Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter. This is my second attempt at writing this chapter. For some reason, I am completely unable to open my first attempt at this chapter. (Evil computer) I attempted to recreate everything by memory.

Chapter 47: Ends and Beginnings

That thing about couples having lots of crazy sex on their wedding night is a complete lie in Sharpay's opinion. She barely had the energy to walk to the limo after the wedding from hell. As predicted, by abiding to that stupid wedding tradition of the bride and groom not seeing each other before the wedding just resulted in another sleepless night for her. It took her makeup artist, John-Luke, an hour to get rid of the puffiness and dark circles. The events of the morning just added to the dark circles.

To help protect her father's sanity she decided to bring him breakfast at AMC on the way to the salon. She arrived just in time to see her crazy aunt hit Ryan in the head with a muffin as she called him things that Sharpay is just not going to repeat. She was just glad her 'best brother' did not have bruises on his face. That would be horrible for the wedding pictures. Its moments like these she thinks Aunt Clara is related to Darby not her father. They are both abusive and self-absorbed bitches who like to play mind games. Sharpay was through playing games.

The room that they were supposed to use to get ready for the ceremony was still trashed from what Sharpay can only assume was a frat party from before spring break. Seriously, how long does it take them to clean anything on campus?

To top it all off Troy took her cell phone when he caught her sending text messages to Chad about how miserable she was. Ryan wasn't there to help calm her pre wedding nervousness because he was outside quelling the crowd including Aunt Claudia. She doesn't even want to talk about why they had to completely rearrange the wedding party but it involves a certain ring bearer trying to mess up her dress before the wedding even started. Considering this, Sharpay really should not have been surprised about the two year old losing the ring or managing to cover her dress in chocolate after doing the same to the ballroom.

Sharpay is also trying to repress the snide comments of certain relatives that she cannot stand. She knows that getting married at 19 on extremely short notice seems unusual, but she is pissed that everyone in the family seems to assume that she is pregnant. She is starting to understand the real reason why her father was always working on Christmas. He can't stand anyone else in the family but her and Ryan.

There were a few great moments in between the chaos. Her friends checking up on her at the hospital and bringing her food was one of them. There was also Chad's vows that made her cry a lot but they were happy tears. She was half expecting him to quote song lyrics but he surprised her. He surprised her again by singing her the song All My Life by K-Ci & JoJo. They used the Beyoncé version of Ave Maria for the first dance even though it made Sharpay cry.

She cried a lot at her wedding especially in the bathroom when she ended up explaining the entire Taylor situation to her brother after he freaked out because she didn't tell him about the infertility thing before she screamed it to the rest of her unruly guests. He didn't believe her at first. Fortunately, it seems that Judge Suarez was in the disabled stall and heard the entire conversation. The old judge was a partner in the firm of Taylor's biological father before her conscience could not allow her to stay there any longer and decided to ironically enough to teach legal ethics at the University of New Mexico. She was the one who convinced Ryan to take Sharpay up on her offered to go to DC right away. He left just as his ex boyfriend was hauled off by security and her wedding dress was ruined by a chocolate covered toddler.

By the time she changed into her traveling outfit for the cake cutting ceremony Ryan was gone and Sharpay was ready to drop. Unfortunately, she had another 2 hours of partying with the relatives to tolerate before she could leave. Chad practically had to carry her to the limo after she kissed both babies goodbye and left them in the care of her mother in law. (It took Chad 10 minutes to convince her it would be perfectly safe to leave the babies behind. It was the first time that she has left the babies alone for that long and she was a little afraid to.)

"Don't even think about limo sex." Sharpay said icily as she laid her head on her husband's lap when he tried to kiss her once they were finally inside the vehicle. (So she gets a little giddy every time she calls him that.)

"I'm too tired." Sharpay said yawning.

"I wasn't going to. First, I'm pretty sure that the driver is one of my cousins. That's just wrong." Chad said with a shiver.

"You're related to half of Albuquerque." Sharpay said sleepily. "That's not surprising."

"You can blame Grandpa John and Sanchez for not believing in birth control." Chad said stroking her hair. "From what I've read it's harder for a woman to orgasm if she's tired and it's just not fun if you're not enjoying it." He said with a smirk.

