...Continued

Audrey awoke suddenly the next morning and it took her several minutes to figure out why. The baby was quiet and for once she didn't feel nauseated or have a headache and her back wasn't hurting. There was no reason for her to be awake at 5:25 am. She stared at the alarm clock and watch it turned 5:26, then 5:27, thoroughly frustrated with being unable to go back to sleep and with the nagging feeling that something was wrong.

At 5:30, melodic chimes quietly rang out on the other side of the room and that's when she realized why she was awake: the space next to her that was usually cold and empty by this time in the morning was still warm and occupied.

Audrey tried to turn over, assuming that one one or both of of her boys had climbed into bed after Jon got up, but she found this a difficult task to accomplish due to the baby and the weight of the arm around her. It was when she pushed back the covers, still struggling to turn over, that she saw the early morning light gleaming off of the wedding ring on the hand holding onto the fabric of the front of her night shirt and she realized that Jon had slept through all three alarms and was going to be late starting his day. All of her struggling had failed to wake him.

On the fourth attempt, Audrey managed to get herself moved to face him. She knew something beyond work was very wrong and that he was keeping it from her. Even in his sleep he looked stressed with his brow knit tightly together with worry. Gently, she stroked his face, then his hair. At 51, there were only a few glimmers of silver in his dark hair. She smiled as she recalled what he looked like when she first met him: the long, curly hair, earring, leather jacket, and motorcycle. The motorcycle now set in the garage where it had been for years because he loved it and one day he'd ride it again. The leather jacket hung in the back of her side of the closet with the tears still in it from the accident because she loved it and one day she'd get it repaired. The earring disappeared around the time Julia was born and never returned. The long hair had been cut short long before Julia and never curled in quite the same way again. Audrey felt tears prick her eyes as she thought about how much had changed. She missed his hair. She missed the leather jacket and the motorcycle helmet that had once always been at his hip. She missed the days when they would wake up this early just to talk and spend time together before the kids woke up. She missed the late nights when they would catch up with each other after the kids had gone to bed. She just missed him.

Audrey debated on whether or not she should wake him. Jon had had a long, weary day full of meetings the day before and had come home solemn and exhausted. Julia was apparently upset with him over something and that always weighed on him more so than if the other kids were unhappy with him. He had gone up to their room early to shower before bed, but he never made it to the shower. She found him asleep on the middle of the bed, still his shirt and pants from the work day; the only thing he'd managed to get out of was his tie. He was so exhausted that Audrey could not get him awake enough to change clothes, so in his work clothes he stayed. Absently, she played with the collar of his shirt, unsure of what she should do.

He would have a hard time getting a shower in now before it was time to for him to leave if he was to make it to the District Office by 6:30. As tired as he was, he should take the morning off or better yet the day. But she knew he'd never do it. Audrey sighed and pursed her lips together. She was very tempted to call off for him. He would be upset, angry even if she did. But his temper was always short-lived and it was a chance she didn't mind taking.

Still...

"Jon."

He didn't react.

"Jon." Gently, she shook his shoulder hoping he wouldn't respond.

"Hmmm?" He grunted, tightening his grip around her. She was disappointed that he was waking up after all.

"It's after 5:30. You slept through the alarms."

He muttered something she couldn't understand.

Audrey continued to debate over what to do, but when she saw the pained expression on his face, the one he got when he had a severe headache, she decisively ended the internal argument. Reaching over his shoulder, she began to rub his neck at the base of his skull. This always put him to sleep.

"I'm going to call the office and let them know you're taking the morning off," she told him softly. She could see he was beginning to drift back to sleep. "I'll tell them that you'll be in as soon as you can."

"Hmrphrm?" he responded drowsily.

Well, I told him what I was going to do, she thought with a mental shrug. Can't say that I didn't.

Audrey found herself a bit stuck, however. Her phone was behind her on the nightstand but Jon had moved enough that he was firmly holding her down and as much trouble as it was to turn over the first time, there was no way she could do it again. She did, however, manage to reach over him and get a hold of his phone.

He didn't so much as stir when she spoke to one of the Board Members who happened to be in very early nor when she called Shawn to ask him if he would have time to help her by getting Julia and the boys to school. He was just barely conscious when the kids came through to say goodbye to them. Julia was both worried and relieved that he was staying home, but Shawn just looked worried.

"He's okay, isn't he?" Shawn asked, recalling what had happened to the previous superintendent. He struggled to maintain a grip on Bella who reached down for her mother, not sure she wanted to go anywhere with anybody at such an early hour.

