Continuing the story and I realize that it's early. Enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen: Draw the Line

Shane walked over to where Anya had walked in. He stood off about ten feet from her and saluted her. Anya looked at her son darkly.

"That's not necessary…"

"It's good to see you again Captain McPherson." Shane stated in a clear voice. "I'm sure that you're here to see me."

"That's not funny." Anya continued.

"It's not supposed to be funny Captain." Shane replied. "I'm showing you respect like I always do."

Owen walked in the door; watching the whole beginning. "How did you expect him to react Anya? He barely sees you and when he does; he spends his time with the enlisted."

"That's not true!" Anya turned to Owen. "I spend plenty of time with him."

"That's incorrect Ma'am." Shane commented. "The last time I was there was over a year ago for a weekend. I saw you for about five minutes before you received a phone call and had to leave. I ended up working in the Motorpool with Sergeant Benson. He ushered me back to your home that evening. I then spent most of Saturday in the gym with the recruits and non-comms. I ate with them and did workouts with them." Shane took a breath. "Should I continue Ma'am?"

Anya had looked at the other students in the room. Alyson, Ronnie and Gabe had moved closer to Shane. "I don't think this is something that we should discuss this now."

"Might as well mother." Shane growled in frustration. "These are my friends. These are the people that I was trying to help. Of course I can understand that if you don't understand that concept."

"Shane…" Owen looked at his son. "That was a bit much."

"So what?" Shane shot daggers at Anya while talking to him. "Dad; if it wasn't for you and Uncle Tristan and his school friends helping out in those first years, I'm not sure what would have happened with her! It's bad enough that I would have probably been more of a 'army brat' than I am now!"

"Dude, come on." Gabe placed a friendly hand on his shoulder.

Shane pulled away. "No Gabe; she needs to hear this."

"No." Ronnie this time had grabbed one of his hands and looked him in the eyes. "There's no reason to make a scene. She's your mom and I think that you should talk to her, not yell."

Shane looked at his friends. They actually wanted to help him. Shane nodded and took a couple steps before stopping in front of the doors. He turned back to his parents.

"I'm sorry for my words dad." He looked towards Anya. "If you wanted to know; I was actually trying to break up a fight, not get involved." The four friends walked out of the door.

They walked towards the front doors. They didn't say much to each other. They stopped in front of the mural that was opposite the front doors and sat down. Shane took in a deep breath.

"That was hard to do."

Gabe smiled at him. "I was trying to save a friend from making a huge mistake."

"You're a good man Gabriel."

Gabe shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I'm just trying to leave a door open for you to talk."

Alyson chimed in. "It's that new leaf thing that you've been trying. You know, the thing where you're not that much of a dick."

"This coming from the girl that broke a girl's nose and tried to separate her shoulder?"

Alyson blushed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Shane laughed. "Sure you don't." He noticed that his hand was still in Ronnie's.

"Did you mean what you said?"

Shane sighed. "Of course I did. Ronnie; you guys have been slowly changing me from an asshole to somewhat of a nice guy." Shane grinned as he continued. "Granted not as much of a nice guy as your brother. I still have a reputation of a jock to keep up."

Gabe shook his head with a grin on his face. Alyson laughed at this. Even Ronnie's laugh chimed in. Shane rubbed Ronnie's hand. She had blushed at this. Alyson looked at the front desk and noticed some of the parents.

"Mom's here." Alyson groaned. "I'm dead."

Gabe smiled. "Want me to be your human shield?"

"Please?"

This caused some laughter with the foursome. Gabe got up; stopping momentarily to whisper something to Shane. Shane looked at his friend; to which Gabe just nodded. He stood up; taking Alyson's hand in his.

"See you at practice after school?" Gabe asked.

Shane nodded. "Sure man. See you in the gym. I'm looking forward to see what you got."

Gabe nodded. He turned to his sister. "You're in luck. Dad's here instead of mom. Take a minute or two to collect yourself. I'll stall for you." With that; the couple walked down towards the parents, Alyson a little behind Gabe.

"Oh god, what am I going to do?" Ronnie asked, panic settling in.

"Deep breath first and foremost." Shane said. "Just tell the truth about what happened."

Alyson looked at Shane. "I can't do this alone."

