"If you're not gonna really commit to this whole thing why am I even here?!"

"Don't you dare go through that window! Get back here now!" Jon stood in the middle of his living room at his wit's end with Shawn's sudden, irrational outburst.

"Don't tell me what to do! You're not my dad!" Shawn fought with the window in his room that refused to budge. Anger flared through him when he saw that Jon had somehow jerry-rigged it not open enough for him to climb out. "I hate it here!" The apartment shook as Shawn slammed the window and bounced on his bed as hard as he could.

"What on earth is going on?" Audrey asked as she closed the door and hung her purse on the coat rack. She had heard their argument long before she made it to the apartment.

Jon turned to her with a look of sheer bewilderment and frustration on his face.

"I don't know! Not five minutes ago Shawn was sittin' on the couch, watchin' TV. I was on the phone with Tess confirming plans for tonight. Everything was fine, it's been fine all day. Soon as I hang up he's in my face yellin' that he can't believe I'm going out again; tellin' me that I'm selfish." He threw his hands up, partly in disgust and partly in defeat. "I haven't been out in three weeks, all my attention has been on him, and he's known about this date for over a week. But now it's a problem? I try to reason with the kid and he's tellin' me if I care so little about the family to kick him out now so he can go live with you. I told him that's not an option and, well, you and everybody else in the buildin' heard the rest."

Audrey cast a worried look towards Shawn's room."Something must have happened."

"I worry he's on something," he said, dropping heavily onto the sofa. He put his hand over his mouth briefly then said. "I've never seen a mood swing so fast."

This concern was a new one and it caught her off-guard. "Oh, Jon, you don't really think Shawn could be on drugs, do you?"

"I don't know. I worry about it," he leaned forward and put his head in his hands. "These kids he used to hang around all the time; they still come by here every once in awhile. They are definitely on somethin'. I'm not sayin' Shawn would seek that stuff out, but I wouldn't put it past those little hoodlums to slip him somethin' to get him hooked."

There was no denying that Shawn did hang with a very rough crowd at times although this was the first time she was hearing about them coming to the apartment. "Look, I'll talk to him tonight to see if I can find out what's going on."

Jon leaned back and put his hand on her knee as she sat next to him."I'd appreciate it, Aud. I can't get through to him and he favors you more anyway."

"He doesn't favor me," she said with a small smile when she saw the put out look on his face. "I'm just not the one trying to discipline him at the moment."

"Feel free take over that department any time."

"If you want me to do that, then you'll have to wait until I'm here before starting any arguments with him," she teased, running her fingers through his hair as rested his head against the back of the couch.

Jon smiled and took her hand. "It's not even six o'clock and I'm already exhausted."

"Poor baby."

"I wish I wasn't goin out tonight."

"Stay home."

He turned his head so he could see her better. "I would, but I feel like if I did that now I'd be givin' in and lettin' Shawn get his way."

"So you're gonna go out to punish him then?" Audrey bit her lip as she tried not to laugh. She found him and the situation endearing but kept it to herself as she didn't think he'd appreciate the sentiment right now. "Who are you punishing exactly? Shawn or yourself?"

"I don't know, Audrey," he chuckled. "It's been what? Nine months now and I still have no idea what I'm doin'." After a moment his countenance soured and he said seriously, "I hate this whole situation."

"What situation?"

Jon put his feet up on the coffee table with a bang. "The situation with George. If he'd just leave me alone we'd be fine. I wouldn't have to go out, Shawn wouldn't randomly yell at me for goin' out and threatenin' to leave. Nothin' I say or do makes George happy; he's convinced I'm up to no good with you. And Shawn, well, as soon as I think he's happy he let's me know he's definitely not. I'm so sick of not being able to make anyone happy."

Audrey was quiet for awhile, lost in thought. It was strange the way Mr. Feeny was going about things. He'd never once said anything to her about Jon one way or the other. On the rare occasion he would ask if she was seeing anyone or encourage her to go out and have fun, but he was never pushy nor insistent about it.

"I'm happy with you," she assured him when she saw him watching her worriedly.

"Hang around," he grunted miserably. "I'm sure I'll do something to get you to not speak to me, too. Gimme a little more time."

"Mr. Feeny is really giving you a hard time, isn't he?" She took her thumb and tried to massage the frown lines from his brow.

"Every Monday he grills me on my weekend. What did I do? Who did I spend it with? If I'm vague he gets pushy wantin' to know details." He shifted his position to get closer to her. "Before you showed up, he didn't seem overly fond of my datin' habits, even implyin' I shouldn't date so much but otherwise left me alone. Now that I've backed off of datin', he's got an issue with that."

"I don't know him very well, but maybe he thinks he's protecting me. I dunno."