"I think you enjoy studying that stuff a little too much. You should make a career of it." Sharpay said stifling another yawned as she snuggled into his lap.

"There are jobs involving researching sex?" Chad asked.

"Somebody has to write the books you read. If you let me sleep until Santa Fe, I'll do whatever you want." Sharpay said with another yawn.

"Just sleep baby." He said kissing her on the forehead.

"I knew I married you for a reason." Sharpay said yawning once more.

Sharpay woke up not in her white cream suit but rather purple underwear with the words 'kiss me' across the crotch and one of Chad's T shirts. Personally, she is surprise her new husband didn't dress her up in one of the presents from Penelope. Chad was sleeping beside her in boxer shorts. She quickly grabbed the cell phone on the night stand to see that it was 6:34 am before she ran to the bathroom. Apparently, her hasty exit also woke up Chad who was waiting for her to get out of the bathroom. They have gotten to the point in their relationship where Chad could be urinating while she's brushing her teeth and it doesn't even faze her anymore. That was when she realized that they really could do this marriage thing.

"Why did you not wake me up?" She said just after she spat out the toothpaste.

"I've tried, but you told me not to. If this marriage is going to work I need to listen to you whenever possible." Chad smirked as he walked over to wash his hands.

"You're so well-trained. I don't even remember that." Sharpay said as she found the mouthwash in her toiletry bag. She quickly took a drink of the bottle before passing it to her husband. (She still loved calling him that. It made her happy.)

"Considering you were half asleep at the time I'm not surprised. You're adorable when you're asleep." He said before trying to kiss her.

"Mouthwash first." She said pulling away.

"Fine" Chad said taking a drink, swishing it around, and then spitting it out. "Happy now?"

"Very." Sharpay said kissing him quickly before moving back into the living room of the suite.

"You managed to stay asleep as I checked in. You did not even wake up when I carried you upstairs. Hell, you stayed asleep when I dressed you for bed. As much as I wanted to use all the fun little toys you brought along including the silk scarves, I knew you needed the sleep. Are you up to bondage type stuff?" Chad was most likely thinking about he who should not be named when he asked that question.

"What I said yesterday during the wedding was more than just pretty words. I do trust you completely, even enough to let you tie me to the bed and do whatever you want. Although, right now I would prefer if you were the one tied to the bed. You know I am the Dom in this relationship." She said with a sweet smile.

"This is why I married you. You're insane, but in a good way. " He said kissing her again.

"Do you realize that we just became the first couple in history to sleep in a honeymoon suite twice and not have sex?" She asked.

"From what I've read, it is actually very common not to have sex on the wedding night. As I told you in the car before you spent the entire drive drooling on my lap it's not fun if you're not enjoying yourself. Both of us were too tired last night." He said stroking her hair.

"I'm not tired now." Sharpay said taking her T-shirt off and straddling her husband's lap. For some strange reason Chad pulled away.

"As much as I do want to try out the four post bed, breakfast first, fun time later. You're going to need a lot of carbohydrates for what I want to do." Chad said with a wicked expression.

"You're turning down sex, for food. Isn't that against the man code of honor?" She asked incredulously.

"According to the big book of man, food is the only thing we can turn sex down for." Chad joked. She just gave him a dark look in return.

"You have not had anything to eat since the wedding cake. Hypoglycemia is bad. If you don't eat before fun time, knowing our luck you will lose consciousness at climax. I don't want to spend our entire baby free weekend/honeymoon in the hospital. You're going to need to be well fed and hydrated for what I have planned." Chad whispered against her neck.

"You would get to enjoy the vending machines at a brand new hospital if that happens." Sharpay said with a smile before grabbing her T-shirt. "Fine, you win. You owe me something with chocolate for acquiescing." She said putting her T shirt back on.

Her T-shirt was off again as soon as the waiter was out the door after bringing their breakfast of waffles, bacon, whipped cream, berries, and chocolate sauce. Her something chocolate came from of her licking chocolate sauce off her husband's stomach and other appendages. Apparently, Chad thought it was a good idea to do sex and breakfast simultaneously. It was fun but there are some places that blueberry syrup should never go. It was a good thing she no longer had blond hair because it would probably be stained. They were so going to have to pay for the sheets.

