Disclaimer: I own this story, all of the original characters thought up by my brain, and nothing else.
In this story, Emma left Canada when she got pregnant at age 16. She never revealed the father's identity to anyone, with the exception of Manny. And she never told the father about his child. Now, 15 years later she is living in New York with her teenage son Tom, and old memories are resurfacing, forcing herself to track down Tom's father.
It's been a long day. Emma thought as she sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. She picked up the stack of unopened mail lying in front of her and started going through it.
"I'm home, Mom!" Emma's teenage son Tom said, closing the front door behind him.
"You don't have to shout, I'm right here." Emma said, turning around to face her son.
He's looking more like his father everyday. Tom was 15, had Emma's eyes and nose, but the rest of his features he could thank his father for. The father he doesn't even know. The father who doesn't even know Tom exists.
Emma went into her room, sat on her bed and began folding laundry. Peace and quiet at last. Emma thought just as she heard loud, crashing sounds coming from downstairs. Tom and his band were practicing in the garage. Must they play so loud? Thought Emma, rubbing her forehead, trying to get rid of the headache she felt coming on. Emma laid down on her bed, unable to even think, thanks to all of the commotion going on downstairs.
At 5:00 when the noise had finally subsided, Emma went downstairs to start cooking dinner. A couple minutes later, Tom sat down at the kitchen table, reading a magazine.
"Do your homework, Tom."
"I don't have any."
"Yes, you do. Get to it. I don't want any more calls from your teachers."
"Yes ma'am." Tom grumbled, taking some books and papers out of his backpack.
Emma turned the TV in the kitchen on and punched in 7 on the remote. ABC News came on, anchored by Liberty Yorke. It's crazy. I can't believe she made it. She was a teen mother, just like me. But, she made a decent life for herself and followed her dreams, all while raising a child. I just let my dreams go down the drain. Liberty had married J.T. shortly after graduation, they had 3 kids. J.T. was a full time father while she worked her way up the ranks of ABC and finally was promoted to an evening news anchor. I haven't seen her since I was 16. I haven't seen anyone from Degrassi since I was 16, with the exception of Manny. But, she always filled me in on the latest gossip on the guys from Degrassi, just like old times.
Manny, she had made a good life for herself, too. After attending fashion school, her and Marco teamed up together and created their own clothing line. It had been a success. It attracted the attention of many celebrities, often seen wearing items from the collection on the red carpet. Manny lived in a beautiful penthouse apartment in New York City with her husband, John, and their 7 year old daughter Skye, only 30 minutes away from Emma. She and Emma had remained close over the years, and Manny often stopped in to visit her and Tom. As a matter of fact, everybody had made their dreams come true. After her father's death in Iraq, Ellie, in his honor, joined the army. Liberty. J.T. Marco. Manny. Ellie. Peter had an exceptional film-making career. He started by directing music videos, then short documentaries, and now he is filming the most highly anticipated movie of the year. Liberty. J.T. Marco. Manny. Ellie. Peter. But that's not all. Paige was successful in business school and was an accountant, but then, after her brother Dylan was shot to death due to gang violence, she went to Police academy, and is now a policewoman. She got married to Spinner, who works in an advertising agency, and they are currently expecting their 3rd child. Liberty. J.T. Marco. Manny. Ellie. Peter. Paige. Spinner. Best friends Sean and Jay had teamed up together and started their own construction company. Sean is now married and expecting his first child. Jay is engaged to be married to his girlfriend of 4 years, Teresa, and is father to 6 year old Josh, from a past relationship. Liberty. J.T. Marco. Manny. Ellie. Peter. Paige. Spinner. Sean. Jay. Jimmy had been selected out of hundreds of auditions to portray L.B. Jefferies in a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. After finishing the film and realizing acting was not his calling, he used the money to buy a nice house in which he settled with his wife, Hazel, and their 4 children. Liberty. J.T. Marco. Manny. Peter. Ellie. Paige. Spinner. Sean. Jay. Jimmy. Hazel. Everybody seems like they have the perfect life, and I'm struggling with my rebellious son, and a job I hate. Emma sighed and snapped out of her daze.
"…rescue workers were able to pull 7 out of the burning building 2 of whom died la-TRL STARTS NOW!"
Emma sighed heavily.
"I thought I told you to do your homework less than 20 seconds ago." She lectured Tom, who was worshipping the TV.
"I can multitask."
"Fine. But that homework better get done. Dinner will be ready in 20 minutes." Emma said, bending down to open the oven, checking on the chicken that was roasting in there.

