So I've decided just to start over haha! I tried fixing everything and nothing was saving I dont know what on earth was going on there! So, hopefully this time around all will be well but please let me know if there are any further problems. I hope you enjoy reading just as much as I enjoyed writing!
~TG~
Man flu – The condition shared by all males wherein a common illness (usually a mild cold) is presented by the patient as life threatening.
~TG~
Showers of snowflakes fell over the already snow covered Erie, Pennsylvania.
Twenty eight year old Gabriella Bolton winced as the light streamed through the curtains, highlighting the fact that the persistent headache she had gone to bed with was yet to fade away.
Slowly she rolled over and snuggled into the warm body of her husband, Troy Bolton.
Troy and Gabriella had married in a simple, quiet beach wedding in Maui, Hawaii four years ago. The pair had been together for ten years, spending eight of those years together at college in California.
Since graduating as a Veterinarian from the University of California Davis, Gabriella had been looking around for the perfect job. She had struggled to find a job in California that inspired her and had been working in a small animal hospital since graduation two years previously. When a letter came through offering her the position of Veterinarian and Lead researcher at Erie Zoo Gabriella had definitely found herself inspired.
After a lot of careful consideration and discussion between themselves and their families, Troy and Gabriella decided that making the move was the best option for them.
They found themselves a large six bedroom lakeside house, partially paid for by the large sum of money left to Troy by his grandparents and saved for that very purpose, and made the big move across the country.
Troy had graduated as an Elementary School teacher from the University of Phoenix Sacramento and had been working as a first grade teacher at Birch Lane Elementary in Davis for two years.
He couldn't deny that he loved his job but he knew that wherever he went he would find a job that he loved equally as much, he hadn't needed to give the cross country move for Gabriella so much as a second thought.
This would be the first Christmas that the couple had spent in their own house. They had purchased a small apartment in Davis just a month before beginning their final four years of University education.
The small one bedroom fifth floor apartment was enough to see Troy and Gabriella through their final years of study and into their first years of work.
They had never spent a single Christmas in the apartment; the couple had always travelled back to their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico to share the festivities with their families.
This year would be different, in just two days time Troy's parents and extended family along with Gabriella's mother would be arriving to spend the Christmas period Erie. The unspoken rule between the families was that Christmas Day would always be held at the Bolton's; they had the bigger house and the bigger garden and Lucille Bolton loved to cook in her self-designed kitchen. This year however, it was Troy and Gabriella who had the bigger house and the bigger garden; it had been somewhat decided for them that they would host the Christmas festivities.
Gabriella was excited; this would be the first year that she and Troy would have a real full sized Christmas tree, the first year that she and Troy could really decorate their home.
Despite having contracted a nasty chest infection just one week ago, Gabriella's head was full of plans; there really was no time to waste.
"Troy, it's time to get up! We've got so much to do before your parents come," Gabriella coughed violently as the words left her mouth, causing her chest to heave harshly as she regained her breath.
Troy groaned as Gabriella shook his shoulder gently, screwing up his eyes tightly as he realized he was unable to breathe through his nose.
Troy Bolton was sick…and there was no way he would be leaving his bed.
"Uh…Babe, I think I'm dying! I can't breathe through my nose, my sinuses hurt and my throat feels like I'm swallowing glass! I don't think I should get out of bed today." Troy moaned as he rolled over, snuggling himself into Gabriella's warmth and breathing through his mouth dramatically.
Gabriella scoffed, pushing him away from her gently and placing the back of her hand against his forehead feeling for a temperature…stone cold!
"Are you serious Troy? You're not sick, you've got a cold! You don't even have a temperature! There is so much to do; this Christmas has to be perfect. We're supposed to be getting a tree today, decorating it together…making this Christmas special! Would you please just get up?" Another coughing fit took over Gabriella's body as her rant came to an end, the anger she was feeling for Troy in that minute seeping out into the open.
Troy rolled over in bed again, facing himself away from Gabriella, snuggling back into his own pillow and pulling the duvet over his head.
