Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any such thing involved. It belongs to Disney.
"Ow!" an anxious thirty-two year old Troy Bolton yelped. He held his breath for a moment before opening his mouth again. He turned to his side quickly to glare at the woman, whom was clearly glaring back at him in return with her dangerous brown eyes. He rolled his eyes, growing annoyed, while he continued to fiddle with the keys in the door lock, hoping to dodge another hit from the side of him. Gabriella had hit him on the arm at least ten times since their trip back from Christmas shopping at the mall.
"What?" he growled, still glaring at his wife of thirteen years.
"You know exactly what, Troy Bolton!" she hissed, her eyes becoming more dangerous looking than ever, her cheeks that grew red with anger, and the way that she stood, that she meant business. He groaned as he struggled to get his key through the lock of the door, with his wife standing at his side with one hand on her hip, shifting her weight onto one foot, while she rested her other hand below her huge belly.
Yeah, she was pregnant... again, Troy thought. He looked at his kids that stood quietly behind Gabriella. They had looks of despair on their faces. Troy had wished those were looks, giving him the impression that they sympathized with him, but even HE knew that the two were growing sick of their mother as he was. He knew Gabriella was moodier and DEFINITELY grumpier than usual because she was heavily pregnant with their third child. But he was also tired for getting the blame of his wife's back aching, feet swelling, and food craving episodes. It wasn't all of his fault that she had to go through the ' many different joys of pregnancy'. But regardless, he usually got the blame for it.
"Daddy, hurry up and unlock the door! It's freezing out here!" thirteen year old Aspen complained. Troy sighed and finally opened up the door after being completely lost in his own thoughts. He picked up the shopping bags that were beside his feet and lead his wife and kids through the door. Gabriella continued to huff as she removed her jacket and threw it on the dining room chair. Troy scratched the back of his head and looked at his pregnant angry wife. He then slowly walked to her side and began to massage her shoulders until she swiped his hands away from her.
"Don't try to butter me up, Troy. I'm still pissed at you" she said bitterly.
"Why, Gabriella?" he asked getting ready to give up on harping on why she was truly angry. Gabriella looked up at her husband. She furrowed her eyebrows, tilted her head to the side, with her lips forming a straight line as she narrowed her eyes. This meant her ranting wasn't over and Troy had further aggravated her.
"You want to know why?" she asked in a whisper. Before Troy could even open his mouth, Gabriella continued her rant.
"You really want to know why, Troy?" she repeated, only raising her voice and making it sound more harsh. Troy sighed once more and braced himself for another five minutes of her, what he thought to be, pointless ranting.
"You just had to! You had to on the same day we picked to go Christmas shopping, you agreed to watch Chad and Taylor's kids!" she yelled stomping one of her feet at the end of her sentence. Jeez... she's really angry about that, Troy thought becoming a tad frightened by his wife.
"What was I supposed to say, Gabs? Just tell him 'no' after he was practically holding onto my ankle, begging me to take them for the twenty-fifth time so him and Taylor could go out?" he asked trying to remain calm.
"I would have! And not only would I have said 'no', I would have reminded him with a 'HELLO! My wife is eight months pregnant and she's not in the best mood these days!" she yelled as she pointed both of her fingers to her big stomach and then forming her hands into fists. Troy tried the best he could not to argue back when his wife scolded him.
"Come on, Brie. At least we got the majority of our shopping done" he said with a weak smile.
"Wrong" the word rang in his ears painfully as his wife replied in monotone, very certain that he was dead on wrong.
"Now that C.J. And Aliyah had went with us, we had no choice but to make ANOTHER shopping trip. Which is when we were supposed to go and buy Aspen and Isaac's presents!" she finished. He looked at her strangely.
"So what's the big deal?" he asked. Gabriella snarled with anger. Troy quickly thought in his mind that he shouldn't have even asked.
"It means our next trip will be long like this one was! Meaning my feet are swollen like hell so I can't walk as much or as fast as you want me to and I cant stand being in crowded areas with this huge... thing hanging on the front of me " she shouted, her skin tearing voice echoing through the house. Troy just looked up the ceiling and kept quiet to avoid angering Gabriella even more. Clearly, it wasn't the best day to take his best friend's kids shopping with him and his family since Gabriella was such a 'huge' grouch, so Isaac liked to put it. But then he thought that there was never a good day to do anything with her. She either wasn't into it or she would just lash out on him.
