A/N: So, once again thank you for all the reviews!

And yes, there is another flashback because I feel like there is an absence to be filled with the lack of Troy right now. I feel like the story needs some Troy in it right now so the flashbacks will pop up when I feel like I need a little romance in the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It was now Thursday, the twenty-first of December. Gabriella had spent the previous day shopping with some friends from high school. She'd been enjoying herself and relaxing while she had the time off of work. She liked waking up late and walking around in her pajama's while drinking a mug of coffee. Gabriella had never liked coffee nearly as much as Troy. In high school the mere smell of coffee disgusted her and Troy had always made sure to brush his teeth before going to school because Gabriella would never kiss him if his breath smelled like coffee. In college, she had only drank coffee occasionally. Most of the times she opted for an iced coffee during finals to help keep her awake while she was cramming. It wasn't until Troy and her moved in together that she had really started to drink coffee. Troy always had a pot brewed early in the morning.

Her mother had taken Thursday and Friday off of work and the two planned to treat themselves to manicures and pedicures while having a mother/daughter day before they started to make dinner for tonight when Gabriella would finally meet her mother's new boyfriend. Hearing the water turn off upstairs, indicating the end of her mother's shower, Gabriella descended up the stairs to take a shower and prepare herself for the rest of the day. She grabbed a towel from the closet in the hallway and her clothes and undergarments for the day. After starting the shower she stripped her clothes off her body. Every time she took her clothes off she always thought about the stretigically placed tattoo that was on her pelvis. Only one person knew of her tattoo, the person who had a matching one.

A few weeks ago Troy Bolton had returned home from work like normal. He'd parked his car, like he normally did. He took the elevator up to the fourth floor of the apartment complex, like he normally did. He walked into his apartment and had given his fiancé a kiss, like he normally did. He proceeded through to the kitchen to open the mail, like he normally did. He'd opened a letter from the government that day, informing him of his draft in the war. At the moment in time, he didn't know what to do. He was going to have to leave his comfortable life and go to war halfway across the world in Afghanistan.

So how did that explain why he was lying on his stomach with a needle stabbing him in his back? He was going to be leaving in ten days. He only had ten days left with the woman he loved. He didn't know if, after those ten days, he'd ever see her again. They had decided not to get married before he left, opting to have the perfect ceremony they'd always wanted after he would return from war. He would return from war, no matter what Gabriella or anyone else thought, he would return. He promised Gabriella he would return from war and that they would get married and live happily ever after. In the eighteen years he had known Gabriella, he hadn't broken one promise. He certainly had no intention in breaking one now.

Tomorrow they would leave to go back to Albuquerque to visit his family for a week. They would spend the time at his parent's house and return to their apartment for one last night together. Today the two had decided to stay in bed together and simply be in each other's presence, for the last time. After a while the two had come up with an idea. Since they were not going to marry before he left, they would get matching tattoos. It was like wearing a permanent wedding band, they would always have a part of each other with them.

After arriving at a tattoo parlor, the two had decided on the Chinese symbol for the word 'strength.' Undoubtably, Troy would need physical strength while at war, but both of them would need emotional strength during the next couple of years in their lives. Gabriella had volunteered Troy to go first. He settled on getting the tattoo on his right shoulder blade. The pain was harsh, but Troy had never been that afraid of needles and after a while the area went numb. When his turn was up he got off the angled bed and switched places with Gabriella. She had been full of surprises that day. She had been the one to recommend the idea of getting matching tattoos and when he heard her say where she wanted her tattoo his mouth had simply dropped. She claimed that she didn't want the tattoo in a visible place. She was a mature woman and if she was going to get a tattoo, it was going to be located where no one would be able to see it. She'd decided one getting it on her pelvis because, even if she were to wear a bikini, no one would be able to see it. She certainly had no intent on letting anyone see anything below the waist of her pants, except for Troy, so it would be a safe place to get her tattoo. And it would bring an added sex appeal to her body that Troy would not be able to resist. Somehow this woman still managed to surprise him.

Laying down on the bad Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand and squeezed his hand tightly. Her worry was communicated simply through the look in her eyes. That had been happening a lot during the past few days. Their emotions were more easily shown through the look in each other's eyes and body motions than through spoken words.

