Disclaimer – They aren't mine – I just like to take them out to play sometimes.

Author's Note – I just want to thank you guys for reviewing this and adding it to your favourites and alerts. I am so glad you all are enjoying it. This is almost a half chapter because it kinda falls between my normal timeline but I needed something like this to break up the last chapter and the next one so I hope you all like it anyway. Let me know what you think.

The stillness in the room was almost a forgotten treat and Gabriella couldn't help but grin as she looked around and saw everything look the way she wanted it to before she reached over and turned the stereo on, letting a soothing song come through the speakers. It was barely 5 o'clock in the afternoon so outside she could still hear voices and cars but she didn't mind because at this moment, all she was concentrated on was the music coming out of the stereo as she began swaying softly whilst she looked in the mirror and played with her hair, trying to decide what style she wanted it in for the night, content in the knowledge that the meal she was preparing was almost ready.

Deciding to just tie her hair in a high bun with some strategic strands layering her face, she began humming along with the track before as she danced away when she had fixed it the way she wanted before she headed towards the dining table that she had set when she had arrived home from work earlier that afternoon.

It had been a great day in every sense of the word. She had woke up that morning, and for the first day in her entire pregnancy she hadn't felt sick, or dizzy, or exhausted and her day had continued in similar good fortune as the weather remained unseasonably mild for the middle of January which meant she was able to eat her lunch outside instead of in the dingy cafeteria, and, due to a chickenpox outbreak at the local schools, her last two appointments had cancelled which had allowed her to finish work more than two hours earlier than she should have done on any other Thursday. Her day had been almost perfect, so she took the fact that she was getting home at 2pm as a sign that she should make the most of her good day. So, after soaking in the tub for nearly an hour, she had went to work preparing the perfect night for her soon to be arriving fiancé who would be due home from practice at any moment.

She began singing softly as she swayed gently with the music as she tried to estimate his rough time of arrival. He had finished about forty minutes previously, but he had called her on the way home to say he had stopped at the grocery store which meant he would be a few minutes later than normal. She didn't mind, especially as he had told her that the store had a new flavour of ice-cream in and that he promised to pick up a carton for her. That was one of the things that she loved about him – his innate knowledge of the little things meant everything to her. He understood that pregnant or not, that there was no such thing as having 'too much' ice-cream in the house and although that particular quirk had baffled everyone else who knew her, he found it endearing and endeavoured to provide her with it on a regular basis. The fact that he did that baffled both of their mothers' and Taylor, as they all knew that he would constantly forget to buy milk, yet he could remember that he would need to buy a new carton of ice-cream every week, and two if it was Idol week and someone she liked was going to go out. It was just one of their things, the little intricacies that made them, them. He would always bring home ice-cream, and in return she would always keep him supplied with enough sugary cereals that he could have ten bowls while she was out and there would still be enough there for another bowl.

Tonight though? Tonight was not a lucky charm or ice cream night – well, not to begin with anyway. She would never predict how one of their nights would progress, but the plan definitely edged more towards the fancy than their everyday norm. She smoothed down the table-cover and glanced at the clock, knowing he would be home soon.

She rubbed her abdomen softly and smiled. It had been a hectic couple of weeks with first her mom visiting and then Troy being away, but now that they were on their own again she was determined that for one day they were just going to be Troy and Gabriella – not expectant parents, not the NBA rookie and the Education Therapist, just them because, as much as she was looking forward to being a mom, she just kinda wanted one night where that didn't count for anything. They had spent so long preparing their home, and settling in at work, and trying to build friendships and relationships in a new town that sometimes she worried that Troy had been pushed to the background and although they were better than great, she had always been a person to highlight a potential problem ahead of time, and she was going to be doubly cautious about avoiding anything that could potentially be damaging to her family.

