A/N: Hey again, everyone. Once again, sorry for the delay. I don't want to get into what kept me from writing too much. However, I finally found the time and energy to write again and I'm really happy about that. I know that some of you weren't happy with how the last chapter ended and I understand that, I really do. However, it was something that I felt was necessary for this story and I hope you guys understand that too. I am very excited to hear your thoughts on this week's chapter. As always, feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Girl Meets World characters.

Mine

Girl Meets Surprise

"I say, "Can you believe it?"

As we're lyin' on the couch"

"Well," Maya Hunter finally said after a seemingly never-ending silence that had spread between her and her three friends. "That happened."

"Yeah." Riley Matthews nodded slowly.

"Well," Riley's boyfriend, Farkle Minkus, joined in.

"That happened," Joshua Matthews, Riley's uncle, added.

The four of them were sitting in Maya's bedroom in her parents' apartment. Farkle was lying sprawled out on the blonde's bed with Riley sitting cross-legged right beside him, lazily playing with his hair. Josh was sitting comfortably on the couch, his arm resting on the back. Maya was sitting next to him, curled up and leaning slightly into the older boy. Even though the blonde girl and brunette boy were not quite touching, they were clearly taking comfort in each other's presence.

It had been an eventful day for our four friends and all of them were still fuzzy on a lot of the details. Right now, they were just catching a break from everything that had happened in their improvised safe haven, all the while trying to make sense of today's occurrences.

Riley suddenly shook her head, resembling an anxious horse with her actions. "What exactly did happen today?" she asked. "I mean, I know what happened … but … how? … and why? … and what?"

The brunette was working herself into a real frenzy, causing Farkle to quickly sit up, put a comforting arm around her shoulders and softly kiss the top of her head. "Shh," he tried to soothe her. "It's okay, Riles. That's why we're here. To try and make sense of … what happened." As he spoke, Farkle continued to stroke Riley's back in slow circles, eventually succeeding in getting the brunette to calm down a bit.

"Farkle's right," Josh added. The slightly older boy sat up straight, thereby touching Maya's shoulder, causing the blonde to jump a bit. He looked at her apologetically, but Maya just gave him a kind smile. Her reaction had had nothing to do with Josh but had everything to do with … what happened. "Why don't we start from the beginning and … you know, go through everything," he suggested.

Riley nodded. "That's a good idea, Uncle Josh." She turned towards her new blonde friend. "Maya, would you mind talking us through today?"

Maya took a deep breath. Josh, noticing her hesitation, carefully placed his left hand over her right one lying in between them. Maya looked over at the older boy gratefully, really glad that he was here too. That he was her friend. After all, in a way they somehow were now all in this together. "Yeah, okay." The blonde nodded and thought about where to start. This day had been so surreal from beginning to end. Well, maybe not from the very beginning on. This morning had actually been pretty normal. It had just been her and her Mom …

"Do we have everything, Mom?" Maya called as she was trying to navigate her shopping cart around the many last-minute shoppers. Yeah, as much as Katy and Maya had been looking forward to spending some time together, maybe going shopping on a late-Saturday-morning had not been their brightest idea yet.

"Well," Katy started while studying her list carefully. "If you really do want me to make Charlie's world-famous mashed potatoes to go along with our meatloaf for tonight, we sure are gonna need some … well, potatoes."

After many many many years of begging on Katy's side, Charlie had finally relented and given the blonde his secret recipe to the delicious mashed potatoes he always served at Daisy's. It had actually been a very sweet gesture when Charlie had let his and Henry's six-year-old daughter Callie hand Katy a mysterious envelope containing said recipe at the Hunters' going-away party. Katy had been beside herself with joy, causing Henry, Shawn and Maya to burst out laughing while even Charlie hadn't been able to keep up his malcontented expression for too long.

Maya chuckled. "Sounds reasonable." The blonde grabbed a firm hold of the cart and steered it in the correct direction. "To the potatoes!"

"To the potatoes!" Katy decided to appease her daughter as they continued their shopping.

"So," Maya suddenly started. "When exactly did Dad say he'd be back?"

