"When they come... they come at what you love."

― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

The phone alarm sang out at 5:30 am Monday morning. Jon opened one eye, mumbled something rude to it, and ignored the ringing. A few moments later, Audrey stirred under his arms.

"Jon?" she mumbled sleepily. Her grip on his arm tightened.

"Go back to sleep," he said as he kissed her full on the mouth. He ran his thumb over her lips and kissed her again. "I'll bring you coffee."

Audrey held on and pulled him back when he tried to leave. "Is it summer vacation yet?"

"I wish, babe."

Unwillingly, Jon removed himself from her and the warm bed. The fleece of his pajama bottoms snapped and crackled from the static electricity in the sheets. He picked his shirt up off of the floor and got dressed in the chilled house. He went through his morning routine on automatic. After grabbing his coffee and Audrey's, he headed back upstairs and was greeted by the noise of Shawn and Julia arguing over the bathroom. He chuckled and entered his bedroom. His wife was still buried under the covers. Her hair, splayed out over the pillows like a two dimensional fire, was all that could be seen of her.

"Coffee's here."

Audrey sighed and pulled the covers down just enough so that she could see him. "Are you sure it's Monday?"

Jon chuckled. "Positive. Wish it wasn't. Wish we could relive yesterday."

Audrey gave him a lazy smile and pulled herself into a sitting position as she accepted the coffee. "Yesterday was fun."

After recovering from a small hangover, Jon spent all of Sunday making up for his terrible treatment of her on Saturday. He had Shawn and Julia watch the younger kids while he took her to some of their old hangouts on Bleeker Street and and then spent the evening alone together. Everything seemed back to normal, but Jon knew it wasn't. Audrey acted as though the incident between them before he met with Eli hadn't happen, but there was no chance she had forgotten. Without time to fully talk through everything, coupled with his reluctance to do so, Jon let it go and hoped it wouldn't come back on him later.

As they drank their coffee, the conversation centered on the kids and their schedules. Before long it was time for Jon to leave; Julia was knocking at the door to remind him of the time. Jon stood up. Audrey handed him her mug, stretched, and dropped back against the pillows with a happy, sleepy smile. Jon stared at her for a long moment. It felt like he was looking at her for the first time in a very long time. He'd almost forgotten how beautiful she was.

"Hey," he said leaning over her.

She reached up and locked her fingers around the back of his neck and pulled him down to her. "Hey."

"I love you."

"I know," she said with a pleased smile. Jon was not stingy with his sentiments, but he was not one to over do them, either. Recently, he had been saying those little words more often and she loved it. "I love you, too."

He breathed in her ear, "You are the only one I've ever been able to say that to and not thrown up before I could get the words out."

Laughter bubbled up out of her and filled the room. Her grin and merriment was like a beam of bright sunlight that warmed him all the way through.

"You are so romantic!" she exclaimed gleefully. "And so poetic!" She kissed him several times then flopped back onto the pillows again.

Jon smiled, kissed her one last time, and reluctantly left.

As soon as students at Abigail Adams High arrived on campus they were congregated in the gymnasium for an emergency meeting. Julia sat in the middle of the crowd next the DeAndre. The room was loud with the buzz of talk. No one knew what the meeting was about and no one cared. Dre put his arm around Julia and shouted in her ear so she could hear him. "I talked to that Jovanni dude last night."

"How'd it go?" she shouted back.

"Dude's boring," he said making a face. "I kept fallin' asleep and forgettin' who I was talkin' to."

Julia laughed. "That does sound like Dylan."

"He asked a lot of questions, though. About you. About your dad. I made up most of the stuff I told him."

Julia wasn't sure she heard him correctly. "Wait, what kind of stuff was he askin' about my dad?"

"Weird stuff," he replied with a shudder. "Wantin' to know what he did in the 90s, who he dated, what his girlfriends were like."

"What kind of sicko are we dealin' with?"

"IDK, but I hyped up ya mama without giving out too much personal info."

"Thanks, Dre." Julia sat back against his arm, feeling unsettled and a bit grossed out. It didn't sound like Dylan was the one Dre was talking to; it sounded like his mother.

"You're welcome, Princess. I've got more work to do, unfortunately." DeAndre put his foot up on the back of the seat in front of him. "Mom caught me online last night so I'm grounded two more days. I'll get back with him on Wednesday." He started to say something else when the 12th grade science teacher stepped up to the microphone to begin the meeting.

"That's weird," Dre said. "If this is an emergency meeting, how come Mrs. Olivares isn't leading it?"

"IDK," Julia said with a frown. "I don't see Mr. Franco either."

The only people who stood on stage with the science teacher were three grim looking figures off the to side of the stage. Their principal and assistant principal were no where to be seen.

Mr. Grimes, the science teacher, nervously called the school to settled down. Few listened until he said he was going to introduce the new principal, vice principal, and 9th and 10th grade English Literature teacher. Dre and Julia exchanged confused looks. The entire student body quieted down, more out of curiosity than obedience.

"As I was saying," Mr. Grimes cleared his throat into the microphone and made everyone cringe. "I would like to introduce you all to Mr. Remington, our new principal. Let's give him a warm welcome."

Mr. Remington did not received a warm welcome or any welcome at all. The students didn't know what to make of this sudden change. A murmur rippled through the student body.

"Where's Mrs. O?" called out one brave voice. A few others chimed in demanding to know as well.

There was something troubling about this abrupt change. It was just Friday when their principal spoke enthusiastically about her plans for the rest of the year at the pep rally. She did not give any indication that she would be vacating her position before the next school week began.

"Thank you, students!" Mr. Remington was unfazed by the lack of reaction. The man was very tall and very thin. Everything about him seemed to be very narrow- from his eyes to his nose to his chin. His hand and fingers were spindly and pale. His thinning, dyed black hair was parted just above his left ear.

"This guy gives me the creeps," DeAndre whispered in her ear. He sunk down in his seat.

Julia nodded in agreement. Everything about him bothered her.

"Yeah, whatever," another voice called out. "What about Mrs. O?"

Mr. Remington stared into the body of teenagers with a frigid glare. "Come here, boy," he commanded. His voice was strong and powerful. It did not match his looks at all.

"Make me," the student snickered. Half of the student body joined in.

"Let us see the witty quipster," the principal said with a sharp edge in his voice. "You asked a question, come up here and get the answer."

The boy, a junior, slowly made his way to the front. He approached with an arrogant swagger but the moment he met Mr. Remington's swamp green gaze the swagger faded to a spineless lumber. He struggled up the stairs and stood before the man with his head bowed. It was though the principal had some unspoken power over him.

The audience was captivated and held their breath, hoping for something terrible to happen. The principal put his hand on the boy's arm and pulled him to stand next to him. He snaked an arm around the teen's shoulder. Then he smiled a serpent-like grin and turned to look at the crowd. He hugged the boy close. "Mrs. Olivares and Mr. Franco have met with an unfortunate," he seemed to savor the next word for several seconds, "demise."

A collective gasp was heard and Julia's heart leapt into her throat. Dre's arm went around her again and held her close. Julia just wanted her father.

"Yes," Mr. Remington smiled, flashing long, narrow teeth. "A very sudden and unfortunate demise to their careers. Both have decided to pursue other avenues and we wish them well."

As his words sank in the students began to laugh, one by one, until it seemed that everyone but Julia and Dre were joining in. Still there was an uncertainty that hung over the gymnasium.

Mr. Remington went on, "Mr. Howard has also chosen to leave us, sadly. Well, perhaps not so sadly. He wasn't much of a man or teacher, now was he?"

There was more laughter and confusion as students weren't used to this kind of mockery coming from a principal. Their superintendent was known to be both facetious and irreverent but they had never heard this kind of callous humor from him. Julia thought this was an awful thing to say about poor Mr. Howard. No, he wasn't the best teacher but he was a nice person. He didn't deserve to be mocked in front of everyone.

"My wife, Mrs. Remington," the principal turned and held an arm out to the woman behind him, "will be taking over for him. She is a wonderful teacher."

Mrs. Remington was as long and thin as her husband. In fact if it wasn't for the heavy wool skirt she wore and the severe bun that her dark hair was tied into, it would have been difficult to tell them a part.
Julia sank low in her chair and put her feet by Dre's on the chair back. That terrible feeling of foreboding grew heavier and heavier.

Mr. Remington then introduced the vice principal, who was the opposite of the couple. Mr. DeMarco was shorter than they were and there was nothing at all that stood out about him. He had very bland features and was neither attractive nor unattractive. His hair was blond, his eyelashes were blond, everything about him was blond. Yet there was a debonair, romantic air about him from the way he held himself to the sharp way he dressed. Girls in the front row were already beginning to swoon over him.

Julia pulled out her phone. She was tempted to text her father about this abrupt change and ask why he didn't tell her. Ultimately, she decided against it. Both her father and Shawn would be in meetings all day and last week her father got irritated with her for texting so much. She would wait to talk to him until after school.

The meeting was dismissed and students meandered to their classes. Julia and Dre walked hand in hand, silent and somber. When they walked into their classroom and saw that somehow Mrs. Remington was already there and ready to begin, Julia felt the overwhelming urge to run all the way to the District Office. The Boogeyman that had been stalking them seemed far less threatening.

At John Quincy Adams Middle School, Cory found himself sitting in a hastily called faculty meeting led by the school secretary who seemed uncharacteristically befuddled by everything. Finally, the woman stopped trying to explain, sat down, and threw up her hands. "I don't know why but we have a new principal and assistant principal."

"What?!" Harper Burgess turned to Cory with an outraged look on her face. "Did you know anything about this?"

"No," Cory was as confused as everyone else. "This is the first time I've heard anything about it."

Harper gave him a skeptical look. "You're good friends with Mr. Turner and he didn't give you a heads up on this?"

"No." The history teacher frowned and shook his head. "I can't believe he didn't, actually."

One of the math teachers joined their table as gossip began to fly. Everyone wanted Cory's opinion due to his relationship with the superintendent. Again, he could only tell them what he knew: nothing. As the chatter reached a crescendo, the doors to the library opened and two very well dressed people walked in. They wore matching suits and walked with matching gaits. Their faces looked like severe, gaunt, blond carbon copies of each other. Sharp eyes that were a nebulous blue surveyed the room. Cory was both fascinated and appalled by their appearance. One of the thin men, who appeared to be more two dimensional than he was three dimensional, approached the front of the library and a hush fell over the curious faculty.