"He will be. He just badly needs to sleep." She smiled and reassured him that everything would be fine.

"He's gonna be really mad," he worried. His eyes clouded up and to Audrey it seemed that he wanted to tell her something, but couldn't decided on whether he should or not.

"I think I can handle it," she said lightly as she really did not think Jon would be that upset about it. Her only other option since he wasn't up would have been to not call him off and let everyone wonder where he was. Her decision was the most reasonable and bought him some time to get himself together.

It was the right decision after all. When Shawn came back with Bella, Jon was still asleep. Bella joined them for a nap while Shawn headed to work. It was a full three hours after the younger boys started school that Jon finally woke up and realized that everyone was at school but him.

Jon may not have been very pleased to find out she'd called him in sick for the morning, but he wasn't as upset as Audrey thought he would be. He also didn't rush out of the house as soon as he could like she expected him to do. Audrey was both pleased and concerned by this. It took him much longer than usual to fully wake up and when he did he was quieter that normal. He was also far more affectionate than he had been in quite some time. Perhaps that was because they were alone except for Bella or because he was still half-asleep. Whatever it was his touches lingered and he when he hugged her goodbye before leaving he held onto to her for a long while. At one point, she could have sworn she heard him say that he didn't want to go, but he wouldn't acknowledge this and she could not convince him to stay. Bella cried for him for nearly hour after he left. It was all Audrey could do not to join her.

By the time, they had to leave to pick up Grayson and Jamie, Bella had calmed down but was in a clingy mood and it made it hard for Audrey to put her into her car seat. Living where they did was both a blessing and a curse. It was wonderful living almost exactly in between where Jon worked and where the kids went to school. The biggest issue with their location was transportation. Public transportation was easily accessible where they were and the best choice to get to places nearby quickly. However, due to the number of kids and a few scary incidents Audrey had been involved in when alone with the kids they no longer used public transportation without Jon or another adult to help. The downside of using their own vehicle was the New York City traffic which made getting to even close by places difficult.

Audrey's only stop was at Jamie's elementary school. Grayson's middle school was less than a block away from the grade school. There were a large number of kids like Grayson who had younger siblings at the elementary school so one of the PTO moms would take the middle schoolers, who were dismissed twenty minutes earlier, over to the elementary school to make it easier for parents to pick up their kids. Today was one of the many days that Audrey was thankful for this.

The dismissal bell rang and, unsurprisingly, Jamie did not come out with his class. His teacher saw her waiting in the car, held her hands out, shrugged, and rolled her eyes with a smile. Jamie, as usual, had gotten distracted by something and was anywhere except were he should have been. At least he wasn't in trouble this time. After hauling Bella out of the car, Audrey made her way to the school office where she met Grayson at the door.

"Any idea where your brother is?" she asked wearily.

"No," he replied taking Bella's hand for a moment. "Want me to go look for him?"

"Please."

Grayson shot off down the hallway of his former school to seek out his little brother's hiding place. Audrey took a seat in a chair just outside of the office to wait for him. Bella refused to sit in the chair next her and insisted on being held.

"Auntie Audrey!"

Audrey turned toward the excited cry to see who was calling for her. She smiled when she saw Jariyah Williams running towards her, hand in hand with Jamie. It had been almost three weeks since she'd seen the little girl outside of school. The youngest daughter of her husband's best friend, Jariyah used to be over all the time or Jamie was at her house. Unfortunately, this changed when her parents divorced and the kids and their mother moved to the perimeter of the school district which made it much harder for the kids to get together. Why her father, who still lived nearby, didn't bring her over more she didn't know.

"Jamie," Audrey started to reprimand him for making her come inside, but Jariyah interrupted.

"Jamie stayed to help me clean my desk," she explained. "I got paint all over my stuff and the kid who did it left me to clean up all by myself." The colorful barrettes in her hair bobbed and swung with the gestures she made to emphasis her words. Jariyah loved storytelling and performance and she was quite comfortable in front of an audience, much like her father.

"Yeah, Mom," Jamie said. He put his hands onto the armrests on either side of her and leaned forward into her. Bella did not like this and tried to kick against him. "We did an art project and were supposed to clean up. One kid dropped his paint and water. It got Jariyah's backpack and desk."

