Well, you all asked for it, so here it is! The follow-on one-shot for A Parallel Romance. Thank you for all your amazing comments, I have loved reading them! So, I thought it would be more interesting to begin this by writing the first paragraph in the point of view of Gabriella's mother. After this, Gabriella's personal thoughts are still represented in italics. Anyway, here is the final saga in this story. Enjoy, and please leave a review! :)

A Parallel Romance: Beyond Love

As Maria Montez made her way back to her daughter's hospital room, she saw as she neared it that the door was open. There was a man who looked to be a doctor in there, only she had never seen him before. But what was even more startling was what the man was doing. He was holding her daughter in his arms. And she seemed perfectly content to be there! What on earth was going on? Perhaps Gabriella was still in a state of confusion - after all, she had only been out of her coma for a a matter of hours. Even so, Maria did not want to panic her daughter, so she tried to keep calm as she walked into the room.

.HSM.

Gabriella did not want to forget this moment. Still happily wrapped in Troy's arms, she knew that she would soon have to come back down to earth – how ironic that phrase now was. It was at that moment that she heard someone clear their throat, and looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway. She didn't know what to say, how to even begin to explain this. So she waited for her to speak. "Gabriella? Do you think you could tell me exactly what is going on here?"

Of course. The accident sent me back in time, where I met this man – his name is Troy, by the way. We fell in love, and then when I woke up it turned out that he worked here! So, now we're getting married. No. She couldn't say that. Her mother would send her to the psychiatric ward. Incidentally the same place she had anticipated herself being sent to upon waking up in the past. Suddenly, another idea struck her, and she spoke up.

"Of course. Mom, this is Troy," she said calmly, before looking over at her new fiancée. "Troy, this is my mother Maria." Gabriella smiled, hoping her mother would believe her story. "I met him a few months before the accident and we started dating – but we wanted to wait before telling anyone because we were just getting to know each other. You'll never believe it, but it turns out that Troy used to work with Grandpa!"

She was glad that at least one part of her explanation so far was true. But she could see the growing confusion etched upon her mother's face, and she wasn't surprised. She usually always told her mother everything; so it was little wonder that she appeared to be having some difficulty taking in this new information. "Oh mom, I'm sorry I never told you. I just didn't want to get you all excited for me when it might be too soon."

Maria nodded slowly, appearing to accept this. Then another odd look came over her face, and she turned to speak to Troy. "I have to say I find it rather strange that I haven't seen you here before now. Gabriella has been in here for a few months. She only woke up from the coma earlier today," she stated, and Troy could see that she was questioning how much he really cared for her daughter. Gabriella looked as though she was about to come up with an explanation for him; but he decided to beat her to it. He needed to reassure Maria of his love for Gabriella, and it was his turn to do the talking. He followed along with her description of their relationship, sensing and understanding that she wasn't going to be able to tell her mother the whole truth.

"Ms Montez, I don't want you to think that my absence in any way reflects how I feel about your daughter. I love her more than anything in the world. We didn't get around to introducing each other to our friends and family, so nobody knew to inform me about Gabi's accident. I hadn't heard anything from her for all these months and I didn't know what to do. I work as a doctor here, and it was only today that I overheard a colleague talking about her case...they mentioned her name and I realised that she was here." Troy could only hope that the sincerity of his feelings would shine through in his speech. He was sure that Maria would point out any noticeable holes in his explanation.

Gabriella squeezed Troy's hand, partly in support, and partly to show her appreciation for what he had just said. They were both relieved when they saw Maria smiling slightly at the both of them. "Well, Troy. I can see how much you love my daughter. And it's obvious that she feels the same way," she said, nodding slyly towards the couple's interlinked hands. Then her voice took on a more serious tone, and she cleared her throat. "Gabriella has been hurt in the past; I just don't want to see that happen again."

Troy nodded in understanding. There was no way he was going to let anyone hurt his Gabriella ever again; let alone do anything to hurt her himself. "You have my word, Ms Montez." Maria's face relaxed at his genuine response, and she replied kindly, "please, call me Maria." Gabriella sighed softly, happy that her mother accepted Troy. But she decided to hold back a while on announcing their engagement. After all, to everyone else it would seem far too soon. If only the true story of how our relationship began wasn't so bizarre. I wouldn't even believe it myself if it hadn't happened to me.

.HSM.

A short while later, Troy and Gabriella were curled up together on her hospital bed, talking. Maria had left once again to pick up some things from home for Gabriella; and the rest of her visitors had returned to meet Troy briefly before going home themselves. The reactions of her friends and family had been mixed. Some were confused and disbelieving; others were surprisingly accepting. Close friends expressed their shock at how she had managed to keep the relationship a secret from them before her accident. Little did they know that she had not even known of Troy's existence at the time.

Before Maria had left, she had spoken with Troy about his time working with Gabriella's grandfather. Troy had spoken of it eagerly; and as he had described some of the decorating jobs they had worked on together, Maria had listened with interest. She also commented that she could recall being told about the 'bright young man' that her father had worked with. She had left the hospital feeling confident that her daughter had found a good man.

