Safeguard

A/N: Oh. My. God. I can't believe I am doing this, because I have so many things I should be doing, but I literally just sputtered out like 5000 words onto this page and now we're here. I have Ice Princess still on the go, as well as two other works that I should try to work on, but this was necessary - I think.

A few things to know:

- This story was inspired by the Bones and Eye Candy television series, so their might be small elements of both you may recognize. Maybe.

- Everyone is aged between 27-29

- Lucas never moved to New York when he was in 7th grade, Riley never got to learn from him and her life was severely altered by this event. Changes lead their course and brought these characters here, to this point.

- Riley is a journalist, while Lucas is an NYPD defective, both are single

- Joshua Matthews is Riley's older brother and Lucas's partner

That's about all you need to know before diving into this story. Please enjoy!

Summary: AU, Riley/Lucas. Riley Matthews has devoted her life to the showing the world the truth as a successful journalist. But when Riley's life is threatened, she relies on Lucas Friar, NYPD detective to help her find whoever threatening her life. He finally has something worth protecting, and he's not prepared to lose her.

Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World. This is a fictional story meant for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 1: Threat

"Are you sure about this one, Riles," Farkle Minkus said turning to her from his position at the steering wheel in their large white van. Their very own mystery machine. With a company logo and everything.

The two of them sat, parked lurking in front of Senator James Eaton's mansion.

"The people need to know what he's been doing," Riley insisted, her eyes travelling across the wide landscape. It was still early in the morning, before ten, and the sky was the bluest it had been all summer. They were far from the centre of the city and parked out where a lot of the more expensive houses in the city were. These houses likely went for upwards of ten million dollars.

"But you're ruining a man's career in the process," Farkle added.

"Don't back out on me now, Farkle. We both agreed that we have to defend the people when it comes to a man like Senator Eaton." None of the messy stuff mattered to Riley if it meant withholding the truth from so many people. It was the main reason Riley took the position at the studio - so that she could show the raw, real, honest truth. She didn't want people to be lied to and she certainly didn't want to be one of those people.

"She's right," Isadora Smackle added. Riley and Farkle turned around in their seats, finding the other girl perched up handling the camera in the back of the van. "We took an oath."

"Yeah, and Riley wrote it out on a napkin," he countered frowning.

"It's on paper, we signed, and now we are small scale vigilantes."

"I wouldn't call it that, but sure. We serve and educate, it's the next best thing."

"You ready?" Riley asked Izzy, flipping down the sun visor and examining her makeup in the small mirror. She added a touch of lip gloss and flipped her curly brunette hair back.

"Camera is ready as soon as we step out of the van. Now, remember once we're recording, we're live and the police will probably be notified, so we always have that risk. Just get to your point quickly in case they show up." Izzy looked back down at her massive camera, lifting it onto her shoulder.

Farkle looked down at the clock. "Mr. Eaton should be coming back from his morning walk with his dog any minute. We had sources who spotted him leaving his house about forty minutes ago."

"You have the feed ready, Farkle? I can't wait to see his face when he realizes we've got live footage of him dumping oil and hazardous waste into the Atlantic."

"I can't believe the network approved this," Farkle sat back in his seat, pulling out his all terrain monitor that they would display as soon as they got a good visual on the Senator and had his attention.

"Neither can I, actually. But the new management has been really pushing for this one," Riley replied.

"Must be good television, high ratings," Isadora intercepted.

"The government is going to get involved soon. They won't risk having their own heads on the line if they know we're getting so close to them," Farkle said.

"Yeah, well that will just confirm everything we already know," Riley said.

"You still get a high off all those conspiracies, don't you?"

"I am pleased when I know I've found out the truth," she corrected, sitting forward in her seat. "There he is," she pointed.

"It's show time," Izzy said from the back seat, sliding open the back door.

Riley opened up her own door and Farkle followed her from the other side of the van, as the two of them walked up to the Senator. Riley's slick white blouse and navy blue dress pants, put the Senator's outfit to shame.

"Senator Eaton? Can we have a word?" Riley asked approaching the man in his track suit.

The man stopped in his tracks, startled by the advance, but just as quick his expression changed to anger.

