Gabriella let out a fit of hysterical laughter and tried to look as if she were enjoying herself. She stood in front of a large pane of glass, looking at the tropical coloured fish that swam back and forth. Normally, Gabriella would have loved the display and she tried without much success to pretend as if she were here with Troy or her mother. Unfortunately, had she been here with Troy, he would be directly beside her, laughing as a bright red fish and pulling her close to him, not snapping a photo of her with an ancient looking camera.

"Another good one for the scrapbooks." Her father said with a smile, tucking the camera into it's case again. Gabriella nodded and then turned toward the next display, trying to hide her disgust. The fish that normally would have held her attention for hours on end, now fluttered past her blind eyes as she used all of her acting ability to keep herself in character.

The two of them had been at the aquarium for an hour now, and still Gabriella had yet to see a pay phone. Still, she kept her hopes up and made sure that she kept an eye out for any type of police officer or poster with her face on it. Frustration was making her blood boil and more than once, Gabriella had to pretend to be captivated by the fish while she got her temper under control.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Gabriella rested her head against the cool pane of glass and tried to hold back tears of anger and frustration. A few slipped out the corner of her eyes and she quickly wiped them away before her father noticed. Unfortunately, he chose that moment to look over at her, and saw her swiping at her cheeks.

"What's wrong, Gabriella?" He asked, her brow furrowing in concern.

Gabriella offered a tight smile and shook her head.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Do you miss your mother?" He asked quietly.

"No." Gabriella assured him, lying through her teeth. "I really am happy to be here with you. I love my mom, but I didn't realize how cool you are to be with."

The older man broke out into a wide smile and wrapped an arm around her tiny shoulders. Gabriella resisted the urge to push him away from her and smiled instead.

"Thank you. But why are crying?"

Gabriella grit her teeth together and scrambled through her mind for some sort of excuse. There were a few other people in the vicinity and it made it hard for her to distract his attention. She didn't know what to say.

"I-I guess I'm just tired." She finally replied, her voice weak and lifeless. "Do you mind if we skip this part and just go out for supper?"

"Of course. Did you sleep alright?"

They began to walk towards the exit and the older man held the door for her. Gabriella slipped past him and immediately was on the lookout for anything that she could use to help someone - anyone - find her and take her home. She was so busy trying to find a phone that she jumped when her father spoke to her again.

"Would you still like to go into the Gift shop?"

"That'd be great, if that's okay. If is your birthday after all."

"That's fine, Gabriella."

The bell on the door tinkled as they entered and Gabriella was lost in a crowd of teenage girls, who were shopping for various trinkets.

Perfect. She thought with an elated jolt going through her, I might be able to get away from him now and go to the police.

She began to weave through the girls, feigning interest in the shelves decorated in brightly coloured key chains, and fish shaped plushies. She was halfway across the store when her father's voice sounded from a few metres away.

"Don't go too far, Gabriella."

The words were like those of a concerned father for his daughter, and that may have been the way that he had meant them, but Gabriella heard the silent threat in his voice;

You can't get away from me, there's no use trying.

She gulped and picked up a random necklace, inspecting it as she felt the piercing eyes of the evil man which held her captive. Gabriella smiled at the pendant like she thought it was pretty, and refused to meet his gaze. Quickly, she picked out a card with a monkey on it for her father and a keychain stating the words 'Someone who loves you very much bought this keychain for me at the Austre Aquarium'. She thought that it might help in carrying across her act.

She quickly paid for her purchases - with her bank card - and then blinked in surprise as she caught sight of a large state map on the wall. The shape was familiar to her, and without making it look as if she was studying it carefully, she found the star that marked where they were on the map.

A bubble of hope curst into life in her heart as she saw how close it was to Albuquerque. She had been only a few hours drive away from home all the time! Immediately, she began to plot. She'd need to ask her father a few questions to get anywhere.

An hour later, they sat in a secluded booth at the back of a fancy restaurant. Pulling her grimy sundress over her knees, Gabriella put her plan into action as they waited for the waitress to come back with their food.

"Hey Dad?" she asked.

