I should so be doing my writing homework right now, since i won't have a ton of time to do it over the weekend, but you know something? I'm too lazy. Writing up this story is so much more fun. You can't read this kinda stuff in a textbook. But I'm happy because I have no art homework this week, which means no working from a huge sketchbook. ^^ Ok anyway, you all really wanna get to the chapter don't you? I'll make this a/n short and just let you get to it then.
And yet again, HSM is not mine. What a surprise.


"Oh man, how is cleaning one house so difficult?" Chad gasped to himself as he literally ran around the house to clean everything. "It was never this messy! Who's idea was it to have a paintball fight in here while Taylor was gone?"

Dylan blinked as he looked up at Chad, with some Pledge and rag at hand. "You and Troy did Dad, member?" he asked. "When Gabriella was having that girl's day out with Sharpay and they went to the spee to get their bodies done and you and Troy came here to goof off and got paint everywhere?"

"First of all, it's spa. Second of all, I don't wanna know what Sharpay does to her body in or out of a spa." Chad corrected. He rolled his eyes at the thought. Sharpay had got back from her honeymoon with Zeke only a week ago and already Sharpay was having a girl's day to herself and her friends. Amazing how quickly two months could go by. "Second of all, don't mention this to Taylor when she gets back, ok? She comes home today and she has to come home to a clean house."

"Ok Dad." Dylan nodded as he went back to dusting one of the tables. "So does this mean I can't finger paint on the walls?"

Chad froze and turned to Dylan. "What?" he gasped.

"Kidding." Dylan laughed. "Gotcha."

Chad chuckled, holding in a sigh of relief. "Yeah, you got me." He turned to the kitchen and continued cleaning. He shouldn't have even been rushing to clean everything now. Taylor had only been gone for a few days, deciding to leave after Sharpay's and Zeke's wedding to move her things from her place to Chad's. And Chad wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. The house had to be spotless, he and Dylan had to be angels...well, he could dream of a miracle like that, couldn't he?

This is the last time to get it right

This is the last chance to make our mark

Chad shook his head when he heard his phone ringing. He sighed and picked it up. "Yo, you got me." he answered.

"Hey." Taylor replied from the other line with a smile. "Guess who just landed back home?"

Chad pretended to think for a minute. "Oprah Winfrey?" he joked.

Taylor laughed. "Well if she's here I'm getting her autograph." she replied. "Nice try, lunkhead."

"So I see you made it here in one piece." Chad stated with a smile.

"As much as any other passenger on flight two fifty six." Taylor shrugged. "So I'll be home in about fifteen minutes."

"Great. Dill and I are gonna be here." Chad promised. "He really missed you while you were gone."

"Who missed who?" she teased.

"Very funny." Chad chuckled. "I'll see you soon."

"I'll be there." Taylor nodded. "Love you."

"Love you, too." Chad replied before hanging up. He turned back to Dill, "Ok now we really gotta speed the cleaning process up here." he said. "She gets here in fifteen minutes."

"So what do I do?" Dylan asked, needing to be told specifics by his father.

"Finish what you're doing here and then I'll look over everything." Chad answered. "Is your room clean?"

"Uh-huh." he nodded.

"Great, so go up there when you're done and act like the little kid you always act like." Chad said.

"But I'm not little." Dylan moaned.

Chad chuckled and rubbed the kid's head. "Tell me that in two years when you're more than half my height." he teased.

"I'm telling Mom on you when she gets home." Dylan moaned as he want upstairs.

Chad sighed and hit his forehead. There always had to be some kind of technicality with a child. But there was no time to worry about that now. Chad had less than fifteen minutes to get everything together and make the house perfect and spotless for Taylor. So he picked up the speed and rushed to get everything in perfect condition. There wasn't a single dirty spot in the kitchen. The living room was as neat as it would ever get. Chad had even repainted his bedroom and rearranged everything. And he was just hoping that Taylor would like it.

Hearing a car door close outside, Chad peeked out the window to see Taylor exiting Troy's and Gabriella's car (yes the two had officially moved in together) and pulling out her luggage. Man those fifteen minutes went by fast! Speeding to get the very last corner clean, Chad moved as fast as he could and then threw out the last piece of garbage into a garbage bag. He tossed it into the back, and it luckily landed beside the garbage can. Chad washed his hands in the kitchen sink and then clapped his hands together to dry them. Hearing Taylor approach the front door, he then made it look like he was getting something out of the kitchen so she wouldn't suspect he was cleaning all morning.

A minute later, Taylor walked in through the front door with her luggage and a smile. "I'm home." she greeted.

"Hey Tay." Chad greeted with a smile. He walked over to her and pulled her in for a hug and a kiss. "Where have you been for four days?"

