Disclaimer: All Drake & Josh characters copyright their proper owners. I just wrote this.

Chapter Five: What Are You Doing Here?

Drake sat down in science Monday afternoon. He was almost late, but he'd gotten there before their teacher, so he was fine.

"Right on time, huh?" Christine asked.

"Yep," Drake replied.

Christine smiled and shook her head. Their teacher, Mr. Danworth, walked into the room.

"Okay, class," he began. "There's a lot I need to tell you today because we're going to be starting our projects." Everyone in the class began to groan. Many people who got Mr. Danworth tried to get out of his class because of the semester projects. Christine hadn't been at Belleview long enough to know, and Drake hadn't cared since he didn't do much work anyway, so they both stayed. Meanwhile, Josh and Mindy stayed because they loved projects. "I know, I know. You'll be working in groups of four. First, each of you will choose a partner, and then I'll pair up two partners with two other partners to make the groups. You have thirty seconds to find a partner. Go."

"Hello partner," Drake said, looking at Christine.

"Drake, you'd better do work on this..."

"I will," Drake replied. "Don't worry. Do you really think I'd let you down?"

"When it comes to school work, I have no idea whether to trust you on that one or not."

"Gee, thanks. Fine. I promise I'll do work."

"Okay," Christine replied. She turned in the other direction to put away the flier Michelle gave her about the academic team.

"I'd do anything for you," Drake said quietly.

"Okay," said Mr. Danworth. "Time's up. Anyone not have a partner? Good. I'll put the pairs together now. Okay, let's see...Josh and Mindy, there's a surprise, with John and Sarah. Mark and Tom with Paul and Jessie. Hmm. Drake and Christine with Eric and Craig."

"Eric and Craig?" Christine asked, looking over at Drake.

"At least we'll get a good grade," Drake replied.

"But they act like a married couple," Christine said. "I'm convinced they've got something going on."

"Christine..." Drake said.

"They went to Niagra Falls together."

"Okay. Good point."

"Now," said Mr. Danworth, continuing his explanation after matching up everyone else. "You need to give me your project proposals by Friday. "If I don't get them by then, that's ten points off of your final grade. You may choose any topic we are covering this semester, whether it's gravity, inertia, whatever you decide." He began passing out sheets of paper. "These are the guidelines. They will tell you what you need and how much each portion of the project is worth. You may get into your groups and began discussing what you would like to do for your project."

There was a lot of noise as everyone moved around to get into their groups. Eric and Craig made their way over to Drake and Christine.

"What would you two like to do the project on?" Craig asked.

"Craig and I can't seem to decide between torque and inertia," Eric said.

"Huh?" asked Drake.

"Let's back those steam engines up a little bit," Christine said. "Why don't we choose something we've heard of rather than the complicated stuff that appears second semester?"

"Well, what's the fun in that?" asked Eric.

"How about we do our project on forces?" Christine offered. "It shouldn't get too difficult, but I'm sure you two will find something enjoyable in it."

"Okay," Craig replied.

"Torque has to do with force," Eric said. Christine looked at him, irritated.

"We're not doing our project on torque!"

Drake tossed his book bag in his bedroom after school the following Monday. They'd turned in their project proposal the Thursday before, so for once, Drake had done something early. He'd had Thursday night to goof off as normal. However, he'd actually done something. It felt good to accomplish something. Not to the point where he wanted to do it every day, but it felt okay. He made his way back down the stairs and paused at the sight on the sofa. He'd done this some months ago when Christine first came back. However, this time, he wasn't happy to see who was sitting on the sofa.

"What are you doing here?" Drake asked.

"Thank you for the warm welcome," Ford replied.

Drake just stood there staring at the man. What was he doing here? He had to have a reason or he wouldn't fly across the country just to see him. No, he had to have a reason.

"I'm waiting for an answer," Drake stated a bit coldly. He continued to stare at the man who was supposed to have been his father, but he ran away instead of accepting the responsibility that even though he no longer had a wife, he still had a son and a daughter who would need him.

Ford stared back at Drake with the same expression. Neither one heard the front door open or saw Megan walk through the door. She froze at the sight. Drake staring coldly at a man. Not just any man. She'd barely known him since she'd only been six when her parents divorced, but she could still remember who he was.

