Author's Note - Sorry for the delay but I have been insanely busy with work and this part has proven to be…difficult to write. I hope you all enjoy this. As always - italics relate to the corresponding part in ATKH's - if you have read that then you probably have an idea how this chapter ends, and if you haven't read it then I'm sorry in advance if you don't see it coming.

We had an amazing night and we had somehow ended up in front of the same guy who continued to heckle the same young celebrity couple who were sat on the same floor seats – the only difference is that this time, I couldn't tell you what was happening on the floor. This time I was utterly locked on you and although I cheered, and clapped, and smiled when everyone else did – I don't think I saw more than one basket going in. It was like that night we first slept together – I couldn't take my eyes off you and although I should have been watching the game, I just couldn't stop watching you.


When Troy Bolton had gone to California there were some things that he wasn't really expecting to happen - he wasn't expecting to move in with his girlfriend after a year and he wasn't expecting to be engaged after three. Both those events were at least a little predictable though - it had only been the speed at which they had happened that had surprised him, nothing else. What he hadn't seen coming was for Lakers basketball to become Gabriella Montez's favourite date location.

It had started innocently enough - she had surprised him with tickets in their first year thus cementing her status as the world's most awesome girlfriend, and from pretty much that moment his love of the sport had went to a whole new level.

The whole experience of watching a game with her was…beyond words. She would laugh, and cheer, and groan and hug him when things went well or went badly and she would indulge him as he took part in his little silent war with Howard, the retired cop who was sat behind them who liked to do his own commentary on the game, and the oblivious young couple on the floor seats who Troy was perversely determined to out-perform in the PDA stakes. He couldn't help it - he sometimes just wanted to show her off, especially if they were in a public arena. He figured he was entitled to be a little smug on occasion - his life was everything he could ever dream it could be and he was happy, so why shouldn't he enjoy it?

Tonight though? Tonight was different - tonight, introductory kiss on the court before heading to their seats aside, there was nothing competitive about the way he kissed her. Tonight…tonight he could barely tell you the final score of the game. The mutterings of protest from Howard were all but ignored, he couldn't tell you whether the superstar couple had been successful in their not so subtle quest to move onto the one seat and he had no real recollection of the fact that they ended up on the stadium Kiss-Cam other than the fact that he had grinned like a lunatic afterwards.

He had been transfixed with her many times in the past obviously, but there was something almost ethereal about her tonight. Her gaze had rarely left him, and there was always a small smile tracing her lips and he wondered what had got into her, because whatever it was seemed to be catching and it seemed to have gotten into him as well.

He held his fiancée's swinging hand as she giggled at him while he spun her under his arm in a one armed pirouette, giggling as she twirled into his body, her arms wrapping around his neck as she bounced up and pressed her lips to his jaw before she spun back out again.

"So, tell me, Wildcat - have you had a good night so far?"

"Hmm," he pretended to ponder as he ignored the looks of the people walking around them as he pulled her close to him again, one hand securing her waist in place as he did so while the other locked with hers in a dance hold. "Let me think - basketball game with the love of my life, followed by an awesome dinner and now I am dancing with my beautiful fiancée as we walk to the car park. The only way this could get better is if you tell me that the hotel didn't mess up our bookings and I can in fact just drag you to our room and not let you go until they physically throw us out of the building."

She bit her lip and shook her head no as he spun them around as she brought her hand up to caress his cheek softly, as though she wanted to just savour the feel of his face. He stopped moving with her and smiled down at her as he placed a soft kiss to her forehead. "What's got into you tonight, huh? You're not even making fun of me for 'lowering the tone' by suggesting we get a room."

She had been acting strange for most of the night - it wasn't a bad strange or anything, it was just…odd. It was like she was in some sort of dreamy haze - the expression on her face had barely wavered all night and it was all that he could do to not get sucked into the trance alongside her.

"I just had a great time tonight," she said earnestly, her beautiful brown eyes never wavering from his as she leant forward and pressed her lips to his chest. "The best time. I'm sorry our booking didn't go through so we could stay out here tonight."

"I can live with waiting until we get home to have my wicked way with you," he smiled as he brought her left hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her ring finger, causing her smile to grow wider and his heart to flutter in response. "You sure that's all it is though?"