"Are you serious? I'm walking my damn dog, don't you people have lives?" the Senator growled, while Riley flashed a small smile back at the camera to make sure it was on. Izzy gave her a thumbs up, and suddenly Riley was in ultra sleuth mode.

"This will only take a minute," Riley promised. Before the Senator had time to make a comment, Riley jumped back in. "I'm Riley Matthews from the New York daily News, I'm here with Senator James Eaton in front of his house in New York City this morning," she introduced, her microphone held at her lips. Motioning to the Senator, Riley continued. "The press has recently been focusing on your next Senatorial election, and there is much speculation that you are going to be very successful in your campaign resulting in another term."

"Yes," the Senator agreed. "I've got quite the team working at all hours of the day."

Riley smiled her million dollar smile. "The poll results have been rising at an alarming rate, it nearly appears that you might win by a landslide."

"It's all the people," he confirmed. "Without the votes from the people this election could take a drastic turn."

"Yes, I'm sure you're right. Some of the people seem to be buying your campaign focus on the environment and establishing a more progressive ecosystem for something that can be so vulnerable."

The Senator narrowed his eyes, and waited for Riley to get to her point. She lifted her finger into the air, signalling for Farkle to show the clip. "New York Eagle has visual evidence as well as documentation with your signature approving big oil companies to dump hazardous waste into our rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. In exchange for the approval of these companies, you get their investments and their votes."

"Well-" His eyes still lingered on the playing footage as the colour drained from his face.

"The evidence is not pointing in your favour Mr. Senator," Riley added. "Phone records reveal that you have been communicating with these companies for more than three years."

Riley waited for him to comment, but he seemed frozen in place.

"Do you have any comment or defence in your honour, Mr. Eaton, we are running live as we speak. Many of the people want to know if your plans for the election will change at all now that your secret has been revealed."

James Eaton looked back up into the camera, his grip tightening on his dog's lease laughing his knuckles to whiten. Riley held the microphone closer to his mouth and waited for him to speak.

"Yes," he replied confidently. Riley narrowed her eyes in anticipation. "As of today, I will be stepping down from the upcoming election, and declaring my retirement."

Riley's eyes widened in mock surprise.

"Did you get that, Don?" Riley signalled back to the main studio. "Senator James Eaton will be stepping down for the upcoming election, finishing his six year term in office. This has been Riley Matthews, thanks for watching."

The recording light turned off, and Riley took a step away from the older man, watching him retreat back to the gate of his own house.

Riley have Farkle and excited look, her eyes glimmering from the excitement. "Did you see that? We got him!" she cheered.

"I hope you got what you were looking for Ms. Matthews," a grumbled voice called from beyond the fence, grasping the attention of all of them. The man looked utterly destroyed, but the dog ran around free. "You're building quite the career for yourself in the line of journalism. But just know that none of this is easy, and there are a lot of temptations. You might not understand that now, but it always comes. I ain't the only one in this line of duty and I sure as hell won't be the last. One of these times, you aren't going to get away with ruining a man's life."

Riley ignored the ex-Senator as she walked back to the van, and slide into her seat, pondering on the success of her most recent interview and the threat that followed.

Lucas groaned as the tone of the phone rang through his ears and he placed the receiver back on the switch hook, massaging his temples. His mind physical ached from the conversation he had just had with one of the New York State Judge's assistants. It was amazing how frustrated he could get with the law, even when he was the one who was enforcing it. All he needed was a warrant for a house arrest, and the assistant assured him that the judge could not hear his case, because it wasn't relevant and he didn't have enough evidence.

What did she know about evidence anyways.

Sighing, Lucas decided he was in desperate need of a cup of burning hot coffee. Even though it was only ten in the morning, the last three days of ten hour shift had been killer, and lately, work had been quite intense.

He went across the hall to the lunch room, praying that a fresh pot of coffee had just finished brewing, and no one would interrupt him before he got there. Silence and peace were hard to come by these days, especially working at a police department.

He was still half asleep anyways, so he didn't notice his old partner sitting at the table flipping through the morning newspaper. At least, not until he was finished pouring his coffee and halfway out the door.

