Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I hope you're all had a great week. On behalf of OneHorseShay, I'd like to thank everyone who's been reviewing, favouriting and putting this story on alert, he really appreciates it. Even though I said this right from the beginning, I'd like to reiterate it once more. If anyone has any questions related to this story and/or the characters at any time, please don't hesitate to send me a PM. I will let OneHorseShay know and he will be happy to answer your questions. Now without further ado, these two new updates are gonna knock your socks off if you already love this story :D

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. For God sake, don't sue.


Ridgeway High School
Seattle, Washington
Monday, September 2011

Freddie was finishing up at his locker getting ready to head out to meet Carly and Sam waiting outside when he noticed Adam walking by him.

"Hey, Adam," Freddie called out as he stood up and locked up his locker.

The slightly taller teen turned around to see who called him. Freddie saw the annoyed look on his face, but pointedly ignored it. "Do you have a sec?"

"What do you want?" Adam asked with a hint of impatience.

"You haven't asked Carly out and I was wondering why." Freddie surprised himself with his own straightforwardness towards Adam.

"Why do you care? You're dating her."

Freddie sighed and shook his head. "Like I said at WebiCon, we're not dating. Just ask her out; I know she'll say yes." He thought he would choke on those words, but he got them out anyway.

"You expect me to believe that after what happened at WebiCon?"

"You're the one that walked out after Sam's stunt. Here's an idea: you could have believed Carly. Did it ever occur to you to just believe that Sam was lying just to mess with people? How can you go to this school and not know Sam's reputation?"

"So you're not 'deeply in love' with Carly?"

Freddie bit his tongue quickly. He took a calming breath, but before he could reply, Adam was quicker to supply his own answer, "So Sam's right."

"It doesn't matter what I feel. Carly is interested in you and you were obviously interested in her."

"That was before I was nearly lynched by those crazy Creddies."

"We have over a million fans; you can't judge them by the actions of what, forty people at most." Freddie shook his head. "Why do you keep judging Carly for otherpeople's actions?"

"Because they obviously know something neither one of you are willing to admit."

"I've never denied that I love Carly. It's a bad running joke about how she doesn't love me that way. She's not interested in me. She's interested in you."

"Sorry, I'm not going to be fooled by her manipulative ways when she has you as back up. Or are you two in on it or what? How many guys have you had her try to string along—"

Adam didn't finish as Freddie shoved him hard and Adam's back rattled the lockers behind him from the impact. Adam was surprised, but Freddie was just mad.

Mr. Howard came storming up to the two of them and the students still lingering in the halls before hearing the dismissal bell.

"What is going on here?" Mr. Howard demanded.


"Let's just leave the nub and go," Sam demanded from the backseat of the SUV.

Carly shook her head and without looking back from the passenger seat replied, "We are not leaving Freddie."

Shay unbuckled his seatbelt. "I'm going to go find him. And don't you dare steal this vehicle, Samantha," he instructed the blonde.

"Fine," she replied with a roll of her eyes.


"I told you, no one cares what you think," Mr. Howard snapped at Freddie.

"I care what he thinks," Shay's voiced called out behind Mr. Howard.

The school teacher turned to face the stern face Colonel just several feet away.

Freddie watched as Mr. Howard flinched for a moment from the Colonel's glare. He also watched as they had gained an impromptu audience from the students still in the halls.

"Mr. Howard, I haven't had the displeasure," the statement rolled off Shay's tongue like just speaking left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Wh-who are you?"

"Colonel," Shay said emphasizing his title, "Steven Shay, US Air Force. I'm Carlotta Shay's father." He turned to look to Freddie and asked, "What's going on, Mr. Benson?"

Mr. Howard began, "I was just—"

"I didn't ask what you thought, so keep your opinions to yourself until I ask for them," the field grade officer snapped at the balding teacher.

"Adam and I are just having a little disagreement; that's all," Freddie replied cautiously even though Mr. Shay was cowing Mr. Howard for the moment.

"Disagreement? That must be some disagreement that you two must be having if you look like you are ready to take his head off," Shay commented in a dry tone. Freddie watched as the Colonel turned his attention to Adam.

It was a dismissive tone from what Freddie heard from Shay as he asked, "So you're Adam?" The way the Colonel was looking at Adam, it didn't appear to Freddie that Shay was too impressed with the teenager. His opinion was confirmed to his satisfaction as Shay began to speak again, "Tell me, boy,why Mr. Benson feels he must take such action against you?"

