The walk from the parking lot to the doors of John Adams High felt like the walk of shame on the way to their execution to Shawn. The only thing missing was the spectators.

Jon looked like the execution had already happened.

When they reached the doors, Jon stopped abruptly and didn't move. His expression was the same as it had been since they got up: stony and dark.

There was now an added melancholy as he stared at the door. Shawn guessed he was going over yesterday morning's conversation with Audrey that happened in the spot where they stood. Unsure of what to say to counter Jon's doom and gloom outlook, Shawn put his hand on his teacher's shoulder.

Jon gave him a forlorn side glance.

"Feeny's bark is way worse than his bite," Shawn told him seriously, trying to be helpful. "The more menacin' he is when he talks to you, the more he's tryin' to scare you into doin' what he wants you to stop doin' so he doesn't have to see you in his office for a couple of days."

Jon frowned but didn't take his eyes off of the door.

"Trust me, I know." Shawn dropped his hand from Jon's shoulder and gave him a shoulder-to-shoulder bump hoping to break his gloomy demeanor even if for just a moment.

Jon didn't react.

Shawn sighed and ran his hand through his hair, then opened the door for his teacher to trudge through.

Might as well get it over with, he thought worriedly as he followed Jon.

They were greeted by Bud, whose first name would always be Janitor to him, who barked at them to sit down, shut up, and leave him alone. Frustrated by the situation, Shawn childishly stuck out his tongue at the man who glared at him and returned the gesture.

Offended, Shawn shot back petulantly, "Aren't you a little old for that?"

"Aren't you?" Bud snapped in a mocking mimic of the teen.

Irritation shot through him and came out in teenage attitude. "Not until I turn 18. Why are you so grumpy anyway?"

Bud gave an exasperated sigh. "As many times as you've been in that office," he jerked at his thumb in Feeny's direction, "and you're askin' me that?"

Shawn raised his brow and considered this. "Yeah, I'd be grumpy too if Feeny was my boss," he conceded.

"You'd be even grumpier if you had to listen to that woman cry over him." Bud glared at Jon. "No offense, Turner, but you ain't nothin' to cry over."

Shawn snorted his disagreement. "Guess you side with her, huh?"

"Who? Tompkins? Bah!" Bud sounded deeply offended. "I'm sick of all of you! I miss the days when the Rat would clock me out early so I could go to the tracks. Now I gotta work all day for that tyrant and listen to the high school drama goin' on between the teachers! I hate my life!"

"Yeah, well, at least you get to retire next year and can live at the tracks," Shawn irritably pointed out. "I'm stuck here for another two years and Jon's a lifer."

"Humph," Bud grumped. Then he squinted at Shawn. "You look familiar kid; do I know you?"

Shawn squinted back. "I spend a lot of time in Feeny's office."

"So do a lotta kids."

He shrugged. "My uncle Frank helps kids bet on the horses."

"You're Frankie Two Toes' nephew? Me 'n Frankie go way back." Bud was begrudgingly impressed. "Small world. But that's not it either. Why are you so familiar, kid?"

Shawn shrugged. "One of those faces."

"Yeah," Bud agreed still looking Shawn over with a hawkish stare.

The teen shifted uncomfortably under the glare. He turned to Jon and said, "I wish I'd told Cory where we were gonna be this mornin'. I know he'd wanna be here for moral support."

"Cory?!" Bud slammed his palms down on his desk making them both jump. "Last name Matthews?"

Shawn gave him a suspicious look. "Yeah?"

"That's who you are!" Bud pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You helped him get me fired! Why you rotten, little good for nothin'…!"

Bud's muttering was lost as he shoved himself away from the desk, stormed over to the coffee maker, and shook it as though he intended to break it.

Shawn made another face at him and turned away without seeing if one was made back to focus his attention on Jon. His teacher was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

He contemplated giving Jon more guidance on how to deal with Feeny until he realized that nearly every time he followed his own advice he ended up with more detention than he would have if he'd kept his mouth shut. A glance at his teacher told him that advice, good or bad, wasn't what he needed.

