"Back from the hardware store, are we?" Topanga asked, walking into the living room. By the extensive amount of shovels the were currently lining the walls of their home, she didn't even need to ask where Cory had been. His clothing choice practically screamed it.

Since he had come home from work, he had been pestering Topanga to drive down to Philadelphia to reclaim their old time capsule. Topanga advised against it. The week had just ended and between her job at the law firm and running the bakery, she wanted time to decompress.

Despite going against her wishes and disobeying her, Topanga had to admit that her dork of a husband looked adorable. He was like a child in his shovel shirt and matching headlight. She even tested it out by turning the light on and off from his head.

Topanga observed the shovels Cory had purchased. There were definitely more than enough for her and Cory, which led Topanga to realize that she may not be the only one he roped into this time capsule scheme. "Please tell me you didn't drag Shawn into this?" Topanga asked.

Shawn was often just as busy as they were. He was on the road a lot for his job and traveled during the weekends so he could see his family during the week. If Cory had pulled Shawn away from his job for this little adventure, he would be hearing an earful from her.

"I did not drag Shawn into this," Cory reiterated to reassure his wife. However, there was a banging on the front door which quickly became incessant.

"Who's that?" Topanga questioned, knowing very well who was the perpetrator. She just needed to hear it from Cory before she could strangle him.

"I think you know," Cory cheered.

"Will one of you get the door?!" Josh yelled from his room. He had been trying to take a nap since he had gotten home from school. This was one of the rare Friday's Josh didn't have a football game to attend because they had a week off built into their season. However, the nap he was craving proved to be unattainable in his household.

Luckily for Josh, the banging had stopped and Shawn burst through the door with a worried expression. "Topanga, you all right?" Shawn asked, rushing to Topanga's aid.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Shawn," Topanga said.

Shawn turned to Cory, who he had breezed by upon his entrance. He should have known it was Cory, why else would Cory have made it seem so urgent? "Oh, then it's Cory, oh my gosh, it's you." Shawn sighed trying to remain composed. He couldn't believe this was happening so soon. Shawn thought he and Cory had at least twenty to thirty more years together before either one of their health started declining. "All right. What do the doctors say? How long does he have to live?"

Topanga looked at her husband incredulously. What exactly did he tell Shawn to get him over here in such a rush. Cory turned away from Topanga guiltily. He wasn't proud of his actions, but in the moment they were necessary and proved to be effective.

"Not long," Topanga admitted. If Cory wasn't going to die, she would personally kill him herself.

"All right, buddy. We are gonna do everything we've ever dreamed of and whatever time you have left, we're gonna do everything. We're gonna go to your favourite restaurant, we're gonna take all the rolls," Shawn encouraged.

That suggestion sounded appealing to Cory. Maybe they could do that before they headed out to Philadelphia. "They want you to take the rolls," Cory added.

Shawn wrapped his arm around Cory and headed to the door for their roll extravaganza. He immediately noticed Cory's shovel collection right by the door and stopped in his tracks. "No!" Shawn exclaimed.

"Oh, it's okay, Shawn. I bought the shovels myself," Cory said trying to smooth it over.

"Cory, pay the money. Have the professionals dig," Shawn insisted.

"What's going on?" Josh asked, walking downstairs rubbing his eyes. So much for a nap, Josh thought.

"You guys haven't even told him?" Shawn asked. He was flattered Cory had come to him first with the news, but aside from himself and Topanga, the children needed to know what was going on. By the lack of communication coming from both Cory and Topanga in the present moment, Shawn decided to intervene for Josh's sake. He walked over to his godson and rested his hand on his shoulder to comfort the boy. "There is no easy way to tell you this, but your father is dying."

"What?" Josh questioned. Looking past Shawn and examining his father in his shovel outfit, Cory seemed the same as he had been earlier today. Although his attire was questionable at best.

"Shawn, he's fine. Everybody's fine," Topanga stepped in. This had gone too far and there was no way she would allow her son to be brought into this disillusion perpetrated by her husband.

