that chocolate was sort of off the table if you didn't want a melty mess in the warmer months.

Once it was all stored away, she joined Rory on the desk, knocking shoulders with her once she settled in. "I guess they'll figure it out eventually."

Would they? Maris liked to think she and Rory had been pretty stealthy the first time around. While it was obvious she and her wife had a certain kind of chemistry, she also didn't think they were one of those obnoxious couples who managed to mention each other in every conversation or hung all over each other in public.

Would students care? In her experience, teachers dating was a rare thing. A young math and english teacher having a relationship had been the subject of some gossip at her high school, but students also thought the biology and earth science teacher had a thing when Maris (able to spot her own kind even at an early age) knew for a fact Mr. Mosby was gay.

It didn't really matter if her students knew. It didn't seem like a huge deal in the grand scheme of things because the knowledge she & Rory were a couple wouldn't have much of an effect on anything and yet it felt weird that they might not find out. Like Maris & Rory were hiding something because things were, in some small, subtle, indescribable way, different now.

"This little farce might go on for a while. You know how long it takes to get anything done."

Whether out of laziness or a lack of funds (the latter something Maris definitely didn't think was going to be a problem at this place), Maris was used to waiting months or even years for things she asked the administration for.

And Maris kept on them more than most.

"I think I had a Mr. and Mrs. West, which is a little easier - but they had no relation or connection to each other. I think half of the school were convinced they should marry each other just for convenience of the last name. He was gay though, so." Rory shrugged, rolling her eyes a little bit.

Rory's smile grew at Maris' amused comment, flashing teeth seconds after their lips separated from the kiss. "I quite like this influence you've had on me." She teased, tugging at her wife's shirt just playfully before she took her hands back to grip the edge of her desk. Best not to get too carried away when out in the open.

It was something that Rory had hated in previous relationships, when her closeness with a woman had been misconstrued as a sisterly or friendly bond. Those trope-jokes were there for a reason. She wondered if it didn't happen as much to her and Maris solely because they had the tendency to be close or at the very least have their hands tightly clasped together whenever they were out. Rory could never seem to help but be affectionate with her wife, if that was just touching her arm or stealing a kiss. They were never all over each other, but it was enough of a claim they held over each other. Everyone should be so lucky to want their wife so much.

Rory smiled at the treat that Maris produced, her wife's well curated snacks were classics. "They probably will. If they're not complete dummies." She teased.

These students in particular were a total mystery. With American students, there was at least some standard things you could predict from them. This was a whole new country, a whole new set of slang and attitudes. Rory would drive herself crazy with worry if she really let herself think about it.

Maris was right, a lot of times little requests could take a long time, especially ones that an administration thought wasn't a big deal. She frowned, thinking for the first time that maybe the administration at this school wouldn't see it as a priority. And that did bother her.

"I don't like that." She said as she bit at the end of her thumb, lost in thought for a few moments. "We'll just have to be really obnoxious until it gets done. Besides. If you think I'll be able to refer to my home life as anything other than my wife this and my wife that, or even just say flat out you by name? They'll probably actually be really dense if they don't pick up on it."

"Oh, we'll make sure they hate us," Maris said sagely, sealing her promise to stay on administration about fixing their room signs with a kiss. She looked behind Rory for a moment as she pulled away, then quickly hopped off the desk, crossing the room to retrieve the messenger bag she'd left on one of the first few desks.

"Forgot something," she explained somewhat sheepishly, pulling out a picture of them in a silver frame. It was one that usually sat on her work desk at home, a shot of the two of them sitting at the main table during their engagement party.

Maris wasn't one to display very many pictures, but it was one of her favorites of them and she did want to scatter more of their wedding collection at the house once they found frames they liked enough to buy a bunch of (because Maris was fairly firm on buying things that matched if they were bought brand new).

She sat it by her computer, making sure it could stay upright on its own before stepping back with a smile. "There. They still won't suspect a thing. You know I never let anyone come near my desk."

She wasn't entirely joking. If Maris needed to talk to a student, she'd usually go to them or pull them out into the hall. There was something about having a little corner of her classroom that was entirely her own that helped keep Maris sane. Students stepping into her bubble felt... weirdly invasive.

"Oh good, I think we could do with ruffling a few feathers." Rory replied with a grin. She kissed her wife softly, careful not to get too carried away (again), but was all smiles as Maris moved away from her.

