I loveeee you people who reviewed and put my story on your alerts and favorites list. Sorry this didn't come as quicker as the last chapter did, but I had already had the first 2 chapters written down in my notebook and I put, and edited them on the computer, so that's why, because I didn't know what to do for this chapter, technically I don't as I'm writing this, but hopefully it's not completely sucktacular.

And I know I kinda made Troy sound completely stupid and idiotic thinking that Gabriella cheated on him, and I meant to put the other option of him being the father, but I didn't...I dunno know why I didn't...but whatever. Let's just say he's not very smart when it comes to things like this. But that makes him all the cuterer. 'Kay:D

Summary: Gabriella Montez is a single mother of a 4 year old boy. Everything is going great until Troy Bolton comes back into the picture. Will Gabi let Troy into his sons life, or will she tell him about their son at all?

Genre: Romance/Drama

Pairing: Troyella/Chayloy/Zekepay/Ryelsi. Mainly Troyella.

Rating: T/ M in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything. Especially the cast/character or HSM itself. But seriously, wouldn't it be just amazing to own it all?

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Chapter 3:

Troy just stood there, stunned as he watched Gabriella run away from him. He didn't know how to comprehend what just happened, or what she just said. She couldn't have cheated on him. That just wasn't like Gabriella. But the only other explanation was that the kid was his. Troy's breath caught in his throat. Did he really just think that? He couldn't have a son. She would've told him. Wouldn't she? Troy let out a shaky breath and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and hit the number 2 speed dial.

"Chad. We have a problem."

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Gabriella stormed into the boutique store, still pissed from her encounter with Troy. That boy really had a way of getting on her nerves, even if he really hadn't done anything terrible. It was her that let her little secret slip. She was screwed if she ever spoke to Troy again. But hopefully he got the message when she said to stay away from her. But knowing Troy, he wouldn't get the message and then he wouldn't leave her alone until he got answers.

She groaned loudly as she continued to storm through the store, right pass Sharpay and Elijah and into the backroom.

Elijah looked at his godmother curiously after Gabriella had went into the back room.

"Why's mommy so angry?"

Sharpay smirked.

"I bet she's having a little trouble in the boy department."

Elijah furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"But mommy's a girl. Why does she need boy clothes?"

Elijah asked, obviously not understanding correctly what Sharpay meant. Sharpay just laughed softly as Elijah just shrugged, already losing interest, but Sharpay smirked when something else seem to come to his mind.

"Hey, who was mommy with earlier. She said he was a friend, but she wouldn't let me meet him. Do you know him?"

Sharpay raised her eyebrows and knew that Elijah was curious about Troy. Sharpay inwardly scoffed, who wouldn't be interested in the likes of him? But Sharpay could tell that Elijah was genuinely interested.

"We used to know him, a long long time ago before you even came along. He was my friend, but he was your mommy's special friend," Elijah nodded, not exactly knowing what Sharpay meant by 'special friend' but it was more than what he was getting from his mommy. "...and one day he left, and hurt mommy's feelings, so things are kind of, wierd between them. So I'm sure your mommy's just making sure that he's not going to hurt her anymore, and then I'm sure she'll let you meet him after she tells you more about him, 'kay?"

Elijah frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "He hurt momma's feelings? I don't wanna meet him if he did that." Elijah pouted, and Sharpay just laughed softly at how much this boy just loved Gabriella.

After a few more minutes of childish chatter between Elijah and Sharpay, Gabriella finally emerged from the back room with a soft smile on her face, having briefly gotten over the thoughts of Troy.

"Hey, guys, did ya have fun while I was gone?" Elijah nodded enthusiastically, making Gabriella laugh softly and pick her son up off the counter so she could hold him on her hip.

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"Wait...you thing Gabi did what?" Chad asked a furious Troy who was now currently pacing around the hotel room that he had gotten for his stay. Taylor was there too, just looking on shocked at what Troy had just told him.

