Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. To suchrandomness, who sincerely wishes that Chad and Sharpay could get through this wedding without anything bad happening, that is not going to happen. When it comes to a Chad and Sharpay family gathering, the most you can hope for is that no one dies.

Now to the matrimony event of the Albuquerque spring season.

Warning: Underage drinking and situations involving relatives that make you want to squirm under the seat.

Chapter 45: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Let Us Hope Nobody Ends Up Black and Blue. Part one

Since Marc was three years old, he has lived around weddings constantly. No, he is not just talking about his mother's several trips down the aisle with various stepfathers that rarely stuck around for more than a few months. He has been helping his mother make other people's wedding day dreams come true since his mother forced him to fill in as ring boy when his cousin Teddy threw up on the mother of the bride's shoes at the Horowitz-Gomez wedding.

Over the years, Marc has seen some true wedding disasters involving everything from drunken brides to the groom getting caught with the best man in the coat closet (fortunately that did not occur at the same wedding). Before today, the worst was three years ago at the Cook-Sanchez wedding (no relation to Chad) involving an unhappy mother calling Immigration on her future son in law. After it was proven that Mr. Sanchez's family has been in the United States a good 152 years longer than the Cooks, the new Mrs. Sanchez stopped speaking to that entire side of the family.

Honestly, Marc should have expected this wedding to be a catastrophe from the very beginning. Any family get together involving Chad and Sharpay seemed destined to go to hell. The best he could hope for was no one dying. The fact that they had less than two weeks to pull the entire thing together should have been the first sign that this would be a catastrophe, other than the parties involved. His mother would normally refuse to do any wedding when she had less than a month.

The fact that Sharpay refuses to have a nice simple wedding was the next indicator that this was going to be a disaster. 'Simple' and 'Sharpay' were the antithesis of each other. Even though he has only known Sharpay Evans since the beginning of the school year, really he should have known better. He has seen her dorm room. 160 people, a four star menu, and a cake that was something out of a Food Network challenge. The only thing going in his favor was money was no object. It was easier to expedite certain things if you are willing to pay twice as much.

The fact that this wedding probably has more people not allowed to come to the wedding under any circumstance than actual guests was another indication that this would be the wedding debacle of the Albuquerque Spring season. (His ex boyfriend being number one on the list of people he did not want to crash this wedding.)

20 minutes until the cake cutting and Mr. Danforth has yet to show up to his own son's wedding much to the displeasure of the county sheriff's office who were discreetly monitoring the site in case the fugitive showed up. They were also there to enforce the restraining order against the soon to be former Mrs. Bolton. Marc was actually expecting her to show up with a shotgun considering the crazy packages she has been sending Chad's mom. They were all silently praying that Sharpay's mother would continue to be in the dark about the festivities until she read the society page tomorrow morning.

If Marc was as smart as his genius level IQ would imply, he would have run the other way screaming when Amanda begged him to help plan Sharpay and Chad's big day. However, as his experience dating Jason Cross has shown him, intelligent people can do very stupid things. Agreeing to plan this wedding was a very stupid thing. He has never done a wedding completely by himself before, let alone in Albuquerque with very few days to pull it off. Yet the thought of having enough money to buy his own car this summer without being his mother's personal slave was enough to get him to agree to this insanity.

Considering everything that has gone wrong today, he is not surprised that Jason Cross has successfully managed to get around Jose's security team and was sneering at him from the back. Considering all the uninvited guests that could have crashed the wedding Jason was probably the least damaging to the new Mr. and Mrs. Evans who were currently dancing inappropriately to the Beyonce version of At Last. Of course, this was the most personally damaging to him.

"Jason you have 2 minutes before I have Jose and his 'should have been a sumo wrestler' colleague escort you off the premises." Marc said as calmly as possible as he approached his former boyfriend. Any feelings of affection that Marc had for Jason at one time were replaced with pure anger at the thought that his former significant other was going to fuck up his almost perfect wedding.

"I just want to talk to you." Jason said as he grabbed Marc's wrist.

"Well, I really don't want to talk to you. I am working right now. I am Chad and Sharpay's wedding planner. My job is to make sure that this is an event truly worldly of Mrs. Sharpay Evans. You need to leave." Marc demanded in a whisper as he pulled his hand away from his former lover. He kept his voice low in a conscious effort to prevent a scene. Considering how many people were gaping at him, that wasn't happening.

"I wouldn't have to interrupt while you are working if you would just return my phone calls. I want you to give me another chance." Jason whined as he tried to pull him closer to him. Marc just stayed back.

