Piece by Piece

He'll never walk away

Piece by Piece

He'll never walk away

"He'll never walk away/He'll never break her heart

He'll take care of things, he'll love her"

Shawn Hunter never had the easiest life. His biological mother had left him when he was just a baby and his stepmother had taken off – several times – during the time he grew up. His father, albeit a tad more constant, hadn't been around much either. One of the men he had looked upon as a father figure had been involved in a terrible accident and had had to go a long way to get back up on his feet. His first serious girlfriend had taken off as well and was now happily married. The only constant in his life had been his best friends Cory and Topanga and the Matthews family. However, life had intervened there as well, causing Cory and Shawn to drift apart for a while. Even before their reconciliation – caused by Cory's meddling daughter Riley and her best friend Maya – he still had been a frequent visitor with the elder Matthews and their youngest son Josh, but most of his life had been spent on the road – alone.

Never, not even for one second, would Shawn have dared to imagine how his life would turn out in the end. Because, from his perspective, things couldn't get any more perfect than they were right now: he had a beautiful wife, an amazing daughter, and another baby Hunter was on the way. He finally had it – the whole package.

But not only was he thankful for his new little family, he was also glad to see that his friends and "extended" family were finally all back in his life. His and Cory's relationship was stronger than ever before and the two best friends spent a lot of evenings together, often accompanied by their wives. The rest of the Matthews clan were regular guests at either the Matthews' or the Hunters' apartment and even his brother Jack stopped by at times, so there was never a dull weekend. Shawn was also happy to say that he had regained his relationship with his former teacher and father figure, Jonathan Turner. Ever since they had met while Shawn was thinking about adopting Maya and Jon's appearance at the big wedding a short while later, the older man made sure to stop by the Hunters for dinner on a regular basis. He got along great with both Katy and Maya and was really excited to finally meet the newest addition to the Hunter family.

Shawn could hardly believe that there were now only two weeks until Katy's due date. The nursery was completely finished and Shawn could never walk by the room without taking a peek inside. A big grin would spread across his face each time he saw the room his and Katy's baby would grow up in. The two of them had decided against finding out about the baby's sex, driving a very curious Maya completely crazy in the process. The blonde was dying to find out, but neither one of her parents would budge.

Even though he would never admit it to anyone – except Katy, of course – Shawn was beginning to come to terms with his daughter dating the youngest Matthews boy. He could see the look the two teenagers shared and the way their eyes lit up whenever the other one was in sight or just being mentioned in conversation. He loved seeing his little girl so happy and knew that Josh had a big part in causing that.

Now, that didn't mean that Shawn was going any easier on the two of them. He kept on teasing and acting as the overprotective dad he was any chance he got. Every time he watched his little girl go off on a date – be that just the two teenagers or them doubling with Riley and Farkle – Shawn couldn't help but worry. He knew how teenage boys were, he used to be one, for crying out loud. And the thought of Maya dating a younger version of himself ... well, let's just say, Shawn didn't really want to think about that. He had talked to Cory on multiple occasions about it, his best friend was feeling the exact same way about his own daughter going off on dates with her boyfriend. However, both dads had been forced to admit that their respective daughters had gotten really lucky with who they chose to be their first boyfriends. They had known Farkle and Josh since they were little children and both dads liked them a lot. They were good guys, but Shawn guessed that worrying just came with his newly acquainted role as Maya's father.