Hello! Thank you for all the kind reviews on Fatherhood. It really made my day. A lot of you requested a sequel with Joshaya, so here you go! You don't need to read Fatherhood to understand this story.
Sorry that this is so late. I didn't have much inspiration at first and the ending took a while to finish.
She remembered the first time she heard that beautiful question come out of Shawn's mouth. "How was your day, Maya?" It seemed like a simple question to him, but it meant the world to her.
Normally she was happy when he asked that question, but not this time. Should she tell him about her special conversation with the one and only Joshua Matthews? How would he react? Would he flip out on Josh?
"Good, I guess," she mumbled while picking at her dinner. She recalled the talk with Josh in her head. They decided that it was time to discuss what the "long game" truly meant. Were they waiting for her to be eighteen or just for the two to be ready? "Josh and I had a nice talk earlier."
Shawn looked up from his plate to stare at his new daughter. He wanted so badly to interrogate her on what "nice talk" meant, but decided against it. "That's good."
A knock on the door interrupted the awkward silence among the three Hunters. Shawn opened the door and saw Joshua standing there with a nervous smile on his face. "Hey, Shawn. Can I talk to Maya for a sec?"
"Um, yeah," he blurts out, unsure of how to respond.
Maya and Josh entered her bedroom to chat in private. It wasn't, however, all that private since Shawn was standing right outside there door, listening in on their exchange.
Josh was the first to talk. "I'm sorry about earlier. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." Shawn curiously leaned in closer. This couldn't be good.
"What's there to be sorry about?" she said with a giggle. "I enjoyed our conversation. I liked our kiss even better."
This was enough to make Shawn act without thinking first. He roughly pushed the door open to the shock of the two lovers. They probably should've known that Shawn was eavesdropping, though.
All of the color drained from Joshua's face. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared of Shawn. The man could probably kill Josh without a sweat. But he wouldn't do that, would he?
"A kiss? I thought you were playing the long game!" He held himself back from chasing the boy. Cory would be mad if he found out that his little brother was being chased by his best friend.
"We are," Maya insisted. "It was just one of those spur of the moment type things."
Josh decided that it was time to come completely clean to Shawn. He took the blonde girl's hand. "We were discussing the long game earlier. Maya and I both agree that we should start dating, but we should also take it slow."
Before her dad could object, Maya firmly asked, "Do you trust me and that I'll be smart and make the right decisions?"
"I do, Maya. I trust your judgment."
"Do you trust him?" A sigh came from Shawn.
The young adult thought it was best to speak up now. He interjected, "Look, you know me. I would never hurt your daughter or do anything inappropriate."
Shawn glanced at his hopeful daughter. Her eyes were pleading him to let the two be together. He finally broke. "Ok, fine. You two can date, but I'm warning you, Cory and I will BOTH be at your door if you dare hurt Maya."
"I understand and you don't have to worry about her." He hugged his new girlfriend.
...
It was nine-thirty at night. Maya and Josh were almost home from their first date. Josh had set up a picnic with all of Maya's favorite foods. While eating they watched Legally Blonde, Maya's new favorite movie, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Josh's favorite movie, on a projector.
It was very sweet and thoughtful of Joshua. Maya always thought that dates like that were cheesy and only for people like Riley, but she actually ended up enjoying it.
Maya entered her apartment with her boyfriend. Shawn was sitting on the couch reading a book. He set the book down to watch the two closely.
"I had a lovely time. Thank you," she told him.
Josh leaned in to kiss her on the lips, but Shawn gently shoved him towards the door. "Don't take this personally." He slammed the door in Josh's face.
...
It was a little past midnight and Maya couldn't sleep. It was a few days after her and Josh's first date. She couldn't help but wonder how long it would last. Her mom and Kermit's divorce had made her wary of love. Sure, Shawn marrying her mom somewhat fixed her bitter view of love, but it wasn't totally gone.
She turned on her phone and sent a text to Josh. "Hey. You there?"
"Yeah...is something wrong?" he texted back.
Maya's pink lips formed a small smile at his care and concern for her. She quickly typed her desired message and hit send. "Can't sleep. I've been thinking about things. Can you come over?"
"Okay. I'll be right there."
Five minutes later, he arrived at her window. She opened it to let him inside. Josh sat next to her on her bed. "What's wrong?"
Maya deeply sighed before explaining her thoughts, "Is this a mistake?"
"What is? Us?" he questioned in confusion.
"Yes," she nodded. "What if one of us gets hurt? What if one of us leaves? Is it really worth it?"
He took her hands and stared in her blue eyes. He let himself gather his thoughts and then responded considerately, "Maya, I really, really like you. I can't promise that nobody will get hurt, and I can't promise that we won't break up. I can, however, promise that I'll never leave you."
"Thank you, Josh. I know you wouldn't leave. You aren't like my father." She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "Also, I really, really like you too."
The bedroom door opened. "Maya, why are you awa-" He stopped mid-sentence when he realized that Josh was sitting with his daughter on her bed.
The young adult jumped in surprise and ran to the window. He apologetically said, "I'm so sorry, Shawn, Mr. Hunter, Sir." Maya stifled a laugh as she had never seen him so nervous before.
Shawn glared at Joshua. "What are you doing in my daughter's room in the middle of the night?" he interrogated.
"She wanted me to come over so we could talk," Josh answered, "I had no ill intentions...sir."
Looking between the two, Shawn responded, "I believe you, but I'm still gonna ask you to leave, and I never want to find you on my daughter's bed again without supervision. Understand?"
"I understand." Josh smiled at Maya, then went out of the window. "Goodnight."
Maya looked up at her dad. "Thanks."
Shawn was taken aback. "'Thanks'? That's not the response Cory gets from Riley."
"Well for one, you're a lot more graceful about it than Mr. Matthews. Secondly, I'm not Riley. I know what it's like to have a dad who doesn't care. It's nice to know that you're watching out for me."
He kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight, and no more boys in your bedroom at night!
"No promises!" she shouted back with a grin.