Author's Note: Hi all! I have previously written a story for SwanQueen which I will be updating soon-ish. I have recently come up with new ideas, this one is close to being completed and will be set out in different chapters. If you have any notes on how you want the story to end, please leave a review. :)

CHAPTER ONE

Cory and Topanga. It just made sense, childhood sweethearts to a married couple in college. Now living in New York, neither realised just how complicated life was about to get for them.

"All I'm saying is that I never see you Topanga, you work long hours everyday, you are too tired to even hold a conversation with me and go straight to bed as soon as you get in the door!" Cory shouted out in a rage.

Topanga was enraged as well, standing a few feet apart in their crappy apartment.

"You know why I've been working long hours, Cory. It's for my job! For the career that I want!" She shouted before lowering her voice, "I thought you understood that."

Cory sighed, "well I did at first, I-I was never happy about it but we agreed it would only be for the first few months." He looked at her softy, "but it's been nine months, Topanga! I miss you.. us. It's like we don't even talk anymore."

"I miss you too, Cory. You know I do." She looked softly at him, "but I can't just stop going to the internship because of it." Cory scoffed and shook his head. "Cory…" She began.

Cory cut her off, "no Topanga. I get this is important to you, but I thought I was important to you as well."

Topanga opened her mouth to speak but he held his hand out to stop her.

"Don't. I need some space." Cory stated and walked towards the door, grabbing his coat along with his keys. He took one final glance at her teary eyes.

"Cory…" Topanga said, her voice thick with emotion.

He didn't stay though, he left a few seconds later, slamming the door shut behind him.

Topanga allowed herself to cry, collapsing to the floor as she did. She then glanced over at their wedding picture.

'This was not how our story was supposed to go…' she thought.

Cory took a deep breath as soon as the door closed. Had he really just left his wife?

He turned to face the door, he could hear Topanga crying her heart out and all he wanted to do was comfort her. But he couldn't.

With a sigh, he left the apartment building and headed towards a nearby bar he noticed when they first moved in months ago.

Opening the bar door, he took notice of a few customers, not many. Most appeared to be old.

'Maybe this isn't the best place to unwind…' Cory started to turn around when a voice called him.

"What can I get you?" A beautiful voice called behind him.

Cory turned around and came face to face with a lady behind the bar. She looked around his age, with long blonde hair, along with a smile that could make anyone buy the entire contents of the bar.

He walked over to the bar and leaned on it, "I'll take a beer." The lady seemed to study his facial expressions.

"I'll tell you what, I'll get you our house special." She stated turning around to make the drink.

"What makes it special?" Cory wondered.

She turned and flashed him a smile, "you'll find out." The barmaid turned back around and continued making his drink.

Cory hopped onto a bar stool next to him and awaited his drink. While he did, he paid close attention to the barmaid. He didn't know why but there was definitely something about her that infatuated him.

"Here you go!" She handed him the drink and watched as he smiled gratefully and took a sip.

"Wow, that's good. Strong, but good." Cory complimented taking another large sip. "Who came up with it?"

"You're looking at her." She said with a smile. Cory smiled back, he felt anything but nervous around her.

"So," she began, "what's your name sunshine?" She asked,

"Cory." He replied, "what's yours?"

"Katy."

Cory smiled, "that's a lovely name." Katy smiled even more.

'Was she not used to having compliments?' He wondered.

"What's your story, Cory?" She asked, wiping down the counter top.

He shrugged, "I had a falling out with my wife." Katy looked up at him at the mention of his wife.

"You want to talk about it?" She asked politely.

Cory furrowed his brows, "aren't you busy?"

"There's only three customers in here. They'll leave after they finish their drinks." She reassured.

The short haired brunette nodded but didn't say anything more.

"Do you want to go sit at a table? I can bring a bottle over." She offered, he nodded with a smile.

Katy went to fetch a cold bottle of wine with two glasses while Cory hopped off the stall and grabbed his drink, sitting down at an empty table nearby. The two older men sitting to the left of him made their way out, tilting their caps towards Katy who waved them off.

'They must be regulars', Cory thought as he drank his drink quicker than he normally would.

The blonde soon appeared again and took a seat beside him, placing the bottle and glasses on the table.

