Mistakes

Hey guys, this is my new story Mistakes, so please read it and tell me what you think of it and whether I should continue it or not!

Chapter 1

He sighed as he nursed the long since cold coffee in his numb hands, wondering how he could do what he was doing. Wondering how the hell he could be going back to that place that held all of the memories, the good ones, and the plain and simply awful ones. Wondering how he could take the most precious thing in his life back to the place where they had both been caused so much pain, even if she was unaware of it.

How could he return to Albuquerque, even if it had been sixteen years, two weeks, three days, three hours and twenty-two minutes exactly since the incident had happened and he had left the city limits of Albuquerque, never to return, or so he had hoped at the time.

Troy Bolton sighed again as he thought back to the fateful day that had been the best and the worst day of his life, the day he lost something irreplaceable, yet gained something possibly even more irreplaceable.

Flashback – 8th August 2008, 8 am

Troy grinned as he walked passed the nurses station and headed straight for a room that his heart had memorised from about half two that morning, the room where both of his beauties were held. Yes, at the tender age of eighteen years old, Troy Bolton was a father, and he couldn't have been more proud of his girlfriend or their little girl, their little wonder, who still needed a name.

Grinning still, Troy entered Gabriella's room and instantly saw that she was alone, his parents and her mother having disapproved straight from the start, and all of which refusing to talk to the two teenagers, or come and see their newly born granddaughter, and none of the gang there, as Troy and Gabriella had made the conscious decision not to tell any of them until after the baby had been born, just in case something had happened during the pregnancy, or they had given the baby up for adoption after all, which Troy secretly knew he could never do as he had loved this baby since the minute that Gabriella had told him about her when she was only two months pregnant, and so did Gabriella, or so Troy thought.

Troy smiled again as he neared Gabriella's bed and placed his coffee on the table at Gabriella's bedside, seeing her staring at the tiny little baby that was currently peacefully sleeping held in the petite crib.

"Hey babe," He murmured quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping baby, and leaned over to kiss her lightly on the lips, but Gabriella turned her head, so that he only caught her cheek, causing him to frown.

"What's wrong?" He instantly asked her, concern and worry taking over his entire being at the way that Gabriella was still staring at their little girl, so intently, barely blinking.

"Take her," Gabriella suddenly whispered, tearing her gaze away from the baby to look at Troy, her gaze cold and hard, not like the gentle, loving one that he was used to as he opened his mouth in utter shock.

"Wh…what?" Troy finally managed to stutter out, his eyes never leaving Gabriella's almost black ones, as shock and horror swept over him, and he felt as though he was going to throw up.

"Take her and go," Gabriella stated evenly, never breaking her gaze with Troy, their eyes locked in a silent battle.

"Gabriella, what do you mean? She's your daughter! She needs her mother! You love her!" Troy cried out in a desperate attempt to reach the Gabriella that he knew and loved, as he leapt off of the bed, just staring at the cold-hearted woman that had suddenly appeared where his girlfriend should have been, his coffee completely forgotten about on the side table.

"No Troy, I don't love her, she's ruined my life, I can't be a mother and go to college, I shouldn't even be a mother, I mean I'm eighteen for G-d's sake! It's just wrong, so if you want the mistake, then take her, but if you don't get her out of my sight in the next five minutes, I am going to sign adoption papers, which I have full right to do as I'm the mother and you and I aren't married," Gabriella spat, sneering slightly at Troy as he watched her in shock.

"Gabriella you can't do this! You don't mean that she's ruined your life! Your mother got to you didn't she? Gabriella you, me and the baby are a family, nothing will ever change that, she needs us both, not just me and not just you, we're in this together Gabriella, you can't just leave us," Troy screamed out frantically, trying to change his girlfriend's mind, "You love us," he pleaded quietly, his voice breaking but Gabriella's expression remained hard.

"No I don't love you anymore and I definitely do not love her I never have and I never will, she was a mistake, and I should have had an abortion while I could, now take her and get out, or I will sign those papers, I mean it Troy, get that ugly little brat out of my sight, before I do something that I would love to do, but which I'm sure you would hate," Gabriella glared hard at him, before turning her gaze to looking out of the window again, "You two ruined my life but I'm going to get that back."

Troy looked at her, open mouthed, the tears silently rolling down his cheeks, as he moved to the crib that held his young daughter, only six hours old, and already without a mother, he gently manoeuvred her into his arms, shushing her gently as she cried softly, Gabriella's gaze momentarily flickering to the pair, before she turned her lip up in disgust and looked back out of the window.

Silently, Troy walked out of Gabriella's room, and out of her life, but as soon as he reached the family room, he fell into the nearest seat, and started to weep, for everything that he was losing, but when his little girl started to cry as well, Troy instantly knew what to do, and slowly manoeuvred her so that her head was resting on his shoulder, as he gently rubbed circles onto her back and sang softly to her, breathing a sigh of relief when she calmed down, and he moved her back so that she was lying in his lap, and he was watching her as her chest rose and fell lightly in her deep slumber.

