Author Note: Yay! This is done before 11:59pm…the things I promise when I'm falling asleep—yikes!
Thanks to everyone who filled out the Reader Survey, I'm gonna close it and share any cool info like favorite multi-chapter, etc. Also thanks to everyone who voted in the poll about who Gigi should be with. I had a feeling Zay was going to win. I'll have a poll soon about the twins, so keep an eye out for that.
I'll be around all of tonight (Saturday) so if you've got any questions/comments my ask box is open and Anon is on.
Seriously you guys all rock.
-the only one I dream of-
Lucas was thankful he caught an elevator when he did, and that he knew the hospital layout well enough to find the courtyard. He stopped to catch his breath, whatever secrets he and Riley had would be out soon. Not that any of it was ever meant to really be a secret. Just that they wanted to wait so they didn't favor one set of parents over the other.
It took him a moment before he heard the muffled cries. He looked around expecting to find a young child, a grieving mother, instead he found Deacon.
His stomach sank as he moved towards the younger man, "Deacon, what's wrong?"
"I love her." His words staggered, hanging in the air, "I would do anything I can to make her happy. I'll wipe her tears away when she's crying, hold her when she's sad. I want to have children with her."
"You'll have that." Lucas sat next to him on the bench.
"She came out of the surgery." Deacon's voice was slow, "Your parents thought I should be the one to see her."
"Then why are you out here, rubbing your fist?"
"She started to wake up, she, she said I love you Zay." Deacon released a breath, "I was so hurt I left the room and went to the waiting room, Zay was there, I punched him, told him to stay away from Gigi."
Lucas took this all in, "She was coming out from the drugs, right? She might not know what she was saying. Besides nothing has ever happened with Zay and Gigi."
Deacon studied his fist, "How can you be so sure?"
"I can't, but Gigi is engaged to you. She's not chasing after Zay, she goes to you." Lucas wasn't sure, he had no idea what was or wasn't happening with his baby sister and his best friend, but he didn't think Deacon needed anymore doubt now.
"Why are you out here? Is Riley okay?"
"She's fine, just sprained her ankles. I had to hide from her Dad, he wanted to steal my shoes." He chuckled at it now, but he knew when he went back inside he'd have to tell his family the truth.
"Then she'll be released soon, right?"
"They uh, want to keep her for observation." Lucas looked back towards the door, "Calm down, come back inside, go see Gigi, you'll see when she looks at you that she loves you."
"Thanks Lucas, good luck with Riley's Dad."
Lucas nodded, taking a deep breath of fresh air before heading back in to face his family.
Cory came into the waiting room, "Okay, where is he?" No one answered it, it took him a moment to realize that Zay had an ice pack on his face, Bonnie and Grady weren't in the room.
"Who, Cory, what is wrong with you?" Topanga questioned her husband, seeing the frazzled energy vibrating off his body.
"Lucas" He looked at Zay, "You, you know what he did to my baby girl?"
Zay stared at his former teacher confused, "Man I don't know what's going on. Gigi's fiancé just attacked me."
Cory crinkled his nose in confusion, "Texas is a weird place, we never should've let Riley come down here. Terrible things happen in Texas."
Topanga rolled her eyes, "Did you see Riley?"
"Yeah, I saw her." He threw his hands up in the air shaking them as if trying to mimic spirit fingers. "She's fine, well except for what Lucas did to her."
Topanga pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath, "Cory, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Hey everyone." Lucas came in, moving quickly past Cory and going over to Zay, "I see Deacon did a number on you."
Zay took the ice pack off, "Yeah, I don't know why."
Lucas looked at his friend, "I think you do know."
"Hey, you, we gotta talk about what you did to my daughter." Cory tapped Lucas on the shoulder as Topanga tried to pull him back.
Lucas sighed as he spun around, "I promise it's not what you think Mr. Matthews, as soon as my parents are back, we'll all go talk to Riley."
Topanga studied him, "What do we need your parents for to see Riley?"
