Here's the next chapter for you. A big thank you to Clembo29 for the idea they gave me for this chapter, I won't tell you what it was because it will ruin it for you, but they know what they did. Anyway, chapter seven, enjoy!
A Night Apart
The sun coming through his blinds the next morning is what woke Troy from his peaceful slumber. Stretching, he rolled over to see that the time on his alarm clock read 9:00am, that was late enough for him to have had a lie in, but still early enough to stop his Mum coming in and waking him up herself.
Pushing himself out of bed he made his way through to his en-suite to shower and get ready for the day. He was going to spend it with Gabriella and the twins, there was no doubt in that, but he wasn't sure exactly how they were going to spend their day.
That was until a brilliant thought hit him, swimming. It was a reasonably warm day outside and swimming was always a great way to pass the time, he just needed to run a couple of things by his Mum, and maybe Dad, before he could put his plan into action.
TGTGTGTG
Jack and Lucille weren't afraid to show their affections to each other in front of their son, in fact they found it was a great way to make him leave the room so they could talk.
As Lucille stood over the stove making pancakes, Jack wrapped his arms around her from behind, moved her hair to the side and began slowly kissing down her neck. Lucille soon gave in to Jack's touches and leant in to his embrace, but still keeping an eye on the cooking mixture in front of her.
"I thought I told you two before, get a room." Troy said, as he entered the kitchen.
"And I thought I told you before, we have to do this more often than other parents do because you haven't got a girlfriend for us to embarrass you in front of." Jack said, as he moved his arms to wrap around Lucille's waist.
"Yeah well, you can take that back right now dear father, because as of yesterday afternoon, I have a girlfriend, so you can't pull that one any more.
Lucille was in shock as she turned off the stove and dished up the pancakes.
"Care to tell us who?" Lucille asked, not wanting to pry, but still really wanting to know.
"Gabriella." Troy answered simply, as he took the plate that was being offered to him and began to eat.
"Do you approve?" Troy asked, as he finished a bite of pancake.
"Yeah I do, a) because she's a really nice girl and b) because she's is unbelievable good at hoops." Jack concluded.
Lucille laughed. "Is that all you ever think about, basketball?" Lucille questioned her husband.
"Nope I think about you as well." Jack began.
"Okay." Troy butted in. "I do not want to know where this is going, so now that you approve of my new girlfriend, I have some questions."
His parents stopped what they were doing and looked in his direction for him to continue.
"Mum, you know how Gran and Grandpa have gone on holiday?" Lucille nodded. "And they said we could borrow their pool if we wanted?" Lucille again nodded. "Would it be okay if I took Gabriella and the twins for a swim?"
"I can't see why not, but have you asked Gabriella if they are allowed to go?"
"No not yet, I wanted to run it by you first."
"Well I haven't got any problems with it, and I know your Grandparents would be happy for you to use the pool, any other questions?"
"Yep, can I borrow your car?" Troy knew this would be the question most likely to receive a no.
"Why?" Jack asked with a mouth full of pancake, he clearly hadn't listened to what Troy had been saying.
"Because three of them and one of me equals four, my car only sits two, not to mention the fact the twins will need their car seats anyway." Troy explained.
Troy and Lucille sat and watched as Jack processed what Troy had just said, and before long the penny dropped and Jack nodded.
"Now that your father has caught up with what is happening, yes Troy, you can use my car, just make sure you strap the twins' car seats in properly."
"Don't worry Mum I will." Troy said, as he got up from the table and put his plate in the sink, before returning back to his Mum and placing a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you, you just made two very small people's day very exciting." Troy said, as he left the room to phone Gabriella.
TGTGTGTG
Gabriella sat on a bean bag in the soft room watching the twins happily play around her. The twins were pretty much better with only the odd cough and sniffle here and there, Gabriella on the other hand didn't feel so great. She hadn't been physically sick since yesterday morning but that didn't stop the fact her stomach was still churning. Mandy had given her plain crackers last night and plain toast this morning and although she had kept them down, she still didn't feel one hundred percent.
Gabriella was brought out of her thoughts quick enough to catch a small sponge ball that came flying in her direction.
"Alex I told you before buddy, you are allowed to throw these in here but not at people, okay?"
Alex looked at his big sister with his big, brown Montez eyes and slowly walked in her direction.
"Ug Gabwi." He said softly, as he wrapped his tiny arms around his sister, settling himself in her lap.
"Yeah buddy hug." Gabriella replied, as she wrapped her arms around Alex and bit her lip to stop the tears collecting in her eyes from falling.
Realising her play mate had gone; Katie stopped what she was doing and made her way towards her brother and sister, and settled herself down on the part of Gabriella's lap that Alex wasn't occupying.
Gabriella unwrapped one of her arms from around Alex and wrapped it around Katie, they all started to get comfortable when Gabriella's phone rang, causing her to completely unwrap herself from the twins and reach up to grab her phone from the windowsill.
