Troy hadn't actually slept that night. He spent the entire night in the living room. He'd even heard when his parents got home, but didn't move from where he was. There was no need. All he wanted to do was get drunk, but if he left, then his parents would know everything. There was no alcohol in the damned house either, otherwise he would have been plastered by now. He thought about heading to the grocery store and brought home as much alcohol as his arms would have carried, but he knew his mom wouldn't have liked it, and if he hadn't come home, that would have just raised more questions than he wanted to answer from his parents.
Not that he wasn't a grown adult and he couldn't make his own decisions, but he was there to spend time with his parents... He had been there to spend time with his parents and Lily, but after finding out that she had kept his daughter from him, he wasn't going to be spending time here anymore with her, and since they were heading out for San Francisco in the morning, he wouldn't even be spending more than breakfast with his parents.
He didn't even know what was left ahead for him and Lily. She had lied to him. She had kept a child from him for ten years. Hell, even the first time she had wanted to keep their daughter from him, she had been scared, but she still told him, that very night, but this time, she had left, and when she found out, she just stayed away.
Troy had sat on the couch, not even bothering to turn on the light. He just wanted to sit there. He had a daughter. She was nine years old and Troy hadn't even known about her until yesterday. All that time he had lost with his daughter because Lily had been selfish – No, not Lily. Ella Leigh had been selfish. Lily would have never kept his child from him, but Ella Leigh had wanted to be a famous movie star. All she had thought about was herself. She didn't even choose to be a mother to her own daughter.
If Troy would have known, he would have been there to take care of her, even by himself if she wouldn't have done it... but she would have... He knew his Lily. He didn't know this Ella Leigh chick his Lily had become. This Ella Leigh diva was a woman he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Ella Leigh had stolen the family he and Lily had planned on having together. He knew she was scared, but that didn't give her the right to take his child away from him.
He leaned forward, his elbows rested on his knees, placing his face in his hands. He didn't know what he was going to do. He'd already lived ten years of his life without the woman he knew he couldn't live without. He wasn't going to go any longer without her, but he wasn't just going to be able to forgive her so easily though. He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, swallowing harshly.
His mom walked in from the kitchen the next morning, seeing him passed out against the back of the couch and almost jumped.
"Oh, Troy!" she gasped, grabbing her shirt over her heart, leaning back against the door frame to the kitchen. "I didn't expect to see you there. Where's Gabi?"
Troy had jumped when he heard her. Turning to her, he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Upstairs?"
Lucille turned her head slightly, walking toward him, sitting down on the couch beside her son. "What happened, Troy?" She was sure he had slept down here, and if that were the case, there was trouble in paradise for her son and the girl she'd come to love as her daughter when they had been younger.
Chad looked over at his mom, taking a deep breath. "Do you think it's right for anyone, in any situation, to keep a child from the other parent?"
Lucille's eyes raised slowly, not believing what her son was suggesting. "Troy... You and Gabi... You two were too young. You would have hand a family in time–"
Troy shook his head, standing up and walking to the mantle, grabbing a picture his mom still kept of him and Lily, holding it tightly in his grasp. "Mom, she was pregnant before she left. She had a miscarriage and that's why we were fighting so much. The doctor didn't tell you?" He looked back at her and she shook her head.
"No," she barely whispered. "She wasn't my daughter. Doctor/patient confidentiality, even though she was a minor. They weren't even going to let her see the doctor, but she was so sick, she had thrown up right there at the doctor's office, Troy. They had to see her. They couldn't just turn her away. Not if they were true Christians."
Troy shook his head, looking down at the picture in his hand, covering his mouth with his other hand. "She had a miscarriage, mom," he repeated himself. "It was awful. It almost tore us apart. In fact, I'm sure that was what tore us apart in the end. We continued to fight, neither of us letting up until the last day when we had sex again and she ran away."
Lucille turned her head down. She had always known that her son and Gabriella had been having sex, even under her own roof, but he'd never come right out and told her about it.