She nodded, as she moved from his embrace, linking her hand with his as she did so and began pulling him towards the car-park, skipping every few steps before she fell back towards him and wrapping her arms around him again and shooting him the most beautiful smile that she only ever sent to him. "I love you."

"I love you too," he grinned at her as he linked his arms around her and began walking her backwards, causing her to giggle madly as she tried to keep her balance. "Even though you wouldn't let me drive tonight."

"The beer you had with dinner is the reason that I drove," she laughed as she tried not to stagger backwards as he continued to walk her backwards, ignoring her pleas to be released. "Besides - you know you like my car better than yours."

"My car got us to and from California on multiple occasions," he murmured as he kissed her skin softly. "But, I will concede that your car is pretty cool considering it's a chick's car."

"It's a good job I'm the only one who drives it then, right?" she asked in response, kissing him back softly. "Baby…when are you getting a new car?"

"I've told you on multiple occasions that our grandkids will be making fun of that truck. I am never getting rid of it," he whispered as he attempted to pull her even closer before he conceded defeat and loosened his grip slightly, just enough to guide her towards the car where he pressed her against it, caging her body in with his arms. "Besides, if I got rid of it, what would you have to make fun off?"

"Your hair?" she asked innocently before giggling at his dumbstruck face as she shook her head. "I would never make fun of your hair, even though it was ridiculously long for a while."

"I cut it once we lost!" he defended himself with a look at her. "I told you that it's unlucky to cut it during the season - do you think I wanted to look like I'd been living in a cave for a year?"

"It's unlucky to grow it so long that your bangs cause you to fall over your own feet on court as well," she reminded him as she stood on her tiptoes and leant towards his ear. "I'm biased though, but I still thought you looked good - even with the caveman look."

"I'm glad you're biased," he grinned down at her. "I'm still not getting rid of my truck though. Flattery will get you nowhere, Gabriella Montez."

She burst out laughing then as she tilted her head back, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him causing him to bite his lip just in order to stop from kissing her.

"Fine - then I hated your long hair. When you did your hair flip you looked like a bad shampoo model and I was always concerned I was going to come home and find you stealing my hair products," she laughed as she tried to duck under his arm. Just like that, the mood changed as they fell into their playful personas that tended to emerge when they were alone together. He let her escape slightly before he pounced at her, causing her to squeal as she ran to the other end of the car trying to keep out of his reach.

"Gabi, Gabi, Gabi," he said in a low, seductive tone as he took a step towards her, causing her to take a step back. "Baby…"

"Yes?"

"Come here."

She shook her head as she edged towards the rear of the car, her laughter still ringing in the air as she started to look for an escape route. He kept his eyes on hers, his stance ready to react the moment she did and he was sure she could see the intent in his eyes as he stalked her. "We…we should go home now…"

"So you can guard your hair products from the bad shampoo model?" he enquired causing her laughter to start again as he edged even closer.

"Of course not," she gasped in indignation. "Your hair isn't close to being long enough to use them now."

As she finished speaking she faked one way and ran the other, but he was used to this from basketball and before she had even reached the handle on the drivers side of the car he had jumped in front of her, wrapped his arms around her body and spun her around, causing her to shriek madly as he tickled her sides.

"Care to try again?" he growled into her neck trying to ignore the impulse of just throwing her in the car and running off with her to some fancy hotel for the night. That would happen a few weekends from now when they had both completed their final classes at college. He had already made the booking and he had arranged for her to get the weekend off from work so that for a solid four days it was simply going to be them getting waited on hand and foot before they visited both of their parents - Gabriella's in San Francisco, and his in Albuquerque.

"I…I'm sorry?" she giggled as she tried to wriggle free.

He stilled his hands but kept his lips on her neck as he spoke. "I don't know if I should forgive you, I'm feeling very emasculated now."

"I'm sorry, baby. How can I help you feel more manly?"

He hmmed, against her neck and couldn't stop the cocky smirk from taking over his face as he felt her shiver in response. His hands locked against her tighter involuntarily, holding her as close as possible so he could feel the way her body reacted to him. "Tell me you love me."

