I don't own anything.

A/N: I just want to thank all my reviewers from last week. baby2ludaris, Sciencefreak2007, melako17, Tracie2004, xo-ChaylorGGQueen-xo, googoogrl007, bluecasey95 and CHAYLORISAWESOME312. Thanks for all the reviews and I certainly did like the reaction to Lucas, Sharpay and Gabriella characters. Well I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please remember to review.

Baby S

Chapter Five

Taylor smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror, the week had gone by quickly and now it was Saturday and Troy was going to be there soon to take her and Lucas over to Chad and Gabriella's house. She smiled and smoothed her hands over her clothes making sure everything was in order. She sighed as her cell phone rang; reaching out towards her dresser she picked up the phone no looking at the caller I.d. and answered. "Hello." She said cheerfully, she heard a snort and an evil chuckle.

"My aren't you in a good mood today." Jason Scott said making the smile and Taylor's cheerful mood disappear immediately moving towards the bed she sat down and bit her bottom lip. "So I guess you got a job…and that means you are going to have a home."

"Jason, I thought you weren't going to call until Monday." She said nervously as she looked around her room. She could hear Jason laugh into the phone before answering.

"I am allowed to check in after all I am giving you my money."

"You don't have too…why do you still want to control my life even after you dump me and your son for your new family." She yelled ignoring the knock on the door. She could see in her mind Jason's eyes darkening at her words.

"Don't fault me for needing to upgrade…I mean come on I'm moving up in the world. I am partner at my firm and you…well you weren't ready for something like that so I had to let you go." He stated coldly as if he was just naming so insignificant facts. Taylor felt tears well up in her eyes at his words.

"Can't you just leave me and Lucas alone, and let us leave our lives."

"Taylor please…I can't do that at least not when you're using my money, and not while you're raising my son."

"You gave me full custody, Jason. So don't throw that in my face as a reason…at the hearings you told the court you didn't want Lucas, even when the judge looked at you in disgust you still told him that you wanted your son out of your life."

"Doesn't mean I don't care."

"That exactly what that means…now tell me why you're calling Jason." She heard him suck his teeth and sigh.

"I wanted to know if you back to seeing that white boy you used to date before I met you." He asked harshly, Taylor placed her face in her hands and shook her head.

"He's a friend and since you wanted me to get a job, hopefully I will be working along side of him at East High where I will be putting that degree in Chemistry to good use." She said mocking his words that he had told her earlier that week.

"You better not be seeing him, Taylor."

"Jason, please…what is it huh, now that you divorce me I can't be happy." She snapped into the phone.

"You know what…I'll call you later alright. I see you moving back to New Mexico gave you back your backbone, but don't worry I took it away once and I can damn sure do it again." He said slamming the phone. Taylor looked at her cell phone and sighed for a moment wondering what he meant by that. Shaking her head she looked at cell phone and gently tossed it on the bed. She silently began wondering what it was that she had ever seen in Jason Scott. He was nothing but a mean and cruel man that did nothing to her during their short marriage except tear down her self-esteem and made her his doormat. With a sigh she pushed thoughts of Jason out of her mind and smiled.

"I won't let him ruin today." She whispered as she looked herself over one last time in the mirror and then walk out of the room. She headed down the hall to her son's room. Knocking she waited till he opened the door.

"Hey mom, everything okay."

"Oh you heard." She said he just nodded and opened the door wider; Taylor looked her son over and then placed her hands on her hips. "Lucas what are you going to wear to the party."

"Mom, come on now I don't want to go…I mean nobody is going to be there except for a bunch of old people." He said smiling at the look of horror and shock that graced his mother's features.

"Old, are you calling me old." She exclaimed placing a hand over her heart and playfully stumbling back. Lucas smiled at his mother's antics, and shook his head at her before answering.

"Naw, mom…I'm not calling you old, just your friends." He said smiling devilishly at his mother. She shook her head and smiled.

"Well don't let my friend Sharpay hear you say that, or you might just be skinned alive." She said with a smile as she looked at her son. "She's been known to do that before…that's why we used to call her the ice queen."

"Ice queen?"

"Yeah, cause she cut you so clean your skin would look like a sheet of ice." He frowned as his overactive imagination ran wild. "So you better watch who you're calling old." She said laughing at his face.

"Whatever mom, so when are we leaving."

"As soon as Troy gets here." Lucas looked at her in surprise for a moment before shaking his head.

"Troy?"

"Um, Coach Bolton." Lucas looked at his mother in surprise before shaking his head and looking at her in shock.

"What!"

