Description: While undercover as Tommy McQuaid, Tom Hanson gets into an argument with his PE teacher. After seeing bruises Tom has from another case, the teacher suspects Tom's been abused and refers him to a counselor. Doug Penhall also makes an appearance.

This was originally going to be a one-shot, but it seems it will actually end up being 2 or 3 chapters... Penhall is going to be in the second or third... So if you love him, do not fret. He'll be here. Also, the case Tom and Doug are working on is not going to be solved in this story. It's just there to give them a reason for being at school and isn't really relevant to the plot of this story.

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Tom hated being enrolled in PE classes while he was undercover. In fact, he always hated being enrolled in PE classes, even back when he was a teenager and was actually enrolled in classes under his own name. But being in a gym class was now even worse than ever. Now that he was older than the student population, he always thought it was a little creepy for him to be undressing or showering with the other kids. Sure, the age gap wasn't that big, but it still seemed wrong to him. Even having the PE teacher down in the locker room with them always felt wrong.

"Hit the showers, boys," Mr. Swanson ordered as the game of volleyball came to an end.

This was Tom's first day at this school. He and Penhall had been sent undercover together under their usual disguise as the McQuaid brothers. But Doug wasn't in Tom's PE class, so he was on his own. He hoped he could just get dressed quickly and get out of there. Some teachers tried to force kids to shower. He didn't know yet if Swanson was one of them.

Tom was one of the first of the students to make his way down to the locker room. He swung his locker open, pulled his t-shirt off and stuffed it inside the locker. He still wore a long-sleeved undershirt, because he had bruises on his stomach and upper arms from a particularly rough case he was on last week. Having students and teachers question him about that wasn't something he was eager for, so he kept them hidden.

As he traded his gym shorts for his jeans, he looked up at the boy whose locker was next to his. Remembering he had a job to do, he decided to try striking up a conversation. This kid was a person of interest in their case. His name was Parker Hamilton. Hanson didn't know if he was the criminal or a witness, but he had a strong feeling the kid at least had information he wasn't coming out with. There was a reason Tom had chosen a locker next to this boy.

"Nice spike back there," Tom lightly punched the boy's arm, "that fat kid didn't know what hit him."

Parker laughed, "Ricky should be forced to sit out every day. Or at least be put into retard PE or somethin. His team has never won anything. I was on his team yesterday... Fuckin' worthless... He doesn't do anything when the ball's coming for him, and when it's coming for someone else, he goes for it, misses, and just gets in the way."

Tom laughed. He thought that was kind of cruel. Ricky was probably trying his best... But he had a part to play here, "they should ship people like that to a different school," Tom forced a grin, "It'll get them out of our way, and then maybe they have have the most dull game of volleyball ever, where they all just stand around and trip over each other."

"Yeah," Parker grinned as well, "I might actually go to one of their games. It would be hilarious."

Tom nodded. He seemed to be doing something right. The boy hadn't told him to buzz off yet. So far so good...

"Hey," the kid clapped Tom on the shoulder, "what class you got after this?"

Tom hesitated. He didn't remember, "hold on," he dug through his books and found a sheet of paper with his schedule written on it, "Algebra II."

Parker frowned, "then what?"

Hanson looked back at the paper, "English III," he looked back up at Parker, "and then home."

"English with Mrs. Hampton?" Parker looked excited.

Tom grinned, "yeah!"

"Awesome," Parker clapped Tom's shoulder again, "See you there."

Tom nodded and waved as Parker slammed his locker door and walked off toward the showers. Hanson was surprised how easy it was to make false friends with someone he would have never been friends with in reality. Even making friends with people he liked didn't come that easy.

He reached into his locker and grabbed his flannel shirt. Before he could put it on, however, he saw Mr. Swanson walking down the row of lockers, right toward him.

"Hey," Tom greeted him nervously. He could already tell the guy was a bit of a bully just by how he acted during class. He had insisted on playing the game along with the students and was not at all a good sport about it. He cheated for his own team and made fun of the students when they messed anything up.

Mr. Swanson ruffled Tom's hair, causing Tom to flinch back. He wasn't sure what to say though, so he just stood and stared at the man.

"Your hair dries awful fast," Mr. Swanson raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah," Tom lied, "it does," he threw his flannel shirt on top of his stack of books, picked up the stack, and prepared to leave. The only way out was to go right past the bulky gym teacher, but that was easier said than done.

"No you don't," Mr. Swanson slammed his hand into the row of lockers, leaving his large arm right in Tom's way, "everybody showers after PE. Maybe they didn't make you at your old school, but that's the rules here."

