"There She Goes"

"There she goes"

Chapter 1. The one with the library meet cute.

Bob Floyd x Teacher! OC

Summary: Lucy's first encounter with the man with beautiful cobalt eyes.

Word count: 2,4 k

Warning: Bad spelling (English is not my first language), fluff, Bob being gentleman, Rooster's menace daughter.

Author's note: Hey everyone! So, this is my first time posting here on Tumblr. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did while writing it. See you in the next chapter.

Masterlist

With Sienna Bradshaw's eighth birthday right around the corner and Bradley getting a call to Top Gun again. The three musketeers would be together for a while. Since her sister’s death, Lucy knew how much it meant for her niece to have a family so she tried to make everything as smooth as possible. Even if that meant moving to a house closer to the base so father and daughter could be together.

People around the town talked about her and Bradley’s relationship. People talked about how difficult must be for a widowed man and his sister-in-law to decide to raise their long-lost older sister. And how inconvenient their family was. But they weren’t alone, Lucy’s family was always there for them and they were thankful for that. Especially Bradley since he came from having no one to have the biggest family that he ever imagined.

Today Bradley was coming back and his daughter wanted to pick him up. And Lucy couldn’t say no to her niece. So early on a Saturday, they had breakfast and got dressed to pick up her annoying best friend from the airport. The day before she and Sienna prepared a list of things to do when her dad came back. Even Lucy’s mom prepared food for them so they didn’t need to worry about cooking that weekend.

“Sienna, honey” Lucy called her nice “Can you fetch me your bag? I need the books we borrowed from the library. We need to return them today before going for your dad at the airport.” She heard Sienna’s footsteps coming down the stairs with the backpack on her hands and messy hair all over her face.

“Oh Bumblebee” Lucy picked her up and sat her in an aisle chair.”What hairstyle would you like today, my princess”

“Two pigtails, please,” Sienna answered enthusiastically. While Lucy did her hair, the blonde girl played with the plane toys her father bought for her. One of those was a mini version of an F-14 jet. “Tia, can we bring Daddy some of the cookies we made yesterday?” Sienna turned to Lucy with pleading eyes.

“Alright” Lucy accepts surrender “But only a few, because your dad loves to eat everything” Sienna laughs at her aunt's joke while Lucy finishes her nice hairstyle "Okay, your hair is finished. Now I want you to put these books inside your bag while I go for mine. Got it, Bee?” Sienna nods and gives Lucy a thumbs up.

When Lucy comes back from her bedroom she finds Sienna waiting at the door with a cookie bag in her hand. She gets on one knee to take the cookies and put them inside Sienna’s bag.

“That’s better” she smiled before standing up “Now let’s get going, Bee.”

The journey to the Library was one of their favorite things to do. They listen to music and sing along, from Disney to Bluey to some Taylor Swift, especially “Love Story”. And Sienna always reminds her, to Lucy’s dismay, to play her dad’s favorite “Great Balls of Fire”.

They arrive at North Island’s library and get out of the car. This was her’s and Sienna’s tradition for every Saturday. Get breakfast and start the day by going to the library. And Lucy loved this more than anything, even if it had been a real challenge helping her best friend and his child. She enjoyed being able to take part in the life of someone like Sienna. This little girl had saved her life in more ways than she could have imagined, and she would do anything to keep her safe from this big world.

Inside the library, they’re greeted by Nora the librarian. Nora has known Lucy since she and her family moved to Miramar. She knew almost everything about her and was one of the few who knew Sienna’s mom's real story. “Hi, girls. Finish your books already?” Nora asks cheerfully

“Yes! My favorite was the one with the secret Garden” Sienna answered happily. “I've finished it and another book all by myself.” Nora made an amused sound about the news and gave her a high five.

“Yep, so we are going to take it again with us so Bradley can listen to her reading,” Lucia says while putting the books in the return cart and giving Nora the “Secret Garden” book “Can you check it again for us?” Lucy ask Nora, who answered with a nod “We’re going to look for our weekly batch”

Sienna decided to go to the kid’s section while Lucy went to the classic section straight to where Jane Austen’s books can be found. Right on the top of the shelf, she found the one she was looking for. It was an old version of Pride and Prejudice that Lucy has read since she was a teenager. When she went to take it, another hand interrupted her way. Turning to see the person that didn’t let her take the book. She’s greeted by a pair of blue and shy eyes behind some Birth control glasses, a shy smile, and the most handsome man she ever met.

