It really stung his conscience, but for some reason, what he was feeling felt true. He didn't think his mind was lying or tricking him like usual: he actually felt like he disliked their baby girl.

Shawn repeatedly glanced from the yellow dashes on the road that stretched beneath his tires to the picture of the eight-month-old Riley on his dashboard. She was beaming with a cheeky grin as she sat in her parent's lap at Svorski's Bakery, her hair beginning to thicken and darken to brown. She was looking so much like Cory, her eyes shaping like his were and colored brown as well.

For her sake, she'd better end up with Topanga's hairstyle, Shawn thought. A head full of Cory's tightly stiffened curls would look creepy on a girl.

Shawn sighed, watching the orange-pink sun try to hide behind the rocky, barren mountains in the horizon as he absent-mindedly drove nowhere. He was probably near California, maybe Nevada, and he hadn't decided to stop for a rest. Getting away without looking back seemed to be his therapy when he was stressed, and listening to the radio sing to him all night didn't sound bad.

Surprisingly, this summer had been one of the best of Shawn's life. After Riley was born in December, he went back to Philadelphia and shared Jonathan Turner's apartment, helping him pay the rent and give him company. Once the school year at John Adam's High ended, Jonathan mentioned an offer he had given Shawn years and years ago: a summer trip through Europe.

Shawn was ecstatic, and traveling through different countries with nothing but a few spare clothes lying wrinkled in the back seat of his pick-up truck and a close friend in the front seat distracted him from what he would do with his future when he got home. Living with Jonathan felt temporary, making Shawn feel antsy to leash any opportunity and walk away with it.

When he came home after the summer, though, Shawn drew a blank in planning his future, forcing him to take the solution that was often used when he was cornered with questions: hitting the road. So, in early August, Shawn tossed his belongings into the bed of his truck, told Turner good-bye, and drove West.

Shawn owned his fair-share of stories involving his running away. It started when he was only six, when his mother had cooked Ramen noodles for the fifth night in a row due to lack of money. Shawn, being an innocently stupid first grader, had yelled to his parents that he was tired of the same food and was running away.

His mom seemed a little worried as he slammed the door to their trailer and stomped up the gravel road of the trailer park, struggling to keep his few toys and one pair of underwear from falling out of the piece of cloth poorly tied to a small tree limb.

Chet, his father, had cackled his good-natured, hoarse laugh with a smirk, reassuring his wife as he said, "That stupid squirt won't even get past the gates of this park, Virna."

Chet was right.

The second time was more serious. In third grade, Shawn's mother decided to abandon the family for the first of many times, screaming profanity at Chet before nearly slamming the door off its hinges and storming for the nearest bus stop. Shawn, inconsolable and tearful, said he was running away to find her. Chet was a little too nonchalant-and honestly lazy-over his son's threat, so he let him run out the door and head for town.

A policeman found Shawn crying and calling for his mom in the streets, and he took him back to the station and called Chet in. After awhile of investigation in whether or not Chet was actually capable of properly taking care of Shawn, everything became a little normal again when Virna came home.

A couple more brief wanderings came before he eventually ran off to nowhere in college after his dad's death, leaving behind a concerned Cory in order to travel around and "find himself". It wasn't successful, and he came back to Philly to his true family in the Matthews.

Now, Shawn was trying to find his future, and he honestly felt like he didn't have a real family to go back to if he failed. While Riley was completely innocent, Shawn felt like that was her fault.