DISCLAIMER: I wish I owned Degrassi because think of the mega bucks, I'd be rolling in but, I don't. I just own the characters I made up such as Jesse, Tristan, Wes and Gia.

Chapter Two: Who I Am Hates Who I've Been

Standing in the kitchen facing the counter, Tristan waited for her bread to make the transformation into toast. Anxiously, she spread her arms out and clapped them together in routine, going over the new cheer routine in position. Jay came down the stairs with a loud bear-like yawn as he wiped all the sleep out of his eyes. He was exhausted, he'd only managed to sleep through three hours of the night and he spent the rest of the time, tossing and turning and reciting his past in his mind. Was he as horrible as his memory led him to believe? Growing up, he thought he had an excuse for being the way he was, wayward and careless but, maybe there never was any excuse at all. Plus, his wife being out all night made it the bed a little colder than usual which made sleep even harder to grasp.

"You're like an Energizer bunny, babe." Jay laughed between yawning and tapped his daughter's head while passing her to get to the fridge.

"If I don't memorize this, Dad, Breanne will have my head on the chopping block." Tristan explained while twirling out of a diagonal. Jay watched her while he shook the carton of soon-to-be expired Minute Maid orange juice viciously. His eyes were still a little glazed over while he widened them to listen to her. "And that might not sound too severe but, I kind of like my head. I got Mom's eyes and killer highlights."

Without a doubt in the world, Jay loved everything about his daughter but, most days he couldn't understand how she was his. The only thing the two had in common was a love for crossword puzzles and the same crooked grin. It was a miracle they never butt heads but, Tristan was too much of a peppy peacemaker to allow that to ever happen.

As if on cue, Tristan's toast popped up, smelling just as golden as it was. She quickly threw both pieces onto the plate before burning her hands and then sashayed all the way to their small kitchen table that was covered in mail, newspaper articles, work papers and items that nobody had claimed yet.

"Tristan," Jay coughed up and carried his glass of orange juice over to the table to where his daughter was munching on a bite of the toast she'd spread grape jelly on and searching for the word games in the newspaper with her free hand. "I've got a strange question for you." She froze in her spot and slowly let her deeper than chocolate brown eyes beam into his. Her whole face was washed pale and shook with a worried expression. "It's about..."

"Before you continue, you know we learn about this kind of stuff in Health, right?" Tristan rushed to say.

"What?" Jay's eyes furrowed the way his old friend Sean Cameron's did when they were teenagers. "Wait, no. Tristan, no. That's not what I want to talk to you about," He downed a large gulp of orange juice quickly. Tristan relaxed again and went back to eating her breakfast.

"Thank God." She said between bites.

"Should we have that talk?"

"Dad, no!" She squealed.

"Alright, No, I wanted to ask you about Wes Brooks."

"What about him?"

"Do you know him well? Would you say you two are friends?" He searched.

"Not really." She shrugged her shoulders casually. "He's really nice and besides Jesse, he's the only kid that can dunk on the team but, I don't know. We've never actually hung out. Well, there was a basketball wind up at his house once but, we didn't hang out." Tristan had the gift of gab and could ramble on. Her dad had managed to make himself two slices of whole wheat toast while she yammered on. "I'd like to get to know him. Everyone says he's about as sweet as candy corn," She grinned at the thought of the treat. "But, Jesse would beat Breanne to chopping my head off if he ever saw me even so much as give Wes a high five."

That particular bit of information caught Jay's attention and he headed back to the table with his breakfast to take a seat and face his young daughter.

"Why? They don't get along?" Jay pressed for gossip.

"Not really." She pat her two hands together to shake away all the toast crumbs. "Jesse rolls with a different crowd."

"But, they work so well together on the court."

"Yeah, it ends there." She wiped her hands off on her black nylons and pushed up out of her seat. "Anyways, as nice as this conversation is, Dad, I've got to catch the bus." She carried her plate to the sink and gave her Dad a quick morning kiss.

"See you, Tris."

"See you!" She called while leaving the kitchen to gather up her backpack and slip on a pair of flats.

Jay sat alone in his messy kitchen and toyed with his own thoughts. Had he unintentionally raised a sequel to himself? Was Jesse the new Jay Hogart? His son had secluded himself away from the family after the age of thirteen but, Gia and Jay decided that was just what teenage boys do, Jay did that. Tristan was hardly ever at home and he'd come home plenty of times past curfew or snuck out. Jay always laid the law down and grounded him but, that never stopped Jesse from living his life on his own terms. Clearly, punishment was the best way to discipline Jesse and Jay knew he was losing control. These days, Gia was busy with work which Jay tried to never hold against her. He could fathom that she was the creative director of Canada's number one health and fitness magazine and that required a lot of attention. Jay bestowed it upon himself to change Jesse's path but, he knew it meant he'd have to set some kind of example.

Jay Hogart's days never blended into one another. Raising two kids, working at the autobody shop and living a life of many faucets always had him on his toes. So, it wasn't unusual for him to do the unusual. On his lunch break, he drove out of their neighborhood and over to a large brown brick building that he knew he could find his wife inside, standing frazzled over a glass table with three other puzzled people going over photos and layouts that all looked identical to Jay. He clenched the paper McDonald's bag in his hand and walked through the sea of busy buzzing people and turned all the corners until he found himself knocking on the door to his wife's office.

