AN: Everyone's reviews meant a lot last update. I'm sorry this one took so long, but hopefully it meets expectations.

Disclaimer: I do not own HSM.

~*~

Lay Him Down To Sleep

PART THREE

"Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern Stars."

-God Bless The Broken Road, Rascal Flatts

His back was to the door when Andy knocked and nudged it open. Gabriella stood directly behind him and hopefully out of sight, her emotions raging and her blood pounding in her ears. Her palm felt sweaty in Andy's grasp and she internally chastised herself for being unable to think straight. She remembered Jack's words to Andy downstairs, about Troy being the same person, but all she could think about was that everything had changed in those seconds and would never return to the way it was.

She heard Troy's greeting and the creak of the mattress as he rose from where he had been sitting on his bed. There was a clear, single note of laughter when he turned to see his younger brother standing awkwardly in the doorway, and Gabriella felt tears spring to her eyes at the life resonating in it. She didn't have to push her way around Andy to see the shaggy brown hair or the crystal blue eyes or the sculpted cheek bones. She could see him clearly in her own mind as if she saw him every day of her life. Troy Bolton was memorable like that.

"Andy, Dude, it took you long enough! How slow did you drive?" Troy joked, one arm wrapping around his brother's neck and pulling him into a head lock to ruffle at the gel in his hair. "I swore that Christmas would be over by the time you arrived."

"Sorry, man," Andy smiled, all awkwardness being pushed aside as Troy ignored the obvious tension and pretended nothing was different, "Gabriella had to stop and pee like twenty times."

"It's a girl thing," Troy advised him, shaking his head and his eyes sparkling with mischief as he looked into the hallway behind Andy. "So where is this girl that you don't shut up about? You didn't leave her with mom, did you? Because that would just be-"

"No, she's right here." Gabriella heard Andy cut his brother off just as he stepped aside and tugged her in front of him. Her eyes remained downcast, her hair spilling over one shoulder, and her free arm that was crossed over her chest gripped her sweater tighter as a shiver rippled through her. "Troy, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Gabriella Montez. Gab, this is my brother, Troy."

Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet his, seeing him for the first time in almost a year. She had been right about his hair and his eyes earlier when his image flashed through her head, although seeing it in person took her breath away. He was taller than she remembered, more muscled and proportioned, although she could see that his pants hung from his hips more than he'd usually allow and the t-shirt was looser over his chest. He had matured since the College Sophomore she had met in the Colorado Mountains during Christmas break of her Senior year in high school. His face more defined and his voice deeper. He looked so much like his brother that it hurt to see them side by side, the resemblance the thing that had first caught her attention when she met Andy. For that split second in the Stanford bookstore, she had thought it was Troy. Now, she realized that Troy had probably known who she was for awhile and like her, had decided to leave the past in the past. Except now he was dying and that thought made her knees want to give way. He tilted his head when she bit her lip and winked at her. Anyone else would have assumed it to be in his flirtatious nature and part of the teasing Lucille had warned her of downstairs, but Gabriella could read him like a book and the spark that jumped between them ignited something forgotten in her chest.

"Gabriella," he said, the smile growing, "Apparently you've won my little brother's heart."

"So he tells me," she replied with a soft smile that he could read.

"I'm glad you came," he told her quietly and the tension rippled in the room, "Despite everything."

"Of course," she answered, her voice barely audible.

The look that past between them lasted mere seconds but Gabriella learned enough to feel her heart bang against her ribs.

~*~

It was later that night that Gabriella found herself lying in bed, very aware that Troy's bedroom was directly next to the guest room Lucille had prepared for her. Andy's was down the hall, nestled between the bathroom and the linen closet, and seemingly as far away from her physically as he was from Gabriella's thoughts for the moment. Sighing, she rolled over in bed and stared into the empty blackness between her and the wall.

