Gabriella raced down the steps of her parents' house. She took a deep breath. She was supposed to be the good girl, and what had happened over the last three weeks wasn't good at all. She been mistake for a prostitute, accessory to car thief, survived car chases and gunfire, listed as dangerous on television, she'd done lustful things alone in a hotel room with an older man, even punched and stuffed into a trunk.

Between the court dates and the trails and testifying if felt like things would never settle down. She almost given up on the fact that things would ever be normal again. She wasn't who her parents thought she was. She wasn't who she thought she was.

"Hey beautiful," Troy greeted from where he stood leaning against dark Doge Challenger. "Ready for some birthday ice cream?"

"Yup," she nodded as she tossed her arms around him and greeted him with a small kiss on the lips. She sighed in delight. They were both smiling in a dopy kind of happiness and something just seemed off. Like it wasn't right.

She frowned.

His features softened. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, trying to hide her thoughts. She backed away from and she watched him open her door.

"Don't lie to me," he frowned, "Something just happened there."

"Don't argue with me about my own feelings. If I say nothing's wrong, then nothing's wrong." She got into the car and Troy shut the door. She could see the scowl on his face as he came around to the driver's side.

He got in and turned on the car. Before pulling out of the driveway he stopped and turned towards her. "Gabi what is it?"

She smiled and leaned over her face close to his as she whispered. "Nothing is wrong." At least she hoped it wasn't. They went to the neighbor ice cream shop and he ordered for them. When they got their ice cream, they sat down at an outside table.

She enjoyed her sundae, but she thought Troy's looked even better, so she reached over a couple of times to take a spoonful from his. He let her initially, but after the fourth time, he pulled away. "What is it with you and my food."

She scowled at him. "I'd share with you." She offered.

"But I want what I ordered. Hence, I ordered it."

"Well," she shrugged. "Yours looks better than mine."

Troy chuckled, "Do you want me to order another one for you."

"I don't want another Sundae."

He grumbled under his breath and stretched his sundae out towards her. She couldn't help but smile as she took another spoonful. She could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"Here do you want some of mine?" she offered.

He slanted her a look and then took an enormous spoonful of her sundae.

She gasped as she stared down at her depleted sundae. And then looked up when she heard him laughing.

"It's only fair," he said before shoveling the ice cream into his mouth.

"Jerk."

"Guilty."

She sighed happily as something clicked into place and she reached her hand across the table to place it over his. She loved being close to him, she loved the feel of his skin the sound of his laugh and the softness she seen behind his eyes. She felt close to him, as if nothing important had changed, even though they were back home again.

"What it is?"

"I'm just relieved, I guess. It feels strange to be back. Everything was so … unreal on that trip that I was worried that maybe … I mean…"

"Maybe what?"

Gabriella shrugged. "Maybe what we had wouldn't work in the real world."

Troy smiled as he put his sundae cup down and reached his hand over to softly caress her cheek. "Of course it will work. It's just a transition to get back to normal life."

"You really think so," Gabriella said quietly. "Because I haven't been this happy in forever and it makes me feel like something is wrong."

"Honey," he said with a warm smile. "No matter how strange our circumstances are, what we have is real, and it's never going to go away. That happiness you feel. I feel it too. And guess what?"

"What?"

"There is nothing wrong with it."

Gabriella smiled. "So what are you going to now that you're not going back."

Troy shrugged, "I have some money put away. I think I might want to go to school." He raised a brow, "I was going to take some classes, maybe something in engineering?"

Gabriella's smile grew, "That sounds fantastic."

"Really?" Troy asked looking a bit unsure. "Because I was thinking about Tennessee State University."

"Oh, you don't have to go where I'm going." Gabriella said a little caught off guard. "I mean I have a long, long track ahead of me." Gabriella shook her head as she began to think of it all. "I mean, we can do some long distance, I don't want you to feel trapped. I really think it could work out. I finish up my general courses and pre-med in another two years, after that it med school, then residency of course, and then-"

"Yeah," he reached a hand across the table, his touch distracting her. "I'm in no rush here. We have all our lives. I want to go to Tennessee State University."

Gabriella felt a small blush flood her cheeks. "Well then," she said matter of fact. "I hope you don't get too tired of me."

"Not possible." Troy sat up straight, "I mean, I don't want to rush you into things, or move too quickly with this, we can take our time."

"I agree. You're my forever remember. This isn't casual for me."

"This isn't casual for me either." He said warmly. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Then we're doing this? Really doing this?" he paused.

Gabriella giggled, "We're being really happy together."

Troy got up and came around the table scooping her up and holding her in his lap. "I don't know what I ever did to get so lucky."

Gabriella smiled, meeting his eyes in a look of complete understanding. "We're both lucky."

The end.

Author's Note: I'm getting married! My boyfriend proposed last Saturday after Freight Fest. He asked me "Did you have a good time?" While I stuffed my hand into bag of beef jerk I said, "yeah it was fun. I had an awesome time." Then he lifts my hand and I thought he was going to kiss it. (He does that a lot.) Well he said, "What if I make it better?" And slides the ring on my finger!

I had to finish chewing my beef jerky to tell him yes! Lmao!

I'm planing a wedding! I'm so happy and so excited. We've been together for 9 years, know each other since high school. I'm super happy and super excited.