For Vanessa. :D

Shawn stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the door to his room as hard as he could. Jon stood in the kitchen with his hand over his mouth, deep in thought.

Chet called. It wasn't a pleasant conversation.

Although Jon could only hear Shawn's side, he knew Chet was being evasive about where he was and what he was doing. Shawn tried to have a serious conversation with the man; tried to tell him about Audrey and how good things were going. Chet blew him off.

"Is she pretty?! Is that all you can say?!" Shawn had cried, outraged by his father's reaction when he tried to explain how much Audrey meant to him.

"Well, is she? That's important stuff, boy!" Chet had been so loud Jon could hear him.

Shawn almost threw the phone then.

The phone was thrown when Chet slipped up and let his son know he wasn't actively looking for Virna; he was "taking a break" because chasing "that woman" was tough.

The receiver was cracked beyond repair. Jon was going to have to buy a new phone.

He let it go. He let Shawn go. He thought it would be okay in the morning.

It wasn't.

The phone was just the beginning of Shawn's issues.

At first it was stupid stuff like letting Mrs. Buckman's cat out of her apartment knowing full well it would go straight to the basement and not come out without Mrs. Buckman calling the fire department. The fire department called in animal control, and, in the end, the cat was found back at home under the couch. The whole building was inconvenienced.

The whole building was inconvenienced again when the fire alarm was randomly pulled in the middle of the night a few days later. Jon ended up outside, freezing, in only a pair of sweatpants in early March. Shawn was the only one laughing.

Sarcasm at school ramped up in his class and every other class. The only person he wasn't rude to was Cory and Audrey. Topanga was snapped at for simply existing.

Jon tried to reason with the teen. He tried to talk to him and show him was willing to listen. But Shawn rebuffed him no matter what he tried. The angrier he became with Chet the angrier he became with Jon.

He got busted sneaking out four times.

Jon had to get a lock put on his bedroom door so that Shawn was not able to use his window to get out. He moved the couch in front of the door and slept there.

Language became an issue, with the teen casually cursing at anyone who happened to be near him when he was particularly angry. Which was always.

When Jon lost his temper and used the very same language to express his frustration, Shawn stood back and triumphantly smirked. His intention all along was to force Jon into admitting his own hypocrisy.

And so Shawn was grounded. Again and again

"Just stay firm," Alan had said. "Don't back down or give in. Shawn has to know where the boundaries are and that they won't move."

Jon continued to ground the kid. No TV, no going anywhere but school for any reason. No girls. No phone. No Cory.

No difference.

"Two weeks and every time I catch you breakin' the groundin', I'm addin' another day!" He shouldn't have yelled but he couldn't help it. Shawn had been yelling at him all week.

Shawn responded by slamming his bedroom door so hard it nearly came off the hinges.

Jon called in back up. He had to. What Alan told him to do wasn't helping.

Shawn went back to normal around Audrey as he always did. In fact, he was too normal. He wasn't talking about anything they wanted him to talk about, but he was far more manageable and pleasant to be around. But Jon noticed that Shawn did not seem to realize he was grounded when Audrey was around. It was though everything was just fine.

Everything was not fine.

Shawn decided to begin the next week by running Josiah Martin's shorts up the flagpole. Jon was too angry with him to ask how he got the shorts in the first place.

Mr. Feeny, aware of what Jon was dealing with at home, took over all forms of discipline at school. Shawn spent far more time with him than he did Jon over the course of the next week of punishment.

Nothing changed.

As long as Audrey kept coming over, Shawn didn't care what Jon or Mr. Feeny did to him.

So Audrey stopped coming over.

"I hate you!"

Jon pushed out his lips in a silent o. He knew that was coming. He knew Shawn didn't mean it.

But he still took it to heart. "I hate you" kept him up at night worrying and wondering what to do. He let his frustration with Shawn turn into a morbid fantasy of what he'd do to Chet if he ever got a hold of him.

He'd make Chet Hunter regret everything he ever said or did to the kid.

