A/N: *drumroll* And now for what you've all been waiting for :) Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Don't think I'd be in college if I owned it…

Riley smiled as she felt a comfortable warmth wrapped around her as she awoke. It felt like she was waking up in Lucas' arms after falling asleep watching a movie with him. But when she opened her eyes, she found great disappointment when she realized she was in bed with her sheets tightly wrapped around her body. Riley looked up at her clock and sighed when she saw it was only a little past eight in the morning. Slowly, Riley untangled herself from her sheets and walked to the other side of the room, looking at her reflection. She picked up her brush from the top of her dresser and began to untangle her hair. As she brushed her hair, her mother's words from the previous day rang through her head.

Have faith.

After her hair was tangle free, Riley changed out of her pajamas and into a basic t-shirt and some jeans. Before heading out to the dining room, Riley looked at herself in the mirror once again. She looked different. Happier…as if her heart knew something that her brain had yet to discover. I wonder what it is. When she headed out of her room, Riley found both of her parents already in the kitchen. Topanga was busy fixing breakfast, and Cory was sitting at his spot at the table grading papers. When Riley sat down, Cory looked up at her and smiled.

"Sleep well?"

Riley nodded. "Yeah…first time in a while, which is kind of a nice change of pace."

Topanga turned around from the stove and set a plateful of blueberry pancakes in front of Riley. "You look as if you're doing better than when you came home last night."

"Yeah, I don't know what it is…it's like my heart knows something, but I can't figure out what it could be."

Topanga smiled. "Sometimes the heart just knows something is going to happen."

"Has that ever happened to you?"

Cory and Topanga looked at each other and smiled. "Several times, in fact."

Riley began to eat her breakfast and thought about the feeling. She really wanted to believe that the feeling had to deal with Lucas, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. If she was wrong, she didn't want to have to deal with more pain. But what else could it be?

She finished her breakfast, placed her dishes in the sink, and grabbed her jacket. "Headed to the hospital. I'll be back in a while," Riley said over her shoulder as she headed out of the apartment.

Riley entered the hospital room, pulled the lone chair closer to the bed, and sat down. Her heart began to race as she looked at Lucas' unconscious form. As she looked at him, she thought that he was finally starting to look better, but that could be because the doctors removed his breathing tubes earlier that day. It made her a bit happier to know that he was now breathing on his own.

For a while, Riley just sat and watched what little movements Lucas was making, which was just the subtle rising and falling of his chest every few seconds. This movement, despite not being much, gave Riley some comfort. As the seconds turned into minutes, she wished that he would open his eyes.

In her heart, Riley knew that she needed him. She needed to be with him, and not like this.

Riley scooted the chair closer to Lucas and let out her breath. "Please wake up…" she whispered. Like before, the only movement was caused by his breathing.

"Please wake up," she repeated. "I can't do this anymore." Tears began to fill her eyes and they made their way down her cheeks, one by one. Riley tried to wipe them away, but they continued to fall. She waited a few moments, and though she saw a slight movement in Lucas' arm, but it didn't happen again. Wishful thinking...it was probably just the shadows.

"This life would kill me if I didn't have you," she said to him, trying to keep her voice steady, but failed. Riley covered her face and let the tears flow out.

Lucas' eyes fluttered open. He winced slightly, not being used to the brightness of the room, and glanced around the room, trying to figure out where he was. His eyes fell upon the young lady sitting beside his bed trying to contain her tears.

"Riley?" he whispered.

Riley froze. Part of her thought her wishful thinking was at it again, causing her to hear Lucas' voice, but the feeling she had in her heart earlier grew stronger, so she slowly raised her head to focus back on Lucas. This time, she found his blue eyes staring back at her. More tears fell down her face as she leaned in and wrapped her arms around Lucas' neck, but this time they were tears of happiness.

Lucas slowly wrapped his free hand around Riley, still not in full control of his motor movements thanks to him being out for so long, and began to lightly rub her back, happy to have her in his arms again. Riley began to mutter something, but he wasn't able to understand her.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…this is my fault you're here."

Lucas closed his eyes and sighed. How could she blame herself? It was my decision. "Look at me," he said.

Riley sat up and wiped her red puffy eyes as she looked at him. "I should have said something—"

"Now, you listen to what I have to say, okay?" Riley nodded. "Alright now…I don't want you blaming yourself over this. It wasn't your fault; what I did was my own decision. And I can tell you for certain, that even if you tried to say something to stop me, it wouldn't have worked. You know why?" Riley shook her head. Lucas took ahold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Because I would do anything to make sure that you are safe. You understand that?"

Riley didn't know what it was, but hearing Lucas say those words made her heart feel so at ease. Maybe it was because everyone else wasn't quite sure on why it happened; maybe it was because the words were coming from him. She didn't know that, but there was one thing she did know. That voice telling her otherwise was gone.

"Yeah, I do."

Lucas smiled. "Good," he replied, and he sluggishly brought her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her palm.

A/N #2: Yay! Lucas is awake! :D This story isn't over yet. I have at least another eight chapters planned, whether or not I take it farther depends on time and if I come up with anymore chapter ideas. So, if you could let me know what you thought of the chapter by leaving a comment below that would be great! Until next time!