"I got your six," Shawn told him putting his forearm on Jon's back.

Jon lifted his head and turned it enough to see his student.

"I know Feeny won't let me go in with you, but I'll be here. No matter what happens."

Shawn's arm slid off Jon's back as he sat up.

"Thanks, kid," he sighed heavily. "Means everythin' to me."

"You!" Bud snapped harshly at Jon causing them to jump again. He didn't bother to look at them. "Feeny's office. Now!"

Jon shot Shawn a fearful look and suddenly gripped his hand as though he thought he would not be walking out of Feeny's office. Shawn didn't understand where this fear came from. The principal could be heavy-handed in his lectures and punishments, but Shawn had never seen him break any kneecaps.

What's the worse Feeny could do anyway? Fire Jon?

Shawn was still convinced that this outcome wasn't the horrible fate Jon seemed to think it was. But fear and Jon were two things that did not go together at all so there must be something he was missing.

Other than Audrey.

Shawn gripped his hand back just as tight.

"It'll be okay, Dad," he said quietly.

Jon looked surprised by the name, then gave him a slight nod as he stood, let go of his hand, and disappeared into Feeny's office.

Shawn, worried about his caretaker, stared at the closed door for a long time, then distracted himself by doing the homework he didn't do the night before.

"The very fact that you could sit in my office, look me in the eye, and lie to me without any regard disturbs me greatly!"

Feeny glared at Jon who sat slouched in front of him, fingers locked together with his head bowed. He struggled to contain his temper with his English Lit teacher.

"You tell me you care so much about Shawn Hunter, yet this is the example you are setting for him? Running around carrying on an affair with your student teacher while you have the student in your charge cover for you!"

The words hit Jon with a painful sting. "It wasn't an affair!"

"Oh, no?! I suppose all of these photographs are doctored then?" He thrust a packet containing the pictures Kat had taken at him.

Jon took what had been shoved into his hand and stared at it.

"Your student teacher's clothes were found in your bedroom hamper!"

"Her shirt got stained with tomato sauce when we were doin' a group cookin' night," he nearly shouted back. "Audrey put some vinegar on it to get the stain out, then borrowed a shirt from Shawn to wear."

"Then why was her tank top in your hamper?"

"Because Shawn uses his as a giant trash can, that's why."

Feeny glared at him, clearly not believing anything he said. "Convenient story, Mr. Turner. Now explain the next picture."

Jon moved the picture of his hamper to the back of the stack. The next picture was of the engagement ring in its box setting on top of his leather jacket. The violation of privacy infuriated him, and he struggled to keep that anger out of his voice.

"It's an engagement ring," he said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, really? I had no idea," the principal snapped sarcastically. "Since you were not having an affair with Miss Andrews then am I to presume that this is for Miss Tompkins?"

Jon couldn't hide the disgust he felt at the suggestion.

"Who is it for then, Mr. Turner?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and fixed his gazed on the wall behind Feeny.

"Audrey."

Feeny struggled to hide his own disgust with the situation. "If there was no affair then why, pray tell, would you have an engagement ring for your student teacher?"

Jon couldn't take it anymore. He jumped up and shouted, "It's not an affair! Stop callin' it that!"

"I am calling it what it is, Mr. Turner," Feeny replied coolly. There was an eerie stillness to his tone as he stared the other man down.

"No, you're not!" Jon turned his back on his employer briefly. "Accordin' to Webster's dictionary an affair as you're usin' it is defined as 'an intense amorous relationship, usually of short duration'. An engagement ring says it ain't short!"

Feeny rolled his eyes. "You can quote a dictionary definition and ram ain't into the same sentence. Charming skill for a teacher of English Literature."

"It was two sentences," Jon snarked under his breath.

