Author's Note: I'll try not to make it a habit to put author's notes in the beginning of each chapter. If I must address something, I might to do that though. Also, please take the time to review this story if you can. I love feedback and I'm very lonely, haha :) So, it makes my day to see comments on my work.

Thanks!

"Shawnie!" Cory's voice could be heard from the kitchen as he hurried down the hallway to greet his best friend. Shawn laughed a little as he saluted Cory playfully. Topanga rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same as the two friends embraced each other.

Shawn had gone off to Georgia for about two months.

He had met some girl from Topanga's law firm over the summer that she was working there. Being an intern, Topanga had a lot of people she had to know and met Casey, her supervisor's niece. They hit it off well and became good friends. She even brought Casey along with her when she and Cory and Shawn would go out together.

Shawn especially liked her. They became friends as well and she seemed to get along with everyone, even Eric, who was staying in the same apartment building as Casey. It wasn't that far from the apartment that Cory and Topanga were living in.

Casey had Topanga look after her place while she went to visit her brother in Georgia, where she was from originally. She had asked them all to come, but Cory, Eric and Topanga declined, Topanga promising to watch after her apartment instead.

Shawn, however, agreed to go with her so she wouldn't be alone on the long trip down there. She didn't really have the money for plane tickets, so she was to drive from New York all the way down to Georgia. Shawn didn't like the fact she was going alone, so he told her he'd go with her, which she was excited about.

Being gone for nearly two months, Cory was extremely glad Shawn had returned because he would never shut up about him while he was gone. It got on Topanga's nerves, but she knew how much her husband cared for his friend, so she tried so hard not to let him drive her crazy, ever though she has come close to shoving a whole cake down his throat when he wouldn't quit talking about the time he and Shawn had one of the best games of basketball when they were thirteen.

"Good to have you back, Shawn. Really." Topanga said, hugging him after Cory released him.

"I'm glad to be back. Georgia's amazing though, guys. Casey's brother is really cool and they took me down to Savannah and we went to the beach. It's really cool down there in October. We went down there a few times during that month."

"Tell us all about it, Shawn. Come on into the kitchen first though." Cory led Shawn into their small kitchen and they sat down at the table. Topanga began making some tea for them all as she listened to Shawn explain the wonderful time he had down there in Georgia for two months. He explained how in November, on Thanksgiving, they had the biggest turkey he had ever seen. He said he could barely finish his entire plate. She smiled at the thought and recalled when Shawn phoned them on that day and said he really missed them and wished they were there with him. They wished he had been here with them for Thanksgiving, but she was glad he had a great time with Casey.

After about an hour of talking about what Shawn and Casey and her family did down in good ol' Dixie, Shawn finally called it a day. He promised to get Casey to explain some of the other things they did while away for half the fall season.

Cory was so giddy though. He kept nodding and listening and smiling as Shawn went on for an hour.

Topanga couldn't help but feel sorry for Shawn. He was going to be smothered to death because Cory will want to be around him all the time. More than he ever has.

"Oh, oh! He was terrible! He couldn't figure out how to catch the fish with his bare hands. It was sooo funny, guys. I wish you had seen him struggle."

"Hey, now that's not fair. It's harder than it looks."

Shawn laughed as Casey told his friends the rest of the stuff they did. Cory and Topanga were having an amazing time laughing and talking over what Shawn and Casey had experienced.

They all were comfortable sitting in Casey's living room, sipping at their beverages casually.

"How's your brother doing?" Topanga asked Casey as Cory had his arm draped around her protectively.

Casey nodded, saying, "Fine. Oh, he's doing fine. He finally was able to clean out the old shed in his backyard where he could store his stuff. I've been telling him for years to do that so he wouldn't have to stuff all that crap in his basement."

"He told me it was more like you were complaining to him to clean it up." Shawn teased as Casey smacked his shoulder playfully.

"Ah, shut it, Hunter."

Shawn chuckled.

"Fine, whatever." He said with a sly smirk.

Casey rolled her eyes. "So, where's-"

"ERIC HAS ARRIVED!"

