Autumn in Philadelphia Trilogy

The Return: On the Frontlines

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." -Colin Powell

Jon was in the kitchen early Tuesday morning, suspiciously inspecting the coffee machine for traces of dirt before starting it up. As the machine began to percolate, Jon fell into his morning routine, making sure everything was in place for Audrey when she got up and that he had everything he needed for work.

Work.

The superintendent gave heavy sigh at the thought of having to go into the office. He would have much preferred to take at least half a day off, but he couldn't. His wife would need him at the end of the school year and he couldn't afford to give up those days now. He couldn't help but cringe at the thought of the baby. Audrey had a doctor's appointment next week and as much as he hated to admit it, he did not want to go. He had considered making up an excuse not to and asking Shawn to take her instead. Jon sighed again. Ultimately, there was no way he could do that to her. It wasn't fair to her and she'd been more than tolerant with him and this job that left her the sole caretaker of house and kids. He owed it to her to be there, regardless of his feelings about this baby.

As the aroma of hot Colombian roast filled the room, Jon tried to pull himself away from the guilt-ridden dread that the thought of this new child filled him with. In all honesty, he missed his wife. They had very little time together and the time they did have was tense due to the stress they were under or they were too tired to even talk. He missed the early morning hours before the kids were awake and Audrey would join him in the kitchen. But ever since her second trimester started she'd had trouble sleeping and often had trouble getting up in time to get Grayson and Jamie to school. He felt guilty about that too.

If there was any bright spot in the last month it was certainly Shawn who had proven to be a great benefit to Audrey. Yesterday with him had been an unexpected and pleasant change to the typical drudgery Jon endured day in and day out. Not only was Shawn a tremendous help, he also served as a buffer between himself and Katherine.

A chill ran up his spine and he shook his shoulders trying to rid himself of it. For all the help Katherine offered, she fulfilled very few of his requests choosing instead to linger around him, wanting to be involved in things that were not her responsibility. He honestly thought she'd be much happier in the classroom or as a principal herself as those were the things she seemed interested in. Clerical work she was most certainly not interested in and he really need someone who was. At least he had Shawn with him for the rest of the week; he really ought to make the most of it.

When his oldest two children entered the kitchen and greeted him, Jon immediately knew something was up. Actually, he had known something was been up for quite some time now. Aside from yesterday morning's teasing, Shawn and Julia had gone from strangers to best friends forever in a blink of an eye. If they argued at all, he never heard it. Of the two, it was Julia's sudden shift in behavior that concerned him the most.

His daughter was stubborn and sarcastic (traits she'd unfortunately inherited from him) and fiercely jealous of anyone who tried to get close him, particularly other kids. She had always been this way. She had no competition for his or Audrey's attention for the first five years of her life but from the time she was about six months old she would not tolerate anyone getting close to him. At eight months old, she had once smacked Joshua Matthews, who had two years on her, so hard he fell and cracked his head on the kitchen floor all because he had been playing with Josh while Julia was supposed to be napping. When his daughter woke up to see this great offense, she wailed until he picked her up. However, her attention was not focused on him, but on Josh and she angrily glared at him wherever he went. Foolishly thinking eight-month-old's did not hold grudges, Jon put her down next to Josh after holding her for ten minutes. He looked away for just a second and Josh was immediately down on the floor and wailing. Thankfully, she was not quite so bad when Grayson was born. She did not particularly want him nor did she like him, but she never tried to harm him. Julia only asked constantly when Nana (Amy) and Papa (Alan) were going to get him and take him home. Eventually, she got used to other children being permanent members of the household and mellowed significantly when she finally got a sister in Bella. She did not, however, grow accustom to other kids- his students especially- taking a liking to him and was always very quick to point out that he was her dad and not theirs. She wasn't always very nice about the way she informed them of this either. This was probably her biggest weakness and Shawn's sudden arrival put this weakness on full display.