"I'm sorry Gabriella, I just feel like shit! Can't we do this stuff another day?" Troy asked lazily, enjoying the feeling of sleep beginning to overcome him once more.
Gabriella's anger and frustration began to build inside her once again; she couldn't believe her usually caring, protective, loving husband was being so frustrating.
"No, this stuff can't be done another day Troy. You know what forget it! I'll do it myself." Gabriella coughed for a third time that morning as she pulled herself out of bed and moved towards their en-suite bathroom.
Guilt overcame Troy for a minute, listening to Gabriella cough and wheeze and she prepared for her shower. She was sick, too sick to be traipsing through two foot of snow looking for the perfect Christmas tree.
His guilt quickly faded, he felt like crap…why shouldn't be allowed a day to suffer in bed.
~TG~
Gabriella shivered as she opened the stiff door of Troy's truck. She couldn't believe the piece of crap white truck that he had acquired in their senior year had lasted for ten years. Sure, it had needed continuous work but Troy seemed to love it enough to spend the money and had kept it for transporting large items.
Gabriella hated driving the truck, but there was no way a seven foot Christmas tree would ever fit in either of their city cars.
Gabriella hopped out of the truck and began making her way towards the entrance to the Christmas tree farm. She had never been more thankful for the brand new snow boots she had invested in just before they had moved from California.
"Can I help you there miss?" A handsome man around Gabriella's age approached her from the small cabin that sat at the entrance to the farm.
Gabriella smiled as she waded through the thickening snow, looking around at the thousands of trees to choose from.
"Absolutely, I've never done this before! How and I supposed to choose?" The man chuckled at Gabriella, signaling her to follow him towards the mass of possible trees.
Having asked her what size she was looking for they had waded through the snow towards the larger selection of trees.
"This one is beautiful," Gabriella spoke in awe of the huge tree that stood before her. The tree was a perfect shape, perfect height and its silvery green needles reflected the light beautifully.
The man nodded in agreement, he had to admire Gabriella's taste in Christmas trees. For someone who had never picked out a real tree before, she definitely knew the right ones to pick.
"This one is a seven and a half foot Fraser Fir; we can chop it down fresh for you if this is the one that you'd like. You're looking at around eight five dollars depending on how big it actually measures." The man spoke smoothly, looking Gabriella up and down as she nodded her head eagerly before heading back to the office to fetch his axe.
Gabriella sighed wishing that Troy had been there to pick the tree with her; she couldn't believe the day she had planned for weeks had been ruined by a bad case of man flu. As much as she loved Troy and appreciated his usual selfless behavior, it was days like this that reminded her that he really was just like every other guy on the planet.
"We'll just chop the tree down for you, package it up in some net and then we'll load it up for you. That's your white truck right? We can have it leaning on top of the cab, no problem." Gabriella smiled of the helpfulness of the two men before her, her excitement for taking home the perfect Christmas tree building within her.
It took the two handsome men just ten minutes to cut down and pack up the tree before carrying it through the snow to load it onto the truck and tying it down.
"Are you sure you'll be able to manage getting this thing off the truck once you get back home?" the man asked Gabriella cheekily, openly flirting with her as she unlocked the truck and settled herself inside the chilly cab.
She giggled quietly, enjoying having someone brighten her day by quite obviously finding her attractive.
"As much as I'd love to tell you that I'd need your help at home too because my husband is being a real jerk today, I really couldn't. I'm sorry, I've been happily married for two years but hey, maybe the next damsel in distress that comes in looking for a tree will be the one huh?" Gabriella joked before flashing the man a bright toothy smile, not giving him long enough to answer before pulling away from the farm and continuing on her day.
With the tree loaded safely onto the truck Gabriella made her way into town to pick up the food that would be served for the whole family on Christmas Day.
The greatest battle in the Bolton-Montez family was which meat to eat at Christmas. Troy's parents were ever faithful to the traditional turkey, as was Gabriella's mother, but Gabriella herself had never been a fan of the slightly dry and strange tasting meat. In Troy's opinion as long as it was edible, turkey? Chicken? Beef? He didn't care.