Everyone turned towards the door as Eric burst through suddenly. He grinned as he saw Casey and Shawn and threw his arms up in the air. "'Ey, guys! Looong time." He winked.

"Hello, Eric." Shawn said.

"What'cha doin'? How was the trip? Did you bring me back something?" He asked quickly, causing Casey to giggle. She stood up and greeted Eric with a friendly hug, in which he wrapped his arms around the skinny brunette and smiled like a little school boy. Once she released, she headed over towards the counter and grabbed a bag off of it. She walked over to Eric and brought out a small box from the bag and handed it to him.

His eyes brightened and he opened the box like a child on Christmas morning.

"Oh, cool! A… A, um… What the hell is this?" He asked, holding the object in his hand and rotating it as if examining it.

"It's a keychain, you dope." Casey said, not trying to offend Eric.

Eric held the misshaped, oval keychain in his palm.

"What is it though? What's on it?" He questioned, cocking a brow.

"It's the carving on Stone Mountain. We visited there while in Georgia."

"Oh. Well, cool, thanks!" Eric happily pulled his keys out and placed the small souvenir on them. "I probably got the best gift out of all of you. What did you two losers get?" He mocked his brother and sister-in-law.

"We didn't get anything…" Cory answered.

"Ha ha! They like me better than you!" Eric taunted in a sing-song voice, plopping down on the couch beside Shawn.

Cory rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't we get anything?"

"We didn't think you'd like the stuff they had. They had some crappy stuff down there in the stores we went to."

"Oh, right. But you could have at least gotten the two of us a keychain."

"Now, Cory-"

"Quiet, Topanga. I'm talking." Cory said as he turned back to Shawn.

Topanga frowned and narrowed her eyes at her husband. Cory, suddenly realizing what he had just done, smiled at his wife.

"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to be so rude."

"That's okay, Cory. All is forgiven. For now…"

"What?" Cory's face flashed into a fearful expression. Topanga smirked and Casey chuckled at Cory's misfortune.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry we didn't get you guys anything."

"We just thought you'd appreciate something better than just keychains, but they didn't have anything that we thought you two would like." Casey finished Shawn's sentence.

"No, it's alright. Cory's just being a big baby." Topanga said, grabbing Cory's face with her hand and squeezing his cheeks together as she made baby noises at him.

Shawn grinned and glanced over at Casey.

He had to admit, he had a great time with her. She had really become a great friend to them over the months they had moved here. But he couldn't help but still feel a void. He still woke up in the middle of the night and sat in the slightly lit room for hours just thinking about… her.

He missed Angela so much.

He still couldn't help but feel like a part of him had been surgically removed from his spirit and that the only way to return it, was to reattach it. He wanted Angela back in his life. He still talked to her on the phone and wrote to her every single day, but it wasn't enough. He still wanted her to be beside him, not on the opposite side of the world.

Shawn still loved Angela with all his heart and it still hurt him that he had let her go.

Shawn was prepared to marry her. He might've been too young or he might not have been necessarily ready for it, but he still wanted it. He wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.

He still did, but she was off in Europe and he had already said goodbye right when she walked out the door. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do. He wasn't ready for her to go, but he had to let her do this. He couldn't take that time away from her with her father. He knew how much it meant to her to spend that precious time with him. It was the right thing to do, or so he had convinced himself it was.

It was still so hard to think about that moment when he said he loved her and watched her walk right out those doors. Saying goodbye under his breath was the last thing he said to Angela, though not directly to her.

He'd lost so many people in his life and right when things started to come around for him, they turned to mud.

Shawn was the worm in that mud pile. He was surrounded by bad things in his life and he couldn't escape them nor do anything about them. It was always like that for him and sometimes he wondered if he was meant to be on this earth in the first place. He didn't have much going for him. He had no parents, Jack joined the Peace Corps, his best friends were married, his other siblings were gone, the love of his life left, and he was just alone.

Even surrounded by Eric, Casey, Topanga and Cory, Shawn still felt like he was the lone wolf of the pact and felt like he was alone all the time.

Angela was the best thing to ever happen to him and she was gone and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

He had let her go and he wasn't quite willing to move on…