Curiously, she watched as Maris took out the frame, instinctively knowing exactly what she was about to put on her desk. The photo of the two of them evoked some of the happiest of memories, the night still so vivid in her mind. Rory couldn't keep her eyes off of Maris, but that was nothing new. It was the way they looked at each other, though.

"I was literally just thinking I want to have one of our wedding photos on my desk. I need to get a new frame cause I'm unwilling to steal the one from our bedroom." She chuckled, standing up to admire the photo. "They'll learn that quickly." Rory smirked, reaching for her wife to slide one arm around her waist and press a kiss to her wife's cheek.

"We should go out to dinner tonight to celebrate our first day. Whether it's a struggle or a wild success."

"Today merits a cloth napkins, overpriced bottle of wine sort of dinner," Maris said, though she hoped the wine would be enjoyed rather than needed once they got through their first day with their new students.

She could have used a glass right now.

Maris never said as much and she had certainly never let it show, but she was nervous about diving into teaching again. It had been years since she'd been in a classroom, after all.

What if she was had lost her touch?

She gave Rory a kiss. "You should go," she said softly, her tone conveying that she didn't want Rory to, but that she also kind of meant business because she wasn't entirely sure she'd have the resolve to ask her to leave again.

"And remember, we're meeting for lunch too. If we can manage it."

They didn't.

The entire staff had been pulled into a lunch meeting where they were forced to eat while the administration drilled things they'd already gone over for the past few weeks into their heads.

Maris loathed being talked at like one of her students, but she sighed and ate the turkey sandwich and grapes she'd brought from home, quietly stewing that someone else had snagged a seat next to Rory since she'd been one of the last to arrive.

She reminded herself that the awkward beginning stage would be over soon and eventually, they'd fall into a routine, but she was still a little annoyed by missing out on really having lunch together as she exited the building for the day.

"That lecture was idiotic," she said, halfway through her rant about their headmistresses stupid little "reminders" as she slipped her work bag over her head and stepped onto the train. It was a little early for dinner, but as much as she liked to look nice when they went out for the night, Maris absolutely hated waiting around for food or a table in a packed noisy restaurant during the dinner rush so it was pretty much immediately decided they'd start heading downtown once they left school.

"You can't leave your class unattended, not even to go to the bathroom? No shit! Does she think we're amateurs? Who even asks someone to watch their classroom while they go pee anyway? I'd be embarrassed. I learned to hold it back when I was a student teacher! You wait until the period ends, run like hell, then get back to the classroom before you're late for the new one."

Maris' spirited speech about teacher's bathroom etiquette was a little loud and earned the attention of a middle aged man who was looking at her with a mix of slight disgust and confusion. She stared right back, raised eyebrow silently informing him that her conversation wasn't meant for his ears before turning back to Rory. "These lunch time meetings better not be a regular thing. I use my lunch hour to get potato chip crumbs on whatever exam I'm grading." She leaned closer, whispering in Rory's ear, "And fuck my wife. Like god intended."

"Oh now that's the stuff." Rory said with a laugh, already picturing a kind of nice celebration with her wife that included amazing food and cloth napkins. They still had plenty of restaurants to try out in their neighborhood.

The clock was ticking down to time, which meant Rory did indeed have to go. "Crush it baby." She said with a smile and a wink, her hands on the lapels of her jacket as she kissed her wife once more before she retreated off to her classroom. Which still made her smile how close it was.

She probably should have anticipated that their first day would be a hellish whirlwind, but by the time their day was over and done with, Rory felt like she'd been through a wind tunnel. Even the charming British accents couldn't make up for the lectures they were getting from the administration. Rory had been fidgety for the whole lunchtime meeting, mostly because she was missing out on time alone with her wife.

"It was a waste of time." Rory grumbled as she stepped onto the train behind her wife, gripping for the pole before it got started. "Most of the rules are logical anyway? Besides, you can't exactly pull another teacher from her class if you need to run to the bathroom. It's all about timing." She agreed with Maris, shaking her head a little that it was even something they had brought up. Yes this was a new school, but she didn't get the impression that any or many of the teachers they'd hired didn't know that.