Jon was stuck. He really needed to talk to Audrey face to face, but he couldn't. She couldn't come over because Shawn was grounded. He couldn't go over to see her because Shawn couldn't be left alone. And he couldn't talk to her at her school because if caught, Feeny would permanently ground him.

A phone call was the best he could do.

"I really don't know what to tell you, Jon," she said morosely. "Just keep doing what you're doing. I'll back you; you know that. But I don't have any more experience with this than you do."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I figured."

A menacing puff of hot air hissed in his ear. He turned to see Shawn glaring at him for being on the phone.

"I wanna talk to her."

"No."

"That's not fair! You're talkin' to her."

"I'm not grounded."

"I hate you."

Shawn stormed off to his room slamming everything he could along the way.

"You hear that?"

"Yes," she sighed. "He doesn't hate you."

"Sure feels like it."

"He's angry with Chet."

"And takes it out on me. I swear, Aud, I'm ready to ban Chet from callin' Shawn. He can write to him, but I don't want him to call!"

"I know."

Jon sat on the couch with the phone against ear not saying anything for almost ten minutes while Audrey tried to encourage him. Then he heard a sound from Shawn's room.

"Oh, no."

"What?"

"He's cryin'. Audrey. What do I do?"

"Go see if he'll talk to you."

Jon never knew what to do with tears. He absolutely hated the manipulative insincere tears of the women he dated when he tried to break up with them. He often ended up caving to their demands.

Sincere tears were worse. Sincere tears came from a place of real emotion. And, for Jon, that was worse than insincere tears. He really didn't know how to appropriately respond to sincere. And Shawn's were sincere.

"Can't you come over and talk to him?"

"You grounded him from me," she gently reminded him.

"I am an idiot," he mumbled under his breath.

"Go on," she said softly. "You can do it."

Jon felt useless. He sat on the edge of the teen's bed as he blubbered into his pillow. Shawn couldn't make any more sense of his feelings than Jon could make sense of what he was saying. Nothing was accomplished.

He sat on the bed until Shawn fell asleep. Then he got up and went to the kitchen and felt even more useless there.

"Shawn, I'm hanging up the phone."

"But why? I need you. Jon is the worst."

"No, he's not," Audrey said sounding slightly exasperated. "He's doing exactly what he's supposed to do. I love you, Shawn. I will see you when your grounding is over. And yes, I'm telling Jon you called."

"Fine."

She hung up before he could say anything else.

He got to her too. Fine. I don't care.

Shawn threw the receiver on his bed and stood with his arms over chest angry at the world. Deep down there was a tiny tickle of guilt. If he paid any attention to it, it would grow until it became uncomfortable. So he did not think about it.

You aren't being fair to Jon.

He's not being fair to me, he huffed.

You were a rude little jerk, and he gave less than you deserved.

He's not my dad!

You want him to be. But at this rate he never will be.

"SHUT UP!" He grabbed his head between his hands and dropped headfirst onto the bed.

He expected Jon to come in and say something to him about being too loud, but he didn't. Shawn sneaked into the living room to see why and discovered Jon asleep on the couch that had been moved in front of the door.

His guardian had been sleeping there for a week and hadn't had a decent night's rest in that time. That guilty little voice whispered in his ear:

That's your fault. He's miserable because of you. Keep this up and he'll hate you as much as you say you hate him.

But I don't hate him, he thought miserably. I just hate the way things are.

Before Shawn could do anything, the phone rang.

Jon didn't move so Shawn dashed to his bedroom and grabbed the phone.

"Audrey?!" he gushed excitedly. He knew she couldn't be away from him for two weeks.

"Audrey?" The voice that greeted him was rough and deep. "You waitin' for that pretty little teacher to call, are you, Shawnie?"

"Dad?" Shawn couldn't hide his disappointment or his concern.

His dad never called twice in one month.

Never.

"Of course, it's Dad, unless your Audrey sounds like this. Then maybe it is her."

Shawn didn't find it as funny as Chet did.