The first time Gabriella had seen Andrew, grinning at her with a teasing smirk as he reached above her head to retrieve the book just beyond her reach, she had felt her breath catch. For the handful of moments before he introduced himself, she had thought he was the confident and athletic boy from Colorado who had taught her to snowboard and stolen her heart for six brief days. She had been mistaken, but that didn't stop the crystal clear memories from flowing through her mind now.

It had been the previous Christmas and she and her mother were in the midst of yet another move to another state. Their house in Denver had been packed up and their things sent to San Francisco, but Gabriella had hated the idea of having Christmas in a strange home, so her mother had rented a cabin in the ski hills of Colorado for the two weeks of Christmas break. The first couple of days, Gabriella had been bored out of her mind. Her mother was busy arranging things like electricity and cable and telephone connections for the new house via the makeshift office in their rooms, and Gabriella was left to wander the resort by herself. She made friends with the local students who ran the quaint coffee shop, read her books and watched as the skiers shrieked and skidded down the looming slopes outside the huge windows of the main lobby where she would curl up with a book and hot chocolate.

She had noticed him the first morning his family arrived. He had leaned against the front counter with his father and offered the young receptionist a wink when she handed over their room keys. He had plucked one from his father's grasp without a second glance and grabbed a snowboard off the pile of luggage, sprinting from the room towards the outdoors. For the rest of the afternoon, Gabriella had watched each snowboarder on the slopes, wondering which one was the gorgeous, cocky, blue-eyed boy from the lobby. The next day, Gabriella's mother watched with surprised as her daughter tore their rooms apart in search of the lift pass that they had been given on their first day and had gone unused. With no explanation, she had left her book lying on the bed and left to find the equipment rental shop and a lesson.

He had been in there that time as well, although he gave her no more than an amused glance as she tried to answer the clerk's questions about sizes and styles and requirements for gear. She had felt like such an amateur as she watched the mystery boy leave. Gathering her gear, she had suffered through the lesson with an instructor before one of the guys from the coffee shop talked her into trying a more advanced hill. She managed to survive a handful of runs before finding herself trying to avoid another snowboarder on the hill and losing her balance, tumbling hard down the hill where she lay on her back for a good thirty seconds while she convinced herself that no one had seen. His laughter, spilling around her as she regained hr bearings enough to see him bending over her, was enough to cause her face to flush with embarrassment. He had introduced himself as Troy Bolton and that had been the end of simply sharing random gazes with each other.

Gabriella had never found herself comfortable around anyone the way she was with Troy. After helping her up off the ground and getting her to the bottom without any more incidents, he had joined her in the coffee shop where they talked all afternoon. She had learned he was in his second year of college at the University of Albuquerque, in the same town he had grown up in, on a basketball scholarship. His dad and younger brother had been spending their time in the gymnasium at the far end of the resort, running plays for the upcoming high school basketball championships that would resume after break. She had explained the house moving situation and expressed her dislike with completing her senior year at yet another school. They had parted for dinner, but he found her again the next morning on the slopes and took to coaching her in the art of snowboarding despite her frustration. For the rest of the trip, excluding Christmas Day, Troy and Gabriella could be found outside with their boards or curled up in a corner of the coffee shop, laughing. He had accompanied her to the resort New Years' Party for the younger crowd of vacationers and together they had joked and danced and been sucked into singing karaoke. He had kissed her on the outside patio, under the stars, as the New Year was rung in by everyone around them. They had parted that night, after breaking into the locked lobby to curl up in front of the fireplace, with plans to see each other the next day but plane schedules had interfered and Gabriella never saw Troy again until one day in Andy's dorm room when a picture on a bulletin board caused her breath to become stuck in her throat.

It was never mentioned to Andy. She never knew how to bring it up. It had been almost two months into their relationship before Gabriella was able to connect him to Troy, and by then they had become so close that she hadn't thought it would matter. She hadn't wanted it to matter. Andy was the one that fate threw into her path for more than a week. Andy was the one who took her on dates and brought her flowers and called her to ask how her classes had gone that day. It was Andy she kissed and Andy who told her she was beautiful. Troy had been a memory until now and Gabriella was guilty of asking herself the sinful question of 'What if'. She didn't want that to matter either.

