s*t*a*r*s (Kindred Series-2)

s*t*a*r*s 3 - pt 28

s*t*a*r*s

            “I am not sure I can do this,” says Sean as he sits at his desk, going through the massive amounts of paper work he is going to have to deal with while teaching this field class.  Luckily, Emma Young, or rather, Emma Scott, has done a boatload of work for him, since she’s done this type of class before. 

            “Dad,” says Jayden, slightly blonder than the day before.  “I think this is the best thing you could do.”

            “Teaching,” grumbles Sean softly.  “I remember being out in the field.  Really, this feels like a step back.”

            Jayden smiled, sliding onto the edge of the desk.  “You’re giving back to those who need to be taught.  You are helping fight evil.”

            Sean chuckles at that thought.

            It has been weeks now that Jayden had come back.  From LA she had flown to Paris, posing as someone else, then coming home using her own passport.  Jayden had been detained and after three days, she’d been reunited with her father. 

            “Dad, really I think you need to get back in the swing of life, mom would hate that you hid in this house for years,” says Jayden.

            Sean grunts.  “Hid because my family was gone, Jon in Scotland and Kate died.  Jo disappeared and was dead and you were gone too, everyone was dead or gone,” says Sean forlornly.  “Now, you’re alive and I have a granddaughter.” He wrinkles his nose at the thought.  He’d done the same thing when Emma had Rylee, he could have been a grandfather was what he thought all the time.  He’d spoken with his friend, Henry, Emma’s father on and off for years.  Now, they speak weekly, swapping stories. 

            “Who seems to like you,” says Jayden.

            “She does,” says Sean. “She’s so much like Jo, but so different too.  There is a distance to her, a coldness.”

            Jayden thinks about it for a moment.  “I think that she really isn’t of this time and she is finally finding her place, dad,” whispers Jayden.  “Jo dragged her everywhere, then I couldn’t get to her before she was shoved into the foster system.  Then, then I didn’t know how to get her out and I had a few tails to get rid of.  I thought she was safer there, no one knew who she was.”

            “Are you going to take Natalie up on her offer?” asks Sean. He changes the subject because he hates that he never could protect the women in his life.  Kate.  Jo.  Jayden, and now Spencer. 

            Jayden makes a face.  “I don’t have teaching credentials.”

            “You have life experience,” says Sean softly.  “I realize you’ve been gone for a few years, and I know you have been out having adventures in the world, those adventures are worth more than any education.  Spencer speaks more languages than I can count.  That is worth more than a piece of paper.”

            Jayden smiles.  “I know.”

            “I know that you know, and there is nothing stopping you from going to college, Jay,” says Sean.  “Now get on out of here so I can work, will you?”

            Jayden smiles her eyes back to their natural green today, not feeling the need to shift and change into someone she isn’t, at least not for the time being.