Audrey had to smile at this. Although, Jamie often struggled to focus on the things he should, he rarely missed seeing the kids who needed help or needed a friend. "Well, then I'm glad you stayed to help. I just have one problem."

"What?"

"Grayson is looking for you."

"We'll go find him!" The two friends shouted in unison. They exchanged delighted, mischievous grins.

"Oh, no you won't. You stay here. Both of you. He'll find his way back."

Jamie looked deject. Jariyah shrugged happily, took the seat Bella did not want, and kissed the little girl's hand. Bella grinned then buried her face in her mother's arm.

"Jariyah!" a deep voice cried, sounding very out of breath.

Jariyah's hunched her shoulders up to her ears and looked guilty to her right, then smiled slightly as she gave her father a very sheepish look. "Hi, Daddy."

"Yeah, hi," Eli leaned over to get nose to nose with her. "Where have you been? Your teacher said you were cleaning up in the classroom, but when I got there you were gone."

"That's 'cause Jamie and I were already done."

"Half the school has been looking for you," he told her, then asked again, "Where've you been?"

Jariyah knew that he would not like that she and Jamie had been wandering the halls saying goodbye to everyone they encountered, so she snuck a look at the woman sitting next to her and said, "With Auntie Audrey?" She answered him in a question because she wasn't sure he'd accept the answer.

Eli drew in a deep breath. This really wasn't what he wanted to deal with today or any day for that matter but he really had no choice now. Feeling very uncomfortable, he turned to face Audrey whom he hadn't seen since his divorce. Seeing her brought back a lot of memories, mostly good. The problem was that while he knew exactly what her husband thought of him and he didn't know what she thought of him. "Hey, Audrey."

It had been a long time since she had seen him and it filled her with sadness. There had once been a time when it was a rare day that passed when she didn't see him. She gave him a genuine smile and said sincerely, "It's good to see you again, Eli."

He gave a small smile and let out a breath. "Yeah. You too."

"They just got here."

"Where've you been?" Eli turned his attention to his daughter and her cohort.

"On our way to the office to wait for you guys," Jamie said.

"We kinda took the long way," Jariyah admitted.

After getting a lecture from both adults, Jariyah and Jamie, unfazed, sat on the floor and pulled everything out of their book bags to work on homework while they waited for Grayson to return. Eli took Jariyah's seat and sat stiffly next to his former best friend's wife who happened to be best friends with his ex-wife.

He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Glancing quickly at her he asked, "How long have you got to go?"

"End of May."

"Congrats by the way."

"Thanks."

Eli rubbed his hands together anxious to get out from under Audrey's grey gaze. There was no reason to stay. He could easily pack Jariyah up and leave as he had no other kids at this school to wait for. But something held him to that chair.

Audrey knew why he was acting like he barely knew her and tried to alleviate some of his anxiety. "Jamie's really missed Jariyah."

Eli smiled and nodded with a forlorn look in his eyes. "They've been the best of friends since birth."

"Mmmhmm. You should bring her over some time."

Eli looked surprised at this suggestion. "I kind of figured only Trina would be welcome to bring her around."

Audrey paused. "You are Jon's best friend and Trina has never asked that we stopped seeing you."

He shook his head and gave a short, bitter laugh. "She didn't because she knew I'd take care of that myself. Wrecked my friendship with Jon just like I wrecked my marriage."

Audrey let Bella, who was getting restless, slide off her lap and sit with the other kids. "Have you been keeping up with David?"

He shook his head. "Did for awhile, but that dude is harsh, Aud. No sympathy."

"Jon kind of hated him in the beginning too."

"The worst past is he's right. About everything."

"He's annoying like that."

Eli smiled.

They sat in silence for a moment as Audrey mulled over what to do next. She wasn't used to doing things for Jon. Talking to him about things that needed to be done, yes. Encouraging him to do those things they'd talked about, yes. But she'd never had to do things for him especially without talking to him first. However, with the way things were going if she didn't do something he was likely to lose his friendship with Eli for good before he even realized it. Inhaling deeply, she said, "The next weekend you have the kids, if you don't have plans, why don't you all come over? Like you used to. Jon's almost always home on Saturdays."

Eli frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd love that, Aud. But I don't think Jon would."

"I think you're wrong about that, Eli. He's overworked and over-stressed. He isn't handling things as well as he used to. That's why you haven't heard from him."

The older man sighed. He wished that the was the full reason. "It wouldn't matter," he said wearily, knowing that his confession may get the invitation to come over rescinded. "I said some pretty awful things to him last time we talked."

