Troy's POV

"Troy, it's time." Mom yelled from down stairs. She was nine months pregnant, on maternity leave. I was at school this morning but I had the rest of the day off. I walked downstairs.

"Time for what?" I asked.

She was clutching her pregnant belly. "The baby is coming!" My mom gasped out. "You need to call your dad now."

I stood there frozen for a second. I'm 19 years old I don't know how to handle a woman in labor! I ran upstairs and grabbed her bags. I picked up the house phone in my parents room and called my dad. "Baby is coming!" I yelled into the phone before hanging up.

I ran downstairs and I helped my mom into her car. "God damn your father better be on his fucking way." I turned on the car and drove quickly to the hospital. Once we got there I helped her out. I grabbed her a wheel chair and she sat down. I ran to the car and got her bags. I pushed her in the hospital. I got the chills once I walked in. I hate hospitals.

The nurses took my mom and I sat in the waiting room waiting for Dad. I looked down at my clothes, my eyes moved to the tattoo on my arm. Gabriella. I let out a sigh. I hadn't talked to her since I broke up with her. Taylor told me she made it back to LA safely and she's in school. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her. Everything about Albuquerque reminded me of her. School and work are nice distractions. Now the baby is coming so it is going to be a nice distraction too.

Mom and Dad didn't want to find out what they were having. They wanted it to be a surprise. It was driving me crazy wondering what it would me. Would I have a brother or a sister? They already picked out names though, Noah for a boy and Elizabeth for a girl. Dad came up with the first names. Mom was going to decide the middle name. She wanted to wait until it was born to tell us. Mom prayed for a little girl. Dad didn't really mind. Neither did I. I just wanted to be the best big brother I could be. Since we are almost 20 years apart.

"Where is she? Did she have the baby?" Dad came rushing in. He was dirty. He still worked at Albuquerque Rocks. Gabi's mom sold it off to some guy named Doug from Arizona. Doug is nice, he and my father get along great. I can imagine Gabriella being royally pissed off at her mom. Katherine deserved it though. I drove by her house the other day. There was a for sale sign on the gate. She was really gone. "Troy?" Dad said snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, I was distracted… No we got here about 10 minutes ago." I explained to him. "A nurse was going to come and get us when it was okay."

"Oh, alright." Dad said, sitting next to me. "God, I remember when you and Emma were born. I was just as nervous as I am now."

I looked over at dad who couldn't sit still. "What do you want it to be? Honestly, Boy or Girl?"

"Girl, Your mom always wanted a daughter. After Emma passed I don't think she would even want to have another baby. Then Gabriella came along. You mom loved her like she was her own, they had a weird girl bond. You know?" He asked I nodded. "As if it was fate she got pregnant. She's really excited even though its been a long time since we had a baby in the house. "

I scoffed. "Yeah, fourteen years." I mumbled looking over at my dad. "I bet she would have been a basketball star. Grown up to be a doctor and save the world." I told him quietly. "But I guess God wanted to keep her for himself, she would never have to go through hell on earth.. Or Heartbreak. I wouldn't have to beat some asshole up who got feely with my little sister. She's somewhere way better than here." I said quietly.

Dad put my hand on the back of my neck and pulled me in. "You're right son." He said, giving me a hug. "But now you have to fulfill your big brother duties for this little one. I think you are going to be more over protective than I am." Dad said chuckling.

I cracked a smile. "Yeah, probably."

A nurse came and got us a couple minutes later. We walked into the room and mom was fast asleep. The nurse said she was dilated to 3 and had a long way to go. I borrowed my dad's phone and walked out into the hallway. I didn't know who to call, so I called Chad.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey man, it's Troy." I said. "I'm on my dad's phone. I haven't got one yet."

Chad chuckled. "It's been months man, what's goin' on?"

"Mom is going to have the baby. I'm at the hospital right now. You know how much I hate hospitals." I said quietly. "I'm nervous."

"Why don't you just call her? I've been telling you for months now." Chad said. I closed my mouth. "I know you don't want to talk to me. You want to talk to her, so call her Troy."

I sighed. "I can't. She probably wouldn't answer anyway." I bit my bottom lip. "I tried calling her once, I let it ring once and I hung up. I couldn't do it. Besides, she probably hates me."

"Stop making excuses Troy. She couldn't hate you if you chopped all her fingers off." Chad said.

I made a face. "Why would I chop all her fingers off?" I asked him.

Chad groaned in frustration. "That's not the point Troy. I have practice, call me when little Bolton is born. "

"Alright, thanks anyway Chad." I said hanging up. I walked back into the room.

Once Mom was ready they gave her an epidural. She hates needles so I don't know why she'd want a large one poked in her back. Child birth was a complete mystery to me. Mom was hopped up on pain relievers, she took another nap. I sat in the room, waiting patiently.

