Chapter 7: Fixed Forever
"Because… because Kermit left me and… and you guys are still grieving over Shawn!" Katy nodded, repeating as if she'd found some sort of a lifeline, "Yeah, Shawn!"
It was Cory who reached for her hand and tugged her over to the wall of photos the two of them had stood in front of that first night she'd come over. "Don't you see?" he asked gently.
And suddenly, for the first time, she did.
The college photo that had once been front and center was still there, but it had been relegated to the side of the wall, crowded out by pictures of Katy and Maya with the Matthews's.
Cory, Katy, and Topanga, a sleeping pile of humanity on the couch as the credits rolled on Shrek.
Katy, Cory, Riley, and Auggie dancing to Broadway music in the middle of the living room.
Topanga and Katy sitting together under an umbrella on the beach.
Cory and Maya with the blonde holding up her first ever A+ history test.
Maya, Katy, Riley, and Topanga doing each other's hair.
"Don't you see?" Cory repeated, gripping her hand. "Shawn will always be someone special to Topanga and I, but, Katy… while we weren't paying attention, we fell in love with you."
"We want to see where this could go," Topanga murmured, taking Katy's other hand.
Katy stared at the two of them for a long second before she gestured with her chin towards the living room and said, "The only place I could see it going is back here."
"What do you mean?" Topanga asked, hers and Cory's brows creasing in twin expressions of confusion.
Katy barked an amused laugh as she shot Cory's words back at them. "Don't you see? I barely have any food in my fridge because I'm here so often, Maya - Maya actually moved in here 'while we weren't paying attention'!" she swallowed before she asked quietly, "Do you realize that Auggie calls me Mammi when I tuck him in at night? Do you see that I've already fallen in love with you too?"
"Katy," Cory breathed, pulling her into a hug.
Topanga managed an "oh, honey," through her tear-clogged throat as she sandwiched Katy in the middle of a three-way hug.
Katy burrowed willingly into their touches, and when at last they released her, it was only for Cory to shock both women through and through when informed Katy calmly, "I don't think we should go on a date with you, sweetheart."
"What?" Topanga squawked at the teacher in horror.
Cory shot her a longsuffering glance before he turned to Katy and asked, "Why didn't you want to go on a date with us?"
Katy shifted on her feet, seeming to run through a number of possible copouts before she answered with bared-soul honesty, "I don't think I'd survive losing you guys. I'm scared to mess up what we have – whatever this is."
"What this is," Cory said. "Is love. Without even trying, you took a broken primer couple and somehow you fixed the things inside of us that we thought were irreparable. You got a sarcastic lawyer to fall in love with you at first sight."
"True story," Topanga smiled at Katy.
"I know the feeling," Katy admitted, and Topanga squeezed her hand before Cory continued.
"As for me… Katy, I wasn't going to fall in love again," Cory said. "I'd decided years ago that it just wasn't going to happen, because I was never going to have what I had with Shawn with someone else… and in a way I was right. You and I are not Shawn and I – and I don't want us to be. You and I are something different and exciting and beautiful in a different way… and I love that. Shawn was my love at first sight... you… I can't even tell you when I fell in love with you, just that I'm in love with you right now. And I don't want to lose that love any more than you do. I just want to make it official. So… maybe we shouldn't go on a date. Maybe that isn't the right starting place for us, because, honestly, I think that we're so far beyond that by now."
Finally Topanga was starting to understand what her partner was actually getting at and she smiled excitedly, nodding her agreement when Cory glanced at her for confirmation before he continued.
He finished slowly, "Maybe, instead of going on a date, you should move in with us and we could see what happens from there."
Katy gaped at him and Topanga's hopeful expressions for a long minute in silence before she announced in astonishment, "Cory Matthews, this is the most insane thing you've ever said in your life!"
"And you love me that much more because of it," he said, and though he tried to come off as cool and confident, Katy heard the underlying terror and hope in his tone.
Suddenly she was laughing, though she wasn't sure if it was at them, herself, the situation, or in relief or sheer elation. "Yeah," she nodded, pulling them both to her. "Yeah, I do. I love you both – for so many reasons – and I would love to live here."
Because whether or not they knew it just yet, somewhere along the way, Cory and Topanga had healed the broken bits of her too, and though she wasn't sure where they were going from here, Katy knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the duo that made her finally feel whole and happy again.
Upon hearing the news the next morning around the breakfast table – the kids never even blinked anymore if Katy was "miraculously" at the apartment when they woke up – Maya declared, "It's about time!"
Auggie asked curiously, "So when's the wedding?"
"Oh, no, sweetie," Topanga hurried to correct him, "We're not getting married; Katy's just going to live with us."
"For how long?" the boy asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Forever and ever," Katy answered decisively.
"Although, Auggie, that's an interesting idea," Cory mused thoughtfully. "Married..." He looked at Katy and Topanga, asking, "How long do you think it'd take to plan a wedding?"
"A year?" Topanga hazarded as her and Katy's smiles both started to widen.
"What happens after a wedding, though?" Auggie asked.
Riley beamed at him, declaring, "Forever and ever."
"Amen," Cory agreed heartily. "It's a fixed deal then."
Thus we reach the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed it!
