Chapter 37 – Thanksgiving Love

"Boo!" Liam squealed as Anthony laughed himself, Liam was becoming a huge hit with the family right now as he was at the fun age where everybody wanted to play with him.

I curled the blanket around me as I yawned. It had been a long day of traveling.

We had boarded a flight at o'dark thirty and then we had a connecting flight from Tennessee to South Carolina. Liam did not like any of it being fussy the entire time, not taking a nap but once we landed in South Carolina, Jack and Lucille were waiting for us. Troy said a fast high to his parents before flying to catch a flight to Florida. Liam slept for two and half hours while I got to catch up with the entire family.

I was wishing I was asleep with Liam but I was talking and eating pizza with the family. It was a pizza night since tomorrow was Thanksgiving and because people were flying and coming in at different times. Once Liam woke up, he was a bundle of energy. He wanted to crawl and play with everybody.

"Your mommy looks very tired," Liam squawked and turned his head to me. I gave him a smile and he clapped his hands together. I shook my head as Anthony laughed, "So is this what happens when you get off schedule?" I looked at him and nodded, "Yea, this is what happens, mommy's are up later than they should be."

Jillian tumbled down the stairs as she rubbed her eyes, "I am off to bed," she then glanced down to look at Liam, "He is still awake?"

"I knew I shouldn't have let him sleep for two and half hours. I am thinking about putting him in a warm bath and then a warm bottle, hopefully it will make him sleepy." Anthony placed Liam into my lap but he whined. "I mean it is only nine thirty back home but it's been a long day. That flight sucked and Bella did not like it."

"She is one, I have a nine month old," I protested, "A one year old can walk!" I rolled my eyes as Liam wanted back down. "You didn't have to take a connecting flight." Jillian made a look and Anthony laughed. "You defiantly hang out to much," Jillian pushed Anthony over.

Standing up with Liam I could hear all of the adults in the back having drinks and hanging out. A lot of the kids had already gone to bed or were lying around watching TV. Some were outside but not many.

"I am going to give him a bath or something." I finally said as I pushed besides Anthony. "Have fun!" Rubbing my own eyes Liam burbled as I shook my head. "You need to go to bed,"

Nothing came out of his mouth as I ran bath water but he only began to cry. After getting him down to his diaper he cried more. He knew bath time meant bedtime was coming soon and he did not like bedtime that much.

Once I dipped his feet into the water his face melted and he held his hands up to be picked back up as he cried more. A headache was thumping through my head as I tried to keep him warm but his crying didn't stop.

Biting down on my lip, I bathed him and then got him out. Wrapping the towel around him his crying didn't stop. It didn't stop until he was back into a pair of pajamas and back onto the floor. I rolled my eyes as I put him into the play pen before preparing his bottle.

"Is Liam alright? I thought I heard him crying." I turned around to see Lucille standing there with a beer in her hands. I rolled my eyes, "Yea, he is perfectly fine. He is just being his father's child." Lucille snorted as she glanced into the living room. "Liam just isn't getting his way. He wants to stay up and play with everybody."

"Just wait until he is older," I laughed and shook my head, "I will make sure he is with his dad," Liam's bottle was finished as I turned to look at Lucille.

"I will bet you I will see you very early tomorrow morning," Lucille scrunched her eyebrows, "Really? He is an early riser because neither of his parents are!"

"Lately he has been getting up earlier but Troy has been getting up with him. I don't know; maybe since we are in a different time zone I won't see you until later in the morning."

"I keep forgetting about the time zone thing; guess it doesn't affect us too bad. We are just staying up later here." I nodded as I went to pick up Liam. "Liam, you better be good for mommy tonight, she wants some sleep." If Liam understood all of that, it looked like he pouted.

"Have fun with him tonight." I rolled my eyes as I went up to the queen room. Shutting off the lights and turning on the fan on I sat down on the bed curling under the blankets feeding Liam. He ate it slowly as he was slowing down. Once he finished the small bottle and he burped.

Once he was done he looked at me, "Please," I begged, I then decided I am just going to put him in the pack n play that we had bought last time. I dialed Troy's phone number as Liam began to fuss about being in his crib. He lay on his stomach as he looked at me walk back to the bed.

"Hey baby girl, how is my family?" Troy asked, "Good." Liam cried out in the background as I shut off the TV and slipped underneath the blankets. The room was dark and I was hoping Liam would take that in as he needed to go to bed.

"Why is Liam crying?" Troy asked, "We landed and when we got here he slept for two and half hours. Well when he got up all he wanted to do is play and I am exhausted. He has been up for four hours or so and it's almost midnight here. I gave him a bath, warm milk and sat him down in his crib for the night."

"Oh, so he isn't happy."

"No," I yawned, "Everybody is working towards bed and he just needs to go to sleep. Once he is down he will be for a few hours," I admitted to Troy. "I'm sorry baby girl, I have to get going. Curfew and all," Troy joked, I smiled as I buried my head into the pillow. "If I don't hear from you until after your game, play hard and I love you."

"I love you too babe," I smirked as we hung up. Liam cried again and I looked over towards him. I shifted in my bed and then I got up to give him his pacifier. He rolled over to his back and he threw his hands up before dropping them to his side again. "No, you need to go to bed."

