troubled teachers

Chapter 20

It was the last week of January and Emma looked up from her lesson planning on Friday afternoon when she heard a knock on her classroom door. Smiling when she saw Archie Hopper peering through the narrow window, she waved the man in and leaned back in her chair.

"Doctor Hopper," Emma greeted. "How are you?"

"I'm doing very well thanks, Emma. Is it ok if I call you Emma?" Archie asked as he walked into the room and sat down at the chair the blonde gestured towards.

"Um, yeah sure," Emma said. "But why do I get the feeling this is about to turn into an unscheduled and unwanted therapy session?"

Archie chuckled. "There's no need to accuse me of that. I merely came here to talk to you about Regina."

"Oh," Emma said, visibly relaxing. "What about her?"

"Well you are obviously aware she will be returning to work on Monday after her month's absence and I thought it might be a good idea for the two of us to talk about how best to support her as she readjusts to her job."

"Oh, ok," Emma nodded. "What have you talked to her about?"

"Well as I'm sure you're aware there is such a thing as doctor-patient confidentiality but Regina herself has told me that you know all about what happened to her and that she also relays a great deal of our sessions to you as well. Therefore, whilst I cannot explicitly tell you what we discuss, I am able to give you an overview if I think it will help her. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Emma said.

"So the main focus of our sessions so far has been the events which took place in London and Kent but now Regina is going to need to deal with people asking questions about what happened. And believe me, people will ask, tactless as it may be."

"The kids have already been gossiping about her and they don't know anything," Emma huffed. She had been particularly upset when Henry had told her how he overheard some Year 9 girls whispering about how Regina had been working as a prostitute and had been attacked by one of her clients. "What do you think she should do?"

"I've advised her to be vague in the details but not to ignore the questions, particularly from the students. Otherwise the rumour mill will just continue to churn out ridiculous things. If she addresses her students directly then hopefully we'll be able to nip most of that in the bud."

"You're not suggesting she tells them what that bastard did to her?" Emma frowned, anger boiling inside of her at the mere thought of Robin.

"Not in detail, no," Archie replied, taking careful note of Emma's badly hidden emotions. "But I think these children are old enough to understand that she was in an abusive relationship and when she tried to get away from him, the man kidnapped her. Then we can just skip over the details to say that he's in prison now and has been sentenced to twenty years for his crimes."

"Ok," Emma nodded. "But if you've told all this to Regina, why are you telling me too?"

"It won't just be the questions which are a struggle for Regina," Archie said. "This school holds a lot of memories of who she was when she was in the marriage. There might be certain things which act as triggers. Now, Regina may not even know what they are yet but it's important for people who are close to her to be aware of this so we can support her if and when she needs it."