Closing her eyes, Gabriella took a deep breath before a man she had never meet before started to permanently draw on her body. Troy leaned down and kissed her forehead in reassurance. Knowing that many people regret tattoos in their future, Troy knew that Gabriella and him never would. It was something they did together and there was no way either of them would regret anything they had ever done together.

Gabriella and Maria returned from their mini spa day around five o'clock to begin cooking dinner. Maria was beginning to become more and more nervous that Gabriella wouldn't like her new boyfriend. She felt like a teenager again, bringing home her boyfriend to meet her parents for the first. Only this time, she was a lot older and was waiting for the approval of her daughter. She herself had only had to deal with meeting two boyfriends before Gabriella started dating Troy. That was over ten years ago now and she didn't know what she was doing.

"Don't be nervous," Gabriella could somehow read her mind at times. Maria had no clue how she did it, but Gabriella could always see right through her. "I have no doubts that this Marcus guy is incredible Mama. If you want me to meet him, I know he's a good man and that I'll like him."

Gabriella really had no idea what her mom was going through. Gabriella had been in a steady relationship with the same man for almost ten years now. She knew her mother approved of Troy and had no nervousness when bringing him to dinner for the first time after they had gotten together. She couldn't imagine bringing a man home to meet her family after having been single for almost for fourteen years now. It wasn't that her mother had willingly been single, it was that she couldn't seem to find anyone that lived up to the standards set by her ex-husband, pre accident and affair obviously, and Gabriella had been her main focus in life.

After setting the home made lasagna in the oven, they went upstairs to change into clean clothes and fix their hair and makeup. As she was putting in a pair of earrings to match her black dress, Gabriella heard the doorbell ring. It was 6:57, Marcus was early. That was always a good sign. Maria opened the door and Gabriella could see a dark haired man about six inches taller than her mother lean down to kiss her cheek from upstairs. She descended down the stairs about two minutes later and walking into the kitchen, she caught a better glimpse of the man that had stolen her mother's heart in less than four months. He was just short of six feet, probably just short of Troy's height. He had a naturally dark skin tone, he probably had some Mexican genes in him like her mother. He was very handsome for his age and he obviously had worked to prevent a beer belly from forming. His smile was large and friendly and he seemed to have that special glint in his eyes that made him look like he radiated happiness. She'd seen that look before many times. It was the way Jack looked at Lucille, the way Matt looked at Julia, and the way that Troy looked at her. That kind of happiness could only be produced between two people in love. Her mother had won the lottery with this man.

Walking closer to the group of people, Gabriella coughed to make her appearance noticeable. "Gabi this Marcus, Marcus this is Gabriella."

Marcus reached out to hug her. Gabriella was always a fan of people who would rather greet someone with a hug than a handshake. "It's nice to finally meet you, your mother has told me a lot about you."

"Nice to meet you too." Gabriella could already tell this guy was a good person and would treat her mother right.

"These are my kids, Jenny and Christopher." Waving at them Gabriella smiled, they were cute too.

"Hi," Turning her attention back to the clock over her shoulder, she realized that the lasagna should be ready by now. "Mom, I'm going to check on the lasagna."

Opening the oven, a burst of smell came out and she smiled at it. She would definitely have to make this at home sometime. Pulling it out and setting it in a cooling rack on the counter, Gabriella let her mom finish talking to her boyfriend and took out some plates, silverware, and napkins. When they walked back in the kitchen she decided she should make some small talk and maybe that would lead to some deeper conversations eventually. "So, I heard you had a basketball tournament to go to today. How did that go?"

"It went well, Jenny's team placed second in the tournament." Basketball always seemed to be a safe topic in Gabriella's life.

"That's great. What school do you two go to?" If they went to East High, there was no doubt they would know Jack, especially since Jenny played basketball.

"We go to south." Christopher answered.

"I went to east. My fiancé's father is the basketball coach there." Since they went to south, they had probably heard about East High's superior basketball program, even though south was more of a football rival to east.

"They have a really good team, always have. Every year they seem to win state. I play on the JV team at south." Christopher, like most teenage boys, was fascinated with sports.