"You just gonna ignore me now man?" Zay shouted at Lucas, causing him to jolt in surprise. Lucas turned around with an angry frown and glare in Zay's direction. "You really didn't see me did you?"

Lucas shrugged. "I'm still half asleep, and it's been a long week."

"I've been waiting like twenty minutes for you to come get your coffee. You usually get it earlier."

Lucas finally lightened up, grinning at his best friend. "You miss me, buddy?"

"I'll tell'ya what I miss," Zay stood up, crossing the lunch room to pour himself a cup of hot coffee. "I miss cruising around downtown in our sick patrol Impala, defendin' the law, intimidatin' New Yorkers. You just had to go and get yourself promoted."

"How did you even get yourself onto this floor? You're supposed to be on the third floor," Lucas asked curiously.

"Yeah, with all the rest of them regular officers. You're a 2nd Grade Detective now, working on the fifth floor with the better technology. You've even got a new uniform. I just had to make sure you're still the Lucas I know."

"And take our coffee," Lucas added amused.

"The coffee downstairs is crap," Zay defended.

Lucas chuckled. "I remember."

"Well, I've got my coffee, got my morning paper," Zay showed Lucas the rolled up paper. "Nothing else left for me here."

This time Lucas actually laughed at his best friend's theatrics.

"I miss you too, buddy." He patted his back while he walked through the doorway, and back towards the elevator.

Lucas walked back to his desk, leaning back in his rolling chair and observing the office. It was all still relatively new to him. Not the building, but the floor itself. He was still meeting new people on his floor every day and it had only been two weeks since his promotion. Before that Lucas had been aiming for detective status for years, working his ass off, taking extra cases and doing anything to prove his worth. It must have paid off in the end, because a month ago the Sergeant had approached him about a position opening up with one of the other detectives, and Lucas didn't even have to think twice about the job offer. It was everything he had ever worked for.

"Hey new guy," an irritatingly familiar voice called from the other side of his desk. Lucas looked up to see the floor secretary, Missy Bradford, scoping out the territory. The brunette had grasped the attention of many of the male detectives as she stood in front of Lucas.

"They still calling me that? I've been here for a few weeks now."

"They are," she grinned, taking a seat on his desk, showing off her well toned legs as her skirt rose up, as well as covering up a few of his notes. "It will stick until the next one comes along."

"And do you prey on all of the new guys?" he asked, raising an eye brow. She was annoying, but Lucas still enjoyed the game.

"Just the cute ones," she promised.

He nodded, returning to his morning newspaper while Missy fiddled around with this name card, perched on his desk.

"Sergeant Hunter sent over these case files, he said to look into them before you start questioning people," Missy finally said after deciding she was bored, getting to the point of her visit.

"Thanks Missy."

"No problem," she smiled wickedly, giving him a small wave, goodbye, while he a numerous others watched her hips sway as she left the vicinity.

Lucas had caught onto the order of things in his new office fairly quickly. One of his best traits was his adaptability. He'd grown up in Texas on a small farm and moved to New York when he was a teenager. It wasn't his first rodeo.

And while Lucas missed his time spent preventing crimes on the streets of New York, he had enjoyed his time as a detective so far. He got along with his new partner, and the other detectives in the office here had only shown him support and kindness.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Lucas's partner groaned from the front of the office and grabbing his attention. Josh had his arms folded across his chest observing upwards at a monitor hanging from the wall. He took a step back, watching the television.

"What is it?" Lucas asked, crossing the distance from his desk and the television, while the rest of the detectives seemed to ignore Josh. He expected to see the regular new broadcast, a burglary or theft, but instead a young brunette filled the screen as well as an older man.

The television was playing the Channel 10 News, and a breaking News sequence passed over the bottom of the screen. Senator Conspiracy Conquered. Lucas narrowed his eyes and turned to Josh, not entirely understanding why Josh was upset.

Josh turned up the sound on the screen and Riley's voice filled their ears. "Senator James Eaton will be stepping down for the upcoming election, finishing his six year term in office. This has been Riley Matthews, thanks for watching." She was fit physically for the job, Lucas noted. She had beautiful facial structure, and her hair blew perfectly in the wind.

"Matthews?" Lucas asked, still confused. "Are you two related?"