He smiled softly, a few tears still falling as he looked at his daughter; caramel coloured skin already showing on her face, although she did have two rosie cheeks, neck and hands, the rest of her body covered in a baby pink piglet sleep suit, her head already a mass of thick dark curls, Troy could already tell that he was going to be fighting the boys' off of her when she reached her teenage years, he smiled sadly and gently stroked her cheek, his smile brightening as her eyes flickered open, and she stared at him with bright blue ocean coloured eyes, the same as his own.

"It's just you and me now baby girl," he whispered to her softly, and she blinked sleepily back at him in response, which made him laugh softly. "Oh that's right you still need a name right princess," he grinned and she blinked again, as Troy thought, and about ten minutes later, he had the perfect name for the baby lying on his lap. "Lilly-Ella Anne Bolton," he whispered softly, gently brushing the curls on top of her head. "Your Mommy and I decided a long time ago that if we had a little girl we'd call her Lilly, and I always called your Mommy Ella, so it fits," he smiled again at the baby, as he gently leaned forward to kiss her forehead, before lightly resting his nose on hers and pulling a funny face at her, as she slowly started to drift into another slumber.

Troy sighed, thinking of the hard times ahead for him and little Lilly-Ella, as he gently moved her so that he could get her little pink hat on her, without waking her up, and wrapped her in the pink baby blanket, placing her in her car seat, before walking to the nurses station to register her and sign her out of the hospital.

Taking one last look at Gabriella's room, Troy turned and walked from the hospital, strapping the baby seat carefully into the back of his truck and driving home to explain to his parents what was going on, not that they would be to thrilled, and then packing up to leave for LA, vowing to never return to Albuquerque ever again, much less take Lilly-Ella back there.

End Flashback

"Daddy?" a voice questioned behind him and Troy jumped, turning around to see his sixteen year old daughter standing behind him, grinning a grin that she could only have inherited from her Mother, everything but her eyes being the exact duplicate of his ex-girlfriend, as Troy rolled his eyes slightly and held out his arms, expecting a hug, which Lilly-Ella gladly obliged to, wrapping her arms tightly around her father.

"Ready to go baby girl?" Troy asked her softly, having never gotten out of the habit of calling her that, kissing the top of her head as he felt Lilly-Ella nod and mumble something into his chest, which made him chuckle softly, as his daughter pulled away and studied her thirty four year old father with her own sapphire blue orbs, shrugging slightly and grabbing the apple that he had left out for her.

"What was that look and the shrug for?" Troy asked suspiciously, as he washed out his mug and placed it in the box of essentials that the movers had left, taking everything else with them earlier that morning.

"Eh, you'll do," Lilly-Ella laughed, her eyes twinkling, as Troy raised his eyebrows, noticing not for the first time just how much like Gabriella that Lilly-Ella was.

"Dad, hellooooo," Lilly-Ella whistled, waving a hand in front of a zoned out Troy's face. "Awww well, I'm just going to have to go and raid the safe that he has obviously left full," she grinned and started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Hold it, freeze!" Troy called, running after his daughter, finally realising what she had said, "How did you know about the safe? And more importantly, how do you know the lock combination?"

Lilly-Ella just turned around, grinning, "Well when you're captain of the LA Lakers for the past ten years, and were on the team for five and a half years before that, you're gonna have one somewhere, and it doesn't take a genius to work out the code when you used my birthday Dad," She smirked as she looked at Troy, rolling her eyes only slightly, having also inherited Gabriella's intellect.

"Yeah, well you're a genius anyway," Troy muttered, still bug eyed from how much his daughter knew, as she shrugged modestly, "Anyway, you get the box left in the kitchen, and I'll deal with the safe, just go out and wait in the car," he ordered and laughed as Lilly-Ella saluted him and walked back into the kitchen, still munching on her apple.

"Are you gonna miss this place?" Troy asked turning to Lilly-Ella slightly, as they pulled out of the driveway of what had been their home since she was only six years old.

Lilly-Ella shrugged slightly, turning in her seat to face her Dad, "I suppose, but that's only cause it's the only place that I've ever known, other than the apartment, can't say that I'm gonna miss kids calling me freaky math girl anymore, I just hope that they won't at East High, what about you Dad?" She glanced back up at her father, who had always hated the fact that she was bullied slightly at school for her high intelligence.

"Can't say I am Lila," he muttered, using his nickname for her, that no one else under pain of death would dare to use, "I mean I had to play under a false name and the wig and contacts were always itchy," Lilly-Ella giggled, remembering the amount of times that Troy had complained about the wig and the contact lenses that he had used to protect his and her identities. "Albuquerque has always been my home, probably always will be, I just promised myself that I would never return, but I'll be happy to just be Troy Bolton again, rather than Troy Bolton with you, a few friends and my parents and then Parker Smith to the rest of the world," he pulled a face and Lilly-Ella laughed once more, settling back in her seat, and wondering what life in Albuquerque would lead to…