"I can't give you another chance because I've already moved on. I wouldn't want to anyway. I could use some Jose Cuervo right now." That last part was the code to let security know that they had a situation via the earpiece he was wearing. Though, Marc could really use some alcohol right now. Unfortunately, even though he was the wedding planner, he was not allowed anywhere near the open bar. The only alcohol anybody under 21 was allowed to consume was the one glass each of champagne Chad and Sharpay had during the toast. Everyone else under 21 (or very pregnant) had sparkling cider. Marc personally thinks that one drink was only allowed so certain family members on Sharpay's side would know that she wasn't getting married at 19 because she was pregnant. (If they didn't figure it out by that point, Sharpay shouting at Chad's grandmother that her uterus was nonfunctional clued everyone else in about 20 minutes after that.)

"Let me guess, your back with your teenage fuck toy. That was quick." Jason spat out bitterly.

"Me breaking up with you had nothing to do with Jimmy. I can't be with somebody who is not comfortable enough to be their self." At this point, Marc gave up all pretense of keeping this from becoming a spectacle. His only hope was Chad and Sharpay were so preoccupied with each other that they would not notice what was going on in the foyer. What was taking Jose so long?

"If you ever considered Chad your friend, you will walk away right now so that he can have a good wedding." Marc said almost pleading. Thankfully, back up came in the form of Amanda's almost boyfriend Zeke.

"Amanda told me to check on you. According to your schedule, you're supposed to be cut up my artistic creation known as a wedding cake in 15 minutes." Marc forgot all about that. He was headed to set up everything for the cake cutting ceremony when he saw Jason lurking in the back. "I can take care of this." Zeke said grabbing his former friend by the collar.

"Thanks, I think Jose will be along soon anyway." Marc said before running away as fast as he could to the beautiful cake. If he ever had the misfortune of doing a wedding in Albuquerque again, he would recommend Zeke. Zeke was definitely skilled when it came to cakes. The sugar butterflies looked real.

The calmness that Marc felt when looking at the cake went away, as he heard Kim and her boyfriend screaming at their son. This shouldn't surprise him, the little brat was known for causing chaos. Now Marc watched helplessly as the now semi naked Bolton boy made his way to the beautiful chocolate fountain that Amanda forced him to include. "It will keep the guests occupied during the pictures," Amanda said.

Now it was a chocolate mess after the two year old ran right into the table, knocking the fountain onto the floor. He was just thankful at that moment that super bride forced him to place the wedding cake and the chocolate fountain on separate tables. His only consolation was the two year old responsible for several gallons of chocolate falling onto the hard wood floors of the A of U ballroom was not injured. It would be a shame if anybody else ended up hospitalized during the wedding festivities. One was enough and that was before the ceremony even started.

31 Hours Earlier

The first thing Ryan noticed when he woke up that morning was the vast amounts of pink and purple surrounding him. The second thing he noticed was the extremely loud crying of a small child. At least this told him that he most likely did make it back to Sharpay's condo last night. He was staying in Kerri's bedroom because the teenager was spending the weekend at Jackie's house and Ryan did not feel like being interrogated by his father about the Taylor thing. This was so Aunt Natalie could stay in the condo's guest room. She was Darby's sister but she was the complete antithesis of the evil bitch formally known as mom. Considering she hasn't been on speaking terms with her sister sensed the first Bush administration it was safe to invite her to the festivities.

The sound of baby Pay crying made him notice the throbbing pain in his head. A crying baby and a horrible hangover were not very compatible. How much did he drink last night? He really didn't remember that much except he may or may not have kissed a guy named Taylor. Fortunately, he noticed a bottle of Tylenol and water sitting on the nightstand. He quickly utilized both before he even noticed the condescending note underneath that could only come from his sister.

Seriously, Ryan, only one member of the family is allowed to be the victim of rohypnol. I would ask you what you were thinking but Chad reminded me of what happened at the beginning of the school year that led to the almost sex tape incident. Thankfully, you had your own night in shiny basketball shorts to save you from your own personal Richard. I should just be thankful that you did not get toasted at the actual ceremony.

It was obvious that Sharpay was not happy and was only being held back by her future husband. Ryan was never more grateful for his sister marrying one of his friends than at that moment. He would think that Sharpay was being overly dramatic in typical Sharpay Evans fashion but considering he did not remember practically anything from the night before that may not be the case.

Once the room stopped spinning and the Tylenol kicked in, he grabbed his travel bag. He seriously needed to brush his teeth. He was sure one of those travel bottles of mouthwash could not deal with the awful taste in his mouth.

By the time he was dressed, his head was well enough that he was willing to deal with the wrath of Sharpay. She was sitting at the table next to Penelope as she fed Olivia her bottle. At least Ryan thought that it was Olivia due to the pink T shirt and shorts the child was wearing. Although knowing Sharpay, anything was possible. It was more surprising that his sister was sitting next to Penelope without a physical or verbal altercation occurring. It was a sign of the apocalypse.

Unfortunately, they were bonding over the stupidity of their mutual former boyfriends. Today's subject of irritation was Richard. Considering the cursing coming from Penelope, Ryan decided it was in his best interest to stay back in the hallway for a few minutes especially considering that Penelope just ripped the Albuquerque Times to shreds.

