A/N: This chapter has an emotional breakdown so if that is something you're sensitive to proceed with caution.

Maya knew everyone around campus was stressed out, next week was their last week of class and then finals so a lot of projects were due, but Riley did not appear to be handling the stress well. Her eyes had dark circles and Maya wasn't sure she had seen Riley eat more than one meal a day this entire week. And even then she would only eat a little, and Maya was sure it was because it was when they were eating with their friends. Maya also knew that Riley hadn't seen a lot of Lucas this week, both had been swarmed with group projects that met late at the library so instead of seeing her best friend and the cowboy in her apartment in the morning she was just seeing an exhausted Riley rush out.

Maya had gotten used to the stress face of Riley, but the face on her now was completely different and to be honest it scared Maya a little. It was Friday so they had all weekend to get things together and take a breather. She was hoping Riley would use this time to see Lucas and get some sleep, but looking at her now Maya wasn't so sure. Riley was sitting on their couch, her face paler than Maya had ever seen it and she looked like she was either going to pass out or burst into tears. But when Maya tried to get her attention she was completely frozen and unresponsive. Riley had been like this a few times in the summer, but Topanga had taken care of her and Maya had no idea what to do. She felt tears prick her eyes, her best friend was admits of…something unhealthy and she couldn't help. Shoving down her tears she grabbed her phone and called Lucas telling him everything she had seen through the week with Riley and her current state as he ran over.

When he burst through the door Riley didn't even flinch at the sound of the door hitting the wall she just sat there completely unresponsive.

"Hey Riley-Bean" Lucas tried to greet her kissing her hand, something that usually elected a giggle or blush got nothing in return. Lucas sighed and turned to Maya, "I'm not really sure what to do. You said Topanaga helped her when she got like this over the summer?"

Maya nodded, "Yeah, I always left figuring it was best to give them mother-daughter time. I have a tendency to unintentionally intrude on Riley's time." Maya shrugged sadly, "So I'm not sure what to do. Um, I'm going over to Lindsay's and give you guys your space to do whatever. Smackle's at your place with Farkle. So um yeah, holler if you need us." Maya made a move to run but Lucas stopped her sensing her panic

"Maya you did good, its okay. I don't know what to do either. But I'm going to call Topanga and see what she says."

"How can you be so calm when she's like this?" Maya asked trying to hold in her panic

"On the inside I'm freaking out, but I know that if she 'wakes up' and sees that she'll be even more upset. We can deal with my fear later, right now whatever's going on in her head is not good and that's what I need to deal with first." Lucas shrugged, "She's my first priority always so it just feels natural." Before Lucas could react Maya had given Lucas a hug and stepped back

"I'm really glad she has you Lucas." With that Maya grabbed her bag and headed out. Lucas called Topanga who answered after a few rings,

"Lucas? Is everything okay?"

"Um, I don't think so. Something wrong with Riley." Lucas stated as calmly as possible

"What!" Topanga all but screeched on the other end

"I think she's physically fine, we haven't seen each other much this week to many group projects. But she's like asleep? She just looks broken and pale…" Lucas trailed off unsure of how to describe his girlfriend's state. He heard Topanga sigh on the other end of the phone

"I know what you're taking about, she's shut down emotionally. She did that a few times this summer. The first time I just tried to wait it out and see if she would wake up but it took almost a full day and her release of the emotions was worse then. The only thing that worked was getting her in the bath. The water soothed her enough to open up. She try putting her in the shower would be my advice. If that doesn't work call me back and we can figure something out."

"Thank you Ms. Matthews, I'll let you know if it works either way." Lucas answered

"Topanga, I told you to call me Topanga. And please do. Thank you Lucas." With that they hung up and Lucas took one more look at his girlfriend.

He picked her up bridal style and carried her to the bathroom, with her still having no response. He grabbed three towels from the cabinet and put them on the counter and got to work undressing his girlfriend, pulling off her shirt and pants and leaving her just in her underwear as he turned the shower on and stripped down himself. Once the water was warm enough he unclipped her bra and pulled down her underwear, trying to not get distracted by her bare chest. This was not the time for that . He got her into the shower and got to work cleaning her body gently massing her back and shoulders. Occasionally kissing her shoulder, hoping to bring any emotion out. It wasn't until he had rinsed her hair out that she started to sob. Lucas couldn't see the tears because of the water already on her face but the noises coming form her mouth confirmed she was sobbing, the sound broke his heart. She kept trying to speak but she couldn't she was crying to hard.