I kissed his forehead and then walked out of the room. I would leave him alone for a few minutes until I knew he had settled down because all I wanted to do was pick him up.

Once reaching the kitchen, all of the adults were still outside. I walked out the back as Logan noticed me. "Hey! Do you want a beer?" he asked me, "Sure," I took it into my hands as I nursed it carefully.

"Where is little dude?"

"I am trying to get him to fall asleep but I being in the room wasn't working so I left."

"That age?" Lilly asked me, I nodded, "Yes, it is that age."

Propping up against the deck I felt my eyes flutter close as the beer in my hand was growing warm from the heat of the fire. "Long day of traveling kills," Tish said coming next to me. Opening my eyes and turning my head towards Tish I nodded. "It sucks and he wasn't happy at all during the flight. I can usually get him to sleep but he just was…awake."

"He is beginning to sleep less, plus, he is getting up earlier! I mean seriously, it's like seven or six thirty every morning. Troy and I have never been early risers, never. We still aren't, we are beginning to trade days but since he is gone, it's going to be hard."

"Mm, I remember when I had Max, I had two other kids already and it was just…insane. I felt like I was always up and doing something and then Max was just not an easy baby."

"Liam has been fairly easy, we have had our ups and downs but I think that is more of a first parent at twenty three." Tish blew out a long sigh. "Yea, that's never good."

"Well the whole Bolton Clan had a kid by twenty. I don't know how that happened, a bad group. I just wonder what the hell those parents went through. I mean, seriously, some of them had kids at eighteen, yet they all went to college. I was eighteen too and I did finish college. I can not believe Troy made it out without a kid at eighteen."

"He was twenty two," I paused as I thought about it, "I never realized every single Bolton was about eighteen when they had there first kid. What I also think is that they are still with the same person."

Tish smiled as she took a long drink of the beer in her hands. "Yea, it's another Bolton thing. They all fall in love in high school and Meg, Meg was in high school. She was sixteen and Logan was only a junior, yet they made it work. It probably helped that Logan's family was richer but it was rough on Meg. I thought she just wanted to quit sometimes."

"Wow. My mom would have killed me; I mean she flipped at the age of twenty two when I was almost done with college."

"Yea, it was crazy. I have protected my kids from this dumb ass curse on the family. Its crazy how is happened to all of them. Jack was twenty and able to do more with Troy. Lilly was your age, it was crazy. It also helped as each of them grew we all could help the other. It just began to work out and the parents began to predict."

I laughed as I finished off my beer. "I am going to head up to bed."

"Yes, off to bed, I need to go myself since Max has been waking me up every morning."

"I know the feeling."

Rolling over to the sound of crying my eyes spied Liam sitting up. I groaned as I buried my head into the pillow further. "Liam go back to bed." I whimpered as I pulled the covers tighter around me. It was only six thirty in the morning.

Liam's voice reached a screech as I rolled over, his eyes locked with mine and I shook my head. "Why are you awake? Why?" I asked sitting up in my bed. Stretching my sweatshirt around my wrist I rubbed my eyes even further.

Pushing my glasses over my face I went over to pick Liam up. He was happy as I kissed his temple, "You are going to drive me crazy," I said, he pulled on my hair as I opened the door to the room. I creped down the stairs past all of the sleeping teenagers on the couch as nobody was up.

I groaned as I shut the kitchen doors. I plopped Liam down into the high chair as he squealed, I put my fingers to my lips to keep him quiet but he was not having it.

Grabbing the yogurt bites I put a few onto his tray. I then grabbed whatever I was going to feed him for breakfast as I started the coffee. "We are defiantly going for a run today buddy boy,"

Pulling up a chair to him, I began to spoon feed him food. "Whoa, you were not kidding when you said he had been getting up early." I tried to suspense the groan as Jack came into the room. "Yea, was not kidding."

Jack laughed out loud, "You and Troy must hate that! I could never get you two to wake up for anything." I sent a glare in Jack's direction. "What are you doing out of bed anyways?"

"Grabbing some Advil. My head is killing me and I am going back to bed." I rolled my eyes as I tapped Liam's nose. "I think somebody was a little too excited for his first Thanksgiving."

Jack snorted, "The only time I have seen you bounce out of bed was Christmas."

"Damn right." Jack laughed before disappearing back up the stairs. Liam finished eating and I had nothing to do with him. "Bud, you are going to have to be contained. Every room is filled with somebody sleeping," I said as I picked him up. "So we will get ready to go for a run."

I grabbed a banana to eat as I got ready. Liam crawled around the room as I pulled on jogging shorts and a thermal long sleeve purple jacket. Rubbing my arms up and down I dressed Liam into some warmer clothes and tied on his little tennis shoes. I tied my black and pink Nikes together before letting out a long yawn.

Taking him downstairs I made myself a cup of coffee to go and then a large water bottle. Wiggling my toes I took Liam outside and grabbed a stroller escaping out the side of the door. I buckled him in as I adjusted my music.

"Liam," Liam crawled on the grass as we were sitting at the park in South Carolina. I had run past the park and I had decided to stop and let Liam crawl. I had been gone for about two and half hours so I was thinking I should head back.

