Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. -Albert Einstein

For the first time in his life, Cory was standing in Shawn's bedroom in house that wasn't on wheels. Well, gawking at Shawn's bedroom was more like it.

"Man," he exclaimed with awe-filled appreciation. "I've heard about this place for forever. This is nice."

Shawn grinned, please with his assessment. "Yeah, it's amazing. Jon did a great job."

Cory rifled through the CD rack before going through the PS 1 games. "I would loved to have had this room as a kid."

Shawn gave him a funny look. "Why? You had a great room."

"Yeah, but this room is so much better. Eric's touch isn't stamped into the walls."

Shawn chuckled, thinking back to the days when the brothers frequently fought over their shared room. "C'mon, Cor, we better get to work since Topanga won't let you spend the night."

"Don't remind me," the social studies teacher pouted, looking forlornly at the bottom bunk. That was his bed after all and he hadn't even been able to use it yet.

"So," Shawn pulled out the computer chair as Cory took on seat on his section of the bunk. "We need to come up with a way to get Jon and Audrey together."

"Right. So I've been thinking about this," Cory rubbed his hands together. "You said they wouldn't go back to John Adams High but what if we brought a little bit of John Adams High to them?"

"What'd you mean?"

"Well, you know how we used to do all those films in high schools, the interviews, that stuff?"

"Yeah."

"I say we go old school with the big camera on VHS tape. We head back to the ol' stomping grounds and interview everyone we can find who knew Jon and Audrey. Get them to tell their memories about our favorite couple. The we come back here and do the same thing. Add in a little bit of your fancy editing and we got ourselves a blockbuster. On their anniversary this year we get all those people together in one place and show the video to the guests of honor. Kind of like This is Your Life: the Jon and Audrey edition. Then we send 'em off on a second honeymoon. Oh, wait," Cory caught himself and frowned. "I guess it would be a first one technically."

"They didn't have a honeymoon either?" That had never occurred to Shawn until Cory mentioned it.

"Nope. They had nothin'."

Shawn frowned and bit his bottom lip in thought. "I like the idea. I really do. It'd make a great anniversary gift. There's just one problem."

"What?"

"It's only the end of February. Their anniversary is in July. If we wait that long, I'm not sure they're going to make it."

Cory regarded him seriously, suddenly very concerned. As busy as things had been lately, he and his family hadn't spent much time with the Turners as they normally would, but everything seemed all right as far he could tell when they did see them. "Are things really that bad, Shawn?"

"Yeah, they are." Shawn got up from his chair and began to pace the room.

"You know," Cory mused, "After you've been married for a long time, you do tend to hit a few kind of low spots. It's pretty normal. Things go back up if you stay with it. Jon and Audrey have more experience with that than Topanga and I do. I'm sure they're going to okay."

"This is different, Cor," he responded, unsure of how to impress upon his friend the severity of the situation. "Audrey says it's the job that causing all these problems. And that it's getting worse instead of better. Jon's working himself to death. And I'm beginning to think that's not an exaggeration."

"Yeah, I know the job's been bad," Cory admitted. He had been holding back his own concerns for the past several months not wanting to alarm those close to him in case he was wrong. "Listen, I'm only tellin' you this- Topanga would kill me if she knew- but sometimes I create problems at school that force Jon to come down and deal with."

Shawn didn't know whether to laugh or be upset. "Seriously?"

Cory gripped his knees with hands. "Yeah, I mean, nothing major that would cause real problems for anyone. I just make a fuss knowing he won't ignore me."

"You are kinda of hard to ignore when you make a fuss."

"Why thank you," Cory smiled. "I try. Seriously, though. I know I can get him to come down and it gives him an excuse to take a break from the other stuff. Although, I didn't plan the Harper Burgess thing; Yancy handed me that one."

Shawn chuckled. "Thanks, man. I appreciate you lookin' out for him."

Cory shrugged off the gratitude. "It sort of works. I just can't keep his attention very long, a day and half at the very most. I've tried to get Riley to help me extend his stays but she's terrible at sticking to our story." He shook head in disappointment. "All Jon has to do is look at her and say, 'are you telling me the truth, Riley?' She shakes her head yes but says 'no, Uncle Jon,' and bursts into tears." He paused a moment then said, "You know, I was really surprised Jon even took the superintendent position. It just didn't seem like the kind of thing he'd be happy doing."

"He's not happy. He just won't admit. But that's not even the worst of it."

"There's more?"

"I don't think the reason Jon and Audrey are drifting a part has anything to do with normal reason people drift a part. I think they still love each other a lot. And I think it really is the job that's causing the problems. I'm worried that it'll be super easy for someone to get into the gap the job's creating without either of them noticing until it's too late."

Cory's frown intensified. This was not a scenario that he ever wanted to consider as it hit too close to home. On the other hand, it was something that had crossed his mind in the wee hours of the morning when he couldn't sleep and worry consumed him. "Are you talkin' about Ms. Tompkins?"

Shawn, whose pacing had him at the door with his back to his best friend, whipped around quickly. His face was panicked stricken. "You've noticed?"