This year, in order to please everybody Gabriella had decided to purchase a whole turkey as well as a large beef joint and would leave it up to Lucille to decide how best to cook the meats.
Parking the truck for a second time, Gabriella wondered into the butchers shop she had got to know very well since arriving in Erie. The butcher, Ernesto, had become very fond of Gabriella in the months that she had been visiting his shop.
As she entered the shop the man smiled widely, stopping what he was doing to greet her excitedly.
"Gabriella! Are you feeling any better? You looked so unwell last time you we're in here, is that husband of yours taking enough care of you? Should you be out in this cold?" Gabriella smiled at the man's fatherly questions, appreciating his concern and wishing she could tell him that she felt so much better.
She shook her head slowly, suppressing her need to cough and concern the elderly man further.
"Not doing too badly, I still have a horrible cough but the antibiotics have helped. Troy is actually sick in bed with a cold today so it'll be me doing the looking after I think." Gabriella joked, knowing that Ernesto would have a joke about Troy not being man enough to deal with a little cold.
He shook his head and chuckled, getting together the meat that Gabriella had ordered two weeks previously and ensuring that it was of the finest quality.
"American men have no hardiness! You should have married a Mexican man like me, strong and tough. We wouldn't let a cold take us down and look at you, out here in the freezing cold and snow! It should be you that's resting in bed." Gabriella giggled at the man once more, wondering how on earth he ended up in a freezing cold Erie instead of sunning himself on a beach somewhere in Mexico.
"Troy is a good guy you know that, he takes good care of me most of the time. Thank you so much for getting this meat in for me Ernesto, it really means a lot that you managed to get it." Gabriella gladly handed over a hundred dollar bill to Ernesto, insisting that he keep the change for all of his hard work.
Lucille had always been specific about where she brought the meat for Christmas Day. She had always had an obsession with thinking that happier animals make better tasting meat. For that reason she sourced all of her Christmas meat from a man whom she had gone to high school with in Nebraska.
In wanting everything to be perfect, Gabriella too ensured that the turkey and beef that would be served up had come especially from Harry Henderson's farm in Gering, Nebraska.
Having done everything that she needed to in town, Gabriella headed home exhausted. She somewhat regretted not giving in to her illness. She had worked right through the perils of her chest infection, if not actually at the Zoo then at home working on research proposals.
Her dedication to her job had left her exhausted and receiving such little help from Troy hadn't made it any easier on her. She had known Troy long enough to know that he was definitely a suffer of man flu, he had developed chickenpox during college and it has been as though all life would soon be ending. He had refused to get out of bed for a whole week and a half, with the exception of going to the bathroom, and had constantly reminded Gabriella that there was no way he could leave the apartment in fear of infecting everybody around him with the seemingly killer disease…trust Troy to be one of the few people in the world to not get chickenpox as a small child!
It wasn't long before Gabriella was pulling into the driveway of their large house. She had been so thankful for the money that Troy's grandparents had left for him; it had paid for half of the six hundred thousand dollar home that was perfect for every eventuality the future may hold.
Gabriella frowned, puzzled as to how she would manage to haul the huge Christmas tree she had purchased into their house. She had assumed that by the time she arrived home Troy would have pulled himself together, but it looked like she was wrong.
Carefully she untied the string that the kind men had used to tie the tree to the truck and began pulling it by its trunk off the bed of the truck. Once it was fully out of the truck Gabriella took a minute to reevaluate the situation; she wrapped her arms around the tree as much as she could, sure that she could lift the tree off the ground and carry it into the house.
Her plan failed miserably as the weight of the tree forced her backwards and causing her to fall flat on her back into the thick snow that had covered the ground, the tree covering her almost completely.
She coughed loudly, cursing the stupid tree that was effectively crushing her.
