And just like that we're almost at the end of this little story. Just one more chapter after this one I think.

"You're gonna be late." Lucas warns, glancing out from the bathroom where he's brushing his teeth.

Riley groans and throws herself back on the bed; she just barely resists tossing herself face first into the pillows. "I don't care."

"Yes, you do."

Yes, she does. She may not want to go to Ava's 'Women of the Wedding' morning at the nail salon, but Ava is insistent that, as a member of the wedding party, Riley must get a proper manicure in a suitably neutral shade. And if Riley has to go, the last thing she wants to do is draw attention to herself by showing up late. Especially knowing that Topanga is likely to be at the salon.

If Riley knows her mother even the slightest bit, Topanga will not be handling Riley's firmly drawn line in sand well at all.

Anything she can do to avoid catching Topanga's eye and drawing that ire, Riley wants to do. Which means she can't be late. "All right, I care." She sighs, hoisting herself back up to a sitting position. "I'll leave in a minute." A moment passes. Lucas exits the bathroom, reminding Riley of her initial, only semi-joking idea for surviving the morning: safety in numbers. "Are you sure I can't convince you to come with me?"

"Sorry." Lucas apologizes, though he barely glances her way and, to Riley at least, doesn't sound all that sorry. Not that she can blame him. Even if they were actually dating, Riley doubts he would want to spend the morning at a nail salon with just her and a bridal party for company. Not to mention his unsanctioned presence would surely bring out the most strident parts of Ava's personality and she can't begrudge him wanting to avoid that. "I have some...things I need to take care of."

Understanding aside, Riley resists the urge to frown as she watches Lucas sit on the room's small sofa to pull his shoes on. Ever since they had woken up, he's been acting differently. Not in a way which she can really put her finger on and name, but noticeable all the same. And now this vague explanation for his plans for the morning. Up until now he's always provided an explanation for what he'd be doing when they split for some time apart. Listening to voicemails and returning calls, swimming laps to work off excess energy… Riley knows that Lucas can do whatever he wants with his free time and it's not really her business but she can't help but wonder what he could be doing today that he feels the need to be so reticent.

"Things." Riley echoes, injecting as much brightness into her voice past the confusion as she can manage; she doesn't want Lucas thinking she's interested in prying into his business. "Right. Of course." She pushes herself to her feet and takes an extra pause. "Will everything be taken care of in time for the rehearsal dinner?"

"The rehearsal…" Lucas falls off, freezing in place and looking momentarily confused, which only befuddles Riley more. It's not like he hasn't known that the rehearsal dinner was coming all week. He shakes his head. "The rehearsal dinner. No, of course. I should be done way before then." He scratches behind his ear. "How long do you think your salon stuff's gonna be?"

Riley considers what she knows about the day. A manicure on its own won't take that long but factoring in the anticipated round or two of mimosas and Ava's inspections of the nail technicians' work… "Probably two and a half, maybe three hours." After she speaks, Lucas seems to go into his own mind and consider things, which prompts her own consideration and analysis. Lucas has always been so smooth, cool, and collected, but all morning he's been practically the opposite. On edge, distracted...flustered even. She can't begin to imagine what's happened to cause the change.

"I should be done with my stuff by then." He seems to come back to life after a moment. "We can meet back here, and have a quiet lunch somewhere?" He suggests, rising to his feet.

At least that makes a light at the end of the 'dealing with Topanga' tunnel. Riley smiles and stands. "Sounds great. I'm counting down the minutes already." She crosses her fingers mentally; if she can just get through manicures with the wedding women, hopefully Lucas will get through his stuff and whatever is on his mind will be weighing a little less heavily by lunch and things will get back to normal.

"OK everyone, remember. Your nail color depends on your role in the wedding." Ava is speaking, standing by the front desk of the nail salon, clipboard in hand, when the door to the salon chimes and swings open. Riley notes with a slight sense of schadenfreude that the latecomer is Topanga, even though she looks no more frazzled or off-kilter than she ever does. Ava continues as thought the interruption hasn't happened. "You each have a bottle of nail polish waiting for you up here except for Riley and Topi, as representatives of Auggie's family the two of you will be getting classic French manicures.

Riley breathes a slight sigh of relief as Ava continues on, assigning shades of 'Blush' and 'Ballet Slipper' to the women of her bridal party; a French manicure shouldn't take long at all. While many of the girls are planning on taking advantage of the spa appointment paid for by Ava's parents and getting the more in depth treatments like paraffin dips or hot stone massages, Riley doesn't want to take up any more time than she has to. A basic French manicure, hopefully at a station far away from Topanga, is all she needs.

"We missed you at the bachelorette party last night, Riley." One of Ava's bridesmaids, Lucy, turns to her as Ava wraps up her speech.

