The apartment was cold.
Too cold.
Especially since the air conditioning only worked sporadically as it waited for the landlord to fix it. Currently, it only put out enough cool air to keep its occupants from sweating to death. Yet it felt like the small living area was inside a refrigerator turned down too low. The coldest most point of the apartment centered on the couch where Katherine sat smiling smugly at them.
Daring them to move.
Her eyes were fixed, not on Jon, but on Audrey.
A triumphant smirk curled the corners of her mouth.
Slowly Katherine stood and sauntered over to them, swinging the disposable camera that hung around her finger.
The trio standing in the doorway stopped breathing.
Kat's gaze slid over Audrey, past Jon, rested on Shawn, then fixated on Jon. She leaned into his personal space and placed her hands on his chest.
"Welcome home, honey," she purred, nuzzling his cheek.
Jon tensed and pulled back as far from her as he could, but he couldn't go far as he was trapped by his refusal to let his companions go.
His grip on them tightened.
Shawn squirmed but didn't take a breath.
Audrey didn't react or move.
Katherine didn't miss their reactions.
She took a step towards Jon.
"I've missed you so much." She raised her hand to his head.
Jon flinched.
Smirking, Katherine ran her fingers through his hair.
The phone rang.
They all recoiled.
This broke Jon out of his stupor.
"What are you doin' here?" he snapped, not letting go of his companions. "You don't have a key."
"Of course, I do, honey." Kat let him have the space he desperately wanted but only a small amount. "I have the one you gave me."
Jon glared at her.
The phone rang again and interrupted a response.
Audrey's grip on Jon tightened and her breath caught at the sound.
The calendar by the computer had her full attention.
She knew who the incoming call was from.
Manicured nails digging into his side caused Jon to look up and see the calendar.
A sick, cold feeling swept over him.
He knew who the incoming call was from.
"Get out!" he snapped harshly at Katherine. "Get outta my home!"
A cool grin spread over Kat's face as she kissed him.
Intimate but taunting.
He pulled away and spat off the kiss in disgust.
She chuckled.
The phone rang again.
"On my way out, sweetheart." She stepped away fully this time, pleased with herself.
The camera began to swing again.
"I'll see only you soon."
As Shawn turned his head to give Katherine a look that could kill, he caught the expression of horror on Audrey's face.
He frowned in confusion, then saw what she was looking at.
He knew who the incoming call was from.
Suddenly nauseated he thought he might throw up. This time, without the aid of rotten coleslaw, he would aim for Katherine and hit more than her shoes. Goosebumps pricked his skin as a light electricity ran over his body. He pulled his eyes away from the calendar and found her smiling at him.
Kat moved away from Jon and pushed her way through the trio who were melded together like a chain.
She pushed at the weakest link.
Shawn.
Breaking his connection to Jon, she severed the hold they had on each other, leaving Jon and Audrey huddled together. She then flashed him a toothy grin and pinched his cheek.
Hard.
Shawn remained disengaged from Jon and Audrey as they stared at each other in shock. Kat's hand was on the doorknob when the answering machine kicked on.
"Audrey, this is Dr. Amsden..."
Jon and Shawn reanimated at the same time and rushed to the machine to shut it off. Rather than stop the recording, they collided with each other, and, by the time, they untangled themselves, the message detailing Audrey's next appointment was over.
Kat stood in the doorway for a full minute after the recording ended then blew Jon a kiss and walked out.
No one moved after she left.
They stood there staring at each other in disbelief over what had just happened.
Shawn was the first to come to life.
He flew into an indecipherable rage, gesturing wildly. By the time his frustration dissipated enough to be understood neither Jon nor Audrey could think. Jon slumped against the desk by the phone and Audrey collapsed heavily onto the couch.
Both were damp with a cold sweat while the apartment was unbearably hot.
Shawn stood on the footrest bar of a kitchen stool holding onto the back as he looked back and forth between the two. Their lack of reaction caused anxiety to shoot through him making it impossible to remain still.
Inaction was not an option. He needed them to do something.
Now .
"Well?!" he shouted at them, louder and angrier than he intended.
Neither responded.
Jon looked sick and furious.
Audrey looked pale and dazed.
Shawn blinked and waited expectantly.
