Jon and Shawn implement their plans for Audrey and find themselves frequently recalculating. Help comes from strange places. And Katherine, having noticed Jon and Audrey's absences goes to Mr. Feeny and tells him a lie that could cost Jon his career and potentially ruin his life.

Bold, italicized text comes from chapter 12 Keys Continued.

Monday came too soon for Audrey.

Jon's hand rested on her hip. His warm breath and the spice of his cologne tickled her nose making her feel both sleepy and awake at the same time.

It was a strange feeling.

But not as strange as Jon's closeness.

Shawn lay on the other side of her, with his arm haphazardly tossed over her shoulder and his thumb in her ear. He was sleeping on her hair like it was his pillowcase.

That was also a strange feeling.

But the strangest feeling of all was of not being alone.

Her greatest fear since September had been that two besides her would find out her secret and they wouldn't want her anymore.

Jon's reaction in particular puzzled her. She fully expected him to distance himself and eventually back out of their relationship which had barely started. Taking on issues like hers was exhausting for family members and much more so for someone who had no responsibility to her.

But Jon stayed and went into immediate action. She didn't understand why he chose to do this. But she was overwhelmed with happiness and relief that he did.

Lifting her hand to his brow, she gently massaged the frown lines from between his eyes.

It was difficult for her to process all that had happened in the past 72 hours. In that time, she'd seen her therapist and a medical team and Jon and Shawn had come up with a plan for her to maintain her sessions while also completing school. She didn't fully understand how they were going to keep it from Mr. Feeny, but they both assured her that all she had to do was focus on getting well and they would do the rest.

Audrey was the caretaker. Even as a child, she took care of her friends. Being taken care of was an unfamiliar concept and difficult to accept. It felt like a failure of character on her part to be such a burden. Yet neither Jon nor Shawn treated her as though she was.

It was a very strange place to be indeed.

Jon stirred in his sleep. His hand moved up to her waist and he snuggled closer until his head was pressed against her collarbone. At the same time, Shawn moved his arm so that it was across her neck and on top of Jon's head.

Memories of her first time in a hospital for in-patient treatment came back.

It was a cold and solitary experience.

She had no visitors expect a few close friends of her father's who came randomly because that was their nature. She was there nearly a month before her aunt came.

Cold. Stark. Lonely.

Not this time.

All their family time seemed like playing house up until this point. All of Jon's promises seemed so far away just three days ago. It didn't seem like May would ever come. But it was here now in the form of the two figures sleeping next to her.

She wasn't alone.

The alarm went off and it took several moments before Jon untangled himself from them and reached over to slam the clock into silence. Shawn lifted his head enough to put his chin on her shoulder. He left his arm on her neck.

She kissed the inside of his elbow. Jon moved the teen's arm out of his way and leaned down to kiss her.

Audrey sighed.

The kiss lingered until Jon realized they were being watched. He ruffled Shawn's hair and kissed her again.

Amidst much grumbling the three got ready to begin a new school week.

Nothing changed initially.

She saw Dr. Walker twice a week after school for the first two weeks. Then once at lunch and once after school for the two weeks after that.

Getting her to New York was a little harder.

Dr. Amsden allowed her to have the earliest possible sessions on Mondays and Fridays so she could be back for at least afternoon classes. Uncle Alex gave her a strict assignment schedule that kept her "in the library" on Monday and Fridays.

Three weeks into their covert plans, Harley Keiner caught her and Jon returning from one of her lunch sessions.

Mr. Feeny was looking for them.

"Don't worry, Mr. T," he told them. Once at odds with Jon, Harley, after Shawn's birthday party, had newfound respect for the English Lit teacher. "I had Frankie and Joey cause a minor distraction. By the time Feeny gets it settled, he won't even remember he was lookin' for ya."

"Thanks, Keiner."

"Is everything all right?" he asked with sincere concern. "You've been slippin' out a lot lately and it doesn't look it's to have some fun."

Jon exchanged worried looks with her.

"If you need help…" the older student offered when he saw how uncomfortable they were.

Ordinarily Jon would not have accepted help from Harley. However, he'd seen a different much softer side of the high school non-achiever in the days leading up to Shawn's fifteenth birthday. It concerned him if Harley noticed their absence others might have as well, so he took the student in their confidence.