"Shh. I want to see this." Tom said, his eyes glued to the TV screen.
The announcer for TRL spoke. "After this short break we will premiere the new video from the platinum-selling Canadian band Burnout and frontman Craig Manning will be here to talk about it. Don't change the channel." A commercial for Crest toothpaste began to play.
Emma dropped the phone she had in her hand, planning to call Manny. Oh, my God. Did I just hear that correctly? No, I couldn't have. Craig's in New York? Craig's in a platinum selling band? It could be a different Craig Manning. Yeah, right. Liberty. J.T. Marco. Manny. Ellie. Peter. Paige. Spinner. Sean. Jay. Jimmy. Hazel. And now Craig.
The phone rang. Emma quickly picked it up from the floor on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Emma, did you just call me?" It was Manny's voice on the other side.
TRL was coming back on. "Sorry, Manny, got to call you back." Emma said, hanging up the phone. She sat down at the table, next to Tom.
"Mom, you're blocking my view." Tom said.
"Be quiet!" Emma shouted, louder than she intended to.
"Geez…" Tom mumbled, moving his chair over to where he could view the TV.
Craig came onto the screen, holding a microphone. It's amazing. He doesn't look like he aged a day since high school.
"His band is my inspiration, he's a very talented guy. Did you know that they his band is the next Green Day? And-''
"How many times do I have to tell you to be quiet!"
"Sorry."
Emma was looking at the TV, but not registering anything that was going on. Her mind had brought itself back to old times. She thought about how her life was before she left, carefree and fun, and then her life on the day she left, a mess and depressing. All of the sudden she had an urge to return back, for a visit. She had been away for 15 long years. Away from her family. Away from her friends. Away from reality.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Time to take the chicken out of the oven. Emma heard the timer, but was so lost in her thoughts about going back home, she disregarded the continual beeping noises.
"Mom! The timer's been going off for 10 fucking minutes!" Tom screamed at Emma.
"Don't talk to me like that."
"Well, what are you, deaf?"
"That's enough." Emma said, anger rising. "Dinner's ready. Take your homework off of the table."
Dinner was eaten mostly in silence. Emma couldn't take it.
"So, did you finish your homework?"
"I can't."
"Why not?" Emma questioned, slightly annoyed.
"I need to do a complete family tree."
Great. Emma thought back to the time when Tom was 5 and made a father's day card in school, but had no one to give it to.
Emma swallowed. "That's easy. You have a mother, two grandparents, two uncles, and 4 cousins."

Tom poked his chicken with his fork. "I need to know about my father's side of the family."

Emma remained silent.
"You probably don't even know who he is." Tom muttered under his breath.
"What did you say" Emma asked, trying her best to remain calm.
"I said that you probably don't even know who my father is!" Tom ran upstairs.
You don't know this, but you were just telling me about how he is your band's inspiration and how you worship his guitar playing skills.
This was a sensitive subject for Tom. He always longed for a father. Emma had done her best trying to raise him well. But, he always felt as if something was missing. Tom often thought that his father wasn't around because he didn't want anything to do with him. He had no idea that his father didn't even know he had a son.
After cleaning up from dinner and doing 2 loads of laundry, Emma decided to call Manny. I can't even remember why I was going to call her in the first place.
The phone was picked up on the 2nd ring by Manny's daughter, Skye.
"Hello?" A child's voice said on the other end.
"Hi, Skye, it's Aunt Emma. Is Mom there?" Skye had always considered Emma her to be her aunt,
"Hold on, Auntie."
After a moment of silence, Manny answered.
"Hi, Emma. What's up?" They still spoke like the 14 year old girls they were at heart.
"Did you know that Craig was in a platinum selling band?" Emma asked her friend.
"Grammy winning." Manny whispered.
"What?"
"His band won a Grammy last month. Best rock album."
Where have I been?
"Why didn't you tell me if you knew?"
"I thought you didn't like talking about him. After…"
Emma cut her off. "Listen, Manny, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
Emma dropped the phone on the couch next to her and started crying.
Tom walked through the living room, on his way to the garage, but stopped when he saw his mother crying on the couch.
"Mom… if it's about what I said before… I'm really sorry. I was out of line. I didn't mean it."
Emma wiped her eyes and looked up at her son. He must have been crying up in his room. Emma thought, seeing that Tom's face was red and tear stained.
"No, it's not that."
"Is your homework finished?"
Tom nodded his head.
"Good."
Okay…it's been too long. He needs to know who his father is.
Sorry about the band name. It's from Green Day's song "Burnout". I just didn't feel like being creative.
Please read and review. If I can get 8 reviews, I'll post another chapter. No hurtful comments, please. Be nice this is my first Degrassi FanFic. Constructive criticism is welcomed.
I know Ellie's father did not die on the show, but he did in this story. But it doesn't matter, because it's not important to this story.
I also know that Spike and Snake only have one show, Jack, on the show, but I'm just going to say that they had another one. Once again, not important.