AN: The kiss mentioned between Jon and Audrey is from a yet to be written chapter of Birthday Wishes.

John Adams High was eerily empty early in the morning.

Jon and Audrey stood outside of the side door that was used by faculty clutching each other's hands in silence.

Audrey stared at their forlorn reflections in the window. "We need to go in."

Jon glanced at her. "Yeah."

Neither moved.

Jon's thoughts were reeling. He knew they would walk in together, but he was certain they would not walk out together.

An irrational, intense desire to run seized him.

The last time he felt like this he was fifteen and he did run.

Straight to Audrey's dad.

"Jon, we need to go in." The look on his face concerned her and she was already terribly anxious about the unknown ahead of them. "Mr. Feeny's already angry. Let's not make it worse by being late."

"He is already angry so what difference does it make?" The urge to run grew stronger as he stared at the window. He looked at her again and inhaled a sharp breath. "Let's get outta here."

Audrey's eyes widened, then she frowned. "What?"

Jon pursed his lips together tightly then said, "We go get Shawn and get out. Go to Richie. Go to Venus. The Village. Wherever. We just don't go in there."

Audrey opened her mouth to protest then shut it.

More than anything she wanted to go along with Jon's impulsive plan. To run off and create a life for themselves.

If was just the two of them? They had nothing to lose.

But with Shawn? They had everything to lose if they ran without those papers being signed.

If only this had happened the next week, after Shawn was theirs, then they could have left and taken him with them.

Maybe.

A deep despair overcame her.

"Jon," she said, shaking her head solemnly. "We can't."

"Aud." He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him "We just gotta lay low for a while- it's almost summer. Once school's out, we're home free. And I'm sure Alex would help me get a job in the City without havin' to go through Feeny for references."

The plan was tempting, but impossible.

"Jon-"

"I mean you're done with school in a couple of days anyway," he went on, growing more confident and certain of his plan. "You won't be affected by takin' off and can graduate on time."

"Jon-"

Anxiety crept up around her throat. Frustration at his persistence in following this "plan" was right behind it.

"You and me, we get married right now, Aud." The words alone made Jon feel better. Anything to avoid facing Feeny and not give up what their plans. "And Philly isn't far. We can make sure Shawn sees Cory as much as possible..."

She couldn't take it anymore. She'd been through all these impossible plans before when her mother was so sick. Her father believed the fairytale he created for them, and it destroyed him when their story did not have a happy ending, and her mother died anyway.

She couldn't handle another fictional story, another impossibility, and lose someone else she loved dearly.

"JON!"

The high-pitched desperation that tore through his name as she yelled at him, made Jon stop and stare at her.

"Just stop!" She pleaded. She deeply resented having to be the adult in another serious situation when she was once again the youngest by a significant amount.

She needed him to stop spinning stories and help her in reality.

All of her frustration poured out in an angry flood when she saw he was going to defend his plans. "You know this isn't possible. So just shut up!"

Jon stared at her in shock. This was the first time she'd gotten angry with him over something unrelated to her eating disorder. It was the first time she'd ever told him to shut up. It shouldn't be a big deal, but under the circumstances it was.

Defensiveness crept over him as he felt the sting of rejection. Then, when he really looked at her, he saw a scared kid terrified of what the future held for them.

With an embarrassed sigh he ran his hand through his hair and said, "I'm sorry, Aud. I just, I just don't wanna lose you or Shawn."

She shook her head in despair. "I can't do this, Jon. I can't be the strength you need. I can't do things for you anymore. I just can't." Her shoulders slumped as she fought back tears.

"Hey, hey!" He pulled her into a tight hug, brushed away those tears with his thumbs, and lightly kissed her forehead. "You don't need to, Aud. I'm not used to stayin' when things get hard. I've always run, never had a reason to stay until now. Fallin' back on old habits, I guess. I'm sorry."

Jon held onto to her tightly, realizing that someone could easily pull into the teachers' parking lot now and see them. Even so he tangled his fingers in her hair.

"I love you, Jonny, but I'm scared."

"I love you, too, Aud." He felt guilty for not realizing how hard this was on her sooner or how much pressure he was putting on her to be his anchor. "I don't know what's gonna happen, but I'll take care of us. You just take care of yourself."

She nodded into his chest while he kissed the top of her head. Then he took a step back and held the door open for her.

Audrey was taken into Feeny's office immediately.

The open door to the office and Bud's harsh "the girl goes first" was all that greeted them. Jon sat in the chair in the room outside where the former janitor sat at his desk cursing everything he had to do and periodically glaring at him as though the work was his fault.

