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Hope you enjoy!

What Lay Ahead (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

Steve pulled up outside the Allens' house to pick up Cody for dinner. Surprised that the teen wasn't waiting outside for him, he decided to go in rather than send a text.

The front door was flung open by an enthusiastic Jacob before Steve had even reached the step.

"Uncle Steve!" he cried. "Don't worry, I saw you get out of your truck. That's why I opened the door. I knew you weren't a stranger."

"That's good, Jacob," Steve said, accepting a hug. "Always make sure before you open the door."

"Yep! Cody's in his room. But guess what, Uncle Steve?" Jacob asked, barely able to contain his excitement.

"What?"

"Ms. Timmons, at my school, she printed out a whole list of baby jokes for me! You know, 'cause Aunt Catherine's gonna have a baby."

Steve chuckled. "You don't say."

"You wanna hear 'em?" Jacob asked, oblivious to the teasing in Steve's comment.

"You bet."

Jacob broke into a huge smile. "I'll go get 'em!" He ran up the stairs yelling, "Dylan! Dylan! Where's my baby jokes?"

Jenna came out of the kitchen drying her hands on a dish towel. "Hi, Steve. How are you?"

"Good, thanks. You?"

"Pretty good."

"Where are the girls tonight?"

"They're down the street, having dinner at their friends' house."

Steve nodded. "Nice."

"When do you leave for L.A.?" Jenna asked.

"Catherine and I head out on Sunday. The surgery's Monday."

"Please tell Deb we're all thinking of her."

"I will. She'll appreciate that."

"The kids are working on a card."

Steve smiled. "She'll appreciate that even more."

"I got 'em, Uncle Steve!" Jacob cried as he came back down the stairs, Dylan behind him.

"Hey, Dylan," Steve greeted him. "Did you get that circuit thing you were working on figured out?"

Dylan's face lit up. "Yeah, Uncle Chin helped me. I needed a different resistor in the breadboard," he explained excitedly. "All the lights are working now."

"Awesome." Steve held out his fist for a congratulatory bump.

"Uncle Steve! Are you ready for the jokes?" Jacob asked.

"Yep, go," Steve said.

"How can you tell if a snake is a baby snake?" With a barely a pause, he continued, "It has a rattle! BWAH! Get it? Like a rattlesnake?"

Steve grinned. "I get it."

"You gotta let him guess," Dylan said.

"Oh yeah," Jacob said. "Sorry, Uncle Steve."

Steve smiled and nodded at the paper. "What else you got?"

Jacob looked back down and read. "How do you get a baby astronaut to sleep?" He glanced up and waited for Steve to guess the answer.

"Hmm …" He winked at Dylan as Jacob bounced excitedly, nearly bursting to reveal the punchline. "I give up. How?"

"You rock-et! Get it? Rock it?"

Steve grinned. "That's a good one, buddy."

"You wanna hear another one?"

"Uncle Steve and Cody have to get going, honey," Jenna said, running a hand over his head. She looked back down the hall toward Cody's bedroom. "Cody!"

"Just one more?" Jacob asked, looking up at Steve pleadingly.

Steve smiled. "One more."

Jacob grinned happily. "This is the best one. Wait'll you hear the answer."

"Punchline," Dylan corrected.

"Punchline." Jacob straightened and began, "Knock Knock."

Steve quirked an eyebrow, but dutifully replied, "Who's there?"

"Baby Owl."

"Baby Owl who?"

"Baby Owl I'll see you later, baby I won't." He didn't even wait for Steve to react before doubling over with laughter. "Bwahahahaha!"

Steve laughed at his exuberance. As Jacob continued to guffaw, repeating, "Baby owl! Get it?" Steve looked toward Cody's bedroom door, which was still closed, and frowned slightly, surprised he hadn't emerged yet.

Jenna followed his gaze. "He was on his computer earlier. He's been stressed about his UH application."

"Really?" Steve asked. "I thought he finished that."

"Me, too."

Steve's eyes returned to the bedroom door and he nodded slowly. "I'll go talk to him."

"Thank you," Jenna said gratefully. She looked at Dylan and Jacob. "Come on, guys, let's get ready to eat." She led them toward the kitchen, glancing back at Steve as he walked toward Cody's bedroom.

He reached the door and knocked lightly. "Hey, it's Steve."

"Come in," came the response from inside.

Steve opened the door. Cody was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his laptop open in front of him. He looked up as Steve came in.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were here," he said.

"You didn't hear your mom call?"

Cody straightened, looking abashed. "She did?"

"I'm more surprised you didn't hear Jacob laughing."

Cody finally cracked a smile. "He tell you the baby jokes?"

"Yep. Including the knock knock joke."

"That's his favorite."

"I heard." Steve nodded at the laptop. "Your mom said you were working on your application for UH."

Cody sighed, looking back at his laptop. "Yeah."

"I thought you were already done with that."

"I am. I mean, I filled everything in, I just haven't submitted it. The deadline isn't until March 1st so I was … thinking it over."

Steve studied him a moment then closed the door. He nodded at the space beside Cody, raising his eyebrows to silently ask if he could sit.

Cody nodded immediately and scooted over a little to make more room. Steve sat down and looked at the open website. A table detailing the cost of attendance for the University of Hawai'i at Manoa was on the screen.