“I believe this is the one you were going for. Right?” The blonde haired man asks quietly before he starts to ramble “I just, I saw you were trying to grab it but you couldn't make it to the top. So I thought it was a good idea to help you. '' he looked at her eyes ``Please don’t think I’m a freak” he finished while handing her the book.

Lucy was so endeared by his shy manner of him that she just started laughing “I never thought that” she takes the book from his hands shyly “And yes, this was the one I was going for”

“ It’s a great book,” He says quickly, hoping to not scare her off. He had never seen such beauty in his life. And the smile she gave him after he said that, he felt like he was going to faint “I read it when I was in college. Jane Austen is an awesome author. She knew how to tell a story and make her characters grow.”

“I know, right? It’s one of my favorites” she said enthusiastically. The man in front of her smiled and opened his mouth to speak before being interrupted by a small “Tia” coming from behind her.

Lucy turned around and Sienna was looking at her with a smile on her face and arms full of books “ Bee, darling. Why do you have so many books?” Lucy asked while kneeling on her level. “You know we only take three or four per week” When she finished the sentence she heard a small whining coming from the child.

“Fine,” Sienna said with a pound “I’m going to take back the ones I don’t want to read right now” She places the books on the floor and takes three of them to hand them to Lucy “I’ll be back in a minute” she used her serious voice like she was on a mission. The one she always uses to hide her deception.

Lucy smiled with fondness at her niece before remembering there was a handsome stranger behind her. She quickly stood up.

“My niece is a little bookworm just like me” she chuckled feeling embarrassed.

“I don’t think there is something wrong with that.” He smiled at her and realized he’s been staring at her too much. “I mean, I’m one too if you haven't figured it out. Pretty sure the glasses give me away" A little laugh escaped from his lips.

"That, and your choice of books." Lucy raises the one in her hands and looks at the other in his hand. One with Miramar's history and another of the Treasure Island "Or maybe, it's your way to get a date." she jokes, gaining a chuckle from the man.

"Oh no, ma’am. I ain't that type of guy." The sudden southern accent from him caught Lucy by surprise. Before she could ask him for what reason he was there, Sienna came back. The little girl had her round cheeks flushed as if she had just run a marathon.

"Tia, I'm ready. Can we go now?" She asked to take her hand to try to move Lucy with her.

“Hold on one minute, little missy” Lucy stopped Sienna and kneel before her “Your father will be here in 2 hours. What's with the rush?” When her niece was about to answer, a little voice spoke, startling them.

“Excuse me,” The adults present look at the child who is just talking. A red-haired boy with glasses twice the size of his head. Lucy recognized the kid, he was in the other first-grade class, with Ms. Peterson and a teammate of Sienna’s soccer team. ”I think you forgot your bag, Sienna.” The mentioned girl hid behind her aunt and stared at her like asking for help.

“Thank you, darling.” Lucy replied to her niece while taking the bag “You’re in Ms. Peterson's class, right?”

“Yes!” He replied quickly before taking a look at Lucy to open his eyes like he just recognized her.“You're Ms. Orozco, right? I’m Marcus O’Malley. My little brother goes to your classroom.” he genuinely smiled, happy to share that information.

“That's right, I´m Georgie’s teacher.” Lucy smiled at the kid and stood up to extend her hand to him “It's a pleasure meeting you, Marcus.” The little kid shook her hand excitedly when an older woman called after him.

The kid got called by his parents, who, when they saw Lucy they greeted her with a wave

“I need to go,” the boy said when he saw his parents. Then he turned towards the girl“ Would you like to play with me tomorrow? ” he asked and Sienna just answered with a nod. “Great! See you tomorrow at school, Siena. You too, Ms, Orozco” Marcus turned and said goodbye quickly and left.

Lucia was in shock, her niece was shy and red as a tomato. Before she could say anything to the girl, the man decided to talk. Remembering Lucy of his presence.

“So, you’re a teacher? That's… That´s a beautiful profession.” the blond man says when she turns to face him. Darcy just smiled at him embarrassed, without knowing what to say.

“She’s one of the best teachers in Miramar’s elementary school” Sienna interrupted cheerfully, gaining the man's attention.

This gave Lucy a wake-up call. She realized that her niece just gave personal information to a total stranger. And that they really shouldn’t be doing this, especially her. She is the grown-up in charge of her niece. A pretty face it’s not worth their security.

Immediately, Lucy turns to her niece and asks her to give her books to Nora so they can go and hand her library card. When she gets her attention back to the man in front of her. Lucy’s heart almost melted when she saw the soft look he was giving her. But she shook it off since he was a stranger and her niece always came first.

