Part One of Two.

Riley Matthews is tired.

She's tired of sharing beautiful, warm, butterfly-inducing moments with Lucas and having to feel guilty immediately afterward. She's tired of going about her day, just doing whatever it takes to get through, and turning the corner to find him sharing mirrors of those moments with Maya.

It would hurt no matter who it was, but she thinks it probably hurts more because it's Maya. Because Maya deserves every happiness in the world. Because Maya is her best friend and practically her sister so who is Riley to be getting in the way of that and potentially taking it away or to protest Maya finally knowing what she wants and actually being willing to try and get it? Because Maya is her best friend and practically her sister so who is she to decide that what she wants is the very same thing that Riley has?

OK. So Lucas wasn't hers. But they had something. Something that was real and mutual, and yes, Riley got scared and pulled back a little and she can own her responsibility there but she knows roughly when Maya figured out her feelings for Lucas and it was almost certainly when Riley and him were still close and in their unofficial bliss. It hurts that Maya would do that to her. And she can't say anything because Maya has every right to feel how she feels, and now Maya has every right to act how she wants to with Lucas.

After all, Riley got scared.

She also can't say anything because normally if something is bothering her, Maya is who she talks about it with. But she can't go to Maya when Maya is part of the problem. She can't risk their friendship like that. Just like she can't risk their friendship by fighting too much for Lucas even though every beat of her heart when she's with him tells her that she needs to.

So when graduation comes and goes and nothing changes except what school they go to, Riley Matthews is tired.

And as always, when she ventures outside the confines of her bedroom, she has to pretend that everything is fine.

Like now, as they gather at Farkle's to help him plan a small birthday party for Smackle. Well...she's helping him plan a small birthday party for Smackle. Zay is enjoying the experience of massacring zombies on a literal wall of high def televisions, Maya has ensconced herself in the replica of her room and gotten caught up in sketching something, and Lucas is rotating among them all.

"I'm sure my mom would be happy to let you use the bakery." Riley says, jotting down a few notes on her pad of paper. They've been brainstorming and making all sorts of decisions for a few hours now. The party is shaping up nicely and Riley's enjoying the distraction. "Or there's always the roof at our building since it'll be the end of June and really nice out."

Farkle shakes his head. "I think Izzy would rather be inside."

"Then the bakery it is."

"Great. So, you'll talk to your mom about that, and I'll put together the final guest list." Farkle runs down the list that he's been making. "We've got music and decorations figured out, if we're at the bakery that'll probably take care of food..."

"Speaking of which, how about we table the rest of this until we get some lunch?" Riley suggests, setting down her notepad. Farkle's stomach rumbles before she can even finish the question and she laughs. "I don't know about you, but I could really go for some pizza."

Zay pauses his video game and turns in his seat. "Did I just hear someone suggest pizza?"

"Yeah, we're thinking about taking a lunch break."

"I'm in." Zay turns back to the game and sets to work saving his progress. "Lets go."

Riley gets to her feet. "I'll grab Maya and Lucas." She doesn't give it a second thought, even as she's walking back to the hidden room. Her mind has been everywhere else all morning, visiting a happier place that doesn't have any of the drama she's been so desperately trying to ignore and wish away. She's been focusing on making Farkle and Smackle happy and it's made a nice change of pace that she's more than willing to hang onto.

Then she gets to Farkle's Maya room and the peace it took all morning to build comes crashing back down in barely two seconds. Maya's on the floor, sitting underneath the arch of twinkle lights. Her sketchpad is in hand, but her focus is less on drawing and more on the hand Lucas is using to brush her hair away from her face. They're both smiling and so caught up in their conversation that they don't even notice her in the door frame.

Riley doesn't know long she stands there, barely able to breathe. They look so happy. Is Lucas ever that happy and comfortable when he's with her? She knows how she feels with him and how he looks but is it ever really like that? He's looking at Maya like she hung the moon and suddenly Riley's wondering if she's imagined all the times he's looked at her like that. Because how can you possibly feel that way about two people at the same time?

"Hey, let's hurry it up! Didn't Riley tell you guys?"

Riley nearly jumps at Zay's sudden presence behind her. She presses her lips firmly together, clenches her jaw and one deep breath later, she manages to draw half a smile on her face. "I hadn't had the chance yet." It takes everything she has not to wince at how forced and weak her voice sounds.

"Oh. Well we're going to get pizza. So if you two lovebirds could pry yourselves off of each other we can get going."

Riley doesn't even have to turn around to know that Zay is smiling as he talks. Which is why she can't talk to him about any of this. They're not that close to begin with, but even if they were, he's always made it super clear that he thinks Maya and Lucas are perfect for each other. He might not say it directly to her face in those words, but his comments and actions make it clear enough.

Lucas and Maya at least have the good sense to pull apart at Zay's comment, and as they stand they blush and avoid everyone's eyes but the damage has already been done and they know it. The air hangs heavy and thick around all of them and nobody makes a move.

