Topanga let her head rest on Cory's shoulder and they sat there for a while. Cory seemed to be at the bottom of a pile of people, as he held Maya in his arms and Topanga at his side. Topanga started to doze off when the quiet had gone on for a while.

Suddenly Maya began to stir. Cory could tell Maya was about to wake up, so he kissed Topanga's forehead to wake her up.

At Cory's touch, Topanga began to wake up. She looked up at Cory and then saw Maya moving a little. She sat up and rubbed Maya's back.

"Sweetie, it's Topanga," she said softly.

Maya opened her eyes and looked groggily at Topanga. Then she looked up at Cory and saw that she was practically sitting on his lap. She quickly jumped up and stood in front of them.

"Maya, it's okay," Cory said, trying to comfort her.

"I'm sorry," Maya said, looking embarrassed.

"Honey, you need to talk to us," Topanga said seriously.

Maya sighed and then sat down next to Topanga.

"What was that back there?" Cory asked. "What happened?"
"I told you," Maya said. "I was upset about my dad, and I just-"

"No, Maya," Cory interrupted. "That's not what happened. Something happened first to make you think about those things. And we need you to tell us what that is."

"I really don't think I need to talk about this," Maya said, starting to stand.

"Yes, you do," Cory said sternly.

Just then, Riley appeared at the door. "What's going on in here?" she asked.

"Riley, not now please," Cory said.

"Oh, did Maya tell you how she yelled at Auggie and how he doesn't want to come out of his room now?" Riley said, obviously still mad at Maya.

Cory looked at Maya. "Is that true?"

"Yeah," Maya said, looking down, ashamed.

"Why did you yell at Auggie?" Topanga asked.

Maya looked at Riley with sorrow in her eyes. Riley noticed how Maya's makeup was smeared beyond repair and how swollen her eyes looked.

"Maya, what's wrong?" Riley asked.

"Nothing," Maya answered immediately.

"No, not nothing," Cory said, standing. "Your friend here had a bad time in here."

Riley furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as Cory walked over to her.

Cory put his arm around his daughter and began walking her to the window.

"And I figure," he continued, "that you know a little something about what's going on."

"Maya, what's he talking about?" Riley asked.

"After you left I got kind of upset and your dad found me in here."

"You were not a little upset," Cory said. "You were crying your eyes out, Maya!"

Riley marched over to her friend. Even though she was still angry about what happened, she knew that she needed to help. After searching Maya's eyes for clues and then coming up empty, Riley pulled her into a hug. Maya was surprised at first, but then hugged Riley back.

"Was this about…the sleepover?" Riley asked once they ended their embrace.

"Yeah," Maya said.

"Alright," Topanga said, standing. "I was a teenage girl once too, and I know when there's a code for something. So what's the sleepover a code for?"

Riley and Maya looked at each other, seemingly trying to telepathically decide what to tell Cory and Topanga.

Riley stood next to her father and then said to him, "Do you remember at Christmas when Shawn was here?"

"Yeah," Cory answered.

"Then you remember how we kind of had…a master plan?"

"Yeah," he answered again.

"Riles?" Maya questioned. "What master plan?"

"Oh, yeah," Riley said, looking at Maya. "I never told you about this part."

"So there's two?!" Maya asked incredulously. "And you involved your dad in one?!"

"Hey!" Cory whined.

"Well, it's kind of one in the same, but my dad's working on…" Riley began. She looked at her parents, who she didn't want to include in her new plan.

"Well, he's working with the, uh…oh never mind, he's working on Shawn!" Riley said, throwing her hands up in the air, done with the constant planning and secrecy.

"Riley!" Maya said between her teeth, her eyes wide.

"It's going pretty well, if I do say so myself," Cory said proudly.

Maya scowled and then stopped herself.

"Wait, it's going well?" Maya questioned him.

"Yeah," Cory answered, as if it were obvious. "He…uh…" Cory began. He'd just remembered how he'd promised Shawn to not say anything about their conversation.

"Well, he's coming along," Cory said, trying to cover his mistake.

"What, you pwomised your wittow fwiend that you wouldn't tell?" Maya teased him in a baby voice.

"Maybe," Cory said defiantly, crossing his arms and looking away. Topanga rolled her eyes and Maya shook her head, deciding to let it go.

"So what exactly were you two planning?" Maya asked Cory and Riley, with her arms crossed. Riley was silent, so Maya looked at Cory for the answer.

"Oh, it was all of us!" he exclaimed proudly, looking at Riley and Topanga. He realized Maya was still looking at him. "It was her plan! Ask her!" Cory said, pointing the blame at his daughter.

"I wanted Shawn to be your dad," Riley said.

"Oh, well that's not a bad step to start with," Maya said.

Cory looked at Maya, scrunching his eyes.

"That's it?" Cory asked incredulously. "That's all you've got?"

Maya looked at Cory like he was insane and then said, "Uh, huh."

"Were you expecting a mariachi band and a dance number?" she asked.

"I just thought you'd react more negatively," Cory said, still scrunching his eyes.

"Why would…" Maya trailed off. "Oh, yeah. We haven't told him our plan yet."

"Our plan's pretty much the same," Riley said.

"So you had two plans going on at once for the same goal?" Topanga asked.

"Kind of. Except Dad's job was to get Shawn to be Maya's dad. And our job was to get Shawn to be Katy's husband," she said quietly.

Cory raised his eyebrows and looked at Topanga with a smirk.

"What?" she asked.

"She's scheming," Cory said proudly.

"Yep," Topanga said with a smile. "You've taught her well," she said, patting Cory's knee.

Maya rolled her eyes and sat down. "Except the plan's not going to work."

"Why not?" Cory asked. "Do you doubt me?" He stood up and looked down at Maya, crossing his arms. Maya raised an eyebrow and watched Cory.

"Do you really think that I won't succeed at my schemes?" he continued. "Ye of little faith," he said, chuckling to Topanga.

"It's not that you won't succeed," Maya said. "It's that we already didn't."
"What?" Cory complained, throwing his arms at his sides.

"It can't happen," Riley said.

"Why not?" Topanga asked.

"Because they don't like each other. Shawn doesn't love Angela, but loves someone else," Maya said, trying to keep emotion out of the sentence.

Cory scrunched his eyes and looked at Maya, coming closer to her again. "What?!" he complained louder.

"Yeah, Dad, we know about your conversation with Shawn," Riley said. "Auggie came and told us everything."

Cory shifted his gaze to Riley. "What?!" he complained even louder. Riley sighed and looked away, annoyed by his antics.

"So that's it," Maya said.

"No, you don't understand!" Cory said to the girls.

"We understood perfectly," Riley said.

"Did you hear what we actually said?" Cory asked, nearly laughing.

"Yeah, Auggie told us!" Riley said, still annoyed.

Cory put his head in his hand and laughed.

"See, this is why I'm the king of schemes and you're not," he said, pointing at the girls.

"Alright, Matthews, what's so funny?" Maya asked.

"Shawn doesn't love Angela," Cory said.

"Yeah, we got that," Maya replied.

"And he doesn't love anyone else either," he continued.

"What?" Riley asked, confused.

"He has feelings for someone."

"Okay, great, Dad, but that doesn't exactly help us that much."

"Riley," Cory said. "He has feelings for Katy."

Alright! A fun, upbeat chapter to make up for the really sad one! What do you guys think of the ending? What do you think Riley and Maya's plan will be?

Things are about to get really interesting (even more than it has been!) at the Matthews household.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review and let me know what you want to see happen! I might use a suggestion in my story, who knows!

Until next time! :)