Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

I have a very legitimate reason for taking so long to get this chapter up. On 6/24, I was hit by a car walking to work because the driver ran a light. I needed some time to recuperate. Also, it's hard to write with voice recognition software when you have your mother staying with you to take care of you, especially when you are writing things you don't want your mother to read.

I want to try to finish this story by the end of the year. To do that I'm going to have to change my writing style a little bit and my original end for the story. Things are going to speed up over the next few chapters after this current arc. I'm also planning once I've recovered to focus on this story for a couple of months. Therefore, if anybody is interested in being my beta for this story exclusively, let me know. Teddy Bear, who normally works on some of my Star Trek stories, has been helping but it may be easier if I had someone just for this story.

Chapter 39: The good news? Part Two

'How the hell could this happen again?' Kim thought as she locked herself in one of the study rooms on campus. She couldn't face everyone yet, so hiding in the library seemed like a logical solution. Besides, she had a ton of makeup work to do.

Her father was going to kill her. Jack was going to kill her. She wasn't sure how Troy was going to react, but it probably wasn't going to be good. She pictured lots of crying and screaming. A thousand horrible things were already running through her mind mostly involving her taking care of two children under the age of three entirely by herself. At least she wasn't dead broke this time.

Caroline told her that everything was going to be okay, but Kim didn't believe her. She wondered if Caroline was just telling her that because they were both in the exact same situation. Kim was too upset about being pregnant again to be mad about the fact Alex was going to have another aunt or uncle that was technically younger than him. The joys of the modern family. (Unlike the situation with her father and Vanessa, this was completely unplanned. She can't be mad at someone who did the exact same thing she did and got caught the exact same way.)

She was trying to put these thoughts out of her mind as she tried to do her physics homework. Unfortunately, it was giving her a headache but she was too afraid to call Chad for help. He probably knew by now. She wasn't sure if he would be on her side this time around. After another 30 minutes of trying to figure out the material in vain, she broke down and turned on her cell phone realizing that she needed help and had to call Chad. Unfortunately, she had 13 voice mails and 28 text messages, most were from Sharpay and Penelope, which she probably needed to return as soon as possible. There were also a few from Jack and Gabriella. Fortunately, there was nothing from Troy. She hopes that's a good thing.

None of the messages from Jack contains derogatory expressions aimed at her. She takes it as an obvious sign that he doesn't know about the new grandkid. Although, he did say some choice things about his boss, including suggesting that she do her student teaching at Xavier. She has this odd feeling that Jack will be teaching their next semester unless he finally takes her up on her offer to get his doctorate in education.

Jack was unsuccessful in trying to talk the man into reconsidering his decision to cancel the school musical, dismantle the drama department for the 2009-2010 school year, and giving the money to sports. If she wasn't so freaked out by the current baby situation; she would let a certain former drama teacher of hers know that her sworn enemy just actively tried to save the drama department. Maybe hell did freeze over and her father will take getting grandchild number two well. Kim doubted that.

The number of messages does not surprise Kim. She essentially disappeared the moment told her she was pregnant only cutting through the nearby AMC to tell Tiffany everything. Comma patients make great listeners. She was feeling better until she found out Tiffany's doctors were making plans to transfer her to a long-term treatment facility. The doctors said a few things that they shouldn't have said and now she knows that they believe that Tiffany may never wake up. Maybe that is the other reason Kim decided to spend the afternoon hiding at the library. She could not deal with her life right now.

Because she would be returning to the house as soon as possible for homework help, she decided not to call Sharpay or her future mother in law back. She wasn't ready to deal with the questions and she wanted to hold off the inevitable until she got home. It was probably best to put off dealing with a hysterical Chad until she could preoccupy him with physics problems.

She sent a quick message to Penelope letting her know that she was okay, or as okay as you can be after accidentally getting pregnant due to ineffective birth control. Not that Kim expressed it that way but it was pretty close. According to her message, Penelope already had a few informal conversations with A of U faculty about possibly doing the musical in one of the theaters on campus. It wasn't completely unheard of for outside interests to rent buildings on campus. Kim told Penelope that they would talk about figuring out another way to put on a high school musical this year, without using an actual high school, when she wasn't freaking out about being pregnant.

How could Kim not see this pregnancy coming? No one was more shocked than her when she saw a positive pregnancy test in her hand. She took three more tests before she started to accept the possibility that she was pregnant. That was before the trip to the doctor's office.

Kim should have known something was up when her period was late, but didn't think about it because it finally came even if it was a little light. She had other things to worry about like her fiancé almost ending up dead. She blamed it on the stress. It was not as if she was having a sudden craving for New Mexico fried chicken and chocolate sauce or any other crazy symptom. She forgot about having a false period last time. Come to think of it, Kim blamed her irregular menstruation on stress last time. Oh the stupidity.

According to the doctor, Kim was over two months pregnant and had no idea. It wasn't like she was throwing up all the time. That didn't happen until this morning, after the rabbit died metaphorically speaking the only person in the history of the universe real or fictional who was less aware of her pregnancy was Peggy from Mad Men and at least she had the excuse of not going through this before and existing before Google.