"Greeting, everyone." There was something peculiar in the man's accent. It wasn't American. It wasn't British. It wasn't Australian or Swedish or any recognizable pitch. Instead it seemed to be a strange amalgamation of several different accents. "My name is Mr. Pennington. It is my unfortunate duty to have to inform you all that Mr. Grimaldi and Ms. Joyce have chosen to pursue new avenues of work and will not be returning to John Quincy Adams Middle School. My brother and I, will be taking over their duties for the remainder of the year."

A ripple of protests and concern was heard through the staff. Mr. Pennington raised his hand and gestured for them to quiet down. "I understand that this has come as quite a shock to everyone, including my brother and myself. We only just found out about this last night. Because it is such short notice, please go about your regular schedule. Mr. Pennington and I will be meeting with you all individually today and throughout the week. We will have a full faculty meeting next Monday afternoon to go over any questions you may have and to notify you of any changes deemed necessary. That is all."

With that the men immediately disappeared, leaving behind a very confused staff. With just a half an hour before classes began, there wasn't much time to linger on the sudden changes. Teachers and staff filtered out, but Harper Burgess remained seated. Her face was pale and she chewed on her bottom lip.

"Harper?" Cory asked. "You okay?"

"I gotta bad feeling about this, Cory."

The history teacher tried to hide his concern by opting to look at the bright side. "Maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe some of the things around here that need to change will finally change."

Harper shook her head. Her brow pinched together in discouragement. "Maybe. If we were normal teachers. But you and I, we ain't normal. And those two- they just don't look like guys who appreciate individuality."

Cory inhaled deeply. The same thought had crossed his mind. "We do what Pennington said- keep the regular schedule. We'll see what happens. But no matter what, I've got your back."

Harper gave him a small smile. "You'll call Mr. Turner in if things get weird?"

Cory pressed his lips together in a firm line and shook his head. "They're already weird. I'm going straight to Jon the second I'm allowed to leave campus."

Homeroom began as it usually did. Mr. Howard always struggled to get his class to settle down and could never get his voice above theirs without screaming. Mrs. Remington did not have this issue. As student voices reached a peak, the classroom door sudden slammed shut. Julia frowned in confusion as the teacher re-opened the door and appeared to lock it from the outside. She turned to Dre who was watching their new teacher, too, with a pinched brow.

"How is that possible?" she whispered, leaning over towards Dre, but keeping her eyes on the teacher. "I thought the doors all locked from the inside to keep intruders out?"

"There suppose to per school policy," Dre said slowly. He held his chin with his thumb and forefinger as he processed the situation. " But..." his voice trailed off and he shrugged.

The class was riveted to Mrs. Remington's strange behavior and watched her walk to the head of the classroom where she picked up an old-school grade book and opened it. She began to call out students' names. One by one, she called them, stopping to make notes after each "here".

"Julia Turner?"

"Here," Julia said, slipping her hand up and down quickly.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Remington peer at her sharply over her cat-eye framed reading glasses.

"I said 'here'?"

"Are you really going to start off the first class with me with impudence?"

Julia blinked. She did not understand what the woman's issue was. "I'm sorry I don't understand."

The woman glared at her. "Here, ma'am."

Julia looked to Dre for help. No one else said "here ma'am". The boy shrugged.

"Um, here, ma'am."

This still did not appeased the woman. "So, I see you must be our little troublemaker." She scribbled furiously in her book.

Julia's mouth hung open. Never in her life had she been called that. She was the student teachers said they wished they had a classroom full of every year on her report card. "No, ma'am," she said weakly.

"And a back talker, too? I see we will have to break you of that."

Julia was so stunned she couldn't say anything. Tears pricked her eyes. Dre put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Mrs. Remington marched down to the middle of the aisle where Julia sat and stood in front of DeAndre, breaking his connection to his best friend. "Turner. Are you by chance related to the superintendent?"

Julia was too intimidated to meet her gaze."Yes, ma'am. He's my dad."

"Ah," Mrs. Remington snapped the pencil in her hand against her open palm as though it was a ruler right in front of the girl's face. Julia flinched, afraid it might be used on her. "I see now why we are having such an issue with you. I do not care who your father is, Miss Turner. From now on you will get no special privileges for being the superintendent's daughter. Is that understood?"

A couple of girls who Julia didn't get along with, snickered from the back of the room.

Julia's cheeks reddened. Tears flooded her eyes but she stubbornly refused to give the woman the satisfaction of making her cry. "Yes, ma'am."

Mrs. Remington's tall, thin frame towered imposingly above her. "When you are in school, Mr. Turner is not your father; he is the superintendent. Should he come to this building, you will not refer to him as father but as Mr. Turner. He is only your father after school hours. Am I clear?"

Julia could not respond. Mrs. Remington had targeted her greatest fear: separation from her father. Tears were now streaming down her face; she couldn't stop. A sympathetic murmur rippled through the room. They were horrified by this striping away of parental identity, but no one spoke up. They were too afraid they would be next.

"That's not right," DeAndre snapped, full of righteous indignation and bravado. "You can't tell a kid that. Her dad is her dad no matter what."

The class held it's breath. As heroic and romantic as the class found the teen's response to be, they were now very concerned about Dre's welfare. The teacher slowly turned on him. He locked eyes with her and found himself staring into an abyss rather than human eyes. Adrenaline may have been playing tricks with mind, but he swore he could see no reflection of light in them.

Mrs. Remington checked her grade book. "DeAndre Brockman. Currently the top student in the 10th grade. Honor roll. Extra curricular activities too numerous to list. How noble of you to stick up for your girlfriend." She flashed long, narrow teeth at him. "It is a shame, however, that an exemplary student such as yourself does not have better taste in romantic interests. Understand this, young man, romantic overtures and public displays of affection will not be tolerated in my classroom."

DeAndre was rendered immobile. Everyone was staring at him. He hadn't even made his feelings known to Julia and now she and everyone else knew he liked her. Before the end of second period the entire school would know. By the end of the day, Uncle Jon would know. The once confident teen sank to his seat with the heat of thirty stares on his back. Only Julia was not looking at him. If their humiliation wasn't enough, Mrs. Remington furthered it by separating the two. Julia was moved to the front corner of the room at a desk that had more space around it than any of the other desks. For the rest of homeroom, Julia hung her head and was ignored for the first time in her academic career

As per his usual routine when a class came in at the beginning of the week, Cory took time to talk to his students about their weekend. Those that wanted to talk were welcome to and those that didn't want to share publicly could come to his desk and speak with him privately. It took up almost half of the first class, but the benefits Cory saw were that he got more out of his students the rest of the week.

Riley's class filtered in and took their seats. The bell rang and the chatter continued. Cory took his place at the front of the classroom and leaned against his desk. Typically, he gave two minutes to let them get the talking out before he began. Exactly two minutes after the bell rang, he cleared his throat. Riley heard him and poked Maya. Then the girls, Zay, Farkle, and Lucas took their seats. This signaled to the rest of the class that Mr. Matthews was ready to begin.

Today, no one was shy so the discussion was whole group. When Maya decided to egg on a dispute between two of the boys hoping to spark a bigger fight, Cory walked over to her desk and leaned over so that only she could hear him.

"Hi, Maya."

Maya gave him her goofiest grin, "Hi, Mr. Matthews."

Cory returned the smile. "I hear you're stayin' with the superintendent for the next few weeks."

"Yeah, I'm stayin' with Uncle Jon," she said proudly, thrilled to be able to use the familial term. "So?"

"Uncle Jon, huh? I'm happy you're fittin' in so well with Shawn's family." Cory patted her on the head. "You got an Aunt Audrey, too?"

"Yeah, she's pretty great." Maya beamed. "She's gonna buy me figure skates."

"That's great." The history teacher nodded good-naturedly. "So ya know, everything you do in my class will go back to Uncle Jon and Aunt Audrey?"

Maya's grin faded.

He gave her a toothy smile, took out his phone, and waved it at her. "I got 'em both on speed dial."

The girl paled and nodded her understanding. "Message received."

"Good."

After, Mr. Matthews returned to his desk, Maya leaned over and said to Riley. "I don't know how you do it, Riles."

Riley pulled herself away from Lucas. "Do what?"

"Survive having your dad as your teacher." She sat back against her seat with a thump. "Man, am I glad Shawn's not one!"

Riley was just about to reply when the door to the classroom opened and one of the new administrators walked in. He surveyed the controlled chaos with a blank stare and a blank expression. Maya didn't understand how someone so dull looking could be so intimidating. She was both impressed and repulsed.

The man had no interest the students. His attention was fixated on Cory.

"Mr. Matthews." That strange accent silenced the room.

"Yes, Mr. Pennington?" Cory had no idea if he was talking to the principal or the vice principal.

"What is going on in here? The bell to begin this period rang 15 minutes ago."

Cory shrugged and answered cheerfully. "Well, you see, sir, I always start the first classes of the week with a little talk about the kids' weekend before we get started."

The man's eyes went wide as though the words out of the teacher's mouth were vulgarities.

"Talk? To the students? About their lives?" His voice rose an octave with each question.

Cory's smile froze. "Yes, sir. I think we've got a pretty good relationship here."

Darkness clouded the man's face. He advanced on the younger man. "What you have here, Mr. Matthews, is chaos and disorder. Mr. Pennington and I were greatly disturbed to hear from other teachers about your lessons that have very little to do with the subject you actually teach. Now this. This is unacceptable."

Cory stared at the man. This had to be a joke. No one in education today was this stuck in the dark ages.

Mr. Pennington was not joking. He advanced again. He was so thin, he looked more like a tall pencil than a man. "I understand that our current superintendent hired you while he was principal here because you were a former student of his. But I assure you I do not share his nostalgia."

Never had Cory ever had a reaction from an administration like this. It was impossible for him to wrap his head around the fact that this was actually happening and not some sort of bad dream.

Mr. Pennington continued, "If you cannot get yourself together and become a proper teacher in a very short time, you will be looking for a new profession."