She regarded him quizzically.

Eli made a fist with one hand and lightly pounded it into the palm of his other hand. "I said some pretty awful things about you actually."

She was very surprised to hear this. "Oh?"

"I, uh, I didn't care for Jon's honesty about my new lifestyle and I said some things I don't care repeat about the way the two of you got together."

"Why?"

"I was still upset with you, I guess."

Audrey was confused by this admission. She'd had no idea that Eli had ever been upset with her. "May I ask what I did?"

He shrugged and looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, nearly 20 years ago you took my best friend. You kicked me out of a spot I was very comfortable in. I was really jealous of you, Audrey."

Audrey blinked in confusion. Over the years, he'd never seemed bothered by the fact that she and Jon had eloped. There were the jokes about Jon's life being over since he was married among other things. But she honestly thought that was all they were. Jokes. She had no idea that he'd really felt like that.

"Everything changed once Jon ran off with you," he went on. "I didn't understand him back then; he changed into someone I didn't know. I blamed you for that. It was you and him and I was left on my own. Then I met Trina and I finally understood Jon; understood why he changed and why he wanted you over me. Because I would have totally chosen Trina over him. And being with Trina meant we were all together, so it was good. Then I messed everything up. "

Audrey was quiet. She didn't know quite how to respond.

"I didn't think there was anything I could do that would set Jon against me." Eli looked down at his hands; at the ring finger of his left hand that no longer sported a ring. "Found out real quick that I was wrong. I don't know why I thought he'd see my side of things and and support me. Or worse, why I thought he'd join me. But in the end it was you and him and I was on my own. Again." He gave her a sheepish look. "I blamed you, even though it was never your fault. Just like I blamed Trina and it wasn't her fault either."

"Cheating is pretty hard to defend, Eli," she said softly. "Jon tried-you're his brother- but he just couldn't defend it in the end."

"Because you can't defend it," Eli said firmly. His time in counseling may have been short-lived but he did get something out of it and that was to take responsibility for his role in the demise of his marriage. "I was so busy feeling sorry for myself about the things that didn't go the way I wanted them to when we moved up here to join you guys. I didn't want to teach anymore. I wanted to be that superstar news anchor I always thought I should be. When that didn't happen how I thought it should and when I thought it should, I got frustrated and angry and I took it out on my wife." Eli bit his lip when he heard his slip. "My ex-wife. I stupidly went for the first woman who came along and made me feel important. And where is she now? With the hotshot new anchor on channel 7. And where am I? Nowhere. I didn't know what I had, how good I had it, until I threw it all away."

It took Audrey a moment to respond. She well remembered the agony Trina went through when she discovered the affair and then through the divorce. She well remembered Jon's anger when Eli confessed to him what he'd been doing and that he'd been using Jon as an excuse for being away from home so much. It was not a pleasant period to recall. "It sounds like you've learned a thing or two. That's good."

Eli smiled morosely and nodded. He saw Grayson running down the hall towards them. "I miss her, Audrey," he said, watching the auburn-haired boy bounce up to them. "I know she deserves much better than me but I miss that woman so much."

Audrey reached over and squeezed his hand as Grayson began to complain to her about Jamie being a jerk and hiding from him. As the brothers began to quarrel, Eli, racked with guilt, slipped his hand away from Audrey and hurried Jariyah to get her things together.

The two families walked out of the school together and parted ways in the parking lot.

"I meant it about coming over, Eli," Audrey told him as she opened the car door for the kids.

"I don't think Jon's gonna like that much."

"I know my husband, Eli," she said pointedly. "Call him."

"Yeah," Eli said, jingling his keys in his pocket as he considered this. "Maybe I will."

Shawn was in mid-town Manhattan shooting some pictures for his current assignment from NYC Lifestyle when the first in a series of frantic texts shook his phone. It was Julia.

Initially, he ignored the texts with plans to get back with her after he was done. It was Tuesday afternoon and she was probably bored without him at the District Office; Jon was no doubt wrapped up in work and couldn't provide her with any entertainment. But at least Dylan wasn't there.

It was the sixth text that got him to put down his camera and respond to her: Daddy's not here! You won't respond. Why are you treating me like this?

Shawn rolled his eyes. She was probably being overly dramatic, but something nagged at him that there was something wrong. What did she mean Daddy's not here?

He was in the middle of typing a response to her when he was interrupted by an incoming call. It was Julia.