"Definitely in time for dinner," Katy said. "He specifically said that there was no way in hell he was gonna miss it." The older blonde chuckled. "Personally, I think it's mostly because of the food."

Maya giggled. "Dad sure did love Charlie's mashed potatoes." The younger blonde paused for a moment. "I'm really glad he's finally coming home. It feels like he's been gone forever."

"So am I," Katy agreed. "And I'm really looking forward to Jon coming over as well. It's been too long since we last saw him."

"He's a busy man." Maya nodded thoughtfully. "So, coming back to my earlier question … there is no reason why we would have to hurry back home straight away, right?"

"Well, we have to be back in time for me to start cooking," Katy said slowly. "But other than that, no I don't think so. Why? What do you have in mind?"

"Well." A sheepish smile appeared on Maya's face. "I was thinking we could maybe stop by Topanga's. You've been saying you wanted to see the place I spend most of my free time at."

"I think that's a very good idea, actually." Katy smiled brightly.

Maya could only reciprocate her mother's expression. "Great," the younger blonde exclaimed. "Maybe you'll even get to meet Topanga and Josh. Riley and Farkle you know already. Oh, maybe we'll run into Zay!"

"I still can't quite believe that Zay is here." Katy shook her head disbelievingly. "As in here in New York … along with us."

"I know, it's quite the coincidence," Maya agreed. "I'm finally in the same city as my old best friend again."

"Maybe moving here was fate after all," Katy mused.

"Maybe it was." Maya smiled.

"Speaking of friends." A mischievous grin spread across Katy's face. "You've talking about this Josh-guy quite a bit. Anything I should be aware of?"

Maya's eyes went wide. "No, of course not," the younger blonde exclaimed. "He's Riley's uncle and my friend. That's it."

Katy looked at her daughter skeptically. "Is that so?"

The girl groaned and buried her hands in her hair before meeting her mother's gaze again. "He asked me out."

"Oh," Katy said knowingly. "What did you say?"

"I told him no," Maya admitted.

Katy blinked. "Why?" she asked. From what her daughter had told her, she could have sworn that Maya might be harboring more than just friendly feelings for this young man.

"Because …," Maya said evasively.

"Don't you like him?"

"That's not it," Maya said slowly. "He's very nice and funny. As far as I can tell, he seems to be a pretty great guy. Riley loves him and he adores her."

"Are you not attracted to him?"

Maya blushed at that. "No, Mom. He's a very good-looking guy."

"Do you like somebody else?" Katy hesitated. "I mean, I know that Zay's back in your life now …"

Maya's eyes went wide. "No!" she exclaimed. "Mom, I love Zay like a brother, no more, no less. And I am pretty sure that he doesn't feel any different about me." And that was the truth. Seeing Zay yesterday had filled Maya with so much happiness. She had missed the guy a lot and had cherished their conversations and texts over the years they had been apart. But she had never had any kind of romantic feelings towards Zay and seeing him again the day before had not changed that.

Katy raised her arms defensively but couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Hey, I'm just asking." It took the older blonde a little bit to sober up. "But Maya, I don't quite understand why you didn't give Josh a chance? From what you said just now, I don't get it."

"You know I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now," Maya said defensively.

"I do know that." Katy nodded. "But we're just talking about one date here. And besides, do you think I was looking for a boyfriend when your Dad walked into Daisy's all those years ago?"

Maya chuckled at the memory. "I know you weren't," the younger blonde said. She took a deep breath. First her Dad and now her Mom; how come everyone wanted to talk about love all of the sudden. Thinking back to the conversation with her father that had occurred not too long ago, Maya gave Katy a similar answer. "I just don't want things to change even more right now. With the move, the new school and meeting all those new people, it would just be a too much."

Katy didn't say anything for a moment before nodding slowly. "I get that," she said slowly. "I felt the same way when I met your Dad. That's why we were friends for so long before we started dating." The older blonde hesitated, not knowing if she should share this next bit of information with her daughter. Chances were, they might only strengthen her resolve to stay away from love. But maybe, just maybe, they might get her to see the light … or start to at least. "But that wasn't the only reason, to be honest."

