Disclaimer: All I own here is the concept. Disney owns the rest.

A/N: Takes place sometime between "Strange Relations" and "House of Cards"

What am I doing here? Cassidy thought to herself as she stopped her car just in front of her friend's home after ten that night.

She'd had another in a recent long line of fights with her parents. But why this one had brought her here, she couldn't entirely know. Getting into her car, she hadn't been sure where she would end up. Part of her thought she might go to Kira, but there was someone else she felt the need to see.

With that in her mind, she took a deep breath and made her way to the front door. She knocked and felt her heart leap at the sound of movement on the other side.

"Cassidy," Anton greeted with a smile. "What are you doing here so late?"

"Can I come in?" she asked, keeping her voice low so as to keep him from hearing her sadness.

"Of course," he answered as he stepped aside for her to go inside. "If you're here to see Trent though he's still at work, but he should be home soon."

"Actually, I came to see you. Unless you were on your way to bed and then I could -"

"It's alright. You seem like you need to talk, so why don't you come in?" he asked as he motioned further into his spacious living room.

She gave a thankful smile as she moved to take a seat on his black leather sofa. "How can parents have such different parenting views?" she asked suddenly as she watched him walk over to her.

"Alright," he sighed while he tried to form his response as her question had caught him off guard. Taking a seat beside her, he finally said, "Every parent has a different view of what they want for their child and therefore go about having their children reach those goals in different ways."

"I just don't get it. I thought my parents would be glad to finally have me out of the house, but now more than ever it's like they never want me to leave," she practically blurted out.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying," he told her cautiously.

"It's like they want to keep tabs on me constantly. I've told them time and time again that I'm at the age now where I should be on my own or at least be getting ready to be on my own. Yet when I bring up moving even just out of this town I end up having a huge fight with them."

He had an idea then as to why she had come to him with this. She was wanting advice on how to deal with her parents from another parent. It could have been worse, the well dressed man thought to himself. "It's possible, I suppose, that they don't feel they can trust you being out of their reach like that."

"But that's just it, I've never given them a reason not to trust me. Not that I know of at least and if I have they're not telling me what. So right there it's like they don't even want to give me a chance to make up for it, assuming I could as far as they're concerned."

While he hated making assumptions, he knew what the likelihood seemed to be and knew Cassidy needed to hear it. "It's most likely from a sense that they feel they didn't raise you the way they saw fit. Or that they have, yet perhaps you didn't respond the way they had hoped and they're trying to overcompensate for that now. Though what they don't seem to realize is that by trying to hold on this tightly they're only pushing you further away."

"Exactly. It just doesn't make sense to me how you can be so ready and willing for Trent to be an adult and yet my parents seem to want me to be, like, five forever. I'm eighteen, most of the friends I have are already on their own or soon will be. Yet Mom and Dad don't even want me moving into a dorm, much less my own apartment unless it's practically close enough for them to walk to."

"I suppose that explains your many activities in school," he replied with a slight smile. He may have been her substitute teacher, but he was well aware, as they all were, of her news anchoring position as well as her cheerleading and prom committee duties.

Anton knew if what she was saying was accurate and she was practically only allowed to be away from home because of school-related hobbies then it was no wonder she had so many and another reason why she had come to him, her former teacher, tonight.

If she had been in a better mood, she would have laughed. He was exactly right and could see that he knew it. Instead she only smiled to him, feeling herself beginning to finally relax.

"Do your parents know you're here?" he asked, the thought finally dawning on him that if they didn't they were sure to be going out of their minds with worry and he knew it would be up to him to put them at ease. Though he had to admit, currently they were the last people he wanted to speak to.

The petite, blue clad blonde only shook her head. "I just got in my car and started driving. I didn't even know where to until I drove by here and saw your lights were still on. Honestly, I'd kind of hoped Trent wouldn't be here because I really wanted to have this conversation with you alone."

He nodded, understanding how she felt. "You know you will have to face them again eventually."

"I know," she replied sadly. "I'm just not ready yet. I don't know why, but I feel safe here. Maybe it's because you get it or maybe because – I don't know." She knew she had to stop herself before she said the words. But still they were in her mind. She didn't just feel safe with him; with him she felt she could truly be herself, even if she slightly secretly deeply cared for him and was undeniably attracted to him.

"Well I suppose it's something that you knew you could come to me with this instead of going to Dr. Oliver. Or do I have his lights being off to thank for this visit?" Anton asked with a slight smile. While he almost hated to admit it, he sometimes liked being the type of teacher or at least parent that his students could trust to come to with their problems.

