Man! I got a lot of reviews! Some were strange, though. One person suggested I kill Lily! Yes, you know who you are. Well, I guess you will find out of Lily dies in this chapter. I am not going to make it a very long, drawn out thing. I think I am going to skip a few years in one of the upcoming chapters, or maybe in the end of this one.

Well, enough taking...writing? On with the story!

P.S. Thanks to Monica for betaing!

Gabriella gripped onto Troy tightly as a doctor shoved her out of the way to get to Lily. He didn't seem to do much, just check a few things. The machine continued to screech loudly. Why wasn't he doing anything to help her? Gabriella thought, watching as he calmly took readings of the numbers and letters that were on the screen. Gabriella understood none of it. Soon, he turned to them, a smile on his face.
"Whats wrong?" Gabriella asked urgently.

"Nothing. Sorry for the scare. The machine is just beeping to tell us that she has begun to breathe on her own without to much trouble with her lungs. We are going to keep the tube in for a while, just to be sure, but it looks as though her chances for a normal life have raised to about seventy percent. I think the drugs we gave her worked. In some children, they don't. But Lily seems to be putting them to work. She is doing great." Troy smiled and hugged Gabriella. Just then, a loud squeal from across the room made him look up.

"Dada!" It was Rocket. He ran to Troy, grabbing onto his leg tightly and looking up into his face.

"Hey, squirt." He looked up to see his mom and dad enter the NICU. They were both wearing yellow coats, like Gabriella and Troy. The doctors must have made them wear the coats as well, so not to pass to many germs that may be on their clothes to the premature baby's, who were easily infected. Looking down, Troy relived that Rocket was also in a yellow coat, although it was much to big for him. Raine toddled not far behind Rocket, also grabbing onto one of Troy's legs.

"Sorry about this, they wanted to see you guys, so we brought them for a short visit. We also want to see how Lily is doing." Mr. Bolton said, smiling at the tiny baby. Lily still had yet to open her eye's.

"Thanks dad. I think it is high time these two see their little sister, anyway." He picked Rocket off of his shoe while Gabriella took Raine. They lifted them up to where they could see Lily. Raine pointed at her, looking back at Gabriella questing.

"That's your sister." Raine looked back, still looking like she didn't understand. She reached out a hand and placed it on Lily's stomach. Lily reacted by kicking out her leg, trying to reach the hand further up. Raine giggled and smiled, looking backup at Gabriella, her teeth showing. Gabriella grinned and kissed Raine's forehead, placing her on her hip and turning to the Bolton's. Rocket was still looking at Lily, wondering where she had come from.

"They said that Lily is reacting to the drugs well, and her chances have gone up to seventy percent." Mrs. Bolton smiled, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"That's great. Do they know what caused the premature labor yet?"

"No. I do not think they have the slightest clue."

"Yea, Troy was a month and a half early, and they never found out. Said it was probably just an accident." Gabriella looked down at Raine, who was now sucking on her shirt.

"No, Raine. Here," She pulled out a purple flower teething ring from her purse and handed it to Raine. Although she was almost through teething, she still liked to suck on things. "Suck on this." Raine grabbed the ring and then threw it as far as she could. Gabriella went after it, relieved that it had not hit any of the children in the NICU. "Maybe we should go outside." Everyone agreed and they went out into the halls, Troy immediately taking off his yellow coat.

"Well, it looks as though Lily is going to be fine. Thank God." Mr. Bolton looked at the floor. He knew how Troy felt. When it was Troy's life that was on the line, he would have done anything for him. But there was nothing he could have done. Back when Troy was born, premature baby's, under seven months, had almost no chance for survival. He was born two weeks ahead of that time period, and although he knew he shouldn't have let himself hope so much, he let his hopes soar when the doctor said that Troy's chances for survival were fifty percent.

"So, where did you come up with the name Lily? it is pretty, but I have never heard of it before." Mr Bolton asked, picking up Raine, who was currently pulling on his pants.

"I read it in a book." Gabriella said.

"Which one?" Troy asked, a hint of a smirk on his face. "You only read a hundred while you were on bed rest."

"I forgot. But the name stuck with me, and I promised myself I was going to put up a fight if our baby was a girl. I liked the name the second I saw it."

"Well, good thing I like it too. I wouldn't want to get in a fight with you." Gabriella smiled and sighed, looking down. Raine was back at her feet. She picked her up. "Raine, make up your mind."

