"When trouble strikes, head to the library. You will either be able to solve the problem, or simply have something to read as the world crashes down around you." -Lemony Snicket
Having an epiphany in the wee hours of the morning tends to change a person's attitude toward life in general and people specifically. When Shawn saw Julia for the first time Saturday morning without hesitation, he pulled her into a big hug, the first he'd ever given her. She looked at him as though he was a few fries short of a Happy Meal, but did not resist. Instead, she held on a moment longer than he did. The two gathered breakfast for themselves in silence as it was still early and no one else was up. Shawn was still in repose with his mind on those early morning revelations. Julia was uncharacteristically quiet. On his way to retrieve the milk from the refrigerator, Shawn noticed his sister was staring strangely at the coffeemaker with a disturbed expression.
"What's wrong?"
"It's cold," she said quietly as though this was a terrible tragedy. She hugged her father's over-sized shirt that she was wearing close to her heart and shivered in spite of the warmth of the kitchen.
"I don't understand."
"It's never cold, no matter how early it is," Julia told him, turning large blue-gray eyes on him. They were so stormy and haunted that it made Shawn uncomfortable. She looked like a lost child who had walked away from her parents in a crowd and couldn't find her way back to them. "Dad's always the first one up and he always has the coffee running. He always has Mom's mug out so he can take her coffee as soon she wakes up." She pointed at the bare counter next to the machine. The disturbed look now took on the form of anxiety. She looked as though she might cry.
Shawn put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder, trying to be comforting but it didn't help.
"I've never gotten up ever in my whole life and that thing hasn't been on with Mom's mug by it." Julia sank into her brother, suddenly feeling very young and very scared. "Dad's here, isn't he, Shawn? He didn't leave without telling us, did he?" There was a plea in her voice that begged him to tell her she was being silly; that there was a reasonable explanation for this anomaly.
"I'm sure he is," he assured her as strongly as he could. Shawn could not imagine that he wasn't. Surely Jon would not have gone to the office on a Saturday or anywhere else for that matter without letting someone know. "Maybe Mom just had a rough night. You know the baby's been keeping her up a lot. They're probably just sleeping in. I'm sure as soon Dad gets up he'll make coffee just like always. Besides we are up kinda early- it's only 6:15 on a Saturday, Jules."
"Yeah, I guess," Julia had trouble taking her eyes off of the machine in front of her.
"So," Shawn said, trying to distract her. "You guys still watch Saturday morning cartoons?"
Julia wrinkled her nose. "Those really haven't been on much since I was a kid."
"No way." Shawn couldn't believe that. Saturday morning cartoons were a rite of passage for every kid. They had to still be on somewhere.
After a frustrating search through the cable channels came up with not much more than a bunch of animal programs, Shawn and Julia ended up watching someone's attempt to recreate a 90s Saturday morning programming block on YouTube. It annoyed him to have to watch the TV shows on a laptop screen. Julia, however, seemed enthralled.
"This is better than anything I can remember watching," she remarked wistfully, fully absorbed in the media in front of her.
"Meh," Shawn replied, already bored. "That's only because you have no idea what you missed."
She made a face at him. "So tell me."
"I dunno," he sighed, allowing himself to think back to the days when cartoons were the most important thing to do on Saturday mornings. Trying to put into words what those days were like to a kid was born at the end of them was harder that he expected. "I guess to most people, it wasn't a big deal, really. You got up as early as you could to watch as much TV and eat as sugary cereal as you could before the adults got up. It was just something everyone did. I didn't get to do a lot of that normal kinda stuff unless I was at Cory's house. But most of the time I wasn't."
"Where were you?"
"Home."
"Home with Dad?"
"No, no. The trailer park," he clarified. "Home wasn't with Dad until I was fourteen about to turn fifteen. When Mom started student teaching at John Adams High that's when things changed, I got to experience a real normal for the first time."
"So you were my age when that happened?"
"Yeah."
"Wow."
"You know," he said, smiling at the memory. "Cory was the only who really got it back then. I mean, Mom and Dad knew to an extent how much Saturday mornings meant to me, stuff like that. But he got it."
o0o0o
It wasn't quite 6:15 when Shawn and Cory quietly snuck out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.
"So," Cory said in a hushed tone, rubbing his hands together, "what trouble are we going to get into this morning, my Shawn?"
Without thinking, Shawn let go of the refrigerator door. He managed to catch it just before it slammed shut. "Watch as much TV as we can before Jon gets up."
Cory blinked. "Huh?"
"Yeah," Shawn stood on his tiptoes to reach the sugary cereal his teacher had hidden in the back of the high cabinet. "Jon limits my TV time in the morning to an hour if I don't have my homework done. And you know I don't have my homework done." He tossed a box of Lucky Charms to Cory. "Don't eat too much. Audrey's coming over around 8 to make breakfast. And trust me you're gonna want to have plenty of room for her breakfast. She makes the best chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and that red rope licorice."
Cory shook out the cereal into his bowl, stopping every so often to pick out the non-marshmallow parts of the cereal and return to it's container. "So you really just wanna watch TV?"
"Yeah, isn't that what you do on Saturdays?"
"Well, yeah, unless you're staying over. Then I have fun."
Shawn shrugged and took the cereal boxes and shoved them back into their places in the cabinet. He grabbed his overloaded cereal bowl and a soda and headed to the couch. Cory followed, more than a little disappointed to be doing something so mundane on his first time sleeping over at Shawn's place.
"Aw, man! We're up too early," Shawn made a face as he flipped through the channels. "Madeline is still on!"
"There's gotta be something better than that," Cory said then frowned. "Not that I would know. Morgan hijacks the TV every Saturday. No matter how early I get I up there she is."
Shawn flipped through the channels with little interest until he hit the WB and Gladiators 2000. "Beats Madeline."
Cory nodded in agreement. They made it through Animaniacs, Batman and Robin, Bump In the Night before Jon got up and caught them.
"You said I can watch TV for an hour on Saturdays before I have to do anything," Shawn protested as his teacher took the remote from him.