“I love to keep chatting. But we need to go,” she said with an apologetic smile “We have to finish some stuff.” Lucy lets out an awkward chuckle, hoping the man in front of her doesn’t realize what she’s trying to do.

“It’s okay, ma’am. I won’t entertain you any longer, sorry” he smiled genuinely at her before making her a sign to wait for a second. He quickly took one of the books in his hand and extended for Lucy to take it “A little recommendation from bookworm to bookworm” Lucy took it carefully like it was made of crystal.

“I’ll give it a try” Lucy replied softly “Thank you, library savior.” She smiled one last time and turned to where her niece had gone. Walking she sent a last glance at where the handsome man was. He was still but just moving backward until he was stopped by the bookshelf making him almost drop his books and turn red ashamed. Lucy let out a little giggle and kept going. With a copy of The Treasure Island in her hands, even if she already had read it.

Walking out of the building to their car, Lucy turned at her niece and smiled mischievously.

"So… Marcus, huh?" Lucy starts the conversation.” He seems nice.”

"So… the man in the library, huh?" Sienna counterattacks, shocking her aunt.”Anything you wanna share?”

"Don’t try to avoid the question with another question” Lucy replied, opening the back door and helping her niece to get in the car seat.

“I’m just stating the facts,” Sienna said while hopping in.

Lucy laughed, definitely Sienna was Miel's daughter. Too smart for her good. She secured Sienna's seat belt, closed the door, walked to the other side of the car, and opened the driver's door.

“You know, for an 8-year-old you have a lot of opinions” Lucy mumbled, sitting and putting on her seat belt.

“I know, my teacher says I’m too advanced for my age” Sienna replied with a smirk.

“Kinda feel sorry for her” Lucy shook her head, turning her Jeep on.

“Don’t be, I hear her talking behind your back” Sienna declared while checking her new books.

“What?” Lucy snapped looking at her niece. Thank God they were still in the parking lot.

“Yep, she wants your parking spot. So she tried to spread some rumors.” Sienna replied uninterestedly, "That woman needs to remember that children understand more than she thinks.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Lucy asked.

“Because Principal Cho shut her up,” she explained, since the situation had been cleared it wasn't important anymore. Then she added “And I put a bag of spoiled eggs inside her car”

“It was you? How did you do it?" Lucy questioned her, her head started to feel heavy, too much information for one library ride.

“A magician never shares her secrets," Sienna replied witty. "And I don’t like people that talk about my family.” This girl was without a doubt her family. She needed to reduce Sienna’s time with her family.

“Well, thank you," Lucy responded ironically. "That wasn't good, but I appreciated the intention. Just don’t do it again. Next time you tell me, okay?” She gave her niece one warning look making Sienna nod

“Okay,” Sienna replied not truly convinced.

"Great. Let's go for an ice cream before your dad gets here"

Sienna let out a cheerful "Yes!" In response. And just like that Sienna evaded the whole awkward situation for her and her aunt. Meanwhile, Lucy leaves behind her thoughts about the blue-eyed beauty she meets at the library.

Literal Origins of Friedrich and Jo and Laurie and Amy

When people study Louisa May Alcott´s life, were they then hobbyist or scholars people choose an area that they are interested and one of the areas that I study is the literature that Louisa May Alcott liked to read and how these certain storylines from these books can be found from Little Women and when I started that research, I quite soon came to the conclusion that Louisa May Alcott planned both Jo´s and Friedrich´s marriage and Amy´s and Laurie´s marriage years before she wrote Little Women. They can all be found from books that she read as a young person. Jo and Friedrich type of relationship can be found from Susan Warner´s Wide Wide World. This book appeared when Louisa was about 18 and if we believe her journals, around that time she fell in love to her friend Henry David Thoreau, and in Susan Warners book there is a spirited young woman who falls in love to her older male friend who also is a philosopher. When people complain that “Little Women is sentimental”. I´d recommend to read Wide Wide World, it´s 100 times more sentimental than Little Women. Another Jo and Friedrich story would be the story of Eliza and Charles Follen and that was a book that Louisa read at the age of 12. The real life story of an American female writer who falls in love to a German immigrant. The connection there is so obvious no one can argue with that.

