Maya was abruptly woken from my sleep by loud hissing. And she would have been surprised, honestly, she would have been, if this exact scenario hadn't been happening every morning for the past 6 months.
"Oh, I'm going to destroy him," Maya grumbled, untangling her limbs from the sheets and marching out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" She switched the coffee maker off at the wall and turned to face him.
"Good morning, sunshine," he rumbled turning to face her with a grin. She snatched the coffee mug off of the table in front of her and drank several long gulps, "Don't good morning me, Huckleberry. It's six thirty in the morning," she snapped, slamming the cup back on the table in front of him.
He picked it up and strode towards the sink, refilling the mug with coffee and handing it to her, "That it is, darling. And it just so happens that 6.30 is when you asked me to wake you up."
She stared at him blankly.
"Because you have your intro to photography class at 8…"
She nodded.
"And it goes until 5 tonight…"
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"And it's, i don't know, a very important birthday for someone very special that you're not going to get to see unless it's before class..."
"Shit," her mug hit the floor, "Riley!"
She sprinted back to her bedroom. Lucas grumbled after her, "Thank You Lucas. Oh don't worry about it Maya. Could you clean all that split coffee up for me Lucas? Don't I always, Maya?"
Fully dressed now, Maya rolled her eyes at him as she hugged him goodbye, placing a kiss on his cheek for good measure, "thank you, Lucas, what would I do without you?"
He scowled and handed her bag to her, "I know what I would do."
"What's that?"
"Clean less."
She snatched her apartment keys off the kitchen counter, calling out "love you," as she shut the door.

It was autumn in New York. The kind of morning that was rare in such a large city. The crisp air attacked any exposed skin and Maya huddled further into her jacket. It was a twenty minute walk from her Lucas' apartment to the Matthews house. Maya would know, but she didn't walk it often enough. She would have been silly to believe that Cory was ever going to let his little girl go out and find her own place to live, and thankfully she never thought that because, as expected, Cory wouldn't let Riley out of his sight, despite her being in college.

With Riley at living at home, Maya had to go off and find a new roommate to take care of her. Farkle went off to MIT, Smackle went to Harvard. Zay moved back to Texas and that left Maya with Lucas as her roommate. Which, to be fair, was a blessing in disguise, because the guy was so kind he cooked, cleaned and made her coffee in the morning. Which is all she could really ask for. She'd thought all that nice would fade, but 6 months later and he was still making her coffee at 6.30 in the morning.
Street lamps lit her path up the steps to the Matthews' apartment building and gave a clear view of a very guilty looking Cory, followed by an equally nonchalant Shawn leaving the building lobby.
"Hands where I can see 'em, Matthews," She called, walking quickly up the steps to meet them. Cory froze; looking up at her slowly and Shawn walked right up to her and pulled her into a hug. Cory relaxed, "Maya, you scared me."
"You do know you only have to be afraid if you're doing something wrong, Cor," Shawn laughed, stepping back to look over her, "You look good, kiddo. I told you that cowboy would keep you fed."
"He makes a good delivery boy, that's for sure."
Shawn gave her a sad look, reaching out to hug her again, "You should come see your mom, Kiddo. She worries about you. She'd never say it, but I know she does."
Maya stared at him, then grinned, "so, what are you two up too? Isn't it a tad too early for Cory and Shawn shenanigans?"
"It's my little girls Birthday," Cory grinned, stuffing his hand into his coat pocket.
Maya looks him in the eye, "little girl? She's turning twenty, Hotshot."
Shawn stepped in, "And she needs a birthday cake. Topanga sent us to pick it up for the birthday dinner tonight." Shawn placed a hand on Cory's shoulder, "Seems as if Cory's little girl had a bit of a 'late night' last night, so he and I are off to get her cake before she wakes up." "She's not awake yet?" Maya looked up at the bay window, sighing, "I guess I'll come back later."

"Well, Cory, we've got work to do. See you round kiddo, come round and visit once," Shawn kissed her head a walked towards his car.
"Right," Maya whispered, turning around to walk back towards the train station.
"Hey, Maya," Ciry called, she paused to listen, "The birthday dinner is at 5pm, we'd love to have you there. I...uh...I promise Katy isn't coming"
She turned to Cory with a smile, "I'll see you tonight, then."

Maya walked out of the photography studio as quickly as possible. She loved art, loved it with all her heart, but 8 hours was a little too long for her to stay completely focused. She'd been waiting all day to see Riley, her present remained in Maya's back pocket as she got into the subway, headed for the Matthews' family home. She was tempted to call Lucas and invite him along, but she knew Riley wouldn't want to see him. Lucas and Riley had a falling out about 4 months back. It must have been some kind of argument to end the 2 year long relationship between the perfect couple. Maya could never really tell which of them the one to end it was, and frankly, she never wanted to find out.
Maya walked quickly up the steps from the lobby of the Matthew's apartment building, knocking three times on the door as she wiped her hands on faded blue jeans and waited. Topanga opened the door, a bright smile on her face. Her grin widened when she saw Maya, engulfing her in a warm hug, "Finally," She whispered into Maya's hair, "My sane daughter has arrived."
Maya walked through the threshold and nearly had the air knocked out of her as Riley pounced. She grinned wrapping her arms around her childhood best friend, "Hey Riles, Happy Birthday!" Maya let her go to fish around in her pocket for Riley's gift.
"It's not much," she mumbled, holding the small package out to Riley, who shredded the wrapping paper in seconds. Riley gasped, "Peaches…This is..."
Maya smiled, "Lightning."
Riley slid the new ring onto her finger, "Thunder," She reached out and gathered Maya into another hug, "Forever."
Maya let go turning to the rest of the family, "Now where's my food," She joked, sitting down in her seat.
Cory entered the room and placed a kiss on Maya's forehead as he went to sit down. The front door clicked open just as Maya finished up hugging Auggie, "Hello family, I heard there was food somewhere…" The husky voice trailed off as the door closed with a decisive thud, "Maya?"
Maya's features froze as she turned around and greeted the new entrant, her heart thudding in her chest, "Josh…"