Saturday's were nearly always spent sleeping in, but Gale could hardly stand to wait. Dressed for the day, Gale wasn't as sad to leave Chester there sleeping as he normally was. He cherished their time together, but slipped from the bed ready to start the day. Now that it was daylight, and the rain had vanished for a while he could open up all the curtains and see his new house. It needed cleaned, that much he knew, and he dressed ready for the part.

The water didn't get very hot, the tank wasn't very big he didn't wash his hair, but pulled it back for now in a green scarf to keep it from his face. Having survived his first night, the faulty electric wasn't too bad now that every dark corner was lit up, but still it all needed a good cleaning. Starting with the kitchen he found mouse droppings everywhere and filled the farmhouse sink up with water and bleach to soak the silverware and anything else he could fit.

Gale made a list of everything that he wanted to do, and added to it by room. With the radio playing on the faulty lines, Gale hummed along as he wiped down the entire surface of the counters before tackling the fridge.

Mai was looking forward to seeing Gale’s brand new house, and was so happy when he invited her and dear Maslow over for breakfast. A breakfast that Maiko was intent on making, even though he was supposed to be the gracious host. In one hand, she carried a bag of groceries, in the other she was holding onto her dog’s leash. She knew that he wouldn’t run off without her—that dog was too attached to people. But, she didn’t want to take that risk.

“Gale!” She called, opening the door and entering the house. She put the bag on the floor and took off her shoes by the door.

“I’m hereeee! I hope you didn’t get started on breakfast already. I need to feed you, and I brought my favorite apron!" She paused, "Hey, when am I going to meet your guy?” Mai then stage whispered, “Merde, is he sleeping? I hope he’s not awake—did I wake him?!” Hopefully, the house was large enough that Chaz couldn’t have heard her.

"Mai!" He returned her call, still washing the dishes from the previous night, "I'm in here!" He was happy to recieve the four legged friend first, always giddy when the dog was around. They had a good relationship, but Gale was always very patient with animals. "Hello you," He went to one knee to love on the big brute and turned the dog over to scratch his belly, "Do not bother the chickens outside no?"

“I’m hereeee! I hope you didn’t get started on breakfast already. I need to feed you, and I brought my favorite apron!"

He stood with his small smile, shy even with her, "Oh...I can cook it. You don't have to." Though he knew there wasn't telling Maiko no on anything really. She would barrel him over and tie him to the chair long before she ever let him protest.

"And he's upstairs sleeping, and don't worry of waking him. It's Saturday, and it's our day to sleep in," Gale hugged his arms over his chest before leaning in and kissing her cheek, "I am too excited to sleep in." With a look around at his house he smiled, "Plus after last night...He'll be in bed for a while," Gale pulled down his hair enough to cover the love bite he knew was nearly black against his skin, and blushed.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

Mai made her way into the kitchen. Maslow was so excited to see Gale that his butt looked like a giant blur.
“No worries, he won’t bother the chickens. If anything I’m more worried about the chickens bullying him.” Maslow was a pushover when it came to other animals. Mai and Kohaku had no doubt though, that the dog would try to protect them if they were in danger. Dogs and humans had that sort of unique close relationship that other humans and animals didn’t usually share. She watched as Gale scratched the dog. Then, she gave him a big, crushing hug.

“I am cooking it. And that’s, that!” Mai said with a sort of motherly sternness. “But, you are more than welcome to help. Do you have a waffle iron? If you don’t, I could just make pancakes instead.” She put the bag on the counter and began pulling out ingredients—buttermilk, eggs, flour, homemade syrups and sauces in mason jars.

“Sounds like you two had a lovely time last night. Does he like the idea of you buying a house?” She asked. Maslow let out a small noise as if he was asking the question as well. (really, he was just making noise)

"Then you may go as you please," he spoke to the dog with a grin before standing again to receive Maiko's hug. He was happy she was here, he loved it when she was close. She was the one thing at the castle that kept him sane the most, and seemed to always show up when he needed her. He did so enjoy her company, and was first to offer any help she may need.