Laurie´s story can be traced to Louisa´s favorite book Goethe´s “Wilhelm Meister´s Apprenticeship”. Wilhelm is very similar to Laurie. He wants to run away and become an actor, but his father wants him to take on the family business. Laurie wants to run away and become a musician, but his grandfather wants him to take on the family business. Wilhelm starts out having an affair with Mariana and then moves on to Natalia. There is a scene in Wilhelm Meister, where Natalia and Wilhelm are in the garden and he confesses his love to her and the teen age Louisa May Alcott has penned there the word “beautiful”. So when people say that “Oh Louisa didn´t want marry Jo to Laurie, so she just married him to Amy without any reason” I digress. I think the only way that Jo would have ended up with Laurie is if Louisa May Alcott would have married Laddie Wisniewski and that never happened. She considered it but rightfully turned him down. Then Friedrich is based on her first love, Henry. One of the themes in Wilhelm Meister is the idea that the male character grows as an individual when he moves on from Mariana to Natalia, because the next relationship is the one that brings peace to him. In the chapter where Laurie is trying to compose an opera he is indecisive, and his moods change from 1 to 100 very fast. Jo in the book, also had mood changes when she was younger but she unlike Laurie, learned to control her temper and when Laurie starts to harass Jo, and they are in their early 20s at that point, Marmee says that she doesn´t think that Jo and Laurie are a good match because they are so similar and that´s when Jo travels to New York. Laurie is harassing her and she doesn´t want to be around. For some unexplained reason in Little Women films between 1933 and 2019 Jo goes to New York after Laurie has proposed her, but in the book proposal happens when Jo has returned and she has started to fall for Friedrich and even defends him when Laurie proposes and he is badmouthing Friedrich. That´s not in any Little Women movie, and what I´v heard from Jo and Laurie shippers who only watch the films, they expect Jo to come back and say yes to him, but that was not the reason she went to New York in the first place. Laurie made her feel uncomfortable. He is very demanding in the book when he proposes. Very aggressive, so it´s very different to 1994 and 2019 films or the 2017 series. My favorite is the 1933 film where Laurie is very demanding when he proposes and that is a lot closer to the novel. Laurie is not a bad person in the novel, it just goes to show that he had very different relationship with Jo than with Amy. He and Jo make pranks, they were more like brothers, but Jo also had very maternal relationship to him, and few listeners have told me that they´v had experiences of dating somebody and being in this group of boys and where women wanted to be part of the guys, so to speak, and because there was some misogyny among those boys and even the girls in those groups, these women they tried to hide their feminine side and made fun other girls. This has not happened to me, but couple listeners told about these experiences and how they would relate to Jo, that she wanted to leave that environment, and actually explore her femininity a bit more. There are scenes in the book where both Jo and Laurie make fun of girls who try to flirt with him, but Jo starts to question that behavior. This reminded me of something what one of my friends said. She had been on the town and she saw her ex with his new girlfriend, and the way her ex looked his new girlfriend, my friend said that, she had never seen him so happy, and he never was that happy with her. That pretty much sums up how Jo and Laurie can´t give each other what they need. Jo wants an intellectual connection and somebody who she is very attracted to and who helps her to become a better writer and wants a big family. Laurie at first wants Jo, so that he doesn´t need to grow, so that he can stay the same, but what he really needs is somebody who admires him, but also tells him when he is not being the best version of himself. I think a lot of people could actually benefit for seeing Laurie´s growth process. How he does manage to change and a lot of that is thanks to Amy. How many have been in bad relationships and then found another relationship where not only they feel good about the other person, but themselves as well. This is really the missed message in Little Women. Greta Gerwig even said that she wanted to portray Little Women as away to dismiss romantic love and marriage. First of all Gerwig herself is married, and  second; that doesn´t at all align with Louisa May Alcott´s views on marriage when she writes that marriage should be taken very seriously and that.

“tempers and minds should go together in harmony”

It is such a terrible misreading of the novel that the 2019 film didn´t show Laurie doing any work for Amy and it just seemed that he moved on from Jo to Amy, without any reason and there wasn´t any personal growth and then showing Jo and Friedrich arguing when in the novel Jo and Friedrich don´t argue (it is Jo and Laurie who argue, but that was erased from the 2019 movie). The narrator mentions that he has the ability to calm her unlike Laurie who makes Jo feel very agitated. There is also a scene where Jo says to Laurie, and I´m paraphrasing now “Amy is so good for you. We always argue.

