A/N: Sorry that it took me so long to update this chapter! I really hadn't been in the writing mood, but I'm very pleased that I finished it. The next chapter should be up in a day or too and it will be quite a bit more crazy then this one, so I hope you enjoy both.

A/N2: I used the words 'Past' and 'Present' because I thought the flash backs might make things a little confusing without them, so I hope no one gets confused.

A/N3: Thanks to my anonymous reviewers: Diana and Jessica. I hope this chapter was worth the wait.

Present

"You're right." Shawn interrupted John's recount of events. He could feel a steady throbbing coming from his head and just about every other part of his body, so Shawn figured that the pain medicine was wearing off. He wasn't going to ask for more just yet, because he wanted to be fully aware so he could understand what else happened. "I did try to runaway."

"Yeah, I figured that's what you were going to do." Cory said, smiling slightly at his best friend. Cory was relieved that Shawn seemed to have forgiven him for what he said about Shawn deserving what was happening at home. Cory was also intensely relieved that Shawn seemed to be a lot more lucid now then he was a little while ago.

"So, what'd you guys do next?" Shawn asked, shifting in his bed to get more comfortable even though, considering his extensive injuries, that was nearly impossible.

Past

John and Cory had been on the road now for about fifteen minuets. They were heading towards the towns only train station and were only about five minuets away.

The silence in the car was deafening. Neither had said a word since they got into the car, and both were wallowing in their own feelings.

Cory was feeling guilty. He didn't think that he ever really knew what it meant to feel guilt, until this very moment. Shawn was his best friend, and he came to Cory and John for help with a serious situation, and then he was basically rejected. Cory shuddered at the word; rejected. It was such an ugly word, especially in relation to Shawn. Cory knew how many times Shawn had been let down by his family and friends in the past and Cory never thought, not in a million years, that he would become one of the many to hurt Shawn. Cory promised Shawn a long time ago that they would always be best friends, and they'd stick by each other no matter what. They had always been so close, it was as if they were brothers rather then best friends. Cory didn't mean what he said to Shawn, and he just wished that he would get a chance to explain that to Shawn. Cory desperately wished that they would find Shawn, unharmed, and soon.

John's thoughts were running along a similar track. He was feeling immensely guilty as well. John was the adult of this situation, he should have known what was going on when he first noticed Shawn acting strangely. John should have pulled him aside and talked to him, but instead, he let Shawn go home to get beaten. John also should have realized that this situation would be way too much for Cory to handle. John knew that Cory didn't mean what he said. He was just a scared kid, who saw his normally fearless best friend terrified, and freaked out. It would happen to anyone his age.

John's emotions were a little more complex then Cory's though, because John didn't just feel guilty, he also felt angry. This slow burning anger that began barely noticeable, but was now making his breathing increase and his grip tighten on the steering wheel. John was angry at Verna for doing that to Shawn, and enraged at Chet. Sure, Shawn didn't saw that Chet did anything but that either meant that Chet ran out on them or he knew what was happening, and let Verna do it.

"Mr. Turner?" Cory's timid voice whispered. He was wringing his hands in his lap anxiously and staring out the window. It was late morning, maybe early afternoon so the sun was shinning beautifully. Cory tried to take the beautiful scene in, he tried to gain some comfort from it, but he couldn't. It felt as though the warm sun he was basking in was mocking Shawn's situation, and mocking Cory for hurting his friend.

"Yeah?" John replied, his voice clipped.

"I hope he's okay." Cory said simply. John nodded his head and silence retook the car for the next several minuets until they reached the train station.

Past

"Ms. Lawrence, do you have any idea which bus Mr. Hunter would have gotten on?" Mr. Feeny asked Topanga as he stared around the bus station with confusion. There were several buses, maybe ten or more, and Feeny was completely lost. He liked to think that he knew Shawn pretty well, but not well enough to guess what bus he would take.

"Probably whichever is cheapest." Topanga answered, staring around the crowd critically. Topanga walked forward a couple more paces and Feeny hurried along behind her. Topanga climbed on top of an empty bench and started looking around from her vantage point.

"Anything?" Feeny asked, his eyes also sweeping the bus station like a hawk. He was disappointed that he didn't see Shawn, but was hoping that Topanga would be able to see him over the crowd.

"No. Maybe he's already on a bus?" Topanga suggested, though she had a feeling that that wasn't the case. She couldn't explain if asked, but Topanga intuitively knew that Shawn wasn't at this bus station.

"Maybe we could ask some of the drivers if they've seen him?" Feeny suggested. Topanga shrugged. She could feel disappointment and worry bubbling up inside of her. She tried to squelch it down, and tried to stay hopeful that they would find him, but with every second that passed the chances of finding Shawn got slimmer and slimmer.

Topanga climbed down off of the bench and sat down on it instead. She sighed and tried to get a handle on her emotions. "I'm scared for him." Topanga admitted, her voice with the slightest waver.

"I am too." Feeny confided, sitting down beside her. "But, we musn't give up hope. Shawn is a smart kid and quite resourceful. I'm sure he's just fine. It's just a matter of finding him."

"I'll start from the front, and you can start from the back. Maybe one of the drivers did see Shawn." Topanga suggested. Feeny nodded and the two of them got up and started asking the drivers. They met up in the middle and were disappointed to admit that none of the drivers saw him.

A moment later, Topanga nearly jumped with excitement with Feeny's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Feeny answered, praying that it was good news or that, at the very least, John and Cory found Shawn. "Oh. No, we didn't find him either." Feeny said, his tone heavy with sadness. Topanga turned her head away from Feeny and felt tears well up in her eyes. They had to find Shawn. They just had too.