Audrey wasn't opposed to this. Since Shawn's birthday she had become close to Harley's younger sister, T.K. Truancy and other issues aside, Harley wasn't quite as bad a character as he liked to portray himself. In a way, she felt relieved that someone else knew and could help to lighten the load on Jon and Shawn.

But soon after, Audrey's Monday and Friday "library" sessions began to attract someone else's interest, someone whom they did not want in their confidence.

Katherine Tompkins.

Her behavior towards Audrey was hard to understand. She knew the social studies teacher was convinced something was going on between her and Jon. She'd been convinced of that long before anything actually was. Now the woman was circling Audrey with constant compliments and praise, rather than outright ignoring her as she usually did.

To say she was suspicious was an understatement.

Not only was Audrey suspicious but incredibly aggravated as well. Katherine may have forgotten what she did to Jon and Shawn with the stolen key, but Audrey had not. Although it did occur to her that perhaps this was Katherine's way of getting her to openly admit she knew about the key, which would be an admission that she and Jon were together after school.

So Audrey told Jon about it and otherwise kept her mouth shut.

Jon was furious and stuck Harley on Katherine's every move with orders to keep her far away from Audrey. It was an assignment that the perpetual senior aced.

Unfortunately, with Harley watching Katherine, others began to watch Audrey.

Andrea Nguyen was the first to notice her absences. Audrey blamed them on her father's health. While her friend accepted this, she was still deeply concerned. Concerned to the point she said something to Mr. Feeny, which put Audrey directly in the principal's crosshairs.

Mr. Feeny began asking more questions about where she was and what she was doing. These questions came from a place of concern as he took a more personal interest in her. Audrey hated to lie. When Jon found out what was going on, he stepped in to talk to Feeny directly. He told the principal the pressure to talk was bothering her.

George surprised them with the suggestion to talk to a professional if she needed to.

This gave them the perfect excuse for Audrey's Monday and Friday absences. She told Mr. Feeny she would like to but there was only one therapist she felt comfortable speaking with. After a call to her advisor, Mr. Feeny came to discuss the situation with Jon. It was decided that Audrey would be gone most of the day on Mondays and Fridays. Her student teaching would be extended by two weeks to make up for this.

Jon, Shawn, and Audrey all breathed a sigh of relief over how things worked out.

They were safe.

At least until Katherine started tracking Jon's lunchtime absences by continually checking up on him.

Shawn, irate with more of her intrusion, went against Jon's wishes and told Cory and Topanga to enlist their help to keep her and any other busybodies away. They did this together and on their own. As a result, the three had trouble keeping their stories straight and it stressed Jon out having to clean up after them.

Then the rumors started.

No one was named but the rumors told of two teachers with quite the age gap who were secretly seeing each other. The teacher's lounge became uninhabitable for Jon and Audrey as it was filled with constant gossip and betting on who was involved.

The only time it stopped was when Mr. Feeny walked into the room. As soon as he was gone it started up again.

Then one afternoon, Jon walked in and heard Audrey's name being tossed around.

The science teacher, Sorrell, was standing in the middle of the room, calling attention to himself in his arrogant way. In a tone that made Jon's skin crawl, the man boomed, "Ah, you know how young women are attracted to power and experience. And who am I to say no to such a pretty little thing? I could most certainly teach her a thing or two."

It was all Jon could to do not punch the man in the face for his innuendo. At the same moment Mr. Feeny stepped into the room, unaware of the disaster his presence prevented. He, too, was furious about what the science teacher was implying.

"Mr. Sorrell!" He bellowed angrily.

"It's Doctor," the man snapped back as though the principal had no right to address him at all.

"It's Darryl. In my office. Now."

At the next teacher's meeting Sorrell, red-faced and bitter, was forced to apologize to Audrey in front of the entire faculty. Afterwards Jon unwisely issued his own warning to Sorrell about ever saying Audrey's name again.

The rest of the week was uneventful.

At least that's how it seemed to Jon, Shawn, and Audrey.

Two days after Sorrell's public apology, Mr. Feeny sat in his office, sorting through end-of-the-year requests from teachers for the following year. When he came across Sorrell's conceited demands, he wadded them up and tossed them into the trash. He sincerely hoped the science teacher would do something so egregious he could fire him without tenure and the union getting in the way.

"Feeny!" The intercom speaker next to his arm crackled to life with an irritated, gravelly voice.