Riley and Maya held onto each other, appalled by the treatment Riley's father was enduring. The whole class, who very much liked their teacher, was too entranced by this bizarre situation to say anything.

Cory shook off his paralysis and put a hand on his waist. "You're threatening to fire me because my methods are different than yours?"

The thin man rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "I see you have a grasp of the obvious. At least you are not a complete imbecile."

The class gasped aloud. Cory's mouth hung open but no words came out. Never in his career had he been taken to task in front of his students. Jon had plenty of correction for him when he first joined JQAMS but Jon always talked to him in private about his short comings.

Frustrated and embarrassed, Cory blurted out, "You'd have to get Jon's approval. Good luck with that."

The man raised his eyebrows in an amused gesture as a thin, serpentine smile slithered over his lips. Very quietly, he said, "I am hardly afraid of such a weak superintendent."

Anger flared within Cory. How could Jon have hired this idiot?

Confident in his standing with the superintendent, Cory snapped sarcastically, "Tell me you don't know Jon without telling me you don't know Jon."

That horrible smile deepened and Mr. Pennington looked triumphant. Color drained from Cory's face as he realized that this comment somehow played into the man's hands. He didn't know who was in more trouble: him or Jon.

"You've been warned, Mr. Matthews," Mr. Pennington said blithely. "You will fall in line with traditional teaching practices or you will be publicly exposed as the incompetent instructor that you are. Good day."

Cory stared at the man's retreating back then turned to face his class who were staring at him. Shaken by the encounter, he picked up his lesson plans and stared at them. Finally, he managed to get out, "Turn to page 86 in your history books. Start reading to yourselves. We'll begin the lesson in a moment."

Farkle Minkus watched his teacher with great concern. Mr. Matthews was unorthodox most of the time but he was a good teacher who cared about his students, both personally and academically. He leaned close to Maya who sat in front of him and said, "Do you really think the new principal could fire Mr. Matthews?"

Maya turned partially around and caught Riley's attention. "He couldn't do it without Uncle Jon being on board, could he, Riley?"

Riley's brown eyes shone with concerned. Her brow pinched together as she slowly shook her head. "I don't think so. But..."

"But what?" Farkle prodded.

"I'm pretty sure Uncle Jon hires the principals."

"I can't image that," Maya muttered. After all, the superintendent came to Ms. Burgess' defense and even fired the principal who tried to fire her. Hiring someone like Mr. Pennington just didn't seem like something Uncle Jon would do. Maya chewed on her pencil as a dejected Mr. Matthews began his lesson. She debated on whether or not she should text Shawn and tell him about this. Since he was with Uncle Jon at work, she decided just to talk to him after school.

Shawn had been sitting in boring meetings all day as he shadowed Jon. He was a little concerned that if the days continued like this, he would have a hard time getting enough interesting conversation to put together a weekly post. He kept himself amused by sending Jon random memes. After the fourth one, he thought Jon would stop looking at his phone. Not only did the superintendent continue to check the phone, he started sending the memes back.

The meetings were not only boring but they accomplished nothing. Special interest groups were lobbying for things that Shawn couldn't see had any connection to education. It sounded like "me, me, me, what about me" to him and it was obnoxious.

"Why do you have to put up with that?" he asked as he and Jon headed back to the District Office.

The superintendent made a face. "You have to make them feel heard and try to keep the peace. That's the bad part of the job."

Shawn shot him a skeptical look. "You mean there's a good part?"

"No, just a different kind of bad."

Shawn shook his head. "I didn't hear anything they were talking about that had anything to do with the kids."

"That's because nothing did," Jon confirmed. "These groups are just tryin' to push their way into the educational system for a power play. I have to entertain them a couple of times a quarter and then add another padlock to the door that will never be open to them so long as I'm here."

Shawn grunted. He had a special hatred of politics in all forms.

When they arrived back at the District Office, Jon immediately had an in-house meeting with the elementary school principals. Shawn chose to start going over his notes for the day rather than attend. Katherine was working in the outer office so he opted to work in Jon's office to stay away from her. The secretary's demeanor had been a strange one; she paid little attention to either him or Jon. She was lost in her own little world and Shawn was happy to leave her there.

He also didn't want to be stared at by that weird poster. There was an almost nightmarish look to it now. He didn't remember it being all in reds, oranges, and black, but it was. With Katherine in the office, he couldn't stop to take a proper picture of it so he closed the office door and settled himself into Jon's chair to begin his work.

At a quarter to three, Julia blew into the office and slammed the door behind her. Shawn pushed his chair back from the desk and turned slightly. Before he could ask how her day was she threw herself into his lap, crying. Shawn froze unsure of what to make of his sister's action. After a moment, Julia quieted her tears and sniffled as she realized something was wrong. She inhaled the scent of the shirt her nose was pressed against. The cologne was all wrong. She looked up sharply.

"Shawn!" she yelped. She angrily jumped up. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing, sis," he sniffed, mildly offended by her extreme reaction. "You sat on me."

Julia slumped against the desk and wrapped her arms around herself. "I thought you were Daddy. Where is he?"

His offense was alleviated by her mistaking him for Jon, although she had to be incredibly upset to do so. "In a meeting down the hall. He should be done soon. What is wrong with you?"

Julia sat on the desk's top and sighed heavily as the tears began to fall again. "It was the worst day."

Shawn sat forward and rested his elbows against his knees. "Tell me about it."

She told him. At the end, Shawn stood up and put his arms around her. "That sucks, Jules," he said. He'd had many a teacher come after him for no reason. He knew too well that feeling of being unfairly singled out.

"I don't understand how Daddy could hire such horrible people." Julia wiped her nose of the shoulder of his shirt. "And then he didn't even tell me about it."

Shawn frowned. They met with new hires earlier in the day but Jon did not mention that any of them were going to Julia's school.

The teen was despondent. "I don't understand why Daddy didn't give me a heads up about these people. Or that Mrs. O was leaving us. I mean, she's not Daddy but she was an awesome principal. Why would she just up and leave us and not wait until the end of the school year? Or say goodbye?"

Shawn had no answer to this and he wondered if Jon did. While still holding his sister, he pulled up DeAndre's app and began to go through it. There were no emails or messages involving any hirings or firings at Julia's school. Everything must have been done over the phone. Shawn closed the app and tapped the edge of the phone against his lips, deep in thought. If this happened over the weekend when did it occur? Jon was occupied the entire weekend and the call log did not show any early morning calls. The superintendent was the only who could answer their questions so Shawn tried to distract Julia while they waited.

About an hour after Julia came in, the District Office was again disturbed by the sudden rush and a slamming door. The history teacher didn't bother with formalities nor did he worry about what Miss Tompkins thought of him barging in.

"Where's Jon?" Cory demanded. "I want to see him now."

Katherine glared at him for interrupting her. "He isn't here," she snapped.

Cory refused to deal with her. He knew his best friend was around somewhere. "Shawn!" he yelled.

The door to Jon's office opened suddenly and Shawn stepped out. "What's wrong?"

"Everything!"

Shawn looked upset. "You too?"

"Me too?" Cory was confused. "Me only."

Shawn cast a glance at Katherine who glared at both men. "Get in here," he told Cory and waved him in.

"Where's Maya?" Shawn closed and locked the door behind them.

Cory let out a breath. "With Audrey, getting fitted for some skates. She wanted to come with me but I told her I'd tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"First, I need to see Jon."

Shawn dropped back into Jon's chair. "He's in a meeting. What's going on?"

Cory told him. When he was finished, Julia's mouth dropped. "You too?"

"Me too?" Now she was saying that. Cory frowned. "What'd you mean?"

After they finished exchanging stories, the history teacher slapped his knees with his hands and grimaced. "This just doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't make any sense?" Jon asked as he walked into his office and tossed his briefcase in the chair Shawn was usually in. He took a seat on his desk and waited for an answer.

The trio were were surprise by his appearance; they hadn't heard him unlock the door. When they recovered, Cory motioned to Julia that he would do the talking. "The faculty changes at John Quincy Adams and Abigail Adams don't make sense."

Jon look confused. "Changes? What changes?"

The three exchanged concerned looks. "We've got new principals and vice principals," Cory told him.

Julia was at her father's side with her arms around him. "Mr. Howard's been replaced."

Jon stared at her clearly bewildered. "What are you talkin' about, Cory? Julia? When did this happen?"

Cory and Julia both recounted their stories once again. Jon grew increasingly upset as he listened. At the end, he swore under his breath. Julia's eyes went wide. Those were not words she heard her father ever say; at least not when she was around. The younger men agreed with his sentiments.

Shawn swiveled back and forth in his seat. "Dad, you're tellin' us that you didn't know about this?"

Jon shook his head. "No, I had no idea."

Cory was agitated. "How could this happen without you knowing?"

Jon shrugged and tucked a stray curl behind Julia's ear. "New York City is one of the few public school systems that can be under mayoral control. When it is, the mayor can overrule me on anything. The mayor can hire and fire people without my consent." Jon frowned as he tried to make sense of a nonsensical situation. "I know the first deputy mayor pretty well and I'm acquainted with the deputy mayor for health and human resources. I haven't heard a word from either of them about mayoral control being reinstated. And by law they would have to tell me."

Cory, Julia, and Shawn exchanged worried looks. Shawn was the most bothered by this turn of events; it was the last thing Jon needed.

"Shawn." Jon motioned for him to get up. "I have some calls to make."

For the next two hours Jon was on the phone with the school board and everyone he could think of to call. Everyone he spoke to was stunned; no one had heard of five well-respected faculty members suddenly being fired and replaced by people from outside of the district.

"Nothing," Jon told them darkly. He leaned his elbows on his desk and clasped his hands together. "No one knows anything."

"What are you going to do?" Shawn asked.

"I'm gonna put a call in to the mayor's office and hope I hear from someone this week."

Shawn was becoming increasingly concerned about the situation. It was too coincidental that it was Julia's and Cory's schools were hit with this mystery and that it put even more pressure on Jon . A heavy feeling leaned against his back and whispered that there was something sinister going on. Feeling his imagination was beginning to run wild, he shrugged his shoulders to shoo the sensation away. It clung on. He pulled Cory over to him. "We need to talk. I've got a lot to tell you and Topanga."