She laughed. "No. I know most of the others consider him really easy to talk to and everything, but I don't know, I guess I just prefer to talk to you. Especially since in this case, while he might understand it, he wouldn't be able to see it like you do."

"What else do they say to you? Just that you're not allowed to leave or is there more to it?" He liked that she felt he understood, but he hoped to be able to understand better, hoping to help her as much as he could.

"Mom keeps making remarks like: 'You'll get to find out soon enough how lonely it is on your own' and 'I hope you enjoy how empty your own place will feel' and Dad keeps saying that no one will ever support me like they do. In any sense and they both admit that if it were up to them I wouldn't ever leave. I get that they want me to stay close, but I don't still want to be there when I'm thirty or older."

"I see," he sighed. He knew he wanted to do whatever he could to help her, almost a want to rescue her beginning to emerge though he knew it wasn't his place. "How do you respond when they say things like that?"

"I don't. My silence is the only way to keep our fights from becoming an all out war. That's part of the reason I came here tonight. Just to get away from that for a while. I know running away doesn't solve anything, but for an hour at least, I needed it."

"Well, you didn't exactly run away from your problems. You just needed to get away from the source temporarily to face them in a new light."

"But that still doesn't entirely help me right now. What am I supposed to do when I get back home? Everything's still going to be the same."

He was quiet for a moment as he thought of what to tell her. It was obvious to him the Cornell's only wanted what they saw as best for Cassidy despite it not in truth being what would be best for her. He also knew that she had told him this in confidence and he would be overstepping his bounds if he went to her parents with it. "Is there anyone they trust you to go out with?"

"Devin, mostly, but it's not like they'd let me move in with him."

"What about someone like Kira?"

"She's going to NYU. I'm going to Reefside U. UCLA wasn't even really an option. 'Too big, too many things could happen,' the usual," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

He couldn't believe he was suggesting this, but it seemed necessary, "What would happen if you signed up for housing at Reefside University without their knowledge?"

"They'd probably never speak to me again. Or cut me off completely, wanting me to have a real sense of what it's like to be on my own as payback."

"Well now you have me wondering something."

"What's that?"

"How is it possible that you managed to come from them? From what you've said tonight they seem, and I apologize for how callous this will sound but, they seem so cruel. Almost heartless and yet you are anything but."

A smile emerged from Cassidy at that. She couldn't understand it herself, but she liked that he felt the same. "You don't have to apologize to me for that. It's true, they have been cruel, emotionally at least, that that for a while now. I just don't know what to do."

"When it comes time for you to put in the paperwork with the housing office at the university, don't think twice, simply do it. Unless you feel you truly need their support in some way and fear for that being taken away. I know this isn't an easy choice, but it seems this is how they want it. If it came down to all or nothing, which would you choose?"

"I've always hated disappointing my parents and I've never wanted them to hate me. But now, you're right, it's like I don't have a choice. Already this is too broken to be fixed, there's no point in pretending anymore. I'm just glad I have my anchoring job, even though it's just a trial thing, at least I know I can get something bigger and better afterwards."

Anton smiled. She was a little happier now, he could tell and he was thankful he had been able to help her. But at the same time he knew this new beginning wouldn't be easy for her, yet he knew knowing she at least had him on her side could make a big difference in her seeing it through.

Glancing to the clock, Cassidy realized how late it was getting and knew if she didn't get home soon she would have to answer as to why and saying she had been with her former teacher wasn't something she wanted to do. Standing, she told him, "Thanks for helping me like this, Dr. Mercer."

"I'm not your teacher anymore, Cassidy, you can call me Anton. But you're welcome," he told her with a soft smile as he followed her lead and began to walk her to the door. "I'm just glad I was able to help."

"You've helped more than you know," she replied with her own smile as she saw him open the door for her. "Thanks for being a friend, Anton," she added as she began to step out, both of them taking a moment to enjoy how it felt to hear her say his name for the first time.

He nodded. "Anytime, Cassidy, I'm just thankful that you know you can come to me if and when you need anything."

That she most certainly did. She knew the others had Dr. Oliver to go to, but she was thankful she had Anton mostly to herself in this respect. Aside from Trent at least, but he was his son. She didn't know if any other student considered him a more sympathetic ear than Dr. Oliver. But she did.

As she lay awake in bed that night she realized she was now slightly indebted to her former teacher. That should a night come when he needed to talk to her for any reason she would have to be there for him, a notion that only made her smile.

FIN