When neither responded, he realized just how bad their situation was. So bad that the adults didn't know what to do. At the same time, he understood that his family needed help, and he was going to have to be the one to step up and take charge.
Just like they'd had done for him so many times.
So, he inhaled a deep breath and started to plan what needed to be done.
Step 1: hire Harley to slash Miss Tompkins' tires.
There was no purpose in that other than to make himself feel better and anger her. He was certain he'd feel even better if he could do it, however antics like that were the very things he'd promised them he would no longer do, and he didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble for Jon and Audrey.
Shawn ran his hands through his hair as he collected his thoughts. As he did this, he turned around slowly with his eyes scrutinizing every detail of the room.
In the kitchen his gaze caught on the cabinet doors near the refrigerator. They were slightly ajar as though someone had opened them but failed to close them all the way.
Neither Jon nor Audrey did this.
Jon got onto him when he left them open.
And he did.
Frequently.
He knew those cabinets were closed tightly before they left for Lancaster. Audrey was the last one out of the kitchen and she always made sure everything was in perfect order before she left. It crossed his mind that Katherine stole their food as well as his key and the idea caused his heart rate to spike.
If she was rude enough to go through their cabinets, she was rude enough to search the rest of the house.
Shawn's mouth opened slightly as he sucked in a sharp breath.
The thought disgusted him.
He clenched his fists twice. Each time he dug his short nails deep into the skin of his palm trying to calm himself.
Nothing else in the kitchen seemed amiss so he turned his attention to the living room. Jon was on the couch next to Audrey now. Neither were doing anything helpful.
Then the cushion they weren't sitting on caught his attention and increased the sense of foreboding that weighed on him.
That cushion belonged at the other end where Jon and Audrey were sitting. Instead, it was shoved into the wrong spot and the coffee stain was showing.
That coffee stain happened when he and Cory were working on a history project a few months ago.
The project called for antiqued papers which they created by using coffee. They had removed the couch cushions and put them on the floor, so they had a comfortable place to sit at the coffee table while they worked and watched TV.
However, they weren't supposed to be in the living room. In a rush to move the project back into the kitchen before Audrey and Jon came home, they spilled the coffee directly on the cushion which resulted in a stain the boys swore looked like Feeny.
Jon never found out because it was on the bottom of the cushion.
Shawn shouldn't be able to see it now.
But he could.
A creeping static electricity pricked his arms and shot towards his spine as what Katherine did the last time she broke into his home came to mind.
Shawn jumped up and rushed to his room.
Immediately, he saw his pillow askew, and his blanket rumpled as though it had been pulled back and replaced hurriedly. The mattress was slightly crooked on the bedframe. In a panic, he reached under the mattress to check on his prized journals- the ones Jon got him for Christmas.
They appeared unbothered and Shawn hugged them to his chest.
After he replaced the notebooks and fixed his bed, he turned his attention to the rest of the room. He found his closet door slightly ajar, but upon inspection nothing was missing.
Standing in the middle of his room, Shawn struggled to calm his breathing. Foreboding pressed against him. Something was very wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
Aside from his bed nothing was out of place.
Shawn's gaze dragged along the walls, searching for a reason for that terrible feeling. As he looked, he found little disturbances that were worse than the bed. The creepiest of those disturbances were his backpack and the messy piles of clothes he kept in various places around the room; they were all folded and stacked. The backpack was zipped closed.
In fact, his entire room, aside from the bed, was eerily neat and tidy. But not an Audrey neat and tidy, rather a hated-teacher-had-been-in-his-room-touching-his-things neat and tidy.
Hot disgust and anger flooded him.
He threw the clothing across the room and kicked half of it under his bed. Then he unzipped the backpack and dumped its contents on the floor before storming out of his room and into Jon's.
His teacher's room was not as obviously tampered with, but it still had that same eerie feeling.
He stood in the middle of the room looking for disturbances.
The bed looked laid in. The dresser drawers were slightly open. Knickknacks, trophies, and hockey memorabilia that decorated the room were off just enough for Shawn to notice. He checked the closet but was only familiar with the clothes Jon wore regularly. What Jon didn't take with them to Lancaster was all there as far as Shawn could tell, including the black sweater with the red stripe.