"Oh, well I-,"

"Come on Luce." Riley is saved from coming up with an excuse she hadn't given any thought to preparing by another bridesmaid, this time a blonde named Michelle. "You saw her boyfriend. What use does she have for any of the toys they were selling at the party?"

Lucy grins. "They sold stuff for couples too."

Riley blushes. Real or imagined, they're talking about her sex life, something she doesn't normally bring up for public consumption. On the other hand, at least they aren't talking about the family drama.

"I'm just saying, with a guy who looks like that, who loves you as much as he clearly loves Riley, extra toys for the bedroom probably aren't a necessity." Michelle counters before glancing over at Riley. "Unless that's what the two of you are into."

"No! We're OK. Lucas is…" Riley fumbles over herself when she realizes the girls are waiting for her to say something. As has occurred to her before, she doesn't know what the 'right' answer is in this situation, as it's not something she's discussed with Lucas, or has a lot of relationship experience to draw from to improvise. She ultimately thinks about the kisses they've shared, and the effortless intensity and spark that seemed to come with them, and lands on answering as vaguely as possible while focusing on that chemistry. "Lucas is great. He just...I never feel more cared for than when I'm in his arms."

"Aww…" The girls coo.

"That is the sweetest."

"You are so lucky."

"Do you girls want to know a secret?"

Riley stiffens at the newcomer's voice; Topanga has made her way over and a glance in her direction tells Riley all she needs to know and her heart clenches. Her mother is smiling, but it's the smile of a shark. There's no joy or warmth behind it. Riley doesn't know what exactly Topanga has planned, but she very clearly has something up her sleeve. She won't want to let yesterday slide.

Riley tries to draw up her courage, to stand tall and remind her that they're at Ava's morning, that they've already disrupted enough of the wedding, but Topanga continues before she can even find her words.

"It's not luck at all." There's a conspiratorial edge to Topanga's voice when she speaks again. "Lucas and Riley aren't really dating."

The two girls look confused.

Riley feels everything freeze. Somehow, Topanga has caught on, which Lucas had promised to be impossible. And without Lucas beside her to provide support, she somehow has to salvage the situation on her own. "What are you talking about? Of course we're dat-,"

"See, according to my law firm's private investigator," Topanga cuts her off, almost as though she hadn't heard Riley speaking in the first place, "Lucas Friar is an escort. He earns his living accompanying young women to functions just like this one."

The floor starts to fall out from beneath Riley's feet. Never in a million years would she have anticipated this. "You had him investigated?"

"Of course I did." Topanga shrugs like it's normal. Like every mother has someone dig into the background of her daughter's partner, likely hoping to find something wrong. "That's how I know. It's not that you're dating someone who happens to be an escort, it's that you hired an escort to pretend to be dating you. This whole week has been a lie."

Riley bites the inside of her lip to stave off what she knows could easily turn into a panic attack. Topanga knows. She knows the whole story. Which likely means the rest of the Matthews know, and there's a cluster of bridesmaids listening so soon the whole wedding will know. The whole house of cards is tumbling down. And instead of being a mother and questioning why Riley didn't feel like she could come to the wedding alone, Topanga seems to be treating it like a smug, I-told-you-so moment. Riley can barely even begin to imagine how to respond. "It's not all a lie."

Topanga scoffs. "Riley, please. It's pathetic enough that you've hired him. Don't tell me you're so naive that you're actually buying into any of it. Everything he's said and done is because you're paying him for it."

Outwardly, Riley stands frozen and doesn't react, not even to blink, but inwardly she feels her walls crumbling. She's tried to be smart with her feelings and protect herself and to remember that at the end of the trip, she'll be going her way and Lucas will be going his, never to cross paths again, but it's been next to impossible. He's offered her so much more than just holding hands and cuddling with her in front of her family; he's listened and shared and offered her so much support and advice...maybe it's been wrong of her but she just hasn't been able to separate the feelings that have sprung up from that to tuck them away into the same box as she has her initial attraction to him. It felt too genuine. But maybe Topanga is right. Maybe to Lucas it's all just part of the package.

"Yesterday you stood in front of your father and me and you were so self-righteous about how happy and strong you are now and how perfect your life is, but in reality you are none of those things, are you Riley? Your life is your job. You work and you go home. You don't date, or even go out with friends. You're not happy or strong; you're sad and alone and your life is so pathetic that you were too scared to come to the wedding alone. You had to lie, and worse than that, you had to buy your lies."

Every word out of Topanga's mouth is an ice cold punch to Riley's stomach. The karaoke fiasco with Cory had been humiliating. This takes that experience and douses it with an added layer of deliberate cruelty. Worse still, every piece of it feels true. She's done nothing but put on an act all week.