Oh, why did I decide to have another kid with her? Troy thought. He couldn't wait until the baby was born the following month in January. He wanted his wife back to normal and not giving him and the kids hell. He missed being able to hug and kiss her without her randomly becoming irritable or bursting into tears. He exhaled deeply, and shut his eyes while bowing his head. He was physically and mentally exhausted after the day he had to go though.
"Baby?" he said taking a step forward to his wife whom still looked angry.
"I promise next time, it will just be you and I. Things will be a lot easier then" he said with a smile. His attempt in optimism soon failed as Gabriella scoffed loudly in disbelief. Troy cocked a brow at her.
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one carrying the extra weight on you" she sassed as she waddled over toward the kitchen. Somehow he managed to get out a small laugh when he saw how ticked off she was but still how cute she looked even when she was upset. He thought about when they got remarried and decided to have another child. They didn't think deeply about the idea; as they only cared that they were finally married again and thought they had room in their life for more children, since they were still young enough too.
"I can't wait until our sister is born" Aspen mumbled under her breath while taking off her jacket and throwing it in the same spot her mother did. Gabriella heard her daughter's comment but she didn't bother to argue. She herself couldn't wait until her baby was born. She had been biting Troy, Aspen, and Isaac's heads off since she became pregnant.
"Hey, Dad" their eleven year old son breaking the cat fight between the two of them.
"What's up, buddy?" Troy asked as he turned his attention to the young boy standing beside him.
"What are we having for dinner?" Isaac asked randomly as he removed his winter hat from his head and moved his light brown bang to the side of his face, revealing the identical blue eyes he inherited from his father.
"Call for take out in a sec, all right?" Troy suggested to his son with a very weak smile. Suddenly. Troy flinched at Gabriella whom had exclaimed with a shriek as she waddled upstairs to their bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Troy threw his hands up in question.
"What did I say now?" he asked, confusion written on his pale face. All his son and daughter could do was shrug at his question. The poor guy...
After spending two full hours, trying to calm down his wife, Troy's stomach began to rumble. He wanted to hurry up and eat dinner but he had more to take care of before then. He still had to make a check list of unfinished tasks that needed to be accomplished for the present week, such as Christmas shopping. Oh boy... the dreadful Christmas shopping. To Troy, it didn't really matter if him and Gabriella had kids with them or not. Although, he thought about how when Gabriella wanted to go shopping, how it would irritate her but then she only liked the idea of it.
Its always a back and forth story with that woman, he thought and sighed.
"Check" he mumbled to himself as he checked off one of the tasks on the piece of paper in front of him. He stopped for a second to recollect his thoughts. He put down his red-ink pen and went down the hall to the little room that was next to him and Gabby's room. He stopped at the door frame to examine the room. His heart instantly grew with love when he saw it. Inside of the room was colored a medium blue and was decorated with yellow night stars, serving its purpose as a 'peaceful nighttime' theme.
He and Gabriella were expecting another baby girl in a month. They had planned on naming her Faith Inez Bolton. Troy chose 'Faith' for a second daughter and her middle name being taken after Gabriella's great-grandmother, Inez, whom had died twelve years before.
Troy very much liked the theme she chose for the nursery. To him, it all seemed very calming and quiet. That's just about all he needed- quiet. Every time he turned around, Gabriella would always be whining, yelling, or crying about something, or nothing in particular. A lot of the time, he wished she wasn't so moody.
But then, he had to remember, it was a side effect of pregnancy. Gabriella was pregnant when she was seventeen and twenty. He thought she would have learned to control her mood swings by this time. But oh, that wishful thought haunted him ever since they found out they were going to have another baby. And sadly... it could never come to life.
Sometimes Troy thought Gabriella just threw fits and asked for things that were almost impossible to achieve to her advantage just to pull the old 'because I'm pregnant' card. But he couldn't dwell on the thought for long. He loved his wife too much to even say so aloud.
Either that or he was just trying not to get knocked out cold by her if he even dared to.
He only wished that he could kiss and hug her without getting a slap to his face for saying something he meant no harm in.
"Hey, Daddy" Aspen walked up beside him. Troy jumped a bit at the sound of his daughter's voice, as he was lost in his own mind thinking and then was startled by her.
"Hey, sweetie" he said to her as he lead her into his bedroom. He figured she wanted to talk to him, since she had a habit of sneaking up on him at weird times and without her little brother at her side. Troy sat down on his bed and pulled Aspen to his side as he stroked her back. She gave him a smile. He smiled back at the girl whom he always thought was a live spitting image of her mother. Aspen was always beautiful to him. She hadn't much height to her but she was tall for her age, standing five feet and two inches tall. Her very dark brown hair reached the length to her shoulders and her smile and everything about her from her brown eyes to her fairly tanned skin had mimicked her mother's features. Every time he saw his daughter, he always thought of Gabriella. How she was so smart, so beautiful and had every interesting talent he could think of at the top of his head. Aspen had inherited both Troy and Gabriella's talents. She was very good at basketball, an amazing artist, and aspiring singer and pianist. One of her best talents was twisting her tongue, something both Gabriella and Troy thought was disturbing, but funny.