"I think she cheated on me! And then she got pregnant!'' Troy shouted impatiently, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He didn't want to believe it. He refused to believe that Gabriella Montez had cheated on him with some other guy and then got pregnant. It just wasn't like her to do something like that. But she sure made it sound like she did that. And when she just ran off out the door he pretty much got his answer.

Taylor just shook her head in disbelief. Her best friend wasn't the type to just go out and cheat on someone. Especially Troy. Taylor knew how much Gabriella had loved Troy, she only gushed about every second and complained that she missed him when he wasn't around. Gabriella wasn't that person. Gabriella was sweet, kind, caring and just not the type of person to hurt someone.

"Troy, are you really sure she implied that? You and I both know Gabriella isn't the type to do something like that. Especially to you, Troy. She loved you."

Troy scoffed and shook his head, "She sure as hell made it sound like that's what she did!"

Taylor furrowed her eyebrows, "What exactly did she say?"

Troy sighed, getting frustrated with this conversation, but answered Taylor anyways. "She said that she didn't have any time to tell me that she was pregnant because I was off...fucking another girl." Troy mumbled, and Taylor's eyes widened in shock. It certainly wasn't like Gabi to use that kind of language.

Taylor thought about those words for a short moment, but it quickly clicked in her mind, and her eyes widened.

"Troy, did you and Gabi ever have sex?"

Troy and Chad both looked at her at how she could ask that so bluntly. Troy stuttered, not really sure he wanted to explain something like that to his best friends fiancée.

"Why is that--"

"Just answer the question, Troy!"

Troy sighed, "Yeah...we did...once...why is that important?"

"Was it close to the time you broke up with her?"

"Maybe a month or a little more before."

"Troy...did you ever consider the fact that Elijah could be...your son?"

Troy stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. He never really considered that. He figured she would've told him and not just hide it from him.

"Well no...but I figured ya know, that she woulda..told me." Troy shrugged and Taylor looked at Troy disbelievingly. Could he really be that much of an idiot?

"Troy, you are such an idiot!" Taylor shouted, raising her hands up in emphasis to her words.

"Excuse me?"

"Troy, did you even try to comprehend what she said or did you just jump to conclusions like you always do--Never mind I already know the answer to that." Taylor scoffed.

"Listen, she said she would've told you, but you had already broken up with her. Troy...all of us know that Gabriella would never cheat on anybody, namely you. I think she was so hurt that you broke up with her, that she didn't tell you she was pregnant with your son."

Troy gaped. He hadn't thought of that. Could Elijah really be his son? Oh God he felt like he was gonna pass out. How could he be so stupid as to jump to conclusions like that. His head popped up. He had to talk to Gabi.

"How do I talk to her? I can't just go up to her and be like, 'Hey, Gabi, I just wanted to know if Elijah was my son' " Troy groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Maybe you should just talk to her. Let her tell you when she's ready. Just don't get on her bad side. Be her friend Troy, don't pressure her into anything."

"Thanks Tay--" Troy cut himself off as he glanced over at Chad amusedly, realizing it was him who gave off the good advice.

"Chad, when did you become so smart about his stuff?"

Chad shrugged, "Hey, I live with Tay, I picked up on a few things."

Chad smirked and Taylor glanced over at him with a soft laugh.

"Hey, have you talked to Zeke yet?"

Chad nodded his head, "Yeah, he said his flight will be in tonight."

Taylor gasped and squealed excitedly. The boys looked at her confused.

"Tay, it's just Zeke, we saw him three days ago."

Taylor rolled her eyes, "No, not Zeke, I just remembered that I got a call from Kelsi yesterday and said that she and Ryan were coming down to visit."

Chad laughed softly. "Wow, all we need is Jason and Martha and we'll have ourselves a little high school reunion."

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"Shar, what am I going to do? Now he's gonna get all curious about it. How could I let something like that slip?" Gabriella whined as her and Sharpay sat in Gabi's house after finally closing up their shop for the night. Thankfully, Gabi hadn't seen or heard from Troy yet, but that still didn't help her from worrying over the situation.

"Gabs, calm down, maybe he won't think too much of it."