"An hour's an hour," Jon said, pocketing the remote. "It doesn't begin when I get up. It begins when you start watchin'."
"It hasn't been an hour!"
"Yeah, right. Catch the last half of Madeline did you?"
"That does not count as part of the hour."
Cory's eyes bounced back and forth between the two. The dispute felt a bit surreal to him. This wasn't the type of thing that typically caused arguments at Shawn's place, at least not when Shawn was with Chet Hunter. Those were far more serious in nature and resulted in his best friend taking off.
"So you watched Gladiators instead?" Jon rolled his eyes. "That's fifteen minutes off of your hour."
"It's Saturday!"
"We had a deal about this TV stuff on weekends. And your homework isn't done."
"I have a guest," Shawn retorted as if Jon was unaware of this. "This is cruel and unusual punishment to not let me watch TV on Saturday morning with my guest over stuff that isn't due until Monday."
Cory hid a smile behind his hand. He'd heard this same argument over and over as he, Eric, and Morgan had all been through it with their parents. Repeatedly. It was extraordinarily funny to him, to listen to Shawn and Mr. Turner go back and forth over the same, non-serious issue.
"Whatever," Jon headed back towards his bedroom taking the remote with him, even though he knew the TV was going back on as soon as he left. "I'm gonna take a shower. Lemme know when Audrey gets here okay?"
After their teacher was gone, Shawn got up and turned the TV on himself and the boys went back to watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles until Audrey showed up right at eight o'clock. Shawn greeted her with a bear hug before turning and yelling as loud as he could:
"Hey Dad! Mom's here!"
Audrey laughed, took his face between her palms and rested her forehead against his. She then ruffled his hair as she headed to the kitchen.
"Hey, Cory," she greeted the boy with a warm, happy smile that lit up her entire face.
"Hi, Miss Andrews." Cory couldn't help but grin back at her.
"Shawn," Jon came out of his bedroom looking annoyed. "Do ya have to yell? Because of you, the entire apartment building thinks Audrey and I are divorced with the weirdest custody arrangement ever."
"Yeah, I know." Shawn grinned at Cory and dropped his voice to a whisper. "I told everyone that a family judge ordered them to spend all non-sleeping hours together with me for my mental health or I be committed to a kid's psych ward and they'd face jail time."
As Cory started to laugh, Jon leaned over the couch not looking too pleased. To Shawn he asked, "Do you sit up at night comin' up with ways to make my life more complicated or is that just a rare gift you have?"
Shawn glanced at Cory, then grinned cheekily at their teacher. "To be honest, it's a bit of both."
Jon rolled his eyes as he stood up, took a swipe at Shawn's hair, and joined Audrey in the kitchen. Cory couldn't help but notice that he greeted her in the same way his dad greeted his mom in the morning by wrapping his arms around her waist and talking to her in affectionate, low tones. The only difference was that Jon kissed Audrey on the cheek instead of on the lips. He also couldn't but notice Shawn was watching them out of the corner of his eye and smiling happily to himself.
While Audrey cooked, Jon and Shawn went back and forth with the TV: every time Shawn turned it on, Jon, who was standing in the kitchen with the remote, would turn it off. It evolved into a game with Cory and Shawn jumping the coffee table and trying to block the remote signal to prevent the TV from turning off. Cory had once played this with Eric, but fortunately this game didn't end like the previous one: with a face to the edge of the coffee table and a trip to the emergency room. His face, of course, not Eric's.
As the morning went on Cory spent more time observing than talking. There was something unusual going on here, but something quite familiar, too. He just couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He thought back to all the Saturday mornings when he and Eric would sneak downstairs extra early to watch TV before they were allowed to and eat as much junk breakfast food as they could before they got busted. Just like today. As he watched, Audrey pile pancakes up onto plates and Jon set them out on the table, Cory thought about all the times his own mom had made her special pancakes and his dad would take them to the table. Cory's gaze fell on Shawn and Jon who were carrying on a conversation about something or other, trading sarcastic quips as they did so. Audrey was ignoring most of what they were saying. Just like his mom did. At one point, Jon put his arm around Audrey and held onto to her as he continued to talk. Just like his dad did.
In all the sleepovers at other people's homes, Cory had never noticed anyone else's parents being around much when the kids got up in the mornings. This was so different because it was so familiar to Cory.
It was like...It was like...It was like being home.
Home.
It was then that Cory understood why Shawn wanted to watch cartoons and eat Lucky Charms; why he wanted to spend the weekends at home doing very ordinary, family-centered stuff and going to very ordinary, family-centered places. Stuff that was so common to Cory that it bored him. But this wasn't common for Shawn. Not in his own home with his own family. This was all new to him. And a really big deal. Huge. He knew how tired Shawn was of always being the guest in other people's homes. He knew how badly his best friend wanted a stable home and to be wanted by the adults who were supposed to take care of him. Cory stayed in the living room not wanting to disrupt the moment. He stared at his teachers overcome with a feeling of tremendous gratitude for what they were doing for Shawn.
"Come on, Cory," Audrey waved him over to the table. "Time to eat."
"Great, I'm starving," he grinned back at her with a strange expression of admiration mixed with adoration. He turned to his English teacher and regarded him in the same manner.
Jon gave him a funny look and shifted uncomfortably under Cory's intense gaze. "You feelin' okay, Matthews?"
"Yeah, Mr. Turner," he said gratefully. "I'm feelin' great."
0o0o
"Okay, so that does sound more fun than this," Julia said, pointing her spoon at the laptop. She paused for a moment, her smile fading into a straight line. "Before Dad became superintendent, Mom used to do big pancake breakfasts on Saturdays and Dad always played with us while she did. She doesn't do that anymore and neither does he."
Shawn frowned and rubbed his mouth this hand desperately trying to come up with something to change the situation they were facing. The beginnings of an idea was starting to form.
"Jules, as soon as you can, I want you to get a hold of Dad's phone."
"Sure. Why?"
