Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I can't believe I've been working on this story for almost two years. It's been so long that thanks to the new movie this story is now completely AU. I will definitely try to get this done before we hit three years. That's why I'm releasing a short chapter now because otherwise it'll be another month before I get anything up. I have been unwell for a while and that is causing me to slow down.

Chapter 38: The good news? Part one

What exactly do you do when you are waiting for life as you know it to end? Chad was pretty sure homework was not an option. He realized that after working on the same physics problem for 30 minutes that afternoon. Cleaning after the babies just made him more anxious along with packing for the condo. With the probability of Tiffany waking up now only 20% the thought of having to take care of three kids before he finished college made Chad want to faint. Taking a nap was not an option either because every time he closed his eyes he dreamt of diaper duty with all three babies.

Finishing his applications for different schools for next year didn't seem logical either. Things were... complicated at the moment even without another baby on the way.

Talking to Troy was not an option either because his friend wasn't picking up the damn phone or answering his e-mails apparently. He actually called Gabriella he was so desperate. She promptly told him to calm down and that she would have Troy call back later after he spoke with Kim.

To prevent a complete nervous breakdown he tried to remember there was also a chance that the pregnancy test in question was Kim's. An extremely nervous Kim did throw up in physics class before leaving this morning. Unfortunately, Kim threw up on his shoes. That was not a good sign. He also remembered that she was upset yesterday because her favorite pants no longer fit. He could just picture her running home after class to take the test.

Chad hoped that was what happened even if he felt guilty about it. What type of friend secretly wishes that his best friend was the one who got totally fucked again? Of course, he justified it with the fact that Troy already had a toddler. How much worse can it be the second time around?

The pregnancy test was the cherry on top of this miserable day. Chad was already having a bad day by the time he received a text message from his girlfriend that said she was not coming to class today because she needed to take the twins to see their doctor. He was worried but she assured him it was a routine checkup that was rescheduled at the last minute. Only in hindsight does Chad realize that was an excuse.

He didn't think about it because of what happened at the hospital later. That misery started out with having to call security to drag his father out of the hospital. Apparently, the man did not understand the meaning of the word restraining order and tried to see Tiffany. After that, Tiffany's doctor pulled him aside and told him that if there wasn't any improvement by the end of the week it would be in their best interest to move her to a long turn care treatment facility. The Specialists that Sharpay's dad flew out to New Mexico from New York only gave her a 20% chance of waking up at all.

Finding the pregnancy test in the trash was just the icing on top of the cake of this completely fucked up day. The whole thing made him want to throw up. Then again that was probably the sympathy morning sickness.

The moment he heard Sharpay's car outside, he ran out the door. It was already passed 6:00 PM and he was worried about her as well as anxious. He saw his mom get out of the car as well with a tense expression that made Chad nauseous. He tried to tell himself that if Sharpay was really pregnant there would be more yelling and possibly crying. Chad just wasn't sure who would be crying. At this point, it would most likely be him. However, there was none of that. She almost seemed shell-shocked and so was Sharpay.

"Are you going to stand there and stare all day or are you going to help me?" Sharpay called from the driveway and Chad slowly walked down the front steps of the porch still slightly dazed to meet her.

"Can you grab baby Pay?" Sharpay asked him as she held baby Isaac in her arms while grabbing what appeared to be dinner out of the backseat. The bags indicated it was take away from his favorite restaurant. That was not a good sign. Sharpay only did that when she was trying to soften the blow or to get him to do something that he didn't want to do. The last time she brought food from his favorite restaurant he had to spend quality time with Sharpay's father. Not fun.

"Sure." Chad said picking up his little sister from the car seat. She was asleep which made Chad happy but then again newborns slept a lot, especially premature newborns. "How did the twins' appointment go?" Chad asked wondering if he should have waited until they were safely in the house and away from his mother. Did Sharpay even take the babies to see the doctor?