Of course, good intentions aside, it wasn't going to be easy to forget everything apart from them. Their home screamed out about the event that was going to happen in ten weeks, and Gabriella, for all her good intentions, couldn't exactly pass as anything other than an extremely pregnant woman, but it didn't matter. She was wearing a dressy but baggy shirt dress that at the very least hung loose enough to disguise her bump slightly, but still allowed her to show her legs that she somewhat shallowly knew that Troy loved more than just about any other part of her body, even if he was too much of a gentleman for the most part to admit that out loud. She grinned slightly at the thought and it was for that fact that she was quietly confident that he would appreciate her efforts tonight because even though she wasn't going to stop traffic, she looked good. She looked like a 22 year old woman about to go on a date with her handsome 22 year old fiancé which is what she was aiming for. Deep down she knew that he didn't really care what she dressed like and he wasn't a fan of her feeling like she had to dress up for him, but she couldn't help it. She was a woman and she wanted to know that when she made the effort that she could still knock his socks off the same way that he frequently knocked hers off.

She began singing along with the track on the stereo and didn't hear the door open until he spoke. "Babe, this ice-cream is apparently a limited thing so if you are going to be craving it then we should probably stock...whoa."

She stopped singing and spun around to see him standing there with an open mouth as his gaze travelled up and down her figure and she couldn't help the smile form on her face at his perusal. She used to be shy when he looked at her like that, but he had done it so often since they were dating that now she couldn't help but get a thrill out of it, even moreso now than ever before.

"Holy crap, Gabi – you look..."

"Yes?" she giggled as she put a hand on her hip and waited for his gaze to lift back to her face. "What's wrong, Wildcat?"

She saw a faint blush cover his face as his breathing hitched and he met her eyes. "What's the occasion? Our anniversary isn't until Tuesday..."

Gabriella shrugged and bit her lip before walking over to him and taking the grocery bag off him and sitting it on the counter with a smile as she laced his hand with hers and looked up at him. "No occasion. I just love you, and I wanted to look pretty for you."

"Gabi, you always look so much more than pretty," he murmured as he leant down and tried to kiss her, only for her to put a hand to his lips.

"I just want this night to be ours," she whispered as she reached up and pressed her lips to his softly before pulling back again. "Just us – no jobs, no baby talk, no parents. I feel like you've been neglected," she softly said as she dragged her lips down his throat and pressed a soft kiss into the underside of his throat. "So I want you to have an amazing night. I think we both deserve a night where the only thing we think about is each other with no phones, no computers, no one else but us..."

"God I love the sound of that," he said as he ran his hand down her side until he came to the bottom of her dress and rested his hand on her bare thigh. "You look amazing tonight."

She couldn't help but grin as she stroked his face. "I'm glad you like. I was going to wear heels," she blushed slightly before looking down at her bare feet that, even though she didn't want to admit it to anyone, were too swollen to fit in any sort of heel before glancing up at him. "But I figure I'll let you be creative if you want me to get taller..."

He grinned at her as he leant down and brought his lips to hers, his hand finding the back of her head and massaging it gently as he sucked on her lower lip gently before pulling back. "I think I can deal with this height difference..."

Gabriella couldn't help but giggle as she looked at him as he seemed to be having difficulty in knowing what to do with her first. As much as it was appealing to see him so dazed by her, that really wasn't her sole intention for the evening so she pulled back and gave his hand a small squeeze. "I made dinner, and I bought in movies so you, Mr Bolton, just have to sit back, let me cater to your every need and enjoy..."

He shook his head as he stepped in towards her again and mumbled as he leant into her neck and began placing kisses along it. "I should be waiting on you. You're the one who's pregnant..."

She tilted her head back and tried to remember that she had to be the one to keep their focus, because he could be very, very persuasive when he was in this sort of mood. "No...no pregnancy talk tonight..."

"Fine," he said as he began nibbling one spot. "You've been working all day...you should let me look after you..." she couldn't stop the soft moan escaping her throat at his ministrations which caused him to growl slightly in response. "Damn, you are so beautiful..."

"Troy," she breathed as she felt her breathing catch as his grip around her tightened. "Troy, baby...we have to stop. I made...made dinner...and...I thought we could go for a walk after, since it's such a nice night and we haven't really been alone in a while..."