Cory nodded. "Face Time tonight?"

"That works," he agreed.

Cory left and at six Jon was finally ready to leave. Katherine, strangely enough, was already gone. As they passed the poster, Julia's eyes went wide and she yanked on the sleeve of Shawn's leather jacket.

"Look!" she breathed, nodding at the poster. "It wasn't all green before!"

Shawn stared at the poster until Jon called for them to hurry up. It most certainly had not been all green before.

By the time Maya got back to the Turners' place she had forgotten all about the incident in Mr. Matthew's class. She was too excited about her new skates and accessories to think about anything related to school. After helping Audrey bring in all of the skates, she hurried up to Julia's room to look over her haul.

Her new skates didn't look much different from ones she'd borrowed from Julia, but Audrey told her that they were suitable for beginners. The blades were different, too. The toe pick was not nearly as large. Maya carefully stroked the leather boot and smiled. In addition to the skates, Audrey bought her hard guards in blue glitter, purple sequined soakers, a matching towel, skating socks-four pairs in neon colors; a pair of her own skating pants and jacket, and a Transport skating bag to hold everything.

Maya looked at all of her gear that she neatly laid out around her in a circle on the floor. These were the most expensive things she'd ever owned in her life and she felt guilty about it. Audrey wouldn't let her pick the cheap things. Her new aunt told her that it was better to by quality and pay a little more than have to come back every few months to replace things that wore out quickly. When she asked how much it cost, Audrey told her to mind her own business.

With great care, she put the soft soakers on her blades and carefully set them inside the bag. Then she put the other skating items in their own special place inside before zipping everything up and setting the bag by her bed. Maya sighed and wondered if her mother would allow her to keep everything or if she would consider it charity and make her give them back. Guilt continued to eat at her. Her mother, she knew, was not paying the Turners to watch her so every expense Maya incurred was on them for an unknown amount of time. She knew Mr. Turner made a lot of money as a superintendent but she also knew that they lived in a very expensive part of town and with soon to be five kids still at home. She didn't believe they actually lived on easy street in spite of their address.

Maya flopped backwards on the bed, still worrying and landed on her jacket. Something beneath her crunched. She sat up and examined the bed, then her jacket. In the pocket was the wrinkled letter her mother had told her to give Shawn immediately.

Oops!

Jumping up, Maya headed down the hall to Shawn's room and knocked on the door.

"Yeah, come in!"

"Shawn?"

Shawn was sitting at his desk opening up an app on his laptop. "Oh, hey, Maya. What's up?"

"You busy?"

"I will be in a minute. I'm gonna Face Time with the Matthews."

"Oh, well, I just wanted to give you this." She held the letter out to him. "Mom told me to give it to you right away and I kinda forgot."

Shawn couldn't help the feeling of apprehension that came over him. "Oh? What's it about?"

"She didn't tell me."

Shawn took the letter and opened it.

Dear Shawn,

I just want to thank you again for taking Maya for me. I know it's a lot to ask of you. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you would do this for us.

I also wanted to tell you that while I'm out here I lined up four more auditions. They aren't all this weekend so it may be two weeks or three before I'll be back. Possibly longer if I get call backs.

Thanks again! I owe you.

oxoxox,

Katy

It took Shawn a long while to process the letter's contents. When he did, anger flared in him and he shook his head in disgust. Katy knew before she left that she would not be back in few days. She actually planned this ahead of time. He looked up at Maya's expectant face and hesitated. He didn't want his anger coming through when he told her. "It looks like your mom, uh, has a few more auditions lined up."

"Is that all?" Maya seemed unbothered but Shawn wondered if she really was. He got used to Chet taking off and not coming back for ages, but he was never truly okay with it.

"Do you need me for anything?" she asked, distractedly. "Julia's gonna show me some off-ice stuff to work on for the next skate."

"Go ahead. I've got Cory waitin'."

Maya gave him a quick hug and darted out of the room.

The more he thought about the letter the angrier he became. It didn't matter that Jon and Audrey or Maya anticipated a long stay. That Katy was not honest about this trip bothered him more than he was capable of putting into words. Who does that to their kid or the people caring for them?

Katy seemed to really love Maya, so he couldn't understand why she would do this. She told him that she was working so hard to save money for Maya's birthday but then turned around blew off 2-3 weeks of work for out of state auditions. Shawn wasn't one to criticize other people's life choices no matter how bad they might be if their decisions weren't hurting others. But Maya, whether she realized it or not, was being hurt. He couldn't understand how an acting career, or any career, was more important than your child. Especially when pursuing that career meant you dropped your kid off with other people and assumed those people will care for them indefinitely. That was the height of irresponsibility to him. No kid deserved that. As much as Maya was growing on him, Shawn was having serious doubts about her mother.

While Shawn was brooding, the screen of his laptop lit up and the room was suddenly filled with a loud, shrill screech that startled him out of his seat.

"Uncle Shawn!" Auggie cried. "Did you hear that?"

Shawn checked twice to make sure his heart hadn't stopped then got himself together and returned to his seat.

"Yeah, I did, Auggie. What was that?"

"Ava." he sighed dreamily. "Isn't she amazing?"

A curly haired little blonde popped up on screen and gave him a smug grin.

This is what passes for romance these days? When Shawn was Auggie's age, girls were gross and their ability to sound like a burglar alarm was neither enticing nor envied. Times had certainly changed.

"Hi, Cory's best friend," Ava said with a grin. "Wanna hear me do that again?"

"No one wants to hear you do that again, sweetie." Shawn could hear Topanga in the background.

"Topanga, are you gonna throw me out now?"

"Yep, Ava. I am. Cory and I need to talk to Shawn."

"Yay!" Ava cried, holding her arms out to the woman. "I love it when you throw me out!"

Shawn looked at Auggie apprehensively. "Strange girl you got there, my friend."

Auggie nodded with a smitten smile. "That's why I love her."

"Love who?" Cory asked as he sat down in front of the webcam. "Is Ava gone?"

"I just threw her out," Topanga responded as she sat besides him. "Auggie, why don't you play in your room while Daddy and I talk to Uncle Shawn."

"Okay, bye, Uncle Shawn." He gave the camera a wave and took off.

When Auggie was gone, Shawn took a deep breath and asked, "Any changes at Auggie's school?"

Cory shook his head. "Nope. Not one."

"Shawn," Topanga said. "You said you said you had some things to tell us. Did the internet monitoring get turned on?"

"No. It's about Miss Tompkins. I've started to remember some stuff from back then."

Cory's brow raised high at this. "Really? Like what?"

Shawn put a foot up on his desk. "I've actually started to remember a lot of things since I've been back home. You guys remember how I couldn't recall anything about the New York trip in 10th grade? I remember everything now. Even the Darth Vader Lego statue."

"That's good, though," Topanga said. She'd always hoped that being home would help him deal with the past.

"Is it?" Shawn picked up the snow globe on his desk and turned it around in his hands. "It's not just the good times I'm rememberin'."

Cory frowned and told him, "You didn't have any bad times with Jon."

"No. But I remember things that happened, the things she did. I always thought Katherine just turned Mom in to Mr. Feeny but now I realized that was the final thing she did, not the first."

Topanga gave Cory a funny look. This didn't sound familiar to her. "Like what?"

"You guys remember the key incident?"

"Oh, yeah," the couple agreed.

Shawn turned the snow globe upside down and set it back on the desk. "Someone has a key to Dad's office and has been rearranging his desk. He's found the picture of him and Mom hidden behind the hockey jersey in his office. I found it and my picture with mom in the trash."

"Pretty obvious who that is," Cory harrumphed.

"Almost too obvious. What if Jon had found them instead of you?" Topanga said more to herself than her companions. "It's like she wanted them to be found and something to be said."

Shawn could see she was running through everything in her mind.

"Do you remember anything else?" Cory asked.

"Bits and pieces, here and there," he shrugged. "I can't hold onto anything else just yet. She is starting to treat Julia the way she treated me back then."

Cory and Topanga exchanged concerned looks. They did remember how much worse things got for Shawn in school for a time after their teacher severed ties with Katherine.

"It's crazy how these little bits float by at the most random times," Shawn went on. "Like the other day, Jules mentioned the kid she has a crush on and all of the sudden the name Dana Pruitt comes to mind." Shawn shook his head. "It's like there's something significant there, but it's hidden. I can't remember much about Dana other than I really liked her."

"Jon went out with her mom once," Cory offered, trying to be helpful.

Shawn and Topanga both made a face.

"Yeah, that I remember," he said. "You know what I don't remember? How we broke up or why. I don't remember what was going on with Dad and Mom at the time. I don't remember if Mom was even with us or not. It's so weird. It's like everything is hidden behind a fog."

"I remember the break up with Dana," Cory said.

He started to say more when Topanga put her hand on his arm. "I don't think you should tell him."

"Why?" Shawn asked, looking up at the camera.

"Because," she said, "it'll be Cory's memory not yours when you think about her. You said she came to mind because of something Julia said. Maybe there's something to that. Maybe there was something in the break up of with Dana that relates to Julia somehow."

"What would Dana have to do with Julia?" Cory asked incredulously.

Shawn considered this. He couldn't make a connection now, but maybe later. He frowned and ran his finger over the glass of the snow globe. "I think she's right, Cor, even if it doesn't make sense now. I need to remember on my own." He took a deep breath. "I think I know Katherine's game even with the foggy memories. I think she's trying to force history to repeat itself. I mean, she was successful to point back then. She did split Dad and Mom up and she did ruin everything for me," he grunted in frustration. "When she couldn't get Dad back like she wanted, she went for destroying the family we'd made together. I think she's upped her game now, especially since I showed up and spoiled her initial plan. She's made changes. Maybe those changes don't follow anything that happened in the past. I don't know yet."

"You think she's going to try to separate Jon and Audrey any way she can?" Topanga asked.

Cory was appalled by the thought. "Which won't happen," he snapped. He felt as though Topanga's words would come true now that they had been spoken aloud and he had to counter it. He paused, then wondered timidly, "She's gonna go after Julia and Audrey, isn't she?"

Shawn nodded. "The little kids don't matter to her. Based on the articles she's been readin', she thinks she'll win them over. She knows she can't with Julia. She's too much like me; too much like Jon."