In spite of her best efforts, Riley feels her eyes fill with tears.

"So Riley," Topanga crosses her arms over her chest, "with all the facts on the table, please tell me again how great you're doing without your family."

Riley opens her mouth to do just that, but finds that she can't make any words come out. Her voice feels caught in her throat. She can't counter Topanga and say how wrong she is...By all accounts she's very, very right. Why would somebody happy with the way their life is going be afraid to come to a family function? Why would someone confident need to hire someone to act as their buffer? In truth her confidence had sprung from her conversations with Lucas...conversations that probably had no basis in reality; he probably said similar things to all his clients and she's just the silly little dope who fell for it.

Riley can barely breathe. Every inhalation hurts. All she had wanted to do was get through Auggie's wedding. That's it. How had that turned into this?

With every moment that passes, she can feel more eyes on her. Can hear the murmurs of whispers as the story presumably makes its way through the group.

Topanga taps her foot. "Well Riley? I'm waiting."

Riley turns on her heels. She pushes her way through the remaining bridal party and runs out the door.

Lucas is carrying his third box of Christmas lights down from the bed and breakfast's attic to bring into the dining room when he runs into Riley and realizes something is wrong. Not only because they're not even an hour into the estimated time she's meant to be getting a manicure-time that he is now using to execute the plan he had come up with to make a sort of...grand gesture to Riley and bring up his feelings-but because when she collides with him in the inn hallway, Riley is crying.

"Riley? What happened? What's wrong?"

Riley's breath hitches, and her mouth opens but no words come out.

Lucas quickly puts the box of lights down on the floor against the hallway wall and turns to Riley; he places his hands on her shoulders. "Riley, breathe for me." He instructs. He tries to coach her through her sobs and when they eventually start to slow, he guides her over to a small upholstered bench sitting between two room doors. They sit together. "What happened?" He repeats.

"Topanga knows." Riley chokes out, wiping at her eyes.

Lucas' first thought is, knows what? He can't think of anything he and Riley have discussed that is meant to be a secret. But a moment later, the obvious hits him. She knows about him. "How?"

"Her law firm has a PI. She had them look into you."

"Why?" As shocking as it is to be discovered in the first place, and it is shocking, it's equally confusing. Lucas can't imagine anyone whose first thought when introduced to their daughter's partner is to have them investigated, even as dysfunctional as the Matthews family appears to be.

"She didn't say." Riley answers, still quite tearful, though calming down a bit. "Just that she knows I hired you."

Shit.

This changes everything. Lucas isn't even sure what he can do, if anything. The only time he's ever had a client 'outed' so to speak, was because the client in question had opted to do so herself, and to accept those consequences. To have someone else discover that he's really an escort...this is uncharted territory.

"Riley, I'm so sorry." He wraps an arm around her shoulder, rubbing gentle circles on her back with his hand. "This was never supposed to happen."

Riley sniffs. "It's not your fault."

"No, that honor definitely falls on Topanga's should-,"

"It's mine." Riley cuts him off.

"What? Of course it's not. How can you say that?"

"I'm the one who hired you, aren't I? I'm the one so pathetic that I couldn't suck things up and come to the wedding alone."

"Did she tell you that?"

"She stood," Riley swallows, "in front of everyone and gloated that I was sad and had no one in my life. She was so...thrilled that I had hired you. That I was just a pathetic workaholic and that the whole week has been nothing but lies."

For a split second Lucas closes his eyes, cursing Topanga. What kind of mother-what kind of person is so obsessed with coming out on top in an argument that they lose every tiny shred of empathy they might have? Riley's confidence around her family may have been building all week, and she may have decided to stop trying to garner their approval, but as with anything new, it's all too easy for doubt to creep in and test resolve; from the way Riley is talking, Topanga's cruelty has done more than that.

When he reopens his eyes, Lucas angles himself so he's facing Riley as best he can in his seat. "First of all, you have a lot of people in your life. Eric, Linda, Auggie, Zay...all of the friends at work you've told me about. Those are all people who love and care about you, so that's one thing Topanga is wrong about."

He deliberately leaves himself off the list. Reading between the lines of everything Riley has said so far, he can easily predict the kind of push-back she'd have for his inclusion and now is not the time for that rabbit hole.

"Second, nobody who can learn a ballroom dance, save two hands, stand up for themselves multiple times, and do a deep dive into a painful life story all in the same day is pathetic, OK? Even if you had only done one of those things? Total opposite of pathetic."

"You don't really believe that…"

"Riley, even if you hadn't done any of that… the fact that you're here at all...Facing people like this is not easy. You are so strong."

Riley turns away. "But I couldn't do it alone, could I?"

