Best Friend Meets Hope
By: Lord-of-Dragons2007
A/N: I do not own the characters, concepts, and so on so please enjoy.
Farkle left and Riley and Maya closed the window and left Riley's room for dinner, Topanga had brought a couple of large pizzas home with her from work. She had been working hard on a new case and was coming home pretty worn and was content with bringing home dinner for everyone. She smiled as she saw her handsomely dorky husband open the door for her,
"Ooohhh hello my love." Cory said excitedly, which put a big smile on his wife's face,
"Aww, hey." Topanga replied in a lovey dovey voice,
"Oh hey." Cory answered as he took the pizza from his wife's hands as he looked up to address her. The lovey dovey expression drooped from her face, though she knew it was Cory being Cory. Topanga lifted her head to look at the kids with a nonchalant smile on her face,
"My whole life." Topanga said as she walked in and closed the door to the apartment and set her stuff down and came to the table to start eating, she was starving. Cory always had his way of restoring her faith in him with the little things he did, like tonight he had set the table and had gotten plates out, the red pepper flakes to put on the pizza, the parmesan cheese for the same purpose, and had gotten everyone a napkin and a soda to drink. Topanga turned her head and smiled as she watched her husband start to open up a pizza box and start to serve her,
"Kiss kiss?" Topanga asked again in a lovey dovey tone,
"Oh, yes yes." Cory answered before he bent over and gave her a quick peck on the lips before he put her plate down in front of her and went to serve himself,
"Ewww stop right there, I thought agreed no making out at the table." Riley said in a serious and grossed out tone though she was just joking with them,
"What? It was only a quick little peck on –" Cory started to defend,
"Eww no stop, I don't wanna know." Riley continued over dramatically,
"Yeah ok." Cory said giving and realizing that Riley was just messing with them,
"Its ok daddy, I like when you kiss mommy because then I know you both love each other." Auggie said so innocently that it melted everyone's heart,
"Though I'm with Riley, it sometimes can be kinda gross." Auggie added after a moment, and at that moment the two adults in the room looked at each other with a panicked look. The two were always so careful as to not make out or anything in front of the kids, however when they were alone they tried to satisfy their adult cravings. Because of this and what Auggie said had caused them to panic a little bit. They wondered if Auggie had walked in on them and seen something he wasn't supposed to see,
"Riley how was your day!" Topanga said with an over enthusiastic smile and tone in her voice as she was quickly trying to change the conversation,
"I got up, it was a sunny day, I love a sunny day, I went to school, I loved my friends, and I came here." Riley answered dorkily with a cheesy smile on her face. Shawn's description of her was pretty aped, she was definitely Cory with Topanga's hair. Topanga however was hoping for a little more than that out of her daughter, but she really didn't expect any less out of her than what she just got,
"Maya, how was your day." Topanga asked again this time in a more frantic tone and gave her a look that almost said 'please save me here',
"I woke up it was a sunny day, I hate a sunny, I went school, I hate school, and I came here." Maya sounding almost the exact polar opposite of Riley, though she did it over exaggeratedly and everyone knew she was joking. Ever since Shawn had really come into her and her mother's life she had been happier, more applied in school, and most of all, she had hope in her life,
"What about you Cory? Anything happen today?" Topanga asked still trying to get a conversation going but it was like lighting your last match on a windy night,
"I got up, the world span on, I taught about Iceland and Greenland. Those Jerks, and I came here." He answered her just like his daughter and her best friend though it was still just as lame as their answers. Topanga gave up and just stuffed her face with a mouth full of pizza, luckily for Topanga and by extension Cory Auggie didn't give what he saw another thought and just let it go. Everyone ate their meals happily and telling funny stories.