"She's my sister, and she's an idiot," Josh dismissed, pressing the mute button once again.

"She's a journalist, doesn't she just report the news. How does that make her an idiot? Isn't that how it works?"

"Not with Riley," Josh walked back to his desk. "Riley finds the people and makes it news. Do you remember last year when there was that Make a Difference Scandal? With that charity and when all those celebrities were in town for that huge fundraiser? Well a lot of money was raised and no one ever saw and heard anything about it afterwords. Riley was the one who cracked that scandal that one of the major investors was using the money for himself."

"That was your sister?" Lucas asked wide eyed. Everyone had heard about that incident. The scandal went national and took up months of the courts time. "She saved like a hundred thousand sick children in East Africa."

"Yeah, she's crazy smart, has this sixth sense for telling when someone has lied to her, or something. But she gets herself wedged into these peoples lives and it's been a threat to her safety more than once."

Lucas had more than a few questions about the girl.

"You've never mentioned her before."

"Never came up," Josh defended, flipping through a case file. "We've only been partners for a few weeks."

Lucas knew when to keep quiet. Josh liked to keep his personal life personal, and Lucas could respect that. From what he could tell, Josh had been through significantly more than he had, and had been a detective far longer than him.

Riley had returned to her office later that morning and many of her co-workers had congratulated her on the successful story and broadcast. Word was the clip of Riley unmasking the Senator was travelling across the country online, as millions of people were viewing her video.

Her success recently had been growing and growing, and she was being recognized by many people.

Fridays were usually quieter in the office, so Riley figured she would be able to work well that afternoon, with little to no distraction.

What Riley didn't expect was to see Maya Hart sitting in her office which has usually locked. Not that Riley minded or anything, but it had been locked.

"Maya?" Riley questioned, watching the blonde remove her feet from the resting position they had on her desk. "How did you get in here?" Maya smile and stood up embracing her into a hug.

"Doesn't matter," Maya shrugged off Riley's question. Riley looked around her office, everything was just how she left it. When Riley had agreed to the position, she originally had a cubical in the man office, but with many successful interviews under her belt, she'd been upgraded to her own office.

"Well what are you doing here? Did you want to go for lunch? I have a few calls to make, but I can meet you in half an hour," she offered.

"That's not why I am here, honey," Maya said softly, letting Riley sit down at her desk.

"Okay, why are you here?" Maya took a seat in the client chairs on the opposite side of Riley's desk and leaned forward.

"I got your message about the Senator and I watched the interview," Maya explained.

"Yeah, I was a bit surprised we went through with it, but a tip came up this morning and we had all the evidence-"

"Do you honestly believe doing that interview was a good idea?" Maya interrupted, her eyes wide in fear. Suddenly Riley was much more aware of her best friend's distress. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"It was just an interview, Maya."

"It's never just an interview, Riley. If you were an entertainment journalist, then it would just be an interview. But you're butting heads with politicians, governments across the globe, Senators, CEO's of major companies, people with a lot of money and a lot of people behind them."

"I know who I'm getting into bed with, peaches," Riley said calmly.

"I don't think you do, not everyone is a good person and if you keep this up, one of these times someone isn't going to cooperate with your game. They are going to anticipate your move and remove you."

"Remove me?" Riley questioned.

"Have you killed," she rephrased. She didn't like the way that sounded out loud. Neither of them did.

Riley sank down in her seat. "I knew what it meant," she muttered.

"You've done a lot of good in this world, pulling out the bad guys in thousand dollar suits and knocking them behind bars, Riley. The New York is a better city because of you. But I think it's time to hang up the cape."

"If I don't do this who else-

"They will find someone else," Maya promised.

Riley sat in silence, while Maya observed her. She swivelled in her chair, trying to come up with a rebuttal that would convince Maya that she wasn't in any danger. When she looked up at the clock, she noticed it was almost noon.

"How about we go get some lunch?" Riley offered, giving Maya a pleasant smile.

Maya sighed, and gave her a small nod. "Lunch sounds good." They had argued about this before, and odds are it wouldn't be the last time they argued about it either. But Maya had to hope that the more she bugged Riley about it, the deeper it would be engraved on her brain, and hoped that she would figure out soon that putting her life on the line wasn't an option anymore. There were far too many people who cared about Riley, far to many people who wanted more than that for her.