As he left the closet, he stopped and checked the small bathroom attached to it. Everything appeared normal, except for an empty spot in his teacher's shaving kit.
Shawn frowned and inspected it closer.
The aftershave was missing.
He wrinkled his nose and slowly backed out. He couldn't be sure Katherine took it. Jon had the tendency to overuse his aftershave and may have taken the full sized one instead of a travel-size bottle with them on vacation.
Shawn frowned as he tried to remember.
It was that Hugo Boss stuff Audrey loved so he probably did take it. He tried to convince himself that this was what happened as he headed back to the living room where Jon and Audrey were now talking in serious quiet tones.
Just as he was about to insert himself into their conversation and ask about the aftershave, he saw it. And it made him suddenly very cold in the hot room.
"Jon!" He grabbed a fistful of his teacher's shirt and tugged hard as he lunged over the back of the couch. "Jon, look!"
Confused, Jon turned around to look where Shawn was pointing as he wrestled his shirt from the teen's grip.
He didn't see anything.
"What?"
"The floorboard." Shawn felt panic rise as he thought about what was under there. "Look! It's been pulled up."
Jon stared at the space, then slowly shook his head. "Nah," he said uncertainly. "We must've not put it back all the way when we got in it the last time."
"You were the last one to put anything under there," he replied instantly. He stood over the floorboard and stared down at it. "You always put it down flat."
Jon grimaced.
Shawn could tell he didn't want to consider the possibility Katherine had found their hiding place.
He didn't want to consider it either.
Under those floorboards, where he used to stash his bad grades and Jon hid his extra cash, was all the paperwork for Audrey's visits to Dr. Amsden. Everything about Audrey was hidden under there with all the condemning evidence that Jon was heavily involved in her care. There were invoices with his name on them as well as letters and documents.
Everything that could ruin their family was under there except for the engagement ring.
If Kat looked under that floorboard, it was game over.
This realization hit Shawn hard, and panic rose up into his throat, burning his mouth and nose with a pungent bile.
He dropped to his knees and yanked the floorboard up. His grip was awkward and his movement too fast. The old worn wood was splintered on the sides and the fragments caught under his nails. He didn't feel the sharp pricks of pain as he threw the board to the side.
"Hey!" Jon's voice cut through the fog of fear and Shawn paused. "Calm down."
A strong hand on his shoulder subsided the churning maelstrom of emotion enough that he could see clearly again. When he looked down, he saw the Eagle Craftstor storage box of Audrey's that held her paperwork.
It appeared to be untouched.
"See," Jon was kneeling next to him now. "Look, everything's fine. Just like we left it."
Shawn stared down at the box.
"How can you be sure?" he asked looking back up at his teacher. "She was in our rooms."
Jon didn't say anything but the perturbed look on his face was the same one he had the night they came back from dropping Cory and Topanga off and they realized someone had been in the apartment while they were gone.
Abruptly, Jon got up and disappeared into his room.
When he came back several minutes later, he returned to the hole in the floor where Shawn was still sitting. Without a word he took the box out of its hiding place and opened it up. He carefully inspected everything inch of the container before meticulously going over each paper.
Shawn knew he had a very particular order for those documents, and he held his breath as Jon looked them over.
"No," Jon said when he reached the last paper, sounding exhausted and out of breath. "Everythin' is in order. She didn't take anything."
Shawn let out a heavy breath and looked past Jon to Audrey who was perched on the arm of the couch closest to them. She looked ill.
Jon put the papers back in their container and returned the box to its spot. He replaced the floorboard then stood up and offered a hand to Shawn. Shawn slapped his palm and stood up on his own.
"We're okay," Jon said. His voice was unsteady as though he didn't fully believe it.
"Jon, she saw us together," Audrey blurted out. Anxiously, she pressed the nails of her ringer fingers into the quick of her thumbnails. "You know she's snooped through the apartment. Even without the papers, there's enough evidence of me being here to get us into serious trouble."
Jon pressed his lips into a thin line and stared at the floor.
Shawn dropped onto the couch next to Audrey and watched his teacher worriedly.
"I'm callin' Feeny," he said quietly, startling them.
"Are you crazy!?" Shawn squawked in disbelief.