The fun morning honeymoon activities also included riding Chad on the couch and hot tub sex. Since there is only a 1 percent chance that she can get pregnant and stay pregnant without medical intervention Chad is a little more willing to be 'adventurous'. At least something good came out of the fact that she has a broken uterus.

They left the hotel room for lunch so the maid could take care of the mess in the bedroom. It was a disaster area. Sharpay felt it was best to leave a very nice tip considering her panties were hanging from one of the light fixtures. If it wasn't for the fact that Sharpay did not want to sleep on chocolate sauce and body fluids they probably would have never left the room.

Although, the homemade green Chile that they found at the restaurant three blocks away made her happy that they did leave. They also had an apple pie that was even better than Zeke's.

Chad spent half of their lunch 'inappropriately touching' her underneath the table. She seriously hopes none of the little children around figured out what her new husband was doing. Although the fact that she recreated the deli scene from When Harry met Sally without the faking it probably clued everybody in. The food was good, but not that good.

Because Sharpay was sure she would be otherwise occupied for the rest of the day she decided to take the opportunity to check up on the Twins and the rest of her family. According to her dad, Darby stormed his apartment after reading the society page that morning. He did not provide Sharpay with any details of the encounter except that Darby was most upset to see her Sister Natalie in the picture used by the paper. The babies were also perfectly OK according to her mother in law.

The only thing that worried Sharpay was that Ryan hasn't bothered to call her yet. So she would not have answered the phone this morning but a voice mail would have been nice. A text message would have been fabulous but she got nothing and that worried her. When Chad went into the local Drug Land (funny name for a drug store) for 'supplies', Sharpay decided to yell at her brother for not letting her know that he was okay from the park bench out front.

"Why the hell have you not tried to contact me?" She asked in lieu of greeting as soon as he picked up on the third attempt.

"Sharpay?" Asked a voice which she would recognize anywhere, unfortunately! The fact that Gabriella answered her brother's phone meant that he arrived in DC that morning.

"Why did you answer Ryan's phone?" Sharpay asked, still annoyed.

"Because contrary to what Taylor believes all, iPhones look alike." Gabriella answered sarcastically.

"Do I want to know?" Sharpay asked impatiently.

"It's a long story. I was watching the wedding footage on Ryan's phone when Taylor came to the realization that her ex boyfriend came down to play knight in shining armor. I decided to get out of there as fast as possible before the fighting or makeup sex begins. I'm not sure which I dread more." Sharpay heard Gabriella mumble into the phone.

"For the sake of the hotel room I hope no fighting will be involved. Let's hope there are no baseball bats nearby." Sharpay said with a shiver remembering exactly what Taylor did to her bedroom when she found out about her and Chad. "Then again, I find the prospect of makeup sex equally disturbing. I know why I don't want to even think about my brother having sex with anyone but why does it bother you so much? You're not still hung up on my brother?" Sharpay asked with concern remembering what she was told of the events of Thanksgiving before everything exploded in the Bolton backyard.

"God no, Ryan and me would never work. That all came from a combination of bad advice, not taking my medication, and dealing with the break up with Troy in the worst possible way ever. I'm not interested in dating right now. My perfect Friday night is watching Disney movies with baby Alex." Sharpay could actually hear a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Considering what happened last time, I don't blame you and Alex is great at hugging when he's not being a brat. Did Ryan show you pictures of what he did to my wedding dress?" Sharpay asked with a frown

"Yes. At least it happened at the reception after the wedding pictures." Gabriella said attempting to be positive.

"Some consolation," Sharpay mumbled under breath. "So if you're not jealous, why do you not want your best friend happy?" Sharpay questioned.

"That's just it I do want my friends happy. I'm just not sure that Ryan was happy." There was sadness in her voice again.

"He loves Taylor. He adores her. I doubt he would have flown across the country last night if that wasn't the case." Sharpay said defending her brother.

"Yes, but unfortunately Taylor can't love him right now." Gabriella seemed upset by that point.

"Of course, she loves him. How can you say that?" She asked indignantly even if a part of her wondered if that was true.

"I'm not saying that she doesn't want to love him, I'm saying that she can't. She's not able to right now. " There was that sadness again in her words.

"Why do you think that?" Sharpay asked.

"I know I was out of it last November when they got together..." Sharpay scoffed at that.

"You had a complete breakdown and you spent half of December in the psych ward at AMC."