Liam was happy and having fun rolling around in the grass. "You ready to get back baby boy?" He crawled over my lap and then he put his hands against my chest as he tried to stand up. His legs buckled underneath me as I gripped his waist.

He grinned and I then kissed on his cheek. I rolled over as I kissed his cheek repeatedly and then blew on his stomach. He laughed and I picked him back up. I buckled him into his stroller before finishing the jog home.

It was an okay morning but I wished I had put on yoga pants or something. Coming back to the beach house I could already tell it was a buzz with people. Parking the stroller I lifted Liam out as I put him closer to my shoulder. Opening the door I could hear the cluster from the living room.

"I think Anthony should wake up so we could all sit here!" Abby said I pulled out an earphone from my ear as I huffed out a breath. "Look who is here," Rob said, I smiled and waved. "I am going to take a shower. Anybody want him?" I asked Lucille quickly reached her arms out.

"No surprise." I joked with her; she smiled at me as she took Liam from my arms. "Jack said you were up early."

"Yea, we went for a run and then stopped at the park to play."

"Awh, he is getting so big." Waving bye to Liam he protested before Lucille entertained him with a toy that was sitting on the ground. Marching up the stairs, my feet planted against the ground as I debated about taking a nap before somebody came searching for me.

I glanced down at Lucille and she looked at me. Her head nodded as if she read my mind. I mouthed a quick thank you as I hurried up the stairs. I did love Troy's family a lot because this is what they did, they helped me out. I was able to do a little catching up on sleeping and some other things because they all wanted to see Liam.

I was in and out of the shower in twenty minutes before ringing my hair and stepping out of the shower. I slipped my sports bra on and with a tank top and then some yoga pants. Crawling into the bed I yawned heavily and then curled my feet under my body. A yawn slipped out of my mouth again before drifting off into a deep sleep that was very much needed.

I glanced at myself in the mirror, my Miss Me jeans riding on my hips as they narrowed down to my ankles. My black flats sticking off my feet and my red and brown blouse to cover my torso, my hair was pulled back with a headband making it poof in the back.

Liam crawled over my feet as I looked down at him. He was in a pair of little jeans with a button up red shirt on. His hair was combed back and he looked adorable. I snapped a picture of him and then shot Troy a picture of him. My nap had been very refreshing and I enjoyed it.

Liam had crawled around and then fell asleep on the floor before I woke him up to change and eat some lunch. We were all going to watch Troy play while the moms cooked Thanksgiving dinner so we could eat after the basketball game.

Troy text me back and I grinned, he is a sexy little man ;), I busted out laughed as I looked at Liam. "Daddy said you are sexy? You wanna go ask your cousins?" Liam bounced in my arms as I blew on his stomach. Taking Liam back down stairs I made my position on the couch next to Jack. "Hi," he reached over to take Liam from my arms.

"Hey," I pulled my feet underneath my body as Liam crawled back onto my lap. I gently set him down on to the floor; he crawled over to the toys while sitting down on his butt. The basketball game came on as they showed a Taylor sitting in the crowd with her family. A smile was plastered on her face as she laughed with her mom and dad.

Chad's parents went down to be with them along with his sister. "How is she doing?" I turned to look at Jack, "I am hoping better. She went to see Bentley in the hospital and she was doing okay. Zeke told me she cried once but she apologized and laughed a few times. Hopefully everything will be better after seeing her family. It was all just a crazy mess."

"How are Sharpay and Zeke with the baby?" I laughed out loud, "New parents!" I teased, "She calls me all the time with advice and I just tell her to relax and it's all basically normal. I guess he cries all of the time and she never knows what to do. Her family and Zeke's family is coming up to them for Thanksgiving so hopefully she is getting some help."

"I can not believe how old these kids are getting. I feel like you were all just in high school." I wrinkled my eyebrows, "It's been like five years," I said to him, Jack laughed as more of the kids and adults gathered. Logan, Shawn, and Chris had all come downstairs in there Laker appeal.

Lucille came in to see what was going on as they flashed Troy and she smiled. "I miss my baby,"

"I'm right here mom!" Jenni said waving her hands; Jenni smirked as Lucille smiled at her. "I love you too baby girl," Anthony, Dalton, Derek, Josh, and many other boys came down to watch the game.

The Lakers tipped off the ball as it pushed towards the other team. A groan came out of Jack's mouth as I laughed, "They have four quarters left, relax." Liam climbed up in front of the couch as he tried to reach my lap.

I placed him back into my lap as he cuddled into me. "I have never seen such a momma's boy." Anthony said smirking at me; I smacked his arm as he laughed. "Don't be mean to my baby! He is only nine months old!" I complained as I closed my arms around him.

"Sure, whatever you want to say." Glaring at Anthony, Chris began to laugh. "Anthony, I don't know why you are talking. You hated me for the first year! All you wanted was your mom!" Anthony began to blush as I pointed and laughed. "Wow! Better be careful next time!"

"I swear she has been party of this family forever," Aiden said looking at me, "She fits right in."

We continued to watch the game; Troy was pulled out in the second with three fouls already. He had been playing a very aggressive game between the Heat.

