A/N: Hi everyone! I've been wanting to write a piece on the relationship between Cory and Riley and this came out. Hope it's not too bad. Happy reading!

1. Girl Meets Game Night

"Actually, Sir, Farkle and I already own that square."

"So?" he shoots the blonde boy a dirty look, irritated.

"So, your daughter's ours."

"Excuse me?"

"Let him talk," Riley dreamily smiles at the punk, and Cory frowns.

"According to the game, we get your daughter," Lucas says the dreaded words and Cory gapes at him.

Cory resists the urge to scream when he sees Riley stand up, ready to walk over to Lucas and Farkle's team. He shoots Topanga a worried look, grateful when his wife wraps her arms around Riley and brings their daughter back down onto the couch.

The man calls for his brother, desperate, and immediately regrets doing so when Josh declares his daughter to be 'Mrs Doctor Howdy Turtle Neck'.

He is so disowning his brat of a brother.

He feels a little better when Topanga goes through the same rejection he feels, plotting himself beside his wife on the couch as she looks at their daughter, hurt. He can relate to that.

As much as he has been expecting this day to come, nothing could have prepared him for the fear that is consuming him right now. He watches her sit with her friends, thinking back to the amount of time he spent with his friends himself. He feels the panic rise at the thought of Riley leaving him the way he did his parents.

"Breathe," Topanga instructs him, and he has never been more thankful for her presence. She takes his hand and brings him to the bay window in their living room. Riley and Maya have moved into her bedroom to discuss something.

As Topanga laments about how their children are growing up, he feels the love for his wife overwhelm him. Through it all, he has her.

Children are supposed to leave, he knows. It is how they learn and grow, just the way he did when he left Philadelphia. He does not necessarily like it, and the thought of his daughter being exposed to the cruel world outside makes him want to lock Riley up in the room and never let her out of his sight.

And then Topanga says, "You just get so much of her. You do such a great job teaching her, she is so much like you. I just want to know that I've made an impression on her."

His gaze softens at her words. It puzzles him sometimes how his wife can be so confident in the courtroom, but then be unsure of herself when her role as a wife or mother is questioned.

Topanga is an amazing mother, and though many see much of his qualities in Riley, he sees so much of his wife in their daughter. Riley is kind and compassionate the way Topanga is and he knows that their daughter will always fight for what is good in this world.

He may be losing her to the world but if Riley is anything like Topanga, she will conquer it and make it her own.

"Every parent I know who has a kid this age tells me this is when they head towards their friends. But eventually, they make their way back," he smiles at his wife, feeling warm when she leans her head onto his shoulders.

He desperately wants to believe his own words. He can feel his daughter slowly slipping from his grasp, ready to take on the world with her bright eyes and boundless spirit.

Cory knows that his little girl is going to get knocked down along the way but just like he and Topanga have taught her, she will get back up and fight back. Because she may slip and fall, but he will always be there when she needs a guiding hand or shelter to shield her from the cruelties of the world before she faces it again.

He looks up to see his pride and joy looking at him with love in her eyes, her arm looped around her best friend's.

"Oh look at that. They're already back," he smiles softly at them.

Yeah, he might lose her to the world but he will always be there for her when she makes her way back.

2. The Triangle

He can hear her crying from outside her room and Cory lets out a sigh, his heart aching as every sob his daughter emits gets louder. She thinks that no one is home – she had been too overwhelmed by her tears to hear him unlock the front door.

He is surprised that it has taken her this long to break. The façade she has put on – telling Maya that she has no romantic feelings for Lucas, insisting that Lucas is her brother and being okay with her best friend and crush going out – has a lot of people fooled but Cory knows his little girl better than she thinks. She may have fooled her friends but she will not fool him.

He sees the way she does not want to look back at the sandy-haired Texan in class like she always did. He notices the way she cannot look at her best friend in the eyes. He notices how Farkle keeps sending his daughter knowing looks and Riley just subtly shakes her head.

Cory knocks on her door softly, something he has not done since he bought his house. He gives her a few seconds to compose herself before he turns the knob and walks into the room.