"Of course." Feeny was saying into the phone. "Yes. Okay, meet us there after." He hung up.

"They didn't find him?" Topanga asked rhetorically.

"No, I'm afraid they didn't. Mr. Turner and Cory are going to go to the police. They think that we should go inform the Matthews of this situation, just in case." Feeny muttered wearily. Shawn was a good kid, and it irked Feeny beyond belief when these sorts of situations happened. Unfortunately, more often then not they seemed to happen to Shawn.

"What are they going to do?" Topanga asked. She was hoping that they were going to meet up soon. She really wanted to be with Cory right now, and she had a feeling that Cory needed her too.

"They are going to stop by Shawn's trailer first, to see if Shawn might have stopped there to pick up a few things. Then they're going to the police." Feeny said sadly. This was a terrible situation for anyone to be placed in, and Shawn had already had a difficult enough life.

"Okay." Topanga said, and led the way to the car. As long as she had something to do, and she felt like she was helping, then maybe the worry and fear that was gnawing at her wouldn't be able to completely paralyze her.

Present

"You told the Matthews?" Shawn exclaimed, mildly panicked. He had kind of expected Topanga and Feeny to get involved, and he knew that he should have known the Matthews would have gotten involved too, but Shawn hadn't thought about it. Shawn was completely mortified. It's not like he doesn't think of the Matthews as family, because he does, but that doesn't mean that Shawn wanted them to know everything about what was going on. It was too embarrassing because here's the family that he fought to be with for so long, and instead of being nice, loving parents, they're abusive, ugly drunks.

"Shawnie, you know my mom and dad think of you as their son." Cory said, a little surprised that Shawn was so upset. He really didn't think that Shawn would mind if his parent's knew about evertything.

"I know, it's just..." Shawn trailed off, his cheeks blushing. "It's just embarrassing." He finally muttered. Cory and John exchanged a look.

"Shawn, you have nothing to be embarrassed about." John said. John leaned forward a little and gently grabbed Shawn's hand again. "You did nothing wrong." John said emphatically and Shawn blushed again. He didn't completely believe that. After all, every time anything went wrong in Shawn's family, he was always to blame for it. They wouldn't blame him every single time if it wasn't at least partially Shawn's fault, right?

"Sure." Shawn answered neutrally, his eyes averted from John and Cory's faces. John sighed and decided that this was not the hill to die on tonight.

"Where's Topanga and Mr. Feeny?" Shawn asked, equally embarrassed that they knew about his situation.

"They wouldn't let more then two people in at a time and, well... we kind of refused to leave." Cory said, smiling. The nurses had tried several times to get John and Cory to leave the room, even just to get something to eat, but they refused to leave for more then five minuets, and even that was stretching it.

"Really?" Shawn asked, touched and a little embarrassed. It was nice to know that they cared so much, and Shawn basked in that feeling. John and Cory nodded and Shawn smiled slightly.

"So, can you fast forward a little bit. I know what happened when the police came in, obviously, but how did your parents take the news?" Shawn asked, he was really starting to feel a lot of pain and Shawn was three seconds away from asking for some more pain meds.

"Mom cried and Dad punched a hole in our living room wall. Eric was pretty upset too." Cory recited, cringing at the thought of the devastated look on his mom's face, angry on his fathers and the confused and hurt look that Eric had worn since they found out.

"What about Morgan?" Shawn asked, concerned. He didn't think that she should know about what happened, she was pretty young.

"She doesn't know yet." Cory answered, already anticipating Shawn's worry.

"That's good." Shawn answered, relieved.

"Shawn, there's something that we should probably tell you." John said haltingly. He didn't want to upset Shawn, especially since he could see some creases forming on Shawn's forehead, which probably meant that he was in pain.

"What?" Shawn asked, his heart rate instantly picking up. Shawn watched John and Cory exchange a look. Cory sighed and John cleared his throat.

"A social worker from DCF is going to come by tomorrow. She has a lot that she needs to talk to you about." John said, his voice inexplicably annoyed. John didn't like this particular social worker too much. She had come by while Shawn was still unconscious, and for some reason she didn't seem to empathetic for Shawn. In fact, it was pretty much the opposite; she seemed very apathetic. Maybe it was just because of her job, maybe it made her immune to seeing kids in as bad shape as Shawn. Whatever the reason, John didn't like her. He didn't want anyone within a foot of Shawn right now, because what Shawn really needed was rest; not to be interrogated by social services.

"Oh no." Shawn groaned. Why hadn't he thought of this before? Of course, she probably was going to expect him to tell her everything about what happened and Shawn wasn't ready to talk about it. He wasn't even ready to think about it. Of course, now that John brought it up, Shawn couldn't stop thinking about it. Where was he going to go now? A foster home? Shawn shuddered. Maybe he could live with John again and this time John could adopt him. That would work.

Suddenly, a new thought struck Shawn. What's going to happen to his parents? Shawn was hoping that they would go to jail, but what if the social worker wants Shawn to testify against them in court or something? Shawn didn't think he could do that. He knew he couldn't.

"Shawn? Shawn, you need to calm down." Shawn was dimly aware of John trying to speak to him, but Shawn's heart was beating erratically in his chest and Shawn was desperately trying to gasp for breath, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to draw air into his lungs. Tears of panic welled up in Shawn's eyes and he just barely registered a sharp pain in his arm. His heart started returning to normal and Shawn could feel himself peacefully drifting off. He sighed, gave up control and allowed himself to fall asleep.

A/N4: DCF stands for Department of Children and Families.