Cory looked pained. "I've noticed that she's around a lot whenever I can get Jon down to the school. We always get together once a month for lunch during the school week. It has nothing to do with school. It's just the two of us, no wives, no kids, just us guys. But ever since she started working for the district I haven't had one lunch alone with him. I don't invite her. Jon doesn't invite her, but she always has some reason to be there. When he came down this month she wasn't with him. But not five minutes into lunch, she shows up and just sits down like she'd been invited and was just running late." At the look of anger on Shawn's face, he quickly added, "I mean, there could be a legitimate reason why she was there. Jon did have meetings to go to afterwards. I don't think they were the kind that he'd need her for. But I really don't know, Shawn. I could be way off base."

"No," his best friend responded strongly. "I don't think you are. Julia's said the same thing about Ms. Tompkins." He ran his hands anxiously through his hair and started pacing again. "We've got to come up with something now, Cory. We can't afford to wait."

Cory grunted his agreement already lost in thought. After awhile he said solemnly, "We're not 15 anymore, Shawn."

"I'm aware of that."

"We're not 16 anymore."

"Right."

"We're not 17 anymore. We are not 18 anymore."

Shawn stopped pacing and regarded him curiously.

"We are not 19. We are not 20. Nor are we 21. We are n-"

"Are you gonna go all the way to 33?"

Cory looked up at and frowned. "I'm just trying to remind us that we are adults. We need to approach this situation as adults and come up with a mature, appropriate solution."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Cor, if I wanted a mature, appropriate solution I would have gone to your dad or Mr. Feeny."

"Oh," Cory lifted his hand up and slapped them down on his thighs. "Well then, I say we study the methods of two of the most successful people ever in parent match-making."

Shawn stared at the teacher in front of him. "Huh?"

Almost two hours later as the end credits to the VHS version of The Parent Trap rolled up, Shawn gave Cory a skeptical look. "Not gonna work. They didn't date, the way they met was boring, and no wedding."

Cory didn't seem concerned. "We got three more movies to go through. Four if you count the '98 remake."

"The first movie and the remake have same premise."

"Good." The social studies teacher got up to change the video. "I'm not much of Lindsay Lohan fan anyway. Oh, I forgot about It Takes Two! I just love a classic Olsen movie."

Shawn rolled his eyes with a smile. "Where'd you get all of these old tapes anyway?"

"Blockbuster when it went out of business."

Due to time and Shawn's insistence, they watched the remaining movies on fast forward. The fourth Parent Trap movie was ditched in favor of It Takes Two. Shawn wasn't convinced that any of these movies could help them but Cory, stretched out on the lower bunk, was enjoying himself immensely.

"Ya know, Shawnie, I still think we can pull off the initial plot of the Parent Trap. It'll take a little work, but we can do it."

Shawn frowned. "They didn't date. At least not while Audrey was student teaching. There was only one time they were ever alone outside of school."

"When was that?"

"The night they dropped us off at your place after the Six Flags trip."

"Oh, right."

"Not a date though. Jon just drove her home. They talked at her place for a while. But that was it. Never happened again while I was with Jon. She almost always left his place when I went to bed."

"Almost always?"

"Yeah, a couple of times she stayed after and I stayed up listening to them. They'd talked a little bit then she'd go home. Nothing interesting, unfortunately."

"Okay," Cory said after a moment's consideration." Here's what I think we should do before deciding on anything. We gather intel. There has to be something we can use, some defining moment with these two. We just need more information. You go talk to Audrey and make sure there was no dating before they got married. And I'll talk to my parents."

"Why your parents?" Shawn gave him a quizzical look.

"We don't want Audrey or Jon to get suspicious by asking them too many questions. And my parents, well really Mom, helped them keep their marriage a secret until they moved to the City. She might remember some meaningful event that we could use."

Something in what his friend said struck him strangely. "Cory, when exactly did you find out that Jon and Audrey were married?"

Cory looked guiltily at the floor. "I dunno," he shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck absently. "Some time during our senior year of high school."

"Wait, you knew then?" Shawn was dumbfounded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno!" he exclaimed defensively. Cory very much regretted not forcing him to talk to Jon back then. "You weren't really talking to Jon and you snapped at me every time I mentioned him. Then came Jack and Angela. Graduation. Topanga asking me to marry her. College. I kinda forgot for a while. When we all made the decision to move, Mom and Dad reminded me that Jon and Audrey would be close by if we needed anything. By then I couldn't say anything to you about Jon without you blowing up."

Shawn winced. "Yeah, I guess I was a pretty big jerk about it. Sorry about that."

"Eh," Cory waved the apology off, not wanting to remember all the lost time. "I say we find out as much as we can from them without getting Audrey suspicious. The meet back up on Monday night and exchange info."

"Sounds good. Why Monday night?"

"Ladies book club or something," Cory shuddered. "I don't think the ladies like me all that much. I'd rather be here."

Shawn shook his head and smiled.

"Hey, Shawn."

"Yeah?"

"Tell Jon he owes me do-overs on lunch," Cory said as he reluctantly got up from his bed. "I want do-overs on all eight of 'em."

"Sure. Why?"

"Because with Ms. Tompkins there I always feel like a little kid sittin' at the adult table. I want my time with Jon back."