After a moment, Zay seems to realize his mistake and he claps a hand down on Riley's shoulder. "I didn't mean it like that, Sugar. I just meant that-,"

"What exactly is taking so long to say we're going to get pizza?" Farkle's approach cuts Zay off, but he takes in the temperature of the room much quicker and the smiles drops off his face. His eyes go back and forth between Riley and the pair of Maya and Lucas. He sighs. "What happened this time?"

The frustration and dejection in his voice is another punch to Riley's gut. Everyone else is tired of dealing with her drama too. She wouldn't be surprised if she provides an explanation and they all tell her she should have just been looking elsewhere if it bothers her because this is the situation she created. Thankfully, she's spared having to answer by her phone chiming in her pocket, and Riley pulls it out.

It's just an alert from one of her apps, but she thumbs it open anyways and quickly makes the decision to lie. She's not hungry anymore, and her good mood is gone. All she wants to do is crawl back into her room where she doesn't have to pretend that she's not tired. "Looks like you guys will have to go without me. My dad got called into some kind of emergency faculty meeting and he needs me home to watch Auggie."

"Oh, OK." Maya is the first to smile and nod. "Next time, then."

"Yeah, sure." Riley turns to Farkle in order to avoid dealing with any other comments or questions. "Call me later if you need anymore help planning. I'll ask my mom about using the bakery." She says her goodbyes and retreats as quickly as she possibly can.

She's so tired and the last thing she needs or wants is for everyone there to see that.

Instead she goes back out to Farkle's room and gathers her things. She pokes her head into the study on her way out to thank Farkle's mom for having them over. A moment later she's almost to the elevator that will take her back down to the building's lobby and she regrets her decision to be a polite guest because Farkle catches up with her before she can step in, and he has the look on his face.

"Riley, are you OK?"

"Of course." She smiles thinly, running a hand through her hair and then crossing her arms over her chest. What's one more lie among friends? "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you just saw Lucas and Maya sharing some kind of moment. And you love him. And then Zay made his comment and-"

Riley cuts him off, laughing nervously. "And I don't need the play by play. I was there."

"That's why I know you're upset. That's why you're leaving."

"No, I'm leaving because my dad got called into work and someone needs to watch Auggie."

"Riley stop lying. Friends don't lie to each other."

Farkle doesn't even try to hide the frustration across his face and Riley can't believe it. How can he understand the situation enough to know that she's hurting, but not understand that she needs to protect herself at some point, and that leaving is the only way she can do that? It's not like she can talk it through with him. She remembers all too well where that got her last time and she has absolutely no interest in going through another round. "No, friends just make things harder by blurting out other friend's secrets in front of their entire class." She bites out before she can stop herself.

They never talked about what happened on New Years, but she hasn't trusted him the same way. How could she? But she's refused to say anything and cause even more trouble.

Maybe being this tired makes you say the things you normally fight to keep to yourself.

"I was just doing what-,"

"You thought was best." She finishes for him. "I know. Only I don't know if you noticed, but it didn't actually fix anything. Things are worse now. And I'm really tired of everyone else getting to decide what's best when it's my life." She turns and steps into the elevator. "So if you don't mind, I'm going to do what's best for me and leave now." Riley presses the button for the lobby. If Farkle has a response, it's lost to the closing of the doors.

Riley Matthews is tired.

She's tired of feeling like the interloping guest her own apartment. She's tired of feeling like all she is to her dad is another student and that her relationship with him gets checked at the doors of the school. She's tired of everything and everyone being more important to her mom than she is.

She doesn't expect much when he gets home from Farkle's earlier than planned, and in the time it takes her to take the subway back to her neighborhood she finds herself getting more riled up over everything, from the triangle with Lucas and Maya, to Farkle's interference, to the lack of genuine support and someone to turn to. When Riley pushes opens the door to the apartment she thinks, in an admittedly uncharitable and bitter fashion, that it will be a miracle if anyone even notices that she's home.

So it's surprising that the first thing she hears upon entering her home is her dad's voice. "Riley! I thought you were over at Farkle's today. What happened?"

"I got a headache and wanted to lie down for a bit." Riley knows that lying to her dad makes it actually impossible for him to help; it's hard for someone to get involved when they don't know what's going on. But she also knows roughly how things will go if she explains what happened. Her dad will get a vaguely sick, uncomfortable look on his face at thought of anything to do with her feelings for a boy and then he might pat her on the shoulder and tell her that 'honesty's important' and 'these things take time'. And if it still didn't seem like she was feeling better after that he'd probably find an excuse to leave. That's how the conversation always goes and she's tired of trying and hoping for a different outcome.

"Take something first and try and fall asleep." Her dad advises. He's moving in a frenzy around the living room, searching for something. "I always feel better after a good nap."

Riley nods in agreement. What else is there to say? Saying more would just risk the lie, not that he's given anything she says a second thought lately.

Her dad finally picks up two slips of paper from the mess of magazines on the coffee table, grinning triumphantly. "Ha! OK, hon. I'm gonna go surprise Auggie and pick him up from day camp early to go to the Mets/Phillies game. Your mom is working from her home office today if you need anything, but try and get some rest to feel better!" He leaves the apartment in a whirlwind, placing a Phillies cap on his head and kissing her cheek before exiting.

