Previously on Laws of Timing:

"I know that we haven't been good about communicating," Lucas sighed, his hands resting on the steering wheel, though he didn't appear to have any intention of leaving.

"You were my best friend, once, you were my favorite person in the entire world to talk to. I want that again, I need that if we're ever going to have a chance of making our relationship work," Riley admitted.

"I want that, too," Lucas agreed, reaching over to squeeze her hand.

"Then I want you to tell me about what happened between you and Maya."


" Maya was looking for someone to fill the hole that her father left in her life. For a while, it was Cory and then they had a falling out and Shawn became a permanent part of her life a little too late. It took us a long time to realize that our relationship was completely family based. She was the sister that I never had and I was the older brother who looked out for her, who filled that hole in her life. When we were anything more than that we were just trying to force ourselves to feel things that we didn't."

"You got engaged to your sister?" Riley asked, skeptically, resisting the urge to dissolve into hysterical laughter at how entirely messed up this entire situation was.

"When I tell you that it took us awhile to figure it out, I mean that we had this conversation the last time that I went to New York," Lucas clarified, "But that's not the thing that you should know."

"Okay?" Riley sighed.

"There's a book," Lucas admitted.


Can we talk about how you're feeling?" Lucas's voice was too close and she spun around, wrapping the towel more closely around her body.

"I'm feeling like someone who found out that her boyfriend lied to her for ten years and who just informed me that his mother, who hates me, is in town to see my children," she replied, tugging a random shirt off a hanger.


"Riley," she cut him off before he could continue.

"I've loved you for most of my life, I loved you and you turned to Maya. You turned to my best friend and you let her into your life and she knows things that I don't know about you. You've spent years sharing these secrets together and I'm not sure how we're supposed to get passed that."

"I love you. I know that I've made a lot of mistakes and that I've taken our relationship for granted when I shouldn't have, but I'm willing to fight for you. I'm willing to spend however long it takes making amends for hurting you and finding ways to show you that you're it for me. With or without the twins, I was always going to end up by your side. But I need to know that you're willing to fight for us, too. Are you?"

"I don't know," Riley admitted, unable to look at him.

"Let me know when you figure it out," Lucas snapped, the bedroom door slamming behind him.


"Your relationship is toxic, it's destructive. You're looking for a fairytale and he's chasing after something to fill the void, but at the end of the day, both of you will be disappointed," Rebecca replied, shaking her head.

"Well, if that's all you wanted to say," Riley grabbed her things, getting ready to leave.

"That's not why I asked you to meet me," Rebecca informed her and Riley paused, "I actually came to see Doctor Mathews."

"Excuse me?" Riley choked out, wondering whether she should laugh or cry.

"My doctor found an ovarian mass," Rebecca explained, "Based on the images that they took of it, it's pretty big."

"You didn't even want me to deliver Maya's baby, why would you come to me with your own health problems?" Riley asked, looking at her incredulously.

"Because if there's one thing that I know about you, it's that you love my son, and you know that my son loves me. Who's going to fight harder to save my life then someone who knows that the person who they love will never forgive them if they don't?"


"Doctor Mathews?" Jennifer's voice came from the doorway, as she hesitantly slipped through the doorway.

"Is everything okay?" Riley wiped furiously at her eyes, forcing a smile and looking up at the younger girl.

"You just seemed kind of distracted when you came in," Jennifer paused in front of the desk.

"It's just been a bad couple of days," Riley offered, leaning back in her chair.

"I can relate," Jennifer snorted, sinking down in the chair across from her, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"The first time that I was given the chance to perform a C-section, I froze. I was so terrified of messing up, of killing someone, that I couldn't move. That was the first time that I had ever felt that kind of terror and now I feel the exact same way. I'm terrified that whatever move I make next, is going to be a mistake, is going to mess everything up. So, I'm sitting here and I'm not moving," Riley explained.

"For how long?" Jennifer questioned.

"Until the hypothermia sets in."