Maya was confused. "What do you mean? What other reason was there?"

"I was afraid," Katy admitted. "To trust someone again. To let them into my – into our – life. To get hurt again." Her voice was slowly starting to break. "To fall in love again."

Maya quickly took a step closer to her mother and put an arm around the woman's shoulders in a comforting manner. Now, young Maya hadn't been blind. She had known that there always had been an attraction between Katy and Shawn and that it had taken them a lot of time to open up to the possibility of becoming more than friends. Katy's revelation shouldn't be a surprise to Maya, knowing how much Kermit's leaving had messed her up, it was no surprise that Katy had been equally as affected. Still, the younger blonde was stunned to hear her mother speak those words aloud. Katy had always seemed so tough, taking care of her daughter on her own and managing to enable them to have a good life. Hearing about her mother's doubts and insecurities was really hard.

"I didn't know," Maya said, looking down at her shoelaces embarrassed. "I should have, but I didn't. Of course, everything that happened with Kermit hurt you too. You just always seemed so strong."

Katy gave her daughter a reassuring smile. "I'm glad it didn't show too much. I didn't want you to worry about me. I wanted to be strong … for you, baby girl."

Maya grinned up at her mother. "You were, Mom," she assured. However, something was still bothering the blonde. "How did you do it then?"

"Do what?"

"Decide to risk it all again?" Maya clarified. "To open up to Dad and to allow yourself to fall in love with him? Knowing first-hand how much losing someone you loved hurt."

Katy took a deep breath. "It took your Dad a lot of convincing."

Maya was confused. "But Dad wasn't any better than you. I don't remember him asking you out or being overly flirty."

Katy chuckled. "That's not what I meant, baby girl. Shawn didn't convince so much with words as he did by letting his actions speak." She paused for a moment, giving Maya time to absorb all of this. "He kept coming around even when he had no obligation to do so. I loved seeing the two of you spend time together and the way he interacted with Jon. He didn't pack up and leave when things got rough or when we had an argument. He stuck around and was always there when we needed him." Maya nodded, remembering how things were when Shawn first entered their lives. But Katy wasn't done. "And in turn, or so he told me, we did the same for him. We managed to convince him that maybe he deserved a family as well. That there was more for him out there than what he had. And after a long time of struggling with our feelings, we decided to risk it."

"But why?" Maya asked, desperately trying to understand. She loved calling Shawn her Dad and things really seemed to work out well for them. But still … "Why risk things? Why change things when they were going so great?"

Katy looked her daughter straight in the eye. She needed her next words to get through to Maya. "Because you can't live life being afraid, Maya." Maya gulped; whenever Katy used her real name instead of calling her baby girl, she meant business. "And love is a big part of life. What is life without love? Sometimes you have to take risks. If Shawn and I hadn't taken that risk, we wouldn't be the family we are today." Katy looked at her daughter. She was a bit scared of the answer to her next question, but she needed to hear it. "Maya, are you afraid to fall in love."

Maya let out a big breath of air. There it was again. The same question her father had asked her not too long ago. After everything that had happened with Josh the day before, maybe Maya would have to change her answer a little bit. "I don't want to be," she said sincerely. "But I am beginning to think that I am."

Katy nodded. She had suspected as much. "Like I said, I was too for the longest time. And that's okay, Maya. I can understand it, you have every reason to be. I want you to know that I am going to do everything that I can to help you with that. So will your Dad, but I know we can only do so much. I do hope that someday you'll meet someone like your father. Someone who can convince you to trust them and who can help you to overcome those fears."

"Someday," Maya murmured. It was the same word she had used the day before when talking to Josh. Huh. "I would like that too."

Katy smiled at her daughter and pulled her in for a big hug. "Everything will be alright. I promise, baby girl."

"I really hope so. Thanks Mom." Maya placed a kiss on Katy's cheek before finally taking in their surroundings again. They were still standing in an aisle in the supermarket, right by the potatoes. "Oh boy, maybe not the best place for a mother-daughter-heart-to-heart."

