Author's Notes: Sorry everyone for seeming like I disappeared off the face of the planet. Honestly time just got away from me. It felt like just yesterday I updated the story but now I realize it's been about half a year! So sorry everyone and I will try to keep up to date. Thank you to the reviewer who brought this to my attention this is for you and I hope you enjoy it. Disclaimer! I do not own Girl Meets World I also do not own Andy Black who is an actual person.
Will You Stay
Chapter 17: We're Going to Prison!
Shawn and Cory were heading through the massive gate outside of the prison. Shawn was cool as a cucumber while Cory was shaking and glancing around his surroundings in a panic. "Shawn I know I told you that if you ever needed me to go anywhere with you I'd go but this is too much."
"It's not that bad Cor."
"Shawn I don't think you've noticed but we're in prison!" He practically shouted in Shawn's ear.
"Geez will you stop yelling in my ear. I'm surprised I haven't gone deaf from all the yelling. Try looking on a more positive side."
"Positive side right." He turned away and turned back around with a goofy smile on his face. "Shawny we're in prison! Do you think they'd put us in the same cell together?"
"Dear God I hope not." Shawn said as he parked the car and they both went to the entrance.
This prison was not really like the ones shown in movies and television shows: it was smaller and somewhat cleaner. There was a smaller population in this prison so each prisoner had their own cell. This was a prison for those who "did wrong for the right reason". So they weren't treated terribly like any other criminal but they still had to serve their time somewhere so this prison was built for that reason. They believed that the prisoners needed a place to reflect on their bad choices and give them ways to reconcile behind the large walls.
Shawn and Cory were going through the process with the metal detectors because it is a prison and they take safety seriously. After they were escorted to the visiting area they were offered drinks and snacks which Cory happily accepted. He whispered to Shawn, "I'm moving here!"
After ten minutes of them getting settled and bantering about how nice the place was the door opened and a man who was over six feet tall was being escorted in by a guard. The man was in hand cuffs and when he was able to sit down he asked the two men in a husky voice, "Mind if I lose these?" He raised his hands and jingled the handcuffs.
Both guys looked at the guard and he chuckled, "It's just a formality we'll only keep them on if you feel unsafe otherwise I would take them off to make him more comfortable." Cory gave Shawn an unsettling looking meaning don't let him take the cuffs off. Shawn nodded to him showing that he understood him clearly and then turned to the guard to tell him to un-cuff the guy. Cory squealed but after receiving a look from Shawn he stopped but whispered that if he died he would have to explain it to Topanga.
Andy was soon freed from his handcuffs and another guard came in with a cup of coffee, some cookies, and some gum and placed them in front of Andy. He looked at her and nodded "Much obliged." He rubbed his wrists and ran his hands through his hair sweeping it back. His face was more visible and Shawn could see the same face he saw in the videos. His hair was shorter and the sides of his head were shaved, his piercings were gone (obviously), his eyes were still a sharp blue, his face showed age but not much, and he could see a tattoo was peaking out from under his prison uniform.
The air grew thick with tension as he saw there and drank his coffee and ate a cookie. Cory was the first to break the silence, "I love what you're doing with your doing with your hair. I've been telling my wife I should get a haircut just like that."
Andy raised his eyebrow looking at Cory's hair and back at him. "I don't think your hair can pull this off."
As Cory was about to say something back Shawn interrupted him. "We came here to get some answers." Andy raised his hand and pointed a finger for them to give him a minute.
He stood up and the two guys were about to get defensive but relaxed as they saw Andy was only taking off his shirt to reveal a black tank top and arms covered in tattoos. "Sorry about that. I just don't like wearing that shirt it's too big for me. Also Beige isn't really my kind of color." He leaned back in his chair and waved his hand for Shawn to proceed.
"Well I just wanted to know your relationship with Ashley, how did this all start, and why are you in prison?"
"A very nice prison I might add. A beautiful place indeed. Are there any vacancies?" Asked Cory feeling nervous by the minute. Shawn elbowed him in the side which caused Andy to laugh.
"Look you seem like a nice guy and plus I already know a lot about you thanks to Ash. You see if you weren't a good guy I wouldn't have allowed her to be with you."
"She has her own free will. She doesn't need you to control her and pick who she can and cannot be with."
