Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter… I know you all have a lot of questions about the mother of the baby and the relationship between Troy and Gabriella, etc. but I'm sorry to tell you that they won't all be answered in this chapter… they will, however, be answered in due time in the relevant chapter, so you'll just have to bare with me until I eventually explain everything! Sorry everyone! ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own HSM or any of the HSM characters mentioned in this story.

CHAPTER 2: Still at School

Troy smiled down at the four year old in front of him, "No sweetheart, you didn't sleep in too late, but you better get up now because you've got a big day of preschool ahead of you today!" said Troy enthusiastically and Abbey's eyes widened in joy as a large grin appeared on her face.

"Yay! I get to go to preschool today! I love preschool daddy!" cried Abbey, now jumping up and down on the bed.

"I know you do sweetheart…" said Troy, as he stood up and rummaged through Abbey's wardrobe for some suitable clothes.

"It's sooo much fun, daddy! I'm gonna paint and run around in circles and play and… and… draw and… lots of other things!" said Abbey still jumping on her bed. Troy turned to face her, holding a set of clothing and laughing.

"Wow! Really? You're going to do all that!" he asked copying her excitement. Abbey nodded vigorously, "Well it sounds like you're in for a busy day… we better go get you ready, eh?"

Abbey nodded again and Troy put her clothes down on the bed. He held out her hands for her and she jumped on him, Troy securing her in his arms…

"Well come on then Sprout!" Troy said, walking towards the bathroom and tickling her, making her squeal.

Twenty minutes later, Abbey was dressed, fed and raring to go and Troy had just finished packing her schoolbag. He looked over at her, smiling... she was absolutely adorable... she had dirty blonde hair, just like Troy and her features were a favourable mixture from both her parents.

"Okay Abster, I'm just gonna go shower and get dressed… why don't you watch some TV for awhile?" said Troy.

"Okay dad… but be quick 'coz I don't wanna be late for school!" replied Abbey wagging her finger at Troy, warningly.

Troy just laughed at her, pushing her gently towards the lounge room, "Would you just get in there Sprout! I promise I won't be long!"

True to his word, Troy was dressed and ready in less than 15 minutes and he and Abbey were out the door and in the car in another 5. He looked over at her as he drove, smiling at her as she sat up straight, staring excitedly out the window… 'She's so full of beans today!' Troy couldn't help chuckling to himself as he thought this… 'What am I saying? She's always full of beans! Just like her mother…' Troy's smiled faded quickly as he thought of Abbey's mother… Rachel…'She should be here with Abbey… she should be taking her to school, watching her grow up… and instead she's… she's… I don't even know what she's doing! ... probably off gallivanting somewhere with some underwear model, 'living her life'…

Troy shook his head angrily at the very thought… 'living her life'… those had been her own words…

Flashback

"Troy… I don't know if I can do this anymore…" said Rachel, as she sat on the couch in their apartment, watching Troy play with Abbey on a rug on the floor. Troy looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked, looking back down at Abbey and making goo-goo noises at her, tickling her softly.

"I mean this…! All of this… this apartment, this couch… all of this!" she replied waving her arms around.

Troy sat up looking at her… he wasn't exactly sure where this was going…

"Rachel… I don't understand… you know that this is all we can afford right now… and plus it's close to the college and my work. What's the problem?"

"That's what I mean Troy! This whole 'family' thing! I can't handle it… I'm only 20… you're 21! We're both still in college for Christ sake! I'm too young to have a family… I want to be able to go out when I feel like it, do what I want, spend my money on clothes instead of diapers!"

"Well, what do you expect Rachel? You've got a baby now… 'we' have a baby now… I know we're still in college but we can handle it… it's not like I planned this either! I didn't plan for you to get pregnant… in fact I didn't even plan to sleep with you! It just happened… and now we gotta deal with it!"

"Yeah I know what I'm 'supposed' to do! Don't yell at me!"