Gabriella slumped her shoulders and looked at Sharpay with a raised eyebrow, "Shar, we're talking about the guy whe went balistic on a guy because he said he wanted to borrow my math homework."

Sharpay cocked her head to the side. "Yeah, I guess that's true. But Gabs, maybe it was time you did tell him...and Elijah."

Gabriella looked up at Sharpay, and went to reply but was intertupted by Elijah as he came in with a huge smile on his face

"Momma look what I made!" Elijah exclaimed, running over to the couch and onto Gabriella's lap, where Gabriella happily wrapped one of her arms around him, holding him in place on her lap, as her other hand held the piece of paper of which there was a picture of three people drawn and colored.

"There's me, and there's you mommy." Elijah pointed out two out of three of the people in the picture. Gabriella looked at the last person carefully.

"Who's the other person?"

"That's the man that you were talking to today." Elijah grinned proudly, and Gabriella nearly choked on air realizing he had drawn a picture of Troy, and yet Elijah had never even met him. Gabriella looked up at Sharpay, who was just as shocked as Gabriella.

"Honey, why'd you draw a picture of him? You've never even met him."

"Because I like him. He seems really cool. I wanna meet him momma."

Gabriella bit her lower lip. She knew that Elijah knew that Troy was his dad, even if he didn't really know it. Elijah had never taken such a liking to anyone, let alone anyone he's never even spoken too. But she knew that he felt something deep inside of him that had drawn him to Troy. At least that's what she guessed. There was a knock on the door before Gabriella could say anything more.

"I'll get it."

Sharpay said quickly, pushing herself up from her position on the couch and over to the front door of Gabriella's apartment. When she opened it, she was shocked to see Troy standing there.

"Bolton? What are you doing here?"

Troy gulped, he hadn't expected for Sharpay to be here. But he had come here to talk to Gabi about what she meant at the coffee shop, but he just hoped he could some privacy with her now that he knew Sharpay was here.

"Um...I kinda need to talk to Brie..." Troy said almost unsurely as he looked at Sharpay, who was staring at him with raised eyebrows.

"I'm sure you do. Wait...how the hell did you even find out where Gabi lives?"

"That doesn't matter...can I talk to her?"

Sharpay scoffed, and slightly looked over shoulder at Gabi, who was busy tickling Elijah, who's laughter was almost contagious.

"I dunno. Hold on." Sharpay raised one finger before leaving the door slightly open. On any other terms, she wouldn't even consider letting Troy in. But she knew that Gabriella had to tell Troy about Elijah, so she could get out of this mess, so Sharpay made an exception for now.

"Gabs...it's Troy...he wants to talk to you."

Gabriella instantly stopped tickling her son and looked up at Sharpay, who was basically silently communicating with her, telling her that she needed to talk to Troy.

"More momma!" Elijah squealed, but Gabriella sighed.

"Elijah, why don't you go to your room and show Sharpay your Lego's, and we'll play later, okay?" Elijah looked confused for a minute, but nodded his head and jumped off the couch, straight over to Sharpay, grabbing her wrist and pulling her down the hall and into his room.

Gabriella took a deep breath, not ready to actually talk to Troy, but she knew she had to eventually. With one more deep, cleansing breath, she walked over to the slightly cracked door and opened it to reveal Troy, adorned in light blue jeans and a red sleeveless shirt, showing off his perfectly musceled arms. She willed herself to look up at his face with her most serious, and slightly annoyed look.

Troy bit his lip and looked at Gabriella, all coherent thoughts leaving his mind when he saw her dressed in denim capris and a black tank top, obviously have gotten out of her work clothes. But Troy preferred this look much more.

"Hey, uh, can I come in?"

Gabriella sighed but moved out of the doorway and let Troy in before closing the door behind her as she followed him to the living room, where he placed himself on her couch, and she sat herself in the recliner across from him.

"Why are you here, Troy?"

Troy sighed...it was now or never. "I wanted to talk to you about what you said...earlier..at the coffee shop."

