AN: I'm super sorry for those of you who hoped against Riley having an abusive boyfriend. My mind is a strange and scary place!

Thanks again for all the follows, reviews, and favorites! We are still stuck in the middle of the storm here. I originally rated this fanfic M but changed it because it wasn't too terrible and could be rated T for the moment. I think it's still okay, but if you disagree, leave me a review saying I should change it. If I do change it, I'm not sure if it will alert you but it will probably disappear from the general list. If you change the filter from K- T (which is the default setting for this show) to M or all filters it should be on there.

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Lucas woke up in a very strange place. He knew it was a bedroom in an apartment or possibly a dorm room somewhere but where, he did not know. It was decorated pretty tastefully and the bed was quite comfortable, he just didn't know where he was.

Then, all of a sudden, he jumped out of bed and walked to a closed door on the right side of his room. He opened it to reveal a fairly spacious bathroom for New York City (if he is indeed in New York City). He looked in the mirror to see his reflection. It was definitely him, but possibly a few years older. He looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties. He showered and shaved as if he did it every morning. He didn't know how he knew exactly where the shampoo, body wash, shaving cream and razor were but he did. It was like he was back home in Texas but he was clearly not in his Texas home or dorm room.

He then put on a light green t-shirt and a pair of jeans before exiting the bathroom. He easily made his way into the living room and dining room, even though he had yet to recognize an inch of the space. In the kitchen, facing away from him was a girl. Her hair was brunette and wavy and reached her upper back. He knew he knew exactly who this was or else he wouldn't have gone up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Hey, beautiful," He said as he gave her neck a small kiss.

The girl giggled and playfully shooed him away. He loved that laugh so much. It was infectious because the next thing he knew he was chuckling quietly with her. He continued to poke at her neck before she finally turned around for him to see it was…

"Come on, you know you love it, Riley."

"I do, but now's not the time." She said.

Lucas let out a sigh as he looked at her again. Even though he wasn't completely in control of this version of himself, he forced himself to look at her. She looked very different yet again, but if anything he was even more attracted to her this time around. Her hair had grown out a bit but it wasn't nearly as long as it was in middle school and high school. The brunette color was back but he guessed if they were older, she probably had to do that because of her job. If she became a lawyer, like she wanted to, she probably couldn't go to court with her hair in that ombre style she had earlier. It was very clear to Lucas she was wearing absolutely no makeup and she had on a soft blue spaghetti strap shirt and black shorts that were by far the shortest thing Lucas had ever seen Riley wear. Perhaps she had gone straight from bed to the kitchen to make breakfast.

The difference in this Riley that caught Lucas' eye were the two glittering rings on her left hand. He looked down at his own left hand to see a simple silver band on his ring finger. They were married in this dream? Oh, yes, this was going to be good, Lucas could tell.

The married versions of themselves sat down and chatted while eating breakfast. For whatever reason, this Lucas and Riley's voices were distorted so he couldn't quite pick up what they were saying but Riley was laughing and smiling a lot so he guessed it was good.

Lucas hadn't given his married life much thought because he assumed it wouldn't be for another five to ten years, but he liked this life he seemed to have with Riley. Having a casual breakfast on what must be a weekend was quite fun and relaxing. Their apartment seemed nice for a newlywed couple and he enjoyed talking to Riley in this light manor because the last time they had spoken, it had not been taken quite as lightly.

All too soon, Riley stood up but Lucas' dream self and his actual subconscious had the same thought. He reached up to grab her arm. She looked back down at him to see what he wanted and smiled as she leaned in for a kiss. Then, everything went black.

The next thing Lucas heard was not what he expected. Somebody was screaming. It was a very, very bad kind of screaming too. Like somebody was in lots of pain. He felt very drowsy and tried to open his eyes right away be he couldn't. Slowly, the world came back into view and he was looking up at a grey New York sky.

"Lucas! Lucas!" A girl screamed. This was enough for his dream self to snap to attention as he looked at the scene that unfolded in front of him. There was Riley, the same grown up Riley he had just kissed moments ago. This time however, she was being held back by two men as another threw punch after punch at her. She didn't seem to have any cuts or bruises yet except for a large black eye; identical to the one Lucas had seen on her earlier tonight.

"Pretty boy won't be able to help you now," the man snarled as he threw another punch to Riley's temple.

Lucas felt pure rage as this was happening. He hadn't felt this way since he was in middle school back in Texas. Yes, he was angry when he saw the real Riley with her black eye earlier tonight but he couldn't have done anything. All he knew about the guy who did that to her was his name and he was pretty sure there were at least a thousand Dylans in New York. But now, he was watching her take punch after punch from these strange men and he knew he could do something about it.

