Disclaimer! I do not own Girl Meets World, the wedding vows which I found on Google, or anything else unless I have put them in stars. (*)
I wake up in a king sized bed with no one else in it with me. My thoughts immediately go to my fiancee, Maya Hart. 'Shoot, where is she?' Until I remember that Riley took her so she could get ready for our wedding. 'Wedding', still sounds so foreign, yet it's going to happen in a few days and soon, the love of my life will be mine forever, as my wife. I chuckle at the thought of teasing her by calling her my wife.
"Josh! Get up you have to go pick a suit because you decided to be lazy and get one last minute!" I hear my friend Mike yell. I groan and yell back "How did you get a key to my apartment, which I share?!" He just laughs and says "Your fiancee let me in when she left this morning with your niece. I was waiting for you but you wouldn't wake up so when they left, she told me to go in and wake you up!" I groan again and roll out of bed, literally.
I hop into the shower and come out ten minutes later, dressed in black jeans, a white V-neck T-shirt, black runners and a pendant Maya gave me for my birthday.
Mike takes me to the tailors and I get fitted for a suit.
"What kind of style are you looking for sir?" The tailor asks me. I reply "Something fit for a wedding, and the girl I'm marrying laughs at things that make me look like an idiot." She smiles and says "How about these colours?" She heads to the back and comes out a minute later holding black and red fabric. I think of what I could do with the colours and I get a brilliant idea.
"Could you make a red blazer and a red tie, and then have black dress pants and a black dress shirt?" I ask. I know that Maya would like that, and I don't really like the whole cliche black and white suit thing. I know Maya will have a light blue dress so light that if you looked at it from fifteen feet away it would look white so I decided to follow the theme of wearing colours you wouldn't see the bride and groom wear.
She smiles at me and says "Sure. It will be ready by 8:30 PM tonight sir. And the price will be $2,000. Is that alright?" I nod, knowing I'm loaded, not to brag. Maya is an artist who sells paintings so amazing she makes about $100,000 per painting. I don't mooch off of her of course. My job is an author. While Maya focuses on paintings that would look amazing in fancy places or just little sketches for schools, I write books that teenagers would like. In this generation, it's all about technology and social media. So I made a story about a family who are poor, and they cannot afford cable or internet. All they can afford are necessary supplies and extra. They constantly borrow books from local libraries for entertainment.
Mike and I walk around New York, just hanging out and killing time when my phone starts to ring. Mike walks off, saying that he's going to head home and I nod and answer my phone.
"Hello?" I speak into the receiver. "Josh!" I hear my niece Riley exclaim. "Thank goodness you picked up! Listen, you need to come to the hospital right now." I instantly rack my brain for things. 'Did my parents die? Did my family get hurt? Did Maya get hurt, or worse, killed?' Fear grips my heart and I shakily say "What happened?" "It's Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, and Maya." It takes a few seconds to process the names, and then I ask "Riley, what hospital?" "St. Marcus's Hospital." I'm on my way." I say and hang up. 'Please let me make it in time!' I think, my thoughts drifting between my fiancee and my family.
I run and don't stop until I see the hospital. By then, I'm gasping for oxygen and start walking towards the hospital when I see Shawn and Katy, Maya's parents get out of their car. They see me and I rush over and I notice tears on both of their faces. We have this silent conversation and decide to visit Maya first, even if my parents, brother, and sister-in-law are in the hospital too. Shawn doesn't think of Cory first for once in his life, and we walk into the hospital and go to up to the front desk.
"Do you know what room Maya Hart and the Matthews family are in?" I ask the receptionist. She holds up a finger to say "Wait a minute" and looks at the computer in front of her. "Miss Hart is in room 210, on floor two. As for the Matthews family, they are in room 459 on floor four." I thank her and we walk into the elevator to go visit Maya.
As soon as the elevator dings open, I start running all over the place to find room 210. It turns out it was right in front of the elevator, but I kept running left and right until Katy told me to stop running and to follow her. I obey and we walk into the room and see Maya.
She looks okay. She's sleeping at the moment and her skin looks normal. The thing that concerns me is she looks fine. If she was fine, she wouldn't be in the hospital. I instantly sit beside her and grab her hand that doesn't have a tube placed on it. "What happened?" I whisper, my voice cracking. Katy and Shawn come up behind me and they reach to touch her when all of a sudden, she starts to wake up. We're all still until she is fully awake and then I start crying. "Maya, what happened? Why are you in the hospital?" I ask her while hugging her. "I don't know what happened. In fact, I don't know who you are, and the man beside my mom. Who are you boys?" She tells us. My whole world shatters and I bolt out of the room to go visit my parents and brother.
