2.1
"I'm just saying that if she wants a phone like the other kids, she can save for it." Topanga told Corey.
"We didn't make Riley save for her phone." Corey countered.
"She got it as a gift, that's different, but Christmas and Maya's birthday are a ways off." Topanga justified.
Auggie called them over to look at his drawing on the wall, pulling them from their disagreement. "Uh Auggie I dont think..."
"Its beautiful!" Topanga called. Cory turned to her, "I dont know, I think thats what you're supposed to do!"
"Why?" Cory asked, remembering the spanking they had given Riley for the same thing years ago.
"Self esteem building, I think." Topanga said, shrugging.
After the fridge reveal, Cory's jaw was set, "Auggie, to your room."
"You don't like my picture, Daddy?" His son asked sweetly.
Cory knelt down in front of the boy before his wife could cut in, "I think you know by now where it is okay to draw." Cory pointed to the fridge, "And where it is not, am I right?"
"I wanted something that would stay longer than a paper we will lose!" Auggie told him.
Topanga bent down and kissed her sons head, "Maybe tomorrow we can go get a special frame to put your artwork in, that way which ever piece you want safe can be safe and displayed."
Auggies face lit up! "Yeah!"
Topanga knelt by her husband and took the little boys hands, "See how quickly we were able to solve that when we talked about it?"
"Yes ma'am." Auggie said, remembering that his parents were upset with him.
"So next time, save yourself the spanking and just talk to us, okay?" Topanga scolded, before pulling the boy in for a kiss to his forehead. After he agreed, she gave him one swat to his backside, "Go put your jammies on and wait for Daddy."
"Yes ma'am." Auggie said sadly as he turned to walk to his room and wait for his dad.
Both parents stood and kissed. "Thank you for being on my team." Cory told her.
"Thank you for being the one taking care of this." Topanga told him. "I'm gonna try and clean this mess up."
Cory walked back to his sons room and hesitated a moment before going in. Auggie was on his bed in his Mr. Googly PJs waiting for him. "Hi daddy," he said sadly.
"Hey Auggie," Cory said, coming over to the bed and sitting beside his son. He picked the little boy up and cuddled him close. "You know that it wasn't very responsible to color on the fridge and the wall, right?"
"Yes Daddy." Auggie said, burying his face in the man's neck.
"Mommy is cleaning it up tonight since it's almost bedtime. But next time, you will get a spanking and you will be cleaning it up, am I understood?"
"Yes, sir."
Cory flipped the little boy over his knee and pulled down his pj bottoms but left up his boxers. *SWAT* *SWAT* "Where do we color in this house August?" *SWAT* *SWAT*
"On paper!" Auggie cried out, tears already in his little voice.
SWAT* *SWAT* "Is the fridge paper?"
"No, sir!"
SWAT* *SWAT* "What about the wall?"
"Nooooo!" Auggie called out, full on crying now.
Cory gave the boy two more swats to his sit spots before stopping. "You did good, buddy." He picked him up and kissed the back of his head. He was always grateful for the calm moments after the storm with his children. After a few moments Topanga came in and the tucked the sleepy little boy I to bed.
--GMW--
Katy pulled up the the library. She had asked Troy to stay at the apartment but he had told her everything would be fine. She wasn't so sure though.
Less than a minute later, Riley and Maya bounced out of the library. They told the boys bye and walked towards the car. Riley bound towards the front seat, knowing that Maya would give it to her, but Maya grabbed the girls wrist stilling her. Riley looked back confused, but Maya pointed to the occupied passenger seat.
"Who is that, Maya?" Riley asked concerned.
"I don't know." Maya told her, "Let's just get home." She lead her friend to the back seat and they both climbed in.
"Hey girls!" Katy tried to keep her tone light. Riley noticed how tense her friend was though.
"Hey mom." Maya said.
"Hey, Ms. Hart." Riley chirped.
"This is my friend, Troy. Troy this is my daughter, Maya and her best friend Riley." Katy introduced.
"Hey ladies." Troy said without turning around. He turned the music up, effectively ending any chance of conversation.
As they pulled up in front of Rileys building, Maya hugged her friend. Riley was nervous about leaving her friend. She got out though and headed upstairs.
--GMW--
When they got home Katy asked Maya to go get ready for bed, but the girl lingered in the living room. "Do you need something," Katy asked.
"Yeah, when is Troy leaving?" Maya asked, trying to keep her tone from being too harsh.
"Maya." Katy said firmly, trying to channel Topangas assertiveness, "You need to go shower and get ready for bed. I will talk to you when that's done."
Maya shook her head, "I will when you tell me when this flavor of the week is leaving."
"Little girl," Tony growled. He took a step towards Maya but she didn't back up.