Her free hand came to a rest on the small of her wife's back, a little protective and possessive all at once when they caught the guy's attention. But her attention was immediately taken back by her wife, a slow grin spreading across her face as heat flushed over her skin. How did Maris always do that? Well, she knew Rory and what got to her, clearly. "I'm mostly annoyed at that. Thank god we had this morning." She reminded her wife though she was certain she didn't need to, her voice low as she pressed a kiss against her cheek. "We'll need to make up for it tonight. After dinner. And wine."

Maris could be strict with her students, but she'd always thought making them ask to use the bathroom made her feel like some sort of prison guard rather than a teacher. Sure, she made them ask during important lessons and got on kids who were clearly abusing the privilege to just get out of class and wander the halls, but for the most part she just let them go of their own volition. She taught teenagers, not toddlers.

The administration's little speech about the bathroom rules made Maris feel an awful lot like the latter and if there was anyone who loathed being talked down to...

But the admins and not being able to even sit with Rory at lunch weren't the only things that had gotten under Maris' skin that morning. Her new students hadn't been a walk in the park either.

The first day of school was always a bit awkward and hardly enough to get a good first impression of any student, but she got the feeling her new class already had one of her.

As some fish out of water American they could push around.

"So you're American," a short blonde with some sort of C name (Chelsea?) sneered. "And you're going to teach us British history?"

The kid kind of had a point.

"How was your class?" she asked somewhat tentatively knowing she'd be even more annoyed to hear that people had given her wife a hard time than she was about her own rough day.

Rory was a bit different in her approach to her students than most, sort of taking an observer's point of view to both the dynamics and the politics in a class. She could usually pick out her problem kids within the first day or two, save for a random outlier she didn't see coming.

The day had been good, her students mostly on good behavior - but she too had gotten a bit of a side-eye and whispered giggles when her accent was clear as day.

It was a bit of a fish out of water, more so than she'd really experienced since they'd arrived. Probably because they managed to stay in their own little bubble for the most part. But as soon as Rory spoke with some authority on literature, she was doing just fine. She knew her wife probably had more of an uphill battle.

"It was alright! Still sussing out the troublemakers, which I'm sure there will be plenty. I actually was thinking today I'm going to toss Amanda Gorman's poetry into my curriculum as well. It feels appropriate to do so."

They were let off at the downtown area, so Maris paused their conversation as they made their way off the train and into the crowd, keeping hold of Rory's hand so she wouldn't lose her in a place that was still largely unfamiliar.

They slipped into a restaurant they'd been meaning to try. It was nice, but not fine dining. The atmosphere was chic and modern but while there were candles and tablecloths on every table, it wasn't really the sort of place only suited for date night or business meetings.

When Maris & Rory slipped inside, there was a couple with a little girl waiting at the hostess' booth and though she'd largely pushed all thoughts of motherhood, both good and bad out of her mind since she started focusing on her new job, the sight was enough for Maris to feel a sort of tightening in her chest.

The fact that the little girl was adorable didn't help matters, either. Blonde haired and blue eyed, she looked like a kid out of a magazine and she was wearing the sort of smocked dress and Mary Janes Ramona always insisted on putting Maris in before they went to temple even though her father told her she could wear whatever she wanted.

She'd hated the dresses (and mostly the tights she'd worn under them which she never could seem to keep from snagging) at the time but these days she had to admit they made for some pretty adorable pictures.

She inwardly sighed, leaning against Rory for a moment without even realizing it before remembering their dropped conversation, glad of the distraction. "Oh, right. Who is Amanda Gorman?" she asked, figuring they'd have time to cover it while they waited. "The name sounds sort of familiar, but..."

Maris was usually loath to admit when she didn't know something, but she kind of hated when people pretended to know something, faking interest and understanding, even more.

Rory was the lit expert. There was no shame in admitting she wasn't.

Rory actually thought they were doing pretty well at navigating the tube system which ... felt very very different from the subway in New York. So far she was pretty sure they'd only gotten lost in one train station, where the gate spits you out into a long tunnel of shiny metal and curves so it was easy to go in circles. Avoiding that station was pretty key.

Keeping hold of her wife's hand, Rory marveled a little during their walk in the dusk that they were here. It felt idyllic sometimes, the way London was becoming more and more home to them.

Inside the restaurant, it was impossible not to notice the little blonde haired girl with her parents. Rory was patient, and wanted whatever their family might look like in future years to feel right for the both of them. She was in no massive rush, even though motherhood was indeed something she still wanted. And hoped her wife did, too. Sometime.

