Theo And Reed's Lesson Plans

Chapter Seven

The next few days passed by in a complete blur to Theo. He rarely left the house. Hell if he was completely honest with himself he barely left his own bedroom. He only left the bedroom to check briefly on the children. Both Benji and Baylee looked at their Papa Theo with sad eyes that were way too old for their current years and gave him extra hugs. Even Benji who believed that hugging his fathers was not cool. Theo loved them both so much. It scared the hell out of him letting them leave the house for school and to play with their friends. He also loved his husband and friends. Reed had taken a leave of absence from the zoo where he worked just like Theo had from the school and he was never far from Theo's side. Especially when Theo was sleeping. He hated to sleep because that was when his fickle mind let in the uninvited guest of Derek Masterson. He always dreamed of that day. Only it was different. It always ended with Theo being shot by Derek. He could still hear his eerie words " It's not over yet " echoing in his head even when he was awake. Reed had mentioned to him about seeing a therapist. Maybe he needed to but he didn't want to. The last thing he wanted was to sit in a room with some stranger prying into his weird little head. So he refused to seek therapy as an option . Reed accepted that ( for now ). He made sure Theo ate regularly , drank water and fielded the worried texts / messages / calls from his sister and mother in Texas , their friends and even his newfound brother in Connecticut. Jacob in particular was not happy that Theo had been in the middle of a tragic active shooting but for once there was nothing the mob boss could do. He would eventually reach out to everyone but right now the only people he needed with him were his husband and children.

Matt stopped by the house every day. He always came with homemade food because just like his small town Georgia mother Faye Marlowe he believed everything could be fixed with a slice of freshly baked bread slathered with jam or jelly. Of course the man preserved his own jellies. They never talked when he came by. In fact Theo would always escape to the bedroom with the door locked during his best friend's visits.

According to Reed Saint was extremely busy at City Hall fielding media and parent calls about the school shootings. He was being made to justify his own pro responsible gun owner stance and his belief in the second amendment. There was even a recent recall effort to remove the popular progressive mayor from office which Reed assured him was going to go nowhere. Even with all his current troubles and his escalating MS Saint also still managed to stop by for visits. Theo wouldn't see him either. Deep down in his heart and soul he didn't believe he deserved visits from anyone. Even Winnie who had came over with a gift for him and the rest of the family : his and Dennis' big old grey cat Sunshine had had a litter of kittens and he had given them a cute feisty greedy orange one with green eyes like Reed's and Matt's. Baylee had named it Pumpkin because he was orange and Benji said that was the dumbest name he had heard. Baylee had responded with a little bit of bravery " that she thought Benji was a dumb name too ". Reed had been relieved to see Saint. They sat in the kitchen talking for hours about what had happened and how Theo was coping with it. Saint had left Reed with the contact information of Matt's own therapist who ironically enough was married to Theo's former cancer doctor.

Charles was in London dressing the royal family but Lane sent regular text messages to Theo and Reed. Apparently the Academy was remaining closed for at least two weeks and when classes were back in session there would be a team of therapists there for both students and staff alike. Lane admitted to Reed that he was almost glad they had closed the school for a brief period. Yes the kids needed to learn but even the West Virginia man was feeling a bit edgy about walking back into that building.

Juan Ramirez had stopped by and let Reed know the very basics of the investigation. Yes they all knew who the killer was but they needed to understand why it happened. So it would never happen again. He said Saint had declared that the homicide unit was going to develop a task force with therapists and social workers to try to pinpoint exactly why school shootings happened and what they could do to stop it happening again. But nobody could figure out why Derek Masterson had killed his classmates. He was an average kid. Ordinary. Routine. Quiet. Not the smartest kid at the Academy but not the dumbest either. According to Benji ( who really should not have any knowledge of the high school kids ) Derek had been " basic as hell and he was obsessed with getting booed up ". Reed had googled to find out what the hell their son meant with the teen slang. Apparently the dead boy had had no real imagination and was always wanting a girlfriend. Saint told Reed that Kyle had called Derek just another dumb incel. Little Livvie ( who was always up on the popular kids all through the school even at ten ) just said she never knew he existed. The families of the dead students were also suing for wrongful death the defense secretary who was Derek's father. After all it was his legally purchased gun that had done the deed. Reed knew that already because the families wanted Theo to join the lawsuit. Royce Masterson was adamant that he nor his wife was responsible for their child's actions. After all , he had told the Washington Post , they had a younger son Preston who wasn't like Derek. That was another reason the families were so mad. They had lost their children and this family still had one more child. Preston had called in sick that day. Juan had spoken to the younger brother and apparently he had had no idea what his brother was planning to do. None of the teachers the cops spoke to had a clue either. They all said Derek was really like furniture. He had just been there. They , like Theo , went to bed at night wondering how they had missed all the signs. Theo's dreams were also visited by his dead students as they all begged him to save them.

Lindy Phelps , the first shot , a pretty perky cheerleader who was genuinely sweet as pie. He could still see her shy smile and eagerness to be first answering questions. She had told him she wanted to be a teacher. Like him.

Mark Gossman , a talented football player who also played the drums in a garage band. He had been already recruited by college football coaches.

Bettina Collins , Benji's friend Chandra's cousin , who had followed her out of the South East projects they lived in to the prominent world of the Academy. Chandra was smart but Bettina had been a genius. She wowed all the teachers with her intelligence. She wanted to be a Nasa scientist. She was also the Academy's first transgender girl student and was the reason they had moved to gender neutral bathrooms.

And all the rest. He saw them all in his dreams. He was starting to hate sleeping.

He also had a pen pal of sorts. One who left brief typewritten notes in his and Reed's mailbox. Notes that said simply " I am sorry ". Theo agreed with that sentiment. He too was sorry. He just couldn't do anything about it.