"Is everything okay, Dad?"

"Sure, it is! Why wouldn't it be? You hear somethin'?"

"No. It's just that you called like a week ago. You don't call twice in one month."

"Oh, right. About that, Shawnie," He sounded almost embarrassed by what he had to say. "Look, I just wanted to let you know I'm going after Virna again. Got a hot tip on the trailer. So, uh, I may not be callin' next month."

"Oh."

"So how's my boy doin'?" he asked with a big laugh. "Got those girls eatin' out of your hand like always?"

Shawn flinched. Chet acted like he hadn't had this same conversation with him a week ago. He often accused Jon of not listening to him, but in reality, it was Chet who never listened.

"No," he said puffing his hair out of his eyes. "I'm grounded."

"You're what?"

"Grounded."

"Hunters don't get grounded!"

"Well, this one did."

"Hey, what's Teach's problem?" Chet sounded irritated. "He gettin' tired of you being there or somethin'?"

"Huh?" Shawn wasn't entirely sure of how to answer that. "No. I just, I just got into some trouble."

"So?"

"So, kid messes up, kid gets grounded. That's kinda how it works, Dad."

That's how it's supposed to work. That's what dads like Mr. Matthews do.

"I don't like the sound of this, Shawnie. That's not why I sent you to him. He can give you detention, but he can't ground you."

Shawn didn't understand this logic. "But I live with him, Dad. He has rules. I broke those rules."

I can't believe I'm defendin my groundin'!

"You're my boy and I say you are not grounded. You wanna date. You date. You wanna hang out with Corky, you boys go do whatever."

"It's Cory," he said through gritted teeth. After all the years he and Cory had been friends, his father still couldn't be bothered to get his best friend's name right. "Look, Dad, I've been real hard on Jon lately and I deserve to be grounded. It's only one more week. I'll be fine."

"You listen to me, boy!" Chet roared. "He's not your father! I am! You are not grounded."

"Yeah, okay, fine." Shawn mumbled. He was actually glad his father wasn't nearby at the moment.

"That's my boy," Chet said sounding pleased. "Don't you get so used to that fancy life that you forget you're still a Hunter."

Nobody will let me forget that. Ever.

"Okay."

"I gotta go, Shawnie. Just saw a cop car and they might be lookin for me."

"Yeah," Shawn said not knowing if that was true or just an excuse to end the conversation. "Love you, Dad."

"Yeah, talk to you soon, Shawn."

The dial tone rang in Shawn's ear for a long time after Chet hung up. The teen leaned against the wall of his bedroom feeling numb. Internally, a war waged in his head between his father and Jon. Rules vs. no rules. Dad vs. not Dad. Shawn pushed away from the wall and tried to escape the feelings that overwhelmed him.

When he went out into the living room, he saw Jon still asleep. This wasn't right. Jon should be sleeping in his own bed at night not on the couch in the middle of the afternoon.

Miss Tompkins' words about Jon rearranging his life for him came back and hit him hard. She was right; he had rearranged his life and now he'd rearranged his furniture all because of him. Jon deserved better. The least he could do for the man was follow his rules.

But Chet was his father. And his father had told him that he wasn't grounded.

Jon had done so much for him and given him a taste of what a real family was like. And what a real father was like.

Except that Chet was his real father.

Who couldn't even say "I love you" back.

Shawn rubbed his suddenly watery eyes in anger.

When his vision cleared, he saw Jon again. He couldn't keep disappointing him. But he couldn't go against his dad. So Shawn determined to do the only thing he knew to do so that he wouldn't have to choose between them.

He was going to move in with Audrey.

Jon was still asleep.

It had taken Shawn almost 30 minutes to get the stuff he was going to take with him and shove it into his bookbag. Choices had to be made on what went with him, so everything school related was left behind.

As he passed by the table where the phone sat, he cast a guilty look at his teacher. He didn't really want to leave Jon, but he was deeply worried that Jon was getting sick of him and was close to sending him back to the Matthews. If someone was going to leave, he wanted to be the one to go.

