Girl Meets Life
"Life is not waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain"
A/N:This story takes place 3 years after Girl Meets Life 2.0. Cory, Topanga, and Auggie are all in town for Logan's birthday. They are staying at the main house so Lucas and Riley can escape for a few days. Logan, Michael and Emily Ann think their parents are out of town. Truth is, they are staying in the cabin that Lucas had built for Cory and Topanga.
Lucas POV
Riley wakes slowly, wrapped in my arms. It has been so long since we were able to wake on our own schedule. It is a welcome break from our beautiful, yet crazy life. I have been awake for hours, my body clock is accustomed to waking at a certain time. I spent the time marveling at how amazing and blessed my life has been.
"Morning babe" she whispers. The hoarseness of her morning voice still brings the butterflies to life. Actually, there isn't much about my wife that doesn't make my heart race. I fell into "like" with a gangly 12 year old, "like" turned to "love" during our teen years and "love" turned into "forever" during our twenties. I can't imagine (nor do I want to) my life any other way. I married the woman of my dreams. She has blessed me with 3 healthy children and a life I could only dream of… but something was amiss. Her smile, while still there, hasn't been shining as brightly as usual. Desperately wanting and needing some Rucas time, I asked my in-laws to stay for a few extra days so we could be alone, not that they ever needed a reason to spend time with their grandkids.
"Morning my love" I whisper back as she snuggles even deeper into my arms. "What do you want to do today?"
"Can we just be today? I would love to walk around the ranch, visit the horses, maybe have a picnic…what do you want to do?"
"Honestly, I don't care what we do, as long as we are together."
After a very "relaxing" shower, we got dressed and headed off to explore the corners of the ranch that we don't get to see very often. Riley has been a stay at home mom since we moved down here. Emily Ann will be starting kindergarten in the fall and Riles plans to spend some time getting to know her new "home". Thankfully because of the investment lessons Mr. Minkus taught me, we are able to provide for our family on one income.
I love moments like these, moments when it's just us, moments when we can just be. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids but Riley and I need these moments together. We are always on the go with the kids and they are the first priority (as they should be) but we need these moments to focus on us.
We visit the stables and saddle up Snowflake, our gorgeous white coated, brown eyed Thoroughbred. As the horse breeder told me, it is the perfect horse for a princess. I mount the horse and help Riley onto the saddle behind me. For years, I tried to get her to sit in front of me but she always refused saying she wanted to remember our first "Royal" moment.
The ride down to our lake is spent reminiscing and full of one of the greatest sounds I've ever heard, Riley giggling.
We dismount and sit on the edge of the lake. Riley is quiet and appears to be lost in thought. I sit next to her and wrap my arm around her shoulders. We lean into each other and start kissing. As per the norm, the minute our lips touch, I want and need more. As I lean back to remove her shirt, she backs away from me. That's never happened before….
"Riles?"
"Why didn't you kiss her?"
I knew exactly what she was talking about without needing any more details. The campfire near kiss may have happened years ago but she never wanted to talk about it…she would avoid it at all costs and I let her. I would do anything to make her happy so not discussing that time in our lives? No problem!
"It's simple Riles, she's not you. My head may have been momentarily confused by everything happening at the time…but my heart? It knew. It knew that the one in my arms, at that moment, was not the one it races for. Was not the one it beats steadily for. It knew that she wasn't my dream, my better half."
"Oh" she replies quietly
"What's going on Princess? What made you ask me about that night now? After all of these years?"
"Do you still think of her as the blonde beauty?" I stand up and help her to her feet. I need to look into her eyes while we finish this conversation.
"Riley Friar- what is going through that head of yours?"
"Do you?" she asks again
"Honestly?"
"Yes" she answers as she stares at the ground.
"I usually don't think of her at all. My mind is always on you and our family." I put my hands on either side of her head and lift it so that she is looking at me. "Riley, what's going on?" My hands are shaking. I haven't seen this side of her in years.
She is quiet for a moment, I would love nothing more than to take her by the shoulders and shake her until she starts talking but I know my wife, nothing will make her talk before she is ready to.
"How do I compete?"
"Compete? With who? For what? Riley… talk to me babe. What are you thinking?"
"Look at me Lucas. What hope do I have of hanging on?"
"Hanging on to what? Riley, I need you to stop talking to me in riddles and tell me what's going through that head of yours. I can't help you if I don't know what you are talking about."
She mumbles something under her breath…I can only make out a word or two, I think she mentioned some guy named Mark and his tone? I am so confused
"Riley Friar. I need you to tell me who Mark is and what his tone has to do with anything! Did someone say anything to upset you?" My temper is on the rise. Texas Lucas has been mostly dormant since the incident in high school. The only thing that can bring him to the surface is the thought of someone hurting my family. I begin pacing, ready to unleash on whoever this Mark guy is. He will learn not to mess with what is mine.
Riley looks up at me alarmed. "Lucas, no! Please calm down." She stands on her tiptoes and holds my face to get my attention. "Mark is not a person."
"What?" I am now completely confused.
