Chapter Text
Riker could NOT FOCUS on virtual school. It was bad enough that his first day at Degrassi had to be over the computer in the middle of a deadly pandemic, but the very least his parents could do was try to get along -- or at least try fighting QUIETLY, especially in the morning. That morning, while he sat at the desk in the hotel room wearing his headphones hooked into his Chromebook, trying to get orientated in his virtual homeroom (which thankfully had his best friend, DJ, from coding camp), all he could hear in the background was his mom yelling at his dad for taking too long in the shower, then his dad yelling back at his mom about taking too long to blow-dry her bangs, and then a bunch of targeted insults, like "Well some of us have jobs to do!" "Well no need to rub it in my face that my job might be taken away from me!"
Eventually, Riker's mom Emma stormed out of the room and down to the hotel lobby, leaving Riker stuck with his dad, Spinner.
They were still stuck in the hotel room in Desplaines, about an hour drive from Milwaukee, while Spinner tried to figure out more permanent living arrangements. Spinner knew he and his ex-wife couldn't cohabitate for any longer than necessary, but he also didn't want to put down a deposit on an apartment lease, not knowing how long they'd have to wait until they could get back to Canada, where he already had his own apartment in Toronto. He also didn't know when he'd be able to get back to his job with the Toronto Police, or if they'd even still have his position for him when he came back. He flopped down on his back on the hotel bed, trying not to let Riker see the crease in his forehead indicating all the stress he was feeling.
Meanwhile, Emma was downstairs in the hotel lobby's business center, managing a million tasks at once on one of their computers. Spinner was mildly jealous that Emma could work remotely right now, but he was also glad he didn't have so much work to do during a high period of stress. He stared at his son from the bed, watching him sit at the hotel desk, headphones on, occasionally talking to his new classmates through the video call on the screen. The setup briefly brought him back to his own days at Degrassi High, back when he was in Mr. Simpson's Media Immersion class. It was weird to think of Mr. Simpson as Snake -- or as his former father-in-law. Back when Spinner was a teenage trouble maker, he'd never guessed that his teacher -- who would later be the principal, and later be the superintendent -- would also become his father in law, and then his EX father in law. Life was weird like that sometimes, wasn't it?
Spinner was staring at the cracks in the ceiling, pondering how weird life could be, when suddenly his ex-wife burst through the door of their hotel room to prove him right. At first, Spinner recoiled, scared that they were about to break into another fight in front of their son, when instead ... he saw her smiling.
"Some good news?" he asked.
She nodded and motioned for him to come toward her. He glanced over at Riker, who was still plugged in to his virtual class, seemingly in some kind of class discussion. He nodded at Emma, not wanting to disturb his son again with a potentially volatile discussion. He met her out in the hotel's hallway.
"What is it?" Deep down, Spinner held onto hope that she'd heard something about a way for them to get back to Canada. Though he'd seen no news about progress toward the border opening during the many hours he spent scrolling through his phone earlier today, so that probably wasn't it.
"I've been organizing our virtual reunion, and do you know who I realized is living right nearby in Milwaukee?"
"Who?"
"Jane and Holly J!"
Spinner stood there for a moment, stunned. His ex-girlfriend, Jane, almost his fiance, who had cheated on him... with the boyfriend of Holly J, his co-worker. It all seemed so long ago at this point -- and it WAS. It was over a decade ago -- Emma was even planning the 10-year reunion for Jane's class at Degrassi. Spinner hadn't talked to Jane in those past 10 years -- and not a day had gone by that he didn't regret it.
When Spinner learned Jane was cheating on him 10 years ago, back when he was barely 21 years old, he'd instantly broken up with her, despite the fact that he'd been planning to propose. Jane pleaded with him to reconsider; she had ended the affair months ago, and it was a two-week long mistake. But Spinner, young, stubborn, and slighted, dumped her and cut contact. He then went on a drunk trip to a casino in Niagara Falls with Emma, where they had a blackout Vegas-style wedding that neither of them remembered. That was also the night that they conceived Riker. They were divorced less than a year later, shortly after Riker was born.
Spinner remembered one day when Riker was two years old and he took him to the park, one of his outings as a single dad with 50/50 custody. He sat on a bench, watching his son play in the sandbox with a few other kids, and saw a bunch of kids with their parents passing them by, kids holding both their mom and their dad's hands. One young mom wore thick eyeliner; she had eyebrow piercings and dressed in a slightly toned-down punk. So much of her reminded him of Jane, and he found himself suddenly wondered what life would've been like if Jane was his co-parent; or better yet, his wife. What if he had forgiven her for her mistake? What if SHE was Riker's mom? What if they had a family, like the little boy holding his ex-punk mom and beefy-looking dad's hands at the same time just a few yards away from him? Since then, not a day had gone by that he didn't think of Jane and at least wonder "what if?"
It wasn't a constant wondering. It was usually once or twice a day that she briefly crossed his mind, like a flash of sunlight that briefly blinded him and left a moment later. But other days she kept him up at night, as much as he hated to admit it. They'd lost contact after he'd stormed away from her at that graduation party back in 2010. And now she was here. In Milwaukee. With... Holly J?
"That's... amazing," Spinner said.
Emma rested a hand on his shoulder. "Spinner, I know that things have been rough between us. But I want you to be happy. So... do you want to come to the reunion?"
"It's not my 10-year reunion, though," Spinner said. "I graduated 11 years ago."
"It's fine. I'm organizing it, and you can come as my date. Unofficially of course -- I want you and Jane to get to reconnect."
Spinner smiled; 2020 was weird so far for sure, but at least his ex-wife could be all right sometimes.