Riley's too tired to react.

There was a time when she would have been a part of her dad's plans, either conspiring with him to surprise Auggie, or getting surprised alongside him. Maybe even being the only one her dad was bringing to the game. They used to do a lot of father-daughter things like that. Then middle school happened. She asked for a little space to grow and blossom and suddenly she was no longer Daddy's Little Girl. It feels like she can count on ten fingers the number of real conversations they've had outside of the classroom in the past year.

It's no big shock that she's not a part of these plans now. It hurts, the same way it hurts every time her dad brushes her off, but it's not unexpected.

Riley heads back to her room, deciding to forgo poking her head into her mom's office and risking that disappointing conversation. Instead she closes her bedroom door, draws her curtains, turns some music on, and throws herself onto her bed. She closes her eyes, but doesn't fall asleep, just loses track of the time as her mind once again circles around everything that's happened.

She doesn't want to give up. On Lucas, or Maya, or any of her friends. She knows, no matter what everyone else seems to think, that her feelings for Lucas are real, and she really does think that their connection is there and mutual. Not something that she's been imagining all this time. She thinks that she and Maya could go back to having a friendship just as strong as her dad and Shawn's if only they could get past this. If only she could understand what has been going through Maya's heart. If only she could understand better what Lucas thinks about her and about Maya. And if all of that could come back together it would so much easier to forgive Farkle, or to let go of everything with her parents…

Riley doesn't want to give up. She's just not sure how to keep going either.

She doesn't know exactly how much time has passed when she hears someone enter through the bay window, only that it's been well over an hour since she got home, and that she doesn't really care who it is. The only people that come in through the window are all involved, and she's not sure that she wants to see any of them right now.

She doesn't bother to roll over and face the window.

"Riley?" The person speaks softly. Riley closes her eyes and takes a deep, steadying breath when she recognizes their voice. It's Lucas. Because of course it is. "Are you awake?"

Riley counts to three under her breath before she answers. "Yeah." She sits up, drawing on all of her energy to be smiley and strong. She can only imagine why he's come over now when he's supposed to still be hanging out with everyone else and he's supposed to think that she's babysitting her brother. Maybe the moment she had seen between him and Maya was the moment—the one where he realized exactly who it was he wanted. Maybe he thought if he broke the news to her now when she was alone and meant to be busy then there wouldn't be much of a scene. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be hanging out with the others?"

"I wanted to see you." Lucas answers, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the bed. "You were so busy helping Farkle plan Smackle's birthday, it felt like we barely got to say hi to each other."

Riley hates herself a little for how quickly some of her defenses fall when he speaks. It's not fair that all he has to do is flash that smile or say a few nice things and it sends her right back to being a happy, little dope. How is she supposed to control herself or handle everything that happens when he has the power to make her feel like this without even trying? "We both had other things to do I guess."

"I hate that it's like this now."

"Me too."

Everything's warm and fuzzy and for a moment Riley forgets that the world isn't just her and Lucas and that they're part of a bigger mess. For a moment Riley feels special again. Then Lucas reaches over to brush a strand of hair away from her face and the floor falls out from under her once more.

What had she just seen him do with Maya?

She's not special. He just has to even things out.

Riley pulls away from his hand, scooting back a touch on the bed, and allowing her smile to fall off. "What are you doing here, Lucas?"

"I just told you, I wanted to see you." Lucas frowns. "You kept yourself busy helping Farkle this morning and then you left so quickly...Riley, I know your dad didn't call to have you come watch Auggie. I saw your face when after you saw me and Maya and I just thought that-,"

"Of course." It always comes back to that. The perpetual balancing of the scales. Her stomach had started to roll a little when she realized that she had seen him brush Maya's hair away from her face in the same tender manner only a few hours earlier. The churning is swiftly turning into an angry bubble that she doesn't even try to contain. If she had been too tired to contain her sarcasm with Farkle, that feeling had nothing on her frustration now. How dare he make her feel like this? Again. "Get out."

The frown turns to actual shock. Riley remembers a similar journey of expressions crossing his face in Texas and how much it had hurt to cause him that pain, but now it barely chips into her resolve. "What?"

"Get out." She repeats, a bit firmer. A bit louder. "I don't want you here. You need to leave."

"What did I do?"

"You came here!" Riley explodes, leaping to her feet. She crosses the room towards her vanity. Anything to put some distance between them. "And you only did it because I caught you with Maya earlier! You just admitted it."

Lucas follows her lead, getting off of the bed. "That's not what I meant. I just thought that-,"

"You thought that you needed to keep things even. That somehow that will make everything OK." Riley spins on her heels, glaring. Any pretext of a calm or a measured discussion is officially gone because all she can see is the burning white hot light of every single feeling she's been swallowing down for months."Well, newsflash Lucas! It doesn't! I am so sick of being trapped on this ridiculous see-saw with Maya, always wondering if you're being nice to me because you're genuinely feeling like it and want to be or because you just think you need to because you were nice to her. It is exhausting and-and crappy and I am so tired of smiling my way through it and telling everyone that it's all going to be fine and work out the way it's supposed to and pretend that it doesn't kill me every time I see the way you look at her or I see her face when you say something nice to me when all I really want to do is slap you for putting all of us through this just because you can't figure out what it is that you want!"