The sight of his daughter breaks his heart and he curses the world for doing its best to break her spirit. There are tear tracks on her cheeks as she tries to wipe away the remaining tears and Riley hiccups as he sits next to her.

The pain in her eyes makes him want to punch something. Instead, he wraps his arms around her, feeling a little better when she sinks into his embrace.

If he cannot give her the answers to ease her heartache, the least he can do is offer her comfort. He has been doing that since she was born, and he will do it for as long as she needs him to.

"I'm tired, Dad," she tells him, her voice shaking.

"I know, honey," he rubs her shoulders. "You shouldn't be hiding how you really feel, Riley."

"Farkle said the same thing," she mumbles.

Not for the first time, he is thankful for the friendship that he has maintained with Minkus over the years. In doing so, his daughter has also gained one of the most understanding friends in her life.

"We don't call him a genius for nothing," he retorts. "We know that you don't like Lucas as a brother, Riley. Keeping this from Maya or Lucas is not the solution. Bad things happen when we lie to our friends."

Riley sighs, "I have to do this for Maya, Dad. She stepped back for me once. Her happiness is the most important thing to me."

"And what about your happiness, Riley?" he asks, taken aback when she just shrugs.

Where has he gone wrong? What has he done to make her feel as though her happiness is not as worthy as her friends? What could he have changed about his lessons or the way he has raised her to let her know that she is important?

"I'll learn to be happy, Dad," she tells him, and though there is sorrow in her voice, there is also conviction. "I'll smile and be there for them until it no longer hurts to see them together. Maya did it for me. I can do it for her."

He wants to tell her that her sacrifice is not going to help their situation at all. He wants to tell her that as much as she is forcing the idea of Lucas and Maya, she will not get far because of the way Lucas looks at her.

Lucas looks at Riley the way Cory catches Topanga looking at him. It is what scares him when he sees his daughter and the Texan together. It is why he is so protective of her. He knows how their story is going to go.

"Riley – "

"I'm tired, Daddy," she says again in a softer voice, the broken look on her face accentuated by the dark circles under her eyes. She leans onto his chest again and he automatically holds her.

"I don't agree with this, Riley," he lets her know and she sighs. "But this is your story and I am not going to interfere. I just hope that you know that I'm always going to be here for you. And that I'm always on your side."

"I know," she says immediately and he feels better knowing that she does.

How has no one else seen her pain? How has none of her friends except Farkle noticed the way she purses her lips through conversations or the way her hands are clenched? How is she still plastering a smile on her face when she is with her friends but then breaking down when she is not with them?

He does not recognize the broken girl in his arms. He does not recognize this girl who has shut herself off from the world, who no longer wears her heart on her sleeve. He does not recognize this girl who cries herself to sleep instead of sing her lullaby.

He is losing his daughter because of the person she is. He is losing his daughter because of her fierce loyalty to her friends, her determination to ensure her friends' happiness. He feels as though he is losing his daughter to this stupid triangle.

It feels that way for the next few months, even after Farkle reveals that Riley still has feelings for Lucas. It seems so silly to him that his daughter's healing heart is dependent on the choice that a confused teenage boy has to make. More often than not, Topanga has to stop him from screaming at the three teenagers from across the bakery.

And so, when the triangle finally ends, he breathes a heavy sigh of relief. While he still wants to shake the three of them for putting themselves through such heartache, the twinkling in Riley's eyes stops him from making any snide comments.

The thought of Riley having her first boyfriend still shakes him to his core. He knows that further heartbreak is still in store for her. And he is about to intervene when he sees them talking to each other at the bay window of the ski lodge.

Riley's smile, the one many say is a replica of his, is radiant as she talks to Lucas, her hands up in wild gestures as she recounts things to him that she has not been able to in the past few months. Lucas is looking at her the way he always has, a dreamy smile on his perfect face as he listens, his hands intertwined with hers.

Yes, there is heartbreak waiting for her. Although he wants nothing more than to spare her the heartache from even happening, Cory walks back up the steps and into his room. Because there is also growth and happiness waiting for her.

She might lose herself along the way of discovering who she is but he will always be there when she finds herself again.

3. High School Graduation

"And now, your valedictorian: Miss Riley Matthews!"