"Not the point. Even though I was out of it, I realize that that was not the best time for anybody to start a relationship. Ryan just broke up with Kelsey, found out how horrible his mother really is, and was tossed into the media circus that became your parents' divorce. Taylor's sometimes best friend ended up in the psych ward the same day she found out the woman that she referred to as Aunt Vanessa was actually her mother. To me, that just seems like the worst possible time ever to get together." Sharpay couldn't help but roll her eyes at Gabriella referring to herself in the third person even if she had a valid point.

"You forgot about me successfully stealing her boyfriend." Sharpay added.

"I think finding out that her mom was not really her mom was a lot harder than losing Chad, even to you. In her presidential dream, she never saw Chad as being first husband. On some level, I think she knew it just wasn't going to happen. She always saw herself as Taylor McKessie and suddenly she wasn't that person anymore. I think she just wanted something to hold onto." Gabriella explained.

"Maybe they both did." Sharpay said sadly. "I think the break up with Kelsey was harder on Ryan then he would ever tell us. He didn't just lose a girlfriend he lost one of his best friends. That was worse. I just don't want him to lose Taylor too." Sharpay said with worry.

"If Taylor is actually on speaking terms with both you and Chad after what happen last fall, I think Ryan will be okay. She needs all the friends she can get right now considering what happen yesterday." Gabriella said vaguely.

"He's my little brother even if it's by just a few moments. I have a right to worry. Maybe you're right. Wait, how bad were things yesterday? Did she find her father?" Sharpay asked remembering the very dark conversation she had with Judge Suarez yesterday.

"Unbelievably bad, you'll have to get the details from Taylor." Gabriella said not wanting to tell secrets that were not hers. Sharpay could appreciate that.

"I will ask her as soon as she is done screwing my brother." Sharpay said sarcastically hoping that would not be the case.

"I hope not. I promise to make Ryan send you a text message as soon as I know it is safe to go back up there. I may be able to convince Taylor to call you too."

"Fine," Sharpay said letting it go. "I can't believe we just had a civil conversation without screaming or yelling." Sharpay said with humor.

"I'm not. Sometimes I think if things were different, we could have been friends." Gabriella said wistfully.

"Yes but in our little high school musical I was cast as the villain and you were the heroine. We were destined to hate each other. Maybe if Kim stuck around or even told me about her and Troy things would have been different, but that's just not how it happened." Sharpay said sadly. If

"Or maybe if you got out of your Chad deny a little earlier, things would have been better all around."

"Maybe." Sharpay said grudgingly but she doubted that could have happened back then. Too many forces were conspiring against the couple including the ridiculous status quo.

"The thing is high school is over. Now you're the protagonist that will get the fairy tale ending and I am the crazy one who is destined to live a life of misery." Gabriella said with humor not bitterness.

"Even if I have my prince charming I'm still dealing with a wicked mother and lots of personal ghosts. I see a therapist twice a week. I'm just as crazy as you are but without the happy pills, yet." Sharpay joked.

"See this is why I think we could have been friends." Gabriella said softly. "Any way congratulations on the wedding. Did Troy give you my present?" Said present was destroyed by a certain two year old but Sharpay wasn't going to tell her that, besides Kim promised to replace it with something that Sharpay would actually like.

"We won't go through the wedding presents until we get back. But I'm sure it will be lovely. Chad just walked out of the store I got to go." Sharpay said hanging up before this pleasant conversation could become unpleasant.

"Did you get a hold of Ryan?" Chad asked kissing her on the cheek as he sat down next to her.

"No, but I did talk to Gabriella. Ryan is currently locked in a hotel room with Taylor. Gabriella grabbed Ryan's phone when she was fleeing before the carnage or makeup sex could begin." Sharpay said with a smirk.

"I can't blame her." Chad said with a shiver. "Just the thought alone puts me off of using what's in the bag." At that moment Sharpay took a peek inside to see chocolate Easter eggs, cookies, purple peeps, raspberry flavored condoms (because Chad is still that paranoid), toy handcuffs, Chocolate massage oil, and lots of lube.

"Do I even want to know what you're planning involving purple fluff candy, plastic handcuffs, and massage oil?" Sharpay asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You will just have to find out." As far as Sharpay was concerned, Ryan would just have to deal with voicemail.