"Huh," Shawn snorted. "Take a number and get in line."

It was close to 11:45 when David Durran made it to the New York Schools district office on Wednesday afternoon. He had debated on whether or not to let Jon know he was dropping by but decided against it. He felt it was better to catch him off guard rather than give him time to come up with an excuse not have lunch with him. The outer office was quieter than he expected it to be. Only Jon's secretary was still there.

David quietly approached her desk, regarding her curiously. This was the first time he had seen her. Unlike Jon's previous secretary, an proud grandmother, he knew very little about this woman behind the desk. All he knew is that she and Jon had once dated. His first impression of her was positive overall. Although, she did seem a little too cheery about the tasks in front of her, reminding him of a 90's Katie Couric. Overly perky people always set him on edge.

She must really like her job, he though. He couldn't say he'd ever seen a secretary so sunny before, not even his own. Of course, that could be because his assistant was his older sister.

"Oh, hello," Katherine Tompkins chirped brightly when she finally noticed him. "How may I help you?"

David returned her smile. "My name's David Durran. I'm here to see Jon."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No. I'm a friend. I'm here to take him to lunch."

That sunny expression dipped behind a cloud of irritation very briefly. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, suddenly very formal. "Mr. Turner has plans for lunch."

The doctor's expression remained neutral but the change in her tone was not missed. "I'd like to speak to him."

"No," she said firmly, the sun fading as she shook her head. "I'm sorry. He's busy right now and his lunch plans are firm."

Ever so slightly, David's eyes narrow. This one was quiet different after all from Jon's previous secretary who was a spitfire with sharp wit. Mrs. Mahler may not have been as cheerful but she was more likable, less guard dog-ish.

"I'd like to hear that from him." He had no problem challenging her assertions.

"I will not allow him to be bothered." There was something about the way this was said that raise the doctor's brow. He was just about to respond when Jon's office door swung open and the superintendent walked out.

When Jon saw David his eyes lit up and he broke into a grin.

"David! Hey, man, how are you?"

"Great," David said taking his hand and pulling him into an embrace. "What about you?"

"All right. What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to catch up, but I'm told you have already lunch plans." The doctor gave the secretary a quick glance.

Jon turned to Katherine with a look of confusion. She ducked her head and wouldn't make eye contact with him. He turned back to his friend. "Nah, I don't have plans. I was just gonna grab some coffee."

"Good." David closely watched the interactions between the two. "Then let me take you out."

Jon shrugged. "Sounds good." He looked at Ms. Tompkins as though he was about to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, he frowned at her as he grabbed his jacket and followed David.

The two men left the office chatting and laughing leaving an unhappy and embarrassed Katherine behind. Shortly after they were gone, the lunch she had ordered for herself and Jon was delivered. By then she no longer had much of an appetite.

"So," David leaned against the table after giving the waitress at the Little Owl Restaurant his order. "What's been going on with you?"

"Other than work?" Jon handed his menu to the waitress. "Nothing really. I mean the kids have all their stuff, but it's the same thing as always. Day in and day out."

"When's the baby due?"

Jon took a deep breath and exhaled. "Way too soon. May. But if this one is like the other she'll be two weeks late."

"She?"

"We don't know actually," he said. "That's what the kids are hoping for. They want an even split."

"Things going well with Shawn?" David carefully watched his friend. Although on the surface Jon appeared to be himself, he couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of enthusiasm when it came to talk of the baby.

"Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think so," the superintendent responded sheepishly. "He seems happy. I haven't been able to spend much time with him. Audrey sees him a lot though, He's been a huge help to her."

Between baby talk and not being able to say much about Shawn, David noted how uncomfortable Jon seemed, so he shifted the conversation slightly. "How is Audrey doing?"

Jon didn't look at him. "Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yeah, why?" He pushed back from the table. His expression was clouded.

"Just wonderin'. You guys still doing that monthly date night thing?"

"Nah, not since the summer," Jon's shoulders slumped slightly. "At least, I think that was the last time."

"Any plans to get away? Once that baby gets here things are going to be even crazier." David took a drink of his water remaining casual in spite of Jon's growing defensiveness.

"Yeah, I know. No, there aren't any plans."

David let the conversation go for a moment as he watched his friend. Something was wrong, he could feel it. "You two doing all right?"

Jon look up at him sharply, his demeanor shifted suddenly to highly guarded. "David, what are you really here for?"

"I'm here to catch up with an old friend whom I haven't seen in eight months and who's family is worried about him." David locked gazes with him. He wasn't about to let this go.

Jon expression changed again, this time to deep worry. "Has Audrey said something to you?"

"She's expressed concern about your job and what it's doing to you. Why are you avoiding my question?"

"We're fine," he said, twisting the corner of the napkin in his hands.

"You're not fine if the kid who's only been back a couple of weeks has already noticed a problem."

Jon was stunned to hear this. "Shawn thinks we're having problems?"

David nodded. "He's been offering to take the kids so you and Audrey can spend time together hasn't he?"

"Yeah."

"That's a problem."