"Wanna know what else I'm sick of?" he asked with a scowl. She nodded. "I'm sick of being set up all the time. I mean, I know Cory's mom means well but I really do not wanna go out with any more of her friends. But if I don't, George will find out and then be all over me wantin' to know why. That's happened three time now and I'm convince he put her up to all this matchmaking stuff."

Jon wasn't the only one who wished Mrs. Matthews would stop setting him up. Audrey disliked it more than he did, only she had never voiced this to anyone. "I'm sorry, Jon. I wish I could help you."

The English lit teacher gave her a sidelong look."You could if you really wanted to. This would all go away if you weren't my student teacher. You could reconsider this whole teachin' thing. Change your major and transfer down here. Teachin's not that great, anyway. Kids are okay, but adults and the pay not so much."

Audrey laughed. "It's a little late to change now I think."

He shrugged. "So don't change totally. Switch to elementary education. I always thought you'd make a great kindergarten teacher."

Audrey ran her fingers through his hair again just as Shawn walked into the living room. While he should have been pleased to see this, he wasn't. It just infuriated him even more that Jon was going out with someone else. He dropped the suitcase he was holding loudly onto the floor, making sure they knew he was there.

Jon turned to give him an irritated look over the sofa's back. "Why do you have a suitcase?"

"I'm stayin' with Mom," he announced. Defiantly, he stood with his feet shoulder-width a part and his arms crossed over his chest glaring angrily at his teacher.

"Oh, she's mom but I'm not dad anymore?" Shawn's declaration bothered him immensely and added to his annoyance. "Okay, fine. But you are not stayin' overnight."

"I don't plan on stayin' overnight," the teen shot back. "I'm stayin' for good."

"Oh, no, you're not!" Jon snapped, jumping up from the couch to face Shawn. "You're stayin' at Audrey's until I come and pick you up. I won't be out long enough for you to fall asleep."

"Why bother?" Shawn squared up to Jon with no idea what might happen if he continued to push. He could very well find himself homeless again, but there was something within him spurring him on. "You don't really want me here anyway. I cramp your style too much. If I go then you can date whoever you want, whenever you want, and I won't be in the way! And neither will Mom!"

"Shawn! That's enough!"

This sharp rebuked came from Audrey who never had a sharp rebuke for anyone. Ever. Both Shawn and Jon stared at her in shock and both shut up.

Audrey got up from her seat and walked around the couch to take a place at Jon's side. Her hands were on her hips and a severe, very un-Audrey like look was on her face. "I know you're upset, but you do not have a right to speak to Jon like that. Do you understand me?"

Shawn swallowed back the astonishment that lodged itself in his throat and left him barely able to speak. He stared at the floor and muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me," she said shortly.

"I'm sorry, Jon," he said, a little louder this time.

"Yeah, thanks," Jon said, shifting uncomfortably. He gave Audrey a wary look, wondering if she had a correction for him, too.

"Shawn, go unpack your things," Audrey told him. Her voice was much softer; firm still, but softer. "Bring your school stuff. You and I have some studying to do."

"Yes, ma'am," he said humbly. He picked up the suitcase and took it back to his room, careful not to make any sort of noise that might be construed as having an attitude.

Jon sighed as he watched the boy retreat to his room, then shot Audrey a curious look. "Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

She smiled.

"See, I was right though," he said, wagging a finger at her. "You correct him and no back talk, no attitude. He does favor you over me."

Audrey waved her hand in dismissal. "Give it a few more times and the shock of me getting onto him will wear off and he'll treat me the same. It's a teen thing and you know it."

Jon laughed and shook his head. "Suitcase or not, he may never leave your place after tonight."

"I don't have a problem with that."

"Yeah? What am I supposed to do then if he stays with you?"

She thought about this for a moment, then gave him a playful shrug. "That's your problem."

Jon caught her hand and pulled her over to him. With a mischievous gleam in his eyes he said, "Well, Mama, I can see who Shawn gets his attitude from."

She tilted her her chin to look up at him."Oh, really, Mr. Sarcasm?"

Jon grinned and pressed his cheek against her hair. "Did I tell you about Tess?"

Audrey turned her head away so he couldn't see the dejected expression on her face. She hated hearing about his latest date, although she had said nothing to him about it. "Not that I recall."

Jon rested his chin on top of her head. "Okay, well, she..."

"Shawn! "she called suddenly, leaning away from him "Hurry up! We need to go."

Jon was perplexed by her sudden attitude shift. This wasn't like her; normally he told her about the women he was taking out and what they were like, assuming he knew. She'd never pulled away from him before. He had the sinking feeling that now she, too, was unhappy with him. "Hey, what's up?"

Audrey looked liked he'd caught her sneaking back in from a late night. She was now standing a few feet away from him with her arms crossed over her waist."Nothing. I just don't want you to be late to pick up your date."

Shawn trudged into the living room with his book bag in tow. He wasn't necessarily in a good mood but if Jon had to describe it he'd call it a neutral mood that could go either way.