Having enough of being inside her own head for so long, she pushed back the covers and swung her feet to the floor. The hardwood was cool under her feet as she padded along the hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen, moving silently to prevent waking anyone. Filling a glass of water, she leaned her hip into the counter and stared into the black shadows of the dining room where they had eaten dinner earlier that evening. The conversation had flowed naturally as Andy's parents drilled him about classes and his intramural basketball team and his roommate. They discussed the book he was reading and how finals had gone. Gabriella recognized it as an attempt to keep those at the table from lapsing into melancholy silence, but it was impossible not to notice how Troy remained quiet; only joining the conversation when someone directed a comment to him. When Jack and Lucille had run out of questions for Andy, they moved onto Gabriella.

It had been awkward at first, her cheeks flaming red as she answered their questions about the pre-med program and her old high school and her other interests. They asked about her mother and she had explained the situation in Spain. When Andy mentioned her love for singing and how they and their friends would spend Friday nights at one of the local pubs singing karaoke, Gabriella's gaze slipped to Troy's face in time to see the flicker of amusement and the gleam in his eye as he remembered their own debut to the stage. She had suppressed the knowing smile that she wanted to share with him, choosing to turn her attention back to the table and Jack's discussion of the NBA draft choices, but she could feel Troy watching her throughout the rest of dinner.

Gripping the glass between both hands, Gabriella stared into its depths as her mind returned to the present. Exhaustion weighed heavily on her body, but sleep had eluded her for hours after following Andy to bed and kissing him briefly outside the guest room door. Draining the glass, she gently set it in the sink without a noise and crossed the tiled floor to the door and the staircase again, but paused when she saw the flicker of the television's eerie glow and the shadowed figure seated upright, his wrists resting on his knees as his hands dangled between his legs. His gaze was resting steadily on the illuminated screen that was silent and muted.

Letting her eyes shift from his form, she watched the TV, trying to see what held his attention so rigid. The moving pictures were slightly grainy, as if taken by a low grade camera, and the person filming had obviously been distracted since the images wobbled and vibrated as result of an unsteady hand. On the screen, dressed in the black uniform of the A of U Redhawks, number fourteen ducked and dribbled and spun and blocked. The opposite team moved around him as the Redhawks passed the ball back and forth, rarely losing it, rarely giving it up. Referees moved between the teams, whistles between their lips. Gabriella opened her mouth to announce her presence, but stopped as Troy shifted on the couch and leaned further forward, the line between his eyebrows becoming deeper as if he was trying to find something imbedded in the recording. The figure on the screen caught the pass from across court, bouncing it twice on the hardwood as he scanned his options before taking six deliberate steps in the direction of the net, jumping with perfect form to allow the ball to swish through the rim and hit the ground below as the crowd erupted. When Troy hit rewind from his place on the couch, stopping to let it play forward at the beginning of the play, Gabriella decided she was intruding on a personal moment and needed to leave. Her shift in movement, however, caught his eye.

"Ella?" Troy called softly and for a moment, all she could hear was rushing wind and the smell of fresh snow. "What's wrong?"

"Hey," she said, turning as she plastered a weak smile on her lips, "I didn't realize you were up. It's really late."

"I couldn't sleep but there was nothing on TV. I came down looking for a movie and I guess I got distracted." He rubbed at his knuckles with his other hand as he looked back to the television where he had frozen the players in place. "But you never answered my question of why you're still up."

"I slept most of the way here in the car," she mumbled, not meeting his startling blue eyes that were clear even in the dark, "I guess I just wasn't very tired."

"Liar," he chastised softly after watching her face, "Let's try again, El."