She finishes, nearly panting with the exertion of her rant. In the silence that follows, she revels a little in the rush of letting things out, enjoys the moment of righteous anger more than she ever thought possible. Then Riley sees Lucas' flat, tired expression that so perfectly matches how she's been feeling.

"What if..." Lucas hesitates and for a brief second Riley could swear that he's going to bite his lip. "What if I know what I want, I just don't want to hurt someone else?"

"Then that's even worse." Riley crosses her arms over her chest. She fights to cling to every last bit of rage for how fast the adrenaline fades and reality starts setting back in. "I want you out, Lucas. Now."

"But-,"

"Out!"

Lucas sighs and shakes his head, but to Riley's relief he exits through the bay window without another word.

He barely gets out onto the fire escape before the door to her room swings open, and her mom enters, concerned. "Riley? What in the world is going on? I heard shouting."

"I was just asking Lucas to leave. We had a...disagreement." As with her dad, Riley has a hard time bringing herself to tell her mom the whole story. It's not that she doesn't want her help or advice—she desperately wishes she could find the bond with her mom that it feels like she's missing—but, as with her dad, she has a good idea of how the conversation will go. She's not going to put herself through that if she can help it. Even if just standing here in the aftermath of yelling at Lucas it's starting to feel like she's just ruined everything all over again and all she wants is for someone to tell her that even if she has it will be OK.

That's supposed to be a mother's job.

Her mom frowns and steps into the room. "What do the two of you have to fight about?" Riley's just never sure if it's her mother's job anymore. How can her mom really not have a clue? She might not have been talking to her as much in the last couple of weeks, but it's not like they've never spoken about the situation with Maya and Lucas. Her mom should know how worried Riley has been about all of it. "The last I heard, the two of you were getting close again."

"We haven't been close since Texas." Riley shakes her head and takes a seat in the bay window; she doesn't have it in her to do this standing. "Where did you even hear that?"

"Well, Maya's come to me a few times when she's upset and she said that-," Her mom seems to realize exactly what it is that she's said and at least has the grace to soften her gaze as she steps into the room. "Then again, maybe I was only getting her part of the story when I spoke with her." She walks in and sits next to Riley. "What do you think has been going on?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to think anymore. I haven't for a long time." Riley admits, and after a moment's hesitation she starts to talk about some of the more recent events and constantly feeling like she's just been one half of a scale. She's not made of stone after all; as much as she doesn't want to put herself through any more hurt today, her mom is finally sitting next to her, asking to hear her side of things and how she's feeling. Riley can't ignore the dangling bit of hope. Not when it's the conversation she's been longing for so desperately. Not when she's felt so alone for so long.

She talks about feeling like she has had no one, between Maya's involvement and Farkle's betrayal, and then Riley talks about how miserable it's been, being stuck wondering what's real and what's part of 'keeping things even', and how now, apparently, she has to wonder about all of it all over again because according to Lucas, he's known all along who he wants to be with he just doesn't want to hurt the other person…

Because she gets on a roll and is enjoying the moment of actually holding her mom's attention, Riley even takes what she considers to be the big leap, and starts to tell her mom how it's felt like she doesn't come first for anyone. Riley realizes a sentence or two in that, once again, she's been reading the situation wrong.

Her mom's phone rings, and when she pulls it out of her pocket to see who it is, Riley sees Maya's face smiling back up at her while her parents—Riley's parents—kiss her cheeks from either side. Riley recognizes the picture instantly, as one her mom had asked her to take at the rooftop graduation party, and she's not at all surprised to learn that her mom has made it Maya's caller ID picture, nor is she surprised to see the broad smile that crosses her mom's face when she sees it.

She is shocked that her mom doesn't even hesitate to answer the call. "Maya, my love, how are you?" Riley can't hear Maya's response through the receiver, but she doesn't have to. She knows exactly how this will play out now. Her mom frowns and gets up, starting to walk out of the room. "Well, what happened? Why would he just abandon you like that?" Halfway out the door, she turns back, covering the receiver with one hand. "We can finish this later, right Riley? Maya really needs someone to talk to."

Riley is too stunned to even nod.

She shouldn't be surprised. Her mother has always loved Maya, and this has been the way of things for a long time, with her mom choosing to take care of Maya first as though she's her daughter and Riley is just the best friend who comes over all the time, but somehow it still stings. For a moment it felt like she was getting through to her and maybe they would get to have a serious conversation and things would change but now she knows, just like everything else, it was only a fantasy. A stupid, unrealistic notion she came up with when her heart got going ahead of her brain.

There was never going to be a breakthrough with her mom. Her mom hadn't even been listening. How could she have been? How could a mother hear her daughter say that she felt like a second choice in her own home, and still decide to go talk to someone else and make them a priority?

The bedroom door closes behind her mom and Riley's shock gives way rapidly to anger.

