Author's Note: This has been ready for a couple of weeks – but I got hit with a flu bug that knocked me on my ass for a while. Sorry to keep you guys waiting… I'm slowly moving beyond the writer's block that's paralyzed this fic… and I can't thank you guys enough for your unwavering support; it's helped in ways you'll never know.

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Preoccupied - December 20th

The day went as predicted, with Troy, Gabriella and Ms. Montez playing tour guides. They hit the beach, the women doing some window shopping along the sea side boardwalks as the guys hung back and talked about the game that night.

Troy deliberately withheld the information that Coach Montgomery would be starting him that night in the hopes of sending his dad away with a pleasant surprise. Still, the morning's conversation stuck with him; his dad's admission - no matter how well intended - had stung. His mother had never made him feel unwanted or unloved or like a regret... why bring up the fact now? He knew his parents had tried for other children, but complications resulting from his birth had doomed him to being an only child.

Not that he'd minded; but had his mother? Had his parent's choices - and his early arrival - forced her to accept a fate she wouldn't have chosen for herself? Were him and Gabriella really walking the path his parent's had trod eighteen years ago, doomed to repeat their mistakes? Mistakes. Was he just a mistake, a quirk of fate?

"Hey."

Snapped from his dreary thoughts by Gabriella's soft touch and concerned tone, his head came up. He'd fallen behind everyone else as Ms. Montez was showing his parents and their friends the view of one of the harbor's many piers. Gabriella had dropped back to join him - and was now looking at him with a worried expression that turned her eyes darker than normal.

"Hey."

"What's wrong?"

My parents never intended to have me when they did; we're more impossible than you know; I was a mistake my mother might regret - all of those answers flashed through his mind, but not one reached his lips. He found a weak smile for her. "Sorry, my dad's little talk this morning touched a nerve."

"So I see." Gabriella glanced towards the group and then took his hand - her fingers sliding between his as naturally and easily as breathing - before dragging him down the series of steps to the strip of sand below. It was nearly deserted and cool air wafted in from the ocean. She lifted a hand to the others as they drew their attention and then pulled him under the wharf. The laughter of their friends could be heard as Chad made some comment that was borne away by the wind.

Ignoring them, Gabriella turned to face him, her expression serious. "What is it? What'd your dad say?"

Exhaling softly, Troy shook his head.

"Troy..."

"I know, I know - but I haven't worked it out in my head yet."

"So talk to me and we'll work it out together." With gentle fingers, she reached up to caress his cheek as she searched his gaze. "Keeping it inside will only make it worse."

"I don't deserve you, you know." The churning in his gut that had begun with his dad's words seemed to want to eat him up from inside. "And, based on what my dad said, we're more impossible than I'd ever thought."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "I was... unplanned." By her expression Troy knew she didn't quite follow so he elaborated. "They didn't mean to have me when they, Gabriella."

"So? It means your parents are human-"

"No, it means I was a mistake," pulling away from her touch, he turned to face the water line. "It's only by some fluke of chance I exist."

"Troy..."

Your mother regretted never finishing college because you came along earlier than we'd intended. His father's earlier words reverberated around in his head. Clenching his fists, Troy struggled with the knowledge that his dad had been trying to help, not hurt, but he couldn't help it. His dad's choice of words had stung. "I don't want you to regret not doing something because of me."

Reaching out, she touched his hand and drew his gaze back her way. "Have I ever?"

"I don't know - you tell me."

"I was going to regret not getting my Prom or getting to do the show - and missing my graduation ceremony." She searched his gaze as she spoke, looking for something he didn't understand. "I was going to regret not having the chance to tell you that I love you in person - or to hear you say it back to me. You made sure none of those happened, Troy; you let me move forward with no regrets."

"I refused to let you go, you mean."

"Exactly." Smiling, she reached her free hand up to cup his cheek. "Letting you go... making that phone call to say I wasn't coming back for Prom was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I never dreamed you would come after me... or let myself think of a future here with you."

"Never?"

"Not while I was awake, anyway."

He laughed softly, bending his head to touch his forehead to hers. "I couldn't think of anything else. The idea of losing you was too painful; the very thought of having to go on without you was crippling - and then you did leave. If you hadn't, I don't know what decision I would have made about college."

"My point is this; I don't regret where we've been or what we've been through."

"But you could." Closing his eyes, Troy exhaled softly and brushed the tip of his nose against hers. "I don't want what to happen."

"It won't."

"It could," he insisted, looking back at her seriously as he pulled away fractionally. "It we followed in my parent's footsteps..."

"We're not your parents," Gabriella arched her eyebrows, amusement lurking in the depths of her gaze. "For one thing I look nothing like your mother."

