❝I'm very protective of how much I let people see.❞

Christina Aguilera

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"C'mon Shawn, you've lived here three weeks and you've spent two and a half of them in the bathroom!" Cory complained as he banged on the bathroom door.

"Will you shut up, I'm trying to study here," Eric glared at him.

Cory raised a brow at him, clearly not believing him.

"Well, I am," Eric huffed.

"Well, I'm trying to take a shower."

Eric's head snapped up to his little brother with a skeptic look.

"Well, I am," Cory defended.

"Okay, see the fact that he's shocked by that means you need to do it more often," Elena commented before going back to Eric's SAT book.

Eric had asked her to help him study for his upcoming SAT test and she'd adopted the same method she used on Cory and Shawn. Get an answer right, get a milk dud.

"Almost done," Shawn promised as he finally opened the door. He had a razor and shaving cream across his cheeks and between his eyebrows, "Just doing my burns."

"Whoa," Cory's eyes widened, "You shave?"

"Yeah, y'see facial hair sprouts early in my family. Especially on my mom's side. Lena," Shawn motioned his head for her to come help him.

Elena sighed. "Shawn, you've been doing your 'burns' on your own for however you've been pretending to have them."

"Yeah but it doesn't sting as much when you do it," He pouted at her and held out the razor.

Before she could move to go over Eric grabbed her and hugged her to his chest. "No! You are not taking my ladybug away. She's helping me study. And she gives me milk duds."

"Eric, you haven't gotten a single answer right for the last half hour," Cory scoffed, "You only get a milk dud when you get the question right."

"Yeah but sometimes she sneaks me one just for effort," Eric grinned, still hugging Elena.

"What?!" Shawn and Cory looked at her in betrayal.

"Well, I'm not going to anymore," Elena grumbled pointedly as she pinched Eric's arm.

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"Well, you sure are yellow today," Elena chuckled as she walked over to Shawn by the water fountain, "Are you trying out for the sun in the school play?"

He was wearing a bright yellow jacket, although he'd cut the sleeves off.

Haha, very funny," Shawn laughed dryly, "Mrs. Matthews got this jacket for me."

"Shawn, is that the new jacket my mom gave you?" Cory asked as he joined them, clearly noticing the missing sleeves.

"Awe, look, it's the Tweedledee to your Tweedledum," Elena laughed when she noticed that Cory was wearing the exact same jacket, although his still had its sleeves.

"You're lucky you're so cute," Shawn pointed at her before turning to Cory, "Yeah, looks all right now, huh?"

Cory shook his head. "Do you know what she's gonna do when she sees that?"

"My guess is clean it, sew it back together, and put an 'S' on it," Shawn sassed, referring to the beat-up pants she'd done that to.

Elena decided to stop the teasing and patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Look, she's trying to be nice to you."

"And I'm just trying to get through this thing without making any waves," Shawn sighed but managed a smile when Elena grabbed his hand.

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Elena huffed as she shuffled around in bed for the hundredth time that night. It seemed that she was so tired now that she was imagining sounds. She could have sworn she heard a persistent knocking on her window.

"Okay, whatever ghost is trying to screw with me needs to go to hell already," Elena grumbled as she finally sat up in bed and looked around. She knew she wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon if the past few nights were anything to go by.

"Lena!" Her head snapped to her window when she heard Shawn's voice whisper.

"Shawn?" She furrowed her brows and rushed to open her window for him before he managed to hurt himself or fall off. "What are you doing here? The Matthews' have a nine o'clock curfew."

"I know, I know," He shrugged it off as he sat down on her couch, "I just- I couldn't deal with that anymore."

"You're freezing, Shawnie," She frowned when he grabbed her hand. She rushed to get a blanket and drape it over him, "How long have you been waiting outside?"

She kept herself busy making sure he was fully covered with the blanket as she hoped he'd missed the blow-up she'd had with her mother.

"Long enough," He gave her a knowing look as he stopped her from fusing over him and held her hand tightly. He rubbed comforting circles on her hands as he stared at her with worried eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"So you heard us fighting?" She asked to be sure, hoping with everything in her that he was just talking about her issues sleeping.

