A/N: This is the last chapter, the epilogue. I am officially done with this story. Now I have one or two more Multi-Chapter stories that need my attention. But I will probably be starting a new one soon. By the way, if you haven’t voted in my poll yet you should! As of right now Life with Derek is leading, but who knows…Anyway, enjoy! R&R! Thanks! –Mac

Disclaimer: I don’t own HSM.

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

Troy walked into the coffee shop he went to on a regular basis since he had moved out of his old apartment and into a larger place a few blocks away. He greeted one of the baristas, who knew him, cleaning a table near the entrance as he came in. After a short wait in line, Troy had put in his usual order. He stood back to wait for his coffee. His name was called and he picked up his cup. As he turned to leave he spotted a figure sitting alone at a table on the other side of the room. He glanced back and forth between the exit and the table. With a sigh, he made a decision. He weaved his way across the room until he stood in front of the table.

“Hi there, I saw you sitting here all alone and I thought I would come over and introduce myself,” Troy reached out his hand, “I’m Troy.”

The woman’s eyes locked on his and widened, but she shook his hand anyway, “I’m Claire.”

“Pleased to meet you, Claire,” Troy replied, sitting down in the chair across from her.

“Same to you Troy,” Claire smiled.

“How have you been?” Troy asked, dropping the act, “It’s been…”

“Nearly ten years,” Claire nodded. “I’ve been good. And you?”

Troy thought about it for a moment, “I’ve been…just amazing.”

“I heard you got married,” Claire stated.

“Yeah,” Troy agreed. “Gabriella and I got married after about a year of being together. The best thing I ever did. You know, we still go to that bar for the karaoke night. It’s like our little tradition.”

“That’s great. I’m happy for you,” Claire responded, “Do you have any kids?”

“Two, actually, and one on the way,” Troy answered, grinning widely at the thought of his children, “Charlie is six and Emma is four. Our third is due the end of next month, another boy.”

“Congratulations,” Claire replied. “Do you have any pictures?”

“Oh yeah,” Troy nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped through it and retrieved a wallet sized photo handing it to Claire. It was a portrait of the Bolton family—Troy, Gabriella and her rounded belly, and their two kids. “That was taken a couple weeks ago.”

“You have a beautiful family Troy,” Claire said as she handed him the picture back.

“Last I heard, you did too,” Troy responded as he tucked away the picture.

“I met Peter a couple months after we broke up. We got married not long after you and Gabriella. Our daughter Evangeline is the same age as your son,” Claire explained, and then after a moment added, “We’re very happy.”

“That’s great,” Troy replied. He took a long sip of his coffee. “Did you hear about Chad?”

“No, what happened to Chad?” Claire questioned.

“The unthinkable,” Troy chuckled. “…He got married.”

“No!” Claire exclaimed, “To who?”

“Do you remember Jenna?” Troy asked.

Claire nodded, “They got back together?”

“No, at his birthday right before they broke up she introduced him to a friend of hers from Yale. Turns out that he ran into this woman again not that long ago and she’s not as much of a torturous bore as he thought she was when they first met. He invited her out for coffee and the rest is history,” Troy explained. “Funny thing is, this girl went to our high school. Can you believe that? We spent four years walking the same halls as her and neither of us remembers ever speaking to her. We ran in different crowds I guess.”

“And he’s happy?” Claire asked, “Because I never thought I would see the day that he settled down.”

“He’s very happy,” Troy nodded. “Taylor, that’s his wife, just found out she was pregnant a few months ago. Gabriella and I went with them to register for their baby shower. He kept going on and on about how he was sure it was going to be a boy and how he and our youngest were only going to be a few months apart, which was perfect because they would be best friends like me and him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chad so excited to do something domestic.”

Claire smiled, “Who would have thought?”

“Certainly not me. But the guy’s full of surprises,” Troy responded with a laugh. “And he made a great choice, Taylor’s a wonderful woman—way out of his league but oddly enough, just right for him. She’s gotten him to grow up some, which he’s needed to do since…well…kindergarten. She and Gabriella have gotten along like old friends since they met, which is a plus.”

There was a short silence as both Claire and Troy sipped at their coffees. With most of the “safe” small talk out of the way, it was hard for either to find something to say. Claire sighed, there was something she felt she needed to say, but she wasn’t sure if she should test the waters on the “better left unspoken” topics of conversation. Tentatively, she began to speak.

