Once in Riley's room, the group sat down and looked at each other, waiting for someone to begin.
"So?" Maya said, trying to nudge a conversation.
"What do you want to know?" Topanga asked.
"Tell us about all that stuff!" Riley said. "What's the note and the ring box? And whose jacket was that?"
"And was that Riley's onesie?" Maya chimed in.
"Was it your baseball cap?" Riley asked her dad.
"And how come you never told us you won prom king and queen?!" Maya exclaimed.
"Woah, that's a lot of questions," Cory said, looking at the girls' excited faces.
"Okay, let's go in order of events," Topanga said, trying to sort through the questions.
"The first thing was the poem, right?" Cory asked, looking at Topanga.
"Yeah!" she said, reminiscing. She turned to the girls and said, "Your father and I were paired as partners for a school project in middle school. I don't remember what the project was for, but I wrote a poem about global warming."
"The note!" Riley said excitedly.
"Yep," Cory answered. "Your mom came over to Grandma and Grandpa Matthews's house and performed this whole poem with a dance and a tape of sound effects," he said, laughing to himself. "It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen."
"And then you had your red hat," Topanga said affectionately to Cory.
"The one from the dresser?" Maya asked.
"Yeah," Topanga said. "He was afraid of being different than everyone else, but his hat was unique and I told him I liked it because it made him unique. He had this strange thing going on with his hair." She started laughing. "Everyone else at school laughed at him, but I told him I appreciated him for being himself. Then after our project, he gave his hat to me. I kept it and now it's in the dresser." Topanga looked at Cory and he gave her a quick kiss.
"Alright, alright!" Riley said, trying to get her parents to stop the PDA.
"What's the next thing?" Maya asked.
"Umm," Cory started. "Oh, the jacket," he said.
"It was his and he gave it to me on one of our first dates," Topanga said.
"Wait, why did you keep this stuff?" Riley asked.
"I always kept the jacket because he gave it to me the first time he told me he loved me. The poem- because I like to believe that's when we became destined to be together," Topanga answered.
"Aw," a male voice said mockingly from behind the door.
"Hunter, you ruined a precious moment!" Maya said, joking.
"Come in," Riley said.
The door opened to reveal Maya's correct guess- Shawn.
"Nah, it's alright. I just came back here to get something out of my suitcase- which was kind of thrown around…"
"Oh, right," Riley said quietly.
"The girls have something to say," Topanga said, looking meaningfully at Riley and Maya.
"Well, we were kind of looking around when we stumbled into your room," Maya began. "We may have accidentally knocked your suitcase around. Then we discovered a drawer full of memories from these two," she said, gesturing to Cory and Topanga.
"We're really sorry, Uncle Shawn," Riley said, looking ashamed.
"It won't happen again," Maya said.
Shawn smiled, obviously amused by the girls and then pointed and Maya and said, "I know it was your idea."
"What?" Maya responded.
"I just want to tell you that the best way to find things out is by asking questions and talking to people- not snooping and guessing. Cory knows, right Cory?" Shawn asked, laughing quietly.
Cory looked up at Shawn to give him a look that seemed to say "Knock it off."
Shawn put his hands up in surrender and then turned and walked away, smiling.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Maya asked curiously.
Cory sighed and rubbed his face in distress while Topanga smiled and rubbed his back.
"Girls," Cory began. "It's the story of the onesie. But you know what? I think that's a story for a later time."
"Come on, Cory. They're old enough to hear it! It's not that bad," Topanga said.
Cory let out an exasperated sigh and sat up straighter to tell the story.
"Your mom thought she needed to go on a diet one time with Uncle Eric, and she started acting weird. She didn't want to tell me about it because Uncle Eric told her not to tell anyone. So I kind of assumed something else because I didn't ask questions. Moral of the story: don't assume," Cory said, trying to rush through the story.
"But wait," Maya said. "Where does the onesie come in?"
"He thought I was pregnant and threw me a huge surprise baby shower," Topanga said, laughing as Cory put his head in his hands. "It was so sweet, but I wasn't pregnant. The onesie was a gift from Shawn and Angela. We never gave it back because we figured we'd need it one day. And we did," she said, smiling at Riley.
"So I did wear it!" Riley said proudly.
"Wait, when did this happen?" Maya asked.
"That was a few months after we got married, so sophomore year in college at Pennbrook," Topanga said, calculating in her mind.
"Oh," Maya said.
"What about the promise rings?" Riley asked.
"Oh, that was from high school," Topanga said, remembering the day. "I got to spend Christmas with your dad while my family was away, and I kind of got a little carried away with my own traditions. Then we got in a little fight, but we made up and found out we got each other the same present- promise rings."
"I think that was the day that I realized how much of a perfect fit we are," Cory said. "We think so much alike, but there's still so much to learn about each other."
"Okay, so that leaves one more story," Maya said. "You guys won prom king and queen?"
"Yep," Topanga said. "It was pretty cool actually. But I remember that night the most because-"
"We found out that Josh was coming," Cory interrupted.
Topanga gave Cory a weird look and said, "That's what I was going to say."
"Oh," Cory said, smiling bashfully.
She shook her head and looked back at the girls.
"That's it," Cory said, sighing with relief.
"So the reason why you kept that stuff is because each thing is connected to an important event?" Riley asked.
"Yeah," Topanga answered. "Either it was a big step in our relationship or it was a big thing in our lives. Or both."
"That's cool," Maya said. "So you can never forget those things because you kept that stuff."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I could never forget any of those things even if we didn't have that stuff," Cory said, looking at Topanga.
"Me either," she replied, smiling. She grabbed his face and pulled him to her to kiss him.
"Ma!" Riley cried in disgust, closing her eyes tightly.
Topanga laughed and said, "What? You don't like to see us kissing?"
"How about this?" Cory asked. He stood up, held out his hand, and pulled Topanga next to him as if they were going to dance. He spun her around and dipped her before leaning down to kiss her. Topanga giggled as Riley bleh-ed and ew-ed. Their exaggerated kiss ended with a "mwah."
"That was so gross, Dad!" Riley exclaimed.
Cory lifted Topanga back up and they began dancing to a shared inner music.
"I love you, Topanga!" Cory exclaimed outrageously loud to gross Riley out.
"I love you, Cory!" Topanga yelled, still giggling at Riley's disgust.
While the three Matthews were having a family moment, Maya simply watched them. She knew that she would never be able to watch her parents dance around and love each other, and that she would never have a life like Riley.