A/N: This oneshot is dedicated to all of the soliders who have died protecting our country, and their friends and family who have suffered the terrible loss.
William Montez found it too hard to believe. His soon-to-be son-in-law was gone. Just 7 months ago, he had left William's daughter promising her to return 12 months later.
Gabriella couldn't believe it, shock was still claiming her body the same it did when the Bolton's had called her and told her the tragic fate of her fiancé.
"Troy" Gabriella's sobs were the only thing that could be heard in the quiet church as they were so loud. "Troy, please. God, no Troy" Gabriella cried and cried into her mother's arms.
"Sh, Gabi. Please, Troy wouldn't want you to be crying" Lauren Montez said to her daughter as she tried to sooth her.
"Mom, please. Please, don't call me Gabi. That was Troy's name for me, just call me Gabriella" The young girl pleaded to her mother, as she looked up from the spot that she had been crying on her mother's shoulder. Lauren's Black sweater was covered in her daughter's tears and it broke her heart.
When her husband had told her the news, Lauren was in pure and utter shock. This was the last thing she had expected when her husband had come into their kitchen and stopped Lauren from chopping vegetables to tell her something, something that was life changing.
The first thing she thought of was her daughter and how Gabriella would be scared, and feeling alone. Then she thought of her best friends, Amanda and Jack and how shocked they must have been to find out that their son was gone.
Lauren saw her dear friends coming down the aisle of the church, after have spoken to the preist. Amanda was sobbing and Jack had dried tears on his cheeks.
"Were so sorry" Will told his friends and he and Lauren hugged their friends.
"Gabriella, we spoke to Troy the day before and he kew that the violence was getting wore. He wanted you to know how much he loved you, how he would have done anything for you and how he wants you to be happy" Jack told the young girl who he considered family. Gabriella nodded, more tears sleeping between her closed eyes.
"Thank you" Gabriella said quietly as she hugged them
As the service went on, all Gabriella could concentrate on was the coffin and the portrait of Troy that Jack and Amanda Bolton had put up there in remembrance of their son.
But when a young man came up to the podium, Gabriella's ears quickly opened up and her gaze lay heavily on the man. She recognized him, probably from the emails and few photos Troy had sent her. This was Troy's best friend who also served.
"Hi everyone. My name is Jake Grossman and I served with Troy in Iraq. Except, I had arrived 6 months prior to Troy's arrival so I wasn't there with him in his last month. But I'm not here to talk about what Troy and I did, I'm here to talk about just Troy. He was always thinking of others. When we were in the city, he would make the greatest efforts to get to know each of the young children and learn about them. He devoted his heart to trying and give better lives to these children who were suffering." Jake paused briefly and took a breath and tried to blink back the tears that Gabriella saw forming.
"Troy loved every single one of you so much. He would tell me about many of his things back home. He constantly talked about going home to see his family, but most of all he talked about Gabriella and how he couldn't wait to get home and marry her. Troy was not bitter about any of the Iraqis and when a member of our group died, Troy made a harder effort to make the lives of these Iraqis better. He would not want us to be bitter about the war, but to learn from it and learn that these terrorists cannot be reasoned with." Jake took another deep breath, and a few tears came out. This time he did not try and blink them back, he just let them fall.
"If he were here, Troy would most definitely not want me talking about his achievements and the good he has done. He didn't do this to get the glory, he did this to help innocent people that were being hurt and that's what he would want. Troy would've wanted us to just stay in this church talking about how to help those people. We will miss you Troy and like you love us, we love you too. Thank you" Jake concluded as he stepped down from the podium. Tears came and then Gabriella stood up.
"Hi, I'm Gabriella and I was Troy's fiancé. We were supposed to get married the New Years Eve after he returned home. Troy was the most courageous person I knew. And when I reciveved the call telling me that Troy was killed in active duty, I felt my heart fall to my feet. Emotions overcome me and I had no idea how I was going to live. I felt such an immense pain in my heart, like the world could not go on. And that nothing would ever return to the way it was and life would never be the same." Gabriella paused but then continued on, the tears were overcoming her but she knew she had to say this, for Troy.
"Wh-When Troy and I were saying our goodbyes the night before he left for Iraq, I remember crying. And thinking of all the petrifying things that could happen, but Troy held me and told me to that if something happened to him, he would safe." Pausing again, Gabriella knew that she needed to hold in the tears, even though she had let a few fall now.
"He would be safe, because he would be in the arms of an angel. The angel that would carry him away from us, but take him to a new place where he was safe. He is in a better place, but he will always be in our hearts." Gabriella broke into sobs and Lauren went up to comfort her daughter. Taking a deep breath, Gabriella knew she had to finish quickly, before more tears overcame her body.
"Troy is in a place where there is no suffering, no hurt, and no violence. He is in a place that there is only love. So as you say your goodbyes to Troy this afternoon, please remember that he is in the arms of an angel and he left our world, only wanting peace." Gabriella broke into sobs and collapsed on the floor. Amanda, Jack, and William rushed up to where Lauren was hugging her sobbing daughter. When the sobs came to a stop, Gabriella got up and walked over to Troy's coffin.
"Goodbye Troy, I love you" She whispered before walking down the aisle. Before exiting the church she was almost certain it was Troy saying this, I love you too Gabi.
As she left the church, her heart hung low as she thought about the man she loved, the man who was taken away from her. All she could picture was him leaving, in the arms of an angel.
A/N: There it is. I was reading one of my favorite novels, Ever After by Karen Kingsbury and the idea popped into my head. Please leave a review letting me know what you thought, I have never written a oneshot like this before so I would like opinions. Thanks.