"Master Andrew to see you, sir."

Shane looked up from his desk, surprised at first by Simmons announcing Andrew. Then Shane caught the look in Simmons' eyes and knew he was not going to like the reason.

"Send him in," Shane said.

Simmons stepped back out of the way of the study door so Andrew could came in. He hung his head low and seemed to inch his way across the floor until he was only a few feet away from Shane's desk. Shane waited until Andrew looked up, exposing a swollen left eye surrounded by a darkening circle.

Shane already had a suspicion, but he asked, "That's quite a shiner you've got there - do you want to tell me how you got it?"

Andrew stared glumly at Shane for a moment, then looked down.

"Were you in a fight?" Shane asked.

"He started it," Andrew said. "Jimmy said you were a bad guy and should be in jail. He said his father's sending you away forever."

Shane looked at Simmons and asked, "Jimmy?"

"Jimmy Pasqua, sir. He's an older boy, I believe."

"He's in third grade," Andrew said.

And undoubtedly the son of the Assistant U.S. Attorney, which would explain the comment about his father sending Shane away.

Shane stood up and walked around the desk. He thought for a minute that he should let Kim handle this, but then shook his head. He was Andrew's father.

"Why don't we take a little walk?" Shane said. He took Andrew's hand and headed for the door to the garden. Simmons followed a discrete distance behind, obviously to make sure that Shane did not push himself too hard physically.

Once outside in the garden, Andrew asked, "Where are we going?" It was a brisk November day, but the sun was bright in the sky.

"I thought we'd walk to the lake," Shane replied. "While we do that, you can tell me exactly what Jimmy said."

As they walked through the garden, Shane got a pretty good picture. The other boy had been bragging about his father and how he put 'bad guys' away and then told Andrew that he was going to do the same to Shane.

"He's a lot bigger than me, but I told him to shut up," Andrew said. "I told him you were a hero, not a traitor. He just laughed and said I was a baby if I believe that. He shouldn't have said that."

Shane sighed at the reminder of the treason charges the way it affected his family. "No, he shouldn't have. . . ." Shane stopped. They had reached the garden gate and Shane was glad to stop momentarily. His heart was pounding from the exertion, but he was not completely winded. That was a noticeable improvement. To let his heart rate return to normal, he took his time opening the gate.

"Are you okay, sir?" Simmons asked. He was only a few feet away.

Shane nodded. "Yes." His pulse was nearly back to normal and he took a deep breath of the cool air. Then he pushed the gate open, let Andrew go through first, and followed his son. Andrew waited so they could walk side-by-side toward the stable. Once they were together, Shane said, "I know you want to defend me, Sport, but you can't just go around slugging people because you don't like what they say."

Andrew looked away again. "Are you mad at me?"

"I should be. . . ." Shane tried to sound stern, but he kept picturing his small son defending his family honor on the playground. "I know this has all been hard for you."

"I thought you were just going to go away for a little while," Andrew said. "Then we'd go to England, but Jimmy said you'll never come back."

Shane wondered what Louis Pasqua had said that his son had overheard. Probably something about Shane not taking the plea offer and how it could mean he would get a life sentence. Andrew had raised his head and was waiting expectantly for an answer.

"Jimmy's wrong," Shane said. "Nothing's certain right now. Things have changed a little. Right now, I'm trying to find a way so I don't go away at all. If I can't manage to do that . . . then we'll see what happens. It may be that if I do go away, it won't be for that long."

They fell silent for a moment. Shane thought more about the future. Right now, his focus was on catching Lawrence and forcing the ISA to withdraw the charges.. If that did not work, Shane was out of ideas. Then he would have to decide once more about pleading guilty. If that happened, Shane realized, Andrew would be subject to a lot more comments about his father.

Andrew broke the silence. "Do we have to tell Mommy?"

For a moment, Andrew sounded exactly like Shane's brother, Drew. How many times had he tried to convince Shane to stay silent about his latest transgression? Shane gave Andrew a sypathetic look, but he kept a stern tone.

"It would be wrong to lie to your mother, wouldn't it?"

"But we wouldn't be lying if we just didn't tell her," Andrew said.

Shane had to stifle a laugh. That sounded like the type of logic Shane used on his parents. It didn't work for him either. "And when she asks how you got that black eye? What am I supposed to say then?"

"Maybe she won't ask," Andrew said, sounding almost hopeful.

"I don't think you should count on that." Shane could not stop himself from chuckling. "That's a pretty spectacular shiner."

"I guess so," Andrew said slowly.

There were now nearly half-way to the stable and Shane felt his breath coming a bit faster and his pulse speeding up. He stopped for a moment to steady himself.

Andrew sounded worried when he said, "Maybe we should go back."

"Nonsense," Shane replied. Once his breathing returned to normal, he smiled. "See? Your old man's just fine."

Fine might have been an overstatement, but Shane certainly was stronger than he had been. A week earlier, he would never have made it this far. And he could push himself to go farther. Shane glanced toward the stable and the lake, and an idea popped into his head.

"Why don't we go to the stables and you can show me how good a rider you're getting to be?"

Andrew seemed to get excited, but then his grin turned into a frown. "But you can't ride with me, Daddy."

"No," Shane admitted. "But I'll watch you. Simmons can hold the lead."

Andrew seemed to mull it over for a moment, but then grinned again. "Okay. Let me get my boots." He took off like a jackrabbit and raced toward the house.

While Shane waited for his son to return, Simmons walked over to him. "Are you sure you're okay, sir?"

"I've made it this far, haven't I?" Shane asked. "I'm just going to watch him ride." He looked toward the house, waiting for the garden gate to reopen. "So how much bigger is this Jimmy kid?"

Simmons pursed his lips and then said, "Quite a lot. If I had to hazard a guess, he's a good half-foot taller and 20 to 30 lbs heavier. The playground attendant said that Andrew threw the first punch."

Shane had to shake his head at the picture of Andrew standing up to and punching a much bigger boy, but also felt a touch of admiration at his son's fearlessness. Recklessness, Kim would call it.

But she wouldn't really understand, a boy standing up when someone insults his parents, would she?

Up at the house, Andrew reappeared through the gate and sprinted across the grass toward the stables.

He was trying to defend me, Shane thought. Can I really punish him for that? Shane suspected that, if he had been in Andrew's shoes, he would have probably done the same.

Maybe Kim doesn't need to know. Shane thought for a moment. Maybe they could tell Kim that Andrew fell off his pony or had a small accident in the stable.

Shane glanced at Simmons, whose expression revealed that he knew exactly what Shane was thinking. From the slightly raised eyebrow on the butler's face, it was obvious that he disagreed.

"Okay," Shane said ruefully. "I'll tell her. Maybe I can convince her to go easy on him."

Simmons rolled his eyes. "You're incorrigible, sir."

Laughing, Shane did not get a chance to respond, because, at that moment, an out-of-breath Andrew reached them. He was holding his boots in his arms and excitedly gasped, "Ready, Daddy?"

Shane exchanged one more look with Simmons and then grinned. He put a hand on Andrew's shoulder and they started for the stable. "Come on, Sport. Why don't you show me what you've got?"