"And yesterday, I was given a copy of a birth certificate..." Troy slammed the photo back down on the fireplace mantle, the frame cracking in his hand, causing his mother to jump. "A little girl. Lily's and MY little girl." Lucille looked back up at her son, shocked, not having seen it coming. "She got pregnant that last time we were together, and we have a little girl together." He shook his head, gripping the mantle tightly. "She even sorta named her after me, Mom! She didn't have the decency to tell me about him, but she named her Victoria... Tori," at least he assumed, it was close to Troy, "Bolton."
He pushed himself away from the mantle, turning to pace across the room. "She could give her my name, but not even pick up a phone to tell me where she was and that we were having another baby." He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. "That's all I wanted. I wanted to know where she was. I wanted to know where she was and that she was alright. And now to know that we were having another baby... That would have made everything we were going through those past few weeks better... We would have been able to heal. Tori wouldn't have replaced the baby we lost, but at least we would have been together, loving each other, loving this baby we made together. We would have healed. Instead she chose to keep him from me."
Lucille stood, grabbing hold of her son's arms, stopping him from wearing an imaginary trench in her carpet. "Troy, stop. Ok. Just stop this. You two love each other. Even after all these years, I know you two love each other very much. You can't let this come between you. She made a mistake. You have to let it pass."
Troy hung his head, sighing heavily. "I can't just forgive her so easily, Mom. This is my daughter we're talking about. I lost ten years of her life. I'm not going to miss anymore."
Lucille smiled up at her son, wrapping her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. "Good, Troy! I can't wait to meet my granddaughter! Where is she?" she asked, looking up at him.
Sighing, Troy told her they were leaving to go get her in San Francisco. They had a flight leaving at eleven thirty. Even though they were supposed to be spending their little vacation there in Albuquerque with his parents, she understood his need to go get her, to finally meet his daughter. Jack came downstairs, immediately knowing something was wrong, the way the two of them were standing around the living room. They moved into the kitchen and Troy filled him in. Jack wasn't able to wait for Gabriella to come downstairs before he had to leave for work. Lucille assured him she'd tell her hi for him and he left the two of them alone again.
When Gabriella didn't come down for breakfast, Troy went up to find her. He knocked on the door, but didn't get an answer. Opening the door, he was about to call her name, but when he came into the room, he saw her asleep on top of the bed, not having crawled under the covers. She hadn't changed into pajamas. She hadn't even taken her shoes off. He felt his heart tighten in his chest and walked closer to her. Her hair was matted over her face and he gently pushed it back on her head. Her face was stained with mascara from crying. He knew she had cried herself to sleep and that made him feel horrible. He still loved her, he did, but he couldn't admit that to her.
After a moment of just watching her sleep, he knew they needed to get going, so he woke her up. He picked his heart off his sleeve and stood coldly, telling her when their flight was leaving and to get ready. It was all he said before walking out of the room and leaving her to get ready to go. After they both said their goodbyes to his mom, they left. She hadn't brought up Tori in front of Gabriella. They rode in silence back to the sunport.
It wasn't until they were sitting in their seats on their way for California when she actually turned to him, being the first of them to say anything to the other since he woke her up. She still felt horrible for what she had done and for hurting him so horribly, not knowing if that feeling would ever go away. She had hurt him by keeping their son from him, but she wanted a chance to fix things. She knew she didn't deserve it, but she wanted to try. Their love for each other was at least enough to warrant that. The son they had created out of love was enough to give her that much.
"Can we please talk...? Without fighting."
Troy had already decided he wouldn't fight with her in public, for more reason than one. "Well?" he prodded when she remained silent beside him.
"I've already said I'm sorry, so I'm not going to repeat myself," she said, quietly, her teeth raking over her bottom lip as she took a deep breath, thinking about what she should say. "I am sorry I took away your choice to be a father away though. I know you wanted to be one, and I shouldn't have taken that from you."