"We can be alone here..." he tried to reason, even as his hands loosened slightly on her body. "I don't mind..."

"Baby," she sighed as her eyes fluttered open. "If you keep doing that I'm going to forget everything and...and I want...us to have a nice...dinner first..."

He stilled for a moment before he reluctantly pulled back and gave her a sheepish smile. "You're right – we should definitely eat and...and everything else can wait a while longer. It smells amazing."

Gabriella couldn't help but smile giddily that he liked the idea. "You sure? I was going to make reservations but I figured people might just interrupt so I thought, here it would just be us and we could go out another night..."

"This is perfect. I would rather spend my night here," he said as he brought his hand up to stroke her cheek before letting stroke down her neck to the front of her throat, his eyes still hazy as he looked at her. "You look...I don't think I could share you tonight anyway..." before pulling back abruptly and looking at her before looking down at himself. "Wait, how long before dinner?"

She blinked at his change in mood and shook her head. "Um...I don't know, fifteen minutes?"

He smiled and nodded before pressing his lips to her cheek and backing off. "Perfect – listen, if you can hold it off for twenty, twenty-five that would be amazing, okay? I will be back way before anything gets burnt, I promise."

Before she got a chance at replying he pressed another kiss to her knuckles before running towards their room. She barely got an opportunity at working out what was going on when he was rushing out of it and heading out the door with a called 'I love you' echoing after him.

She couldn't help but laugh as she turned around and adjusted the heat on the stove, shaking her head as she began moving along with the music again. He was a little strange, but that's why she loved him.

When Troy Bolton had returned from training that night he hadn't expected to come home to find his fiancée looking like a million dollars while he looked like something you would pick up at the discount aisle of Wal-Mart due to arriving home wearing shorts and a shirt with his hair pointing every which way and a backpack in one hand and a carton of ice-cream in the other. She was always breathtaking, but he wasn't sure if it was the dress, or the vibe she was giving off, his own eagerness at having her to himself again after almost two weeks of first being in the company of her erratically mooded mother, then being separated while he was away only to come back late one night when she had an early rise for work, followed by a promised dinner for Isaac's girlfriend's birthday, a two hour phone call from his mom and rounded off by him having two games that prevented them from getting home until late or some other reason, but all he knew is that she could probably have guys begging on their knees tonight if she wanted to, and he would have definitely been at the front of that queue if it weren't for the fact that he knew that he was the only guy she wanted anyway. Just looking at her always reminded him about how grateful he was that his mother had forced him to go to that kid's party when he was sixteen.

Troy looked at his watch as he stopped his car and noted that it had only been six minutes since he left the house and couldn't help but grin at the fact that he was making such good time. He hadn't knocked her socks off the first time he went home, but he liked to think that he could at least impress her a little second time around because even though deep down he just wanted to lock all the doors, disconnect all the phones and emerge the following day, a larger part of him wanted to make this an amazing night for her, for them. She was right – they did deserve it, and although he wouldn't agree with her that he had been neglected, he would be the first to admit that the thought of just spending time with her with no outside worries, or anything else contributing was like his idea of bliss. Besides, as she had gone to all the effort of cooking and dressing up after she had had a long day at work, the least he could do is refrain from ravaging her until the night was over.

He grabbed a bag from the passenger seat and ran out his car without locking it and headed to the familiar shop and grinned at the owner as he quickly perused the store before he grabbed a bunch of flowers.

"Let me guess – you forgot dinner again?" the man said as he took the flowers from Troy with a chuckle.

Troy laughed and shook his head no. One of the benefits of the location of their house had been that there were a few stores only a few minutes away and Gabriella's love of flowers had seen her become a frequent buyer at the local florists as she often called in on her way home from work, or at the weekends and Troy, by default, had become a constant visitor as well which meant that the elderly owners had come to know the young couple well in the few months that they had been in the town.

"I have a hot date with a beautiful woman," Troy grinned as he paid for his purchase.

"With your fiancée I hope," John said with a wink, showing that he was only joking.

"You know it," Troy said as he looked around. "When are you guys getting the white roses back in?"

