A/N: Although rare, there are injuries that could incapacitate a baseball player.

This chapter also comes with a warning, this chapter contains material that could be sensitive to some readers, it concerns cutting, bullying, as well as thoughts of suicide.

25. Girl Meets Hospital

The beginning of the baseball season had come, and Lucas was up at bat, Riley was cheering with the cheerleaders, Zay was on third base, Farkle was calculating the probability of Lucas getting a home run while Smackle asked questions about the game. Maya ignored them all paying more attention to Josh who was watching the game while she told him something in his ear.

The pitcher threw the ball at his face with full force, and before Lucas could duck the ball hit him and knocked him out cold. Riley ran up to him to check on him but he was unconscious, but she kept calling his name while squeezing his hand. She watched as the paramedic took him away, rushing to go with him on the ambulance. Their friends not far behind as Josh drove them all to the hospital while Zay called Lucas' parents telling them what had happened.

Riley cried in the waiting room, because the doctors said only family at the moment, everyone else couldn't figure out what happened. Except Zay said to the coach that the pitcher had done it on purpose, the ball had clocked in at over eighty miles per hour straight to Lucas' face. They ran test on Lucas all afternoon, as his parents showed up, as Riley's parents came with food for everyone, as Zay's mom sat next to them telling them everything will be alright. Riley just kept on crying.

When Lucas woke up he was in his bed at home, but something felt different, his memories didn't match what he saw. There was no picture of Riley and him at Coney Island from the summer before, it usually sat on his nightstand, there was nothing from his time at John Quincy, his trophies were labeled for a different school. There were no traces of his regular life and it seemed like he had been put in a different world. Farkle would tell him that alternate universes didn't exist and that he should go back to sleep. When he reached for his phone, the model was different but the password was the same, Riley's birthday, when he unlocked it all of the pictures were different. He was in a football uniform and not a baseball one, he was wearing a uniform for Thomas Jefferson High, Abigail Adams' rival school.

"What's happening?" he wondered pulling up his texts and seeing a multitude of girls asking for dates, but no messages from his friends.

"Lucas are you awake?" his father called. "I know you took a hit yesterday at the game but you can't stay in bed all day."

His door opened and his father walked in, for some reason he looked different, normally his father would have a hard edge to his voice from when he had been expelled, Riley had softened him a bit and they had gotten into a normal relationship. But the man in front of him looked like a completely different person.

"Ah you're awake," he said before sitting at the edge of the bed. "You should get ready for school."

Lucas only nodded, he didn't know what to say, something felt off and he couldn't place his finger on the problem. It was Friday, or at least that's what his phone said, which means they had a game the night before. He got up and went through the motions of getting ready, he said good morning to his mother only to see a middle schooler with her. He had a sister, and he didn't know it, the girl had the same eyes as his but where his hair was more mixed brown and blonde, this girl's hair was pure blonde.

"What's up bro?" she said looking at him like he was staring too long.

Instead of saying anything he grabbed a banana to make his mother think like he was trying, grabbed his backpack and rushed out the door. His school ID was for Thomas Jefferson, but he went to the one place he had always went to in the morning to grab a muffin, but Topanga's wasn't there. Instead he was faced with a fast food restaurant that wasn't open yet, so he walked on toward Abigail Adams hoping to find Riley, or Maya, or Farkle, hell Smackle would do but as he stood there watching the students all he saw were unfamiliar faces.

He had almost missed her, he wouldn't have noticed if not for the fact that her hair still looked the same, and her face was a beautiful as ever, but she was alone, no Maya, no Farkle, she was dressed in black and had more make-up on than he had ever seen. Someone knocked into her and she lashed out at the person, a boy stood not too far from her, he looked just like her but taller, his head as curly as Mr. Matthews but lighter than Auggie's. He was yelling at her for being rude but Riley only pushed him away and walked into the school.