"I know Richard is a D-I-C-K but you don't need say those sorts of things in front of Isaac." Ryan had to stifle a laugh.

"I think I've heard Chad say worse things about his father." Penelope argued back.

"Yes, but not in front of the babies." She said motioning to the child in her arms and Alex who was sitting in a high chair next to Penelope. Considering the sounds that he was hearing, Kim was probably in the master bathroom being the victim of baby sickness. Just the thought alone made him want to throw up himself. He certainly was still feeling queasy.

"What did you-know-who do this time bad enough for you to take it out on the poor newspaper?" Sharpay asked.

"Just his latest attempt at defamation of character. Apparently, I am a home wrecking slut who got the starring role in last year's community theater production because of my excellent oral skills and I'm not talking about delivering lines." Penelope said darkly as she threw back an entire glass of orange juice. Ryan wondered if it was laced with some sort of alcohol.

"That's laughable. Maybe if they were saying that about Troy, I might actually find it halfway plausible. Our director was more gay then Marc. Even I will admit you were better for that particular part than I was." Okay now that was definitely shocking.

"Did I just walk into a parallel dimension? Also, nobody says no to a blow job so the rumor is somewhat possible." Ryan said walking in, earning him dark looks from his sister.

"Not in front of the baby. I really don't want to have to explain to the social worker why my children's first words are expletives. I'm already mad at you for your behavior yesterday." His sister said before explaining everything in excruciating detail resulting in Penelope laughing hysterically. "The only reason why I'm not hurting you is because you gave me a means to not have Gabriella at my wedding." Sharpay chided. If his hangover ravaged mind was working Ryan would have asked her to clarify but he didn't have a chance to when Chad walked into the room.

"It's the same universe as last time except Sharpay is now trying to be a better person because we have children and you were a drunken idiot last night. I seriously wish we had a video of your stupidity yesterday." Chad said bringing in Olivia dressed in a WNBA basketball jersey. Ryan would roll his eyes but it would probably bring the headache back. It was going to be a long two days.

"What I don't understand is why Richard is trying so hard to completely destroy your character?" Sharpay asked as she kissed both Olivia and Chad on the cheek as he sat down next to her.

"Claudette Colvin." Chad said quickly as he unsuccessfully tried to pour himself a glass of juice while holding the baby, fortunately Penelope helped him out.

"Who?" Ryan asked.

"Claudette Colvin refused to give her seat to a white woman in Montgomery Alabama nine months before Rosa Parks did and was just as quickly arrested. Unfortunately, she was a feisty 15 year old, pregnant, and unmarried. Therefore, the PTBs felt she wouldn't make a great poster child for the movement. That's why Outcast wrote a song called Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin is relegated to a footnote in my mother's legal text books. Obviously Richard is trying to discredit Penelope either to make the jury not believe Penelope's story or to get the district attorney's office so worry about the whole thing that she decides to drop charges before the case even makes it to trial." Everybody just looked at Chad in shock for a moment. Ryan was still too hung over to understand what he said.

"So, I read my mom's legal textbooks a lot as a child. I get bored easily." Chad said defensively.

"Enough of the history lesson. I thought we were supposed to be here at nine to get our wedding day assignments." Penelope said pouring herself more orange juice.

"We will as soon as Marc and Amanda get here and Kim stops doing whatever in the master bathroom." Sharpay told everyone.

"We might be here for days." Chad mumbled under breath just as they heard a knock at the door. It was Amanda and Marc with fresh pastries.

"Sorry we're late. We had to check on the cake but we brought food." Marc said walking into the kitchen after Ryan was forced to get the door.

"Oh, I'm sure you had to check the cake." Penelope Rolled her eyes as everybody sat around the kitchen table looking just as skeptical.

"We better start without Kim. I can catch her up later." Marc said as he passed out schedules to everyone in the room that essentially had every single moment from now to the wedding micromanage. Marc reminded him of Taylor.

Ryan was personally too hung over to deal with picking up relatives and Troy from the Airport. He'd much rather figure out what happened last night but he knew enough not to get his sister angry right now or ever. At least he was picking up some of the relatives he can actually tolerate. Aunt Natalie was cool and much saner than her sister. That is why she was invited to the wedding when Ryan is pretty sure his dad gave the guards permission to shoot Darby on sight. Judging by everybody's expression and the yelling that followed nobody was happy with the schedule.

"Why can't I keep the babies with me?" Sharpay asked instantly.

"Because we can't risk the twins getting your absolutely wonderful very expensive wedding dress dirty before the ceremony. It's bad enough that we run the risk with Kim. Why do you think I ordered three versions of her dress?" Marc responded quickly.

"Fuck you, Marc." Kim yelled from the bathroom.