"Gabriella? Honey, are you alright?" The kind voice of one of their neighbors, Mrs. Elder-Vass, approached Gabriella as she struggled to remove the tree from herself without causing it damage.
Mrs. Elder-Vass shook her head, she had watched Gabriella looking as pale as death as she left for work and now here she was thinking she was superwoman enough to manage an almost eight foot Christmas tree all by herself.
"Bill, can you come and give me a hand over here? Gabriella needs some help carrying their Christmas tree into the house," Mrs. Elder-Vass shouted to her husband who was dutifully shoveling the deep snow from their garden path.
Bill arrived and frowned at the sight before him; his wife was helping a very cold and wet looking Gabriella up from the ground as she brushed the snow from her clothes and the Christmas tree lying abandoned on the ground beside them.
"Troy not around today? How are you feeling sweetheart?" Bill and Vivian Elder-Vass had become firm friends of Troy and Gabriella since their arrival in Erie. They had taken them under their wing and shown them around the town and providing them a place to go if they needed anything.
Gabriella shook herself off, smiling at the older couple in front of her and appreciating their concern.
"Don't even talk to me about Troy Bolton, he's home alright. Sick…in bed…with a cold! I'm doing better though thank you, the cough is still hanging around but not doing too badly." Bill smiled at the young girl, relieved that she was feeling better than she had been the previous week.
It wasn't long before the Christmas tree was finally inside the house, with the help of both Bill and Vivian Gabriella had situated the tree in its holder in the perfect position in the corner of the large living room.
"Thank you so much, I couldn't have done it without your help! I better go and tell Troy that I'm home…make sure he hasn't died of his mysterious illness or anything." Bill and Vivian chucked at Gabriella's comment as they left the house, closing the door securely behind them.
Making her way up the stairs Gabriella listened out for noise, any sign that Troy may be playing a video game or watching TV in bed, but there was nothing.
As she rounded the corner and headed towards their bedroom a faint murmur of the TV filled Gabriella's ears. If he was really that sick, so sick that he couldn't leave the house, there would be no way that he'd want to watch basketball.
As Gabriella entered their bedroom Troy looked up and smiled, taking in her soaking wet appearance.
"Oh hey Babe, why are you all wet?" Troy asked casually, grabbing another tissue and blowing his nose violently before throwing the used tissue towards the trashcan on the other side of the room.
Gabriella frowned; she couldn't believe the childish behavior that Troy was displaying, it was so unlike Troy to be selfish and not protective and caring.
"I fell…into the snow carrying in the eight foot Christmas tree that you should have been helping me with. Thank goodness that Bill and Vivian were in their yard or I could have frozen to death buried under that stupid tree! But you know don't worry about it, I'll just do all of the work while you relax in bed seeing as your just so sick," Troy was shocked at Gabriella's outburst, feeling guilty once more that she had obviously suffered for his sickness. He looked her over quickly, ensuring that she hadn't been cut or bruised from her fall, his protective side returning briefly before disappearing once more.
"Thanks Beautiful, you're the best," Troy replied as he snuggled down into their bed, bringing the duvet up to his neck and sighing heavily.
Gabriella groaned angrily, turning around and heading back downstairs to distract her from the anger that was building within her.
To say she was exhausted would be an understatement, her chest ached and she wanted nothing more than to just snuggle up in bed with Troy and sleep until she felt better.
But she knew that she couldn't do that, with everybody arriving in less than forty eight hours she had to make the house look perfect, with or without the help of her usually loving husband.
Excitedly she opened up the box of decorations she had been saving for this very moment. Since moving out of her mother's home in New Mexico, Gabriella had been collecting various different types of decorations to make her future home look beautiful.
It would be a long few hours, but Gabriella was determined to make the decorations look perfect.
~TG~
Three hours later Troy wondered down stairs, feeling a little better and looking for some food. The sun had begun to set in the sky and Troy had neither seen nor heard Gabriella since she had left their bedroom.
As he walked down the stairs he noticed the delicately placed decorations winding around the banister. Troy smiled to himself, there was no doubting she had made this place beautiful.
