A/N: Some people are expressing difficulties remembering which girl goes with which parent. This is how I remember. Vanessa lives with Gabriella, because Gabriella in real life in Vanessa Hudgens. And Ashley lives with Troy, because that's where Sharpay is, who is Ashley Tisdale. And, if you were wondering, yes I did that on purpose.

"Hi, Gabi," Troy said.

"Hi, Troy," Gabriella said. "Uh, long time no see. Please try not to go crazy."

"I think it's a little late for that advice. I just walked into the pool. What on earth is going on? I haven't seen or heard from you in eleven years, and suddenly you're popping up everywhere I look and naturally, today, the day we come back to–"

"Uh, Dad, I can explain why she's here," Vanessa said.

"Um…and why is that?" Troy asked.

"You and Mom sort of think alike, because you both sent us to the same camp, and we met and the whole thing kid of just unraveled," Ashley said.

"They switched on us," Gabriella said.

"You've had Ashley all this time?" Troy asked her. She nodded.

"Are you angry?" Ashley asked.

"Of course not," Troy said. "But…this is unbelievable. This is…wow."

"I haven't seen them together since they had diaper rash," Gabriella said.

"Well, I'm headed into my crazy mixed up teenage years, and I'll be the only girl I know without a mother to fight with," Ashley said.

"And I'm quite without a father," Vanessa said.

"Mom's amazing, Dad, I don't know how you ever let her go," Ashley said.

"Girls, why don't you let your father and I talk for a bit?" Gabriella said. Ashley and Vanessa exchanged looks before going back into the house. Troy grabbed a towel and started to dry himself off.

"I cannot believe this," Troy said. "I mean seeing them…and…and you…How are you Gabi? Or does everyone call you Gabriella now?"

"Well, most people call me Miss Montez," Gabriella said, smiling, "but you can call me Gabi. I've been terrific. How about you?"

"I've had better days," Troy said, shaking the water out of his pockets. "I can't believe it, you haven't changed a bit."

"You thought I'd be fat and grey?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, no," Troy said.

"Okay, now someone explain to me what on earth is going on!" Sharpay said very loudly emerging from the house in a different swimsuit and robe combo.

"Uh, Shar, I think I can explain," Vanessa said, coming out of the house.

"Oh, really?" Sharpay asked. "I seriously doubt it."

"Me too, but I think I can help," Ashley added, joining her. Sharpay yelped at the twins.

"Um, did I ever mention Ashley was a twin?" Troy said.

"No, as a matter of fact you didn't," Sharpay said.

"Don't feel bad, Shar," Ashley said. "He never mentioned it to me either. By the way, I'm the real Ashley. This is Vanessa. She was just pretending to be me while I was here pretending to be her."

"Um, okay," Sharpay said. "And why does she decide to come into our house on this lovely day?" Sharpay looked around the group, slowly putting everything together. Gabriella donned a really guilty face. "Oh, don't tell me they're…Oh no."

"Yes, this is our mother," Vanessa said. "Gabriella Montez. By the way, mom, I want to change my name to Vanessa Montez-Bolton.

"She's your mother?" Sharpay asked. The twins nodded. "And you knew." She pointed at Troy, who nodded. "And you knew." She pointed at Gabriella, who also nodded. "And Chad and Ryan knew." More nods. "And Taylor and Kelsi, who, I assume are both also inside, know." More nods. "So, I'm the only one left out of the loop?"

"Well, I don't think Zeke knows," Troy said.

"Were you two married?" Sharpay asked.

"Uh…yeah," Troy said. "This should probably be something we talk about, just us, isn't it?"

"This is a very small world," Sharpay said.

"And getting smaller," Troy said.

"And so that's why Ryan is here and not in New York, and that's why you're here," Sharpay said, to Gabriella.

"Actually," Gabriella said, "I came here to switch them back. The rest of the plan was all them."

"Which reminds me, can we work on the custody issue sometime?" Ashley said.

"Like tonight, over dinner?" Vanessa said.

"Um…" Troy began.

"I'm sorry, I just don't see why you have to have dinner with your ex-wife to do this. Why couldn't you just sit in the living room, discuss the custody, shake hands and say goodbye? I'll tell you why: because your daughters don't want me to marry you," Sharpay said, later that afternoon. Gabriella had taken both girls back to her house. Ryan and Kelsi had gone with. Chad and Taylor along with Zeke were still at the Mansion.

"That's not true," Troy said.

"And, while we're on the subject, it's not just your ex-wife," Sharpay continued. "It's Gabriella Montez. Of all the people in this world I hate, and there are a lot of them – Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, that guy who always talks smack about my hair at the hair dressing place, Chad – she's the one I hate the most!"

"I'm sorry?" Troy said.

"But back to the point at hand, they don't want me to marry you. They see me as the evil step-mother. Trust me. I'm not being paranoid. Those girls have something up their sleeve."

"Honey, calm down, they've never had a meal with both their parents in their whole lives. How could I say no?"

"Simple as this: no."

"I have to get ready for dinner." Troy left the pool area for the room his suitcase was in.

"Ryan," Gabriella whined, "what should I wear? And I swear if you say the red dress, I'll stab you with a fork."

"I don't know," Ryan said. "I like the red dress." He took it out of the closet to hang it on the mirror. Gabriella took it and threw it on her bed.

"I was thinking the off-white one with the purple flowers," she said.

"Mom, if I may say, I like the red dress," Vanessa said. "You looked so pretty in it last winter."

"Yeah," Ashley supplied.

"Okay, everyone leave the room this instant," Gabriella said. Ryan snatched the red dress off the bed and left with the twins. Ten minutes later he reappeared in Gabriella's room wearing the dress. "Oh, my, God, Ryan, take that off."

