Dad Meets Memories

"Hey kids, this is Dad. I'm glad I was asked to add a memory to your Wedding Day video. Let's see what memory/question I was given." Cory opens the envelope, reads what's written inside and breaks into a huge smile.

"When did I know that Riley and Lucas were made for each other? Wow, OK…believe it or not…this is an easy question. From the day they met I knew there was mutual interest, when Lucas came to ask my permission to ask her out I knew the interest was strong but it wasn't until the dust finally settled after Texas…just after the start of High School…that's when I knew they were meant to be."

Cory pauses, his voice going silent, his eyes become unfocused and fill with tears. "Hey guys, can you stop filming for a second?" The screen fades to black as the camera stops rolling but the Rucas story is already running through Cory's mind. He remembers back to that time in their story and his breath hitches as he remembers the utter helplessness he felt watching his little girl (no matter how old she is- she will always be his little girl) go through one of the most difficult periods in her life. Remembers wanting nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and slay all her dragons. Remembers nights sitting outside her room listening to her cry over the boy who stole her heart and her decision to let him go. "Dad, Maya likes Lucas and he likes her too. How can I stand in the way of that?" Remembers looking at her and wondering when she would learn that it's ok to be a little selfish, that it's not up to her to make everyone else happy, especially when it was all at her own expense.

But he also remembers the look on Lucas' face when she told Charlie that she would go out with him. The look on his face when they sat in her bay window and in a desperate attempt to push him into the brother role, she asked him for advice about her date with Charlie. Nothing hit him harder than the look on Lucas' face when Cory showed up at his front door, the summer before HS started, with a bag… a bag that contained all of the shoes he had stolen when he chased Lucas out of her room. It was as if, at that moment, Lucas realized he had lost her.

"Sir?" Lucas questioned quietly as he forlornly stared at the contents of the bag.

"I'm sorry Lucas," he answered just as quietly and turned to head back out the door.

"Mr. Matthews? Can I ask you a question, sir?"

"Lucas, I would love nothing more than to be able to help you but I can't. I like you, Lucas. I think you're a good guy but at this moment? You are the guy who broke my daughter's heart, perhaps unintentionally, but either way…." He trailed off and walked out the door.

He watched Riley change until she was only a shell of herself. The friend circle that she worked so hard to keep together, the High 5, splintered into different groups. Each of them wondering how things got so bad between Riley, Lucas, and Maya that they couldn't even look at each other.

During those times, he often wondered how he could have failed his daughter so badly. He and Topanga often talked late into the night, trying to figure out how to help Riley. How to help her understand that her feelings were just as important as everyone else's. How to make her understand that someone worth loving is someone worth fighting for… that by stepping back so quickly, perhaps she was giving Lucas the impression that he wasn't worth fighting for, that THEY weren't worth it.

It was a few months into High School that he saw a different side to Riley. He stood back in amazement, full of fatherly pride as he watched her confront Maya about everything. Watched and listened as his little girl became a young woman who finally decided to push back. A young woman who finally decided that while Maya was her sister and always would be, she was NOT OK with everything Maya had said and done concerning Lucas. That if she had to do it all over again, that she would do it oh so differently. That she would fight for Lucas because as much as she loved Maya, she loved Lucas too and most importantly, she loved herself. She finally realized that she and Lucas were worth fighting for and that while it may be too late for them, she was done putting everyone else before herself.

He remembers standing in the hallway, just out of sight, as Lucas climbed through the bay window demanding to know if what he heard was true. Did she finally believe that they were worth fighting for? Did she mean it when she told Maya that she still loved him? He stood there, heart in his throat as he listened to her confirm, to Lucas, that yes she believes in them, yes she meant what she said and that she was sorry that she let him go. He peeked in the door and watched as Lucas wrapped her in his arms, mid-apology and kissed her into silence. Watched and listened as Lucas told her that it was her, had always been her, that he held in his heart. That his feelings had never changed but that he needed her to be willing to fight for him, for them. He needed her to decide, on her own, that they were worth it.

"Cory? Are you ready to resume filming? We have 5 more people we need to film before we wrap this up." Topanga asks snapping him from his trip down memory lane.

"I'm ready."

The camera starts rolling again as he takes a deep breath "I knew they were meant to be as soon as they realized that no matter what happens, you chase love. You grab it, hold onto it with both hands and you hang on. You don't let it throw you. Congratulations Lucas and Riley. I love you and I am so proud of you. Oh and Let it be known that your dad was the first and biggest Rucas shipper around."