"Come in." She called. He could see through the window that she hadn't even looked up. She was standing centimeteres away from her secratary and switching papers with her. "What's up?" She shot her head up quickly, expecting to see one of her fellow colleagues standing there but, she was plenty pleased to find her husband there instead.

"I come with food." He held up the fast food bag that caused them both to smile.

"Dayna, why don't you go grab lunch?" Gia winked up at her baby faced secratary and sent her out of the office. Jay softly closed the door behind her and planted the bag on her desk. He reached foreward and met her freshly glossed lips for a kiss. Her mouth tasted like old coffee while her lips taste like sparkling bubblegum. A combonation Jayson Hogart had grown accustom to smooching. "What brings you by, hon?" Gia switched off her computer moniter and tried to focus her eyes on him but, she was pre-occupied with the new spread for April's issue.

"Well, you weren't home after Jesse's game last night and I didn't see you this morning so, either you got home at four and woke up at five or you pulled an all-nighter again?"

"Guilty." She took a large bite out of her burger. He'd ordered extra mustard on it, just as she liked it. "But, after tonight, I'll be home all the time. It's just because the new issue is out on stands tommorrow morning. Very busy. Like a giant bee." She smiled innocently and lighting up the same eyes she'd given their daughter.

"That's alright." Jay moved on. He understood. When he first moved to a new autobody shop and was assigned new hours, she had to adjust, too. "I actually came by to see somebody else. Another girl, actually." He laughed.

"Oh yeah, anyone I know? A cutie?" Gia teased right back.

"Yeah, Paige...uh," He wasn't sure if she was still a Michaelchuk or not. Last time, he saw her she was locking lips with his high school ex-girlfriend.

"The girl from your high school?" Gia guessed, wiping mustard off her lips and reading over a file in front of her.

"Yeah, she's the magazine's fashion consultant, right?"

"Yeah, Paige O'Shaughnessy now. She works a floor above me, do you want me to page her for you?"

"Actually, no, I think I'll just go surprise her." Jay got up from leaning on her desk and headed to the door.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, hon?" She asked him with pure seriousness in her voice. She didn't know Paige very well but, she knew everything she could about her husband and he'd told her all about his high school life at Degrassi.

"Don't you worry." He smiled weakly and headed back to the desk to give her one last kiss. He liked to kiss his wife like they were young again, tickling the nape of her neck with two fingers and leaving a lingering wetness on her lips. She grinned as he backed away and out of her office.

Jay took the elevator one floor above and walked straight over to the front desk where a thin and awkward girl sat, twirling her number two pencil in her already curly blonde locks of hair while sipping pink Snapple out of a straw.

"Hi, where would one find Paige Michael...I mean, O'Shaughnessy's office?"

"She's actually right behind you." The girl took the pencil form her curl and used it to point above Jay's shoulder. He turned around to stare at Paige only steps away from him, completely unchanged since he'd last seen her. She was holding a thick catalouge in her hand and had what looked to be a small cocktail dress thrown over her shoulder.

"Let me get that for you!" He called at her and ran to grab the door in front of Paige.

' "Oh, thanks." She huffed and backed up. "Jay?!" Astonished, Paige searched the face of the man in front of her. He was wearing an autobody jumpsuit, had his hat on backwards and had the same devilish smile as years past. Without a doubt, Jay Hogart was standing in front of her and oddly enough, holding a door open. She knew the creative director had the same last name as him but, she just assumed it was a popular surname. "What are you doing here?" She walked through the door and huffed by him without a "Thank you".

"I came to see you." She was trying to walk as fast as she could in the new pumps she hadn't broken in yet but, he was treading right over her shadow.

"I'm busy right now." Paige knew people change and grow up but, Jay was different. The history was so thick between them and she had only kept in touch with those important to her. She saw no point in diving into a new relationship with somebody who didn't even mean two cents to her.

"You can't squeeze me in? Not even half a second?"

"I've already given you more than that." She harshly cut around the office cubicles and found hers. Unfortuantly, there was no door to block him out but, she did know the quickest way to buzz security, if she had too.

"Paige, can't we talk like adults? We're both getting old." He joked, lightly.

"Speak for yourself." Paige shot. When Jay really took a moment to notice, it was obvious Paige cared a great deal for her physical appearance as always. Her hair was flat ironed, her make up was flawless and sheer and like any fashion consultant, she was dressed like she'd jumped off the cover of Vogue and onto the streets of Toronto. "Look, what do you want?"

"To make amens."

"It's been...over fifteen years."

"Almost two decades." He corrected.

"Why?"

"Come on, Paige, can we...just talk?"

Part Two on it's way.

I'm not a hundred percent sure where it's going. Basically, Jay's going to reunite with all the old Degrassi kids and try to apologize and make up for who he was back in the day in order to set a good example for his kids.

Comments, reviews and all that jazz, please.