When they got on the subway, Riley started to pull out her bank. "What are you doing?" Maya hissed, looking around to make sure no one noticed.
"I was going to count our money." Riley told her.
"Why did you take these even?" Maya asked her, putting her hand on top of her friends and stuffing it back into her bag.
"Where can we go without money?" Riley asked.
Maya heard the fear of uncertainty mix with determination in her friends voice, and she immediately softened. "We are going to go to school, Riles."
Riley reached out and gently brushed her friends lip, "you don't look good, Maya."
"Gee, thanks," Maya said, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm serious." Riley told her.
"I know, but I'm staying with you for a few days, and we are going to come up with a plan to make sure everyone is okay." Maya told her.
"My dad…" Riley started.
"Was just upset, everything is fine, Riley." Maya told her. She watched all of the emotions play across Riley's face. "We will come up with a plan where everyone wins, but we can't do that if we skip the country."
A small smile tugged at Riley's lips, "Okay, we will figure this out together."
"I need you to listen to me, there is somewhere that I need to go, but I promise you that I will be at school by the end of the day." Maya told her.
"I don't want you going anywhere alone." Riley said stiffening.
"I know, but its important." Maya told her, she had just made up her mind about it as they were talking, and honestly if Riley pushed back too much, she was likely to cave.
"Why can't I go?" Riley asked.
"Because sometimes you gotta do things alone." Maya told her. Riley leaned into her friend and Maya leaned her head back, "besides your dad will be upset if you skip school."
"He will be upset if you skip to." Riley told her.
"I know, but its different." Maya told her.
"Maya, earlier he was just…" Riley started, pulling away.
"SHHH, Riles, everything will be okay." Maya assured, for what felt like the millionth time that week. She had no idea if it was true or not, but it eased Riley's anxiety, so she would say it a million more times if that's what was needed. When the metro stopped at their school stop, Maya pulled Riley close, "I will see you in a few hours." Last minute, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, handing it to Riley. "So they can't track me."
"Okay peaches." Riley said sadly before getting off. She didn't know if she was making the right choice, but at this point if she didn't trust Maya, then she didn't trust anyone.
When Riley walked through the door alone, Cory's already maxed out anxiety soared. "Where is your partner in crime?"
Riley shrugged, still angry with her father, "She said she had somewhere to be."
"Like an appointment?"
"She wouldn't say."
"Fine," Cory growled. He pulled out his phone to get Maya's location, but Riley pulled the phone out of her bag and sat it on her desk. "Why do you have that?"
"I don't know where she went, but I know she wanted to be alone." Riley said.
"Do you have any idea how unsafe that is?" Cory asked her.
When Riley gave up no more information after a few more minutes of questioning, he went out in the hall and called Topanga.
Maya got off at the next stop and switched subways. She didn't really have a game plan, but it was all her mind could think to do. All week she had stood as the calm to Riley's anxiety and the consistent to her mom and Troy's chaos and now she needed to find her own sense of those things.
She stood in front of the tall window filled building for a moment before going in. A good thing about being short was that she got swept up in a crowd easily. She found the floor she was looking for and joined a crowd headed to the elevators. When she got off she wasn't sure where to go from there though.
The receptionist smiled kindly at her. But Maya could see the confusion on her face, "Can I help you honey?"
"Uh…Maybe…" Maya said, slowly approaching the desk. She wasn't sure if this lady would let her back into the offices, and she didn't really have a plan if she got turned away.
The lady seemed to smile wider in an effort to put her at ease. "Do you know this is a law office?"
"Yes ma'am." Maya said softly.
"Okay, do you need a lawyer, usually your parents would be here with you for that, are your parents here honey?" The lady asked.
Topanga walked out of the main doors behind the desk just then, "Soph, my husband just called, I'm leaving for a family emergency, if anyone calls direct them to…" Her eyes fell on Maya. Maya was worried that she would be angry, but relief followed by warmth filled Topanga's eyes. She walked over to Maya and pulled her into a hug, "Will you still direct any calls of mine to Jenny, my family emergency came to me." She kissed the top of Maya's head.