"Woah, slow down there. What's the rush?" Katy questioned rhetorically with a chuckle before filling both their wine glasses. "So, you were telling me about your wife." She began, passing Cory his glass and taking her own.

"Right, yeah." Cory cleared his throat. "What do you want to know?"

Katy shrugged, "when did you get married?" She asked, leaning on the back of the bar couch.

"We got engaged at graduation, from there we decided to get married in college…" he paused for a moment, "we regretted it for a while, especially me."

"Why?"

Cory sighed, "we had no money, no jobs, no dorm room. My parents didn't let us stay with them, neither did our friends. For a while we lost all hope for the future…" He trailed off.

"But you two were okay after?" Katy asked, taking a sip of her wine. Cory copied, instead taking a large gulp.

He shrugged, "we ended up getting a married couple's dorm room. It was awful when we first moved in… but, we ended up making it our own. Decorating it together, step by step." He finished, as he took his final gulp of wine. Katy leaned over and refilled his glass, "thanks."

"So, have you always lived in New York?" The blonde took another sip of her drink.

Cory shook his head, "we went to college in Philadelphia until she got an internship at the law firm here. She accepted the offer… we didn't even get to talk about it."

"If you had talked about it, do you think you would've stopped you both moving here?"

He thought for a moment, would he have done that? Stopped Topanga from living her dream?

"Cory?" Katy called.

He turned to face her, "hmm?"

"You okay?" She asked, rubbing his arm soothingly.

The action caused him to look down at her hand and then raised his gaze to look into her eyes. Something about this stranger intrigued him, was it the alcohol? He didn't know.

He suddenly began leaning in towards Katy until their lips touched softly, he noticed her sharp intake of breath as their lips touched. They began slowly moving softly against each other.

It felt seemingly as if the world had stopped, all they could focus on was each other. That was until Katy placed a hand on his chest, pushing him gently away.

"What's wrong?" Cory asked in confusion, still sitting close to Katy.

She fumbled with words for a moment until she sighed, "you're married, Cory. And I want this, I do but not if you don't. I don't want you to risk your marriage." He knew she was right in a thousand ways, but she was wrong in one way. To think he wouldn't want this.

The short haired brunette didn't say anything, he simply leaned forward and claimed her lips again. He felt her smile against them and they moved in sync until he pulled away at the end of their heavy make out session and caressed her cheek.

Katy pulled away, shyly smiled and began drinking the remaining contents of her wine, Cory followed suit.

They continued drinking the wine until the bottle was empty, Cory enticing the woman to talk more about her life. He took note she seemed surprised someone was taking an interest in her.

During their conversation, the customers were leaving one after the other until Katy and Cory were the only two left in the bar.

The blonde had just finished laughing at one of Cory's jokes when she looked around to find everyone gone.

"Oh," she began and looked back over at Cory, "what's the time?"

Cory turned his wrist to check his watch, "errr, it's midnight…" he trailed off. Katy's eyes widened before the pair started giggling again.

Their laughter came to an end when Katy placed her hand on Cory's thigh, he looked down at the hand before looking back up at the blonde.

"You want to get out of here?" Katy eagerly nodded and he stood from his seat and grabbed her hand.

"Wait, wait. Cory." He felt her stopping and turned to look at her. "I have to lock the place up." She finished with a chuckle.

He awkwardly smiled and asked if she needed any help.

"It shouldn't take long. I'm working tomorrow and they don't mind if I don't clean at the end of my shift." She explained, heading to the back to lock the doors and switch the lights off.

Cory waited patiently, looking around the bar at all the memorabilia. He wasn't sure how long passed before Katy reappeared.

"Ready?" She questioned, Cory turned around to find her smiling. He couldn't help but smile back and walked over to her, taking hold of her hand.

He waited a few seconds outside while she locked the door before connecting their hands again and letting her take the lead on the walk.

"Where are we going?" He asked as they walked hand in hand in the darkness.

"The hotel just down the street. I have a room there." She grinned at him, he grinned back with a laugh.

When they finally arrived at her hotel room, the only thought Cory had in the back of his mind was this was a terrible mistake. Little did he know, it would be his best mistake.

Thank you for reading! Let me know any thoughts you have on this chapter. Planning to post the next chapter very soon. :)