"Now see that's gonna get you on my bad side. You think I control her but I don't; she comes to me when she needs guidance. See she didn't think you two would work and with the fights you've been having I would've agreed with her. However I told her to go with you and that you would help her find happiness. Now what was that about me controlling?" Shawn was silent.
"Exactly what I thought. Now back to our conversation. So I've heard from everyone that you've found the tapes congrats. So I'm not sure why you're asking me how we got together since it seems like the tapes would show it all."
"It's not the same. I have heard her side of the story but I want to hear yours. I need to make sense of it all."
"Well what more can I say? I was in the foster system because my father went to prison. Sort of ironic considering my situation. Anyways I was in the foster system since I was about ten. I stayed in Texas with a guy named Jack and a few other kids which changed every couple of years due to adoption and other events. I was the one that stayed until I aged out of the system mainly because I didn't want to leave. At first it was because Jack was the closest I've had to a father and then it was because I didn't want to be far away from the pretty girl down the road. She was a wild thing though: she smoked which I didn't find a problem with because I had been smoking since I was fourteen, she wore clothing she alter herself like cut up band shirts and she made her own jeans with the holes, she was always angry with the world but she had a soft spot with kids, and I could see beyond that hardened exterior there was a scared and hurt girl. I couldn't help but fall for her and I made it my job to protect her.
Of course back then and still even now a lot of small towns especially in Texas didn't take kindly to a couple being different ages. At first I didn't pursue her because I didn't want her to be the center of ridicule. I was fine with it obviously I mean I was practically the only emo kid in town. So I went for someone my own age which was a preppy girl named Michelle. Yeah it was not my best decision but she was one of the only few who took an interest in me. Know that I look back on it I think she thought of me as a project to turn me into a prep too. After I dumped her I tried to be with Ash.
Believe me she was very difficult to get together with. I asked her out multiple times and she either said no or Hell no. I even asked one of the kids to ask her for me and that's when Alyssa said Hell no for the first time. After months of failed attempts I had to use my one talent that I knew would get her to listen. That's when I wrote a song for her called The Mortician's Daughter and of course it got her crying. Not my intentions at all but hey at least it worked.
Anyways the rest is pretty much history. I made a family out of a few broken souls and then I did something wrong and now I'm here. My family sort of became fragile since I've been locked up: Johnny screwed up and got a girl knocked up which I'm still pissed about but I love that baby boy and I can't wait to see him again on the next visit, and not to mention my precious little girl had ingested alcohol for the first time and did not take it too well and don't worry I'm still dishing out her punishment. Now I'm sitting here looking at you two bozos."
"That's still not answering my question. Why are you in prison?"
He took some gum from the package and chewed it, "Sorry I recently quit smoking so they gave me gum to curb the cravings. Anyways it's not my story to tell."
"You know she won't tell me. Took her nearly a year to tell me you existed."
"I'm crushed about that by the way. But if I tell you then she'll get pissed and I'll be in the dog house. Metaphorically speaking since there's no worse place than prison."
"Please Andy. I just want to help her move on."
He looked back at him eyes were stern as they had a stare-off. He gave a sigh as he sat up straight. "Fine but if she finds out you will be given the ultimate blame. I'm not gonna take the fall for you." Shawn nodded in agreement and leaned in to hear the story. "I'm in prison because I murdered someone."
Cory stood up and shouted and Shawn shot up after him and covered his mouth as he screamed some more. The guard peaked her head in to check on them asking if everything was okay and Andy assured her in his most charismatic way that everything was perfectly fine. Shawn just smiled at her and Cory raised up his hand and gave a thumbs up. When she left Shawn uncovered his mouth and sat him back down. Then he ushered for Andy to continue. "I didn't think this conversation was going to be good but that reaction was hilarious. Oh right back to the story. So has she told you about her job before I went to prison?" Shawn nodded. "Great well I'm pretty sure that what she didn't tell you was that she was pregnant at the time. With my child of course. I was doing odd jobs being a farmhand because that's the only thing a guy like me can do out in that small town and she was a bartender. Yeah I know she's not of age but in a small town like that no one really cared and she didn't drink anyways so they didn't see the harm in it. Anyways there was this local guy named Jed Young. He was a bit older than me and was known around town as a hero for being a football player. Not sure how that made him a hero and after and injury during his time at college he was not able to play anymore so he came back to his hometown.