"You know what I mean."

"I do, Troy," her smile faded a little and the hand on his cheek slipped down to grasp his, squeezing as the fingers twined together. "But I also know that if something did happen - if we created a baby - we'd be alright."

"I don't want just alright," he confessed. "I don't want you to sacrifice your dream because of us; it wouldn't be fair."

"Life's rarely fair - but somehow, I don't think your mother would agree with you."

"No? Then why did dad tell me she regretted dropping out?"

"Why don't you ask her instead of taking your dad's word for it? People can regret not doing certain things but still be thankful for what they have."

"I don't think I could stand it if she agreed with him."

And there, Gabriella realized, was the core of what was bothering him. Saying nothing, she enveloped him in a hug and made a note to have his mother sit him down for a talk. Whatever she said wouldn't have nearly the same effect as Mrs. Bolton's assurances and she knew it. They stayed that way for a while, their parents and friends somewhere overhead and out of view. Troy didn't exactly relax in her embrace, but she could feel that he wasn't as tense as he'd been initially and it was only because of her presence.

A private smile touched her lips as she closed her eyes, her head on his chest as his cheek touched the top of her head. There was something empowering about being the one who could bring him peace when his thoughts were in turmoil. His embrace tightened and he turned his head to press a soft kiss into her hair.

"Yo, Hoops! Where'd you guys get to, man?"

Gabriella laughed softly as Troy groaned. "You'll miss him when he's gone."

"That doesn't stop me from wishing he'd take a hint," raising his voice, Troy turned his head to answer his friend. "Over here, man - under the wharf!"

Chad and Taylor appeared seconds later, ducking under the initial overhang before straightening. "There you are." Neither commented on the fact that Gabriella and Troy were still wrapped in one another's arms. "Your dad wants to know if there's a good place around here for dinner."

"Depends on how much he wants to spend."

Gabriella choked on a laugh at Troy's dry response, well remembering the look on Troy's face the night they'd dined at Gary Danko's. Neither Taylor nor Chad knew of the fact she'd paid for their bill that night and she suspected Troy intended to keep it that way.

Chad didn't seem to notice the sound and shrugged. "They're flying out in less than twenty four hours; I'm sure they can splurge a little while they're here."

With a gentle squeeze, Troy reluctantly eased his hold on Gabriella but didn't pull away. "Nothing fancy, man; I've got practice in a couple hours."

"Why don't we head to UC Berkeley?" Taylor suggested with a twinkle in her eye. "They've got to have something on Campus, or around it, that won't be too heavy - right?"

"I wouldn't count on that," Troy told her with a faint smile. "But that's as good a place as any since we've got to be there anyway."

Taylor grabbed Chad by the elbow and hauled him, protesting, away to leave Gabriella and Troy in peace. While Chad had been oblivious to the tension in the atmosphere, Taylor hadn't. It was only one of the reasons that Chad and Taylor had been such a good couple in high school - one was observant where one was not.

"We should rejoin them."

"In a minute," there was a familiar teasing sparkle in his eyes as he tilted her head back to his. "For the next two days we're going to be interrupted at the most awkward of moments; I intend to get at least one without it."

Laughing softly, Gabriella shifted her grip, running her hands up his chest and linking them at the back of his neck as she tilted her head towards his in complete acceptance. "And what's stopping him from coming back?"

"Taylor."

The swiftness and surety of his answer made her laugh again - which was immediately cut off as his lips settled over hers.

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The afternoon passed quickly; lunch and then practice in a blur with Troy's attention obviously diverted. Gabriella's talk had helped, but his father's words still weighed heavily on his mind. The very idea that he'd been something other than wanted by his parents had thrown him for a loop and Chad had stepped in to help him at practice the way they'd always done. With the Bears short on players due to the Christmas Holidays, Coach Montgomery hadn't objected to the Red Hawk stepping in to scrimmage.

Chad and Troy fell into old rhythms easily enough, but mostly because Chad remembered well Troy's distractions through High School and how to work around them. Coach Bolton had been introduced to Coach Montgomery, leaving the women alone in the stands. Gabriella took the opportunity to sit with Troy's mom and, when Taylor and her own mother were absorbed watching the scrimmage and calling out encouragements, pulled Mrs. Bolton aside.

Down on the court, Troy benched himself - his game was abysmal, his focus shot... it was almost as bad as those times when Gabriella hadn't been speaking with him in the last couple of years. True, he could still sink a basket at the moment, but they were fifty-fifty and nothing that was nearly as spectacular as what his team had come to expect from him. Basic plays were escaping him and he knew he had to pull himself together.