He claps the loudest as his daughter walks up to the podium, tears in his eyes as she adjusts the microphone. On the stage, her friends watch her with equal pride. Beside him, his wife squeezes his hand, her own tears streaming down her face already. Auggie sits on his other side, his phone out as he records his sister.

"Good morning to our esteemed faculty and my fellow graduates. It is an honor to be standing in front of all of you today as your valedictorian. We have spent the last four years of our lives in this amazing school, making memories we all hope we don't forget. For many of us, this has been our second home," she winks at him before she continues, a reminiscent smile on her pretty face.

"A week ago, Mister Matthews asked us to write about what we're going to miss the most about high school."

"You're such a Feeny," Shawn teases him and Cory shushes his best friend.

"It saddened me how quickly I could come up with a list of things that I would miss and never have again. On top of that list was the fear that I would never be as safe or protected as I have been these past four years," Riley's voice shakes.

He looks around, not at all surprised to see that every pair of eyes in the room is fixed on her.

"There was a fear in me that choked me up, to be perfectly honest with you," she continues. "But then I walked through the school again with my friends by my side for the last time and we ended up in Mister Matthews classroom. And my friends and I realized something when we sat down in our usual seats."

She looks around, "These halls and rooms have provided us with shelter and protection from the cruelties of the world outside. Our friends have been our siblings and the bonds that we have forged serve as the rope we hold on to when the hurricanes start twirling. Our teachers," she looks proudly at him, "have played the role of our parents here – teaching, guiding and preparing us for the complexities that life after high school will succumb us to."

"We realized that we have learnt all we can here. It is time for us to leave and meet the world," she grins and looks at her friends to address them, "We're probably going to be beaten down more times that we think we can handle and have our hearts broken to the point that we wish that we can feel numb," her voice shakes slightly as she looks at Lucas flittingly.

Cory shares a look with Topanga, sighing when he turns back and sees the tears from drops from Lucas' eyes. He knows that Topanga is thinking back to their own graduation, when she decided to stay with him instead of going to Yale. Riley and Lucas had instead opted to go their separate choice colleges and decided to end their high school relationship, neither willing to let the other give up their dreams. Riley will be going to Yale while Lucas will be going to Texas A&M.

"But then we'll remember the lessons that we've gained here. We'll remember the heartache that we've overcome. We'll remember all the times we think we have failed but have gotten back up to prove that we will not stay defeated."

He is vaguely aware of his wife squeezing his arms. His breath hitches as Riley picks up a red cap with a white 'P' at the front of it from the podium and places it on her head.

"We're not going to fall off the face of the Earth," she says as her classmates behind her stand up. Riley's eyes sparkle as she raises her arms above her head, and her classmates do the same. She, however, only has eyes for him and Topanga. He stands up, feeling Topanga do the same, and raises his arms too. "There is no end to our horizon. Thank you."

Cheers and whistles erupt as she walks off, Cory being the loudest one. Riley stands in between her friends, her head held high as the principal announces that they have graduated. He beams with pride as she throws her cap into the air, screaming with her friends as they celebrate.

It is funny how fast time flies. One second she is two years old and waddling towards him in the cramped apartment he and Topanga could afford and in the next second, sixteen years have passed and she is graduating high school.

Riley will be going to Yale in the fall, having been accepted into the Photography program. Her acceptance letter had arrived a couple of weeks ago, and while Cory has never been prouder of her, there had been a gnawing sadness in him that he has been pushing aside.

Now though, as he is the only one left in the school hall, he lets the sadness in. He stares at the stage, wanting nothing more than for time to rewind back to when Riley needed him and Topanga.

She will be leaving them in a few weeks. For the first time in eighteen years, she will not be home where he can protect her. She will be in college and she will attend frat parties where stupid college boys will try to –

A flash jolts him out of his thoughts and he looks to his right to find this best friend smiling at him understandingly behind his camera.

"You!" Cory snarls as he jumps out of his seat. Shawn's eyes widen as he backs away. "This is your fault!"

"What?"

"You gave her that stupid camera," Cory growls, feeling a sense of satisfaction when Shawn takes cover behind a row of chairs. "You made her so good at taking pictures. You're the reason she applied to Yale!"

