AN: Thanks for all the GREAT reviews! 3

I'd like to share that I went to the Aly & AJ/Jonas Brothers/B5 concert last night and it was great! Congratulations to Alyson Michalka for graduating high school one year early as Valedictorian yesterday!

This chapter has some family drama in it!

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.Chapter 3.

Troy and Emily were sitting in the living room talking. Jack came up to them.

"Hey Troy, can I steal Emily away for a little bit. I think we need to talk." He said.

"Yea…sure, Dad. I'll see you later Em." Troy replied before leaving the room. Jack took the seat that Troy was sitting in across from Emily. They sat there for what seemed like forever in silence.

"So…" Emily started.

"So…" Jack repeated.

"Can I ask you a question?" Emily asked.

"Shoot." Jack responded.

"Why didn't you ever come back?"

"I-I didn't want to leave my first child."

"But you'll leave your second."

"There's something you have to understand about me and your mother."

"What? She wasn't good enough for you?"

"Hey! That's not true." Jack said sharply.

"Okay…That's why I grew up without my father in my life, right?" Emily said with an attitude.

"Listen…I-" Jack started but Emily cut him off.

"No…tell it to someone who cares." Emily said, stood up, and walked away. Jack leaned back on his chair and sighed.

Emily walked up the stairs and to her room. Jack had brought all of her boxes and bags up already. She sat down next to a box and began pulling out many carefully wrapped picture frames. As she unwrapped each frame she placed it on the floor next to her. She pulled out about ten frames before she got to the last one. It was folded into a newspaper, the newspaper that told of her mother's accident. She bit her bottom lip before unfolding the paper. The frame was small and held the final picture of Emily and her mother before she left her Sweet 16. Emily held it and felt tears well up in her eyes. As she looked at the picture, she felt the tears fall, running down her face, and landing on the frame she was holding.

She heard a knock at her door. She quickly wiped away her tears.

"Come in." She choked out. The door opened to reveal Jack. "Oh…It's you."

"Listen-" He started.

"What do you want?" She asked. He sighed

"Okay this is how it's gonna work. I'm going to speak, and you're going to sit there and listen. Got it?" He said with authority.

"Fine." She said curtly. He sat down on her bed

"Alright…First of all I want to tell you that I loved your mother very much." She was about to interrupt but he gave her a warning look and she stayed silent. "I loved her more than anything, and I loved you more than anything when you were born as well. But…I always had that thought in the back of my mind, the thought about my first-born child and how I abandoned his mother and left her with nothing. This left me with a very important decision to make. It was either abandon Sarah and Troy with out much of anything, or leave your mother and you. Your mother is a work-a-holic, and I knew that she could provide the best life for you, maybe better than if I was around."

"That doesn't justify – " She started. Jack raised his hand to stop her.

"I know…In no way does that justify my leaving you and I knew that back when you were young as well. After leaving your mother I had this empty hole inside of me. Don't get me wrong, I love Sarah, but there was something missing in my life. About three years after I left, I realized that the 'something missing' was you."

"So why didn't you-"

"Call? I did actually. That's exactly what I did."

"I never-"

"Of course you never heard about the phone calls. Your mother would never tell you that your asshole Dad called to see how you were doing. I called your mother many times throughout the time you were growing up, just to check in and see what my little girl was up to, but your mother refused to let me see you, or even talk to you. She used to tell me all the time, 'You made the decision to leave. You were the one that was going to walk out on her.' I knew she was right, but I made it top priority to call at least once a month."

"Once a month? But why didn't she-"

"I guess she thought she was protecting you. She didn't want to set you, or herself, up for another letdown."

"But…Why didn't you just find me? Why didn't you try harder?"

"I tried as hard as I could…and…she was right. I made the decision to leave."

"So…what did Mom tell you?"

"Everything. She told me about your boyfriend…Mark…right?"

"Yea…"

"She told me about how you're doing in school…what your friends are like…she sent me your school picture every year…she sent me other pictures every time you changed anything about your appearance...she told me everything."

"Wow…"

"While we're on this topic…she told me she caught you smoking a few weeks ago." Emily looked away. "I want to lay down a few ground rules now…first of all, I better not ever catch you smoking or drinking alcohol."

"Mom used to let me drink with her."

"Well unfortunately, Mom isn't here. Secondly, your curfew is 11 o'clock on school nights and 1 o'clock on the weekends."

"A curfew?"

"Yes a curfew…I can't have you staying out till all hours of the night."

"Whatever." Emily said returning to her spiteful attitude.

"Lastly…In this family…we have certain expectations. We are respectful of each other…Sarah and I will not tolerate any attitude or any fighting between you and Troy. As far as chores are considered, the only thing absolutely required of you is that you must keep this room clean. Sarah can't stand a messy bedroom…" Jack told her.

"Is that all?" Emily asked

"Yes…well…I'll leave you to your unpacking." Jack said as he got up and walked out of the room. Emily went back to pulling things out of her duffel bag.

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AN: Ohhhh! Drama! Hope you liked it!

Let me know what you think!

Reviews are very much appreciated!