He didn't even get out a hello before she huffed angrily at him, "Shawn! Come get me!"

"What? Why? Where's Dad?"

"I don't know!" Her voice sounded thin like it was on the verge of cracking. "No one's here. Not Daddy. Not her. There's only one person in the building and he said Daddy left with her. He didn't know where they were going."

"Jules," Shawn tried to keep his voice calm, but a surge of deep worry fueled by adrenaline shot through him making it difficult to do so. "There's no way Dad would've just left you. Did you look in his office for a note?"

"Of course I did! Look, the only person here is getting ready to leave because no one else is here. Shawn, I don't wanna be alone here. Please come get me."

Shawn grabbed his equipment and began to run to the next subway station. "Hang on, Jules. I'm on my way. Keep talkin' to me and I'll be there as soon as I can."

Julia was right about there being no note. Also concerning was that everything was shut down. Both Jon and Katherine's computers were off and both offices looked like they did at the end of the day. There were no files or papers to come back to get. No briefcases. Nothing.

Shawn didn't know what to make of this or how to calm his sister down other than repeating over and over that there must be some logical explanation for all of this. But because he couldn't come up with a logical explanation, he did the only thing he knew to do.

He called Jon.

The burner phone in his pocket buzzed subtly. Shawn pulled it out to see it inform him of his own call incoming. He declined to eavesdrop on that call and searched Jon's log. Again there was no text, email, or phone call that could give him a hint as to where the superintendent was. If someone had called him out of the office again it was through the District's line. He refused to entertain any other possibility.

There was no answer.

He redialed and the call went straight to voicemail.

Shawn texted him. And texted him again. And again.

No response.

With great reluctance, Shawn called the last person he wanted involved. He called Audrey.

"What'd you mean Jon's not there?" she asked upset. "He knew Julia was coming in after school."

"I don't know what to tell you," he said, looking helplessly around the office. "He's not here and every one is gone for the day. The one person still here says Dad left and didn't say where he was going." Shawn opted not to mention Katherine. If Audrey didn't ask about her, he certainly wasn't going to bring her up. "Did he say anything to you about Jules not coming down here?"

"No," she said, sounding annoyed. "I talked to him at lunch and he seemed fine. He never said anything about her not coming down today or any day for that matter."

"Jule's is really upset about this. Dad may have a good reason for it, but I'm honestly upset about it too. Especially since he isn't returning calls or texts."

"So am I." And she did sound very upset which made him wonder if calling her was the right thing to do. "Shawn, you and Julia just come home. There's nothing for you to do there. Just come home."

"All right, Mom. We're leaving."

Julia managed to hold herself together until they were in the parking lot of the District Office and then she suddenly froze. Shawn looked back at her with deep concern. He went back and stood in front of her, but she was unresponsive. Feeling a great deal of empathy for her, Shawn wrapped his arms around his sister and hugged her tightly until she could move again. Then, hand in hand, they headed to the subway. He didn't say anything, though. He couldn't. He felt he would be lying to her if he told her everything would be all right.

Julia nearly knocked her mother over when she ran into the house. She practically jumped on Audrey and she did knock Bella over. The toddler hit the hard wood floor with a padded thump thanks to her diaper. Bella stared at her sister then turned to Shawn with big wide eyes. A flood of tears threatened to flood the hallway at this slight, but somehow the little girl knew that her sister was in trouble so rather than scream at her she held her chubby arms out to Shawn and whimpered to be picked up.

"Have you heard anything from Dad?" he asked, tossing Bella into the air to distract her from crying before he put her on his hip.

Audrey's stare bore into him. There was a blazing fire behind the grayness of her eyes and her lips were pursed in a thin tight line. "Yeah. After several texts to him I finally got a response: in meeting."

"Again?" Shawn didn't understand what was so difficult about letting someone know where he was. And he was afraid to engage his imagination in trying to understand it. "When's he gonna be home?"

"I don't know," Audrey scowled as she stroked Julia's hair. "In meeting is all I know." And with that she went silent.

Uh-oh, Shawn thought. Things were going from bad to worse very quickly.

It was a half-past six when Jon finally came home. He was exhausted and stressed and not prepared to meet the stony faces of his wife and eldest children. The youngest wasn't happy either and actually turned away from him when he went to take her from Shawn.

Jon was hurt. Deeply hurt.

"What is with the looks?" he growled irritably. A defensive edge crept into his spine and went up over his shoulders. He did not deserve to be greeted like this.