"Lena, c'mon," He sighed, "We never hide anything from each other."

Elena bit her lip as her eyes looked anywhere but at Shawn. She was trying to find an excuse to get out of talking about the fight he'd heard her having with her mother.

"Elena," Shaw's voice was firm as he gently grabbed her face and forced her to look at him, "You know everything about my messed up trailer park family."

"It's not messed up," She interrupted him quietly, trying to make him feel better about everything that happened over the last three weeks.

"See, you're still trying to make me feel better about it," He smiled fondly, "I want to be able to do that for you. Let me be there for you, please Lena."

Elena sighed, her fingers grasping onto his hand tighter. "My mom left when I was nine. I came home and the house was a mess and my dad was just crying. He tried to pretend he wasn't when he figured out I was home but I still knew. She came back a few months later, I still don't know why my dad took her back," She scoffed as she played with the ring on his finger, "Now, she kicks him out whenever she feels like it. He hasn't been home in a month."

Shawn's eyes widened as he took in everything she'd said. He pulled her into his chest without a word and held her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Lena."

"It's not your fault," She shrugged as she tried to keep from sniffling.

Shawn knew that she was deflecting, trying to close up just as she started to open up to him. He hated that she felt like she had to do that but he understood. He'd been doing it for so long, after all.

"I know but I wish you didn't have to go through any of that," He sighed as he nuzzled his head into her hair.

The two talked for an hour, trying their hardest to make the other feel better. It wasn't long before they were both climbing out of Elena's window to do something they both knew they shouldn't.

Soon enough, they found themselves outside of Jonathan Turner's apartment.

"Hunter? Look, this really isn't a good time," He huffed when he opened the door. His brows furrowed when he saw he wasn't alone, "Martinez? What are you doing here?"

"You're telling us," Shawn laughed nervously as their police escort finally made himself known, "He's a cop."

"I think he knew that Shawn," Elena, even in serious trouble, never knew how to keep her borderline snarky comments at bay.

"You Jonathan Turner?" Officer Dawson asked, "You knew these kids?"

"Yeah, Shawn Hunter and Elena Martinez. I'm their teacher at John Adams High," Jonathan explained after getting over the initial shock of seeing the two with a police escort, "Officer, you want to tell me what this is all about."

"We spotted your friends here loitering outside the high school with some older kids. And they had about 20 of these."

Jonathan gave the two a look of disappointment as the officer held up the can. "Spray paint?"

"Looks like they were planning to do some redecorating," Officer Dawson huffed dryly.

"No, no, no. We were just going to sell them to the bad kids," Shawn excused with a breezy laugh.

"And overcharge them for it, serves them right," Elena continued with a scoff.

"This one grabs her and takes off down an alley. We caught up with him outside your place, says he's staying with you," Officer Dawson raised a brow at Jonathan, obviously anticipating the lie.

After a beat of silence, Jonathan nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah, they're staying with me. Their folks are out of town."

"Called," Shawn cut in as Elena rolled her eyes, "Out of town. To save a baby girl in East Virginia who fell down a blowhole. Just like I told you."

"I tried to get him to shut up but I think the paint fumes killed his last brain cell," Elena whispered to Jonathan with an apologetic shrug.

"Look, officer, I'm sorry I thought he was in his room," Jonathan smiled apologetically.

"If you want to do your friend a favor, keep him in the house," Officer Dawson advised pointedly before he turned to Elena, his gaze softening considerably, "Miss Martinez, come on I'll give you a lift home. But you don't get to turn on the emergency lights, your little stunt today revoked that privilege."

Elena ignored the looks of shock Shawn and Jonathan were giving her and smiled softly at officer Dawson. "No thanks, Mr. Dawson. I'll just get Happy to pick me up later. I have a feeling Mr. Turner's going to want to talk about this."

"And as usual, you'd be right," He huffed as she gave him a small grin.

Officer Dawson nodded his head and ruffled her hair before he gave Jonathan a nod and walked off.

"My parents fight a lot," Elena explained with a shrug when Jonathan raised a brow, "Our neighbors called the police a few times about noise complaints and, uh, Officer Dawson's usually the one to come by."