He walked off towards where Thomas Jefferson was completely shocked, not knowing what he should do. Once inside, people joked with him as he went to his classes, he was popular at this school because he was the star quarterback and team captain. He was asked out by several girls but turned them all down and just kept going through the motions of his day. His teammates invited him to a party on Saturday, and he said yes only to get them to shut up. Everyone just thought he was in one of his moods, but they still pestered him throughout the day.

When school was over he was glad, he couldn't stand the way everyone had treated him like he was everything in the world. He missed Zay cracking jokes, Smackle flirting with him only to make Farkle jealous, Maya pushing his buttons, and most of all he missed his sunshine, he missed Riley, his Riley and not the cussing dark girl he had seen. He had checked his phone several times, but Zay's number wasn't there, and when he had called Zay's New York number a woman answered, and Zay's Texas number was disconnected.

Wandering around he found himself in the library where he had told Riley that he wanted to be a veterinarian. He sat there hoping that the whole day was some elaborate scheme but it hadn't been and now he was in a life he didn't know anything about. He looked around the room and noticed that in a far off corner was a familiar orange turtleneck and a head of blonde hair.

"Farkle," he said out loud, the librarian shushed him while Farkle looked at him like he had grown a third head. Lucas walked over as fast as he could sitting next to the genius, who was wearing an Einstein Academy uniform instead of his now signature boy band look.

"Do I know you?" Farkle asked looking at Lucas who was now sitting so close.

"Lucas Friar," he said hoping to have some form of normalcy instead the genius started to pack up.

"You're that football player aren't you," he said as he stowed away the last of his things. "We definitely don't know one another."

Lucas was trying to figure out how to gain his best friend's attention when he just started talking without thinking. "Have you ever woken up and thought that everything was wrong, like nothing makes sense?"

"No," he said as he tried to get up but Lucas pulled him back down.

"Listen to me for a minute please," Lucas said his eyes pleading with him. "I woke up this morning and everything was wrong, you, Maya, Zay, Smackle, Cassie, and my Riley weren't in my life, I don't know what to do."

"Lucas, I don't know you," he said looking at him confused.

"I just want to know what happened, all I remember was being at a baseball game, Riley was cheering me on, and you were calculating the probabilities of a homerun with Smackle… I got hit in the face with a baseball and the next thing I knew I was in the wrong place, even though it's the same place. Everything I knew never existed."

Farkle looked at him like he had grown a third head before shaking his head and standing up. "Come on lets go to my house to talk, the librarian is giving us a dirty look."

Lucas followed feeling like his world was crashing down around him, when they reached Farkle's almost everything was the same, except Maya's bedroom wasn't there.

"The train will be here in a minute," Lucas said and Farkle looked at him.

"How do you know that?"

"I used to hang out here, with you and the girls, Zay would be playing that zombie game with Riley, with you and Smackle would do some weird experiment over there, I would play golf, while Maya drew something."

"You really aren't from here," Farkle said looking around. "No one has ever been in this room, hell no one really remembers Maya, she moved away in the seventh grade."

"They were your wives then," Lucas sighed as he dropped down onto the couch. The train zoomed by only stopping for a moment to as the conductor asked Farkle a question before moving on. "Where is my normal life?"

"I don't know,' Farkle said as he sat down across from him. "I do know that a lot of things changed in seventh grade."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Well, Riley started acting more and more like Maya in the seventh grade, then Maya and her mother moved to Arkansas to be closer to their family. Her mother gave up on acting because she realized it was causing her to miss her daughter growing up."

"So she didn't remarry?"

"Who Maya's mom?"

"Yeah, where I'm from she married Shawn Hunter, and he adopted Maya."

"No, actually she was a widow, her husband had died when Maya was little, and she decided that she needed to try and live her dream because life was too short. Except in the end it was causing Maya to act out because she never grieved for her father."

"What about Riley? She was with this guy earlier, but he looked like her so I'm guess that either Auggie was born first or something."

"No, that's her brother Elliot, he's two years older than her, he's a senior at Abigail Adams, he's their star everything, top student, athlete, debate club, student body president. Riley's the middle child but her brothers kind of over shadowed her over the years, so she became like Maya and when Maya left she became worse. We all stopped being friends around the same time and I transferred to Einstein Academy. I haven't talked to them since."

