One mother/son dance. Two former classmates. What Minkus said sends Shawn running to Jon in tears.

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For the next two days everything was relatively normal for Jon both at school and at home. There had been a few moments of acting out from Shawn, but they were short and not as volatile as before. Audrey told him what she talked to Shawn about when he was out but could not yet say with certainty what was going on with the teen. However, she did recommend trying to distract him when he started to get upset. That, so far, was working.

That morning had gone exceptionally well. Perhaps too well. Shawn had been in a cooperative mood and had gotten ready for school without any arguing or trying to manipulate his way out of class. Cory had stopped by to walk to school with Shawn and the two managed to not only get to school early, but they were in their seats in his classroom before he walked in. That probably should have been a warning that the dam was about to break.

That dam broke with ten minutes left in his fourth period freshman English lit class. In the middle of his explanation of the homework assignment, Jon's classroom door swung open with a sudden burst. There stood Shawn in the doorway with a panicked, stressed look on his face, extremely upset.

"Shawn?" A thousand thoughts ran through the teacher's mind at once as to what could be the problem then one in particular stood out: Chet was back.

"I need to talk to you now." There was a weighty fear attached to each word, yet the teen's voice was surprisingly steady.

Jon looked to Audrey for help. She motioned for him to go and stepped up to take over the class.

Out in the hallway, Jon braced himself for the inevitable: either Chet was back, or he was gone for good. Prepared for the worst, he took Shawn by the shoulders, inhaled deeply, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Shawn's eyes were wide and distressed. "You're not gonna believe what Minkus did."

Jon stared at him thinking he must have misheard him. Shawn could not have just said Minkus. As in Stuart Minkus? The kid must have said something else that sounded like Minkus. Shminkus, Rinkus, Dinkus...there wasn't a rhyme Jon could come up with that made any sense.

He could not have said Minkus, though. There was no way Shawn left Eli's class to interrupt his class about something Minkus did; they weren't even in the same classes. Jon tried to focus on what Shawn was saying to understand the actual reason for the interruption. Out of Shawn's mouth came a torrent of words, most spoken so fast that they were indecipherable, except for the name Minkus that kept coming up. The best Jon could understand was that two former classmates had some exchange in the hall as Shawn headed back to Eli's class from the bathroom.

Jon frowned. There wasn't much time left before the end of the period. By the time Shawn could make it back to Eli's room the period would be over, and the teen might bail on the rest of the day.

"C'mon, Shawn," the teacher sighed. "I can't understand what's goin' on, so go sit in the back of the room until my class is over. We'll talk then."

Shawn nodded and anxiously ran his hands through his hair as he followed Jon. Once in the classroom, Shawn went as far back in the room as he could. It struck both Jon and Audrey as very strange that he opted to sit on the floor in the corner rather than in an empty desk.

After the period was over and everyone was gone, Jon shut the door to the classroom and stood in front of it. "All right, Shawn. What's goin' on?"

Shawn stood to his feet slowly, his shoulders slumped forward, and his eyes downcast. Then he looked at Jon and blinked as though the light was hurting his eyes. The next thing the English Lit teacher knew, Shawn rushed at Audrey and threw his arms around her.

Jon locked his classroom door; if Feeny wanted to give him grief about it later he could. He didn't want anyone walking in unannounced right now.

"Shawn," Jon said, putting a leg over a student desktop and leaning against it. "Tell me you didn't interrupt my class because Minkus said somethin' to you."

Shawn looked hurt that Jon didn't see the seriousness in this. "You weren't there. You didn't hear what he said."

"Then tell me."

"I did!" Shawn gave his teacher a dirty look as though Jon had somehow betrayed him. "You weren't listening!"

"Shawn, I couldn't understand you!"

"You never can!" the boy shouted in anger before he buried his face in Audrey's shoulder, fighting not to cry.

Jon held his hands out and motioned that he gave up. He stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets, and paced the room.

Audrey watched Jon for a moment then, wrapped her arms tighter around Shawn's shoulders. "Shawn," she said gently. "You didn't tell me what Minkus said."