The summer heat had Riley's shirt sticking to her skin and making every breath feel like an incredible effort, but she still couldn't bring herself to move away from the massive amount of heat that Lucas was generating. She'd spent far too long thinking that she would never have his arms wrapped around her like this, again, to take any second of their time together for granted. Especially knowing that it had an expiration date.

"I can hear you thinking," Lucas complained, his voice a muffled murmur, from sleep.

"I'm not thinking," Riley protested, kicking at the sheets that had been draped over their tangled legs.

"I don't believe you," he disagreed, his voice filled with fond amusement.

"Just go back to sleep," Riley urged him, burying her face into his chest and inhaling the smell of freshly cut lawns and the brand of soap that he'd been using since way back in their middle school days.

"Love you," he sighed, his voice near enough to sleep that Riley wasn't entirely sure if he was even aware of what he was saying. His breathing had evened out enough that Riley was sure that he was asleep and she smiled as she felt each breathe ruffling the top of her head.

"I love you, too, always," she promised, anyway, feeling the pull of sleep drawing her in herself.

When she returned to awareness, it was to the sound of a steady thumping. Lucas's heartbeat had easily become one of Riley's favorite sounds. It was steady and constant, the kind of sound that you could depend on. She'd spent enough time pressed to his chest listening to it that she was pretty sure she could pick the sound out of a lineup of hearts.

"If the world were coming to an end tomorrow, if a meteor were catapulting towards earth, and you had twenty-four hours to live, what would you do?" Lucas questioned, wrapping her hair between his fingers, as his hand slowly rubbed up and down against her back.

He must have picked up in the change of her breathing because she's yet to open her eyes and she can't stop the laughter that bubbles out of her mouth. Only Lucas would be asking such heavy and random questions this early in the morning.

"I don't know," Riley replied, leaning up so that she could see his face.

"You're always thinking of worst case scenarios and you've never thought through this one?" Lucas asked, skeptically.

"I'd call my parents and Maya and confess to them that I lied about where I was spending my summer. Then, I could leave this life without any stains on my conscience," Riley offered, knowing that she had answered wrong as soon as his hands stopped playing with her hair, "What would you do?"

Riley snapped awake, looking at the fading light that was streaming through her office window. The dream had been vivid and she's surprised to find how cold she actually is. Goosebumps have formed along her arms and she snags her lab coat off the back of her seat and shoves her arms through the sleeves, in an attempt to get warm.

She'd thought that her comment about waiting for hypothermia was metaphorical, but based on the temperature of the room, she wonders if she might have hit the mark closer than she thought. A look out the window revealed that the snow had started gathering on the ground in several inches and she winced at the thought of having to drive home in it.

"Are you headed out?" Lydia questioned, as Riley shut her office for the day and clutched her bag tightly around her shoulder.

"I figure that I might as well," Riley shrugged, pausing at the reception desk that revealed Jennifer had already left.

"You've seemed a little off since the night of the accident. Are your processing everything okay?" Lydia offered, hesitantly.

"Honestly, the accident feels like a lifetime ago," Riley admitted, rubbing her eyes and sinking down on the edge of Blake's desk. She still couldn't quite bring herself to think of it as Jennifer's.

"If you need someone to talk to," Lydia offered, leaving the invitation open.

"Thank you," Riley smiled, pulling her mentor into a hug, "But right now, I think I just need to get home."

"Drive safe," Lydia said, as Riley paused at the doors leading out.

"You too."


"I don't see any way out of this mess," Riley explained, "Jennifer refuses to tell anyone that she's pregnant, but Farkle knows that I'm going to New York to take care of a patient. How in the world am I supposed to justify bringing along my receptionist? And I can't tell Lucas about his mother because she came to me seeking professional advice, so now I'm the one keeping a huge, life-changing secret. Nothing gets easier, Blake, I came here with the love of my life about to marry my best friend and then by some miracle things work out and I end up with him, but now we're completely miserable together."

She paused to adjust the umbrella that she had positioned over her head, which was quite the task when her fingers had gone completely numb. The cemetery was covered in snow and she was the only one stupid enough to come stand out in the middle of it and talk to a headstone.

