AN – I'm sorry. My excuse is bad – I was distracted by the tennis for the last couple of weeks and I've just not been able to concentrate on this long enough to write. Sadly the tennis didn't go the way I was hoping on Sunday, but c'est la vie and all that. Thanks so much for all the reviews – they mean a lot. I hope you enjoy this and please, let me know what you think.

The room was dark when Troy awoke to find himself alone in bed. He had only been home a few days and after finally getting rid of Chad and Sharpay a couple of days previously he and Gabriella had enjoyed their time at home on their own. After the hassle of the home invasion, and his own somewhat difficult time with the realisation that he had to be on guard all the time now it had been blissful to just have a few days of normalcy, like he was experiencing just now. Well, he would have been experiencing just now if it weren't for the fact that his bed was yet again empty.

He had joked with her on one of her frequent late night excursions out of bed that he was getting close to locking their room door to keep her close, and he knew she would tell him to stay sleeping, but the memory of her crying in pain from a few weeks earlier was permanently engrained in his brain so he had to check for his own peace of mind. He padded out the room, yawning as he worked his way around the house to see if he could find her. Not finding her in the kitchen, or beside the haphazard pile of wool that she was determined she was going to fashion into some form of blanket beside the sofa he noticed the patio doors were lying open. He wandered over, the cool night air chilling his skin as he found her sitting on the swing seat, humming a slow song as one foot made the seat sway gently while she clutched a cup in her hands and had the blanket wrapped around her showing that he wasn't the only one feeling the cold.

"Hey," he whispered as he walked out, causing her to turn around and smile at him. "What you doing up?"

"The baby couldn't sleep," she replied softly, her tired eyes telling of her exhaustion. She had been feeling better the last few weeks, but better was a relative term – she wasn't fainting or having crippling headaches anymore, but even though she tried to disguise it, she was still exhausted and drained. "He seems to think that laying in bed for more than an hour is a sign of laziness and has to get me up."

Troy gave her a small smile as he walked over and sat down beside her, as she shifted her body slightly so the blanket that was over her could cover them both as she lay her head on his shoulder. She offered him the cup and he smiled gratefully as he took a drink of the hot chocolate while she cuddled closer to him, his hand caressing her shoulder as she kissed his bare chest.

"Aren't you cold?"

"I'm okay," he assured her as he gave her back the cup and used his free hand to guide her legs up and over his own. "You want me to run you a bath and see if that calms him down?"

She shook her head with a sigh. "It doesn't work. He just seems to like it more when I don't sleep," her giggle was tired as she stroked her bump softly. "You should sleep. No point the both of us staying up."

Even as she spoke, he felt her nestle closer to him and he dropped a kiss to her hair. "Nah, I should stay up – your obsession with the mailman since Sharpay was here is making me worry that I'll wake up in the morning and you'll have left me for him."

She was developing an odd obsession with the mail and every morning would see her run (in truth more waddle) to the door to get it and he had to confess, her insistence that there was no reason for it was not exactly ringing true and although he obviously knew she would never leave him for the mailman, he couldn't help but be curious. She was usually quite sneaky when it came to any surprises she had in store for him so he had to admit her lack of subtlety about hiding something from him definitely had him intrigued.

Her laugh rang out in the quiet night air as she shook her head against his chest. "I'd never leave you for him – I spent too long getting the nursery just right here."

He chuckled as he took the cup from her grasp and sat it down beside him. "Ha ha ha," he muttered as he closed his own eyes. "Lack of sleep makes you funny."

"I'm always funny," she murmured before groaning again as she sat up, her eyes closing wearily as she looked down at her abdomen almost desperately. "Please sleep, baby."

He sighed and pulled her down against him again, his own hand finding her abdomen and rubbing it as he made the swing move with his foot.

"Mmmm," she sighed softly. "That's the first time you've touched my stomach in weeks..."

His hand stilled briefly, thinking back to see if she was right. "No it's not. I hold you all the time."

"Yeah," she put her hand over his and demonstrated the way his hand was open and spread palm down against her abdomen. "But not like this."

"That's not true," he said as he looked down at her.

"Yeah, it is. Don't worry though, I understand," she said as she looked at him and must have seen the confusion on his face as she continued. "I know I scared you about something happening to him, but don't worry, he's fine. I'm taking good care of him now."