The worst part was that he couldn't explain why he did what he did to be such a problem for his teacher. When he got angry, he just took it out on whoever happened to be around. It was easier to do around Jon. With Audrey, he couldn't do it. He didn't want to disappoint her.

Shawn sighed quietly. He really didn't want to disappoint Jon either; but he had done so almost the moment he moved in with the man. At least with Audrey he had a fresh start.

He took an envelope out of his jacket pocket and put it by the phone. Then he headed to Jon's room to pick the lock on the door.

It's not like I'll never see Jon again, he told himself. Jon'll come over to Audrey's just like she came over here. It'll be better too. We won't have to worry about anyone stopping by unannounced.

He was pretty sure that only he and Jon knew where she lived.

The lock was so easy to pick, Shawn wondered what the point of it was. He closed the door, locked it, and headed out the window. Then he headed to Audrey's.

Going to Audrey's was a lot easier when he went there in Jon's truck. Or on the rare occasion when they took his bike. It was a lot closer too with the truck.

Shawn put his bag on his back properly and kept walking. And walking. After twenty minutes, he had the sinking feeling he was going in the wrong direction. He stopped and tried to get his bearings, but he didn't know where he was in relation to where Audrey lived. There was a deli nearby, so he headed in there to ask for directions. He was informed that he was now an hour away from where he wanted to be. Shawn did not appreciate being laughed at by the man behind the counter and tipped over his take-a-number machine on his way out.

He was stuck now and running out of time to get to Audrey before Jon came looking for him. The bus was a possibility, but he didn't bring any of Jon's money with him because he didn't think he would need it. Grumbling all the way, Shawn headed home to reevaluate his plan. Naturally, the heavens opened and began to pour just before he reached the apartment. The sudden storm fit his mood quite well.

Jon's room was still dark when he finally reached the window and pulled himself into the bedroom. He was cold and weighed down by his soaked clothes. It was not easy to walk silently across a wood floor when his shoes squeaked.

Just as his hand touched the doorknob, a light behind him suddenly turned on. Shawn jumped and spun around.

"Boo!"

Jon stood by the lamp on the end table by his bed. The light cast ominous shadows onto his face. He was less than three feet from where Shawn came in through the window.

Anger flared in teen as though it was Jon who'd been caught sneaking in.

"Didn't make it to Audrey's, huh?" Jon asked sardonically. "You take a wrong turn or somethin'?"

Shawn glared at him.

"No!" he snapped defensively.

"Really? 'Cause you left the wrong letter." He held up an envelope addressed to Audrey.

Shawn came close to a face-palm moment. He subverted it by turning and kicking the doorframe. As soon as he did that, a strong hand grabbed the back of his jacket and hauled him into the living room.

Jon was livid.

Shawn felt worse than when he left. As his teacher yelled at him, the teen realized that it was imperative he move in with Audrey. If he didn't, Jon would decide that he did want to make the two of them and Audrey a permanent situation anymore.

"…And I'm not signin' the permission slip for you to go to the Science Center on Friday."

"What!?" For the first time Shawn heard what he was saying.

Don't say it, Hunter! Shut up and let him yell.

"That's not fair!"

"Are you kiddin' me!?"

"It's a school trip. You can't ground me from that. It's for a grade!"

"Wanna bet I can't? You can stay with Feeny and do the assignment usin' a book instead of hands-on experience."

The look of disgust on Jon's face when he turned away startled Shawn.

Wait to go, stupid. He's one step closer to giving you to Audrey and leaving you both. She'll hate you if that happens.

Shawn was miserable and he didn't bother to hide it. Cory and Topanga both worried over him. Cory worried over why he was doing what he did. Topanga worried about what he did.

It had been two days since he tried to walk to Audrey's. During that time, he had taken time to really plan out his next move. He had his stuff with him and some of Jon's money and he'd plotted out his route down to the minute.

There was no way he could mess up getting to Audrey's this time.

