Innocence
Hey guys, I was babysitting my little cousin today and she wanted us to sing this song, so as I was of course obliging and singing it with her, this idea came into my head, so please read and tell me what you guys think!
"Talk to me," Gabriella answered her cell phone, before cringing and rolling her eyes, realising that it was true what everyone said, she and Troy really were becoming more like one with every passing moment, a small smile flitted across her face as she thought of Troy, her basketball boy and the love of her life.
"Ella?" Troy questioned frantically on the other end of the phone, "Oh thank G-d you answered, I need help badly," Gabriella frowned at the obvious desperation in her boyfriends usually exceedingly confident voice, her frown only deepening more when she heard the wails of a small infant in the background.
"Troy?" Gabriella asked back, getting more confused by the minute as the wailing on the other end of the phone only seemed to get louder, "What's happening? What's going on?"
"Shhh Annabel, Shhh baby girl, you're alright, you're gonna be fine," Gabriella heard Troy anxiously trying to soothe his eight month old, baby sister Annie on the other end of the line as she finally figured out where the crying was escalating from. "She won't stop crying Ella, I'm so confused and I don't know what to do, I mean I've tried everything and I can't get in touch with my parents because they're away at this conference thingy all weekend which has like no outside phones and no cell phone reception and I'm freaking losing my mind here!" Troy cried out hysterically, turning his attention away from Annie who had chosen the same moment that her brother had started to cry as the moment to let out the loudest scream that Gabriella had ever heard the smallest Bolton emit.
Gabriella's eyes widened as she realised that Troy's wails had joined in with Annie's and they were both now crying uncontrollably on the other end. Glancing up, Gabriella saw the other girls, the three of who had joined Gabriella for a sleepover the night before and were now just watching a movie before going home, watching Gabriella with obvious concern on their faces as the brunette seemed to be getting more distressed and frantic as the phone call went on.
"Okay, okay, Troy calm down, you need to stay calm for Annie's sake," Gabriella smiled softly to herself as she heard Troy's cries subside slowly, even as Annie's continued to increase in volume, "Okay, Troy, I need you to listen to me very carefully, have you tried feeding her? Changing her? Burping her?" Gabriella's brow furrowed and her frown deepened as Troy continued to mumble a yes to all of her questions and she tried to suss out what was going on with Annie, "Have you checked her temperature? Tried to put her down for a nap? Giving her a drink? Talking to her? Playing with her? You've done all that? I'll be there in five tops Troy, don't worry, we'll sort out what's going on with the little princess," Gabriella smiled sadly into the phone, hating hearing either her boyfriend or Annie, who she considered as her own little sister, so distraught, and snapping her phone shut, she motioned to the now extremely worried Taylor, Sharpay and Kelsi that she was going to leave, running down the stairs and out of Taylor's front door before they could ask any questions, thankful that Taylor only lived five houses away from the Bolton's as she opened their front door without knocking and instantly her hands flew up to cover her ears in a reflex reaction.
"Troy!" She yelled over the racket, and a very frazzled looking young basketball star suddenly appeared out of the front room, carrying the still screaming Annie.
"Thank G-d you're here!" Troy hollered over the noise, pulling Gabriella in for a one armed hug as he jiggled the baby around with his other arm, "I just don't know what's wrong with her, she won't stop."
Gabriella nodded slightly and gently took Annie from an exhausted looking Troy, but if anything, this just made the baby howl louder, and both teenagers winced as she continued to cry, but suddenly an idea came to Gabriella and a smile lit up her face, causing Troy to look at her in confusion, "Troy have you tried to sing the song that you wrote for her?" Gabriella yelled, still jiggling the baby in an attempt to quieten down the din that Annie was making.
As soon as the words registered in his mind, Troy grinned, and motioned for Gabriella to follow him into the front room, where he picked up a guitar from behind the sofa, and almost instantly Annie's sobs started to lessen, almost as though she knew what was coming.
Troy looked up at Gabriella as he sat on the arm of the sofa and started to strum the opening chords for the song that he had written for his little sister when she was born, beaming as Gabriella sank onto the other end of the sofa, holding Annie closely to herself as troy began to sing.