The smile that accompanied the statement was one he could only match vaguely as she leant back down and his hand began moving again slowly, trying to provide her comfort as he fought against the automatic urge he had at reminding her that it was taking care of her, and whether or not she was fine that was his sole concern.

"I'm so tired tonight." Her voice was barely audible even in the stillness of the night, but he heard her loud and clear as he snapped out his thoughts and sighed. She was exhausted and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it and that frustrated him more than anything because he was used to her being a ball of energy and the fact that she couldn't do that scared him a lot.

"I know," he said softly, his fingers coming around to grasp her hand and caress it softly. "We can ask Dr Caldwell tomorrow if there's anything we can do to help you sleep."

"I called him when you were gone," she sighed. "He just said to sleep when I was able and do relaxing things. I think the baby's just bored..."

"You mean knitting and daytime soaps aren't tiring him out?" he gasped dramatically, causing her to look up at him from under her lashes, her eyes showing her amusement.

"I don't get it either. He's clearly going to be a strange child," she murmured as she kissed his chest again. "You don't have to stay up with us."

"I know," he said as he pulled the cover up over them more fully. "I want to stay up with you though."

He could feel her smile against his torso and he let his head rest on hers, his eyes drifting closed as he tightened his grip around her and let the seat swing a little more, as she continued to hum softly with the motion and the sound lulling them both to slumber.

It was barely a few hours later as Troy yawned as he sat at the table in the restaurant watching as the man across from him perused the menu as though it was the most complicated thing on the planet. Spending half the night sleeping on a swing bench outside was maybe not the smartest move when he had an early morning meeting, but no one ever accused him of being smart all the time so it wasn't exactly that surprising. Gabriella had finally drifted off to sleep at one point, and when the cool dawn air finally roused him from his own slumber he had managed to get her into bed, just long enough to get an hour of sleep in the actual warm before he had to get up and ready. It was a sign of her sheer exhaustion that she hadn't even stirred as the alarm went briefly and he had reluctantly left her sleeping, hoping that he would be back before she awoke. He looked down at his watch and saw that it was a little after 8, and as he figured the meeting would last an hour, tops, he was hopeful that she would get the much needed rest she had been deprived of recently.

In all honesty, he wished he was still in bed himself as he could think of better things to be doing at 8am but he figured getting this particular conversation out the way early was probably the wisest move.

He glanced up to see the waitress looking at them with barely disguised annoyance, her foot tapping impatiently and her pen poised over her pad – clearly unable to comprehend why a breakfast menu required ten minutes of contemplation.

"I'll have the pancakes, with blueberries and a side of French toast and throw in a latte, large and gimme a glass of OJ and...um...oooh, a muffin. Any flavour is good."

"And you?"

Troy looked up and offered a small, apologetic smile. "Um – I'll just have waffles and an orange juice, please."

She nodded and walked away, muttering lowly about something as she went.

"I love when waitresses make the dining experience so enjoyable," the man opposite him said with a laugh. "Seriously – this is the best place we could meet?"

"It does good food," Troy shrugged, forgetting to add that it was located ten minutes from his house so it was the most convenient place to meet. "The staff is usually friendlier."

"Yeah," the man replied as he saw another waitress bang down a coffee pot on a table a few feet away. "They look it."

Troy shrugged and sunk back in the seat as the man took off his sunglasses. Kyle Yaccol was a self proclaimed sports agent extraordinaire. Gabriella had always joked that he thought of himself as Jerry Maguire (complete with the sunglasses and mission statement), but in reality he was just a regular, small market sports agent. Drew Rosenhaus and Scott Boras he wasn't, but Troy actually hadn't minded that so much because he automatically assumed big agency would equal big demands.

After making the decision to go with a small agency, he had met Kyle and in their early meetings he had been charming, said the right things and been reasonable in his promises. He had got along with Gabriella and his family and seemed to understand that all Troy was really interested in was playing basketball.

What he hadn't quite realised at the time was that he had been talking to a salesman who earned his money on telling a client what he wanted to hear until he signed a contract, and after that happened forgot all the original plans as he tried to 'guide you' down the path he wanted you to follow. It wouldn't have been so bad if that path wasn't one which invariably was lined with endorsements and an extra 10% for him, but Troy had quickly realised that although he assumed Kyle had understood that 'just play basketball' meant just that, in fact Kyle had taken it more as a challenge to try everything apart from basketball.

