"Please, Toby," Gwen said, softly, her cheeks flaming red. "Please just..  please, sweetheart?"<br/><br/>They were all looking at her, Gwen knew. Staring at her, judging her, determining within minutes that she was an unfit mother. Toby, meanwhile, sat firmly in the car seat with his hands clamped firmly over the safety-belt. He glared at her and then, deliberately, stuck out his tongue. "Toby, we've got to get to school, darling." Toby shook his head, stubbornly, and Gwen felt her patience snap. "Young man, we are getting out of this car right now and we are going! When we are there, you are going into your classroom and that's that!" She didn't yell or shout, it simply wasn't in Gwen's nature and her "telling off" was about as mild as mild could be. Yet, it was still something that Toby was not used to hearing and it bought her a few moments of surprise from her son, which allowed Gwen to quickly get him out of the car.<br/><br/>However, it didn't last long.<br/><br/>"I'M NOT GOING IT STINKS!!" The young boy yelled at the top of his lungs and his mother - an auburn-haired woman with vivid green eyes, blushed even harder than she had already been. She tried to coax him, to cajole him, but he sat, without warning, on the ground and crossed his legs, wrapping them around hers. He was too heavy for her to drag and the spectacle which he was causing was more than enough for her to want the ground to simply open, there and then, and swallow her whole. Gwen was beyond mortified at the noise and the fuss and, as Toby clung on to her and began a chorus of loud, fake sobs, she knew that she was never coming back here. He'd have to have no education, she decided; she'd school him at home, or something.<br/><br/>Anything, other than this.<br/><br/>No one moved to help her, all rather too busy looking horrified. Elijah, from his vantage point of much closer to the school than the woman who was currently in a serious tussle with a young boy much the same age as Rosalie and who was - quite evidently - losing, got to hear some of the muttered comments. None of them kind, all of them judgemental and condescending. Gwen didn't hear them, but frankly even if she had she'd have been forced to agree with the assessment that yes, she was an awful mother, no, Toby had no discipline and yes, it was a shame for him. She'd have told them that, despite what they wished, there was no father at home and yes, he did get away with it everywhere. However, had she been close enough to hear, they wouldn't have been able to hear themselves - so loud were Toby's wails of protest.<br/><br/>Thankfully, a small brigade of teachers came out and, while a whole group of parents whose children were not upset were greeted by a calm and friendly young woman who was happy to show the new parents in to the hallway, bringing them to the cloakroom and showing them their child's coat-hook, there were a few children -- mostly the ones crying -- who got a teacher to themselves, coaxing them in with compassionate efficiency. And then, there was Gwen and Toby. They got two teachers, one of whom spoke to Gwen in a calm, bright, friendly manner, while the other peeled Toby off. It took some doing, it had to be said and, by the time the teacher had persuaded Toby to unstick himself from his mother's leg, the other parents had gone in, and were on their way back out. A whole new raft of faux-sympathetic glances were largely ignored by Gwen and then, as Toby was distracted by a toy helicopter which immediately took his full and complete attention, he held out a hand for the teacher and started to walk with her without so much as a backwards glance. Gwen turned to the second teacher, surprise on her face and the teacher spoke softly. "Best to just let him go. We'll see you at pick up."<br/><br/>Ashamed, humiliated, and more than a little bit angry, Gwen stood and watched, rather dumbstruck. Then, she turned quickly on her heels and moved to run to the car. Tears prickled behind her eyes but she'd be damned if she gave this bunch of judgemental witches anything more to talk about. So, she whirled around and made it one third of half a step forward before she crashed right into the form of a man. She hadn't noticed him going in, but as Gwen literally collided with what she recognised as a tall, rather well built man, she let out a cry of surprise, just as she bounced off him and landed, unceremoniously, sitting on the floor. Looking up at him, she seemed equally likely to burst into tears or shout at him. Instead, she simply sighed.<br/><br/>"Of course," she said, resignedly. "Where else would this morning end? Sitting on my ass in a playground."