"I don't know exactly. But I want to see how it's setup and find out how much we can mess with it without Dad noticing." Shawn didn't think that would be too difficult considering how distracted Jon was these days. "Does he have an iPhone?"
"No, Galaxy."
"Oh, good. That's makes it easier."
Julia arched an eyebrow. "You really have no idea what you're going to do, do you?"
"Not really," he shrugged. "But for now, I want to turn on the do not disturb feature. I should be able to get rid of the notification so he won't notice it."
"It's a start," Julia shrugged, unimpressed. "But that's all it is."
Before they could continue, Grayson and Jamie bounded down the stairs, chatty and hungry. While Shawn helped Jamie get breakfast, Julia left Grayson to fend for himself while she went back to watching the '95 Saturday morning lineup. Revenge came when Grayson and Jamie snatched the laptop away from her and ran into the living. Julia growled at them but let them go. Shawn got a laugh out of the boys excited squeals over the commercials of his childhood all of things.
At almost 8 am, neither Jon nor Audrey had been seen yet. Shawn prayed it was a good sign. However, both he and Julia were quite alarmed when Bella was heard crying from the top of the stairs. Somehow, she'd gotten out of her bed and out of her room. She was lonely and sitting in a wet diaper. She held her chubby, little arms out to Shawn. Her diaper squished as he picked her up and he couldn't help but make a face.
The toddler regarded him pitifully for a long moment before pulling back and twisting around in his arms. "Daddy," she said mournfully, pointing back to her room.
Behind them Julia harrumphed in agitation. "She shouldn't be able to get out of her room," she told Shawn.
"I don't know. Kids can be pretty good at doing thing they aren't suppose to."
"Yeah, which is exactly why Dad had a special knob put on her door. Grayson and Jamie must have let her out then left her."
"We did not," insisted Grayson, who was eavesdropping on his siblings. He had been feeling quite left out since Julia and Shawn had made peace. He preferred it when they weren't on friendly terms.
Julia shot him a dirty look nonetheless, then she turned to Shawn.
"She needs to get out of that wet diaper," she told him.
"Yeah, I never actually changed Riley's diaper, so..."
"Oh come on, I'll show you how."
Bella's room was dark as the blackout curtains were still drawn. The only light in the room was a soft night light that the lit corner of the room where the bed was. Light from the hallway spilled into the room as Julia opened the door. Both she and Shawn came to a dead halt just before they entered the room.
"Daddy," Bella said shortly, scowling.
Their father was asleep in the armchair in the nursery. Judging from the fact that he had both a pillow and blanket and was still in his night clothes, he had been there for quite some time. Julia stepped back, pulling the door with her. She moved so suddenly that Shawn had little time to get out of the way and nearly had the door shut in his and Bella's faces. The youngest child began to whimper and tug at her diaper. Julia looked as though she might throw up, her face twisting as she tried not to cry.
Shawn's mind was reeling. He wasn't sure this was as bad as his sister seemed to think it was. He remembered many times that he and Topanga had found Cory asleep in Riley's room when she was a baby simply because he got up in the night to check on her and was too tired to make it back to his own bed. Topanga never seemed bothered by this; she seemed to find in endearing. It was Julia's reaction that worried him. With three younger siblings she no doubt knew what was normal for her parents and what was not. Clearly this was not normal for Jon. Maybe by the fourth kid it wasn't so endearing to fall asleep in your baby's room. He had no way of knowing.
"Jules," he said softly. "Let's not freak out until we have to."
She glanced up at him and nodded. She straightened up, obviously trying to collect herself.
"Bella is gonna freak out if we don't get her changed."
Again Julia nodded and quietly slipped into her sister's room. She tried very hard not to look at her father, sleeping where he shouldn't be. She was successful in this until she was on her way out. Unfortunately, she looked in her father's direction and the tears started to fall. Although she hardly made a sound, it was somehow enough to wake Jon up.
"Jules?" he asked groggily, blinking sleepily. "What are you doing in here?"
"What am I-" she bit back the sarcastic retorted. "I'm getting Bella a new diaper. We found her sitting in wet one at the top of the stairs."
"What?" Jon stood up suddenly and looked around. "Where is she?"
"Shawn's got her. Why are you in here?"
Jon stared at the toddler's bed and did not answer. Instead he turned and headed to the door.
"Dad?"
"What?"
"Why are you in here?"
Jon stopped, but did not turn around. "Your sister needs to be changed."
"Yeah, I know," Julia said, holding the diaper up. She didn't like being ignored, especially by her father. "Why are you sleeping in here and not in your room with Mom?"
"What's with the interrogation?" he snapped petulantly. His expression was grim as though she was asking a question she had no business asking.
Julia stared at him in disbelief. It wasn't so much what he said but how he said it. She could not recall her father ever speaking to her like that. Normally, he would joke with her and redirect her if the question was out of line. But never did he react to a simple question so harshly. His tone stung and a hurt anger rose up within her.
"Don't worry about Bella. I got it covered," she snapped rudely and flounced out ahead of him.
Once again Shawn almost got hit by the door. Julia was in foul mood and before he could ask why she grabbed him by the arm and practically pulled him downstairs. Once in the living room, Julia sullenly abandoned them, leaving Shawn with a diaper and miserable toddler. What was he supposed to do?
Thankfully, Grayson was still lurking nearby and showed him where the extra changing mat and wipes were. His helped ended there, however. He wasn't interested in the actual diaper change. As Shawn laid the crying child down on the mat, he looked at her regretfully.
"I'm sorry," he told her sincerely. The gravity in his voice made her stop and look at him. "I don't know what I'm doing."
Bella raised her eyebrows in apprehension as though she fully understood what he said. Shawn looked at her imploringly.
"Please don't pee on me."
Grayson wandered into the kitchen feeling a little lost. He had a hockey game later that day and was supposed to be at the arena by 11. It was well after 8 and he had yet to see either of his parents. Shawn was entertaining Bella, Julia was in a rotten mood, and Jamie was Jamie. Grayson didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he should be something. So he found himself in the kitchen where everyone in the family ended up sooner or later and waited. But waiting without knowing why was boring and soon Grayson was staring into the open refrigerator as there was nothing else to do in a kitchen.