Without having any idea what Feeny knew or what he would do with what he knew, Jon went over every possible question and scenario he could think of and how to respond to it. He hoped he and Audrey would be on the same wavelength when it came to answering questions. But he had no way of knowing how much pressure their principal might use and if she'd be strong enough to hold up under it.

He'd been asking an awful lot of her lately and had put too much on her just so that his life didn't change.

Jon groaned and leaned forward, nervously swatting at his tie.

He assumed Kat had told Feeny that he and Audrey were dating at best, living together at worst.

Then what Topanga found out about dating according to his contract and NYU's code of conduct came to mind. He sighed in relief at the recollection. Legally, Feeny couldn't touch them.

Assuming Topanga was right.

Jon put a hand over his mouth and sank back into his chair.

Why on earth did I trust a fifteen-year-old on something as important as this? He wondered in dismay.

This past year had robbed him of his sanity, there was no doubt about that. Planning to adopt a troubled kid and making marriage plans with his student teacher was not sane. He didn't know who to blame for this change in his view of relationships and what he wanted out of life.

Shawn?

Audrey?

Both?

There was no chance for an answer to come to him as the door to Feeny's office opened and Audrey walked out. Bud jumped to meet her, took her by the arm, and snarled at Jon as they walked by him.

Audrey kept her head down and didn't look at him. As she pulled her hair down around her shoulders, he saw tears slipping down her cheeks.

He couldn't move. He felt sick seeing her red-faced and shaking while holding onto herself.

What did Feeny say to her?

Whatever it was he knew there was no way to prepare for it, though he imagined Audrey didn't say much beyond "yes" or "no" to anything asked of her. He could tell by her body language that she was completely shut down and had been for some time.

Even though Bud and the heavy scent of tobacco was between them, Jon still caught the aroma of her shampoo as they walked by, and without thinking, he reached out to her.

"MR. TURNER!"

Feeny's voice froze him in place. Jon watched helplessly as Audrey passed him.

He was so tempted to defy Feeny and go after her anyway but fear he might make things worse for her stopped him. With deep resentment and apprehension, he turned to face his own fate.

The principal's office made him feel defensive and caged, even when the meetings with Feeny were about something benign. He'd spent a significant amount of time in them throughout his school career and even found himself in the Dean's office on more than one occasion in college.

Now sitting in front of Feeny all those years of visits congealed into one.

The men stared at each other for a long moment before Jon looked away. The hard, judgmental look in Feeny's eyes angered him and he struggled to hold onto his tongue.

The principal put his hands on top of the papers on his desk and spread his fingers out as though to brace himself. He glared at Jon over the rim of his glasses, clearly struggling to keep his own emotions in check.

"At nearly midnight last night," Feeny began. His voice was very low and menacing. "I was presented with undeniable evidence that you have broken my trust where Miss Andrews is concerned. Repeatedly."

Anger flared in Jon as Katherine's nasty smirk came to mind. He gripped the arms of the chair tightly as he hissed defensively, "I did no-!"

"BE QUIET!"

Jon's mouth snapped shut.

He had heard Feeny yell before.

He had seen Feeny angry before.

But never magnified to this extent and directed at him.

Suddenly he felt twelve-years-old again sitting before his father as the man angrily scolded him for failing to do his "job" at the most recent business meeting.

"You do not speak unless a question is asked." Feeny glared at him. "You will only answer the question that is asked. Is that understood?"

Jon glared back in defiance, but he couldn't hold the other man's gaze. He looked away.

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

He stared at the principal with disgusted disbelief. "Yes, sir." He bit off each word and spat it out but resisted the urge to sarcastically salute.

Mr. Feeny was silent as he turned on the tape recording on his desk. "Did Miss Andrews spend the night at your apartment last night?"

Jon's shoulders slumped forward as he realized this was an official inquiry and not just Feeny following up on Kat's accusation. "Yes."

"Has she spent the night at your apartment before?"

"Yes."

"Have you spent the night at her house?"

"Yes."

"More than once?"

Jon paused, wondering how Audrey answered these questions. As he started to say no, he realized it didn't matter what she had said. For once, he had to step up and do the right thing rather than let it fall on her.

"Yes."

Feeny shook his head in frustration at Jon's stupidity. "Has Shawn Hunter been involved in these overnight stays?"

"Yes."

"Have you been hiding that Miss Andrews has been seeking treatment for an eating disorder?"