"As for Audrey," Topanga said. She rubbed her chin as she tried to visualize what they knew so far. "She got rid of her once, she probably thinks she can do it again."

"How though?" Cory asked. He felt they were giving Miss Tompkins too much credit. "Things are different this time around. Audrey isn't Jon's student teacher; she's his wife of almost twenty years."

Topanga nodded and was silent for awhile. Shawn was lost in thought. Cory was just worried.

"I worry," Topanga said quietly, "about Audrey. If we're right about what Katherine is trying to do, I'm concerned it could trigger her eating disorder again."

Shawn's brow shot up in concern. He'd forgotten about that.

"And even worse," Topanga went on, "that it could affect the baby."

Shawn pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "We also have that thing that's been following us."

Cory and Topanga looked alarmed.

"You've seen it again?" Cory asked.

Shawn shook his head. "No, but Julia has. Twice. And now Maya's seen it, too."

"Oh, no." Cory breathed. Topanga grabbed his hand.

"Shawn," she said in her court room voice that told them they'd better listen to her closely. "We have to consider that the police need to be involved."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "And what're we gonna tell them, Topanga? A monster is following us?"

Topanga gave him a disapproving look. "If we get proof of this thing, then we need to go to the authorities. Agreed?"

Cory voiced his agreement almost immediately. Shawn, on the other hand, tapped his fingers against his lips then waved his hand to indicate the affirmative. But he never verbally agreed because he wasn't sure that was the way to go. If this thing trailing them had anything to do with Miss Tompkins, he wanted it to lead them back to her so they would have undeniable proof to take to Jon.

"You know," Cory said. "I found out that the only schools to have major personal changes are my school and Julia's. Maybe I'm getting paranoid but do either of you think this is a coincidence?"

"I don't," Shawn harrumphed.

"Neither do I," Topanga said slowly. "Since Jon didn't even know about it, I wonder if the same person who hired Katherine hired them."

"I've been wondering the same thing," Shawn admitted. "It's too much of a coincidence."

"Jon couldn't tell us anything about her hiring," Cory said. "He said he didn't know and didn't care."

"We need to find that out," she said matter-a-factly. "I think if we can track down that person we might be able to get somewhere."

"How?" Cory asked. "If Jon doesn't know, who would?"

"I think I need to meet with Katherine as soon as possible," Topanga said. "I'm not sure how just yet but I'll come up with something."

The three were silent for a while then Shawn said, "Guys, can I ask you something about Katy?"

"Yeah."

"Of course."

Shawn tapped his fingers on the desk. Trying to figure out how to word his question. "How often has she left Maya with you?"

Cory shrugged and looked to his wife.

"Every few months," she answered.

"For how long?"

"About three weeks," Cory said.

"Does she tell you that she's gonna be gone that long?"

The couple exchanged looks. "No," Topanga answered. "We've just gotten used to the fact that three days mean three weeks."

Shawn nodded. "How often does she call?"

"2 or 3 times."

"A week?"

"No. The whole time."

"Katy's a little flighty," Cory said. He knew why Shawn was asking and why he was upset, but Katy was a friend and he felt he had to defend her. "She does always come back."

"That's a lot flighty when you've got a kid," Shawn said flatly.

A call to Topanga rang out; Riley needed her. It was late and Shawn had a lot of thinking to do. So the friends said goodnight. Shawn couldn't get Katy off of his mind.

The early morning Wednesday sun danced through the drawn blinds in the superintendent's office sending slender rays rippling across the room. Jon sat at his desk with his head in his hands trying to get his thoughts together. All Tuesday, he was on calls trying to find out what was going on at the middle school and high school. He found out nothing. Everyone he spoke to seemed surprised by the news and had no knowledge of what happened to the former faculty members. Even their colleagues, some of whom were close friends, had not seen this coming and were very upset about it and with him until he assured them he had nothing to do with their dismissal.

In the afternoon, Jon met with the new administrators. They were a strange bunch and unnerved him greatly. It might have been his imagination but he could have sworn that his usual warm office chilled as soon as they walked in. However, there was nothing about the group he could find fault with. They were amicable and respectful enough. One of the Mr. Penningtons even apologized for the misunderstanding with Cory. When he asked who hired them, they all claimed that they thought he was the one who hired them. When asked for specifics about the interviews, no one would answer his questions.

Jon refrained from pushing for these answers. The more he talked to them, the stronger he felt that they all knew each other and had either conspired not to answer him or were told not to. He let them go with a warm welcome to the District and some flowery words about looking forward to working with them and what assets to the schools they would be. Jon believed none of his own words; he was far more suspicious now than he was when they came in. He would let them believe he was passive so that he could do a little digging into their backgrounds without raising suspicion.

His thoughts were broken up by Shawn walking into his office carrying two cups of coffee and making faces. Katherine was right on his heels. Jon hid a smile behind his hand when he saw Shawn attempt to kick the door closed on her. Katherine was too close for him to be successful. Whatever mess he had on his hands, he was thankful he had Shawn with him for good, both at home and at the office.

"Jon, there's something I need to talk to you about before we leave," Katherine said, attempting to block Shawn from getting to the superintendent.

Shawn gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes as he danced around her and delivered Jon's coffee to him. "I keep tellin' her to text Mom about it."

"About what?"

Katherine started to speak but Shawn cut her off. "About her kid comin' over to see Julia. Mom told her call or text her about it. She won't do it."

Jon frowned and looked at his secretary. "Why don't you call her? She's got the kids' schedules for the weekend by now. I don't."

As frustrated as she was with his interference, Katherine refrained from giving Shawn a nasty look because Jon was watching. She took a deep breath, then calmly said, "The reason is Audrey wanted him over this weekend and that's not going to work for us."

Jon held his hands out. "Okay?"

"Is next weekend all right?"

"I don't have this weekend's schedule, Kat," he said in exasperation, "much less next week's schedule. Call Audrey."

Katherine pressed her lips together. She did not want to deal with the other woman in anyway. "I'm going to be busy Saturday night, so Dylan is staying with his father."

"Okay," Jon said again, unsure of why she was telling him this.

Katherine clearly wanted him to ask her what she was doing and he wasn't getting the hint. Shawn, being in a puckish mood, decided to goad her on in hopes she would slip up in front of Jon. He gave her a wicked smirk, "Hot date Saturday night, Miss Tompkins?"

"Yes, Shawn," she said shortly. "I do, actually, have a date."

This was not the answer Shawn was expecting. He glanced at the superintendent, who looked equally surprised.

"Good for you, Kat. I hope everything works out," Jon congratulated her, hoping they'd be able to get some work done if he praised her. "Call Audrey about next week."

There were plenty of one liners that came to Shawn's mind as he thought about Katherine on a date. He stuck his tongue in the side of his cheek as he held back his laughter. Just as he was about to say something snarky, a thought occurred to him- she had a date. Why the sudden turn from Jon to someone else? His smirk faded and was replaced with a deep frown. Had she done this before? What wasn't he remembering?

Once the morning meetings were over, Jon returned to the office long enough to get his things together and greet Dr. Gary Richards who was helping Shawn fill in for him while he took Audrey to her appointment. Shawn stood by Jon's side while the three men talked. He tried to listen but the poster in the room drew his attention away. It was not green or orange at the moment, but shades of gray. He snapped a picture of it and returned to the conversation when Jon said his name.

"Shawn, I'm looking forward to working with you," Dr Richards said amicably. He was a big man who reminded Shawn of his Uncle Mike in the way he towered over both of them. "I've heard a lot about you from your dad and the Board. Sounds like you've got a few ideas on how things should run around here."

"Thanks, sir," Shawn murmured with a humble grin. "As a kid who hated school, yes I do."

Dr. Richards laughed, then turned to the superintendent. "Well, Jon, enjoy your afternoon off. We'll try to keep the district in one piece," the man grinned at Shawn. "But I can't guarantee anything. I'm several years out of practice."

"And I have none," Shawn added.

"Oh, great," Jon laughed. "I guess that means I should expect an influx of angry calls tonight."

After Jon left, Shawn stood in the outer office with Dr. Richards, unsure of where to start. He looked to the older man who was studying the Peter Max poster with a earnest look on his face.

"What do you think of this poster?" the man asked.

Shawn put his hands in his pockets. "The original piece is kinda cool, but this one is...not the original."

"It changes colors doesn't it?"

Shawn stared at him. As far as he knew, no one but himself and Julia had seen it change. Cautiously, he ventured, "You've noticed that?"

The former superintendent nodded. "It was gray when I came in. It's not now."

The poster was back to its original colors.

"Could be the way it's printed," Shawn offered. "Or the paper or ink used. I really don't know much about it. It just showed up one day."

"I'm sure it cost a ridiculous amount of money wherever it came from," Dr. Richards remarked sardonically. "Let's head to Jon's office and see what needs to be done."

Shawn locked the office door behind them, even though he was fairly certain Katherine wouldn't bother them without Jon around.

"I'll tell you what, Shawn," Dr. Richards settled down in one of the office chairs in the corner and pulled a book out of his briefcase, "since I'm just here for backup and you know Jon's routines and how he likes things done, why don't you take care of emails and phone calls?"

Shawn nodded and took his seat at Jon's desk. "Sounds good, sir. Most of the meetings have been canceled for the afternoon except for some IT meetings."

"I will be absolutely useless there."

Shawn laughed. "I think I can handle those."

Shortly after the men settled in, the phone calls came in a constant stream as Katherine didn't bother to regulate them and dumped them on Shawn all at once. After two hours a small lull came, Shawn flopped back in Jon's chair and let a out a breath.

"You are mostly certainly your father's son," Dr. Richards said with a smile.

Shawn blushed and ducked his head. He still felt extraordinarily unworthy of the title; he'd done nothing to deserve it. He felt accepting it without a disclaimer would be deceitful. "You know I'm not his biological kid, right?"

Dr. Richards nodded. "Not that you would know that by the way Jon talks about you. Have you ever considered a career in education?"

"That's not my thing," Shawn insisted.

"You remind me a great deal of Jon, especially the way you handled those calls," he smiled and shook his head. "It's a shame you aren't interested in teaching. The schools here could use a Turner at the helm of a classroom again."