"We can talk about that when we are not dealing with newborns. If we can get them inside still asleep we might be able to get through dinner." Sharpay said with a sigh. He couldn't blame her. They were both getting really good at eating and feeding the babies simultaneously.

"You better get inside. I will call you later Sharpay and I will let you know how things go. Bye baby." His mom said kissing him on the cheek in the most embarrassing way possible. If Sharpay was pregnant, it was probably a good sign that his mother kissed him in public. That meant she didn't hate him. Of course, it would be a while before Chad realized how distant his mom was in that moment.

The next few minutes were a mix of uneasy silence and panic as the babies were placed in their bassinets to finish their nap, they pulled out plates, and dished out the food. Sharpay didn't say a word for the first 5 minutes before Chad had enough of that silence.

"Are you pregnant?" Chad blurted out causing Sharpay to choke on a piece of shrimp.

"Are you okay?" Chad asked as he ran to her side as she continued coughing.

"I'm fine. If you quote a certain line from Star Trek, I will kill you." Sharpay said with a glare that could freeze water outside in the New Mexico summer once she returned to normal.

"Okay, no pop culture references. When I came home this afternoon, I found a pregnancy test in the bathroom. Is it yours?" Chad asked in full panic by this point.

"Fuck!" Sharpay exclaimed becoming completely pale. "I thought I would have a few days before you would find out. I thought Kim got rid of the entire test this morning." Sharpay said confirming his greatest fear without actually saying yes.

"Oh god, you are pregnant." He was physically shaking at this point. "How could this happen? You are on the pill and we use condoms. I don't even let you give me a hand job without using a condom." Chad said as he started hyperventilating.

"Breathe, Chad! Just calm down." Sharpay said holding onto him.

"How can I calm down when I'm going to become a dad at 18?" Chad mumbled out between shaky breaths. The room felt like it was spinning.

"You're already a dad at 18. Tiffany is not going to wake up. We already have two kids and we're okay." Sharpay said speaking a truth that Chad was not ready to handle yet. That just made him sicker.

"There is still a 20% chance that she will wake up eventually." Even in his own mind, the words seem hollow. It's like he was lying to himself.

"Yesterday it was 24%, the day before it was 35%. She's not waking up and even if she does she may not even remember her own name let alone be able to take care of those two babies sleeping in the living room. We have no idea how much damage was done to her brain, neither do her doctors. Stop panicking Chad because, there's no point. We are not your parents. This is not your childhood all over again. We can get through this." Sharpay said in reassurance"

"I know that." Chad said almost screaming as tears were starting to fall down his cheeks. I know it's just me and you. How can we handle three babies? We can barely handle two. If my classes weren't so easy, my grades would be going in the toilet." Sharpay snorted at that.

"For you that would be a B plus. I would be happy with those grades." Sharpay said with a laugh.

"Not funny Pay." He said in all seriousness.

"Stop panicking Chad. We only have to worry about the babies we have. I'm not pregnant and there's probably a really good chance that it will never happen apparently. Let's just worry about the children already here." Sharpay said with a touch of sadness that Chad did not expect.

"You're not pregnant?" He asked hesitantly.

"No." Sharpay said with tears running down her cheeks.

"Those are not happy tears?" Chad asked in confusion.

"It's complicated." Sharpay responded as they moved into the living room.

"Explain it to me?" He asked as they sat down on the couch together

"I'm not pregnant but some of our other friends were not as fortunate." He was just about to ask if it was Kim before Sharpay interrupted him.

"I'm not going to tell you who until I get done with this story." Sharpay said in a quiet voice as not to wake up the babies.

"Fine, continue." Chad said as Sharpay began to tell him the whole story about Amanda being late and afraid to take a pregnancy test so they all took one with her. Her test came out negative but others were not so lucky. Fortunately, for him Sharpay was one of the lucky ones supposedly.

"Remember those flavored condoms I picked up from DLS?" Sharpay asked.

"The ones that you said were very tasty." Chad said with a wicked smirk. He was starting to return to his normal self now that he knew Sharpay wasn't pregnant.