She can't keep going through this. The endless cycle of opening herself up to person after person only to be told or shown that what she's feeling isn't important. That she's not important.

Just once, she wants someone to look at her and realize that she needs some actual support. Just once, she wants someone to listen to her and have a conversation that doesn't bring up how great anyone else is. Just once, she wants to have someone go to bat for her—not the group—her.

Riley doesn't think that's really too much to ask. Only apparently to everyone around her, it is.

So Riley arranges her pillows underneath her blankets, gathers a few things and shoves them into her backpack, and leaves the apartment down the fire escape.

She's doesn't know where it is she's going, not yet. All she knows is she's too tired to stay.

"So at the time I was really into my art, you know, working on a performance piece that demonstrated the futility of trying to sell a truly original screenplay about a divorced college professor on his journey of self-discovery to a Hollywood that's obsessed with seeing the same Woody Allen movie get made over and over, but my girlfriend just didn't get it. She insisted that I was-,"

It takes every ounce of Morgan Matthews' self control to merely tune out the droning, pretentious drivel coming out of her date's mouth and not push herself away from the table and run out of the restaurant screaming. The guy, a friend of a friend of a friend, is good looking with a solid job, which had been enough to get Morgan agree to the setup in the first place, given how quiet her love life has been lately. She never would have considered it if anyone had said a word about how terrible and pompous his personality was.

Instead of listening to his third rant on how creative he is and how horrible his exes have been for not supporting his 'art' (and she's stopped trying to hide the fact that she's rolling her eyes whenever he calls it that) Morgan is eating her pasta and plotting revenge on the so-called friend who thought this was someone that she actually would get along with or even deserved to be exposed to.

He actually had the nerve to try and order for her.

The entire night—her one night off a week, mind you—has been an exercise in patience and restraint and Morgan has never been happier to have her phone ring in the middle of a date. When she checks the display and sees her niece's beautiful smile, a lie forms easily on her lips and she doesn't hesitate to interrupt her companion.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this." She's not sorry at all. "It's my niece, and she usually only texts so if she's calling it might be something really important." Morgan doesn't wait for him to acknowledge the excuse, nor does she try to hide the fact that she's taking her purse with her as she walks away from the table to take the call away from the dining room so she won't disturb anyone else. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She greets, thumbing open the call as she reaches the foyer. "Riley, you have amazing timing. You're my favorite relative and it will be reflected in your birthday present. What do you want? Cash? Clothes? Makeup? Show tickets? Name it, it's yours."

Morgan passes her waitress on her way out (and passes the woman some cash because she has zero confidence that her date will leave an appropriate tip, particularly once he realizes that he's been ditched) and doesn't receive a response from Riley until she's out in the parking lot.

"Can you come pick me up?"

"Well I can, but it'll take me a while to get to New York." Morgan crosses the parking lot to her car, ever grateful that her rule for blind dates is that they meet at the location (much safer, and better for escaping the awkward or non-existent connections) "Is there something more immediate I can-"

"I'm not in New York."

When Riley cuts her off, Morgan stops in her tracks. It occurs to her that her niece's voice is quiet, flat, and shaky in a way that can't quite be attributed to a bad cell connection, and that was so busy expressing her gratitude to get away from that horrible date that she hadn't actually gotten the reason for Riley's call. "Where are you then?"

"Um...The train station. In Wells."

"Wells? As in Maine?" Morgan sputters. "As in where I live?" Technically, it's the town next to the town where she lives but in the grand scheme of Maine, it's close enough. And in any case none of the towns in Maine are anywhere near where Riley is supposed to be as far as Morgan knows. "Did I forget you were coming to visit?"

"Not exactly." A beat passes. "It was a...spur of the moment decision."

"Are you OK? You're not hurt or something are you?"

"No. Not hurt or anything, just...tired." Riley sighs. "So can you come get me?"

Morgan glances towards the road, the main street that cuts through the center of the town of Ogunquit and take her right to the Wells train station where apparently her niece is waiting. The traffic is bumper to bumper, crawling at an almost glacial pace; a coastal town in Maine in the height of tourist season isn't exactly the place to live if you want to get anywhere quickly.

At least Riley made her spontaneous little trip on a Monday, when the theater is dark and Morgan can actually answer her phone.

"It'll take me a little while to get there. Traffic's not so great this time of day." Morgan tells Riley to stay on the platform at the train station and after checking with her one more time that she's really OK, she hangs up the phone and starts the trip, thinking things over all the while.

She just can't figure out what's going on, or why Riley has suddenly decided to visit her.

With anyone else, Morgan would say that calling the trip a 'spontaneous decision' is teenager code for running away, but she knows her niece. Riley is not the sort of kid that would consider running away from home, even to her neighbor's apartment, let alone getting on a train and crossing multiple state lines. But she also knows her brother and sister-in-law. They wouldn't just send Riley her way without so much as a phone call. Morgan's not sure which option worries her more but when she reaches the train station some 45 minutes later (about half an hour longer than it would normally take her) and she finds Riley sitting on one of the benches, backpack at her feet and staring at her hands in her lap, Morgan realizes that whatever is going on, Cory and Topanga can't possibly know about it.