Shawn started to correct the man and tell him that his last name was Hunter, but something stopped him.

Shawn Turner.

It didn't sound right; it sounded odd. He pressed his lips into a tight line.

Shawn Turner.

It didn't sound wrong either.

Some times Audrey's doctor's appointments were on time and quick. Other times the wait to see her OB-GYN was longer than the actual appointment. With that in mind, arrangements had been made with Audrey's aunt and uncle to watch Bella who would be picked up on the way back from getting the boys from school. Fortunately, her appointment was short and she and Jon were able to head home much earlier than anticipated. While Audrey changed clothes for reasons he couldn't fathom, Jon debated on whether or not to head back to the District Office. It wasn't that he thought Shawn couldn't handle things; he was just very uncomfortable with himself after the appointment and needed a distraction.

Quietly, he pulled out his briefcase and prepared to leave. He told himself that it was fine to leave. Audrey should be fine. She and the baby were both healthy for which he was grateful. At her age, she was considered a high risk pregnancy. When the maternal-fetal medical doctor assigned to her came in, all he talked about were the terrible things that might happen by the end of the pregnancy. This was both deeply concerning and confusing as her regular OB-GYN said there was nothing wrong with her or the baby and thus gave her no restrictions. Jon didn't know who to listen to. All he knew was that he did not want to risk Audrey's health. He was terrified of losing her which, according to the one doctor, was a distinct possibility.

Jon rubbed his eyes and sighed. Guilt hung so heavy over him during the appointment that he couldn't look at the ultrasound. He had to force himself to pretend to be as excited as she was when their child appeared on screen. That poor kid didn't deserve to have him as father; he or she deserved much better.

He knew if he waited for Audrey to finish changing he'd never make it out of the house. As he took his things and headed towards the garage, a phone call came in. It was Eli. Jon paused for a moment and considered letting the call go to voicemail. Audrey would be out any minute and he could call Eli back on the way to work. But his fingers bypassed his brain and accepted the call.

"Hey, man."

"Hey, Jonny," Eli sounded nervous. "I know it's probably a bad time to call, but you gotta minute?"

"Yeah, yeah, Audrey and I just got back from her doctor's appointment a little while ago."

"Everything okay?"

"Depends on who you ask," he sighed. He returned his briefcase to the floor by the stairs. "One doctor says she's in perfect health, the other says I could lose her at any time.."

"Gotta hate those high risk doomsayers." Eli clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Trina had one of those when she was pregnant with Jariyah."

"I recall you drove her nuts because you listened to him." Jon chuckled at the memory.

"Yeah, I didn't know if Trina or the stress was gonna do me in first," he laughed. "I'm glad Audrey's good."

"Me, too," Jon paused and ran his fingers over the banister's rail. "You didn't call about Audrey."

"No," Eli inhaled deeply. "Hey, listen, I hate to do this to you, Jonny, but something came up for Saturday."

Eli sounded nervous again and Jon frowned slightly. "Oh? Are you dumpin' me for a woman?"

"Yeah, I am."

Jon was joking. Eli was not. "Oh." Disappointment sunk in as Jon realized that meant he wouldn't be going out. He'd been looking forward to getting away from his responsibilities again. "Good for you, man. We can get together some other time."

"Yeah, definitely. Thanks. I won't make a habit of dumping you," the newscaster promised. "It's just this was only time in our schedules we could get together."

"It's fine," Jon said even though it wasn't.

Eli paused for a long while as though he was trying to summon up courage. "Jon, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You remember the Guy Code?"

Jon arched an eyebrow at this out-of-left-field query. "Vaguely. Been a while since I used it."

"You remember how we had a pact not to date each others exes?"

Jon was confounded by Eli bringing this up. "Uh, yeah, and neither one of us stuck to it very well."

Eli choked out a laugh. "The intentions were good, though."

"Sure."

"So you wouldn't have a problem if I did, you know, date one of your exes?"

That Eli was so serious about this confused Jon even more. " I don't tend to date outside of my marriage so any ex I have is from 20 years ago."

Eli cleared his throat. "Right. I mean, I figured you wouldn't care. I just wanted to ask."

Jon was now very curious. "Who is it?"

His best friend was so silent so long he thought the call had dropped. "You still here?"

"I am. I dunno, Jon." Eli took an extended pause again then said, "I feel kinda weird about this. I mean we could end up hating each other after one date, so I kinda don't want to say until I know where it goes."

"Okay," Jon shrugged. "Makes no difference to me. I gotta admit the suspense is killin' me. Lemme know who it is as soon as you can."

"You got it, man." Eli's relief was obvious. "I'll call later to set up plans for next weekend."

"Yeah, sure." Jon said goodbye, hung up the phone, and stared at.

Just when I thought things couldn't get stranger, Eli calls with that.

By the time he got off of the phone, Audrey was back downstairs. They had eaten lunch out so there was no cooking to be done and with no kids in the house, she had trouble figuring out what to do. She turned and looked at him expectantly, hoping that he would come up with something. Jon smiled tenderly at her. The look she was giving him now was the same look she gave him when they first got together while working together at John Adams High. It was a look of love and adoration; of complete faith and trust in him. Usually that look made him feel like the king of the world. Today is just made him feel like a fraud.

So much for going back to work.

The least he could do was give her his undivided attention that she'd been lacking for the past several months. He caught her by the waist and danced her around to unheard music. He didn't enjoy dancing, but she loved to so he did it for her. She hugged him tightly at the end of their waltz and gave that little sigh he always listened for. It was a signal to him that he'd been successful in making her happy. He held her tightly. The baby kicked and as much as it unsettled him, he ignored the feeling. Then he settled down with her on the couch and turned on a documentary on Baryshnikov that she'd wanted to see for so long. He still didn't care for ballet, but he did still care deeply for the ballerina in his arms.

The documentary wore on for far too long and by the end of it, Jon was drowsy. He ran a hand through his hair and grunted in annoyance.

Audrey looked up at him. "What's wrong?"

"I need a haircut."

"Oh, please don't!" she cried. Her hands went to his hair and her fingers slid between the curls. "It's just starting to grow out again."

Jon chuckled. "You always did like it long."

"I never understood why you cut it."

Jon frowned as he tried to remember why he suddenly decided to cut it. Then it came back to him. "I got married," he told her as if she didn't know. "I wasn't living a wild, bachelor life anymore. It was time to grow up, I guess."

Audrey pushed her bottom lip out. "Couldn't you have grown up in a different way? Taken out a mortgage or something?"

He tipped back his head and laughed. "I never dreamed you'd take a haircut so hard."

"I wasn't prepared," she said defensively.

"I told you I was going to do it."

"I thought you meant get a trim! Your hair was so short, I thought you had signed up for the Army!"

"It wasn't that short." Jon started to laugh harder as he recalled her reaction. "I asked you if you liked it, you nodded, and fled to the bathroom."

Audrey started to laugh. She was still embarrassed by her rather extreme reaction. "I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want you to feel bad because I didn't like it."

"Yeah, I didn't feel bad at all when I found my wife crying in the bathroom because I cut my hair."

"You looked so different," she insisted, pressing her forehead against his. "I just needed to get used to it."

"It's been almost 20 years, babe. I think that's more than enough time."

"It wasn't just the hair," she told him. "You took out the earring and started dressing like Mr. Feeny. "

"I did not dress like Mr. Feeny!" he protested between bouts of laughter.

"You went out and brought a three piece suit that you wore to school!"

"I only wore that…" Jon recalled the first time he wore the suit. Cory was reading poetry. Shawn was sleeping on desks in the back of his classroom and called him "Daddy" when he woke him up. He frowned slightly as several other times he wore that suit came to mind. "...way too many times."

They laughed together and Audrey pressed her lips to his throat. She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and wove the hair that had grown long enough to curl through her fingers. "Could you wait a little longer before you cut it?"

Jon paused a moment considered how something so minor meant so much to her. He gave a small shrug. "Sure, babe. Anything for you."

She kissed him and he lost track of time. Then an incoming text message brought them back to reality. It was for Audrey from Trina wanting to get Jamie and Jariyah together for a play date. Trina reminded Jon of Eli which, for some strange reason, made him think of his secretary.

"Eli canceled on me for Saturday."

"Oh? Is everything okay?"

"It's great for him. He's a got a date." He sighed and Audrey could see how upset he was about it. He went on, "Me? I dunno what to do now. I was really looking for to going out again."

"Why don't you and Shawn do something?" she asked. "I don't think you two have had any real time together since he's been home."

Jon considered this then agreed. "Yeah, that sounds great if he's available."

"He'll make himself available," she said confidently. "He's been trying to spend time with you every weekend."

"Yeah," Jon sighed heavily. Somehow, he was still continuing to let Shawn down.

Audrey saw the tension in his face and ran her hand over his face and gently teased, "Of course, he probably won't let you drink as much as Eli." She arched an eyebrow and gave him a knowing look.

Clearly, he didn't hide his hangover from her very well. He smiled. "You sayin' I'm not settin' a good example and need my kid to monitor me?"

"Our kid," Audrey correct him with a grin. Then she shrugged. "Do what you want; you're the one who has to pay the consequences."

"Speakin' of Eli datin'," he said shifting the conversation away from himself. "Kat doesn't want Dylan to come over this weekend."

Audrey put a hand to her chest as though clutching invisible pearls. "Am I supposed to be heartbroken over this?"

He kissed her shoulder. "No. She wants him over next weekend. She's sendin' him to his dad's because she has a date."

"Ooo," Audrey sat up. "This is the first interesting thing you've said about her." It's about time she got interested in someone else, she thought.

"Yeah, I doubt it'll change anything at work, though." Jon made a face. "If anything it will make it worse. But at least I've got Shawn with me."

Audrey hoped Katherine would become so obsessed with her new boyfriend that she would voluntarily leave her position and Shawn would take it over. "I'm not crazy about Dylan coming over but if it will encourage her to date, I'm happy to help out."

Jon gave her a funny look, unsure of why she cared if Katherine dated or not, but he didn't ask.

Audrey did not care to stay on the subject of Katherine Tompkins longer than necessary. "Have you found out anything about those new principals yet?"