With Maya.
"Mom, who was that boy? And who's the dude standing beside you?" I ask my Mom. She gives a slight laugh for my calling of the man next to her 'dude'. The 'dude' looks offended and replies "Do you really not know who we are?" He was referring to himself and the boy and I shake my head 'no'.
"Maya, this is Shawn Hunter, didn't Riley tell you about him?" I recall Riley telling me about her mysterious uncle Shawn and how he and Cory were in this weird relationship since they were little kids. "Yeah, is this him?" The man, who I now know as Shawn, nods. "I'm also your step father." I gawk at my mom and apparent step dad, and exclaim "So, I'm kind of Riley's cousin now?" They shake their heads no and laugh. "No, no you are not cousins with Riley and August." I breath out a sigh of relief and ask "Okay, now that the issue with Shawn being my Step-Dad is gone, who was that boy?" They look at each other sadly and my Mom says "Maya, this is going to be a long story." I get comfortable in the covers and they tell me who that boy is and what my relationship is with him.
"Wait, so Riley's uncle, who is three years older than us, is my fiance? That means Riley's going to be my niece!" I'm shocked and then the doctor comes in. "Ah, Ms. Hart, you are awake. Good. Now, you are probably wondering why you are in the hospital. Well, to put it simply, a shooting happened while you were out with the Matthews family. You did not get hit but you happened to be standing underneath a light and the shooters hit the light and it fell and landed on your head. You were knocked unconscious and you got amnesia. It appears you've only forgotten your male loved ones. There are good news, however. This amnesia thing is only temporary and your parents, I assume, have already told you about a few things. Luckily, when you got hit, the force wasn't powerful enough to give you long term amnesia. By the end of the day, you will most likely remembered everything but if you don't, it will come within five days at the most." He informs us. I look at him and ask "How long will I be kept in the hospital?" He replies "You can leave in a few hours after I check up on you right now, but tonight." He says and goes through some paperwork.
With Josh.
Tears are in my eyes. 'How could she forget about me? She's my fiancee? I'll have to ask her parents how she got amnesia.' I walk towards the elevator and dry my eyes. I walk in and hit the fourth floor button and wait as it takes me up.
I see Riley outside sitting on a chair. I head towards her and say "What happened?" She looks at me with tears in her eyes and informs me "There was a shooting near Robson Street. Maya, mom, dad, grandpa, and grandma happened to be there while they were talking about the wedding and they got hit. Grandma got shot in the leg, grandpa got knocked down and had a concussion, but Mom and Dad got hit the worst. Maya got temporary amnesia, so if she forgot about you she'll remember you by tonight. Three days at the latest.
"Mom and dad, well, they were right next to the shooter. Luckily, dad pushed mom out of the way but dad got hit in the shoulder, chest, and left thigh. Doctors say that he'll live but he was put into a coma, and we don't know how long until he's going to wake up. Mom, since Dad pushed her out of the way, landed on her arm. She fractured her wrist but she's fine."
I'm silent after that. My parents, brother and sister-in-law, and fiancee, were involved in a shooting, while I was off hanging out with Mike. I feel horrible and my mouth goes dry. "Will they live? My parents and Topanga I mean." "Mom's going to be fine, she just fractured her wrist. She's getting her cast right now. Grandma needs surgery to remove the bullet but other than that, they said that she's going to be released in a week. Grandpa needs to stay for a week to make sure he's doing alright and dad." Riley says, then trails off. I already know the answer. Cory might not make it.
"Riley! Josh!" We hear a voice and then turn around. Standing right there is Topanga. Riley has tears forming in her eyes and then rushes to hug her mother. I just stand there awkwardly and shift my weight from foot to foot. "Josh, your parents are fine. And here's some good news! The doctors say that Cory has a high chance of waking up in the next month or so, and it's very unlikely he'll stay comatose longer than that." I breath out a sigh of relief at Topanga's words then hug her. "Thanks for the news."
With Maya.
The check up took what seemed like forever. I just wanted to be released and go home. Mom says that I live with Josh because I'm his fiancee, but he seems like a total stranger. I know I have amnesia so it make people who I know seem like strangers, but still!