Riley is obviously devastated and broken over something and Morgan can't imagine a scenario where her brother would see that and not do anything about it.

"Oh my gosh, you actually ran away." Morgan says, rushing from her car up to the train platform. "Ri Ri, what happened? Are you OK?" She sits next to her niece on the bench and pulls her into a close hug. The ferocity with which Riley returns the hug and starts to sniffle into her shoulder are just one more warning flag for Morgan; Riley has always been a hugger, but never to the point of desperation. Or pain. When did the little pint-sized girl learn to squeeze like this? Morgan lets her linger for a minute and sap comfort but eventually her curiosity, and the growing pain around her ribs, get the better of her, and Morgan attempts to disengage. "OK, Ri Ri, I'm not gonna be able to help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. What in the world would make you run away from home?"

"I'm just...really tired, Aunt Mo Mo." Riley pulls away, wiping the tears from her face.

"Yeah, I'll bet. That's a seven hour train ride you just took." Morgan, able to recognize a deflection when she hears one, is fairly confident that she won't get answers about the specific reasons for this visit if she presses too hard. She quickly decides to hold off on asking for the details. "Where do your parents even think you are?" She bends over to grab Riley's bag, stands and without words starts to guide her niece toward the parking lot. No matter what the direction of the conversation might be, she's fairly certain it's one that ought to be had in private.

"I don't know. I just kind of...left."

Yep. Bad things were definitely happening in the world of Riley. And while the part of Morgan that's always worried that Riley was a little too sweet and well-behaved and in general had only received the fluffy personality traits of the Matthews Clan is fairly proud and relieved to see that her niece has finally reached her rebellious phase, the responsible adult part of her is horrified. "You didn't even leave a note?"

Riley shakes her head.

"Riley, it's 8:30 at night! You left the city hours ago. Your parents must be worried sick."

"I doubt they've noticed." Riley shrugs, sliding into the passenger seat of Morgan's car.

Morgan frowns and tosses Riley's backpack into the back seat. "Even if they thought you were spending the day at a friend's house they had to expect you home for dinner on a Monday night, Riley. Of course they've noticed you haven't shown up. You're their daughter."

"That's not what it feels like." Riley mutters, so low under her breath that Morgan almost doesn't hear. When she speaks again, though she raises her voice. "Aunt Morgan, I kind of came here so I wouldn't have to deal with thinking about this for a while. Can we-,"

"Say no more." Morgan cuts her off, getting into the car herself. She wants Riley to trust her and open up and that means picking her battles. She's not going to push Riley about Cory and Topanga when, clearly, Cory and Topanga are at least part of the problem. She'll covertly text them so they won't be panicked over the safety of their only daughter, but she won't push Riley.

Riley seems surprised. "Really?"

After buckling her seat belt, Morgan starts the car. "Really. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't want to talk about it. I'm not gonna make you Riles. Not when you're obviously upset and exhausted. We'll just head back to my place and get some food in-,"

"I just can't believe that when I was finally talking to her about everything, the second Maya called she still just walked away so she could go talk to her."

The interruption comes so suddenly from Riley that it takes Morgan a moment to catch up. Between the fast turnaround in Riley's willingness to talk and the vagueness of what she actually says Morgan needs to focus to stay caught up. She'd forgotten the speed at which teenagers can move. She starts to drive back towards Ogunquit and her home as she responds. "You mean your mom?"

"Yes! I'm sitting there telling her about how worried I am to be losing my best friends and Lucas and how alone I've felt because I can't talk to them about any of it and how I can't really talk to her or dad about it because dad doesn't do feelings talks with me anymore, or really any talks outside of class or really anything, and because there's always something more important for her. Work, or Auggie, or Maya… She can't even take five seconds to think of something to tell me that I'm good at, but she can spend hours talking to Maya about her heartbreak over falling for the guy that I've had feelings and some sort of relationship with for two years. Never mind what that sort of thing might do to me. And I'm telling her all of this and about my fight with Lucas and feeling like nobody cares about my feelings in all of this they just want it to be over with and how invisible I've been and what happens?"

Morgan, with a slight sense of disgust and dread, can fill in the blanks. She only knows the basics about what has been going on between her niece, her best friend, and this Lucas boy, and most of that has come from Auggie. Riley always avoids talking about it and Morgan remembers when she was a teenager how much she hated when people tried to make her talk, so she never forces the issue. But she knows that it boils down to someone Riley thought was her best friend (and that everyone in the Matthews family pretty much considers family, although due to various scheduling conflicts Morgan has only ever met her over video chat) developing feelings for the guy that Riley had a blossoming relationship with, and Riley being a combination of nervous and insecure about what might happen with that relationship and selfless when it comes to her friends happiness, but unable to actually let go of her feelings for the boy. When the truth came out, naturally things got incredibly complicated. It would be hard enough to deal with just that, but Morgan's starting to realize that it's not just that. On top of it all, Riley is feeling incredibly unsupported. And if even half of what she's describing now is true, justifiably so.

