The Agent and The School Teacher

Chapter One: Parental Involvment

The clock struck three and the students filed out of the room to either catch their bus or wait for their parents to pick them up. I looked down at the papers I was grading, marking the answers wrong with my red pen. I decided to get some grading in while I was waiting for my parent-teacher meeting. I glanced up to see that Jack Hotchner remained at his desk, twiddling his thumbs and looking rather nervous.

"Jack?" I asked. He looked up. I held up a finger, motioning for him to come over. He did so.

"Yes ma'am?" That's what I loved about Jack. He always said ma'am. Yes ma'am, no ma'am. Please and Thank you. He was a polite kid, and quite good at his studies. But still...even if he is a good student, parent involvement is an important part of a child's education. I host several events to get the parents involved, ranging from science fairs to parents' nights. Mr. Hotchner had not made an appearance at a single one of them.

From Dad's background, I knew how busy the BAU lifestyle was. However, Dad always made an effort to be at our school functions, and we had a mom if he couldn't be there. I heard giggling and looked up to see Sadie and Charlotte run into the room. Charlotte was my oldest daughter and was actually in this class. Sadie is a year younger, so Charlotte goes down to her class every day to retrieve her. Jack looked up at them, looking almost embarrassed that they were here to see that he was still present.

"Hi Jack." Charlotte greeted. He smiled.

"You're not in trouble, Jack. You have nothing to worry about. It's your father I want to talk to." He nodded, inflating slightly. "I have an idea. Why don't you and Charlotte go feed the fish."

The children's faces lit up and they ran over to the aquarium where the class pets Charlie and Flo were kept. Charlie and Flo were goldfish, and the cleaning of the tank and the feeding of the fish was something that the kids took care of on a scheduled rotation. I wanted to teach them responsibility early on, so it would be easier when they got older. I glanced up at the clock. 3:30. Mr. Hotchner was meant to be here at 3:15.

"Mom, look at this cool rock I found on the playground today." Sadie ran around my desk, holding up the shiny, glittery rock.

"That is so cool, Sadie! I have some wipes on the shelf, why don't you go wash it off, so the dirt won't get on you." She nodded, skipping back to the shelf.  "Wash your hands off too!"

3:30 turned into 3:45. That turned into 4:00.

"Mom, can we go home yet?" Sadie whined.

"Not yet, sweetie." I picked up my laptop, handing it to Charlotte. "Why don't you guys go to the library, sit in the bean bag chairs and watch Netflix?" The girls ran out of the room. "You can go too Jack."

"But you're talking to my dad." He reasoned. I smiled.

"You don't have to be here for that." I assured him. He smiled, taking off after them. I sighed, rubbing my eyes to dim the headache that was coming on when finally a tall man with dark hair, wearing a suit came stumbling in.

"Are you aware, Mr. Hotchner, that some of us do have lives outside of our profession?" I asked, drumming my fingers on the desk. I was annoyed. He never comes to school functions and he was very late for our meeting, causing me and the girls to stay way longer than we'd anticipated. 

"My apologies, Ms. Bartlett. My case went on a little long, I couldn't get out-"

"Actually, Agent, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Please, call me Aaron." He corrected, sitting down at one of the desks. It looked quite ridiculous to see such a tall and professional man sitting at a tiny desk with a butterfly nametag on the front of it.

"Aaron...as I'm sure you were aware, if you read my parent letters, I find parent involvement very crucial to a child's education. We have had three parental-involvement opportunities this month, and you haven't been to any of them." He nodded.

"My job can be very demanding. Often times I'm not in the state."

"I am well aware of the schedule of an FBI Profiler, but you are going to have to make time for your son." He paused for a moment, and I could see the wheels turning in his head. He was profiling me. 

"You don't have kids, do you Ms. Bartlett?" I raised my eyebrows.

"How is that pertinent?"

"I am just saying that...I make time for my son when I can afford to, and as a single woman without children, I am just curious where your accusations come from about the time I spend with my son." I scoffed, lining up his deductions in my head. 

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" I asked.

"I...I didn't-"

"No, Agent, please share with the rest of the class how you came to that conclusions. It's not everyday an ordinary school teacher gets profiled by an FBI agent. DO go on." He shifted uncomfortably behind the desk.

"Your shoes are high heels, insinuating that you do not dress for comfort, therefore you do not have to chase kids around in our off hours. You're roughly twenty-three years old, and you have no ring on your finger so both age and the absence of a ring presents the probability that you are not married. You also don't have a boyfriend because you do not wear make-up, indicating that you have no one to impress. The keycard on your key ring is for Sunset Apartments, which is known for having small studio apartments not large enough for raising kids in, therefore you do not have any." I nodded. "I apologize, I really did not mean to say that out loud-"

"I would be offended if you weren't wrong about almost everything." He raised his eyebrows.

"I...I'm sorry?"

"I have two daughters, one in my class one in the grade below, I have enough experience walking in high heels to be able to chase my kids around if need be. I am single, you were right about that, but not for the reasons you 'deduced'. My husband is a dead-beat drug addict whom I didn't want around my girls, and my lack of make-up is due to a preference, not due to the fact that I have no one to impress. The Sunset Apartments keycard is actually my key to my brothers house not my own, and as someone who grew up in the house of a profiler, I choose to make my outward appearance the opposite of who I am because I know how easy it is to see things and I don't want anyone knowing things about me that I don't offer up to them, which has proven to come in handy with men like you, Aaron Hotchner." I snapped.  "And for your information, I'm twenty-eight."

"Um..."

"So, if you would so kindly keep your deductions to yourself, and know that as Jack's teacher, I am thinking of his best interests, and i know as a parent, and as the daughter of an ex-FBI Profiler that parent involvement is important, and I also know that it's possible to make time if you try. We have a parents' night the weekend after next, I hope to see you there." I shoved a flier across the desk. "Jack is in the library, watching Netflix with my kids when you're ready to pick him up. Now, if you'd so kindly get out of my classroom." He just stood up and left without another word. I sighed.

I shouldn't have done that.