Cory was staring in horror at Topanga. Everyone Shawn had come to think of as family was staring at him with worry and confusion.

And Topanga was giving him the most hurt look that anyone had ever given him in his whole rotten life.

"Shawn how could you have done this to me?" she demanded. Shawn was panting from the fight, but felt like none of the air was getting to his lungs. There was no right answer. There was nothing he could say that would be a believable excuse for anything Topanga could have heard him and Cory saying. Anything he said would out both him and Cory. Cory would never forgive him for that.

Shawn looked down at his shoes as Cory let out the fake laugh that Shawn hated, smiled the fake smile that Shawn hated, and tried, with tears still on his face, to make this go away, "Topanga. Honey. Darling. What are you talking about? This is clearly-"

"Shawn?" She interrupted Cory, not taking her eyes off of Shawn. "Shawn? How could you? I thought you were my friend and you..." He could hear the pain in her voice now, "You knew this whole time. You knew when you set Cory and I up in the 9th grade."

By tremendous force of will he made himself look her in the eye. She deserved that, "You knew when you put us back together all those times, you knew when I gave up Yale, you knew at the wedding, you knew and you didn't tell me? You could've stopped me, you could've stopped this, and you didn't?" Topanga and Shawn were both crying now. He'd never thought of it that way. Over years of lying, Shawn and Cory had lost a lot of their adolescence. But they'd stolen Topanga's.

Shawn bit his lip, "Topanga, I'm... I'm sorry." There was nothing else to say.

There was a silence that might have lasted anywhere between a few seconds and a couple of centuries, Shawn was in no condition to judge, before Amy broke it.

"What is going on?" she demanded.

There was no escape now. Shawn's only hope was that Topanga would tell them so that he didn't have to.

"I'm... God I'm so sorry Topanga," Cory spoke up, his voice was hoarse, desperate.

Shawn looked back down at his shoes, not able to see them through the tears as Cory walked past him. Cory wasn't going to give up. Cory was actually trying to go back to Topanga. Again.

Cory put his hands on Topanga's shoulders, "I'm so, so sorry Topanga," Topanga let him embrace her, but didn't move to put her arms around him" I'm so sorry," He kissed her forehead.

And then he let her go and stood halfway between her and Shawn.

"I'm not going to New York," He declared shakily. Everyone looked at him with astonishment. Shawn lifted his head slightly and tried to blink away some of the tears, trying not to hope. He'd hoped for too long already.

"I'm staying here in Philadelphia," Cory's voice was strained, scared. He edged closer to Shawn, and to Shawn's complete and utter disbelief he felt Cory grab his hand, and squeeze it tight. Shawn stared at him, through tear bleared eyes as Cory said, "With Shawn. I'm staying with Shawn. Because I'm in love with him," Cory put his other hand over his and Shawn's, "I hope, after everything, he's still in love with me?" he voice broke as he tried to ask.

Shawn stared at him, frozen by shock for a second, before throwing his arms around the curly haired boy and tightly embracing him. Cory hugged him back so hard that Shawn almost couldn't breathe again, but it was okay this time, it was better than okay, "Of course I am," Shawn told him hoarsely. The boys let go, a little reluctantly, and wiped their eyes as Amy, Alan, Morgan and Feeny stared on in shock. "I'm gay," Cory told them all with a shrug and a quavering voice, one arm still around Shawn.

"Okay, okay" Eric said stepping forward," Clearly this is going to be followed by a long explanation. There's is probably going to be crying and yelling and whatever," He made a dismissive gesture, "But Mom, Dad, Feeny, Topanga, If you really care, you'll let us eat lasagna while we do that because I'm starving."

Everyone ignored him.

"So you two are?" Amy waved a finger between Cory and Shawn vaguely.

Cory bit his lip and nodded, "Yeah, Ma."

"Okay, fine" Eric groaned in a bored way, "If I already knew about this can I go eat?"

"What?" Everyone shouted in unison.

"You knew?" Cory demanded.

