Hey y'all! I want to say thanks for reading and reviewing my stories. I am very appreciate of all of you, and you guys are inspiring me to write more, which is fantastic. Thank y'all so much!

I hope you all like this chapter! (It's a short one)

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING

The last thing Lucas remembers before falling asleep is Riley telling him that she and Farkle are going to leave for the night. He thinks she said something about getting a hotel room, so they don't have to travel far from the suburbs to the city. Lucas remembers that he called his mother and asked her to watch Sadie for the night, which she gladly accepted. And he remembers what Sadie told him over the phone.

"I know I'm only four, daddy, but I know that something's wrong with Maya. When can I come see her?"

"You're a very smart girl, Sadie. But I need to explain a few thing to you, in person, before I can let you come see Maya. Maya's going to be okay, and I know that she can't wait to see you when she feels better."

"Okay, daddy. Tell Maya I said to get better soon. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart. Goodnight. Don't give grandma a hard time, okay?"

"Okay. Goodnight."

Lucas opens his eyes in the dark room. One of the nurses must have turned off the lights. He rubs his eyes and yawns before being brought out of his thoughts.

"You're mad, aren't you?" Maya asks.

Lucas quickly sits up and responds, "When Farkle called, I was, but I was more worried about you than anything."

He reaches up behind Maya's bed and pulls the string that connects to the lamp, turning it on. He scoots his chair closer to Maya's bedside and grabs her hand.

"I wasn't mad at you, though."

Maya can't make eye contact with him. She's afraid that she will break down if she looks at him. So she stares at the wall across from her. Lucas feels how tense she is when he grabs her hand, and he doesn't know what to do to help her.

"Is it safe to say that your relationship with Tony is pretty much over now?" Lucas asks.

Maya sighs, "I'm so stupid. I should've ended things between us the first time he did this," Maya finally looks at him and continues, "Do you want to know how we got together?"

Lucas nods, not knowing this part of their story.

"I met him while I was in college. It was right after you and I broke up, and I didn't think anything else would happen between Tony and me after we flirted over a few drinks. But he kept coming around, and I thought he was sweet. I thought he was sweet and charming. He was the first boy, after you, who showed interest in me as a person and not as a pretty face. We started going out, and I thought that I could trust myself to not get hurt in a relationship with him," Maya begins.

Lucas's jaw clenches. He really hates himself right now. Hurting Maya like he did in high school was and still is the stupidest thing he has ever done. He wishes that it could've been him that Maya was with while she was in college. He wishes that it could've been him that protected her from people like Tony.

"Anyway, things started off pretty amazing. My friends from college loved him, and I started to fall in love with him myself. But five months into the relationship was enough time for him to get possessive over me. And I guess I was just too love struck to notice. But my friends noticed, and my family noticed. They said that I never came around anymore, and that it was Tony's fault."

"What did you tell them?" Lucas asks.

"I agreed. I noticed how different things were too, after they told me. I was just afraid to bring it up to him at first. Then, I remembered that I am Maya Hart, and I'm not scared of anybody or anything. So I brought it up to him," Maya says.

"And that was the first time he hit you," Lucas says, connecting the story together.

Maya nods, "He slapped me. At first, I was in shock, but then I got super pissed. I didn't talk to him for a week, but that didn't stop him from trying to apologize. I can't remember what he did to get me to forgive him, but that was my first mistake. He got a little rough around the edges as we continued our relationship. It got toxic really fast. But I kept telling myself that I wasn't scared of him. But I never realized how many times I flinched or coward because of him. I didn't feel like myself anymore. I decided, after a year of that toxicity, that I was going to break up with him."

"What happened? Why didn't you break up with him?"

"He got discovered by a boxing agent. He had instant fame, and I still needed to pay for college. I just didn't know how I was going to bring it up to him. I didn't want to seem like I was only staying with him for money even though I was. I just brought it up to him by acting shocked at a bill that came from the college was in the mail. When I did that, though, he automatically accused me of staying with him for the money, and that's when he did this..." Maya says, gesturing to her current state of health, "To me for the first time. The only difference was that I was laying in my apartment for a week before I finally got the strength to take myself to the hospital."

Lucas squeezes Maya's hand gently. Her voice is getting shaky. She is trying to stay strong in front of Lucas, but it is obviously difficult for her.

"I didn't see him until he came to me in the hospital and told me that he paid off all of my college debt. He-" Maya starts before Lucas interrupts.

"Whoa. Wait a minute. How did he know you were in the hospital? I mean your mother must not have known you were in the hospital because if she did, then she wouldn't have let Tony know that you were there," Lucas says.

"I didn't know this at the time, but he paid someone to install a tracker in my phone. He told me that he would get rid of it, and I believed him because he let me get a new phone. He obviously had another put in because he found out that I stayed with you, and he found out that I went to Riley's house last week."

Lucas feels a rush of guilt flow throughout his entire body.

"I'm so sorry, Maya. If I had known that, I wouldn't have asked you to stay if it caused you any trouble," Lucas apologizes.

Maya squeezes his hand to calm him down, "Lucas. I had no idea he put another tracker in my phone. It's not your fault."

"Maya. I know you don't want me to do anything to him, but I'm gonna say this. When I get in the ring with that son of a bitch in less than two weeks, I will not take it easy on him," He says.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Lucas. I don't care what you do to him now, but I do want you to wait until you fight him in the ring."

Maya smiles at Lucas and can't fight back anymore tears. She wipes them away and lays her head back.

She turns her head to look at Lucas, who is wiping away tears of his own. It is the first time she is seeing him cry since the night she broke up with him. That was also the night he told her that he had gotten another girl pregnant. Even though Lucas has broken her heart in the past, she still wants him to be happy, and she doesn't think she can live with herself knowing that Lucas could possibly be unhappy. But she knows that when he gets upset or angry that the only person who can cheer him up is his daughter.

And Maya feels angry and upset right now.

"Hey Lucas? Can you bring Sadie up here tomorrow? I could really use a visit from her."

"Sure."

Okay! I hope y'all liked this chapter. I thought I would give a little bit of background into the history of Maya and Tony's relationship. For those of you wondering what exactly happened between Lucas, Maya, and Kaitlyn in high school, I promise I will address it in the story soon, but I will have to make it dramatic, of course. So look out for that.

The next chapter will include Sadie cheering Maya up a little bit, and the ballet recital, which will get really interesting.

Keep getting excited because the big fight will happen soon after the ballet recital followed by a plot twist in the end. Not too much longer, kitties.

Love y'all!