Taylor giggled. "Officially making the move here from my own home." she answered. "Are you sure you're not up to something?"

"Who, innocent little me?" Chad asked. "No, never."

"Really?" she cocked an eyebrow. "Because the place looks conveniently spotless."

"Yeah, about that..." Chad started to come up with an excuse.

"Mom!" Dylan called as he made it down the stairs. He ran over to Taylor.

""Talk about a welcoming committee." Taylor smiled as she knelt down to Dylan and hugged him. "It's good to see you, too. Did you have fun with your father?"

"Yeah. He and Troy had a paintball fight all over the house!" Dylan exclaimed with a smile.

"What?" Taylor gasped.

Chad chuckled nervously. "Kids. They have such imaginations."

Taylor stood up and folded her arms. "Chad, something you're not telling me?"

"But look at the house. It's all completely clean. All for you. See? You don't have to lift a finger for anything except unpacking today." Chad replied.

"What happened to watching Dylan?" Taylor questioned.

"I was watching him. But Sharpay and Gabs were out for the day. We needed something to do." Chad replied.

"That's no excuse for neglecting your son." Taylor argued.

Now most kids would probably be worried if they saw their parents arguing. But Dylan found this oddly funny. He just started laughing as he listened to them. "Dad's in trouble!" he sang in between laughs.

"Ok, now you're gonna get it." Chad told Dylan. He playfully tackled him and started tickling him. "I'm gonna get you now, Dill."

"Dad, stop!" Dylan laughed.

Taylor rolled her eyes at the two and smiled. "Ok Chad, get off of him. You'll suffocate the poor boy." she said, playfully pulling Chad off.

"Make me." Chad laughed, pulling Taylor in. "Now I got both of you."

"Chad let go!" Taylor gasped, trying to get out of his grip.

"Never." Chad shook his head, with one arm around Taylor and the other around Dylan. "So how about we go out for dinner tonight? All three of us."

"Too lazy to actually cook something?" Taylor teased.

"Maybe." Chad shrugged innocently. "But I do think we have an occasion to celebrate."

"And that would be...?" she inquired.

"I'll tell you at dinner." Chad answered with a smile.

~HSM~HSM~HSM~

"When you said we were going to celebrate, you weren't kidding." Taylor stated a half hour later as she and the boys sat down at a table. "This is one of the most expensive diners in Albuquerque."

Chad shrugged modestly. "I do what I can to impress."

"I thought we were going to Chuck E Cheese's?" Dylan asked with disappointment.

"We can go next time." Chad promised, gently rubbing Dill's head.

"How about next weekend before you go back to school we'll take you to Chuck E Cheese's?" Taylor offered. "It'd be a great way to celebrate you starting fourth grade."

"Ok." Dylan gave in, though with a tint of boredom in his voice. No child was particularly excited about starting school again and Dylan was no exception. But hey, if it meant eating pizza and playing a ton of games the night before then it had to be good, right?

"Then how about you look through the menu and decide what you want to eat?" Taylor suggested, handing him the kid's menu.

"But I wanna color a picture." Dylan said.

"After we order food." Taylor replied, moving the crayons away from Dylan, at least for the moment.

Chad couldn't help but smile. It was a good thing he didn't spoil Dylan that much.

"Are you ready to order drinks?" a waiter asked, walking over.

Chad picked his head up at the man. "Yeah, I think so." Chad nodded. "Root bear for me."

"And your son?" the waiter inquired, writing that down.

Chad smiled. Man, he loved hearing that. Is that your son? Aw, what a cute little boy you have there. What would your son like? Chad never got tired of hearing that. Man it was good to have things like that again.

"What do you want, Dill?" Chad asked.

"I want a puppy!" he exclaimed with a smile.

Taylor couldn't help but cover her mouth and hold in her giggling as she looked through the menu. He had really picked up on Chad's sense of humor.

Chad chuckled a bit himself before trying to set things straight. "No, I mean to drink. You can't drink a puppy."

"Can I have soda and orange juice?" Dylan asked, cocking his head.

Taylor raised an eyebrow and looked at Chad. "What have you been feeding him?" she asked.

"Nothing." Chad replied defensively. "No, I don't mean I'm not feeding him. I mean, I am feeding him, but nothing disgusting. He's being perfectly fed..."

The waiter looked at the child. "How about a Pepsi and we'll bring you an orange on the side?" he suggested.

"Ok." Dylan nodded. He turned back to Taylor disrupting her slight argument with Chad. "Can I have my crayons back now?" he asked.

"I don't know, can you?" Taylor teased playfully, making sure to hand him the crayons in slow motion.

Chad smiled at the two. He shook his head contently as he turned back to the waiter. "What was that?" he asked.