Both Julia and Shawn started to speak but Audrey immediately put an end to it.

"Dinner's getting cold," she told him icily with her arms folded over her stomach. "I assume you haven't eaten."

"You assume correct," he snapped back at her just as coldly.

It was an unpleasant dinner. Shawn and Julia did not sit next to him as they usually did, but chose to sit with Audrey. The boys were quiet and only spoke when answering questions; they seemed almost afraid to say anything else. Bella made a mess of her food but ate very little of it. For once in all the years they'd been together, Audrey's food tasted bland to him and he lost his appetite.

Audrey would still not allow Shawn or Julia to say anything about the afternoon even once dinner over. Grayson and Jamie loaded the dishwasher without complaint for once as they knew something was very wrong between their parents. When the evening chores were done, Audrey finally turned to Shawn and said, "I'd like you to take the boys and Bella to the playroom while we," she turned to Jon with an impassive gaze, "talk."

As much as he wanted to stay, he knew better. So Shawn collected the boys and took the three youngest kids to the playroom. Audrey, Jon, and Julia followed him then continued down the hall to Jon's office but they did not go in. Shawn didn't know if this was intentional so that he could hear what was going on or if Audrey just couldn't hold it in any longer. Either way he was able to leave a crack in the door and hear what was being said.

Jon, tired of the wall of silence that had him trapped, got the first word in. "Care to clue me into why everyone seems mad that I'm home?"

Audrey was momentarily dumbstruck by this assessment.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah," he snapped. "I am."

She hated being in a heated situation before she had full control of herself, but what was started had to be finished. "What was going on this afternoon that you couldn't let someone know, Jon?"

"Wha- that's what this is about?" It was Jon's turned to be flabbergasted. "You two, or should I say you three, are angry with me because I was late to dinner?"

"Late to dinner?!" Julia cried, jumping in front of her mother. "I went to the District Office and you weren't there. The only person there was leaving and didn't know where you were either!"

Jon stared at her. "Why did you go to the office? You were supposed to go straight home."

Julia didn't know how to respond at first because she didn't understand what he'd said. So she snapped, "How would I know to do that? I always go to see you after school. Always. No one told me not to go and I'm not a mind-reader!"

Her father put his hands on his hips and leaned over so that he was nose to nose with her. "You know for as many times as you texted me today did you ever check any of your messages. Kat texted you to go straight home after school."

Julia blinked in confusion as though she didn't understand what the name Kat meant or at least that's what Jon thought.

"Miss Tompkins," he clarified, straightening back up.

Julia glared at him then turned to her phone. She knew there weren't any messages from that horrible woman and she held her phone out to her father so he could see it for himself.

Jon frowned as he scrolled through the inbox.

Audrey was growing increasingly upset and was finding it difficult to maintain control of her temper. Letting Julia know she needed to go home was not a task that should have been delegated to his secretary. If this had happened last week when Shawn was working with him, it would have been completely appropriate for him to have Shawn do that. But Katherine? Not ever.

"Jon, why didn't you text her?"

He turned his attention and his frustration onto his wife. "There was an emergency at PS 42- an angry confrontation between some parents and school staff that turned violent. It wasn't a ten minute chat and everybody was friends again," he told her, his words laced with sarcasm. "The police were called and I had to deal with all of them. I told Kat to text Julia to go home and to call you and let you know I would be late." As he said this color drained from his face and he closed his eyes. "She didn't call you. did she?"

"Nope." Audrey took her phone out of her back pocket and scrolled through her call log. "Nothing-not even from an unknown number. I've got her number, Jon. And I know she has mine- I gave it to her."

Jon was furious. When he called Katherine, Shawn didn't need to listen in on his burner phone. He could hear everything from his spot at the door, including Katherine's end of the conversation as Jon had his phone on speaker.

"Jon?!" Katherine's sounded both surprised and delighted. Shawn and Julia both heard this but their ears were also acutely tuned to hear this type of thing. Neither realized that Audrey heard it, too.

"Yeah, listen," Jon was far less happy to be speaking with her. "Julia went to the District Office after school today."

"Oh?" She sounded genuinely surprised. "Even though she was told to go home?"

Jon clenched his jaw, fighting back anger. The accusatory eyes of his wife and daughter were boring into him and increased his frustration. "About that, she didn't get a text from you. And Audrey didn't get a call."

"Jon, listen..."