"Maya, your body is fine and you don't have anything wrong both internally, and externally. You can be released as long as your mother signs this form." The doctor tells us. He hands my mother a paper and she reads it over. Satisfied, she signs at the bottom and hands it back to the doctor.
"I can go home! At least, what you guys tell me what my home is." I tell my mother and Shawn. "Can we go see Riley and Mrs. Matthews?" I ask. "Sure, let's go." They lead me to the elevator and we hit floor four.
As the elevator dings open, I see Riley, Josh, and Topanga hugging. "Should we leave and come back in a few minutes?" I ask, breaking the awkward silence. They look at us and Josh looks at me sadly. I look at Topanga and ask "How's your wrist?" She rubs it and says "It's fine. Doctors say that it should heal in a few weeks. Do you remember anything?" "Yes I do. I just didn't know who Shawn and Josh were. But after mom and Shawn filled me in, I sort of remember. But I'm still unsure about my engagement with Josh."
All of a sudden, Josh says "So, you know who I am, but you're not sure if you're really engaged to me." I nod and then Josh grabs my hand and leads my down a corridor. Riley, Topanga, and my parents just watch him drag me away and walk into the room which I assume holds Mr. Matthews and Riley's grandparents.
"I can walk you know." I say sarcastically as Josh leads me somewhere in the hospital that's empty. "I know, but I need to do something privately." Josh tells me and then stops. I'm about to question him when he spins me around, pins me to the wall, and kisses me. I'm too shocked to move, and just let him do whatever. Then, I freeze and memories start flooding back towards me. Once I remember everything, I pull away from the kiss. "Why'd you stop?" Josh nervously asks me. "I needed to breath. And thanks for the kiss, you helped me remember. I guess a true loves kiss can fix anything!" I tease him.
Josh looks relieved and then says "I don't know what I'd d-" He got cut off by his phone ringing.
"Hello?" He spoke into the phone. "Josh, it's Mike. Did you remember to pick up your suit? The wedding is in a week and it's almost 9:00 pm!" "Shoot, I didn't. I'll pick it up tomorrow. Bye." "But-!" He got cut off.
"Josh, who was that?" I asked. "That was Mike. I was getting a suit made because I'm a lazy prick and then Riley called me at 4:30. Then you know the story." Josh told me. Satisfied, I grabbed his hand and laced my fingers with his. "Let's get out of here to find your parents."
We walk through the corridors and eventually, we find Room 459. When we enter, we see Allan Matthews lying down with August next to him. Beside him, I spot Mr. Matthews asleep while Topanga holds his hand. Next to Amy Matthews is Riley, talking about flowers or something. Her leg is wrapped up so the bleeding won't come back.
"How are you guys doing?" Josh asks his parents. "I'm fine, it's just that my head hurts a bit and I'm a little dizzy." Allan says. "My leg hurts but other than the wound I'm fine." Amy tells us. Josh nods then heads over to Cory.
"My brotha! How are you doing? Just fight through and try to listen to our voices and guide your way back to us. I want you there for Maya and I's wedding and we need you. Please wake up." I hear Josh say. My heart breaks a little at the sight of Cory. His bullet wounds are wrapped in gauze and he has breathing tubes coming out of his nostrils in case he has trouble breathing while comatose. I walk over to him and put my hand on his hand. "Mr. Matthews, you haven't always been normal, but you where there for us when we needed you. Even if you did almost kick us out of Family Game Night." Josh chuckles at the memory and says one last thing. "Wake up soon, Topange, Auggie, Riley, and the rest of us miss you." We walk out of the room feeling like a weight has been lifted off of us.
5 days after the shooting, 17 days before Maya and Josh's wedding.
I woke up in a hospital bed. I groan in slight pain and look at the clock parallel from me. It read 3:37 PM, I assumed from the light streaming from the window. Just as I look over at the window, a nurse walks in and instantly sees me.
"Hi, could you tell me why I'm here?" I question her and she replies "One moment, I'm just going to get a doctor, then call your family." I nod and just look out the window as she goes on with the tasks she had just listed.
"Hello Mr. Matthews. Now, you're probably wondering why you're here, correct?" I nodded. "Well, there was a shooting a few days ago and it just so happened that you, your parents, wife, and your daughters best friend Maya were involved. Mrs. Matthews-" "Topanga. Call her Topanga." I interrupt. "Topanga," The doctor corrects, "happened to be right next to the gunmen. You pushed her out of the way and received three bullet wounds. You were in shock and your body shut down into a coma. I'll say that you were very lucky you were only in a coma for five days. You need to be very careful with the wound areas but if you take the medicine we give you, and take it easy, you can be out in time for your brothers wedding."