"I asked if you knew what your wife wanted to drink." the waiter politely repeated.

Chad blinked and nearly froze. Taylor was caught off guard, which also gave Dylan the chance to snatch the crayons right back from her. Chad glanced at Taylor slightly, though he was talking to the waiter. "Well...that's not exactly..." he stuttered.

"Actually, we're not married." Taylor corrected, trying to sound as casual as she could. "Um, I'll just have a Ginger Ale then."

The waiter nodded as he jotted that down on the pad and walked away to get the drinks.

Taylor bit her tongue and rested her elbow on the table, her head leaning against her hand as it went slightly through her hair.

Chad lightly tapped his fingers against the table. "Well that was..."

"Awkward." Taylor finished.

Chad nodded in agreement and they quickly looked over their menus. They remained silent for a while, only talking to order their food. And even after their food arrive they remained quiet. Neither of them said anything and Dylan was only confused, not touching his food.

"Why are you not talking anymore?" he asked curiously.

"We're eating." Chad lied, putting some food in his mouth.

"Speaking of eating, didn't we come here for something?" Taylor inquired, keeping the conversation going. She couldn't help it; it felt so odd sitting right across from Chad and not saying a word to him. And they were confusing Dylan, who had no idea what was going on. What if he thought they were angry at each other and became worried when they didn't talk instead of when they argued?

"Right." Chad nodded. "Well, I was thinking that it would be a great nice for all of us to go out. I mean, since we're family now. You know, living together. It's a good reason to celebrate isn't it?"

"Sounds decent." Taylor nodded as she took a sip of her drink.

"And there's one more thing." Chad added.

"We're getting a puppy?" Dylan asked eagerly.

"No..." Chad said slowly.

"I'd better sit still for this one." Taylor sighed as she put her glass down. "What did you destroy?"

"Nothing...yet." Chad joked.

Taylor folded her arms and looked at him seriously.

"I was kidding." Chad said. He shook his head and went on with his news. "You know how I pretty much gave up the bowling alley, right?"

"It was all you could talk about until you made it official in the middle of last month." Taylor sighed.

"Well we don't have to worry about a job anymore." Chad started.

"Chad, I need to find one I can manage here. I need to bring in some of the income, too, you know." she replied.

"I know. But I actually got a new job. A better one." Chad said with a smile.

"And that would be?" Taylor asked.

Dylan looked at Chad expectantly.

"I get to work at a new daycare center that's going to open up near East High." Chad grinned.

"What?" Taylor gasped.

"You always said I was great with kids. Remember babysitting Jason's younger brother? And Zeke's?" Chad shrugged.

"Well you did get along amazingly with them. You do have a way with children." Taylor agreed.

"And...?" he asked hopefully.

A smile came across Taylor's face. "And I'm proud of you. This is excellent news." she said. "You're right, this is a great thing to celebrate."

Chad smiled. He walked over to Taylor and pecked her on the cheek. "I knew that'd make you happy." he said. "What about you, Dill?"

"Does this mean I get more toys?" Dylan wondered, cocking his head.

Chad chuckled and rubbed his son's head. "Maybe in the long run, kiddo. Or maybe we can get a puppy. We'll see soon." He walked back over to his seat. "Now finish up eating so we can order dessert. We need to have ice cream or a family night out won't be complete."

~HSM~HSM~HSM~

"Dinner was amazing." Taylor said with a smile as they three of them walked back into the house later that night. "And your news was pretty amazing, too."

Chad shrugged modestly and smiled. "I wanted to make sure I'd be doing something that I can actually handle. And that I would enjoy doing. Bowling was ok, but it just wasn't for me."

"You really wanted basketball, didn't you?" Taylor guessed, her face falling slightly.

"Maybe just a little." Chad admitted. "But if I can't do basketball then...then it's no big deal."

Taylor sighed and turned to Dylan, wanting to talk to Chad in private. "Dylan, go upstairs and get changed ok? Bedtime in an hour."

Dylan nodded and went upstairs as he was told. Taylor turned back to Chad. "How can you say basketball isn't a big deal, Chad?" she asked. "That's always been your dream."

"Dreams change, Tay. People change." Chad said. "And if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have pretty much became the same person I was in high school. And I like that me a lot better than the boring serious me."

"So what are you saying?" Taylor asked.

"I've got a new dream Tay. And it actually has almost nothing to do with basketball." he admitted. He took Taylor's hand. "Come with me." he said, leading her upstairs.

