Title: Sweeter Beginnings.

Summary: Sometimes Fate and Destiny have different plans. What happens when Bakery owner Riley falls in love with a sports reporter and his was sitting on the kitchen counter, nursing a beer while Lucas was cleaning the kitchen.

Ok so I apologise for this chapter being late.
December was busy and I have been organising my life lately. And I honestly struggled to write this chapter.I hope you like it though :)

I hope you are all still wanting to read this story

Please please please tell me your thoughts and ideas :)

It was Saturday, and according to to the discussion she had with Maya, Riley was allowed to arrive a bit later because of her date with Lucas and Lucy. So she walks inside the café just half an hour later than usual because she didn't want to feel like she was less responsible for just one date, and because she was sure that Maya had only told her to get to work late in hopes that something would happen on the date.

Riley looks around and sees Maya behind the counter working like usual and not giving her even a glance but placing her customary cup of coffee on the counter. In front of the blonde woman, there was Josh sipping coffee from a mug and at Maya's side was Tom.

This was too suspicious.

"Hi," Riley greets the three of them and smiles at Mrs. Smith as she passes her. Mrs. Smith was one old lady that was part of their faithful clientele.

"Oh, hi," Maya smiles and ignores her after that, returning to work. Josh and Tom do the same thing.

"Um," Riley mumbles a little surprised. She was expecting the Inquisition this morning, all kinds of questions, proper or not, about her date, but nothing. "Hey, Josh, how's work?" She asks her uncle.

Josh shrugs his shoulders "it's good, I am currently working on a novel, though."

"Well hopefully it takes off," Riley responds and soon she moves towards her safe place in the kitchen.

She walks inside her pristine workplace and grins. She loves the smell of sugar, cream, vanilla, chocolate and everything else combined with the warmth from the ovens.

She quickly ties her apron around her waist, and she prepares to bake a coffee cake, but something was bothering her. In reality, she couldn't believe that her friends weren't curious about the date. They were always nosy and she complained sometimes, but did this mean that they didn't care?

What if they thought she wasn't interesting? Or that nothing exciting had happened? Worse, what if they forgot she had a date with Lucas? Could that be possible?

"Okay, what's going on? Aren't you going to ask me about last night?" Riley blurts out as soon as she steps out of the kitchen and her friends look at her with wide eyes. "Because if you were my friends, you'd be interested in what happened, at least I ask about your dates Tom or the fact that Josh and Maya both like each other, but you two won't admit it."

Maya smiles wickedly ignoring the thing about Josh, and so does Tom and Josh.

"I knew it!" Maya squeals. "You liked it, didn't you? You're dying for us to ask you because you want to tell us how good it was. You want to rub your date in our noses."

"Oh, if he took off his shirt, it was a late Christmas present and I want details," Tom chips in and Riley gapes at them.

"Did you kiss? Did you wear that sexy black dress?" Maya teases her and Riley's eyes travel from face to face and she sighs.

"That's more like it," she grins. "Maya, I don't want to rub my date in your face, but I need to talk about it and you know how I work. I always talk about everything," Maya snickers. "Tom, no, he didn't take his shirt off, but he looked great and he was wonderful with the dinner and everything and Lucy is just a sweetheart that comes as a bonus with him." Tom and Josh smile sweetly at her. "And No!" Riley screeches. "His daughter was also present, and nothing was going to happen."

"Oh, come on, tell the truth, he's smoking," Tom prods and Maya nods while chuckling, while Josh just sighs but listens in as well.

Riley hesitates and exhales heavily, "He's not smoking," all of them frown, because really? The man is built like a Greek god. "He's so hot; he could melt snow with his gaze. He's eye candy and yes, Tom, I wanted to unwrap him," she giggles and covers her face with embarrassment while her friends burst into a fit of laughter. Riley can't believe what has come over her.

"Wow, so you really like this Lucas guy, huh?" Tom smirks. "We definitely need more details now."

"No, no." Riley shakes her head. "It was only to inform you that it had gone well and he and his daughter were lovely and perfect. She's such a sweet little girl, just adorable."

"But?" Maya arches an eyebrow.

"No, buts," Riley bites her lower lip and Maya sighs.

"Riley Marie Matthews, you better tell me what's going on and why you look like you're hiding something from us," the blonde woman demands with her hand on her hips and gives her friend her a menacing look.