Troy shook his head, annoyed. So much for not saying she was sorry. "You're not getting this. Tori is my daughter and I've missed her whole life. I didn't even know she existed until the other day. I still wouldn't know if Sharpay hadn't brought me the copy of that birth certificate."
Gabriella knew somehow it had been Sharpay who had given it to him. It was the only answer that made sense. But she wasn't going to deflect this conversation on to Sharpay staying out of things. She knew exactly why she had done this. She knew Sharpay wanted Troy back. She had had him for ten years, and then Gabriella came back into his life and they both expected her to crawl over and die so they could be together.
"I have been trying to find the way to tell you. You wouldn't have found out like you did. I would have told you, that's what I've been trying to tell you since the reunion."
"You're still not getting this. You should have told me ten years ago when you found out you were pregnant with him."
Gabriella pulled her legs up on the seat, hugging her legs against her body. "I know, Troy! I know! But I want to try to make up for what I've done, please! I want to try to be a family with you and Tori!" It was exactly what she had called her daughter, after him of course, in some way.
He turned to face her, breathing deeply but remaining quiet. He didn't want to live without her. He'd lived ten years without her and he wasn't about to live his life without her again. "Alright, but here's how it will be."
Bri gave him a look that said she had no idea what he was going to say. Was he giving her stipulations on... being a family with Tori?
"You can have that. We will be a family, but that's as far as it goes. We will be parents to our daughter, but that is all we are. We are a happy family to the rest of the world, but that is as far as it goes."
Gabriella's mouth dropped. Had this been a cartoon, her jaw would have dropped through the floor. "What?" She couldn't believe what he was saying?
"You kept our daughter from me. The woman I loved would never have done that to me."
Her lip quivered and she hugged herself even tighter. "Loved?"
He wasn't going to answer that. He hadn't meant for that to be the objective word in that sentence, but he wasn't going to correct her either. It would make it easier for her to accept what he was telling her, maybe not easier, but she wouldn't fight him on it. He was making this decision and it was his choice. She had made the choice ten years ago not to tell him about their son, this was his choice now and she had to deal with it.
"We will continue to live together. Tori will come live with us. We'll work out her schooling with our schedules. When we're away from home, she'll be with us, preferably me. We all know you're not cut out to be the a parent." That might have been a little harsh, not that he meant it. He knew it was harsh and he did feel bad about it, but it had come out and he couldn't take it back now. "At home, she won't know we're not happy. We'll sleep in the same bed. We'll be happy. You can still come to my home games like planned. She can come too. No one will ever know that we're not the happy little family we always planned."
Bri bit her lip, nodding her head. "Ok."
She supposed she deserved all of that. She did keep his daughter from him. They may not be happy, but it was for their daughter. And even though Troy still loved Gabriella, he was going to go through with this "loveless" arrangement with her. But he was going to stand by what he had told her he was going to do. He knew that their love would get them through it. Their love always got them through everything. Turning his head forward, he let it rest back against his seat and he waited for the flight to be over so he could finally meet his daughter.
But the longer he sat there, he couldn't ignore the nagging in his gut. Not that he was obligated by any means to tell her, but he couldn't keep it to himself any longer. He knew she was already hurting, but it was better that he laid everything out on the line right now so he didn't have to hurt her later when he was able to forgive her, even though he really already had. He knew he had, but he was still hurting and they still hadn't gotten to Tori yet. He had to get things over with.
"You should probably know," he said quietly, his eyes closed as he sat there facing forward, "after Sharpay told me about Tori..." He turned his head to face her, leaning closer to her. "I fucked her. It made me feel... better. I fucked the shit out of her because I was pissed at you." He pulled back. The pain in her face was more than he could stand, turning his head back forward and closing his eyes again. He wasn't going to say sorry... even if he was. She believed he didn't love her, this would affirm that for her, so not telling her he was sorry would make her think that he didn't love her. It would be easier for both of them to get through this arrangement. It hurt him, but things were the way they were and there was no changing it.