Katy giggled, suddenly realizing their current location as well. "Oh, pish-posh, darling." She grinned cheekily. "It's just like in the movies. Now all we need is a catchy title and we can make some money off of it." Katy looked around thoughtfully. "Hm, how about 'Saturday Morning Shopping' … or 'Shopping Aisle Truths' … or, oh I know 'Meltdown in the Supermarket'!"

"'Potato Confessions'," Maya suggested dryly as she eyed the vegetable displayed right beside her.

Katy clapped her hands together in excitement. "Perfect!" she exclaimed as she grabbed her daughter's arm to pull her in the direction of the check-out counter. "Now, my little genius. We'll talk about it with your father tonight and start working on the script. Then I'm sure we need to get a good lawyer, you know because of the rights and stuff and then I'll call the director of the last movie I auditioned for. She was really nice and will probably know how we should go about getting this movie-thing started."

"Riley's Mom is a lawyer," Maya pointed our dryly.

"Excellent!" Katy grinned. "Then it's a good thing we're heading over to the café after bringing the groceries back to the apartment. Anything else you can think of, baby girl?"

"Oh, just one thing." Maya gave her mother a teasing smile. "Do you want to call the director before or after the nice men in the white coats come to pick you up?"

Katy didn't miss a beat. "Before, please."

"Alright then, crazy lady." Maya rolled her eyes but couldn't help a grin from spreading across her face. She loved bantering with her mother like this. And especially after the exhausting talk they had just had, this was a nice way of going back to normal.

Katy grinned, enjoying their mother-daughter-time just as much. "Please and thank you!"

"Wow," Katy said as she took in Topanga's for the first time. "This place is beautiful."

"Right?" Maya grinned, happy that her mother liked her new favorite hang-out.

"Are you kidding? This place just makes you feel right at home." Katy was still immersed in her surroundings and Maya was too busy watching her mother with an amused smile, so neither of them noticed the woman approaching them.

"I'm really glad you think so," the stranger said. "That's exactly what I wanted this place to be. A home away from home."

"Topanga!" Maya exclaimed as she went over to greet the woman with a hug.

"Hey there, Maya." Topanga smiled. "I didn't know you were coming today. Riley and Farkle said you were spending the weekend with your parents." She gestured over to where Maya's roommate and her boyfriend were sitting at a table. They waved over, big smiles on their faces, and Maya and Katy reciprocated the action.

"Still am," Maya said. "But Mom and I were out shopping and decided to stop by."

"Maya's been talking about this place so much, I couldn't wait to check it out myself," Katy added and held out her hand towards the other woman. "I'm Katy, by the way."

"Very nice to meet you, Katy. I'm Topanga." The two women shook hands.

"Likewise." Katy grinned. "And I wasn't kidding before. You have a lovely place. I can see why my daughter spends so much time here."

"Well, I think the present company is a big part of Maya coming here as well," a new voice chimed into their conversation. Joshua Matthews had snuck up behind his sister-in-law and was now looking at Maya with a big, teasing smile on his face.

"You think very highly of yourself, don't you Matthews?" Maya asked, her eyebrow raised and a teasing glint in her eyes.

She was glad that they had gone back to their bantering even after their conversation from the day before. After the movie had ended, Maya, Riley and Farkle had made another stop at Topanga's, shortly before closing time. Josh had still been there and, at first, things had been a bit weird between him and Maya. They had been very polite and formal with each other. Even Riley and Farkle, who Maya hadn't been able to fill in about the occurrences yet, had noticed. After the fifth round of "Thank you" "It's no problem" "No really, Thank you", both of them had had enough. They had shared an understanding glance before simultaneously going back to their witty banter. Maya was really thankful for that. She was glad to have Josh as her friend and would have hated to have lost him after only just meeting him. In a way, she felt even more comfortable around him now that the question of them dating was off the table – for now at least. And Josh? Well, I would be lying if I told you that Josh was totally happy just being Maya's friend. For now, however, he was content with it. He liked Maya and wanted to spend time with her. And maybe, in time, he would be able to earn her trust and she just might give him a chance at last.