"It's so much money," Cody said quietly.

Steve nodded slowly. "It is. But there's a lot put away for you in your college fund. We started that so you and you mom wouldn't have to take out so many loans for school. For you and your brothers and sisters."

"I know. And that's … I don't know how to thank everyone for that."

"You're family. Like Danny says, we–"

"We do for family," Cody finished. He sighed. "It's still so much money."

"Well, your other option is to do community college in the UH system for a couple years, then transfer. We talked about that, too."

"Yeah, I've got that application filled out, too. It's on the same site."

"At one point, that's what you were pretty much settled on doing," Steve said.

"I know, but then I was talking to people at work and they were all recommending I go the university. Except Catherine. She said either choice was good and I should do what's right for me."

"That sounds like Catherine." Steve looked at him. "So you're still deciding?"

Cody glanced at him earnestly. "It's a big deal."

"It is," Steve agreed. "It's an important decision."

"And I know how lucky I am to have money for college. Either way. I know so many people who don't." His brow furrowed in frustration. "It's not fair that they don't have family and friends who can help them like I do. Or that they have to borrow thousands and thousands of dollars to go to school. They don't have the same opportunities and that's not right," he finished emphatically.

"It's not. People should be able to go to college if that's what they want to do."

"Yeah."

"So you know what you do?"

Cody looked at him, eyebrows raised and waiting.

"You go to college and you get your degree. Then you work on changing that."

Cody stared, letting that simple, straightforward statement sink in.

"Change it …" he repeated slowly.

"You've said you want to help people."

"I do."

"That would help a lot of people," Steve said. "It's a big goal. It's a hard goal. But it's something you feel strongly about. And that's important when you're deciding what to do with your life."

Cody smiled thoughtfully, his mind still turning over the idea. After a moment he looked at Steve, slightly amazed. "How do you always have all the answers?"

Steve laughed lightly, leaning against the wall and tipping his head back. "I don't have all the answers, Cody. Nobody does."

"You always have a answer, though."

Steve chuckled, acknowledging the point with a nod. "Well, that's different."

"I guess," Cody said, smiling back. He nodded. "You're right. I do want to help people."

"Because that's who you are," Steve said, looking at him. "That's always been who you are, at your core. You care about other people. You put them first. I saw that the first day I met you. You came to Wal-Mart for the Shop with a Cop event because you wanted to keep an eye on your brothers and sisters. And even after I finally convinced you to do some shopping, you only wanted to get stuff for your family." His lip quirked in a half smile. "Like a Christmas tree."

Cody's small smile mirrored Steve's.

"Now you work in the governor's office," Steve continued, "on programs that help a lot of people. Like the Just Drive initiative you came up with to cut down on teens texting and driving. That's who you are."

Cody was quiet for a moment, plucking at the loose threads on the blanket by his knee.

"I used to wonder sometimes," he said slowly, "if things had been different when I was a kid … if he hadn't left us … if I'd be a different person. I don't mean that I forgive him or anything, I don't, I just … I wondered, you know?"

Steve's first impulse at the not-quite mention of Jason Allen was an angry epithet, but he bit back the words because Cody's train of thought was indeed familiar.

"Yeah, I know," he said. He inhaled slowly as he looked up at the ceiling. "I used to wonder what would have happened if my dad hadn't sent me and Mary to the mainland. How I might've been different. How my life might have been different." He paused, then looked over at Cody. "But you know something? It's been a long time since I wondered that." He nodded once firmly. "I'm where I'm supposed to be. This is the life I'm supposed to have. How I got here is …" He paused, searching for a word, before shrugging. "It's how I got here. The good and the bad. It's all part of it."

Cody listened carefully, nodding along.

"I don't know if you would've been different, Cody," Steve said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "All I know is I like who you are."

Cody smiled, looking down. He glanced back at Steve who nodded at him.

"I'm behind you whatever you decide to do," Steve said, motioning to the laptop. "Pick the path that fits who you are, and who you want to be."

Cody paused, taking a deep breath. He reached over and clicked on the tab with his two unsubmitted applications. After another deep breath, he clicked on the one for Honolulu Community College and submitted it.

Sitting back, he smiled. "For two years. I'll keep working and save up and then I'll transfer to UH Manoa. That's the smart path for me. It's who I am."

Steve squeezed his shoulder. "I'm proud of you."

Cody swallowed, nodding. "I'm proud of me, too."

"And that's the most important thing." With a final squeeze, Steve let go of his shoulder. "Speaking of proud, let's go tell your mom. Then let's get something to eat, I'm hungry."

Cody grinned and closed his laptop. He moved to get up, then stopped. Looking back at Steve, he said, "Thanks, Steve. For always helping me find the answer."

"I'm in your corner, Cody. I always will be. Whether that means helping you find the answer or cheering you on or whatever else … you can count on that."

"I do." He smiled, and in that smile Steve saw both the fifteen-year-old he'd met and the young man he'd become, still occasionally unsure, but strong, resilient, and ready for what lay ahead.

Hope you enjoyed!

We're extremely excited to introduce you to our brand new website featuring a CHRONOLOGICAL LIST of stories! The glitch on Tumblr that kept removing the hyperlinks seems insurmountable, so we've created a new site where you can find all the McRoll in the REAL World Stories in order.

Check it out at: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll