Author's Note Rewritten/Edited in February 2014: A huge special thanks goes to Insideavoice, who has written two heartbreakingly beautiful Drew from Parenthood fics that I read and adored. If you haven't read them yet, they should be easy enough to find since there aren't that many Parenthood fics on this site about Drew. I highly recommend them. She's a very talented writer.

Insideavoice not only is an awesome writer, but agreed to help me out and beta this for me – my first ever Parenthood fic! ;) Thank you for your proofreading etc. help this time around. ;)

Drew has probably always been my favorite character on the show. His character is unique in a lot of ways. He's quieter than most characters ever are on TV shows. When it comes to his relationship with Amber, I relate to his side of the sibling dynamic while my brother is more like Amber. Even though my brother is younger than me, he generally is more experienced than me in certain aspects of life and he's wilder like Amber and everything else.

Mark is definitely one of my favorites too, and I wish he had become a star of the show at some point instead of them writing him out of it completely. I started writing this fic right after 4x13 "Small Victories" had aired, and I had been wishing for a much different ending to season 4, but… oh well.

I checked before posting this first chapter originally, and there were only 7 fanfics on this site containing "M. Cyr" aka my beloved Mark played by the gorgeous and oh so sweet Jason Ritter. And all of them were Sarah & Mark fics. None were Mark/anyone else. So… this was a first for this site! A Mark/Drew interaction fanfic. I hope you all like it. I got inspired to write something for this episode thinking it'd be a Drew fic but I ended up really wanting to show Mark's point of view and perspective as well. So I compromised and showed both points of view. I think it should work okay. ;)

The fic may start off quite similarly to what actually happened on the show, but by chapter 5 I really stray into AU territory with Drew and Mark having a conversation that never happened and... well, please keep reading in order to find out more!

Ask me if you have any questions, and please if you read it, don't forget to review! I hope at least a few people enjoy this. :D

I've edited and hopefully improved these first 4 chapters before posting chapter 5.

Chapter 1: School Hallway Interactions

It was a Monday morning, the first day of another work week, and Mark was glad to be back at school. Ever since breaking up with Sarah, weekends had become way more unpleasant for him than the weekdays. He hated to admit it, but he didn't have any truly close friends here in Berkeley. For the past couple of years, the beautiful Braverman woman had occupied so much of his time. He hadn't found it necessary to make an effort to get closer to the other English teachers… or other school faculty who could've become dear friends. Ever since breaking up with Sarah right before Christmas, he found himself strangely at a loss for what to do with his free time on Saturdays and Sundays. He'd gotten cable installed just for Drew, but since the teenager was no longer a part of his life, even turning on the television brought up bad memories and crushed hopes for what could have been between him and Sarah's family. Reading was always a good option, but everything made him think of Sarah in some way or another. The empty apartment and everything about his personal life right now just made him feel so lonely, but when he was at school, for about seven hours a day, he could forget about all of that.

In this large high school which contained over three-thousand students, it was impossible to feel lonely, especially in the mornings when the kids chatted away. Monday mornings were some of the most pleasant, because the kids often had so much to share with their friends who they hadn't seen since Friday. Mark casually glanced outside of his classroom, as he often did before the homeroom bell rang. He took in the atmosphere and enjoyed watching the flow of students in the hallway from all four grades mixing and interweaving in a somewhat predictable and organized type of teenage chaos. He only knew some of the students –the ones that had been in one of his English classes. He kept his eyes pierced specifically for any of those kids he knew, as was his habit. He enjoyed simply observing them, since in his classroom he didn't get to see the same side of their personality that he saw when watching them with their peers in the hallway.

If Drew ever was in the hallway, Mark would get distracted and focus all of his attention on the boy. Drew was the only student at the school who Mark had never taught yet Mark still knew. Drew was special, different than all of the other kids, because Drew… Drew almost officially became his stepson, and Mark had really liked the idea of that. When he broke up with Sarah, he hadn't actually anticipated how much he'd mourn the loss of Drew. As much as he wanted to have a baby of his own with Sarah, being a father-like figure to Drew would've been nice in its own way, too. He interacted with teenagers all the time as a teacher, but getting the chance to come home to one was a very new experience for him… one that had been starting to become truly enjoyable. He had been looking forward to a future with Drew in it.

When Mark spotted Drew in the hallway this Monday morning, the boy was walking with his girlfriend, Amy, which was not surprising. What was surprising to Mark was that their usual smiles seemed to have completely disappeared. Drew and Amy were always so cute together whenever he'd previously seen them in school. Amy was one of his best students, and he was so happy for them both. Their smiles reminded him of the first time he had been in love. Even catching Drew and Amy "in the act" had reminded Mark a bit about that first relationship of his, when everything about romantic relationships had been oh-so-very new and exciting. He wished only the best for them. He was aware of a brief "broken-up" period for them earlier this same school year, but still… they had never looked quite like this in the school hallway.