The nickname, so long left unused, hit her in the gut as he repeated it for the second time. In Colorado, after their initial introduction, Troy had decided that her name contained too many syllables and had cut it down to Ella. He had been giddy with pleasure when she informed him that no one else called her that, and even after she left Colorado and settled in San Francisco, she had halted anyone else's attempts to use it. Andy had always stuck to Gab or Gabi, never venturing beyond into something that was his own or held just between the two of them. To hear Troy say it to her now, when she felt weighed down by emotion and information and rushing thoughts, was enough to break the wall she had set up for the sake of keeping her own feelings under wraps. Tears pricked her eyes and her throat hurt as she tried to swallow her tears, her hands trembling as they played with the hem of her Stanford sweatshirt. Looking up from the ground, she bit her lip as her eyes overflowed, meeting his gaze.

"Oh, El, please don't cry," he pleaded, motioning her forward until his hands could rest on her hips, "I can't have you crying. People have been crying since yesterday and I don't think I can take much more."

"It's just, I was tense about coming here in the first place to meet your parents, then there was you who Andy doesn't know about, then your parents called and since then everything has just been thrown at me. Andy is shutting me out except to answer questions that have nothing to do with you and it's Christmas and I'm intruding and you're sick...," she trailed off as she furiously tried to wipe the tears away. He pulled her on the couch beside him and let his arm snake around her shoulders.

"I was thinking about Colorado too," he interrupted, "About Christmas Eve when we abandoned our families and climbed the ski after the lifts closed."

"So that we could decorate one of the trees with the lights we took off the one inside the rental shop. You knew I was disappointed that the tree in our room came decorated so you said we could find our own tree," she smiled at the memory, the back of her hand drying her cheeks. Glancing around the room, she noticed that she had missed something earlier on the tour of the house. "Your parents don't have a tree."

"Actually, we do," he admitted, laughter in his voice that made her look up at him, "It's in the backyard. I made Dad stop and get one on our way home from the hospital yesterday and made Mom promise she would wait for you to decorate it. Andy was never one to enjoy it, but I knew you would want to."

"Thank you," she whispered softly. "I can't believe you remembered."

"I remember a lot about that trip," Troy admitted, not able to bring himself to touch her, "A lot about you, too. For weeks when I went back to school, all I could think about was how I left without saying goodbye and we never exchanged numbers or emails. My best friend told me I was the stupidest guy he'd ever met."

Gabriella laughed, rubbing a tired hand over her face. Troy opened his mouth to say something else but instead, he yawned, causing her to frown. In the poor light of the living room, he looked so pale that his skin held no color. His hair, always messy in her memories, exaggerated the slight hollows of his cheeks and there were dark circles under his eyes that she hadn't noticed before. Standing from the couch, she wrapped a delicate hand around his wrist.

"Come on, we're going to bed," she told firmly, hauling him to his feet. She stumbled for a minute, his momentary unsteadiness unexpected. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said through clenched teeth, his fingers digging in her arm harder than he realized, "Just give me a second."

"Dizzy?" And he nodded in answer to her question.

"They gave me meds for it, but they kill my appetite," he explained, releasing her arm as the room settled around him. "I'm good now; you can let go."

"Let's get up the stairs first," she decided, guiding him out the door where his transferred his grip to the railing. When they reached the landing, they paused outside his bedroom door. "Good night," she told him softly as she stepped away. His hand grazed her cheek as she did so and she turned back.

"Night," he told her.