George sighed. He much regretted making the former janitor his secretary after Cory's exposé earlier in the year got him fired from his original position.

He jammed his finger on the intercom button. "Yes, Bud."

"A Miss-, hey you, what's your name again?"

The response was too low for the principal to hear.

"Tompkins. Does a Tompkins even work here?"

Internally, George groaned.

"Yes, yes, send her in."

A few minutes later Katherine entered his office and greeted him warmly.

He returned the smile. For all the conflict there was between her and Jonathan, he did very much like her. She was one of the few who did not treat him like a robotic administrator with no interests outside of school grounds. It was only in the wake of her break-ups with the English Lit teacher that he dreaded seeing her. The constant tears and rehashing of events were something he had limited patience for.

There were no tears this time, but she did seem anxious.

"What can I do for you, Katherine?" he asked genially.

"I, um, have something I need to talk to you about." Her eyes darted around the room nervously. "But I'm not sure how to bring it up."

"What is this about?"

"It has to do with Dr. Sorrell's apology."

"Oh?"

"You know rumors come from somewhere. They don't usually just spring up."

George cocked his head to the side. "Most of the time they don't."

"I'm, I'm not sure I should say anything."

She twisted the hem of her shirt until the thread began to unravel.

George leaned forward and laced his fingers together in front of his chin. "About what?"

She sighed heavily. "I'm afraid those rumors are true. It's just that Daryll wasn't the one dating Audrey."

The principal refrained from reacting to Katherine very friendly addressing of the science teacher. Most called Sorrell by his surname or simply "that jerk".

"Do you know who she's dating?"

Katherine upper lip trembled anxiously. "It's just that Audrey has been absent quite a bit lately."

He didn't miss that she redirected the conversation rather than answer the question.

"Yes, I am aware, Katherine," he responded in a neutral tone. "It's not my place to disclose Miss Andrews' personal business, but I do know what's going on and she has my permission to be absent on Monday and Friday mornings."

The tiniest bit of surprise registered in Katherine's eyes. She briefly pressed her lips together, then said, "I'm talking about missing lunch periods."

George maintained a blank expression. He allowed her to go on, curious about why she was really in to see him.

"She hasn't been down to the cafeteria in over a month, not even when Jonny's on duty."

Jonny? He frowned slightly. Jon wasn't fond of ex-girlfriends calling him by this childhood nickname.

"The school year is drawing to a close," he replied. "I happen to know she has quite a bit of work yet to complete."

Katherine's brow lifted ever so slightly. Her voice dropped as she leaned over and said, "Why would she need to leave campus to work?"

"Leave campus?" This was news to him.

"Twice a week."

The principal remained silent.

"It's been like this for a while."

She's up to something, he determined. And she was not here out of concern for the student teacher.

"Faculty members including student teachers are allowed to leave during lunch periods provided duties are not neglected."

Katherine paused. A look of annoyance flashed across her face before she blunted stated, "She's been leaving with Jon."

George sat back and studied the social studies teacher carefully. He put a fist against his lips as a conversation he had had with Jonathan not that long ago came back to him.

"She tell you she stole Shawn's key, made a copy of it, used it to get into my apartment, and steal my clothes? She also tell you she used my clothes in that stunt she pulled in front of you to try to convince me to get back together with her?"

"I'm unaware that Jonathan has been leaving campus."

She relaxed some. "I'm not sure how long it's been going on, but it's been within the last 5 weeks."

Feeny said nothing.

"They have a student running interference for them."

"Who?"

"Keiner."

"Which one?"

He saw her repress an eyeroll.

"The boy."

George lifted his chin. He made note that she couldn't recall Harley's name, a name everyone knew, teacher or not. "What makes you think this?"

"He has been very purposefully making sure I have no interaction with Audrey or Jonny."

"It seems as if you've been fully initiated into John Adams High. Congratulations. Harley does that to everyone sooner or later."

She paused. It was clear she didn't recognize the name at first. Biting her bottom lip, she tried again. "George, I don't know how to put this without sounding crass."

"Try, Miss Tompkins."

"Look, I'm often in the staff bathroom at the same time she is. It seems like she's always in there for one reason or another."

"And?"

"And I just remember last year when Asia Brown was in the bathroom like that."

"Last year Ms. Brown was pregnant."

