Disclaimer: Not Mine.

Wherever You Are: Chapter Nine

When he got home, he found Sophie waiting on the front step.

"Hello Sophie," he said, picking her up and whirling her around. Her red curls bounced and she shrieked with laughter. For the rest of his life, Troy would never, ever get sick of the sound of a child's laugh. It reminded him that no matter all the horrible things he saw in the world, no matter how depressing reality was, some people kept on laughing. He held Sophie closer then normal and kissed her forehead. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.

Sophie looked upset. "There was yelling and I didn't want to be in the house. It was really loud."

"Yelling? Who was yelling, baby?"

"Grandpa and Uncle Elvis. And Aunty Gabriella was really upset. She came home for lunch, from work, and then there was a huge fight. Grandpa is really, really mad at Uncle Elvis."

"I'm sure that the fight has stopped now. Why don't we go inside and get you a chocolate chip cookie?"

"Yay!" Troy had never known that something so simple could make a child's day. Even the boys loved it when he bought them ice creams on the way home from school. They opened the front door and were greeted by silence. Troy had been right in assuming that the argument had finished. He walked confidently through the darkened front of the house and into the bright, sunny kitchen. There, he found Tony, Al and Isabel.

He went straight to the cupboard and got Sophie her cookie. "There you go, sweetheart. Why don't you go upstairs and do some pictures for me? I need something to hang in my bedroom."

"Okay," she happily went off, skipping up the stairs.

"I'll be up in a minute," he told her. As soon as she was out of earshot, he turned to the three adults. "I heard World War Three broke out whilst I was gone."

"Close enough to," Isabel surmised.

"What happened?"

Al spoke up. "Last Wednesday, Michael was up late at night, and he was heading upstairs to get you, and he heard a fight between Elvis and Gabriella. But I don't need to tell you about it, because apparently you saved the day when Elvis was putting the hard word on a reluctant Gabriella."

Tony picked the story up. "Anyway, Michael told Christof this morning, Christof waited until Gabriella came home and then he called her and Elvis into his office and gave Elvis a dressing-down. You come in because Elvis claimed that you'd been trying to steal Gabriella from him and that Michael was exaggerating what he'd been doing to Gabriella."

Troy could feel his stomach turning to water. "Well…"

"Christof didn't buy it. You're his new hero and Elvis stormed off. Petro is in Christof's office, Gabriella went upstairs to Daniella, and Roberto went after Elvis. I think that Christof wants to see you though."

"Okay," Troy nodded, suddenly relieved. He made to leave, but Tony put a hand on his forearm.

"Tomas…you did the right thing. We all would have done the same. It doesn't matter who the guy is. Nobody should force themselves upon a woman. Don't let Elvis make you feel guilty."

"Be careful of him though," Al warned. "We'll all be keeping an eye out for you. You're okay in our book."

Isabel snorted. "Tomas, you're a hero in my book, and you prove that chivalry does still exist." She considered him with a titled head. "Even if it does have a five o'clock shadow."

"Thank you," Troy returned dryly, before heading for Christof's office. The door was open, and Petro was in there, talking in a quiet voice. Troy waited politely in the doorway until Christof nodded his head and beckoned him in.

"There you are Tomas. You were running errands?"

Troy nodded. "Just a few things to do. Send a postcard to my cousin in Detroit, get some new socks, and buy myself some toothpaste. All very boring."

Christof shrugged. "I don't know about that. Sometimes the boring things can be the best things. Sit down." Troy sat warily. "Don't be worried Tomas, I just wanted to say that you have my sincere thanks."

"For what?"

"For helping Ella out. She is a determined woman, but she often bites off more then she can chew and she isn't as wary of Elvis as she should be."

Troy shook his head. "She was doing okay and anybody else would have done the same thing. I'm certainly no hero."

"I disagree," Petro interjected. "Elvis is a man that not many people take on lightly. Considering his…position within the house, it could have severely backfired on you to put his nose out of joint. Instead, you thought of somebody else."

"No man should ever force himself upon a woman," Troy stated, "And it doesn't really matter who it is. I may not be perfect, but I have some scruples."

"And I'm glad you do," Christof said in a thankful voice. "And don't worry about any problems with Elvis. I'll be keeping a very close eye on him and making sure he stays in line. He won't have time to sit down let alone hassle you."

Troy rose, sensing a dismissal with Christof's words. "Thanks. Tension in any house is always horrible for everybody involved and I would really like to spare everybody, especially Gabriella, from something like that. She's been through enough."

"My thoughts exactly," Petro added with a serious nod. "I think that she wanted to see you."

Troy nodded. "I'll go and see her now."

"Tomas…wait," Christof called as Troy reached his door. Troy pivoted to face his boss. "Tomas…you have become valued in the household. Next time Petro, Tony and I have a meeting, you are to join us. I think we could use your opinion."