"You know I love you," she whispered as she leant her head back, causing him to place a kiss on the section of her throat he could reach, trying to remind himself that he couldn't let things get too out of hand so he had to curb his natural instincts until they were home which meant he had to diffuse it somehow.

"I know," he grinned, his smirk growing by the second as he thought. "Now agree with me that we'll travel to Albuquerque in my truck instead of flying home."

He felt her stiffen, which caused him to chuckle lowly against her skin and he loosened his grip slightly until she spun around in his arms. "You aren't serious?"

He shrugged his shoulders, purposefully ignoring her disbelieving tone. There actually was nothing wrong with his truck, and sure it broke down occasionally, it was mainly down to shoddy repair jobs. It was a classic - classics never went out of fashion and she'd realise that one day. "Deadly serious."

"But…why?"

"Two reasons - when we're finished in Albuquerque we can just go wherever we want as we head back home, kinda like a mini version of our Europe trip and two, I like the idea that we can just up and leave, or stay if we want to without worrying about flight-times and everything."

"You are serious," she responded as she looked at him then sighed, trying to find a way of being diplomatic. "Troy - the last time we tried to go anywhere in your truck we had to wait six hours for the repairman to fix it at the side of the road. It seriously cut into our Disneyland time."

He chuckled at the memory of his girlfriend pouting in the car as she kept looking at her watch longingly while they waited because she was worried they weren't going to have enough time to see everything she had been so desperate to see. "I fixed it! It's as good as new now," he promised as he looked at her and he could see her eyes soften before she nodded reluctantly. He grinned and kissed her cheek. "Thank you, baby - I promise we'll even hit Disneyland on the way home. You can go and gush over your fairytale princess's dresses and how cute all the little kids are."

She blushed slightly as she looked up at him. "I can't deny it. It's kinda my dream job."

"I know," he grinned as he looked down. "Just to remind you though - no fairytale goes 'Once upon a time the girl ditches her fiancé to go run off to live in a castle with fancy dresses and men in tights.' so if we go there, I fully expect to come back with the same fiancée I went there with."

She rolled her eyes good naturedly as he nudged her nose with his. "Fine - now that I have successfully re-inflated your fragile male ego by agreeing to a manly drive cross country, am I forgiven?"

"Of course," Troy smirked as he let her go slightly, but kept his gaze locked on hers as he ran a hand through her hair. "You look beautiful tonight, by the way."

She blushed as the same smile she had been fighting all night came back to her face. "Charmer."

"I try," he smiled as he pressed his lips to hers softly. "I had a great time tonight," he whispered as he leant his forehead against hers, nudging her slightly with his nose. "But I think it's time we got home before I do something wholly inappropriate and get us banned from here for life, what do you say?"

Gabriella giggled and nodded her head, retrieving her keys from her bag as she reluctantly spun away from him only for him to grab the keys out her hand in order to unlock the driver's door for her. As he held it open he took her hand and spun her around before kissing her hand softly, his eyes meeting hers. "Your chariot awaits, Milady."

"Why thank you, kind Sir," she grinned as she curtsied in response and stepped into the car, allowing him to close the door behind her.

He grinned as he ran round to the passenger's side and jumped in the car, shooting her a smile, eager to get back home so the rest of their night could continue.

Gabriella was a fan of surprises. It hadn't always been that way - when she was a little girl the surprises that she used to receive tended to fall into the 'Gabriella - surprise, we're moving to Sacramento! Pack up your room' category as opposed to any other ones. Surprises generally meant leaving and moving on, so she was always dubious about things that she didn't see coming.

When she got together with Troy, she had to really re-evaluate her opinion on the unexpected as it turned out that her future husband was just full of surprises. A nice guy jock, who could sing and didn't shy away from academic achievement? No one could have saw that coming. There was no such thing as a schedule with Troy - he would climb her balcony at all hours, phone calls would be whenever the moment fit, and dates would be off the cuff. Sometimes they would go to a fancy restaurant and others they would just eat on a blanket in her room or in the back of his truck after driving twenty miles out of town so they could be completely sure of being alone.

