As always, thank you so much for all the reviews. They mean a lot to me.
A/N: This is the last chapter of this story. As you could probably tell from the previous chapter, things were kind of wrapping up anyway. The reason I am ending this story now is because I am just very busy and only have time to write so many things at once, LOL. Anyway, thank you ALL so much for reading and reviewing. It really means a lot to me and makes me want to keep writing. I do hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Disclaimer: Same as always.
Going Home, Ch. 34
2 Months Later…
Sharpay brought the chicken outside to where the adults were sitting. She set it down in the middle of the table and motioned for everyone to start eating.
"This is great honey," Troy said as he took a bite.
"Thank you," she said smiling. She looked over at Gabi, "So how are you feeling?"
"Great, thank you," she said patting her stomach.
Ryan shook his head and looked at his sister mouthing the word 'hormones,' thus causing everyone at the table to crack up.
Gabi looked up, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing dear," Ryan said as he kissed her head.
Chad looked over at Taylor, "Is your back hurting again? You know the doctor said that…"
"I know what the doctor said," Taylor said harshly as she rubbed her lower back. It had been bothering her for a few weeks now which had begun to worry Chad. Even though the doctor assured the two that the babies were perfectly healthy, he was having his doubts. "I'm fine all right," she said a bit calmer. She gave him a reassuring smile.
Not completely satisfied with what she said, he decided to go along with it, not wanting to put his wife in another 'mood.'
Taylor winced as she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Not wanting to worry anyone (especially Chad), she tried her best to hide it. Unfortunately…
"Taylor what's wrong," Kelsi asked from across the table.
"I'm fine," she said breathing slowly. This couldn't be labor; it didn't feel like a contraction. It felt more like…indigestion. Yet she had not eaten anything in quite a few hours.
Chad studied his wife's face and could see that she was lying. "Are you in labor," he asked, standing up. "We should get to the hospital…"
"Chad I am not in…OW!" She yelled as she grabbed her stomach. "Kicking," she said taking slow deep breaths, "They're just…kicking," she said as she regained her composure.
"If you're sure…" Troy said carefully.
"I'm sure," came the reply.
"So," Jason said, trying to move on to another topic, "How's the third grade Gabi?"
"Jason it's June. School has been out for a week now," she said.
"Oh…right. Well then how is your summer so far?"
"Jason no offense, but you are not very good at trying to change subjects," Taylor said through her pain. "Excuse me for a moment." She stood up and walked into the house.
Sharpay watched as she left, "Maybe I should…"
"No she'll be fine," Chad said not wanting to start a war between his wife and everyone else.
"CHAD!"
He quickly got up and ran inside to Taylor, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"My water…it…broke," she said in the middle of a contraction.
"I knew it," Chad said proudly. "I was right! You are in labor!"
"Yeah good for you," she said sarcastically. "Now can we please…?"
"I need to go tell everyone I was right," he said, forgetting about the fact that he needed to be taking her to the hospital.
"Chad…"
"Hang on honey, I'll be right back."
"Chad, you dolt!" She yelled, "I'm in labor! I need to go to the…OW…hospital!"
He stopped mid-step and turned around, "Good point. Then I should go tell everyone that we're leaving to go to the hospital."
"That would be considerate," she said through her pain.
He hurried out to the backyard, "She's fine," he said to his friends, all of whom had worry written all over their faces, "She's just in labor so we need to go."
Sharpay nodded and stood up and walked into the house, "What's the number," she asked referring to Taylor's doctor.
Taylor gave Sharpay the number. Sharpay then called the doctor and told her what was going on and that Taylor would be arriving at the hospital shortly.
"Thank goodness I have at least one normal person in my life," Taylor said as she sneered at Chad. "Anyway I'm sorry to…have to…go so soon but…"
"Don't worry about it," Sharpay said as she ushered the two to the door. "We'll be there in a bit all right?"
Chad nodded, "Thanks Shar…oh and dinner was…"
"Chad!"
"Gotta go!" He hurried out to the car where Taylor was waiting.
The rest of the gang made their way up to the maternity ward of the hospital. Troy's parents were watching Lizzie and Daniel while Gabi's mother was watching Aimee and Jason's mother was watching Alexandra.
"We should probably wait out here," Ryan said when he saw Gabi begin to walk to the desk to ask what room Taylor was in.
"Yeah I guess," she said as she sat down next to him.
Taylor lay back in the bed; the contraction was finally over. She looked over at Chad, "I swear if you get me pregnant again I am going to kill you."
"Yes dear," he said quietly; he was in too much pain from her squeezing his hand.
The doctor walked into the room, "All right Taylor," she said after examining her, "You're fully dilated so it's time to move you into the delivery room."
"Oh joy," Taylor said as she was moved from the bed to a gurney. She looked up at Chad, "Don't leave."
"I'm not going anywhere," he said with a smile as he kissed her forehead. "You're stuck with me."
She smiled softly, "Thank you."
"Okay Taylor on this next contraction I want you to push as hard as you can," her doctor ordered.
She nodded, "Okay." She sat up and took a few deep breaths before pushing.
"Good," the doctor said, "The baby is already crowning. Okay you need to push again."
"No…I can't," she said weakly.
"Yes you can," Chad said as he grabbed her hand. "You can do this; do it for the babies, Tay."
She suddenly felt a burst of strength hit her as she sat up again and pushed with all her might.
"That's it," Chad said as she pushed, "You can do it…"
Suddenly there was a shrill cry in the room.
"Congratulations you two, you have a daughter," the doctor said.
Taylor smiled and looked at Chad, "I'm not outnumbered anymore."
"We'll see about that. What if the next one is a boy?"
