Author Note: So I got asked last night who I would dream cast as these characters since they're older. I really hadn't thought about it much, but I am curious who you all see as these characters all grown up, so let me know.

-11-

Maya looked around the loft, she had her suitcase, her camera bag, her work bag, but she couldn't help but feel as though she was forgetting something. "What am I missing?"

"Me" Charlie came up behind her with his own bags, "This will be fine. I watched you pack all the bags last night you've got everything you could possibly need and so do I."

Maya smiled, "I still can't believe we're going to be gone for so long."

"I can, I get to have you all to myself for almost two whole weeks." He kissed her neck as he pulled her close to him.

"Cheese Soufflé" she giggled "If you start that then we're never going to make our flight."

He sighed, "Fine, but when I get you alone in the hotel room I'm ripping your clothes off and taking you as long and as hard as I want."

"That better be a promise." She purred as they grabbed their bags, "Do you have everything that you're going to need?"

Charlie smiled as he felt the box in his pocket, "Oh yeah I've got everything I need for our trip."

Wyatt held the bear he'd stitched up the night before as he nervously knocked on Alex's bedroom door.

It swung open and he could see she was dancing around still in her pajamas as she listened to music on her iPod.

She smiled when she saw him removing the ear buds, "Just some old Taylor Swift."

"Sure it was." He picked up the iPod seeing she was listening to Gin Blossoms, "This is the stuff your Grandparents listened to when he was like our age you know that right?"

"I like it." She shrugged as she took the iPod from her, suddenly seeing a difference in him. Something was off with Wyatt and she wasn't sure what. She was silent as she studied him as he moved towards her bed. He was dressing the same, he hadn't changed his hair he was still wearing that God awful body spray his brother had given him for Christmas. But something was different, or was it just the way she was looking at him "So the bear?"

"Oh yeah, no voice box, just a weird hard clump of stuffing, but I um fixed her up. Stuffed her up a bit more so she was a little more huggable and stitched her up. She should be as good as new."

"Great, that's awesome." She hugged Princess, "I knew Wyatt was being silly about you having a voice box. It's not like you held the key to all the secrets about my life."

"Yeah, not at all" Wyatt looked at the walls, "So posters still held hostage?"

"Sort of, Reese took the one of Lucas to get signed." Alex smiled as she leaned against her desk, "I guess Reese isn't so bad, you know. I mean he loves my Mom and he's not a total jerk. He seems to actually want to get to know me instead of just getting my Mom, ya know?"

"Yeah" Wyatt was sure the necklace and letter were going to burn a hole in his pocket. "Like okay, have you ever like thought maybe you've met your biological father and just don't know it?"

"My Mom would never let me meet my father, let's be real." Alex sighed, "It's not Farkle he is so not my Dad. Besides whoever he is broke my Mom's heart and I know rationally that she's keeping it all a secret so he doesn't have the chance to break mine."

"Just like what if this situation is even more complicated, what if he wanted to be there for you but your Mom never flat out told him that you're his what if all he's ever wanted is a chance to be your father and her husband, what if he's spent years yearning for that?"

"If he knows about me he could've come home a million times over the years. He could've shown up at Christmas, my birthday, New Year's Eve, Easter Sunday, Arbor Day, a random Wednesday afternoon. He's never reached out to me or her."

Wyatt could see the pain on Alex's face, "But what if he did and you just didn't realize it?"

"Then it wasn't good enough Wyatt. Why are you asking me this stuff? He's never tried to be my Father, what's going to happen I'm going to find out who he is, pack my bag and go live with him? No, you and I both know that won't happen. Maybe I'll spend a weekend or two a month with him and we'll bond a little bit. But really he'll always be the guy who broke my Mom's heart and abandoned her and me."

"Yeah I get that." Wyatt felt the knot in his stomach twisting, how in the world was he going to explain to Alex that Lucas was her father? Maybe it was best if he didn't, at least not right away, he needed to talk to someone first and as he watched Alex pull a video up on her computer he realized exactly who the right person to go to about this story was.

"Okay explain this to me again, because I think I'm missing something." Farkle looked over his coffee mug to Riley as they stood in his kitchen.

Riley sighed trying to blink back the tears that kept trying to release, "So I get out of the cab last night and he must've just left Zay's and he comes up to me and asks if I still want the interview, I tell him yes I do. He kissed me Farkle, like toe curling feeling it in my knees, any description from a 80s or 90s teen movie you can think of kind of kiss. Where you're left breathless, and with butterflies swirling around, and that summer afternoon rain is coming in. The kind of kiss you're never going to forget no matter how hard you try. Then before he walks away he tells me I got the interview, that he'll do it."

Farkle nodded, "And I'm guessing when Reese got back you tried to use him to forget all about what Lucas had just done to you and it didn't work did it?"

"No, I had to bite back Lucas' name. Ridiculous isn't it, all these years later and I still call out his name." She looked down at her nails wishing she'd picked a different nail polish instead of the red she currently had on.

"Not as ridiculous as calling out the name of someone you've never even slept with when having sex with one of your dream girls."

Riley's eyes went wide, "Spill the tea Farkle I shared mine now you share yours."

"My birthday, Maya came over and this year it wasn't just oral sex, this time it was more, it was everything I could ever want from her sexually."

"That didn't include me, right?"

Farkle blushed, "Yeah something like that."

"Continue."