"I know you're sick from spawn of Bolton but the babies don't need to hear that." Sharpay argued back. "Fine, whatever." Sharpay said to Marc with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Why do I have babysitting duties during the actual rehearsal?" Penelope asked.

"What I want to know is why the rehearsal is before the rehearsal dinner?" Chad asked quickly.

"Because you're the only person who's not part of the actual ceremony that Sharpay will trust with her children." Marc explained to Penelope before turning to Chad.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment. Though, I'm bringing back up." Penelope said with a sigh.

"The reason why the rehearsal dinner is happening before the dinner is because the rehearsal dinner is essentially a get together for family before the wedding. Also considering your recent track record, I don't want to give anybody alcohol before the rehearsal. Actually I don't want to give anybody alcohol before the wedding." Marc said with another sigh.

"Good call." Chad said looking at Ryan. It was really going to be a long wedding.

Chad really did not understand why they were having a rehearsal. All he had to do was stand on the top of the steps without throwing up and remember about half a page of lines that he was writing himself. He was also pretty sure his soon to be wife could make it down the aisle without tripping over her shoes. However, if Chad learned nothing else from last year's school musical, he would know that Sharpay was just a little bit of a perfectionist when it came to any production. This wedding was obviously a production of epic proportion and everything had to be Sharpay Evans perfect.

His high school drama teacher would have been proud if she would have been well enough to see her star pupil get married. Unfortunately, the chemo made that impossible. Sharpay found out just before this crazy rehearsal started and she was not happy. Chad is pretty sure she was crying but thanks to Marc's insane minute by minute schedule he didn't have time to comfort his girlfriend let alone have a nice long chat.

He wouldn't get to later on because certain friends who will remain nameless have decided to enforce the ridiculous tradition of the bride and groom needing to stay separate the night before the wedding. He pointed out that he would most likely fall asleep during the ceremony if he was unable to spend the night with his girlfriend because there was no way he would be able to fall asleep without Sharpay. Even the threat of a puffy eyed groom and bride could not persuade her crazy friends.

"After you make it down the aisle and your father hands you over to Chad, I'm going to ask. 'Who gives this bride?'" Judge Suarez said as she explained the ceremony. Marc said it was rare for a judge to come to rehearsal but then this particular judge has known Chad since he was a little kid. Even if she was not officiating, she would probably be at the wedding.

"That makes Sharpay sound like my property." Chad remarked under breath.

"It's tradition. Just ignore it." Amanda said with an annoyed sigh from a few feet away from him.

"It's stupid, especially considering I'm taking her last name." Chad argued back.

"If you think about it, Caroline should be giving you away." Troy remarked with a snicker.

"Comments like that will make me almost wish that I asked Ryan to be my best man instead." Chad said with an eye roll. He loved Troy and was glad his best friend was there for his wedding but sometimes he just wanted to smack him upside the head. This was one of those times. Although this is nothing compared to the snide comments he heard from Troy during the tux fitting. Chad was just glad Ryan was there to deflect some of the jokes. His antics of the night before were a prime target for ridicule. Is it wrong for Chad to hope something really bad will happen so they could avoid the roasting he would receive from the so called best friend at the rehearsal dinner?

"Troy shut up or I'm sitting you next to Mr. Kim at the reception." Sharpay said with her trademark 'freeze your balls off' glare.

"Fine." Troy said with a sigh.

"We can leave that part out of the ceremony. Even I think it's arcane. I assume that you also want me to leave out that 'forever hold your peace' part as well?" The judge asked looking slightly annoyed.

"That would probably be best," Mr. Evans said out loud before mumbling under breath, "especially if Darby decides to crash the ceremony."

"Forget Darby, Aunt Claudia would just as easily take advantage of the situation and she's actually on the guest list. She's still upset about the last name thing." His mother mentioned as she slowly drank her ginger ale. Chad was positive he hasn't seen his mother without saltines or ginger ale since he found out about her pregnancy.

"Okay, good point. It would probably be best to avoid that considering the circumstances. I can always start with a speech about the nature and importance of love." The judge suggested.

"Couldn't you just stick to the bare minimum? It will be a small miracle if Caroline or I can make it through the entire ceremony without throwing up." Kim suggested.

"I think Kim is right. Even if the pregnant ladies managed not to get nauseous during the length of a traditional ceremony, you know the twins are not going to make it that long." Chad said sure that Sharpay would be upset about not having her dream ceremony.

"Chad is right. The longer the ceremony is the more likely it is for something to go wrong." As if on cue Kim threw up on one of the rental chairs. "I would just like to get through one celebration without anybody being arrested or hospitalized." Sharpay said in frustration.

"Let's take a break while the chair people fix that." Marc said in frustration as Kim ran to the bathroom with Troy trailing behind. "Do you think anybody would notice if I put trash cans up front?" Marc said turning to Amanda as they continued walking up the stairs to Evans hall.

