Thanks to GB for the beta job, also Littlefairy for helping me write this

Shawn crossed his arms and frowned stubbornly. He kept his eyes firmly on the road in front of him and muttered under his breath occasionally.

"You can stop that now," Henry said from the driver's seat, rolling his eyes at his son's theatrics. "Whining and moaning isn't going to get you out of this."

"But why do I have to go?"

"It's the Future of Law Enforcement day at the station, and in the not too distant future, you will be in law enforcement," Henry reminded the fourteen year old. "Don't you want to know what it's going to be like?"

"Not really," Shawn mumbled as he slouched further into his seat.

"What was that?" Henry asked.

Shawn sighed. "Nothing," he replied.

"Is spending the day with your old man learning about what he does all day so bad? Huh?"

Ah the infamous Henry Spencer guilt trip Shawn thought. "I had plans with Gus is all," Shawn replied quickly.

"And is spending time with Gus better than spending time with your old man?"

My very old man Shawn thought and hid a smirk. "When you say spending the day, do you mean the whole day?" Shawn asked.

Henry shook his head. "I don't know why I bother," he muttered. He glanced at Shawn and then back at the road. "You'll be having so much fun you won't notice the time flying by, trust me."

"I'm sure it'll be a hoot," Shawn replied sarcastically.

Henry frowned. "Don't forget your manners when we get there Shawn. I want you treat all the officers with the respect they deserve."

"Yes sir."

"Don't forget your please and thank you's." Shawn rolled his eyes, he knew all this stuff already, his mom had drilled it in to him that morning. "And wipe that frown off your face, at least act like you're enjoying yourself," Henry added.

Shawn put on his fakest smile. "Better?" He asked through a toothy smile.

"Just don't embarrass me." Shawn's smile faded instantly. The pair stayed silent until the truck pulled into the police station parking lot. "Come on kid," Henry said before climbing out of the truck. Shawn sighed loudly before unbuckling himself and following his dad across the asphalt.

This wasn't his first time at the police station. He'd spent a fair amount of afternoons and weekends sitting at his dad's desk when there was no-one else to look after him. It was on these afternoons when he would sneak away and play poker with the cops, that was until his dad caught him in the act and made him donate all his hard earned winnings.

"Shawn, go put your jacket in my locker," Henry told his son.

Shawn nodded before walking through the police department to the locker room. The padlock on his dad's locker was easy to get through and Shawn made a mental note to tell his dad how obvious his badge number was as a code. He dropped his jacket on the bottom, knowing he'd get yelled at later when it came out creased but Shawn didn't care. He slammed the locker door shut before turning and walking back to his dad.

Henry put his hand on Shawn's shoulder and led him into the conference room where the first of the day's talks would be happening, a few parents stood round the edges of tbe room while the long table was being used by the other kids. Some looked about Shawn's age while there were a couple that were obviously older and one that looked so young to Shawn he wondered if the kid even knew where he was. Henry pushed Shawn in the only vacant chair before leaning over Shawn.

"Be good." He told his son before patting Shawn on the shoulder, standing up straight and leaving the room. Shawn didn't turn to watch his father leave. Instead he was already sizing up the other kids who were being subjected to this torture, although some most looked like they wanted to be here.

He eyed up the boy sitting opposite him who had a similar bored expression pasted onto his face. He crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue and the boy laughed.

"Shawn." Shawn introduced himself

"Luke." The boy reciprocated with a smile. "Should be fun huh?" He added with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, about as much fun as getting hit with a two by four…with little rusty nails sticking out of the end…. repeatedly."

Luke laughed and then turned to listen to the uniformed officer that had suddenly appeared at the head of the table. The parents standing around the edge of the room had ended their conversations and were now listening intently. Shawn didn't understand why everyone else's parents had stayed while his had escaped at the first chance he got. And his dad had told him they were going to spend the day together. He frowned and crossed his arms tightly across his chest, slumping further into the seat.

The officer clapped his hands together loudly. "Okay," he shouted. He stayed quiet until all conversation had tapered off. "My name is Officer Bill Meyers, but you…" He gave the kids a goofy grin and Shawn rolled his eyes "Can just call me Officer Bill."

"Welcome future police officers! Today we'll be giving you the grand tour of the station, you'll get to meet some more police officers, and I'll show you everything that happens around here. It's going to be so much fun!"

Shawn tilted his head to one side and studied the officer in front of him. He was fairly young and Shawn guessed still fairly new to the Santa Barbara Police Department seeing as how most of the more experienced officers were nowhere in sight. There was no wedding ring so Shawn came to the conclusion that the man's goofy grin scared the girls away, that and his hairstyle. The messy blonde hair looked like a gorilla had smooshed a banana on his head.