Jon let his hands fall into his lap in defeat. He looked pale and drained. "I don't know what to do, David. I thought by now things at work would be better. Ya know, once I had full year as superintendent and knew better what I was doing I thought it'd be like it was my second year as principal. Everything in a routine. Busy but nothing I couldn't handle. It's not like that at all."

"What's making it so difficult?"

"People. So many of the people I deal with don't care about the students; they care about themselves and what benefits them. I had no idea there were so many special interest groups in education. Too many are comprised of entitled adults that want someone to coddle their fragile egos and give them special perks. I hate that. Then there's the budget stuff. I hate that even more. You can't make people happy, everyone's upset with you. The workload never gets lighter. It seems that every time I get caught up, there's three times more to do as soon as I turn around."

David frowned. He didn't know a lot of the ends and outs of the teaching profession and its rankings beyond the interactions he'd had with his children's teachers. "Do you ever do anything student related? Like with the teachers?"

"Rarely. I get called into mediate stuff but that's about it. Well, there is Cory," Jon ran his hand over his mouth. "Don't get me started on all the times he's called me down to his school. He makes a big to do about absolutely nothing."

David cracked a smile at this, then grew serious. "Are you happy with this job?"

The superintendent gave defeated shrug. "No. But what can I do?"

"Can't you go back to the classroom?"

"No, I signed a five-year contract."

"Superintendents stick around that long?" David was genuinely surprised. "News to me."

"Most just leave after a couple of years if they last that long." As he drummed his fingertips against the table top, the sunlight caught on his wedding band and danced off of it. "No warning, no nothin'. They just leave. I totally understand why. I wish I could do it, but I can't."

"Somethings gotta give, Jon. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I was able to buy out seven years off of retirement, but because I didn't get started in education until I was twenty-eight I still have ten years to go after this year. My youngest will only be nine." Jon stared at the space in front of him. He looked depressed. Quietly, he mumbled, "I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to have another kid."

This comment caught David's ear and gave him another reason to be concerned. In all the years, he'd known Jon he'd never heard him be anything but enthused about a new child.

"I thought this baby was a surprise?"

Jon shook his head and gave bemused laugh. "No, all the other kids were surprises. This one was planned, believe it or not." He shrugged. "Audrey really wanted one more kid. You know Audrey, she rarely asks for anything for herself so when she brought up having one more..." His voice trailed off.

"Do you want one more?"

Jon was silent for a long time, clearly struggling with the answer. "No," he said so quietly David had to strain to hear him. "I don't."

"Maybe I don't know Audrey as well I think I do," the doctor said gently, turning the water glass around and around in his hands. "But she doesn't strike me as one to nag about something like this or to manipulate things in her favor especially if she knows you aren't on board. Did she?"

"No."

"So why are you having another kid?"

"I couldn't say no to her."

"You couldn't?"

"I could have," Jon admitted. "I just didn't think it was fair to her. David, she's not even forty yet. I didn't want her to resent me down the line because she really wanted one more kid and I said no. I didn't want..." he stopped talking and stared off into space lost in his thoughts.

"You didn't want what?" David prompted.

"I didn't want George Feeny to be right all those years ago," he answered, looking back up at his friend, "when he told me that the age gap between us was too much. I didn't want my wife to think she's married to an old guy who's slowing down."

"So it's better for her to think she's married to a guy who's just overloaded with more than he can handle and copes by putting his family on the back-burner? Got it." David rolled his eyes as he said this.

Jon sat back from the table looking irritated. He was frustrated with himself for not being able to balance his life the way it needed it to be. And he didn't like being confronted and forced to admit his short-comings.

David wasn't deterred by this. "Does Audrey know you didn't want another kid?"

"No, and she isn't going to find out." Jon said pointedly. "This is the last kid and I am not going to ruin it for her."

David shook his head. "Shutting down communication with your wife is not the answer, Jon. You're headed for trouble if you do."

"Am I gonna get charge for a counseling session at the end of this?"

David said nothing. He wasn't offended; he knew Jon needed to vent.

Toying with the napkin again, Jon said regretfully, "I dunno, man, I'm just in a weird place in life right now I guess."

"What's up?"

"A couple of weeks before Shawn came home, I got together with a bunch of the guys from college. Do you know that every single one of them is divorced, including Eli? They were all joking about being free of the ball and chain and being able to get a girl as young as Audrey now. Or younger."

"That's always really bothered you hasn't it?" For as long as David had known Jon, Jon had always hated the age question; not the question about his own age, but about Audrey's. He knew the judgments that the answer to that query brought and he detested feeling like he had to defend himself.

"Yeah. That's not why I married her. But no one cares about the real reason especially those guys. All they wanted to do was talk like we were back in the locker room. Call me whatever you want but there are somethings I'm not discussing with anyone who's not Audrey. Once they got off of that, all they could talk about was the 'glory days'. It's like the high point of their lives was college. I couldn't wait for that night to be over."

"Sounds like you've outgrown them."

"Yeah. I guess. You know, I see the guy once every two years or so; it's not really that big of a deal. But it really bothers me that Eli is like them now. We used to be so close. Now it's like I don't even know him anymore." Jon felt as though everyone he cared about was drifting away from him and he didn't know how to stop it without letting others around him down.