Both Maya and Troy were surprised when Katy stepped in the middle of the two. "Troy, stop. Maya apologize and go shower." Katy still had Topangas threat of taking the girl away ringing in her ears.
Maya felt on uneven ground with her moms actions normally in the past she would let whatever guy rough her up just a little, and then come to say she was sorry after the guy passed out. Her eyes shifted from her moms face to Troy's. "I'm sorry that you are a deadbeat." With that she turned on her heel and stomped off to the bathroom. She could hear her mom trying to calm Troy down but didn't care.
Katy walked into her daughter's room after Maya had showered. "Hey, I want to talk to you about something."
"Troy?" Maya guessed as she climbed into bed.
Katy sat down on her daughter's bed. "Troy is a little down on his luck right now, and so he will be staying here for a little while." Katy told her, "Which will be nice because I can't keep this schedule and keep a roof over our heads. So I'm going to come drop you off at home, and then head back to work. So I'm gonna need a few things from you, baby girl."
"Like staying out of Tony's way?" Maya asked.
"This is your home too, you dont need to stay out of his way, baby. But don't pick a fight. I also need you to keep doing the things you know you are supposed to, like your homework." Katy told her.
"Yes ma'am." Maya said grudgingly. "Am I in trouble for tonight?"
"Katy!" Tony called from the living room.
"Be out in a sec!" Katy called back, she temporarily ignored Mayas question. "I also need us to keep this on the down low." Katy hedged.
Maya bit her lip, "You mean lie to Mr. And Mrs. Mathews?" She asked nervously.
"Well not lie, baby girl. Just don't bring it up, to Riley either." Katy told her.
"I don't know Mom," Maya said, uncertainly.
"Katy!" Tony shouted out.
"Please? I promise that we will keep our Mondays and Sundays, but we need to keep this on the down low. And if you dont tell them about me heading back to work, then we can let tonight go, please?"
Maya looked at her moms desperate face, and she heard Tony called her name aagain.She wasn't sure that she would be in real trouble for mouthing off to Tony, but she knew the Matthews would be displeased. "Okay, I won't say anything."
"Thank you!" Katy said, she grabbed her daughters face and kissed her nose before rushing out of the room. Maya stood up and locked her door and waited by it to see if she could hear anything.
Katy walked out and sat on Tony's lap, smiling. "What took so long?" He asked annoyed.
"I was just tucking her in." Katy told him.
"You spoil her too much, Tony told her. Driving around at all hours of the night to go get her."
Katy tried hard not to stiffen at the criticism. "She needed to go to the library for school, Troy. Now I'm gonna make myself some pasta. Do you want some?"
"What she needs is me to take my belt to her." Troy said firmly.
"She is just adjusting to a new situation." Katy told him, "Give her some time."
Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere with a gruff approach, Troy walked behind Katy and kissed the back of her neck. She relaxed into his embrace. "That's probably a good idea. Why don't I take you to work this week and then I can pick up Maya from school and her and I can spend the afternoons together."
Katy stiffened, "she likes to go over to Rileys house after school most days."
"She's never going to adjust if we don't make her." Tony told her.
"Okay," Katy conceded.
Maya tried hard not to cry as she crawled into bed, she wouldn't waste the emotion on those two goons.
--GMW--
"Hey dad?" Riley asked, as her parents crawled into bed to talk to her for a few moments.
"Yeah, Riley?" He asked.
"Is it okay if I just talk to Mom for tonight?"
Cory stiffened, "is it boys?"
Riley thought about that, "yes, but not my guy."
Cory kissed her forehead head before pointing at her, "you don't have a guy. Good night, honey."
"So what's up?" Topanga asked, brushing the hair from her daughter's face.
"When Maya's mom picked us up, there was a guy in the car with her." Riley told her.
Topanga tried to keep the frown off of her face, "Who?"
"His name is Tony. Maya didn't know him either, but she didn't seem happy about it." Riley told her.
"I will talk to Katy and see what's up." Topanga said.
"You and Daddy will keep her safe, right?" Riley asked.
"Yes, I promise that we will keep her safe." Topanga vowed. "Anything else?"
"That's all for now." Riley told her. Topanga stood up and kissed the girl, before pulling the covers around her.
She went out into the livingroom and found Cory watching TV, "What's going on?" Topanga filled him in on what Riley had said.
"All the more reason for her to have a phone we can throw a family tracker on." Cory said.
Topanaga looked at her husband and then pulled out her own phone. When Katy answered she put it on speaker.
"Hey, Topanga, is everything okay?" Katy asked, nervously.
"Yeah, Cory and I just had a few questions." Topanga started. "Riley said that you had a friend in the car when you picked up the girls?"