"What's going on?" he asked. Aspen swung her arm around her father's neck and sighed.
"It's Mom. She's going nuts again" she said light smile stretching her shiny pink lips.
"And you left your poor brother to deal with her on his own?" he joked, making Aspen chuckle at his attempt in humor. She bowed her head as her smile turned into a frown. Troy furrowed his eye brows in question when he saw the look on his daughter's face.
"What's the matter?" he asked with a soothing voice as he continued to stroke her slim back.
"Nothing. I just wish I could be in my own house without feeling the need to leave because Mom's so crazy these days" she explained while trying to keep a smile on her face.
Troy chuckled at her explanation, "I know, sweetheart. But your Mom can't help it. You remember when you were little and Mom was about to have Isaac?" Troy asked with a chuckle at the end of his sentence, recalling how crazy Gabby was those nine months.
"Daddy, I was three" Aspen recalled with a laugh. Troy laughed with her. He stared at his daughter and saw her shiny brown eyes and began to think. He had a lot coming his way within the next few weeks following into January.
-Another hellish Christmas shopping trip with my wife, Aspen's fourteenth birthday coming up the day after Christmas, and Faith was going to be born the following month. He thought, mentally organizing his tasks. Clearly, he had a lot to be worried about at the time. And on the side, he had to deal with a cranky Gabriella until all was accomplished. Yes, including her giving birth to that baby, he added in his head.
"Dad, are you okay?" her sweet voice asked as Troy was once again, snapped out of his thoughts by her. He smiled at the young girl.
"I'm fine, honey" he replied. A rumble came from Aspen's stomach. She bowed her head, feeling embarrassed. Troy chuckled again and looked at his watch and realized it was almost supper time and that he was hungry too. Him and Aspen hopped off of the bed and to go check on Isaac and Gabriella. Troy bit back a laugh when he saw his son sitting on one side of the couch. Isaac sat bored, with his cheek in his hand, as the same elbow rested on the armrest while he had an eyebrow cocked at his mother and a boring expression on his face. He guessed that he had just walked in the middle of Gabriella ranting to the point of Isaac being completely unaware of what she was talking about anymore.
"And further more, If you, Aspen, and your father, even ONCE, think about leaving the hospital on the night your baby sister is about to be born... I swear, when I'm able to walk again, I will-" she yelled.
"Mom?" Aspen interrupted. Gabriella exhaled, catching her breath after talking for a long time. She shook her shoulders, getting herself together after not realizing she was boring her son dead from his mind. She immediately calmed down.
"What is it, honey?" she asked in almost a whisper.
"It's getting close to dinner time. Should we cook or is it take-out night?" Aspen asked.
Gabriella rolled her eyes to Troy and made a quick gesture, indicating that it was his choice to decide for.
"Take out?" He said timidly. In his mind, he thought that if he answered either 'cooking' or 'take out', that both answered would be the wrong ones. Gabriella threw her hand up and gave in.
"Fine, lets do take out, tonight" she said in monotone.
"Thank God!" Isaac replied as he rushed toward to the house telephone. Aspen quickly snatched the phone away from her brother before he could make his way past her.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" she asked while trying to keep Isaac from grabbing the phone back.
"Ordering take out" he said hastily, still attempting to get the phone back from his sister whom was pushing him back at every try.
"Sorry, bro. It's my turn to pick a place to eat from this week" Aspen laughed, taunting Isaac with the phone.
"You got to have your choice of food last week! That's not fair!" Isaac whined. Little did he think about, he could easily tackle Aspen and take her down no problem for the phone, considering he was only two inches shorter than her. But he knew better than to wrestle, fight, or even play fight with girls.
"Guys!" Troy yelled. Aspen and Isaac immediately put a stop to their bickering, taking in their father sounded serious.
"Now. Aspen, you go ahead and order what you want to eat for tonight. Isaac, when your sister is done then you can order from where ever you like to eat" Troy compromised. Gabriella was just about to say something but he quickly turned to face her so that she didn't.
"I'll pay for both places tonight, so don't worry" he said. Gabriella smiled at her husband. Aspen and Isaac exclaimed being happy that the both of them would have their own way as far as dinner was present. The two siblings rushed upstairs to Aspen's room so that they could take turns using the phone. Gabriella on the other hand had something else in mind for after dinner...