"Oh shut up," she said smiling. "Is she okay?" She asked the doctor.
"Your daughter is very healthy; she is 6 pounds, 3 ounces."
Chad looked down at Taylor, "Do you have a favorite name for a girl," he asked. They had picked out two girls' names and two boys' names just to be on the safe side.
"Yes I like…It's coming again!"
Chad frowned, "That's not a name we agreed on."
"No you idiot! The baby!"
The doctor turned her attention back to Taylor, "Okay you know the drill," she said. "I'm going to count to ten again and you push. Got it?"
Taylor nodded and did as she was told. After two pushes, she was wiped out. "I…can't…anymore…"
"Taylor you can do it," Chad said as he kissed her head. "Come on you know you can do it; this baby wants to come out and meet its parents."
She nodded, "Okay…" And with that she pushed as hard as she could until she heard another loud cry. She lay back on the bed and felt tears of joy fall down her face.
"You did it," Chad said ecstatically. "You did it honey."
"Yeah…" She looked at the doctor, "Is the baby okay?"
She nodded, "Yes your other daughter is just fine," she said smiling.
"Other d…wait a minute," Taylor said, "We have two…we have two daughters," she said happily."
Chad simply hugged and kissed her, "Congratulations mom."
"You too, dad."
"And here are your daughters," the doctor said as she handed one to Taylor and had the nurse hand the other one to Chad. "Your other daughter weighs 6 pounds and 7 ounces; congratulations guys."
"Thank you," Taylor said as she looked at her daughter. "Hi…Hayden Chloe Danforth."
Chad smiled and looked at the baby in his arms, "And hello to you, Sophia Renee Danforth."
Chad walked out into the waiting area and saw everyone sitting there either reading something or talking to someone. "Ahem," he said.
Everyone looked up at him, "Yes, daddy," Sharpay said smiling.
"Taylor and I would like you to meet two new members of our family," he said as he motioned for everyone to follow him.
Taylor was sitting in the bed holding the babies when Chad and everyone else walked in. She looked up and smiled.
There were several "How adorable!" and "They look exactly alike!" comments from all.
"So," Jason asked, "What are their names?"
"This," Chad said picking the girl in Taylor's right arm up, "Is Hayden Chloe Danforth and…"
"And this," Taylor said, "Is Sophia Renee Danforth."
"Hayden and Sophia," Gabi said. "I like the sound of that."
"So do we," Taylor said with a chuckle.
6 Months Later…
It had been 8 months since Karen reentered Troy's life. He had finally managed to get through to her that she was no longer a part of his life; that part was over and done with. He was now married to the woman whom he adored and had two wonderful children; sure one of them wasn't his by birth, but Lizzie was still his daughter and to her, Troy was her father.
Sharpay now trusted Troy with every fiber of her being; she knew that he would never do anything to harm their marriage; for the two loved each other too much.
Lizzie was happier than anything. She had her very first competition in riding class the week before and ended up winning second place. Sure she had wanted to win first, but she still got a small trophy along with a ribbon that she had her parents place on her wall. She had never been more proud of herself and it made her parents very happy to see her so 'alive.' Although she had never truly lost the glimmer in her eyes, when she had been kidnapped by Mark something had gone missing; there was a sparkle missing that had decided to make its appearance known after the competition. She still had seizures every now and then, for she did have epilepsy but even she now knew the weird feeling of when one was coming on and although they could not be prevented, they were under control.
Even though he was barely a year old, Daniel was one of the happiest babies out there. Anyone who saw him could tell you that. He had begun to walk at 10 months; something that neither Troy nor Sharpay were prepared for and slowly began to say 'mama' and 'dada.'
The one thing that Troy and Sharpay were rather relieved about was the fact that Mark was sentenced to serve the remainder of his prison term (which was only going to be another 2 months) back in California. He had also been told that if he even tried to get within 100 yards of Sharpay that he would go back to jail.
Gabi and Ryan were overjoyed when they found out that they were going to have a second child; a boy this time. Aimee was less than pleased even though she was only 2 ½ years old. She made it a point to tell her parents that she wanted a sister and that her mom had to return this baby and get another one. She was too young to know where babies really came from so Ryan and Gabi attempted to make the little girl understand that this little brother-to-be of hers would be just as wonderful as a sister. Although she didn't understand them, she seemed to approve.
Jason and Kelsi tried several times but were saddened to learn that Kelsi could not get pregnant. They decided on looking into adoption but put that on hold when they saw how truly happy and blessed they were to have Alexandra. She truly was the light of their lives.
Chad and Taylor were overwhelmed quite a few times with their children but everyday they would say a prayer of thanks for how blessed they had been with their family; Matthew, Hayden, and Sophia were the light of their lives and even though it was often hard to manage three children, two of them being 6 month old twins, they always seemed to pull through.
Sharpay smiled and watched as Lizzie opened her birthday present. All she could do was smile when she saw the 5 year old's face light up with joy when she saw her gift. The sparkle was definitely back.
Lizzie just smiled and hugged the picture frame that held a picture of Lizzie sitting on Dreamer after having come in 2nd at the competition.
"There's more," Troy said as he handed her something else.
Lizzie smiled as she took the small box and opened it. Inside was something that she had always admired whenever she and her parents would walk past the store. Inside the box was a heart-shaped locket. Lizzie opened the locket up and smiled when she saw a picture of her parents in it. She ran up to the two and bear-hugged them. "Thank you," she exclaimed.
It was at that moment that Sharpay knew that the smartest thing she had ever done in her life was going home to her family. Nothing would ever top the happiness she now had.
Sigh. Well I hope you liked it! I'm sorry if the ending was kind of weird but I wanted to make it sweet. Please review and once again thank you so very much for reading!