All of us could smell the food cooking and were getting very hungry. Mason was running back and forth from the game and cooking the turkey. Ads were being passed around the room to the ones who were paying some attention but not enough. Liam fell asleep in my lap but I woke up him up during the top of the forth quarter.

He whined as he bounced his head up, his eyes closed again as I kissed his temple. "Come on baby boy, it's about time to eat dinner."

The game was tied with five minutes left in the game. Liam went back down to the ground crawling over everybody as he sat down on his butt. He picked up his toy and then he got back up and kept crawling. I watched him with amusement as he then headed for the stairs. My eyes widened as I jumped up from the couch as he put one leg on the stairs and balanced his toy in the other hand.

I followed him up the stairs staying close behide him as he took one step at a time trying to make it to the top all by him. Staying exactly one step behide he and my hand down him climbed the entire staircase. Once he hit the top he took off down the hallway.

People began to laugh downstairs as I chased him down the hallway. "Hey! Stinker, get back here!" I said as I picked him up. He giggled as he gave me his toy. "Thank you, now no more of that young man." I kissed on his cheek as I took him downstairs. "You young ones are now a gate. Don't let him get past you guys," I said setting him back down in the middle.

"He just like…went and did that." Jack said laughing, I smiled and I nodded, "I know, I can not believe that either. I was just like…woah."

"I can not believe he isn't like, talking yet."

"He does some but it's not as fluent, like you don't hear words. You just hear him babbling."

Liam got onto his knees as I finally looked at the screen again. The game was tied. Troy passed the ball over to Luke, who then passed it over to Kobe. They began to repeat it back and forth. Once the shot clock began to wind down Kobe went up for the three only for it to fall over the rim into LeBron's hand.

They raced back down court as it was still tied and only thirty three seconds left. Liam tried to keep crawling to the stairs but with Anthony as the last defense to getting there, he always was put back into the middle. After the third time of this he sat on his butt and cried. Abby curled her face up as she laughed. "Guys, all the poor kid wants to do is get to the stairs." Abby picked him up but he began to cry more.

Holding my hands out they gave him back to me as the timeout called by the Lakers was over. They took the court as Liam wanted to go back over to the stairs. "No," I told him simply as he tired to keep going over there. His whine turned into a whimper as he looked at the stairs.

Glancing back at the TV I saw Troy jump up blocking a shot for it to land in his fingers. Jack jumped up from the couch cheering as Mason came running into the room with a turkey temperature thing. Troy ran the ball down court as he jumped up and dunked the ball through the hoop as the buzzer ran out.

Mason and Jack cheered together as they hooped and hollered. The Lakers mobbed Troy on the court as they had just won. Troy walked over to the other team to say something to somebody and then he shook the coach's hand as it was the captain's job. Coach greeted him in a hug while Troy grabbed a towel wiping his face off.

He threw it over his shoulder as Lucille was now in the kitchen as they watched the whole replay. They then came back to show his face, he was standing there looking over the crowd. "Troy, Happy Thanksgiving! You played one hell of a game today!"

"Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to you too."

"How does it feel to get your first win over the Heat as Captain for the Lakers?" Troy smiled as one of his teammates slapped his shoulder. "It feels fantastic. On such a wonderful day, Thanksgiving,"

"Is your family here tonight to see your wonderful performance?" Troy's face held a different emotion before he smiled. "No, I sent my wife to be with my whole family on Thanksgiving. I didn't want her to be stuck in a sweaty gym. My family hasn't seen Liam since the wedding and they all wanted to see him."

"Well, I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving neverless, thanks," Troy nodded before backing up and heading to the locker room only to be stopped more by fans for autographs. He signed a few before he waved walking into the tunnel.

I searched for my phone as Liam had stopped crying. I was waiting for Troy's normal phone call as Liam was mesmerized by the TV, since Troy was just on it.

"Was daddy on TV?" I asked, Liam pointed at the TV; I nodded my head, "Yes that was daddy." His head turned to look at me and I smiled at him. Kissing his forehead I got up as Troy's face came over the phone. It rang out loud and everybody looked at me, "I have to talk to him!" Mason cried, "I want to talk to Troy!" I waved my hand as I went out the front door shutting it behide me hoping none of them would follow.

"Hi," I answered the call, "Hi, did you see it?" he sounded about as giddy as a little boy on Christmas. I laughed out loud, "Yea, I did see it love."

"It felt amazing! It was such a high, I just…ahh!" I giggled again as I set Liam down on the ground. "Your dad and Mason were freaking out. It's like the first time you ever dunked."

"It was a block and a dunk…thank you." I rolled my eyes before sitting down on the wooden step. "Well, it was cute because you made it look cute but I have some bigish news."

"Liam walked…didn't he," Troy's voice held disappointment, "No, he did not walk but what he did do was climb up the stairs crawling all by himself."

"Really? Was he by himself?"

"No, we were all in the living room watching the game when he crawled over everybody, grabbed his toy and then crawled back over everybody to get to the stairs. Once he got up onto the step I flipped running over to him but I let him do it. He was so proud of himself."

"Awh. I just saw him yesterday and I already miss him. How did the rest of yesterday go?"