"We're looking into it," John said with a shrug. "You know the wife prefers to grow her own stock instead of buying in. It's how we keep in business what with internet florists offering everything you can think of. The flower shop downtown will have them if you're desperate or else we can order you some in."

"It's just I really need them for next week but Gabriella would kill me if I got flowers elsewhere," Troy said as he drummed his hands against the counter. "She would totally know if I cheated as well."

"She's a loyal girl."

"To a fault sometimes," Troy said with a nod as he took a quick glance around to see if there was anything else he needed.

"Is that how she's stuck with you?"

Troy laughed. "It must be. Anyway, if you can get me some that would be amazing. I am totally willing to pay extra, if you can just remember to ca..."

"To call you and keep them in the back so Gabriella can't see them," John laughed as he nodded. "Will do. Anything else I can do for you?"

Troy had a look around before biting his lip. Needs must and he was confident enough that his frequent custom, and their love of Gabriella would ensure that he wasn't teased mercilessly for this in the future. "Um, one more thing? Can I use your bathroom? I swear I will be five minutes, max."

The old man gave him a funny look before nodding cautiously and pointing towards the back of the shop, which was the only invitation that Troy needed as he belted through the shop and headed to the bathroom. Two minutes later he walked out; clothed in dress pants and a navy shirt with his hair slicked back and John looked at him in surprise.

"I'm not even going to ask why you got changed here and not at home or what the press will say if they see you coming out in different clothes," he shook his head to silence Troy who was about to explain about his attempt at surprising Gabriella. "You two have a good night, okay?"

Troy grinned as he took the flowers in one hand and bid goodbye with the other. "I intend to. See you guys next week."

Troy arrived back at his house nineteen minutes after he left and took a deep breath as he quickly fixed his hair before exiting the car. He knew that she didn't particularly care what he looked like, and would have quite happily had dinner with him while he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but she wasn't the only one who wanted to make an effort. It wasn't like they were chained to home – they went out quite a lot to dinner or to the cinema, but she was right, everything seemed to focus on the fact that he was slightly famous and they could be in the middle of a conversation and invariably someone would come up and talk to them. He didn't really mind, but it did make having a romantic date somewhat difficult when someone would jump right in and break the mood so he couldn't help but be a little giddy at the prospect of just having a night to themselves at long last.

He went to the door and knocked it loudly and he could still hear her singing from the other side and the grin widened on his face as he heard her footsteps come over to the door. She opened it with a confused smile before he held out the flowers he had just purchased and grinned at her which caused her smile to widen as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "You didn't have to..."

"I wanted to."

"They are beautiful, thank you," she smiled as she bounced up and kissed his cheek as she grabbed his hand. "And you look very handsome."

"Well, I figured you looked so amazing...I wanted to look right."

"Like you have to worry about that," she said as she leant into his arm, sniffing the flowers happily. "Do I even wanna know where you got changed?"

"Maybe I got changed in the car," he teased as he pulled her towards him and leant down and nuzzled her ear. "Maybe I wanted to give the paparazzi a thrill..."

"Mmmm," she said as she leant into his embrace. "I look forward to seeing pictures then..."

"Baby, you don't need pictures," he whispered as he pressed his lips to her ear. "I can demonstrate anytime..."

They stood for a second before they both burst out laughing as she turned around in his embrace, the laughter staining her cheeks pink. "We don't do sexy talk very convincingly, do we?"

"I don't even know why," he whined. "I find you sexy as hell..."

"Likewise..."

"And I like to think that our actions prove that..."

She nodded as she stroked his chest through his shirt.

"Yet I just can't verbalise it so that it comes out in my head. In my head I sound much more James Bond..."

She grinned up at him. "And I have an internal Angelina Jolie dying to get out."

"Exactly – it doesn't make sense. I suppose I can live with our deficiencies in that department since we more than make up for it in the other's that count..." he mumbled as he pulled her closer and brought his lips down to hers.

"I think it's your natural chivalry and my natural shyness," she said as she kissed him softly. "It doesn't lead to a conducive environment for dirty talk."