"You sent Jennifer here, so I'm if you're up there pulling strings, well, this is me asking you for a sign. Some sign that things are going to work out or a plan on how to fix this horrendously awful situation because I'm not sure that I can handle much more. So, I'll just stand here, while you figure things out."

It took the sun starting to fade from the sky and Riley's soaking wet clothes, to start to freeze before she finally gave up hope that anything was coming. Reluctantly, she made her way back to her car, knowing that she wasn't anywhere near ready to face anything else that day.


Lucas was spread out on the floor when she entered the house; Mathew laying on his stomach, and Summer tucked into his side. It was the kind of sight that would melt even the hardest of hearts and she had to blink away the tears that she felt gathering in her eyes. Whatever problems or arguments she had with Lucas, she wouldn't trade him as the father of her children.

He looked up, as she dropped her bag to the floor and kicked out of her shoes. There were a million things that she wanted to say and, yet, the words got caught in her throat, leaving the silence between them.

"I think they're starting to get hungry," Lucas offered, his eyes searching her face for something.

"Okay," Riley agreed, sinking down on the couch and holding her arms out for whichever child he decided to give her.

She stared intently at Mathew as she fed him, watching his tiny hand splayed out across the skin of her heart and she couldn't help thinking of her dream, of the memory. She knew Lucas's heartbeat better than she knew her own and she found herself missing him with every fiber of her being, even though he was feet away from her.

They wordlessly traded babies when Riley had finished and she tried not to let her mind wander as she leaned it against the back of the couch. She can't help the words that find their way into her mind.

"I'd thought that the two of you would grow out of it, but neither of you did. No matter how many times the two of you mess things up, you end up right back where you started. Some people might call that persistence, but I would call it the very definition of insanity."

"Your relationship is toxic, it's destructive. You're looking for a fairytale and he's chasing after something to fill the void, but at the end of the day, both of you will be disappointed,"

"I'm going to go put Summer in her bed," Riley offered, standing up from the couch and making her way up the stairs.

She can hear Lucas following seconds later and she hears the nursery door opening, as she settles Summer into the bassinet. Their bizarre ceasefire is enough to make her feel off and she knows that they can't go on like this. She almost finds the fighting preferable.

She hears as he pauses in the hallway, unsure of what to do next and she's not entirely sure what she wants him to do. She just has this nauseating feeling that if they don't do something, they'll never have a chance, and under all her anger, the idea of actually losing him is unthinkable. Because, at the end of the day, Lucas's mother is right, she'll keep fighting even when she's not sure if anyone has a chance at winning.

"Lucas," she breathes, pausing in the doorway to their bedroom.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked, the beginning of hope starting to appear in his eyes.

"No," Riley admitted.

"Okay," he sighed, turning back towards the stairs.

"Lucas," she repeated, taking a hesitant step towards him, as he froze again, "Can we just, for a minute, pretend that we've gotten passed all of this, that we made it? That we're happy and things are working?"

"I don't want to pretend anymore, Riles," his voice cracked, "It's too hard. I want the real thing."


"Am I making a horrible mistake by leaving?" she questioned, her hair whipping around in the wind, as she shoved her suitcase into the trunk. She was leaving early the next morning and Zay had offered to help her load her things on his way out. He'd been watching a football game with Lucas, though she knew that he probably hadn't had a lot of fun, with the constant tension that existed in their house.

"I don't know why you're asking me, like I, somehow, have all the answers," Zay snorted, scratching at the gauze that had been carefully taped to his head.

"Because you know him, you love him, too. And I feel so incredibly lost," Riley admitted.

"You're the only one who can know if this is a mistake or not," Zay informed her and she blinked away the tears that had been building in the back of her eyes.

"I have to do this," Riley sighed, closing the trunk.

"It's not me that needs convincing."


Riley, hesitantly, entered the kitchen, watching as Lucas washed a popcorn bowl in the sink. The last few days had been brutal and despite thinking that they hadn't been communicating before, she could now say that this was not communicating. The long silences and the forced politeness was slowly killing them both.

"Are you going to say anything?" Riley asked, leaning against the counter.

