When Life Takes An Unexpected Turn

Ava Takes Ballet and Dean Meets Her Teacher

Dean had never seen so much pink in his life. Everywhere he looked the color assaulted his vision and it made him grimace. Sure, this was a ballet class, but did everyone really need to be wearing only that one color? A gentle tugging on his pant leg drew his attention away from the pink nightmare and down to the little girl standing next to him.

"Daddy I have to go pee pee." She announced. He nodded and took her by the hand.

""Let's find out where the potty is, ok?" He asked, smiling warmly down at his daughter. She smiled back and nodded.

He led her to the front desk where a girl with long brown hair and a tee shirt announcing the name of the park district was sitting. "Can you tell me where the bathroom is?" He asked.

She pointed toward the hall to his right. "It's the first door on your right, right around the corner next to the water fountain."

Dean thanked her and led his daughter down the hall. When they reached the bathroom he tried the handle but it was locked. "Someone's in there. Can you hold it?" He asked her. She grimaced but nodded.

As they waited she toyed with the hem of her black tutu. He had let her pick out her own dance clothes and she had chosen black. The tutu though had sparkles in it and she was running her fingers over them while they waited for the door to open. When it finally did a woman with another of the bubble gum pink little girls was coming out, pushing her own child ahead of her. She gave Dean a brief smile as she moved past them and back into the lobby. He stepped forward to catch the door before it closed and his daughter hurried inside.

He wasn't like some dads that were afraid to help their child go to the bathroom. He was all she had, and she wasn't very effective at wiping herself just yet, so he knew she would need assistance.

"Ava, we have to take your tutu off so it doesn't get toilet water on it." He told her. She nodded and slid it down her legs, allowing him to pick it up off the floor while she pulled her leotard down. The bathroom trip was brief and once she had relieved herself and washed her hands he helped her back into the glittery tutu and escorted her out of the bathroom.

As they stepped into the hall he realized that the mothers were now herding their daughters (and one little boy) into the classroom directly across from the bathroom. Dean checked the room number against the admission form he had filled out and sure enough, this was where Ava would be learning how to do ballet. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Are you excited to dance?" He asked. She smiled brightly and nodded.

"I'm going to dance like Tinker Bell!" She cried. That made Dean laugh. Ever since he had taken her to see a ballet production of Peter Pan two months earlier she had been in love with Tinker Bell.

He led her into the classroom and stepped off to the side. There were at least ten other kids taking this class as well as their mothers. He really hoped the teacher could handle this many toddlers. When a man came rushing into the room a few minutes later with a duffle bag over his shoulder Dean felt a moment of relief. Maybe he wasn't the only dad to be bringing his child today, but when no children followed the man into the room he frowned. His confusion grew even more the man started to strip down to just a tee shirt and sweatpants. When he turned around to look out over the people in the room Dean had to do a double take. The man was incredibly attractive.

"Hello everyone, my name is Castiel, but I know that's a mouthful, so everyone may call me Cas. I will be the dance instructor for the next ten weeks. This is my twelfth year teaching this class and I greatly enjoy working with the children to teach them basic ballet moves. Their recital will be at the end of the course but we will discuss that more in depth as we get further along. Now, does anyone have any questions?"