"If you set them up throughout the tent, I don't think anyone would notice." Chad said as he sat down in one of the lobby couches once they made it inside. He was just happy to be somewhere slightly warmer. Even though it was March, it was 48° outside which is why they had to get a tent. Thankfully the event planning department at the Evans Corporation was well connected.

"Although it doesn't matter if Kim does not get sick during the ceremony if she gets trapped in the bathroom before it even starts." Marc said in annoyance. "I know Kim has been your BFF since she moved to Albuquerque and you bonded as little girls terrorizing the same uptight country club but you're going to have to accept that the new little Bolton in her uterus is making her too sick to perform her maid of honor duties." Marc said bluntly. Sharpay did not look happy.

"You're telling me I should replace my best friend as my maid of honor? The woman who has been at my side through crazy boyfriends and even crazier mothers," Sharpay practically yelled.

"Sharpay calm down. Nobody's telling you to do anything because we all know it takes serious drugs to make you do something you do not want to do." Amanda joked but this just made Sharpay frowned even more.

"You know that Kim is only doing this because she is your best friend. We all know that this has been a very rough pregnancy for her. She's pushing herself because she doesn't want to disappoint you." Chad said holding Sharpay's hand for support.

"You're right. It will be better for her and the baby if she didn't have so much pressure on her. I'll talk to her as soon as she's done being sick." Sharpay's said with a sigh of acquiescence.

"So I guess this means I've been promoted." Amanda said with a bright smile.

"You know I love you, but I would feel better if Ryan was my personal honor or best man as the case may be." Sharpay said trying not to hurt her feelings. It didn't work.

"It's fine, he's your brother." Amanda said as her smile faded slightly. She was obviously not happy about that.

"I would point out that usually you're supposed to have a woman be your maid of honor but that would be lost on you. You let your son play with dolls." Marc said reading something on his clipboard.

"I only do that because Darby was a complete bitch every time Ryan wanted to play tea party or Barbies with me. I'm trying to be the complete opposite of her. Your point is?" Sharpay said with hands on her hip.

"You don't care what other people think. I like that about you." Chad had to keep himself from laughing out loud. If Marc only knew how long it took Sharpay to get to this point he would be shocked.

"Will Troy be okay walking down the aisle with another guy?" Marc asked.

"I really don't care what he is okay with. He is the reason why I lost my first choice at maid of honor. He's the one who got her pregnant, he should suffer some of the consequences. It's not fair that Kim is the only one being punished." Sharpay said indignantly.

"I agree with Sharpay. Besides maybe I should just make Amanda my best person anyway. She has less material to skewer me with at the rehearsal dinnerin." That got a smile from Amanda.

"That may not be a bad deal. We can just switch everything around and it would be easier for Kim to run to the bathroom if she was on the other side." Marc said thoughtfully. "Now all you have to do is tell everyone."

"I will talk to Ryan. I need to talk to him about his stupid behavior last night anyway." Sharpay said getting up from the couch.

"I thought you were going to do it. Why do I have to tell Troy and Kim that they've lost their position?" Chad asked his girlfriend in slight irritation.

"Because you and Troy have known each other since potty training." Amanda supplied.

"Please, it was earlier than that." Sharpay scoffed. "There's a picture of a six month old Troy sitting in his car seat next to a newborn Chad as Jack drove him home from the hospital." Sharpay was not joking about that picture. According to Grandma Sanchez, after he was born Charles went to the bar to get completely smashed out of his mind and was not available to drive his new child and wife home from a hospital. Even though she had several siblings that could have done the honor, his mother called Jack. Of course, Chad didn't find any of this out up until a couple weeks ago when he was sent to calm down his grandmother after a particularly bad fight with his mother about the baby. Apparently, she was shocked this did not happen earlier. Nobody was surprised that his mother was now with Jack.

"Is anyone else surprised that Troy's parents stayed married as long as they did?" Amanda asked and they all just nodded in agreement.

"I thought you said that the baby sickness is lessening." Troy said with a sigh as he held back his girlfriend's hair.

"I lied. If I told you that I spend 90% of the day in the toilet I doubt that you would be willing to stay at Berkeley for the rest of this semester." Kim answered truthfully as she sat down on the cold bathroom tiles.

"You're right about that." He said sitting down next to her. "I'm not going to let you go through this alone."

"It's only eight more weeks. Besides, I'm not alone. Your father lives next door with Caroline who shares her special ant-nausea tea with me. Even though my dad is still mad at me for disgracing the family name again by having another child out of wedlock, he comes by every other night to drop off dinner." Kim said in her defense.

"I thought he was starting to be less angry?" Troy asked. He really did not want to have to dodge punches again.

