Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Chapter 20 – More Surprises

The next morning, Gabriella woke up to a quiet house. She looked over at Troy who was still sound asleep with his arms wrapped securely around her. Better not get used to this. In about 7 ½ more months we'll be hearing more than just Annabelle and Caleb running around on a regular day.

Gabriella lay there and watched Troy sleep peacefully, wishing that they could stay like this the rest of the day, but knowing that the kids had to be picked up soon. Troy and Gabriella had spent most of the night making up for lost time making love. Gabriella had never felt so loved. Troy had said he hadn't ever loved her more and she could definitely feel that being radiated out of him.

"Would you stop staring? I know you can't get enough of me but I don't like it when people stare." Troy interrupted Gabriella's thoughts and startled her, as she didn't realize he was awake yet.

"Sorry, I was just thinking that I wish I could get used to this, but I know this is just a once in a while type thing."

"What? Waking up next to me? That's an every morning thing for the rest of our lives, baby. Something I look forward to every morning when I wake up."

"No, I don't mean that. I mean being able to spend nights like last night together and wake up the next morning feeling refreshed without two kids running through the house screaming."

Troy chuckled and opened his eyes for the first time to look at Gabriella. "I would have to agree with that. I could definitely get used to that, but I wouldn't trade our kids for the world."

"Me either. Now, get up, Lover Boy. I have some kids to go pick up from Grandma's before she kicks them out on the street and I want you dressed by the time we get back."

"Yes, ma'am." Troy saluted Gabriella and she playfully hit him in return.

Gabriella went to her mom's to pick up the kids and Troy stayed at home, trying to clean up a little before the kids came back to make a bigger mess.

Gabriella had been gone about 20 minutes when there was a knock at the door. Troy went to answer the door. A woman who looked vaguely familiar stood outside.

"Can I help you?"

"Troy?"

"Yes? Do I know you?"

"Well you should. I'm Stacy Richardson. We had Biology together at NYU and we dated for a few months."

"Oh…Stacy…hi. Can I do something for you? How did you find me?"

"Well I remembered back when we dated that you said you were from Albuquerque, so this is the first place I looked. I searched all the Bolton's until I finally found out where I could find you."

"Oh. So what made you look me up now, after what six seven years?"

"Well actually I need to talk to you and I didn't want to do it over the phone. Can I come in?"

"Oh…yeah…sure." Troy let her in and led her to the living room, confused as to why she was here.

"Troy, I have wanted to look you up for a few years now. I feel like we left each other on bad terms and I wanted to apologize for that."

"Stacy, its no big deal. I have gotten over that. I was over that a long time ago. I moved on," Troy said as he remembered back to when he had caught Stacy making out at a party with one of the guys who was on the basketball team with him.

"Well I still feel bad about it. I haven't gotten over it. You were my only boyfriend in college and the only guy that I ever had sex with. You were my first and my last, Troy."

"Stacy, I have to tell you. This conversation is getting awkward for me. I just don't know what to say other than please just tell me exactly why you are here."

"Troy, when we were together that last time, I got pregnant."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, Troy, I'm sure. I had a son. He's now six years old. You…we…have a son."

Troy sat there stunned. Of all the times for her to come find him it had to be now. He and Gabriella had just had this conversation last night and he told her there was no doubt she was the only mother of his children. Stacy was the only other girl he had ever been with, but he hadn't told Gabriella about her. He just assumed that if something like this had happened she would have said something to him before now.

"Why now? Why are you telling me this now? Why didn't you tell me back in college?"

"Because I thought that if I told you when I found out I was pregnant that you wouldn't care or you wouldn't believe me. I figured that if I told you, you would accuse me of sleeping with the guy you saw me making out with and think that the baby was actually his. It wasn't. I never slept with him, Troy. You are the only guy I have ever slept with so I know that Alex is yours. I want you to be a part of our lives, Troy. I want Alex to have a dad."

"Stacy, I don't know if I can do this. I'm married. I have two kids and one more on the way."

"Oh…you're married? I didn't realize."

"Yeah…I'm married. And I wouldn't trade it for the world. But I can't help but think how this is going to cause problems between my wife and me. I never told her about you and honestly I never really thought I needed to. I don't know if I can be a part of Alex's life, Stacy. I'm sorry."

"Troy, Alex needs you. I just moved here to Albuquerque so that he could be closer to you. I knew it was a small chance, but I was hoping you were still single so maybe we could try us again. Plus, Alex knows who his dad is. I show him pictures of you all the time. He has them in his room and he looks at them all the time, hoping that one day he will actually get to meet you."

"Stacy, I need to think about this for a while. This is all a lot of information to take in. Plus, I need to talk to my wife. This is going to be a big change for her, too."

"I understand. Just give me a call when you decide what you want to do." Stacy handed Troy a piece of paper with her number on it and left. Troy sat down on the couch with his head in his hands and couldn't believe what just happened. How was he going to tell Gabriella that she wasn't the only mother of his children…that he in fact had another child, mothered by a girl who he dated in college?

Troy sat there and thought about the whole situation and was still sitting there when his family came in the door. He looked up and tried to put on his best smile as he looked at the three of them. When he looked at Annabelle, though, he could help but think that she was no longer his oldest child. That he had a son who was a couple years older and was in need of a dad.

As the day went on, Troy tried to appear as if nothing was wrong and he spent the entire day just hanging out and having fun with his family. By the time they went to bed, Troy had decided that he couldn't tell Gabriella, at least not yet. However, when they finally climbed into bed, Gabriella rolled over and faced Troy.

"Troy, what's bugging you? You have been acting weird all day and you have seemed kinda distant. Is everything ok? You were fine this morning before I left to get the kids, but when I came back something was different. Did something happen while I was gone?"