"Hey, if you're not gonna get somethin' out of there, shut the door, please."
The sound of his father's voice startled him causing Grayson to jump. He turned to his dad, relieved and excited that at least one of his parents was up. Now his day could get started.
"Dad, can we get to the arena early? Coach said anyone who gets there early can warm up at open skate." Grayson launched into an exuberant, rapid speech about the events of day.
Jon stared at him through sleep blurred eyes. He struggled to process what his son was saying and finally held up his hand to stop the torrent of words.
"G, what are you talking about? We aren't going to the arena today."
Grayson fell silent and blinked several times. He stared at his father unable to make sense of what he said. Had he done something wrong and was now being punished? He couldn't think of anything he'd done wrong. Maybe Jamie had done something and blamed him for it. But if it was so bad that he would be grounded from playing the game he loved, surely he would remember. Right?
"We're not?"
"No," Jon turned away from his son in order to get away from the stricken look on the boy's face. "That's the last thing I wanna do today. Sorry, G."
Grayson Jonathan Turner was ten-years-old and a hockey player. Ten-year-old hockey players did not cry. Not when they lost and not when they got banned from a game for unsportsmanlike conduct or something their brother had blamed them for. Yet somehow a lone tear still managed to escape down the boy's cheek.
"I have to miss my game? What did I do?"
Jon froze. There was a game today? He groaned. It completely slipped his mind. He would never admit it to his son, but it really was the last thing he wanted to do. Turning back to the boy who looked so forlorn, he mustered up a halfhearted smile and said,
"No, of course, not. I just forgot what day it was. Yeah, we're going. But don't count on being there early."
Grayson stood in the middle of the kitchen feeling very out of sorts. He watched his father go about his daily routine of making coffee. Something about what he was doing bothered Grayson, but he didn't know why. As Jon picked up his mug began to leave, Grayson caught his sleeve.
"Dad, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just tired. Why?"
Grayson pointed to the coffeemaker as though Jon should know what was wrong.
"G, I don't feel like playing guessing games. What is it?"
"You forgot Mom's coffee."
Jon blinked, then stared down at his mug. There was a strange expression on his face; one of mental and physical weariness and something else. The ten year old didn't understand what is was or why his father looked so sad.
"Thanks for the reminder, G" he said, returning to the coffeemaker. "No wonder Mom's not up, right?"
Grayson gave him a short nod. He stood in the doorway, watching his father closely. He continued to watch him until Jon took Audrey's mug to their room. As the boy walked back down the stairs to get his gear ready for the game, he worried about the weirdness that was hanging over the house. He didn't have enough experience to figure out what was going on; he only knew something was wrong. He wondered if that something was why Shawn and Julia were suddenly best friends.
Shawn waited until Jon came back downstairs to fix himself breakfast before he attempted to talk to him. He stood quietly in the doorway, watching his former teacher studiously. It wasn't that he was trying to catch Jon in a good mood, but rather Shawn was waiting for right the moment to force him into a very particular mood. It was a risky thing to do and there was a very good chance that this would backfire on him, but it was a chance he had to take.
Jon caught a glimpse of Shawn out of the corner of his eye. The way his former student was watching him made him uncomfortable.
"Thanks for taking care Bella this morning."
"No problem," Shawn shrugged, stepping inside the kitchen. "Though I really could have used a Diapering 101 class."
Jon gave a short, tired laugh. "Yeah, I remember the first time I tried to change Julia's diaper alone. That was a disaster. I'm glad she can't remember it and Audrey wasn't there to see it."
Shawn smiled, still carefully observing him. "I managed after about ten minutes. I'm just glad she didn't pee on me."
"It's the boys who do that," Jon told him. "You're lucky Jamie's way past that stage. Every single time with that kid no matter what you did to avoid it."
Shawn paused. He licked his lips then pressed them together pensively. "So you got plans for after the game today?"
Jon poured milk over his cereal and shook his head. "Nah, no plans."
"Why don't you and Mom and take the day off afterwards. Jules and I can watch the little kids."
Mom? Jules? When did Shawn start using those names? Jon felt like he'd missed out on some major turning point in Shawn's return to the family. It was also a nick to his pride to hear the way Shawn referred to Audrey. Unless he'd just missed it, he hadn't heard Shawn refer to him by anything other than his name.
"Are you gonna get on me about not spending time with Audrey again?"
Shawn leaned against the counter. "I'd like to spend some time with you. And I just think that if you can't make time for her, you aren't going to make time for me. It'd be nice to talk to you without being interrupted every other minute."
Jon bristled. "Yeah, well, when you have kids that's what happens."
"They aren't the problem."
"Yeah, and what is, Shawn?"
And there it was; the beginning of the mood Shawn was hoping to get him in.
"You know what it is," he replied evenly.
"It's the job," Jon's tone was becoming defensive. "So what do you want me to do?"
"I don't know, but something has to change."
"Look, this is the way things are until June. I'm sorry but that's the way the job is."
Shawn took a moment before responding as he was about to enter dangerous territory. "I hope that's all it is."
The superintendent looked up at him sharply. He was not happy. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothin'." He locked eyes with Jon. "It's just really hard to understand why this particular job is so all-consuming that's all."
"You think I'm purposely making this harder?" Jon glared at him. "Why would I do that, Shawn? So I don't have to be home?"
"I never said that." He could see the older man was getting very agitated and he had to tread lightly. "You did. Gotta admit though, I'm kinda wondering why you're getting so upset if there's nothing else going on."
"Everyone is on my case about something I can't control! You really think I enjoy this? That I enjoy being tired all the time and feeling terrible?"
Shawn shrugged, carefully gauging the intensity of Jon's reactions. Once upon a time, he knew Jon so well that he could push him just far enough to get him to act without going too far. But there was a lot of time and a lot of change between them and he was no longer sure how far was too far.