"So, how's things going, Troy? You've been MIA recently – you gotta learn to use your cell more. Or, I don't know, tweet or something so I at least know what's up."

"I don't really tweet."

"You don't do a lot of things you should do. You're a young guy – embrace the trends. People dig accessible stars."

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it," Troy said as he shook his head. Kyle clearly didn't come to enquire about his life and to encourage him to take up twitter as a pastime so he kinda just wanted to get his lecture over and done with. He had already been chewed out over the phone, so as soon as he got it in person he figured that would be the whole issue put to bed. "How's things with you?"

"So so," Kyle said with a roll of his eyes and a wave of his hand. "Karen's boyfriend totalled his car, which normally wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that he was drunk at the time. Now she can't understand why we're saying no. It's like – you're 16 and the boy isn't only a moron, but he's driving drunk, you know? Tell the truth, I'm glad to be out here and let her mom deal with her for a while. Just be thankful that you're having a boy – I wouldn't wish teenage girls on anyone."

Troy smiled and nodded his head. He wasn't going to lie, as much as he hoped they would have a girl one day especially as he knew that deep down Gabriella really wanted a little girl to dress up, he had to admit that he would rather deal with his son's teenage angst than worrying about all the things a daughter could get up to especially if she should inherit her mom's looks. "I can imagine. I mean, I know Gabi secretly wanted a girl, but I don't know if I could cope with dealing with the whole guy thing when she got older. I mean Gabriella was a quiet, smart, non-trouble seeking girl and even with that, she and I...well, I mean it just makes you think and not in a good way, you know? So yeah – I'm glad it's a boy."

"Have six boys and then have a girl – they will intimidate the life out of any boy so much that no one would touch her before she's 30," Kyle said with a laugh. "So, fill me in on what's going on with you. How's New Orleans treating you? Everything okay?"

"Yeah – awesome. Never been happier," Troy said as he nodded his thanks to the waitress who put their drinks down in front of them. "Everything about our life here has just worked out great, you know? I'm glad I slid down the draft and ended up here – I don't think we would be as happy anywhere else. The team's awesome, Isaac was here so he helped with that side of things and Gabi got an amazing job and is doing a great job. Our neighbours are nice, our house is great – it's just pretty much the ideal place for us."

"That's great, that's great," Kyle said as the waitress put their plates down and walked away without a word and Troy grabbed his fork. "I'm glad it's working out, and I want to make sure that it keeps working out for you. That's why I figure you have a good idea why I'm here."

Of course he knew why he was there – he was there to talk about the rookie game. "No. I figured Ed maybe called you a couple of days ago to mention I was going to sit in on one of their PR things next week..."

"No," Kyle said with a shake of his head. "You want to know the PR thing? 'No comment' – that's it. Anything that doesn't relate to you on court or any product you may, eventually endorse is 'no comment' – see, it's simple and I've just saved you a day of your life that you'll never get back."

Troy rolled his eyes and shoved a bite of his waffle in his mouth, choosing not to respond to the obvious direction the conversation was getting steered.

"So, since I saved you a day there, you can give me a day elsewhere..."

"Sorry, I'm fully booked until the end of March..."

"Troy..."

"Kyle."

"Troy," he said stronger. "I get it, okay? Gabriella is having a baby and you two haven't done it before so you are both all antsy and she wants you home and you want to be home and blah de blah blah – I get it. It's normal. My wife tried to lock me in the house when she was about to give birth the first time, and then she tried to kill me during labour because she couldn't stand the sight of me but didn't want me to leave – it's natural. The thing is that I was an agent and I can work over the phone, you are a basketball player and kinda have to be on court in whatever city the schedule dictates."

"The team's fine with it."

"No, they are humouring you because they figure a young, good looking family orientated guy is always a good thing to keep onside. I mean what kinda jerks would they look if they made you play a full program while your girlfriend was in hospital?"

"Fiancée," he corrected as he narrowed his eyes. "I don't care why they are okay with it, as long as they understand that I have my own priorities."

