Troy noticed the way the older siblings gasped and felt Imogen cling tighter to him as the man came closer, only imagining that Jasmine was doing the same to Gabriella. Then the man spoke. "Hey kids, I've missed ya. Jasmine, Imogen, where's my hug?"

Both girls looked at their siblings cautiously but didn't move from their place in the juniors' lap. Chad spoke up. "You actually came."

"I came as soon as I could, how are you Gabi?"

"Umm I'm fine." She felt Troy lace their fingers together and she squeezed his hand in response. "I'm surprised you came so quickly."

Their conversation was interrupted by Imogen whispering to Gabriella. "Ella, who is that?"

The man's face seemed to drop. "Imogen, don't you remember me?" The youngest girl looked at him blankly, leaning into Troy before shaking her head. "Sweetie, I'm your daddy."

Imogen shook her head. "No we don't have a real mommy or daddy."

Everyone in the room – excluding the twins – could tell that the one sentence from the little girl broke her father's heart so Lucille tried to take the conversation in a different direction. "I'm Lucille and this is my husband Jack, we've been looking after Locky and the girls."

"I appreciate what you've done for my kids, I'm Charlie Danforth."

"Danforth? I thought it would be Montez like your kids."

"She changed you guys into Montez?"

Chad shrugged. "She changed us after you left, we've been Montez for years."

Charlie seemed to want to change the topic. "Ok so I guess when Gabi's better, I'll be taking you guys home."

Gabriella spoke up. "Wh-where would that be exactly?"

"I live in Arizona with my wife and son."

"y-you have a wife and son?"

"Yeah Rachel is lovely, I'm sure you guys will enjoy having a decent female role model in your lives and Tyler is a great kid, I know the girls will get along great with him."

Chad, Gabriella and Lachlan looked at each other nervously, the oldest brother speaking. "Dad, you can't just dump all of that on us. We have lives here and you can't just expect us to accept all of this so easily. You disappeared from our lives for almost five years and then come and tell us that you're married with a kid?"

Charlie sighed. "Well I don't know what you want me to do Chad, my life and my family is in Arizona so I don't really know what you want me to say. You can no longer live with your mother like our previous arrangement so then you've gotta come with me to Arizona."

"No I'm not going." Everyone turned their attention to Gabriella.

"Gabi -"

"No I'm not leaving." Feeling her becoming more upset, Troy pulled her into his side with his arm around her shoulder. "You haven't been around so we've built our whole lives here and for the first time in my entire life, I was actually happy. If I took Mom out of the picture, my life was perfect. I'm not moving to Arizona."

"Gabriella, I can see that you're very attached to your life here and obviously your friend here."

"Boyfriend."

Charlie's gaze hardened. "Your boyfriend? You're too young for a boyfriend."

"I'm 15 years old and you have barely been in my life during that time so you don't really get a say in this."

Charlie was about to speak but Chad beat him to it. "Look Dad, Gabriella doesn't want to move to Arizona and frankly neither do any of us. The girls barely even know who you are. We have a proposition for you." Charlie nodded for him to continue. "Albuquerque is the most stable life we've had and we're all really happy here, we want to stay here. We've talked to Mr and Mrs Bolton and they've agreed to be our guardians so all you have to do is sign the papers, that way you can stay with your family in Arizona and we can stay here in Albuquerque."

"But I'm your dad."

Lachlan spoke up. "You lost the right to call yourself that when you abandoned us."

Charlie turned to him. "Locky -"

"No you can't disappear from our lives then expect to come back like nothing happened, that's not how this works."

"Gabi, Jasmine, Imogen, what about you girls, you want to come with me right?"

The twins didn't respond, cuddling closer to the juniors but Gabriella did. "The same as Locky and Chad. The girls don't know you and honestly, I don't think Chad, Locky or I know you either."

"So basically you want the same arrangement we have now but instead of staying with your mother, you're going to stay with your boyfriend's parents." He sighed when they nodded. "Alright, on one condition. I want you guys to come visit for a week each summer."

"Ok." The three oldest siblings agreed.

Charlie nodded slowly. "Well ok then, Jack, Lucille, I guess we should get these papers signed. I don't have a lot of time left before I have to get back." The Bolton parents followed Charlie out, leaving the kids.

Jasmine spoke up. "That man's really our dad?"

Chad placed his hand on the little girl's shoulder. "Yeah Princess, he is but you don't need to be around him if you don't want to. We only have to see him one week out of the year and you don't have to spend time with him when we are there, ok?" Jasmine nodded against Gabriella's shoulder.

Troy kissed Gabriella's forehead. "You're here to stay Baby."

She leant her head on his arm and held onto Imogen's hand while keeping Jasmine into her lap. "Do you think your parents will mind if we stay at your house for a couple days before we go back to our house? I just don't think I'm ready to go back there yet."

"Of course, they'd be happy to have you."