AN: I intended this next chapter to be the final part of the interlude, but I've had some unexpected things come up that have put me behind schedule. Because I'm not sure that I can get it fully written and cleaned up before Christmas, I'm going to upload sections of the chapter as I get them done. Enjoy!
It had been decided that the following weekend was the weekend to put up the Christmas tree. It had also been decided that since Audrey's place had more room and a fireplace all of the holiday festivities would take place there. When Shawn found out that Audrey had a spare bedroom and a sofa bed, he tried to convince Jon that they should just move in for the month. When Jon said no, Shawn wished him well and told him he hoped he wouldn't get lonely at night.
In order to give Shawn the full Christmas tree experience, rather than go to a tree lot like he thought they were going to go to, Jon and Audrey surprised him with a trip out of town to Arasapha Farms in Glen Mills. For Audrey, this was a normal Christmas experience; she grew up going to the tree farms in Jersey every year after Thanksgiving to cut down a tree with her father. But it was a new experience for Shawn and Jon. Shawn had never picked out a Christmas tree that actually looked like a Christmas tree rather than one that even Charlie Brown wouldn't want. Jon had never picked out a tree of any kind nor had he had ever cut one down.
"This is so cool," Shawn commented, grinning widely as they stood at the edge of the farm where the trees began. "You know," he said, when the adults finally caught up to him, "Audrey is all I really wanted for Christmas, but this," he gestured to the trees, "this is just icing on the gingerbread cookies."
Jon regarded him with mild concern. "Cake," he corrected. "The saying is 'icing on the cake'."
Shawn looked at him in confusion. "But I don't want cake for Christmas, I want gingerbread cookies."
Jon looked Audrey for help. "He wants cookies for Christmas," she teased him. "What are you even talking about?"
He laughed. "I have no idea."
The tree farm was crawling with people and Shawn worried that someone else would get their tree before them. Yet he insisted on going to the ends of the farm and back and from one side to the next inspecting every tree before choosing one. The weather was chilly and growing colder as the day went on, but trekking back and forth made them sweaty. Jon found himself carrying the jacket Shawn had shed as the teen ran ahead of them once again. Every dad carrying an article of their child's clothing or something else they'd brought with them gave Jon a nod of acknowledgment as if to say "we always end up doing this don't we?".
At one point Audrey stumbled on a low cut stump. Jon caught and pulled her close to him to keep her on her feet. Instinct told him to let go of her right away. As he started to pull away, he realized that absolutely no one knew them in Glen Mills. Not a single person knew that Audrey was his student teacher or that Shawn was his student; they were just one more family in the crowd. He hugged her close and she looked up in surprise. A pleased look and a shy smile blushed her face and she wrapped her arm around his waist. Shawn, standing by a tree he liked, saw this and grinned.
"I think I found the one," he said, inspecting the tree in front of him.
"Great." Jon was growing tired after a nearly two hour excursion through the farm carrying a leather jacket and saw.
"Four rows down that way." Shawn pointed into the distance and took off again.
The English teacher stared after him and set his jaw at angle. "We're going to be trapped here forever aren't we?" he complained with a dramatic groan.
Audrey laughed. "Oh, stop complaining. This was your idea after all."
Shawn had finally found The tree though, and there was no need to keep searching. It was a beautiful full Douglas fir. Jon and Audrey were impressed with the choice and Shawn basked in their approval.
Rather than return immediately to Philadelphia, Jon wanted to stay in Glen Mills for lunch. He enjoyed being able to wander around with Audrey and Shawn and not worry about who might see them. As they ate, he listened to Shawn and Audrey discuss plans for decorating the tree and her place. Shawn wanted just about every Christmas cliché imaginable and luckily Audrey, being both resourceful and creative, knew how to go about it without breaking the bank. After lunch was over, they headed to the local shops to round up decorating supplies. None of them had anything already for the season; Shawn and Jon never had any Christmas décor and Audrey's was all back in New York. Even so, she was strangely insistent on not buying certain things like lights and garland and bulb ornaments. Instead, she turned her attention to Shawn's wish to make ornaments. On their way to check out, Shawn found the Hallmark ornament display with a miniature Darth Vader holding a light up Light saber.
"You are not hanging that on my tree," Audrey told him flatly.
He made a face at her, "Well, if you and Jon had gotten me the Darth Vader I wanted at FAO Schwartz, I wouldn't event think about it."
"That thing was 6 feet tall, made out of Legos and $5000," Jon told him. Turning to Audrey, he said, "I say we get that one and hide it in the back of the tree where nobody will see it and we can stop hearing about the Darth Vader we didn't get him."
Shawn rolled his eyes and Audrey laughed.
"Can I get an ornament?" he asked. He was still holding Darth Vader but he was looking at something else.
Jon and Audrey exchanged looks. Jon shrugged. "Sure. One."
Shawn put down the ornament in his hand and waved them on. "I'll be there in just a minute."
"Hurry up," Audrey told him as she started to push cart toward the check out lane.
Shawn rejoined them just a few minutes later and quickly put his ornament on the checkout counter.
"What'd you get?" Jon asked him.
"I'll show you later. It's not Star Wars, I promise."
After loading the truck and re-securing the tree, Jon was still reluctant to return home.
"Why don't you want to go back?" Audrey asked as they got into the truck.
"I dunno," he shrugged. He didn't know if he should say anything to her about how stressful it was on him to do things in Philadelphia for fear of people noticing them. "It's nice being out of the city."
"We need to get back," Audrey said. "We've still got a lot to do."
"We don't have to do everything today. We still have tomorrow."
"I know. But I need to get back."
"Why?"
"Just because I do," she insisted.
They made it back to Audrey's place around 3. It turned out, however, that they had all underestimated the size of the tree and the size of the space it was going into. There was hardly any trunk left as so much had to be cut off so that the tree wasn't touching the ceiling. Shawn was adamant that a star had to go on top.