"So, did you play any sports in high school Gabriella?" Marcus continued with the same topic. He didn't want to pry too much into her life, knowing about her situation. He didn't want to screw up the first time he met her.

"I ran track and played golf. I was more of a spectator than a player. Anything that involve doing two things at one time, I was not good at." Gabriella had been completely intent sitting on the sidelines watching her friends in high school. She had messed around playing pick up games of basketball at Troy's house, but nothing had ever amounted out of it. "Mom though, was an allstar soccer player in high school. She went to the state championship two years in a row."

"Really now." Marcus raised his eyebrow's at Maria. They had only known each other for four months and hadn't discussed their high school lives that much at this point. Sure they'd shared a few embarrassing moments from their teenage years but high school was so far in the past that most of what happened back then seemed insignificant now.

"Oh yeah, she was amazing. She was their leading scorer and was MVP for two years in a row." Gabriella smiled sweetly at her mother. Their chat was comfortable but Gabriella could tell that Marcus knew about Troy being at war and was nervous to show any sort of affection because he didn't want Gabriella to be jealous. At first Gabriella had been jealous of other couples that she saw together and she still was a little bit, but she knew it came with the territory and figured out how to deal with it. "So, should we dish up and head to the dining room?"

"It smells, really good." Typical teenagers, Gabriella thought, always wanting food. Obviously Christopher was no different.

As they sat down at the table and ate, they continued to talk and learn more about each other. Marcus was a single father, his wife had left him after Christopher was born. She had wanted more freedom and time to "go out and dance." Neither of the kids really remembered much about their mother. Jenny had had a boyfriend for three months now and Christopher had a date planned sometime during their winter break.

"So, does anyone want to walk down the street and get some ice cream?" Marcus had offered, "My treat."

"Sounds great." They all stood up and brought their plates to the sink where Marcus helped Maria wash the plates while Gabriella, Jenny, and Christopher went outside and waited for the two to finish.

The five of them continued talking on their walk down to the ice cream parlor. Gabriella had been there many times with Troy. They always ordered one cone with cookie dough ice cream and another one with brownie fudge. They would sit down and Troy would start eating the cookie dough cone, Gabriella the brownie fudge, when the reached the cone they would switch and eat the rest of the other's ice cream.

Walking into the store Gabriella saw Mason sitting in the back with a girl. It must have been the girl Liam had mentioned on the phone a few days ago. Smiling, she waved at him but didn't want to interrupt so she stayed with her group. "Is that his girlfriend Lucille told me about?"

"I think so." Gabriella wasn't positive but it sure looked like they were together. Looking back at her mother for the first time since beginning their walk, Gabriella noticed that Marcus and her were holding hands. Gabriella winked at her mother and Maria stuck her tongue out at Gabriella in return. Laughing, they began to order their ice cream, Gabriella deciding on cookie dough and Maria decided on Strawberry.

After they finished their ice cream and walked home, Jenny and Christopher got into the car after hugging Gabriella and Maria and Marcus walked them to the door. Stepping inside, Gabriella quickly thanked Marcus for the ice cream and said goodbye. She ran up the stairs to her hiding spot and watched as Marcus gently kissed her mother goodnight. They hugged and kissed one more time before Marcus said his farewell and left to get in his car. Gabriella felt like she switched roles with her mother, who had probably done the same thing many times when Troy had left their house after spending the evening with them. She rushed to her room and closed the door before Maria could catch her eavesdropping.

She heard her mother knocking on the door. "Gabi, can I come in?"

"Sure, Mama." She pretended like she was going to get her pajama's ready to change into.

"What do you think?" Maria wanted an honest response. If her daughter had large doubts about her relationship she would have to rethink some things.

"I think he's nice. He was nervous to mention anything about Troy, that shows he's sensitive and didn't want to hurt my feelings. He has good kids too. He helped you wash the dishes, Mama. That's got to say something. Not every man willingly does the dishes." Gabriella smiled, her mom was still nervous after the wonderful night they just had.

"Good. I thought you'd like him." Maria had crossed her fingers that Gabriella would like Marcus. She didn't know what she would do if Gabriella hadn't approved of him. "So, do you want to change and then we can go downstairs and watch a movie?"

"Sounds great Mama."