Adam eyed Freddie and he met Adam's stare just as coldly, almost daring the teenager to repeat what he said about Carly.

"I'm not sure."

"I'm not sure, sir. Do you think I'm stupid or are you just too much of a coward to repeat what you said to Mr. Benson?"

Adam kept his mouth shut as he looked back to Freddie then to Mr. Howard and finally back to Shay.

"Coward it is then," Shay answered with a look disdain towards Adam. "Let's go, Mr. Benson."

Almost babbling, Mr. Howard began, "Wait just one moment—"

Shay turned and stood just inches from Mr. Howard, staring down the obviously frightened man. "For what?"

"He can't just walk away. I can't just let him cause trouble."

"Trouble? You must think I'm as stupid as that little boy does," Shay replied and pointed at Adam. "I know who you are, Howard. My daughter has written me obviously edited stories of you harassing her for the last four years. That is a debt you are going to settle up with me. I could start now, but do you really want me to do that?"

Mr. Howard swallowed nervously at Shay's unnerving gaze. "No."

"No, sir."

"No sir," Mr. Howard echoed.

"Good, now we're leaving and you can tell that 'weak spineless fool' of a principal, as you refer to him as, if he has a problem with Mr. Benson, he is to call the Shay residence and ask to speak with me personally. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, because if I find out you or Franklin has gone behind my back… well let's just put it this way: I am not weak or spineless and I am certainly no fool." He turned to Freddie. "Let's go. The girls are waiting."


Shays Apartment

The quartet entered the apartment with Freddie and Sam in a heated argument. Neither one of them paid attention to Spencer's greeting as he worked on his metal tree. Shay had lost track of what they were arguing about at the moment. It had started as soon as Shay and Freddie reached the SUV and Sam started complaining for having to wait for him.

Carly flopped onto the sofa and turned on the television apparently hoping to drown out the noise of the pair's arguing.

The argument continued into the kitchen as Sam started to raid the Shay refrigerator.

Shay took a seat at the end of the table facing towards the living room and dropping his flight jacket on the back as Freddie took the opposite end with Sam literally flopping into the seat in between them facing the counter.

Sam was making a sandwich as she was apparently getting more agitated. Shay was concerned for a moment that Sam would try to stab Freddie with the butter knife.

"Do you ever get tired of that, Samantha?" Shay asked in a curious tone.

"Tired of what?" she asked and turned her attention to him.

"The constant fighting; you always starting something with anybody, least long Freddie here. Fighting one's enemy is one thing, but fighting one's friends without just cause is insanity."

Sam smirked. "That's just the way mama is."

"Have you ever thought about doing something different?"

"Haven't tried, but it would probably require a medication my mom can't afford."

"Drugging you is not the answer."

Shay took a deep breath and thought for a moment. He then began: "Samantha, I remember kids like you from my high school days: always picked on the weak, the powerless, because it gave themselves self-worth and they were always too cowardly to fight those that could fight back and hurt them. Until the end of my junior year, I didn't care."

Sam stared back with her mouth clinched shut.

Shay leaned back in his chair and smiled as he looked off to nowhere particular. "I remember one particular character. His name was Evan. He was a particular nasty fellow."

"Did he ever bother you?" Freddie asked curiously.

"Me?" Shay looked to Freddie shook his head. "No, I was in a different group of kids than his preferred targeting group."

"What kind of group was that?"

Shay cleared his throat. "We were what you would consider the rough crowd. We kept to ourselves. If you left us alone, we left you alone."

Sam asked slowly, "You were a bad boy?"

"Badass, there is a difference, if you would pardon my language." He stopped for a moment as he thought back on something. He grinned to himself. "I think that's why I was such a good fighter pilot in my younger years, but then we all think we're the best when we're in the cockpit."

"There's a difference?" Freddie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, badasses don't have to prove anything to anyone at anytime. You simply are one or you aren't. There is a difference between stealing an absent minded artist's motorcycle than say jumping in front of truck to save someone. Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Benson?"

Freddie could only reply with a nod as his shock was apparent on his face and looked as if he didn't trust himself to say anything.

"Freddie here a badass? That's funny."

"Like I said, Samantha, badasses don't have to prove anything to anybody. They simply are or they aren't. And I found that most 'bad boys' are usually just compensating for something they don't like about themselves."

"Peewee babies," Sam offered.

Shay raised a finger. "That's not it for him."

"It's not?"

"He's not ashamed of that, but if I could get on with my story?"