This question threw Jon, and he couldn't answer. He was expecting the next question to be an uncomfortably personal one about how he and Audrey spent their time together. He did not expect her eating disorder to be brought up.

"Yes," he said after a glare from Feeny told him he was taking too long to respond.

"Did you lie to me about the reason Miss Andrews was seeing a counselor?"

"Not really," Jon said, leaning forward. He was still unbalanced by the direction of the questions that he forgot the terms Feeny had set out. "She was-"

"YES OR NO, MR. TURNER!"

He sat back and stared blankly at the principal. "Yeah."

Feeny tapped his fingers on his desk before folding his hands in front of him and leaning forward.

"Miss Andrews is on her way back to New York. Her student teaching has been terminated effective immediately. Her advisor is on his way to pack her belongings. You will not be in the classroom tomorrow."

Jon was stunned.

Audrey was gone?

Already?

It hadn't been an hour since he last held her hand. And not two since she had told Shawn she'd see him after school.

A strange feeling gripped his heart.

Feeny cleared his throat loudly to get his attention. "Well, Mr. Turner, what do you have to say for yourself?"

A strange sense of disassociation overcame Jon. He heard himself speak but it felt like he was listening to someone else's conversation.

"What difference does it make if I talk?" he heard himself say in far too sarcastic a tone for the situation. "You've already decided you know everything and made your decision."

Mr. Feeny glared at him. "Talk, Mr. Turner."

"Audrey doesn't have anyone to take care of her, okay?" He flopped back into his chair and stared at the floor. "She's alone, George. All she's got is her old man who she's been takin' care on her own. Been doin' that since her mom died when she was a kid. She needed someone to step in and be there for her."

"It should not have been you."

He looked up sharply. "Who then, George? I'm tellin' you there's no family over here for her. Friends? When do you make friends in a situation like hers? You gonna do it? What do you know about her? You didn't even notice anything was wrong."

Feeny regarded him with a steady, emotionless expression. "I have not spent enough time with her to know something of that nature was wrong. And she should not have been spending enough time with you for you to notice."

"That time she was spendin' with us was about Shawn, and you know it!" Jon snapped back. Now that he knew Feeny had already made his decision, it didn't matter how he responded, and he felt no need to hold back. "Chet wasn't the only one who dumped the kid. Virna did too. Virna did first. He needed a mom as much as a dad and Audrey stepped up for him."

The principal's expression didn't waver, but the steely, angry edge was not quite as sharp as before. "So Mr. Hunter was the one who noticed Miss Andrews' health decline and informed you about it?"

Jon looked away for a moment. He considered lying.

"No."

"So, then you were spending enough time with her to notice for yourself."

"Yeah, I was."

"I warned you about this, Jonathan." Feeny shook his head and sat back in his seat. "I warned you about this from the very beginning."

"You warned me about datin' my student teacher which I have not done," he said knowing he was flirting with a dangerous subject as well as skirting the truth.

Feeny put hand up to wave off whatever Jon was going to say next. "But you did hide a very serious condition your student teacher had. If this had been your student..."

"She's not my student and never has been! She's an adult!" he snapped in frustration that the principal wasn't making an attempt to understand his situation. "And she isn't some random college student either, George. She's Richie's kid."

A frown of confusion flickered across Feeny's face. "Richie?"

"Richie Andrews," Jon sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Big name in the New York music scene that no one outside of the City knows. He did a lot for me. I owe it to him to take care of his kid."

"Why isn't her brother helping?"

"She doesn't have a-" Jon's voice trailed off as he realized with dismay that he had just outed himself as the "brother" who answered Audrey's phone the morning Brad called not long before Shawn's birthday.

"I see. Nice to meet you, Jay," Feeny said flatly. He clenched his jaw, frustrated with his teacher. "As I recall Mr. Lewis called quite early in the morning when you answered."

Jon lunged forward in his seat. "That was for Shawn's birthday! He was there. Nothing happened and I haven't done anything wrong!" he insisted vehemently, trying to turn the conversation back to Audrey's medical issue. "I told her advisor when I found out she relapsed, and he knew about her treatment schedule."

Everything he said was true.

Technically.

Feeny covered his lips briefly with his finger then said, "If you have not done anything wrong why did you lie to me?"

"Because we knew you wouldn't understand." Jon picked at the fabric on the knee of his jeans. "We knew you'd do this; you'd send Aud away." He looked up at the principal. "Kat had another copy of my key that she used to get into my place and go through it. I still don't understand why you trust her over me."