Just as the tree was put up, the doorbell. Instinctively, Jon froze and began to look for back exits in the event he and Shawn needed to disappear for awhile.
Audrey didn't think twice about answering the door. Her face lit up in a delighted grin. "Uncle Alex! You made it!"
"Of course, I did ,my dear girl. I told you would and here I am!"
Jon had not been able to move from his place in the kitchen. The voice sounded incredibly familiar. But Uncle Alex? He'd never heard of an Uncle Alex. As far as he knew, her father's family was in California and her mother's in England.
"Jon! Shawn!" Audrey called to them. "Come here."
Shawn jumped the couch at her call and was by her side in a flash. Jon was more cautious in his arrival. He was stunned to see that Uncle Alex was Audrey's teaching advisor, Alexander Kessington.
"Hello, Jonathan," the older man greeted him jovially. "It's good to see you again."
"Good to see you too, sir," he stammered unsure of what to make of the man's presence.
"Alex, please. This is a social call." Turning to the teen whom he treated as a younger relative, he said, "Shawn, be a good lad and help me bring in the boxes from the car."
As soon as they left the house, Jon pulled Audrey over to him with concern. This man was in frequent contact with Mr. Feeny in regards to the student teacher's progress at John Adams High.
"Audrey, what is going on?"
"Jon, it's okay. He knows and he's fine with everything. Don't worry."
"But why's he here?"
"He was coming to town to visit some friends and said he wanted to drop by. I asked if he would mind bringing my Christmas boxes from home."
Jon looked at her in surprise. "So that's why you didn't want to buy much today."
"Yes!" Her eyes were ablaze with an excited glow. "I wanted to surprise you and Shawn."
Her grin was contagious and he couldn't help but to smile back at her.
Once Jon saw how much Christmas décor the boxes from New York contain he understood why they didn't need to buy much. Six large boxes contained more than enough to decorate Audrey's place from top to bottom with decorations to spare.
Professor Kessington stayed long enough to help unpack the decorations, have some coffee, and regal Shawn with stories of Christmases spent abroad. After he left, Jon pulled Audrey to the side again and they watched Shawn with the exuberance of a young child go through the boxes and begin to organize them in a way Jon had never seen him organize anything ever.
"You know," he said, putting his arm around her. It occurred to him that he was getting a little too comfortable with doing that but he ignored the concern that presented itself to him in Mr. Feeny's voice. "I'm glad your advisor came by."
"Oh yeah?" she smiled up at him. She always thought the two would get along very well.
"Yeah," he said, giving her a squeeze. "I know George regrets making me your cooperating teacher due to what he believes is a conflict of interest. And maybe I don't have any business being your cooperating teacher. But..."
"Uh-huh?"
"I feel a lot better knowing that Professor Kessington has no business being your advisor. There is a definite conflict of interest there!"
Audrey gave a short laugh and grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him down so they were nose to nose. "You gonna tell?"
He laughed. "Not me. I don't know nothin'!"
An abrupt call for help to untangle the lights from Shawn interrupted the moment between them.
It was late when they finally finished decorating the tree and after a dinner of take-out Chinese food, the three fell asleep in front of the television. Shawn woke up with his face smashed into the cushion of the sofa with the pillow he'd fallen asleep on laying on the floor. Jon was curled into the corner of the sofa still asleep. The spot where Audrey should have been was empty. He was about to go back to sleep when the delicious, unmistakable aroma of Audrey's special pancakes hit his nostrils. In a moment, he was up and stumbling into the kitchen.
"Oooo," he said, trying to grab a link of sausage only to get his hand smacked. "Are we having breakfast for dinner?"
She shook her head and transferred the scrambled eggs to a large plate. "We're having breakfast for breakfast. It's Sunday morning, Shawn."
Suddenly, he was wide awake. "We spent the night?"
"On the couch. Turns out I'm not a big fan of sleeping sitting up."
"I wish we could do that every night," he sighed wistfully.
"Maybe one day," she said, giving him a small smile.
Not if Jon doesn't quit being dumb, he thought morosely.
"Do you mean that?" Shawn asked, wanting to make absolutely sure they were on the same page.
"Of course, I do."
"Audrey?"
She looked up from stirring the pancake mix and gave him her full attention.
"You love me right?"
"You know I do." She frowned slightly, wondering if he was thinking about his father.
"I love you, too."
"What's this all about?"
"I was just thinking," he said. Suddenly he was a bit nervous about talking to her about this particular subject in a way he wasn't with Jon. "We're really good together, the three of us."
"I think so."
"When you're done student teaching are you going back to New York for good?"
"I don't know, Shawn." She went back to fixing breakfast. "I really haven't thought that far ahead. I guess a lot would depend on how my dad is doing."
Shawn was quiet for a long while. Finally, he said. "Do you want to go back without us?"
"Not if I don't have to."
Shawn didn't know how to ask what he really wanted to know, so he danced around it instead of directly asking. "Does it bother you that Jon's, like, a lot older than you?"
"I'm not sure what you mean. In fact, I'm not sure what we're actually talking about. "Actually, she was concerned that she did know what he meant. It wasn't something she'd talked to anyone about before.
"Like, would you date someone Jon's age?"
"It would depend on the person." She could not be direct anymore than he could be.
Shawn scratched his fingernail across the tile of the kitchen island, unable to look her in the eyes. "What if the person is Jon?"
Should she answer him? She'd always prided herself on being honest with her students, but this was not a line of questioning she'd encountered before. But this was Shawn, after all, so she said, "If he asked, yes, I'd go out with him."
"Can I ask you something then?"
"Sure."
"Do you love him?"
Audrey let the pancake batter drop onto the hot griddle making several pancakes in a row. She was quiet for so long that Shawn worried he'd asked too much.
