A/N: I know, I know, it's been forever. Sorry! Stupid school. I sat my psychology exam this morning. Not fun :( Anyway, on with this...

Don't own HSM

I settled back into the shotgun seat of Troy's truck and turned my head to see his profile. I had to stifle a giggle. He had a look of pure confusion plastered on his face, as if he'd just figured out that the world wasn't flat. Tyler was strapped safely in the back seat and I knew it was best to just leave Troy with his thought. Today, it had been my last check up since I'd given birth to Tyler. Everything was healing nicely and the doctor was very pleased. While I was there, he had checked Tyler and was pleased with him as well but the routine checks still remained with him. Troy had come with me to every single one of these checkups and his reaction had always been the same: "How can you lie there, talking about the weather when someone's poking your vagina?" He thought that I didn't mind it. Wrong. I simply talking about everyday things to take my mind off it. Then, the journey home was usually silent until Troy says something random, usually related to Tyler or basketball.

I turned back to the window and felt my smile slip. If there was one time in my life that I needed Maria, this would be it. I'd checked the mail this morning, an act that's been a part of my daily routine for years. There had been a few magazines my dad had subscriptions to, a few bills and a letter for me. I knew what it was before I'd opened it. I was invited to go to Stanford's freshmen honour's programme for three weeks before graduation. Unfortunately, or some would argue it was in my favour, I would miss Troy and Natalia's wedding. I just didn't know what to do. If I go to the college, I'm practically taking Tyler away from Troy. If I stay, I have to see Troy being Natalia's husband and I'd much prefer to be a thousand miles away at Stanford with my favourite boy in the world.

I can hope and dream all I want for Troy to fight for me but I know it'll never happen. And, deep down, I know there's a part of me that doesn't want him to fight for me. No matter how bad my relationship with Natalia is, she's still my sister and I still love her. I still want her to be happy and I still want to be happy. I know that they're happy together.

The question was whether or not I go to the honours' programme. All day, I had been drawing up a list of positives and negatives in my head and do you know the truly ironic thing about the situation? There was an equal number of positives as negatives. Which means that the decision was ultimately mine.

I had made the decision, whilst the doctor was examining Tyler and Troy was too busy gushing how proud he was, that I needed to tell Taylor. After the dinner with Jack, Lucille, Troy and Natalia, I'd go around there. And if Chad was there, that might be good. Not only could he entertain Tyler but he might know what Troy honestly wants from me when it concerns my college education.

Stopping at a red light, Troy twisted the dial on the radio, which I was surprised ever had a reception with how old it was. The local radio station began playing quietly, so as not to disturb Tyler from his slumber, and I shook my head to myself. Not two years ago, this radio station was constantly keeping a local update with Troy's latest basketball plans and victories. When Troy eventually graduated U of A, and the news was out that Troy was assisting Jack at East High, it was almost as if the presenters were at a loss of what to say. The whole thing had me teasing Troy for weeks.

"Albuquerque's most eligible bachelor will be tying the knot in less than two months," the presenter stated. Of Course.

"Wow. That's the first I've heard your name on here for quite a while," I ventured, not knowing if Troy was still 'scarred' or not.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. "Well, lay low and you're not all over the news, even though this is a small town."

"Doesn't that heighten the likelihood that people will know?" I asked.

Troy shrugged. "I guess. But, I've gotten used to it."

"There's one thing they don't know about," I whispered, instantly regretting what I'd said.

Troy pulled into the parking lot of the local supermarket. He took his seatbelt off and turned to me. I instantly turned to look out of the window, staring at the sky. "El, please tell me what you want from me."

I shook my head. "What does it matter? I've never asked for anything in my life from anybody other than my dad to simply help me and care for me." I turned to Troy, looking him in the eyes. "If I did ask for anything from anybody, would I get it?"

"Well, you might," he muttered.