Lucas couldn't believe it, "This is too much for me."

"I know, it's weird, there's no scientific explanation for any of this, but if what you say is true then there's a world out there where Riley is a different person."

"We all are," he said frowning. "I have a sister that I don't know, and the kids at school worship me, but for some reason I feel like some of them are on edge around me."

"Well you're kind of a bully," Farkle said. "I know some kids who go to school with you and well they're all afraid of you."

"But that's not me? I guess without Riley I'm not the best person am I?"

"Can you tell me? You know about your life?"

Lucas nodded and slowly told him about his life, the real life he lead where he went to the same school as all of them. Riley falling on his lap the first day of seventh grade, Farkle's transformation in eighth grade, Maya's constant name calling, even how Zay came to New York, and how Smackle joined them in high school. "You're dating her you know, Smackle."

"But we wouldn't match, the probability of us being together is…"

"Farkle stop and think, you and Smackle were made for each other, you always said that like forces repel but the two of you aren't alike at all, you just need to open your eyes to that."

They talked for a while longer, Lucas sent a message to his mother that he was going to stay with a friend. He wanted a chance to figure it all out and Farkle was the best person to help him. The two of them looked over websites, social media, anything to try and jog his memory, but nothing worked. Lucas was stuck there and he didn't know how to get back to where his life was as close to perfect as he could have asked for.

"Maybe you need to fix somethings for Lucas here?" Farkle suggested later that night.

"What like he needs to stop being a complete douche, and date Riley?"

"Riley might be the one thing that would bring this all together, maybe you're here to fix what went wrong. Which means you need to learn as much as you can about the part of you that lives here."

"But how?"

"Well what did you learn from going to school?"

"Everyone liked me, except the people who weren't popular, all the girls asked me out, but according to my teammates I don't like any of them so it gave me this rep as a bad boy who thinks no one is good enough for him."

"Okay, so why wouldn't the most popular guy in school date just anyone? Look through your phone, not the messages but the pictures. There's something there."

Lucas pulled out his phone and started going through the pictures like Farkle said, there were pictures with his teammates, and some girls, pictures from parties, and a folder labeled Her he opened it and saw nothing but pictures of Riley, all dating back to that day on the subway when she fell on his lap, but from the looks of the photos she had never turned around and saw him. He had ended up at a different school instead of John Quincy, but there were still pictures and pictures of Riley. From parties, to games where their schools played against one another, she was there but she didn't look the same. As the pictures went on she wore darker clothes, and people weren't around her. Even in this world Riley was his everything even if she didn't know it.

"Wow, talk about stalker," Farkle said. "I guess the best thing to do is show up at that party tomorrow, because most likely she's going to be there."

"She really is the center of my whole word," he said, thinking of how she made him a better person, but without Maya, or Farkle, or even him Riley wasn't the same person.

The two of them went to sleep soon after, and when Lucas woke up the next day and was still in Farkle's room he knew that nothing had changed. He wasn't home, he wasn't in his New York, but if Farkle was right, Riley was the answer to everything. The two of them worked on a plan for him to get Riley, but they knew it was going to be hard. When they finished Lucas went home and changed his clothes for the party, saying a quick goodbye to his family as he rushed out the door.

Riley sat in the waiting room, her heart pounding in her chest as everyone she knew came in and out, the doctor had told him that the ball had reached nearly 100 mile per hour when it hit Lucas, and at that rate injury was high, especially since it hit him when he wasn't looking. They were checking for injury to see if he had a concussion, a clot in his head or even if it had blown his pupil. For all this to happen he needed to be sedated and most likely wouldn't be awake until the next day. His parents stayed nearby, but Riley wouldn't move from where they had wheeled him in. Baseball wasn't supposed to be as rough as any other sport but there were still sever injuries and it frightened her.