Shane looked back at her. "This one; you're going to have to. The first one is the one that sucks. As long as you tell the truth; you'll be fine."

Ronnie stood up and took a deep breath. "What about you?"

"Huh?" Shane looked up confused.

"What about your parents?" She looked at him. "What are you going to do about them?"

Shane sighed. "I'll make a deal with you. If you go and talk to your parents and you're honest with them about what happened; I'll go talk to mine and see what I can work out."

"Shake on it?" Ronnie asked, hand out to him. Shane smiled and shook her hand. Ronnie smiled and leaned down; kissing Shane on the cheek.

"Thank you for being there for me." She blushed as she walked away.

He watched her walk away. Shane took a breath. "Hey Veronica."

Ronnie turned around, still blushing. She looked at him curiously.

"If you're not grounded this weekend; do you want to catch a movie or something?"

Ronnie blushed even deeper. She nodded as she walked towards the front where her dad was. She was stopped by two women that she knew as her mom's friends.

"Hi honey." Manny hugged her goddaughter. "I'm so sorry that Juliette has been picking on you. I'll talk to her."

"I'll talk to Elizabeth too." Holly J. hugged her after Manny. "I know that high school's rough. I'll try to get her to leave her alone."

"Auntie J; I want to apologize for fighting with Liz." Ronnie sighed. "I didn't break her nose, but I gave her a black eye."

"She has a broken nose?" Holly J. asked.

Ronnie nodded. "Juliette broke her nose when Liz was trying to get her back on her side."

Manny looked at Holly J. "I can pay for the doctor's bill."

Holly J. shook her head. "No don't worry about it. I hate to say it about my own daughter, but I think she had it coming. It's fine Manny."

Holly J. and Manny left and went to talk to their own children. She turned and faced her father. She took a deep breath and faced him.

"Hi dad."

Spinner stood there with his arms crossed. He sighed at his only daughter. Instead of yelling at her, he held his arms out.

"Come here little one." Spinner pulled her into a hug. Ronnie had tears in her eyes as she hugged her father. "Why didn't you tell us what was going on?"

Ronnie looked up to her father. "I was ashamed dad. I thought that I could handle it."

Spinner looked at his son. "Don't you have a class to get to?"

Gabe looked at Spinner in surprise. "Yeah I think so. I'll see you later dad." He turned to his little sister. "Stay out of trouble and I'll see you after practice." With that, Gabe disappeared down the hallway.

Spinner led his daughter to the front door and took a seat at the benches that were there. He looked at her and smiled. "When I got the call, I was just about to walk out the door for work. I have Lucas covering for me until I get there."

"We can talk later." Ronnie said in a hopeful voice. Spinner looked at her; she knew that this would not be the case.

"I'm going to talk to you now." Spinner put his arm around her shoulder. "I would rather say what I need to now. I'll forget it later."

He sighed as he continued. "When I got the call from Darcy about a fight at school; I was so angry. I had told your brother about fighting in school. When I was told that you were in the fight; I was overcome with a bunch of emotions."

"Really?"

Spinner nodded. "Well yeah. It's not every day that your little girl finished a fight. I have to admit that I'm slightly proud of you."

Ronnie looked at her father in surprise. She was about to speak when Spinner held his hand up.

"Let me finish." Ronnie nodded as he continued. "I'm proud that you can handle yourself if you need to. I'm also proud that you can finish a fight that you technically didn't start. That's the good news."

"I knew it." Ronnie groaned.

Spinner smiled. "Yeah that's the good part. The bad is that I'm upset and disappointed that you didn't come to your mom or me about this. Gabe had talked to me in the last month or so about what was going on."

Ronnie was about to yell out, but Spinner stopped her again. She fell silent.

"He didn't know what was going on, but looked into it. He felt that, as your older brother that he needed to make sure that things were okay. He told me and mom in confidence. We talked about it and decided that when you came to us; we would handle it. You never came to us. You handled it and up until now; you were able to keep things in line. I take it that you hit your breaking point?"

Ronnie nodded. "I was just having a bad day. I heard all of these people gossiping about me and I kind of lost it. When I had the two people bullying me and an innocent party confronted me, well I just had enough."