"Oh come on! I shared a room with Cory up until I shared and apartment with Shawn. I've seen things an older brother should never see!" Eric exclaimed, "You know, in retrospect I should've started knocking."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Shawn demanded.

"If I don't get any lasagna soon I might tell just everyone about the birthmark on your-"

"Well? What are we all standing around here for?" Cory interrupted loudly, "That lasagna's not going to eat itself!"

"Thank you!" Eric yelled, immediately turning and heading back inside. Shawn waved for everyone to follow. Alan, Amy and Feeny cast a glance at Cory and Topanga before trooping after Eric. Cory followed. Shawn put out an arm to stop him.

"Talk to Topanga, I'll handle the rest of them," Shawn said, pushing Cory back gently. Cory watched Shawn and Morgan walk inside, and heard Morgan say with her usual cynicism, "How's it feel to be the other woman, Shawn?"

"Shut up, Morgan," Shawn replied wearily.

Topanga had one arm wrapped around herself and was covering her face with the other. Cory swung his arms, hitting his flat palm against the other fist the way he always did when he was nervous.

"Well, I need to sit down," he said wiping the back of his hand across his face and lowering himself to sit on the lawn cross legged. He sniffed and started to play with a few blades of grass. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Topanga," he said finally.

Topanga let out a strangled noise and turned her face from Cory.

"Please, Topanga, don't just stand there. Yell at me, scream at me. Hit me. Kick me. You wanna kick me? Kick me. I'll just sit here. I deserve it."

Topanga turned back around and took a few steps toward him. Cory flinched, but she just sat down across from him, hugging her knees to her chest. She sighed and wiped her red blotchy face roughly.

"I'm not going to kick you," She said heavily.

Cory relaxed and scooted a little closer to her, "Topanga, I'm so sorry. This whole thing just spun out of control. I didn't want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you." Topanga stared at her knees, he wasn't sure if she was listening, "But I did. I hurt everyone, and I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean anything, but I am. I really wish I could explain how sorry I am."

They sat in silence for a little while. Topanga looking at her knees and Cory looking at her.

"Okay, you gotta say something," Cory begged.

"I'm so stupid," Topanga muttered into her knees, "I thought it was sweet. My boyfriend and his best friend, they're so cute. My boyfriend is such a nice guy, he's not just trying to get into my pants. You know I actually thought it was because you respected me," She laughed derisively," My boyfriend is such a great guy, look at the way he takes care of his best friend. And you were sleeping with him. I'm so stupid for being surprised. I spent the whole drive here feeling so guilty, and now this."

"I know, I'm so sorry. I'm scum! I wanted to tell you, I really did. Topanga, I know this doesn't make it better, but we were so terrified and confused. And you have no idea how hard it was to try and fix things once we finally started to figure out that...," He stopped suddenly, "Wait... What could you possibly have to be guilty about?" Cory asked.

Topanga lifted her head from her knees and stared at Cory, briefly remembering how scared she had been to tell him this 10 minutes ago, before Angela called, "I slept with Stewart Minkus last night," She said with an almost bitter, challenging tinge to her voice, despite the fact that her confession has just become laughably anticlimactic. Cory just looked at her, a little blankly.

"Cory say something!" Topanga demanded.

Cory shrugged, "How was he?" he asked with a weak laugh.

"Straight!" Topanga snapped.

Cory nodded in a "you got me" sort of way, and wiped his face with the back of his hand, "Do you completely hate me?" he asked in low voice.

Topanga was a little taken aback at the question. She immediately looked up at him and opened her mouth to say "no", but closed it again and stared back into her knees.

She kind of did hate him. He had lied to her, he had cheated on her, he had ruined her life. She could have dated other people, she could have gone to Yale! She could have done a million different things with her life! She could have not invested so much of herself and her life in someone who had never loved her. He had made her forget who she was!

Out of the corner of her eye she watched him swallow heavily and blink away tears. He'd taken the silence for a yes.

