A/N: Alright so I tried something new with this chapter! I didn't plan out the conversation this time. I just sat down and let my writing take itself wherever it wanted to go! Word vomit conversation! Hope it turned out alright! xD This fic started as one thing and turned into something completely different ahaha!

And also, whoever the Guest is that continues to review on several chapters and every story telling me to do an M rated one, please stop harassing me. Smut takes a long time to write and you need to respect that I have a lot on my plate and don't have the time at the moment to work on those. I hope you'll take my request into consideration.

Thank you for the reviews! You all are so sweet and kind and I'm happy that this story is enjoyable for you! :D

Disclaimer: It's a good thing I don't own GMW because these poor characters would be put through the ringer...

Lucas stood at his fridge, rummaging around to see if he had anything to offer Maya. After he'd let them in, he'd gone to the kitchen to try to postpone the conversation a bit. He wasn't scared, per se, but he felt a little awkward about it all. He glanced over his shoulder into the living room where Maya was sitting stiffly on his sofa, twisting the bottom of her shirt in that way she'd developed a habit of doing whenever she was nervous.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Lucas asked. "I have some beer too."

"No." Maya's mouth was turned down in a frown as she stared at him. "Lucas. Stop stalling and come here."

He sighed, knowing the inevitable had to happen, so he might as well go out there and let the bandaid be ripped off. Maya watched him as he rounded his kitchen island and came over. He sat on the coffee table in front of her. She didn't look particularly annoyed or pissed off or hurt or like she was about to deliver a fatal blow, but he still felt anxious and his heart was beating a little erratically in his chest.

"In light of recent events and revelations, I feel we've both been a little rash so I had to think about a lot of things." Maya licked her lips nervously, breaking eye contact and staring at the ground. "I spoke to Riley on the phone, and she helped me figure some things out."

"And what did you figure out?"

"When I broke things off…" Maya grimaced, and he knew she was remembering the huge fight that followed. "I wasn't completely honest with you. And I think that's why we're having this problem right now. Two stupid adults who can't get their act together."

No doubt the two stupid adults quip was Riley's words. But Lucas was more concerned by what she had said right before that.

Lucas' eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by you weren't completely honest with me?"

"Five years ago, Lucas." She took a deep breath. "I meant what I said that I was scared about how fast things were going for us, but the reason I didn't want to get married wasn't because of that. You know my mom. And you know how marriage and hell, any relationship, doesn't work for her."

"So you were scared that things between us would fall apart because of your mom?"

"I thought I was going to become her. Lose one person after another. Drive them away. I didn't want us to fall apart like that."

That bothered Lucas. Hell, it pissed him off now even more than back then.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Lucas growled in annoyance. "You broke things off between us because you thought our relationship would fall apart because your mom had bad relationships?"

"You don't understand."

"Of course I don't!" Lucas snapped, "That's such utter bullshit I can't even begin to understand why you would ever think it makes sense!"

"Why the hell are you getting so mad about it?! It happened years ago." Maya shouted, "Try to see it from my point of view!"

Lucas shot to his feet, furious at her words. It may have happened years ago, but she damn well knew that it wasn't an event in their lives that could just be tossed aside and treated indifferently. It had wrecked him.

"I'm mad because instead of telling me this years ago and letting me know how you felt and trusting your damn boyfriend with your fears and letting me know why, you ripped my heart out and told me you couldn't marry me because you wouldn't ever be able to love me the way I love you! Do you know what that felt like to me? It felt like those four years we spent together, the best years of my life, were trashed. Thrown out and ripped apart ruthlessly. Like it didn't even matter to you. Of course I'm still mad!"

Maya chewed on her lower lip as she watched him, her eyes growing a little glassy as her lower lip quivered. "Lucas, I'm sorry."