"You two have been friends a long time," David commented, knowing the man across from him wasn't done talking.

"Yeah. I told Audrey about how much I didn't like being with the guys and she suggested I do something with just Eli," he smiled, thinking about his wife's insistence that he take time for himself. "I mean we used to do a lot together: double date with our wives, family stuff. So we went out to shoot some pool a few days after the other guys left town."

"How'd that go?"

"It was just like being in college again." he said unhappily. "For one of us. Eli kept forgetting I'm still married and expected me to be his wing-man again. When he wasn't trying get some woman's number he was complaining about alimony, child-support and his ex-wife. I'm sorry but I don't have a lot of sympathy for someone who cheated on his wife at the end of his marriage." It bothered him greatly that they had grown so far apart; he and Eli had been friends, brothers, for most of their lives. He didn't think anything would be able to change that. "I don't know, David, I left early. Eli called later wanting an explanation. I tried to tell him that I didn't want to go back to college. He didn't get why I wouldn't want to be 'free'. I haven't talked to him since." He'd lost Eli which was akin to Shawn losing Cory- impossible yet it happened. How long until he lost Shawn again or Julia or... " This is not how I ever saw my life turning out."

David regarded him with concern. "What do you mean?"

"I never saw myself being a superintendent."

This admission was not at all what David was expecting to hear. He had braced himself for the worst- that marriage and kids were not in his vision of his life. He was both surprised and relieved.

"I never wanted to be one," Jon went on. "But I never wanted to be a principal either. I ended up liking that a lot so I thought the same thing would happen again," Jon continued. "Now I see now why George was everything but a superintendent. I wished I'd paid more attention to his career path." He paused. "I hate this job."

That walled off look overcame the superintendent's expression and David knew that, for now, he was done talking. But the doctor wasn't entirely ready to let him off the hook. So he asked as question that he knew Jon would find pointless, but would tell him a lot about his friend's state of mind.

"If you could do anything you wanted to do right now, consequence free, what would it be?"

Jon started to tap his fingers against the table again as he considered the question. Finally, he said, "I'd take Audrey and the kids somewhere away from everything and everyone, but not totally secluded. Somewhere with nice weather. Somewhere that we could fly in relatives, a few close friends occasionally. We'd need a rink with off ice-facilities nearby. But otherwise just us, no jobs, no interruptions. For about a year."

David hid a secretive smile behind his hand. "So you want a sparsely inhabited tropical island with a private airport, an ice rink, and dance studio?"

Jon chuckled at how absurd that sounded. "Sounds about right."

David smiled. To let Jon know the interrogation was over, he remarked humorously, "I said consequence free, man. Not reality free."

Jon sat back in his chair and laughed out loud as their lunch was brought to their table.

The week sped by quickly and Shawn found it difficult to get Audrey alone long enough to talk to her. This made him anxious as his job started the next week and he felt he had to get something going before it did. He didn't even bother to find time with Jon; he knew that was pointless.

Friday night rolled around again and brought with it Family Night. This was Shawn's third Family Night and there was a pronounced difference in Jon between this one and the first one; he struggled to stay awake and focused. Because of this the order of events was switched: game first then a movie. It was Julia's turn to pick the game but after discussing it with Shawn, she chose Splat both to appease Jamie and make it easier on their dad. Splat was a relatively mindless game that everyone but Jamie seemed bored with. Even Bella lost interest after not being allowed to randomly smash Jamie's bug and fell asleep. Julia spent most of the time texting Shawn, who less than four feet away, her concerns about their father who was struggling to remember the very basic rules to a very basic game. Shawn was as concerned as she was.

That simple game manage to drag onto until almost nine and, by some miracle, Audrey was able to convince the younger kids to go on to bed. Jon told Shawn and Julia to pick out something to watch on Netflix while they said goodnight to the other kids. Watching Julia scroll through a screen on the TV was not nearly as exciting as Friday night movies once were. Shawn wrinkled his nose at the choices for family entertainment and felt a twinge of sadness for his sister who would never know the thrill of going to Blockbuster on Friday night.

888888

Everyone went to Blockbuster after school. Everyone. Some of the lucky Everyones also got to pick out video games for the weekend. Everyone got some form of junk food to go along with those movies. Some of the Everyones would get their junk food from the store's overpriced choices of candy and popcorn. The rest of the Everyones would go to a near by store that sold reasonably priced candy and get their junk food there. Most of the Everyones got pizza. The rest of the Everyones got McDonald's' or Burger King. Everyone got together on Monday morning to discuss the movies even if they'd already done so over the weekend.

Everyone, that is, except Shawn. Shawn was not an Everyone. He had never been an Everyone. He never would be an Everyone. Everyones did not live in trailer parks. Everyones had extra money for things like movie rentals. Everyones did not worry about whether there would something to eat at home. Everyones did not worry about their parents whereabouts or their sobriety status.

No big deal. Who cares? Who wants to do what everyone else does anyway? Bah humbug!

Shawn shoved his hands deep into his pockets giving the dirty tiles of John Adams High an even dirtier glare. Cory and Topanga were gathered around the lockers he was leaning against chattering excitedly about their afternoon plans. With every mention of Blockbuster, his hands dug deeper into the material until they threatened to rip through the seams.