"Why are you here?" Taylor asked with arms crossed over her chest the moment Gabriella left her to deal with her former boyfriend alone. Some Best Friend.

"I asked myself that question several times on the plane ride here." Ryan said taking a seat beside her on the couch.

"Did you find an answer?" She asked defensively scooting away from him.

"Because I care about you and this is something you shouldn't do alone." He said trying to squeeze her hand but she just pulled back. She couldn't take him touching her right now.

"Just don't Ryan. I can't deal with you right now. If you really cared about me you wouldn't have broken up with me." She spat out bitterly.

"We didn't breakup." Ryan said and Taylor just wanted to laugh.

"I was there. I know a breakup when I see it." Her words dripped with anger.

"You cannot breakup when there was no real relationship in the first place. To use the term 'breakup' would imply that we had an actual relationship and honestly what we had couldn't be called a relationship by any stretch of the imagination. You stopped talking to me the moment that we started sleeping together. You have been holding me at arm's length ever since. How can that be a relationship?" Ryan argued.

"That's not true." Taylor shot back.

"Yes it is." Ryan said dejectedly. "You barely talk to me about finding out that you were adopted. You said nothing about finding out the real reason why Vanessa had to give you up. You just kept pushing me farther away since January. If it wasn't for Sharpay, I still wouldn't know a damn thing." She frowned at that.

"Actually you have been pushing everyone away. Fortunately, for you Kim, Sharpay and Gabriella can't be pushed away that easily." Ryan said with half a smile before frowning again.

"But I somehow managed to push you away." She said sadly keeping her tears at bay. She was not going to cry in front of him. She did enough crying last night for a lifetime.

"You didn't push me away. I just said we should stop sleeping together. I said nothing about not being there for you. I'm still your friend regardless and I'll always be there because I love you." Ryan stammered that last part out as if he didn't mean to say it.

"You chose a wonderful time to tell me that." She screamed out bitterly not believing that this was the first time he decided to say those words to her.

"That's because I knew saying those words would scare the hell out of you. Since we're not together right now, what more do I have to lose? I know I love you. I just don't think you're ready to love me or anyone for that matter." There was that frown again

"Contrary to what you believe, I'm not still hung up on my ex boyfriend. If you think that is the reason why I have been behaving the way I have, you are an idiot. If everything went well yesterday, I'm pretty sure he is married to your sister now." She said remembering the image on Ryan's phone that she saw minutes earlier.

"They are married, although the wedding was anything but well. Your step nephew got chocolate all over Sharpay's dress, Aunt Claudia freaked out multiple times, and my ex boyfriend was led off by security. Also, Alex lost the wedding rings in a water fountain before the ceremony started."

"It's so weird for you to refer to Alex as my step nephew." Was her only comment to that! May be under other circumstances she would be laughing at Sharpay's misfortune. She just was not in the right frame of mind.

"I think that might be part of the problem. You like to have everything planned out 20 steps in advance and hate when things don't turn out the way you expect them to. I remember reading your 20 year plan last year. You were going to graduate from Yale in 3 years with a bachelor's degree in political science before spending the next two years in the Peace Core. Then you were planning on doing grad school as you did internships for various senators. You wanted to spend three years as a congressional staff member before coming back to Albuquerque to run for State Senate. After four years in the State Senate, you were planning to run for the House of Representatives. You were then planning to spend two terms in the house before you ran for senate. After at least one term as senator, you were going to run for president." She was half impressed that he remembered all of that. Chad barely remembered what school she was going to or what her major would be.

"You had all these wonderful things planned and everything seems to be falling apart. That has you off kilter. You hate your coursework at Yale. Actually, you hate Yale. Your new biological mother, stepsister, and half siblings were not part of your 20 year plan." He said honestly, knowing her too well.

"You forgot that my stepsister also had Troy's kid and kept it a complete secret." She remarked sarcastically.

"I forgot about that. That's another reason why the world is not as planned by Taylor." Ryan said sarcastically.

"I may still do the Peace Core and I may run for public office someday but I don't want it to be my entire life anymore. I think I would like to keep my soul intact. Also, I think this last year would have been easier if I realized that I didn't plan for Chad anywhere in my great 20 year plan." She mumbled that part to herself.

