Author's Note: First, let me just say that I am sorry for the huge delay- though, in all fairness, anyone's who has read my profile knows that I said it might take a while, probably longer than you guys might like, but I'll finish what stories I start on here. Life's been crazy- when isn't it, though? Well, I moved... again... Yeah, I do that a lot, it seems- more than I knew. I got married- and we're moving again (so you may not get another update for a little bit; my husband is separating from the Army for medical reasons and we are moving to Alabama to be closer to his family). Anyway... Here is the next chapter of this story- I really hope that you all like it. Oh, and can I just add that writer's block seriously sucks? -Jess
Disclaimer: Nope, haven't gained the rights to Boy Meets World in however long it's been since I last updated...
Chapter Eight
Shauna grinned at her dad- her mom had captured his attention once again. The whole evening, his gaze had gone back and forth between her and Morgan- how her mother missed that was beyond the teenager, and she rolled her eyes at that thought even as she spoke.
"You love her."
Shawn's attention immediately turned to his daughter once again at the sound of her voice. She hadn't asked if he loved Morgan- she'd made it a statement of fact. For a moment, he thought about denying it but decided he really didn't want to kick off his relationship with his daughter by lying to her about his feelings for her mother.
"Yeah," he said with a weary sigh, "I do."
He just had no idea what he was going to do about it. If he told Morgan, would she believe him? His mind answered with a resounding, "No." He seriously doubted she would. More than likely, she'd tell him that he was just saying it because of Shauna. He could practically hear Morgan telling him that he didn't have to claim to be in love with her in order to give their daughter the kind of family he'd always wanted as a kid- the kind he'd had, but had been too blind to see.
He figured the reason he was so sure she'd say something like that was probably because he'd had that very same argument with himself already. He knew none of it was true, though- he wasn't trying to convince himself of feelings he didn't really have for Morgan simply for their daughter's sake.
He was really, truly, absolutely in love with Morgan Matthews.
The way he figured it, he probably had been in love with her for years- as with many other things in his life, though, Shawn had just been too stubborn to see it, let alone admit it even to himself. He'd done a fairly good job of avoiding facing the fact by pretty much wiping all thoughts of Morgan from his mind pretty much the moment they popped up.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Shauna questioned, pulling her father from his thoughts. His gaze met hers again and he noticed the way she'd quirked her eyebrow just so when she'd asked the question- geez, she really was the spitting image of him, wasn't she?
Shawn didn't have an answer for her, at least not other than he had no idea what he was going to do. With another sigh, he said as much- he didn't think his daughter liked his answer very much, though. She shook her head and looked at him as if he was a lost cause- at least in this case.
Maybe he was.
"Why can't you just tell her? It's not that hard, you know," she told him and she looked so serious that Shawn had to fight back a laugh as he thought back over the years- how many times had he seen that exact look on Morgan's face? Shauna may look like him, but she had more than a touch of her mother's personality in her. He supposed that having a teenage daughter who acted more like Morgan was much better than having one that acted like he had at that age- especially when his godson could be so much like him sometimes that it was almost scary.
Realizing that he hadn't answered her question- and she was giving him another one of those looks he'd once gotten so often from her mother on a regular basis- Shawn shook his head and said, "It's complicated."
Now it was Shauna's turn to shake her head and give a long, drawn-out sigh. "Why do adults always say that?"
She didn't give him the chance to answer, though. Instead, she turned to climb the stairs- probably heading off to join her cousins. He wondered what kind of trouble he and the rest of the family were in for- would Shauna and Sam teaming up be anything like Josh, Georgie, and Trick ganging up together? If so, things were bound to get just a little more interesting.
Jonathan had watched his young student head up-stairs- a familiar look of determination glinting in her eyes as she'd stood up had made him smile. He walked over and took a seat on the stair beside his former pupil- one who'd been the cause of several worry-filled nights of restless sleep years before. "How's it going, Shawn?"
Shawn had lost track of how many times he'd felt like a fifteen-year-old kid again that night, but whatever the number was, he could now add one more to it. He ran a hand through his hair and looked over at his former teacher and guardian.
Years ago, Jonathan Turner had once understood Shawn better than a lot of other people- sometimes, even better than Shawn had understood himself- and it had always been fairly easy to open-up to the other man and talk things through. Now, he found that he was still just as comfortable with Jonathan as he'd once been, that he was still able to let him in and tell him what was going on inside his head.
"I'm in love with Morgan Matthews," he said, fully expecting Jonathan to arch one eyebrow the way he had so many times before when Shawn had been a teenager and start in on a series of questions that would make him do something he'd professed to hate as a teen- think.
He wasn't disappointed.
"Are you now?" Jonathan asked, one graying eyebrow raised.
Shawn almost chuckled at the evidence of just how little Jonathan had apparently changed over the years, but merely nodded his head instead. "Yep," he added, sounding a little put-out- mostly because he really wished he had some idea of what to do next. He couldn't go on ignoring his feelings for Morgan, locking them away in some box in the back of his mind. Even if he wanted to, he doubted that Shauna would allow that, especially since he figured she was probably already plotting with Sam- and maybe several other cousins- upstairs.
Jonathan nodded his head in acknowledgment of Shawn's statement and took a moment to mull it over in his mind. After what seemed like an eternity to Shawn, he finally spoke again. "And when did you come to this conclusion?"
"Earlier tonight." One look at Jonathan's face and Shawn knew what was coming next.
He waited until Shawn had turned to look him right in the eye before asking, "Are you sure?" It was a question he needed to ask, though, looking at Shawn now, he knew the answer before the younger man spoke.
"I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't," Shawn replied.
Once again, Jonathan nodded, accepting those words as the truth. Love wasn't something he thought anyone should take lightly, and he knew that Shawn had always taken at least that much seriously- he'd valued those he loved and who loved him in return more highly than any others; he'd do anything for the people he called family because he'd always seen love as something he didn't deserve.
He also knew that Shawn wouldn't profess to loving his best friend's little sister- even fifteen years after fathering a child with her- unless he absolutely did. He wouldn't risk his friendship with Cory that way- not the young man sitting beside him. Heck, even the Shawn he'd known as a teenager wouldn't have pushed their friendship quite that far, not that way.
So, when Shawn Hunter said that he was sure he was in love with Morgan Matthews, Jonathan knew he had to believe it.
"So now you just need a way to convince Morgan that you love her for herself, not for Shauna," he said. The look on Shawn's face said that he'd been trying to do just that since he'd realized those feelings- and he'd come up empty.
"That's easier said than done," Shawn replied, running a hand over his face wearily.
"I'm sure it is, Shawn," Jonathan said with a nod, "but you'll figure something out." Of that, he had no doubts- Shawn could do just about anything when he set his mind to it; hadn't he proven that often enough in the past?
Author's Note 2: Okay, so, you want a faster update? Help me come up with an idea for Shawn- please!