"And the worst part is it took you five years to tell me this even though you knew I was suffering the whole time. Five years of wondering what I did wrong. Five years of heartache spent wondering if our whole relationship was just a game to you. If it was all a lie. Five years of me holding on to a doomed love, hoping maybe one day we could reconcile and try again." He spat in disgust. "We were friends first. You couldn't even have the decency to at least care about that fact and tell me?! Even as a friend?! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Look Lucas!" Maya yelled, her voice breaking, "I panicked okay! I got scared and wanted to run but I didn't know how to tell you. We were young, and I was stupid and you wouldn't take no for an answer without knowing why I couldn't marry you so I panicked! I wanted to be with you, but you were dead set on getting married and you all but gave me an ultimatum so I lied. And before I knew it, you'd walked out of my life and we didn't talk for two years, and I knew I wrecked the best thing that had ever happened to me."

Maya took in a sharp, shuddering breath.

"Just like my mom…" She whimpered, her shoulders shaking the slightest bit from her burgeoning sobs. "The very thing I was trying to avoid happened to me. I just wanted to be loved. Just once. For once, I wanted something of my own that couldn't leave me. And I lost it. Because I was scared."

There were tears running down her cheeks, and though Lucas was angry at her, his heart tugged painfully in his chest as he watched Maya, her breathing jerky and body slightly curled into itself. And suddenly he was reminded of how damaged Maya was despite the strong face she would usually put on. How damaged and fragile and vulnerable she could be sometimes. He was reminded of the Maya from high school, torn apart by her father's rejection. Torn apart from the loss of her grandmother. Torn apart by one person who left after another. He could very clearly see that she'd never managed to heal the scars of her past.

And it killed him to see her this way. Maya's tears were his kryptonite. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration, knowing he would never be able to stay mad at her, no matter how irritating she was.

And the worst part was he felt guilty.

This whole time, Maya had been fighting her inner demons on her own and even throughout their whole relationship, he'd never paid her the proper attention she deserved. He thought he'd known everything about Maya, but all this time, he wasn't as attentive a boyfriend as he should have been. He was brash and bull-headed and pushy and wouldn't listen to her. He'd forced the issue before she was ready to talk and she had fled and they'd both gotten hurt. No matter how adamant he had been in officially making Maya a Friar, Lucas shouldn't have pressed. He should have tried to better understand her instead of cornering her and forcing her. He knew that now.

"So what now then?" Lucas sank back down on the coffee table. "You tell me, because I have no idea what to even think anymore."

"Lucas, do you still love me even now? Now that you know everything? Despite everything I've wrecked?" she asked with a disgusted scoff at herself, "I'd be surprised if you did."

"You didn't wreck anything." Lucas stated with narrowed eyes, "And I told you, didn't I? I love you, Maya. And I'm not going to stop. I don't think I can. I just don't know where to go from here."

She nodded, chewing on her lower lip. "I don't think I can either."

Maya had said it quietly, almost a thin whisper leaving her lips, but Lucas caught the words. And honestly, it was enough for him.

"You still love me?"

"There… there may be some residual feelings. But," she quickly added when his lips curved up into a smile, "I still don't want to get married Lucas. And I need you to understand that if we're going to live together and make this whole dual parenting thing work. If you still want to have a child, I mean."

"I still want children with you Maya." Lucas sighed. "But I don't understand how if we're going to live together and raise a child together, how is that not basically marriage?"

"It's the principal of the thing." Maya finally said softly, "If we don't make it official, if you don't call me your wife, I don't feel the pressure. I won't want to run. I won't be terrified of making a mess of things."

Lucas could tell this was really bugging her. The idea that she could ruin their relationship. He knew if they were planning on continuing their relationship, then he would have to slowly help her realize that a marriage between them wouldn't fail. But for now, he would settle for this. If she wasn't comfortable with marrying him, he'd wait. It was his desired end goal, but until then, he had to take things slowly with Maya because she wasn't ready yet.

Lucas shifted to the sofa, sitting next to Maya and gently taking her hands in his.

"If it makes you feel better, then yes, I can do that. We can keep it unofficial. But Maya, I still want to marry you one day. Even if it takes years before you decide you're ready to be my wife. Is that okay?"

She searched his eyes for a moment, silently contemplating his offer before smiling slightly with a nod.

"It is."

"That's good to know."

"So this is happening? We're making a baby?"