"I'm ready," the boy mumbled, not making eye contact with either of them.

With the way Shawn stood next to Audrey while staying as far away from him as possible, Jon felt like he was dropping his kid off with the ex-wife before meeting up with the girlfriend. Shawn certainly had succeeded in making him feel like he'd broken up the family. It made him feel like scum.

The drive to Audrey's was a quiet one but unlike most of their quiet rides it was not a cozy silence. The silence was a storm cloud ready to burst with all manner of unpleasantness. That cloud hung lowest over Shawn who grew more discontented the closer they got to the little white house.

Jon got out the truck and walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Audrey. He narrowly missed getting hit when Shawn wildly threw the door open to slide out between Audrey's seat and the back to get out. Jon could have sworn the kid did it on purpose.

Shawn pushed opened the white gate with his foot and stood in the open space glaring at his caretaker much the way he had earlier: angry and defiant. Jon leaned back against the truck's door, trying to ignore the teen as his frustration grew.

"I'll be back by 11 at the latest," he told them. Then he looked around Audrey to give Shawn a "don't even think about staying" look.

Shawn marched up behind Audrey. What he was about to say was the equivalent of taking his life into his own hands but there was such an inexplicable swirl of anger, hurt, and fear within him that he said in the snidest, most disrespectful tone possible, "There's an empty apartment now. You gonna pick me up at 11 on what day?"

He saw the look of embarrassment and anger flare on his teacher's face and almost felt bad about it. Almost. Jon clinched his fists into tight balls and ground his teeth together to stop himself from saying something he'd regret while Audrey whipped around to reprimand teenager. Shawn didn't stick around; he ran into the house, slammed the door, and hunkered down in "his" bedroom to await his fate.

Audrey turned back to Jon and gave him an apologetic shrug. "I'll get it sorted out."

"Good luck," he sighed wearily, wishing he could go inside with her, even if it meant dealing with a confrontational teenager. He dug the heel of his boot into the grass of the curb, unsure of how the night had gone so wrong so quickly. As frustrating as Shawn was being, he was confident that this between them would blow over and by morning their relationship would be back to normal. His concern, however, was Audrey. Typically, when he left for a date, she would tease him about it a bit, then tell him to have a good time. She was usually in a cheerful mood. He didn't know if it was Shawn's attitude rubbing off on everyone or something else, but she seemed distant and closed off. She stood in front of him with her arms across her waist, not to ward off the chill in the air, but to put a defined wall between them.

"Everything okay, Aud?" he asked hesitantly.

His voice seemed to startle her. "Yeah, everything's good."

She wouldn't look him in the eye. Everything was not good and he did not know what he'd done to upset her.

"Look, Jon," she said, dropping her arms. She twisted the ring on the middle finger of her right hand- her mother's wedding band. "If your plans change, it's no problem for Shawn to spend the night.

There was a pained, doleful look that flashed across her features, darkening her eyes. The look passed and her expression went blank again. He'd never seen that look before and it concerned him. He reached out to her but she put her arms in front of herself again. With a tight smile, she said, "You're going to be late if you don't leave now."

He didn't understand her statement about Shawn staying the night. He never changed his plans; he always did what he told her he would do. Why would she think tonight would be different? Then Shawn's accusation echoed in his ears.

The apartment was empty...

Realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The apartment was empty tonight and it was empty at his suggestion. He had suggested Audrey's place for that night because they were always at the apartment and he thought Shawn might appreciate a change of scenery as Audrey's place had more room for him to spread out and a yard in a safe neighborhood to mess around in. Unfortunately, both Audrey and Shawn took this suggestion to stay at her place to mean something else entirely.

"I'm not taking Tess back to the apartment."

She looked up at him impassively and he had no idea what she might be thinking.

"What you do is your business, Jon," she shrugged as though she didn't care, but she also turned partially away from him.

He took a step towards her."And I'm not spending the night with her or anyone else."

There was no response to this. He frowned. She was really upset. There was no date that was worth this mess.

"I promise you I won't."

She bit her bottom lip, clearly wanting to believe but she hesitated and that bothered him more than he could say. He knew the root of the problem was there was no defined relationship between them. The talk of being of family and what happened over Christmas they both treated as joke and teased each other about. It was an idea that was fun to play with but that was the extent of it. They had never had a serious discussion about what would actually happen, if anything, once Audrey's student teaching was complete.

"Come on." He gingerly approached her, not wanting to cross any unseen boundaries. She didn't move away so he reached out for her hand. She didn't reach out to him but she didn't resist either. Brushing her hair way from her face, he kissed her cheek then put his forehead against hers. She didn't react or say anything, but she did look up at him with those great gray eyes and he felt a wave of guilt hit him. "I'll be back by 11."

"Okay," was all she said. He left without a goodbye from either her or Shawn.

Continued...