Amy seemed fairly upset, although from where Mark stood, he couldn't honestly tell either way. Drew, the boy who usually barely said two words to anyone, spoke quite quickly to her. Seeing Drew with a lot to say scared him more than a crying high school girl would. It was hard to explain, but it was true. Some of the poor hormonal girls would get teary over just about anything, but he knew Drew well, regardless of the fact that the kid would no longer be becoming his stepson. And he knew Drew never spoke as much as he was right now. He watched them closely. They paused on their journey to their homeroom classes, standing beside a set of lockers, getting quite close to the classroom door where Mark stood, but they didn't notice him. Were they fighting? A girl interrupted them, but it seemed like they hardly noticed.

Amy had started to walk away when Drew grabbed her arm and pulled her back in. It almost looked like Drew had done something to hurt Amy, like he had to explain himself or apologize profusely or something, but Mark couldn't imagine what the boy could have done. He simply couldn't imagine Drew cheating on her or anything like that. Amy lingered now, listening to what her boyfriend had to say. Mark tried his hardest to overhear what they were saying overtop of the other students' voices, regardless of how much of an invasion of their privacy eavesdropping might be. Call him immoral, but Mark wasn't simply curious at this moment. He felt truly concerned for both of them.

"It's gonna be okay," Drew told her comfortingly.

"How can you even…?" Mark heard Amy reply, even though he could only see the back of her head. Drew, Mark could tell, seemed confused. "No," Amy told him, pushing his gentle hands away. "Drew, it's not gonna be okay."

This time when she turned around, Mark could see her very close to tears and clearly more upset than he'd ever seen her. She walked away quickly, right past where Mark stood, and he couldn't help but follow her trail with his eyes, shocked and confused as to what was happening between the two kids. What wasn't going to be okay? He looked back toward Drew, who seemed to immediately realize that the man had witnessed the whole exchange. Drew's eyes went wide for a moment, and Mark couldn't shake the feeling that Drew was afraid Mark knew what they had been talking about. Drew walked away, and Mark tried not to think too much more of it. At least not now, when there was really not much he could do about anything. He'd wait to think more about the whole situation until Amy was in his class for fourth period. Then, while the kids were busy with a class-work assignment, he might take a moment to make sure Amy seemed alright. Perhaps he would even offer to help if it seemed appropriate. All Mark knew right then was that something serious was going on between the teenagers, and he would feel guilty if he just let it go.

Drew went to his first class of the day, Physics, as if everything was normal. To most of his teachers, he felt sure he appeared to be just fine - his usual quiet self. They had no idea that he was much more distracted on this particular Monday than on all previous Mondays. Not raising his hand in a science class on an average day had more to do with his shyness than actually not knowing the answers, but for once he wasn't even paying enough attention to know what questions were posed. He remembered Amy mentioning that she had a Spanish quiz that morning, and he hoped for her sake that she would be able to focus on it, in a stark contrast to his current unfocused state of mind.

His thoughts jumped all over the place. First he worried about what Mark - or well, "Mr. Cyr" - might have overheard. It had taken him forever to get used to calling the man by his first name and now he had to get used to him being Mr. Cyr again. Drew hated how his mother had been unable to make that relationship last, especially since it had taken him so long to get used to the idea of it. As soon as he was finally ready for the man to be family, his mom had moved on to some other man.

He felt kind of grateful, however, to be able to move back into his grandparents' house, so he could be closer to Amy. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, so did other things, like memories of all the times they'd been able to get away with having sex more easily the past couple of months because they lived so close to each other and could just walk over to the other's house. He tried to remember if there was a time they'd been careless. Amy was on the pill now, but she had only been on it for maybe a month? He tried to figure out where they went wrong. He felt like an idiot, like he must have done something wrong. And now Amy was pregnant. The beautiful, sweet, wonderful girl he loved… the girl who knew him better than anyone in the world, better than his mother or sister… that girl had a baby growing inside of her, a baby that she clearly didn't want.

He became consumed by overwhelming feelings of empathy for what she must have been dealing with for who knows how long. When did she first suspect she was pregnant? Had she been keeping her fears secret from him the last time they hung out? He wondered what she was thinking. Did she want to have an abortion? She seemed so sure that everything would not be okay. That made him think that maybe she was already expecting to go through with all nine months of the pregnancy. Or however many were left. He had no idea how far along into the pregnancy she was. He really should've asked. Or maybe she didn't even know. He had so many other thoughts too; his dad was never the greatest father to his sister nor to him. Drew had made a promise years ago, to no one in particular, that if he ever had his own child, he'd be a better dad. He'd never expected to have to take on that kind of responsibility while still only in high school, though.

All of a sudden the bell rang, marking the end of his last class, but Drew barely heard it. The whole day had gone by this way, in a kind of blur. It took a few seconds for him to register in his mind the fact that everyone around him was grabbing their books and standing up and rushing out of the room, anxious to go home. He slowly got up and made an effort to remember what his usual routine was. He had to go to his locker and grab his coat and put away most of his books, and make sure he had the right ones for his homework that evening. He went through the motions, his mind still a million miles away. He used his locker combination then opened the door. He finished what he needed to do. Once the task was completed, however, he just stood there, staring, completely forgetting that he should be closing his locker and proceeding on his way home. He needed to talk to Amy about this, talk way more than they already had, and he desperately needed to do so now. He could not think about anything else. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to focus enough to drive the few minutes it took to get back home.