Jon grimaced. "The more people I talk to, the less I know. There's something weird about these people; like they're all readin' from the same script. I know they're either withholdin' information or lyin' about how they were hired. Everyone I've talked to on the Board seem legitimately worried about this and as in the dark as I am. Several came to me privately, very worried about their own positions."

"Board Members are voted in though," she pointed out.

"Doesn't stop them from worryin'." Jon rubbed his temple. He was getting tired. "What's worse, is I cannot get in touch with the previous faculty members. Every single number I have for all of them is out of order. Emails are bouncin' back. Emily from payroll called before we left and said she ran into Maria Olivares at the store last night and the woman would not talk to her. Emily said she seemed terrified that someone would see them together."

Audrey pinched her bottom lip together between her thumb and forefinger. "Have you heard from the Mayor's office?"

"No," he shook his head. "I'm still gettin' the same ol runaround and promises to be called back ASAP. I may end up having to go down there and just wait until I catch someone comin' out of an office."

Audrey began to rub his neck to relieve her stress as much as his. "Jon, promise me something?"

He turned his head as much as he could with her massaging his muscles. "What?"

"Promise me that if you find something funny going on that you won't try to handle it by yourself."

Jon rolled his eyes. "What makes you think I'd do that?"

"I know you and I know you hate asking for help," she said seriously. She was very concerned about what he might uncover. "You keep telling me you're at your limit now. Promise me you won't do this alone if you find something underhanded going on. Promise me you'll take it to the Mayor."

Jon sighed and nodded. She was right, of course, but he resented the implication that he might need help doing his job. Audrey's fingers went up to the back of his skull. The muscles there were so tight and sore that he winced in pain at her touch.

"Have you had the chance to meet with Mrs. Remington yet?" she asked.

"No." He leaned his head back into her fingertips. "I'm meeting with all four admins and her on Monday. Why?"

"I'm concerned about the way Julia's been singled out in her class. I know this might be nothing as she tends to judge everyone against you and no one measures up. But Dre actually called me about the way she's being treated in class. If he's worried then something must be wrong."

"Yeah, I know." Jon slipped his hand under the bottom of her legging and rubbed her calf. "I've asked her to hang in there this week. I need time to gather as much information about these people as I can before I meet with them again. I don't like going into meetings blind."

Audrey nodded. "Mrs. Remington keeps calling and emailing. She's demanding to meet with me about Julia's behavior. But she doesn't want to meet with you."

"Interesting, isn't it?" he said sarcastically. "You'd think the superintendent is who she'd want to see." Jon was silent for a moment. Something nagged at him that it was a bad idea for Audrey to be anywhere near these people. "Do not meet with her without me and don't schedule a meeting until after Monday."

"All right," she said. The intensity of his request worried her. She rubbed his neck for a few more minutes then a yawn suddenly escaped, catching her by surprise. She laid her head against his shoulder. "How long before we have to get the boys?"

Jon looked at his watch and sighed. "We're already five minutes late."

Other than the strange things happening in the District, the week was a quiet one. Email, texts, and calls were all very mundane. The only thing that concerned Shawn was that Katherine also had been very quiet, but he tried not to think about it.

Late Friday, just as Family Night was wrapping up, Jon received a call from Brian Leetch who offered him tickets to Saturday's game against the Panthers. Shawn was pleasantly surprised when Jon asked him to go and told him it would just be the two of them. This was the second week in a row that Jon was going out to do something for himself and Shawn noticed the marked difference in his attitude when the weekend came.

When he woke up on Saturday, Shawn had a strange sensation stuck between his stomach and his heart. It was fluttery, bubbly feeling that lodged itself in that space and tickled the sides of his rib cage every time he inhaled. He sat up wondering if heartburn was an early 30s thing. He contorted his upper body in every way he could to make that feeling go away. When it lessened some, he got up and headed to the bathroom.

Julia was sleeping in, so there was no one to fight over the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror and made a face. He had the worst case of bedhead. Determined not to go out with Jon looking like he'd stuck his finger in an electric socket, Shawn ended up in the shower. The entire time he worried about what he and Jon would talk about as this was his first outing with the superintendent as an adult.

Worry about the conversation and the game itself continued to bother him as finished his shower and began to dry his hair. That strange feeling grew ten times in size whenever he thought about the game. Suddenly troubled he'd developed a medical condition, he turned to the internet for help. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to describe what he was feeling and fluttery stomach turned up something that had to do with pregnancy. Shawn was pretty certain that wasn't his issue and tried again. This time "butterflies in my stomach" was suggested. As he was about to dismiss these results as well, an article about a father and son caught his eye. In the article, the son mentioned having butterflies in his stomach the day his father took him to a monster truck rally because he was so excited.

Shawn stared at his reflection again. Dampness flattened his hair, but the tips began to curl as they dried. He frowned. Was that what this was? Excitement? Over a hockey game? He continued to stare into the mirror.

Yes, he decided, he was excited. He was going to get to spend the afternoon with his dad at a hockey game. This was not a feeling he had experienced before. As a kid, he and Jon did a lot of things together, but a sporting event was not one of them. Chet made promises to take him but never followed through. Shawn lifted his chin a bit and saw his thirty-three-year-old eyes dissolve into the eyes of his fifteen-year-old self. His beard disappeared and his skin smoothed out, flecked with a few acne imperfections. His teenage self grinned at him excitedly.

"We're going to a game!" young Shawn cried. "An NHL game! With our dad! Oh, man, I can't wait to tell Cory! He's gonna be so jealous! Who'd have thought that we, Shawn Hunter, would go to a big game with our dad! We're gonna have hot dogs and soda- wait is hot dogs a hockey thing or just a baseball thing?" The boy tucked the ends of his bangs behind his ears and laughed. "Aw, who cares?! This is gonna be the best day ever!"

"Shawn!" A loud bang was heard at the door and it startled him. Julia was fully awake. "Get out! I need to get in!"

"Wait your turn!" he shouted absently back. When he looked back at the mirror his teenage self was no longer there. He sighed and continued to get ready for the day. Eventually, he left the bathroom after taking a deliberately long time to get ready. Julia made a face at him before going in and slamming the door.

Shawn headed downstairs still feeling that strange sensation bobble around inside. Audrey was fixing her famous pancakes and as much as he loved them, he wasn't hungry and had trouble staying still.

Audrey watched him out of the corner of her eye as she flipped the food on the griddle. "You excited about today?"

He jumped a bit, not realizing how obvious it was. "Yeah, guess I am."

"I'm so glad that this worked out for you both," she smiled, stacking pancakes on a plate. She took the eggs out of the refrigerator, handed them to him, and motioned for him to start cracking them.

"So am I. You know I was actually kind of jealous that Dad went out with Eli last week." He frowned wondering where that came from.

Audrey gave him a curious look. "Why's that?"

"I've been wantin' to spend to with him. Guess I felt he chose his best friend over me."

As he cracked the eggs, it occurred to him that that's how Topanga felt when he would show up and take over Cory. Her husband dropped everything for him, including her. This realization bothered Shawn. He and Cory had always been like that and never occurred to him that they were truly hurting her. He'd heard her say it, but he never took it to heart.

I've got to stop doing that. Topanga deserves better.

"He wasn't choosing Eli over you, Shawn." Audrey paused what she was doing to give his cheek an affectionate pat. "I think Jon is convinced that you don't really want to spend as much time with him as you do. He thinks you're doing it because of the job and you feel obligated because you're living here. He's thinks you'd rather be with Cory. I know for a fact if you had mentioned the two of you going out, he would have put Eli on hold."

"I didn't know," Shawn said feeling guilty. He'd been so immersed in the Katherine drama that'd he lost tracking of trying to get to know Jon as an adult. "I really wanna hang out with him, Mom. I do."

"You're telling the wrong person, hun," she smiled and took the eggs from him.

The game wasn't until 5 and after breakfast Jon had a barrage of calls to deal with regarding the changes in the District. Shawn kept himself busy with his siblings, Maya, and helping Audrey where he could. At three, Jon came into the living room and tossed his phone to Audrey.

"I'm takin' your phone tonight," he told her.

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief. This meant no work interruptions and if anything pertinent came in, he'd likely be able to catch before Audrey saw.

Jon headed upstairs to change clothes, but before he did he asked Shawn, "What are you wearin' to the game?"

Shawn shrugged. He hadn't given it much thought. "I dunno. I'm not sure if I need to dress as warm as I do for outside or not as warm."

"Jersey over a hoodie and a jacket are usually enough for me."

"Should be for me too. But I don't have a jersey."

Jon grinned. "C'mon. I've got several you can chose from."

This was the first time Jon had ever offered an article of his clothing to Shawn. When he first moved in with Jon, he frequently went shopping in Jon's closet. What he liked, he took without asking and complained about everything else. Jon didn't share his clothes and was very uncomfortable seeing his shirts walking around on someone else. Shawn outgrew the habit fairly quickly as he felt weird in his teacher's clothes. But now, as he pulled on Jon's Ranger's jersey, Shawn felt a strange sense of comfort and security drape over him like a weighted blanket.

Shortly after changing, they said goodbye to the family and headed out. Jon was anxious to get to Madison Square Garden for a number of reasons. One, it was a Saturday game which brought with it a lot of people and long lines. He had a VIP pass to circumvent the crowds so there was no need to wait in queue and no concerns about not getting to their seats on time. The second reason was Shawn. This was the first time since his oldest had come home that they would be spending time together outside of work. It was their first chance to get to know each other as adults. Jon was worried that Shawn wouldn't be so interested in him once he did.

To distract himself, Jon turned tour guide for the Rangers and took Shawn "behind the ice" to see a rare look at the players before the game. Eventually, they needed to head to their seats; Shawn wanted to see warm-ups. They could have had a box suite, Brian offered, but Jon declined in favor of rink-side seats behind goal. They may have sacrificed full-rink view being down lower, but the excitement of being so close to the action more than made up for it. It was also much harder to talk about anything personal with so much buzz from the fans around them. During the first intermission, the men headed to the nearest concession. Shawn knew that Jon was known among players in the locker room, but that the guy and girl working the food sales knew him too was a surprise. Jon blew this off as nothing.

"I've just been here a lot," he said.