"Yes. I know."

"I know what you're gonna say and I don't wanna hear it, George. I am not datin' anyone from here."

"What I was going to say is that I am very concerned about your relationship with Miss Andrews."

"Why?"

"I believe it's bordering on inappropriate."

"Why? What proof do you have? Somethin' that Kat made up?"

George leaned back in his chair as he pondered that meeting with Jon. "Being in the bathroom frequently could point to any number of issues."

"Does it?" She was growing frustrated. "Asia was in the bathroom because she was suffering from nausea all the time. Her food aversion was so bad she couldn't come down to the cafeteria. The rest of us had to pick up her lunch duty until she went on maternity leave. She had heartburn and indigestion so bad that she had to leave school more than once during lunch for doctor's appointments. And then was her clothing…"

Everything she said was true. He himself had heard Audrey complaining about many of these issues. He mulled this information over against what he knew about Audrey. He stared at the woman in front of him, the one Jon said stole a student's key and who had been unable to accept the end of their relationship.

"What about Miss Andrews' attire?"

"Well, she used to wear very fitted clothing. Not so much these days."

This was also true. He had attributed this to a change in fashion, however Audrey was the only adhering to the trend.

"A woman trying to get a man's attention doesn't normally wear such oversized clothes like she is now. Not unless she already has that attention and there's a reason to hide it…"

George had a hard time believing what he was hearing.

Although he'd long suspected that Jonathan had an interest in Audrey that exceeded the bounds of what was appropriate for the teacher/student teacher relationship, he didn't believe that the younger teacher would be quite that foolish.

His caution to Jon over his relationship with Audrey came from a place of concern for both of them. Audrey's age and Jon's position of authority over her could ruin his career and cause them both a great deal of trouble should that relationship shift while she was still his student teacher.

He'd seen it happen.

He'd experienced it.

The one thing that held him back from removing Audrey from her placement was the same thing that prevented him from removing Shawn from Jon's homeroom: his care and concern was genuine for them both.

When Jon first started teaching at John Adams High, his notorious reputation with women was a much talked about topic of gossip in the teacher's lounge. This reputation effectively died a few months into in Audrey's student teaching. His behavior around Audrey was markedly different than with any other woman he'd seen him with or heard him talk about.

Did he believe something was going on between them?

Yes.

Did he believe it was something that would result in a pregnancy?

No.

Jon cared too much about Audrey for that to happen right now.

Katherine's accusations infuriated him. The tiny reactions when her words didn't land the way she expected and the way she kept tweaking the story told him that she was making this up. That she was willing to potentially ruin an ex-boyfriend's career over a relationship that didn't work out astounded him.

In fact, what she was accusing him of could very much ruin his life if it was phrased in such a way to the school board. Once in the school board's hands, it would inevitably make it to the press.

"You don't know Katherine and you don't really know me. You think you do but you don't. I just can't get over how little you think of me!"

Jonathan was right, he realized. He didn't know Katherine, at least not as well as he thought he did. But he did know the English Lit teacher.

"Let me make sure I understand you clearly." His tone was no longer neutral. He did not hide his displeasure with her. "You are accusing a teacher of using his position of authority to get his student teacher pregnant."

She looked appropriately embarrassed. "I'm not accusing him, George," she said woefully. "I'm just bringing you the information I have. What you do with it is your business. But if you allow this to go on, it reflects poorly on you and your ability to manage your staff."

"How do you know any of this is true?"

"You have the evidence. What else could it be?"

"I have no such evidence. I have hearsay and perhaps a significant amount of lies."

Katherine paled as she tried to regroup. He didn't allow her to make another attempt at slandering Jon.

"We're done here, Miss Tompkins," he snapped so harshly that she jumped.

She was obviously expecting him to blindly take her side. Unfortunately, for her, he was seeing things very clearly. Shaken at his refusal to hear her out, she stood to leave.

George called out sharply as she reached the door. "I suggest you keep this to yourself, Katherine. If you should attempt to ruin Jonathan's reputation, I assure you it will be your career in tatters not his."

Her cheeks blazed crimson and she left in a huff.

After she was gone, he turned the desk light off and sat with his head in his hands.

Everything Jonathan had told him about her was correct.

He owed the younger teacher an apology.

Many thanks for spending time with me. Hope you are well. :)