Kyle groaned then as he took a drink of his coffee. "That's the problem. Your priorities are way off just now. You have to look at the big picture – you are not a star, chances are you are never going to be anything but a league average player and that's fine, you'll have a great career but the simple fact is that you're short, you can't dunk, you can't rebound and you aren't dedicated to being a better player."

Troy blinked and shook his head at the brutal assassination of his game. He could accept that he was never going to be a star, and that he had some deficiencies in his game but the suggestion that he wasn't dedicated? He had dedicated 23 years of his life to basketball – training until he couldn't lift his arms, running until he threw up, missing parties and dates, not being available for baby classes, or decorating his house, moving his life hundreds of miles away from his home and he was getting told he wasn't dedicated enough?

Kyle must have seen something in his look because he quickly continued. "I'm talking about dedication to maximising your earning potential here, not about anything else. Listen, you want the cold hard facts? You're a commodity – no one gives a shit about your personal life apart from you so come trade deadlines and when endorsers are scouting around they don't give a shit that your fiancée is having a hard time. They care that no matter what is going on in your personal life that you show up on court and are ready to play."

"I am ready to play."

"Yet you're bailing on the biggest game of your career to play house husband?"

Troy took a deep breath – he had no intention of arguing in the middle of a diner, but it was hard for him to not react. "I'm missing an exhibition game to spend some time with my heavily pregnant fiancée who is sick because of the baby that I helped create – if people can't accept that then it's their problem."

"No, it's not," Kyle stated as he lifted his coffee cup. "It's your problem because all people are going to see is a guy who isn't there. You have everything going for you to make a fortune in this game, Troy. I mean you're going to be comfortable anyway because there is always a market for guys like you, but if you played this right you could make more money than you could imagine. You are young, talented and good-looking plus – there is always a market for the new all-American stud in the game."

Troy closed his eyes and forced his voice to remain calm in the face of the salesman who was sitting across from him instead of the agent he had thought he had employed. He had made it clear, from the offset that all he was interested in was basketball. He didn't want anything else – he was getting married to a girl who nearly had a panic attack at her college graduation because she was making a speech in front of two thousand people, and people expected him to bring even more attention on her by playing the celebrity game? "I just want to play basketball – that's it."

"Well, the way you're going that's all you're going to get to do. The fact that you're having a kid or engaged isn't the issue here – you've been working 23 years to get a career in the NBA and you're not even attempting to take full advantage of it. The wife and kids will still be there in ten years when the basketball career won't and I know Gabriella would understand that."

Troy slid his breakfast away and shook his head. "I'm sure she would, but I would never ask her to understand that. If she had her way I would be there but I just want to spend some time with my fiancée. I want to spend time with her and you know what? Even if by some miracle we go to the doctor's later and she's 100% and can come to the game, I still wouldn't be playing in it, because I want this time with her."

"Troy..."

"No. Just," he raised his hand and shook his head. "No. You don't get it and that's fine, but I have no interest in playing the celebrity game. I'm happy with my life, Kyle and...you know what? I hired you to work for me, okay? If you can't accept that I know what I'm doing then...then I'll find someone who can."

Kyle looked at him and Troy couldn't help but shift uneasily at the way the conversation had gone. He was never a guy to threaten someone's job, or to be so petulant but everything about the whole situation was driving him insane. All he wanted to do was play basketball and instead all he was getting was all this other stuff that came along with it. Don't talk to those people, but feel free to talk to these people. Work harder but not too much in case people thing you're too intense. Basketball first, unless you have to talk to a sponsor in which case, schmooze them first because you have to sell a product. On one hand he was continually told that he wasn't great, yet he was expected to sell himself as though he were. He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head in frustration. All he wanted to do was play basketball.

"I'm trying to help you."

"I'm trying to look after my family," Troy said slowly. "I nearly lost her, Kyle. Do you understand that?"

"You didn't though. She's fine."

"She's fine," Troy laughed as he shook his head. "Okay then. I'll tell the doctor that this afternoon, right? 'Oh, forget about everything because Dr Yaccol says everything's fine.'"

"I'm trying to give you the career that you said you wanted when you came out of college. The career that your dad said you've always wanted and you are throwing it away."

"I never wanted this. I hate this," Troy stated, meaning it. "I came out of college wanting to play in the NBA after hearing everyone else tell me that I couldn't make it and you got that for me and that's enough."