The principal was not amused. "Watch yourself, Mr. Turner. The ice that was beneath you has already broken and every word can be used against you."

Jon glared at the tape recorder on the desk as the principal took a manila envelope and dumped its contents onto his desk. With deliberate, exaggerated motion he slapped each pamphlet in front of Jon.

All of the plans from their Mother's Day weekend were there.

"I have already spoken at length to Mr. Williams about all of this," Feeny said waving his hand over the papers. "Don't lie to me about this."

Jon dropped back into his seat and glared at the wall opposite him.

Feeny leaned over the desk. "Did you take Miss Andrews and Mr. Hunter out of town for a weekend stay at a cabin?"

Jon said nothing. He continued to glare at the wall.

"Did you or did you not?"

"Yes," he hissed through his teeth.

"Why did you go out of town with your student and your student teacher?"

It was at that moment that Jon realized how absolutely absurd this whole thing with Shawn and Audrey really was.

And there was no way Feeny would believe any of it.

Under the principal's harsh gaze, Jon finally responded, "Mother's Day weekend."

"Excuse me?"

"It was for Mother's Day, okay?" Jon shoved a foot out and pushed against a leg of the desk. "Shawn calls Audrey mama. His past Mother's Day haven't exactly gone well, so we wanted to give him some good memories."

Feeny's eyes narrowed at the ridiculous explanation. "Miss Andrews is not his mother."

"She's more his mother than Virna is," Jon retorted.

"Don't change the subject, Mr. Turner!"

"I'm not!" Jon gave the desk a small kick. "You asked why I took them outta town. I'm tellin' you why."

"Yes, it's a very convenient little domestic story you've concocted here. This cabin you stayed at- it only had one bedroom."

Jon rolled his eyes and shook his head at what his boss chose to fixate on.

"Where did Mr. Hunter stay?"

He knew what was coming and it was going to make everything worse if he answered honestly. He wasn't sure how bad things would be if he answered dishonestly, though. Rather than risk it he said, "On the futon in the living room."

Feeny straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Leaving the bedroom to you and Miss Andrews."

"It wasn't like that!" Jon snapped letting his frustration get the better of him. "I got a roll-away-bed and slept on that while she had the bed."

This explanation was taken as an insult. Feeny shook his head in disbelief. "You expect me to believe that you shared a room with your very young, very pretty student teacher with whom you are carrying on an affair, but you did not share a bed? How stupid do you think I am?"

"We didn't! Ask Shawn!"

"I plan to, Mr. Turner. Believe me, I plan to. But I know he will protect you and lie to me just as you have."

"Fine, then ask Audrey!"

Feeny tapped a finger against the desktop, as he regained control of his temper. "Miss Andrews is not in a position to answer questions right now."

Jon's head jerked up. Anger was instantly replaced with worry. "What do you mean by that? What's wrong with her?"

Feeny folded his arms over his chest again and impassively stared at his teacher.

Jon felt all the anger and offense leak out of him, leaving him feel deflated. Knowing that his fate, whatever it was, was already decided, he gave up trying to defend himself and told Feeny sincerely:

"Look, Aud wanted to wait until marriage. And I know you think I have no self-control in that area, but I have too much respect for her to try anything she doesn't want to do. The trip wasn't about her and me. It was about her and Shawn. This weekend was special. It was her first Mother's Day."

Feeny frowned as he processed the seemingly contradictory statement Jon just made. "Are you suggesting…?"

"No, c'mon, George, I meant what I said about the respect thing." Jon slid down in his seat as he wondered how much he should tell his boss. Without anything left to lose, he said, "She isn't pregnant; she was gonna adopt Shawn with me."

This caught Feeny completely off-guard. He promptly sat down on his desk and put a hand against his cheek. "I'm sorry- what?"

Jon shifted uncomfortably in his seat, suddenly unsure how to explain the situation.

"The meetin' we set up for after school today- I was gonna discuss this Saturday and invite you to be a part of Shawn's big day."