"Troy?" she batted her lashes at him. Troy frowned, knowing he was possibly about to be pushed into something he had no desire in doing.
"What?" he replied deciding it was in best interest just to shut up and take what would be coming to him like a man.
"There's still a few things on our To-Do list that we still haven't finished" she said with the smile on her face widening at every word.
"Like what?" he asked feeling afraid that he did in the first place.
"Well, for one... we still have to decorate the Christmas tree" she said pointing to the naked tree sitting in the corner of the living room by the fireplace. Troy nodded, sort of feeling up to the idea, also hoping that that was all she had in mind. But he thought wrong. She continued her list.
"And we still have to put up our stockings and make one for little Faith" she smiled as she put a hand over her bump.
Troy chuckled softly as he moved his hand over hers. "We don't have to make Faith a stocking this year, you know?" he said. Gabriella moved back a step, having a hurt and puzzled expression on her face.
"Why not?" she asked with a weak voice, almost sounding as if she was going to cry.
Troy scratched the back of his neck, thinking of a logical explanation for his statement that even Gabriella wouldn't at all find 'logical'. "Well, I mean, Christmas will be over before she's born. Why don't we just wait until next year to make her one? Plus, she'll be old enough to be curious of it too" he said hoping he gave a good enough reason. Gabriella was fond of the compromise but she still wanted to do what she liked.
"Troy, please?" she begged giving Troy the 'I-do-it-because-Troy's-a-sucker-for-it' puppy pout face. Troy groaned. He hated it when Gabriella did that to him. Lucky for Gabby, she only used it for ammo when she needed to- meaning she didn't do it so often to the point to where Troy couldn't fall for it any more. But only enough to get him to fall for it every time, and she succeeded every time.
"All right, fine!" Troy gave in and sighed.
I am such a pushover, he thought as he was being pulled into the living room by his wife. Gabby pulled out a box of decorating utensils and pulled out a pink little Christmas stocking. Just in time, the door bell rang. Troy got up and answered the door for both of the times that it rang. It was for Aspen and Isaac's dinner which the two did not hesitate to dig into. Gabby and Troy had ordered a pizza just for the two of them, with half of the pizza being covered with pineapple, anchovies, Canadian bacon, and hot sauce sprinkled on it- that being for Gabriella whose cravings were outrageous, and the other being pepperoni for Troy, served with chocolate covered strawberries that Troy had prepared himself earlier to go with it.
The two shared a romantic dinner together that way, just as they did when they were in high school. Gabriella's eyes sparkled with the love she shared with her husband. It was a crazy time for both her and Troy. Just a little over a year ago, the two had gotten divorced, only to come to their senses in time to realize that they couldn't be without each other any longer. After they had gotten remarried, they didn't hesitate to try for another baby. Troy could not picture himself ever being without Gabriella again. Six months without Gabriella? He thought he was crazy for living it at the time. But he was happy to have Gabby back in his life from then on.
"Last strawberry. You want it?" Troy asked with a soft tone in his voice.
Gabriella looked at the single chocolate covered strawberry on the plate and thought if she really did. Troy chuckled and picked up the strawberry.
"Come on. Baby would love another one. And-" he said as he was cut off by Gabriella whom giggled at him before responding.
"I know. 'Last one is always the best'" Gabriella reiterated from Troy's comment many years back.
"And the sweetest" he added. Gabriella took a bite into the strawberry and sighed of contentment as she chewed on the desert treat, confirming to Troy that it truly was the sweetest. Just then, Troy's expression grew puzzled when he saw Gabby wince as she threw her hand over her big tummy and then displayed a smile followed by a light chuckle.
"And you're right. The baby loved it" she whispered as she smiled lovingly, feeling her baby girl kick her a few times. Troy smiled back at her.
"Thank you, baby" she said. Troy leaned in to kiss her passionately. He enjoyed this moment with her. It was the best moment he had with her since before she became pregnant again. Soon the thought was whipped away from his head when he heard his son clear his voice that killed the passionate feeling. The two immediately pulled away from each other to see their kids standing before them, also having disgusted looks on their faces from watching their parents kiss.
"Hey, guys?" Gabriella said trying to hide her smile.
"What's up?" Troy asked.
"Nothing that concerns us, apparently" Isaac joked.
"Nana just called. She said she wants to come over and help you decorate the Christmas tree, Mom" Aspen said humbly.
"Oh did she?" Gabby asked rising up carefully from the floor a long with Troy.