For a moment, she thought he was going to say more since his hand still hovered by her face, but instead he entered his room and closed the door. In the hallway, Gabriella let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

~*~

Christmas music played softly, filtering throughout the downstairs floor of the Bolton home, coming from the stereo system in the living room where the furniture had been rearranged to accommodate the large Christmas tree in the corner across from the fireplace. Gabriella could only guess at how expensive the real tree had been and it warmed her heart that Troy had requested it specifically for her. Boxes sat opened on the floor around an arm chair draped with beads and garland, their contents spilling over the floor in clumps of glitter and gold and ceramic. Jack had strung the lights earlier that day before taking off to run the final practice of the year at East High before classes let out the day. The smell of sugar and cinnamon wafted from the kitchen, evidence of Lucille's efforts to make things homey for Gabriella and normal for everyone else despite Troy being upstairs sleeping off a migraine that had begun just after breakfast that morning. All thoughts of the upcoming months were pushed aside as Gabriella reached for a hook on the fireplace mantle and hung another red and green glass ball on a tree limb. It spun gently, shooting off small refractions of light.

Crouching down, she sorted through the box on the floor to choose another decoration. Multicoloured balls tinkled as they knocked together, cushioned by a variety of hand-made ornaments with crayon scribbles and smeared glue bits. She chuckled to herself as she drew out a gingerbread-man made of hardened dough, his left leg missing and only one remaining googly eye, that had a lopsided 'T' carved into his back. Its scent had long ago dissipated, but the grin on her face appeared immovable as she stood to find a hook. She had one foot balanced on the step stool when footsteps alerted her to someone entering the room.

"You're going to fall," Andy told her evenly, "I told you that you should wait for Dad; someone taller to reach the top."

"I am fine," she told him, rolling her eyes before looking back at him over her shoulder, "And if you were really concerned, you would come over and help me with it."

"I'm not really a tree-decorating kind of guy, Gab," he reminded her, eyeing the room with a look that Gabriella tagged as uncomfortable while rubbing the hair on the back of his head. She resisted commenting on a lot of other things he didn't like doing but decided against it. "If I was, I would understand why you've been at this for almost two hours and there are still two boxes left."

"I like taking my time," she told with a shrug, turning back to straighten out the gingerbread-man so the world wouldn't see his ass for the entire holiday, "Besides, it's not like I have anywhere to go."

"Actually, Mom asked me to run to the grocery store and grab some things for icing her cookies and the eggnog she's taking to the party tonight at the Evans'," Andy told her, "I came to see if you wanted to come with me; take a break."

"Um," she began, pondering the question for a moment before looking back down at him, "I think I'll stay here. There's still a lot to do and I told your mom I would help with dinner."

"Oh, okay," Andy responded, looking slightly unsure of what to do next, "Well, I was also planning to stop by Dylan McKessie'. He got home from New York this morning but," He looked thoughtful for a moment before giving her a half-hearted smile as she frowned, "I guess I could wait and go tomorrow instead."

"No, no," she insisted, climbing down the stool to select another ornament for the tree. Picking a blue ball from the box, she waved Andy towards the door, "Go see your friends. Hang out. Enjoy the day." He gave her an odd look. "Seriously, I am fine here and you don't need your girlfriend following you around while you catch up with your dudes."

"But you'll be here by yourself," he insisted, catching her waist with his hands. "I brought you home for Christmas, I just can't abandon you."

"You're not abandoning me," she sighed patiently, "I am a big girl with a tree to decorate and enchiladas to make. What is the point of you standing around and watching? Go see your friends," she repeated again.

"Alright," he agreed, kissing her forehead as she tipped her head up. "But we'll do something tonight; maybe a movie?"

"Sure thing."

Gabriella turned as he left to get the list of items from the kitchen that his mother was requesting, gently gripping the glass ball in her palm before taking another from the box. Humming the tune of 'White Christmas' under her breath, she lost herself in the peaceful nature of the afternoon. The sun streaming through the windows was soft as it eased through the sheer curtains and the only other movement in the house was Lucille as she sorted cookies on the counter, the cordless phone pressed between her ear and shoulder. She waved to Gabriella as she walked by the entry to the living room, a glass bowl and matching ladle in her hands that she placed by the front door before disappearing into the kitchen again. Time passed as the decorations in the boxes dwindled, finding Gabriella stretching for the top of the tree with the final decoration.