The only other sign that she was pregnant was the fact her jeans were getting tight. Kim blamed that on Caroline's home cooking and not having a toddler to chase after the last couple of weeks. She also blamed it on all the take out she consumed when taking care of Troy and all the cramming she did to make up for missing classes.

Apparently, unlike Caroline who was done in by counterfeit condoms, she probably got pregnant during her birthday when she and Troy had sex in the bathtub sans condom. She was never going to hear the end of it from various friends. Kim was letting everyone think that she got screwed over by the double whammy of an effective birth control pills and counterfeit condoms. People were more sympathetic that way.

Only Alexis knew the truth, but she was still worried enough to try calling Taylor in between appointments, in case she was another victim of the counterfeit condoms. Taylor didn't pick up. Taylor hasn't been answering a lot of phone calls recently, so who knows what's going on. Taylor hasn't been taking Kim's calls either not since whatever happened in DC.

Kim personally wants to kill a certain former doctor of hers for forgetting to mention that if you get put on the pill because you have an irregular period, it may be a really good idea to always use another contraceptive. She would sue but she didn't want Alex or the new baby to think they were unwanted. For now, Kim will just let everybody think that she got pregnant the same way Caroline did. It would be a long time before she told anybody besides Troy what really happened.

For the reasons mentioned above, she was not calling back her father-in-law. One, even if they needed to talk about legitimate school things, or the fact that the lawyers decided to push back the divorce mediation another two weeks he probably knew she was pregnant. Kim was avoiding that conversation for as long as she could. Due to certain circumstances, he probably can't be that upset but she has learned a long time ago that all parents are unbelievably hypocritical. 'Do as I say, not as I do.' Then there was the fact he was probably panicking about Caroline anyway. It would be best to wait until tomorrow in class where there would be witnesses.

That left Gabriella and with a message like 'call me now otherwise, I'm going to wake up your future husband with a blow job in the morning' Kim just had to respond. The infamous 'trench coat and stilettos' incident from last fall was still fresh in Kim's mind.

"Thank god you finally called." Gabriella said with mix of worry and relief.

"I had no choice after a message like that." Kim said in fake seriousness, mostly.

"I was joking. I would never do that to you. I almost considered you a friend now. I just needed you to call me back. I guess my plan worked." Kim could tell she was being sincere. She is also 99.9% sure that Gabriella knew about the new baby. If she knew, that meant that Troy knew.

"You do remember the trench coat and stilettos thing?" Kim joked to deflect the tension.

"One, I did not know about you and Troy at the time. Two, I was off my meds. Finally, I was under the influence of Mercedes. I cannot be held responsible for anything I did under those circumstances." She responded defensively.

"I know and I trust you as long as you're medicated. I would not have left Alex with you if I did not trust you. Is everything okay?" Kim asked wondering what else could go wrong today.

"Nothing is wrong with Alex or Troy." Gabriella said hastily back, automatically telling Kim that something wasn't quite right.

"But something's wrong?" Kim asked.

"Kind of, I'm just not sure how to tell you." Gabriella said hesitantly.

"It's not that hard. Just saying, 'I know that you are pregnant again'." Kim said with irritation.

"Lucy called. Wait, you are pregnant again?" Gabriella said it in what was obvious fake shock.

"You're a good singer, but I think you needed to pay more attention during acting class. I can obviously tell your faking." Kim spat out. "You know and therefore Troy knows. Wait why did mother evil call?" Kim asked finally comprehending what Gabriella said.

"Wonderful subject change." Gabriella replied sardonically.

"The crazy one calling is more important than seeing a plus sign on a little stick a plastic." Kim replied sarcastically.

"I don't know, only one of those things this life altering. I would be panicking right now if it was me." Gabriella said with a laugh that was obviously forced.

"Why do you think you could not get a hold of me for the last 6 hours? Although, its not as bad the second time around. I've been hiding in the library with my phone off. Troy's hiding in the bathroom. He hates me right now, probably." Kim said in near panic picturing all the worst scenarios in her head.

"Calm down. I'm sure panicking is not good for the baby even this early. How early?"

"11 weeks." Kim answered honestly.

"Troy doesn't know. I erased the message before he could hear it." She said in reassurance.

"Why did you erase the message? What are you doing in his voicemail?" She asked, with concern remembering what happened last time there was an invasion of privacy.

"Maybe I better start with the Lucy thing, it's all connected. This is complicated." Gabriella said with a sigh.

"Probably, Lucy makes every situation more complicated." Kim said, before Gabriella recounted a very interesting conversation with the woman who still will unfortunately become her mother in law. Somehow, Lucy found out that Gabriella moved in with Troy. In her diluted mind, she took that as a sign that the couple were back together. In reality, Troy needed someone to help take care of him even if he was back in classes. Gabriella and Madison volunteered. At some point, Lucy said something stupid about Kim and Gabriella responded with telling her to go fuck herself before hanging up.

"Does that woman understand the concept of a restraining order?" Kim mumbled to herself as Gabriella finished recounting her conversation.