"Troy, you could go home." Dad offered.

I shook my head. "Nope, I missed my sisters birth. I'm not missing this one."

Dad chuckled. "You were five."

I shrugged. "So, I want to be a part of it. I want to… well I don't want to see it come out, but you know what I mean."

Dad laughed at me and shook his head. "I know what you mean."

I rolled my eyes and walked down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I got feeling of Déjà vu. I sighed. Gabriella. I handed her flowers for her Grandpa in this cafeteria. I got some food, getting out of the cafeteria as soon as possible. I sat on a bench outside and ate my food in peace.

A couple hours later they said my mom would be ready to push. I stood closer toward her head, holding her hand. It felt like one big blur as she gripped my hand and bared down. It seemed like an eternity later a shrill cry rang through the air. I glanced at the little bloody baby the doctor was holding.

"Congrats, it's a healthy little girl." The doctor said putting the baby on my mothers chest.

Mom burst out in sobs, gently stroking the crying baby's head. "Hi beautiful girl." She cooed to my new baby sister. "Mama's here."

The nurse carefully took her off my mom. I watched as they weighed and measured her. She definitely was beautiful. She had moms light hair and Dad's blue eyes. She stopped crying once they swaddled her up in the blanket. She looked up at me curiously before blinking a couple times.

"Do you want to hold your sister?" A nurse asked me.

I looked at the nurse then back at my sister. "I- I don't know." I stuttered. "I don't want to hurt her."

The nurse smiled. "You wont hurt her, you just have to support her head." She picked up the baby. "Put your arms like this." She instructed. I did as she said and she placed the seemingly weightless baby in my arms.

"She's so small!" I said, looking down at my little sister. "She's beautiful mom." I said walking over to her slowly.

"Look at my babies." Mom said, wiping her tears. "My little Liz." The nurses took the baby to run some tests. They doctors cleaned my mom up. Once mom got cleaned up she looked over at me. "How are you baby?"

I looked over at my mom. "I'm alright. I'm happy that the baby is healthy and perfect." I said looking at her. "Did you decide on a name?"

She nodded and bit her lip. "I did, but I want to make sure you are okay with it. I don't want it to be weird or anything." She looked over at me. "I want her name to be Elizabeth Gabrielle" My body tensed. "After Gabriella, She was apart of all of our lives." Mom said quietly.

I sighed and thought about it for a minute. "She is your baby, I can't really say anything." Mom looked away from me. "Elizabeth Gabrielle is a beautiful name." Mom looked back at me and smiled. I smiled weakly at her. "You did a good job mom." I kissed her forehead before sitting back down.

"Thanks baby. I can tell you and Liz are going to be close." She said, laying her head back.

"What was Emma's middle name?" I asked quietly.

Mom looked over at me. "Lynn. After Chad's mom." I smiled at her. She laughed quietly. "I guess I like naming my kids after people."

"Does Lynn know?" I asked her.

Mom nodded. "Yeah, she was very flattered."

I chuckled. "I bet." I was quiet for a minute. Mom was looking over at me. "Well Emma Lynn would be very proud of you mom."

She smiled at me. "Thanks baby." She said sleepily. She fell asleep and I sat in the room for a little while longer. The nurses came back with Liz and my dad was holding her for a little while.

"You were even smaller then her Troy." Dad said, looking up from the baby. "You were 5 pounds, 10 ounces. Emma was 6 pounds even. Now Liz is 7 pounds 5 ounces."

"I was five pounds, really?" I asked.

Dad nodded. "You were a couple weeks pre-mature. You're mom was a stick in high school. When you were about to be born her stomach looked like it was going to pop." I raised my eyebrows, I didn't know all of this. "But even though you were a little small, you were perfectly healthy."

"I didn't know that. What about Emma? Was she born early too?" I asked curiously.

Dad shook his head. "Ironically she was late, but only by a couple of days."

I nodded. "Interesting, Are you happy dad? That she's a girl?"

Dad looked at me and smiled. "Yeah, I am. She's perfect."

"Me too." I admitted quietly. "Her name though…"

"Does her name make you uncomfortable?" Dad asked me.

I shook my head. "Not uncomfortable. It's just…. Something else to remind me of her in this town." Dad looked at me and I shrugged. "It's fine."

"Do you want to hold her? I'm going to get us something to eat." Dad said walking over to me.

"Yeah, sure." I said, I held out my arms and he put Liz in my arms. Dad walked out of the door and I looked down at my baby sister. "Hey Liz, I'm your big brother Troy. I will always be here for you. Just a word of advice. Never fall in love Lizzy Getting your heart ripped out is the worst feeling in the world. If anybody hurts you I will personally beat them up. I promise." I kissed her head gently.