"I – is it wrong that… that I want a date just with him now? Just the two of us? I mean, I love Lucy and I had a very good time, but there are things that you can't say or do around a child. I don't want to traumatize her if I say something wrong and I don't want to seem rude and tell Lucas that I want to go out with him alone." Riley looks down at her feet and pauses for a few seconds. "What if he doesn't want to go out with me alone? What if he asked me out just because Lucy likes me and not because he does? I don't want to ruin this, but I need to know him better, and I think we need a date, one that's just about the two of us, but I don't want to hurt Lucy's feelings or feel his rejection." Riley takes a shaky breath.

"Riles, he likes you, believe me," Josh smiles. "He thought a lot about the date and he was pretty nervous about it, and no man goes through so much trouble just because he wants a new babysitter. You should ask him on a date." He finishes, and Riley widens her eyes.

"I should—No! What? No! He's going to think that I'm desperate or that I'm needy. Besides, it doesn't fit into my new philosophy," Riley replies, going from nervousness to a fake calm.

"Ugh! That thing that destiny will send you a man? Riles, Lucas came here, twice! What do you want? That destiny knocks on your head and tells you: Hey, dummy! This is the guy, do something?" Maya bellows and Riley just stares at her.

"You can't say that to me. I haven't dated in a long time, almost two years, and I don't feel comfortable about it." Riley takes a mouthful of air, feeling a bit like a coward and defeated about this particular weakness. She is an independent woman, but she was insecure about dating now. "Please. Just understand. I need time." She murmurs and walks back inside the kitchen.

Maya sighs and Josh and Tom stare at her. All of them were wearing soft looks now. Riley was nervous about this man, Lucas, and that only proves how much she likes him, how badly she wanted a second date, alone. They had to do something.

"What are we going to do with her?" Tom asks with an amused expression on his face.

" I don't know, but we need to make sure that Lucas's intentions are right." Maya looks at Josh, and he stands up grinning.

"I got this." He quickly kisses Maya on the cheek before walking out the door leaving a blushing Maya and a grinning Tom.

"Maybe it's not only Riley with romance going on at the moment."

Maya glares at him before walking into the art gallery section leaving a chuckling Tom.

Zay rubs his eyes with his fists and struts towards the door of his apartment, hearing the knock on the door again.

"Shit," he mutters under his breath. It was too early for a Saturday morning, and he knew that Josh was coming to talk about Lucas's date and how they'd play it to meddle (because they did, no matter what they said). He flings the door open, and Josh smirks.

"Howdy," Josh snickers and Zay glares at him.

"Dude," he drawls and scratches his belly lazily. He was wearing just pajama bottoms, and his face looked like the pillow was still attached to his head. Then he looks at Josh and takes in his clothes. "Are you wearing the same clothes that you wore yesterday?"

"I had no clean clothes." Josh invites himself in and walks past Zay, who shut the door and rolled his eyes.

"Dude."

"Fine, I slept at Maya's last night."

Zay's eyes nearly fall out of his head "WHAT?"

"Maya found a big spider in her kitchen, and she needed someone to kill it, and then we watched a movie and fell asleep."

Zay smirks as they walk into the lounge "Dude you didn't have to stay."

"Whatever, So, do you want to know about Lucas and Riley?" Josh asks as he sits down on an armchair and Zay sprawls on the couch.

"Riles is completely smitten with them both, and by how much Lucas was freaking out at work he was smitten with Riley."

Zay claps his hand gleefully "Did they kiss?"

"Dude no! Lucy was there remember."

Zay looks disappointed "Oh yeah. Well, are the going on another date?"

Josh hesitates, and Zay narrows his eyes "What?"

"Riley is freaking out that it was only a one-time thing, and that it was because of Lucy. She wants to go on another date with just Lucas, but she doesn't know how."

"Well, Lucas does think she is only going to date him because of Lucy," Zay admits.

"We need to get those two on a single date without Lucy; those two need to take a chance," Josh muses and Zay nods in agreement. After discussing it for a while, they had a plan and quickly set off to Lucas's.

Josh and Maya would work on Riley while Zay would take care of Lucas and it was a relief, because despite Josh knowing Lucas well, Zay and Lucas had known each other since middle school, so there was a lot of baggage between them and some inside jokes that he still didn't get. He was aware that he was more naïve than they were, a bit sweeter, and that was why Lucas trusted him with Lucy when he had dates.

He just hoped things kept going smoothly because both Lucas and Riley needed this.