"Gapa!" Troy laughed as Raine struggled to be put down. The second her feet were on the ground, she made a run for Mr. Bolton. They all laughed when she squirmed to be put down. This time, however, she went for Troy. He passed Rocket to Gabriella and picked her up. Raine seemed content with these arrangements, and stayed where she was. The only problem was, Rocket wanted to go to Troy, too. He grabbed at his Troy's pants, his lip starting to stick out.

"Please don't cry." Troy pleaded. But nonetheless, Rocket started crying. Troy groaned, looking to his dad for help.

"Don't look at me. Man, I am glad you were an only child."

"No, Lily, don't eat that...Raine, put that down! Rocket! Get out of the toilet!" Troy ran across the living room and into the bathroom, pulling the three-year-old Rocket out of the toilet. Rocket under one arm, and Lily under the other, he went back into the living room to grab Raine and take the car keys out of he mouth. Lily started crying and Rocket was soaking wet with god knows what. "When does your mother get home?" Troy asked no one inpitulicar.
"I 'o no.. Daddy, I watch 101 Dalmatians?" Raine asked, looking hopefully up at Troy.

"Sure. Will you keep Lily in here, Raine? I need to give your brother a bath." Raine nodded and took Lily's hand, leading her over to the TV. Troy quickly stuck the tape in the VCR and started it. Lily, who had never seen it before, was instantly captivated by the colored dogs running across the screen. Lily, unlike Raine, still had yet to say her first word. They had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the following Monday. They wanted to run some tests to see if she could speak. Most, although not all, children can at least babble nonsense by age one. Lily hadn't barely uttered a sound, beside crying, and didn't like to do that often. She was also unresponsive to loud noises and Troy and Gabriella calling her. The doctors were afraid that she might be deaf.

After washing Rocket up, Troy walked back into the living room and set him on the couch in between Raine and Lily. Lily leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, unlike most older brothers would do. But Troy had been noticing that Raine and Rocket were very protective of Lily. When they went to the park, and other little kids would pick on Lily for being so small, a side effect of being born premature, Raine and Rocket would step in. Troy sighed and walked over to the corner of the room, where he had his work desk set up. He started working on one of the reports he had to have ready for work the following morning, wishing that Gabriella would get back from her day out with Kelsi and Taylor soon.

"I'm back!" Came Gabriella's happy voice hours later. Troy had just gotten Raine and Rocket to sleep, and was now laying Lily down in Raine's room. He smiled and walked out, greeting Gabriella with a big kiss.

"Hello, beautiful."

"Oh, stop that. How were the kids?"

"Fine." Troy lied, not wanting her to worry about how disastrous his day had been. "Lily still isn't responding to loud sounds though, and still won't come when I say her name."

"Do you think she is deaf?"

"I don't know. But don't worry, we'll be fine. We got through Raine's attacks. Although they haven't stopped yet. Come on, I am dead, lets go to bed." He yawned and walked into their bedroom, and after stripping down to boxers and a T-shirt, he climbed into bed, hoping the next day would be better.

"What! I finished the stupid report, all three of them!" Troy yelled. He couldn't, not right now, he just couldn't...

"I am sorry, but your lack of work days has been adding up. You are fired." Troy clenched and unclenched his fists.

"I have been missing work because all three of my kids came down with the flu at the same time, andI have just found out that my youngest daughter is deaf. Raine had another attack, and she was hospitalized for a week because she was deprived of oxygen and she needed special medications she couldn't get anywhere else."

"I said I am sorry." Troy's boss began to walk off. Now what was he going to do? The hearing aids and speech therapy for Lily was going to have tremendous costs, and he just lost his job! This week sucked so far. Troy began clearing out his work area and sighed. What was he going to do now? His answer cam in the paper two days later. He was trying to get Rocket and Raine to keep most of their cereal and milk in their bowls, and not throwing it at each other, when he saw an add in the newspaper. The fourth grade Basketball team was searching for a coach. Perfect.

Two days later, he got the job. Lily went in for more tests to confirm her hearing problem, and if it could be reversed. It couldn't. She was deaf, and would require hearing aids for the rest of her life, and for her to learn how to use sign language at a very young age. Troy had wanted to wait until she was older, but the specialist said it would be best to start her young...young minds can learn and remember things better than the older mind.Another problem was approaching. Raine and Rocket were starting preschool in five months, and the school required 300$ down payment for each of them to enrol them in the school. That was going to be a very big problem.

Yup. Threw to much at you in one chapter, didn't I? Well, I have decided to skip a few years. I am thinking of ending this in a few chapters. I have three written out, and the last one has something you could consider a good ending. Would you like me to stop?

Well, Please Review!