Tom exhaled loudly. He hated teachers like this. He had one when he was in high school. Tom looked up at the teacher, putting on his best defiant expression, "No," refused, "I've only got two class periods left, and if people think I stink, they can just deal with it."

Mr. Swanson laughed, "won't be making many friends if everyone thinks you smell like sweat." The man kept his arm in place, blocking Tom's exit.

"That's my problem, not yours," Tom ducked down below the teacher's muscular arm, but was grabbed by the wrist before he could get out of the man's reach.

As soon as the teacher grabbed him, Tom felt fury bubble up inside him. Teachers were not allowed to physically grab their students. And even if they were, Tom was not one to allow people to try to force him to do things he didn't want to do.

Mr. Swanson didn't even have to forcibly turn Tom back around to face him, because Hanson did that on his own. He slammed his books down as hard as he could, pulled his arm out of the man's grasp, and got right up in his face.

"What's your problem, man?" Tom yelled, "you can't make your students shower... I don't even know why the hell you'd want to."

"And I don't know why you're being so stubborn!" the teacher yelled back, reaching for Tom's wrist again, "what, do you cut yourself? Don't want anyone to see?" he pulled up Tom's sleeve, revealing skin that was completely smooth.

Tom immediately pulled it back down and pushed the man away, "even if I did, it would be none of your damn business!" he growled. He could feet his heart racing and could see other kids forming a circle around them. He hoped they'd all report this guy to the principal. If he was treating all of his students like this, he was probably a bigger danger to the student population than any of the other students were.

Hanson felt himself instinctively bringing one of his hands down to the hem of his shirt. The last thing he wanted was for it to rise up (or for Mr. Swanson to pull it up) and reveal actual bruises. He had looked at them in the mirror this morning, and they looked pretty violent and painful still.

"You got somethin to hide?" Mr. Swanson looked down at Tom's hand. Hanson flinched back as the gym teacher reached for him.

"Will you just send me to the principal?" Tom offered, "I'm not showering... I still don't know why you give a fuck, but I'm not doing it. Give me detention if you want. Just tell me the punishment and let's get on with our lives."

He heard a few students cheer him on for that comment. The other students' approval seemed to only make Mr. Swanson more angry.

"What do you have under there?" Swanson grabbed at the shirt again, this time succeeding, "a bad tattoo? Get drunk, did ya? Make a stupid choice? I wouldn't be surprised."

Tom struggled with the man, trying to keep the shirt in place. He wondered if Mr. Swanson could be charged with some sort of sexual assault. This act wasn't exactly sexual, but it certainly wasn't something a teacher should be doing to his student.

As much as Tom didn't want the man to lift his shirt, he was unable to stop it. He knew exactly when the bruises were visible, because immediately he could hear a wave of gasps and whispers from the other students. Some sounded sympathetic, while others seemed more impressed. Maybe this ordeal would get him more respect from his peers. But that's not what he was worried about at the moment.

Hanson pushed the teacher back as far as he could. Mr. Swanson didn't even try to stop him as he pulled his shirt back down and started making his way toward the door. He was so furious that he didn't even bother to stop and pick up his books.

"You know I'm going to have to report that," Mr. Swanson called after him.

Tom stopped in his tracks. He didn't turn to face the man, but instead stared at the floor as he stayed with his back to the teacher and the crowd of students instead, "report what?" he spat.

"Those bruises," Mr. Swanson answered, "I have an obligation to report suspected abuse."

Hanson spun around and stormed toward the man, "It's not abuse! And I'm going to report you too, for assault."

Swanson raised his eyebrows, "I was just concerned about you."

Tom narrowed his eyes. This guy was already setting up his defense, "I'm not stupid. We have twenty witnesses here that'll back me up."

"Or maybe they'll back me up," Mr. Swanson countered, "You don't have to freak out every time someone touches you. Not all human contact is a form of abuse. Just 'cause your daddy hits you-"

Tom didn't even let him finish. At the mention of his father, Tom became beyond furious. He knew his father would never do such a thing and was infuriated that the bulky gym teacher even would suggest it. So Tom lunged at the man, throwing punches at him until they were pulled apart by the other students.

If refusing a shower didn't land him in the principal's office, attacking the teacher certainly would. He just hoped he wouldn't be expelled over it.

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I apologize if anyone is out of character. I've seen a grand total of 7 episodes of this show... In fact I haven't even seen Tom and Doug as the McQuaid brothers yet... I've only read about it...

Please leave me a review. :)