"Eh, okay. Liam finally fell asleep but he was up at about six thirtyish this morning. I didn't go to bed until way after midnight." I rubbed my eyes as I thought about it. "I'm sorry baby girl."

"Your mom let me take about an hour and half nap. It was nice and I got some more sleep. I love your mom."

"I love her too."

"Your family misses you."

"Well tell them I miss them but it's probably about dinner time there! I love you!"

"I love you too,"

Troy hung up the phone as I went to scoop Liam back up. Jack flew out the door, "You did not hang up with him!"

"Jack, he is in the locker room. He will call you later, he is busy celebrating." Jack looked at me and I put my hand on his shoulder, "I want to talk to him longer,"

"Yea, yea," Jack hit his shoes against the ground and walked back into the house. I followed closely behide him as I shut the door. "I wish Troy was here," Anthony said, "Do you remember I think he was in seventh grade and he came running down the stairs and fell head first into the stairs?"

Jack groaned, "That was a five hour hospital trip to get sixteen stitches." Crinkling my eyebrows I looked over at Jack, "Is that the scar above his right eyebrow?"

Jack raised his eyebrow, "I didn't think it was noticeable anymore." I shrugged my shoulders, "I get pretty close to his face anyways," Jack scrunched up his nose, and "I don't need to hear these things."

Troy had a snitch of a scar above his eyebrow that was not noticeable. You would think he had the clean perfect face unless you got close to it. "Does anybody know how he got that scar on his chin, right about here?" my fingers traced over the edge of my chin as Jenni busted out laughing.

"You don't know what that is from?" I shook my head slowly, "Jenni, how would she know?"

"They were dating during that time frame!"

"No they weren't! That was his freshman year," Jack argued, "What happened?" I asked again, "He was trying to jump from tree to tree, acting like a fucking…oops I mean an idiot and he thought he could make a jump only to go crashing to the ground. He broke his foot and his chin was gushing blood. Twenty five stitches."

"I have to be honest; it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. He was wailing his arms and legs," I smacked my hand against my forehead. "Only he would try that,"

"Oh Chad did it too…he just did it better than Troy." I rolled my eyes as we went and sat around the table. "Oh, do you remember when Troy locked himself in the garage for like five hours because nobody could hear him?" Liam sat on my lap as I grabbed a small amount of potatoes for him to eat.

"How come Troy has all of the horror stories?" I asked, "Oh, we all have our stories but Troy isn't here to protest or fill your head with lies, so do you want to hear more about these little stories we all have or complain that Troy is bad?" Wiggling my eyebrows I agreed, "What's Thanksgiving without fun stories about Troy?"

"Oh," I sucked in my laughter as I was so full. The stories about Troy just kept coming and most of them involved stupidity things that he had done.

"He thought the fish could walk so he put it on a leash…" I tried to recount the story they had just told me. "Oh, yes, it was the funniest thing in the world. The poor fish just gave me a look asking me to help it. It was dead within minutes and then when he went to put it back it just floated and he cried for hours."

Liam was sleeping in the little swing at the end of the table. Anna and Bella were both walking around playing with toys as we had finished dinner about thirty to forty five minutes ago but we were all talking and having fun.

"I think this should be the last, I am pretty sure we have Gabi's brain marked for life." Lucille said a grinned toying at her lips. "So he was across the street one day playing with one of our new neighbors, he had to be like eight or nine years old. We were all in the house doing something and he comes storming into the house, he was pissed off."

Glancing at Jack he began to laugh, "I remember this." Lucille giggled again, "He slammed the door and I calmly asked him what was wrong and his face was beat red and I quote, 'Jesse is R-E-D!' Troy screamed this, Jenni couldn't have been any older than two or three and she just looked at him."

Lucille tried to keep a straight face but she couldn't. "Jack piped in asking him,"

"I was like, red?" I burst out laughing, "Troy then became really heated, his face looked like it was going to blow and he ran up the stairs, slammed the door not but ten seconds later he ran back towards us and looked us both into the eye and screamed on the top of his lungs, RUDE!"

I felt tears stream down my face as I was laughing so hard. "Oh my God, that sounds just like Troy!"

"Oh man, it was so funny. I swear and then we have teased him about that for the rest of his life." I felt a smirk tug onto my lips, "Oh man, wait until he finds out what I heard," the table laughed out loud, "He is going to hate us all."

"That's what he gets for skipping out on Thanksgiving." I smiled as I turned to see Liam waking gently. Everybody began to gather as Mason looked at me. "How come I already have a Gabi story?" my eyes shot up to Mason as he snickered. "Oh Troy has told me a few things."

"Like what?" I challenged. I don't feel as if I was ever that stupid.

"Oh lets just say I know what happened when Jack and Lucille went out of town or the beach house." My eyes widened as fast as they could as I jumped out of the seat. "What happened when Jack and Lucille went out of town and the beach house?" Jack looked at me for a long moment as I cringed.

"Really Mason, these stories?"

Mason smirked as he took a long pull of his beer. "I really want to know what happened."

"I want to know how you found out," I asked eyeing him, "Because, seriously, Troy tells me everything."

"Once Troy knows you told his parents, he is going to kill you."