"Because we just do." He glanced at his watch, it was still the afternoon, even though the day felt like it had been a week long already.
"You're going to be okay." Grady looked at his daughter, "Your Mom is outside waiting to come in. I think you have every right to be mad at her."
"How's Riley?" Gigi's voice was a whisper.
"Sprained her ankles she's fine." Grady squeezed his daughter's hand, "Deacon came in earlier."
"He did?"
Grady nodded, "Yeah, he did. I'll send him back in when your Mom is done with you."
"Thank you." Gigi couldn't believe that Deacon had left, how could that be possible.
He kissed her forehead, "Mom will be right in."
She nodded quietly before he left, she wasn't sure she really wanted to see her mother, but she needed her at the same time.
Gigi bit her lip as she waited, trying to ready herself for what was about to come.
Bonnie slipped into the room, staying by the door for a moment, "Oh my baby" before she rushed across the room, holding onto Gigi, tightly but still gently, "I'm so sorry for what I said last night, I'm so glad you're okay."
"What was with you?"
Bonnie pulled away, brushing Gigi's hair away from her face, "I just let a little bug get in my ear and didn't trust you or your brother to make the right decisions."
Gigi grimaced at the foggy feeling in her body, "What did they do to me?"
"They took out your spleen, and stopped a bunch bleeding inside of you. They'll explain when you're a bit more coherent, I'm just so glad you're alive."
"I want to see Deacon."
Bonnie nodded, "I'll see if I can get him in here okay."
"Thank you."
Bonnie smoothed Gigi's hair one last time before leaving the room, guilt still crashing over her body.
When she returned to the waiting room Deacon still wasn't there. "Oh, Deacon is still gone, Gigi wanted to see him."
Zay tossed the ice bag in his hands, "I'll let him know if he shows back up, Lucas wants you all to go talk to Riley."
Lucas looked to his friend, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, go do whatever it is you need you to do." Zay sighed sitting back in the chair.
"Okay then, Mom, Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, come with me." Lucas gave his friend a thankful, but warning look as he guided the parents out.
Riley's eyes darted around the room, her phone destroyed, she couldn't get out of bed even if she wanted to so here she was stuck. The channel selection on the TV left her with almost nothing to watch, to try and ease her mind as she worried about what was happening with Lucas, her father, Gigi, all while also trying to let it sink in that she was not only pregnant, but expecting twins.
The door opened, Lucas slipped in and leaned against it, "So, um Thanksgiving was a wonderful idea, but I don't think we can wait. Especially since you know."
Riley sighed, "Our parents are outside? Great your mother thinks I'm a gold-digger, now she'll think I trapped you."
Lucas smirked, "Oh yeah, um apparently Dixie got that all in her head, she snapped out of it when Dixie was at the house today."
"That bitch was at our house?"
"Yeah, we'll discuss that later. Right now, if I don't let them in your Dad is going to drive the entire staff insane."
"Let's do this." She took a deep breath, adjusting the blankets around her before he opened the door.
It was like a wave crashing against the shore at high tide as the energy in the room changed.
"Are you okay honey?" Topanga immediately moved to her side, glancing at the monitor Riley was hooked up tp.
"I'm fine, just some sprained ankles." Riley gave a nervous smile.
"Then what's the monitor for?" Grady looked around the room,
Before they could answer the door opened, a nurse came in, "Okay Mrs. Friar, it's time for some Tylenol."
"Thank you" Riley could feel all the eyes on her, she could see Lucas smirk from behind their parents.
Once the nurse left all eyes were on Riley.
"Why do they keep calling you Mrs. Friar?" Bonnie looked at the young woman in the bed.
"Because that's who she is." Lucas spoke proudly, already feeling the heat of anger coming from his father-in-law.
"Lucas and I got married in August, we had a ceremony in the Grand Canyon with Gigi and Zay as our witnesses." Riley explained to the shocked faces all around.
"You married my daughter?" Cory hissed.
Lucas nodded, "Yes Sir, I love her and I plan to be with her forever."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Topanga studied Riley, knowing there was more.