Getting used to the unpredictable became a bit of an addiction to her - which is why she had started to take it upon herself to try and surprise him on occasion. When they moved to California, she hadn't told him that she was learning to drive until she showed up at his school, clutching her new permit proudly along with a sheet of directions that she handed him directing him to a café fifteen miles away from his campus along with a menu that had the breakfast options circled. She knew it was killing him as much as it was killing her that they couldn't spend more time together, so she presented him with an alternative and thus began their breakfast meetings that got them through their first year.

Her next effort had been at Thanksgiving in their Freshmen year when he had come home from an away game, only to open the door to find a full Thanksgiving meal waiting on him, because she didn't want this, their first Thanksgiving alone together, to be a takeout and soda in front of the TV.

Perhaps the best surprise she had ever managed to come up with though was when she had met him for breakfast one morning and handed him over an envelope that contained a pair of Lakers tickets. He had worked so hard with his team and she had wanted to get him something to celebrate his first season, so when she found out that her boss's husband had season tickets that he didn't always use, she knew she had to make it happen for him. He had been convinced it was a trick for hours until she told him to call the ticket office and check, and when he wasn't profusely thanking her for her thoughtfulness he was admiring the tickets.

Ever since then - she had been hooked on what basketball did to him, did to them.

She still couldn't get the smile off her face as she drove them home. She knew that she had to work the following day (a downside of having to keep in the boss's good graces) but it was a small price to pay considering the night they had just had together.

The giddy, love-struck mood she had been in for most of the night had subsided when their collective funny mood had descended into teasing and laughter that hadn't ended yet.

"So - what other plans do you have to amuse your handsome husband-to-be tonight?"

She grinned as his teasing voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she turned her head enough to see him wink at her, before she turned back to the road, trying to ignore the way her stomach was fluttering. "You think highly of yourself tonight, Wildcat…"

"Hey, I'm not the one who didn't watch any of the game that was playing out twenty feet in front of us," he raised his hands in mock surrender, chuckling at her indignant expression. "Don't deny it. You couldn't answer any of Howard's questions at the end which is why he is under the impression we just go to games to make-out."

"I…I…I was distracted, I will admit," she finally conceded with a sigh. "It was your fault."

"How exactly was it my fault that you didn't know the score?"

"You kissed me like that when we went into the stadium and got me all…distracted."

It was true - she had planned on spending their usual date-night watching the game, listening to the old guy behind them bitch and moan whilst discreetly celebrity spotting, but almost the second they entered the arena the plan changed. Before they had even got to their seats he had dragged her to the court and kissed her so thoroughly that she almost lost her balance. She hadn't seen it coming and when she questioned what had happened he had merely shrugged and told her that it was one of his fantasy's and that he hadn't wanted to miss the opportunity.

He laughed louder, his smile now being replaced by a smug smirk as he accepted her words. "I told you, baby - no pretty boy actor was going to upstage us tonight."

"Please," she snorted as she rolled her eyes. "Hot-shot movie stars aside, you only did that so the old guy behind us would complain more about us than them. You know, I'm beginning to think you feel threatened that they are more into each other than we are."

"I would never do that!" he exclaimed, half-heartedly, causing her to giggle at his blatant lack of conviction. He was never a convincing liar… "And I'm sorry, but I don't know about any movie star, but it's impossible for me to be anymore into you so I don't feel remotely threatened, Ms Montez."

"Sure," she rolled her eyes. "You're as obsessed with them as Howard is."

"I…resent that," he stated before shaking his head, clearly deciding to change the subject. "You know, when we're swimming in money…"

"Like Scrooge McDuck?" she giggled, remembering an older conversation where he had hinted that the Disney character was his epitome of wealth.

"Like Scrooge McDuck," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Ha ha, my fiancée the comedienne everybody. Anyway, as I was saying, when we are extremely wealthy we are so buying those seats in front of Howard."

"I cannot believe he told you his name. You know he hates us, right?"

"He does not hate us. He just doesn't know us," Troy argued. "I think his opinion on us is improving all the time - most of the time now he's just mocking us quietly instead of loudly complaining to everyone around him like he used to do. He's definitely starting to understand us."