"Big day?"

He sighed. "Aud and I were gonna sign paperwork to become his legal guardians. Then once we were married this summer, we were gonna adopt him. Already talked to Chet about it and everything was set up."

For once the principal was at a loss for words. Jon saw this and sighed. He'd already gone this far; he might as well tell him everything.

"We planned this at the Matthews a couple of weeks ago. It was gonna be at Chubbie's with the people who mean the most to Shawn. The Matthews have been a big part of this whole thing. I even told Alan my proposal plans and everything."

Silence filled the room.

Jon fidgeted with the button on the cuff of his sleeve.

The principal stared at him for another long moment then twitched his mustache as he shook his head. "Afraid I don't have much to say about this revelation, Jonathan. I cannot say that I was expecting to hear you would even consider adoption."

"You an' me both," he answered honestly.

"When did all this happen?"

He started to answer then paused before shrugging. "I dunno. Sometime around Christmas. Maybe before and I just didn't catch it."

A small smile tugged at the principal's mouth. "So you were with Miss Andrews at Christmas Village when I ran into her and Shawn."

"Yeah," Jon said, realizing with a strange sadness that the outcome they had been running from all this time happened anyway. "Shawn had this Christmas wish list of all this real traditional family stuff he wanted to do, so Aud and I did it for him."

"Fulfilling that list had that much of an impact, did it?"

"Yeah. Made me realize how much I wanted a family of my own." Jon's voice dropped to a barely audible level. "How much I wanted them."

"The apartment is quite small for three people, isn't it?"

Jon nodded. "We were gonna get a bigger place before the baby came along."

Feeny's brow shot up in surprise. "I thought you said Miss Andrews is not pregnant."

Jon picked at the fabric of the knee of his jeans. "She's not. But Shawn's wantin' a baby sister. Aud kind of promised him one."

This was a side of Jon Feeny did not know existed and it intrigued him "And you?"

Jon shrugged. "A daughter might be fun."

Feeny watched Jon whose expression took on a look so forlorn that he thought tears might be shed. "Are you alright, Jonathan?"

"No, I'm not," he replied, clearly distressed. "I don't wanna lose either of them, George. You take Audrey from me; you take Shawn from me."

"How so?"

Jon stared despondently at his hands. "He wanted a family with two parents. That's what I promised him. That's what the office of children and youth is expectin'. You take Aud from us and you take our chance at havin' a family."

Feeny stared at his teacher for a moment then put his hand against his cheek and sighed heavily. "If you had just told me the entirety of the situation when you were in my office yesterday…"

"What difference would that have made?"

"I could have been prepared for Miss Tompkins's accusations and stopped her."

"Stopped her from what?"

"Potentially going to the Board."

Jon grimaced. He had wondered why she didn't just do that in the first place. "How bad would that be?"

"It would be much worse for your family if she does, but I cannot predict exactly how much worse. I warned you about this, Jonathan."

"Yeah, I know, I know." He rolled his eyes. Apparently, he wasn't going to get out of a Feeny lecture.

"Would you like to know why I warned you?"

The softness that came into his voice piqued Jon's curiosity and reminded him that George had hinted at having experience with a similar situation.

"Yeah, actually, I would."

"I won't go into the nitty gritty to conserve time, but long ago when I was a young, idealist teacher out to change the world and before I met my wife, I was assigned to mentor teacher named Darla Gregory. This was a very unusual situation as men were not typically paired with female teachers; it was considered improper.

What began as a professional relationship quickly became personal.

I thought myself to be quite mature to handle this and teaching. However the more time I spent with her the more I believed I was in love with her. And to an extent, I was."

He looked up at Jon with a look of sadness mixed with understanding. "I supposed I should mention Darla was fifteen years my senior."

Jon's brow shot up in surprise. "Seriously?"

Feeny nodded.