Troy panicked. He wasn't ready to tell Gabriella but he knew he should. She deserved to know the truth. And the longer he waited to tell her, the worse the situation would be.

"Yeah, something did happen while you were gone."

"What is it? Is everything ok?"

"Well I don't really know. I guess it depends on how you look at it."

"What?"

"Gabriella, you know last night when we were talking about kids?"

"Yeah…why did you just call me Gabriella? You never call me Gabriella. Troy, you're starting to worry me. Are you having second thoughts about us having another baby? I'm sorry, but I can't take back the fact that I'm pregnant, you know that."

"Oh, honey, it's not that. I'm sorry. Promise me you won't get mad at what I'm about to say."

"Ok Troy, you're really worrying me now. Just say it. I promise I won't get mad."

"Ok, here goes. While you were gone to pick up the kids this morning, someone I knew in college stopped by to see me. Actually, it was a girl I dated back in college for a few months."

"Wait, I didn't know you dated anyone in college. Why didn't you ever tell me you were dating someone? How did I not know? We were always together."

"Well actually it was not long after you started dating David and you were preoccupied most of the time. I was so in love with you and was devastated that…"

Gabriella interrupted, "Wait a minute…you were in love with me back in college? You never told me that."

"Brie, I have loved you since the moment I saw you when we met at the ski lodge. I just didn't realize it until we started hanging out in high school."

"Why didn't you do something about it then?"

"I was too scared to. I didn't want to risk ruining our friendship. I wanted you in my life in some way and if I could only have you as a friend, then so be it. Anyways…as I was saying…I was so devastated by you dating David that I thought that if I got a girlfriend, it would help me to get over you."

"You wanted to get over me?"

"Well you had David and at that point I really didn't know how your relationship was going to go."

"So how did you meet this girl?"

"We had Biology together. She was a nice girl, but she wasn't you. But I still gave her the chance I thought she deserved. We dated for a while and I started liking more and more about her. Our relationship got physical, but after a few months of dating, apparently I wasn't enough for her and one night at a party I found her making out with one of my teammates."

"Physical? As in sex?"

Troy hesitated for a moment. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about this? I thought I was your first."

"I'm sorry. I just never thought it was important. You were the first one that it mattered with. With Stacy it was always just something to do, but with you, it is so much more. With you, it's our love. With you it's like a dance that we know all the steps to or a song that only we know the words and rhythm to. Brie, you have to know that sex is not something I take lightly, at least not anymore. Back in college, I thought that if I had sex with Stacy I would be able to get over how in love I was with you. But as you can see now, it didn't work." Troy smirked. "But now, sex is something that helps me to remember you and learn more about every part of you and helps to create little Brie's." Troy lightly rubbed Gabriella's belly, where their newest child was still growing and developing.

"Troy, what does all this have to do with kids? You said that what was bothering you referred back to our conversation last night about kids."

Troy sighed heavily and looked everywhere but at Gabriella. "Brie, Stacy came by today to see me because nearly seven years ago, she conceived a child…a son to be exact." Troy finally looked at Gabriella. "Brie, he's mine."

Gabriella looked at Troy with wide eyes. "You have another son? Why didn't you know about this before? Is she sure that he is yours?"

Troy nodded. "She said that I am the only guy that she has ever been with."

"So all that talk last night about me ever being the only mother of your children was a lie?"

"It wasn't that I lied to you, Brie. I just didn't know at the time. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner about Stacy. I just didn't think that it mattered. I mean, I would have thought that she would have come to me sooner about it…like back in college." Troy looked over to see Gabriella silently crying. He reached over and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, Brie. I'm so sorry. I wish I could take it all back. I really do. If I could go back to any time at all, it would be high school and I would have told you how I really felt. Maybe then it would have saved all of the heartaches we have had."

Gabriella laid there and sobbed for quite a while before pulling herself from his grip and slipping out of bed. "I'm going to sleep in Annabelle's room tonight. I'll see you in the morning." Gabriella grabbed her pillow and started for the door.

Troy jumped out of bed and grabbed Gabriella by the waist and turned her around to face him. He wiped the tears from her face as she looked down at the floor. "If you're upset and want to be away from me, I understand. But I really am sorry. How about you take the bed, and I'll take the couch?" Troy walked back to the bed and grabbed his pillow and walked out the door, quietly shutting it behind him.

Around three in the morning, Troy woke up as he heard someone walk into the living room and sit down near him. He opened his eyes to see Gabriella sitting there staring at him.

"Brie? What is it? Are you ok?"

"Troy, please come back to bed. I can't sleep at all. I'm so sorry for acting the way I did. I was selfish and slightly jealous. Please come back to bed with me."

Troy nodded and got up from the couch. He slipped his arm around Gabriella and together they made their way back to their bedroom where they both got in bed and curled up together in one another's arms. They laid there for a while just listening to each other breathe, then finally Gabriella spoke up.

"Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did she feel the need to tell you now after all these years?"

"She is giving me the choice of whether or not to become a part of his life."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know. What do you think I should do? You are as much a part of this as I am. I told her I had to discuss it with you first. I want you to be involved every step of the way if I choose to do this."

"I don't know if I can do that, Troy. I mean…I know he is your son, but it's just the thought of him having another mother."

"Babe, I'm sorry. I know this has to be hard on you. Honestly, if I could go back and redo everything, none of this would have ever happened."

"Let's talk about this more tomorrow. We should get some sleep."

Troy and Gabriella fell asleep not long after that, but for Troy it wasn't a very peaceful sleep. Why now? Within one weekend, Troy and Gabriella's marriage had suffered many hits to it.