The tiny golden star flickered in the gaudy light of the tree, its five points laden heavy with craft glue and glitter. Gripping the hook in one hand, Gabriella held her breath as she settled the ornament on the branch just below the white gowned angel that topped the tree. Letting the slim thread unwind itself by twirling furiously, she watched as the colors reflected off the ceiling in spinning patterns. Below her she heard the CD finish and the stereo clicked as it switched to the next one. Light strains of 'What Child Is This?' filled the room, Gabriella's voice joining after the first few lines.

"I think the thing I missed the most was your voice." Troy's voice came from the door leading to the hallway, startling her, and she snapped her eyes from the star to the doorway. He seemed tense and his eyes looked heavy, but his smile was bright as he walked into the room to survey her work.

"Did I wake you up?" she asked, stepping down from her perch and reaching for the knob on the stereo's volume, "I didn't realize the music was that loud."

"You didn't wake me up," he told her softly, his hand closing over hers to leave the music alone, "I heard you when I came downstairs."

"Oh," she breathed, feeling her cheeks heat at how unsettled she felt. Her fingers clutched the decorative beads that were used for finishing the tree, tying it in knots and then pulling them apart. "I-, um-, I'm almost finished. Did you want to help?" She felt the smile appear on her face when he grinned at her.

"Sure," he told her, pulling the beads from her grasp and reaching to the upper branches where she would have needed a stool. "Just like last time."

She ducked her head and focused on the tangled length of garland in her hands, giving the illusion that she was trying to find the end. They were quiet, barely talking except in low tones to direct each other or offer opinions on the placement of beads and final touches. When they were finished, Troy closed the curtains partway and dimmed the lights so they could see the full effect. He stood back and watched as the light lit the shadows on Gabriella's face that was tilted to see the angel at the top. Her eyes flicked shut briefly and he watched as she inhaled deeply, calm settling around her like a blanket. His fingers itched to run his fingers along the silkiness of her throat, but he thrust them into his pockets when she looked over with a sly grin.

"Come on," she told him, her hand reaching out to wrap around his hand and pull him closer, "This isn't the right way."

"What?" he exclaimed as she tugged him towards the tree, letting go to lie down and beckon him to the spot beside her. "El?"

"Just try it," she insisted, a giggle rising to choke her as she looked up through the branches. "Please?"

Sighing in resignation, he got down beside her, giving her a sceptical look before collapsing his elbows and laying his head next to hers. The lights twinkled above their heads, peeking through the branches and glinting off the gilt paint of the ornaments. Looking over, Gabriella saw the drops of light reflected in Troy's eyes. Turning back, she licked her lips as the sound of motorized ornaments buzzed distractedly above their heads.

"I missed your voice too," she told him gently, thinking back to his earlier comment, "And the way you never cared what people thought that night we did karaoke for New Years Eve. I missed your voice but it's not what I missed the most."

"No?" he asked quietly, his voice hitching as both of them thought of Colorado.

"No," she repeated, "It was your eyes. There's something about them that made me forget that we were strangers and just enjoy the moment. When you look at me still, I have this way of forgetting anything beyond the second or the minute. There were so many times when I wished I could see them again."

"Ella," he laughed softly, "Lots of people have blue eyes. Even Andy; people say that all the time."

"He doesn't though," she told him with her voice barely above a whisper. "They're blue, but they're not the same."

When she got up to go start dinner with his mother, he stayed under the tree and watched the tiny rotating toy train above his head.

~*~

Jack and Lucille Bolton had gone to attend Vance and Dirby Evans' annual Christmas Party for all U of A alumni that evening. Although Troy had been invited, Gabriella knew he had turned it down to avoid the pitying looks and unforgiving questions of the other guests. Seated on the sofa, leaning casually into Andy's side as they watched a movie, Gabriella half-heartedly popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth. She felt boxed in and uncomfortable, wishing she was anywhere but cooped up in the living room. Shifting for the hundredth time, she gritted her teeth when she felt Andy shift beneath her, his arm that was lodged in under her ribcage adding to her awkward pose. Sitting up, his arm slipped away as he sighed, watching her reach under his feet and yank out the pillow that had been tossed aside earlier. Beating it with her hand so that it rested between Andy's chest and the couch, Gabriella lay down again, wriggling and squirming to find a new position.