Meanwhile a few blocks away Shawn and Katy were in the middle of their date, things were going about as awkward as anyone would have guessed, they were in a new trendy Italian restaurant that Cory had suggested and they both were really feeling out of place and awkward, not just because of the restaurant but because of each other. They really hadn't had time to really really talk to each other and for whatever reason now it was hard to talk when before it wasn't that hard, what was getting the best of them now was just nerves, they were nervous and wanted to make a good impression on each other. They both cared for the other so much that they didn't want to do anything that would scare the other off, they had both been left by people they thought were going to be forever and scars like that always leave a bit of a phantom pain. Finally Shawn couldn't take it anymore, he needed to get rid of this tension and awkwardness,
"So…Maya seems to be a lot chipper these days." Shawn said trying to get some conversation out of Katy and hopefully get her and himself to relax enough to have a good time,
"Yeah, I don't know what's happened just….She seems so much happier and at peace with herself lately." Katy answered, what Katy wasn't sharing was that she suspected it was because Shawn was in her life now,
"So uhh how did you find this place Shawn?" Katy asked her date curiously,
"Cory. Cory suggested this place, said it was fancy and would make a good date." Shawn answered, though he was second guessing his choice of coming here with Katy, he knew she was just like him, she wasn't fancy or anything and that's what helped with things. At that moment he realized why he felt so uncomfortable and why she felt so uncomfortable, it was this place. It wasn't them, they weren't these extravagant people that came to places like this, it was at that moment that the table next to them got their food. The gentleman removed the lid on his and there were a plate of steaming snails, both Katy and Shawn looked at the man's slimy plate as took his fork and started to fish around the shell for the delicacy and they couldn't watch any more. They turned to each other and they immediately knew what the other was thinking,
"I think I saw a nice burger joint on the way over, you game?" Shawn asked Katy quickly,
"Check please." Katy called out to a waiter to get the check for the drinks they had. Once the bill was paid they grabbed their coats and almost ran out of the restaurant,
"Well now that the awkwardness is out of the way let the real date start." Shawn said trying to sound cool for Katy,
"Oh ok mister cool." Katy started sounding as tough as her daughter before she gently wrapped her arms around Shawn's arm lovingly and tenderly,
"Let's get this date on the road then." Katy finished tenderly, Shawn was a little taken back by the way Katy grabbed his arm and the way she spoke, but then he quickly melted into her embrace. He smiled and thought to himself, this was so much easier than he thought it was going to be, that this was so much easier than when he was with Angela. The couple walked down the street to the burger place they passed on the way over to the suggested restaurant, at this point whatever tension they had between seemed to vanish as they were now talking and laughing their way down the street,
"-And then she pushed him against the lockers and planted one on him." Shawn went on with his story which caused Katy to laugh her head off and was thankful she was holding onto Shawn's arm because she would have fallen over laughing,
"Wow, I don't think I'll ever see the two the same way again." Katy said laughing just thinking about younger Cory and Topanga,
"Well here we are, ladies first." Shawn said as he opened the door open for her,
"Thank you kind sir." Katy said with a fancy English accent,
"Good show kind lady." Shawn replied with a cheesy accent of his own as he entered too, the place was a little busy because it was a Friday night but it wasn't too bad. The good thing was that it was a fun place to be, tonight the New York Giants were playing the Philadelphia Eagles and everyone had their eyes on the TV screens while they ate their burgers,
"Hey the game is on. You like football Katy? He exclaimed excitedly before he asked her his question curiously, she smiled as she looked up at him,
"Honey, I LOVE football, I was the only girl in a family of boys." Katy explained confidently, she was the middle child of three children her younger and older siblings were both boys so the three of them would often watch sports, rough house, and occasionally wrestle, maybe it was because of this her and Shawn got along so well was because they were so alike,
"Great." He said excitedly as he led her over to an open table before they missed their chance to get a table. As soon as they sat down a waitress came with a couple of menus and a smile on her face,
"Hello, what can I get you all to drink?" She asked the couple,
"Katy want a beer?" Shawn asked her curiously,
"Sure, I'll take a Blue Moon." Katy answered,
"Make that two." Shawn added in,
"Alright coming up." She said as she walked away to get their drinks. Katy and Shawn looked at each other and smiled, this was more their speed, the tension they had was practically gone though they were still a little awkward with each other, but that was something that was going to go away in time,
"So, Katy you have a couple of brothers?" he asked her curiously since she had brought it up, he realized he didn't know that much about her and well a date was the perfect time to get to know someone better,
"Yeah a younger and an older one." Katy answered his question,
"Of course boys being boys thought they could beat up on their sister when we were kids but what they didn't count on was that this sister could kick their butts." Katy added after a moment or two with a chuckle as she remembered some of the more memorable times when they all wrestled and she always came up on top, this caused Shawn to chuckle,
"Well just proves something that I already knew about you, that youre a tough lady Katy." Shawn said earnestly and in awe of her, it took guts to be a single working mother. She could have folded and done things she would have been proud of but here she was with her daughter who was just a tough as she was and making things work, he admired her for doing what she needed to do to raise such an amazing daughter and being able to provide for her and herself. Katy blushed at his compliment,
"Thank you, Shawn." Katy said gently before she jumped up and cheered with everyone else around them cheering that the Giants caught an interception and were going to start their drive, Shawn just shook his head with a smile on his face and just chuckled at the scene, but the smile was more for the smile on Katy's face, for her getting so into the game. When Katy sat back down she blushed at her reaction,
"Sorry about that." Katy apologized sheepishly to which Shawn shook his head at,
"Don't be." Shawn said gently,
"You be you." He added after a moment.