Morgan sighs. "Maya calls."

"Of course she does! And I'm just so...so mad! Not that Maya needs help, but why is it always from my family? Why is there always something else that's more important than me? I just want someone...I need someone to put me first for once, and maybe that's selfish of me. I don't know anymore. But I don't understand why all anyone else has to do is sigh and everyone drops everything to run to their side to be there for them but my feelings and my problems and everything that happens in my life doesn't seem to count for anything!"

Riley's rant ends in panting, choked silence.

Morgan removes one hand from the steering wheel to grab on to Riley's. "Ri Ri, wanting to be supported by your parents is not being selfish. They're supposed to protect and support you."

"I just...I don't understand why I don't matter to them anymore."

Her niece collapses into sobs and Morgan pulls the car off onto the shoulder of the road. She undoes first her seat belt then Riley's, and leans over to pull her into a tight embrace.

They spend nearly twenty minutes on the side of the road until Riley has calmed down enough that Morgan feels comfortable letting her go and continuing to drive home. Her niece continues to sniffle and weep in the passenger seat and Morgan continues to hold her hand and reassure her for the length of the fifteen-minute drive. All the while her own anger and frustration with her brother and sister-in-law continues to fester.

It's not lost on Morgan that they haven't even responded to her text that Riley is safe and with her.

Any other day she might be charitable and make excuses for them. Cory has never exactly been good at keeping calm during emergencies and it would be exactly like him to forget that cell-phones were a thing if he got caught up in worrying about Riley. But she's not going to excuse the behavior of anyone whose actions made their fourteen year old daughter break down like Riley just has.

And it's not just the tears. It's the anger and the confusion and the fact that she ran away.

Morgan knows Riley. She knows how much she hates getting angry and how hard she works to understand the people around her and why things happen the way they do and how much she cares about being good and following rules. Morgan knows that if whatever has been going on was enough to make Riley want to run away from home, and to run so far as Maine without even letting her parents know she was leaving the house, then it's not just her imagining things or blowing them out of proportion. It's something real, and big, and it's been going on for a long time.

So Morgan won't excuse Cory or Topanga. She won't excuse any of Riley's friends, or anyone else whose behavior has led to her thinking that it's selfish to want a little support or that she doesn't matter to people. She'll be angry with them until they give her a damn good reason not to be.

When they get back to her home, a small cottage near the beach just off the main drag of the town, Morgan gives her niece a brief tour, then offers Riley the use of her shower to give her a little privacy to finish letting out what she knows feel like ugly, emotional tears and give her the chance to refresh and feel a bit more put together again.

"There's extra towels in the closet, use whatever body wash and shampoo you want. I'll just be in the kitchen if you need anything."

Riley nods and brings her things down the hall, and Morgan sits at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, facing the hall so she can see when Riley finishes. She fiddles with her phone, sending a text to the friend who had set her up on the disaster of date until she hears the bathroom door close and the shower start to run. Then she wastes little time in opening up her video chat and calling her brother.

She wants to see his face when he tries to explain himself.

It takes Cory nearly two minutes to answer and Morgan is feeling even less charitable. She cuts off his smiling greeting without a thought.

"Morgan, my favorite little sis-,"

"It's 9:30 PM. Do you know where your daughter is?"

His grin grows a little bemused. "Asleep in her room."

"Really?" She can't believe he's not the least bit concerned. Even if Cory hadn't known Riley was missing, the text Morgan had sent nearly an hour ago now should have been a big clue.

"Really." Cory nods. "She had a headache, so she went to bed early when Topanga met me and Auggie at the movies."

"Oh." Morgan nearly rolls her eyes, knowing that even if Cory actually believes all of that, it's a poorly investigated truth at best. "So you guys spoke with her? Found out that was her plan? Asked her if she wanted to go to the movies after your special Phillies game with Auggie?"

He doesn't even think to ask how she knows about the Phillies game. "Topanga poked her head in but she was already asleep." Cory's smile transitions to more and more confused as the conversation progresses. "What's going on? Did you want to talk to her or something?"

"I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on in this family that you don't know where your daughter is."

He actually frowns now. "Morgan, I told you. She's asleep in her room." Topanga enters the room behind him, and Cory waves her over. "Topanga, will you tell my insane sister that Riley is in her room?"

Topanga leans over the back of the couch, fully entering the frame of the chat. "I just looked in after Auggie got settled. She's right where she was when I left."

"Oh really?" Morgan raises an eyebrow.

"Really." Topanga looks at Cory. "What's going on?"

"She thinks we don't know where Riley is." He says.

Topanga scoffs. "That's ridiculous. Morgan, Riley's been home all day."

Since they aren't getting the point and realizing that they might just be wrong about this, and because she is tired of dancing around the subject when she could be moving in for the kill, Morgan puts on her deadliest smile. "Check. Your. Texts." She watches Topanga pull out her phone. It takes long enough for her to pull anything up that Morgan realizes she probably hasn't even had her phone out since the end of the movie.