"You can come with us if you want. I wish you would." Cory was looking expectantly at Shawn who couldn't see him through his downcast gaze and hair. "Mom and Dad are expecting you to go."

He said nothing. His lips pressed into a thin painful line as his teeth dug into his skin.

"Shawn?" Topanga was concerned about his sudden withdrawal and failure to acknowledge Cory.

"What?" He tossed his head back suddenly causing his long bangs to coolly flip back off of his face.

"Cory invited you to come with us to Blockbuster," Topanga told him with a look of mild worry.

Shawn looked at his friends. Through no fault of their own, they were a part of the Everyones. They couldn't help it. They were born in to it.

"Nah, not interested."

Topanga shrugged as Cory gave her an despondent frown. Feeling very out of place Shawn pushed off of the lockers and slung his book bag over his shoulder. "See you guys Monday."

"Yeah, see ya," they replied in unison.

Jon's classroom was empty so Shawn threw his bag onto Cory's chair with a thud as he plopped himself down in his own chair to wait on his teacher. He leaned onto the desktop, resting his chin on his arms and glowering at chalkboard.

Who cares about picking out stupid movies on a stupid Friday night? Who cares about getting pizza and candy and junk food at the same time? Who cares about talking about such dumb, stupid stuff after the weekend? Who cares? Not me!

Jon walked into his classroom more than a little surprised to see Shawn already there. Normally, he had to hunt him down on Fridays after school. He stopped at the teen's desk and look at him in amazement.

"You're sittin' in your seat with all your stuff and totally quiet," Jon shook his head sardonically. "Man, I wish you'd do this during actual class time."

Shawn sat up and furrowed his brow, his eyes still on the board at the front of the class. Jon gave him a curious look at he walked up to his desk.

"Cory went home already I take it?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, that explains the silence."

"You gotta date tonight?" Shawn stopped glaring at the chalkboard and regarded his teacher seriously.

"No, I don't. Do you?"

"No."

Jon looked up at him. "You got somethin' you wanna do?"

Shawn shrugged still, frowning. The teacher briefly wondered if he and Cory had a disagreement and that was the reason for the sullen mood.

"Audrey's coming home with us," he told the boy. "So if you've got any entertainment ideas I'm all ears."

Shawn dug his toe into the carpet as though he was trying to wiggle the fibers apart. He tilted his head to the side in thought. He didn't want to do whatever one else did. He liked being different.

"I dunno, movie or something."

Jon picked up a stack of papers on his desk and organized them before putting them in his bag. "I don't know that there's any thing good playin' this weekend."

Shawn's frown deepened. Being different is what made him cool. He did not want to give his social status up.

"We could rent one."

Jon gave this some consideration. "Yeah, we could do that."

Shawn frowned and dug his toe across the carpet. "We could get pizza or something."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Shawn's expression soured. He shouldn't say anything. The answer was just going to be no anyway so what did it matter? Besides he liked being the bad boy. The rebel. The black sheep.

"We could go to Blockbuster."

Jon stopped loading his school bag for the weekend and gave his charge a funny look, not quite sure what the significance of the movie store was. He could tell, though, there was something important about it. "Then we'd better get Audrey and get over there before all the good stuff is gone."

Blockbuster was buzzing with activity by the time the trio got there. Shawn stopped just inside the door to take in his surroundings. It wasn't that he'd never been inside the video store before; he had several times with Cory. But he was always a guest. He had never been inside Blockbuster before as a bona fide customer. With people of his own. It was a weird feeling.

"Shawn, you're holdin' up traffic. Can we go all the way in please?" Jon gave him a nudge and motioned to the line that was piling up behind them.

Audrey put her hand through his arm and gave him a smile, pulling him along with her. Kids and their parents were swarming all over the store making it hard to see the rentals on the shelves. Groups of teenagers hung around at the end of aisles talking or hassling the younger kids who went by. It was hard to tell what section anyone was in.

"Listen" Jon told him, unconsciously putting his arm around Audrey, forgetting that they were in a public place. "If you want to do your own thing go ahead, but pick something we can all watch please."

"Yeah, sure." Shawn grinned, looking around for a starting point. It was a exhilarating and a little overwhelming to be let loose under these circumstances.

"And I'm gonna check to make sure the video matches the cover."

Shawn waved at his teacher as he wove his way through traffic, trying find an interesting section to start looking at. He thought he found the action section, but when he got through the crowd he found nothing but Care Bear movies. Before he could move on, he heard a shout.

"Shawn?!"

Cory's surprised voice rang out over the din of the crowd. He hurried over to his best friend, pulling his family along with him. Morgan was already nearby, but too engrossed in the videos to pay attention to anyone. "Hey! I'm glad you're here. I thought you weren't coming." He looked back at his parents silently begging them to let Shawn stay.

"Glad you could make it, Shawn," Amy said kindly.

"Yeah," Alan gave him a friendly smile and rolled his eyes. "You're just in time to help us pick out a boring movie."

Shawn tried to bite back a grin. "Thanks, but, um, I'm here with my, uh, people." He pointed over to where Jon and Audrey were browsing the shelves.