He chose Wednesday to make his escape. Audrey was not in class that afternoon; she was with her advisor. That meant Shawn would be set up at her place long before she got home. Then she would not have the heart to send him back to Jon.

His last class for the day was study hall. At exactly 2:30, he asked to go to the bathroom. He went straight to his locker, got his bookbag, and headed through the doors of John Adams High into the street. He was long gone before word got back to Jon that he skipped class.

Shawn knew his way around the local bus station well. He'd slept there on numerous occasions over the years and previously bought a ticket out of Philly there. He sighed as he looked around the building. The last time he'd been here, he was heading to Paris. Jon showed up and took him home.

Jon wouldn't be picking him today.

He ran his hands through his hair and made his way up to the counter.

The woman behind the counter smiled at him. "Headed back to Paris?"

Shawn smiled. She was the one who sold him his ticket to Europe. "Not this time, May. I'm headed to my mom's."

"Oh, nice. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you. Where does she live?"

Shawn gave her the paper with Audrey's address on it.

May studied the address then looked back at the teen. "Are you sure this is right?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "How much for a ticket?"

"I can't get you a ticket for Meadow Woods."

"Why not?"

"City buses don't run out of here. You can get a bus to Paris, but not Meadow Woods." At his heartbroken expression, May gently told him, "There's a city bus stop just down the street. You probably passed it when you came in."

"Yeah, thanks."

You are such an idiot, Hunter. Can't you do anything right?

Shawn sat at the bus stop feeling discouraged. All he wanted was to live with Audrey so that Jon wouldn't hate him.

The bus came. Of course, he didn't have the right change and had to get some at the bus station. By the time he got back, that bus was gone, and he had to wait for the next one to come.

It was getting late by the time the bus arrived and he was getting tired. The bumping and rumbling of the vehicle made it hard to stay awake. Just a brief time after he got on, someone was shaking him awake.

Audrey!

The bus driver looked irritated.

"Last stop. Time to get off."

"Great!" Shawn jumped up and ran off the bus.

He had no idea where he was. Nothing looked familiar. This couldn't be near Audrey's house!

"Hey, wait!" He managed to flag the bus driver down before he left.

The bus door hissed open. "What, kid?"

"Where is this?"

"Devon," the driver responded wearily.

"Devon?" Shawn groaned. Devon was twenty minutes outside of Philadelphia.

"I thought this bus went to Meadow Woods in Philly."

"No, kid. You had to make a transfer a long way back."

"Where are you goin now?"

"Home, kid. And so should you."

After the bus left, Shawn screamed as loud as he could and scared a couple of cats out of a trash can.

Jon was furious that he had to drive out to Devon to pick Shawn up. He didn't say a word to him all the way home. He just glared at the road and muttered under his breath.

Shawn tried not to cry.

He was going back to the Matthews. He just knew it. They'd probably send him to foster care where he'd get lost in the system.

By the time they made it home, Jon was talking. Sort of. He was mumbling much louder anyway.

He marched into Shawn's room and began to take everything out. Shawn was terrified as he watched, afraid that those things would be thrown out of the window next; his mom had done that to his dad's stuff more than once.

"All right," Jon growled when he was done. "You get a bed and your clothes and your schoolbooks. Nothin' and I mean nothin' else. You got a bunch of books from me you've never read and you're gonna read them now. Three chapters a night and you're gonna give me an oral book report every night before bed."

It was a punishment they both came to regret. Shawn hated the books he had to read, and Jon hated the reports he had to listen to.

Shawn tried again on Friday.

Mr. Feeny released him from his office as soon as the field trip bus returned, but Jon didn't let him out of his sight and took him straight home. He didn't even let him say goodbye to Audrey or Cory.

At home, Jon parked himself on the couch in front of the door. Shawn sat at the kitchen table chewing on his pencil instead of doing the homework he was supposed to be doing. His teacher had tried to get him to talk about what was going on yesterday, but Shawn found it impossible to talk to him. It wasn't Jon's fault; he just didn't know how to put into words what the problem was. If he started talking and didn't make sense, Jon would ask questions that he couldn't answer. So, Shawn figured, it was better not to talk. Then he wouldn't get frustrated with himself, and Jon wouldn't think he was hiding anything.