Riley looks at the ground and mumbles. I lift her head and tell her "Riley, I need you to tell me, right now, what's going on. Just tell me, it can't be any worse than what's running through my head right now."
She takes a deep breath… "What I said was, how can I hang on to you? Have you seen me lately? I'm out of shape, covered in stretch marks, my batflaps jiggle long after I'm done waving hello. I'm no longer toned." She mutters in disgust.
"What? Riley, what are you talking about?" I am completely floored right now. How can she think any of this?
She throws her arms out to her sides…"Look at me Lucas, how can you not see this?"
I pull her into my arms and turn her face towards mine "Riley, let me tell you what I see. I see the absolute love of my life. I see the woman that I fell for when she was 12 years old, gangly limbs and all. I see my soulmate, the best part of me. Most of all? I see the woman who birthed 3 healthy children. Stretch marks? Pfft. They are tiger stripes that you earned while protecting our growing children. Hang on to me? Where do you think I'm going? It's always been you. It will ALWAYS be you. There is NOTHING on this earth that could possibly change how I feel about you and when my time on earth is through? I will be waiting for you on the other side."
She gives me one of her megawatt smiles.
"I wouldn't change anything about you but honey, if you're not happy and want to change things then do it….but do it for you."
"I heard you on the phone with Zay the other day. Talking about some floozy who caught your eye." She looks angry again.
"Are you kidding me? Riley….the woman who caught my eye the other day? She was you. I was looking out my office window, watching you push Emily on her swing and it was like I was standing in the subway station watching you walk towards me in your purple dress all over again. My heart began to race, my palms got sweaty…"
"Really? It was me?"
"Yes. It was you. I have been in like, in love and in lust with you for most of my life and it's moments like those that make me want to drop to me knees and thank my maker for bringing you into my life. You have been my world since the day we met. Even during the "brother zone" days, it was you. Like I told you when "Jexica" was born, I don't care what you call yourself…. You are still MY Riley. I have loved you for more than 30 years and I have news for you sweetheart, I don't see myself stopping any time soon."
"I love you too Lucas. I was just worried that we were getting to the point where everything just is… There was a time when we couldn't keep our hands off each other and now, not so much. I thought it may be because you weren't attracted to me anymore."
"Riley, I struggle to keep my hands off you all the time! You have your hands full taking care of our kids, what kind of man would I be if jumped on you the minute we were alone? It's never been a matter of me being interested. You breathe and I get turned on." This made her megawatt smile appear again. "If I promise to jump you more, will you tell me if it gets to be too much?" I give her the smirk that she told me she loves.
"Honey, I don't think it could ever be too much but yes I will tell you if I need you to withhold your plan to ravish me for a few days." She giggles and I can't help but think…my girl is back.
"Thank you Mad Dog, you always know what to say to make me feel better. I thought I was past this insecurity stage but once I heard you on the phone, everything came rushing back. I never thought to look at the changes my body went through until that moment. I have always been focused on you and the kids. I love being your wife and I love being their mom. I was afraid that you would think I had let myself go. Now that I know that you don't feel that way, I feel silly for letting those thoughts enter my head."
"Then let's head back to the cabin so I can put my plans into action. You know I don't like withholding anything from you." I grab her hands and we head back to Snowflake. The ride back to the cabin seems to take forever, but was less than 10 minutes. Now that I know what she's thinking, I can't wait to put her fears to rest.
As we approach the front door, I sweep her into my arms and carry her bridal style over the threshold.
"Lucas! What was that for?"
"You were taking too long and I have a lot of worshipping to do woman! So let's get a move on."
Later that night, as we snuggled together, she turns to me, heart in her eyes and says
"Hey Lucas?"
"Yes Princess?"
"What would you say if I told you I wanted another baby?"
"I'd tell you that I'm the man for the job" I reply as I pull the covers back over us….
GMWGMW GMWGMW GMWGMW GMWGMW GMWGMW GMWGMW GMWGMW GMWGMW GMWGMW
"Cory? We got a letter from Lucas & Riley" Topanga yells as she walks into the apartment with the day's mail in her hand.
"Mom & Dad …. Please let us know what you think.
I'm really glad that you could come, to help surprise my mother,
Sit down, relax, enjoy yourself and chat with one another
Sorry I can't be with you, to share in Mommy's shower
But you see I'm very busy, 'cause I'm growing more each hour
Though I'm not here to thank you for the special gift, you brought
My family and I are grateful, we appreciate the thought
I'll be arriving in March and I'm as happy as can be, so after I've been home awhile
Please come visit me.
Love, Hope Friar
"You know what this means right honey?" Topanga gives the love of her life her patented heart eyes.
"Yes I do. I'm retiring effective April 1st so I can move my love to Texas so she can be near her newest granddaughter"
That night as he lay awake in his bed, Cory can't help but marvel at how well both he and his daughter met the world.
A/N: I'm not quite sure where this story came from… but it was the one demanding to be written. As most of my fellow writers will attest, you have to write what's speaking to you. In this case, it wasn't just speaking…it was stomping it's feet and shouting in my ear. Please take a moment to review and let me know your thoughts.