"You think my job should be easier? That I'm purposely making it hard?" He was angry. " Fine. Then why don't you come spend a week with me. You do exactly what I do for a week and then you come back and tell me I'm purposely making it hard."
Shawn bit back a triumphant smirk. He still had Jon's number after all; this challenge was exactly what he was hoping for. He ran a hand through his hair, purposely taking his time in responding.
"If you insist."
"Heads up!"
Julia's warning startled Shawn who, after making amends with Jon, was in the living room trying to entertain Jamie while the rest of the family got ready for Grayson's game. He just barely missed getting hit in the face with a phone. As he was about to reprimand her for throwing a projectile at him, Jon walked through the living talking to Grayson. Realizing that it was Jon's phone that had been thrown at him, Shawn quickly pocketed the device until the room was empty again, except for Jamie. Julia grabbed her little brother and plopped him down in front of the TV hoping he'd be distracted enough to leave them alone until Shawn was done doing whatever he was going to do.
"You see Mom yet?" Shawn asked as Julia unlocked their father's phone for him. Jon had gotten a little more creative with pass codes over the years but not by much.
"Yeah," she said morosely. "She doesn't look too good. I think she did have a rough night. And she's super quiet."
Shawn grimaced. "That's not good."
It took less than thirty seconds to set up the do not disturb feature on the phone, but it took much longer than he anticipated to disable the notification for it permanently. Ten minutes and several Googled how-to articles later, Shawn smirked triumphantly at the phone, quite pleased with his accomplishment. As he was about to hand the phone back to Julia, the ringtone announced an incoming call. Shawn quickly silenced the phone before checking to see who the call was. He scowled.
Kat Tompkins.
"Hey, Jules, you remember me telling you how I used to end Dad's calls with Ms. Tompkins?"
Julia looked at him suspiciously. "Yeah?"
"Would you like the honor?" He held the phone out to her so she could see the screen.
With a wicked smile, Julia pushed the button that terminate the call. Shawn looked thoughtful as he swiped through the call log.
"Being able to slam a receiver was way more satisfying than pushing a button."
"Why?"
"Because the force of the slam was directly proportional to the level of anger you had with the person on the other end."
Before Julia could say anything, they heard Jon coming down the hall, clearly frustrated, and looking for his phone. Shawn tossed the phone to Julia who, after a moment's hesitation, dropped it in between the couch cushions.
"What's up, Dad?" she asked innocently, leaning into Shawn.
"I can't find my phone," he said. Jon stopped his search for a moment and regarded his children curiously. Something was up. Those two had been way too chummy and quiet lately and it was just a bit worrying.
"We'll help you look," Shawn told him.
Jon saw a look pass between them, but he was too tired to bother with it. As they searched, he couldn't help notice that they spent a strange amount of time in the living room.
"Uh, guys," he called to them, "I haven't been in the living room this morning."
"You haven't?" Shawn asked and glanced at Julia.
Again a look passed between the two. Jon was beginning to get annoyed. Shawn saw this, looked at him, then pointed to the couch.
"So is this Mom's phone then?" he asked almost as innocently as Julia.
Irritation ran up Jon's spine at the way he called Audrey "mom". It wasn't rational, but it really bothered him that Shawn referred to her as such. He shook the thought away and tried to focus on finding his phone. As he looked at his son and daughter, Jon had the strangest feeling that they both knew the answer to that question. He walked over to the couch and looked at where Shawn was pointing. Sure enough it was his phone in between the cushions.
"How the-?" Jon was baffled. He knew he had not been in the living room that morning. There was no way the phone had fallen out of his pocket and ended up there. One of the kids must have gotten a hold of it, but how? When? Had he been in this room and just didn't remember? He felt an all too familiar pain creeping up his shoulders, the onset of a headache. He really wished he could just stay home and not be anywhere or do anything.
"You okay, Dad?" Julia was at his side with a worried expression.
"Uh, yeah, Jules, I'm fine," he said absently, kissing the top of her head. Picking up the phone, he checked to see if he had missed any calls, but there was no record that he had. He put the device in his back pocket and left the room muttering something about losing his mind.
Shawn and Julia exchanged another look, this one of both relief and concern.
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building or, as it was better known, the Main Branch of the New York Public Library. The library was a historic landmark in Midtown Manhattan. It was four stories worth of books and exhibits, almost 2.5 million volumes. Shawn and Julia were supposed to meet Cory at the main entrance steps at Fifth Avenue and East 41st Street. But they were running behind schedule as Grayson's game had gone into to overtime, resulting in a shoot-out loss. After the family made it back home, the duo had delayed in heading to their meeting because not only was Grayson down over the loss but a dark cloud seem to hang over the family as though everyone was unwillingly involved in a routine event and resentful of the others for just going through the motions. Shawn very nearly called the whole thing off after seeing Jon and Audrey heading to different parts of the house with Jon shutting himself in his office. But he decided that it was better to leave them like this now rather than later.
The trio exchanged greetings near the pair of stone lions that guarded the library entrance. It took awhile for them to find a quiet, hidden spot to hole up in in the Main Reading Room, which was about 78 by 297 feet with a 52-foot-high ceiling. Although it was highly unlikely that they would encounter anyone they knew, the group decided it was better to be safe than sorry.
Once seated, Cory rubbed the palms of his hands together. If he seem overly enthused about what they doing it was because he was. He relished being able to do something out of the ordinary for once.
"So, my Shawn, my niece, what ideas do we have so far?"
Shawn and Julia, who were sitting across from him, looked at each other. Julia shrugged. Shawn reported that he'd managed to get himself invited to tag along with Jon for a week.
"Nice," Cory said impressed. "I wasn't sure you'd still be able to do stuff like that."
"I wasn't either," his best friend admitted. "I'm glad Dad hasn't changed that much."
A small smile pulled at Cory's lips when he heard Shawn call Jon "dad". It was about time.
Shawn tapped his fingers against the table's top. He looked up at Cory with a serious expression. "After I enabled Dad's do not disturb feature on his phone and disabled the notifications for it, guess who called?"
