Andrew's eyes stare up at the white ceiling. It had been a week, two days, eight hours, thirty minutes, and twelve seconds. That's how long it had been since he last saw Maya and he was dying inside, absolutely dying.

He fought with himself constantly though, resisting the urge to run over to Maya's house and proclaim his love to her. There were always two things stopping him though. One, Shawn Hunter.

Andrew liked Maya's father very much, but he did not want to face the wrath of that man any time soon. He thought about all the possible ways Shawn had come up to kill him for hurting his daughter, and Andrew probably deserved the worst, and possibly even worser than what he had in store.

Second, Maya Hunter. The love of his life, his girl. He couldn't face her. He couldn't see what he let go and he couldn't see how much pain she was probably in. He couldn't see her, not today. Not today. Because, now, every time he thought he might see her, he felt like breaking down. It might sound unmanly, but he doesn't care. Love hurts. It hurts like hell sometimes.

Andrew stares at the ceiling, pondering on that thought.

Wasn't it so funny how something that could bring you so much joy could feel like you're being burned alive sometimes?

"Maya?" Shawn steps into his daughter's room, Alex on his hip, to see her sleeping on her bed. She had been a mess. She had barely eaten and she'd basically cried herself to sleep every night.

Shawn was going to kill Andrew next time he saw the boy, and he was going to make it long, slow, and painful. He had liked Andrew, but now that feeling was dissolving with the sight of his daughter's broken heart.

He takes a deep breath. He lightly shakes the graduate until her eyes open. "Hey, kiddo. Time to get up." He whispers. "You need to get up."

"No." Maya sniffs as she sits up regardless. She whips her eyes tiredly. "I don't want to."

"Want me to kill him?"

Maya looks at her father, his humor growing stale. Her eyes were tired and her throat felt sore. "This sucks." Maya plops down on the pillow and drags the blanket over her head.

Shawn clears his throat. "You know," He begins as Alex starts to tug on his ear. "Riley and Lucas are going to the beach again. Do you think you might want to go?"

Maya shakes her head. "I don't wanna be the third wheel. Let the couple have their fun."

"Well . . ." Shawn sighs, trying to think of something. "Have you talked to Farkle at all? I hear he'd in town for a while before he goes off to college soon."

Maya hadn't seen Farkle since graduation. She hadn't seen anyone since graduation. She didn't even know if she wanted to see him. She didn't know if she wanted to see anyone.

"I don't know." Maya says softly. She hears Alex give a small laugh and it makes her heart flutter. It brings her back to life a little, back to reality. "Maybe." She answers before snuggling deeper into the bed's warmth.

Loud knocking woke Andrew up from his deep depressive sleep. "Andrew?!" Eric called his name. "AN - DREW?! Dude! Get up!"

Andrew groans and rolls out of bed. He loved Eric, but at the moment it was one where he wanted to stab him with a pencil. He opens the door quickly to see Arnie and Eric standing there.

Arnie was wearing his red jacket and he smiled at his older brother, hugging him quickly. "Andrew!" He grins. Andrew can't help but smile at the boy. He could bring out the best in you at your worst. "Are you surpriseded? Huh? Are you?:

Andrew places a hand on top of the boy's head. "You bet, buddy."

He lets the pair come inside and Arnie takes off, exploring the new structure. Eric and Andrew take a seat on the couch.

"How you doing, kid?" Eric asks as he drapes his arm over the back of the couch. "How's living on your own?"

"Honestly . . ." Andrew sighs and leans against the cushions. "Terrible."

"That's how it always is." Eric looks at him. "How are you since . . ."

Andrew's eyes stare at him. "Eric . . . How did you ever deal with a heartbreaking . . . Break? How do you go through all that and how do you . . . Move on?"

Eric stares at him. "Well . . . When your mom died . . . I felt numb. I felt like I couldn't do anything . . . But then I remembered she wouldn't want me like that . . . Andy, Maya's probably hurting just as much as you. This whole . . . Break thing itself is going to break both of you."

"How do you know?"

"Because you remind me of Cory and Topanga." Eric says as he refers to the Matthews. "You two can't live without each other and everytime you're apart it's hell, but sometimes they understood that they had to let each other go. That's how you know love is real." Eric tells him. "When you love someone that you're going to do anything to make them happy, whether it's time, love, or something else. You're hurting so much because it's real . . . It's just one of you need to man up and take the chance before you don't have it anymore. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good." Eric grins. "I'm surprised. I've never said anything like that before. Oh well. I should've been a scientist."