Shawn turned his head so that his voice wasn't muffled. "Minkus walked into me when he came outta his classroom. He had his nose in a book and was runnin' some errand to the office. He walked into me, but he yelled at me like I tried to beat him up or somethin'."

Audrey squinted. There had to be more to it than that. "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know," the teen cried in dismay. Jon stopped pacing for a moment to look at his student who was obviously in pain. Shawn continued, "I was taking the longest way back to Mr. Williams class after I went to the bathroom. I wasn't walkin' down the middle of the hall I was along the wall. Minkus opens his classroom door, hits me, I tell him to watch it, and he yells at me."

At this point, Shawn was in tears: hot tears streaming down his face, full on sobs shaking his shoulders. Jon stared at him dumbfounded at this reaction to something Minkus said. Audrey was equally confused as the confrontation, if you could even call it that, seemed very mild.

"Was that all?" she asked.

Shawn rubbed his eyes and nose against the fabric of her shoulder trying to make the tears stop."He had some fliers that he was takin' back to the office. He dropped them when he hit me. I asked him what they were for and he said the mother/son dance. I told him I didn't get one and he snatched the ones I picked up for him and told me that's because I don't have a mom, so I don't need one."

Well, at least what Minkus said to upset him now made sense. Jon was still baffled that Minkus of all people could spark this kind of reaction out of Shawn when no one else could. Anyone else would've come face to face with Shawn's temper and fist. How in the world could Minkus send Shawn running to his classroom in tears? As far as he knew, the two hadn't spoken to each other since the end of middle school. Aside from the occasional jokes cracked by him and Cory about really smart kids, Minkus was not a name that came up. Jon wasn't sure he could even pick the kid out of a line up because he wasn't sure he'd ever actually met Stuart.

If Shawn's reaction was bad, Audrey's lack of reaction was worse. She was holding him and stroking his hair as you would an inconsolable child, but she said nothing. This filled Jon with dread. If Audrey didn't know what to do to make Shawn stop crying, he was in trouble. He had no experience whatsoever to draw on that might help Shawn.

Finally, Audrey spoke. "This isn't about Minkus at all, is it, Shawn?"

Her question caught Jon's attention and he wondered how she came to that conclusion. It certainly seemed like it was about Minkus to him.

Shawn didn't answer. He appeared to be holding his breath. Eventually, he shook his head no into her shoulder and held on tighter.

Audrey caught Jon's gaze and held it. "This is about your mom, isn't it?"

At that, Shawn's sobs began over again, more pained than before.

His mom? Shawn was upset about his mom? It came back to Jon at that moment that it wasn't just Chet who took off on Shawn; Virna dumped him first. He had been so angry with and focused on Chet that he'd simply forgotten that both parents had abandoned their kid. Jon let out a heavy sigh and walked over to sit on his desk next to Audrey and Shawn.

"This did all kinda start up after Ms. Jenkins came to homeroom and announced the mother-son dance a couple of weeks ago," Jon told her.

Audrey wasn't surprised. "When I asked him the other night what was bothering him, he went off on a tangent about how stupid the dance was. I kinda of figured this was going to come out sooner or later." She sighed. "Dads aren't expected to stay, moms are. There's no way her leaving didn't affect him."

"I forgot about her to be honest."

"No wonder," she said. "Was she ever around? Did you ever meet her?"

Jon shook his head. "I think the last time I even heard her name was when Chet said he was takin' off to find her. Shawn's never once mentioned her in all the time he's been with me."

A lot of things were beginning to make sense, especially when it came to Shawn's attachment to Audrey and why he wanted her with them all the time. Shawn's sudden declined interest in dating to stay home had concerned Jon some, but that too made sense now; the teen didn't want a girlfriend as much he wanted a mother. The English Lit teacher felt a bit useless watching Audrey console Shawn. She spoke to him in low, soothing tones, reminding him that none of this was his fault and that he was loved and safe. No wonder he'd been pushing so hard to stay with her. He needed a mother. He needed Audrey. In this situation Jon wasn't sure what he was. He wasn't a father, that was certain. A brother then? The fun uncle that was rarely around? Whatever he was, he wasn't what Shawn needed.