"Actually, I was talking about my favorite niece and her boyfriend sitting right over there." Josh grinned. "But it's nice to know you immediately thought of me, Angel." Oh yeah. Funny enough, yesterday had also bestowed a new nickname on Maya – curtesy of none other than Josh himself.

Maya glared at the guy. "Okay seriously, Josh. That nickname has to go!"

Josh just smiled sheepishly. "I will think about it."

Maya was about to start arguing when her mother interrupted her. "Now I do think that the company is a big part of my daughter spending a lot of her time here as well. Who exactly this company includes … well, we'll just leave that up for imagination."

"Mom!" Maya exclaimed while Topanga and Josh burst out laughing.

Katy ignored her daughter's words of protest and held her hand out the young man standing in front of her. "You must be Josh, it's really nice to finally meet you. I'm Katy, Maya's Mom."

"The pleasure is all mine," Josh assured with a charming smile. "And really? Finally?"

"Okay, that's enough for now!" Maya exclaimed before Katy could say anything embarrassing. "I'm gonna go say Hi to Riley and Farkle. Josh, care to join me?" Who knew what kind of stories her mother would tell once she was out of ear shot? So, without waiting for an answer, Maya grabbed Josh's hand and literally dragged him over to the table where Riley and Farkle were currently watching the four of them as if they were the cast of one of those daily soaps.

"Can't stand to be parted from me for even a couple of minutes," Josh called back over to Topanga and Katy while shrugging his shoulders and wearing an expression that clearly said "What can you do?".

"Oh, hush you," Maya muttered. She could hear the two women burst out laughing. They finally reached Riley and Farkle and Maya let herself fall down on one of the chairs with a relieved sigh. "Finally, some people whose sanity is still intact."

"Maya!" Farkle exclaimed completely outraged. "How could you?"

"You just interrupted our new favorite show!" Riley joined in.

Maya groaned while rolling her eyes. "Okay, I take that back. Crazy people, all of you!"

Riley giggled and leaned over to give her roommate a hug. "Oh, hush you. You love us and you know it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Maya shook her head, trying to hide her amusement. "Whatever you say, maybe I'm crazy too."

"That's the spirit!" Farkle exclaimed.

Maya looked back over to where her mother was still standing with Topanga. The two women had already struck up a conversation and seemed to be getting along just fine. The younger blonde was really happy about that. Having only lived in one place her whole life, Katy had had to leave all her old friends behind back in Possum Trot. And since the first couple of weeks after their big move had been very hectic, the older blonde hadn't been able to make many new friends yet. After meeting Topanga, Maya had immediately gotten the feeling that the two women might hit it off.

"Seems to be going well," Riley voiced what Maya had been thinking.

"My thoughts exactly," the blonde said with a happy smile. "Mind if I stay here with you guys for a while?"

"Not at all," Farkle assured and Riley nodded her agreement.

"Great, thanks." Maya smiled.

"Can I get you something?" Josh asked, obviously returning to his role as a waiter.

Maya nodded and thought for a moment. "One cappuccino and one of those delicious looking chocolate cupcakes, please?"

"Coming right up." Josh turned towards his niece and her boyfriend. "You guys still good?"

"All good. Thanks, Uncle Josh." Riley smiled and Farkle nodded his agreement.

"Alright then. See you in a few. Riles. Farkle." Josh turned towards Maya with a mischievous smile on his face. "Cupcake."

Riley giggled and Farkle whistled while Maya just glared at the older boy and shook her head. "Nope," she said firmly.

Josh shrugged, not looking the least bit fazed. "I'll work on it."

About half an hour later, Maya, Riley and Farkle were still sitting at their table talking and joking around. Josh had since finished his shift and had joined them. Topanga and Katy were still chatting with each other, but now headed over to their kids.

"Everything alright here, guys?" Topanga asked and the four college students nodded.

"All good, Mom." Riley smiled.

"Girls, we have something we'd like to run by you," Katy took over and was met with expectant gazes. "Maya, Topanga invited us to for dinner tomorrow. You alright with that?"

