Six Months Later

"Topanga, you are going to make a beautiful bride," Rhiannon said, brushing her daughter's hair.

The past six months had flown by. With baby Josh making a speedy recovery, seemingly over night, he was cleared to go home with Topanga and Cory a few days later. A weight had been lifted off of their shoulders. Sure, they had to watch his every little step and monitor his breathing, but he was home with his parents.

That left Cory and Topanga to spend whatever time that was not devoted to school or Josh to focus on planning their wedding, which had came to ahead this morning. With the girls over at Angela and Rachel's apartment, Topanga, with her mother's assistance, got ready for her big day.

"Thanks, mom," Topanga said. "All I want is for this day to be absolutely perfect."

Storming into the apartment angrily, Shawn burst through the door carrying a diaper bag and baby Josh. "I hate him!" Shawn announced to the four women whilst tossing the bag onto the nearby counter. "He's a self-centered whining, demanding, miserable little boy."

"Shawn!" Topanga scolded. She jumped off her chair, disregarding her mother who has been working on styling it, and grabbed her son from his godfather. "I can't believe you would say that about him. He's just a baby."

"Josh has been great," Shawn explained. He had spent the whole day thus far with the kid and he seemed to cause no problems. Josh was the only bright part of the day it seemed. "It's his father that I have an issue with."

"What happened?" Angela asked.

"Babysit Josh. Get the tuxedos. Tie the cans to the car. Clip my toenails. I can't stand it. I'm his best man, not man's best friend," Shawn complained. When Shawn arrived at the Matthews' house this morning to help Cory get ready, Cory handed him a todo list and baby Josh. He understood that he was the best man, but he thought that meant spending the day with Cory rather than doing menial tasks for him. This was the last day they would be officially be Cory and Shawn.

"You did get the tuxes, right?" Topanga asked beginning to worry. She did not want to walk down the aisle and see Cory standing back at her wearing jeans and one of those printed t-shirts with a suit design on the front.

Shawn rolled his eyes. "You both deserve each other," Shawn commented. He grabbed Josh from Topanga and the diaper bag off the counter. "We have to get going. Cory has already called me five times with another job to do."

"Bye, Joshie. Mommy will see you soon," Topanga assured her son, before leaning over to Josh to kiss him goodbye.

Josh stayed silent as he sucked on his pacifier. He looked over at his mother and watched as she waved goodbye, then turning his head to watch his Uncle Shawn.

"He'll see you soon," Shawn said heading towards the door. Cory was going to kill him if he was late. Unless, Shawn killed Cory first. That was always a possibility.

In the elevator, Shawn looked down at Josh and said, "Your lucky you're staying with me while your parents are away during their honeymoon. You'll need someone to deprogram the Cory out of you." Josh, still sucking on his pacifier, wide eyed continued to look at Shawn. "And you do not even understand a word I'm saying. I must be going mad."

Meanwhile at the Matthews residence, Cory was pacing back and forth. He kept staring down at his watch watching as the seconds turned into minutes. Feeny and his parents were running around the house organizing and making the final arrangements.

"Where's my best man?" Cory asked aloud. Shawn was supposed to be back by now with Josh. They were running behind schedule and Shawn's absence only added to that.

"It shoulda been me!" Eric yelled across the room, bitterly. He felt betrayed when Cory announced Shawn as his best man. He was the older brother, therefore, by default, he felt he must be the best man, not just some regular old groomsmen.

"Eric! Not now!" Cory yelled back, continuing to pace. "They should have been back by now. He was just supposed to pick up the tuxedos, the cake, and the rings."

Eric leapt through the room and rushed to Cory's side. "Fire, Shawn. You know you want to," Eric whispered in his brother's ear, trying to act as Cory's inner conscious. "Fire him. Fire him now!"

Cory pushed Eric away. He walked towards the front door to open it, hoping to see Shawn nearby. "Why is my best friend sabotaging my wedding day?" Cory complained to anyone who would listen.

"So now I'm sabotaging your wedding day?" Shawn asked incredulously with Josh and a diaper bag in one hand and a cake box and shopping bag in the other. He truthfully did not understand how mothers could carry this much stuff around all day.