Jon looked up at him. "No, I'm not. I was gonna have to call him anyway about next Saturday. Doin' it now is better. Cut her off. Make sure I get our story out first."
While Jon made the call in his bedroom, Shawn huddled on the couch with Audrey tightly holding onto her. He couldn't shake the fear that they were overlooking something very important.
Several minutes later, Jon joined them again. "I gotta meetin' with Feeny after school tomorrow. I'll tell him everythin' then."
Audrey shook her head unhappily. Shawn couldn't take his eyes off the floorboard.
"It's been a long day," Audrey said after several minutes. She sounded like herself again, but still looked pale and unhappy. "We should call it a night early. Let's eat and get ready for bed. We can watch TV or something for a while."
Everyone agreed.
No one moved.
Shawn held on tightly to Jon and Audrey as an irrational fear of losing them forever set in. Eventually, Audrey untangled herself to make dinner. Jon remained where he was with his arm over Shawn's shoulder and his eyes on Audrey feeling the same ineffable dread.
Even though dinner was simple, soup and sandwiches, Audrey treated it as though she was making a gourmet meal. Going through her standard cooking routine eased her nerves just long enough for her to stop trembling.
Jon and Shawn saw the comfort in routine and fell into their own of preparing the salad and setting the table.
When they finally sat down to eat, Audrey wasn't the only one who picked at the food.
No one had an appetite.
After dinner, the routine continued as they took their places on the couch.
Jon sat in the middle of the couch with Audrey and Shawn by his side. Every minute or so he would absently kiss Audrey on her forehead or cheek. It was a nervous impulse much like his stroking Shawn's hair in a way that put his hand over the teen's face preventing him from seeing much of anything.
Shawn didn't protest this and neither did Audrey, who had her arms wrapped around Jon while holding onto to Shawn.
No one could relax.
The television droned on with evening dramas that faded into late night talk shows. Time slipped away as they were all lost in thought. Then suddenly, Shawn pulled out the embrace and jumped up.
"A camera!" he exclaimed staring at the apartment door.
"What?" Jon asked, sounding dazed as he shifted his and Audrey's position to better see the teen.
Shawn whirled back around to face them with his fingers jammed into his hair. "She had a camera with her! It was a disposable Kodak camera, and the frame counter was on zero!"
Jon stared at him, not wanting to accept what the teen was implying.
"Shawn, what?"
Walking over to his teacher, Shawn put his hands on Jon's shoulders. "She took pictures while she was here and used the entire roll of film."
Jon and Audrey exchange worried looks. They'd both missed the camera.
Shawn pointed to the kitchen. "She didn't have to take anything. She got pictures of everything."
The trio stared at the floorboards as a mutual numbness settled over the storm of emotions they were engulfed in. That night, instead of taking Audrey home as planned, they ended up sleeping on the couch, huddled together while their world slowly collapsed around them.
The next morning Jon woke up in a foggy blur of pain with a shrill ringing in his ears. His neck was crooked at an odd angle over the back of the couch with a heavy weight crushing his ribs. Audrey was draped over him and Shawn, with his arms wrapped around her, was pressing her into him. His shoulder loudly complained about the position it had been kept in all night as he tried to move without disturbing his family.
He managed to extract himself from under Audrey and settled her and Shawn onto the arm of the couch. As he did this, the ringing in his ears cleared into the unmistakable sound of the phone announcing a call.
With a groan, Jon stumbled over to the desk and picked up the receiver. He glanced at the caller ID and swore under his breath.
Feeny.
"Yeah, hello," he answered gruffly.
"Mr. Turner." The principal's tone was sharp and unfriendly.
The coldness in his boss's voice shocked Jon awake.
"Mr. Feeny," he shot back with the same attitude.
"I want you and Miss Andrews in my office in thirty minutes."
"Good mornin' to you too, George," Jon said in exasperation. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to get his thoughts together.
"I am not in the mood for your sarcasm, Mr. Turner. I want you in my office in half an hour."
"I can't," he snapped, his mood growing darker. He didn't appreciate being ordered around, particularly without a reason. "I'm not dressed, and neither is Shawn. He's gotta eat and if you want Audrey, we've gotta get her."
"Lucky for you she's already at your place," Mr. Feeny told him grimly.