Christopher Robin and I walked along
Under branches lit up by the moon
Posing our questions to Owl and Eeyore
As our days disappeared all too soon
But I've wandered much further today than I should
And I can't seem to find my way back to the Wood
Troy smiled as Annie slowly started to calm down even though he was only one verse into the song. His smile grew again as he thought back to who had been by his side as he had written this song for his little sister, his best friend since they were toddlers, Chad. Although it was safe to say, that the little Bolton and the little Danforth had not gotten a long at first, to be completely honest, they had hated each other within the first five minutes of knowing each other, but by an hour into their first meeting, they were playing like they had always been the best of friends, all thanks to a little yellow stuffed bear in a red top.
Flashback
"Troy, come on sweetie, we have to go meet my friend Jessica in the restaurant," Lucille Bolton called for her three year old son as he appeared by her feet in the playground of the Albuquerque park, his dungarees unfastened at one side, revealing the baby blue t-shirt underneath them, as he shook his shaggy dirty blonde hair out of his face, revealing his sparkly blue eyes.
"But Mommy, I don wanna, I wanna stay here," Troy whined as his mother bent over to refasten his strap, before bending lower, and retying the toddlers shoelace for him as well.
"Please behave Troy, these are our new neighbours, and the lady went to high school with Mommy, so she's one of my close friends, and she has a little boy the same age as you," Lucille chatted away to her son as they half walked and she half dragged him through the park, in the direction of the restaurant, him crinkling his nose at the thought of meeting another little boy when he already had friends like Jason and Zeke who he saw everyday anyway. One of his small, chubby hands was held onto tightly by his mother, and the other had a firm grasp on a little yellow Winnie the Pooh stuffed toy, as he dragged the bear along beside him, refusing to go anywhere without it.
Walking into the restaurant, Lucille immediately spotted her best friend from high school, Jessica Carlisle, now Danforth, and noticed that she had not changed a bit, even though it was a good ten years since high school had ended for the two of them, and while Lucille had stayed in Albuquerque, marrying her high school sweetheart Jack, and eventually having Troy, Jessica had moved away to Chicago, where she had met her husband during college, and ironically, had had Chad a day after Troy was born, and even though the two friends had stayed in touch, talking on the phone, sending photographs and letters, they had not met in person since the end of Summer after their senior year of high school, so this reunion was a little emotional for both women.
As the two women started to hug and chat about everything that had gone on in their lives over the past ten years, Troy and Chad had been placed side by side on the floor, much to both of their disgusts, as they cautiously eyed the other up and down, the first thing Troy noticing about Chad being his hair.
"You've got a cotton candy on your head only it's not pink!" Troy roared with laughter as a three-year-old Chad Danforth subconsciously patted his hair before glaring at Troy, who was still laughing.
"Yeah well at least mine isn't all long and floppy like a girl's!" Chad yelled back, the two mothers watching on in amusement as it was Chad's turn to start laughing and Troy just glared at him, before sticking his tongue out spitefully at the other young boy and sitting down with his back to him.
Troy held his Pooh Bear toy close to him as he turned around again, and held his arms up to his Mom, Chad copying moments later so that both boys' were now sat in the both opposite each other, still holding a staring competition, before Troy's eyes landed on what Chad was holding and his eyes widened.
"You've got a Pooh Bear toy too!" He blurted out happily, the large grin spreading across his face showing off his tiny dimples, and Chad's head shot up to look at him, noticing the bear that was situated in Troy's arms being identical to his own.
Lucille and Jessica watched as their two sons guardedly moved around the booth so that they were sat right next to each other, each on their knees as both burst out into brilliant smiles and started to talk about what had happened in the episode they had watched that morning and which of the stories that their Mommies and Daddies were currently reading to them from the collection, neither realising that that conversation was the start of a beautiful friendship that would last the rest of their lives, all with their cuddly soft toys watching on.