Cory's face lost it's eagerness and turned grim. "You're kidding? On a Saturday?"
Shawn nodded. "We don't know why she called, though."
"I hung up on her," Julia told him with a certain amount of satisfaction, tossing her dark curls over her shoulder.
"Good for you. Did you check to see if she's been texting him?"
Shawn shook his head. "Didn't have time. You know," he drawled out slowly, thinking. "I need an app."
Cory arched an eyebrow in question. Shawn turned to Julia. "Jules, I need an app that would allow me get calls and texts from Dad's phone. I want to be able to reroute his calls, take them myself, or" he paused. "I just wanna be able to control calls and texts."
Julia thought for a moment. "I don't know of anything like that off-hand, at least nothing that would be safe to use."
Cory frowned and Shawn sat back in his chair, disappointed.
"But," she continued, "I do know someone who could create an app like that. I'll need specifics on what you want."
Shawn grinned. But his sister wasn't so happy.
"It's gonna cost, though," she told them. "This kid ain't cheap."
The men shrugged not bothered at all.
"We'll cover it," Cory said.
The trio spent the next half an hour clarifying plans for the app. Once satisfied, Julia took a picture of their notes and texted it to her friend.
"So," Cory sat forward, laying his palms on the table. "My role in all of this is to facilitate you two in your crazy scheme then point out everything that could go wrong with it."
"And agree to go along with it anyway," Shawn finished with a grin.
"That's the way it works," Cory said matter-of-factly. "I get that you want to free up Jon's after school time, but what about actual work stuff? I mean messing with calls and texts could mess with his job."
"Yeah, I know," Shawn said seriously. "When I go with him next week I'm going to try to figure what types of calls he gets and what's really necessary to deal with after hours. I won't mess with anything if I don't have to."
"Okay," Cory conceded. "Sounds reasonable. What if you get caught with this app on your phone?"
Shawn considered this. "Burner phone," he replied. "If I get asked why I have two, I'll say one's for work. If it gets found by someone, it's not mine."
Cory nodded.
Julia regarded the two men with her chin resting on her hand. "Any other holes in the plan, Uncle Cory?"
"I'm sure there are but I don't see 'em right now."
"So we get access to Dad's phone, so what?" she asked, underwhelmed by the plot so far. "I don't see how this is going to help."
"Dad has no time because it's like he's on call twenty-four/seven," Shawn explained. "If he's not on call, he's gonna have time. Time for us. Time for himself. Time for Mom. At least that what I'm hoping for."
"So," Cory said earnestly, "Let's debrief."
Shawn gave him a puzzled look. "I thought that's what we're doing."
"Yeah, but nobody said it so it's not official. Anyway," Cory went on. "I talked to my parents about the early days of Jon and Audrey's marriage."
"Get anything good?" Julia loved hearing story about her parents, especially stories from before she was born.
"Eh, not really," Cory informed her, clearly disappointed. "I just got a really, really long story from Mom about the best love story ever. Apparently, she thinks the whole clandestine marriage thing was really romantic. She went on about it so much that I think Dad was a little offended that their love story did rank as high with her."
"Anything else?" Shawn asked, a bit disheartened that they had nothing to work with so far.
"I got chewed out for not telling them you're home home."
"Oh, yeah. I probably should have called them myself. Well, I haven't had a chance to talk to Mom yet, so I can't add anything."
"I don't get it," Julia said, rubbing her nose. "I thought you there when they got married, Shawn?"
"Uh-huh," he said. "Dad didn't take me the second time to see Mom. So I wasn't with him when they got married."
"Why?"
Shawn shifted uncomfortably. He really disliked thinking about that time. But he felt he owed it to his sister to tell her the truth. "Well, Dad and I had a really hard time together after Mom got sent back to New York. So when my bio dad came back, I sorta chose to go with him. Dad and I went to see Mom as soon as school was out, but she said no to us then. My da-." For a moment Shawn was deeply conflicted over who to assign to title of "Dad" to. He felt a deep loyalty to the man who chose to take him in. But in calling him Dad he felt he was being deeply disloyal to the man with whom he shared DNA. "My bio dad and I went traveling that summer so I wasn't around when he back to see Mom."
Julia frowned and glanced between her brother and uncle. "What do you mean Mom got sent back to New York? Who sent her back? Why?"
Shawn and Cory exchanged "uh-oh" looks.
"Well," Shawn began not sure how much he should tell her. "Mr. Feeny did."
Julia looked bewilderingly at Cory. "But why would he do that? I've always thought he liked her."
"He does," Cory assured her.
"Jules," Shawn was unsure of what to say because he didn't know how much she knew. "Did you know that Mom had an eating disorder when she was at Julliard?"
She nodded. "Yeah, she told me all about that."
"Well, she relapsed while she was student teaching. Dad and I covered for her while she got treatment so she could stay with us. When Mr. Feeny was told about it, he sent her back. He kinda had to."
"Who told?"
Neither Shawn nor Cory could look her in the eyes, but there was something in her brother's expression that gave away the answer.
"It was her wasn't it?"
Shawn looked up and frowned.
"It was Miss Tompkins. That's why you can't stand her."
"Yeah," Shawn confirmed quietly. "I'm still having trouble letting that one go. She really ruined things for me and Dad. My life would have been so different if she had left Dad alone and minded her own business."
Julia sat back in stunned silence, letting this new information sink in. As tempting as it was to commiserate with his sister over the matter, Shawn knew they had to focus on the task at hand.
"Listen," He turned his attention to his best friend. "I need help coming up with a good story to sell NYC Lifestyle on following a superintendent around for a week."
It was nearly twenty minutes later when they finished up Shawn's pitch to the life style blog and Cory's phone rang. It was Topanga wanting to know how close he was to coming home.
"We've got to get going, too," Shawn mouthed to Cory.
Cory told Topanga he was on his way and would see her soon. As the trio reached the doors of the library, Cory stopped abruptly and turned to his companions.
"You know we're just getting one side of the story here, right?"