"So you're also human. Nobody should have to face something like this alone. That doesn't take away anything." Lucas places a hand on Riley's, wrapping his fingers around hers, but is surprised when she pulls her hand away.

"Will you just stop?!" She cries. "We both know this isn't real. You're being so nice because you have to be, not because you think it's true."

Lucas frowns. There's that rabbit hole. 'You only care because I'm paying you.' It's just the sort of fallout he had expected from the escort revelation, especially factoring in the public humiliation aspect and Topanga's described vindictiveness.

He's also not sure how he can convince Riley that it's not true. They've been building trust all week, but with just one confrontation that's fallen away. And if Riley doesn't trust his word now, she's never going to believe him when he confesses his feelings later. "You think I only care because you're paying me?"

"That's how it works, isn't it?"

It's not. Not to the levels they're talking about. Lucas would never insult a client, but generally speaking, if they aren't around other people, he's friendly and that's where his job stops; he usually doesn't care more for a client than he does for any other person that comes briefly in and out of his life. The payment is for the companionship and the show he puts on at the client's event. That's all.

The way things have gone with Riley is the exception, not the rule. But how can he explain that in a way that she'll take his word for it?

Then again, Lucas thinks while glancing towards his abandoned box of Christmas lights on the floor, maybe the solution isn't in what he can tell Riley. Maybe it's in what he can show her.

Lucas takes her hand again as a new idea forms in his mind. "Can I show you what I was going to do while you were at the salon?"

A puzzled Riley agrees.

Lucas stands, gently pulling her with him. "Come with me." He briefly drops her hand so he can pick the box of lights back up, but balances the box in one arm so he can take her hand back up with the other as they walk downstairs towards the dining room. He lets a few steps pass to gather his thoughts before he speaks again. "This week has been...intense. Especially the last couple of days."

"I'm really sorry, Lucas. I know this isn't what you signed up for."

"No, I meant..." He squeezes her hand, hoping to impart some reassurance. "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I've had a great time."

"I don't understand. You've been with my family. How is that remotely possible?" Riley asks as they start down the stairs.

"Because...I've also been with you."

At the foot of the stairs Riley stops, sighing. She drops Lucas' hand. "Oh, come on. I'm just another client to you."

"Riley, do you really think I do all the things we've done for my normal clients?" Lucas blinks. However unintentionally it had started for him, a lot about the week had truly been above and beyond the spectrum of his work; he'd thought Riley realized that, but supposes her anxieties and denial could be just as strong as his was. "That I steal cake for late night chats where I share my own life story? Or that I, who can't carry a tune in a suitcase on wheels, get up and sing karaoke for huge crowds? Or that I book couples massages and private spa days for just any of my clients?

"Riley, you are a lot of things, but I haven't thought of you as just a client since the first night we spent together. Not really."

Riley takes a moment, seeming to puzzle over his words. She closes her eyes and when she reopens them she stares at Lucas; she's no longer crying, which he takes as a positive, but her frown remains. "I don't understand… If you don't see me as a client then how do you see me?"

This isn't how Lucas had been hoping to have this discussion. He doesn't even have what he wants to say totally worked out yet. But, he supposes, better to seize the opportunity than to let it pass by and not get a second chance.

"About a day into this trip, you told me that not everyone gets to be the star of their fairy tale." Lucas turns to the dining room door at the foot of the stairs and opens it. "But I think you're wrong." He holds the door open, and with his free hand, gestures for Riley to enter the room. He speaks again when he knows she's taking in the room. "Because to me, you're a princess."

The dining room is mid-transformation, with the table and all of the chairs removed. He's been hanging the Christmas lights, as well as using tulle bunting from some of the inn's wedding decorations (the innkeepers were incredibly accommodating when he went to them with his request) to do what he can to turn the room into a magical fairy tale ballroom-esque space, though he's far from done; the lights only cover about half of the ceiling at this point.

Riley is staring at the room, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. She doesn't say anything though, and after several moments of silence, Lucas' own anxiety takes over.

"I know the room's not finished. I was going to bring you here tonight after the rehearsal dinner and there was supposed to be music and a speech that I haven't really figured the words out for yet about how easy it is to-..." He drops off when Riley turns around to face him, her stunned look starting to make way for a soft smile and shining eyes.

"This is why you were acting weird this morning, isn't it? You were planning this?"

Lucas nods.

"But what about the business?"

"My partner is taking the website down. It's time to move on."

"You really...Me?"

He nods again. "You."

Riley closes the space between them, only stopping when their feet almost touch. She reaches up, cupping his face with her hands and pulling his face down. She presses her lips to his.

Lucas' hands instinctively find her waist as they kiss. He pulls her close, feels her hand run through his hair, rests his forehead against hers when they pull apart.

Breathing heavily, Riley smiles. "I choose you too."