Ignoring his struggling friend, Cory noticed something was missing from Shawn's hands. "Where's the tuxedos?" Cory demanded.

Amy happened to come by to help relieve Shawn. She took her grandson and his diaper bag and went with him into the kitchen. Shawn then placed the cake on the side table and dropped the shopping bag onto the ground. "I don't have them yet," Shawn explained.

"What do you mean you don't have them yet?" Cory countered.

"It means exactly that. I don't have them yet," Shawn said trying to keep his cool. "I've spent the last hour tying cans to the Volvo while having to deal with a crying baby. My shirt is completely ruined from blood and throw up." After Shawn left the apartment, he went straight to work to do Cory's bidding. It just so happened that Josh, who had been quiet all day long, decided to get fussy. He was hungry and not eating the snacks Shawn tried to feed him. Even when he did eat, it came right up every time Shawn tried to burp him.

Cory, not at all sympathetic to Shawn's plight, stood confused. "We don't have a Volvo," Cory stated.

"What?" Shawn questioned. Then whose car did he tie cans to?

"Who's been tying cans to my car?" Feeny asked, entering the living room whilst carrying the stringed cans in his hands. Cory immediately took the cans from Feeny and pointed Shawn's way. Feeny grumbled and then headed back into the kitchen.

"This is just too much," Shawn said, rubbing his forehead. "Did it ever occur to you that today is the last day of us? Cory and Shawn? Shawn and Cory?"

Cory ignored Shawn and tried to move along with his day. "Did you pick up our tickets from the travel agent?" Cory asked, trying to busy himself.

"What's the matter with you?" Shawn asked. This was not like Cory at all.

"I don't want to talk about it," Cory replied.

Alan walked into the room sensing the tension. "Hey, guys, what's going on," he asked.

"I just want a best man who can do what he is told and Shawn has been disobeying me every step of the way," Cory complained to his father.

"If I'm so bad, then get a new one!" Shawn yelled, storming out of the Matthews' house. He was done. He had reached his breaking point. If Cory couldn't talk about their problems and kept throwing him under the bus, then what was the point of being his best man. Shawn turned around from the sidewalk, headed to the front door, and peaked his head inside. "And find a new babysitter for next week!"

Slamming the door, Shawn left.

Eric, who had been watching the scene unfold from the sidelines, had finally found his opening. "You know, with you officially in the market for a new best man, I'd like to offer you my card," Eric began. He pulled a business card from his shirt and handed it to Cory. "Eric Matthews, good looking guy by day and also night. And professional best man only seven months out of the year."

Cory had realized that Shawn was not coming back and with the wedding less than five hours away, someone needed to fill his shoes, even if that person was Eric. "If you can get the tuxedos, then you can be the best man," Cory said to Eric before heading upstairs.

Eric, now in control, had all the power. He ran around the house ordering people around, making last minute arrangements to the wedding, and doing Cory's bidding.

While Eric was on his power trip, Cory couldn't help but let the guilt set in. Had he really pushed his best friend away on one of the most important days of his life? Shawn had been with him through it all. He was even his son's godfather.

So when the Matthews' family arrived at venue and Cory took his place at the altar, the only person on his mind was Shawn, not his fiancée.

Topanga walked down the aisle in bliss. She was marrying her childhood sweetheart. No one could take that away from her. Her father handed her off to Cory as she took her place across from him. "This is the moment we've been waiting for all of our lives? What are you thinking?" Topanga asked.

"I can't believe Shawn's not here," Cory said. In every fantasy he'd had leading up to this day, Shawn was standing right by his side. He was disappointed as that didn't come true.

Topanga, who was too immersed in the ceremony and her own emotions, completely misheard Cory, thinking that he had said something completely different. "I love you too," she replied.

They turned to the priest as he began the ceremony. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the wedding of Myra and Harold," the priest opened with.

Cory and Topanga exchanged confused glances along with their family and friends. Eric who was responsible for the venue and abrupt change of plans dismissed this and urged them to continue on with the ceremony. It was already bad enough that he had forgot the rings, he didn't want to derail the wedding any further.

"I don't think you could do that without these," Shawn announced, walking into the ceremony holding the rings out for Cory to take. Eric breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shawn! I knew you'd come," Cory cheered, taking the rings once Shawn made it to the altar.