As Troy rounded the corner into the living room he was impressed at what he saw. Gabriella had decorated the tree perfectly, the twinkling fairy lights placed in just the right position.
Troy hadn't imagined that the house would look this festive; with the tree and the other tasteful decorations in various places around the room it reminded him of how his mother would decorate their house when he was young.
Looking around he tried to spot Gabriella, assuming that she would be finishing off some last decorations before making a start on dinner.
She was nowhere to be seen; that was until Troy looked over the back of the couch and saw her sleeping peacefully, the final garland that was to belong on the fireplace still in her hands.
He chuckled to himself, only Gabriella could look so beautiful when she was still so obviously sick. Shaking his head he began to feel disappointed in himself, he really had been a jerk that day and knew he needed win back her affections.
"I'm so sorry Beautiful," Troy whispered, kissing her lips every so lightly as to not wake her from her peaceful sleep.
Quietly he made his way towards the kitchen, opening the cupboards and smiling to himself.
There was everything he needed to make Gabriella's favorite dinner, and that's just what he was going to do.
Green bean casserole with mashed potatoes and banana pudding for dessert.
Piling all the ingredients into the large pan, Troy looked proud of himself as he put the casserole into the hot oven to bake.
There weren't many points in his life where he acknowledged he had been a jerk towards his beloved wife, but today would definitely be added to the short list.
He wasn't sure what had really come over him, he had begun his Christmas holiday the previous week so he definitely couldn't blame it on being tired. The only thing he could put it down to, as was prepared to take the flack for it later, was being just being a guy.
He shuffled around the kitchen quietly, working hard not to wake Gabriella as he whipped the cream for the banana pudding.
Suddenly the loud shrill of the telephone broke his concentrated trance; he winced harshly hoping that the ear piercing noise hadn't woken his sleeping beauty.
"Hello?" He whispered quietly, glancing out of the kitchen to the couch to ensure that Gabriella was still sleeping peacefully.
Thankfully she was.
"Dude, why are you whispering?" Chad Danforth's loud voice found its way to Troy's ears, causing him to jump slightly at the volume.
Chad Danforth had been best friends with Troy since Kindergarten; they had always been inseparable until life had forced them to opposite ends of the country.
Chad had graduated from New York University with a degree in sports management and quickly moved back to Albuquerque. He had taken up a job managing all of the sports teams at a High School in Rio Rancho; it was there that he had met his teacher wife Luciana.
"Because Gabriella is sleeping in the living room and I'd like to keep it that way. What has you calling anyway?" Troy asked, wondering what on earth it was that was so important it warranted a phone call and not a quick text.
"I'm planning a big Christmas party and I was just wondering if you and Gabs would be coming home?" Chad asked hopefully, having not seen Troy since before the big move in the summer.
Troy sighed, he was disappointed that he wouldn't be attending the annual Danforth Christmas celebration but this year Gabriella was excited for a true family Christmas.
"I'm sorry man, our parents are coming in two days and we're having Christmas here. We're planning on coming down for New Year but man Gabriella has been sick so it all depends on whether she feels better over Christmas." Troy explained carefully, knowing that his best friend would be sad that for the first time in the history of their friendship he wouldn't be seeing Troy for Christmas.
Gabriella had always laughed at their friendship, or as she phrased it bromance. She couldn't count on two hands the numbers of times she had had to use sex as a weapon to distract him away from an intense video game between the pair. Although very frustrating at times, it amused Gabriella that they shared such an intense friendship.
"Is she ok? Nothing serious right?" Chad asked panicked, over the years that Troy and Gabriella had been dating Chad had become very protective of Gabriella. He had quickly adopted her as the little sister he had never had.
Troy smiled, he loved that his friends had accepted Gabriella so quickly after she had transferred to their school in junior year.
"Nah man, she's just had a really bad chest infection. She's been taking antibiotics but she's not been resting enough…she's still really pale." Troy reassured Chad soothingly, peering again around the kitchen door and into the living room to observe his wife still sleeping peacefully.