"I would have invited you for tonight, but Katy told me your father was coming home after a long trip. That way it won't be too much stress for him," Topanga chimed in.

"Tomorrow's perfect," Maya assured and Riley squealed excitedly. "Thanks, Topanga."

"Great!" Topanga clapped her hands together before remembering the other two people sitting at the table. "Farkle, Josh, you're invited as well, of course. Goes without saying."

"Farkle, it's come to this," Josh said, his voice grave, but a teasing glint in his eyes.

"We've officially become afterthoughts," Farkle joined in sadly.

"Poor babies," Riley cooed as she placed a soft kiss on her boyfriend's lips. "However will you be able to cope?"

"I could do with another kiss," Farkle said innocently and gave Riley the best puppy dog-eyes he could muster up.

Josh turned to Maya with a hopeful expression. "I wouldn't say no to that either."

Riley and Maya exchanged a conspiratorial look and an almost unrecognizable nod. As if on cue, both girls leant leaned towards the guys and placed a sloppy kiss on each of their cheeks. However, at the last second, the girls had changed direction, so that Farkle had been kissed by Maya and Josh by Riley. The girls and their mothers were howling with laughter while the guys simultaneously turned red and quickly rubbed their cheeks.

"Not quite what I had in mind," Farkle muttered and Josh couldn't have agreed more. Maya and Riley just smiled innocently at the guys.

"Okay, do I even want to know or is it better if I don't?" An amused voice suddenly rung out behind them. All six of them turned around and were met with the sight of a curly-haired man approaching them.

"I think it's better if you don't." Riley grinned as she jumped up to meet the man and give him a hug. "Hello, Daddy."

"Hello, my daughter." He turned towards Topanga next. "Hello, my wife."

"Hello, my husband." Topanga greeted the man with a quick kiss on the lips, took hold of his arm and turned him towards the table. "Come over here, hun. There are some people I'd like you to meet." Together, the Matthews approached the table and Riley took back her seat beside Farkle.

"My brother!" Josh exclaimed happily.

"My brother!" The man called back and the two of them grinned at each other. When the spotted Maya and Katy, he immediately smiled. "Hi, I'm Cory. Nice to meet the two of you."

"Likewise." Katy smiled as she and Cory shook hands. "I'm Katy. Katy Hunter. And this is my daughter Maya."

"Also known as your daughter's new roommate." Maya grinned. "Very nice to meet you, Mr. Matthews."

"You too, Maya. And please, it's Cory." Maya nodded gratefully and Cory smiled at the girl. However, after a moment the happy expression on his face was replaced by a frown. "Hunter? Katy, you said your last name was Hunter."

Katy smiled at the mention of her married name. "It is."

"And a real improvement I'd say," Maya joked, causing Katy to groan and the rest of their group to look at the girl expectantly. "Well, it used to be Katy Grace Clutterbucket many many moons ago." Everyone chuckled at that. "Then Mom became Katy Hart … but that's a time we don't really like to talk about … and then, a few years ago Mom and I met my Dad and Katy and Maya Hart became Katy and Maya Hunter." Neither Cory nor Topanga said anything for a little while, they only shot each other unreadable glances. Maya looked at her mother hesitantly. Had she said something wrong?

"Topanga? Cory?" Katy asked carefully. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine!" Cory exclaimed. Yeah, not very convincing.

"It's just … the name …" Topanga started. The older woman paused, tried to gather her thoughts and continued. "Um, … Maya, what's your Dad's name?"

Maya was just about to answer when someone new entered the café. "Katy, Maya, there you are! I went home first, but you weren't there. Then I remembered you telling me that you wanted to stop by this café Maya keeps talking about. Wow, this place really is beautiful. Very homey. And the name, what a coincidence. You know, I know a woman who …" Shawn Hunter trailed off upon seeing the other two people standing right by his wife and daughter. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped, an expression that was mirrored in Cory and Topanga's faces. Katy and Maya – as well as Riley, Farkle and Josh sitting at a table – eyed the three of them with confused expressions, not really knowing what was going on.