"Oh, I think it would be fun but I am going to drop it. Just so Jack and Lucille will bug you about it more." I gapped at him as I got up taking Liam and escaping. "Jack, whatever happened it's in the past and you can not change it." I explained as Jack came over towards me.

"Really? I mean I can't ground you but I would love to know?" I tapped my foot as I thought about it for a few moments. He is right, he can't ground me, and I am a married adult with a baby. Troy was on the road and I glared at him. "You never got your information from me, understood?"

Jack nodded as Lucille joined, "I get out of any dishes…"

Jack nodded again, "Anyways, tell me,"

I snorted, "Fine, Troy had a kegger his senior year when you and Lucille went out of town with Jenni. It was a crazy mess I cleaned up watched over a very hung over Troy. Now, the beach house that is a kiss and tell thing. That has more to do with me than it has to do with Troy."

"Troy had a kegger at our house…and I had no clue about it?" I nodded my head, "Yup."

Jack scowled and I rubbed my forehead. "Now, I am going to go change Liam and get him ready to eat a bottle or something."

"Are you going to lie around and watch the football game with us?"

"Sure, let me just feed him and we will watch."

"Good," I smiled at Jack before disappearing upstairs.

"My dad keeps calling me and I don't really want to talk to him." Troy mumbled in my ear. I had watched the game with the family; many kids had fallen asleep on the floor while the adults again gathered outside. I was slowly rocking Liam to sleep as it was almost ten o clock here. "He probably wants to talk about something I told him under force."

I could see Troy's eyebrows leap in suspense. "What did they make you tell them?" I snickered as he became worried. "It wasn't that bad, just R-E-D," I commented a smirk growing over my lips, Troy groaned loudly. "Oh my God, what the hell have they been telling you because that was supposed to be a sworn secret between the whole families?" I giggled before glancing towards the night life outside.

"I am family now Bolton." I could feel Troy cringing. "Yeah, yeah. What else did they tell you?" Pursing my lips together I thought of what I should say. "How you got the two scars on your face."

"Mmm…interesting. What else?" Wiggling Liam to a more comfortable spot, "To never get you a goldfish."

"They did not!" Troy gasped in horror, "Oh Bolton, this is payback for not showing up!" Troy was flabbergasted, "Brie, did you not see that dunk today? It has to be number two on the highlight reel on Sports Center tonight."

Liam was sound asleep when I looked down at him. "Uh huh, sure Bolton." I eased out of the chair slipping Liam into his crib. "So is this what my dad has to tell me?" my turn to cringe, "No, not exactly. Mason so happened to bring up stuff that I did but really they were both your idea." Pausing to college my thoughts, "What did Mason bring up" Troy asked nervously.

"The party and The beach house." I capitalized each the as if it was the most important word. "He did not!" my lips frowned, "You told Mason about our first time?" I kept the phone right next to my ear. "No, I did not tell him about our first time, I just mentioned that we were at the beach house when it happened."

"So you told him about it." Troy sighed, "No but my dad knows about both of those things?"

"No, just about the kegger, I was not going to tell him what happened at the beach house. That is really personal to me."

"I don't blame you for not telling him." Exiting the room after shutting the lights off, I grabbed my jacket before escaping the front door. "So did you and guys have a great Thanksgiving?" I asked gently, "Yea, I just wish I was with you. Chad was with Taylor with her family."

"I missed you." I finally said, "I missed you too. What is this our first Thanksgiving apart since our freshman year in college?"

"Yea, it is. Plus I just, I miss you. I feel like lately we havent seen each other even though we have. I just, I want you." Troy sighed for a moment and then I sat down on the sidewalk.

"Where are you at? It is really quiet, my family is not quiet."

"I am like down the street sitting on the sidewalk."

"Liam down?"

"Yes, Liam is asleep. We have to be up early tomorrow to head back home."

"I am trying to figure out why you are busting out of there so fast, my family does like you."

"Liam needs back to his normal life; he does not enjoy this as much as I do. Plus, Tish and the rest of them are leaving tomorrow too. Some of us want to get back to our normal lives, they have school and it's crazy."

Troy sighed, "We have another three days in this road trip and then I will be home."

"Yes, I promise that your two day visit home will be amazing." Smirking Troy laughed, "That's good. I sure hope you enjoy sitting at basketball games."

"I don't know if I will go to any of these," I mumbled quietly, I turned my head to look at the house as I sighed deeply. "I love you Troy,"

"You don't have to hang up you know, I can talk for a little bit."

"Your family is probably looking for me, plus you should go."

"I really enjoy talking to you." Troy said I pulled my knees up to my chest. "I love talking to you Troy because I think you are probably sitting on your hotel bed, in sweat pants, maybe without a shirt on."

"Mmm…pretty close." Troy said I could see the grin slip over his face. "Mmm, bye bye Bolton. I will talk to you later okay?"

"Please call me when you fly out tomorrow,"

"I always do Troy unless I am surprising you."

"You aren't surprising me right?"

"Nope, I'm sorry."

Rubbing my lips together, I finally had the courage to cancel the call. Slowly walking back to the house I wrapped my arms around my body. Stepping through the house doors, Josh came bouncing down the stairs. "Hey, there you are. We were looking for you, when we saw Liam was down…"

"I was outside talking to Troy."