"Why are you here?" she asked timidly. Both Drake and Ford looked a bit startled as they realized Megan had entered the room.

"I'm here to make things right," Ford said.

So he gives her an answer, Drake thought. Then again, it wasn't very straight-forward. "What the hell are you doing here?" Drake asked again.

"Did you not just hear..." Ford began.

"I heard clearly. What do you think needs to be made right?"

"You walked away before I could..."

"You ran away from me first. You ended it, not me."

"Drake..." Ford started.

"What? You gonna send me to my room? I'm sorry, only my dad can do that."

"Would you both stop it?" Megan yelled. There were tears running down her face. She turned and ran up the stairs and into her bedroom. Drake and Ford heard a door slam.

"Well, I guess that's..." Ford started again. But Drake wasn't listening. He was already halfway up the stairs. "Where are you going? We're not finished."

Drake whipped back around. By now he was furious.

"No. We're finished for now. Right now, Megan needs me." Drake turned back around and continued his way upstairs. The nerve of that guy coming back to San Diego. What was there for him here? He had run away and hadn't spoken to anyone for six years. Did he think suddenly returning would make everything better? Some perfect year.

"Megan?" Drake said, knocking on her door.

"What do you want?" Megan asked. It was obvious she was crying, but she didn't want Drake to know that.

"Megan, can I come in?" Drake asked.

"Fine," came the voice from the other side of the door. Drake sighed and opened it. Megan was sitting on her bed, hugging a bear. He'd never seen her like this. She looked small and vulnerable. Drake sat down on the bed next to her.

"What's the matter Megan?"

"You should know."

"Megan!"

"He at least talked to you for a little while. He never even tried with me. How do you think I feel?"

Drake hadn't considered that. She was right. Ford had been wrong to completely slam the door on his daughter's life without even getting to know her at all.

"I'm sorry, Megan," Drake said. He pulled her into a hug. "I don't know why he did the things he did. He's not a part of our lives anymore, though. Not even mine. Walter is our dad now. You know that. He's helped Mom take good care of us. He's been better than Ford ever was. We're in this together. We've both been left without him for years. I don't know why he's here. I don't know what he expects. It'll be okay though. I promise."

Back downstairs, Audrey was arguing with Ford.

"I told you it wouldn't be good for the kids to just walk in and see you," Audrey said.

"I think I know how to handle our kids Audrey," Ford replied.

"I thought you should have let me talk to my kids before they saw you, but you wouldn't listen."

"Audrey..."

"You should probably go now. My husband will be home soon."

"So that's how it's going to be?"

"Look, I'll talk to Drake and Megan. I can't guarantee they'll be happy that you're in town after this. Drake will be eighteen soon. Soon it will be his choice to see you. You can't make a court force him to do that, but don't you dare try to do that to Megan. Not after you left without trying to maintain a relationship with her."

"Who said I was going to take this to the courts? Now I see where Drake gets it from. I'm leaving. Let our kids know I'm around." With that, Ford left.

Audrey stared at the door. She could not believe him. Coming back after six years? What did he expect to prove? What did he expect to happen?

Drake and Megan came down the stairs. Audrey looked over at her children. Her children. That was another thing that bothered her. Ford kept saying "our" kids. How could he say that? He hadn't spoken with either of them in six years, except for Drake's little trip to New York last spring.

"Mom," Drake said. "Why is he here?"

"I don't know," Audrey replied. "I didn't want you to find out that way. He didn't even call. He just showed up. I'm not happy about it. I wanted to talk to you both first to see what you wanted to do, but he wouldn't listen. I think you gave him quite a blast from the past when you went to New York last spring, Drake."

"I didn't think he'd come back here," Drake responded. "He just didn't seem to care."

"Megan," Audrey began. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mommy," she replied.

Drake glanced down at her. She was not fine. He didn't know what she wanted, but he knew she wasn't fine. She hated what was happening.

"I'll think about talking to him again," Drake said.

"I will too," Megan agreed.

"That's all I'm going to ask of you two," Audrey replied.

A/N: Yep, he came back. Where am I going with it this time? You'll see. By the way, anyone who's had physics knows torque can be a pain. At least it was for me and the people in my class in eleventh grade. As always, please review.