Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story that you recognize as someone else's.
Storytime
"Hey Uncle Chad, tell me a story."
Chad looked down to see a young girl of seven tucked into her bed, peering up at her godfather. "A story?" Chad asked. "Which story do you want to hear about, Vanessa? I can tell you about the time I scored the winning shot for the championship in high school. Or how about the time I defeated your father in a hotdog eating contest? Maybe I'll tell you about the time I rescued your father from man-eating piranhas and saved the day by defeating the evil lord of EVIL," Chad boasted as he flexed his muscles. "Yeah, I know…I'm awesome."
"Uncle Chad," Vanessa giggled, "That never happened!"
Chad lowered his face in front of Vanessa's. "Oh yeah? How. Do. You. Know?" He emphasized as he started to tickle her. Vanessa started laughing hard as Chad's fingers ran up and down her sides.
"S-s-stop I-it! Un-Uncle Chad!" She exclaimed, tears running down her face. She breathed hard, trying to catch her breath. A few moments later, she looked up to see her godfather smiling down at her. Vanessa settled back into her bed and said, "Uncle Chad, tell me my favorite story."
Chad didn't need Vanessa to tell him what story she wanted to hear. "Okay. Well it all started when we were about six years old…"
--
Ding Dong
"Hey honey, could you get that? It must be Gabriella. I invited her to come over today."
Chad sighed. Of all the days his mother had to invite Gabriella over, it just had to be today. "Mom…Don't you remember I asked Troy to come over? Why did you invite Gabi?"
"Well, her mother is busy today, so I promised to take care of her for the day. Anyways, wouldn't it be nice if Gabriella and Troy became friends? You know he just moved here the other month and Troy needs to meet more people his age."
"No! Troy's my friend." Chad glared at his mother, who shook her head and tried to remember the times when her son called her 'mommy' and was polite and shared things with others. Those were the days…
Ding Dong
Chad gave one last glare, and stomped off to answer the door. He opened the door and looked at the girl in front of him. She carried her Barbie doll set in both hands, and peered over Chad's shoulder.
"Hey Gabi," Chad said, stepping aside so she could enter the house.
"Hi Chad," she replied back. Chad led Gabriella up the stairs into the room at the end of the hallway.
Inside Chad's room was a boy around their age, playing with a G.I. Joe action figure and a miniature version of T-Rex. He moved the hand with the dinosaur, and placed the jaws on top of the G.I. Joe's head, so it looked like the T-Rex was trying to gnaw off his head. The tan boy imitated the noises a dinosaur made and yelled, "Roar. ROAR." Chad and Gabriella stared at this piece of theatre before the young boy noticed that he was being watched.
"Oh. H-hello," the boy said.
Chad rolled his eyes and introduced Gabriella. "This is Gabi." He motioned towards Gabriella. "That is Troy," Chad said, pointing towards the embarrassed male.
"My name is Gabriella," she said in an irritated voice. She settled herself next to Troy and took out her Barbie dolls. Chad took the G.I. Joe from Troy since he was done with it, and started to play next to the two.
Thirty minutes passed by quietly, with the only interruption from Chad's mother, asking if they wanted any brownies and milk. After filling up on snacks, they went back to their toys.
Gabriella got bored of the idea of playing by herself, and decided to ask Chad for help. "Chad, wanna play marriage?"
"What?!" Chad sputtered.
"You know…when a guy and a girl marries each other?"
"Why would I play marriage with you?! Girls have cooties!"
"No we don't!"
"I don't wanna play marriage with you, Gabi!"
"Fine," Gabriella huffed, frowning and crossing her arms. Her frown turned into a smile, when she got an idea. She turned to Troy. "Hey…Troy. Wanna play marriage with me?"
Troy couldn't say no. "Uh. Sure. What do I do?"
"Well, I'll be over here," Gabriella said, pointing to the position where her Barbie was. "So you have to stand next to me."
Troy moved his T-Rex next to Gabriella's Barbie, when she shouted, "Nonono! Barbie can't marry a dinosaur! Chad, can you trade with Troy?"
"Fine..." Chad and Troy switched toys, so Troy held the G.I. Joe.
"Okay, Chad, you can be the guy who asks if we want to marry each other," Gabriella commanded. She ignored the 'aww' from Chad, and told him to put the T-Rex in front of the Barbie and G.I. Joe. Apparently the plastic dinosaur couldn't be the groom, but could be the priest.
"Fine, fine. Ahem. Um…Hello. We are playing marriage, and Gabriella wants to marry Troy."
"No I don't! Say it right, Chad!"
Chad sighed. "Marriage…blahblahblah…and Barbie wants to marry G.I. Joe, and G.I. Joe wants to marry Barbie."
"Those aren't the words, Chad," Gabriella growled.
"Well I don't know the right words! Can we just stop this?"
"Can we at least do the ending?" Gabriella pleaded.
"Whatever."
"Okay, say it the way I do: 'Do you, Barbie, want to marry G.I. Joe?' and then you say the same thing to Troy, except the opposite way."
"Okay, ready? Ahem. 'Do you, Barbie, want to marry G.I. Joe?'" Chad repeated, except he changed the range of his voice to match a girl's. Gabriella glared at Chad, to which he replied, "Well? Do you?"
"I. Do," Gabriella snarled.
Chad turned the dinosaur so it was facing the G.I. Joe. "Do you, G.I. Joe, want to marry Barbie?"
"Uh…sure," Troy said in a tired voice. Gabriella glared at Troy. "I mean I do! Hehe."
--
"And so, that is how your mother and father met. They had a real wedding, and married each other…again. And then they had a beautiful baby girl. That's you," Chad finished. He looked down to see Vanessa already asleep. He made sure that her blankets were tucked in, and turned off the lights.
"What a kid…" Chad whispered to no one. He headed to the living room, where Taylor sat, watching the television.
"Hey, is Vanessa asleep?"
"Yeah. Hey, Taylor, Troy and Gabriella have been through a lot, haven't they?"
"Well, of course they have. Marriage, pregnancy…it's been rough on them."
"But they don't show it. Do you think we can handle a baby?"
"Of course. We'll be great parents like Troy and Gabi. Because they're love is unstoppable, and so is ours. Nothing will bring us down. This baby is a blessing." Taylor moved her hand to her stomach, and rubbed her belly.
"Of course…" Chad thought.
Author's Note: This story is for my home slice's birthday. XD HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Oh yeah...I couldn't think of any other name, so I chose Vanessa, the one who played Gabriella in HSM...