"How did you know about the wedding?" I ask, a little upset he knew about a little of my personal life. "Your brother and his fiancee kept questioning me about when you'd wake up. When I asked why they kept badgering me, they confessed that they wanted you to be at their wedding." Satisfied, I sat back and let the doctor change the bandages around the wounds.
"Cory/Dad!" I hear my family say. I see Topanga, Riley, August, Mom, Dad, Josh, and Maya.
"Next time, don't sacrifice yourself to save me!" Topanga says angrily, then starts hugging me. I see that Mom has a bandage around her leg, and Dad looks slightly dizzy. Topanga has a cast around her wrist and Maya looks fine.
"I'm fine Topanga. And Maya, I heard you were involved in the shooting, but you look totally fine. What was wrong with you?" I say. "I had very, very temporary amnesia and couldn't remember Shawn or Josh. Then, Josh kissed me and then I remembered everything." Maya explained. I nod then ask "Is the wedding still going on?" Maya and Josh look at each other and then look back at me after a few seconds. "Yes, but we can postpone it a little due to the events that had happened. We can push it back one month but that's the farthest we can get it." Josh tells me, and apparently everyone else too, because Riley shouted "What? Maya, you never told me you were thinking that!" "Riles, Josh and I just decided about postponing the wedding this morning. I was planning on calling you but you called me telling us that your dad was awake." Maya defended. "Oh." Riley says quietly. "Sorry for snapping at you." "It's fine Riles." Maya says.
"Can someone get me some food?" I ask. My stomach growls in agreement and the doctor says "Mr. Matthews, you cannot eat yet while your body is recovering. The most we can give you is probably oatmeal." "I'll make him some." Topanga offers. "Just don't make it chicken!" I joke and receive a glare from my wife. "Sorry!" I say and shrink back to the covers. Everyone laughs.
While Topanga went home to make me some oatmeal, I chatted with Riley and my parents, asking what had happened and all. Josh and Maya left with Topanga to help her with the oatmeal, and to learn how to make her special oatmeal. Not very many people know how she makes it taste so good, but I know what she puts in. Since Shawn still has his photo job, where he travels around North America and sometimes Europe to take photos of places for people to go on vacations, he goes to Canada sometimes. Whenever he goes there, he always brings back maple syrup, made from the same guy every time. I don't know why it tastes amazing but whenever we have some, Topanga makes oatmeal with it. We all enjoy it, even if you don't like oatmeal, you'll like Topanga's.
"We're back!" I turn my head and see Topanga with a pot of oatmeal in her hands.
"Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme!" I reach out my hands and act like an excited child. Maya laughs and I ignore her. "Hush! Now it's still a bit hot so be careful." Topanga says as she ladles out a bowl for me and sprinkles on cinnamon. She hands me the bowl and spoon and I immediately tear into it.
"Cory! It's still hot!" Topanga scolds me but I ignore her as I did with Maya. "I dom'f carf." I say, my voice muffled by the oatmeal in my mouth. "Chew, swallow, then speak." Riley instructs me. This time, I listen and swallow and say "I don't care. I'm hungry and no one has fed me yet!"
Day of Wedding.
"Bro, you got out of your coma not even two hours ago!" Josh tells me. I shrug and continue eating my oatmeal, slower this time.I wake up to an empty bed again, and Mike yelling at me to wake up. I groan and yell "Didn't this happen already?" Mike walks in and laughs. "No duh, Sherlock." I groan again and roll out of bed to shower. "You got nine hours until the reception!" I hear Mike call. "Good, I can spend my time in the shower becoming a raisin then." I reply sarcastically. I disappear into the washroom and come out thirty minutes later.
"Dude, you took as long as it takes for a girl to put on her make up. Did you really become a raisin in there?" Mike jokes. "It took five minutes to shower, five minutes to dry my hair, then an additional twenty minutes to style it." I tell him. "Looks like something sticky fell in, and you ran it through your hair, and you fell asleep like that." I punch him for that comment.