He'd also driven her back home one too many times when he found her walking around aimlessly to wait out her parents yelling. He always let her turn on the police lights in his car to make her smile.

Jonathan sighed as he looked between the two, clearly not liking either situation they were in. But that didn't stop him from yelling at the two about how stupid they were.

"Fine, then we'll just go," Shawn scoffed as he grabbed Elena's hand, "I thought you were cooler than this."

"No, no, I'm not cool at all," He stopped him before he could take a step towards the door, "In fact, I get real old-fashioned when I see people that I care about being brought home by cops!"

Shawn and Elena shared a look as Jonathan turned away from them with a huff.

"Mr. Turner do you have to yell," Shawn sighed, "I've had a really rotten night."

"Oh? Do you see me ballroom dancing over here?" He raised a brow sarcastically.

With that, Shawn's patience ran out. "Look, is this going to take all night? Because I got places to be, man."

"Hunter," He huffed in exasperation, "You keep heading down this life track you're on, then the places you're going aren't going to be places you want to be, man."

Elena sighed as she looked between the two and tightened her hold on Shawn's hand. "Look, Mr. Turner, we're sorry we messed up your night."

His gaze softened as he waved his hand carelessly and threw himself onto the couch. "Eh, I already messed it up before you got here."

"Yeah," Shawn sighed as he and Elena joined him, "Women."

The last time Shawn had shown up at Jonathan's apartment he'd been having a fight with his girlfriend. She wanted commitment and Jonathan clearly wasn't ready to commit to someone like that. They'd had the same fight tonight which ended with her leaving just a few minutes before Shawn and Elena got there.

"What do you know about women?" Jonathan scoffed.

"What do you want to know?" Shawn smirked.

Elena did not try to hide the snort she let out at the prospect of Shawn Hunter knowing anything about dating.

"Oh, you think you can help me out, Hunter?" Jonathan laughed.

"Hey, you helped me," He smiled, "Besides, we always got Lena to help us out, too."

"Now see," Jonathan gave him a nudge, "Why can't you be this sharp in my class?"

"Math's not my best subject."

"I'm your English teacher."

Shawn's brows furrowed and he scoffed. "Then why are you teaching math?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Jonathan huffed.

"He's not and that's why I worry about him," Elena sighed.

Shawn turned to her with a goofy smile. "You worry about me."

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The two had spent the night at Jonathan's apartment with Shawn sleeping on the floor so Elena could have the couch. Bright and early the next morning Jonathan had dragged the two out of 'bed' and to the Matthews' house.

"Jonathan, thank you for the phone call. Let us know what's going on in our own house," Alan gave Cory a pointed glare.

Cory had tried his best to keep his parents from finding out that Shawn had snuck out last night. But it seemed that his parents were always one step ahead of him.

"Hey, where were you last night?" Cory rushed over to his best friend with worried eyes.

"I was at Turner's. Would you relax?" Shawn brushed him off.

"Cory and Shawn, upstairs, now!" Amy yelled, making the boys jump and rush up the stairs, "And where do you think you're going, young lady?" She raised a brow when they noticed Elena inching towards the door.

"I figured I was supposed to go to Mr. Feeny for my lecture," Elena mused before she motioned to the stairs, "Y'know, 'cause you already got those two to deal with. And I know he's going to want to talk to me about all of this, anyway."

"... Oh," Amy paused before she nodded her head, her voice turning stern again, "That's right. You march yourself over there, right now."

"Kay," She sang before she made her way outside where Mr. Feeny was already waiting with a disappointed look.

She smiled sheepishly as she trailed over to him.

"I've already called Mr. Hogan and your father to tell them about what happened," Mr. Feeny informed her.

"Yeah, I figured that," She nodded as he motioned for her to follow him inside.

"They have given me free rein over

"None of you want me. Well, that's fine! I don't need any of you! I never needed anybody!"

Elena's eyes widened when she heard Shawn's yelling and her head snapped towards the window to try and see what was going on.

"Mr. Feeny, can I..." She trailed off, hoping he would let her go check on her best friend before he continued his lecture.

"Go," He sighed.