Shawn was so distracted by the idea of a large gorilla sitting on Officer Bill's head smooshing banana that it took him a moment to realise that everyone was leaving the room. He slid off the seat and his trainers landed on the wooden floor with a squeak. He waited until everyone else had left the room before trailing along behind. He stuffed his hands deep in his pockets and shuffled along.

"Officer Bill's a huge dork." Shawn looked up and smiled. Luke had turned around and was walking backwards. He was impressed, Shawn had tried walking backwards once and had tripped over a curb and scratched both elbows badly.

"The biggest dork," Shawn agreed.

"How old does he think we are? Five?"

Shawn looked around and realised the hallway was empty. The group had already turned the corner and Shawn realised this was his chance. He grabbed Luke's sleeve before he could go any further. Luke yanked his arm away.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"Come on, this is our chance," Shawn explained.

"Chance for what?"

"To escape!" Shawn said excitedly "No-one's around and who knows how long it'll take them to realise we're missing."

"Where would we go?"

Shawn grinned madly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the contents, buried under a couple of buttons, a funny shaped rock, a piece of string and a toy he found in the cereal box that morning was a crumpled up five dollar bill. "There's a candy shop not too far from here."

Shawn watched as the indecision flickered through Luke's eyes. Stay and slowly die of boredom or escape the boredom and go get sweets, incurring the wrath of his father. "What are we waiting for?" Luke finally asked. Shawn's grin grew. The pair ran down the hallway, encountering no-one to ruin their plans. They crawled on their hands and knees under the reception desk and quickly made it out into the sunshine.

"It's like a five minute walk down that way," Shawn said, pointing down the main road.

"My dad is going to kill me," Luke said as they set off in the right direction.

"Mine too," Shawn replied. "But I've got used to it," he added with a shrug.

"What's he like?" Luke asked.

Shawn shrugged. "Grumpy," he answered. "I can never do anything right," he added with a sigh. "I think he's more interested in me becoming what he wants me to be than in what I want." Shawn kicked at a rock and it went skidding down the sidewalk, landing in a bush.

"What do you wanna be then?"

"I don't know yet," Shawn answered honestly. "But I do know then when I'm old enough? I'm getting a motorcycle!" Shawn said excitedly.

Luke's eyes widened "Cool!"

Shawn grinned, "Come on, race ya!" He sped off down the pavement, he heard Luke cry out in shock before he felt Luke running behind him, trying to catch up.

They burst through the door to the candy shop and practically fell on the floor as they caught their breath. The woman behind the counter rolled her eyes at them and the pair laughed loudly. Finally Shawn pulled himself to his feet and helped Luke up.

"I so won," Shawn said.

"Did not, I got in the door first, that's why you fell on me."

Shawn shrugged, "Guess we'll never know who won." Luke gave him a look but said nothing.

Spending five dollars in a candy shop was not a big task for the two boys. It didn't even take ten minutes for them to leave the shop again, each equipped with enough candy bars and gum to sustain them through the rest of this morning. Munching, they slowly made their way back to the police station.

"So what do we do now?" Luke asked from between a mouthful of chocolate and peanut butter.

"I don't know," Shawn admitted. "But if we're lucky Officer Bill is finished with all the boring stuff by now and nobody will even notice that we left."

Luke thought about that for a moment, then he nodded. "How cool would that be? We sneak off and sneak back, and Officer dork won't even notice."

Shawn grinned. "And we got chocolate."

"Yeah. What do you think where they are now?"

Shawn shrugged. "My guess is that they're done with the tour around the station. That's always the first thing they do."

"How do you know?" Luke frowned.

"Today isn't the first time my Dad dragged me to that stupid Future of Law Enforcement Day. Believe me, it's always the same. First they give you the tour of the station, then they take you to the holding cells and show the kids what it feels like to be locked up. Then comes the fingerprinting, a lunch break, and after that you can take turns sitting in a police car, where the little kids get totally excited if they turn on the siren. Officer dork talks a little more about what a great job it is to be a cop, and then you can go home again. It's boring. But the tour is always the most boring part because they expect you to pay good attention. If we go back now, it should be all right."

A few minutes later they reached the police station. They made their way back in the same way they had come out – on their hands and knees under the reception desk. The officer on desk duty never noticed them, he was on the phone and didn't even look up as they straightened up again and went down the corridor.

"The holding cells are down that way. Come on!"

With a grin Shawn started running down the corridor. Luke started running after him. "This time I'll beat you" he replied with a grin.

The corridor was empty, and Shawn started running as fast as he could towards its end. He skidded around the corner and ran straight into something solid.

Someone solid.

"I'm sorry…" Shawn began, but then he looked up and the words died on his tongue.

"Shawn?"