"Slightly, he's angry at me for not waiting to have sex until I got married, which is highly hypocritical considering what he has done with my stepmother before he put a ring on it. Although he really wants to kill my former gynecologist for forgetting to mention that if you take the pill to treat another medical issue you need to use a backup contraceptive." Troy felt the same way but then they wouldn't have Alex or a new baby on the way. So, he could not be that mad.

"I can deal with my dad. I can't deal with your dad if he's freaking out over you leaving school halfway through this semester. It's going to be bad enough when he finds out you are taking next year off as 'paternity leave'." Kim said with a sigh.

"I'm an acting major. Do I really need to spend four years in a classroom for that?" Troy asked her.

"You do if you want your teaching certificate, you need to be able to afford food and shelter." Kim shot back quickly.

"I think that will be covered by your gigantic Trust Fund." Troy said bluntly.

"My trust fund could disappear at any time, Troy. Companies go bankrupt. Investments are stolen. People get swindled. One word, Halliburton." Apparently Kim was still was very paranoid about what happened when she was in New York.

"Valid point, we're still going to be in the San Francisco area. There are lots of workshops, acting classes, and productions I can take part in that will still allow me to be around for nap time and story hour. I can also take classes online. Then there's always what Caroline did. She waited until Chad was in kindergarten to finish up. I can go back to school later, you only get to see your kids grow up once." Troy said truly realizing for the first time how much having a child really did change his life.

"Also unlike her you can always take a few classes online every semester to stay current." Kim suggested.

"Exactly."

"It's not a completely terrible idea. I'm probably going to have to take next year off too." Kim said in acquiescence. "Sharpay is talking about doing the same thing except she's going to go to classes part time and be a intern at the Evans corporation. She's actually going to get credit for that. Because her dad owns the company, no one's going to say anything to her if she puts a playpen in her office." He could easily see Sharpay doing something like that.

"It's going to be more than a playpen. Vince is building his grandchildren the ultimate nursery." Chad said laughing as he walked into the bathroom.

"What are you doing in the ladies bathroom?" Troy asked his best friend.

"Bringing the nauseous one her daily dose of ginger ale and saltines, I also brought mouthwash." He said taking the bottle out of his backpack/baby bag.

"Do I want to know why you carry mouthwash everywhere you go?" Troy asked.

"Not really." Chad said with a shrug.

"The baby has decided that it does not like physics class and therefore it makes me run out of there at least once a period. Chad usually follows behind with ginger ale and mouthwash." Troy frowned at that. He should be the one helping his girlfriend when she was sick not Chad. Instead, he was 1000 miles away.

"This is getting too much. Sharpay is going to kill me if I throw up on her during the ceremony." Kim said as she rested her head on the cold steel of the door.

"She loves you too much to do that. She will wait until after the baby is born." Chad joked. "Seriously, she won't do anything worse than send you her dry cleaning bill."

"She will also bring it up constantly for the next 20 years." Kim said with a sigh as she slowly sipped her ginger ale. "She still hasn't forgiven me for accidentally filming a certain incident and emailing it to Troy thus providing Gabriella with access to the almost sex tape that she posted on YouTube. I think it would be just better if I cheered from the sidelines." Cam said looking sad and nauseous.

"That's probably for the best." Troy said squeezing his girlfriend's arm knowing how hard saying something like.

"Can you talk to her for me? She listens to you before she starts yelling." Troy was expecting Chad to panic when Kim asked him to do this but he seemed unbelievably calm.

"You two have been best friends for way too long. Sharpay came to the same conclusion. She was worried that you are pushing yourself too hard and it would not be good for you or her future goddaughter." Troy just rolled his eyes at the goddaughter thing.

"It was Sharpay who came to that conclusion all on her own?" Kim asked skeptically.

"Okay it was Marc and I who came to that conclusion but we convinced her to go with it." Chad said shrugging his shoulders.

"This is why I know you're my friend." Kim said with a laugh.

"So who am I walking down the aisle with now?" Troy asked.

"Possibly Ryan." Chad said with a smirk.

"It makes sense. Ryan is Sharpay's other best friend and you're like a brother to Chad." Kim told him.

"That's option one. The other option would be to switch everything around with Amanda being my best person and Kim can be my other attendant." Chad said quickly as Troy frowned.

"So, I go from being your best man to Sharpay's bridesmaid?" Troy asked trying not to sound hurt.

"Actually you would be Sharpay's best man and Ryan will be her best brother." Chad said with another smirk.

"I say we switch sides just to give Sharpay's bigot of a great aunt a heart attack. Personally I'm surprised she is coming to the wedding."

"Which crazy family member are you talking about?" Chad asked with a look of concern.

"Aunt Clara. The woman is straight out of the 1940 south. She referred to me once as Sharpay's yellow friend when she thought nobody could hear her." Troy's mouth opened in shock but Chad just rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry we have security for that sort of thing. Considering how off of my family mistakenly assumed Amanda was Sharpay during the first family get together I am prepared for the worst. My family can usually keep their mouths shut when they're sober. This is why I did not want an open bar. This wedding is going to be a disaster." Chad said putting his head in his hands.