She squeezed Maris' hand gently, a quiet gesture just for her wife. Her chin fell against her wife's shoulder, gently brushing at her hair to press a kiss to her cheek. "She gave that amazing speech at the inauguration. The Hill We Climb? She's got a bunch of other poetry too, but I think it'll really show my students the importance of poetry and the power of their words."

Her arm slid around her wife's middle to keep her against her, a small smile growing as the hostess waved them over for their table. "Let's eat, cause it's been too many hours since I've had my wife."

The family ahead of them had been ushered ahead by another waitress, which meant they had to trail slightly behind as they were ushered into the dining room. The little girl dropped a stuffed rabbit along the way and Maris, still watching them out of the corner eye, untangled herself from Rory to scoop it up and jog on over to them without really thinking about it.

"Here," she said softly as she handed it back to the little girl.

She didn't seem to mind that it had just been on the floor. She hugged it to her chest immediately and her whispered, but clearly grateful thank you was enough make Maris' heart contract all over again. The parents thanked her as well, but Maris waved off their gratitude before joining Rory, grateful that the family was seated a few feet away from theirs. She didn't want to get distracted by them again.

She ordered a bottle of wine, knowing they'd need it and could indulge since they'd be riding the tube back home, then gave Rory her full attention, reaching for her hands across the booth now that they could finally have their discussion.

She winced a little. "I heard she was impressive, but is it terrible that I wasn't really paying attention?"

Maris probably should have been more attentive. The election had been historic, but it had also been tiring. As excited as she was to have a female president of color, she honestly wasn't thrilled with Kamala or Joe, just relieved that they weren't forced to endure four more years of a different, much worse sort of asshole. In truth, she'd been a little scared things would go badly thanks to everything leading up to the ceremony and only really remembered Lady Gaga's ridiculous skirt that she still thought was a poor choice on a day when all eyes were on you and you needed to climb stairs.

Besides, poetry wasn't really Maris' thing. She still hadn't finished that book of poems she'd bought after watching the author read one in a video she'd shared with Rory, probably because the book turned out to feature more of the author's male lovers than she'd been lead to believe.

"You'll have to teach me," she purred, even though she wasn't really teasing. Rory may have liked her history stories but Maris liked hearing about things from her wife's perspective. "Just don't skimp on the Keats. We're in the right country to go all in on him and the Romantics now."

While Maris had her exchange with the little girl and her rabbit, Rory couldn't deny the pang in her chest it hit her with. She always believed Maris would be an incredible mother. The woman she loved was fierce with her own love, with a kind of depths to her soul that Rory knew was rare in a person. She knew that their children would be so lucky to inherit those qualities from their mother. But she also understood her wife's hesitation of late. She knew that she, and they had hurdles to climb over before they got to that point. And if they were to shift their strategy and future, that would be okay too. Rory loved her wife with everything she had in her, and that was not contingent on a family or however it might look.

Rory knew she would support her in absolutely everything she wanted to do.

Still, Rory couldn't help but have a little bit of a lingering smile as they settled into their booth, her fingers lacing with her wife's across the table.

"No, I don't think that's terrible at all. It was a traumatic year and even more so election for the majority of us." She sighed, shivering visibly at the memory of it.

It was no big secret that the current administration was neither of their first (or probably even top five) choice, but anything, anything was better than four more years of a manchild tyrant hellbent on ruining the lives of millions. She was grateful for that, and really just glad they all survived it.

Poetry really wasn't where Rory excelled either, but knew that it had a lot of benefit in teaching the importance of it to her students. Aside of course, from being required. Recognizing poetic elements did actually have a lot of benefits, and her students had always liked a particularly fun assignment she assigned in having each one pick out a favorite song, and do a presentation of which elements were found in the song. She just always had to be careful none of them were explicit (which felt ridiculous a rule for teenagers but still).

Rory's brows shot up at Maris' tone, her grin widening as she regarded her wife. "Oh I will, and there will be plenty of Keats, you better believe it." She grinned, raising their joined hands so she could press her lips to her wife's wrist. "You'll get sick of how much I ramble on." Rory added with a chuckle, knowing her wife really was good at never making her feel ridiculous when she went off on a tangent.

"How about your students? Any obvious troublemakers yet?"