"What can I say? You're going to New York to save a baby and I'm staying here to celebrate our children's first Thanksgiving," Lucas didn't turn away from the sink.

"You know that I want to be here," she insisted, "You know that if there was any other time, any other way to do this, I would."

"I don't know anything, Riley. We're not even trying to talk, anymore," Lucas pointed out, finally spinning around, "I can keep apologizing, but it doesn't seem to be making anything better. You can't even tell me if you want to try and fix things."

"Of course I want to try and fix things," Riley interrupted him, "I'm hurt and I'm angry, but me leaving doesn't have anything to do with that."

"It's just convenient timing," he snorted.

"It's bad timing and I've tried to think of any way out of this, but I can't. I promised my patient that I would be there with her, that I would help her through this and I have to follow through on that."

"Then go," Lucas offered, his voice defeated, "I won't try to stop you."

"You're asking me to pick this holiday, over my job," Riley struggled to keep control of her voice.

"It's nothing that you haven't asked of me," Lucas reminded her, "And I'm saving lives, too."

"It's Jennifer, Lucas," Riley bit out, "It's Maya's little sister. She's alone and she refuses to ask anyone else for help and her baby could die. It's not just any patient, it's Jennifer."

Riley's mouth snaps shut as she realizes what she's done and her entire body, slowly slid from the counter down to the floor. She could lose her license for this, she could lose everything.

"Riley?" Lucas questioned and she could hear his voice softening. He sunk down on the tiles next to her, leaving several inches of space between the two of them.

"I know this sounds completely crazy, but I saw Blake when I was dying. He told me that he was sending Jennifer and that she needed a family to take care of her. I have to do this, I owe him everything, and I have to do this," she rambled, unable to get her voice above a hoarse and defeated whisper.

"I'll be here when you get back," he reached out, placing one of his hands over hers.

"I'm leaving my heart here," she admitted, her head sinking down onto his shoulder.


"What's wrong?" Lucas asked, as Riley paced back and forth in front of the bed.

"My flight was cancelled and there's no way that we can drive and still be there on time. The surgeon is booked for months, this is our one chance," Riley sighed, sinking down on the edge of the bed.

"So, what do you do?" Lucas questioned, looking uncomfortable with how to respond to this situation.

"I'm going to call in a favor and Jennifer is going to be really upset with me," Riley sighed, standing up again.

"If you save her baby, I think she'll forgive you," he pointed out.

"One can hope," Riley groaned, she paused to kiss Summer's forehead and hesitated as she wondered how to say goodbye to Lucas. In a lot of ways, it felt like they were suddenly at the beginning again and questioning every single move they made around each other.

"I love you," he offered, sitting up in their bed, but not making any other advance in her direction.

"I love you, too," she promised, leaning over and burying herself in his shoulder. She felt his hands, tentatively, wrap around her waist and in that moment, none of the distance that had grown between them seemed to mean anything.


"What's going on?" Jennifer enquired, as Riley got out of the car, "I thought our flight was cancelled."

"We can't catch a flight in Wyoming, but I've pulled in a favor and there's an airport in Colorado that's going to let us fly," Riley explained, helping load Jennifer's suitcase into the back.

"That's good news," Jennifer offered.

"Yes," Riley agreed.

"So, why do you have that tone in your voice?"

"Because we're flying with Farkle on his family's private jet."


I am so sorry for the delay in updates. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started my program and I had regular classes on top of that. These past couple of months have kind of felt like anything that could go wrong, did. In the end, something had to give, which ended up being my writing. I'm not entirely ready to commit to a regular update schedule yet, but I am writing again and I am going to finish Heat Stroke and Laws of Timing. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story and pestered me to update, I'm glad that you're enjoying it and I can't even began to tell you how much it's helped motivate me to keep writing.

The next chapter is about halfway written out and will include Riley confronting Maya and the appearance of a character from GMW that I haven't included in either story. I'm also hoping to include some Auggie and more of what's been going on with Hailey. I'm also in the process of revising my plotline, so if there's anything that you'd like to see, I can't guarantee I'll include it, but I'm open to suggestions. Thanks to everyone who read this chapter and I would love it if you left me a review!