Lucas just held her as she cried into his chest, and once her sobs turned to soft tears and hiccups he pulled them both out of the shower. Wrapping Riley in a purple towel and putting her hair in a towel as well, then wrapping his own towel around his waist. He brought her to her room, he helped her put her underwear on and one of his shirts. Re-wrapping her wet hair in a towel because he put a pair of basketball shorts on.

"Princess can you tell me what happened?" Lucas asked as he say on Riley's bed with her across from him. Riley took a deep breathe trying to recall what had happened

It hadn't been a good week for the brunette, she missed her boyfriend terribly but they were both so busy with classes and meetings for group projects. To make matters worse Paula had been texting her again, and Riley didn't want to bother others with her issues so she took the task of delteing them herself. But she couldn't help but read them. And through the course of the week they wore her down and started to get in her head. Paula's right I do eat too much, I am too weird, I'm too clumsy. This had gone on for the week and Riley was so worried about her grades and her friends that like usual when she was stressed she pushed her own self care to the side. And instead of taking to Lucas about any of this she didn't.

She had shut down after reading a particular text from Paula because it was too much, too many flashbacks and it just hurt too much. You deserve to be ignored, you don't deserve attention. She shut down comptley, everything around her was fuzzy and she knew Maya was there. She was vaguely aware of Lucas coming in and some talking. She was barley aware of Lucas undressing her, she didn't care that was naked in front of him. It wasn't the first time he had seen her like that. She finally came to in the shower, she wasn't sure why but water always managed to bring her back. And then it was all too much, too much hurt and the only thing she could do was sob into Lucas.

Riley sighed deeply as she finished her story, "I know its bad. I know I should have talked to you but I didn't want to burden you with my issues when you had so much else going on."

"Riley, I love you. You're my girlfriend that means you're not a burden and I want to help you deal with your problems. I want to take care of you." Lucas sighed deeply as he grabbed Riley's hairbrush and started to brush her wet hair. "I like to take care of you. It makes me feel good, so please let me take care of you. I just…I was so scared Riley. Princess you have to talk to me when something is bothering you. Don't shut me out, let me in."

Riley was so tired of crying but here she was crying all over again as Lucas put her hair into a braid, "I'll try, its just hard. And I thought I was doing so much better and that I was past all this but I'm not." Riley started to blubber again and Lucas was quick to soothe her and soon small tears were rolling down her face instead.

"I know Princess but recovery isn't a straight line, sometimes you fall down but that's okay. Okay?" Riley nodded, "Now I know you haven't been eating. Come on." Lucas pulled her up and into the kitchen making her sit at the table as he cut up a banana and put it in a bowl with blueberries and strawberries, mixing it slightly. He sat down next to Riley who looked at the bowl skeptically,

"Lucas I don't know if my stomach can handle this much food…I haven't been eating."

Lucas gave her a soft smile, "Riles Paula was wrong. You eat just the right amount for you. Come on here comes the airplane." Lucas knew he was going to have to feed her, the words of Paula where still haunting her mind. Once the bowl of fruit was eaten Lucas took note of how tired Riley was and how broken she still looked.

"Why don't you go lay down in bed and I'll bet there in a minuete?" Lucas needed to let Maya and Topanga know that Riley had 'woken up' so well Riley went into her room he shot them a quick text before heading into Riley's room. She was lying on her stomach on her bed, and Lucas could see how tense she still was. He hopped up on the bed and straddled her waist.

"Luke? What are you doing?" Riley asked her voice horse and exhausted

"I can see you're really tense let me help. Please." Riley just nodded knowing that he needed to take care of her to ease his own worries. By the time all the knots were out of Riley's back she was almost asleep. So Lucas put her under her covers and got under himself. Smiling as she snuggled into his chest

"Thank you" was the last thing Riley said before she drifted off to sleep

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Remember recovering often includes relapses. Let me know what you thought of this chapter and what you think is going down next.