"He so doesn't understand us," Gabriella said as she thought back to the times they had sat in front of the older guy and the varying looks and comments that he had tossed out the last three years. "You know, if we get seats in front of him he would just heckle us every game," she stated with a shake of her head. "Besides, Mr Fiancé - for all we know, you may be unavailable to go and watch games with me anyway…"

He groaned as he leant his head back. "No - no more talk about the draft. I don't want to think about it because it will just depress me if I set my heart on it and I don't get it, and instead of making all this money for us, we will be building a home and a family on two teacher's salary's, or on a teacher's and a glorified masseuse's salary."

"I think a glorified masseuse is called a physical therapist, Wildcat," she joked.

"Okay, if you want to be technical about it," he admitted. "But, the point stands. If I make the NBA, even for a year or two as a backup, we will be set right away whereas if I don't…if I don't we're going to have to work for years to get a good house and have enough savings to get everything I want for us and…"

"And if it happens like that, it happens like that. So we have an extra couple of years in our apartment, big deal. We'll be happy and fine regardless, I promise." She shook her head as she kept her eyes on the road, trying to hide her smile. He had been obsessing about not being good enough to be drafted for a few years, but it had definitely increased recently as one of his team-mates was declaring and was expected to go quite high. As everyone knew that Troy was a better player than Clinton, the pressure on Troy from everyone, but in particular from himself was increasing and it was rare for a day to go by when he didn't mention the following year's draft and what Clinton's prospects and ratings were in the national polls and measuring his own prospects in accordance. She didn't want to see him stress about it, and she was desperate for him to have as much faith in himself as she had in him. "You have a year to think about what you want to do about the draft, and you know it doesn't matter to me - I'll be proud of you no matter what. It would be kinda cool if one of my first wifely duties were to involve wearing your shirt to an actual NBA game though…"

"Shhh, Gabi," he whined. "That image would just make me more disappointed if I didn't make it."

She shot him a look from the corner of her eyes and smiled at him. "Why would it make you disappointed? I mean if you didn't get drafted I could always find another place to wear your shirt, with your name…I do tend to sleep in them when you're not home you know…"

He sent her a thoroughly unimpressed look. "If you insist on torturing me, you could at least do the decent thing and pull in somewhere since I'm not sure I will be able to take the trip home without at least kissing you."

"You know that patience is considered a virtue." She couldn't suppress her giggle as she shook her head, flashing him a smile. "You made fun of me even though it was your fault so you will just have to sit there and distract yourself until we get home. It's not that far."

"Yeah, yeah. You just keep driving and stop looking at me like that. Stupid hotel messing up our reservation," he mumbled as he leant back, his head against the headrest as he looked at her, trying to disguise the smile on his lips, but doing so unsuccessfully. For all that he seemed to think she was in a funny mood, Gabriella knew for a fact that he was in almost as strange a mood as she was and she figured that the two of them were feeding off each other. "So…next game, are you actually going to watch any of the game or are you going to spend it gazing at your handsome future husband some more?"

"I wasn't 'gazing', I was observing - there is a difference," she muttered as she slowed down at the intersection. "You are so lucky I love you."

He grinned wider as he reached over and kissed her hand, before letting it drop again so she could put it back on the wheel. "I tell myself that everyday."

She shot him a small smile before turning back to the road. "Did you call your mom?"

"Yeah. Dad's apparently having some sort of feud with the new gym teacher due to him trying to steal some of the basketball kids for football and the fact that neither of them are willing to let the kids play in both teams."

"Call me naïve but I swear I thought recruitment drives happened in college and not High School."

"Gotta love East High politics," Troy shrugged, clearly unworried by the whole thing after hearing of similar arguments all his life. "Basketball has been number one for so long that as soon as football sees even an intro they are going to pounce."

"Hey, at least it's not the drama department he's fighting with for a change," she smiled. "Is he okay?"

"You know my dad - he's not happy unless he has some feud at work," he shrugged as he ran the palm of his hand against this thigh. "Oh, and apparently we've to go straight home once we finish up and not go 'gallivanting' like we did last year. Mom's orders."

"We didn't 'gallivant' last year," she said in confusion as she tried to think back to their last summer.

"Apparently going to Hawaii, even for a week, before going home is the same as gallivanting," he sighed as he rolled his eyes. "I suppose we can give them this considering next year will entail you, me, a white dress, a tux, and then our month long trip to Europe."