"I don't hate you," she said finally. She couldn't put all of the blame entirely on him. She had had a choice all those years, and she had chosen to go back to him all those times. She had chosen based on his lie, but it didn't matter anymore. He was staying in Philadelphia with Shawn and she was off to New York. Making him feel worse would just be cruel, especially right now, and it wouldn't change anything.

He looked up at her in surprise, "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, really," she said flashing half of a reluctant smile.

Another tense silence descended for a little while before Cory asked tentatively, "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," Topanga admitted, wiping her hands in the grass by her thighs, "I guess we get divorced."

"Yeah," Cory nodded, " I guess we do."

"And I have to find a way to get back to New York tonight."

"Dad can still drive you. He was all ready set to drive both of us anyway, and now you don't have to take the van. And at least you'll have something to talk about on the drive," Cory sighed.

Topanga let out a cough that might have almost been a laugh, "Yeah, that sounds like fun," she said sarcastically, "What about you? What are you going to do?"

"I have no idea. I'm going to have to deal with my parents. I guess I have to call Pennbrooke and see if I can get into any classes next year this far after registration. I'm going to have be... out at school. I have to find a place to live," He began to rub his temples.

"Shawn and Eric need another roommate," Topanga suggested.

"Yeah. Living with my brother and my...whatever. That's clearly a wonderful idea," Cory laughed mirthlessly, "God, This is going to be so hard. Things have always been so certain, I mean, they were a mess, but I knew what to expect."

"You weren't certain Cory," Topanga told him, "You were lying. You made a lie a certainty so that you wouldn't have to deal with the truth. You've put off dealing with the truth long enough. You and Shawn both have."

Cory nodded, exhaled sharply and stood up a little unsteadily. He extended a hand to help Topanga up, but she waved it away.

"Maybe we should go inside," Cory suggested, "I'm sure it isn't tense enough with just Shawn, the family, and Feeny in there."

"Yeah," Topanga nodded unenthusiastically, "And I'm starving."

"Me too," Cory agreed. They started walking across the lawn. Cory stopped at the front door and turned to Topanga, "So, are we okay?"

She shrugged, "No Cory, we aren't. You lied for years. We both cheated. This isn't some sort of Disney special. It's not that easy."

"So what are we?"

"Technically, I guess we're separated," She said.

"Wow. Separated at 20, when a long term gay affair was exposed," Cory said, "We are going to be in so much therapy over this aren't we?"

"Probably."

Cory held the front door open for her and they walked into the living room. Mr. Feeny was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee, he set his cup on the coffee table and came over to them.

"Mr. Matthews, I want you to know that I'm happy for you and Mr. Hunter. You two have always been there for each other, and I am sure you will continue to be."

"Thanks Mr. Feeny," Cory said, shaking Feeny's hand and heading for the kitchen.

"Good luck in there," Feeny called. Cory nodded and left.

"I'm so sorry Miss Lawrence," Mr. Feeny told her. She noticed that he'd used her maiden name and was surprised at how much she appreciated it, "I really don't know what to say. This is really, quite a bizarre going away party."

"It really is," Topanga agreed, unsure of what else to say.

Mr. Feeny fiddled with his ring, "I'm not good at goodbyes at the best of times, Miss Lawrence, but under the circumstances, I think it's even more appropriate to tell you that, of all the students I've taught, there is not one in whose ability to succeed, whatever obstacle is thrown in front of her, that I more confidence in than yours. Think of this whole thing as just a step in the journey. You will do well in New York, no matter what happens, or has happened."

Topanga felt herself tearing up. She hugged Mr. Feeny, who, surprised, patted her awkwardly on the back until she let go, "Thank you Mr. Feeny," She said, wiping tears off her face for what was probably the hundredth time today.

"It's the truth, my dear," He said patting her hand. He cleared his throat and retrieved his coffee, "Well, I think I'm going to go back home via the front door," he said.

"Is it that bad in there?"

"It's another step," He said as he opened the door. Before he walked out he turned back and said, "Good luck, Topanga, keep in touch."

"Thank you, Mr. Feeny. I will," she smiled. Mr. Feeny smiled back, and left. Topanga took a deep breath, braced herself and walked into the kitchen.