"No. He's not fine," Shawn argued. He pulled out his phone and read his messages between him and Cory. "He called me over here, said it was a matter of life or death. He's not fine."

"I had to make sure you'd come," Cory smiled, trying to play off the situation. He knew it was an extreme measure, but he knew that if Shawn thought something was wrong, he would be over in a heartbeat.

"Nobody bye-bye?" Shawn asked.

"Everybody whoop-di-whoo!" Cory admitted laughing.

While Shawn was relieved Cory was alright, what could possibly cause this life or death situation? "Why am I here?" Shawn finally asked.

"Cory remembered the time capsule from high school. It's been fifteen years, he wants to drive to Philadelphia to dig it up," Topanga explained. It was crazy and if anyone could help her against Cory's crazy it would be Shawn.

"Oh, okay," Shawn said. He walked over to Cory's shovel display and picked one up to inspect.

"Whatcha doing with that shovel, buddy?" Cory asked.

"I was in Philadelphia!" Shawn yelled, running after Cory with the shovel in his hands.

Shawn had left for Philadelphia that morning for a work assignment and would be gone for the next two days. He was even crashing at the Matthews for the time being, but then Cory had texted him and brought him back to New York just to go back to Philly. To Shawn, Cory was a dead man walking.

"Topanga protect me!" Cory cried out, trying to escape Shawn who kept charging towards him.

"Josh!" Topanga ordered. There was no way she could handle both men on her own. She would take care of Cory and Josh would take on Shawn.

Josh ran after his uncle and tried to pry the shovel out of his hands. However, Shawn's tight grip had made it difficult to do so. Josh finally figured out where Maya had gotten it from. He should have figured Shawn would be the one to blame.

Stepping between the two, Topanga and Josh tried to calm down the boys. They were grown men running around like children.

"Are you boys going to behave yourselves?" Topanga asked. Cory and Shawn nodded. Shawn relinquished his hold over the shovel and gave it to Josh to be placed off to the side.

"So what's the plan?" Josh asked the three adults.

"Road trip!" Cory announced, walking into Topanga's with Shawn, Josh, and Topanga in tow.

After calming down back at the apartment, Cory had given an impassioned speech about the importance of the time capsule and why they needed to open it. He convinced Shawn, who had to head back to Philadelphia anyway, to join them along with Josh who had nothing else better to do. Topanga, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic.

"Who wants to go instead of me?" Topanga asked the room which primarily consisted of her daughter and her daughter's friends. Topanga had tried to get out of going on the excursion, but was denied multiple times. She had even used the children as an excuse, but Cory was convinced that Riley would want to tag along with them as Josh was already going. And Auggie was already at his friend Doy's house for a sleepover.

"I'll go. I'll do anything with anybody," Farkle volunteered.

"No deal. There's not enough room in the car for you and all your words," Cory said. Truthfully, the invitation was for family only, which applied to Riley and Maya out of the five kids. Cory leaned over to look at the metal box that sat in the middle of the students. "What's this here?"

"This is what we're putting in our time capsule," Lucas explained.

"Oh..." Cory smiled. He saw what the kids had put in and was disappointed. The objects seemed so shallow and held no deeper meaning. An orange ball, a buffalo nickel, a trophy, and a picture of some girl. "Nope. Not good enough."

"These things are important to us," Riley argued. Her father may not have seen the value in their time capsule, but Riley did.

"Why are there only four of them?" Topanga asked, by her calculations there were five kids to four objects. Something was not adding up.

"I'm not playing," Maya explained. She had nothing of importance to put in the time capsule, therefore she had no contribution.

"Oh, you're playing!" Cory exclaimed. No one just gets out of the time capsule. Everyone has to participate, that's what makes a time capsule so much fun. You get to relive the past, your glory days.

"Nice shovel shirt," Maya commented.

"They got plenty left," Cory said. If he would have known better, he would have gotten the rest of them matching shovel shirts. He had signed up for the year long membership at the hardware store after his purchases. They definitely would him a deal for the rest of the shirts.