The first year with Liz in the house was difficult. She kept my parents and I up most nights. She was a very cranky baby or just nocturnal. We took turns taking care of her. I was like a third parent. She definitely kept my hands full along with School, work, and Basketball. I loved being busy. When I wasn't I found myself thinking about Gabriella.

I often wondered what she was doing, if she missed me like I missed her. I wondered if she hated me. I knew Taylor kept up with her. Taylor was away at school and so was Chad. They were still together and of course they talked about me about Gabi. Chad told me some things that Taylor told him but I tried not to talk about her. It hurt too much.

I was finishing my second year at ACC. I was excelling at basketball, basketball was easy and fun. School was a little hard to manage especially with basketball and work. How I managed to get a 3.8 GPA in college was beyond me. I decided I would go to U of A after ACC. I've already talked to the coaches, they wanted me, badly.

I would sometimes go and work out with them if I had time. I still worked at Murray's. Julie and I became good friends, it was nice to have somebody to talk to at work. She brought up Gabriella sometimes but I usually didn't say much about her.

I cut back on my work hours so I could help take care of Elizabeth. Dad took my truck to work on days I had to watch her. He said it wasn't safe for an infant. So I used his car. I decided to take a little visit to my work on my day off. Then I'd take Liz to go to the park or something.

I put the 13 month old in the car. I made sure I had everything for her. It was March so it was a little cold outside. I buckled her in and got in the car.

"Toy!" Liz squealed from the back seat. "Toy, Go!"

I chuckled. Liz couldn't say much so I'm assuming Toy meant Troy. "Where do you want to go Liz?" I asked the little girl.

She gurgled and kicked her feet. I drove her to Murray's and parked the car in one of the front spots. I took Liz out of her car seat and carried her in. We would only be in there for a little bit. I opened the door and walked inside. "Hey, Vic is Julie here today?" I asked one of the hosts Victoria. She used to be a waiter but she liked hosting better.

"Yeah, do you want to get a table in her section?" Vic asked, picking up a menu.

"You know what? Sure. I could use some dessert or something. Can you get a high chair for Liz?" I asked.

Vic nodded. "Sure, she is so cute."

I chuckled. "I know, she looks just like me." Vic rolled her eyes and walked away. She came back with a chair for Liz and walked me to a small table. I put Liz in the chair and sat next to her. "Do you want some juice Liz?"

"Yes!" She said smacking the table.

I saw Julie walking over to me. She saw me and groaned. "Ugh, Bolton. I get enough of you when you work, now I have to see you on your day off?" She joked.

I chuckled. "Liz and I just wanted to say hello. Lizzy can you say hi?" I asked the little girl

"Hi!" She said waving to Julie.

Julie smiled. "Hi cutie pie." She replies, putting her hand on Liz's blond curls. "Welcome to Murray's can I get you anything to drink?" Julie asked in her waitress voice.

"I want a Dr. Pepper and this little lady will have some juice, please." I said, opening the menu.

Julie laughed. "Coming right up."

I looked at the menu. "Are you hungry Liz?" I asked her. she shook her head, no.

"What should brother get?" I asked her, not that she was going to answer. "I think I want some ice cream, how does that sound?" I asked Liz.

She squealed looking at me. I chuckled as Julie walked back with our drinks. "Here you go" Julie said, putting the juice in front of Liz. "Are you going to order anything?"

"A sundae will be nice." I said, giving her a cheesy grin. I handed her my menu and she rolled her eyes at me.

"Coming right up." Julie said walking away.

I looked over at my little sister who was drinking her juice from a straw. "Is that good juice?" I asked her.

She nodded. "uce." She said, putting it down and letting out a sigh.

I chuckled. "You are something else, Lizzy Gabrielle."

After I got my sundae and shared it with Liz, we left to go to the park. I put Liz on a swing and started pushing her. She was giggling like crazy. She always loved swings. It was the only thing that would calm her down when she was being fussy.

"Is this your daughter?" Somebody asked from behind me.

I turned around and saw a lady standing behind me. "Excuse me?"

The lady smiled at me. "Sorry, I was wondering if this little one was your daughter."

"Oh." I chuckled. "No, This is my little sister."

"She is so cute. She looks just like you." The lady said walking over to me.

I nodded. "She does. We look like our Dad, his blue eyes are very genetically strong I could say."

"They are gorgeous." She smiled at me. "I'm Candice." She held out her hand.

"Troy." I said shaking it, before going back to pushing Liz.

"You from around here?" She asked looking at me.

"Lived here all my life." I said, as I stopped pushing.

"I just moved here for Arizona. I go to U of A." She said, putting her hands in her pockets. "I guess I should go now."

"Maybe I'll see you around. I'm going to U of A starting in the fall." I said, pulling Liz out of the swing.

Candice smiled at me. "Maybe." She walked away, glancing back at me.

I walked over to the play structure and we went down the slide together. "Gan! Gan!" She said giggling. We climbed up the play structure and slid down again.


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