"She had pictures," he said, emotion breaking through for the first time. He sounded tired and regretful. "I could not ignore her this time, Jonathan."

Jon stared at him. He didn't understand how the man could ignore how those pictures were obtained. "Do you not care about how she got them? She used a stolen key again!"

He and Feeny stared at each other.

Jon had had enough.

He jumped up and headed for the door. He'd already lost Audrey. There wasn't much else Feeny could do to him now.

"Sit down, Mr. Turner."

Jon slowly turned back to face the principal with hands on his waist and his lips pressed together into a thin line. Eventually he said, "Nah, I don't think I will."

"Jonathan," Feeny held his hand out to the empty chair. "Sit down. Please."

The sudden shift in the principal's tone and the softening of the harsh look on his face stunned Jon into a sitting position. He stared at the floor in front of him rather than look at Feeny, however.

The principal reached over and turned off the tape recorder.

" I also spoke to Miss Andrews' mentor, and he told me about her father and your connection to him. I did not realize you knew him by a nickname. Apparently, he had quite an influence on your life when you were about Shawn's age."

Jon fell into the seat and shrugged. He wasn't in the mood to discuss his teen years.

"An influence quite like the one you are having on young Mr. Hunter's life."

Jon glanced up at him and shrugged again.

George dropped his chin and lightly tapped his fingers against the desktop. Whether his English Lit teacher knew it or not, his feelings for Audrey were all over his face. As was his belief that he was being treated unfairly.

He looked up again and said, "She needs help, Jonathan."

"She was gettin' help, George."

Feeny sighed. "She needs to be where she can get help in one place and not be pulled in so many directions. She needs to focus on her recovery so that she can return to full health."

Jon clenched his jaw and scowled. "You don't know the situation."

"I believe I do."

"No, you don't. You haven't even considered what Audrey wants."

"And that is?"

"To stay with Shawn."

Feeny studied him for a long moment then tapped his fingers against his desk, knowing that he purposely left his own name off from what Audrey wanted.

"I know that if there is nothing else going on but support for Shawn then you will have no issue making sure she gets all the help she needs so that she can come back to him."

"You just don't..." Jon started to growl in frustration until his principal's words suddenly absorbed into his consciousness. He blinked several times trying to clear his thoughts. "Come back to him?"

"Mr. Larsson is retiring at the end of the year," Feeny said softly. "If Miss Andrews receives medical clearance by the start of the school year, then 8th and 9th grade English Literature will be hers."

Jon stared in shock at his boss. He had nothing to say about this because of all the things Feeny could have said this was not on his radar at all.

The older man smiled slightly at the look on his teacher's face. "Yes, Mr. Turner. I believe Miss Andrews is a positive influence on the students, especially Mr. Hunter. She will be a fine addition to John Adams High. When she's ready."

Thoughts flew through his mind as Jon tried to figure out if he was being set up. Finally, he sat up a little straighter and said simply, "Seriously?"

Feeny gave him a small nod. "Seriously."

"Why?"

Raising his brow in amusement, he replied, "Because I did not think this would be the secret you would be hiding where Miss Andrews is concerned."

"Oh." Jon felt the heat of guilt flush his cheeks. He slouched down in the chair and hid a grimace behind his hand.

"Yes," Feeny picked up the paper in front of him and straightened them up. "I was quite convinced there was a romantic relationship between the two of you. But I see you were just looking out for her while also taking care of Shawn. I'm proud of you, Jonathan."

"Eh," Jon said thinking about the engagement ring in his leather jacket and the summer wedding plans. The kiss they shared on the roof above his apartment after Shawn's birthday also sprang to mind. That kiss was hardly a chaste one of friendship. "Thanks."

While the principal went on talking about his upstanding character, Jon sank further into his seat. He was supposed to have a meeting with this same man about attending Shawn's party on Saturday that would see him and Audrey sign legal guardianship papers after school.

As well as announce their plans to marry.

He couldn't tell him now.

Jon put his hand over his mouth and swore viciously into his palm.

Thinking about Saturday made him realize he would not only have to cancel the afternoon meeting but the party too.

With Audrey gone, the signing was most certainly on hold.

Jon felt sick as he realized he was going to have to tell Shawn about the abrupt change in plans.

Without Audrey to cushion the blow.

Feeny stood and walked around his desk to extend his hand to Jon. The man who thought he was doing such a good thing for Shawn by bringing her back next year had no idea he'd just ruined the kid's summer.

His, too.

Thank you so much for spending time with me. And thank you so much for your comments!