Maris sighed as she slowly leaned back against the booth, not wanting any wine to slosh out of the glass she'd picked up with her right hand. She didn't like complaining, but the little remark she'd gotten from Chelsea earlier that morning had echoed through her mind all day.

She'd had students get smart with her before, of course. And Maris was pretty good about holding her own and letting her students know that wasn't going to fly in her classroom, but Chelsea had really gotten under her skin.

And she'd kind of touched a nerve.

She idly ran a hand through her hair, freshly cut a few days before because Maris wanted the extra confidence boost when starting her new job. "This brat was like...." Maris put on her faux British accent which really was getting better by the day, a hint of snootiness dripping into her tone as well. "So you're an American teaching British history?"

Maris, like most historians, obviously knew more about her country of origin than any other, but she wasn't totally in the dark when it came to British history.

She'd taken plenty of courses in world history, one of which was taught by Caroline who while messy, was renowned for her knowledge in European history. Maris' little infatuation with her professor had caused her to pay even more attention in class than she usually did.

If only to impress her.

It had kind of worked.

Maris knew what she was talking about, but there were time periods and figures she was rusty on. Not to mention a whole new curriculum to memorize. Back home, each year had been breezy because nearly every one was exactly the same. This one hadn't had a chance to become familiar, then automatic just yet.

Maris was never going to give a student or anyone for that matter the satisfaction of knowing they got to her, but she also knew she'd end up going over her lesson plan before bed that night.

They'd gotten introductions and the syllabus out of the way. Tomorrow was the real work would start.

The very nature of both of them working again meant that they would have plenty of stories to share, even more to complain about as the days and weeks went by. It felt really good, being able to share in it with Maris again. The way Rory loved her work became all the more so when she was sharing it with Maris again. She didn't even think that she'd be as excited as she was -- and she'd thought that she would be plenty excited.

But Maris was right, there were new personalities and attitudes to deal with, and teaching full time was exhausting, even after just the first day. Actually, especially considering they hadn't had a proper lunch break, or time together.

Rory sipped at her own wine, her thumb of her hand that held Maris' running softly over her wife's knuckles. Even if Maris was telling her about an absolute brat, she couldn't help the slight smile that edged onto her lips with the accent her wife was affecting.

"Well she's going to have to choke on that attitude when you run circles around her with the history lessons you're preparing." Rory said with the utmost confidence. She knew her wife, and knew how brilliant she was with her lessons. Anyone who doubted her because of her accent was going to have plenty of crow to eat.

Rory really lucked out because much of her curriculum stayed the same. Maybe a little more Shakespeare than she liked to get into, but she'd deal with that when it came to it. Maris might have things more difficult, but she knew her wife. She knew the kind of tenacity she had.

"You're going to be incredible, you know." Rory said a moment later, squeezing her wife's hand. "You always are."

"It's just been a while, Ror," she admitted begrudgingly. They'd both had some time off during their move and accompanying job search, but Maris had been out of the classroom much longer than her wife thanks to the hiatus she took after her grandfather's passing nearly four years ago now.

It had been slightly awkward to explain the gap on her resume, but she allowed their headmistress to believe she had taken all of that time off to focus on her book. She didn't need to know her absence was initially because she was too upset to really focus on work and had figured it was up to her to muddle through the mess that was her grandfather's affairs.

Adam had planned well, making sure his assets went to Maris, Rimona and John, but his passing was sort of sudden. One problem lead to another, then another. He was gone within a year of his decline but that decline had been sudden and a bit much for Maris to wrap her head around. Nobody liked to accept that their loved ones were getting older and would eventually go, but her grandfather had never really been sick or even showed signs of slowing down before.

The book had come after. She'd had an outline, but her research was mostly a hobby, something she might turn into a paper like her father sometimes did when he fell down one of his rabbit holes because Maris had to have gotten it from somewhere but with nothing but time and a feeling of bittersweet freedom because Maris had always felt somewhat stifled by teaching, wondering if she could do more, she'd written an entire book once Adam's estate was taken care of. Getting over her grandfather was still a work in progress, though she'd more or less come to terms with his passing. She still missed him, of course. She always would. Just the other day she'd felt a lump in her throat when she saw an old man sitting at a cafe reading his paper with a cup of coffee by his wrist. He'd even been wearing a striped shirt, a fashion staple for her grandfather the way dark colors were for her. She often joked he didn't own clothes in any other pattern. Her grandfather always brought his paper to read at the restaurant when they went out to breakfast on weekends.