She kept replaying the moment in her mind, all the other cheerleaders were pumping up the crowd but she had turned around the moment he went up to bat. She was cheering him on because she wanted him to know she was there, but the pitcher had thrown a fastball when Lucas had looked down, his head only turned to meet the ball face to face. Watching him fall to the ground, as Farkle and Zay ran towards him to check if he was alright had hurt as much as if the ball had hit her. She couldn't move, as the referees walked up, as his family walked towards them. Everything had moved so slowly, but then she felt her heart beating and her feet moving forward, running towards him. Calling his name and getting no answer, she got on the ambulance on instinct. Watching them hook him up onto the machines, checking his eye, his head, she squeezed his hand to let him know she was there.

Even with everyone telling her it was going to be alright hours later, she couldn't get the image of Lucas unconscious on the gurney. Her cheerleading uniform still on her, she didn't want to move afraid that if she did everything that could go wrong would. In that moment her only concern was the boy on the subway who had changed her life in so many ways, and she never got the chance to tell him how much she loved him.

The party was in full swing when he got there, all the football players greeted him with pats on the shoulder but he only had one goal, Riley. It took him a while to find her, she was in a corner of the room sipping on something inside of a red solo cup ignoring the rest of the room. Her brother was on the other side of the room talking with some girl, so Lucas took a chance and walked over to Riley.

"Hey," he said but she rolled her eyes and turned the other way. This Riley didn't do the Hi, Hey, Hi, that his Riley did. "Can we talk?" he asked as loud as he could without shouting.

"Why the hell would I talk to you?" she said before walking out the backdoor.

"Riley we need to talk," he said trying to catch up to her through the crowd of people. "Please."

He knew that the Lucas of this world liked Riley, but he didn't say anything to her, he was content with watching her from afar. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the side gate towards the street.

"Let go of me," she said pulling her arm trying to get away.

"We need to talk," he said as they reached a park and he sat her down on the swings. "This is important."

"Right, like the big bad popular football player had anything to say that would explain him dragging a girl out of a party and to an isolated park."

"I love you," he said trying to get her attention. He felt bad for the Lucas from this world because he blurted out this secret crush without thinking. He hoped that the memories would be there when the guy came back, but he wanted his Riley, and he knew he loved her more than anything even if he didn't tell her, even though he should have.

Riley laughed at him and then her face turned serious. "I don't play games big boy, now leave me the hell alone."

"Riley please," he said. "What do I have to do to get you to understand that I telling the truth?"

She ignored him and kept walking away. The only thing he could hope at that moment was that Riley was still the same girl who left her bay window unlocked. He rushed towards her place, the apartment was still the same, but there were no flowers on the fire escape, no sign of the old Riley. There was a light on and she sat there looking out, so he knew he was in the right place, so he climbed the ladder and walked up to her floor trying not to make too much noise. Her window was open letting the spring air into her room but when he saw inside it wasn't the same.

The room which had been bright and airy, with blue and purple everywhere, was black and red, from where he was all he saw was the small things that had meant that somewhere in there was the old Riley. His Riley. A purple cat in the corner, Berry the Bear Bear on the chair, and Riley's desk in the corner near the door. The brunette sitting there, it took him a moment to realize that she had pulled her sleeve up, her arm covered in cut after cut. She had pulled out a blade and was about to cut herself again when he burst through the window and took it away from her.

"Stop," he said as he threw it across the room. "Don't do it."

"What the hell are you doing here?" she screamed and he wondered if anyone would hear her. "Get the fuck out."

"No," he said pulling her close. "You can't do this to yourself… Riley you can't hurt yourself."

"No one will care," she said yelling at him as she pulled away and walked towards where the blade landed. He grabbed her again and pulled her close. "Stop it," she yelled. "You don't even know me."

"I know you like cuddle bunnies, but you don't tell anyone anymore because they would make fun of you. I know Berry the Bear Bear is your favorite childhood toy because your parents gave it to you before your brother Auggie was born, when you were home sick. I know Maya is your best friend in the world, and I don't understand why she's not here to stop this," Riley started crying in his arms as he spoke. "You love purple cats, and you think you don't have a talent while everyone else is good at something, even though I know you love to write about everything."

"What are you a stalker," she said as she sniffled, her body shaking in his arms.