"I don't see how," Maya teased.

"Do you want to add anything, Josh?" Riley asked her older brother.

"Nope," Josh said. This seemed like something that was strictly for Riley and her friends. Though he was close in age to her, he wasn't in her friend group. He was however on good terms with all of her friends.

"Shawn?" Katy questioned at the sight of her husband. She had been taking inventory in the back when they walked in and just noticed her husband's surprising arrival. Katy emerged from the counter to greet her husband who she last saw in the morning. "What are you doing back? I thought you were in Philadelphia for the next few days."

"Well, I was doing a story in Philadelphia," Shawn began. "That was until Cory had called me up and brought me to New York so we could go back to Philadelphia."

"So he calls and you follow?" Maya questioned her father. "And to think, I thought you were the one wearing the pants in your little relationship."

Shawn rolled his eyes at Maya's jab but dismissed it. He had been out on the road all day it seemed and missed his daughter. "Come here kiddo," Shawn instructed, pulling Maya in for a hug.

Maya hopped up from her chair and hugged her dad. He had left before she had even woken up that morning. She didn't even know he had an assignment until she saw the note on the refrigerator that morning.

"Come on! It's a chance to go back and see what time has taught us," Cory intervened. How come no one was as excited a he was? "Come on, it's our history. You and me, Feeny, Shawn and Angela."

Topanga's eyes widened at the mention of Angela. "Give me a shovel. No reason. Give me a shovel and your head," Topanga instructed, pulling Cory by the ear away from Shawn and Maya.

"Who's Angela?" Maya asked. In all the times she had heard about her father's past relationships, Angela was not one that she was familiar with. But why? Shawn told her everything about his past. Why exclude one detail that seemed important enough for Cory to reference today?

"Oh, you know. Someone who used to be in my life," Shawn played off. He gazed over at Katy, who reassured him that everything was going to be alright.

Shawn hadn't thought of Angela in years. The last time he probably thought about her was before Maya was born and he was still getting to know Katy better. They had discussed all their previous relationships during Katy's pregnancy, so it was only natural that Angela had come up. She was Shawn's only other serious relationship in his life and they had broken up a few mere months before he had met Katy.

His break up with Angela had wrecked him. It was unexpected and came out of the blue. She left him. It was a as simple as that. When he had started to fall for Katy, Cory had thought Katy was Shawn's rebound. But here they were almost fifteen years later since their first meeting.

"Do you miss her?" Farkle questioned. "I know I'd miss Riley and Maya if I didn't see them for a long time." Maya found a roll on the counter and chucked it at Farkle's head. Hitting him square in the temple, Farkle turned to Maya while Zay choked back laughter. "Do you ever miss?"

"Maya, all of a sudden, I think we should be going with them. Do you think we should go?" Riley asked. With this new sudden information and the apparent jealousy on Maya's face at the mention of one of Shawn's ex-girlfriends, she thought it was probably best they went with.

"We're going with you," Maya said.

"All right. Katy, if you want to close up shop early and come with us you are more than welcome to," Topanga offered. Katy had been her most loyal and valuable worker. She deserved some time off. Plus, it gave Topanga the opportunity to speak to someone that was actually levelheaded.

"I don't know..." Katy trailed off. If she kept working that would mean more hours and money coming into the household, but she wasn't strapped on cash. She had caught sight of Maya, who had been looking at her the entire time with doe eyes. Obviously the Angela thing had shaken her daughter up, but Maya was too proud to admit that. "Would it be alright if I go with you guys?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Shawn smiled, wrapping his arm around his wife. Maya relaxed slightly at her father's action. Why would she have to be worried about Angela? Her parents were happily married and nothing was getting in their way. Not even some girl from the past.

"All right, girls, grab a shovel," Topanga ordered. "Lord knows we have more than enough."

"We're digging up the past! Yay," Shawn cheered sarcastically.