"Fine you cook. But I don't know about the waffle iron..." He went searching and luckily found one, "Apparently the previous owners just up and left. I even still found their toothbrushes by the sink." Gale spoke that last bit with a bit of worry, but the excitement of owning a home wasn't ready to leave him just yet. He would worry as to why later, "The electric goes in and out so, be careful and don't burn yourself alright?"

“Sounds like you two had a lovely time last night. Does he like the idea of you buying a house?”

Gale blushed a little again, their lovely time still leaving that wonderful feeling behind, even if it hurt a little bit, but when the topic turned to Chaz's thoughts on the house all of the devotion from his face fell and he started to chew on his lip. The coffee was ready and he poured a cup before taking a seat at the breakfast table,

"He...um...didn't take too well to not being involved in the idea of it, but I think he just thought I expected him to just up and move out here. Force him into a marriage with children like his parents. We had a pretty big...discussion about it, and I thought for a second I would lose him. But he's coming around I think. I explained that I didn't expect anything from him, that I was doing this for myself and that in a few years if he's ready to leave the city we'll go from there. But..." He stopped a moment and looked up at Maiko,

"I couldn't buy a house in town, and afford it. I mean...after I leave Hogwarts," He hadn't told her that he was going to, and was worried she wouldn't take it well.

“Of course I’ll cook! It’s not like you had any say in the matter.” She stuck her tongue out at him playfully. As he got out the waffle iron, Mai rummaged through the kitchen to find the necessary items—a bowl, some plates, a mixing spoon. She even found some measuring cups, which was a pleasant surprise. She wouldn’t really use them except perhaps to melt butter in ; Mai had been making this recipe for years.  Still, the one thing she couldn’t find was a whisk—and that was something they could do without.

Maiko began to pull the ingredients out of the bag and put them on the counter—buttermilk, eggs, flour, sugar, butter—and all the other small things one needed to make waffles.

“What kind of people don’t own a whisk?” She muttered to herself. A fork would have to do.

Mai put on her reverse psychology apron and set to putting the dry ingredients into a bowl, along with the sugar. She was in the middle of mixing it all with a fork when Gale dropped the news. She dropped the fork in the bowl and looked over at Gale, studying him. She knew he was having a rough time—he didn’t fit in with several of the staff members. But he loved his students! It seemed though, that this job was wearing on him. He was getting burned out.

She didn’t want him to leave, for her own selfish reasons. He was her friend. She’d miss him. The thought of him not being there made her want to cry.

“Gale, what’s going on?” She asked softly, walking over to sit at the table. He needed her attention more than the waffles did.

Maiko knew how to get every bit of information out of him, and their relationship he worried was too much of him talking about himself and not getting to know her. He had started so many times with trying to get more about her family out, but it somehow always seemed to bend back to him; and in this he looked at the floor now.

"I don't know, Mai...I'm just..." He didn't want to do this right now, he wanted to help her cook and get to know his new home, but he couldn't NOT tell her.

"Things have been really difficult lately," He ran his hand over his neck like he Chaz did anytime things got tense between them, and for a moment he stopped to listen up the stairs to the sweet sound of his lover snoring. Yet still he kept his voice down, despite how he knew Chester was asleep, "He doesn't know yet. I thought one bomb was enough to drop on him, but..." Gale bit his lip and frowned.

"I'm starting to worry I'm not well enough to do this job, that maybe I am a crazy nutter, and that I'm doing more damage than good," In his chair at the table, the one that he deemed his with the worn out flowers and cracked paint he pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them; something he has done since he was a child.

"And I'm unhappy, and taking it out on Chaz."

She sat down next to him and scooted the chair close so she could throw her arms around his torso in one of her famous death grips of love. She released him from it a few moments later, but stayed close.