Shawn and Julia gave him blank looks.
"We don't know what's going on on Miss Tompkins' end," he expounded.
"I think we can guess," Julia muttered.
"Yeah, but we don't know for sure."
Shawn thought about this. "No we don't."
"We could use an insider," Cory gave Shawn a meaningful look.
"A mole," Shawn replied catching on.
"A covert operator."
"A spy."
The men turned their gazes onto Julia. She stared back in confusion, then a dark realization of what they wanted struck her.
"Oh, no! Forget it!" she said fiercely. She shook her head so hard, her curls flew in cloud around her. "Not gonna happen. No way!"
"It's for the greater good, Jules," her brother insisted.
"No!"
"We're not saying you have to marry the kid," Cory assured her.
"Or even date him," Shawn added. "Just meet him and strike up a friendship."
Julia glared at her brother and uncle.
"I do not want to go out with Miss Tompkin's son."
"Juuuules...think about Mom and Dad," Shawn said, putting and arm around her and pulling her close. "Think about what Miss Tompkins did to them."
Julia folded her arms across her chest and darkened her glare.
"Fine!" She pouted unhappily. "But you owe me big. You both do!"
The men congratulated her on taking one for the team, but the teen was already plotting how they were going to repay her. As the group exited the building, Julia's phone pinged with a notification.
"Hey," she said, stopping to lean against one of the lions. Her attitude lightened considerably. "DeAndre just texted me back. He said he can totally you build you the app you want."
"Great," Shawn grinned.
"Hold that thought," she said, holding her phone out to Shawn. "Here's his quote."
Shawn jaw dropped. The number was in the triple digits, getting a little too close to quad numbers. "Holy cow! That kid's expensive!"
"He's gonna want half of the payment upfront. And you'll have to meet him and sign a contract."
He stared at her. How old was this kid exactly? Fifteen going on thirty?
Ever the teacher, Cory grinned appreciatively. "Expensive and thorough. Now there's a kid who's going places."
Sunday was an unusual day. The whole family stayed in. No church. No walk in the Park. No eating out. Just everyone doing their own thing. Under ordinary circumstances this would be a part of a normal ebb and flow of family life. However, the circumstances were not ordinary. At one point, Shawn and Julia slipped had out long enough to meet with DeAndre. As Julia told him, the teenager did indeed have paper work that he required Shawn to sign and Julia to co-sign. When Shawn remarked at the level of detail in the contract, DeAndre proudly informed Shawn that he had taught himself business law online.
Watch out, Elon Musk!
With the deal done and partial payment made, Shawn and Julia parted ways with DeAndre and headed back inside just in time for Jon to say goodbye to them.
"What?!" Shawn and Julia exclaimed simultaneously.
"I've got a volatile situation with a parent that the school principal hasn't been able to handle," he informed them sourly, shutting down any chance of protest. "I have to go."
Julia went ahead and protested anyway, knowing full well she was flirting with a grounding. With Shawn around and her dad not, it would be like there was no punishment so what did it matter?
Shawn slipped in front of Jon while he was distracted, blocking his exit. Directly, behind his father was Audrey. She stood in the doorway watching quietly.
Quiet.
That was the word that accurately described Audrey the entirety of the weekend. Quiet and Audrey were a dangerous combination. The quieter she was the more upset she was. And she was becoming increasingly quieter, hardly speaking to anyone, including the children.
"You don't have to go. It could wait until Monday."
The sharpness in her voice drew Jon's attention and he scowled at her. Between Julia's complaints, the constant phone calls demanding he fix an unfixable situation, and now his wife voicing her displeasure with him, he was at a breaking point.
"No, it can't!" Though the words were few, they were so sharp, so bitter, that they caused everyone in the room including Grayson and Jamie to stop and stare uncertainly at him.
Audrey's eyes fell to the floor. Without a word, she turned and left the room. Shawn could see the hurt on her face and the tears that were in her eyes. There was an awkward moment of silence. Then Jon turned and stormed out. Shawn jumped out of his way and grabbed Julia.
"Go with him," he told her. "Say whatever you have to say to get him to take you with him."
She nodded and obeyed, sprinting after their father. Shawn looked at the doorway where Audrey had been standing, then at the boys. Jamie had gone back to playing with his Legos almost too quietly, but Grayson was staring at him with wide, worried eyes, looking very lost. Of the five of them, Grayson was by far the most sensitive and the most reserved.
"It's okay, G," Shawn told him, but the ten-year-old was not convinced. He knelt in front of his little brother and put his hand on his shoulder. "I promise."
It a rare display of emotion typically reserved for his mother when they were alone, Grayson grabbed onto Shawn and hugged him close.
"Dad! Daddy!"
Julia just barely made into the garage before her father reached the car. He stopped to look at her and she barreled into him, grabbing on and holding tightly to him.
"I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm so sorry."
At her distress, Jon melted. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "I'm sorry, too, Jules," he said into her hair.
"I wanna go with you."
He almost said yes. He wanted to say yes. "Not this time, princess," he said regretfully. He really did enjoy having her around, especially at the office. She reminded him so much of her mother. "This isn't the kind of thing you need to be around."
"Then I'll sit outside with," Julia swallowed the bitter taste that arose with the name she was about to say, "Miss Tompkins and wait for you."
"Nope, sorry."
"Fine." Julia hugged him tightly then let him go. He smiled sadly at her. The moment he turned away, she raced to the passenger side of the SUV and jumped in.
Jon didn't have time or energy to get her out of the vehicle. In truth, he was just a bit relieved that she was with him.
There were very rare moments in Shawn's life where it seemed that everything lined just the way it was supposed to and there was nothing he could do to mess it up. Such moments caused him considerable anxiety and he was actually thankful that they very rarely occurred. As it turned out, his new job was one of those moments.
The sales pitch that he, Cory, and Julia had come up with was grand and verbose. And lacking substance. Or at least that's what Shawn thought. The NYC Lifestyle blog really wasn't the kind of blog that cared about New York City Public Schools and their staff. Shawn was convinced they'd call his bluff about this being a great a story. However, once they found out where this particular superintendent lived and his connection to Shawn they were more than interested. With that worry off his mind, he turned his attention to Audrey who he had not seen since Jon left.