"Shawn, hun," Katy slowly approached her husband. "Is everything alright? These are …"

"Topanga!" Shawn suddenly exclaimed while pointing to the woman.

This familiar exclamation seemed to pull everyone out of their trance. "Shawnie!" Cory called as he rushed towards his old best friend. The two men collided and immediately enveloped each other in a tight embrace.

Both of them knew that there were a lot of things they had to talk about – and when I say a lot, I really mean a lot – and that going back to how things used to be wouldn't be easy, if at all possible. A lot had – or hadn't – happened over the last couple of years and that couldn't just be ignored. Both of them had made mistakes. And while yes, they had had their reasons – good ones even – there was a lot that needed to be cleared up. But right now, neither Shawn nor Cory cared about that; they were just glad to be together again.

And it seemed that so was Topanga. "Hi Shawn." Topanga had approached her husband and good friend and was now looking at them with a fond expression. Happy to see the best of friends reunited once again. "It's really good to see you again."

"Topanga," Shawn simply said before letting go of his best friend and embracing the woman. They held on to each other just as tight as the two men had. "It's good to be back."

Josh approached the three adults next. His eyes wide, he looked at the man who had been a big part of his childhood. Until Josh was about five years old, Shawn had been a regular guest in the Matthews household whenever he had been able to stop by. The two of them had bonded very quickly. Shawn had adored the youngest Matthews and had made sure to always find time to play with him. And, in turn, Josh had looked up to Shawn and had admired the cool young man. However, as the years went by, Shawn's visits to the elder Matthews residence had gotten fewer and fewer – just like his visits to New York. The last time Josh had seen his older brother's best friend would have to have been Christmas 2014.

It had been the last time they had all seen Shawn. A pivotal day in all of their lives that could have easily gone either way. It could have ended in them all being close again, just like they had been years ago. Instead, it had only caused Shawn to pull away further from the Matthews. But more on that later.

Finally seeing Josh as well, Shawn's jaw dropped. He almost didn't recognize the young man standing in front of him. Josh had grown up a lot in the last couple of years. "Little Matthews?"

Josh chuckled at the old nickname. When he was a teenager, he had pretended to be annoyed by it; but really, he didn't mind at all. "Hey Shawn."

"Boy, look at you!" Shawn shook his head in disbelief. "You're all grown up!" He took a step closer to Josh, but hesitated.

Josh, sensing that he would have to be the one to take the first step, quickly crossed the distance between them and enveloped the older guy in a hug. "It's good to see you again."

Shawn grinned as he stepped away. "You too, kiddo." The use of the term usually reserved for his daughter made Shawn realize just what was happening right now. He spun around to face his wife and daughter who, thankfully, didn't look mad; they just looked confused.

Shawn quickly went over to Maya and Katy and pulled them into a tight hug. "My girls," he said softly. "I missed you so much."

"Right back at ya," Katy murmured against her husband's shoulder. Maya only nodded against her father's other shoulder. Happy tears were starting to cloud her eyes and she wasn't sure her voice wouldn't start breaking once she opened her mouth. God, she really had missed her Daddy.

For a little while longer, the Hunter family stood together like this. Wrapped in their tight embrace. But eventually they had to let go. There were still a lot of things that needed clarifying.

When neither of the adults made an attempt to start the conversation, Maya – having finally gained control over her emotions again – decided to cut them some slack. "Okay, I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say I have a couple of questions." The others chuckled nervously but made no attempt to interrupt the blonde.

Sensing that Maya also didn't quite know where to start either, Riley jumped in. "Hey, Uncle Shawn. Remember me?"

Shawn looked towards the young woman and it took him a moment to recognize her. "Cory with Topanga's hair," he muttered underneath his breath. "Of course," he said loud enough for everyone to hear. "Riley." He took a closer look at the young man sitting next to her and his eyes went wide. The resemblance was uncanny. "Minkus?"

"Yes." Farkle grinned. "My name's Farkle Minkus. Stuart Minkus' son. Good to meet you, Sir."

"Likewise." Shawn still looked completely flabbergasted. "And please, it's Shawn."