Lucy wakes up and makes her way to the kitchen. She hears those familiar deep voices coming from there and the corners of her mouth turns up. She gives one quick peck to Zay's cheek and a hug to Josh's legs before she was scooped up by the strong arms of her father, who drops a kiss on her forehead. She rests her head against his shoulder and smells his aftershave and the soft scent of his soap; it was soothing.

"Luc, Josh cooked pancakes," Lucas tells her, and she grins at him and then at Zay.

"Really? May I have some? With syrup!" She squeals and motions for Lucas to put her down.

The men chuckled at the sight of the little girl walking around in her purple pajamas and her blue slippers looking for the syrup in the kitchen cabinets. She finds the bottle and sits down at the table, waiting for the huge stack of pancakes that Lucas disapproved of but had to admit it was funny the way in which Lucy's eyes widened and how she smiled wickedly as she took the first bite.

"Good?" Zay asks from her side, and Lucy nods happily. "Great, then later you should tell me everything about Riley okay, Luc?" He whispers to her, and she looks at her dad before smiling at Zay.

"'Kay," she replies. "But uncle Zay you have to talk to Daddy and tell him that I like her, Riley because I don't know how to do it and I think he likes her."

"I will, baby girl," Zay responds and Lucy grins at him while she takes another bite.

Lucas looked at them suspiciously and glares at Zay and Josh. He knew that his daughter was planning something and his friends were being pretty sneaky so that the combination could be disastrous, but he also thought that he loved the look on Lucy's face and he blamed it on the previous night, on Riley and how good she was with her.

A while later, when Lucy was full of pancakes and milk, Zay offers to play and mostly talk. She knew what because Uncle Zay was curious about Riley.

"She helped me to do my hair, and she sings!" She squeals while Zay gave her his undivided attention. "She was a dancer. She said she was famous. And her dads like the Knicks but I don't mind because she's nice and I think I could get her to like the Mavericks better, right? And Daddy looked at her like this," Lucy stares at Zay in a funny way, and he chuckles. "Is it good? I think it is good because he never looks at anyone like that and he was smiling. Oh, and she looked at him like this," she glances at Zay through her eyelashes in a sheepish way, trying to simulate the flirty looks that Riley had given to Lucas.

She tells Zay everything about their evening. He made some mental notes on the finer details so that he could compare notes with Josh, Maya, and Tom later.

Damn! Now he was thinking about Tom.

After Josh has gone home to shower and Lucy had fallen asleep on the couch, Zay was now trying to get information from Lucas, which was a hard task considering how quiet Lucas regarded his personal life. He wouldn't say anything that he didn't want and Zay was lucky he was Lucas's best friend, but even then Zay knew Lucas still kept some things from him.

"So, what happened?" Zay asks and Lucas arches an eyebrow "You are telling me that Lucy hasn't already told you?"

Zat chuckles "I got her version, but I want your version."

Lucas smiles, showing amusement, "It was great, she's amazing, and we had fun with Lucy. She's amazing with her."

"But?"

"What if she thinks that I invited her just because of Lucy?" Lucas sighs heavily, and Zay knew it.

Lucas likes Riley. Badly. The way he talks about her, the concern, the insecurity in the man that never flinched, it would've been scary if he didn't know him so well. Zay had only seen that worry once, about Lucy.

"Why would she think that?" Zay asks.

"Because it wasn't a date. I mean – Shit!" Lucas mutters in an angry tone. "She's gorgeous; she's smart and cute, so sexy. Man!" Lucas growls frustrated. "I wanted to kiss her, so fucking badly and I couldn't, because of Lucy."

"D'you think she would've let you?" Zay smiles a little, already knowing the answer from Josh.

"Yeah," Lucas mumbles and smirks again, softly. "I think so, I mean we nearly did when Riley's kisses me on the cheek goodbye, but dude I need to get to know her better."

"You need a date, a date-date," Zay snickers when Lucas glares at him. "One where you might get the kiss."

"I don't want her to hate me if it doesn't work because Lucy likes her. It's different and complicated. Even if she's not right for me, Riley is great for Lucy. I don't want to mess that up."

"Dude, you like her, and she seems to like you, just ask her out. Just the two of you, alone." ZZay advises, and Lucas exhales deeply.

"I dunno," Lucas babbles "Did Riley say anything, Josh?"

"Josh says that Riley pretty much feels the same as you."

Lucas just bites his lip in concern.