"Not really. Somehow, in her head she sees me as a means to save her son from the evil one. Even though I knocked her unconscious according to what everyone has told me, she still thinks I'm on her side. She doesn't get that I despise her for manipulating the last two years of my life. Even my very first encounter with Troy was a complete setup."

"Yet there was still a connection there." Kim said begrudgingly.

"The grounds for a great friendship, not a romance, I can see that now that I have something else to compare it to. The only reason why we started dating was everyone expected us to. It's different with you and Troy because it's real. He's not going to freak out when he finds out your pregnant, at least not if hears it from you. I only deleted the message so you could tell him yourself instead of him finding out from a panic phone call from Chad about finding a positive pregnancy test in the trash can."

"Fuck!" Kim explained. "I thought we had hidden all the tests. Again, why are you listening to my boyfriend's voice mail?" Kim half yelled as the thought entered her mind.

"You know the doctor said, that Troy needs to keep his stress level down, which is why I've been dealing with Alex's more colorful antics. I don't mind, he's adorable. Anyway, after I abruptly ended the call, Lucy called Troy. I know this because your fiancé left his cell phone in the living room again. I knew it was her from the ring tone. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to the phone in time because it was sandwiched between the couch cushions."

"Because we both know, Troy doesn't set a password for his voicemail, you listen to the message?" Kim asked.

"Actually, I made a copy before I deleted it for the lawyers. He didn't need to hear that. She essentially said exactly what she said to me, except there were more insults about Caroline and Lucy said some things about her own son and grandchild that were disturbing. Somehow, she knows about Caroline stocking up on pregnancy tests." There was only one way that Lucy could know about that, she was either stocking Caroline or paying someone to do it. Kim didn't say anything as she allowed Gabriella to continue. "Lucy thinks Caroline is the one that's pregnant and that's why Jack wants a quickie divorce. It never occurred to her that Caroline was picking up the test for you. I figured that out after I listened to Chad's psychotic voice mail about positive pregnancy test. I think Lucy is losing it."

"Probably, that's why she's postponing the divorce settlement talks. She's going to probably use the situation with Caroline to get more money. I'm sure she has a detective trailing Caroline. This is going to be an absolute mess. And I thought my parents' divorce was nasty." Kim mumbled the last part to herself.

"How will you being pregnant effect Jack's divorce?" Gabriella asked in confusion.

"I'm sure it will anyway. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one with a positive test." Kim said reflectively.

"Oh my god, I am so glad I deleted those messages." Gabriella said, just as Kim heard Troy screaming about his missing cell phone in the background.

"Just promise me you won't say anything to Troy." Kim said knowing that the conversation would be ending soon.

"It's not my secret to tell." Gabriella said quickly before turning her attention to Troy. Have you considered a carrying case for that thing? They make them in wonderful colors like black. You left it in the couch again." Gabriella said quickly. "I'll take Alex."

"He won't use it." Kim mumbled to herself because obviously Gabriella was too busy with Troy to hear.

"Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?" Kim heard Gabriella asked Troy.

"I'm fine." Troy answered back. Apparently, she was now on speakerphone because she could hear Troy perfectly. "Chad just sent me a slightly crazy e-mail and I need to check in with him." Great apparently Chad decided to use multiple means of conveying his panic.

"I think you better talk to your wife first. She's the person I'm talking to right now." Kim is 90% sure Gabriella handed her phone over to Troy.

"We're not married yet." Troy called back.

"You will be very soon. I am sure of that. Alex and I are going to go get a pizza and give you two, time to talk." This was obviously an excuse to avoid the fireworks.

"No tomato sauce." Both she and Troy cried out at the same time.

"You two are perfect for each other. I'm taking your car and your cell phone." She heard Gabriella say as her voice became faint.

"I'm pretty sure I know what Chad said in his e-mail if you're letting Gabriella leave with your car and cell phone." Kim said quickly.

"The car seat is in my car and I'm currently using her phone. I am not letting her leave here without a phone with our child. I'm pretty sure I do not want Alex here for this conversation anyway. Just tell me if I need to come to New Mexico to identify the body after Mr. Evans kills Chad." Troy said half joking.

"Mr. Evans has nothing to worry about unless Taylor got caught due to counterfeit condoms. You need to be worried about my dad. It turns out sex in the tub without condoms, was not exactly the best idea. Congratulations, you got me pregnant for my birthday." She said that last part snidely.

"Old thank god it's you." OK Kim was not expecting that. Screaming and crying, yes, but Troy sounded like he was actually okay with this.

"You're happy about this?" She asked in shock.

"I know the timing is bad…" Troy started.

"Unbelievably bad, not only are we both still in college but we are living in different states. Also, your mom will probably use this again your father in the divorce proceedings among the other things." Kim added quickly.

"However, this is a good thing. At least this way Alex won't be an only child. You know how much I hated being an only child. My dad is going to kill me, though."

"That would be a little hypocritical of him. Alex is not the only one losing his only child status, Caroline's pregnant." At that moment, the call abruptly ended with the telltale sound of a phone being thrown up against the wall. It looks like she owed Gabriella a new cell phone.

To be continued