Behind Classroom Doors III

Chapter CLXXXI- The Bodies in Our Closet Part I

Katie picks up the remote and powers off the T.V. I walk over to Matthew on the couch. "Matty, wake up." I wait for him to slowly sit up while rubbing his eyes. "Are you hungry? It's dinner time."

He stretches and looks around the room, ignoring my question. "Uncle Jack!" He quickly jumps up and runs to him.

"Heyy buddy!"

"Uncle Jack and Aunt Katie are going to take you to get dinner. Would you like that?" Matthew nods eagerly while I plead with my eyes for them to take him. I need a minute with Shawn alone to talk.

Jack grabs Matthew's shoes by the door and helps him put them on. "What would you like?"

"McDonald's!"

Jack lets out a forced chuckle as he and Katie walk out, "McDonald's it is."

The second the door shuts I start crying. I tried to open my mouth to start a real dialog, only I got choked up instead and started to freak out. "Our entire careers have just been reduced to you being some kind of pedophile!" The tears are ugly and rampant, he looks at me as if It's not as serious as it sounded.

Shawn stands at a safe distance, unsure of how I'll react if I touch him. I take a deep and shaky breath. "Livia, everything is going to be okay. I promise you."

"Maybe." I say as I meet his eyes. "Please, tell me there was no one else you had a fling with." Katherine I could handle under the circumstances and we barely got through that. If there's anyone else I'd-

He hesitates. I clock it instantly. "No, of course not. Besides, this is bad enough."

I continue to cry as silently as possible. "I thought this was over." My voice is hoarse and defeated as I slouch in our living room chair.

Shawn dares to cross the room to me. He leans down and grabs my shoulders, "It is over, Livia. This is circumstantial at best. I mean, a DNA test could come from anywhere right? We could say he forged it or that there's no actual proof that puts Katherine and I together."

"It didn't come from anywhere, it's real." Besides, I know how this works. Marin got the first word, he got to tell his side before Shawn and I saw it coming. Then again, if he had listened to me in the first place we wouldn't be here. "I don't think you're taking this seriously."

He scoffs, pointing a firm finger to his chest, "I'm the one who's ass is on the line because of all this. The other partners could can me for making them look bad and Jack wouldn't be able to do a damned thing."

"Yeah? What about me? You told me to name you in the book, to tell our story to get -and I quote- 'ahead of it.' We don't look so ahead of it now do we?" I hate this. Our lives were perfect before the Dyer's and Marin.

Shawn runs his hand through his hair and begins to pace. I've never seen him not perfectly in control of a situation. After a few paces, he turns to me with a desperate look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Livia." Finally, he's serious.

"I don't know what to do next."

"We put out a statement, Jack can set up a press conference and if that doesn't work then we sue."

"Or-" I pause to grab his attention. "We can give him what he wants."

"No way, Livia."

"We give him what he wants and in return, he says he lied." It's the only way to ensure our careers aren't ruined. "If he doesn't agree, then we can sue."

Shawn shakes his head, disgusted at the thought of Marin meeting Matthew. "What does that say about us? We give him exactly what he wants so he retracts his statement. That makes us look guilty."