"I don't know how to answer that, Shawn," she said finally, putting the pancakes on a plate when they were done cooking. "I'm not sure I should."
Shawn let out a frustrated grunt. "Aw, you're as frustrating as he is! Mr. Feeny get to you, too?"
She looked up sharply. "What's Mr. Feeny got to do with this?"
Shawn didn't answer. He kicked the leg of the island.
"Shawn, I know you think things should be simple in this area..."
"I know, I know." He rolled his eyes and mimicked what Jon had told him before the NYC trip. "'Things aren't so black and white. I have to consider what's best for the both of us'."
She looked surprised and bit concerned. "I take it you've had this conversation before?"
"Lot of good it did," he grumbled.
"Shawn, I know how much you want us all to be together. I can't lie to you- I'd love for that to happen. But it is complicated, more than you know. And as hard as it is you're gonna have to let things play out on their own."
"But what if things get messed up and you go back to New York and we never see you again?"
"Then we'll all have to accept that things weren't meant to be."
"No," he said defiantly, slapping his palms against the counter. "I won't and you can't make me. I may not know a lot, but I know this. Just like Cory and Topanga are supposed to get married and always be together so are you and Jon. I am right. I know I am."
Audrey was incredibly touched at his passion and support of them. She went over and pulled him into a hug and kissed his cheek even though he stubbornly refused to acknowledge her. "You know," she said dropping her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. "I am not the problem here."
Shawn looked up at her and saw the grin she had on her face. He began to smile back.
"He is!" They said together and starting laughing.
Jon, who just happened to walked into the kitchen right at that moment, looked at them quizzically.
"What are you two laughing at?"
"Nothing." Shawn grinned, sharing a secret look with Audrey. "I'm hungry. Can we eat now?"
Jon was not the artsy type and he definitely was not the craftsy type, but he found himself sitting at the kitchen table amidst piles of paint, plaster, Popsicle sticks, and other assorted craft supplies that he didn't know the names of. Shawn, who also wasn't the craftsy type, was carefully following Audrey's directions on ornament assembly and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Jon did the best he could to follow Audrey, but was better suited to handing supplies to them than anything else. But Shawn wouldn't let him off the hook entirely and made him participate in making a few of the ornaments with them. It wasn't until they made pomanders that Jon felt confident in what he was doing. Sticking cloves in oranges and tying ribbons around them was something he could do without any problem.
Jon was tasked with hanging the pomanders while Shawn and Audrey cleaned up the kitchen. The house was now thoroughly decorated from floor to ceiling just like Shawn wanted. There were snowmen and poinsettias, Santas and snowflakes, and various holiday knickknacks all over. The centerpiece in the living room was the Nativity scene that Shawn spent over an hour meticulously setting up. And then rearranging. Multiple times. When they first finished the house, Jon was still a bit cynical about the holidays that didn't hold a lot of meaning to him. His initial thought, that he wisely kept to himself, was that the house looked like Santa's elves had broken in and puked all over the place. Almost as soon as he thought that, he caught sight of how happy Shawn was. Audrey was even happier with Shawn's joy than she was with the way the decorating turned out. He had to willfully drop his attitude and defenses to be able to join them in the festive spirit. When he did, he saw that the house was nothing like the cold, store bought, professionally set up Christmas displays he grew up with. Their decorations were mismatched and imperfect, too much of some and not enough of others. But everything was done by them and for them. If Jon was being completely honest with himself, this was the Christmas that he wanted when he was twelve. It was family doing the holiday activities together; the people he loved with him actively engaged with each other. And for the first time in a very long time, he wasn't going to be alone for Christmas.
When Shawn finally showed them the ornament he picked out in Glen Mills, Jon then realized how much things had changed for both of them. The ornament was a clear heart, framed in white poinsettias that were tied together at the top with a white bow. Hanging from the bow were two hearts. Etched in the glass were the words:
Our First Christmas Together
1995
Both he and Audrey knew the ornament was actually meant for a newly wed couple, but neither said a word about that as Audrey hung the ornament above the heart of the tree- exactly center; a place of honor amongst the others. Jon rearranged the lights so that they illuminated the heart and made it glow. Shawn stood between them, his arms around them both, looking so happy. This was not the same kid he took in seven months ago. That kid would not be standing there with them doing what other kids his age wouldn't want to do for the most part. But then seven months ago Jon himself wouldn't have been heading family festivities. Seven months ago he would have been appalled by the thought of such a thing. But now standing there in the living room with Shawn and Audrey he finally had to admit that this- a family- was what he really wanted and he hoped that every Christmas going forward would be like this one.
At school, Shawn downplayed any interest he had in holiday festivities as he still had a reputation to maintain. So unless something came up like a winter dance or something else that involved girls, Shawn maintained his disinterest. Cory and Topanga knew otherwise, but they did not know the extent of what was going on at home. It wasn't that Shawn didn't want them to know all that Jon and Audrey were doing for him- sometimes it was very hard not to say anything- it was just that he wanted to keep the experiences to himself for the time being. Many of the things he was doing with his caretakers were things that Cory and Topanga commonly did with their families. Some things- like going to the Christmas Village- were things they normally did but were not doing this year for whatever reason. Shawn knew they both loved going to the Philadelphia staple of the holiday season and would want to come along if they knew he was going. He also knew that Jon and Audrey wouldn't mind having a couple of extra people go with them. So he felt a little guilty going without telling them, but Shawn did not want to share Jon or Audrey with anyone right now. Next year, he would ask if they could all go together. But not this year.
The Friday after the Christmas tree was set up Jon and Shawn went home with Audrey. Shawn honestly preferred Audrey's place over Jon's for two reasons: 1) it was a house not an apartment and 2) no one randomly came over uninvited nor walked in unannounced. Since both were a frequent occurrence at Jon's place, it was far less stressful for the three of them to be together at Audrey's.