"Yeah." Lucas smiled. "Let's make a baby."

"So…" Maya said, a little uncomfortably, "Should we just get to work then? Get started?"

Lucas frowned, feeling just as much discomfort as Maya was projecting on her face.

"It would be too awkward at this time."

Maya rose a brow. "Awkward how? We're going to have to at some point. Especially since you want to do this the natural way. So let's just shove it up in me and get it over with."

"I can't just stick it in you all randomly like that Maya." Lucas gave Maya an incredulous look, somewhat appalled by the way she'd just described it.

"Well you're going to have to eventually if we're going to be trying for a damn baby. So c'mon cowboy. Mount the horse."

Her inappropriate metaphor aside, Lucas wasn't sure he liked the way this was turning out. Yes, he'd always been sexually attracted to Maya, and he had no qualms being intimate with her. He wanted to. He really did. But not this way.

It just felt kind of wrong.

"Okay wait. Maya. Look, I know you want to hurry this up as soon as possible. And I also want you. I really do. I've been hoping for something like this for five years, but we just now cleared the air between us and finally figured out what went wrong." Lucas rubbed the back of his neck. "Even though I do love you, I feel like we need to slow this down a bit. Take some time to get reacquainted with each other. Get to know each other for real this time. I wouldn't feel right just hopping right into bed with each other. We need to start fresh."

Maya frowned, staring at him pensively. "What are you suggesting?"

"How about… I take you out. Tomorrow. And then we take it from there. See how it goes. I think it would make things a little less awkward than just ripping off each other's pants right now."

"Okay. I see your point." She snorted. "Yeah. That works."

"So tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow then." Maya stood up, picking up her purse from the ground and stretching her limbs. "I have a parent-teacher conference at five. Pick me up from my place at seven?"

Lucas nodded, standing up as well and walking her to the door. He felt better about this whole thing. Relieved. At peace. He wasn't exactly sure what he and Maya were at the moment, but Lucas was glad that at least the worst had been put behind them. That they'd finally closed out a particularly terrible chapter in both their lives. And he knew that they would work out the rest in time.

Maya put her hand on the knob, but paused, staring at the door for a few seconds. With a sigh, she turned around and faced Lucas.

"Lucas."

"Hmm?"

She rose to her tiptoes and reached up, cupping his jaw and pulling him down into a deep kiss. It took Lucas a little by surprise, a rush going through his body at the press of her lips on his. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him, his other hand sliding up her back and tangling in her short hair.

All of a sudden, it was like they were twenty again and just kissed for the first time, sparks dancing between their conjoined lips. It stirred up forgotten feelings of arousal and heat in him. It was familiar, a remembered dance where they were in perfect unison. He'd wanted to kiss her for the longest time. It felt right.

Maya pulled away slightly, sucking on his lower lip before letting it go slowly. Lucas groaned, already knowing he was reacting quite strongly to her. His thoughts were a little jumbled, his mind occupied with only thoughts of Maya's warm, tiny body pressed up against his.

"I love you too, you know?" She smiled against his lips, trying to catch her breath.

"I know, Shortstack."

Lucas knew Maya had never really been one to say those words because she had issues with the meaning behind it as well. But when she did, he knew she truly meant it with all her heart. And he knew he was lucky that she had said them to him.

He closed the gap between their lips, Maya moaning softly into his mouth and stirring him up. She dropped her purse to the floor, unclasping the buttons of his shirt as he backed her against the door. Lucas' hands trailed down her sides, shivers running through her body when his hands made contact with the skin of her waist. He grabbed the hem of her shirt in his fingers and they momentarily broke apart so Lucas could tug it up and off of her. He tossed it behind him, molding himself to her and capturing her lips again in a hot, open-mouthed kiss that told Lucas just where this was headed. He hoisted her up, and she hooked her legs around his waist, draping her arms over his shoulders and pulling him in more tightly to her.

"What about the date tomorrow?" Maya teased, her voice a little breathless.

"Screw the date." He growled.

He leaned in and kissed her again, meeting her lips in a heated kiss that left them both dizzy with want.