"Just take it slow." Zay smiles and shakes his head. He couldn't believe he was giving relationship advice to Lucas. He couldn't remember the last time he had a real relationship. "Ask her out and just don't think about what might happen."

Lucas nods, but Zay didn't actually know if his friend was going to follow his advice. He hoped so, and by the look on Lucas's face, he really wanted to have another chance of getting to know Riley.

After Josh and Zay receive all their information, they decided to head to the bakery to discuss the next step with Maya and Tom. Zay wasn't sure when the four of them had become a little group of cupids, but he couldn't deny that he was quite excited at the thought of seeing Tom again. Ever since they had swapped numbers, they had been texting non-stop.

Josh walks into the bakery first and makes a beeline straight for Maya in the gallery while Zay follows in and looks around. Zay's face drops thinking that Tom maybe went home, when Tom walks out from the back, his own face breaking out into a grin when he sees Zay.

"Hi," Zay mutters sheepishly, and Tom had to purse his lips to contain the growl in the back of his throat. He wants Zay, and it was kind of shocking how fast his need (feelings) for him had grown.

"Would you like something?" Tom offers.

"Sure," Zay replies and Tom begins to prepare him a cappuccino, already knowing what Zay likes.

They start to chat, and it went out smooth. Tom was beginning to flirt a bit more, but Zay didn't mind.

Zay was funny and good looking. Tom was cute and mysteriously seductive without knowing he was.

"Do you think this thing with Riley and Lucas will work?" Zay asks as Tom places his coffee in front of him. Tom shrugs cleaning the bench as he does.

"I don't know; I think Riley needs not to think about it and just go with her feelings. I haven't known her for very long, but she is a very open person except when it comes to love."

Zay sighs "Lucas is a very closed off person, maybe it won't work."

Tom places his hand on top of Zay's, and Zay feels a spark go through his whole body. "I have a feeling things will work out just fine."

"Really?"

Tom nods "Now how about you and I discuss what are going to do on our date instead?"

Zay can't help but grin.

Zay hates to bail on Lucy.

Sundays were his favorite day because Zay, Lucas and sometimes Josh were free to hang out with Lucy, have a nice time with the little girl and spoil her.

"Uncle Zay?" Lucy calls when he was saying goodbye to her before his date with Tom. "Did you talk to Daddy?"

"What about, Lucy?" Zay asks and squats down in front of her.

"About Riley," she whispers while looking around to make sure that her dad wasn't around. "I think he likes her and I like her too. What happens after that? What should they do?"

It was so amazingly cute the way she cares about Lucas that Zay couldn't help but smile at her and smooth her hair.

"Josh, and I will try to help, okay? I promise, and I'm gonna do it, since now," Zay says.

"Where are you going? Daddy said you had a date."

"I do Luce."

"How could that help Daddy and Riley?" Lucy asks curiously, and Zay sighs. She had this weird power over them. He couldn't hide anything from her.

"I'm going out with Tom," he speaks and sees the huge grin spreading across her face, "but you can't tell anyone, 'kay?"

"Okay," she nods happily. "I like Tom too. He's nice and funny." She rose on tiptoes and presses a kiss on his cheek. "Good luck, Uncle Zay." She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a quick and tight hug.

After he said goodbye and left Lucas's place, he wishes that every girl was like Lucy, that things were simple like that.

And then he decided that he was going to be him, naïve, sweet and quirky Zay. He only hopes that Tom likes that.

Lucas was checking the games on TV when Lucy climbs on his lap and cuddles against him.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, princess," he smiles sweetly at her.

"Do you want a mom? I mean, for us?" She asks with her big green eyes and he gulps. She wants a mum, and it hurt in his heart that she didn't have one. She was so good; she deserved one.

"For us?" She nods and Lucas sighs and pauses the game. "Lucy, you know I love you, right?" She nods again.

"I love you too, Daddy," she smiles, and he feels that warmth in his heart.

"Do you want a mum?" He asks bluntly.

"Umm…" She frowns in that cute gesture of her. "Yes, I want a mommy for us. Not just for me, because you should have one, I mean, not a mum, duh!" She giggles. "You have one, Nana, but you should have a wife? Or a girlfriend? I dunno," she sighs softly, and Lucas feels a bit sad for her. "A family! That's it; we should have that."

"Princess," he drawls.

"I like Riley, Daddy," she blurts out. "She does mommy things." She looks at him in the eye. "Do you like her?"

He couldn't lie to her. He had never done so. He wouldn't start now.

"Yeah, Luce, I like her too."