"I read it at the house, why wouldn't I read it here?" he'd say whenever Maris or her dad called him out on it. With his face covered as he read, the man she'd come across could have passed for his twin and that was hard, but she'd pulled herself together and joined Rory who was already seated a few feet away, the faux glimpse of him nothing if not a double edged sword.

"And I have softened lately," she teased, lips twitching as she sipped more of her wine.

She demanded respect and as close to perfection as anyone could manage because you could never learn anything halfway. She treated her teenagers like the adults they practically were, something you would think they respected her for, but some of them liked being babied if it meant an easier class or a teacher with more of a pushover's attitude. The real world was hard and being thrown into it after high school could be difficult. She was preparing them for it. Her emotional detachment toward them had other factors, mainly the time she'd spent entirely too close to her own teacher, a mistake she certainly wasn't going to make with her own students even if she was single and had students that were a little older, but Maris would never admit that what happened with Caro had any affect on her.

For better or worse. In ways, the attitude she'd had when it was happening hadn't changed even though she wasn't a lovesick twenty year old anymore.

She thought she had everything under control.

But she was a bit softer these days, unafraid to tell her wife just how much she loved her because there was a time when she'd kept even Rory at a distance. For the first time ever, her heart was (maybe a little too) open to the idea of children to the point of just seeing some little girl drop her rabbit was enough for her to spring into action so she wouldn't be upset.

Maris probably wouldn't ease up on her students. If anything, this set would probably have it harder than any other, if only to prove she knew what she was doing and wasn't going to let anyone assert otherwise, but when she was a little less harsh than she had once been.

To the only person that mattered.

“I know babe.” Rory smiled softly, giving her wife’s hand another squeeze as she sipped at her glass.

Rory hadn’t really had any sort of a break in teaching, not since she started in New York in the school that would introduce her to her wife. She went straight to Maine, in a move that ultimately fucked their relationship over, and she had thrown herself into her work in building the school up with Ethan and really starting something great. That went tenfold after their relationship had ended. She had taken a few extra days off after the winter break though, trying to repair her heart enough to smile through her days.

It worked, for the most part. She’d been miserable for months, and in all honesty was in different flavors of misery in all that time they had been apart. She got really good at faking it. Even to herself, she was good at pretending that her life was fine. Fine enough, happy enough. It wasn’t until Maris burst back into her life in a jogging outfit at her favorite coffee shop that she felt like she was breathing with her whole lungs again. It was something she would never, ever take for granted.

But Rory had missed a lot. It pained her to know how much. She had been so fond of Adam, the elder Forrester being the kind of man that Rory really did want to impress all those years ago, and have the kind of rapport with she’d never really cared about, save for with her own grandfather. Her fondness for him centered around how much he loved Maris, how much she loved him right back. It was a beautiful dynamic that she had felt so sad to have missed even a bit of time witnessing.

Her wife was a resilient woman, and that was one of the qualities that Rory so admired in her. She was a strong woman, whip smart and sharp as hell. All things that she felt also made her an excellent teacher. Rory was excited to see her in this element again, excited for Maris to decide if she liked it still, if it was something she’d want to continue doing. They’d joked about writing things together, even entirely different careers, but this was the element that Rory felt best in, too.

“Are you saying I’ve made you soft with that look in your eyes, wife?” Rory feigned an indignant gasp, but a grin was on her lips.

She knew though, that it was partly true. She knew that the woman who had married her gave her more vulnerability and yes softness than she ever had before. There were ways Maris and the love they shared had changed Rory, too.

“I think you’ve made me stronger.” She mused a moment later, her eyes ablaze with how true that felt from her lips. “I take less shit because of you.” Rory smiled, raising their joined hands so she could kiss her wife’s palm again. It was so soft to say it, but the love that her wife gave so freely to her made her feel powerful, invincible at times. It was easier to stand up a bit straighter and be more forceful when she had the best backup in the world.

“The first day was always going to be a struggle, but we’re on a learning curve.” She said with a little nod, glancing down at the menu and immediately honing in on what she’d order. Good, because her attention was really fixed on her wife. “If they keep stealing our lunch hours though, we are really going to have a problem.”