"I cannot wait," she sighed as she thought about the day in just over a year where the ring on her finger would be accompanied by another band of gold. After that there was their trip - their one, great big adventure prior to entering the real world. Their route across Europe was planned out and pinned to their message-board at home, along with little notes and drawings that seemed to be getting added at various points as they decided to veer to yet another place. Originally it wasn't going to be their Honeymoon, but they had planned it since just before their second year at College and although they both would have probably enjoyed spending two weeks in a tropical paradise with nothing but each other for company, they both wanted this. This once in a lifetime adventure that would only be them. "The next year is going to be the longest year ever, you know that right?"

He grinned as he watched her drive. "I do know that, but you did veto my suggestion. Just think, you could be Gabriella Bolton right now…"

"Troy, this year will fly by in comparison to the lifetime of lectures we would have received had we ran off and got married without telling them," she giggled as she shook her head. "Now if we could do that without them knowing…"

"For that to be successful I guess it would mean that we would have to be discrete when we went home, and I'm not sure I would be able to avoid telling someone," he conceded with a sigh.

"Me too," she said softly. "I don't think I would be able to avoid smiling all the time to be honest so eloping might be difficult."

"Sadly," he sighed before smiling at her, causing her heart to race. "Although maybe it isn't a bad thing - I kinda want to show everyone that they all knew nothing all this time so maybe waiting for our 'I told you so's' isn't so bad. I can wait a year for you to be mine officially especially as I get to go home with you every night while we wait."

"That you do," she smiled as she slowed down at the traffic lights. "Speaking of, what are our plans for the rest of the night, Mr Bolton?"

He smirked as he turned his gaze forward, the wheels in his brain not even concealed. "You mean I get to choose the rest of our night?"

She giggled as she waited on the cars in front of them to move. "It only seems fair since I picked the game and the restaurant."

"I have a few ideas already," he mused as he brought a finger to his lips. "I guess we'll see how they develop on the way home."

"Should I ask?"

He plastered an innocent expression on his face before grinning wildly at her. "Probably best not to, at least until we're home."

"Well, I'm all yours until noon tomorrow, then I have to go into work."

He scoffed. "I thought you were always mine?"

She caught his teasing smile and returned it as the lights turned ahead of them and the traffic started moving. "Allow me to rephrase - physically I am all yours until noon, every other way, I'm always yours…"

"Nice backtrack, Ms Fiancée," he chuckled as she drove ahead. "I have to say the feeling is mut…"

Before he could continue, Gabriella's brow furrowed as she heard a loud screeching of tyres. In the split second from when she heard the car screech, she quickly scanned either side to see headlights hurtling towards them from the passenger side. She didn't have any time to scream, her instincts worked instantaneously as she turned the wheel furiously, trying to spin the car enough to avoid the worst of the impact. To spin the car enough so that the oncoming car wasn't hurtling at the passenger side.

As quick as she reacted though, as much as she tried, she couldn't get her car to move quick enough and the hurtling headlights ploughed into the back of her car, flipping it over before it righted itself as all Gabriella could hear was the sickening crunch of metal and glass as the car went hurtling towards the nearby crash barrier as it was crushed from behind from the other vehicle, and crushed from the front by the barrier. She thought the impact would be the worst of the pain, but that was child's play compared to the agony she experienced as she felt shards of metal and glass pierce through her flesh and the only sound she could hear was her own piercing scream before everything turned momentarily black.

As the blaring noise of the crash calmed to an almost eerie silence, Gabriella forced her eyes open as far as she could. She felt strangely numb initially as she tried to free her left hand that was pinned behind the wheel painfully. Realising it was a vain effort after a few tugs she gave up, taking in a shuddering breath as she looked down only to see metal sticking out the right side of her chest, just below her collar bone. The initial panic and fear she expected to feel with seeing her body pinned and the blood oozing from her body never hit her - it was like it was all a surreal dream. Calmness and numbness washed over her, perhaps her body's way of protecting itself from the injuries, and she found herself at that point being almost detached from the situation. She could vaguely taste blood on her lips, and could feel the warm sticky substance running down her forehead, but the gruesome sight of her body impaled by part of her car barely registered at first. He few seconds of blissful ignorance didn't last long though as flashes of the moments before played in her head causing her panic to grow. They had crashed, they were hurt and this was bad. She moved her head, needing to see that Troy was alright. Everything would be okay if he was alright. "Tr…Troy?"