He smirked against her lips. Only she would throw words like chivalry and conducive into a conversation about sex. "You mean we're too innocent to make it work?"

He was teasing her, and he knew she knew it but still.

"I'm not sure I would ever use innocent in a sentence regarding us in that manner," she whispered. "You're just sexy in a gentlemanly kinda way..."

"Is that a bad thing?"

She shook her head and kissed him again. "Personally, I love it. You know I wouldn't change you for any James Bond type guy."

"Good," he muttered as he brought his hand down her body. "Although I am determined to prove that we can pull it off eventually..."

She pulled back and he saw her eyes twinkle with mischief. He had seen that look many, many times in the past – sometimes it had ended up with him agreeing to sing in a show, or take her to Disneyland, or ended with him agreeing to do something he didn't want to do, like studying instead of making out, or spending an afternoon in the library, or calling his parents, due to the promise that that look had for later. Good things always happened when she looked at him like that. "Maybe we just need to get into character a little more often?"

His eyes widened and he felt his stomach flip. He hadn't expected her to take the conversation in that direction, and although he was never going to complain, he was going to need a second to get his brain functioning again as he tried to remind himself that they were going to have a nice dinner, a nice night and he had to prevent his mind wandering down any diverging paths. "You should be aware that I am totally willing to put my theatre skills to use any time you feel like it. It'll be like that night in freshmen year...only...you know...more 'informed'..."

"We have acquired a lot of...knowledge...since then..." she giggled and leant up to kiss him before a timer went off causing her to pull back from him, much to his frustration. "Sorry, Wildcat – but dinner's ready..."

He reached over and took her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it as she led him over to the table. "We will be continuing that conversation later, you know. You cannot throw that suggestion out there and expect me to forget it."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Troy sat back on the sofa with Gabriella's head resting on his lap looking up at him while he held one of her hands with his.

"Hawaii," he stated with a nod. "I mean it's going to be our honeymoon, so we need to go somewhere where there is a legitimate excuse for you to be scantily clad all the time..."

"Yeah, because I'm really going to fit into a bikini three months after our son is born, right?"

His brow furrowed as he looked down at her. "Babe, please tell me that you're not stressing about your body changing?"

"Not stressing, exactly..." she said before shrugging. "I'm a girl – we naturally stress about our bodies."

"You really, really don't have to," he murmured as he brought her hand to his lips. "I recognise that I'm slightly biased, but in my opinion you look amazing."

"You are biased, but I kinda like it," she smiled as she brought her free hand up to stroke his hair. "Okay, how about...Mexico?"

"Nah, last time we went there I got the impression people were making fun of my pathetic Spanish."

She began giggling madly at the memory of that particular spring break where he had, somewhat foolishly, tried to impress her by showing how much he had paid attention to her attempts at teaching him Spanish in the course of their relationship. Sadly, he had discovered that she had been giving him basic Spanish lessons and when he actually started to talk to native speakers he was lost about six words into the conversation and invariably ended up spouting some random phrase that had no relevance to the conversation. "It really wasn't as bad as you thought it was, you know."

"The guy asked us if we were together and I ended up by saying no and asking him if HE wanted to get a drink. I should have been kicking his ass for trying to pick you up instead of unknowingly making a pass at him myself."

Her laughter got louder as he blushed in response. That had been slightly awkward until she stepped in and although she wasn't planning on telling him what exactly he had done, he had known enough to pick up her explanation and the guys snickering to understand. "I thought it was cute that you were trying to fit in!"

"Never, ever, ever again," he said with a shake of his head. "You are so translating next time we need it. Anyway, enough reliving that – how about Europe? We could hit Paris or London..."

"That sounds amazing, but it's too far to go with a baby," she said as she let her eyes drift shut. "Vancouver?"

"Not exactly the standard honeymoon destination. I'd like a place that is memorable and where you have to wear fewer clothes instead of more..." he said as he stroked her wrist. "What about Hawaii...?"

She giggled tiredly and opened her eyes to look at him. "Your heart is set on Hawaii?"