"Dad," Shawn swallowed as he looked up at his father. Henry looked down at him with a frown on his face, and as Luke came hurrying around the corner behind Shawn, the frown darkened into a scowl.

"Shawn, what are you two doing here? Why aren't you doing the tour with Officer Myers?"

Shawn nervously jammed his hands into his pockets, also to cover up the obvious bulk of sweets in them.

"Erm…we went to the bathroom?"

"Bathroom's that way," Henry said and pointed in the opposite direction. "So how about you try that again. The truth this time."

"We got lost?"

The expression on Henry's face told Shawn clearly that it had been the wrong choice of words. His father's anger was getting more and more obvious now, and if he couldn't come up with a good excuse pretty quickly, he was screwed.

"Listen Dad, I know what this looks like…"

"You're damn right about that. And I think this is exactly what it looks like." Henry turned towards Luke. "What's your name?"

Luke gulped. "Luke. Luke Wilkerson, sir."

Henry nodded. "Officer Myers and the others are in the holding cells. Down that corridor, and then down the stairs. Go finish the tour with the others, I'll have a word with your parents about this when they come to get you later."

Luke nodded, then with a last look at Shawn he hurried down the corridor towards the stairs. Henry turned back towards Shawn.

"Come with me." And as if he wasn't entirely sure whether Shawn would follow his command, Henry took Shawn by the arm and walked him down into the other direction. Only when they rounded another corner did Shawn realise where they were going. The locker room.

At this time of day, the locker room was empty, and after he non-too gently led Shawn into the room, Henry closed the door behind them. He gestured for Shawn to sit down on one of the benches and stood in front of him, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Shawn did his best to look innocent.

Henry's expression darkened. "I thought maybe you'd at least try to explain this to me. What were you and that boy doing away up here in the corridor when you were supposed to be down in the holding cells? And don't give me any of that 'I got lost' crap, Shawn."

"We got bored."

"You got bored? You got bored, and you thought it was a good idea to start roaming a police station all on your own?"

Shawn rolled his eyes. "It's a police station, Dad. It's not as if it was dangerous here."

"There are criminals in this police station. You know very well that you are not supposed to walk around here without an adult. So where were you and that Luke going when you ran into me?"

"We were going to find the others again."

Henry's eyes narrowed. "Don't start playing games with me, Shawn. You are in no position to be cracking jokes. Where did you come from?"

"I told you. We were just having a look around on our own."

There was no way Shawn would tell his father that he and Luke had left the police station. He'd get grounded till doomsday if his father found out about that. But it seemed that his father knew him too well.

"Empty your pockets."

Shawn's eyes widened. "What?"

"You heard me. Empty your pockets. Now."

There was no escaping that tone of voice, Shawn knew that. With a sigh, he got up from the bench and started to pull the chewing gum and candy bars out of his pockets. He didn't dare to look into his father's face as he put them on the bench in front of him.

"Where do those come from?"

Henry's voice was dangerously tight and controlled, the way it was only moments before an explosion.

"The candy shop," Shawn mumbled.

"You went to the candy shop? The candy shop down the street? You left the police station when you were supposed to be staying for the career day?"

"Dad, it was boring. I've heard it all a million times before…"

"You promised, Shawn! You promised you'd behave yourself. Your Mom told you to behave yourself, I told you to behave yourself, I ask you not to embarrass me, and what do you do? You sneak away not even half an hour into the day! And for what? For candy! How old are you Shawn, five?"

"Officer Bill certainly seemed to think so."

"Shawn!" Henry was yelling now, and it didn't seem as if he was about to stop soon. "What did I tell you about treating the Officers you meet with respect? Is it so hard? All I was asking for was that you behave for one day. One day, Shawn! Why can't you even do that? This Future of Law Enforcement Day is important for your future. What kind of an impression do you think it leaves if you run away at the first chance you get?"

"I don't care!"

"What?" Henry's face darkened and he took a step closer, so that he was towering above Shawn. But Shawn was too angry to back down now.

"I don't care! I don't care about this stupid Future of Law Enforcement day, and I don't care about what impression the other officers get! I never wanted to come here in the first place, I had plans with Gus!"

"You might tell yourself that you don't care right now. You might think that hanging out with Gus would be more fun, but let me tell you one thing, kid. One day, when you graduated from the Academy, you'll start your duty as a police officer here. And believe me that you don't want the other officers to remember you as the kid who snuck off during the tour because he was bored."

"But that's just it!" Shawn stomped his foot to the floor. "I don't want to graduate from the stupid Academy. I don't want to become a cop!"

A puzzled frown settled on Henry's face, but his eyes were narrowing dangerously. "You don't know what you're talking about, Shawn. Of course you will follow the family tradition and become a cop. I taught you everything you need to know."