"Yes ma'am." Sophie, the receptionist said. "Turns out you were in the exact right place, honey!" She told Maya, trying to get the girl to break a smile.
Topanga squeezed her tighter, "Almost, school with Riley and Cory would be the exact right place, but this is a close second." She smiled up at Sophie before breaking the hug. "Come on, let's go to my office, Gia should be by with the food cart soon, and we can go wild. Thank you for taking care of my girl, Sophie."
Topanga lead Maya down a few turns and up another elevator, there was no way the girl would have been able to find her way to Topanga without help. They were quiet on the walk, and Topanga watched Maya take in her surroundings.
When they got to her office, Topanga sat down on the couch, but she didn't pull Maya into her lap like she normally would have. She was willing to let Maya do the physical touch on her terms, "I'm going to call Cory, he was worried when you didn't show up at school."
Maya had her back to Topanga as she looked out the window behind her desk. "He's teaching right now." Maya told her, assuming he wouldn't answer the phone.
Topanga put the phone on speaker, so that Maya would feel at ease that she knew what was being said about her, and prayed both that Cory answered the phone and that he didn't say anything else stupid.
"Hey," Cory picked up on the second ring. "Did you leave work? I'm going to see if anyone can cover the rest of my day here."
"No, I haven't left…" Topanga started.
"She could be anywhere Topanga, what do you mean you haven't left yet?" Cory cut her off.
Maya turned around to see Topanga's eyes locked on her, "She could be anywhere Cory, but she's not. She is here at work with me. As I was leaving to go look for her, I spotted her at reception."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Can she hear me?" Cory finally asked.
"Yes," Topanga told him. She watched as Maya cautiously stepped closer.
"Maya?" Cory asked.
"Yes?" She was standing right in front of Topanga now, but she didn't reach out for her.
"First, I'm glad you are safe, Honey, I was worried this morning." Cory told her.
"I'm sorry." Maya said automatically, but everyone could tell by her tone that she wasn't.
"That brings me to my second, you and I have some things to work out from this morning, am I going to see you at home this afternoon so that we can do that?" Cory asked her.
Mayas eyes locked onto Topanga's, she was thrown off that Cory would even ask her that, she was sure they would both just demand her presence, but both quietly waited for her response. "I was planning to be at school by lunch." Maya told him.
"And after?" He asked.
Topanga was waiting for the girl to say that she wanted them around before she stepped in to take over. "It's Friday, so I figured after I would go to your home with Riley." Maya said.
That's all Topanga needed. "Cory, we have some stuff to talk about, and I was thinking of kicking off early today anyway since I haven't really seen our girl all week, really either of our girls, since Riley has locked herself away most of the week. Will you let the school know she will be out today, and tell Riley that we will pick her up around lunch please, we can have a girls afternoon?"
"Sounds good to me honey." Cory said. "Maya, I love you, and I'm glad that I will get to see you later."
Maya bit her lip and Topanga watched the war play across the girls face. "I'm sorry…" Maya said again.
"It's okay, honey, we will talk later." Cory told her. "Love you."
"Love you too," Topanga told him before hanging up. She leaned back into the couch and watched Maya. Maya turned and walked back over to Topanga's desk. She paused for a moment, "What?" Topanga asked. Maya picked up the picture frame that had a photo of her and Riley in the fourth grade talent show. Topanga nodded, standing up. She walked over to her bookshelf and pulled down a picture of all 5 of them at Luna Park in front of the cyclone, one of Maya at the science fair two years ago looking disgruntled by her project, one of Maya at 7 with both of her front teeth missing, and one of her and Auggie at the jersey shore from the summer before. Finally she pulled down a picture of both girls sitting on Cory's moms lap in the house that he had grown up in. She watched as Maya looked back over the pictures on the desk and the bookshelf. "What?" She asked again of the question that was running so loudly across the girls face.
"There are the same amount of pictures of all of us." Maya said finally.
"Well everyone but Cory, but I only had so much space." Topanga joked.
"Why?" Maya asked.
"For the same reason Cory made a point of calling home, home. Whether you like it or not, you are stuck with us." Topanga told her. She stepped closer so that she was in Maya's space, but stopped just short of total invasion.
