Leave the Lights On

Chapter 1

You walk into the elementary school teacher's lounge. Your first day as the resident doctor for the Lima School District was exhausting. Your office is set up in the admin building across town and all you want is a cup of coffee.

This isn't the worst job you could get. The district will pay off your med school loans in exchange for three years of dirt-cheap work. You thought it would be hell but you've learned that not all children are whiny monsters.

You look helplessly around the lounge where the teachers are scattered. You never like having to meet new people. It always makes you nervous so you wipe your hand on the front of your scrubs and step in.

You make your way to the coffee machine and pick up a foam cup from the stack. A blonde with her hair up in a sleek ponytail is washing her strawberries in the adjacent sink and is partially blocking the coffee pot so you just stand to the side and wait.

A few seconds later she sees you. With a disarming smile she apologizes and moves to the other side of the sink.

You fill up your coffee and fix it with creamer and sugar like you've drunk it since high school.

Now is the hard part. Where to sit? You don't want to seem like a snob and sit alone (you made that mistake at the middle school and now most of the teachers give you dirty looks) and you don't want to just join a group (that gets awkward fast).

You hear an airy giggle next to you. "Come on. You can sit with me." the blonde picks up her strawberries and makes her way to an empty table by the window.

"Thank god," you utter under your breath and follow her.

Once you're seated, she smiles brightly, "You looked lost."

"I'm new," you say for the millionth time that week.

She glances down at your scrubs, "You're the new district doctor?"

You nod.

"I'm Brittany. Kindergarten."

"Santana," you tell her. She look like a kindergarten teacher, all friendly and approachable.

"How do you like working here?" she asks casually, taking a bite of a strawberry.

"It's a, um, different than I thought it would be," you say. You don't wanna offend her and tell her it's boring most of the time and you're jumping ship the second your contract is up.

She laughs and you find yourself smiling without reason. "Any sick kids?"

"A couple. Some paper cuts and a sprained ankle," you shrug.

"All the kids have been nice?"

You nod. "Most of them anyway." then you remember this morning and smile. "There is this sweet little girl that walked her friend to the infirmary and sat with her the whole time. She wanted to know everything I was doing and why. She's a smart kid for being so young."

"Yeah?" Brittany asks covering her mouth as she chews.

"Yeah. Her name was... I don't remember her first name but her last name was Pierce. No idea why I remembered that." you take a sip of your coffee that you almost forgot about.

Brittany chuckles, "Blonde hair and blue eyes? Pink and white polka dotted dress?"

You nod. Must be a smaller school than you thought. "Is she one of your students?"

"She's my daughter," Brittany says easily before taking a bite of her fruit.

You almost choke on your coffee and instead just ungracefully spill it on yourself. "Oh."