"Please," Freddie offered.

"Thank you. Evan was pretty pathetic as they came. Always in a foul temper, hated anyone that got in his way and thought he could always get his way. He took a sick pleasure in picking on people. Does any of this sound familiar, Samantha?"

Sam didn't reply but just stared back at him, clenching her jaw shut tighter than she had moments ago, not bothering to swallow the food still in her mouth.

Shay snorted out a breath. "It was nineteen eighty, a month or so left of my junior year: just trying to get by with as little work as possible and Evan was being even more than his usual lousy self, but like I said, I didn't care because he didn't bother me. That day was different. There was this girl named Taylor Dorfman and she was quiet and sweet and if you took a moment to really look at her beyond the dried paint that was always on her cheeks and bandana, quite lovely looking girl that usually kept to herself with her head up in the clouds half the time and stuck in the art classroom the rest of the time. I had passed her in the halls dozens of times over the years without a second thought. You could usually see her carrying rolled up paper, a different colored bandana covering most of her hair everyday and see paintbrushes sticking out of the side of her book bag, so she did stick out a little bit."

Shay didn't realize that he was smiling as he continued, "Evan started picking on her at her locker and I just watched for a moment, not really understanding what I was watching. One moment she tried to ignore him then he grabbed a half finished painting from her. She tried to pull it back and he slapped her." He held up one hand to his right cheek. "The right side of her face was facing the locker and she hit the locker handle at her cheek bone. It cut her pretty bad, but she didn't seem to care about it. When he slapped her the canvas tore in half and all her attention was on the bottom half in her hands. She just started crying looking at it. She didn't care about her bloody cheek. She just cared about that torn scrap of canvas in her hands."

"I know it had to be just a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity watching what had just happened. Something just clicked in my head. I realized in an instant that this was wrong. She wouldn't bother a soul. What had she done to deserve what that creep did to her? Then I realized the answer, like an epiphany."

"What was it?" Freddie asked hesitantly.

"Nothing."

Sam asked with a disbelief look. "Nothing? Your epiphany was nothing?"

Shay chuckled, "No, the answer was nothing. She had done nothing to deserve that, absolutely nothing."

He stared at Sam. "I ask you once again, does any of this sound familiar to you?"

Sam was about to speak, but then clamped her mouth shut.

Shay hadn't noticed that Carly and Spencer had walked up to the other side of the counter that separated the kitchen and living room. Spencer asked in one of the most serious tones Shay had ever heard from his son, "What did you do?"

Shay looked past Freddie to meet his son's eyes. "I was young and brash at seventeen… so I did the only thing I could think of: I walked straight up to him and shouted out his name. When he turned his attention away from her to look at me I punched him in the face as hard as I could."

The Colonel chuckled. "I took his front teeth out with the first punch. Then I proceeded to beat the 'chiz' out of him in front of most of the school right then and there. He got a few good licks in, but when it was done they had to carry him off on a stretcher and I was the one still standing on my own two feet. When Evan finally came back to school he never bothered her again. I don't think he ever bothered anyone else ever again at school."

He then looked to Sam. "There is a lesson for you in there somewhere, Samantha. I just hope maybe you might find it."

Shay then let out a breath. "Well that's enough reminiscing; come on, Freddie. I think we can go ahead and get started on that project we talked about Friday night." Shay got up from his seat and pulled on his flight jacket off the back of the chair. "We'll be back later. Don't wait for us about dinner. Oh, and I'm borrowing the SUV, Spencer."

Freddie quickly got up to follow the Airman heading for the door. As Freddie passed by Carly, he noticed that she looked distracted. He gently turned touched her forearm resting on the counter. "Carly? Are you alright?"

She shook her head and focused on him. "Oh, I'm fine. You go have your fun." They shared a brief smile then he continued on his way to pick up his jacket off the coat rack and followed the Colonel out the door.

Sam looked puzzled looking back and forth between the Shay siblings. "Wait, did he just say Dorfman?"


Author's Note: In Gibby terms, I think we can call this a 'shaboom' cliffhanger ;) If any of you aren't warming up to Steven Shay yet, then you people are made of stone :P I think I might have a thing for bad boys - excuse me, badasses now. If you thought this chapter was good, the next one's even better :D Just a side note: I'll most likely PM people back with FF accounts who have questions for OneHorseShay. But if you don't have a FF account, I'll try and post a response from OneHorseShay in an A/N for future chapters should you have a question. Cheers!