“You know, Troy, after we broke up, I thought…”

“Claire, you don’t have to…”

“Actually, I do,” Claire shook her head. “After we broke up I thought that if I ever saw you again I wouldn’t be able to talk to you because ultimately we would get on the topic of you and Gabriella and how wonderful your lives were. I didn’t want to see her as the woman, who had stolen you away from me— because really it was me stealing you away from her, wasn’t it? But when I saw her at work, I wanted to be able to talk to her and still be her friend, but I couldn’t help but think about how she had you and I didn’t.”

“Claire, neither of us set out to hurt you,” Troy began, “And we were both so sorry that we did.”

“I know that. It took some time to realize it but we did the right thing,” Claire nodded. “If we hadn’t broken up when we did, we would have ultimately broken up in the near future. And I know I made it sound like everything was going to be okay when we broke up that night, but I didn’t believe a word I was saying. I was heartbroken. How could I not be? I was in love with you, I thought we were going to get married and live happily ever after. But we weren’t on the same page. I should have seen that.”

“It wasn’t your job to know the things I wasn’t telling you, Claire,” Troy responded, “There were so many things I felt I couldn’t say to you.”

“That is the exact reason I know we weren’t meant to be together,” Claire replied, “We are exactly where we are supposed to be right now.”

“We are,” Troy agreed, nodding slightly. He glanced down at his watch. “Wow, look at the time. It got away from us, didn’t it?”

“Yeah it did,” Claire said.

“I have to go. Charlie had a bit of a play date this morning and I have to pick him up,” Troy explained as he began to stand up.

Claire stood as well, “Wouldn’t want you to be late.”

Troy smiled, “It was great talking to you.”

“It was,” Claire nodded, “Maybe we could all get together sometime?”

“I would like that, and I think Gabriella would like that a lot,” Troy replied. “Let me write down my number for you.”

Claire reached into her purse for a pen and paper. Troy quickly jotted down his number and handed the scrap of paper and pen back to her. After another round of goodbyes, they shared a quick hug and Troy disappeared out of the coffee shop. Claire watched him leave before sitting back down in her seat. Replaying the meeting back over in her mind, Claire smiled. Everything had worked out the way it should have—and she had to take back the declaration she had made right after she and Troy broke up. She had for awhile wished she had never met Troy Bolton. Now, she felt she had to be pleased to have met him, because she never would have made it to where she was without having the experience of knowing him. As he walked away, Troy was having similar thoughts—without Claire, he probably wouldn’t have seen Gabriella again and he wouldn’t have the life he had come to love so much. The life he was going home to right then.

-+-+-+-+-

Troy and Charlie arrived back at their home not long after Troy had picked Charlie up from his friend’s house. Troy tossed the keys on the small table next to the front door and stowed away Charlie’s backpack in the coat closet. As he began to hang up both his and Charlie’s coats, he gave Charlie a simple direction.

“Hey Charlie, find mommy and Em. Tell them we’re home.”

Charlie grinned and took off running down the hall, his voice echoing off the walls as he yelled, “Moooommy! We’re Hooommme!”

Troy chuckled and finished putting away the coats, before following after his son. He found his family, moments later, in his and Gabriella’s bedroom. The three were curled up on their large bed watching cartoons. Charlie was already immersed in whatever the latest trendy cartoon was. Emma was nestled between her older brother and her mother. Her eyes focused on the TV. Gabriella was propped up against the headboard, one hand resting on her pregnant belly. She looked up and smiled as Troy entered the room. He kicked off his shoes and crawled onto the bed with them.

“Hi,” Gabriella murmured.

Troy dropped a small kiss to her lips, “Hi.”

“Everything go okay?” Gabriella asked.

“Yeah. Apparently there was a short moment where Jeremy didn’t want to share his action figures, but everything got settled and Charlie left all smiles,” Troy explained.

“That’s good,” Gabriella replied. “Did you get your coffee like you wanted?”

“I did,” Troy nodded, “You’ll never guess who I ran into at the coffee place.”

“Who?” Gabriella grew curious.

“Claire,” Troy answered simply.

Gabriella took a moment to process, “How is she?”

“Married just like we heard. She has a daughter the same age as Charlie,” Troy said, “She looks happy.”

“Just like us,” Gabriella responded.

“Just like us,” Troy agreed, smiling brightly. “You know meeting you was the best thing to ever happen to me, right?”

“You’re the best thing to ever happen to me too, Mr. Bolton,” Gabriella replied.

“Well, Mrs. Bolton, that is good to hear,” Troy whispered back, capturing her lips in a deep kiss.

They broke apart at the sound of their children’s harmonized yell of, “Eeeeeww!!”

Troy and Gabriella shared a look before bursting into laughter. They both knew they had found their happily ever after in that moment. It had taken a long time to get there, but there was no denying they were meant to be right where they were.

The End