At 5 pm, the phone rang. From the look on Jon's face, he thought maybe his dad had called.

Oh no! He never told Jon about his dad's second call.

Oh, wait! His dad was Chet Hunter and wouldn't call for a third time in a month

Shawn slumped in his chair and pushed his paper away.

As soon as Jon finished the call, he immediately dialed another number. It was to Mr. Matthews.

Shawn froze. Jon was asking Mr. Matthews to come and pick him up.

This was it. Shawn felt sick to his stomach.

I did it, he thought in despair. I made Jon so sick of me, he's sendin' me back to the Matthews. He hates me.

"Shawn," Jon grabbed his leather jacket from its hook by the door. "There's an issue at school. Mr. Feeny's called an emergency faculty meeting. Alan is comin' over to get you. You better stay put. Do you understand me?"

Shawn stared at him.

Jon gave him a funny look. "Hunter, you look sick. What's wrong with you?"

The teen shrugged.

"Did you understand what I said?"

"Yeah, don't move."

"You better not."

As Jon left, Shawn put his head down on the table and fought back tears.

That was a close call. Too close. He had to get to Audrey before the next call to Mr. Matthews was the last one.

It didn't seem to matter if he planned his escape or not, something always went wrong so Shawn decided to wing this attempt. He grabbed his stuff and headed out the door.

Hitchhiking.

That was his idea and he figured it would be pretty hard to mess this one up.

Shawn stood on the curb of the main street of the apartment complex, trying to flag down a car. No one stopped. A few slowed down to look him over then sped past.

He turned his back to the street and began to kick at the curb in frustration. It seemed the entire world was against him getting to Audrey.

After a while he decided to try once again. Almost immediately a Ford Econoline pulled up in front of him. Once white, it was now covered in grime and rust. The blacked out back windows appeared to be streaked with fingerprints and there was a padlock on the outside of the back of the van.

The side door slowly creaked open and Shawn found himself staring into the unblinking black eyes of a very unpleasant looking man. Three others got out on the other side of the vehicle.

Instantly, every episode of Unsolved Mysteries he ever watched came back to haunt him and Robert Stacks' voice began to narrate the story of his demise in his head. Shawn took off running back to the apartment, leaving four very confused house painters behind.

When Jon came to pick him up from the Matthews' house, Alan was baffled by Shawn's behavior that night.

"I'm telling you, Jon, I think he's sick," Alan told the English Lit teacher as he walked them to the door. "I got to your place and Shawn was in his room reading one of your books. He brought it with him and has sat on that," he pointed to the couch, "all night without moving."

Jon gave the teen a worried look. "Listen, Shawn, if you're gettin' sick, tell me now. Let's not go through another round of you not tellin' me you don't feel good for three weeks."

Later that night, Shawn lay in bed staring up at the ceiling feeling like a complete and total failure. Normally, sneaking out and making it to his destination was his forte. He had been so good at it. Now he couldn't even do that right. He blamed Jon and his rules for sapping the life out of one of the few skills he had.

Still, he couldn't let go of the idea of living with Audrey. He just knew that would solve all their problems. And Jon would follow through with his promise to make them a permanent thing.

But how could he get to her?

The bike…

Shawn sat up abruptly.

"What?"

Take the bike.

Shawn hated his inner voice sometimes. For every good idea it had, it had a hundred bad ones.

This was one of the worst.

"I can't take the bike. Jon loves his Harley." Jon once told him that the bike was the first thing he ever worked for. It took him years to save for it.

He loves it more than you, that's for sure.

"No, he doesn't," he breathed quietly to no one.

Yes. He does.

"No."

Audrey loves you. She wants you. Take the bike.

"I'll take the truck."

Stupid, you can't drive the truck.

