She's My Little Sister

Did You Hear What He Just Called My Sister!?

MICHELLE WAS BEING PUSHED IN A SWING BY SHAWN, as he and Cory talked about the bet Cory had made with Mr Feeny.

"You have a week to teach?" Shawn asked. "And then you have to give a test?"

Cory nodded with a smile. "It's going to be a piece of cake. It's about that stupid book we had to read."

"The one on Anne Frank?"

"Yeah."

Shawn nodded, slowing the swing down to a stop. "You ready to head home munchkin?"

Michelle clapped, repeating the only three names she knew, making Cory even more bitter. He didn't even really know why he was upset, after all, Michelle would say his name eventually. Or at least, he hoped so. Suddenly, Cory began to panic. What if Michelle never said his name? What if she went her whole life never saying his name, and Eric remained her favorite person and Cory was slowly forgot about?

Shaking his head, he tried to shake the stupid thoughts out of his head. Of course that wouldn't happen. Michelle would learn his name eventually, and he would become her favorite again. Waving goodbye, he watched the Hunter siblings head to their house.

Michelle turned around and saw Cory waving, which she returned by curling her fingers at him. Cory pulled a face at her, making her smile widely. Turning back around, Michelle stuck her fingers in her mouth, which Shawn was quick to take out.

"Michelle," He scolded. "don't do that. It's not healthy for you."

Michelle looked at her brother before going to stick her fingers back into her mouth to chew on them. He quickly swatted her hand away, accidentally hitting her cheek. Tears sprung into Michelle's eyes at the small sting in her cheek, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she let out a high pitch cry. Shawn's eyes widened as he tried to soothe the baby.

"It's okay, Michelle." Shawn cooed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry munchkin. I didn't mean to hit you. Shh. I'm sorry munchkin."

Michelle laid her head onto Shawn's shoulder as she cried. Shawn bounced her slightly, trying to soothe her mumbling sorry's. Her sobs quieted down to sniffles and soon she fell asleep. Shawn sighed, running a thumb over the small red blotch on her cheek. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her cheek, guilt fill him. He felt awful about smacking her cheek. He hadn't meant to hit her, he just didn't want her to chew on her fingers. He reached the trailer, and shoved the door open, seeing his mom gone, and his dad passed out drunk in his recliner.

Shawn felt tears prick his eyes as he looked around at the mess and he brought Michelle to her crib, laying her down softly, gently rubbing her cheek. He went to the kitchen, not letting the tears fall as he cleaned up the beer bottles. He hissed in pain when a bottle sliced his wrist open. Sighing under his breath, he finished cleaning up the mess before cleaning his wrist in the bathroom. Once it was clean, he sunk down in the corner and cried silently. 

Why was this his life? Why couldn't his dad be normal and loving? Why couldn't his mom stick around? Why couldn't his parents care about Michelle? Why couldn't he have a loving family like Cory? Why couldn't he be enough?

Looking around the room he heard Michelle begin to cry. As he walked into his room to try to soothe her, the only thing he could think was, Am I too young for this?

{}~{}~{}~{}

Shawn sat in class, listening to Cory fail to give his lesson once again.

"Okay you win." Cory said. "I'm a very crummy teacher and I guess I resign."

As Cory headed towards the door, he stopped turned to look Shawn, debating to see if this was a good idea, but decided to go with it anyway.

"Hey Shawn, what was your mother's name before she was married?" Cory asked.

"Cordini." He answered, barely paying attention.

"Cordini," he repeated. "That would make you a wop, right?"

Everyone froze and Shawn stood up.

"What did you just call me?" He asked.

"You heard what I called you!" Cory said, knowing he shouldn't add the next bit, but decided too anyway. "And you know what? Since Michelle is your sister, Michelle's a wop too!"

Shawn was seeing red as he turned to Mr Feeny in shock.

"Did you hear what he just called my sister!?"

"I heard what he you called you and your sister."

"What are you gonna do about?"

"Nothing," Feeny said. "He's the teacher. What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm gonna knock his head off!" Shawn snapped, shoving Cory back and slamming him against the door harshly.

No one got to talk about Michelle like that.

"What if you couldn't!" Cory said, trying to shrug Shawn off him, but he wasn't able to.

"What?"

"What if you lived in a country where you and your sister could be killed because of your mom's last name?" Cory demanded.

Slowly, Shawn's grip loosened. "Cory what are you talking about?"

"A 15 year old girl is dead! Doesn't anybody care?" Cory asked. "She was real smart and totally cool. She wrote this book. Her name was Anne Frank. They said she died of Typhus, but they killed her."

Shawn stopped listening to Cory as he thought of what he had said before.

"Since Michelle is your sister, Michelle's a wop too!"

"What if you lived in a country where you and your sister could be killed because of your mom's last name?"

Shawn felt a pit in his stomach as he thought of the slur he and his sister had been called. He didn't know that people still called names like that. Shawn didn't want Michelle to have to be called something like that to her face ever.

Sighing deeply, Shawn ran a hand through his hair. He hoped it would get a bit easier to protect Michelle from all the harm. After all, he would have Cory to help him.

A/N: You know I can not wait for Michelle and Jack to meet. I'm very excited to write their relationship, but I have to wait until Season 5 which stinks. But it'll be worth the wait.