Spinner nodded. "I can relate. Mom would too in this case. I don't like the way you went on about it, but for now things are they way they are." He turned and looked at his daughter. "When it happens again; you come to us and talk to us. We'll handle it like a family."

"Thanks daddy." Ronnie hugged her father. He hugged her back.

"Anytime kiddo." He broke the hug. "The good news is that you're not in trouble. This was your one 'get out of jail' card. The bad news is that you have to tell your mom when she gets home from court. She'll be home by seven."

"Can't you tell her for me?" Ronnie asked pouting.

Spinner shook his head. "She already knows that you're going to talk to her about what happened here today. I didn't tell her about what."

"So I could still be grounded?"

"That's up to her. I told her that I would stand by her decision."

Ronnie slumped her shoulders. "Great."

"I think for a first offense; you'll be okay." Spinner laughed. "Emily will get your homework for you and will have it for you. She'll bring it over on Wednesday after school."

"Wednesday?"

"Hey, it's a reprieve. You'll have plenty of time to work on it on the days that you don't have school." Spinner stood up. "C'mon kiddo; let's get you home." The two got up and started for the doors. Ronnie looked to where Shane was sitting. She gave him thumbs up as they went out the door. Shane returned the gesture as he stood up.

Shane sighed to himself as he walked towards the cafeteria. He looked through the door and noticed that his mother was crying and his dad was holding her.

"It's okay babe. He didn't mean it. He's just mad."

Anya sobbed. "My only child hates me. He's partially right; I don't know him."

"You were deployed babe!" Owen stated. "He doesn't know what you went through. All of the therapy. I only know what you told me."

"After he was born, I should have made it a point to just stay on this side of things."

"You were here for the first two years." Owen pulled her closer. "I didn't exactly make things easy on you either."

"Owen; that's water under the bridge." Anya sighed, wiping her eyes. "Maybe if we'd gotten married like we wanted to."

"That's your call too." Owen smiled. "I still feel all of that love that I did then. I guess I never stopped loving you."

Anya pulled back a bit. "Really?"

"Well yeah. I guess that's why that I'm so protective of Shane. He's the closest person that I have that reminds me of you." Anya lightly laughed, causing Owen to smile. "He really is a good kid. You just have to get past all of the parts that are me."

Anya rolled her eyes. "Oh great, so I'll get to know him by the time he's getting married."

Shane cleared his throat, causing them to look at him. "Maybe we start sooner than that."

The two parents looked at each other and then back at their son.

"Maybe I don't understand what happened between the two of you, but I'd like to learn what happened. I'd actually like to get to know my mom and see what you two see in each other."

"What brought this on?" Owen asked.

"Something a friend said." Shane smirked, thinking of his friends. "Granted after practice, maybe the three of us can do dinner?"

"I don't see why not." Owen commented. "Anya?"

Anya smiled; tears running down her cheeks. "I'd like that."

"I'm sorry for earlier mom." Shane said.

Anya didn't reply; she merely walked up to her son and pulled him into a hug. Owen met them in the middle and joined in the family embrace. Shane thought and thanked his friends for their guidance. It wasn't perfect, but they were his family just as much as his parents are.

And that will complete this particular scene. Hope that you all enjoyed it!

Didn't see some of that coming did ya? I wasn't trying to go for the cheesy ending; it just sort of happened. Granted; things like this never stay calm for long. It Degrassi for heaven's sake; the best soap opera out there today (in my opinion, unless you count pro wrestling, then Degrassi is tied with that).

I'm actually a little bit ahead this time; thus the reason this is out before the end of the month. I'm trying to keep up, but the characters just tend to want their versions of the stories and I've got to sort through it all. I'm planning on continuing the storyline with Ronnie for the time being. I don't think that she's suffered enough yet and I'm planning on making things more difficult for her. Gabe right now is spending his time with wrestling, Alyson, school, work and family (not all in that order). I have a feeling that Gabe; along with some of the others, will show up here and there.

I'm taking this time to once again thank all of my readers and followers. You guys are part of the reason I write!

Special thanks to CrashAgainstMySkin, Islanda and djghostwriter18; you three have been my main motivation to continue this storyline. Thank you for your insight and commentary; trust me, it's a nice little boost when I need it. My humblest thanks!

Keep watching for a new chapter here soon.