"I said if you wouldn't wear it, I would," Ryan said. "Are you going to wear it or not?" Gabriella scowled at him, and he grinned triumphantly. "I look good, too." Kelsi laughed from the doorway.

That evening, Vanessa and Ashley had spilled their master plan to Ryan and Kelsi who offered to help. Troy showed up at Gabriella's house, wondering where they were going. Vanessa replied with a cryptic "you'll see" and Troy rolled his eyes. The six of them piled into the car, and began driving.

"Girls, where are we going?" Gabriella asked. She was wearing the red dress. Troy was wearing something nice as well.

"You'll see," Vanessa replied again. When they got to the place where they were going, Troy and Gabriella were told not to peek, and Ashley and Vanessa led them into the side door, and onto the stage.

"Okay, open your eyes," Ashley said. They were standing center stage in the East High Auditorium. The golden ladder and the purple moon from Twinkle Towne were both there. There was a table with a white table cloth set for two sitting next to them.

"Tada!" Vanessa said.

"The table's set for two," Troy observed.

"That's the other part. See, we're not joining you," Ashley said.

"You're not?" Gabriella asked.

"No, but we are, evidently," Ryan said. "We're serving."

"Mood music, Ash, if you don't mind," Kelsi said, winking at Ashley. Ashley pushed a button on the remote control for the stereo system. Kelsi had compiled a CD of instrumental versions of all the songs Troy and Gabriella had ever sung together.

"Relax…sail through time…" Ashley said.

"Back to yesteryear…" Vanessa said. Both girls made an exit, and Troy and Gabriella turned to face Ryan and Kelsi.

"Please don't kill us," Ryan said.

"They're recreating Twinkle Towne for us," Troy said. "The stage, the props, the music…"

"The help," Kelsi said, gesturing at herself and Ryan, who had composed and choreographed Twinkle Towne, respectively.

"It's sweet," Gabriella said.

The night wore on, and Troy and Gabriella talked, all the while eating fettuccini alfredo and drinking champagne.

"You know, I always see you in Ashley. Something about her eyes," Troy said.

"That's funny, I always see you in Vanessa. Something about her smile," Gabriella said.

"They turned out pretty good though, huh?" Troy said.

"We've been lucky," Gabriella said.

"Sometime, if we're ever really alone maybe we could talk about what happened between us? It all feels a bit hazy to me now. It ended so fast," Troy said.

"It happened so fast," Gabriella said.

Offstage, Kelsi and Ryan were preparing to serve the desserts.

"I think it's safe to serve the cheesecake," Kelsi whispered. Ryan was directly in back of her leaning over her shoulder to observe the events on the stage.

"That…uh…sounds like a plan," Ryan said. Kelsi turned around to get it, but Ryan was there. He was no longer staring at Troy and Gabriella, but at Kelsi. "What happened between us?"

"We took sides," Kelsi said.

"I did not," Ryan said.

"I did," Kelsi said.

"And why was that?"

"I can't remember." Ryan put his arm around Kelsi and pulled her into a kiss, much more romantic than the one earlier in the day had been. Troy and Gabriella onstage hadn't noticed.

"So, you work here now?" Troy said.

"Yeah," Gabriella said. "I teach science. And what do you do?"

"I…can't remember suddenly," Troy said. "Um…what was the question?"

"Cheesecake!" Kelsi said loudly, emerging from backstage with two plates of cheesecake.

"Thanks, Kels," Troy said.

"Yeah," Kelsi said. "Um…" She left again.

"She's weird today," Troy said.

"She always weird," Gabriella said.

"So what go we do about the girls?"

"Well I guess now that they've met, we can't very well keep them apart. I could keep them half the year and you could–"

"They can't go to two schools every year," Ryan supplied from the wings.

"I agree," Troy said.

"Okay, I could keep them for a whole year and then you could–"

"Gabs, that's why we have the solution we have."

"Really?" Gabriella said. "I thought it was because we decided never to see each other again."

"Not me, Gabi."

"You know, that part's become a bit fuzzy to me too…"

"You don't remember the day you packed?"

"No, that day I remember perfectly. Did I hurt you when I threw that…um, what was it?"

"It was…a hairdryer."

"Sorry," Gabriella said.

"So, how come you never got married again? I always figured you'd be remarried by now with a new family," Troy said.

"Who, me? No. No, no, no."

"That's a lot of nos."

"Because I learned a long time ago marriage isn't for me."

"You know I may never be alone with you again, so about the day you packed. Why'd you do it?"

"Nick, we were getting along so badly, we found out we each had tempers, we said foolish things. So I packed. I went back to my mother's house, and before I'd realized my mistake, everyone else's relationships dissolved, and you'd moved to England. And you never came back for me." There was three seconds of dead silence.

"I didn't know I was supposed to," Troy said.

"Well, it really doesn't matter now," Gabriella said. "Let's put on a good face for the girls, and get this show on the road?"

"Yeah," Troy said. "You're right. Let's get this show on the road."

A/N: It's so sad that Troy and Gabriella are being stupid and not getting back together yet. I can safely say that Ryan and Kelsi are gonna be alright. Which reminds me, I was watching some clips from HSM3, and I got very excited to see Ryan and Kelsi together. Makes me happy. Anyway, thanks for reading, and sticking with me this long. (The reason I'm terrible with updating this story is because I am not a big Troyella fan. Then why am I writing it? It fits, and I wanted to.) So, please leave me reviews! They make me happy like…something happy. And I don't own anything, as usual.

Samantha.