I shook my head and unstrapped my seatbelt. "But I wouldn't." I jumped out of his truck and opened the back door. "Hey, baby," I whispered to Tyler as his blue eyes fluttered open. I took his car seat out and handed it to Troy as he arrived on my side. "You can look after him while I buy groceries, can't you?"

Troy took Tyler's carrier and frowned. "Is that what this is about? Ella, please, you know why I asked you not to tell anybody." He locked the truck and looked me in the eye.

I nodded. "I know. You're ashamed to say you slept with a girl five years younger than you so you made me lie to anybody that ever meant anything to me."

"What?" Troy exclaimed. "Where did that come from? I thought you were okay with it?"

I dug in my purse for the list of groceries I needed for our dinner. "Troy, I had found out I was pregnant. I was going with whatever. I wasn't thinking. I'll tell you what I want from you. I want you to stop doing things for Natalia. I get it that you're marrying her but the closer the wedding gets, the less you're acting like yourself."

He laughed and shook his head. "That's not true."

I looked at my feet and up at the sky. "When was the last time you had a day with the guys, sitting back, watching football and then playing some basketball in the backyard?"

He shrugged. "I don't know but Nat always wants...That's not fair."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't get why you're with her. I get it that you're in love with her but you should still be your own person."

"Are you jealous?" Troy asked quietly.

"What?" I whispered. "Why would I be jealous? The father of my baby is marrying my sister and probably going to regret it. There! I said it. I think it's a bad idea. You know what? Just don't come running to me, asking me to be your lawyer when you're filing for a divorce." I turned around and made my way into the store and grabbed a cart on my way, pushing it down the first aisle.

I began piling groceries into the cart as Troy began talking, defending his relationship whilst I concentrated on consulting the list to make sure I had everything. I asked Troy to pick up some carrots from the previous aisle as I looked at the packets of pasta in front of me. I groaned to myself as I realised the brand of spaghetti I wanted was right at the top. Of course.

"The bastards rearranged it," I grumbled. I began stretching to attempt to reach the shelf but failed. A hand took a packet of spaghetti and gave it to me. I turned around and placed a hand over my heart. "Drake, you scared me." I placed the spaghetti into the cart before turning back to the football captain. "Hi, how are you?"

He nodded. "I'm good. Won the play offs. I see you still need a hand with heights."

I giggled. "Yeah. Being pregnant didn't make me grow taller at all."

"Are you okay with everything?" he asked.

I smiled. "Yeah. I am. I've had time to get over it. But, no matter what Dean did wrong, no matter how much I never want to see him again, I'd go through it all over again just to get Tyler out of it."

"How is the little guy?" Drake asked. Although we'd never been friends, exactly, he'd never bullied me while I was in school and never judged me when it was common knowledge that the innocent, naive Gabriella Montez got herself pregnant.

I felt my heart swell at the thought of Tyler. "He's perfect. We both had checkups today and everything is really good. The doctor says that he's going to be really tall and really strong according to rate he's growing. At least he will be able to help me when I go shopping."

Drake chuckled. "I'll bet."

"You know, I couldn't find carrots, only baby ones so I picked up a couple of packets," Troy's voice exclaimed as I turned to see him dropping the packets into the cart, Tyler's car seat safely held in his other hand. "Oh, hi. I didn't know we had company."

"Drake was just asking about Tyler," I explained. "Isn't that sweet?"

Troy nodded. "Sure."

I frowned and turned back to Drake. "I'd better keep shopping. I've got a family dinner I need to prepare and Lord knows that Troy will try to help, burn something and I'll have to start all over again."

Drake chuckled. "I'd better bounce, too. I promised my mom I'd run down here to buy some fabric cleaner and, well, I got distracted by these chips..." He gestured to the extra large pack of potato chips in his hands.

"I'll see you later. And, remember, the diner is always open when you want to gain a few pounds," I joked.

Drake hugged me softly, not unlike Chad's or Zeke's hugs at all. He pulled back and winked. "I'll drop by sometime. Troy." He nodded in acknowledgement before walking away.