The day before while Jon was in a union meeting at school, Audrey had taken him to the store to buy Christmas cards. Shawn couldn't wait to get these sent out to everyone. He had a four page list detailing everyone who's name he could remember. With his list, the cards, pens, and the phone book Shawn took a seat at the kitchen table and got to work. When it came to sending cards to his family, he ran into a bit of an issue. The vast majority of his relatives were unlisted in the phone book as many had no permanent place of address. Some were at the trailer and many others in jail. Shawn wasn't sure how to get the cards to those in jail and didn't think Jon would appreciate being asked to do an in person visit to deliver them. It was probably best just to drop them all off at Uncle Mike's shop and let him be his mail carrier. Shawn smiled slightly at the thought of this. He wished he could be there to see his family's reaction to getting the cards. The Hunters didn't send Christmas cards unless there was a holiday threat inside. A card wishing them a simple Merry Christmas might make a few so nervous they'd go into hiding. Ah, well, Shawn wasn't going to let that dissuade him from spreading Christmas cheer. What they did with it was their business.
He was about halfway through his list when Jon walked into the living room. He saw Shawn's stack of completed cards and looked impressed.
"You about done?" he asked. The card onto top of the stack caught his attention.
"Almost."
"Who's Dude at the bus stop?" He pointed to the envelope he was looking at.
"You know the guy that's always waiting by the stop on Novak Lane but never gets on the bus?"
"Yeah."
"That's him."
"You know him?"
"Yeah. I say hi to him when I walk home with Cory."
"What's his name?"
"I don't know," Shawn shrugged. "That's why it says Dude at the bus stop."
Jon couldn't help but smile. "Hurry up if you can. We want to get going as soon as possible. We can drop these off tomorrow."
One of the earmarks of the Christmas season in Philadelphia was the German-style Christmas Village in Love Park. There were more than eighty booths of local and international merchants selling Käthe Wohlfahrt trimmings, winter apparel, handmade toys and all sorts of food and drinks. The Present, a 27-foot-tall walk-through gift box covered in thousands of red and white lights, with its own gift shop. The Village wrapped all around City Hall where the Philly Holiday Tree was. Every year there was more to do and see. It was one of those things that Shawn had always wanted to do, but never had the chance to. Aside from the expense, people like his family weren't the most welcomed. Cory had wanted him to go with him in previous years, but it was one of those traditions that was restricted to immediate family. Shawn understood that. Especially, now.
With all that was going on, Jon began to get careless his public behavior with Audrey and Shawn; Audrey especially. Getting caught up in the holiday spirit, the fact that they were not an actual family faded from his memory as well as the fact that they could all get into much trouble should the wrong people see them. He found himself frequently holding onto to Audrey either by hand or waist. Shawn, however, had not forgotten about potential busybodies and, wanting to encourage his teachers' budding relationship as much as possible, kept a close eye on the faces they passed by to make sure there was no one they knew in them. But even he grew haphazard in his vigilance as he got more engrossed in the activities around them. At one point, Jon left them to go get hot chocolate and coffee while Shawn and Audrey stood by a booth selling hand painted ornaments from the Ukraine looking over the picture the three of them just had taken with Santa. Shawn was talking to Audrey about the photo with his back to the crowd when he heard a voice formally call him by name. And the voice he heard made his blood run cold.
"Ah, Mr. Hunter. Curious to run into you here. And with Miss Andrews, too."
For a moment, Shawn panicked, worried that Jon might return too soon. He stared at Audrey with wide eyes and quickly gave the photograph to her. Then a sudden thought popped into his head and his anxiety disappeared as he turned to face his principal with a grim face, doing what he did best- being the troubled teen with a big attitude.
"Ah, man! You're here, too?" Shawn complained loudly, giving the older man an annoyed glare. "What is this? John Adams High teacher day at the Christmas Village? First, I have to come here with my English teacher, then I caught by Miss Andrews after getting away from him and now you," he shoved his hands out in Mr. Feeny's direction in frustration. "Don't tell me- Miss Tompkins and Mr. Williams are here too, aren't they? Did you guys take a bus here or something?"
Shawn's was a very convincing act. Even Audrey was taken aback by the outburst initially. Mr. Feeny caught the displeased look she was giving Shawn and add in one of his own.
"Yes, well," he said, keeping an eye on Audrey. It seemed to be too much of a coincidence that the two were together. "So you've run off from Mr. Turner, have you?"
"I was going to stay with him until Jon caught up with him," Audrey explained. She'd hoped the principal had not seen her put the picture Shawn gave into her jacket pocket.
"You go on, Miss Andrews, I'll wait with him," Mr. Feeny said with a tight smile. "Mr. Hunter and I can catch up."
Audrey paused and Shawn looked back over shoulder at her. She looked away quickly so Mr. Feeny wouldn't see the look they exchanged.
"I guess I'll see you two at school Monday," she said with a frown.
Mr. Feeny gave her a pleasant smile and watched her leave. Shawn gave a silent sigh of relief when he saw her headed in the direction Jon would be coming from. He turned back to his principal, already planning an escape.
"If Mr. Turner was kind enough to bring you here," Mr. Feeny said with some concern. He took a step closer to the boy. "Why would you repay him by running off?"
Shawn shrugged. "Look around Mr. Feeny. Everyone is here with their families. Guess who's not?"
He jerked his thumb against his chest. "Me, that's who. I'm with my English teacher. Let's face it, this place is kinda lame anyway."
Mr. Feeny studied the teen intently. He was quiet for so long that Shawn began to sweat in fear the man wasn't buying his story.
"I understand that this must be a difficult time for you, Shawn, with your father still gone." he said kindly. "If Mr. Turner brought you here it must because he's trying to do something to make Christmas a bit better. Perhaps you shouldn't be so hard on him."