"Yeah, he volunteered to come and get us for the party." Lucas rolled his eyes and walked over to his bed and sat down, Taylor watched her son for a moment before sighing and following suit, she sat down beside her son and brushed her hand through his short hair.

"I bet he volunteered." Lucas mumbled under his breath, Taylor giggled at his words and then gently pulled her son into a hug. "Mom, do you like Coach Bolton."

"Lucas, let me tell you something…before I met your father, Troy and I were together and we loved one another. But because our colleges were opposite sides of the country we broke up."

"So you don't like him…you love him."

"Lucas."

"So are you two going to start dating or something?" Taylor sighed and shook her head as her son looked up at her with a questioning glaze.

"No, I am not ready for another relationship especially after just getting a divorce from your father." Lucas seemed to brighten a little at her answer. He couldn't explain why he was happy with his mother's answer he just didn't want her dating anyone…because he didn't want her to get hurt like she did when she was with his father. She thought he didn't know, but he knew all about the fights and shouting matches that used to take place when she and his father were still together, and he had promised himself that he would never let another man harm his mother ever again and he wasn't going to fail.

"Okay, well let me go ahead and get dressed."

"Okay sweetie I'll be down stairs." She said kissing his forehead and leaving the room, Lucas waited till the door was closed before he started getting ready for the party wondering how he was going to have any fun.

Taylor came downstairs humming and singing lowly as she entered the living room she jumped when she saw Troy sitting there talking to her father and mother, her father looked up and smiled when he saw his daughter. "Hey, baby girl…how are you doing?" he asked with a smile as Troy turned around and sent her a small smile.

"Hey mom…dad…Troy." She said still in shock, Daniel McKessie and his wife shared a look and they both stood.

"Baby, let me go show you something in the garage. He said grabbing his wife's hand and leading her out of the room. Taylor's mother nudged her and then motioned with her eyes towards Troy.

"Talk to him." She whispered softly so that only her daughter could hear, right before she followed her husband out of the room. Troy stood and watched Taylor for a moment before smiling and walking over towards her.

"I see you came by a little early."

"Um, yeah…I wanted to talk to you for a bit you know." He said nervously immediately letting Taylor know just how nervous he was. She looked at him for a moment and shook her head before speaking.

"My son is right upstairs, Troy I don't know if us talking right now is such a good idea." She stated calmly as she looked at him. He nodded his head for a moment before looking at her and sighing.

"All I want to say is that I was wrong…and that love is enough." He murmured softly, making Taylor instantly think about how he had said the exact opposite when she told him that she was going to Harvard. Troy watched the emotions race across her face, before he took a step forward. "I was wrong…and because of that we've been apart for nearly thirteen years."

"Why in the world are you telling me this now."

"Cause I want to Taylor…I need to tell you how much I love you and I don't care who knows it. I've never loved another woman other than you and I don't want to." She nodded her head for a moment and just sighed.

"I can't have this conversation right now, not when Lucas can overhear us."

"Fine, but we are going to talk about this." He whispered as he came to stand directly in front of her. "We're going to talk about this and we're going to put everything out there on the table and sort through our feelings."

"I know we need to do that, Troy but not now." He nodded and reached out placing his hands on her shoulders. Leaning forward he kissed her cheek and then pushed himself away from her.

"I understand." He murmured softly as he looked at him for a moment before taking even more steps away from her and sitting down on the sofa. "So how long is it going to take your son to get ready?"

"He should be done sometime soon." Troy nodded and sighed as Taylor moved over to the sofa and sat down beside him. They both shared a look as Lucas bounded down the stairs in a Settle Sonics jersey and blue jeans.

"Mom…oh hi Coach Bolton." He said as both adults stood up and looked in his direction, Lucas looked at Troy and then back at his mother as if he was trying to figure out what exactly had transpired before he had come downstairs, Taylor nervously clasped her hands together and looked at her son, and the over at Troy.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He said softly, Troy looked at him for a moment and then spoke up.

"Hey um Lucas…Zeke's niece Olivia is going to be there,"

"Zeke's niece?" Taylor asked in surprise.

"Yeah, remember his older sister Lisa…well he's taking care of her daughter right about now." He murmured under his breath. Lucas looked at Coach Bolton for a moment and sighed.

"And she's my age." Lucas asked in disbelief as he looked between Troy and Taylor, Troy stepped forward and looked at the younger man placing a hand on his shoulder and decided to tell him even more.

"Yeah, in fact you're both going to be in the same classes this semester at East Middle." He said with a smile as he looked at Lucas who seemed to be brightening at the fact that someone his age was actually going to be at the party. Suddenly the idea of accompanying his mother on this trip didn't sound so horrible, especially if he was going to meet a girl.