Author's Note: Don't own Degrassi, but I do own the OCs that I sprinkle in every now and then. James Van Zandt happens to be one of them. Don't own him? Don't use him.

Everyone Lies

1. Spinner/Emma

Once, over a quiet breakfast table on a lulling Sunday morning, Emma had asked him absentmindedly if the whole Jimmy/Rick situation still scared him, shamed him, bothered him. He wasn't sure what had brought it on, but he had shrugged and told her that while it would always be with him for the rest of his life, he was over it. It had happened so long ago- he was a different person than that irresponsible, reckless, selfish little boy trying to be a man, and Jimmy was still his closest friend in the world. He had moved on.

Later that night, as he lay in bed beside a sleeping Emma, unable to shut his eyes even though it was four o'clock in the morning and he had to get up for work in three hours, he stared at the ceiling and tried to think of any other time he had lied to his wife.

He couldn't think of one, really. They had always been so honest with each other throughout their entire marriage. It was part of the reason they had stayed together, despite everyone's beliefs that they had made a huge mistake and would get divorced before the first year.

Still, he had lied to her, and he hoped that he had covered his tracks well. Even his own wife didn't need to know all of his secrets.

2. Eli/Clare

The day after the first time he made love to Clare, she had asked him if he had been thinking of Julia. He looked at her, and she was giving him that blazing look that she had, which he knew meant that she wanted total honesty- no smirks, no witty remarks, no backtalk. Just the straight-up truth, no bullshit attached.

Even if it hurt.

Looking straight into her blue eyes, he told her no.

She gazed back into his green eyes, and he could tell that she didn't believe him. "I won't be mad, Eli," she whispered. "I wouldn't be offended if you were."

"Yes, you would." She opened her mouth to speak when he cut her off. "Of course you would be, Clare. Don't lie about it."

"Okay," she relented. "It would hurt. But I have to know. Because if this is what it means to have this kind of relationship with you…" she twisted his ring, the one he had given her the night before, around her finger. "I can't be with you."

He reached out and touched her face, cupping it in his hand. Gently, he leaned in for a chaste kiss on the lips, then to her forehead.

"I know that it sucks for you to have to think about her," he said. "But Clare, trust me- last night wasn't about her. It was about you. I would never have done it if it hadn't been. It's not fair to you."

Clare had kissed him back, and this time when he looked into her eyes, he could tell that she really believed him.

So why would he ever say anything that would make her think otherwise?

What good would possibly come out of letting her know the truth?

He was only trying to protect her from getting hurt.

It was for the best.

3. Liberty/Danny

When her nephew was born, Danny called her long-distance at her apartment all the way in Seattle. When he told her the baby's name, he hesitated a bit, as if waiting for her to yell at him across continental lines.

He asked her if it would be a problem, if it would be too weird for her. "It's not like we named him after J.T., Lib," he explained. "It's just…that name seemed to fit. I don't know. It's hard to explain. But he seriously does look like a James. Like, you need to come and see this guy. I'll send you a picture, but you gotta see him in person. It's the name that fits him the most. It's like he named himself, really."

"I'm sure," she'd said.

There was silence again, and Liberty wondered if the line had gone dead. "Is it really going to hurt you that much?" he asked.

'Daniel, you're overestimating my level of sensitivity towards this topic. There are approximately 6 billion people on this earth. The chances of running into another James are very, very likely. In fact, I would say that statistically, it would be impossible to run into someone on this earth that isn't named James, in some form or another. So to answer your question: no. If his name is James, than it's James. Same as if it were Ryan or Matthew of John. It's just a name."

Danny had laughed. "Leave it to you to practically give me all but a forensic analysis," he said. "have you been practicing your closing arguments in the shower?"

Liberty rolled her eyes and was sure Danny could hear it over the phone. "Can you give him a kiss for me?"

"Definitely, but it will mean more coming from you."

"I'll see what I can do about how soon I can get up there."

"We'll be waiting."

"Good night, Daniel."

"I love you, sis."

Liberty paused. "I love you, too, Danny."

The line went dead, but Liberty hardly noticed. Instead, she thought about how she would be able to call her nephew by that name and convince herself that it didn't hurt, even though she was lying and just trying to make Danny happy because she loved him.

Then the operator's voice clicked in and startled her, reminding her that no matter how alone in your thoughts you might think you are, there is always someone listening in.

4. Adam/Drew

When Adam was thirteen, he had asked Drew if he minded that he was transgender.

At the time, Drew had looked at him like he was nuts. "Are you kidding me? Have you been talking to a different Drew Torres for the past nine years?"

"I'm serious," he'd asked, and there was a softness in his voice that Drew picked up on immediately. He was really, genuinely asking, and the insecurity of the question almost broke Drew.

So he told his brother no. He loved Adam more than anyone else in the world, and would love him regardless of whether or not he was a he or a she, brother or sister, boy or girl. And that was the truth, 100%. He'd never felt anything different.

But still.

When he came home from school the day after Fitz had beat the shit out of him in the school parking lot, the same day Owen had thrown Adam through a glass door, he watched as his brother undressed in his bedroom, unaware of Drew's presence lingering from an unseen spot in the hallway. He saw the bruises on Adam's milky, freckled skin, mottled black and blue and purple. Saw him wince as he took off the strap that bound his breasts, because it hurt to move his arms around his body like that. And when he slipped his shirt off and Drew saw those white lines that mapped his brother's bare flesh (which never got easier to see; no matter how often he accidentally stumbled upon them, he still felt nauseous every time), he couldn't help but think to himself that life would be so much easier for Adam if he wasn't like this.

Still, he kept his mouth shut. Adam needed all the people supporting him he could get, and that didn't always come from their parents. Drew- and Clare and Eli, too, he supposed- were really the people he counted on the most, and he'd never, ever let him down.

He loved him so much.

But it killed him that his brother's life was going to be so fucking hard.

And there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it.