It was so very rare that Mr. Feeny ever addressed any of his students by name as he preferred to keep a strong distance between him and them. For him to call Shawn by his first name was an indication of his compassion and concern for his student. He felt horrible for lying to his principal, but at the same time he could not betray Jon and Audrey. Shawn couldn't stand to look Mr. Feeny any longer, so stared down at his feet trying to figure out what to do. Just before his conscience got the better of him, Jon came running up to them, no coffee or hot chocolate or Audrey to be seen.
"There you are, Shawn!" Jon sounded like someone who trying to sound like he was out of breath. "What's the big idea takin' off on me like that?!"
Shawn channeled all his guilt into a rude retort and crossed his arms across his chest. At Mr. Feeny's stern look, he dropped his arms, turned to Jon, and said, "Sorry. Just not feeling great right now."
Mr. Feeny motioned for Jon to come over to him. He took a few steps back so Shawn wouldn't overhear him. "I believe he's missing his father."
At the that, Jon began to feel as guilty as Shawn did. "I figured," Jon replied uncomfortably. Truthfully, he hadn't thought of Chet Hunter even once in the last few weeks.
"Do you have this under control?"
"Yeah," the English teacher said. "Yeah, I think we'll be fine. Thanks for stayin' with him, George."
"Of course, Jonathan. Take care."
Jon turned his back on the principal so Mr. Feeny couldn't see the face he made. Shawn put a hand over his mouth to cover up his laugh.
"Oh, Jonathan."
Jon locked eyes with Shawn and mouthed, "There's more?"
"Yeah," he said, turning back around to face the older man.
"Miss Andrews was the one who caught him first," Mr. Feeny said. There was something in his voice that neither Jon or Shawn quite understood. "I thought you'd like to know, so you could thank her." He paused and gave them both a very stern look. "On Monday."
He turned and left them standing there in the middle the crowd staring at each other. "On Monday" seemed to contain an ominous threat of sorts. Jon did not like the implication of the last statement.
Shawn was fuming. "You want me to follow him and make sure he's leaving and isn't following us?"
"No," Jon said, looking to make sure the principal really had left. "We need to get Audrey and get outta here."
"What?! I don't wanna leave yet!"
"Calm down. We're not leaving. We're just gonna double back around the Park and hopefully we won't run into anyone else from school."
Run into someone else from school they did. As the trio made their way around the Park, they purposely wove through the beer tasting area as they assumed it was an unlikely place to find Mr. Feeny. The people at the Beer Garden were in very high spirits from the variety of beer and spirits that they had been sampling for quite some time. There was one particularly jovially group singing Christmas Carols loudly and badly. Shawn wrinkled his nose and covered his ears as he walked by them. He was almost passed them when the dancing started. Someone grabbed him and pulled him into the dance. Offended at being touched by stranger, Shawn jerked away and turned, ready to fight. When the offender faced him, he stared in surprise at the woman and dropped his hands.
"Miss Collins?"
"Shawn?" She stopped smiling for a moment and regarded him wide eyes.
Shawn didn't know quite how to react to seeing his guidance counselor out in public or slightly drunk. Actually, she was his former guidance counselor. Miss Collins tenure at John Adams High had been short lived. According to Mr. Feeny, the high school was not a good fit for her; she was better suited elsewhere.
"Hey!" She grinned at him, then gave him a semi-serious look. "I think you're in the wrong part of the Village, don't you?"
It took Shawn a moment to figure out what she meant since what he was doing there and what she thought he was doing there were two very different things.
"Yeah, I'm-" Before he could get out "with friends", Jon leading Audrey by the hand caught up with him after being detained by a group of revelers.
"Jon!" she squealed delightedly. Her turn towards the teacher was abrupt she stumbled a bit knocking into Shawn who backed away from her as quickly as she could.
"Devon?" The look on Jon's face was a mix of surprise and horror.
"I've been hoping to run into you somewhere."
"You have?" He glanced worriedly at Audrey. "Why?"
"You are the one person I really miss from John Adams High," she replied, very flirty with a slightly crooked grin.
John looked at his companions in confusion. He had no idea what she was talking about it and he was very concerned about what Audrey would make of this.
What the heck?! Shawn thought, thoroughly frustrated with the way the day was going. Why can't people just leave us alone?
Audrey stayed silent, but she didn't look happy.
"This is Devon Collins," Jon told Audrey. "She was Shawn's guidance counselor briefly."
"That's cause she got fired," Shawn injected rudely, wanting the conversation to be done with as quickly as possible.
Devon ignored both Shawn and Audrey and grabbed Jon's arm. He didn't move with her so she slid both of her hands down his arm and forcibly disengaged his hand from Audrey's. The look of disgust that overtook Audrey's face was mirrored in Shawn's. Shawn immediately went to Audrey's defense, agitated and ready to fight.
"Come on," Devon tried to pull Jon along with her. "I've got some friends I want you to meet. You can join us- the Beer Flight tasting is about to start."
Jon jerked away from her and put his arm around Audrey. It wasn't the smartest thing to do considering their principal was wandering the grounds somewhere. But it was risk he took since Devon didn't work at John Adams High anymore and the alcohol was likely to impair her memory. "No thanks. I've got plans.
Speaking of plans, Shawn was done with people ruining his, especially this way. He squared up to Devon ready to verbally take her on after the way she insulted Audrey. He felt Jon's hand around his arm, pulling him away.
"C'mon, Shawn. Let's go."
Devon was clearly offended and upset. She called after Jon, but he ignored her.
Shawn continued grumbling about her under his breath until Jon said, "We need to get out of this place. I'm gonna get in trouble having you two in here anyway."
"Why?" Shawn asked. He walked alongside Audrey with his arm through hers.
"You're both underage."
Shawn wrinkled his nose. "I thought the drinking age is 21."
"It is."
"So one of us is underage. Audrey's 21." He was surprised Jon had forgotten this.