The smoke in the car made it difficult to see, but she knew she had to stay calm in order for them to be okay. Panicking wouldn't solve anything and she needed everything to be okay. Everything had to be okay.

"Troy…Tr…Troy," she gasped out again. "Ple…please, Troy. Whe…where are you? Ple…please…"

She closed her eyes and tried to blink them clear - thoughts ran through her head. Perhaps he got out somehow and was trying to get help? Perhaps he was thrown clear? Perhaps…perhaps someone had taken him out already? Perhaps he was okay…When she opened her eyes again, she saw him, laying next to her, his head drooped onto his shoulder and she almost laughed in relief as she tried to reach over to grasp his hand. She couldn't reach very far though due to the way her body was pinned to the seat, so she settled for placing a few fingers on his forearm as she tried to control her breathing. "Ba…baby, wake…wake up, please…"

Her only response was silence and she felt her own eyes droop. Bar the blood on his forehead, he didn't look too hurt and she smiled as she didn't see any metal or glass sticking out his chest - that had to be a good sign. If he was okay then that was all that mattered. Nothing else mattered to her apart from that.

"Troy…you…you need to wake up. We…we're okay…help will be here…soon. It's…it's okay." She tried to force air into her lungs, but found the action was too painful so she settled for trying to take quick, rapid breaths instead as she extended her fingers further so she could touch more of him, needing to feel his touch. "Please…please wake…wake up. Troy…I…I need you…to get out…" she wheezed, feeling very little but coldness all around her. Even the skin of his arm felt cold, and she knew that was because she was loosing too much blood. She bit down on her lip and shook her head - she was not going to think like that. She was getting married, they were travelling, they had to visit their parents in a few weeks and she was not going to make him do all that without her. They both just had to hang on. "Tr…Troy? Someone…someone will bring…help. T…talk to me…please?" she waited a moment, hoping to hear a grunt, or a moan, or anything but she was met with only silence.

Outside the car she could hear voices, and the vague sounds that didn't sound like anything but it was getting too hard to make anything out. "Tr…Troy? I think…I think help's here, baby. Just…just…soon. Troy? If…" she wanted to say that if she didn't make it, that she would miss him, that she wanted him to be happy, that she was okay because he was okay. She had so many things that she wanted to say but the thought of not seeing him everyday made her heart feel like it was getting torn into shreds. She could feel the warm tears seep from her blurry eyes, the idea of him waking up and hurting because she wasn't there killing her but she wanted him to know that it was a sacrifice she would make every time. She couldn't say any of that though because she didn't want him to think she was giving up and she wasn't. She would never give up on him, and she'd fight - she would always fight for him. "I…I love you, Wi…Wildcat. For…forever. I…love you."

She tried to keep her eyes open, she tried to stay awake, but her eyes demanded the welcoming darkness that seemed like it was longing to embrace her. She concentrated one second longer on her numb fingers against his arm, but as she could no longer feel any warmth from anywhere in the car, her one link to consciousness was severed and she let her eyes slide shut, praying that when she woke up she would be safe in bed, wrapped in his warm arms and looking forward to their happily ever after.

Author's Note - So there you go. This chapter was very, very, very difficult to write. I went through about half a dozen drafts just trying to work out what I wanted to do - did I want to show the crash, or not? Did I want Troy's POV or not? Did I want to show the basketball game and then imply in the next part what happened on the way home, or not? I had to try and develop things as I went and this is the result and I know it's not perfect, but with what I was trying to do with this chapter, I think it's as good as I will get it. I got a lot of PM's after the last chapter saying I should make this a different reality from ATKH's because it isn't fair what happens to them, and believe me I can understand - I hate that I've done what I've done, but…bad things happen to good, happy people and…that's what this is. Sometimes life sucks and there wouldn't be any tragedies in the world if bad things only happened to people who deserved it. I hope you guys understand. On the Brightside though - I did it in one-shot form so you can pretend this part and the next part didn't happen. ;)