Troy nodded and walked down the hall, trying very hard to hide the victorious smile plastered across his face.


He found Gabriella sitting on his bed and immediately wiped the smile off his face.

"Good afternoon," he greeted her, noting the reflective expression on her face. "You should think about going back to work soon. You wouldn't want to get in trouble."

"Yes," she said in an absent voice. Troy pulled his jacket off and turned to hang it up in the closet.

"I spoke to Christof," he told her casually, not wanting to make any more out of this issue then already had been.

"Good," she replied, in the same absent voice, as if she was daydreaming or half-asleep. "What did he say?"

Troy shrugged laconically. "Just that I did the right thing and that Elvis wouldn't be allowed cause any problems because of this."

"Okay."

"And he thanked me for helping you out." She greeted him with silence. He was about to continue, when the next thing he knew, two long, slender pale arms were around his chest, holding him tight. He forgot to breathe for a minute, but she relaxed her vice grip, but still held on tightly. Gabriella rested intimately up against his back, burying her head in the gap between his shoulder blades, her scent circling around him and drifting up his nose.

"I'm sorry Troy," she said in a broken voice; she was close to tears. "I'm sorry that you got dragged into my mess and had to save me. And now Elvis hates you and everybody will act funny around you and it's my fault."

Pinned down as he was, Troy couldn't look her in the eyes and had to content himself with a view of his closet instead, desperately wanting to be able to look at her properly. "No, it's not," he disputed. "It's not your fault at all. It's Elvis's fault for trying something so stupid and not understanding that you just don't attack women in any way. You don't attack anybody in any way."

A few hot tears slipped onto his top and his whole body responded; when Gabriella cried, he couldn't bare it. "My life is just this great big, huge, awful mess," she sniffled.

He broke out of her grip then, and turned, pulling her against his chest fiercely, rendering her a mess of arms, legs and hair.

"No, it's not." His voice shook. "It's not. Don't ever say that. What happened to the strong Gabriella Montez who didn't take crap from anybody? Huh? Where did she go? I miss her."

She settled against him. "I don't know," Gabriella replied, her voice still small, but now steady. "I don't know," she repeated.

"I do." He ran his fingers through her loose hair. "You grew up…you found yourself associated with something you didn't like, with something that you're against. But you can't get out of it. And in order to save yourself from this awful thing, you've forgotten the real you. You've shut yourself away to protect yourself."

Gabriella's breathing was even and calm. There was a tiny inflection of sarcasm along with sorrow in her voice. "Am I gone forever?"

His laughter was soft, not mocking. "No. You just need to spend less time with the bad thing and you'll find yourself, tucked away somewhere in the recesses of your mind." Gabriella moved so close that her entire body was aligned against his. Troy fought for a long minute to stop thinking about the way that felt. He concentrated on her neck and found that was even worse.

"This place isn't so bad, Troy."

"No. And neither are the people. But the basis of this place is something different altogether." He stepped away carefully, before he did something he knew he would regret. She was vulnerable and wrapped in his arms and that was too much of a potent combination. "But we won't talk about that today. You have to go to work."

She nodded and wiped the last vestiges of her tears off her face. "Do you think…" she hesitated. "Do you think we could spend some more time together? Regardless of anything else…your new name and how I didn't really think it was a good idea for us to be seen together…I would really like to spend some time with you."

Troy didn't even have to think. "So would I."

Gabriella leaned up and kissed his cheek gently. "Thank you." Then her eyes narrowed. "But don't get any ideas."

"You know me," he returned. "I only have two brain cells. One's lost and the other's trying to find it."

"I'll see you tonight." He heard her retreat down the stairs and knew there would be problems. But for a brief second he didn't care.


Christof made true on his promise. Things were awkward in the house, but Mazio had Elvis running thirteen different directions, learning everything about the business, handling meetings, negotiations and shipments. The young man was run off his feet, and barely had time to scratch himself let alone sleep or hassle Gabriella and Troy. There were two advantages to this; one was that he left Troy well alone. Not just because Elvis didn't have time, but also because everybody in the house had made it patently clear whose side they were on. The other advantage was that Elvis didn't have time to take Gabriella out anymore.

Which freed her up to do things with Troy, and more often then not, Sophie and Allegra. Sometimes it was simple things; they folded laundry together, went out and bought ice cream, sat in the park, played cards. Sometimes they went out for dinner. He knew it would take time for Gabriella to break down her defenses, but time was something he did have – and patience, and compassion and affection and friendship and memories.

But more then anything, he found himself loving the time they did spend together. It would strike him every now and again how happy he was, and how long it had been since he truly felt that. He was working hard, but he was having fun. Troy also found that there was a strange quality to his time with Gabriella. The times they went out with Sophie and Allegra, he knew that both he and Gabriella were reverting to an idea of a family, and neither could help it. Sophie held his hand, Gabriella looked after the baby.

And even though it was wrong, there was nothing they could do about it.