"That personal relationship turned romantic. I was under the impression that things were serious, and I ignored the warning signs that things were very wrong with her. I also did not check to see if she was married."

"She was."

"Yes," he confirmed. "She was. And her husband was a violent drunk who was far from sober when he caught us in a restaurant the night I was going to propose. It was an ugly scene to say the least."

He paused for a moment then continued.

"In those days, a man could do just about anything and get off very lightly. A woman in the same situation could not. The school board did not take adultery lightly. However, you would not have known I was an active participant by the press accounts, nor would you know that the husband was anything but a beacon of morality. It was ugly indeed. Not only did I lose the woman I thought would be the love of my life, but her career was ruined. She lost her teaching certificate and her reputation, something that was very important in those days."

A dark look passed over his features. "She never recovered from the scandal."

"What happened to her?"

Feeny put a fist to his lips and shook his head.

It was Jon's turn to be at a loss for words. However he now understood why Feeny jumped to worst case scenario with him and Audrey.

"Pretty sure Aud isn't married, though," he said with quiet sarcasm. He looked up at the principal with a deeper respect. "I didn't know any of this."

Feeny nodded in acknowledgement when he saw the look. "Would it have made a difference if you had?"

Jon thought about this for a moment then said, "Yeah, I think it would have."

"And it would have made a difference if I had known what was really going on with you and Miss Andrews."

Jon gave a sheepish nod.

"I suppose we both made mistakes in that regard."

"Yeah." Jon appreciated the acknowledgement. He paused for a moment as his conversation with Alex came back to him. "School board isn't gonna do anything to Aud, George. They can't. She doesn't work for the district."

"No," he agreed with a grim expression. "But you do."

"What am I lookin' at?"

"Worst case scenario?"

Jon nodded apprehensively.

"Your teaching license is revoked, the reason for it follows you for the rest of your life, and you never teach again."

Jon sucked in a sharp breath. "That could create a real problem gettin' Shawn."

"Yes, it could."

An overwhelming feeling of dismay overcame him. "Best case scenario?"

Feeny considered this then said, "The board dismisses the charges since NYU has no issue with the situation. Audrey gets medical clearance and joins the English department in September."

Jon looked up in surprise. "Still?"

"If I have any say in the matter, yes."

"Thanks, George."

"Tread lightly from here on out, Jonathan," he warned sternly. "I'll see what I can do as far as the Board is concerned. As soon as school is over for the day, I'll head to the district to meet with Gerald about this and make sure that Miss Tompkins doesn't attempt to file a false complaint."

Jon nodded and stood. "I appreciate it, George," he said sincerely. Then, after the moment it to swallow his pride, he said, "And I'm sorry."

Before the principal could respond, the phone rang. "Apology accepted," he said as he picked up the receiver. "Hello, this George Feeny."

The response caused him to look up suddenly. He put his hand over the receiver. "Jonathan, wait."

With his hand on the door, Jon looked back over his shoulder with a worried look.

The conversation seemed to go on forever with no information as Feeny's only responses were variations on "I see" and nothing but a stoic expression.

After he finally hung up the phone, Feeny leaned against his desk in silent repose.

"George? What is it? You're killin' me!"

Feeny stared at him for a long moment with an apologetic look. "She went to the Board."

"What?"

"Apparently she went to the Board first even though she said this wouldn't and that this would remain between us until I decided what to do."

Jon swore at the ceiling. "Now what?"

Feeny shook his head. "I'm not sure. I will still meet with Gerald after school. I suggest you head home and wait for my call."

Jon sighed. "Okay."

"Have you spoken to Audrey since she left?"

"No."

"I'm not sure you should."

Jon arched an eyebrow. "Why?"

"A gut feeling, Jonathan. Let Shawn talk to her."

"Okay," he paused. Anxiety spiked at the lies Kat had told the Board about him and his relationship with Audrey. "This is bad, isn't it?"

"Yes, this is very bad."

Thank you for spending time with me! Your comments are always appreciated!