Elena paused in Mr. Feeny's back garden as she watched Mr. Turner beat her to Shawn, who'd just jumped down from the tree next to Cory's room.

"Fall down a blowhole did ya?" Jonathan smiled when Shawn froze upon seeing him.

He'd heard Cory's parents on the phone with his father, who'd called for the first time since he left, and came to the conclusion that they didn't want him. He clambered up the stairs, grabbed his bag, and threw it out the window before climbing down after it.

"Look, I'm sure you got a lot of big emotional problems to work through here. But, I just need to find a place to sleep, okay?"

"I'll do you one better, how about I give you a home," Jonathan's words hung heavy in the air.

Shawn's brows furrowed. "What, your place?"

"Yeah, my place."

"For how long?" Shawn scoffed, "Three weeks and then you get sick of me?"

"Oh, I'm sick of you now, Hunter, but I'm still offering," Jonathan smiled.

Before she could say anything, Cory fell out of the tree.

"Oh, gosh!" He groaned in pain before smiling at Elena, who'd rushed over to help him.

"Look, I'm gonna go square things with your dad. 'Cause, that is what the responsible adult-type would do," Jonathan smiled at Shawn before going inside to tell everyone about Shawn's new living arrangements.

Shawn nodded with a small smile.

Jonathan turned around before he opened the door, "Martinez, I knew you got Mr. Feeny but if you ever need a place. My doors always open for you too."

"Thanks, Mr. Turner," The girls smiled fondly at him as she nodded.

"So you're moving in with Turner, huh?" Cory asked as Elena helped him limp over to the patio sofa.

"You were listening?" Shawn smiled shyly.

"Well, I was snagged up there for a while," He admitted, "I had to wait till a squirrel lost interest."

"Yeah, I saw that," Elena smiled, "The squirrel was in charge and they both knew it."

"Yeah," Shawn nodded before he gave Cory a meaningful look, "You know, Cory, your folks are great and all, but this seems right."

"Yeah, I think so," He nodded, "But you know what this means, don't you? I mean, you're not a stray anymore."

"Yeah," He chuckled as the three best friends squeezed into the small couch, "So, what's it like to be a housebroken dog?"

"It's not so bad," Cory shrugged, "I mean, you get your meals regular, you get your own chew toy, and if you bring in the paper, they are so thrilled."

"What if I hate it?" Shawn wondered and both Cory and Elena knew he was scared.

"I'll have my mom and dad put in a doggy door for ya," Cory smiled encouragingly.

"Just leave a window open," Shawn smiled, although his eyes were trained on Elena.

Cory nodded. "You got it."

"Always. I think I trained you two well enough to be allowed inside whenever you want," Elena nodded as she hugged her boys.

"Miss Martinez," Mr. Feeny called with his arms crossed.

"Damn, I thought I got out of that," She sighed.

"Well, for once, you thought wrong."

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While Elena was getting lectured by Mr. Feeny, Theo Martinez was busy fighting with his wife. Again.

"I just want to talk," He clenched his fists to keep from yelling.

"Really? Why?" Sofia asked coolly as she took a drag from her cigarette, "There is nothing for us to talk about."

"I knew you would be like this!" Theo huffed angrily as he slumped down into a chair, exasperated by his wife's indifference to everything.

"Then why did you come?" She asked with a laugh when she saw him get angrier.

"I want my daughter!" He was yelling now, "How dare you lie to her and tell her I left her?!"

"That's what happened, no?" She scoffed, "You left-"

"You kicked me out. Again," He corrected her pointedly.

Sofia rolled her eyes and huffed as she lit another cigarette. "I don't want to talk to you anymore. Get out of my house."

"You mean the house I paid for?" Theo laughed in exasperation.

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〚𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄〛

This was the last episode of season 2! I hope you guys liked the last couple of chapters, please tell me what you thought. Don't forget to comment!

Fun fact: I almost had Shawn ask Elena to be his girlfriend again and she said yes because she was scared what he would do if she said no again. I wrote that in before deciding against it and changing it. 

Also, did anyone connect the dots between the last scene and the Valentine's Day special chapter? This is where Elena promised to always keep her window open for him.

Have a great day and stay safe ♥♥