"'No need to worry about Riley.'" Topanga reads. "'She's really upset, but she made it to me safely and I'm happy to take care of her until we figure out what's going on.'" She looks back at the camera. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it says." Morgan replies coolly, watching as their faces go from concerned and frowning to actual worry. "Only I sent it about an hour ago so I know what's going on now."

That's all it takes for them to rush out of the living room, and Morgan is taken on a shaky, filmed-backward journey down the hall towards Riley's bedroom. She can't see everything, but she hears enough noises, like the rustling of blankets to know that they're now uncovering Riley was never in the bed to begin with when they thought she was.

Cory's face comes back into frame a moment later, now a vision of distress and near panic. "Where is my daughter?"

"In my shower. I got a phone call an hour ago from her asking me to pick her up from the train station in Wells. Where I found her, exhausted and devastated and feeling completely abandoned and forgotten by you two."

Topanga is the first to react, naturally. "Where on earth would she get an idea like that?"

"Oh, I don't know." Morgan let's the sarcasm drip from her voice rather than try to hide it. "Maybe from the fact that neither of you will have a real conversation with her about any of the problems she's having with her friends. Or the fact that when she tries to open up to you, you still choose to run and help one of those friends instead. Or the fact that you don't include her in things any more. Do you think that maybe, just maybe any one of those things might be really freakin' hard for Riley to deal with on top of the pain of her friend having feelings for her crush and her crush actually entertaining his options? Do you think that maybe some of that may have been too much for her to deal with entirely on her own?"

"We talk to Riley!" Cory protests. "I talk to her all the time."

"About anything meaningful? Because I really doubt that if you had had a real conversation anytime in the last month—hell, even the last week, Riley would have even thought twice about running to me. She would have stayed and waited for you. And before you go saying anything about how you would have sat down and talked with her if you had noticed something was wrong, just don't. Because, all judgment in the world intended, your daughter was so upset and felt so alone that she got on a train and crossed state lines just to come to someone that she thought might be supportive and pay attention to her for more than two minutes. She collapsed into my arms sobbing about why she didn't matter to the two of you anymore, and worried that she was being selfish for wanting someone to listen to her and give her advice. And neither of you even knew she wasn't in the apartment, let alone that she had left the city!

"Do you really want to fight me right now and tell me how great of parents you've been? Because I have a teenager in my shower who would beg to differ."

For a moment all she gets is stunned silence. Morgan's sure they're replaying events over in their head, wondering what they might have missed or where they might have gone wrong for things to have gone this far. She's happy to let them torture themselves a little and merely wait; she loves them, they're family, but there are certain things you don't do with people, especially kids. Especially your own kids. She's not going to stop them from realizing that they've made a mess of things.

She is a little surprised when Topanga is the first to sigh and look directly at the camera with tears in her eyes, having expected Cory to be the one to break. Morgan had thought for sure that Topanga would go on the defensive. Right before she starts to speak, Morgan sees Riley exit the bathroom, in pajamas, with her hair in a loose wet braid.

"It'll probably take us a day or two to get everything together to come up and get her. Do you think that you can keep an eye on her until-"

Morgan's also a little surprised when Riley starts shaking her head, eyes wide. "Of course I'll take care of her." She cuts her sister-in-law off. "But you're not coming up. Not right away."

"What? No. We're going to come up and talk things out and fix things."

"I don't think you understand how hurt she is. Riley's too nice to say it to your face, so if you show up here, she'll pretend this was all an emotional mistake and she'll go back home with you and nothing will be fixed." Morgan counters. "So no. You are not going to come up. She can stay with me as long as she wants. I'll help her figure things out. You can check in with me every day. And when she's ready, and only when she tells me she's ready, I'll let you guys know it's time to come up and do the big family moment. But until that day comes, you're just going to have to deal with. I won't let her rush back just because you're feeling guilty and have things go back to the way they were in two weeks. You'll just have to deal with what you've done on your own for a little while."

The fighter and lawyer in Topanga comes out at the thought. "If you don't let us see her, that's tantamount to kidnapping. She might have run away to you, but that doesn't mean you have the right to-,"

"That's right. She did run to me." Morgan interrupts her, making sure that her tone brokers no argument. She'll make Riley her priority, even if no one else will. "And you're right, the law and the police would probably side with you if you really want to make this that nasty. But if you think for a moment that they won't side-eye the hell out of you for letting your relationship with your daughter get to the point that you don't even realize that she's run away until well after I made the attempt to tell you she was safe, you're dreaming." Riley gasps from her place at the entry to the kitchen and Morgan realizes too late her mistake; she's confirmed that her parents really didn't notice she was gone. She sighs, and glares at the video chat, because she would have broken that news gently to the girl, if at all, but now she has no choice but to break her heart even more. "If you want to calm down and discuss this more in the morning, I would be more than happy to but for now, you'll have to excuse me. I have to take care of Riley."

Morgan disconnects the call and drops her phone onto the counter, turning her full attention to her niece. "Ri Ri, I'm sorry. I was going to-,"

"They really didn't know I was gone?" Her voice cracks.

Morgan shakes her head. A moment later she finds herself holding a sobbing Riley for the second time in as many hours.