Lucas pushed himself off the ground but nothing happened. He tried again and again but he was only able to make it off a few inches at the most. It was like some invisible force was pushing him back down.

Then, a man came walking down the sidewalk. Lucas thought that maybe these thugs would stop beating up on Riley if this guy came by, but they didn't. If anything they started hitting her faster and harder.

"Sir, can you help her, please?" Lucas pleaded as the man came in earshot but this man just kept on walking. It was like he couldn't even see Lucas, Riley or the men that were beating her up.

A few more people came walking down the sidewalk and Lucas pleaded with them as well. Still, nobody even seemed to notice something horrible was happening. The area became flooded with people, like Times Square on a busy day but nobody, not one, tried to help Riley and nobody could even see her. Lucas tried over and over again to get off the ground, hoping he could somehow break this force, but it seemed impossible. She continued to call his name from where she was and he shouted hers back hoping he could give her a little bit of hope so she would hold on until he got out of this, because for her, he would find a way.

"Lucas! Lucas!"

"Riley! Riley!"

"Riley," he heard himself mumble as he began to wake up. He sighed, relieved that it was just a dream.

Lucas placed his head in his hands, which were still shaking from the horror he just saw. Riley wasn't always perfect to him. Yes, she had done somethings that annoyed him and things he didn't understand but he had never wanted to hit her. He hadn't met anybody who had really gotten the chance to know her who wanted to cause her any physical pain. So who was this Dylan guy and why was he different from everybody Lucas and Riley had ever met?

He figured that was what had caused the dream. He had had some dreams about Riley in the past, some good some bad, but never this bad. Then again, he had never seen her with an injury worse than a scrap on her knee from playing softball in P.E., nor had he ever imagined what Riley or any of his friends looked like with a giant black eye.

Lucas stood up and walked to the empty kitchen to pour himself a glass of milk so he could hopefully get back to sleep. He looked at the clock on the oven and saw that it read five o'clock. He decided to make a cup of coffee instead. Cory and Topanga were more than likely going to be awake in an hour or two anyway.

Lucas took a moment to think about what he was going to do today. What if Riley's mask to heal her black eye hadn't worked? Would he tell the truth and say it was Dylan, now he knew that Cory and Topanga didn't like him? Would he lie and say he fell asleep before she got home? He knew Riley would much appreciate the latter of the two choices but he didn't think that was right.

What if Riley's mask had worked? Could he just pretend like nothing happened? As far as anybody else knew, nothing did happen. But it would be the right thing to tell her parents, wouldn't it? Lucas knew if he had a daughter than somebody was beating up on, he sure as hell would want to know about it.

Lucas had to decide what he valued more: the truth or his friendship with Riley. He always thought those were two things that go hand and hand, like peanut butter and jelly. He never thought for a second they would be inharmonious. It just wasn't right and he didn't like it one bit.

Just as he poured the cup, Lucas heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He figured it was either Cory or Topanga but he was wrong.

"Hey, Lucas." Riley said. She was still in a pair of warm pajamas, not that he didn't expect her to be. Her eye was completely healed so her mask had seemed to work.

"Hi," he responded as he tried to smile. "Good to see the mask worked."

"Yeah, well it's not the first time I've had to use it," she mumbled.

He wanted to yell and shout at her and tell her how big of an idiot she was for staying with this idiot. He didn't necessarily want her to choose him over Dylan, he just wanted her to get out of this situation before it got any worse. However, since their friendship was hanging by a thread, he didn't think expressing any of these thoughts would be a good idea.

"I don't like that," he simply chose to say.

"I know," she responded. "I wouldn't expect you to."

They were silent again, and for the first time since Lucas had returned to New York, it wasn't a comfortable silence between the two. It wasn't awkward either but instead, full of tension. Lucas felt like as the seconds went by, some force was pulling him apart bit after bit. He wanted to say something so badly but he didn't know what. Finally, he thought of something.

"Why are you up so early?" He asked.

"Oh, I thought I heard you moving around out here," she told him. "I wanted to tell you that I thought about what you said last night and I think I want to be friends again."

"Really?" he asked. This was the best news he could have gotten right now.

"Yeah," she responded. "I have really missed you since high school ended but I think we needed the space. But now, if you'll have me back, I'd really like to be your friend again."

"I would love that, Riley." Lucas responded.

"Really?" she asked this time.

"Yeah, I would." He said as he crossed the room and engulfed her in a hug. She immediately responded back and let out a quiet sigh. Lucas so loved being able to hold her in his arms yet again and promised himself he would never end up in a situation where he would let her go again.