He thought he heard his name being spoken, but it felt far away, and it took him far too long to realize what was happening. Someone was standing right there, next to him and his locker, waiting for him to respond. He closed his locker quickly, and was suddenly face to face with Mark – or well, Mr. Cyr. Drew was too surprised to even know what to think.

"Hi," Mark said.

"Hey," he replied.

"How's it going?"

"It's fine," Drew answered, realizing that he was saying it a bit too quickly. It was like a reflex; the more "not fine" something was, the quicker he'd blurt out, "It's fine." And today of all days… "it" was everything but fine.

"Is everything okay?" Mark quickly replied, clearly not buying Drew's response. "Um…" Mark hesitated, then glanced around the hallway nervously for a moment before continuing, "…with Amy and everything? It looked like you guys seemed really upset this morning."

There was a part of Drew that wanted to tell the kind man everything, he really did. He instantly could tell the man had good intentions and genuinely wanted to help. Much louder in Drew's mind, however, was the part screaming, "Run away; as quickly as possible!" He needed to get away from the man who had, not quite a whole year ago, broken through his protective walls. In that diner, Mark had let him feel comfortable enough to open up, which had resulted in possibly the most embarrassing moment of Drew's entire life… when he had cried right in front of him.

With that fateful evening in mind, Drew's desire to escape Mark's kindness and make it out of the school in one piece overpowered all else, and before Mark had even finished his sentence, Drew was already interrupting.

"Yeah. I know, I… It's fine, though." Drew wished the man would just let it drop.

"Okay," Mark replied.

Drew began to walk away, hoping he had successfully evaded whatever had been about to happen. He needed to go home… he needed to see Amy.

"Well, no, wait, Drew. Wait, I… um…." Mark wasn't letting him leave. "It just seemed like it was more than a… a fight."

Hearing this, Drew wasn't sure how he was going to convince Mr. Cyr of his lie that everything was fine. He hated lying, but he also hated people who pried when clearly he just wanted to be left alone in this moment.

"Yeah," Drew replied, shrugging. "I don't know. It was…" Drew started, considering explaining that maybe Mark was right, it wasn't a fight, but they were still fine anyway. He was interrupted though.

"And then Amy didn't… show up for class."

Drew was shocked to hear this, but tried not to let it show too much.

"Um…." He wasn't sure what he should say to Mark. "Yeah, I don't know… I don't know where she went. I- I don't- I'm not sure…" Drew stammered. Mark interrupted him again.

"Well, I'm not mad. That's not why I'm… bringing this up. But, Amy never misses class, so I guess I'm just more concerned."

"Yeah, I don't know. I don't-" Drew was repeating himself, not sure of what else to say. He was concerned about Amy too, but he didn't want to tell Mark that. He shrugged once more, not wanting to repeat his words yet again. He hoped it would reinforce that message. He truly had no idea where his girlfriend would have disappeared to in the middle of the school day.

Mark stared back at Drew, and Drew felt like the man was trying desperately to read his mind. Mark seemed to be able to tell he was lying, and they both stood there for a moment, silently, neither one getting what they wanted. Drew still was anxious to escape, but Mark was acting like he hadn't yet gotten what he'd been hoping for out of this conversation. He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly while looking at Drew, as if squinting might help him see into Drew's soul more easily. Drew struggled to give off the right vibes to convince Mark to give up, but he knew he was failing miserably. He was even squirming. Why couldn't he just stand still and seem calmer?

"Listen, you can talk to me about anything," Mark said, and Drew realized from his tone that this was his parting remark. Drew snatched up the opportunity to get away as quickly as he could.

"Alright well, cool. Thanks." He finally walked in the opposite direction, grateful that Mark wasn't stopping him. As he left, he considered the words though, and took them to heart. He meant it when he thanked him. It was really nice of him to be so concerned, however annoying it also might be. It was comforting in and of itself to know that Mark cared about him enough to notice what had happened in the hallway between his girlfriend and him that morning, and to truly not be angry about Amy missing class, but merely worried. As he climbed into the driver's seat of his car, Drew found himself wishing his mom really was going to marry Mr. Cyr. He wished it more than he ever had before. He never cared much about his mom's love life, or at least he tried not to care. He'd had his heart set on his parents eventually getting back together for so long that he'd never thought anything even remotely positive about the idea of his mom dating someone else, and especially not the concept of her marrying another man. But now… Drew realized what his mom had seen in Mark, and wondered why he hadn't seen it sooner. Mark was this genuine and caring man. If Amy had this baby, Drew realized Mark would be a prime example of someone to emulate.

Don't forget to read chapter 2! I've posted it already now. Read all of the coming chapters of my fic, please. And if you're reading it before it's marked as "complete", make sure you follow my story (add it to your "Story Alerts" on this site) so that you get notified when a new chapter is posted!