The Matthews exchanged looks, then Amy's face lit up. She abruptly dropped her husband's hand and made her way over to the other couple.

Cory gave him a knowing smile.

"You mean you're here with your family." Topanga smiled, genuinely happy for him.

"Yeah," he said, pleased she noticed. "Sorry, Mr. Matthews. I've got my own boring movie to pick out."

"I wanna watch The Little Mermaid!" Morgan loudly announced to everyone within earshot.

"Still gonna be better than whatever I watch tonight," Alan patted Shawn's shoulder as he passed by to collect his daughter.

In spite of being at separate residences that night, the trio of friends stayed together searching through the videos. As they made their way down the aisles they ran into kids from school and spent more time talking than looking. Several times though both he and Cory broke away to run a movie over to their respective caretakers for approval. Most of the time their choices were shot down. Shawn did convince Jon and Audrey to get Jurassic Park. Mighty Ducks: D2 also got approval but there was one only one copy left with several other kids wanting it. Intense rounds of rock, paper, scissor ensued. Shawn left victorious.

During one of those times when Shawn left their group to run a video past Jon and Audrey, Harley Kiner somehow managed to find Cory in the crowd and isolate him from Shawn and Topanga. It was the first time he had ever faced Harley outside of school property and he was terrified. Cory backpedaled through the store in a panic while trying to talk the bully down. He prayed for Divine Intervention; he'd lost his parents and friends in the crowd and it seemed hopeless to find someone willing to help him. From out of nowhere, Joey and Frankie joined Harley in his menacing march. Just when he was convinced his time on Earth was finally at it's end, his back hit something solid and a pair of strong hands gripped his shoulders. He looked up to see Mr. Turner engaged in a silent showdown with Harley. As usual and without saying a word, his teacher won and the bully and his gang exited the premise as quickly as they could.

Without letting go of him, Jon frowned down at him. "This is becomin' a bad habit of yours, Matthews."

"Yeah, I know," was the sheepish reply.

"What are you goin' to do when I'm not around?"

Cory held his hands out, palms up, as he shrugged. "Well, if you're anything like Mr. Feeny, I'll never know."

With an amused shake of his head, Jonathan gave Cory a friendly shove in the direction of his friends.

Once reunited, the trio found themselves at the end of one of the aisles of action movies where a group of kids from John Adams High were congregated. Cory, Shawn, and Topanga had only seen them in passing between classes. They were in the same grade but they were one of the many groups that theirs never intersected with. They never had classes together or extracurriculars. Somehow they managed to not even have the same teachers. Other than Mr. Feeny, of course. This group and ones like it might as well have been at a different school entirely. The friends actually knew kids from other schools better than they did the ones in these groups from their own school. In this particular group was a boy and two girls. The groups exchanged cautious hellos, wary on one another, until one of the girls took an interest in Shawn. Ever the flirt, Shawn chatted easily with her while Cory and Topanga small talked with the other two.

"So," the blonde, Tammy, said to him, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "I haven't seen you here before."

"Yeah, well," Shawn said suddenly feeling hot and uncomfortable. Up until this point, he had forgotten about the Everyones. "I've usually got other stuff to do on Friday nights." His eyes darted around the building look for an escape route from the suddenly awkward conversation.

"Yeah,"the boy piped up. "Isn't your dad an English teacher or something?"

Rather than reply, Shawn shrugged as nonchalantly as he could.

"Poor baby," Tammy said, still twirling her hair. "No wonder you're never here. He must keep you doing homework all the time."

It now occurred to Shawn that he could boost his social status immediately by laying the blame for his Blockbuster absences onto Jon.

"Nah," he said casually. "He's cool. We just have other stuff to do."

"Hey! Is that your mom?" the brunette next to Tammy asked him, pointing across the store.

Shawn turned and looked. He smiled at his "parents". When he turned around the smile was replaced with a cool indifference. Again, he shrugged.

"Your mom is really pretty," she told him, sliding in closer to him.

"And your dad is really, really cute," Tammy told him flirtatiously, giving the brunette a disapproving side-eye. "You obviously take after him."

"Yeah," Shawn said proudly, lifting his chin a bit higher. "They're the best."

Cory and Topanga smiled at each other and said nothing to contradict him.

As he and his friends continued to navigate the store before meeting up with the adults to pick out overpriced candy and popcorn, Shawn had this strange feeling follow him everywhere he went. It was similar to the feeling he had the first time he came home to Audrey cooking dinner and Jon grading papers. It wasn't that same warm, cozy feeling but it was that same feeling of normalcy and contentment. Of acceptance. Of being like everyone else. Of being like Cory. That feeling followed him through the rest of his week. On the following Friday it grew even greater when Cory went with him to Blockbuster, this time as Shawn's guest.

88888

Shawn sat on the couch, zoning out while Julia scrolled through the movie repeatedly. Finally she stopped.

"Eh, this is as good as anything," she said, flopping down next to Shawn. She seemed as thrilled with movie night as he was.