"From now on, we stick with Trojan. In addition to being tasty, they were also defected or rather counterfeit. Remember that story on the news yesterday about the recall. The company is recalling over 60,000 packs, but the damage is already done." Sharpay said in irritation

"Thank god you're on the pill. This is why I believe in redundancy." Chad said happily. Then he noticed as Sharpay was frowning.

"Remember I was on medication that counteracted the pill when we were in DC." Sharpay said bursting his bubble.

"So we were lucky."

"That's what I said. Alexis doesn't think so." Sharpay added.

"What happened this afternoon?" he asked her grabbing her hand.

"After two tests turned up positive this morning we made appointments to see Taylor's mom this afternoon. That's why I didn't come back to campus after my time at EHS this morning. I was there mostly for emotional support. Being extra paranoid, she gave me another pregnancy test that also turned up negative." Again, Sharpay was crying.

"That is a good thing, right?" Chad asked hesitantly.

"It's a good thing right now. After finding out about my sexual history and discovering that I really didn't stick around long enough to get completely checked out after the 'incident' she decide it was time I had a real examination. Apparently there are some issues but we need to do more test." Because he was a guy, he decided not to ask what those issues were. He was smart enough to know that it involved his girlfriend's ability to get pregnant.

"Didn't you go through a thorough examination when you went on the pill? He asked after thinking for a moment. "You probably don't have anything to worry about. If there was a problem they would have caught it then." He was trying to be reassuring at that point.

"How long were we really together before I allowed you to put a finger up there let alone something bigger?" Sharpay asked him with a pointed look.

"A While, if you don't count you being completely drunk." Chad told her with a laugh.

"I love you and I was terrified. Do you really think I'm going to be comfortable with a complete stranger putting a speculum up there? I consider Alexis a friend, but your mom still had to hold my hand through the entire examination. I despise the gynecologist." Sharpay said as she essentially told him that she wasn't checked out before.

"I will be there to do it next time. Why didn't you see a doctor before?" Chad asked Sharpay slightly confused.

"If you have enough money, certain doctors do not ask questions. Why do you think Darby is dazed and confused all the time? Her private doctor is a drug dealer that went to medical school."

"So she was the one…" Chad started to ask but could not finish. Darby related questions also made him nauseous.

"No, that would require her actually caring about me. We both know she never did. Daddy had his assistant drop the pills off after he found out about what happened to Kim. Ryan got a condom bouquet." That would explain a lot Chad thought to himself.

"I'm guessing Kim is the one that is pregnant again." He asked quickly.

"Yes and she is not happy. Apparently, her birth control was not as effective because her hormones are kind of crazy naturally. Her last gynecologist forgot to tell her that she cannot use birth control pills as an actual contraceptive. They were done in by the counterfeit condoms." If it happened to anybody else, Chad would be laughing. Actually, he was still laughing on the inside anyway.

"Too bad the doctor forgot to mention that two kids ago. Troy is going to be in so much trouble. That explains why my mom was so skittish this afternoon. She's probably the one who has been designated to break the bad news to Jack. He is going to kill Troy. This is not good. He is supposed to meet with Lucy Friday to work out the kinks in the divorce with a truckload of lawyers and the judge. That will make the whole thing even worse." Just as Chad said this he looked up to see his girlfriend not looking at him as she played with the hem of her top.

"Actually, I think he's going to be more concerned with other things than to be mad at Troy. If he does get angry, it will be extremely hypocritical." Sharpay mumbled that last part to herself.

"What are you talking about?" He asked in confusion.

"I need to tell you something and you're not going to take it very well."

"You already told me that you're not pregnant. Nothing can possibly be worse than that unless my mom is pregnant." That's when Sharpay looked away from him. Then Chad remembered she said that a second test was positive. He also remembered that his mom came out of DLS with the same package Sharpay did weeks ago in DC.

"Oh fuck!" Was the only thing Chad said as everything went black.