Looking at the caller ID and realising it was Troy, she took a deep breath before answering, knowing he'd pick up on her being down.
"Hey." She answered, as happily as she could.
"Hey beautiful, how you feeling?"
"I've felt better, but I'm okay, and for the record I am not beautiful, not today anyway."
"Yeah well I don't care what you say; you are beautiful, so live with it."
"Fine, if that's what my boyfriend thinks then I guess he can be right." Gabriella said, as she twirled some hair around her finger and listened to Troy chuckle on the other end of the phone.
"Don't laugh at me Bolton, I'm still trying to get used to the whole, having a boyfriend thing, you are my first you know."
"Yeah I know, and I'm honoured. Anyway I did phone with a purpose, believe it or not, are you and the twins allowed to come out or do you have to have prior permission from Mandy?"
"Nope, we're allowed to go out, why?"
"Well it's a nice day out and my Grandparents have gone away, leaving my family the use of their pool, I just wanted to know if you and the twins wanted to come swimming today?"
Gabriella thought for a moment. "Yeah, why not, it'll be nice for the twins to get out of here for a while, one question though, your car only has two seats, how are we all gonna get there?"
"I'm already way ahead of you there Miss Montez, Mum said I can borrow her car, it's quite big, so there'll be plenty of space for both of their car seats."
"You've got this all planned out haven't you?"
"Yep, pretty much I just need you and the twins and then my plan is complete, will you be ready if I come pick you up in half an hour, at around ten?"
"Yeah I think we can manage that, see you then."
"Definitely, see you soon." Troy said, as the conversation finished and they both hung up.
"Hey guys." Gabriella said, getting the attention of her siblings. "We're gonna go swimming!" She exclaimed, as the twins looked at her strangely, but still clapped their hands as they picked up on her enthusiasm.
TGTGTGTG
"CANNONBALL!" Troy shouted, as he jumped into the pool.
It was an hour since Troy had picked the Montez's up from Butterfly, and after driving for half an hour and then getting the twins into their gear, which was easier said than done, they were ready to swim, and Troy had decided he'd test the temperature of the water.
"Okay, who's next?" He asked. "The water is nice and warm."
"Good 'cause I wouldn't be getting in there if it wasn't." Gabriella said, as she sat down on the edge of the pool and dangled her feet in the water.
"You not getting in?" Troy asked, as he swam over and placed himself between Gabriella's legs.
"I wanna get these two in first, then I'll get in, if I pass them to you, you can take them and place them in the water, they might cry for a second or two but they'll soon like it."
"Okay, do you want me to keep hold of them?"
"Nope they've got there life vests on, just hold them for a second or two, get them used to the water, then they'll be fine to float around on their own. Alex buddy, come here." Gabriella said, as she held her arms out to Alex and waited for him to walk into them.
Wrapping her arms tightly around Alex she turned round and passed him to Troy, watching as Alex screwed his face up about to cry, but then got used to the water and floated off to play. After repeating the process with Katie it was Gabriella's turn to get in the pool.
"Can I have a hug?" Gabriella timidly asked, as Troy swam back in her direction after he settled Katie with her brother.
"You know you don't have to ask for a hug Brie you know that, come here." Troy placed his hands round Gabriella's waist as she placed hers on his shoulders, and he pulled her into the pool.
Troy didn't let go of Gabriella once she was in the water, instead he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her against his chest.
"You're still not feeling that great are you?" Troy questioned his very quiet girlfriend.
Gabriella shook her head against Troy's chest. "I couldn't rest yesterday because it was too loud, I couldn't get to sleep last night and then when I did these two woke up, both of them from night mares; they of course ended up in my bed, causing me to get even less sleep. I did lay in for a bit this morning, but it's pretty much impossible in a house full of small children." Gabriella said, keeping herself close to Troy.
"You don't have to be in here if you don't want, you can go inside and get some sleep, I'll play with the twins." Troy offered.
"Its fine, I want them to get used to us being together so come on, or is my Wildcat afraid of water?" Gabriella teased, as she unwrapped herself from Troy and swam towards the twins.
TGTGTGTG
It was one in the afternoon when Gabriella finally got to flop down on the sofa next to Troy.
After having fun in the pool the teenagers had given the twins lunch, given them both a bath and then settled them down in the spare bedroom Troy would use when he was over, for a nap.
"I fell like I should be putting you to bed for a nap as well." Troy said, as Gabriella laid down on the couch and rested her head in Troy's lap, her feet resting against the arm rest.
"I don't, 'cause I'm quite comfy here, so I'd rather you didn't move." Gabriella said, as she rolled onto her right side, her face pressed into Troy's shirt, inhaling his freshly showered scent.
Troy didn't respond to this as a thought ran through his mind, Gabriella wasn't going to get better until she got a proper nights rest.