Andrew just stares at him and rolls his eyes. He swallows before speaking again. "So . . . Should I go talk to her?"

"Yepperdoodle."

"But what if she doesn't want to?"

"Convince her."

"How?"

"Use that Hannigan charm." Eric rolls his eyes. "Or I can give you some tips on how to woo the ladies."

"I just . . . Don't know if I can face her."

"Dork."

"What?"

"Nothing . . . Go take a shower. You smell."

"So do you." Andrew defends.

"I might smell, but I'm reeking of awesomeness, now go wash up and go get back your girl before I force you to." Eric commands. Andrew hurries to the bathroom.

He was going to get Maya back.

Maya wasn't surprised when she saw Farkle Minkus sitting at her dining room table, surrounded by her family, at dinner that night. Her hair was in knots and she smelled like a skunk, but she was glad all Farkle did was offer her a charming smile.

"Hello, Maya." He greets as Maya takes her place at the table. "I see you're looking well."

"Can it, Minkus." Maya grumbles.

"Maya!" Katy scolds from across her. Maya sighs.

"Sorry." Maya mumbles.

"Oh," Farkle smiles. "No need to apologize. I too know what it's like to feel the pain of love and desire."

Shawn stares at the boy. He still couldn't believe that Stuart Minkus reproduced. However, he liked Farkle. He was a nice boy, and a very smart one. Out of all the years he had known Farkle, he'd say he'd grown up to be a very good young man. He was going to go far, he just knew it. "Um . . . Okay."

Alex gurgles as Katy places a bottle in his mouth. He smiles and drinks from the bottle and watches as Shawn passes around salad. For a baby, he didn't know much, but he always seemed to somehow know when something intriguing was about to happen.

Alex was almost the exact image of Shawn as a baby, minus some of Katy's personality. He was trying to learn to crawl at the moment and he had found that his favorite stuffed duck, Mr. Duckie, as Eric called him, was his best friend for life.

They ate and had a conversation. Farkle explained that the college he was going to be attending was very expensive, but it was a college he wanted to go to. He wanted to achieve great things and maybe even meet someone along the way.

Maya agreed with the last part. Despite being annoyed by the guy almost half the time, she found that out of all the people she knew, Farkle deserved to be the most happy with a person. She had no idea why either.

The two head into Maya's room and sit on the window sill. It was raining outside and lightning flashed across the sky.

"So," Farkle smiles. "I hear you're going off to college."

"Yeah . . ." Maya says softly.

"How are you and Andrew?" Farkle's question is innocent, but she knows that he might not know. "Are you two doing alright?"

Maya looks down at her hands, fighting back tears, and Farkle gets it. He understands. "Oh . . . Maya, I'm sorry -"

"It's not your fault." She says, her head snapping up quickly. "And it's just a break."

Farkle exhales loudly. "Okay . . ." He asks like he doesn't believe her, which was slightly true. How could he believe her when Maya looked like she was an extra for The Walking Dead?

As they sit in silence, listening to the rain, a question comes up in Maya's head.

"Just . . ." Maya trails off. "How do you stay positive, Farkle?" She glances up from her sketch pad. "Riley and I turned you down left and right and yet you still had hope and you still were willing to let us be with who we wanted to be . . . And now that one of us is not with the person we love, how do you keep positive that good will come out of it?"

"Because I see how happy you are." Farkle explains. "Maya, just because you're having a break and just because you're not with Andrew right now, that doesn't mean that you don't love him. You do, and he loves you. It's how . . . It's how I feel about . .." Farkle trails off and stares at Maya.

She stares at him and she gets it. "Farkle . . ."

"At least," Farkle says softly. "It's how I hope to feel about someone someday . . . Even if they don't like me that way. I know I'll be okay though."

She stares at her friend and frowns. "Farkle . . ."

Farkle stands and heads for the door. "I have to get back to my house. I'm leaving soon."

Maya stands as his hand reaches for the doorknob. "Farkle!"

He turns slowly.