I started pushing the cart again and Troy hurried after me. "What was that?" he asked. Did hint a sense of jealousy?

I frowned and turned to him. "What was what?"

"El, you're a single mother, you can't go around, flirting with guys. You need to focus on Tyler," he exclaimed.

I laughed. "Look who's jealous now."

"I am not jealous of that loser," he mumbled, looked down at Tyler.

"Troy, he's got a scholarship to USC and he's already on the team there. I think he's the furthest thing from a loser. I don't like him that way. It's just...when everyone started judging me, even before I was pregnant, he was always just...nice to me. Don't worry, I'm not going to elope." I smiled at him and continued shopping.

It was strange to think that, for one small moment, Troy could've been jealous. He had never needed to be jealous. He had girls following him all of the time, even now that he's getting married. He's got money to buy nice things and he's got good friends and family. The fact that he was jealous, or appeared jealous, should I say, was exhilarating. It gave me a rush of adrenaline, wanting to see it more. But, I couldn't manipulate Troy just to see him appear jealous again. He'd figure something out.

* * *

The door swung open of the small apartment and the tall African-American swept Tyler's carrier away from me. "Who's going to be the greatest basketball player of all time?" he asked in a baby voice.

I rolled my eyes and shut the door as I took my shoes off and hung my jacket on a hook. "Tay? You here?"

I wandered into the kitchen of the small apartment and began preparing the ancient coffee maker, a hand-me-down from Taylor's parents, for three cups: one black, two sugars, one with a lot of cream, no sugar, and one with a drop of cream and one sugar. Mine was the latter. I balanced the three cups in my hands and walked into the lounge. I set all three cups on the coffee table and sat on the couch, smiling as I watched Chad sit on the floor and take Tyler out of his carrier. Soon, his jacket and shoes had been discarded and was lying on the floor, blowing bubbles from saliva.

Chad immediately grabbed a bib and wiped his mouth. "What will your mommy think?"

"She'll think that it's a bad idea to hand my son to you," I replied. I smirked at Chad's shocked face. "You know I'm kidding. Where's Tay?"

Chad shrugged. "Went to greet the new neighbour."

I frowned and picked up my coffee. "Shouldn't you be with her?"

He shook his head. "I said I'd cook dinner if I didn't have to go."

"Let me guess: taking her out?" I asked.

He winked. "You know me too well. Anyway, how was the dinner?"

I shook my head. "Don't go there."

"That bad?" Chad raised an eyebrow.

"The highlight was cutting my finger whilst peeling potatoes and it went downhill from there. Sometimes, I want graduation to come faster," I muttered.

The door opened and Taylor walked in, smiling as soon as she saw me. "Gabi!" She rushed over and hugged me, being careful of my coffee. She pulled back and smiled. "How are you?"

I stared into my coffee as if it would give me a solution to all of my problems. "Tay, I need to talk to you."

"Uh-oh," Chad mumbled. "Do you want me to leave the room?"

I shook my head furiously. "Could you stay, actually?"

Chad nodded worriedly, for I had always asked him to leave the room when I've needed Taylor's advice. "Sure."

I sniffed and looked at the floor. "I got into the programme," I whispered.

Taylor squealed. "Seriously?" She pulled me into a crushing hug. "Oh, Gabi, your mom would be so proud."

I pulled back and stared at her, mentally counting down until she figured it out. 3...2...

"Oh," she whispered and raised her hand to her mouth in shock. "I'm sorry, Gabi."

1...I felt tears well in my eyes and shrugged helplessly. "I think it should be explained to Chad."

"That would be nice," he mumbled.

I smiled as best as I could. "I've been accepted to Stanford's freshmen honour's programme. I get to go there for three weeks before graduation to study with some of the best professors."

"Gabi, that's amazing," he murmured. He shrugged. "What's the problem?"

Taylor rubbed my back as I collapsed against. "She doesn't know whether to go or not."

