The phone rang in the living room.

Kay jumped out of the kitchen and went towards the phone. "Jack, watch those pancakes."

"Sure thing." He got up and trudged into the kitchen.

Kay looked at the clock. "Nobody calls until after 12... It's only 8:40 in the morning."

She picked up the phone.

"Hello?" She said unsurely.

"Mom?"

"TROY?"

"Hi mom."

"Oh my god, Troy!" She automatically bursted into tears. "Sweetheart! I god, I miss you so much!"

"I miss you too." He sat back on the couch. "I'm sorry we lost contact. I changed my cell number and I probably wasn't home when you came."

Or he was wasted.

Kay sat down on the arm chair, astonished. "Why didn't you call?"

He sighed. "I've been... Busy... "

"Why didn't you call after Gabriella had the baby?"

"I was crushed, mom! My kid was dead!" Troy looked over at Talon. "I didn't want to talk about it!"

"How are you dealing with everything? Gabriella gone and the baby gone?"

"I don't want to talk about Gabriella, and the baby isn't gone."

"Then what happened?"

Troy looked up at the ceiling. "Gabriella had the baby, and it was alive when it came out. But, the doctor gave the baby a shot, and we thought the baby was dead, but it just had an allergic reaction to the shot and went into a small coma, and it woke up within hours. One of the staff nurses accidentally switched the tags on our baby and someone's stillborn. But, two days later, the doctor came up to me and told me that the baby was alive."

"Oh my god, that's great!" Kay sobbed. "What did you do? Did you give it up for adoption?"

"No." Troy ran his hand across Talon's hair. "I signed for custody and got the baby."

"How is she?"

"No, it's not a girl. It was a boy." Troy smiled. "And he's good. What they thought was his heart failing was a problem with their equiptment. He's perfectly healthy and doing great."

"What did you and Gabriella name him?"

Suddenly, some grief came over Troy.

"Gabriella didn't get to name him... " A couple tears fled out of his eyes. "At first, we decided on Zane, but I knew she really wanted to name him Talen. But, she commited suicide only a while after he was born. Since I thought he was dead, I just kept it Zane, but when I was holding him, I knew Gabriella liked Talen, so I named him Talon Beau Bolton."

"Do you have any pictures? Can I talk to him?"

"Mom, the only things he can say are Dada, no, baba, and a couple more little things. He doesn't know how to carry on a conversation. How do you expect a fourteen month old baby to know how to talk to someone? I'll just send you some pictures.

Kay pulled her knees to her chest. "I've been in contact with Oliver and Maria Montez about a month after Gabriella died. They want to know a little more about why she ran away and stuff."

"They can fuck themselves, mom." Troy sighed. "They tortured her! She had bruises on her for three months after her dad beat her with a belt! And then she had to deal with their druggy asses- "

"They're clean, Troy. And the only reason he beat her with a belt was because his dad used to beat him that way, and he just overreacted. Troy, a lot of things she said she exaggerated about them. They didn't hate her. They didn't despise her. They really loved her a lot, and they are still crushed she is gone."

"Mom, don't you dare tell them that Talon's alive... " Troy stood up. "I don't want my son being around them. They tortured my baby girl. I'm raising Talon the way I want to raise him, and I want nothing but the best for him. They aren't the best for him. Why do you think I've stayed away for so long? I didn't want ANYONE I knew around him, because most people I know are all asses."

"They are grieving over their baby just like you grieved when you thought your baby was dead!"

"And YOU don't think I'm grieving still?"

"Over the baby? No. Over Gabriella? No."

"I loved Gabriella, mom, whether you think so or fucking not." Troy began to get nasty. "I was there, day in and day out for that girl. She was my pride and joy. I fell for her. I'm STILL grieving over her! I have vivid nightmares about her EVERY god damn night! Every waking moment, I cry and carry on about how sorry I am for getting her pregnant! I feel like I'm the reason she slit her throat! I feel like I'm the reason my son won't ever have his mom around! I'm the fucking reason for everything!" He sobbed loudly and sniffled.

Talon started to cry.

"I'm sorry Tal... " Troy turned around. "I didn't mean to yell and scare you." He sat down beside Talon and opened his arm up. "Come here."

Talon slowly climbed into Troy's arm and sobbed into Troy's chest. Troy rubbed his back a little and kissed the top of his head. "I'm sorry."

"Sweetheart, I know that you're juggling a lot right now. I just want you to know that I'm here for you, whenever you need me... Do you think you could come back to Ohio for a while?"

"I don't know." Troy sighed and wiped his tears away. "I can barely spend time with Talon because I've been so backed up with football and class until just today. And with all this Gabriella shit, I don't know if I have the patience to drive up there with Talon, because everything reminds me of Gabriella."

"Just for a while. Please?"

"I'll check into it." Troy rubbed his forehead. "I'll let you know next week. I'm on a month break right now and I'm trying to spend it with Talon."

"Why don't you come down for just a few days? Please? I really want to see you and Talon!"

"Alright! I'll get up there later on. I'm not staying any longer than like... Three days. I have Talon now."

"I'll tell your dad."

"Alright mom, bye."

"I LOVE YOU!"

"I love you too." He sighed. "Bye."

Troy set the phone beside him and groaned to himself, setting his face in his hands. His body jerked once as he let a couple tears out, but redeemed himself and wiped them away.

"Talon, we're going to Ohio." He kissed the top of his head. "The land of the assholes and the home of the drugheads."