"Maybe, maybe not." Ryan replied with a shrug. "Sometimes we don't realize things until we're ready to realize them."

"That's true." She said in agreement.

"I think the Vanessa situation has been a lot harder on you, than Chad falling head over feet for my sister. Last year you were the McKessie's daughter, this year you are your Aunt Vanessa's daughter and you're not sure how to deal with that. I don't think you know who you are anymore. You can't love anyone until you love yourself. You can't love yourself until you know who you are and you have no idea who you are right now. I don't think we can be more than friends until that happens." That probably sounded more profound because of a lack of food and minimal sleep the night before.

"I think that's the first rational thing you have said all morning." Taylor mumbled to herself only referring to the first part.

"It's afternoon." Apparently, Ryan heard her.

"I just woke up its morning." She said with a shrug.

"Gabriella said you had a hard night."

"Very. I found my sperm donor yesterday." She said again with bitterness but at least this time it was no longer aimed at Ryan.

"The fact that you're using Chad's term for Charles is a bad sign." Ryan said with a sigh.

"Charles never tried to kill Chad, so I think he's ahead." She spat out.

"Yes, but he did put Tiffany in a coma and almost killed the twins in the process. There is now only of 5% chance that she will ever wake up. I think that counts." Ryan shot back.

"Good point. The whole point of wanting to find my sperm donor was to ask him why he was so desperate to get rid of me." She couldn't help the one tear falling down her face as she spoke.

"Did you get your answer?" Ryan asked wiping away that one tear with his fingers.

"No. Although he did ask me how much money it would take for me to go away." Taylor said no longer able to keep the rest of the tears at bay. Ryan wrapped his arms around her and she couldn't bring herself to pull away.

"What was your response?" He asked in a soothing voice.

"I told him to go fuck himself and to keep his damn money." She said sternly as tears leaked through her shut eyes. "I promptly got as drunk as possible and cried on Gabriella until I passed out. If your step sister is the heir apparent to the entire hotel chain, room service will bring you anything you want." She said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could have got here sooner. If nothing else, I'll always be here even when you don't want me to be." He said kissing her forehead.

"I was not alone, I had Gabriella. Maybe, you're right. I was pushing you away." Taylor said as she continued crying in his arms. "It was not fair to you. Maybe you're right about this being the wrong time for a romantic relationship. I'm too busy working on the familial ones. I'm also not sure who I am right now. Hell, I'm not even sure what school I'm going to next year." She said in frustration.

"I thought you were already accepted to Georgetown?" Ryan asked with a puzzled expression.

"I can't be in this city anymore. The sperm donor tainted it for me." She said trying to choke back more tears. She didn't feel like crying anymore.

"You can always stay where you are." Ryan said consolingly

"I hated it there. I despise all my classes. I have no friends. I can't stay there. Fortunately, I always think one step ahead. Since my grades this year were not up to my usual standards even after I got the tutor, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get into Georgetown so I applied to a few other schools." She was thankful for her paranoia right now.

"Which schools?" Ryan asked.

"Stanford, Colombia, University of New Mexico, University of Santa FE, and Berkeley. I've decided that I do better when I am actually surrounded by friends. I discovered that I don't make new ones very easily."

"What about Kim and Marc? Seriously how many emails have you exchange with him?" Ryan questioned.

"Kim is my stepsister. She doesn't count. Marc is interesting. Also, both are on the other side of the country. " She said in her defense.

"You can figure school out later. You don't have to have everything together now. We can talk about it over breakfast." Ryan suggested.

"You do realize it's almost 4:00 PM?" She asked.

"We just woke up. It's still breakfast." He said with a shrug trying to find the room service menu

"Fine, I want something with French fries and cheese." Taylor said with a sigh, feeling slightly better.

"Oh fuck, I forgot to call Sharpay." Ryan said as soon as he picked up the phone.

"I'm pretty sure she's probably too preoccupied to care." She said with a snicker.

"She is my overprotective big sister even if we are almost exactly the same age she is just insane that way. She's always worried about me." Ryan exclaimed.

"I will order room service, you call your sister." Taylor said grabbing the menu from his hand.

"Later, you're probably right about her not wanting to be interrupted."

To be continued.

This was the final arc before we get to the end of this story. I'm thinking 3 to 4 more chapters depending on how long they will be.