Maya picked up the picture from Philadelphia, "Are you mad at me?"
"For what?" Topanga asked her. Maya shrugged, but still didn't look up at her. "If I ask you something will you answer me?"
"I will try." Maya told her, honestly.
"Why did you come here?" Topanga asked her.
Maya looked up at Topanga for a moment, and then looked back down at the desk, "It was the only place I could think to go that would be…." Maya trailed off as she tried to think of a single word that encompassed all that she felt. "I needed to feel like everything was calm. And that's you."
Topanga wanted desperately to pull the girl in for a hug, but she still didn't. "It's hard to be the calm, when I don't know the extent of the chaos."
There was a knock at the door and both turned as a young woman poked her head in. "Morning snack?"
"Yes, thank you!" Topanga said. She bent over and grabbed her purse from her bottom drawer. "Gia, this is Riley's best friend and essentially Cory and I's oldest child, Maya. Maya, this is Gia, she keeps us all happy with the snacks and coffee. Pick anything, Maya, I'm feeling indulgent."
"Can I get a coffee?" Maya asked.
"Not that indulgent. Do you have any other beverages Gia?"
Gia laughed, "I have bottled water, hot chocolate or any coke product."
"I will have a hot chocolate please, Maya water, Sprite or hot chocolate?"
"I will take a hot chocolate please." Maya told the lady.
"And two ham and cheese croissants, Gia." Topanga said. She pulled a twenty out, and exchanged it for the food and drinks.
After shutting the door, Topanga handed Maya her food and drink and sat back down on the couch, "Do you want to sit?" Maya was quick to shake her head no. Topanga sat her food and drink on the table next to her and leveled Maya with a look. It was time to get a little more serious. "Do you trust me?"
Maya also sat her food down on Topanga's desk. "I want to."
"Okay, how can we bridge this gap?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what can I do to help you trust me?" Topanga asked.
Maya bit her lip, "Like a deal?"
Topanga smiled, "That is normally what happens in this office, so I can't say that I will accept your terms, but I do want to hear them."
"What do you want?" Maya asked her, afraid of being tricked.
She wasn't sure what she was expecting from Topanga, but it wasn't the brightness that crossed her face, "Good job my future lawyer." Topanga paused while she really thought about what the most important things were. " I would like you to answer every question that I have, and I would like you to do that honestly."
Maya thought about that, "Are you going to spank me if you don't like what I say?"
Topanga tilted her head to the side, "I'm not sure, I'm leaning towards no, but I don't want to make you a promise that I can't keep."
Maya nodded at that. "I'm afraid of what you will do if I talk to you."
"You're afraid that you will be in trouble?"
Maya thought about that, "A little, but not really that. My mom…" Maya paused and looked down at the floor.
Topanga was trying hard to read between the lines, but she wasn't sure what the girl was wanting. "I need a little more, baby."
"My mom needs me home, and she needs a guy, and she needs to work." Maya said.
Topanga nodded. "Okay, and I hear all of that, and I'm going to ask you a very big question. What do you need Maya?"
Maya wasn't actually sure. Her mind raced with how to make what everyone needed work together. "I don't know yet."
"I appreciate the honesty. So what you need for me to promise you is that Cory and I are not going to take you from your mom, or try and kick out Troy?" Topanga tried.
"I think so." Maya told her.
"Can I have a hug? It's okay to say no." Topanga told her.
"Yes, but please don't make me sit in your lap." Maya said, walking over to Topanga.
"Did you get spanked at home?" Topanga asked. She stood, and leaned against the arm of the couch, and pulled Maya close, and kissed the top of the girls hair. She rocked gently with the girl in her arms.
"We didn't make a real deal." Maya whispered.
Topanga nodded, her arms still around the girl. "It's hard Maya because sometimes as an adult, we have to make hard choices to keep you guys safe, and there are some non negotiables. I need you to trust me, but I also need to make the hard choices so you don't have to."
"You haven't been though." Maya mumbled.
"What?" Topanga asked, her body stiffening.
Maya tensed too expecting Topanga to tell her not to sass. "Nothing."