He hung out at the bar a lot because why not? He had no career going for him and had no other skills besides football and farming. He had his eyes locked on her the minute he walked in the door. She was different than the other girls in town that usually threw themselves at him and he wanted her. She rejected his advances and he even threatened her while she was working. She had called the police and he ended up spending the night in prison. I started to take her home even though she fought me tooth and nail over it claiming she could take care of herself. Of course I knew she could defend herself but I was scared of what she might do to him. Who knows if I hadn't been there she might've been in this chair instead of me.
She started to show her pregnancy and everyone took notice especially him. He would get drunk and go to the bar and yelled at her for betraying him and carrying some other guy's spawn. The guy was plum crazy at this point and convinced himself that Ash was his woman. After that happened she got a restraining order against him because she was scared. I was scared too. Then one night I came to pick her up and we walked down the alley behind the bar to get to the truck when he showed up with a knife in his hand. Of course I stood in front of Ash knowing he was after her. I tried to disarm the situation so no one would get hurt and it turns out the knife was intended to kill me. I was prepared to take the attack and try to divert it to a non-lethal area. However Ash didn't know that and thought I was sacrificing myself for her. She tried to push me out of the way but only managed to push me halfway out of the way."
Shawn looked at him and saw that his eyes looked glassed over and he could see his fist clenched so hard that his knuckles turned white. Shawn had a bad feeling about what was coming next. "She ended up getting stabbed in her stomach. Where our daughter was." He saw tears coming out of Andy's eyes and he looked at Cory and saw he was blubbering. "She clutched over in pain and when she pulled out the knife there was so much blood. I looked back at the guy who sat there smiling and laughing. I just snapped and lunged at him beating him within an inch of his life and finally with the two hands I ended his life.
Next thing I knew I was at the hospital with Ash sleeping in the bed; I guess I was in auto-pilot mode because it had been about five hours since it happened and our baby didn't make it. The doctors had to surgically remove her and she was sleeping off the anesthesia. When she woke up we didn't get to spend much time mourning together because next thing I knew I was being arrested.
After that I was put on trial because of course his parents wanted me locked up for life. They didn't believe that their son was a creep and a stalker and exclaimed it was Ash's fault for the whole thing. Talking about the way she was nice to him led him on but of course she had to be nice to him it was her job to be nice to everyone. The judge fought in my corner the entire time claiming self defense but with the whole jury from that small town no matter what facts were laid out they were still wanting me to serve life. I was sentenced and here I am. However since the judge knew my case pretty well and felt sorry for not keeping me a free man he sent me to prisons that would treat me normally and not like the ones in the movies. It's kind of like a resort only we can't leave." He laughed after his joking remark. "Anyways I was sent here because the judge want's to reopen my case and either free me or at least let me off with parole."
He looked to Shawn with soft eyes and shrugged that it was the end of his tale. Shawn looked down at his lap with a big chip on his shoulder and knew if he asked this question it would either bring him pain or even more pain. "If you were to be released from prison what does that mean for Ashley? Are you going to pursue her again? Are you going to reclaim your family again?"
"Look here fella, they are always going to be my family. There is no reclaiming them because they are still my family." His soft look was now hardened with anger. "As for Ash that's up to her. At the rate you're going I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to be with me again. At least I'm not the one who's been making her cry. And yeah I know what you've been doing and if I find out you hurt her you will be in a world of hurt. That's not a threat it's a promise."
The tension grew thick again and suddenly the door opened and Ashley walked in but she didn't look up she was busy shuffling through a food bag, "Andy I know you said you didn't like the food on Friday afternoons so I brought you some lunch from the restaurant. I got your favorites: steak medium rare, macaroni and cheese, and some steamed broccoli."
Shawn tensed up when he heard that voice and looked ahead and saw Andy sitting there smiling at her and laughed, "I swear woman you're gonna kill me with the broccoli."
She exclaimed, "Just because you're in prison doesn't mean you get to neglect your nutritional values." She looked up and saw them and her face had a million expressions on it ranging from anger to hurt. She said in a shaky breath, "You just couldn't wait could you?" Her eyes brimmed with tears She turned to walk away and Shawn was about to get up and run after her when he heard the light clatter of a ring being dropped on the floor.
End Chapter 17
And the plot thickens! Also for those who need a visual reference for Andy I took inspiration from one of my high school music crushes Andy Biersack. I made him look more like he does today than when he was in his teenage years. I also made him a bit muscular because let's face it any guy who grew up on a farm is somewhat built in my opinion.