The familiar grasp of his girlfriend as she wrapped her arms about his shoulders from behind made him smile, turning his head to hers.

"Hey Wildcat, tough practice?"

"I'm preoccupied," he admitted, covering her hands with his where they were loosely grasped at his collar bone. "I just can't focus."

"It's just practice."

"My dad always told me to practice how you play," Troy nodded to where his dad and Coach Montgomery were running a drill with the forwards. "If this is how I'm going to play, I should bow out now to spare the team the embarrassment."

"Or you could just talk to your mom." As usual, Gabriella's reasoning was timely and logical. "I mean, it can't make you play any worse, right?"

"Thanks," he told her dryly. "I find out my mother might not have even wanted me and all you can do is poke fun."

"Troy, you wouldn't be here if she hadn't wanted you. Even twenty years ago there were ways to end unwanted pregnancies at worse - or surrender a child for adoption at best." Her grip on him eased. "Think about it; you wouldn't be their child if they hadn't wanted you."

"Brains and beauty," squeezing her hands with his, Troy cast a glance towards his mother as she released him. "Could you... do you think..."

"I could ask her to talk to you?"

He nodded, a little sheepishly. "I don't know what to say and I might blow it."

"Do you honestly think you could feel any worse than you do right now?"

"Probably not." Troy's concession was rueful. "Thank, Gabriella."

"Anytime, Wildcat." Brushing a soft kiss across his cheek, Gabriella returned to her previous seat and pulled Mrs. Bolton aside.

Troy saw his mother stiffen, look his way and then her eye narrow as she looked towards her husband. The firming of her lips warned Troy that his dad would be sleeping on the couch for several nights to come - once his mother had words with him. His mother said something to Gabriella he couldn't see and then hugged her before meeting his gaze. She nodded towards his left - her right - towards the hallway leading towards the away team's locker room and Troy nodded back.

Without so much as a nod in the team's direction, Troy went to join his mother, ducking down out of sight - and was promptly spun towards her to find her planting her hands on her hips. "How can you even think, for one minute, that your dad and I didn't want you?"

"I-"

"Did we ever give you a reason to think we didn't want you, Troy? Even once?"

"Well, no, but dad said-"

"I don't care what your father said. You're an adult now. You've already learned that we all have difficult choices to make and that they're not always choices we would have made when we were younger. Yes, you were unplanned - but that doesn't mean you were ever unwanted, honey. You just showed up sooner than expected - that' all."

"Dad said you gave up your college dream because of me."

His mother's lips thinned. "And your father will be hearing about that from me later." Exhaling, she let go of her anger and found a smile for him. "I had to choose between two dreams Troy; and you were an impossible dream I never thought could come true."

Troy blinked. "Huh?"

"Didn't you ever wonder why you don't have any brothers or sisters?"

"Er..." he glanced back towards the court, but couldn't see his team from where they were standing and shrugged as he met his mother's gaze once more. "No?"

"Liar." She ruffled his hair. "I have a condition that makes it extremely difficult to conceive a child Troy. So difficult in fact, that the doctors told my parents that they'd never be Grandparents no matter what."

"Never?"

Nodding, his mother smiled faintly. "You were a miracle I hadn't dared hope for; I could always go back to college - I still could - but then I was given a chance to have you... you were never unwanted - just unplanned."

"You really can't have more kids?"

"Really. And don't think your father and I haven't tried!" Troy blushed to the roots of his hair, looking away, and his mother had a good laugh at his expense as she pulled him into a hug. "I love you, Troy. We both do - and we're lucky to have you."

"Don't you mean I'm lucky to be here?" He hugged her tightly, placing a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks mom."

They separated and she held him at arm's length, her expression suddenly stern. "But don't think that my story means you and Gabriella don't have to be careful."

"We are; I promise."

"Good; because I fully intend to be a Grandmother some day... just-"

"-not before you're forty, I know." He grinned impishly. "Does the year you turn forty count?"

Swatting him, she pushed him back towards the court. "Brat."

With a wink and a wave, Troy turned and headed back for the court - and when he intercepted a ball bounced towards Chad, spun to launch a perfect three point shot from beyond the arc of the Key, all he could hear was the acceptance and joy in his mother's tone. Regardless of the lesson his father had been trying to teach him, it was his mother's warmly delivered warning that stayed with him and put his world back into the spin it was supposed to have.

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Later that night, Troy would most remember the proud expression on his father and mother's faces as he started his first game as a Bear. Not the score, or the way he played - but the pride they displayed in his accomplishments. And that, he realized as he lay alone in bed, was what really mattered.