"Alright Dude, well I better let you get back to her. Have a great Christmas, drop me a line if you decide you're coming for New Year and we'll make plans." Troy approved the plan before saying his goodbyes and hanging up, with one minute left on the oven buzzer he wanted to get to it before the loud noise woke Gabriella.
Pulling out the completed green bean casserole from the oven he admired his work. If he could say so himself, it looked almost as good as the ones that Gabriella made. Draining the potatoes carefully he mixed them with a little butter and some milk and whipped them just how Gabriella liked them.
After placing the savory treats back into the oven to keep warm he turned to his favorite part of the meal, banana pudding.
Gabriella had fallen in love with the layered dessert after being introduced to it early on in their relationship. It consisted mainly of layers of ladyfinger cookies, vanilla custard and freshly sliced banana with generous serving of whipped cream on top.
With every part of the meal complete Gabriella, with candles and matches in hand, crept quietly into the dining room. Lighting the candles and setting two places, Gabriella looked on happy that the room had been filled with a romantic atmosphere suitable for a woman so special as Gabriella.
He approached her sleeping form cautiously, kneeling down on the floor in front of the couch and brushing a stray strand of hair from her eyes.
"Babe, wake up Beautiful." Troy whispered against Gabriella's soft lips, pressing his to hers lightly as the words left his mouth.
Gabriella's eyes opened slowly, scrunching her nose as the light shone into her tired eyes. She couldn't believe that she had fallen asleep, there was still so much to do and with Gabriella seemingly doing nothing she knew there was hours work ahead of her.
"Troy? When did you come down? Why did you let me sleep for so long? There's so much to do!" Gabriella sprung from the couch as she spoke frantically, rushing past Gabriella and into the dining room where the remainder of the decorations were being stored.
Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks, the boxes of decorations had been emptied and placed in just the right positions around the house, candles had been lit and food was sitting on the table waiting to be eaten.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"What's all this?" Gabriella asked softly, turning around slowly and looking deep into Troy's ocean eyes.
Troy stepped forwards, taking Gabriella into his arms and pressing her head firmly into his chest.
"I've been a jerk today Gabriella, I'm so sorry! I was just thinking about myself and hadn't realized how sick you still are. I shouldn't have let you go out alone and I definitely shouldn't have left you to carry in that tree all alone, you must have been freezing after falling in the snow. You didn't hurt yourself right?" Troy had briefly looked her over when she had entered their bedroom hours earlier, but now he was thoroughly checking for any sign of injury.
Gabriella smiled, pulling Troy's arms back around her and relishing in the feeling of his protective embrace.
"I'm fine Troy. I can't believe you made green bean casserole for me. I was so mad at you earlier but now I don't even care, you made my favorite dinner to make it up to me and you realized that you were a jerk. I love you," Gabriella smiled up at her husband, kissing his lips gently before they moved to sit down at the beautifully laid table.
It wasn't long before the dinner had been eaten, dessert had been enjoyed and Troy and Gabriella had snuggled up on the couch to watch a movie.
Troy looked down at his wife, fast asleep once again and leaning comfortably into his body.
It was definitely time for bed.
As he carried a sleeping Gabriella up to their bedroom he took a moment to reflect.
He couldn't imagine his life without her.
She worked hard to make sure that everything was perfect, whether it be Christmas decorations or simply making sure that his favorite pair of boxers were clean for special occasions.
She had made such an effort, even through her sickness and his jerkiness, to make this Christmas perfect for everybody.
The house was beautifully clean.
The tasteful Christmas decorations filled it with festive beauty.
The beds in the spare rooms had been prepared ready for the arrival of their parents.
His mother's favorite meat had been ordered and collected.
And his wife had done it all, once again had shown just how special she really was.
Yes, this really would be the greatest Christmas ever!
~TG~
So there is it! Wishing everybody an awesome Christmas! Crossing fingers that everything has been fixed!