"Oh, no, she's not," he remarked in a sing-song voice and shooting her a look.
The teen tugged at Audrey's arm. "Really? I thought you were."
Audrey gave Jon a dirty look. He was unbothered by it. "You wanna tell him or should I?" he asked lightly.
"I'll be 21 in July," she said sulkily.
"Yes," Jon wasn't ready to let the subject go yet. "But that's not what her student teaching application says."
"I don't get it what's the big deal?"
Audrey let out a sigh. "My school is a little different when it comes to admittance into the program. They require you to be 21. My birthday is late, but I didn't want to wait another year before student teaching."
"So dear Uncle Alex fudged her record a bit."
"Only for the student teaching program not for school!" she cried defensively.
Shawn, being a Hunter, was delighted that they all had something on each other that could be used for blackmail purposes should the need arise.
"Ha!" he said to Jon. "You're the only one old enough to legally drink."
"Yeah, lucky me." he said. Suddenly, he felt very old.
It was late by the time they finally made it back to Audrey's place, so they dropped her off and headed back to the apartment. At first Jon was afraid that he was going to have carry Shawn inside as he had trouble waking the boy up. He managed to get him conscious enough to trudge inside and to his bed before the teen fell asleep again. Jon was about as tired as Shawn was and didn't even bother to change his clothes before getting into bed.
The next morning, Jon regretted his decision not to change his clothes; he felt grimy and gross. Before taking a shower, he thought it would be best to check on Shawn. He found the boy standing in the middle of the apartment looking around him in awe.
Someone, in the middle of the night apparently, had decorated their apartment for the season. The decorations Jon inspected looked very much like the leftover ones from Audrey's place.
Shawn turned to Jon with a funny look on his face. "She was here last night."
"Looks like it."
"But she didn't let us know."
"I think that was the point."
Shawn smiled and gave him a meaningful look. "I think she loves us."
Jon was quiet for awhile, before he finally said, "She loves you, Shawn."
The teen shook his head slightly, still smiling to himself. "We talk, you know."
"Right."
Shawn shrugged at the sarcastic remark. "Believe what you want."
Jon gave his charge a frown. "Hunter," he said warily. Curiosity was getting the better of him. "Do you know somethin'?"
Again, Shawn shrugged. Then his eyes lit up. "Hey, it's early. Let's go over to her place right now and have breakfast fixed for her when she gets up."
He knew they shouldn't do it. But then again they shouldn't be doing any of this. But he said, "Not a bad idea, kid. Yeah, we can do that."
As they left the apartment, Jon couldn't help but ask again, "Shawn, do you know somethin'?"
Shawn grinned and took off running to the truck.
December was a month that was both loved and hated by teachers and students alike. Teachers and students both loved the month for its excitement and light spirits and holiday break. Teachers hated it because even the top students lost focus during the final weeks before break and everyone else was completely gone making it nearly impossible to get anything done. Students hated it because they were still in school. The last full week of school was finally over and Shawn couldn't wait for Saturday morning. He even though he didn't know everything that was planned for the day he brimming over with excitement to see how Jon and Audrey were planning on fulfilling the rest of his Christmas list. After school, he and Jon went over to Audrey's as was the routine now. While the adults sat down on the couch to unwind from a long day, Shawn went directly to "his room" to change into a fresh sweatshirt. His room was the spare bedroom he'd taken over in spite of Jon insisting they weren't moving in. For the past few weeks, every time they went over to Audrey's, Shawn had taken it upon himself to bring a piece of clothing from his closet and Jon's. Just in case. He wasn't really sure what it was just in case of, but it felt necessary in a way he couldn't explain. He opened the closet door and inspected the clothing inside. He pushed Jon's shirts, the ones his teacher had been complaining about not being able to find, to the side looking for his gray hoodie. He rummaged around for awhile until he remembered he was keeping his clothes in a pile in the drawers. Once he had the right sweater, he quickly changed and rejoined his teachers, plopping himself in between them and getting an annoyed look from Jon for it.
Chinese on the weekend was becoming a trend and Shawn liked it. After dinner Jon made Shawn do his homework and get over with before it was forgotten amid all they had planned for the weekend. Not long after he closed his last book, Cory called and Shawn headed to his room to talk to him. Cory was stressed over what to get Topanga for Christmas and hoped Shawn might have some ideas. What should have taken a short time to discuss, dragged on for almost two hours as Eric kept interrupting them and disconnecting the call in an attempt to force Cory off the phone so he could talk to the girl of the week. Finally, Alan intervened and gave Eric the boot off of the phone and they were able to finish their call.
It was around 10 when he wandered out of the back bedroom and found Jon and Audrey already asleep on the couch in front of the TV. Audrey was curled against Jon in a tight ball, her head resting on his chest. Both of Jon's arms were wrapped around her. She looked cold. Shawn grabbed one of her thick knitted blankets from out of the basket near the couch. As gently as he could-he didn't want to wake them- he laid the blanket over them. He placed a pillow at the other end of the couch and gingerly wiggled into place, careful to not to put his feet too far down the cushion and accidentally bump Audrey. The blanket was so over sized that it was big enough to cover him as well. With the three of them under the same cover it soon became very warm. Within minutes, Shawn was fast asleep.
It was the smell of coffee and a shaking of the sofa that woke Shawn the next morning. He was startled by a coffee-scented earthquake and jumped into a sitting position only to find that it was Jon shaking him awake and not an actual earthquake.
"C'mon," Jon said. "We need to get to the apartment and change clothes. We're going out to eat this morning before we head to the mall."
"We don't need to go back," Shawn said, groggily. "We've got clothes here."
"Uh, no we don't. You must have been dreaming."
"We've got clothes in my room."
"You don't have a room here." Shawn was persistent if nothing else, Jon had to admit. He still wouldn't let go of the idea of them moving in with Audrey.
"Yes, I do," the teen insisted, pointing at the door down the hall.