Another book with Amy and Laurie storyline is Mary Yonge´s the "Heir of Redcliffe” and this book appeared when Louisa May Alcott was 21. It tells about a rich young man called Sir Guy Morville and he falls in love with his cousin who´s name is Amy Edmonstone. Yes, the girl´s name is Amy. The connections between Laurie and Guy are very obvious, they are both orphans who live with their grandfather. Guy is a very indecisive young man and Amy of the story helps him to find the path he wants to take. Maybe someday I will make an episode where I compare Guy and Amy to Laurie and Amy but I think that is a lot of evidence that shows that Louisa May Alcott very likely planned these marriages already when she was writing part 1, perhaps even earlier since she had read some of these stories since childhood. There is a reference to the Wide Wide World in part 1 of Little Women. It is mentioned that Jo is reading and crying over the wide wide world in the apple tree. So we have 15 year old Jo, reading a story that has Jo and Friedrich type of couple in it. In the chapter “Lawrence boy” Jo has been reading the “Heir of Redcliffe”, which has the Amy and Laurie type of love story. If you don´t believe me, read Little Women. It´s all there.

Eepy bats for all your needs

Bob Snr. + Bob Jr.

Bill Pullman as Major Bob Hinson in A League Of Their Own (1992)

Lewis Pullman as Lt. Bob Floyd in Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Little Women 2019 ending making mockery of Jo and Friedrich

There is a whole chapter in little women 2019 film guide where Gerwig said she wanted to make the umbrella scene overly romantic in order to make mockery of the novel. 

That is why millions of people buy her fake narration of the story that Jo should have been single or be with Laurie.

I personally find it incredibly unethical, combine that with her racist quotes on Friedrich´s nationality and even here in Finland we got newspaper headlines that Greta Gerwig shows how marriages in Little Women are a joke (you´ll find internet filled with these headlines, 2019 film was heavily promoted with them). 

As everyone should know, Friedrich is based on Alcott´s first love philosopher Henry David Thoreau and Laurie her ex, Ladislas Wisniewski. 

In her journals Louisa writes about her belief of reuniting with her loved one in the afterlife. Henry had a habit to carry an umbrella. In the novel, Friedrich tells Jo that he is going to the west. In one of the Alcott studies “West” was presented as a metaphor, as a time and place that divides Louisa of her loved one, and only can they reunite again in death.

For example in Moods, the first LMA novel, Henry and Louisa metaphorically re-unite again when Sylvia and Adam die together. In “Work” LMA´s last novel, they re-unite once again once Christie and David marry, and he passes  away in the war (and she subsequently believes they shall meet again in the afterlife). Louisa May Alcott believed in re-carnation and that we live multiple lives. In her journals and letters she writes about receiving her “award” in the next life (love and children). 

It´s pretty harrowing stuff but also shows how lonely Louisa was, and that is not something to make fun of. 

……………

Quotes on Louisa´s loneliness, desire to marry/find love and re.carnation can be found from Caroline Ticknor´s biography of May Alcott and Collected letters between Louisa May Alcott and Maggie Lukens. They also include markings from her diaries. 

Husband!Bob thoughts! He would take every opportunity to call you his wife. I mean every opportunity. At this point if someone new walks into the bar and asked about you at least five people would respond with “that’s Bobs wife”

omg yesss!!!

you’re not in the navy like he is, you’re just a mechanic for their jets but to the dagger squad you’re a backseater.

you’re integral in their little squad regardless of being a mechanic.

bob’s already at the hard deck with the rest of the team while you’re adding some tweaks to the engines after receiving the analytics.

phoenix had texted and said that he hadn’t started drinking yet, but he was going round telling people, ‘my wife is coming soon.’

since your wedding he’d done this. introducing you as ‘his wife’ to any and everybody- strangers included.

you could just imagine his pink flushed cheeks as he sits across the pool table and talks the younger aviators’ ear off about you.

‘i’ll be there in ten.’ you text back and start packing away your tools and closing back up the jets.

when you reach the door, you realize the top of your overalls are grimy and sigh, tugging down the zip and pulling out your arms and letting the top hang.

you smile at hangman who’s at the bar and watch as his eyes twinkle menacingly.

“aye, who’s that?” he calls loudly, your husband’s head whipping to the side cutting off fanboy.

“my wife!” he practically screams and jogs up to you, wrapping his arms around your waist.

“hi robby,” you whisper, kissing his lips and tasting the slight sweetness to the bourbon he just grabbed.

“hi darlin’,” you fix his glasses as he pulls back. “been telling mickey about you.” bob admits shyly and you laugh.

“yeah? he letting you talk his ear off?” bob nods despite the teasing in your voice.

“he doesn’t mind!”