“What doesn’t he know?” Mai asked curiously. Was Chaz unaware that Gale wanted to buy the house? No, he seemed pretty aware of that. She let Gale continue speaking. If the house was one bomb to drop on him, what was the other? Gale hadn’t told her yet, so she had no idea. Did Gale want children? Was he ill? Did he do something illegal and/or morally questionable? She wouldn’t know until he was clear.

Mai put her hand underneath his chin and tilted his head up so he was looking her in the eye. “There is not a single person in this world that doesn’t have problems. The ones who claim to be normal, who claim to have perfect lives, they are the ones I worry about.” She lowered her voice, “For someone who went through what we went through at Hogwarts—you’re doing fine.” That.. Was a hefty experience. She still had nightmares about it, though she didn’t speak of it much.

“You care about the students, you make yourself available. Sometimes, that opens you up to getting hurt. But isn’t seeing them improve and grow worth it in the end?” She hesitated, “Gale, what is it, specifically, that triggered these thoughts? When did they start, or get worse? What is it, that is contributing to your unhappiness?”

If ever there was a woman for him it was Maiko Biladeau-Yukawa, seriously. He'd marry her. She and Jocoba. Gale wasn't truly ready just yet to reply to much of that, but he shook his head about Chaz knowing about the house,

"He didn't until last night. He thought it was just a romantic trip to the country," He laughed a little with it, enjoying her closeness. He knew that she had nightmares, despite how much she tried to hide them because she talked in her sleep sometimes--it was the only way he ever got information out of her half the time, but those first few months at the castle had been hard and sleeping in her bed with her made them much better.

“What doesn’t he know?”

"That I want to leave Hogwarts," Despite having biceps the size of her thighs, Gale felt rather small when she held him like that. Until she started in again with her ever mindful words of always knowing what he needed to hear, Gale had been able to keep it together. Through this whole thing he bit his lips and clenched his jaw, for weeks now until it hurt. He'd kept his emotions in check, but he very much was on the verge of a breakdown; despite how strong he tried to pretend to be.

“You care about the students, you make yourself available. Sometimes, that opens you up to getting hurt. But isn’t seeing them improve and grow worth it in the end?”

"It was. Maiko, it really was. Up until these past few weeks. I see them falling apart, and slipping through my fingers, and I don't know how to fix it." Tears ran down his cheeks, from his good eye crystal and clear, but from his bad crimson and thick.

“Gale, what is it, specifically, that triggered these thoughts? When did they start, or get worse? What is it, that is contributing to your unhappiness?”

"I don't know what happened to them all over Christmas Break, but I don't want them to ever leave again. Sasha worries me to death, Raine came back with so much hatred. Moira is a shell of herself, and all of the Trumbles came back just...A mess. And nothing I am doing is helping, if anything it's getting worse. I'm messing things up more than fixing, but I just can't accept that it's not my place to not doing anything. Am I supposed to just ignore that whatever happened to them over Christmas Break won't happen again in the Spring? And a whole summer?" He bit his lips to try and control his quiet little sobs, whispering most of this so Chaz wouldn't hear.

"I've been writing Rhys, their step-father and I don't know...Maiko, I look back at my own father leaving me and I remember little signs like this. I hurried to buy this house, have been keeping little tabs on them, making sure their clothes fit, shoes, socks, mittens. Em wants to play quidditch next year, so I got him a broom," He motioned to the taller box waiting, "I've had to let the hem on Lucas' pants down at least twice. Zel...He....he just worries me to death going to that place where they put the werewolves, there is an entire barn there where we can build our own little holding." His words were almost hard to understand, but he pushed forward.

"I offered to go with him the last full moon, just to keep him company, and Maiko he about bit my face off. I hadn't expected it. I know that it's to be expected, but not like that." He tried to clean his cheeks, "And I guess he's told his friends because I've become the onslaught of some very serious drama. Raine about took out half the class and myself included, Bran...Alex." With a deep exhale he shook like a leaf,

"I'm getting angry letters from parents, and am waiting for any day for Minerva to just fire me. So....I'm going to just leave. Go back to my job at the Ministry and forget about them, because that's what I'm supposed to do right?" 