Gabriella sighed and closed her eyes, wishing he just would've left it alone.

"What's there to talk about?"

Troy sighed. He should've known she was gonna make this difficult. So he decided to be completely blunt about it and just let it out.

"Did you cheat on me and get pregnant...or is Elijah my son?"

Gabriella's eyes widened, completely taken aback by Troy's question. Troy could be blunt, but this was just ridiculous. He had obviously been talking to Taylor. She sighed, she didn't know how to answer that. She didn't want to tell him that Elijah was his son. But she didn't want to tell him that she cheated on him either, because she didn't, and she didn't like lying to people, especially Troy.

"Gabriella, answer me."

Now she could tell he was serious. He never used her full name unless he was serious. She sighed, deciding not to tell him, but letting him figure it out by himself.

"I'll be right back." She said, getting up and walking down the hallway. Troy was confused, where was she going, and why wouldn't she just answer his question? A few minutes later Gabriella came back with Elijah, who looked like he was gonna fall asleep any second the way his eyes drifted open and shut periodically. Gabriella sat in her same spot with Elijah on her lap, who was leaning back against her chest.

"Sorry...it's almost his bedtime, and Sharpay can certainly wear him out sometimes."

She said with a small smile, which only made Troy smile a little himself. But she got serious once again.

"Troy...look at him...and then you'll get your answer."

Troy let a confused look linger across his face, but did as he was told and looked at the little boy on Gabriella's lap. He had dark brown hair with light streaks of blond, slightly tan skin, and even though they wer having trouble staying open, Troy could see his bright blue eyes shining. And then Troy knew. Elijah was his son. He looked at Gabriella slightly shocked.

"He's my son..."

Gabriella nodded her head. She couldn't believe she just let him figure it out, just like that. But he had a right to know who his son was, and Elijah had a right to know who his father was.

"And you didn't tell me because..."

"Because you dumped me for Stacy...and I was pissed."

Troy sighed. He wished he hadn't been stupid enough to let go of Gabriella for someone like Stacy, but now he was ready to get her back. And not just for the fact that he found out they have a son together. But for the fact that he still loved her, and he knew she was still the Gabriella he loved. She was still his Gabriella who just happened to be the mother of his child.

Gabriella looked down when she felt Elijah go limp, meaning he finally fell asleep. Gabriella smiled softly as she looked down at her son. Maybe now that Troy knew, things would get easier, and she could finally talk to him like a friend, and not have to worry about lying about him to anything. It would take a long time for her to regain his trust, even as her friend, but she was willing if he was. And now she was suddenly willing to let him be a father. Sort of.

"Troy...do you wanna help me tuck him in?"

Troy looked at her shocked, not expecting her to let him do anything so quickly. But he wasn't complaining. He gave her a small smile and a slight nod before standing up and walking over to the two of them where Gabriella released her hold on Elijah so Troy could pick him up. Troy couldn't help but smile as he held his son, who's sleeping head was laying on his shoulder. Gabriella smiled softly at the pair before leading Troy into Elijah's room, which was decorated with hand made drawings and toys and a bed right in the center.

Sharpay was still in there, and was about to say something before Gabriella shushed her and she instantly closed her mouth before giving them a small smile and leaving the room.

Troy slowly leaned Elijah onto his bed, easing the covers down and then over the four year olds small body before looking up at Gabriella with a small smile. They walked out of the room, flicking off the light and then shutting the door.

Troy turned and looked at Gabriella with a soft look, one which she returned. He couldn't help but to smile, seeing as he hadn't gotten a look like that in over four years.

"Thanks, Gabi."

Gabriella just smiled and nodded her head. Troy knew that it would take a lot to win Gabriella's heart again. Especially after what he did all those years ago. But he was willing to wait for her, and gain her trust. He just wanted Gabriella back in his life as more than a friend.

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Ehh I dunno about this chapter. I think it went just a little too fast with the whole Troy finally figuring out with the father. But there will be more drama to come...some fluffy moments...and special guests.

So review and make me happy! Happy makes me write more.

hsm2luver