"No, you listen," he snapped angrily. "I trusted you to let them know what was going on. Why was that such a hard thing to do?!"

"Jon," Katherine said with great patience. Her voice was calm and even. "I did. I texted Julia and I left Audrey a voicemail. They may have missed them, but I did do it."

"I checked Julia's messages," he told her. That familiar dull ache in his temples was building in pressure. "There's nothing from you."

"Does that really surprise you?"

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "What?"

Katherine sighed as though she was trying to gently break bad news to him. "Julia doesn't like me, Jon. You and everyone else knows that."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Jon," she said, as though he knew what she was talking about but was refusing to face it.

"Pretend I'm stupid, Kat," he huffed. Jon started to pace a small area in front of his wife and daughter. "And spell it out for me."

"She's 15, she's wants your undivided attention, and she is hanging around a questionable influence."

Jon stopped abruptly. Did he hear her correctly? "Wait, so somehow this is Shawn's fault? Are you kiddin' me?"

"What I mean is Jon," she said quietly. "I think she wants your attention. She got my text-she had to. She probably deleted it, went down to the office anyway, and well, she's certainly got your attention hasn't she?"

Jon cast a sidelong look at a red-faced Julia who was shaking from the accusation. Audrey looked equally furious as she held showed him her voice messages from the day. There was nothing from Katherine.

"'Kay fine," Jon said, pretending to accept this. "Julia deletes the text because she wants attention. So what's the reason for my wife deleting the voicemail? She want attention, too?"

Katherine gave a laugh of dismissal. "I doubt she deleted it. Maybe she just missed it. I know I get distracted with just two kids, I can't imagine what it would be like with more. And you do have so many kids."

Jon dared to glance at Audrey who looked as angered as Julia. "She's never missed messages before, Kat. Audrey's pretty well-organized."

"Jon, I called. I left a message. That's all I can tell you."

The superintendent stood in place, staring at the floor, trying to keep his temper in check while trying to understand what was going on. Then something came to him. "What number did you call?"

As Katherine recited the number to him, Audrey rolled her eyes and Jon made a face. "Kat, that's the landline. No one ever checks messages on that."

"Oh, well," she gasped, sounding embarrassed. "I thought that was her cell number. That's the number I have in my contacts for her cell. The number I have for the landline is..."

"No," Jon cut her off, shaking his head. "That's her cell number."

"Oh, my mistake. I am so sorry for the mix up. Please give Audrey my apologizes. I'll delete the landline right now so that won't happen again." To anyone else Katherine Tompkins sounded very sincere and convincing. But to Shawn, she sounded like the liar he'd always known her to be.

"Yeah, all right. I'll tell her." Jon held Audrey's gaze as he ended the call.

"Sleep well, Jon," Katherine told him sweetly. Audrey made a face.

"I did not delete anything!" exploded from Julia. He cheeks were red with anger and fear of not being believed. "She's lying!"

Jon scowled. "Why would she lie?"

I know, Shawn thought. And so does Julia. He did wonder if Audrey would remember the lies Katherine once told about him or if Jon would make the connection. He knew he remembered the coleslaw incident.

"She- she..." Julia struggled to choose the right words as she couldn't just come out and say what she wanted to say. "She hates me!"

Shawn cringed. He wasn't sure what she could have said in response but this did not help her case. If any thing it helped prove Katherine's.

"Really?" Jon was exasperated with everyone and everything. "She hates you? Why would she hate you, Julia? You're the one always giving her an attitude. You're rude and disrespectful to her. And I let you get away with it."

Julia's mouth hung open. She was too stunned to speak.

Audrey had had enough. "Go stand over there," she snapped at Julia in a low voice. She pointed to the door of the playroom.

Hurt, Julia obeyed and leaned against the door knowing that Shawn was supporting her on the other side.

Jon was tired and angry and confused. He felt like his head was swimming. For a moment, his vision blurred and he saw double. When his sight cleared, he clearly saw Audrey with her hands on her hips, furious.

"How can you take her side over your daughter's?"

"I'm not takin' sides, Audrey," he retorted trying to defend himself. "I'm trying to figure out what's going on."

"It sounded like you were taking sides to me." She shook her head in frustration. "If you're going to call Julia out for being rude, I hope you did the same to Katherine for last weekend. I don't think you could get much ruder and disrespectful than she was. Especially to me."

He glared at her and ignored the last part of her comment. "Julia's fifteen. We can't ignore that she's at that age where this stuff becomes more and more common. And she has been actin' out."

