Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story: products, logos, or characters. Anything in reference to Boy Meets World is used for fantasy only with no profit gained.

Author's Note: I have not written in a while and I hope that this is a story that you all enjoy. Please let me know what you think.

Summary: Two months after Angela's return from Europe, her relationship with Shawn is anything but happy. Facing a whirlwind of emotions both Angela and Shawn have to overcome their inhibitions and answer a life-altering question: will distance and time pull them closer or tear them a part?

Distance and Time

Chapter One

Anger rose within her. She couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. Accusations and presumptions all assaulted her senses and what made them unbearable was the fact that they were coming from the lips of her beloved.

". . . I mean, you expect us to just pick up right where we were when you left a year ago?"

He was yelling and worst of all he was yelling at Angela. A thing that he rarely, if ever, did. Shawn couldn't explain exactly what, but whenever he saw her he felt enraged. When she returned two months ago from Paris, he had been ecstatic. The feel of her in his arms was like coming home. However, with her being suddenly back into his life, Shawn felt crowded and even resentful. With her return, a swell of emotions circled within him and he did not know what to do with them.

What did not help the fact was that Angela pretended as if the past year hadn't happened. Perhaps for her it went by quickly, but for Shawn, the one that was left behind, he felt every isolated minute, hour, and day. The euphoria that he felt when she returned was rapidly dissipating and Shawn did the only thing that he knew to do when he was hurt: he pushed the object away.

"I don't exactly expect us to pick up as if we have not been a part for a year, but I do expect for us to still be able to communicate and be open with each other as we were before."

Angela was trying to keep her cool because she knew what Shawn was doing. He had been doing it for the past month. He was picking fights, cancelling dates, being short and curt, in other words, he was pushing her away. She knew that he might be upset that she left, but for him to be volatile, especially at her, was a new side and one she was unsure of how to handle.

Since her return, Angela was staying in an apartment her dad setup for her. Shawn and her were inseparable her first week back. It felt almost as if she hadn't left, but quickly after that "honeymoon period" Shawn's affection changed. He was no longer cuddly, he started to desire spending more time alone than together.

Angela's first thought was another woman, but both Cory and Topanga squashed that thought even before it left her mouth. What then was causing Shawn, the love of her life, to push away almost to the point of an indefinite break up? As this thought entered her mind, everything suddenly clicked for Angela.

Shawn's eyes narrowed.

"You expect us to communicate? Well how's this for communication, Angela? Get out!" He was yelling again. The moment those last two words left, he regretted them, but there was no turning back now.

Angela took a step back at his bark. Flashbacks to his drunken high school days quickly flashed in her brain and for a moment she was scared of Shawn. Keeping her composure, she squared her shoulders and stood her ground. If Shawn was going to continue to be an ass then she was going to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Inwardly, she sighed. What was supposed to be a quiet evening at Shawn's apartment was turning into a fight for their relationship.

"I'm not leaving until we get this issue resolved, Shawn" was her tort reply.

The only thing that lay between them was an oversized Grecian rug on the floor. Shawn's one bedroom apartment was moderately furnished with a black leather sofa and recliner in the living room, and a small table with two chairs for dining adjacent from the open concept kitchen. Wall art and a bookcase also filled the space. Even though it wasn't much, its modest decorating screamed Shawn.

"What issue? I asked you to leave and that's what you need to do!"

He took a step closer.

Angela stood firm. "Correction: you yelled at me to leave. Rather rudely, I might add. Why Shawn? Why are you being so distant?" She pushed back a choke. After all that they've been through, why was he treating her this way?

That word made what little nerves he had left snap.

Breathing heavily, Shawn slid his hands down his face in an effort to calm himself down, but to no avail. He looked up into her quizzative eyes and let out the floodgate that he had dammed for over a year.

"Distant? Why am I being distant? Distant, Angela, would be leaving my heart alone for a year. Distant would be thirty letters, fifty phone calls, and two hundred e-mails in a year. Distant would be pretending as if I didn't just kick someone I loved aside. Oh, no, no my dear Angela," Shawn stepped closer until he was nose to nose with her and looking directly into her eyes. "Distant would be abandoning the one person I swore I never would."

He ended the last sentence in a whisper with their noses within a hairs breath of touching. Both were breathing heavily. Heat permeated between them along with a mixture of anger, desire, and sadness.

Angela knew he would be upset, possibly even hurt, but pure resentment was something she did not expect.

"You told me too," was her squeaked reply.

"And you listened," he said with finality.

Neither one moved because both were scared about what to do next. They were at the cusp, the edge of ending something that had saved them both from their pasts, healed their presents, and that promised a glowing future.

Shawn may have been angry but he knew that Angela was/is the best thing that has ever happened to him, but didn't she see, didn't she know that when she left she broke a promise that he held above everything: to never leave.

Angela saw Shawn's plea in his eyes. Behind the anger and resentment was pain; pain that she had caused him. However, didn't Shawn understand how important it was for her to be with her father? How many times did he say if he only had one more day? Yes, she left, but she came back as promised and wasn't that worth something? Her return was a testament to how dedicated and devoted she was to him.

What was only minutes seemed like hours as they continued to stare into one another's eyes.

Angela couldn't take it anymore and with tears glimmering in her eyes, she opened her mouth, moistened her lips, and spoke what might be her last words to the man she loved.

"When . . ." she hesitated, licked her lips again and continued. "When are you going to stop punishing me . . . us . . . for your past?"

With those words, Angela turned, opened the door and left the apartment and Shawn. Was it forever? Not even Shawn had hope of her returning a second time.