Maya had been pacing around the Matthews living room for the last twenty minutes now and it was starting to drive Josh crazy.
"Maya, will you please calm down?" He asked her desperately.
The blonde turned to face him, a murdering look in her eyes. "Did you just tell me to calm down?" She questioned in a very disturbingly calm voice.
"Oh," Riley, Auggie and Ava said from the couch, where they were watching the scene play out.
"Yes!" Josh said, "calm down and talk to me. You've been acting like a madwoman ever since you walked in here."
Maya rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm sorry that my crisis is such an inconvenience to you."
Josh sighed and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, hoping to give her some sort of comfort. "You aren't an inconvenience. I just want you to talk to me, so I can figure out how to help you."
Maya shook her head and looked down. "I don't even know what to tell you."
"You've always been able to talk to me," Josh said comfortingly, "you've been doing it since you were five." He then thought for a second, "why don't you start when things started getting crazy?" He suggested.
Maya looked up at him. "It started going crazy when I was five."
Josh rolled his eyes. "I know that, but I mean what you're dealing with right now." When Maya gave him a look, he understood. "Oh," was all he said.
"Yeah," she answered. On the couch, Riley was looking at her best friend with wide eyes, while the two younger kids just look confused.
"This has something to do with your dad?" Riley asked, making Maya nod her head. "I'm sorry, Peaches."
Josh turned his focus back on Maya. "I thought you were doing okay with that? Especially since Shawn adopted you." He asked her.
"I was," she said truthfully. "Until this happened."
"Can somebody explain to me what the heck is going on?" Ava asked loudly, capturing everyone's attention. Josh and Riley exchanged a look before the youngest of the two ushered her brother and his 'wife' out of the room, so the other two could talk in private.
"What happened, Maya?" Josh asked once they were alone.
"He showed up," was all the answer he got.
Josh frowned. "He, as in your father?"
Maya shook her head. "He, as in his son." She looked up at Josh with tears in her eyes. "My half brother."
The older boy pulled her into a hug. "Did he say or do something to you?" He asked protectively.
Once again, she shook her head. "He just wanted to talk to me."
"About what?" Josh wondered.
The artist sighed. "Apparently, he just found out about me. He wants to get to know me."
"Isn't that a good thing? You always said you wanted a little brother." Josh tried.
Maya shrugged. "I guess."
The college kid pulled her closer to him. "What's going on in your head right now, Gorgeous?"
A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Am I so unlovable that he can't even talk about me?"
Josh's heart broke at those words and he wanted to kill her father for even putting those thoughts into her head. "Of course not, Little Ferret. If you were unlovable, you wouldn't have Riley and our family. You have so many people that love you so much, Maya."
He kissed her forehead. "Riley loves you, so do your Mom and Shawn, Auggie and Ava adore you, Cory and Topanga love you as much as their kids, my parents, your friends," he lists. He had been wanting to tell her that he loved her for a while, but it never seemed like the right time, but now she needed to hear it.
"Do you know how much I love you?" His question made her head shoot up in shock.
"What?" She asked stunned.
Josh smiled at her. "I love you so much, Maya Hunter. Don't you ever think that you're unlovable, because that is the furthest thing from the truth."
Maya kissed him but pulled away quickly. "Someday?" She asked him.
"No," Josh shook his head. "Today," he told her before pulling her into a more passionate kiss.
When they pulled away they didn't let go of each other. "I thought you said you were too old for me?" Maya teased.
Josh rolled his eyes and smiled at her. "That was a while ago. You're seventeen now, almost eighteen. I think we've been waiting long enough, don't you?"
The young artist grinned and nodded as she leaned down for another kiss.
After a while of just snuggling together in silence, Josh spoke up. "So..." he started, carefully. "What are you going to do about your half brother?"
Maya sighed, "I don't know," she said truthfully. "I'd like to get to know him, but I don't think I could do that alone."
Josh nodded understandingly. "Good thing you have so many people around you that love you and that are there for you."
"Thank you," Maya smiled.
"Thank you for opening up to me," he whispered. "And if your father doesn't see what he's missing out on, then that's his loss."
"Josh?" Maya asked.
He smiled. "Yes, Gorgeous."
"Will you go be there when I meet with Luke?" She asked me.
He nodded. "I'd do anything for you, Little Ferret. I love you."
She kissed him, before telling him for the first time: "I love you too."