End Flashback
Troy grinned at the memory and started to launch into the next verse, which he had written without Chad there in the hospital to support him, just praying that his silly old bear would bring Annie the same good luck and friendships that it had brought him when he was younger, the bear had even survived a horrifying incident in kindergarten when Sharpay had decided that he should be covered in pink glitter, instead of being yellow, and as far as Troy was concerned, if his little bear could survive an attack from the former ice queen, it could survive anything.
So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh
Troy motioned with his head for Gabriella to look down the side of the sofa, and she smiled when she spotted the Pooh bear that was sat on the floor. Leaning over, she picked it up as Troy continued to sing, placing the soft toy into Annie's grasping fingers, both teenagers couldn't help the smiles creeping over their features, at the look of pure delight that had appeared on the baby's face as she cuddled the Pooh Bear tightly to her and buried her face into the soft material.
Annie loved the old bear just as much as Troy had always done; Troy just hoped that the bear wouldn't suffer the same fate as it did when it was his, disappearing for just under ten years was not exactly a great way to treat your property, but back then, he hadn't even realised that the bear had gone missing, he supposed now that that's what growing up did to you, it made you forget and leave behind a lot of the things that you loved in your younger years.
Flashback
"Hey Troy!" Seven-year-old Chad Danforth yelled to his best friend of four years now as he ran through the garden gate that joined both of their houses, "Wanna play some basketball?" He asked excitedly as he glanced over Troy's basketball court, the two young boys having only just really discovered their new love for the sport.
"Yeah!" Troy yelled back, doing his special handshake with Chad, before the young boy with the bushy hair ran off to the basketball court, where Zeke and Jason were already waiting, and Troy turned to run up to his room to grab his basketball, shaking his now slightly darker hair out of his face as he charged up the stairs and into his room, now covered in sports posters instead of the innocent Winnie the Pooh pictures that had once upon a time covered the baby blue walls.
He rushed around his room, desperately trying to find his basketball as he chucked clothes and board games everywhere in an attempt to find the ball, ignoring the yellow bear that lay watching him from the bed.
"Troy come on, we're waiting!" Chad yelled up the stairs, and leaning over his bed, Troy finally found his basketball.
"A-ha! Got you!" He grinned as he pulled it out, not noticing the little yellow bear in the little red top falling underneath his bed, only to be forgotten about until Annie Bolton would enter the world, just under ten years later.
End Flashback
It was certainly true that Annie was slowly bringing all of the wonders back into his life that Troy had simply forgotten about over time, such as Winnie the Pooh.
But to be honest, it was just sheer dumb look that while he had been forced home from the hospital, for the first time in the three weeks of Annie's life, that he had been looking around his room for a certain shirt, and in his hurry, he had looked under the bed, finding the dusty old bear, and after dusting it off, had been able to give it to Annie, carrying it back to the hospital in his sports bag, as he left only moments later.
Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose
He came to me asking help and advice
And from here no one knows where he goes
So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he's there
How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear
As she joined in with the song, Gabriella smiled at the baby in her lap, whose sobs were slowly subsiding as she watched her big brother with admiration and tried to reach out to grab the guitar as Gabriella tried not to laugh, and to keep up with Troy, who sang the words to Annie every night as far as she knew.
She grinned at Annie as the baby lifted her head to look at Gabriella and giggled softly, raising a hand to Gabriella's mouth as she gently played with her lip, sending Gabriella a toothy grin as she did so, before her attention returned to Troy and her hand found sudden interest in trying to fit an entire fist in her own mouth again.
As much as Gabriella knew that Troy could no longer live without Annie, she knew that it hadn't always been that way, remembering the day that Troy had stormed around to her house, furious at the fact that his parents were going to have another baby.
Flashback A sixteen year old Gabriella Montez jumped in shock as her attention was drawn away from her book of Romeo and Juliet, and to her balcony doors as they slammed open to reveal a very annoyed looking Troy, water droplets flying everywhere with the force on the door as Troy's eyes swept the room and eventually found Gabriella curled up on her bed, looking at him with wide eyes as he shook his head and water flew everywhere, the thunderstorm still raging in the background as more cautiously than he had opened them, Troy closed the balcony doors once more, although they still slammed, and Gabriella jumped again, her eyes now wider than saucers.