Now that they were alone, Gabriella told Troy about Scott. "The police asked me for a statement, but they already had plenty of witnesses to identify him. It's a relief to know he's not out there anymore," she confided. Troy kissed the top of her head gently as he listened to her words. He had not forgotten about everything Scott had put her through. He had been tempted several times to hunt the guy down, but he knew it wasn't up to him to attempt to change fate. If he had somehow managed to alter Gabriella's destiny and therefore prevent her accident, they would never have been able to meet and fall in love in the way that they did. "I know. His arrest was reported all over the news – when I heard his name I was so glad to hear he was locked up. I would have done something myself, but I had no way of proving how I knew he did it. I could hardly say you told me," he finished with a light chuckle at how complicated it all was.

Gabriella giggled back at Troy's way of lightening the moment. "I do love you," she replied with a twinkle in her eye. He studied her face intently. "I love you too. Where did that come from?" he asked, even though hearing her say those words again filled him with overwhelming joy. "Just wanted to say it. I figured I should make up for all those years you were waiting for me," she said softly.

"Hey, if I had to do it all over again, I would. I would wait for you every time," he told her sincerely. Gabriella smiled, and eventually fell asleep in his arms, with his words still lingering in her mind. She was still going to be fragile for a while as she recovered. But she knew she was going to be okay. She had Troy now; and that was so much more than what she had had when she went into that coma.

.HSM.

With every day that passed, Gabriella grew stronger and stronger. She underwent physiotherapy sessions to get herself up and moving again, and Troy was with her every step of the way – just like he had been ever since he had come into her life. Finally, after two weeks, she was allowed to go home. Maria insisted that Gabriella was to stay with her for a while, and came to collect her from the hospital the morning that she was discharged. She lived on the other side of Boston, having moved back there a few months after Gabriella had began college classes.

When they arrived at her mother's house, Gabriella gasped at the sight before her as she slowly walked through the door. Standing in the lounge was her entire family; all of her friends, and her colleagues from her 'present day' coffee shop. They were all there to welcome her home. It was truly wonderful to see everyone she cared about in the same room together after so long. And Troy was stood right at the front of the crowd of people, smiling the widest out of everyone. Seeing him there was like seeing the last piece of a puzzle. He had always been missing from her life and she hadn't even known it.

She was waiting for someone to say something, but no one did. Instead, Troy knelt down in front of her, holding the very same ring he had presented to her a few weeks prior to this moment. After Maria had walked in to find them together at the hospital, they had agreed that Troy would keep the ring with him until Gabriella had told her mother about their engagement. But now it appeared that the plan had changed.

"Gabriella, you know how much I love you," Troy began so that everyone could hear. "So I want to ask you, again," he mouthed the word, his previous proposal a secret between just the two of them. Standing up and moving closer to her, he took her hand and beamed up at her. "Will you marry me?"

With tears in her eyes, she forgot about all the other people in the room, and gave him her answer. "Yes!" Troy carefully slipped the ring onto Gabriella's finger, before pulling her gently towards him and caressing his lips with hers. It was several minutes before the two of them remembered that an entire roomful of people was watching them. They were only reminded of this fact when they heard a sudden, loud round of applause. It was like something out of a movie. Clearly, everyone who had initially doubted their 'sudden' relationship had come round to the idea.

Gabriella pulled back to look at everyone with a blush, then leaned back into Troy. "I spoke to your mom last night, told her I wanted to marry you. And she gave me her blessing," he whispered in her ear.

"Thank you," she replied in amazement. Other than that, she didn't know what else to say. She had spent the past two weeks wondering how her mother would react to their engagement; and now the whole problem had been solved. Troy had thought of everything.

Gabriella couldn't imagine her life without him now. But she didn't have to. They were getting married, and they both knew it would be forever.

.HSM.

One year later...

"So, how are you, Mrs Bolton?" a newly-wed Troy asked his wife. Gabriella grinned up at him as they settled down in their seats, waiting for their plane to take off. They had exchanged vows only a few hours before, and were now heading away on their honeymoon. "I'm...wonderful, this whole day has been amazing. I'm especially liking the sound of my new name," she replied. "Mrs Bolton – it has a nice ring to it!"

Troy chuckled, and pressed a kiss to her hand – which now showed off her new gold wedding band. Gabriella then took hold of her husband's hand and linked their fingers together. She had a faraway look in her eye as she looked out of the window. "What are you thinking?" Troy asked, spying the look on her face. She turned her head to look at him again with a soft smile.

"I was just thinking about that accident. I know it sounds like a strange thing to say, but it was the best thing that's ever happened to me. Before I went into that coma, I was stressed, over-worked, and throwing myself into my studies to get over a guy who wasn't even worth another second of my time. Something was missing from my life. I will never fully understand how I came to wake up five years in the past. But I found my future there. And I wouldn't change a single thing of all that's happened to me."

Troy nodded, then found the right words to tell her of his own perception of their meeting. "I know what you mean. I don't regret anything either, even though I had to spend five years without you. I know I could have tracked you down before you were admitted at the hospital; and I probably would have found you. But it wouldn't have been fair. I had already fallen for you, and you hadn't even met me yet. I just kept reminding myself that one day you would wake up from that coma, and you would know me. And now, every day I'm more and more thankful that I didn't give up." Tears had filled Gabriella's eyes as she listened to his heartfelt response. They were in their own little bubble, telling each other things that they could only say to the other. Because how they had come to meet would remain between them – their own precious secret.

"I love you, baby," he whispered, sealing his declaration with a gentle kiss that lingered on both pairs of lips long after they had pulled away. "I love you too," she replied. "To the ends of the earth and beyond." She knew she believed in the beyond now. After all, that was where she had found their love. And it was deeper and stronger than anything on earth.

The End