"Shawn, I told you we're not moving in."
"So don't move in," Shawn retorted, pushing the blanket to the side and standing up. "Do what you wanna do and I'll do the same."
"Hunter..."
"Do you really wanna go all the way back to the apartment to change?"
They stood there staring at each for several minutes as one as stubborn as the other and neither wanted to concede.
"Fine," Jon huffed, tired of the standoff. "Let's see what you've got here."
When they finally joined her in the kitchen, Audrey didn't seem overly surprised to see that they had changed without leaving her place.
"Are we ready to go?" she asked, rinsing out her coffee mug.
"Yep. I'm hungry," Shawn said. "Where are we eating?"
"I thought we'd stop at this place on North 22nd Street," Jon told them. "Sun Happy Diner, somethin' like that."
"Sounds good to me," Shawn said heading towards the door.
"Wait," Audrey grabbed her purse and coat from the closet ."Isn't North 22nd Street a long ways off from Franklin Mills?"
"Yeah, about that." Jon had changed their destination early that morning and hadn't yet had a chance to tell them. "I thought we'd get out of Philly and head to King of Prussia. They've got a pretty big mall out."
"Works for me," she shrugged.
"Great," Shawn said, trying to rush them along. "It works for everyone. Can we please leave?"
It seemed as though everyone had the idea to head out of town to shop for the holidays. A normally 50 minute drive took over a hour. Shawn entertained himself by backseat driving until he'd annoyed Jon to the point that Audrey shushed him. Once at the mall, it seemed to take another hour just to find a parking spot.
Once they finally made it inside, Shawn was duly impressed by the size of the mall. King of Prussia had been build in 1963 and was the 3rd largest mall in America. It was huge and new to Shawn which meant there was plenty of trouble to be found there. For once, Shawn wasn't interested in finding trouble. He was focused on his Christmas gift list. Jon had given him a budget he was expected to stick to. Shawn had the sneaking suspicion that this was done solely to force him to do math with the holiday break right around the corner. And yet the man still denied being his math teacher.
Shawn ran his finger down the list of names: Cory, Topanga, his dad, Uncle Mike, that cute blonde in Mr. Williams' class. There were a couple of other family members on there with Uncle Mike. Jon gave him explicit instructions when it came to buying for family: nothing could be bought out of the trunk of a car or from the interior of a coat; nothing with filed off serial numbers. Which left Shawn with no clue what to get his family.
They were going to split up and meet back at the mall entrance in an hour, but Shawn decided after they'd gone off in different directions to go with Audrey to find something for Jon.
Jon had to navigate the crowds on his own which was fine. He needed the space to think anyway. The past month had been such a whirlwind between school and fulfilling Shawn's list that he'd had very little time to himself. It the quiet moments he had in the mornings before Shawn was up or after the teen and Audrey had fallen asleep on the couch, those two weighed heavily on his mind. He knew that nothing that was happening right now- spending so much time together, falling asleep on the couch, everything in between- all that had to stop after Christmas. It absolutely could not and should not continue. In spite of knowing with absolute certainty what the right thing to do was, he resented having to do it. He didn't want to limit his time with Audrey. He didn't want to end their time as a family. He didn't want to let go of the people he cared so much about because of how it looked to other people. He didn't want anything to change.
Jon knew where he was going, but it wouldn't take long to get what he wanted. Shawn's gifts had been bought awhile back and he was really on his own to get a gift for Audrey. So he meandered through the mall, killing time more than anything and thinking. Eventually, he found himself outside of the store he intended on shopping at. It was a small, local jewelry store. The last time he'd been in one it had not been a pleasant experience. This time was different. He wanted to be there.
The store was busy and so were all of the employees Jon wandered the displays looking at the jewelry options. For some reason he came to a stop in front of the engagement rings. There was one that caught his attention. It wasn't the flashiest ring in the display but very pretty. A simple, princess cut diamond the perfect size for the small, slim finger of a dancer. Jon stared at the ring for a long time. Shawn's begging for an engagement ring came back to him as did Kat's demand for one.
It was a beautiful ring.
"I see you found the ring you want."
Jon looked up to see an older woman behind the counter smiling knowingly at him.
"Ah, no, no. I was just looking," he stammered. He was embarrassed to be caught looking at the rings.
"Doesn't looking like you were just looking," she smirked. "Looks like you just found it."
Jon took a step back from the display. "I'm here for a necklace. July birthstone."
The woman knew better. She'd seen too many men like the one in front of her come into her store and immediately find a ring they were clearly interested in, then claim to be looking for something else. They might leave with another piece of jewelry, but they always came back for the ring.
Reluctantly, Jon turned away from the ring. There was no point in even entertaining the idea of buying it. He'd never use it. He didn't even know how Audrey felt about him and he wasn't going to ask.
The woman helped him pick out the necklace but she kept talking the ring and giving him all the information about it he'd never asked for. She even told him that the ring could be reserved until he was ready to pick it up.
"How long?" He heard himself asking.
"Up to two years."
Jon tapped his fingers against the counter. He caught sight of the clock hanging above the back exit of the store. He had to meet Shawn and Audrey in ten minutes. He looked back at the woman who gave him a knowing smirk.
It wouldn't hurt if he was a few minutes late in meeting them.
About five minutes after they met up, the trio split up once again, this time Shawn went with Jon.
"Did you get everything you wanted?" He asked the boy.
"Yeah."
Jon arched an eyebrow and gave him a serious look.
"It all meets your requirements," Shawn rolled his eyes at the look his teacher was giving him. "Nothing from a trunk or coat and everything has a serial number."
"Did you stick to the budget?"
"Of course, I did. Audrey was with me. By the way, I don't appreciate the math lesson."
"It's not like you'll be doing any of that over the break."
Shawn was about to make a retort to this, when he caught sight of a very large mural of soldiers, rats, and ballet dancers that depicted... well, he wasn't sure.