Troy gave an agitated sigh before heading over to the bed and collapsing next to Gabriella, pulling her pillow over his face as he breathed deeply, and Gabriella watched him in concern.
"Troy, what's wrong?" Gabriella asked timidly placing a hand on Troy's shoulder, feeling him shake with rage as he pulled away from her before sitting up, and glancing at her, causing Gabriella to wince at the flames of fury dancing through his usually bright, cheerful ocean blue eyes that were now almost black. "Did I do something wrong?" She questioned nervously as she quickly wrapped her hand back around her knee as though it had been burned and the tears filled her eyes.
Immediately, Troy's head snapped up to look at her and the anger evaporated from his eyes, as he pulled Gabriella into his arms, wiping away the few tears that had fallen from her watery eyes, "No baby girl, you didn't do anything wrong, I swear to you, you did nothing, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for you to get upset, I just needed to vent to someone, but the words just wouldn't come, and somehow it made me look like I was annoyed at you," Troy sighed softly, kissing the top of Gabriella's head, before resting his on top of hers and gently drawing them back so that she was now lying on top of him and he on her cushions as he lightly smelled her hair, coconut as always, and gradually started to relax as they both just lay there.
"Troy, what is it? What's got you like this? It's scary," Gabriella whispered, after ten minutes in a comfortable silence, gently running her finger up and down Troy's chest as he sighed once more and sat up, moving so that he was on the end of the bed, placing his elbows in his hands and resting his head in them as Gabriella slowly crawled forward and kneeled beside him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders as she leant in to him.
"It's my parents Ella," Troy let out a dry, harsh laugh as he turned his face to look at Gabriella, who now watched him with even more confusion and concern flickering through them, battling over which one should have dominance in the young girls eyes, "They've decided that now is a brilliant time to have a new baby and now my Mom's pregnant!" Troy fumed as he stood up and started to pace the room, running his hands over his face, Gabriella watching him, as she slowly sat up and crossed her legs, figuring that there was more to come yet, "I mean who leaves freaking sixteen years between their kids? I was happy as an only child, I don't want to have to put up with some little brat running around my house!" Troy stopped pacing abruptly as he sank down into one of the chairs in Gabriella's room, and watched the brunette, whose face now burned with shock, annoyance and disappointment all at the same time.
"You done?" Gabriella asked in a harsh tone that made Troy sit bolt upright and watch his girlfriend as she grew steadily redder, looking more furious by the minute, "Troy this is a tiny little baby we're talking about, you're going to get to be a big brother, do you know how many people would kill for an opportunity like that? How much I would kill for an opportunity to be a big sister?"
"Well then you take it then," Troy muttered, looking like a toddler not allowed any candy as he folded his arms across his chest and huffed, a pout permanently lodged on his face.
Rage flashed once more across Gabriella's face as she whirled around to glare at Troy once more, "Troy you are acting like a spoiled rotten little brat!" She roared, glaring at her boyfriend, "Stop being such a self centred jerk and look at what this could be doing to the people around you! I bet that your parents were thrilled with the news, but now they're probably terrified that by having this baby, they're going to lose their oldest son in the process, I mean what kind of idiot are you?" Gabriella questioned as she paced the room, throwing her hands into the air every so often for dramatic affect, but as quickly as the anger had entered her, it left, and she crouched down ion front of her boyfriend, taking his hands into hers as she saw the sorrow now flitting across his face. "Just think Troy, you're either going to have a little brother to teach basketball to, or you're going to have a little sister who is going to need protection from all of the guys out there who are gonna want to date her," Gabriella smiled softly as she put a soothing hand on her boyfriends shoulder, feeling the tension slowly being released from his shoulder, "Either way Troy, this baby needs you, his or hers big brother."
A grin suddenly lit up Troy's features as he realised what it all really meant, "I'm gonna be a big brother," he whispered in disbelief, before standing up and grabbing Gabriella, spinning the two of them round as he continued to scream joyfully, "I can't believe, Ella, I'm gonna be a big brother," He laughed as her giggles filled the air and the two of them danced around her room.