A sharp retort died on his lips as the principal's words sunk in. His mind was reeling, and he couldn't hold his thoughts together.
"E-excuse me?"
"I know she's been staying at your place, Mr. Turner, and you at hers. Get her and Mr. Hunter and get to school. Now."
Jon was left in stunned silence as the sound of the phone being slammed down reverberated in his ear.
"Jon?" Audrey was at his side now, tugging at his sleeve. Worried gray eyes searched his face looking for the cause of his distress.
Shawn was sitting up now, also staring at him.
"Jon?" She stepped in front of him and forced him to look at her. "What's wrong?"
Seconds ticked by. Jon couldn't respond. The answer didn't seem real.
"Jon?" Shawn was in his face now. He frowned wondering when the kid had grown tall enough to be almost eye to eye with him.
Finally, the words fell out of his mouth.
"He knows."
Audrey started to say something then stopped. The look on Jon's face scared her. "He knows what?"
"Feeny knows you've been stayin' here."
"What?!" Shawn shouted in surprised outrage.
Audrey said nothing. Numbness settled over her.
Jon shook his head weakly and put a hand over his mouth.
"It was her!" the teen cried pointing an accusatory finger at Jon since he had no one else to point at. "She told Feeny!"
Jon shrugged, which upset Shawn even more.
"She couldn't have," Audrey said shaking her head. "I mean it was just last night. She didn't have time to meet with him."
"It was her!" Shawn said again, louder this time. "I told you she was snoopin'! She went to Feeny and ratted us out!"
Jon and Audrey had no choice but to agree with him. There was no other explanation.
Jon stared at the couch. His mind was a cacophony of thoughts. He couldn't push past the melee to put together a plan. Helplessly, he looked to Audrey whose expression portrayed exactly how he felt.
Hopeless.
"We should get to school as soon as possible," she said, pulling away from him and wrapping her arms around herself.
"Right," Jon agreed. "Right."
Shawn scowled at them. He didn't agree at all.
Jon started to reach out to Audrey, but she was just out of range, so he let his hand fall to his side. He glanced at Shawn.
"You get ready to go. I'll call Alan and let him know you're goin' with Cory today."
"No, I'm not," Shawn protested vehemently. "I'm goin' with you guys."
Jon looked to Audrey again, but she had nothing for him. He motioned Shawn over to him and took him by the shoulders.
"Not this time, bud. I need you where I know you're safe. I need to not worry about you."
Shawn didn't like the scared look in Jon's eyes because it wasn't the same kind of scared that was in them when he was brought home by the cops or did something stupid that could have gotten him hurt.
This was different and it scared him.
"Why?" he asked hesitantly.
"Because I don't know what's gonna happen or how long it could take."
The fear combined with the obvious anxiety told Shawn that Jon needed his cooperation not rebellion.
"Yeah, okay," he agreed reluctantly. "I'll get dressed and eat over there."
"Yeah, good deal." Jon gripped his shoulders tighter and held onto him for a moment longer. When he let go, Shawn thought he saw tears in his teacher's eyes.
Ten minutes later the trio met at the door. Audrey straightened Shawn's collar and smoothed his hair. Then she hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek.
"Love you," she said, pressing her forehead against his.
"Love you, too, Mama." Shawn was surprised to find himself on the verge of tears.
"I'll see you after school."
"Yeah, sure." He looked over her shoulder at Jon who looked away from him.
Shawn left them with the heavy weight of foreboding riding on his shoulders. As he exited the building, he felt an intense compulsion to run back to Audrey and hold onto her. But because he wanted to help Jon, he resisted the urge and continued towards the Matthews house feeling worse with each step he took.
Jon and Audrey left shortly after Shawn and headed to the apartment parking lot.
It was the first time they'd gone to school together since early in Audrey's student teaching when she needed a ride. Once her landlady let her borrow her old Bonneville, carpooling was no longer necessary.
It felt strange to be riding together now.
Before Audrey got into the truck, Jon grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. They held onto to each other tightly for a long time. When he let her go, she grabbed him and pulled him into a deep kiss. Once they broke the kiss, Jon grabbed her again and held onto her until they had no choice but to leave.
Thank you for reading and spending time with me. Your comments are very appreciated. 3