Shawn found her putting laundry away in Grayson and Jamie's room. She said nothing when she saw him, only giving him a small smile and fond pat on the cheek. She looked tired and distressed. Shawn was at a loss. He really didn't know what to do or say to help her. Worse yet was that he didn't think was anything to be said or done that could alleviate the stress she was under.
"Hey, Mama," was all that he could managed. And it seemed woefully inadequate.
Audrey stopped what she was doing and studied his worried countenance for a moment. Then, taking his face between her small palms, she put her forehead against his and smile warmly at him. He hugged her close. It seemed that all he could do lately was hug his family. He felt Audrey draw in a deep shaky, breath as though she might start to cry. As she did, she pulled back from, squeezed his arm, and signed, "I love you," like she used to when he was a kid. He returned the sign. Audrey gathered the empty laundry basket and left the room.
She never once said a word.
Shawn was still in a saturnine, hug-your-family-before-you-lose-them mood two hours later. Jamie and Bella were most definitely not and did not appreciate their brother's affection very much; they had other things to do. Audrey, who was starting dinner, did not want help so Shawn found himself back in his room, waiting. But for what he wasn't sure. For Jon to get back? For Julia to bring some sort of news? He didn't have too much time to think as the door to his room was suddenly thrown open and shut again very quietly.
Julia stood inside his room, leaning against the door, shaking. She was incredibly upset, yet disturbingly quiet.
"What?"
She said nothing. She only stared at him with large stormy eyes.
"Julia? Hey! What's wrong?" Her lack of response was sending his anxiety soaring.
Finally, she managed to get out, "She sent me home."
"What? Who?"
"Her," Julia spat.
There was one her they knew that deserved that kind of ire.
"Miss Tompkins?"
Julia looked at Shawn as though she was still trying to come to grips with what had just happened to her. "She. Sent. Me. Home."
"Whoa," Shawn said, his mind reeling. "Start at the beginning and tell me what happened."
Immediately, Julia began to pace his room.
"So this parent situation Dad had to deal was pretty ugly. But at least he seemed like Dad again when he went into the meeting. I stayed in the out office with her. The meeting went on forever. I don't know what the deal was, but the mom couldn't get Dad to do what she wanted and he finally kicked her out, like security escort out of the building. The mom was a total psycho!" She paused and bit her lip. "After it was over, Dad just kinda collapsed in his chair. It's like that whole thing drained any energy he had left." She stopped talking, but continued to pace, twisting a lock of hair into tight knot around her finger.
"Okay," Shawn urged her to go on. "So how'd Miss Tompkins end up sending you home?"
"First she tried to get me kicked out of his office because she wanted to talk to him privately," she responded making a face. "but he wouldn't do it. The private talk she wanted to have was convincing him to go to dinner with her."
Shawn frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose between the thumb and forefinger of his right head. This was not good. "So now the meeting's over. Dad goes home and you go with him. Where's Dad now?"
"At dinner with her."
"What!?" Shawn, jumped up from his seat, furious. Although, he was uncertain who he was more angry with Jon or Miss Tompkins. "How did you let that happen?"
"I didn't let it happen!" Julia snapped back defensively. "I'm only fifteen. There's only so much I can do!"
"Okay. Okay. Sorry." Now Shawn was pacing. "How did he respond to the dinner thing? Did he seem like he was really into it?"
Julia sighed. "He seemed like he had no idea what he was actually agreeing to."
"What do you mean?"
"Miss Tompkins kept talking about dinner and how he needs to eat, they needed to do the budget report, blah, blah, blah. It's almost like her talking was giving him a headache so he just agreed to make her stop."
That Shawn could understand. In the single meeting he'd had with the woman, she talked way too much for his liking. "How'd you get sent home, though?"
"Because when I suggested a place to go, she got really, like, stern and told me I couldn't go because I had school tomorrow, like she's my mom or somethin'."
"Dad was cool with that?"
"Not really. He did agree with her. But then I told him all my school is done so he agreed with me and said I could go. Then she said I shouldn't be out late on school night, so he agreed with her. I pointed out that it's not even six yet, so then he was on my side again. She kept coming up with reason I couldn't go and I kept coming reasons why her reason were dumb. But it was like Dad couldn't make a decision on who was right," Julia paused looking suddenly guilty. "I think I messed up when I told her she wasn't my mother."
"Why?"
"Because it made her really mad. She said I was being disrespectful to her just like my brother and Dad should do something about it. Like which brother even? I have three."
Shawn, however, knew exactly which brother the woman meant. He suppressed a growl of anger.
"I dunno, Shawn." Julia continued to twist and untwist her hair. "Dad just seemed so out of it. Like he couldn't make the decision on whether I should stay or go, so she made the decision for him. He seemed so upset by the noise we were making, that I kinda just shut up." Her shoulders drooped and she looked defeated. "I guess it is my fault that he's with her."
"No, it's not, Jules," Shawn assured her adamantly, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Do you know where they went?"
"I'm not sure. She hated my suggestion."
"What was that?"
"Topanga's."
"Ah."
"Shawn?"
"Yeah?"
"Dad told me to tell Mom that he wasn't going to be home for dinner." Her eyes were a maelstrom of unshed tears. "Shawn, I don't want to tell her. But I can't lie to her either."
It only took Shawn a moment to come up with a plan "Yeah. Look, Mom just started dinner a little while ago. See if she'll let you help her and tell her I'm meeting up with Dad and that we may be late."
Julia looked at him hopelessly. "How are you going to find out where they went?"
"Don't worry about that. I'll find him, Jules. You take care of Mom."
Julia nodded uncertainly, not sure she could go down and face her mother. She wasn't sure she could pretend nothing was wrong.
"Julia," Shawn called to her as she started down the hallway.
She looked back at him sadly.
"I'll bring him home."