End Flashback
Gabriella grinned once more as she looked at the brother sister duo, Troy still playing his guitar and singing as Annie bopped along happily to the music, not even able to imagine one without the other anymore.
So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh
Troy couldn't help but wonder what his life would have been like if Annie had never existed, and the only thing he could think was that he would be no where near as happy as he currently was, but what made him really shudder, was that a life without Annie had been a horrifyingly big possibility, even in the first three or four weeks of her life, being that she had been born three months prematurely, and was just so tiny when she was born.
Flashback
"I'm not leaving you little girl," Troy whispered as Annie's chest rose up and down in an unsettling pattern, one of his hands stuck through the hole in the incubator as he gently rubbed a finger over his tiny baby sister's knuckles, silently urging her to carry on as her head turned, her crystal blue eyes raising to clash with his own, causing a watery smile to leap to his face, "So don't you dare leave me either."
Troy's smile widened as Annie gently blinked, he believed it to be his way of answering him, before tightening her grip around his finger as the monitors around her beeped and the wires hooked up to her to monitor how she was doing stirred with every little movement that she made.
It upset Troy to see Annie like this, so small, so helpless, but what upset him more, was the fact that he was helpless too, there was nothing that he could do to help her, and the doctors had already warned the Bolton's to prepare for the worst outcome in the case of the baby girl born two and a half months early. So while Jack Bolton sat downstairs in one of the other wards with his wife, each grieving for what they hadn't yet lost, Troy sat constantly by his sisters side, praying that she would be safe, and knowing in his heart of hearts that Annie was going to fight as hard as possible to beat everything, he could already tell from the way she was currently pulling his hand further and further into the incubator that she had his strength, courage, and most of all, his determination.
Troy let out a little chuckle as Annie squealed softly, pulling his finger into her mouth and sucking on it gently as she still watched her smiling big brother looking down upon the tiny little person that was she.
"Hey Bellie Belles, look what I have for you," Troy grinned as he reached inside his bag and pulled out a stuffed Pooh Bear toy that looked fairly old, but still in good condition, "This Bellie," Troy smiled as she looked back up at him again, her mouth open in a slight wonder, "Is my Pooh Bear, Grams bought me it when I was just a tiny baby like you, fortunately for me though, I was a healthy baby," Troy sighed, looking down at the soft bear with a small smile, "Grams passed away a long time ago now Bellie," he raised his head and found himself staring into a pair of intense blue eyes once more as Annie watched his every move, his finger now permanently lodged in her mouth, "But I know that she would've liked to meet you and that she would've loved you instantly, and I know that she would want me to give you this," he beamed again as the baby blew a spit bubble on his finger, "Besides Bellie, he was just gathering dust under my bed," Troy laughed softly, releasing his hand from the incubator as his sister gave an annoyed little squeal, kicking her legs in miniature circles as Troy lifted the lid of her incubator off and gently placed the Pooh Bear beside the baby's head, swooping down to give her a quick kiss on the forehead before replacing the lid and shutting off the lights for the private room, returning only moments later to put his hand through the incubator once more taking hold of Annie's petite hand as she drifted back off to sleep, and Troy released his own yawn, leaning against the crib once more as he had done every night for the last three and a half weeks, since Annie had been born, "Night Bellie, I love you princess," he smiled softly, gazing at her one last time before closing his eyes, praying as he did every time that she would still be there when he woke up.
End Flashback
Troy beamed as Annie let out a tiny little giggle, that soon escalated into full blown laughs as Gabriella started to gently tickle the baby with the Pooh Bear, rubbing the nose of the bear over Annie's own little button nose, before pulling the bear back and repeating the process once more. Troy was just thankful to have both girls in his life, alive and safe, he knew that without the two of them, he was nothing they were quite literally, his whole world.
It's hard to explain how a few precious things
Seem to follow throughout all our lives
After all's said and done I was watching my sister
Sleeping there with my bear by her side
So I tucked her in, I kissed her and as I was going
I swear that the old bear whispered "Boy welcome home"
Troy knew for a fact that Annie could never sleep without the Pooh Bear soft toy, although nobody could ever figure out why.