"Okay, Uncle Shawn," Riley once again called the attention to herself and all eyes were trained on her. "Let me see if I got this right. You and Katy are married? And you are Maya's father?"

Shawn nodded nervously. "That is correct."

Cory's eyes went wide. "You're married? You have a kid? A kid my daughter's age? How come you never told us?" He suddenly looked really hurt that his old best friend had kept something this huge from him for so long.

Shawn winced; he knew how this looked. How could he best explain this? He was saved by his daughter once more. Maya looked at her father. "Is it okay if I take this?" Shawn nodded gratefully and Maya took over. "Cory, Shawn is my Dad. But sadly, he isn't my biological father. Mom and I only met him when I was 13. I guess that was after you guys … lost contact."

Cory and Topanga took a moment to absorb the news. Their old best friend was married. He had a daughter. His own family. Finally. A big part of them was happy for him. Shawn finally had everything he had ever wanted. But part of them was also sad. Sad that they had to find out like this. Sad that they hadn't been at his wedding. Sad that they had missed a lot of very big moments in their friend's life. Sad that things were the way they were.

Shawn looked between Maya and Riley. "How do you girls know each other?"

Both girls chuckled nervously. "We're roommates," Riley quickly explained.

Shawn shook his head. "Well, it's a small world after all."

"I'll say," Cory agreed.

And suddenly, silence spread across their group once more. So many things were still unsaid but nobody knew how or where to start. Eventually, Topanga shook her head. "Okay, what do you guys say we go somewhere else to talk? I think there's a lot to talk about and the café probably isn't the best place to do so?"

Realizing that both their husbands were still too overwhelmed to answer, Katy quickly jumped in. "How about we all go to our place? I was gonna make dinner anyway and I'm pretty sure I bought way too much food. You guys are welcome to stay and … we can talk. Right, hun?"

His wife addressing him finally pulled Shawn out of his trance. "Yeah, of course. Jon will be happy to see you guys too."

"Jon?" Cory asked.

Topanga was a bit quicker to catch on. "As in Mr. Turner?"

Shawn winced again. "Yeah."

"You guys are in contact again?" Cory asked, surprised and happy all at once.

Shawn nervously rubbed his neck. "Yeah, we are. He's coming over for dinner. I guess that's something we can talk about too."

"Definitely," Topanga agreed with a small smile.

"Okay, then." Katy clapped her hands together. "Let's get going then."

"And then we went to my parents' apartment and that's how we ended up here," Maya concluded her recollection of today. She took a deep breath and gratefully accepted the glass of water Farkle was handing her.

"Weird day," Josh concluded.

"Very weird day," Riley agreed.

"And I have a feeling it's gonna get even weirder once we go out for dinner," Farkle said. The other three nodded in agreement.

"You think they've been able to clear some of what's happened up already?" Maya asked carefully.

"I don't know," Riley admitted. "We still don't know exactly what happened between Dad and Uncle Shawn back then, so there's no way of knowing how long it's gonna take them to patch things up."

"It must have been something big," Farkle suspected. "My Dad always talked about how close they used to be. I never understood how they could have grown apart so much."

"Me neither," Josh agreed. "Shawn's been a big part of my childhood and then slowly but surely he stopped coming around. I never knew what happened."

"I guess we're gonna find out tonight," Maya said.

"Well, there hasn't been any yelling and we're all still here, so Mom and Dad probably didn't leave," Riley mused. "So, things can't be going too badly."

"Only one way to find out," Josh said and slowly got up. He walked over towards the door. "You guys ready to head in?"

The other three looked at each other and a silent agreement passed between them. Simultaneously they rose from their seats and walked over. Riley opened the door, grabbed her boyfriend's hand and together they headed towards the dining room. Maya hesitated for another moment. The blonde closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Josh patiently waited right beside her. He reached out, grabbed her hand and squeezed it for a moment, letting her know that he was there and that things would be alright. Maya opened her eyes and met Josh's gaze. Letting go of his hand, she smiled at him, grateful to have her friends here with her. Because that's exactly what she needed now, what they all needed really: good friends.