"I'm sorry," she insisted, "But I can't get comfortable."

He didn't say anything but she felt his annoyance as he retracted the arm that had been around her shoulders and settled it on the back of the couch instead. She could hear noises in the kitchen but resisted the urge to go see what Troy was up to. He had understood the need for Andy and Gabriella to spend time together and had excused himself from their offer of joining them. Instead he had retreated to his room. Gabriella had felt guilty, although why she couldn't figure out for herself, for knowing that he was alone upstairs. Sighing again, she sat up to readjust the pillow, trying to ignore the look Andy shot her when she accidently elbowed him in the stomach. Deciding that nothing would work as long as her body refused to relax, Gabriella took the empty bowl of popcorn from where it was wedged between her and her boyfriend, standing to let the blanket fall from around her.

"Where are you going now?" Andy asked, not hiding his exasperation.

"I need a drink," she told him, "Do you want me to bring back more popcorn?"

"No," he snapped, "But if you could get rid of the ants in your pants, that would be appreciated."

"Excuse me?" she drew out the words, her temper shortened immensely.

"Look, Gab, I'm sorry, but I've been on edge for a week and tonight was supposed to be about relaxing and spending time together and you just seem to be all over the place with your mind somewhere else. What's the deal?" His eyes pleaded with her but she refused to have the much needed discussion while Troy was within earshot.

"You're not the only one handling a lot, Andrew," she told him in a low voice. "I'll be back; don't bother pausing the movie."

Andy muttered something under his breath as she swept out of the room to the kitchen where she stopped in the doorway, surprised. Troy looked concerned as he leaned his elbows on the counter and sipped from a glass of milk in his hand. A prescription bottle of pills sat off to the side. He watched as she gave him a quick glance and then walked to the dishwasher to place the bowl inside before reaching down a glass and contemplating what she wanted. He waited for her to meet his gaze, but when it didn't come, he spoke up.

"You okay?" he asked quietly. She could feel his eyes piercing through her shoulder blades as she nodded her head, not trusting her voice. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I'm good. He's just tense and stressed. It's not his fault; he doesn't know the other side. My side." She sighed and tipped her head back, rolling her neck. "Maybe I should have gone with him to Dylan's."

"Or maybe he should have stayed and decorated the tree," Troy suggested, setting the glass down and watching the warring features on her face as she processed his comment.

"I knew he wouldn't," Gabriella said. "We're both tired and cranky and I've always hated that movie."

"Not a Megan Fox fan?" he asked with a chuckle as she rolled her eyes at the typical male response.

"I should go back," she sighed, rubbing a hand across her face.

"Let me go," Troy said, dropping his glass in the sink and walking towards the living room.

"What?" she asked, surprised and confused.

"Let me talk to him. I know it's going to ruin your date, but I think it's time Andy and I talk. We've both been avoiding it."

She didn't know what to say as he left the room. Standing in the kitchen, staring into the blackness of the backyard through the window, she listened for the hum of voices that began to rise in the room down the hall. Taking a few steps outside the kitchen, Gabriella leaned against the wall of the hallway and listened as the two brothers' voices drifted towards her.

"Where's Gabi?" Andy said, looking up as Troy entered the room with his hands in his pockets.

"In the kitchen," Troy answered evenly, "Trying to get her temper under wraps before coming back in here to say something she will regret later."