Of all the things they could have watched she had to choose Mighty Ducks: D2 which struck Shawn as as a little weird. He wondered if she could have possibly heard the story of his first real trip to Blockbuster. But there was no way she could have been told. Only Cory knew how important that trip was. So, he decided, D2 must be a favorite movie. Or she was picking up on his thoughts. Shawn gave her a disturbed look, but she was too engrossed in her phone to notice.

Jon and Audrey finally returned to the family room and settled in with Shawn and Julia. They were unusually quiet. Shawn kept expecting some sort of sarcastic comment from Jon about how many times they had watched D2 over the years, but none came. Shawn wasn't sure he was even aware of what they were watching. His eyes were glazed over with drowsiness and he kept nodding off even though the beginning credits weren't over. Audrey looked extremely uncomfortable and kept trying to shift her position as gently as she could without disturbing her husband. She wasn't successful. Eventually, Jon moved down toward the end of the couch to give her space. Audrey went from uncomfortable to unhappy. Shawn moved down so she could rest against him. He could no longer focus on the movie. Even Julia kept looking over at their parents with a perturbed frown.

Finally overcome with anxiety, Shawn gave Julia a nudge with his foot. She looked at him sharply.

"I just remembered that there's something I need to show you."

"And?" She frowned at him.

"And," he said giving her a Look. "Come with me." He gave Audrey an apologetic squeeze as he stood up.

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

Grumpily Julia got up, mumbling under her breath.

"Where are you two going?" Audrey asked.

"Uh, there's something I need to show Julia that I forgot about. We'll be back in just a little bit."

"Okay," she said. She gave an uncertain glance in Jon's direction.

"Why are we out here?" Julia asked. They were standing just outside the doors of the family room. She wasn't sure why Shawn was suddenly acting so weird. "What did you have to show me right now?"

"Nothing!" Shawn replied in annoyance, surprised she hadn't caught on. "Everyone else is asleep and we needed to be out of there. You know, for them." Surely he didn't have to spell this out for her.

"Oh. Yeah." Julia stood on her tiptoes in order to look over Shawn's shoulder and see what he was looking at. What she didn't see was anything worth standing in hall over. The view was the same as when they were on the couch. "So what are we looking at?"

"Nothing," Shawn growled in frustration. "They aren't doing anything."

"What are they suppose to be doing?"

"Not that." Jon and Audrey were sitting there just as they had left them. Both looked miserable.

Julia stepped away from him and crossed her arms over her waist. "I hope this isn't the great plan you came up with to get them together. Cause it's a fail if it is."

Shawn shot her a dirty look. "It's not. Cory and I are still working on it."

"You know, they're my parents too," she snapped, looking miffed.

Shawn then realized that he had forgotten to include her in his planning with Cory.

Oops.

"We just threw some ideas around today," he told her trying to explain why he had forgotten her. "Cory's coming back on Monday to put a plan together. We'll need you then. Besides you were at practice."

Just as Julia was about to respond, Jon's phone rang.

Don't answer it. Don't answer it, Shawn and Julia silently willed him.

It was to no avail. Jon answered the call. Julia rolled her eyes and thudded her back against the wall. Shawn groaned and lightly banged his head against the door.

To make matters worse, Jon got up to take the call and pace the room leaving his wife alone. After a minute or so, Audrey paused the movie, got up, and headed towards the doors. Shawn and Julia backed out of the way, hiding down the hallway near the staircase before she could see them.

"I'd like to hang up on whoever just called," Julia snorted angrily.

"Stupid cell phones," Shawn muttered.

Julia looked at him curiously. "What's that mean?"

"It means you have to hack the phone now in order to end the call. And you can get caught doing that. It used to be so much quicker and easier."

"How?"

"When I was your age very few people had cell phones and everyone had landlines," he explained, feeling suddenly much older than thirty-three. "Landlines all had wires going into the wall. If Dad got a call from someone I didn't like all I had to do is yank the line out from the wall and stick it back in. His call is over and I'm still on the couch watching TV."

"You do that a lot?"

"Nah. Only when Ms. Tompkins called."

As Julia tried to downplay her admiration of his sneakiness, Shawn tried to downplay his pride in her approval. They waited in the hallway for quite some time. Just as they were about to return to the family room, a disgruntled Jon stormed out, still on the phone, and went down to his study. As the office door shut, they could hear that he was clearly on call with someone from the district. Assuming that this was just a temporary distraction, the duo went back to the movie. By the time the end credits rolled, the house was quiet and still.

"Well, that went well," Julia commented dryly. "They forgot about us. Didn't even say goodnight."

Shawn said nothing as he turned off the T.V. This was, undoubtedly, the worst Family Night. As the siblings walked down the hallway to their respective bedrooms they could hear Jon still on the phone. They exchanged frustrated frowns.

Shawn gave Julia a serious look that was laced with mischievousness. "How hard would it be for you get a hold of Dad's phone?"

Julia arched an eyebrow at him as a sly smile stretched over her face. "I can get it just like that," she said with a snap of her fingers.

Her brother grinned. "Good. Tomorrow. Get it as soon as you can. Then I think you, me, and Cory need to get together before Monday."

Julia returned his grin. It turned out that her mom was right after all: she finally had a brother she actually liked.