I Didn't Know What Love Was 2.0

2

Ali's POV

It's the day of the panel here at Hyland Park. I'm in the auditorium helping get everything set up. "On a scale of one to ten how exciting are you to have your wife here?" Christen asks. "Eleven. You know I'm always excited when she gets to talk with the kids." I say. "You mean you can undress her with her your eyes from afar and not get noticed?" She asks. "That helps too." I smirk. "You're disgusting." Chris says. I just laugh and grab the other chairs that we still have to put out. "Here, let me help." Jackson Wert says and takes a couple chair for me.

"Thanks." I say. After I got pregnant with Avery, Jackson saw how serious things with Ash are. He's backed off and doesn't try to pursue anything with me anymore. I think he finally realized that we will only ever be friends. We finish setting things up before going to our classrooms before the bell rings. I walk down the hall and hear laughing coming from my room. I walk in and Ash is sitting on my desk, talking animatedly about something. "Shit, we've been caught guys." Ash says.

"Excuse me paramedic Harris we don't use such language in this classroom." I say giving her a challenging look, crossing my arms over my chest. "Aww, come on Mrs. Harris we were having fun." My one student Tyler says. "Sorry guys. Don't worry. She'll be back. Right now paramedic Harris needs to get down to the auditorium for the panel before we head down." I say. "She's right. I'll see you in a few." Ash waves to the class before giving me a wink and leaving the room. "Mrs. Harris you got lucky with her." Another student Kate says. "I did. I really did." I tell her.

"Aren't we supposed to head down to the auditorium now?" Tyler asks and I look at the clock above the door. "Yes. Grab your KWL sheets and something to write with." I tell my students and grab the things I need. KWL sheets are papers that I have my students fill out when we have a guest speaker or a panel. I have them write down what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned. It's also to make sure they pay attention.

"Also, guys before we leave. You can not put down that you know that paramedic Harris is my wife." I tell them with a smirk, earning a collective groan from them as they either erase or scratch out that Ash is my wife. "Sorry." I say unapologetically. "That was evil Mrs. H." Another one of my students Brian says. "Oh well. Come on guys. We have to go." I tell them. We head down to the auditorium and we take up the first two rows. I sit on the end of the first row. Chris is the mediator for the panel. A couple more classes come in and students who signed up for the panel, including kids from my other classes.

I look up at Ash on the stage and smile at her. She does this cute little wave and I wave back. After a few more mintues the Vice Principal Edan Mayor walks up to the podium and welcomes everyone. She starts it off by having everyone introduce themselves and what they do. Ash's smile widens tenfold as she says what she does. Once they get through everyone the next question is what made them join the career field they are in. Ash struggles a little bit and thankfully Mikey is there to offer her some support.

Ash still struggles with her attack sometimes. There are nights when she cries, missing her leg that she lost, missing being normal in her eyes. She still struggles with the ocean, but she's made great improvements since that first time she went into the water with me, but only did I learn that night that I pushed her a little too far. I can tell though when she stares out at the ocean how much she misses surfing. I've approached her about it a couple of times, but she's just too scared there will be another attack on her.

She quickly gets herself back together after they move on from her and go on to Mikey. The rest of the panel goes pretty smooth. Each one of the panelists answering each question as detailed as they can because some can't get to into it do to confidentiality. They give the students insight of what it takes to get into their career, what kind of training or schooling might be needed. They tell them the good, bad, and the ugly of their job which is always helpful. At the end of the panel the kids go in groups to have a kinda one-on-one talk with the panelists.