"Dude, please don't get involved. It was just a disagreement," Andy responded, his voice indicating he had no intention of continuing to discuss it with Troy. Gabriella's fist clenched at the response that was typically Andy. Everything was always so even with him. No argument was ever bigger than 'a disagreement'; not even the time he had gotten drunk after an exhibition game and showed up at her dorm room at 3am in the morning, having snuck by the door clerk and hacked the security access with Gabriella's PIN number. The next day when their friends commented on Gabriella's stormy silence, Andy had called it a 'conflict of interests'.

"Andy, shutting her out is not going to make you a stronger person. It's not going to make things easier. It is not going to make it go away." Gabriella could almost hear Andy's head snap up, and she hugged her arms to herself as she listened from outside in the hallway. Her breath stilled in her chest as she listened for the slightest movement that would indicate being caught.

"You don't know us," Andy spat out, "You don't know what we're like."

"No," Troy agreed, "I don't. But I know you and you're doing the same stupid shit you did when Dad told you we had to put Monty down. You loved that dog like your best friend and this is exactly how you acted. You were polite but you were behind a wall. It didn't work then and it won't work now."

"How can you sit there and say that?" Andy asked, incredulous, "It's not a dog this time, it's you."

"Doesn't change the outcome, does it?" Troy asked seriously. "I am dying, Andy. Probably not this week or this month, but things after that get fuzzy on the prediction scale. The thing in my head is not going away. The doctors are not going to miraculously find a cure. This is it, Bud, and you need to face it before your girlfriend smacks you across the face for being an ass to her."

In the hall, Gabriella slid down the wall, her hands sliding up to grip her hair as her elbows rested on her knees. She didn't cry, but Troy's words were like a blow to her stomach as the oxygen rushed from her body her hands shook. She had thought she was being honest and realistic with herself about the situation, but his blunt prediction proved her to be wrong. She had avoided thinking further than the next couple of weeks. Beyond Christmas, beyond the next semester of school, Troy had continued to exist in perfect resemblance of how he did now. The idea of being in this house a year from now, minus him, caused pain to radiate through her core until her hand slipped over her mouth to keep from being heard.

"I don't know how to talk to her," he whispered, his voice thick and Troy watched him swallow multiple times. "There's something about her lately that isn't my Gabi. She's in her own world most of the time and I know she'd listen if I tried, but sometimes I feel like there's something going with her that makes it harder to tell her, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Troy replied. Gabriella wondered if he felt as guilty as she did for keeping that secret from Andy. "But she's trying. She got tossed into the middle of this family and now everything that affects us, affects her. She's not detached from us, Andy. Remember that. She has feelings too, and she shouldn't have to hide them because she thinks yours are more important."

"Lately," Andy admitted, "Everything just seems so much bigger than it used to. Bigger than me; bigger than me and Gabi. It's like everything I've known is being crushed to pieces and I'm supposed to know why, but I don't."

"Some things, we're not supposed to understand," Troy explained, but Gabriella heard the effort it took to keep his own emotions from overwhelming Andy. There was a pause, and Gabriella strained to hear. She inhaled abruptly at the next question. "Andy, do you love her?"

"I think so," he answered with hesitation. "Why?"

"Because nothing can ever be bigger than love. Remember that," Troy told him. Tears dripped down Gabriella's face as she listened, wanting to leave and not hear the rest of the conversation but being unable to rip herself away.

"You're asking me to remember a lot," Andy joked weakly and Troy's voice was grim when he answered.

"I don't think it's a lot to ask," he replied, before leaving the living room.

Gabriella waited in the doorway to the kitchen as Troy ascended the steps without looking her way. A few minutes later, she heard another set of footsteps on the stairs. Leaving the dim light of the kitchen behind, she entered the living room to find it empty. Turning off the TV, she stood in the dark room that was only illuminated by the Christmas tree and tried to sort through her emotions. Andy had never told her he loved her, but hearing his confession to Troy caused her to ask herself the same question. And where Andy had an answer, Gabriella only had confusion and unsurely. Raking her fingers through her hair, she gave the Christmas tree one last look before flicking the switch and plunging the room into black.