"I'm not! You're yelling at me!"

"Look, whatever… the point is that I can't take it anymore… I tried, but I can't… I've thought about it a lot… and I think I need to go away for awhile… live 'my life'… you know?"

"No I don't know! 'Live your life?' This is your life now! Abbey's your life! What, you're just going to go and walk out on her… leave me to raise her on my own!"

"No! I wouldn't do that! I just need to go away for awhile… I'll be back… and anyway, you seem to be good at all this anyway, you can handle it…" said Rachel looking at him, Troy just eyed her incredulously, "Troy… this is not forever… just for now…"

Troy wanted to speak… to say something… anything… but no words came out. Instead he just sat on the floor with Abbey in silent shock… as Rachel grabbed her things and walked out the door… walked out on them…

Troy sighed to himself… drumming his hands on the wheel… that had been around four years ago. Despite whatever Rachel had said, she hadn't come back… 'just for now' was starting to sound more like 'forever'. Troy had always known that he'd have a hard time with Rachel… he hadn't really felt anything beyond attraction for her, but he'd been willing to try for Abbey's sake… apparently, Rachel wasn't willing to do the same…

"Okay where here Abbey!" said Troy as he pulled up in front of the preschool.

He got out and took her inside. He signed her in and then kneeled down to pull her into a hug.

"Alright have fun at school today, okay? Paint me a nice picture, one that I can put with the other ones!" said Troy, pulling back to kiss her on the forehead.

"I will daddy! I'll paint you the best picture ever!" replied Abbey excitedly.

"Okay sweetheart… I got to go now or I'll be late for work… I'll miss you all day long!"

"I'll miss you too dad! Bye!" replied Abbey for skipping away to play with the other kids. She turned back towards him and waved, blowing him a kiss.

Troy smiled, waving back and walked out the door. On the way to work, Troy's mind wandered to the past… to college and to raising Abbey on his own. Troy had been forced to take another job so he could support both himself and Abbey through college. His parents had helped as well, but it was an expensive business, raising a child. Somehow he'd managed to get through though and now he was a math teacher at the same school where he'd gone through high school… he also coached the boy's basketball team.

Troy smiled at himself suddenly… he'd never really been very good at math to begin with… or at least that's what he'd thought… before he'd met Gabriella… Somehow, she managed to open Troy's eyes up to the world of math and he was suddenly able to pick it up straight away… he never became overly brilliant at it, but he became good enough to be able to teach it in high school. There was something about Gabriella… whenever she explained something to Troy he seemed to understand it right away… then again… he'd been so in love with her that he soaked up everything she'd ever said…

It hadn't been his first career choice though… Troy had always harbored dreams of playing college ball and perhaps earning a spot in the NBA or getting a job as an assistant coach, so he could one day coach a professional team... the appearance of Abbey in his life, had soon sent those dreams flying out the window though and Troy ended up deciding he'd better pick a more appropriate career... given his new priorities.

In any case… Troy loved his job… he felt a great sense of pride in teaching people to see math in a new light, just like he did… plus, he got to coach the boy's basketball team as well!

Troy smiled to himself as he pulled into the teacher's parking area… he really did have a good life now… he had a stable job, he had a beautiful daughter and he even owned his own home… or he would once he'd finished paying off the mortgage…

Everything in his life seemed to be just perfect and there really wasn't anything else he wanted… except, that is, for that one thing he almost always dreamed about… but that was never going to happen... it wasn't even a possibility… or was it?

At that same moment… less than ten blocks away… Gabriella also pulled into a parking space. She got out of the car and looked at the building in front of her… 'East Albuquerque Emergency Clinic'. Gabriella took a deep breath… 'Here I go…'

Alright… chapters over! I know there's not much Gabriella in this one, but there will be in the next… Please review, tell me what you think and ask me any questions you might have… I won't necessarily answer them all straight away, but they may give me ideas for future chapters!