Emma bounded up to Liberty's locker before lunch, "Hey, I'm throwing a party at my house tomorrow night. Kind of a 'we survived the first week of school' thing. You wanna come?"

Liberty smiled at her friend, "I'll try."

"Good, cause it's also a welcome back Liberty party." Emma grinned.

"Then how can I miss it?" Liberty said as the two walked towards the caf.

Once again Liberty and JT avoided talking that day. Mia found nothing strange about it but Toby, Manny, and Emma knew better. Liberty started to feel at ease when she fell back into her old routine at Degrassi. She couldn't really join any clubs like her previous years at the school, or run for student council president, because of her home situation but for the most part she reconnected with all her old friends minus of course JT. But that was another story entirely.

JT showed up at her door for the third day in a row, and Liberty realized that she and JT were also forming a routine. They ignored one another during school hours but he showed up after to talk.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Was the first thing out of his mouth when she opened the door, James in her arms.

She handed him the baby and walked over to the kitchen, "We did have this conversation yesterday did we not?"

"You didn't answer me yesterday." he stated, marveling at the fact that he was holding his son in his arms, but still trying to maintain a strong tone to Liberty.

"What makes you think today will be different?" Liberty dismissed, pulling a jar of baby food out of the cabinet, and handing it to JT, she took James out of his arms and put him in his high chair, she then handed JT a small baby spoon, and continued what she was doing in the kitchen.

JT stared at her, then looked down at James unscrewed the cap to the jar and began feeding him. No more words were exchanged as JT finished feeding the baby. He put the child in his playpen and walked out the door.

Liberty paused from writing her English paper to watch him leave. She looked at the clock. 20 minutes. Well that was a record. She went back to her paper, but Elizabeth started crying and she abandoned it for her daughter.

JT was leaning against the door willing himself to go when he heard a cry coming from the apartment. "Go back in." He said aloud to himself, "Just go in and ask her if she needs help." He had his hand on the doorknob when the wails ceased. His hand dropped and he muttered, "Coward." to himself as he left the building.

"JT we need to talk." Toby said. JT had shown up at his house more than an hour ago and so far all they'd done was play video games.

"Tobes, do you remember when Liberty tutored me so I'd take her to the dance?" JT asked out of the blue.

"Back in 8th year? Yeah."

"And when she did that project about me for media emersions class?"

"Yeah, I helped her with it." Toby chuckled, but JT ignored it and continued.

"And when we did that play in 10th year?"

"Yes, I remember the JT and Liberty wonder years. Do you have a point?" Toby asked impatiently.

"In 11th year she was different." JT stated, "Most of the summer leading up to 11th year she was different."

"Okay, but she seems like the same old Liberty to me now." he said.

"That's because she is the same old Liberty again. Tobes in year 11 she was pregnant." JT said.

Toby chocked on the sandwich he was eating, "What?" he demanded. JT nodded, "Well what happened? Is that why she left? Did you know all this time?"

"I don't know what happened, I don't know why she left, and I just found out Tuesday, when I found my sons health card on the ground." JT answered in order.

"What did Mia say when you told her?" Toby asked, JT looked at his feet, "You didn't tell her!"

"What was I supposed to say, 'my ex-girlfriend just showed up with my twins, sorry I didn't mention them, but truth be told I just found out myself.'"

"Twins?" Toby echoed.

"A boy and a girl. It's horrible Tobes, I never knew it was possible to love someone you didn't even know, but I do. The minute I held Elizabeth in my arms and the second she handed me James, I knew I loved them." JT said laying down on Toby's bed, "Elizabeth looks just like Liberty, she has her eyes, and James is so... fat, but cute baby fat, not Heather Sinclair's step sister fat." Toby grinned at JT describing his children, "I fed James and he got so messy and he kept trying to grab the spoon and it was really hard, and Liberty... she's been doing this for six months with two kids and no help from anyone."

"Well you know Liberty Van Zandt. She always has to do everything on her own. She's never accepted help with anything." Toby said.

"I know, and that's what makes me so angry. Not that she left so much as... she kept me out of my kid's lives. If she didn't move back I might never know them." JT said angrily.

"There isn't anything you can do about it now except try to work this out with her so you can be a part of their lives now." Toby reasoned.

JT said nothing.

Liberty assured the sitter she'd be home by eleven at the very latest and headed for Emma and Manny's home, the following night. To say she wasn't looking forward to seeing her friends and being a normal high school girl was a lie but to say she wasn't looking forward to leaving the twins with a new babysitter was an understatement. She had to keep assuring herself that nothing would happen and the twins would be sleeping soundly by the time she got home the whole way to the Simpson-Nelson home.

Manny was the first to greet her when she walked through the door.

"Hey, I'm so glad you made it!" she said hugging Liberty, "Want some cake?"

"No Manny! No cake till all the guests arrives." Emma scolded.

"But I really want some." Liberty listened bemused at their banter.

