PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU READ CHAPTER!

(A/N: I have a quick question. Do you think I should put pictures of what Troy's kids look like? And what the animals look like? I would post the links at the bottom of my profile. Because I really have no way to describe them to you guys. Let me know what you think in the reviews.)

Okay, now you may read the chapter. :)

The Autumn leaves swept over Troy's feet as he waited at the bus stop. He hugged a sleeping Talon close to him and kissed the top of his head. He moved his dark blonde hair out of his face and looked around for an oncoming bus. But, nothing came but cold chills and freezing wind. Talon, being a trooper, huddled close to his daddy and shivered a little, but didn't complain about the cold wind brushing against him.

A month after Troy got out, he got sideswiped by something that had completely and totally devastated his life.

In a drunken state, Troy went bar hopping, clubbing, drinking parties, etc. He had slept with many girls, prostitutes, and was living the life of a partier. What he didn't realize at the time was that while sleeping with girls, he never used protection. And nothing else happened but what he never would have expected.

On September 20th, he was called in for over 5 DNA tests to see if he fathered some of these girls' children. Four were suing child support. Troy was completely and totally astonished. Never in his life had he thought he was capable of sleeping with so many girls at one time, let alone fathering all of their kids.

So Troy willingly took the tests. He waited almost 3 days for results to come back. Sitting by the phone, he received a call back from the clinic.

4 out of the 5 weren't his.

One was.

And because of that, Troy cried all night, wondering how he could have ever done such a thing, and why he had to be in such a horrible place with a girl he barely knew.

Luckily, that girl didn't want Child Support. She didn't want anything from Troy. Literally.

So, she handed over the baby without saying another word. Full custody. No rights. She didn't want to see that baby ever again. Of course, she was a prostitute. And still, while all this happened right in front of his face, he still couldn't believe what was going on.

And now Troy had with two kids, one he didn't know existed and one he just got back a month earlier. An almost 3 month old baby, and a two year old. Both were Troy's worst nightmares.

He struggled, but he still made it.

Although he had made two huge mistakes, one with Talon and one with his new baby, he couldn't back out and not be their father. He had to step up and be there for them.

Even if it meant taking a college and work leave to do it.

Since he had just taken his car to the shop and had no ride home, he had to take the bus back to his house.

He hated riding the bus.

Talon still had a broken leg from when he fell down the stairs. It cracked again, not from falling or from his own fault, but it healed incorrectly in the first place. So once again, the leg had a tiny crack. It still caused Talon loads of pain.

One thing Troy did love was the fact that Talon did everything he could to help Troy out, whether it was with the baby or picking up his toys on his own, turning off the TV at night, putting dishes in the sink… Talon loved helping Troy, with a broken leg or not.

But Talon couldn't help Troy with the thing that he needed the most help with.

Troy's newest baby was born on July 12th. He named the baby Lyle Flynn Bolton. The first name came from his own name vocabulary, and the middle came from Gabriella's favorite names list. Bryn was one of her favorite names for girls, but he changed the B to F and added another n. Hence, the name Flynn came to mind.

He loved Lyle like he loved Talon. The only thing Troy couldn't get around was the fact that Lyle's mother was a prostitute, somebody who didn't care about their kid or their life, but someone who cared about sex and money. The lady didn't look as old as Troy, either. She looked fairly young, about 15 or 16. He felt horrible for ever doing that to such a girl, and to be honest, it really wasn't his fault. But he still blamed himself. He blamed himself for everything, which is where the blame should lie, but the one thing he blamed himself for the most part was Gabriella's death, which wasn't his fault. He wished God would give Gabriella a second chance, so that she could see her son, be able to hold and love him, and to watch him grow up to become a man, a better one than Troy. He wished that she would grow back to him again, and they would get married and walk along the yellow brick road, with many of their little kids running circles around them. He wanted to be able to kiss her and hold her while they slept side by side in bed. He wanted to wake up in the morning and listen to her moan and groan about going to work and getting their kids off to school.

He wanted Gabriella back, and there was no doubt to that.

The bus roared to a stop as Troy's mind woke from his daydreaming. He grabbed Lyle, found a seat, and set Lyle there, and went back for Talon, who helplessly waited with a broken leg. He sat in his seat, Talon on his lap and Leland beside him. The bus screeched and quivered, then started off down the lonely street. There were only about 20 people on the bus, which wasn't a lot, and most of them were busily talking. Troy tightened one arm around Talon and the other held Leland's carseat.