"What is that?"
Jon looked at the billboard then back at the teenager in disbelief. The boy was standing right in front of very large text that explained the advertisement.
"Try reading."
Shawn rolled his eyes again to make it clear he did appreciate having to do anything school related on the weekend.
"Philadelphia Ballet presents George Balanchine's the Nutcracker at the Academy of Music. Tickets on sale now," he read aloud. "Oh."
"Now that is a Christmas tradition that wasn't on your list," Jon informed him. He didn't know much about the ballet, but he did know that. He even had to sit through a performance or two in his life.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Audrey loves the ballet." Shawn had a far away look in his eyes.
"Yes, she does." Jon could see the wheels in the boy's head were starting to turn.
"We love her."
"Yeah, we d-" Jon gave him a disapproving look. He didn't appreciate being tricked into admitting what he didn't want to talk about. "She would love this." he corrected himself.
"Could we take her?"
"I don't see why not."
"Good. If it makes her happy I'll sit through the ballet."
"Yeah, me too." Jon sighed. He felt incredibly bothered by something, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.
They met up with Audrey an hour later and stayed together for the rest of the day. When they finally left the mall several hours after they'd arrived they found the parking lot and surrounding areas blanketed in a inch of snow. Snow still fell with no signs of stopping any time soon.
"This worked out well," Audrey said taking Jon's arm as they crossed the slippery pavement. "I wasn't sure how we were going to take Shawn sledding if it didn't snow."
"I know," Jon said. "This is convenient."
The drive back was slow, thanks to the weather. But they made it back earlier enough to get Cory and head to the a nearby park know for its hills. The first real snow of the year brought everyone and their families to the park with their sleds. Audrey had been sledding as a child many, many times both in New York and in Hertforshire, England where the majority of her mother's family resided. Cory was also a frequent sledder with an older model sled passed down to him from Eric. Shawn had often gone sledding with Cory on small hills near the Matthews' house using Cory's sled or trash can lids or cardboard as he'd never had his own sled. Jon had never been sledding, only skiing, and his mistake was in admitting this to the three he was with.
"Why do they call this a Torpedo?" Jon asked Cory about the sled he and Shawn had gotten the day before.
"I think it's supposed to be really fast," Cory said.
Shawn thought it was a good idea that he and Cory try the new sled together. Abandoning his sled to the adults, Cory raced after Shawn who zeroed in on the largest hill in the park.
Whether it was the sled or the icy patch they hit halfway down the hill, neither Cory nor Shawn made to the bottom on the sled during their first run. They were thrown sideways in opposite directions. They ended up sitting on the hill watching the Torpedo fly away from them before running to chase it down. Hooting and hollering their way back to the top, they coerced Jon into going too. Their teacher was adamantly opposed to sliding down a hill on anything, particularly the "piece of plastic" that was the third sled.
His attitude was lousy until Cory and Shawn challenged him to a race: Jon and Audrey against the two of them. Shawn nudged Cory at the change in their teacher's demeanor that occurred when Audrey got involved. They grinned gleefully at each other. Jon's opinion of sledding seemed to change after a few runs down the smaller hills.
They stayed for a long time sliding down and running up the hills until they were too out of breath to go on. Audrey called the boys over to get warmed up with a cup of hot cocoa from a nearby vendor.
Shawn was still drinking his chocolate when Cory called his name. Shawn turned and was met by a ball of snow exploding in his face. He let out a yelp and quickly gathered ammunition to retaliate. Cory ducked and Shawn watched with horror as the snowball hit Jon squarely in the neck. The boys watched as Jon, in seemingly slow motion, shook the snow from his collar and out of his shirt. He turned to face them. He did not look happy.
"You're dead, Hunter," he said grimly advancing toward the boys.
Automatically, Shawn pointed to blame Cory who adamantly shook his head and waved his hands to say he didn't do it.
"Oh, you're in on this, too, huh, Matthews ?" Jon slowly began to packed a very large snowball. Shawn and Cory exchanged worried looks.
A full fledge fight erupted between the three with snow and some grass, flying everywhere. Shawn tried to get Audrey on the boys' side, but Jon wouldn't allow it. Finally, the white flag for both sides flew at the same time. They were cold and wet when they made it back to the truck.
After dropping Cory off at his house, the trio made their way back to Audrey's. Shawn immediately went to shower and change into dry clothes. When he came back to the living room he was greeted by steaming hot chocolate on the table. Next to the mugs were a bowls of marshmallows and some kind of nut.
Shawn leaned over the bowl to inspect the contents.
Chestnuts! He thought with delight. That's what a chestnut is? They were somehow less impressive than the song made them out to be.
Jon built a fire in the fireplace and Audrey brought in some roasting sticks for the marshmallows. There wasn't much talk as they were all tired. Shawn licked the sticky residue of melted marshmallow from his fingers, then reached for some of the chestnuts. Audrey smiled at him as he leaned his head against her and put his feet on Jon. Rather than shoot him a sarcastic look like he expected his teacher to do, Jon gave him smile as his finished his hot chocolate.
The day was perfect as far as Shawn was concerned and he didn't need anything else. But around 7 Jon stood up and asked Audrey if she was ready to go.
"Where are we going?" Shawn asked, helping to carry dishes into the kitchen.
"Christmas lights," was all Jon said giving him a tired smile.
Shawn had almost forgotten that seeing the neighborhood Christmas lights was on his list. They ended up driving through as many neighborhoods as they could. Jon was so tired that he had Audrey drive, but he seemed to enjoy himself almost as much as Shawn. There was something strange in the air that night and it wasn't just the competing Christmas music coming from every other house either. Something seemed so different this year. Shawn didn't know what it was but he liked it. He turned his attention to his teachers. He liked them, too. And he hoped that things would stay like this even after Christmas was over.