"Yes, my daughter?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Gabriella."

She smiled slowly and looked intently at the straw in her drink.

"I-I was wondering if you could tell me how you got me in the car the night that you drove me here."

His expression darkened and he became suspicious. Gabriella hurriedly added;

"I'm only asking because I don't remember anything, and I know that I would have been scared of you at first because I don't remember you from when I was little. Was I asleep?"

Her father was silent for so long that Gabriella thought that he wasn't going to answer her. She took a sip of her lemon-water and slid her hand across the table to cover his clenched fist, forcing herself not to grimace.

"I'm sorry, Paddy." She whispered, trying the old nickname in hopes that it would loosen him up a little bit. "I guess I shouldn't have asked."

It worked. He smiled at her and Gabriella was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I'm afraid that if I tell you, you won't want to be around me any longer." He said.

Gabriella's heart pounded in her chest as she spit out a lie.

"That's not going to happen. I-I think that you're amazing."

He was quiet for a moment longer and then answered slowly and quietly.

"I-I gave you something to drink - you were in shock and you didn't recognize me yet. I knew that as soon as you did, you'd panic and not give me time to explain. Before you came home I broke into the house - there was a key under the flower pot - and put some powder into the water that I gave you."

"It knocked me out?" Gabriella offered. "That makes sense." Again, she forced out another lie, her mind reeling. "I don't blame you, Dad. And I'm not angry. I know that I was really cruel at first towards you, and I'm so sorry. I was just really scared. Thank you for not getting angry with me."

"You're my daughter, Gabriella, of course I'm not going to get angry with you!"

It was quiet until after the supper was over. Then, as Gabriella had previously set up, the waitress brought out a cake with a few dimly lit candles and mumbled a birthday song to him. Her father beamed at Gabriella and blew out half of the candles.

"You blow out the other half, Gabriella. Go ahead, make a wish."

Gabriella moistened her lips and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing with all her might as she blew out the candles left burning.

I wish to go home and for this nightmare to end.

"…I divorced him when she was so young, that I know she wouldn't remember him. I never thought to warn her."

"Okay, thank you for the information. We searched your ex-husband in our data bases last night after you told us the information, but we were unable to find his name is our registry. Is it possible that he could have changed his name?" Brian asked, smiling sympathetically at Maria.

"I-I guess it's possible." Maria replied. She turned to Troy who looked helplessly back at her. "Did she ever mention him to you, Troy? Did she ever talk about him?"

Troy shook his head, dejectedly.

"No, never."

"We'll keep looking, Ms Montez until we find her. The information that you gave us will help a great deal."

Troy patted Maria on the shoulder as she broke down into tears again. Brian closed his notebook and left the house quietly after excusing himself.

"Oh Troy, this is such a mess." She sighed, looking at him sadly. "I should have said no to him."

"Did he ask to see Gabriella?" Troy asked, his heart aching a little bit.

"We agreed that he would be able to see her only after she had turned eighteen and was old enough to decide for herself whether she wanted to or not. She turned eighteen and I asked her about it, but she said no right away and refused to talk any more about it so I never contacted him about it. Do you think that she could have run off to find him after all? Maybe she just didn't want to tell me?"

"I don't think so, Maria. She would have at least mentioned it to one of us. She's been acting completely normal. I think he must have come and get her himself. I just don't understand why she went with him so easily."

"How are you holding up with all of this, Troy? I keep forgetting how close the two of you are…I'm just so scared for her."

"She means the world to me and I don't blame you for forgetting, she is you daughter. I'm just her boyfriend. And I'm holding up okay - I have my moments when it gets overwhelming." Troy answered honestly, although at that moment he felt like sobbing his heart out.

"You're not just her boyfriend, Troy, she thinks the world of you. If you ever need anything, you just let me know okay? Anything at all, I'm here for you."

"Back at 'cha." Troy replied with a smile.

Soon afterwards, Troy walked home in the growing dusk with his hands in his pockets and silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

AN: Anther one done! I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks so much for staying with me through all of this nonsense! R&R Please, and see you soon with the next update! You all ROCK! `