He wanted to leave Hogwarts. The thought of him not being there once again put a weight on her chest. She’d miss him terribly. They’d still see each other, but him getting this job was why they became friends in the first place. It’d be hard for her to let that go. Before Mai could comment on that, she just needed to sit back and listen to everything he had to say.

And there was so, so much.

All his words were spilling out. It was difficult to focus on any one thing, and she could see why he was feeling so jumbled  and hurt and conflicted. Such things happened when there were so many factors to consider, so many people put into the equation.

Him caring and watching them grow used to be enough, but now it seemed he was overwhelmed. There were too many negatives, not enough for the positives to be worth it.

“Oh, sweetling.” Maiko murmured, “You don’t need to ignore it, but there is such a thing as pushing people too far. If they trust you, eventually they’ll be ready to share and be open to you. But you can’t expect people to be ready to talk when the wounds are so fresh. Sometimes, all you can do is be available, just in case they need you. Sometimes they will lash out. It happens.” She rubbed his shoulder consolingly, “And they will talk to their friends—often times before talking to an adult. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone who is on their level. It’s not your fault, necessarily.”

She wiped his tears with her apron, “All you can do? Try your best to compose yourself. If they see you get worked up over them, it can make them doubt you as someone strong and reliable to lean on. They might be scared that they’ll push you over the limit. But you still need to be genuine, yet level-headed. Most people can smell insincerity from across the room.” Mai’s heart dropped into her stomach when she heard about the Trumbles. She loved that family, though they were awkward to be around now. 

“The Trumbles—Zel—if he needs you, he’ll approach you. It’s good, that he’s talking to friends. It means he’s talking to somebody. But he’s skittish and shy, it’s easy to push him too far. Even though going to the ministry sounds awful to you, maybe it sounds safe to him. He was bitten by his sister, when she was in a location on the property. Give him space and time to trust you, and he might. But for them, everything is too fresh, and they all deal with wounds in different ways.” She remembered how different they all were—stubborn, kind, unconfident Garrett; volatile, spirited, fun Emeline;  shy, reserved Zel; Prankster detective Lucas and athletic Emeric; artistic Zora.   

“This will blow over eventually. There will always be angry letters and upset students. It’s part of the job.” She sighed, “Another part of the job is making sure they’re in a safe place to learn and grow. It seems, that you’re doing a good job at that, even when there’s only so much you can do.”

"I'm ashamed to admit that I let it get to me. That I let my strength go. God it just hurt so bad. He kept screaming at me that I wasn't their dad, that it wasn't my place. But I've been writing to Rhys now since the break and am getting no answers. At least on the things that matter. Like shoes, Maiko, shoes. But it's not just even the buying the things really, little Lucas, oh," He touched his chest to try and contain his heart as it hurt, "He came to my flat during Christmas break and just broke down. I held him in a coffee shop like a lost child, and ever since he's just followed me around." He sat back a little and took a deep breath,

"Ignan said something to me once while we were in a pub together, in January sometime, and he said,'

"I don't love them though, I'm not there to."[1]

1.	http://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=13749.15

'And I almost wanted to tear his face off right there. Half of it was for show, but there is a good part of me that believes what he said. And now...I understand. How can I even begin to teach them when all I'm doing is worrying about their well being. I'm not there to be their mothers. But I don't know...how am I supposed to just forget how much they are suffering and just give them the cold shoulder?"

“It happens to the best of us, Gale.” Maiko replied, “It seems like he’s afraid that you’re trying to replace him, or replace the spot that their dad is supposed to take. He has fears, too. When people are scared, they snap. When they hurt, they snap. It doesn’t mean that you’re a bad teacher or a bad person for letting it affect you. We may be witches and wizards, but we’re ultimately, only human.”  She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “I think you can love them, and still teach them.”

