DISCLAIMER: I do not own these, and I made up the birthdays and the first names of Mr. and Mrs. Friar.

A/N: I'm not really quite sure what this is other than I guess my headcanons surrounding the circumstances of Riley, Maya, Farkle, and Lucas' births.

Entr'acte, noun: An interval between two parts of a play or opera

Cory and Topanga Matthews

Just the stress of day-to-day college life is a valid reason to miss your period, right?

Topanga only manages to delude herself with that for two days.

She doesn't know who to tell, because everyone's too damn close to the situation. She remembers Cory's reaction when she tried to diet and Shawn thought she was pregnant; she can't get his hopes up again. Shawn would tell him. Angela would tell Shawn, who would tell him. Eric would tell him. Jack would tell Eric or Shawn, or even both. Rachel would tell Eric, who would tell him. And God forbid she get anyone else in his family in on this- although maybe Joshua would be a trusted confidant, solely because he can't talk.

In the end, it's the girl who finds her throwing up in the bathroom after she'd bolted out of the room after class that learns before anyone else, who goes with her to buy the test and tells her the result- positive.

It's not until later that she realizes she never even learned the girl's name.

Cory finds out when he finds the copy of What To Expect When You're Expecting that she'd checked out of the library on the coffee table, and even though they'll both be only twenty-one come December, they both feel as ready as they can be.

Riley Annette Matthews enters the world on December 8, 2001 to a very worried but very happy Cory and Topanga Matthews. Everybody cooes over her and it seems as if the happiness pouring out of Riley's one-day-old soul is enough to soothe everyone that the two of them have this all under control.

But Shawn is still gone the next day with only a note, and, as Topanga looks down at the smiling baby in her arms, she can't help but wonder if the two are connected.

Kermit Clutterbucket and Katy Hart

He holds her hand while they wait for the minutes to tick down on the clock and both can't help but think This is the end.

They get married pretty quickly, in part because they're in love, in part to stop Katy's Catholic parents from asking too many questions, and in part because, hello, in less than nine months they're going to have a baby.

Their relationship only deteriorates from there. Kermit gets a job and Katy thanks God that it's illegal to fire a pregnant woman and that her employer actually understands that. Kermit had always been good at cards, so he starts gambling to earn some money for the big things, like a crib and doctor's appointments, but she feels as if she's constantly reminding him not to go out tonight because they've got enough saved up, she thinks, at least for now.

Maya Penelope Hart makes her first appearance on April 21, 2001. Kermit just barely makes it, having been at a poker game, and Katy promises to always be there for their little girl, because she can't not feel the sense of foreboding in her stomach every time Kermit says he's going out.

As she gets wheeled towards the elevator on her departure day, getting closer to leaving the hospital and going to the small apartment they can barely afford, she sees another girl about her age, not even showing yet, clutching her husband's hand in a death grip. Katy wishes them, the only other people her and Kermit's age that she's seen entering the crazy world of parenthood, the best.

Stuart Minkus and Jennifer Bassett

The girl across the bar looks very familiar to him and he doesn't know why, but he quickly finds out that it's because they went to the same high school. Funny, isn't it? she laughs and the next thing he knows they're making out in a taxi cab on the way to her place and then she promises they're covered when he says he doesn't have a condom, because she's on the pill and they're two young and passionate to remember that it doesn't always work like that.

Three months later, he gets a phone call from Jennifer Bassett. She's pregnant and it's his but if he doesn't believe her she's willing to do a paternity test to prove it, but he believes her. Jennifer is a confident girl, he remembers, but her voice is wavering in the background. She means it.

They grow close, sure, but their romance is a slow burner and doesn't even come to light until much later, after their little baby isn't much of a baby anymore. They get apartments nearby each other and start making custody plans and decide to not hyphenate the last name because they want to name him Farkle and Farkle Minkus is cruel enough as it is, there's no reason to have "Bassett" tacked on there as well. And, besides, a parent's last name can be someone else's middle name, can't it? So they paint two nurseries and buy two cribs and yeah, maybe it would've been easier to move in together, but right now they're just trying to take it day by day.

So Farkle Bassett Minkus is born on February 16, 2002. As Stuart sits at the doctor's office the next week and repeatedly promises the doctor that Jennifer's on her way if he wants to start Farkle's appointment now, he swears that it's Topanga Lawrence who walks past the office's open door, a tiny little baby in her arms who's sobbing loudly. He doesn't say a word to her and she's too wrapped up in the sobbing infant to notice him, anyway, during the brief little walk outside the door, but he can't help but laugh, because he and Topanga have always been competing with each other, and she seemed to reach the "parenthood" achievement not even six months before him.

Andrew and Mary Grace Friar

They've been married five years and trying for children for all of them, and she knows that time is running out. They'd gotten lucky three times, but they had all ended in tragedy, and she's about ready to just see a specialist and be done with it. Mary Grace doesn't even give the stick that much attention, expecting just another negative, but then she freezes and then she's terrified and has to take three more before she can convince herself she's actually pregnant.

Andrew treats her like a china doll the entire nine months, and normally that would both her, but they're not losing a fourth baby, so she lets him. Joe or Cletis is always there on the ranch with her if Andrew's not, and her parents fly out for the whole last month, which she appreciates because Austin in the dead of summer is unbearable by yourself and she knows she's gonna need all the help she can get to get through it.

Lucas Joseph Friar is their first and only child, and he caused a rather dramatic entrance on that fateful August 31 of 2000. He was born on the ranch, like every Friar before him, and, sure, when it comes to him, maybe Andrew and Mary Grace are control freaks, but as long as he knows that he's loved by the two of them more than their lives, then she's okay with how he turns out.