"No… Well I don't think so, but I do know that for some reason I can't seem to date anyone else, and I'm a total jerk to everyone, but your face is all I want to see in the morning."

"Oh please, you're just saying that because my brother is your rival," she said but he knew her voice wasn't as cut throat as before. "No one cares about me."

"Are you sure?"

"My parents praise my brothers but don't say anything nice to me, they'll make sarcastic remarks like how my brother is the best student but I'm good at sleeping. I have a perfect GPA, but my little brother is a prodigy. No one cares about Riley Matthews, I shouldn't exist, hell my parents liked Maya better than me when she was still in New York, they praised her for being an Amazon Warrior but I was just the klutzy girl who tripped all over school."

"That's not who you are to me," he said as he took her towards the bay window. "To me you're a bright spot in my day, you are serious but you want the best for everyone, when you smile it's like the sun is shining and my heart skips a beat."

"Lucas you don't know me," she said but it was almost a whisper.

"I could prove to you that your life is worth something," he said before he kissed her on the forehead. "People care, you just have to let go of the sadness and let them into your heart."

They didn't talk for a while, they just sat there in each other's arms, for some reason it felt as if she was using him as an anchor, to keep her grounded to something. This Riley was falling apart, and he couldn't understand why no one saw it.

At around midnight he realized that she had fallen asleep in his arms, so he scooped her up and tucked her into her bed. He turned to leave when he realized that she had grabbed his arm.

"Don't leave," she said in a quiet voice. Normally her father kicked him out around nine, but neither one of her parents came in to check on her at all.

"Where's everyone?" he asked curious to know what was different about this version of the Matthews.

"Auggie's probably sleeping, my parents are at some party they left a babysitter here for Auggie, I came in and just went straight to my room, and Elliot of course was at the party."

"Do you parents check in with you before bed?"

She shook her head, "Not since Maya left," she said her voice tired.

"What do they do?" he asked curious to see if they were the same people he knew, because for some reason something wasn't right if they let her get to the point where she was cutting herself.

"My mom's a lawyer, she's the head of the firm that's number one on Wall Street, my dad is a banker, and he works for one of the big ones, although I usually forget which one."

That's how he knew that everything was different, Mr. Matthews wasn't their teacher, and Mrs. Matthews wasn't defending the little guy. The café didn't exist, and Riley had a brother who was the best at everything to the point where he overshadowed his sister. Maybe he needed to fix both himself and Riley before it was too late.

They talked about silly things for hours after that, and Lucas knew she was fighting to stay awake. Riley still loved cuddle bunnies, and unicorns, but her life had taken a dramatic turn when she started high school. After being bullied in middle school she had closed herself off, but the bullies had followed only now they had crushes on her brother. She didn't make any friends because all of the girls all wanted to get close to Elliot, forgetting that she was there. When she didn't do what they said they would push her into the bathroom stall and throw water on her until she was soaked through. They would spread rumors about her throughout the school, about how easy she was but they also said that because of that she had an STD that changed depending on the week or month.

They fell asleep next to each other after talking for what seemed like hours. When they woke up hours later, he could tell that Riley felt shy about him being there, he knew that it had something to do with what he had seen. He needed to know the why's of what was happening in this world, and he needed to do it fast because he didn't know how long he had here.

"Can I ask you something," he said sitting up on her bed. "Why do you cut yourself? I know you have bullies and the school worships your brother, but why would you do that?"

"Somedays, I think it's because," she hesitates looking down at her hands, she pulls down the sleeves of her black sweater. "It's because I keep trying to prepare myself for eventually getting to the point where I want to die."

Her voice was barely a whisper but he had heard her loud and clear and it hurt him to hear her say those words. This was Riley, regardless of whether or not this was his life, she was meant for so much more than what she doing in that moment. Instead of saying something, he pulled her into a hug and held her there for what seemed like forever. He felt as her body started shaking, as she started crying in his arms. This is something she was missing and he hoped that they would be able to move forward together. He hoped that the version of him in this world would protect her at all cost.