Topanga forced herself to relax, she pulled away so she could look at Mayas face, "I'm not upset, I just didn't understand, can you help me?"
"Okay…just like normally you make me eat, and make me talk and you haven't been this week…" Maya urged her tears not to fall.
Topanga pulled her back in and thought about that for a moment. "You're right, in an effort to give you space while you were fighting through some adult problems, we gave you even more adult choices to make. That wasn't very fair of us, was it?"
"I'm sorry." Maya told her.
"No, Honey I'm sorry. Cory and I let you and Riley down here, and it's not an excuse, but no one gives you a guide to parenting, and this was a new experience for us all. If we promise to do better, can you try and forgive us, and give us another chance?" Topanga asked.
"I forgive you already." Maya said, squeezing a little harder.
Topanga kissed the top of her head again, "I love you, Maya. So now the hard part. I do not know what happened, so I cannot promise you that Cory and I won't have to take extreme measures, but I can promise you that Cory and I will discuss with you everything before it happens. And I can also promise you that one of our goals is that you and your mom have a good and healthy relationship. Even above that, our number one goal is for you to be happy, healthy and safe. Do you understand that?"
"Yes." Maya whispered, still unsure.
"Yes, what, Maya?" Topanga pressed, hoping to earn back a little more of the girls trust through consistency.
"Yes Ma'am."
"Can you answer some questions for me, now?"
"I can try." Maya said.
"That's all I can ask, grab your food. Come kneel at the coffee table with me." Topanga told her.
"Yes, Ma'am." Maya told her, going to grab her food. She knelt at the table and smiled as Topanga did the same in solidarity.
"So, did you get a spanking at your house?" Topanga asked again.
Maya titled her head to the side, "Yes?"
"Eat." Topanga ordered, taking a bite of her own. She waited for Maya to obey. "Was that hard to answer because you were spanked differently?"
Maya was starving after not eating for several days now. She nodded as she finished off her food. "Yes Ma'am."
"Can you tell me how it was different?" Maya tilted her head to the side considering that. The entire thing was different. "Can I see your bottom?"
"Bare?" Maya asked uncertainly.
Topanga looked sympathetically at the girl, "Yeah, unfortunately."
"Do I have a choice?" Maya asked.
Topanga had to think for a moment, she didn't want the girl to spook but she needed to assess the damage. "I can look now, or I can look at the end of the conversation, but I have to know what happened."
Maya nodded, she might as well get it over with she thought. She stood up and walked over to Topanga, who had moved to sitting on the couch. Topanga reached out and undid the button on the girls shorts and pulled the girl over her knees. She pulled the girls shorts down and tried hard not to gasp at the sight. "Maya, I'm going to touch your legs, okay?" She watched Mayas head bob slowly. She gently touched the welts on the girls legs. "Did he use a belt?"
"Yes ma'am."
Topanga gently eased the girls shorts up, she positioned Maya so that she was resting between her legs, taking care to make sure her bottom didn't touch anything. "Is this okay?" Maya nodded. "Was that all from one spanking?"
"No ma'am."
"How many my warrior?" Topanga asked, rocking them both.
"Three." Maya explained what had gone on that week. Topanga couldn't stop her tears at the week the girl had had. "Are you mad that I got in so much trouble?"
"No my sweet girl. None of that was your fault." Topanga assured her.
"So I'm not in trouble?" Maya asked.
"Trouble? No. But I want to talk to Cory, and then we will both probably talk to you and Riley about getting us all back on track tonight at bedtime." Topanga told her.
"And my mom?" Maya asked uncertainly.
Topanga reached up to dry her eyes, "Well, again I need to talk to Cory, and then your mom and Troy, probably when they come over for dinner Sunday. I don't want you alone with Troy anymore, so we will need to make a plan to make sure that doesn't happen, does that sound okay?"
"Okay enough." Maya told her.
Topanga smiled at that. She looked at her watch. "We need to leave to get Riley in an hour, anything you want to do?"
"You don't have to work?" Maya asked.
"Perks of being a higher up." Topanga told her.
"Can we just sit like this?" Maya asked, fully relaxing.
"Oh good, you and I want to do the exact same thing."