A Little Too Much | CM

1.02

Once they arrived at the school, Henry sat at Lia's desk reading a book that Spencer had gotten him whilst she set up the classroom for the day.

"Miss Amelia?" 

Lia's head darted up from the books she was putting out on the tables in the direction that the voice had came from.

"Hi Clara." She said sweetly, walking over to where the little girl was stood in the doorway to her classroom with her dad, Tyler, behind her. "Is everything okay?" She asked noticing the tear stains on Clara's cheeks.

"Clara's left her project at her mum's house and she's really proud of it." Tyler explained.

Clara's parents had broken up towards the end of second grade, so when she came into Lia's third grade class, she was still adjusting. Towards the start there would be days both parents thought the other was picking her up so neither would show, so Clara would stay with Lia until someone came. There was also a few times where things such as a P.E. kit would be left with the other parents so she wouldn't be able to get it until they swapped again.

"Aw sweetie." Lia said, crouching down. "That's okay, you can show it me next week yeah?" Clara nodded. "Why don't you go play with Chloe so I can talk to your dad?" She said, spotting her best friend on the playground.

"Thank you so much." Tyler said, "She's always talking about you at home, she want's so be a teacher because of you."

"She'd be amazing." Lia said, a smile growing on her face, happy that she was inspiring her. "Henry, can you pack your stuff up?" Lia called over her shoulder as she heard the bell ring to tell the kids to line up.

"I didn't realise you had a son?" Tyler asked, watching the blonde boy over Lia's shoulder as he put the book back into his bag and zipped it up.

"He's not mine, he's my brother's." Lia explained. "If you and Clara ever need anything just let me know okay." She said, placing a hand on Tyler's forearm.

"Thank you." Tyler said, walking back out onto the playground to say bye to his daughter whilst Lia placed a hand on Henry's shoulder and lead him over to where his class was lining up.

"Hi Miss Taylor!" Henry greeted his teacher excitedly. 

"Hi Henry!" Miss Taylor replied with almost as much enthusiasm as she looked at Lia, both teachers smiling. "He's going to your room after school?" She asked the younger woman, assuming that was why she had brought the boy over.

"Please." Lia said with a smile. "Have a good day kid." She said, ruffling Henry's hair before going back over to her own class.

----------

"Hey JJ." Lia said as she held the phone to her ear.

"How's Henry doing?" JJ asked.

"He's good, he's watching cartoon's right now because Will's on his way home." Lia explained.

"You don't need to explain yourself Lia, you're the teacher." JJ said. "Has he been good for you?"

"Of course." Lia said. "He finished the book Spencer gave him, then we went for ice-cream, we came home, got his spellings done and watched a film whilst we ate."

"You're a lifesaver." JJ said.

"It's no problem, you know I love him more than life itself." Lia said.

"Lia..." JJ warned, not liking the comparison her sister-in-law had chosen.

"I know J." Lia said. "I've got to stay positive."

"Daddy!" Henry squealed as he jumped off the sofa at the sound of the front door opening.

"I've got to go." Lia said, JJ laughing as she had heard her son's excitement through the phone.

"Enjoy getting him to sleep now." JJ joked

"Will's doing that." Lia said with a laugh as they hung up the phone.

"Auntie Lia took me for ice-cream!" Henry was sat in his dad's arms when Lia walked into the foyer, her phone tucked into the back pocket of the plain blue jeans she wore to work.

"Did she now." Will said, shifting Henry around onto his hip so he could lift his arm to beckon his little sister into his side and place a kiss to the top of her head.

Despite their barely being an eighteen month age gap between the two siblings, Will often acted like it was more and that Lia was younger than she actually was. Especially after the discovery he had made two years ago that he still blamed himself for.

"Come here Monkey." Lia said, moving away from Will so she could hold her arms out to Henry to allow his dad to lock his gun away in the safe.

It took Will 45 minutes to get Henry into his pyjama's and asleep, 45 minutes that Lia spent texting Derek.

Lia: Hey it's Lia

Derek: I thought you'd forgotten about me :(

Lia: Never. I've been with Henry all day, Will's just putting him to bed

Derek: How is the kid? I feel like it's been years since I saw him

Lia: He's good, I'm pretty sure Spencer's rubbing off on him

Derek: Hold up. You've met Reid? 

Lia: Yeah, he's picked Henry up from school a few times and I've seen him at JJ's.

Derek: How come he got to meet you but I didn't?!

Lia: Will's over-protective, he probably see's you as a threat whilst Spencer is the definition of harmless.

Derek: And here I am thinking I'm the profiler.

"What're you giggling at?" Will asked, noticing how quickly she turned her phone off and hid it from his view.

"Just a meme one of the other teacher's sent me." Lia lied so smoothly that Will almost forgot how she had moved the phone away from him as if she was hiding it.

"You stayin' here tonight?" Will asked, throwing his arm behind her shoulders as he sat on the sofa next to her.

One of the first differences people picked out between the siblings was the accent. Will still had his thick southern drawl despite living in Virginia for almost seven years whilst Lia's accent was far more 'normal' despite having lived in New Orleans for 34 of the 36 years she had been on this planet.

"If it's alright with you, it'll save me driving home just to come back in the morning." Lia said.

"Of course it is." Will said, using the arm he had around her shoulders to squeeze her into his side. "I should be able to pick Henry up tomorrow though."