"Lyle?" Talon looked down at Leland, who was soundly sleeping.

"Yeah, that's Lyle."

"Sleepy?"

Troy looked over for a second. "He's sleeping."

"Kisses?"

The bus passed the intersection of Dale Road and Byerly Drive. They were on the right path.

Troy sunk back into his seat with a sigh. "What did you say?"

"Kisses." Talon smiled a little.

"You can't give him kisses when he's sleeping, Tal."

Talon pouted and crossed his arms.

Troy fell into Talon's wrath.

"Oh alright. But I have to get a picture of you kissing him, okay?"

Talon grinned with satisfaction and leaned towards Lyle with his lips all puckered up. Troy held his phone up.

"Okay, give him a kiss."

As Talon's lips touched Lyle's forehead, Troy snapped a picture and sent it to his mom and dad, tagging it as "Kisses on a bus ride home".

Talon looked at Troy with a happy face. "Lemme see!"

"Hold on… " Troy found the picture and turned the phone so Talon could see.

Talon's face was completely priceless.

The bus screeched to a stop, its doors swung open, and in came a tall man with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing nothing other than a OSU jersey and a pair of tattered, old jeans. He carried with him a helmet and a football, both signed by the New Orleans Saints head football coach.

He sat across from Troy, checked his watch, and sighed.

He was about Troy's age.

The man happened to look over at Troy.

"Troy? Troy Bolton?" He said in a light tone.

Troy raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

"Jake Stantley!" He turned in his seat with a big, toothy smile on his face. "Do you remember me?"

"Not really- "

"High school? Football?"

A light bulb finally flickered in Troy's head.

"Oh, Jake!" Troy laughed. "I've been through a lot lately, sorry I didn't remember you."

"It's fine." He shook his head. "You don't look a day older!"

"Either do you!" Troy turned towards him. "Are you still playing football?"

"Oh yeah. I'm playing for OSU right now. How about you?"

"Don't have time to." Troy chuckled.

"Don't have time to?"

"My boys."

Jake pointed. "Those are your kids?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, I never imagined that you would have kids." Jake laughed. "Never in my life."

"Well, I have two. Both boys." He pulled Talon closer to his chest when he began to slip off his knees.

"Who's their mom? Where is she?"

Troy bit his lip. "Talon, this one." He pointed to Talon. "His mom is Gabriella, do you remember her? She was a freshman the last time you saw her. She had dark hair, brown eyes, short, had straight A's… "

"Oh, the girl you got pregnant back in high school? That girl?"

"Yeah, that's her."

"And then Lyle's mom, who is over here, isn't in the picture."

"Sounds like that was a fun custody battle."

"It went unrealistically really well. Nothing happened. She handed him right over. Didn't want anything to do with him."

"Awh, that sucks."

"It sure does." Troy sighed. "Now I'm stuck as a single dad with two kids on my hands. One for each hand." He scoffed. "There's probably another on the way somewhere else." Troy joked.

"That one on your lap looks just like you." He smiled a little.

"Oh, I know. He doesn't look anything like Gabi. But he has her heart and soul. That's one good thing that came out of that situation."

He nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss, Troy. I really am."

Troy sighed. "It's been rough."

"I would imagine so."

The bus halted to a stop, and a couple more people got on. As soon as it started again, Troy started talking.

"So, why are you down here?"

Jake played with the stitches on the football. "We were here for the Saints' game today. And we're staying here until Halloween. Then, we're going to Atlanta for trick-or-treating. I'll be here for a while. Why are you down here?"

"I live down here."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. I've been down here for over two years now."

"Do you go to college down here?"

"Yep. I permanently live down here."

"I thought you would have stayed in Ohio." Jake chuckled a little and looked back up. "And played for OSU."

"I played only for the best, you know that."

The bus stopped once again.

Troy got up, knowing it was his drop off. He grabbed Lyle's carseat and hoisted Talon on his hip. "It was nice talking to you, Jake."

"You too!" Jake grinned. "We should hang out sometime. Give me your number."

Troy sighed and jogged is memory for his phone number. "Um… "

Once he finally remembered, he said it out loud as Jake put it in his phone.

"Alright. I'll see you later, Troy."

"Bye Jake."

Troy got off the bus, and watched it pull away. The tires squeaked.

He would probably never see Jake again.