"So we're going for it, third time that morning, and it's hot and amazing in ways I can't even find the words to describe and instead of yelling out Maya, I yelled out Sarah."

Riley smiled, "Oh, wow. I'm kind of relieved. I think Maya and I have enough issues and was a little worried you were about to say you called out my name."

Farkle threw a dish towel at her, "Sorry not this time."

"So when are you going to ask Sarah out already? You obviously have a thing for her so just go ahead and do it already Farkle."

"We're going to a Yankees game in like a week so that's a date. I think, do you think she wants to go on a date with me?"

"Yeah I do. I think the two of you are both ready to move on and move on together. So go for it already."

"What about you Riley, Lucas obviously still has a hold over you, so what are you going to do are you going to go after him or walk away?"

"I think what I'm going to do was decided a very long time ago."

"Hey Friar, could you sign this for me?" Reese came jogging over to him in the locker room with Alex's poster rolled up in his hand.

Lucas looked over just after he'd removed his shirt, "Sure, whose this for?"

"Alex, Riley's daughter I think I made a breakthrough with her last night." Reese looked over, "Nice ink, what do those even mean?"

Lucas looked down at his chest, "One is my daughter's birthday, and the other is a special personal anniversary."

"You really love her even though you've never met her huh?" Reese pulled a sharpie from his locker.

"Yeah, something like that." Lucas took the marker and unrolled the poster, "She really keeps this up on her wall?"

"Well when Riley doesn't go total hard ass and make her take everything down. But the kid has spirit she went and painted the walls without permission one afternoon saying she's not girly enough for pink."

"She's growing up, ready for a change. Riley made us all, never mind I'm probably remembering wrong."

"Her bay window, you were there for that?" Reese felt a knot start to grow in his stomach, "I mean I know you and Riley dated in high school."

"Yeah, and we didn't work out."

"Is that why you avoid her?"

"No, I would avoid any member of the press." Lucas pulled his uniform shirt on, "But I'm surprised she didn't tell you, I decided to go for it and give her that interview. I got sick of her hounding me."

"I knew she was going to wear you down. She does that, though I think I wore her down the way I chased her for years." Reese rolled the now signed poster up and put it in his locker.

"So you chased Riley?" Lucas had never really heard how they'd gotten together.

"Yeah, she kind of bounced from guy to guy, nothing ever really super serious. It's like she was trying to find someone who could make her forget her ex, Alex's father, not you."

Lucas felt anger boil inside of him. "Yeah that ex."

"Anyways, so um, I always asked her out and finally she looks to me one day a little over a year ago and says, "Okay Reese, let's see if you can put your money where your mouth is. We had an amazing date, we moved a little slower than I expected and before I knew it I was head over heels in love with her. I know I can't spend the rest of my life without her. Have you ever felt that way?"

"Yeah, the worst part is when you can't spend the rest of your life with the woman you love." Lucas tried to look away and finished dressing, "What does Alex know about her birth father, does she know anything?"

"Just that he abandoned Riley and her, she told me she would probably be a big brat to him just like she was to me since he's been gone so long." Reese sighed, "You probably didn't want to hear that since you've got your own daughter out in the world, just wondering about you."

"Yeah, exactly, I'm going to just go get warmed up." Lucas wanted to hit something as he grabbed his glove and pulled on his cap as he stormed away. This wasn't going to be easy, he knew that, but he was starting to realize just how messy this entire situation was going to be.

Josh sat down at the bar with a small bouquet of flowers he'd picked up a few blocks away. Lillian came out from the back carrying several bottles and smiled when she saw him. "Hey Josh, meeting someone?"

"These are for you. I wanted to apologize again for last night. It was a total disaster and then the night just kind of ended and we were covered in pasta-" He rambled on until he felt Lillian's finger on his lips.

She smiled, "Josh it wasn't your fault. It was just the way things worked out, and what time we spent together I enjoyed.' She put the bottles away on the shelf, "I have to confess, I got a little nervous about something. So when we were at the wedding I thought you might kiss me while we were dancing and I realized how much I wanted you to kiss me, and then I realized how relieved I was when my father cut in."

Josh watched as she pulled her finger away, his nervous smile turning to a frown.

"But I was relieved because I didn't want our first kiss to be on the dance floor of a wedding with my whole family watching." She grabbed a rag and started to wipe down the bar, "And then last night, I rushed into my building before you could kiss me because the last thing I wanted was our first kiss to be us covered in pasta and sauce and the stink of an awful evening."

"So you've thought about us kissing?" He gulped.

Lillian smiled seeing him relax as she moved in front of the bar towards him. She picked up his hands, letting her thumbs run over his knuckles, "Yeah, a lot actually. I want it to be a moment just you and me, a good song playing in the background." She couldn't help but smile knowing her favorite song was playing right now and they were the only ones in the bar right now.

"That would be good." He stared into her eyes, trying to remember the way the bars lights reflected in them and was stunned when he felt her lips crash onto his with a white hot heat he'd never before experienced in his life. His arms snaking around her to keep her close as they kissed enjoyed each other on a level he hadn't thought they ever would. This was the kind of kiss Josh had been trying to write and now thanks to Lillian he knew exactly the words he wanted to use for it, but first he had to enjoy the moment as his heart pounded like beatniks on bongo drums and he was sure he could hear fireworks going off in the distance even though it was the middle of the afternoon.