Chad nodded with understanding. "I say go. Your dad wants you to go. No matter what happened to your mom and no matter how bad he's going to miss you, he wants you to be there. He knows it's where you belong. And Troy? He'll either survive without you, in which case you deserve better, or he'll come to his senses and chase after you."

I groaned and pulled away from Taylor. "Guys, it's not as easy of that. Yes, I'm hopelessly in love with him but you guys don't know why. You don't know the back story. If he does survive and doesn't chase me, I've still got to come back. Not only is this my hometown and where I want Tyler to grow up..." I trailed off to take deep breaths.

"Gabi?" Chad asked. "What is it?"

I sniffed and inhaled deeply. "I can't stay away from Troy because he needs to be able to see his son," I mumbled, staring at the ground.

For what seemed like hours, the only sounds were Tyler's giggles and the incessant ticking from the clock which had been a wedding present from Greg and myself. The moment seemed surreal, as if it was all a dream, and I was unsure whether I wanted it to be a dream or not. It had been so long to keep it all to myself and Troy that it was such a relief to get it out. And although I trust Chad and Taylor with my life, if Natalia finds out, she'd kill me and Troy probably would, too. I just wanted this moment to be over. I wanted someone to say something, anything.

Then Chad laughed. A laugh that was hearty, loud and was certainly not the reaction I expected. I lifted my head as Chad threw his head back and another ring of his laughter rang in the small apartment. He breathed deeply and eventually calmed down but had to swipe a tear from his eye. "I'm sorry. I thought you just said that Troy has a son."

Taylor threw a pillow at him. "Idiot! She's saying that Troy is Tyler's father."

Chad frowned, setting the pillow aside. "Gabi? Is that true?"

I shrugged helplessly. "Would I lie about it?"

"Well, if that's the case, you've been lying about Ty's father for the past eleven months," he said sternly.

I nodded and wiped my eyes. "I know. I'm sorry. It wasn't my choice."

Chad picked Tyler up and sat next to me. He handed Tyler to me and then wrapped me in his protective embrace. "I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to work out whose idea it was."

I pulled back and frowned, concentrating my eyes on Tyler. "He has a right to, though. He doesn't need everyone knowing, does he? It's fine."

"Yeah, but look at you. Everything's tearing you apart. How did it happen, anyway?" Taylor asked.

I raised my eyebrows. "We're all grownups, I think we can figure out how it happened."

She shook her head. "No. I mean, how did it come about?"

I held Tyler to my body and sighed. I explained everything and couldn't help but defend Troy when both Taylor and Chad interrupted my story to insult him. "Guys, don't be mad at him."

"Mad at him? You do realise he's marrying your sister. Not only are you madly in love with him, you're the mother of the baby that nobody else knows is Troy's!" Chad exclaimed.

I nodded. "It sucks, doesn't it?" I paused and sighed. "So, that's why I have to come back. I can't just disappear."

Taylor smoothed my hair down. "Gabi, Greg doesn't know, does he?"

I shook my head. "You guys are the only ones who know."

"So, are you going to tell everybody before you leave?" Chad asked.

I shook my head. "No. Although I don't necessarily agree with Troy's relationship, I wouldn't spoil it just because things didn't go my way."

Chad laughed. "You should spoil it. You should completely ruin it. You should be the cause for their entire relationship to collapse like the entire universe being sucked violently and helplessly into a black hole and...Never mind."

Taylor shook her head in dismay. "Gabi, ignore the way my husband put it but what he's saying is right. Natalia has spent your entire life, causing you grief and Troy? He should stop being a love-struck puppy to your sister and be responsible for Tyler. I love you, Gabi, and I think you've been really strong through everything," she said softly and brushed some hair from my face, "you can't raise him on your own."

I nodded. "I know. It's sick." I looked at Tyler. "Tyler's the only thing I have of Troy."

Taylor pulled me towards her, rubbing my back. "Oh, honey, you won't be alone. I promise."