"Cory, c'mon man, think rationally about this," Shawn nervously chuckles as he steps backwards again. "Core?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" he yells as he chases Shawn, not caring about how crazy he looks.

They run around for less than a minute before he slows down, placing his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. His best friend stops beside him, as out of breath as he is.

Cory sits down on the steps of the stage, giving his best friend an apologetic look when Shawn sits beside him. Shawn waves him off and wait for him to talk.

"Am I going to lose her, Shawnie?" he asks, his voice timid.

Beside him, Shawn sighs, "No, Core, you won't."

"Pfft. You can say that. Maya's going to be at NYU," Cory pouts.

"Yeah, I got lucky," his best friend agrees. "But Cory, I do think she's going to be fine. It's not like you're losing her forever. She knows that she can always come home to you and Topanga no matter what. You've never made her feel otherwise."

"What if she likes the world without me?"

"You're always going to be part of her world, Cory. You're her father," Shawn says.

"But what – "

"You know, everyone is waiting for you in the courtyard so that we can take pictures together. It's only once that your daughter graduates," Riley grins as she walks towards him in her graduation gown.

Shawn pats him on the shoulder, gives Riley a final hug as he congratulates her and leaves them both alone.

"Hey, Dad," she squeezes his hand. "Thanks for preparing me for the world."

He looks at the grown woman beside him, love overwhelming him as he wraps his arms around her shoulders and brings her closer to him. She leans her head onto his shoulder automatically.

"You know, you were talking about how ready you are to face the difficulties the world has to offer," he says and feels her nod. "I also need you to remember that this is the same world that has given you your family and friends. This is the same world that has taught you to believe."

"No, Dad," she shakes her head and looks at him. "You taught me to believe. In the goodness of people. In the goodness of this world. You taught me that no matter what happens, the world will protect me because of the people that make up my world."

"I'm proud of you, Riley," he tells her and she takes his hand as she stands up, leading him out of the school hall.

He still cries like a baby when she leaves for college, holding onto her so tightly that she calls her mother for help. He sobs into Auggie's shoulder as they wave her goodbye and tells Maya to shut up when she laughs at him. When Riley calls at night, he makes her promise to be responsible and not get too carried away being a sorority girl.

The phone calls become less frequent, and she starts checking in only once in a while.

Sooner rather than later, he resigns himself to the fact that his daughter is conquering the world without him.

4. Life

"Hey, Dad."

"Ah!" he screams, dropping his bag and howling in pain dramatically when it lands on his foot.

Riley smiles sheepishly at her father as she gets up from the couch, holding out her arms for a hug.

"Hey, Honey," he kisses her on the cheek before hugging her. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, work is driving me crazy. Things with Lucas are confusing me. My best friend scares me because she is in full Bridezilla mode," she lists as she sits at the dining table. "So I came home."

Cory places the mac and cheese in front of her, shaking his head fondly when she reaches out for the ketchup bottle and squeezes the condiment into her bowl.

"So you came home," he repeats, his heart feeling lighter at her statement.

"Safest place on Earth," she nods.

He cannot stop beaming as he sits across from her and watches her eat. This is his daughter who has ventured into the real world. She had lost her way for a while when she entered college. She'd cut herself off from them for a while, wanting to be in the world on her own but she eventually found her way back to them.

"Wait. Did you just say that Lucas was confusing you?" he exclaims shrilly and when she nods, he resists the urge to groan.

Just when he has gotten her back, that punk sweeps in again. He sighs and Riley tells him about how she bumped into Lucas and he asked her out. As she tells him all about how her heart felt the same way it did in high school, Cory resigns himself to the fact that Lucas Friar is about to enter his life and sweep his princess off her feat again. Perhaps even for good this time.

"Thanks for listening, Dad," she sighs after her rant. "I know I can always come home to you."

His worries ease at that, and for the first time, he feels at peace. Riley will continue to venture out in the world. He may not be able to always protect her. But he can always be there to ease her worries. He will always be the shoulder she can lean on. He will always pick her up when the world has beaten her down.

He will never lose her to the world.

Huh, now he gets it.

A/N: What do you guys think?