"You know I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Shawn said. For the last hour, he was debating whether or not to even show, but with the memories of over a decade worth of friendship and the rings staring back at him, he knew he couldn't abandon Cory today.

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier," Cory apologized. He knew he had taken it too far and felt that he had pushed too much which had caused Shawn to pull away.

"You should be. We'll talk about it after the ceremony," Shawn promised as he headed towards his set.

Cory cocked his head. "What do you mean I should be?"

"Well, Cor, you've been a jerk to me all day," Shawn explained.

"No, you were the one who's been trying to sabotage my wedding day," Cory argued.

"If I was trying to sabotage your wedding day I would have done this," Shawn said, pushing Cory into the priest. He thought Cory felt remorse for how he treated him, but he guessed wrong. "Have a nice life you jerk."

"You too, trailer trash," Cory commented, dusting himself off.

Shawn snapped at the insult. He lunged at Cory causing the two of them to fall to the ground while aimlessly throwing punches at each other. Topanga hung back, ashamed and embarrassed as how her wedding day decided to play out.

Jack and Alan left the crowd and tried to pry the two boys apart from one another while Eric went off to the sidelines with the priest bribing him with some money to cover his tracks.

Shawn was held up by Jack being restrained of any further movements. "He doesn't care that we're not going to be friends anymore!" Shawn yelled.

"Why do you keep bringing that up?" Cory asked, as Alan held him back.

"Cause you won't want to talk about it!" Shawn yelled back, teetering on the verge of tears.

"I don't want to talk about it! Why do you think I've been sending you everywhere?" Cory admitted.

"We have to talk about it!" Shawn insisted.

"I don't want to!" Cory complained.

"We have to!" Shawn argued.

Cory took a deep breath and shook himself free from his father. "Now?"

Jack released Shawn and sat back down in the audience as Shawn made his way to sit on the altar beside his friend. "Cory, after you get married things are going to be different now. You're gonna move on with your life, maybe have a few more kids, and I don't have many friends. I'm going to be left in the dust," Shawn said.

"I don't know what the future holds. But I do know you'll always be in my life. Why do you think I picked you to be Josh's godfather? Sure, I'm getting married, but that's just a piece of paper," Cory began.

"Hey!" Topanga interjected. The day that was supposed to be about her and Cory, somehow became a day about Cory and Shawn. Why did she except anything else. They were both going to pay if they didn't get the wedding back on schedule.

"One minute, darling," Cory said. "Shawn, you will always be my best friend. Nothing is going to change that." Cory patted Shawn on the back reassuringly. He wasn't ready to give up his friendship with Shawn just because he was marrying Tooanga. "Are you still able to watch Josh next week?"

"Yeah," Shawn laughed. Despite Cory's encouraging words, he knew it wasn't true. They were entering a new chapter in their lives and his spot as Cory's best friend was about to be replaced by another. "I would get back up there if I were you. Topanga looks like she might murder us both before the day is over."

"You give me your blessing?" Cory asked.

"Of course, I do," Shawn smiled. "Now get up there."

And so Shawn took his rightful place next to Cory and watched him and Topanga recite their vows to one another.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the priest began. "You may now kiss the bride." The crowd cheered as Cory and Topanga took their first kiss as a married couple. "I am pleased to present the new Mr. and Mrs. Harold Peterson!"

Even through all the confusion, Cory and Topanga walked down the aisle hand in hand headed to their reception, which appeared to be on a strict time limit according to Eric. They knew something wasn't right, but decided to let it go for the time being.

"I would like to make a toast," Shawn announced, clanking his glass with a fork. He raised his glass high in the air for all to see. "Cory and I have been best friends all our lives. And his wedding's been kinda hard for me today if you couldn't tell. Because I know that Cory and I aren't gonna be best friends forever. Things are changing between us. Things have always been changing. We've had to deal with life..." Shawn glanced over to Topanga holding Josh to acknowledge his godson. "And death...and Feeny. But no matter what we faced, we always faced it together. Deep down Cory and I both know that those days have passed and we're not gonna be best friends anymore. And that's the way it should be. So, this is to Topanga, Cory's wife…and new best friend. To Cory and Topanga."