"Just think – beautiful beaches, beautiful sunsets, beautiful wife, a private apartment..."

"Mmmm, you do make a convincing argument," she conceded. "I just don't know if it makes any sense to go on a honeymoon at that time. I mean the baby is going to be so small that I don't know if we'll even get much time alone..."

"But babe," he complained as he leant his head down and sighed. "I want to do it right and that means we have to have a honeymoon after the wedding..."

"We're already doing it backwards, Wildcat – traditionally the baby comes after the wedding so it doesn't really matter," her voice was teasing as she twisted her head slightly so she could kiss his arm.

He scowled as he shook his head. He wasn't that old fashioned and he didn't particularly care about the whole having a child out of wed-lock thing – he had been living with his girlfriend for three years and had been sleeping with her since High School so it was a little late in the day for him to be suddenly morally righteous, but he didn't like the implication that the baby preceded the wedding because, in his mind, they were supposed to have been married long before and although it didn't matter to him, he knew that some people would think that the baby was the reason they were getting married. "We were supposed to be married before now though, so that doesn't count."

She smiled and brought his head down for a kiss. "You know that and I know that but..."

"I really couldn't care less what anyone else thinks," he said seriously.

"Me neither," she said as she rubbed his arm. "Do you remember what our parents said about it?"

He groaned and leant his head back against the sofa, his hand finding her hair. "What was it my mom said? She'd rather we never got married than have people think that we only got married because we were having a baby which is why she wouldn't let us leave that day?"

"Yeah," she said as she leant in, laughing slightly. "It should be interesting if she ever meets my extended family who I'm sure are thinking of disowning me and cursing your name for corrupting me."

"I suppose that means there are less people to visit us then," he said as she laughed again and nodded against his torso. "Maybe we should piss off the rest of our relations and friends as well..."

"You are turning so anti-social since we came out here," she said as his hand slipped to her abdomen and began rubbing it. "Do you think because we're having a baby that we're getting old and boring?"

He paused and looked down at her. "We're not boring."

She giggled as she lifted her head, her eyes twinkling as she did so. "Troy – we just disconnected the outside world, and spent a night at home instead of going out."

"What's your point? 'Cause if you want to go out, I can take you out, Montez..."

She shook her head and brought her lips to his chest, knowing he was teasing her. "I am more than happy right here."

"Me too," he said as he brought his lips down to hers, but deliberately missed hers as he went to her cheek instead. "I just want it to be noted that I was willing to go out with you and you declined, so if anyone's boring..."

She gasped dramatically and sat up so she was looking at him. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her, her hair mussed and more than a few buttons loosened on her dress as her skin glowed and a bright smile danced across her features unbidden – if she looked a million dollars earlier in the evening then she looked double that now. He couldn't put into words how happy seeing her look happy made him. She had been so pale, tired and worn in the last few weeks that it was almost painful for him to watch, but to see her look like her normal happy, healthy self was worth more than anything.

"I'm not boring – I'm just running on low energy reserves just now because your son takes after you and demands constant attention," she grinned as she looked at him. "You know what though, just because you said that I am going to make sure that we do lots of non-boring things together once the baby is born. We can go bungee jumping, and...and...I don't know, try extreme sports and football...and stuff like that."

"Football? Wrong sport, babe..."

"Basketball isn't exactly hardcore, Troy," she giggled. "Besides, we always play that. No...football is new, and not boring so...you know, I don't want you stuck with a boring wife..."

He rolled his eyes, deciding to play along to see how far he could get her to go. "Fine – Thanksgiving we will call people here and providing I don't have a game, we will go out and play football, happy?"

She grinned and nodded. "And...we can go bungee jumping...?"

"Gabi, seriously – I don't think that you're boring. You don't need to..."

"No, I want to," she said with a nod as she rubbed her abdomen. "I want our son to know that his mom is moderately cool when he grows up."

"Moderately? Aiming high?" he snickered.

"Shut up," she giggled as she shook her head. "Not all of us are like you and naturally cool. I have inner geek issues that I'm still trying to overcome."

