"No way," Troy laughed, leaning in a little more towards Gabriella.

"I swear. It took my mom almost a year to get me out in the pool again," Gabriella laughed, causing Troy's stomach to release a fresh batch of butterfly.

The two had been out for almost two hours, starting with dinner and continuing with a walk in the park. The two stopped at a bench and sat down next to each other.

"I feel like I've been talking about myself all night," Gabriella smiled. "Tell me about you."

"There's not much to tell. I play basketball, I go to school. Not much else," he grinned, feeling slightly guilty that he left a very important detail of his life out.

"I disagree. I think there's much more…" she flirted.

"Oh? You do, do you?"

"Mmhmm. You're pretty quiet. Fairly secretive about your family. And you're telling me that in the four years of high school you've never done anything but play basketball?" She giggled, leaning in.

"Well I think…" he began leaning in too, but the moment was ruined when his cell phone began to ring. "It's my mom. I'm sorry, I should get this," he apologized, slightly grateful that the moment didn't go any further.

"Hello?" Gabriella watched as his face changed from curious as to why his mother was calling and worried over what she was saying. "I'll be right there."

"You have to go?"

"I'm really sorry," Troy apologized, fishing through his pockets for his car keys.

"It's okay," she smiled sadly, following him back to his car. The two drove back to Gabriella's house in silence, except for the directions she was giving him. When they arrived at her house, he put the car in park and turned towards her.

"I'm really sorry I had to end this early."

"Don't worry about it. Things happen."

"Listen, normally I'd walk you to the door…"

"Don't worry about it," she nodded, gathering her things and unbuckling her seat belt.

"I promise I'll do the end of the date better next time," he grinned. She smiled at his words 'next time.'

"I'll hold you to that. See you on Monday," she smiled.

"Goodnight," he smiled back. As soon as she shut the car door Troy took off and drove home, which was thankfully only a few blocks away.

"Mom?" Troy yelled as he entered his house, running straight to the kitchen where he heard crying. He very worriedly took the screaming baby from his mother's arms. "She's burning up."

"She had a slight fever an hour ago…"

"An hour ago?! Why didn't you call me?!"

"Because it was low, Troy, and despite what you may think I am capable of taking care of her too. You're not the only one who loves her."

"I know. But I'm her dad. She's mine. Not ours," he sighed, kissing the top of the little girls forehead. Mrs. Bolton sighed in defeat.

"I know," she said. "And you're right. I should have called."

"How long has she been crying?"

"About forty-five minutes."

"I'm going to take her to the ER."

"Do you want me to come?" She asked her son, not wanting to step over the line again. Troy looked at his mother and she realized just how scared he was.

"Yes," he told her.

"Let's go."

----

"Is she okay?" Mr. Bolton asked as his wife and son walked back into their house later that night with his sleeping granddaughter.

"Yea. They gave her a shot of penicillin and sent us home," Troy told him, carrying Katie up towards her room. On a second thought, he brought her to the bassinet in his own room and laid her down in that. Downstairs, his parents were talking.

"Did he tell you about the date at all?" Mr. Bolton asked.

"Not really. Just that he was having a good time."

"Well that's good, right?"

"I would say that's very good."

----

"So you and Gabi almost kissed?" Chad smirked the next day while the two were hanging out in his room.

"We didn't almost kiss," Troy argued, rocking Katie in her car seat. "We were both kind of leaning in when my mom called," he explained. "How did you even know that?"

"Gabi told Taylor. Taylor told me."

"So how do I know that you're not going to tell Taylor what I'm telling you and then she's going to tell Gabriella?"

"You don't. It's a vicious cycle," Chad grinned. Troy stared back unimpressed.

"For the record, I had a really nice time with her."

"And off the record?"

"Off the record… I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"Troy, it's been two years."

"That doesn't make it suck any less."

"I know."

"No. You don't."

"You're right. I don't. And I hope I never do. But what I do know is that you had fun with Gabriella, and she had fun with you."

"She said she had fun?"

"She did," Chad smiled, picking up Katie from her car seat and sitting her on his lap.

----

Later that night, Troy was lying on his bed with Katie in his arms. She yawned and stuck her thumb in her mouth and Troy kissed her head.

"What do you think Baby Girl? Should I go for it with this girl? What about Mommy? What do you suppose she would think about it?" He asked glancing at a picture of Kaitlin that he had sitting on his desk.

"I think she'd want you to move on and be happy," Mrs. Bolton said, standing in his doorway.

"Thanks for eavesdropping, Ma," Troy chuckled, looking up at his mother.

"I didn't mean to. I just came up to tell you that Chad's downstairs. There's a girl with him."

"Taylor?"

"Nope. Not Taylor. Gabriella."

"She's here? Now?" Troy asked, starting to panic.

"Yes. They want you to come out and play it sounds like."

"Can you watch her for a minute?" Troy asked, laying Katie on his bed.

"Sure," his mother smiled, sitting down next to the sleepy baby. Troy's thoughts were racing as he made his way downstairs.

"Troy!" Chad exclaimed at the sight of his best friend.

"Chad. Gabriella. What are you guys doing here?" Troy asked, silently cursing Chad with his eyes.

"Is now a bad time?" Gabriella asked politely.

"I was just gonna help Miss Gabriella here shoot a free throw. Thought you might wanna help," Chad explained.

"Dude, you know I can't," Troy said, glaring at his best friend.

"Yes you can," Mrs. Bolton called from upstairs.

"Your mom says you can," Chad pointed out, pushing his friend to break. Gabriella sensed there was something going on that she didn't know about and chose to ignore it, letting the two boys work it out silently on their own. And they did. With multiple glares sent back and forth between the two boys, a full conversation was had that both boys had clearly understood.

"Come on. Hoop is out back," Troy smiled at Gabriella, as Chad led the way. About a half hour into their playing time, Chad excused himself to get some water from Troy's kitchen.

"Hey, Dude. Check on… my mom. Will you?" Troy almost begged.

"Sure," Chad agreed, understanding that he was meant to check on Katie.

"So you and Chad have known each other a long time then?" Gabriella asked as she watched Troy throw a perfect three pointer.

"Since preschool. Is it that obvious?"

"Well he mentioned something about it earlier, but it was the fact that you two had an entire conversation with your eyes that totally gave it away," she giggled, catching the ball that Troy tossed. She stood at the free throw line and took her best shot, which wasn't very good at all. "I told you I sucked," she added.

"No, you're just not doing it right," he explained, picking up the ball and handing it to her. He then proceeded to stand behind her and show her exactly just how to shoot that free throw. The ball glided through the air and into the net. Gabriella squealed in delight and turned around to face Troy. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Troy's immediate instinct was to hug her back, just as tightly. After a few seconds, however, he pulled back a bit awkwardly.

"Sorry," Gabriella apologized, afraid she was taking things too fast.

"Don't be," Troy said immediately. "Hey listen, do you want to go out again next weekend?"

"I'd love to," Gabriella smiled. Chad, having seen the whole exchange, began to walk towards them. Troy heard his footsteps and turned towards him.

"I checked on your mom. She's fine."