"But I don't want to!" Shawn was yelling now, too. Normally he knew that yelling at his father was a free ticket for even more trouble, but right now he didn't care. "You don't know what you're talking about! You always drag me to those stupid career days here at the station, you teach me all your stupid lessons, but you never asked me if I wanted this."

"Of course you want to. What's so wrong about being a cop? What could possibly be wrong about being an officer of the law, about helping people?"

"Nothing. But it's not what I want to do."

"Oh yes?" Henry shook his head. "So you don't want to help people, is that what you're trying to tell me? You don't want to become somebody who is respected for what he does?"

"I don't want to become you!" Something flickered across his father's face at those words, but Shawn was too worked up to notice. It was as if something that had been coiled up inside of him for far too long was finally unwinding.

"I don't want to become a cop, but you never even asked me. All you ever did was drill your lessons into me. How many hats, Shawn? Close your eyes, Shawn. I'm sick of it. You never asked me if I even wanted it, you never asked me if I want to become a cop. You never cared about me, only about making me what you want me to be!"

"I will not be talked to in that tone, Shawn! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes, I do!" Shawn felt something prickling behind his eyelids, and he was worried that he'd start crying. He couldn't help it, but he knew exactly how his father reacted to tears. They were a sign of weakness. Boys didn't cry. They sucked it up. But he just couldn't help it right now.

"It's you who doesn't know what he's talking about. You never asked me what I want. You always just assume that I want to be like you, but I don't. I don't want to be a cop!"

"Oh no? Then please tell me what it is you want to be. What job could possibly be so much better than this?"

"I don't know."

Henry gave a humourless bark of laughter. "Of course you don't. What else was I expecting?"

"I'm fourteen. I don't need to know yet! But I'm old enough to know what I don't want. And that's being a cop. You can't make me, Dad. You can't make me something that I'm not. I won't let you."

"You won't let me? Careful kid, you're treading on dangerous ground here. I am your father, and for as long as you live under my roof, you will not talk to me in that tone! Trust me that I know what's best for you."

"No you don't!" Shawn didn't like how shaky his voice sounded. He knew that it wouldn't take much more to bring the first tears to his eyes, but he just couldn't stop himself.

"You know what's best for you, but you don't care one thing about me. If you did, you would know that I don't want to be a cop. I never did. It was always you who wanted to be that. You don't give a damn about what I want, and you don't care about whether or not I am happy with what you're making me do. It's always just about what you want!"

"I will not listen to this for any longer!" Henry leaned forward so that his face was only inches away from Shawn's. "You tell me that I don't care about what you want, but you have no idea what you want in the first place. I won't stand for you starting some sort of teenage rebellion here and embarrass me in front of my colleagues just because you didn't get to spend your day with Gus!"

"That's not what…"

Henry thrust a finger right under Shawn's nose. "Stop it. I don't want to hear another word from you. I'm disappointed, Shawn. You broke your promise to behave yourself, you made me the laughing stock of the entire police station with the little stunt you pulled, and now you're trying to twist things so that I'm suddenly at fault for your disobedience. I won't stand for that, Shawn. It's about time you sucked it up and admitted that you made a mistake."

Henry drew himself up so that he was towering above Shawn again and glared down at him. "You're grounded for the foreseeable future, Shawn. Hopefully that will make you reconsider the tone you use when talking to your father. And you're going to stay right here until I'm off shift. You will not leave this room, are we clear on that?"

Shawn just stared at his father, his breathing fast and hitching slightly. He couldn't believe that his father just went over his admittance that he was unhappy like that. Did he truly care so little?

"I asked whether we are clear on that?"

Shawn quickly nodded. "Yes, sir."

Henry nodded. "Good. Stay here, and don't get in any trouble. If I hear just one more thing about you or from you for the rest of the day, you're not going to leave the house again until you're eighteen."

Shawn nodded, and without another word Henry turned around and left the locker room. Shawn stared after him for a moment, then he sank back down onto the bench behind him and drew his knees up to his chest.

Now, with his father gone, his control was wavering and he felt the tears prickling in his eyes.

He had finally done it. He had told his father that he didn't want to be a cop. He had told him that it didn't make him happy. And what did his father do? He just ignored it. He ignored the fact that none of this made Shawn happy, that it wasn't what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing.

He should have known.

But somehow, deep down, he had hoped that it wasn't so.

But he should have known.

His father didn't care one thing about him, or his happiness. All he cared about was that his son would become a worthy successor, not an embarrassment or a disappointment. But it seemed that this was exactly what Shawn was.

An embarrassment.

A disappointment.

Someone who couldn't live up to Henry Spencer's standard because he cared more about being happy than about making his father proud.

Tears were a sign of weakness. Boys didn't cry, they sucked it up. But in the solitude of the empty locker room, Shawn pressed his face against his knees and allowed the tears to fall.