True. He wasn't in Driver's Ed yet. The Harley would be easier to handle, he reasoned.

Shawn didn't want to take the bike, but he was out of options.

His opportunity to get Jon's bike came on Friday night. Instead of Audrey coming over like she usually did, Jon made him do chores. One of those chores was taking the trash to the dumpster. The dumpster wasn't far from the parking lot where Jon's bike and truck were stored.

Shawn dumped the trash and, after making sure he wasn't being watched, made his way over to the Harley. He looked down at the motorcycle and ran a finger over the pristine shimmering paint of the front fender.

Can I really do this to Jon?

He put a leg over the seat and sat on the bike. He could barely get both feet to touch the ground.

What if I wreck it?

If he was going to do this, he had to stop thinking about it or he'd talk himself out of it. Reminding himself why he was doing this, he leaned forward slightly and gripped the handlebars.

Now what?

Shawn closed his eyes and visualized every time he'd watched Jon start the bike. Keeping his eyes closed, he followed what he saw Jon do.

He squeezed the clutch with his left hand and pulled in the front brake with his right. With his right thumb, he pushed the start button.

He sat there for 10 seconds. 20 seconds. 30 seconds.

Shawn opened one eye.

Nothing was happening.

He frowned and closed his eyes again. This time he focused extra hard.

He pulled in the clutch and the right brake and pushed the button. This time he tried the throttle.

Nothing.

Shawn opened his eyes and frowned. He stared at the components of the bike, trying to figure out what he was overlooking.

Can you kick start a Harley?

He looked down at his feet and found what looked like might be the kick-pedal.

He gave it a slow kick.

Nothing.

He gave it a harder kick.

Nothing.

He stood up and kicked it.

Nothing.

Frustration was growing quickly with each fruitless kick.

Nothing was happening.

Nothing was going right.

Shawn tried every combination of clutch-throttle-brake-kick he could come up with.

Nothing.

He did it all over again while bouncing on the bike.

Nothing.

It was all he could do not to scream.

"I wish you were here to see this, Aud. This is hysterical."

Jon had gone down to the alley to see what was taking Shawn so long with the trash. Unfortunately, he couldn't trust Shawn not to take off. When he saw what Shawn was trying to do, he went straight to the pay phone across from the parking lot and called Audrey.

"He keeps kicking the kick-start like it's gonna make a difference," he chuckled, thoroughly enjoying watching Shawn's antics. "I can't believe he hasn't figured out what the problem is!"

"How long are you going to let him do that?" she asked amusedly.

"I dunno. Until I get tired of watchin' him or he gets tired of tryin' to start it."

"I hope he doesn't damage the bike."

"Nah, he won't do-"Jon stopped in the middle of his sentence as he watched Shawn jump off the bike, pick his foot off the ground, and pull it back. He dropped the phone and left Audrey hanging.

"Hey! Hunter!" Jon shouted as he ran over to the teen. "You better not do what it looks like you're gonna do! You better not kick my bike!"

Shawn jumped and guilty moved away from the motorcycle. He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground.

Jon studied him for a moment. There was a strange look on his face. He looked angry, but he also looked close to tears.

Shawn couldn't take the silence. He didn't understand why Jon wasn't yelling. He sneaked a peak at his teacher then stared at the ground again. "So what's it gonna be this time? Scrubbing the floor with my toothbrush? Three more weeks being grounded?"

Jon watched him for a moment longer then shrugged. "Sure, we can do that."

Shawn looked up at him with a frown.

"Or you could tell me why you're tryin' so hard to get to Audrey."

"I don't know," he said dejectedly.

"You don't?"

Shawn dug his toe into the gravel of the parking lot and shrugged.

"If you talk to me," Jon said, taking a step towards him. "I'll ask Audrey to come over tomorrow."

Shawn stared at him. "You mean it?"

Jon nodded.

"Dad called."

"Yeah, I know. And I know that it upsets you that he's out there doin' whatever instead of being here with you."

Shawn shook his head. "He called again."

"Again?"

"You were asleep."