Maya opens her mouth to speak and hesitates, but she can't speak. She feels her eyes fill up with tears for some reason. This was going to be the last time she saw Farkle for a while, a long while. They were all moving away, and Farkle was going away. The boy she found annoying was going away.

She marches up to him and wraps her arms around him in a bone crushing hug. She leans her forehead against his shoulder, granted he got taller over the years, and she sniffs loudly. "Thank you . . . For everything." She lets a tear fall and she squeezes him one more time, tightly.

"Well," His soft voice says. "I can say the same about you, Maya. I look forward to seeing you in the near future." He pulls away and takes her hand gently. He places a kiss to the back of her hand and glances down at her. "Farewell, Maya Hunter. I wish you all the best of luck."

Maya sniffs and smiles. "Same, Minkus." Before he turns once more, she yanks him back into a hug and then she finally lets him go. She watches as he walks out the door and she turns towards the window again.

She hears the door open as she stares out over the city. "Farkle, if you're wanting to say goodbye again, I can't." She turns and her words are silenced by the figure standing there. His name comes off in a shaky breath. "Andrew."

Andrew is soaking from head to toe and he was panting, like he ran there. Maya wondered how he got past Shawn, because surely he'd kill him before he even made it through the front door.

"H - How did you get in here?"

"Shawn let me in." His breath is shaky.

Maya stands slowly and her confidence is back. She crosses her arms over her chest and looks at him. "Oh really . . . Why are you here?"

He walks to her, dripping. "Maya . . . I'm not sure if I can ever make up how I've been acting lately, but I'm here to beg for you back." Andrew stares at her. "If you'll have me."

"What makes you think I want you anymore?"

Ouch.

"Because . . ." Andrew was slowly starting to catch his breath. He reaches and places her hand over his heart and places his free hand over on hers. "You have me. You own me and I own you. You're mine and I'm yours. I don't care how cheesy I sound, because dammit Maya, if this is what cheesy is than I want it! I want you and I want to have you and I want you to have me. I want to be with you for the rest of my God damn life and I want . . ." Andrew trails off. "I love you, Maya, and I'm sorry I'm such a stupid idiot for ever thinking we needed this."

She stares up at him. "Well . . . I want that too." She says softly.

Andrew swallows. "So will you have me?"

Maya stares at him, unconvinced. Now, it was time for Andrew to come and do what he wanted.

As he was leaving his house, he noticed a box of Sally's things that he had taken with him to his apartment, and he found one thing he wanted Maya to have.

His eyes never leave hers as he slowly gets on one knee and he watches as her eyes widen. He slowly reaches into his jean pocket and pulls out Sally's wedding ring that she'd taken off after Andrew's father left them. He holds it up to her and hesitates.

"This was my mom's." He tells her as Maya places a hand over her mouth. "And . . . I want you to be the one I give this to . . . For the rest of my life . . . Maya, will you marry me?"

Maya inhales loudly and removes her hand from her mouth. "Yes."

Andrew stands up immediately and wraps his arms around her in a bone crushing hug. He lifts her off the ground and spins her around in her room, making her laugh. He starts to place kisses over her face.

"I'm." Kiss. "So." Kiss. "Sorry." Kiss. "Maya."

Maya pulls back as he slips the ring on her finger. "Me too."

"I love you." He tells her as he places a kiss to her forehead.

"I know." Maya laughs. "I love you too."

Outside her bedroom door, Shawn and Katy stand there eavesdropping, Alex asleep in his room.

Katy has a huge grin on her face and has tears in her eyes, while Shawn stands there baffled.

"Now can I kill him?" Shawn asks, to which Katy just laughs and places a soft kiss to his lips.

Yay! I think . . . So wedding bells are going to be in the near future! Also in the near future, more Lucas and Riley and Alex/Shawn/Maya moments to come! And more Eric, if you'd like.

I will be writing more Lucas and Riley since they've been out of the spotlight for a while and Baby Alex will get his chance soon. :) Don't worry.

I really liked writing Farkle. I feel like he and Maya have a great relationship and I really like their bond. I feel like this is a good send off until we see him again because I find Farkle one of those friends who will do anything for you and is incredibly sweet. So, for this chapter, that was my favorite part to write, if I'm being honest.

Thanks so much and please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

hml1999 xx

P.S. Big shout out to Waffleslover98! Thank you for always leaving an awesome review. :) They make my day and thanks so much once again!