"Yeah, she said to call her back and let her know" Isaac said putting the house phone back on the receiver.
"I'll tell her that it's fine. Your dad's gonna help me tonight anyway" Gabby smiled as she threw her arm behind Troy.
"Babe, if your mom wants to help, you should let her" Troy said.
Gabriella shifted her weight onto one foot with her hands on her hips. Troy mentally kicked himself in his ass for even trying to change his mind about helping his wife with Christmas decorations.
"Troy..." she paused. Troy sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I know" he gave in quickly as he went to pull out the box of decorations.
And hour later;
"Remember this?" Gabby said with a giddy expression on her face, showing Troy an ordainment that one of their kids had made earlier in their grade school years. Troy nodded weakly, after nodding for the millionth time that he remembers each ordainment that Gabby had pulled out of the box.
"Awe, Troy" Gabriella said as she held up a Christmas tree shape cut out that was decorated with beads and stickers made by Aspen when she was in the first grade. Troy smiled at the little work of art his daughter had done when she six. Then Gabby pulled out a drawing of Santa and his reindeer that Isaac had done when he was in third grade. Many memories were being brought back to life just by the display of a simple artwork created by a young one. They enjoyed every single one of them. Looking at how much older their kids were and imagining their new born baby girl that they had only a month left to prepare for, it was all a bizarre thought to them. Time seemed to be slipping away from under their noses before they could take notice. It seemed like yesterday that Troy remembered watching Gabriella give birth to Aspen when he was eighteen and she was seventeen. Next thing you know, Isaac arrived right after they graduated from college. The collection of memories continued to play in their heads.
"Hey, Gabs?" Troy asked.
"What's up?" Gabriella responded.
"You remember when we first met?" Troy asked. Gabriella nudged him in his arm with a 'duh' in reply.
"Of course. How could I forget the night you first discovered your singing talent and nearly spilled kool-aid on your pants, you were so nervous?" Gabby joked. Troy smirked at her comment.
"And how could I forget how shy you were?" he joked back.
Gabby wondered curiously, "Is that what attracted you to me?" she asked.
Troy smiled, "That and because I thought you were the most beautiful thing of God's creation" Troy said sweetly, which made Gabriella almost want to cry.
"Really?" she asked feeling warm and gushy inside. Troy nodded as he planted a tender kiss on her lips. She couldn't deny it, she loved Troy with every part of her heart. She felt happier than ever.
"I love you so much, Gabriella. I always want you to keep that in mind. No matter how cranky you get... or how dangerous you look when you don't get your way. I'll always love you" he said. She laughed at his 'charming' speech.
"And even though your a pushover, you'll still always have a special place in my heart. Just for you. And I'll always love you" she said lovingly. Troy stroked the pad of his thumb on her face as both of their eyes sparkled. They leaned in for a kiss before being interrupted again by their children.
"Ew! Mom, Dad, please not again!" Isaac exclaimed immaturely. Troy and Gabriella laughed at their son's comment.
"What do you guys want now?" Troy chuckled.
"Can we, like, watch a movie together before the night ends?" Isaac asked.
"Titanic is coming on T.V. It's your favorite movie, Mom" Aspen smiled trying to get Gabriella to open up to the idea.
"Now, you guys know I can't pass up that idea" she said as she removed herself from the floor making her way to the couch with Troy and her kids following behind her. Once the four of them were all seated on the couch, covered with a big blanket, they begun watching the film they had to stay up for two hours for.
"What made the two of you want to spend time with us all of a sudden?" Gabriella asked cuddled up next to Troy while he stroked her belly.
"Just 'cause" Isaac shrugged as he smiled at his parents.
"'Cause we love you guys" Aspen smiled as she was snuggled up on her father's side. Troy and Gabby smiled at the two of them. Gabriella let her head down on Troy's shoulder as he rested his chin on her head while rubbed soothing circles on her stomach. He eventually kissed her forehead and smiled at the scene in front of him. He thought about what he was feeling earlier, but soon it all faded away when he realized he truly had the best family he'd ever known. The family that him and Gabriella both had created with another little one on her way to complete it. They also kept in mind that no matter what the conditions were in their lives and no matter how bad or even bleak, they would always love each other. And it would stay that way.
A/N: So there you have it. My first sequel to anything. Something short and sweet, but I hope you all enjoyed it. I was bored and decided to work on this while I finish up "Two Idiots And A Baby". Just to keep you guys tuned until then =] And my apologies for placing the couple at a random point in their life. I just thought it would be a cute idea. Thanks for reading and please review!