"Probably, but I will try to make it easier on everyone and eliminate the possibility of a bridesmaid tossing her cookies on everyone. I think it would be better if I just sat up front, probably near a trash can." Kim said trying to be reassuring

"Now I have to deal with Sharpay freaking out about uneven numbers." Chad shot back.

"Not exactly, it became obvious when I threw up twice during this morning's dress fitting that we needed a backup plan. Now that the girls are on your side of the aisle I am sure you might be willing to use my understudy." Kim said with a smile. Troy was not sure who she was talking about but Chad obviously did.

"I'm going to get castrated for this, but she did deal with the entire almost basketball team being a dick to her because she supported my decision to leave." Chad mumbled under breath.

"She's not going to do that, Sharpay loves that part of your body too much to do anything that stupid." Kim said trying to be reassuring. That just worried Troy. It almost made him wish that he joined Gabriella on her flight to DC even if they were supposed to rescue Taylor from herself.

"Oh my god, you came." Sharpay said hugging Nikki.

"I told you I had a surprise for you." Amanda said with a smile. "Kerry and Marc manipulated Jimmy into picking her up from the Airport while the rest of us were trying to figure out how to walk down the aisle without tripping over our shoes. Poor Alex." Amanda frowned at what happened to the two year old. Fortunately, the ring bear pillow broke his fall when he tripped over his shoelaces.

Rehearsal was crazy after they played musical bridesmaids. Ryan was now her best brother with Troy as her best man. (Amanda promised to punch Zeke in the stomach if he said something stupid about the fact.) Ryan was happy with the change as long as he didn't have to wear a dress. You make your little brother (by a day) dress up like you one time and he never forgets it. Then maybe Ryan was upset that Sharpay interrupted his conversation with Penelope's basketball player friend who was helping her wrangle the twins. For two individuals who were not quite two months old yet, they were quite a handful. Judging by Ryan's blush apparently Zack and Penelope told him all about how Zack became his night and shiny basketball shorts the night before. Sharpay is so mad that there's no video footage of that.

"Of course, I came. I need to get away from cancer and terminally ill fathers." Nikki said hugging her back. Sharpay discovered that she actually missed the girl now that she was gone.

"I'm sorry." Sharpay said sympathetically. She couldn't imagine having to watch a parent slowly die. It would break her apart from the inside. The situation with Tiffany was bad enough and she was not a Blood relative. It is probably more like the situation with her favorite high school drama teacher. Sharpay is still upset she will not be at the wedding. She was more of a mother to Sharpay than Darby ever was.

"It's okay. This is your wedding. Let's not think about the sad stuff. I need a distraction. Where are the babies?" Nikki asked pulling away.

"Caroline is showing them off to Chad's side of the family. Great Aunt Claudia and Grandma Suarez will only be civil to her if the babies are in her arms." Sharpay said taking a sip of her sparkling cider. It was the nonalcoholic variety because she needed to be as sober as possible to deal with her current family and the part that she will inherit tomorrow after she says I do. Especially the woman that her father is currently bringing into the rehearsal dinner. What the hell was she doing here? Sharpay only agreed to invite her because she was sure she would not come.

"I don't understand why I have to stay at a hotel, the mansion has six guest rooms. I hate hotels." Great Aunt Clara said in her normal irritated way. The woman is a holdover from another generation. She stopped speaking to her brother for an entire decade after he married a woman who was half-Jewish and half-Hispanic. Actually, Sharpay was hoping that was the reaction she would have. Sharpay really didn't want to spend serious time with the woman but unfortunately she was family.

"I don't live in the mansion anymore or in Albuquerque for that matter. I moved to New York after the divorce. I only have a small apartment here that I stay in when I'm in town for business." Sharpay wanted to laugh. His small apartment had three bedrooms and a spa. Ryan was only staying with her because he wanted to spend quality time with the twins.

"Yet you can't bother with coming up to see your aunt." Sharpay rolled her eyes at her crazy aunt's remark.

"Of course he didn't come see her because she's that toxic. I have to help save my father from my great aunt. Excuse me." Sharpay said excusing herself as she placed her glass on an empty tray of one of the servers. If she didn't, she may be tempted to throw it at her relative.

"I've been helping Sharpay get things settled." Her father said cryptically. Why did she have a feeling that her father was deliberately keeping the old bat in the dark?

"I don't know what could be so important that you could not have spared your aunt a visit." Okay that definitely told Sharpay that her father did not fill in Aunt Clara on pretty much everything. He would owe her a great guilt gift for this. Her father is notorious for not telling people things supposedly for their own good. When in reality he doesn't tell you stuff because he is afraid of a confrontation. Sharpay is pretty sure that her father would not have told the woman about the divorce if it didn't make the national news. Thankfully, most of the family drama has stayed in the local press and Aunt Clara thought the Internet was something that you use to keep mosquitoes out of the house.