Following Josh out, I slipped into the party around the fire as I looked at the people around. "Look who slipped in," Anthony came over to hand me a beer. He bent over, "Here you go. You look a tad stressed."

"I am not stressed. I swear I am just missing Troy…a lot."

"Well, then drink up honey."

"What about Liam?" I asked taking a drink of the beer that was in my hands. "Lucille offered to take him in the morning." My eyes flashed to Lucille as she got up from her chair. "Lucille, you do not have to do that. He is my son; I should be the one responsible for him in the morning."

"Gabi you are flying home tomorrow, I want to see my grandson before he leaves. It will be perfect since I won't get to see him before Christmas."

"Lucille, really, I can take care of him." I said eyeing her carefully, "Gabi, please, I love looking after Liam plus I will probably be up anyways."

"He gets up early and,"

"Gabi, please relax. I really think you should just let me do it." Her hand gently laid on my shoulder, letting out a sigh in acceptance. "Thank you," my lips finally formed the words.

"Good, now drink up!" Anthony yelled I turned to look at him. "Are you sure you aren't already drunk?"

"Just a tad tipsy."

"Mmm…" my eyes locked with his, "Don't listen to him Gabi! He is drunk!" Jillian shouted, "What happened to our peaceful time?"

"All of our kids grew up, began to drink like teenagers, and don't leave us alone."

"Mine do," Jack said smirking; his lips covered the beer bottle. "Jack, just because your one son is in the NBA, not being able to be here does not count!"

"I still have Jenni," Jack mentioned, "Who is under the age of eighteen. She is supposed to be watching a movie with the young kids."

"I have no kids." Mason finally said, "Troy is basically your kid." Jack mentioned to him, "Yea…but he isn't. You see Logan, Troy has a kid and doesn't bug his dad. So I still think you could count him."

"Yea, he would be a bit to accompany with his wife over there." Haley smirked; I rolled my eyes as I tapped my foot against the ground. "Well, Troy was always a good kid." Tish told Lucille, "Nothing like my three,"

Talk began to quickly drift in another direction as I fiddled with my beer bottle. It was approaching midnight and all of the Bolton's were up and chatting still.

I yawned as somebody handed me another beer, I turned my head to see Abby smirking. "Hey, you look like you needed another one."

"Do you think somebody should help her to bed?" I reached my hand out to smack Anthony. "Would you pipe it down? I don't really want to hear your flapping your lips."

"Shut it Bolton!" Anthony yelled, I laughed as I stood up from my chair. "I am going to go check on my son and probably crawl into bed. If I get to sleep in tomorrow, I am going to take a jump on it."

Turning to look at Lucille and Jack, she looked at me. "Can you make sure I am up by at least ten? I have to be out of here at like eleven fifteen to catch my flight."

"Sure thing honey, is Liam going to sleep through the night?"

"Yes, he should, when you get up you can just come in and get him."

"Alright, do you have a baby monitor…" she asked, "Lucille, if he wakes up before you don't worry about it? I promise you, it will be fine."

Lucille shook her head, "Fine."

Finishing off the last of my beer I set it by the kitchen sink. Looking out the window I smiled, I was happy to be apart of this family. They were all caring, funny, and they all loved each other. I fiddled with my ring on my finger circling it around and around.

"Pretty impressive huh?" just turning my head to look at Sarah. "Yea, it really is. Just something I never really had, I barely knew my aunts and uncles."

"I didn't have it either, so when I came to my first one it was pretty crazy. I was like; this family is so close to each other. I am just happy that Mason carried it out to this. Every year we get together three to four times a year. It just depends on what's going on. It's hard when we all moved away from home. Being married in to this family, it's just…so welcoming."

"Yea, I enjoy coming. I just wish Troy was here with me."

"That always helps, especially since this is your first Thanksgiving."

"Yea and with Liam, he is just, he loves being with his dad."

Sarah smiled, "Liam loves being with both of his parents."

"I know, he is the best little guy in the entire world"

"Gabi," I groaned as I dug further underneath my blankets as I could see the sunlight pouring into the room. "Gabi," somebody shook me a little more. I wanted to snap for them to go away but I just grunted instead. "They were right; you are a bitch to get out of bed."

Not wanting to open my eyes I pulled my feet towards me. "Gabi, its past ten in the morning, they said you wanted to be up at this time." I shook my head in the pillows as Aiden and Anthony both laughed. "Fine, you are going to make us do this the hard way."

I then began to fear what they were going to do but the only thing that happened was that a heavy weight was put on my back. I couldn't help but grin into my pillow was Liam crawled up my back then laying flat on my back. I giggled as he grabbed onto my hair.

Softly turning over Liam slide off my back and he giggled before collapsing down. He looked surprised and then he smiled, I bent over to kiss on him. "Look our job is done."

Turning my head over to look at Aiden and Anthony, "Who told you I was a bitch to wake up?"

"Jack, Lucille, and Jenni." I rolled my eyes, "Whatever, I am just a heavy sleeper."

"No joke, Lucille said she came in here and Liam cried for about five minutes when she came. You didn't even flitch."

"Liam was crying before Lucille got there?"

"No, when she picked him up. He wasn't awake yet but she kind of woke him up around seven." I frowned, "He slept past seven?"

