Above it all (I'll always love you)

8

Maria leads Yelena out of the school building, the sniffling girl refusing to make eye contact with anything but the ground. They'd just got done with a meeting with Yelena's teacher and principal to figure out an action plan to help the girl not feel so anxious when it came to school.

They'd also brought in a specialist, and it turns out that Yelena has dyslexia and Dysgraphia.

For now, they'd all decided that it would be best for Yelena to learn from home with Maria. She'd start from the beginning with the girl, pre-k level, and if progress was made before spring break, she'd make a slow return to school a few days a week.

Maria was happy with that outcome, but Yelena was under the impression that the diagnoses's made her dumb. She'd been reassured by countless people that that wasn't the case, but the seven year old was stubborn. Maria was determined to make her see that she was smart regardless of what she struggles with, but she knew it would take time, and that was okay.

"Up." Yelena begs as she holds up her arms, and Maria lifts her up onto her hip and presses a kiss to her head.

"We're gonna head to target, and we'll pick up some school supplies for home," she tells Yelena as she carries her to the car, "and we'll pick up some books too. You like reading right?"

Yelena sniffles with a small nod, and Maria pouts sympathetically as she pulls open the car door and eases Yelena into her seat.

"Should we grab Natasha a few books too?" She attempts to distract the girl as she eases her arms through the harness straps, securing the black clip against her chest before easily buckling her up.

Yelena nods.

"Okay. Would you be a smart girl and help me pick some out for her? I don't really know the kind of books she likes, but I know you do." Maria takes Yelena's hands and gives them a squeeze.

Yelena nods again, but this time, a timid smile accompanies it, and Maria grins as she places a gentle kiss to her cheek.

"Good girl."

The drive to target was quick, and Maria soon finds herself carrying Yelena through to the school section.

"Look lena, they have an Elsa notebook." She bounces the girl to get her attention as she uses her free hand to pick up said notebook.

Yelena lifts her head from Maria's shoulder, and Maria was glad to see her eyes light up at the sight of her favourite Disney princess.

"Should we get it?" Maria questions, and Yelena immediately nods her head prompting her to set it in the basket that's was hooked over her free arm.

"I think we'll grab a few more," Maria tells the girl as she walks over to the rest of the notebooks. "Which ones look good?"

Yelena's eyes flicker over the selection, and she picks out a butterfly notebook along with one covered in rainbows. A packet of crayons make their way into the basket too, and Maria even ventures to the toy aisle and picks up a set of blocks with the alphabet on. Like she said, she had plans to take Yelena right back to the beginning. That would tell her just where Yelena was, and hopefully help her become more confident when it came to learning.

No more than an hour later, Maria finds herself sat at the table with Yelena on her lap. The Elsa notebook and the crayons were set out in front of them along with the blocks, and the woman had spelt some basic words with the dot technique, allowing the girl -when she was ready- to trace over them to actually spell the word.

"Okay. We'll start with this word," Maria taps the top of the page with her index finger. "Do you know what this says?"

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