"For your information, Maya told me to style it like this. She even did my hair, took a picture, and developed it just in case I need an example." I inform him after he makes comments about how my hair looks. He just laughs and says "You're going to be a married man soon. Now, you can't go out to the bar with me!" "Mike, when I was with Maya I still never did that." I dead pan. "Still!" I roll my eyes and walk to my closet. I pull out the suit that I had made and say "Mike, get ready. It doesn't look like you're ready either. At least I have my hair done." "Shoot! I'll be back in an hour and I expect you to be ready." He runs out of the room when I call "The reception isn't for another eight hours! Just bring your suit over, and we can hang out until then!"
We stay behind playing video games and talking about the married life. Mike is planning on proposing to his girlfriend, and wants advice on what it'd be like to be married.
"Dude, when I proposed, I got into a fight with Maya. So I don't suggest picking a fight, then regretting it, then taking her to the mountains for a picnic. Actually, the mountain thing might work but add a twist." I tell him. "I was thinking of doing the mountain thing but she's afraid of heights." Mike says. "Then try taking her to the beach, during summer at night so it looks really cool." I say, waiting to hear that she's allergic to something at the beach. "She hates the beach, and besides, she's frightened by the thought of a shark attack." I roll my eyes.
"Last hope! You can write her a song!" It was the only thing that came to mind. "Dude, I tried. But I can't find a singer, you know how bad I am!" Mike yells at me. "Chill, I can get Maya and Riley to sing. They sound amazing, just play the music, and they'll do the rest." I explain to him. "Thank you! I owe you man." Mike says, then 'bro-hugs' me. "No prob, just let me tell them later." "What time is it anyways?" "Oh shoot, it's 5:30! I have to be there at 6:15 because of the groom things and such. Let's go!" I sprint into my room, throw on my suit, make sure I have everything, then Mike and I drive to the Chapel.
"Where were you?" I hear Cory say to me. "You're supposed to go up there in ten minutes, do you have your vow ready?" "I do, just hold on." I tell him, then get ready to start. Cory glares at me then says "You're going to have to wait at the altar in a few minutes. Maya is getting ready, then she's going to be handed to you by Shawn. You say your vows, exchange rings, then kiss. Once you kiss, you two are officially married!" I roll my eyes then say "I know the process. I was there for Shawn and Katy's wedding, as well as Morgan's." "I know, I'm just making sure you remember the process!" Cory says, exasperated. "Time to go wait now!"
I'm nervous and my palms are clammy, yet I feel confident. Everyone is in the audience, waiting for the vows to begin, everyone but Shawn. Maya is in the back with Shawn, walking here right now as I'm thinking.
With Maya and Shawn.
"Shawn, stop touching my hair!" I yell. It's almost time for him to walk my down to the altar, and he's here playing with my hair. Riley put it in a side braid and Shawn keeps running his fingers down the pattern, almost messing it up. "I'm sorry kiddo, but it feels so, so-" "I know, it feels like a silky pattern. You've said that at least eight times!" I'm sick of Shawn playing with my hair, I'm getting married in ten minutes and all Shawn cares about is my hair. "Know what, let's just walk down now. It's time to go." I hear Shawn say. He holds out his hand for me to take. I put my hand in his, and he leans down to whisper "If he hurts you, let me know immediately." "Shawn! That's Cory's job." He chuckles then walks me down.
"We are gathered here today, to witness the marriage of Joshua Matthews, and Maya Hart." The priest begins. "Please say your vows."
"I, Joshua Matthews, choose you, Maya Hart, to be my wife. In front of our friends and family gathered here, I promise to love and cherish you throughout the good times and bad times. I promise to treat you like my number one all the time, with our future kids close behind. I promise to remember this day with love and roses. I will love you always."
"I, Maya Hart, choose you, Joshua Matthews, to be my husband. In front of our friends and family, I promise to love and cherish you through every obstacle that may come into our path. I promise to help you in any way possible whenever I can. I will comfort you when your team loses and drink beer with you when they win. I will love you forever."
"Do you, Joshua Matthews, take Maya Hart to be your wife, to love and to cherish? To be with her in sickness and health?" The priest says. "I do."
"Do you, Maya Hart, take Joshua Matthews to be your husband, to love and to cherish? To be with him during sickness and health?" The priest continues. "I do."
"Now, exchange rings." The ring bearer, who happens to be Morgan's son, steps forward and gives the rings to Josh and Maya. I slip the ring on to Josh's hand, and he does the same with me. "You may now kiss the bride!"
Josh immediately grabs my waist and pulls me into a deep kiss. I can hear the cheering in the background and when I pull away, Josh whispers "I missed you, and I love you." "I love you too." I whisper back. We kiss again and the cheering continues on this very special night.