"Jon, she called Shawn at work to come and get her. She was panicked that no one was at the office and that she didn't know where you were and wouldn't respond to her. You've never done that to her before." Audrey pursed her lips together, trying to collect herself. "You've told me that this woman who's supposed to be your secretary hasn't been doing her job and yet you're willing to believe her over your own daughter who's never pulled a stunt like this before. That's what I don't understand. Why is Katherine so reliable all of the sudden?"

Jon wasn't sure if there was an actual accusation hidden her rant or if it was his own guilt, but either way he could feel himself shutting down. If he and Eli were on speaking terms, he'd head out the door right then and seek refuge with his best friend. But that was, unfortunately, no longer an option.

So he said, "It's not unreasonable to think she might delete the text because she's angry with me and is tryin' to get my attention."

Audrey would not accept this and shook her head. "Julia can be emotional and irrational at times, but she has never made up anything like this before. Jon, this is the kid who if you so much as look as her, she will confess all the time she's spent on her phone or tablet after hours and give her devices up without you so much as having to say a word. That was just last week. Why would she suddenly change?"

"I don't know," he admitted in despair. The throbbing in his temples was getting worse. "I don't know about anything, Audrey." With a heavy sigh, he put his hands on either side of his head. "This has been the worst day."

"I believe her."

He looked miserable. "I wanna give her the benefit of the doubt but-"

"So do it."

"But I don't wanna overlook something that could be important later on." Jon couldn't understand why she couldn't see his side of this.

Audrey softened slightly when she realized he was in physical pain, too. "Then file this away for later and give her the benefit of the doubt now. We can revisit this if it becomes a trend."

He nodded and hung his head. When he rolled his head slowly to each side and grimaced, Audrey knew the headache she worried about was back.

"They had to call the police, huh?" she asked quietly, letting him know that she wasn't angry with hime anymore.

He looked up at her. "The worse part was dealing with the media afterwards."

Audrey sighed and took his hand. "Go make peace with you daughter. Then go get ready for bed and I'll rub your back."

Jon nodded again. As he walked over to where Julia was he felt a twinge of guilt. Not over the situation with his daughter, but that his pregnant wife was going to taking care of him instead of the other way around. Quickly, he pushed thoughts of the youngest away to focus on the older one. No doubt she'd overheard everything they'd said. Neither one said anything. Jon was dealing with his own stubbornness as was Julia. Per typical for Julia, she couldn't stand to have anyone, especially her father, upset with her and she burst into tears, begging him to believe her. He apologized for the misunderstanding and hugged her for a long while. When he left with her mother, Julia felt no relief; she felt worse. Shawn opened the door for her and she walked over to the couch with him looking like a wilted flower.

"You okay?" Shawn asked, sinking into the seat next to her.

She sat forlornly on the edge of the couch with her hands between her knees. "He doesn't believe me."

"I know it sounds like he has his doubts, but he is actually trying to do the right thing. "

"But I didn't delete anything. If I had I would have told you, Shawn. You know I would have told you if she sent me anything. But there was nothing to show you and there was nothing to delete."

"I believe you," he told her, putting his arm around her and giving her a squeeze. And he did because he also had experienced this situation before and knew exactly what it was like to be made out as a liar to Jon by that woman. "Have I ever told you about Miss Tompkins and the three week old coleslaw?"

Julia gave him a bewildered look. "No."

Shawn grinned and gave her hair a teasing tug. "Sis, have I got a bedtime story for you!"

I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. :) There is a poll in my bio that I would appreciate AiP readers to chime in on. It has to do with the epilogue for AiP.

Originally, I wanted to complete this story to give Shawn and Jon a better reunion than what we got on Girl Meets World (which was so disappointing imho). There is another reunion that badly needs to be corrected as it was just as bad if not worse than Shawn and Jon. Shawn and Angela.

The reason Angela was given for coming to see Shawn in GMW was weird. And pathetic. I'd have prefer no Angela over that, honestly.

But I think I've come up with a correction for that. However, I'm undecided on whether I should diverge from canon in the epilogue or not. So that's where I need help.

Here are the choices in the poll:

Stick with canon- Shawn/Katy & Maya

Leave canon before Shawn gets engaged- Shawn/Angela & Maya

Leave it to the reader- correct the reunion between Shawn and Angela, but let the reader decide who Shawn picks and what happens to Maya

Many thanks!