"But your inner geek is hot! Like when you go and learn basketball stats and can randomly spout them off to anyone – you know the beat reporters are like in awe of you. Half of them would totally divorce their wife for you."

She rolled her eyes. "Numbers are so not hot."

"Not true," he stated as he leant forward. "Baby...tell me what my three-point shooting percentage is in comparison with the league leader..."

She bit her lip and shook her head, causing him to lean closer. "Baby...please, don't make me beg..."

"Western leader or over-all leader?" she said as she tilted her head back.

"Both."

"You're shooting at .427, whereas the Western lead is shared at .451, and overall it's at .455..."

He couldn't help the groan that escaped as she spoke. "Damn...see, your inner geek is hot..."

"Troy," she whined as she pulled back, her lips suspiciously close to pouting. "I don't want our son to think I'm boring so we're going bungee jumping."

He knew that in this mood there was no point in arguing with her and trying to talk her round. "Fine. On our honeymoon in Hawaii, we will go bungee jumping and prove to the universe that we are not old and boring, and to our son that his mom is extremely cool, okay?" he chuckled as he looked at her, seeing if she would back down, only to see her eyes flash with excitement.

"You have got yourself a date, Wildcat," she said as she looked over towards their pin board that had a collection of notes, reminders, promises and the baby name lists pinned to it and he could see her mentally wishing for the new note to appear without her having to stand up. "I'll write it up before we go to bed and then, once it's on the board it has to be done so..."

"Hey, I'll go and write it up just now if you like, but I want to give you enough time to change your mind."

She gasped again as turned her gaze back to him. "Just for your lack of faith in me, Bolton – I'm going to tell Sharpay and Chad that they can crash here instead of at the hotel when they come in next week."

"I won't be here for half of their trip, so go ahead," he responded as he moved over towards her, backing her into the arm of the couch. "You can put up with their arguing and making up and drama for a week while I'm in Chicago..."

"Maybe not then..." She bit her lip as she looked up at him and he couldn't help but laugh at thoughtful expression on her face. "You know, we really are boring compared to those two."

"If we ever become as 'exciting' as those two, I'm going to shoot myself," he shuddered as he leant in and kissed her neck. "I'm so glad we did this tonight."

"Yeah, me too," she whispered as she brought her hand up to his hair and tugged it softly so she was looking at him. "I don't care if we're boring, you know. I wouldn't swap this for anything."

He closed his eyes and nodded before pressing his lips to hers, his hand finding her hair to hold her in place and his body resting lightly on hers so that he could feel every curve underneath him and was aware of every breath she took as he kissed her. His free hand came down to hold her wrist and he captured her soft moan in his mouth before he pulled back and locked his eyes with hers. "Me neither and trust me, what we're going to be doing for the rest of the night will never be considered boring..."

She burst out laughing as she shook her head at him. "What about the movies I bought, and our walk?"

"I'm being spontaneous," he smirked as he leant down to kiss her again. "Chicks dig that apparently."

"Chicks?" she raised an eyebrow and he couldn't help but smirk even more at her tone.

"Don't you keep telling me that you're building a nest? If that's the case then I think that chick is an appropriate term."

She rolled her eyes and brought her hand to his cheek. "If you want to run with that analogy like that then you do know that traditionally the father doesn't sleep in the nest at night, don't you?" she leant in and brought her lips to his ear. "It would be a shame if that happened here as I doubt the couch is as cosy as our bed is..."

"Did I say chicks, I meant my beautiful fiancée," he chuckled as he pulled back and leant his forehead against hers.

"You backtracked so quickly there."

"I know a losing battle when I see one," he murmured as he kissed her lips. "Forgive me?"

She closed her eyes and he just watched as she took a deep breath before she dropped her head to his shoulder and kissed it softly. "Always. I love you."

He smiled as he leant his own head on her head, breathing in the smell of her hair while basking in the silence of their home, the only sound that meant anything being the sound of their breathing. He pressed a kiss to her head and let himself fall back, dragging her with him so her head was still buried in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms more securely around her. "I love you too."