Jon sighed heavily. He felt Audrey watching him. He looked at her, saw her affectionate, encouraging smile, and wondered why she was looking at him like that before he realized what he was doing. In his brooding, he'd moved closer to her and was rubbing Shawn's shoulders. Audrey gently rocked back and forth on her heels as Shawn quieted down. The teen was no longer crying, he was just holding on to his teachers.

Audrey brushed the boy's hair off his face. "Feeling any better?"

Shawn turned his head toward Jon, then answered her, "Some."

"What are you thinking?"

"A lot."

"Tell me one thing."

"I can't go to the dance." Jon watched his face wrinkle up as he fought back tears. "But if I don't then everyone will know Mom left me too. Everyone will know that she didn't want me either."

"I don't think that's true, Shawn," Audrey said quietly.

"Then why didn't she take me with her?" The pain from earlier flooded his face as he fought an internal battle between hurt and anger.

Neither adult had an answer to his question, but Audrey said, "I don't know what your mom's going through, Shawn, but obviously she's dealing with some heavy stuff. She may have thought she was giving you a better chance by leaving you behind."

"With Dad?" Shawn scoffed derisively. Tears began to choke his speech which made him angry. "Dad's so horrible she had to leave him and take everything with her but he's okay for me to stay with? She doesn't want me, and you both know it. She didn't even say goodbye. It's like I'm not even her kid."

As angry as Jon was with Chet, Audrey was equally angry with Virna. Had Virna been using drugs and took off in pursuit of them then Audrey could understand leaving her child behind. But was that her excuse? If not or even if it was, she still could not excuse leaving a child behind in such a cold way. Especially with a father as unreliable as Chet. She hugged Shawn tightly. There was nothing she could say to alleviate his pain.

The three of them stood there for a long while as Shawn tried to get himself together. The bell had rung for the next period some time ago. Jon had no class; it was supposed to be his plan time. He knew he should let Shawn's Algebra teacher know where he was, but it didn't feel right to leave at that moment.

Audrey tapped Shawn's shoulder to get his attention. When he looked at her, she asked, "What if I took you to the dance?"

Shawn lifted his head suddenly and pulled back so he could see her better. His eyes were wide with surprise that she would even think of that. "Would you?"

"Yes," she answered adamantly. "I would."

This idea thrilled Shawn but almost immediately he saw the problem with it. "Everyone knows you're not my mom. It would never work." He put his head back on her shoulder and tightened his grip on Jon's arm, feeling as though the entire world was against him.

Jon had known that he needed to do something meaningful for Shawn for quite some time, but he struggled to come up with anything until Audrey offered to be "mom" for the dance.

"The dance is Friday," he said slowly, trying to get his thoughts together.

"So?" asked Shawn, sounding miserable.

"So I'm not chaperoning and when I don't chaperon a dance Audrey isn't required to be there."

"So?" asked Audrey.

"So I'm thinkin' we head to Pittsburgh for the weekend."

Shawn gave him a curious look and lifted his head away from Audrey.

"What are we gonna do there?" he asked skeptically.

Jon shrugged. He really had no idea as he'd never been to Pittsburgh before. "I dunno, but I hear there's a lot of family stuff to do."

At the mention of family, Shawn's eyes lit up, but he still wasn't completely convinced that this was a good idea. "Why Pittsburgh?"

Jon looked at Audrey and smiled. He looked back at Shawn and said, "No one there knows you aren't our kid. And no Feeny."

Our kid... A slow smile spread over his face as he began to warm up to the idea. "I could ask Topanga if she knows anywhere fun to go. She's gotta an aunt out there."

Jon nodded, pleased with himself for contributing something helpful. "Sounds like we gotta a plan."

"Better than a dance," Shawn said. He allowed the feeling of hope with idea gave him have a place over the hurt and anger of his parents' abandonment.

"Definitely," Audrey grinned.

Jon gave Shawn a few minutes to get himself ready to go to his next class along with a note to excuse his absence. As Shawn reached the classroom door, he turned and gave his teachers a shy look and asked hesitantly, "So will this weekend kinda be like Christmas?"

Jon quickly checked to see if any principals were watching through the door's window, then smiled and put his arm around Audrey.

"Just like Christmas."

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