What Ignan had said, sounded very Ignan.

“But I also think he’s right in a way, for himself. He’s not there to love them. He’s there to teach. For others, they’re there to teach them, and loving comes along with it. Just because his method of living and teaching is different than yours, doesn’t mean that eitehr one is bad or wrong. Just different. And different teaching styles and methods appeal to different students. No one way is perfect for everybody. You can’t expect yourself to be perfect for everybody. That’s too much pressure. That’s the sort of pressure that breaks people.”

“You don’t have to give them the cold shoulder. You don’t have to be warm and inviting. Teach in the way that makes the most sense for you. You were hired for a reason. You’ve stayed a professor for a reason. There are times when we let our emotions get in the way, and that’s especially challenging for you—but we all have things we need to work on.” Mai smiled and opened her eyes. “Just—the ones you want in your life, in your close circle—are the ones who accept you for you, and that means acknowledging your flaws, and your strengths.”

She felt like she was talking too much—but her words were often what he needed to hear.

"I personally, think it's wonderful to keep in mind what a student's pain is-- if they are hurting, it is difficult to focus on academics or stressful things. Simple as that."

Gods, he would be so lost without her. The weight of her head on his shoulder enough to keep his two feet on the ground, and with that he did as much as he could to keep her close. "It's just really hard to find a balance, I feel like a tree in a spring storm. I'm not sure if I need to be warm or cold. Sway this way or that. I can't keep it up. It's so hard to watch them suffer, and not want to do everything in my power to not protect them." With a heavy sigh he touched his cheek to her crown,

"All of this started over a little pair of shoes, our professors go to war for us, and I buy one single little pair of shoes." He wanted to laugh, but when she opened her eyes again he brought his fingers up to brush her cheek.

"I know...but I wonder if I could do more good outside the school. Just...you know stay here and be a devoted lover to my darling upstairs. Keep him warm and fed, have a home ready to foster children. I feel so worn down and tired all the time, even the potions that I have don't keep me up." He laughed lightly,

"I'm getting old."

“Our professors did fight for us. And so did older students, y’know? They fought too.” She had been evacuated along with others who were underage. "But these are different times. We would fight a war for our students now, I have no doubt about it. But short of that, sometimes they need to do things on their own before asking for help. As well intentioned as we are, trying to help when they’re not ready to accept it can be insulting.” She let out a soft sigh.

“You just need… To think about your limits. Trees can only bend so far before breaking. Ultimately, you need to do what’s right for you. You can’t help anyone at your best if you don’t allow yourself to step back and take care of you.”

She too had moment s in her life where she felt out of balance, as Gale had put it, like a tree in a spring storm.  It was all she could do to stay grounded. That didn’tkeep her from getting worn down and tired, much like Gale was. But she supposed that she felt worn down and tired most days, one of the perks of having an autoimmune disease. The potions usually helped enormously—much better than the muggle medicines.

Mai elbowed him playfully at the mention of getting old. “You aren’t old, yet! I'm not going to let you age yourself up!”

"I know, but that is what makes it so hard. I just want to protect them so much. Keep them all safe and sound, happy and fed. The Trumbles... Maiko, I pretty much purchased this place to give them a home should they need it." He ran a hand over his scarf and pulled it from his hair, allowing the long white tresses to fall around his face pathetically,

"But through all of this stress, things are happening to Chaz that shouldn't. Last night I had a nightmare, and woke up with him pinned to the bed. I was screaming at him, he said, trying to break his wrists. It was Arthur I saw in my dream. Do you remember him? Arthur Thorne was his name. Slytherin who tormented everyone. He wouldn't let anyone pick on me though, but god he tormented me." With a great exhale he looked at her and stopped, but he did smile.

"I am too old! I'm thirty! And a few years," He blushed and looked away, "But not you...you will be young forever. We will raise our love children here in this house no?" He took her hand and squeezed it before putting a kiss to her knuckles.