"Hello Aunt Clara." Sharpay said kissing the woman on both cheeks. It took all Sharpay's acting skills to keep smiling as Aunt Clara criticized Sharpay's outfit, dark hair and the fact that she put on a few pounds. She even went so far to give Sharpay the name of the guy responsible for Aunt Clara looking like a skeleton. Thankfully, Marc came over to rescue her.

"I'm sorry Mr. Evans, I need to borrow the bride to be. Caroline needs to introduce her to more of her future family members." Marc said literally trying to pull her away from her but he wasn't fast enough.

"You must be Chad." Aunt Clara said extending her hand with an annoyed sneer. "I've heard so much about you. Vince thinks very highly of you." Sharpay was biting the inside of her lip to keep from laughing.

"Obviously you have never seen a picture." Marc said so low that Sharpay barely heard him. "I'm Marc, the wedding planner. Although Sharpay has excellent taste, she's not my type. She has breasts." At this point, she can see Amanda and Nikki trying to prevent an outburst of giggles. Even Aunt Claudia several feet away seemed just as amused even if she did the same thing to Sharpay last Thanksgiving. Sharpay was not surprised to see the distasteful look she was giving Marc. She must be homophobic as well as a complete racist. Sharpay promised herself that she would be in another state when Aunt Clara found out that her own great nephew played for both teams.

"I'm Sharpay's fiancé, Chad." Her fiancé said extending his hand most likely thinking he was defusing the situation instead of throwing gasoline on the fire. Aunt Clara looked even angrier as she barely shook Chad's hand. She probably only did that to keep up appearances.

"As I was saying earlier, I've heard so much about you but apparently certain very important things were left out. Excuse me while I speak to my grand niece alone." Before Sharpay could protest, she was being dragged out of the banquet room to the front of the restroom. Sharpay refuses to repeat the exact words that her aunt said but apparently Aunt Clara was not that happy about Sharpay's choice of husband on skin tone alone.

"Actually only Chad's father is of African ancestry, mostly. His mother is of Mexican ancestry, sort of. There's a lot of native American in there too on both sides of the family. Some of Caroline's family has lived longer in the States then the Evans family has been on the continent. Race is such an arbitrary thing, and it really doesn't tell you who really is. what does it matter in the grand scheme of things?"

"Like that makes it better." Great Aunt Claire mumbled under her breath ignoring half of what Sharpay said. "You're not pregnant?" Sharpay was so upset about that question her only reaction was to laugh because hitting an old lady would be wrong.

"No, I'm not pregnant, but not for lack of trying. We have sex all the time. He is quite good at it. Just like you, my uterus is broken." Sharpay said in the sweetest voice possible.

Thankfully, before things could get out of hand Marc sent Penelope with her back up and Ryan to help her. You know the situation is dire when someone believes Penelope can help calm her down.

Then again, she didn't start throwing shoes when she found out that Penelope was going to be one of Chad's ushers now that Kim backed out completely so Marc probably thought he could risk it.

"Ryan it's so good to see you. You've always been my favorite. I'm glad you're not wearing pink any more. It was an improper color for a young man." She said hugging Ryan. The fake smile on her brother's face told Sharpay that he was also utilizing all of his acting lessons to keep from throwing their geriatric aunt across the room. She told herself repeatedly that the 87 year old woman was from a different time when it was OK to be a complete bigot therefore, Sharpay could not hurt her.

"You must be Taylor." She said turning to Penelope.

"Actually, I am Taylor." Zack said as he extended his hand Aunt Clara started fanning herself.

"You are one of those homosexuals?" Aunt Clara asked in absolute horror. Sharpay is surprise she didn't say the F word. Sharpay felt the same way for completely different reasons. Ryan was a dead man.

"Actually, I prefer pan-sexual. Taylor is not my boyfriend we just have sex sometimes. This is Penelope Castro, we also have sex sometimes. Yes, she is related to Fidel. Have you met Sharpay's fiancée yet? He's a real good kisser. Chad is really good with his tongue." Ryan said as sarcastically as possible. Sharpay would have been laughing if Ryan's joke did not cause their great aunt to have an attack of the vapors. If it wasn't for months of playing basketball with her boyfriend she would have never been able to catch Aunt Clara before she fell to the ground.

"As much as I enjoyed that because she deserved it, if my wedding is ruined because of your little stunt I will never forgive you. Did you have to come out to the rest of our crazy family at my wedding?" Sharpay hissed at her brother as she held her unconscious great aunt.

"There goes the rehearsal dinner." Marc mumbled to himself as Chad's aunt and uncle who were both police officers, came over to perform CPR. At that moment, Sharpay began to cry. Was it really that much to ask for one family event not to end up in disaster?

To be Continued