"Yup!" Anthony and Aiden said leaving the room quickly, I looked down at Liam. "You slept till seven when Grandma was going to take care of you?"

A smile formed over his lips, a little grin plastered on his face. "You are a naughty naughty little boy." I tickled him and then dug around for my phone in the bed. Pulling it out I noticed Troy had called twice since I had been asleep. I cuddled back underneath the blankets as Liam sat down next to me.

"Hey, why didn't you answer my calls earlier?" Troy asked, "I was sleeping."

"Liam slept past nine thirty?"

"No, your mom took care of him this morning. I kept trying to protest but she insisted. So I got to sleep till ten."

"Oh, I am glad she let you get some rest. I was just calling to check in,"

"Good. I love you but I need to get up and start getting ready before I board a flight to LA."

"Call me before you get on okay?"

"Troy, I promise I will. Don't worry."

"All I do is worry Brie,"

"I know," a thin smile covered my face as Liam crawled up into my lap. "I will talk to you later, okay?"

"Yes, I love you."

"Home sweet home," I mumbled as I set Liam's car seat down onto the ground. He cried from inside as I let the rest of my bags drop from my arms. Liam had slept the entire plane ride but was now ready to be moving and up. I yawned as I bent over to get him out of his car seat.

Placing him on the floor he crawled away and padded against the floor. Troy was on his own flight right now up to New York to play some basketball. Picking up my phone, I called Sharpay to see how she was doing. I hadn't talked to her since Wednesday when she had family come into town.

It rang twice before it was quickly answered, "Shh…" somebody said through the phone, I giggled, "Bentley not doing to hot?"

"No, I just got Sharpay to sleep." Zeke mumbled, "She has been up and go since family got here. Bentley hasn't been helping at night."

"Oh, well if you would like a baby sitter for a few hours. Liam is up and at it for a little while, I am not doing anything." I offered, "Oh my God, would you please."

"You sound like you could use some sleep, bring him over! I still have a crib and diapers for his size."

"Thank you," Zeke said, "I will be looking for you guys."

Getting Liam changed into different clothes, feed some food and then put back down to play with some of his toys he was set to go. Yawning I looked at the clock and then the driveway to see Zeke pulling in. I opened the garage door for him and then the other door.

I hurried Oreo outside to be and then I heard Zeke cursing on his way up the stairs. Liam stopped to look at the stairs but then carried on with his toys. Walking over to the top of the stairs I helped Zeke out by taking the diaper bag from him. "Wow, you look tired."

Zeke sent a glare my way, "Sorry, sorry, I have been there and done that."

"Yes, I still think Liam was better but," Zeke set down Bentley car seat as he was sleeping. "Sharpay has some bottles ready. He is still eating about every hour and half to two hours. He should do some sleeping but,"

"Zeke, relax." I cooed at Bentley as he was so cute. His head was turned to the side. He was in a pair of onsie with long sleeves. A little pair of socks protecting his toes, "You are so cute," I said.

"I will be by later to pick him up, maybe around six thirty?"

"I can come drop him off Zeke. Liam will be ready to go for a ride."

"Gabi,"

"Zeke, go home, take a shower and get some rest."

"I need to go to the restaurant."

"Do that too if you want. I will bring him back over when Sharpay got some rest. She gets a little bitchy without sleep, plus, I miss baby time. Liam doesn't even want to lie in my arms unless he is sleeping."

"Fine, I will keep you updated on everything. I just…"

"Zeke!"

"Fine, fine, I am leaving now." Zeke bent over to kiss Bentley's forehead. "Be good." Zeke said firmly. I rolled my eyes before I watched Zeke out. Liam was curious as he reached up to the couch but I stopped him. "Liam, no," I said, his eyes widened as he looked at me.

"No," he stopped what he was doing before he carried on back to the toys he was playing with. Walking over to Bentley, he was sound asleep so I took him upstairs in his car seat, after putting Liam into his playpen.

Taking Bentley upstairs I gently put him into Liam's crib after swaddling him up. He was so much lighter than Liam right now; it was crazy to even feel the weight difference. Turning on the baby monitor I walked out and then walked back downstairs. Liam looked at me from his playpen giving me his look of get me out of this thing.

Picking him up, I went over to the couch and sat him on my lap. He fumbled around my lap trying to slide down. Little words left his mouth before he finally reached the ground. "Wanna walk?" I asked him, his eyes looked at me as I gripped his hands and tried to get him to walk forward.

He looked down at his feet before trying to drop down. I slowly let him down as I yawned; sitting back down on the couch Liam looked at me. "Hi silly boy,"

A small grin appeared over his face before he went to play. I smiled myself as I looked at Liam play, I could not believe how big he was getting. He fumbled over a toy and then he sat down to play with it.

I could say our Thanksgiving was a success...if Troy was there it would have been even better.

Whew! I swear this chapter took me forever! But I finished it! Woot woot! I hope you all liked it! Only nine more chapters left! ;)

Next chapter will probably be a cute one, just to let you all know so you should all review…like right now because you all love me and only a few more weeks of school! Yayyy! …Also sorry for any grammar mistakes and any other mistake.

PLEASE REVIEW!