Riley picked up her purse off the floor and followed Maya out of her office, locking the door behind her.

Riley knew Maya was just looking out for her, and she was grateful for it, but a world that struck back at Riley seemed nearly impossible.

She had nothing to worry about.

Riley led Maya out of the office and onto the street side walk which was buzzing from the lunch rush. A small potted tree and a canopy over the building entrance offered fro protection from the sun while Riley put on her sunglasses.

"What did you want for lunch?" Maya asked.

"There is a nice new place about a ten minute drive from here. I went with Farkle and Isadora last week. They've got some really great lunch specials," Riley offered.

"I'm good with that," Maya agreed.

"I'll hail us a cab then."

She stepped just past the parked cars and the parking meters to look for an unoccupied taxi, sticking her hand up into the air, trying to grab the attention of any cab driver.

"Are you sure you don't want to walk?" Maya asked from the side walk. "It's a really nice day."

"No, it's too far," Riley looked back at Maya. "I have to be back at 1 for a meeting, and I'd miss it if we walked."

She tapped her foot impatiently, and finally spotted a taxi, she began to wave her hand higher in the air.

But just as she turned back to smile at Maya, the sheer force of a large vehicle flung her backwards onto the sidewalk causing her to scream out in pain before hitting her head against the concrete. Pedestrians ran to her to help, as Maya stood their in shock watching her best friend lie on the ground.

Finally Maya found her voice, and she knelt down in front of the fallen girl, who was still breathing, but in an unconscious state.

"Someone call 911," she shouted at the top of her lungs, caressing Riley's head. "Someone call 911!"

When Josh received the call that Riley had been involved in an accident, the air in the office immediately altered, and suddenly Lucas was very afraid to step on his toes. But Josh had requested that Lucas join him in investigating the arresting officer who had been first to the scene. Lucas had never met Riley, but he now felt that he had missed out on a great human being, and hoped that she was okay.

They were both relieved to see that there was no blood left on the scene, hoping that it meant Riley was not hurt too badly.

The two of them gathered intel from the officer about what had happened, before proceeding to go to the hospital.

Something about hospitals irked him, while he followed closely behind Josh walking through the halls. Josh's pace sped up as soon as he spotted a blonde woman sitting in a chair in the hall alone.

"Maya?" Josh placed a hand on the woman's shoulder, waking her up, her eyes jolting open wide, but her entire body relaxed in seeing Josh.

"Where is she?" Josh said firmly, sitting down next to the blonde.

"They had her in surgery for about an hour and now she's in recovery. Josh, you should have seen it, the vehicle came out of no where. She was just hailing a cab. S-She," Maya tried to keep talking.

"Hey," he hushed her, pulled her body towards him. "She's fine now. Everything is okay. Don't worry." He placed his lips on her forehead, his arms holding the small blonde tightly. "You're safe." Lucas obsersved them from the other side of the hall.

It was amazing that there was so much about a person he didn't know. Especially when he had been working so closely with him for the past two weeks.

Lucas had shared aspects of his own life with Detective Matthews, but it hadn't actually occurred to Lucas that it hadn't worked the other way.

He noticed the diamond ring on Maya's left hand, and realized who the girl was and what she meant to Josh. Something about Josh's reaction to the girl was enough proof for Lucas to know that this girl was normally very put together.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't…" she tried to say.

"Shhh," he hushed. "I need you to be strong for a bit, while I go talk to Riley. She's awake, right?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't heard anything from the doctor," she replied.

"I'll go check then," he assured. "You should go rest, go back to work, and close up. Don't worry about Riley." Josh gave her a sweet kiss and bid her goodbye.

"Luke," Josh summoned him, "Do you mind calling the office, tell them what's happened. I'll be right back and I'm going to need you to come in with me. Riley might remember something that could help us find that guy who hit her."

"No problem." Lucas swore, staring at his partner. Josh nodded, but narrowed his eyes when Lucas still hadn't moved.

"Why aren't you moving?" he asked.