"Yeah, Troy. He is an old friend from back home. He is going to be staying with us for a while." Katy told her.
"How does Maya feel about that?" Cory asked.
They heard a scoff in the background on the otherside and knew that Troy must be listening in as well. "She is good, we talked about it tonight when I tucked her in." Katy told them. "Anything else?"
"Yeah we know things are a little tight over there, so we were wondering if we could add Maya to our family phone plan?" Topanga asked.
Katy laughed, "I wad just trying to figure out how to cut some expenses this morning, that would be great!"
"Perfect! Cory can take her after school tomorrow to get it all set up." Topanga told them.
"Actually, we were thinking that it's important for Troy and Maya to spend some time together, so he is going to be picking her up all this week from school." Katy said, ripping off the bandage.
"Friday then, when she spends the night." Topanga said firmly.
"She isn't going to be spending the night, she doesn't need to anymore." A male voice said.
"Troy..." Katy started.
But Topanga cut in, "Troy is it? You may not be aware of how things work, but there is a current routine in place here. If you would like to get to know Maya better, that's fine, and we can make some adjustments, but the Matthews family has custody of Maya on Friday and Saturday nights, we always have and it will take a lot more than you strolling into town to make that part change. She is here every morning for breakfast and at a minimum Friday and Saturday nights. Am I understood?"
There was a long pause on the other end. "That's fine Topanga," Katy said finally. She will be there for breakfast, and Friday for the phone works fine. I need to go..."
"See you Sunday, Katy." Topanga reminded.
"Yes see you sunday."
After she hung up both adults frowned at each other, "this isn't good."
"I will take Riley with me tomorrow to pick her out a phone and the case and stuff, and give it to her at school, the sooner she has it in her hands, the better I will feel."
"Agreed." Topanga said.
--GMW--
The next morning, Maya came in for breakfast and sat down next to her best friend. She could see the relief that crossed Rileys eyes upon seeing her, and pasted on a fake smile. "Monrning, Riles."
"Good morning Peaches!" Riley called back.
Topanga put a plate with eggs and toast in front of the girl, "Are you still swearing off bacon right now?"
Maya fought hard against the tears that burned her eyes and threatened to fall. Of course Topanga listened when she talked and knew what foods she currently wasn't eating. "Too greasy."
"You're too young to have to care about that stuff, Maya." Cory told her, as he reached for another slice.
"It's not like a calorie thing, it just sits heavy in my stomach all day." Maya explained.
Topanaga nodded, taking mental note of the words the 13 year old was using. "So Riley told me that you had a visitor last night..."
Mayas eyes locked with Topangas for a moment before she looked down at her plate, "My moms new boyfriend I guess."
"Is he nice?" Cory asked.
"I don't know. I didn't talk to him."
"That's rude." Auggie told her.
Maya blushed at the kindergartens unintentional reprimand. "I didn't do it in a rude way. He had music on in the car and then it was time for me to go to bed when we got home."
"What do you want to do after school today?" Riley asked her.
"I guess my mom wants me to bond with Troy, so he will be picking me up after school this week." Maya told her, trying to keep her voice light.
"Everyday?" Riley asked.
Maya bit into her eggs to keep from having to do anything more than nod.
"Alone?" Riley asked, anxiety brimmng in her voice.
"I talked to your mom last night, and you will still spend the weekend here." Topanga told her. Everyone watched Mayas shoulders relax. That was only three nights then, she could stay out of his way for 3 nights. As breakfast was dying down she asked her kids to go get their backpacks so they had a moment to talk to Maya.
Once alone Maya squirmed under the adults gaze. "Anything you want to tell us?"
"No ma'am."
Cory shook his head, "I'm not saying that you are lying, but you do remember that when you did lie to us, it didn't end well for you right?"
Maya stiffened at that, "I'm not lying."
Auggie and Riley came in with their bags. "Ready?" Riley asked.
"Ready," Maya confirmed, standing up. The girls left to catch the subway before they were late.
On the subway, Maya turned to Riley, "Riles, what do you do when one of your parents asks you to keep a secret from the other?"
"Like if my dad showed me my mom's birthday gift?" Riley asked.
"No, like if your mom did something that she knew would make your dad mad, and then she asked you not to tell your dad?"
"My parents have never done that." Riley told her.
"Never?!" Maya asked incredulously.
"No, why?"
"Just wondering." Maya lied.
Riley watched the battle of emotion play out on her friends face, "a safe adult doesn't ask you to lie to another safe adult, Maya."
Maya sighed heavily, "Just drop it, Riles."
"Maya..."
Maya reached out and took her hand. "I'm fine...everything is fine."