Although Gabriella's theory, about it being that the bear comforted Annie by reminding her of Troy had been proven four months ago now when Lucille Bolton had decided to wash the bear, in an attempt to get rid of any of the hidden germs that may have been lurking on the surface of the soft yellow material.
Troy had been out at one of the gangs weekly sleepovers, this time being held at Taylor's house, when his frantic mother had called him, asking if he had any clue how to calm Annie down because she was refusing to, sobbing her little heart out, while the bear was drying hazardously slowly on the washing line outside.
The gang had decided there and then to take the sleepover over to the Bolton's household, and had gained a new member that night, Annie immediately reaching for her brother as he entered the house.
They had all ended up in Troy's room watching a film with Annie wrapped up in one of Troy's Wildcats jumpers, lying across his knee as Gabriella had sat to the side of him, one of Troy's arms wrapped around each of his favourite girls.
Annie had then continued to sleep with Troy in the same manner for the next few nights, as whenever someone tried to give her the Pooh Bear toy, she would hand it straight to Troy and look at him with sorrow filled eyes.
It had been Gabriella who had eventually suggested that maybe Troy sleep with the bear for a few nights, much to the teenage boys horror, as well as Annie, so that his scent reappeared on the bear, just as Gabriella would make him re-wear many sweatshirts, just to get his scent back on them.
Troy had smiled the night that Annie had finally gone back into her cot, right next door to his own room, he had given her a bath, gotten her ready for bed, given her her bottle, and then he had sung the song that he had written for her, the very one that he was singing to her now, before lying her down in her cot and handing her the raggedy old Pooh Bear, which thankfully she hadn't given back to him, before pulling her covers over her, placing her pacifier in her mouth and gently kissing the top of her head, heading back for the connecting door between their rooms and just watching his baby sister sleep soundly, one arm tucked neatly around his old stuffed toy. Troy had grinned once more, before blowing a final kiss at his sister and retreating to his own room to work on homework that he had conveniently forgotten about earlier.
Believe me if you can
I've finally come back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
What do you know
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin
Back to the ways of Christopher Robin
Back to the days of Pooh
Troy gently replaced the guitar behind the sofa after strumming the last few chords, turning to see Annie fast asleep finally and Gabriella watching as the baby's chest lightly rose and fell with her even breathing.
Smiling softly, he manoeuvred himself so that he was sat beside Gabriella, slowly wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she sighed delicately in contentment and shifted so that her head was resting tenderly on his shoulder, causing him to wrap his arm tighter around him, and use his other hand to gently stroke the back of the sleeping baby's hand.
"Troy?" Gabriella smiled softly as Troy's head turned away from the infant now sleeping on her lap and his eyes met with hers, a brilliant smile bursting onto his face, "I think you're going to make a great Dad one day," Gabriella whispered, gently running a hand over Annie's soft sandy brown hair as she gazed down at the baby.
Troy beamed at Gabriella's comment and looked down at the two most important people in his life, the two which he would go to the ends of the Earth and further to protect, the only two people in this world that he would give his life for, his baby sister and his girlfriend, the love of his short life.
He slowly reached over and grasped Gabriella's chin in his hand, he lifted her face so that his eyes met her chocolate ones once more, "Yeah well Ella, I know that you're going to make an amazing Mom to our kids, one day," Troy grinned at her once more as Gabriella's eyes filled up with happy tears and the two of them shared a short kiss, which was quickly interrupted with a baby's squeal and tiny giggle.
Breaking apart, they both laughed when they saw a pair of baby blue eyes looking up at them with a purely innocent expression as Annie watched them with a smile, pulling her own foot up to her mouth as the two teenagers watched on in amazement, wondering if they had ever been that flexible, and thankful for the tender innocence that Annie still brought to their lives every day that she was in them.
Well guys, that was slightly different to something which I'd usually write, so please review and tell me what you thought, by the way if you don't know, the song is Return To Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins, a song which I've loved ever since I can remember, and which I'd recommend anyone to listen to!