"I didn't know you were married," Lucas looked back at Maya, who was already walking out the front door.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Josh assured. "But I'm sure you'll catch on."

"Hey sis," Josh gave Riley a weak smile, while Riley tried her best to return it. He stepped through the door, and Lucas followed him in. It took her a moment to realize that she didn't know the other man and she had never seen him before.

"How are you feeling?" Josh asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Riley said stiffly, towards Lucas. Lucas froze in his place, in fear of being caught staring at her.

"This is Detective Lucas Friar, he's my new partner," Josh introduced.

She shifted in her bed uncomfortably, with all the IV tubes and her broken collar bone, it wasn't an easy task.

"Well Lucas, I hope you're up to the task, it's not an easy position to fill," Riley muttered. Her smile wasn't quite sincere but her eyes alone made it obvious that the fresh break still hurt. Josh didn't have anything to say abut the topic and quickly moved closer to her to examine her injuries.

"Did they give you enough painkiller? That looks sore," Josh commented, sitting down in the chair beside her bed.

"I'm fine," Riley promised, wincing in spite of herself. "A little pain never hurt anyone. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right Josh. You always say that."

"I didn't mean to go an get yourself hit by a car, Riles."

"Well I didn't mean to either. That damn car came out of no where," she swore, trying to make sense of the few memories she still had.

"The driver fled the scene," Lucas spoke up and began listing off the facts from his note pad. "Bystanders confirmed that the driver took off just as fast as he hit you. Large black SUV, tinted windows. No one can give us a description of the driver,"

Riley bit at her lip, knowing in her heart exactly what those facts meant.

"You know what this means Riley," Josh told her. He was thinking exactly what she was, neither of them willing to say the words out loud.

Her actions had finally caught up with her.

"I warned you about all of this. You can't go around the country revealing peoples biggest secrets without expecting retaliation."

"Oh shut up, this was my choice and I'll pay the consequences. What ever happens, happens."

Josh stood up and shook his head, obviously disagreeing. He never once approved of her job and what she did. "And what about the rest of us. Mom, Dad, Auggie? This effects the rest of us too. What about Nick?"

Riley froze. "Don't," Riley hissed. "Don't you dare bring Nick into this." Lucas saw that the argument was becoming more personal and dismissed himself from the room, closing the door behind him.

"It doesn't matter, if you're just going to run around like your life doesn't matter, than none of this matters."

"Can you stop? My head is pounding right now."

"That would be the concussion," he deadpanned. "Do you have any idea how stupid all of this is? Or how much worse this incident could have been."

Riley bit her lip to keep the tears from shedding, she hated arguing with her brother, especially when it came to sensitive topics.

"Did you call mom and dad?" she whispered. She suddenly felt years younger, and she wished that she was still living at home, with her parents down the hall.

"I did. They'll be here in an hour," Josh promised. She just nodded, rolling over to the other side of her hospital bed, looking out the small window she had in her private room. The day was still beautiful, with a few white clouds floating above her vast city.

"I've got to get back to work," Josh said sadly looking down at his watch, hating to see his baby sister in so much pain. She wasn't a kid anymore, but lately, he felt that it was becoming harder and harder to protect her. "Let me know when they are releasing you and I'll come pick you up."

"I will," she whispered.

But the only thing that was passing through her mind, was one thing.

Had she gone too far? Had she finally come face to face with the wrong person? Were people retaliating?

She closed her eyes and let the pain killers work their magic, slipping into a dreamless slumber.

Riley woke up to the sound of the door clicking shut. The sun was starting to descend into the horizon and she turned slowly and uncomfortably over in her bed. It must have been a nurse or the doctor, because the room was empty.

Riley reached to the stand beside her bed, to grab her cell phone.

'Went back to the shop to close up. I'll be back at 7' a text from Maya read. Riley sent a quick reply, and released a large breath as she sank back into the pillows.

How had she gotten into this mess, she wondered as she looked around the very clean white room. Her eyes stopped on a small white card, sitting on her side table.

Reaching over, with her left hand, opposite of her broken collar bone, she held the card in her hand and flipped it open.

No greeting. No signature. Just a message.

Watch your back.

A/N: What did you think? Is it worth continuing?