Meanwhile back at the Matthews house they had already finished their meal and had moved into the living room and were playing Monopoly in teams. Cory and Topanga against Riley and Maya against Auggie and Ava, the kids were however unknowingly to the adults were on one big team against Cory and Topanga. This proved to be a good plan as both teams were taking it to Cory and Topanga, the game was decidedly lopsided in the sense that the adults only had one deed and it was the cheapest one on the board while the kids owned everything else and had hotels on them,
"Matthews I gotta say I don't think I've ever seen this big of a slaughter in a board game." Maya said cockily as she rolled and landed on one of Auggies pricier hotels and paid the man his fee like it was chump change,
"Here you go kid, keep the change, buy your girl something pretty." Maya said to the little boy,
"Let's go to Bloomingdales and spend it." Ava said excitedly,
"Why would you do that to me?!" Auggie asked Maya excitedly which elected a chuckle from everyone. Cory however wasn't amused by losing at Monopoly,
"Hey what happened to my killer shark wife? We were supposed to kill at this game." He asked her in a hushed and feigned angry voice,
"I don't know….This one got away from me." Topanga said in a dazed and confused tone as she just looked at the board and surveyed how they had played the game,
"Its ok mom, it was expected that you would lose that killer instinct when you got older, I'll take care of you." Riley said sweetly with a bit of a dark edge to her voice, Riley didn't mean anything bad by it she was just getting into the situation of the game,
"Topanga glared at her trying to give her that killer shark glare that she had and to her surprise she was met by the same glare staring right back at her, Topanga blinked and couldn't maintain the staring contest. Riley smiled at wining the little stare down game, Cory witnessed the whole thing with a horrified look on his face, how could his wife lose? She never lost,
"Just roll." Topanga said as she crossed her arms and huffed like a bratty child having a temper tantrum as she threw herself back into the couch. Auggie rolled and landed on Riley and Maya's hotel and paid them their fee,
"Here you go mommy." Auggie said as he got up and went around and handed his mother the dice, this made Topanga smile,
"Thanks Auggie." She said happily as she took the dice rolled, she moved the token and unfortunately landed on the boardwalk hotel which had the highest fee. Topanga and Cory groaned and Riley and Maya cheered,
"Pay up Matthews!" Maya cheered as she held out her hand to Cory for him to pay, unfortunately they had already mortgage their one property and only had a fifty dollar paper left, he held it up with a cheesy smile to Maya,
"IOU?" he asked her hopefully,
"Umm N-O?" Maya said with an equally cheesy smile on her face,
"We declare bankruptcy…" Topanga said in a shocked tone, both teams of kids cheered happily they had won,
"It was a pleasure doing business with you both." Riley said as she shook her brother's hand and Maya shook Ava's hand, Topanga's mouth hung open as she realized what happened,
"This wasn't about us Topanga, it was just good business." Ava said professionally,
"We're ending the game together, Auggie, Ava, Maya, and I are sharing the world of monopoly and we call it day ending as two economic powers." Riley said happily,
"Wanna go watch a movie?" Maya asked Riley,
"Thought you'd never ask." Riley replied as she helped to put away the game, she put the money back in the respective spot along with their game token and the dice. After that the pain disappeared to Riley's room.
A/N: This seemed like a good place to stop for this chapter, sorry it took so long to get this one out, its been a crazy few weeks for me since I updated my last story. Things are kinda starting to slow down a bit and I'm gonna start settling into my assignment at work so hopefully things stay slow and I'll have more time to work on stuff from here =). Anyway hope this was a good chapter and I hope you guys like it, please read and review I love hearing what you guys think of my work. I'll catch you guys around =).