Taylor raised an eyebrow and followed. She had no idea what Chad was planning, or even what he was talking about. He had something up his sleeve, that was for sure. She let him lead her upstairs to what was now their room and Taylor blinked in disbelief as she took in the scenery. The walls were painted a light shade of violet blue, a combined shade of their favorite colors, and there wasn't even a crumb on the carpet. The vanity up against the wall was evenly divided so they could each have their belongings on it, as well as certain drawers to themselves. The room was in perfect condition; nothing was out of place. Taylor stood there with a shocked look on her face as she turned around to Chad.

"What did you do in here?" she wondered.

"My dream involves us, Tay." Chad confessed, continuing from where he left off. "I want us to bring up Dill in the perfect environment so we can be a real family like we were tonight. And maybe we're stll just dating right now but we're still his parents. And that's not ever gonna change. I've always wanted to raise a family with you, Tay. And now we can do it, if you want to." There was a pause as he left her hanging with that, at least for now. He wanted to leave her standing there wanting more. He knew Taylor was aware that this was going somewhere and she was going to know. They had already confessed all else for each other; this was the last piece of it. This was the last thing to do to make it complete. All Chad could do was hope that he didn't mess it up. He took a deep breath as he finished. "I want to pick up where we left off again."

Taylor stood there, still in disbelief. How could she believe it? Chad had done all this work while she was away to move everything and he was going all out. If he wanted to impress her, his mission wasn't accomplished. He never had to do anything to impress Taylor, just as long as he was being honest and himself. And here he was doing just that. He was proving to her that he could be the same guy she had first fallen for, not to mention implying that he never would be like that again if he hadn't seen Taylor again. And he was indeed being truthful; Taylor would know if he were lying. There were no symptoms to prove that all of this was a lie. So now there was only one last thing to take care of. After all they went through, after all that's happened since she got there, after hitting pretty much every speck of drama that they could possibly run into at that point, was she ready to pick up where they left off?

Taylor held up a finger. "Give me on minute." she said softly as she exited the room.

Chad sighed as he watched her walk out. He had messed it up, hadn't he? He said or did something to completely screw it up and in turn, screw his chances with Taylor. No matter what they went through would it always end in a breakup? Chad couldn't bear to see that anymore. He didn't want to see Taylor with another man; he wanted to see her with him. He wanted to do know what he did wrong so he could go back and fix things. But could he do that or was there really no hope? He merely sighed and looked down at the ground.

Taylor knocked on Dylan's door as she stepped inside. "You getting changed?" she asked him, making sure her eyes were closed if he was still changing.

"All done, mom." Dylan said as he sat on the floor coloring in his coloring book.

Taylor opened her eyes as she walked over to him. "Your father and I are going to hit the hay early tonight, ok?" she asked. "So I'm going to put you in bed now."

"But I'm not tired." Dylan shook his head.

"Not yet, you're not." Taylor smiled. She took him over to his bed and rested him on his bed. She slowly started tucking him and and humming a lullaby.

"But I'm not...I'm not sleepy..." Dylan said in between yawns. And before he knew it, he was off to sleep.

Taylor smiled and kissed him on the head. She turned off his light and closed the door behind her and walked back into her and Chad's room. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat when she walked in.

Chad blinked and turned to Taylor. "Hey..."

"Hey..." she replied. He sounded so uneasy. What was going on? "So about what you were saying..."

"I messed it up, didn't I?" Chad guessed right away.

"No, of course not." Taylor shook her head. "So what were you saying before?"

"What?" Chad asked, confused.

"Before I went out to put Dylan to bed, what were you saying?" Taylor asked.

So that's why she went out. It was just to put Dylan to bed early. He hadn't missed his chance!

"I was saying...that I wanted to pick up where we left off." Chad admitted with a small smile.

A smile grew on Taylor's face. She closed the door behind her and took a step closer to Chad. "So where did we leave off again, exactly?" she inquired, almost with a flirtatious tone.

Chad raised an eyebrow and smiled. He leaned in and kissed Taylor gently and she returned the kiss. She placed her hands on his shoulder and Chad's hands went around her waist. They grasped onto each other as though they wouldn't let go and remained in each others' arms. It wasn't long before they ended up on the bed with just their shirts removed and nothing else, Chad gently on top of Taylor as they continued kissing. It was exactly where they had left off before heading to college. Like almost nothing happened since then. It was exactly where they left off.


This took a while to write, once again. xD Since I didn't get to put this chapter up last night, I'll put in another chapter tonight. Although last night I did manage to fix a few things in previous chapters, mainly typos. So does that make it a little better? o_0 Hope so, cause I fixed whatever I could find. Anyway I hope this was a good ending to the chapter. Or story. 0=) But then again, why would I tell you if this was the end? I'll just keep you guessing on that one. But if this really was the end then I would have said final thank you's for reviews and everything. So this is all I can think of to say for now, so I'll leave it at this and watch some TV. XD