"Hey Lib." Sean said giving her a quick hug.

Liberty smiled and moved her hair to one side of her head, in a side ponytail, and said, "What's up hot stuff?"

Sean rolled his eyes and laughed, "Towerz wanted to kick my ass after that."

"I wanted to kick your ass after that." Liberty laughed.

"And thankfully no one kicked my ass for being the one to tell him to do it in the first place." JT said walking up behind Liberty, Mia had her arms wrapped around his waist.

"You?" Liberty asked confused.

"I told him that uh... he had to be straight with you and tell you he didn't like you." JT said sheepishly.

"Actually I think your exact words were, "Hint is not in Liberty's vocabulary. You have to be brutal." Sean said smirking and walking away from the group.

Liberty made a face and hit JT lightly in the arm, "Not only can I define hint, but I can say it in three languages."

"Mommy." Isabella said clinging to her mother's legs.

"Hi babe. Liberty this is my daughter Isabella. She's almost four." Mia said.

Liberty pasted a fake smile on her face and nodded.

"JT will you keep an eye on her for a second I'm gonna go refill her sippy cup." Mia asked, JT nodded.

"So where are the twins?" he asked when Mia was out of earshot.

"At home with a sitter. I wasn't aware of the extended child invitation." Liberty said looking pointedly at Isabella, who was trying to climb into JT's lap, "I'm gonna go find Manny and Emma." she added not being able to stand the sight of JT with a child other than theirs.

"Da." was what Liberty heard in response when she was about five feet away, and she froze.

"No, JT. Not dad. JT."

"JD." the little girl said.

"Close enough." JT said and Liberty was able to move again.

Liberty blinked back her tears and glanced at the clock. She'd only been at the party for twenty minutes but it already felt like an eternity. She wondered momentarily if this was how long it felt for JT the day before when he'd been at her apartment. She certainly felt like leaving as he'd done, but she knew she couldn't do that to Emma and Manny. So she set out to find them as she told JT she was gonna. But instead she went out to sit on the porch swing.

"There you are." Emma said walking out to her, "We've been looking all over."

"Emma, you know how I left last year?" Liberty asked.

"Yeah?" Emma asked sitting next to Liberty on the porch swing.

"I was pregnant." Liberty said.

"Oh." Emma's voice expressed no feeling but Liberty knew she was shocked.

"I have two kids. The twins in the picture Manny picked up on Tuesday. They're mine." she continued, "And JT's."

"Does he know?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. He figured it out and confronted me about it, and for the past few days he's been coming over after school to see them I think. But also to argue with me. It's just that when I see him hold Elizabeth or James I forget for a minute that I'm a single mom and I let myself imagine that we're still together and I never left and we're happy. Don't get me wrong. I am happy with the two of them. Elizabeth and James are my world, but it's a different kind of happiness."

"Why did you leave?" Emma finally asked.

"JT keeps asking me that, and I can't tell him." she admitted, "And it's not because I left over him. I didn't think he'd make a bad father or any of the other ego damaging things that are most likely running through his head cause he is after all JT Yorke. I left cause I had to and that's all there is to it."

"What do you mean?" Emma was confused.

Liberty opened her mouth to speak but her watch beeped, letting her know it was 10:30 already time to head home, "Thanks for listening to me Emma."

"Anytime Liberty." Emma said truthfully as Liberty left.

"Hey." JT said greeting Emma, "You seen Liberty?"

"She just left." she nodded towards Liberty's car pulling away.

JT took the seat Liberty had vacated as Emma smacked him in the arm hard, "Ow! What?"

"We've been best friends since year five and you didn't tell me about your children." Emma whispered angrily.

"Who told- Liberty?"

"Yes, Liberty. It should have been you, you jerk." Emma mumbled.

"Sorry. I'm still getting used to it myself." he said. Emma leaned her head on JT's shoulder, "I mean Em these kids they're beautiful. They get they're looks from Liberty hands down."

"Good, I'd feel bad for them if they looked like you." she joked; he reached over and swatted at her lightly.

"Ehem." Mia cleared her throat at the two, "JT can we go home now? I have to put Isabella to bed."

"Yeah." he said as Emma lifted her head from his shoulder, "We'll talk in school." he added to her.

Liberty knew he'd come. It didn't surprise her when she heard a low knock on the door at 11:30. She was surprised that the twins hadn't been asleep when she got home a half-hour before and had basically refused to go to sleep. It was like they were waiting for something. But Liberty thought that was stupid, they were six months old what could they be waiting for? She figured they'd had to long of a nap at daycare that morning.

She opened the door immediately handing him Elizabeth so she could pick up James to attempt to rock him to sleep. No words were exchanged as JT mimicked Liberty's slow rocking movements with Elizabeth. Within 25 minutes the two were sound asleep, and JT nodded to Liberty before walking back to the door and leaving.

Liberty noted a new record in her head.

Please review.

-Em