Shawn gave him a sideways look. "How often are we talkin'?"

Jon shrugged. "We used to have season tickets. Had 'em for years and went to as many games as possible; that's why I know so many of the boys. The more kids we had and the more involved in education that I got, I ended up sellin' more of those tickets than I used, so I let the seats go. Now I get ticket offers all the time, but rarely go."

Shawn was never big into sports, but if he had to chose one to play it would have been hockey. Jack played hockey. A few times they even played pick-up games together. His thoughts drifted. Jack and Jon would have gotten along well. Shawn never told Jack about his mentor for that reason. There was an underlying fear that if they'd met, Jack would have been the one Jon preferred. He had to share Chet with his brother; he wasn't about to share Jon. Now it was too late; he and Jack no longer spoke. Shawn came back to the present and asked, "How old were you when you went to your first game?"

A nostalgic look took over Jon's eyes. "My uncle took me to the very last game played at the old Gardens in '68. I was 6. I fell in love with the sport. When this place opened, my uncle brought me to the first game here. I came back as often as I could. I guess I'm a regular." He laughed. "Uncle Mike even brought me to see the Fight of the Century here. Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, 1971."

There something in what he said that particularly caught Shawn's attention. "Uncle Mike? You have a Uncle Mike, too?"

Jon nodded.

"I didn't know that."

"My dad's brother," he explained. "He was kinda the black sheep of the family; the one I looked up to. I always wanted to be like Mike." He shook his head. "He died of a heart attack when I was 23. Hard loss. He was only 48."

Jon became quiet. Shawn wanted to ask more about this uncle but their turn at the concessions came and intermission was nearly over. His curiosity was piqued by the small revelation about Jon's childhood and he wanted to know more, but Jon talked hockey through the second intermission and Shawn let it go. After the game, they went to the Skylight Diner for a post-game meal.

Over the years, there were many questions that Shawn wanted to ask Jon. Most he packed away as he had given hope of ever being able to really talk to him again. Now that he had that chance he wanted to ask him about the one thing that never left him alone. He couldn't just come out and ask so, as they waited for their food to be brought out, Shawn started off with, "Do you remember our class trip out here?"

"That's a hard one to forget," Jon laughed. "Sneakin' down a fire escape. $5000 Darth Vader made outta Legos."

Shawn smiled. "You remember how we went to John's with Mom and ran into that guy you both knew?"

The superintendent nodded. A shadow crossed his eyes. "Angelo. Yeah, I remember."

Shawn took a depth breath as he plunged into unknown territory. "You said something then about goin' to bars when you were 15 and sneakin' into clubs on Bleeker Street. Did you really do that?"

The shadow turned dark and clouded Jon's eyes. He visibly stiffened. "The 70s were a very different time," he said quietly.

Something in the man's demeanor that told Shawn there was much more to the story than that. "How different?"

Jon shrugged and took a sip of his water. "You wouldn't recognize Time's Square. Adults entertainment everywhere includin' every street corners. All the trouble you could possibly want to get in. Never had to go far for sex, drugs, and rock and roll. No one checked to see if you were underage. Lot of crime depending on where you were. The Lower East Side and the Bronx were the worst. There was a reason it was called the murder capital of the world then."

A frown creased Shawn's brow. This was all stuff he knew from reading history books and watching documentaries. There was nothing personal in anything Jon said.

"What about you, though?" He was going to have to be direct apparently. He leaned forward. "You once said that you didn't want me to go through what you went through. What did you go through?"

A pained expression pinched the older man's face together. He put his hand over his mouth and was silent for a long while. The food came, but neither was interested in eating. Eventually, Jon move his hand and said,

"At fifteen I knew I didn't want my parent's life, but I didn't know how to get out of it. Uncle Mike had a wild life; as wild as you can imagine. I wanted to be a good son but I wanted my own life. The only options I saw were my parents' life or Uncle Mike's. I chose Uncle Mike's."

"Meaning what?" Shawn pressed. Jon stared at him, but if felt to Shawn that he was looking through him.

"There was an attitude then," Jon said quietly, "'live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse'. I embraced that."

Shawn's mouth fell open. Somehow when he envisioned Jon in his teen years he thought Jon's rebellions were minor nothings that just seemed bad compared to his upbringing and family wealth- like shoplifting beer or a fake IDs or street racing. It never it occurred to him that his teacher might have "out-badded" anything Shawn had done as a teen.

"What'd you do?"

Jon reverted back to generalized storytelling and seemed uncomfortable with even that. "Underground disco was a big thing with hidden parties in the burned out areas of town. Places like Harlem had been destroyed by drugs and looked like a war zone. But we still went there. Played cards and smoked with the guys in buildings that had been burned down for insurance money. My first car, a '71 Mercury Comet, got shot up one night. It was late and no one was in it. I drove around with that bullet ridden door like it was a badge of honor or somethin'."

"But, Dad." Shawn was getting frustrated. He didn't know how to pose his questions so that Jon would answer. "What did you do to 'live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse?' You obviously survived the 70s but what happened?"

Jon did not respond to this. He bowed his head. When he looked up his eyes were dark and filled with sorrow. "Food's gettin' cold. Better eat."

Shawn did as he was told, but he couldn't let the conversation go. He could understand not telling him back then because he didn't want to give him any ideas. And ideas it certainly would have given him as a teen. The bullet-ridden door, the smoking in burned out buildings, and the hedonistic life would have encouraged him in the opposite direction of what Jon wanted for him. But that didn't hold true anymore. Shawn had outgrown that desire. What he had not outgrown was the desire to know about the experiences that shaped the man who became his father. He continued to press for answers, Jon offered no specifics. They went round and round in circular talk, then Jon finally said,

"I grew up with everything I could possibly want and it wasn't enough. I was always empty and lookin' for something to fill the void." He couldn't look Shawn in the eyes. "I always said I was born in the City, but I wasn't. What Eli originally told you was true. I was born in Connecticut. My parents had a penthouse on the Upper East Side and when I was sixth months we moved there for ten years while my father did his stuff on Wall Street. We went back to Connecticut just after my 11th birthday so he could take over the family business. I came back here with Uncle Mike every chance I got. By the time I was fifteen, I was out here whether Mike was or not. I didn't want anything to with my family so I claimed the City as my place of birth and held to that story most of my life."

"And?"

"And I didn't live a life worth talkin' about until I left everything behind when I started college. Meetin' Eli helped to ground me and get me turned around. He was my Cory."

"I understand havin' regrets about the past," Shawn said slowly. "I have a lot of my own. But I still don't understand what you did that was so bad that you can't tell me about it now."

There was a look of desperation in Jon's eyes. "I can't tell you, Shawn. I just can't. Please don't ask anymore."

Shawn sat back in surprise not sure of what to make of this. At the same time, he felt terrible for Jon. But he had one last question that couldn't wait. "Does Mom know?"

The older man nodded. "She's knows everything. Her dad was the one who saved me from the worst of me and got me headed down the college road so I could eventually meet Eli."

Shawn sat back with a heavy sigh. Jon must be making more out of this that what it was as Audrey clearly did not hold his past against him. So Jon had a very troubled past. No wonder he was the only adult who really understood him as a kid. Now that he knew that, he desperately wanted to know more about that connection they shared.

Perhaps that all was best left until they got to Philadelphia.

"You know," he said empathically. "If you aren't tellin' me because you think I'll think less of you, that I won't respect you. You're wrong. There's a lot I need to tell you about me; stuff Cory doesn't know. And I just can't imagine you'd hold any of it against me."

Jon gave him a sad smile. "No, I can't imagine I would either."

Jon was upset and it was his fault; Shawn felt awful for ruining his afternoon. "We still on for Philly over spring break?" he asked hesitantly. He was concerned that Jon would change his mind before April.

The superintendent nodded affirmatively.

Shawn bit his bottom lip as he so often did when he was anxious. "So we save this the conversation until then?"

Jon looked steadily at him for a long while. "You think Philly will make that much difference?"

"Yeah, I do."

"All right," he tapped his fingers on the table and looked away from Shawn. "We'll talk then."

"Will you tell me what happened?"

Jon hesitated. Finally, he nodded, "Audrey might have to get the ball rollin', but yeah."

After an awkward silence that lasted for a few minutes, their conversation resumed and stayed on the topic of sports, work, and Audrey. Both men relaxed. Shortly before leaving, Jon excused himself to the restroom. Shawn played with the leftover fries that he didn't feel like eating. What Jon was hiding from him was driving him crazy; he could not imagine what the superintendent could have done in his youth that would cause him to be afraid of him finding out. His thoughts kept coming back to Audrey and that she knew what it was. It just couldn't be that bad.

As Shawn's imagination began to work overtime, his burner phone buzzed. He blinked in confusion for a moment; Jon left his phone on the table but it was silent. Then he remember that it was Audrey's phone he brought with him. Shawn pulled out his burner phone expecting to see a message from Katherine. What he saw made his blood run cold.

Shawn's head snapped up as he looked for signs of Jon's return then he stared at the phone again. He knew DeAndre's app had a feature that allowed him to keep copies of messages while removing them from the phone of origin. His hands were shaking so bad that he had trouble navigating the app. Once he saw that the message had not been opened on the origin phone, he quickly deleted all evidence of the offending message. Shawn's thoughts froze. He had little time before Jon came back. He opted to text DeAndre.

Can your app can route all unknown or private numbers to my phone and bypass Dad's?

Shawn saw Jon come out of the men's room. To his relief, he was stopped by a father and son in Ranger's gear and began talking with them.

Dre's response lit up his phone.

It's not set up to do that but I can make it happen. I can't catch spoof numbers though.

Do whatever you can do. I'll pay you whatever you want.

Don't worry about it. Family discount. It'll take a few days and I'll send you an update. Got 2 do it on both phones.

Shawn nervously chewed on his bottom lip until it was raw. His skin grew clammy and he felt sick. Jon was still talking. Shawn looked back down at the message and read it over and over.

Remember the spring the of 1977? I do. Remember Dustin Crowley? I do. Soon everyone will know.

Next up: How do you research a past that's not on Google? Shawn can't sleep until the app updates. Jon finds some disturbing information about the new hires. Topanga meets Katherine.