"Oh? What'd he say?"

"He asked what was goin' on and I told him I was grounded. He told me that you couldn't ground me because you aren't my dad."

"I see." Leave it to Chet to manage to undermine him even when he rarely called and wasn't around.

"He said I wasn't grounded. I should do what I want."

Jon folded his arms across his stomach. "And what you wanted to do was take off? Shawn, are you that unhappy with me?"

"No! I just…" how could he make Jon understand what was going through his head.

"All right," Jon took him by the arm. "Just calm down. Why do you want to live with Audrey so bad if you aren't unhappy with me?

Shawn looked him in the eyes and was surprised to see that he looked worried rather than angry.

"I just thought," he said uncertainly, "that if I lived with Audrey, you wouldn't send me back to the Matthews. And you know they don't want me, not really."

Jon was just little bit hurt that Shawn thought this. He'd honestly thought they'd come far enough that Shawn was confident that he'd never kick him out.

"Sendin' you back to the Matthews never once crossed my mind."

Shawn gave him a skeptical look. "It didn't?"

"No, Shawn," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I was at my wit's end on what to do with you. I know you're angry with you dad- so am I! But you can't go actin' out the way you were just because you're angry. I would be letting you down in the worst way if I just let you do whatever."

Do whatever. That's what Dad told me to do. Whatever.

Shawn blinked back tears.

That's not what fathers should tell their kids. Do whatever.

Do I want whatever or do I want a dad?

He let go of the breath he was holding. "I'm sorry."

Jon stared at the kid for a long while, caught off guard by the apology. Then he put his arm around Shawn's shoulders and pulled him over to him. "Apology accepted."

Shawn was still extremely tense and looked miserable.

"Somethin's still botherin' you."

The teen stared at the motorcycle, before hesitantly asking, "I've been in a lot of trouble. I don't blame you if you don't wanna make the, you know, family thing permanent."

Jon pursed his lips together. The family thing. He was the one who mentioned that. Shawn had caused him a lot of sleepless nights lately. But if, for some reason, the kid was no longer under his roof, he knew he'd be unlikely to sleep again. The only way to ensure his rest was to make things permanent.

"Shawn," he inhaled deeply, "You've been a pain in the butt lately, but I get it. I really do. And I want the three of us to be a family. Legal and everything."

Shawn let out a deep sigh of relief. He put his hands over his face for a moment, then he nodded. "I'll try harder."

"So will I."

Jon pulled him into a side hug and they stood in front of the bike for several minutes before Shawn said, "I think your bike is broken."

Jon chuckled and reached into his pocket. He dangled his keychain in front of the teenager.

"I think you forgot the key."

Shawn stared with mouth agape at the key for the Harley, embarrassed that it never occurred to him that a key would be necessary.

"Are you kiddin' me!" he blurted out in disbelief.

Jon laughed and pulled him away from the bike. With his arm still around the teen, he said,

"C'mon, let's go call Audrey and ask her to come over tonight."

Shawn gave him a smirk. "So I'm ungrounded?"

"Oh, no, you're still grounded. Just not from Audrey. "

"Okay, cool." He grinned feeling victorious that he'd at least gotten some of his grounding lifted.

Jon saw the look and told him, "There's a bathroom that needs to be cleaned and I gotta toothbrush with your name on it."

Shawn opened his mouth then closed it. He gave Jon a sideways look. "You aren't serious."

"Wanna bet?"

Whether he was serious or not, didn't matter. He'd do whatever Jon told him to do.

Shawn followed Jon back to the apartment, feeling almost weak with relief. Jon always got weird when the subject of marriage and adoption came up and didn't like to directly address these issues. This always left Shawn in doubt about how Jon really felt about him and Audrey. Especially him. But to hear Jon say he wanted to make things legal, eased Chet's absence and the fact that he was unlikely return. It also made it easier to let him go.

As they walked through the apartment entrance, Shawn looked back at the parking lot and slapped a hand over his face.

I can't believe I forgot the key!