"We just wanted it to be between us for now. We also didn't want to play favorites and tell you at separate times, we wanted to tell you together." She folded her hands together, "I just went and had my name changed and everything."
"Why is Rachel your doctor?"
Lucas moved past the parents and sat on Riley's other side, "Well I hope that you're all ready to become Grandparents."
"You got my daughter pregnant!" Cory growled.
"Cory chill out, it's Riley and Lucas, you knew this was coming eventually. Sit down." Topanga shot her husband a warning look.
"So, um yeah, found out for sure in the ER this morning." Riley confessed, "Actually I was talking to Gigi about getting a pregnancy test on our way home from the resort today. But yeah, so the babies seem to be okay."
"Babies? As in more than one?" Topanga blinked.
"Twins" Lucas looked at the stunned faces around him, "She's on bedrest the next few weeks just to make sure she takes it easy."
"Wait, hold up" Grady looked around at everyone, "You got married and now you're having twins? Were you planning to tell us you were married?"
"We were going to tell you on Thanksgiving." Riley felt a weight she hadn't realized she'd been carrying lift from her.
"Are you two sure you're financially secure to have twins right now?" Grady's face fell with concern.
Lucas chuckled, "Yeah, we're very good on money."
"Yeah, we're set." Riley assured their parents, "We've got Lucas' practice, his share of The Wild Z, we've got the resort we're opening, and more than enough in savings to send these two to college and any others that come along later."
"You own a resort?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that's where she and Gigi were going, it's in the middle of renovations."
"We're not going to meet the New Year's deadline if I can't be on site." Riley sighed.
"Riley don't worry about that." Lucas took her hand, "We'll figure something out."
"We can help." Bonnie stood tall, "You need someone at the site, right? Well we can be there, connect via video call so that you can make the important decisions, as long as Rachel—who better be your doctor says that's okay."
Confusion twisted Riley's face, "You would do that?"
"Yeah we would." Topanga smiled, "You need help, and what are parents for?"
"Don't any of you have work?"
"Retired" Grady beamed.
"I'm senior partner, I can take time off, especially when my daughter needs me." Topanga reminded her.
"I have plenty of time I can take off to be here with you." Cory reminded her.
"Besides, Riley has a deadline, you have an election to win and she as well as Gigi need us." Bonnie reminded them all.
"We don't want you putting your lives on hold for us." Lucas insisted.
"Lucas, we are going to help out with whatever we can and that's the final decision." Bonnie stood firm, Lucas knew that he wasn't going to be able to say otherwise.
Deacon finally returned to the waiting room, finding only Zay. He bit the inside of his cheek as he looked at the older man. Was something going on with Gigi and Zay? Was that why she'd suggested Zay and Gloria May the night before for a partner swap. His stomach turned as he looked at him, "Where is everyone?"
"Lucas took them to see Riley," Zay kept his distance, "Gigi wants to see you, Bonnie said she asked for you."
Deacon felt his hands clench into fists, "Have you been in to see her."
"No" it was one word, but it carried a lot of meaning.
"Good, stay away from her." Deacon warned once more before leaving. His stomach twisting as he made his way back to her room, he tried to let the anger drain from his face, yet he knew he couldn't hide the way his heart was breaking.
He took a deep breath and walked in, Gigi was laying in bed, holding a blanket tightly, a frown on her face. "Hey" he spoke softly looking at her as she lit up when she saw him, the way her frown twisted into a smile.
"What took so long? I asked to see you ages ago." Gigi's eyes were clouded with sadness.
Deacon sat next to her, "I um was here earlier, you weren't exactly awake yet, I um, I needed some air."
Gigi grabbed his hand, "When the car was rolling over, when I couldn't stop it, all I could think was please God let me see Deacon again, let me tell him how much I love him."
"Really?" he was trying to fight back the love washing over his body.
She nodded gently, "I love you Deacon, I don't think I realized just how much until I almost died."
He gave her a stilted smile, "And Zay, do you love him?"