"Brie?" Troy spoke softly to his girlfriend, as he ran a gentle hand through her hair. "What would you say to staying at my house for the night, let someone else take care of the twins for once."
He didn't expect Gabriella to answer, he expected her to ignore him and continue her way into a peaceful slumber, but surprisingly to Troy she did answer.
"Do you know what, I think I say yes, as long as it's okay with your parents and Mandy, I'd love to spend the night at yours." Gabriella answered, as she rolled onto her back to look Troy in the eye.
"I that case let's get the ball rolling." Troy said, as he leaned over Gabriella and picked up their phones from his Grandparent's coffee table. "You phone Mandy and I'll phone my parents, I'm sure they'll all say it's fine." Troy said, as he leant down and placed a soft kiss onto Gabriella's forehead, before sitting back up and phoning his parents.
TGTGTGTG
Gabriella closed the door to the Bolton's spare room that night and let out a sigh of relief.
Both Mandy and Jack and Lucille had agreed it would be a great idea for Gabriella to have a night off and attempt to recover from yesterday's illness.
To her surprise the twins hadn't cried when she left them and had gone to be as easy as anything and were still asleep now, should just phoned Mandy who had assured her everything was fine and that she was to rest and recuperate.
Pulling the coves over her body, Gabriella allowed her body to relax into the comfort of the Boltons' spare bed, she just hoped that everyone was right and that this night away from the twins and the rest of the chaos back at Butterfly would help her get better.
TGTGTGTG
It was one o'clock in the morning when a blood curdling scream ran through the Bolton household.
Troy immediately shot up in bed, knowing exactly where the noise had come from he dashed out of bed and was met by his parents in the hallway.
Walking towards the spare room Troy opened the door to find Gabriella sitting up in bed, her knees pulled to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, crying hysterically.
Quickly making his way over to the bed, Troy pulled Gabriella into his arms and rocked her back and forth while rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"Shhh Brie you're okay, no one can hurt you, shhh come on now don't' cry, it's okay you're safe."
"H-he got t-them, h-he tried t-to t-take them a-away." Gabriella stuttered out.
"Who did babe, what happened?" If Gabriella was willing to tell him about her dream, then he was willing to get all of the information out of her so she wasn't dwelling on it for longer than necessary.
"M-my D-dad, he w-went to B-butterfly 'c-cause I wasn't t-there, he g-got hold o-of t-the t-twins and he h-hurt them, he h-hurt t-them 'cause I wasn't t-there to p-protect t-them." Gabriella cried, as more tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Brie you Dad is dead, he can't get you or the twins, it was a dream sweetie, it was all a horrible dream and I promise you you're going to be okay, just stop crying for me, please."
Jack and Lucille stood in the doorway and watched as their son managed to calm a hysterical Gabriella, into quiet sobs.
"I'm not going back to s-sleep, I can't g-go back to s-sleep."
Lucille turned to Jack who instantly knew what she was going to say and gave her a nod in approval.
Making her way towards the bed, Lucille sat down next to the two teenagers and took Gabriella's hand in hers.
"Gabi sweetheart, would you be able to sleep again if you could sleep with Troy in his bed?" Lucille asked, her thumb running back and forth over Gabriella's knuckles.
Gabriella nodded, as she pulled her hand away from Lucille and wrapped it firmly around Troy's neck.
"Okay Troy take her back to your room and look after her, keep her in your arms and try and get her to sleep, she seems happiest in your arms."
Troy nodded in conformation and gently scooped Gabriella up into his arms, constantly reassuring her that everything was going to be okay.
Walking into his room, Troy gently kicked the door shut behind him and managed to get into bed with Gabriella still in his arms.
"Okay sweetie, I'm gonna lay down now, okay?" Gabriella nodded against Troy's chest, and allowed him to slide down in bed so that they were both lying down.
"I'm sorry your first night apart from the twins was so emotional, has it put you off doing it again?" Troy spoke softly to Gabriella, as his hand gently ran up and down her back, slowly but surely lulling her to sleep.
"It's not your fault I had a night mare, I get them sometimes, but I much prefer being in your arms than Mandy's, yours are much more comfy. As for doing it again, yeah I would, it is actually quite nice to let someone else look after them for once, especially if it means I can get some proper sleep and get to spend more time with you, then why not?"
"I'm glad 'cause I'd love you to stay round again, you know I love spending time with you. Maybe we could bring the twins over here tomorrow, get them out again, what do you say?"
"Sounds good, but I'm tired, can we sleep again now?"
"'Course we can sweetie, you wanna role over, or stay like this?"
"Stay." Gabriella said, as Troy's magic fingers did their work and slowly sent Gabriella back to sleep, with Troy hot on her tail.
TGTGTGTG
There it is, chapter seven, hope you liked it.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!