Kyle just paused and sighed as he shook his head. "If you don't play this right now then you might not get another chance. New kids are coming along all the time and these kids are hungry and will give up anything to get the chances that you could get if you played the game right. You could be so marketable, Troy! You could become a star – even if you never played for another team or became much better than you are now. You have a face and a personality that the media wants to fall in love with, but you never give them a chance."

Troy shook his head and laughed bitterly as he looked at Kyle. Of course – naturally it would come down to shallowness. "If I wanted to be loved for my face and my personality, I would have stuck with theatre in college. Instead I chose basketball. I don't want a lot of off-court attention, I don't want my future wife to deal with people tearing her to shreds or getting in her face because we've courted the paps so my stock is high with sponsors and I sure as hell don't want to be that person who is in the gossip pages more than he's on the sports pages."

Troy took a deep breath before continuing, his voice quieter but his point still clear. "I hired you as a sports agent – not as an acting one. All I'm interested in you doing is looking after what happens on court – if a trade is proposed, if I need a contract negotiated or stuff like that you're the man. I don't give a damn about people falling in love with me for anything other than what I do on the court, and I really need you to accept that."

The two men stared at each other for a moment before Kyle spoke again. "Fine – as your sports agent, I strongly recommend you get your ass in gear and confirm your availability for the Rookie Game and start travelling to all away games or else this happy life you are forging here might be up next time the Hornets are looking for a throw-in to bring in the next star to the team."

The sarcasm was impossible to miss, but Troy didn't really care as he pulled his wallet out and slapped a twenty on the table as he pulled his beanie back on. "Suggestion noted."

"You going to listen to me?"

"No," Troy said as he stood, offering his hand to his agent. "I'm not leaving for a meaningless game when I could be with her. There's always another exhibition game."

"And there will be plenty opportunity for you to sit at home and babysit."

Troy smiled then as he shook his head, watching Kyle in confusion. No one really understood it but that was okay, he didn't need them to understand – just to accept it. "When I was in Chicago she collapsed and got admitted to hospital. The doctor was concerned she was slipping into a seizure but, thankfully she works in the hospital so they got her seen too quickly. She could have died and I would have been a thousand miles away from her, not knowing any different. So yeah, you might be right – there might be plenty of opportunities for me to look after her – but that day reminded me that there might not and I don't care who I offend by turning down an exhibition, but I will not spend any time away from her that I don't have to until I know that she's going to be okay."

Kyle dropped his head back and groaned as he stood, walking over to Troy and giving him a clap on the arm. "Fine – I'm not ramming my head against a brick wall anymore, but you know what I think. I'll do some damage limitation to buy you some time to get your head screwed on. Staying in with your pregnant fiancée will get you some awww points anyway but when things are calm we are talking about all the other stuff again."

Troy nodded and put his sunglasses on. "The answer will be the same. I don't want it. We don't want it."

"Trust me - you're going to have a baby in the house so you're going to be killing me to get you some time out of there. Now go – check on your girl. Tell her to take care of herself."

Choosing not to go any further into it, Troy smiled and hugged the older man quickly before stepping away. "Will do. I'll see you around, Kyle."

"I'll be at the game tomorrow," he said as Troy backed away. "You know, doing my job by looking after what you do on the court."

"I guess I'll see you then," Troy called back before walking out the door.

"What – no dinner invite?"

"See, I would – but I know you'll just try and guilt Gabi into your way of thinking and she's hormonal enough so...probably not."

Kyle just laughed as he shook his head, accepting of that small detail. "Fine, but I'll be seeing you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Troy said as he walked out and groaned as he finally left the diner and headed to his car, trying to ignore the whole conversation so he could just go home and not think about any of it anymore.

Gabriella woke up to find herself lying on the bed, a blanket over the top of her and the room bright. She blinked in confusion as she looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly 11am. She rubbed her tired eyes as she looked around, trying to remember how she got in from outside and how she had managed to sleep so late. She loved to sleep in as much as the next person, but the last few weeks getting sleep for any length of time was rare, never mind sleeping late in the morning. Yawning, she flicked the blanket off and awkwardly stood up, groaning slightly at the pain in her muscles the motion caused, wanting nothing more than to crawl back in bed but the pressure on her bladder made sure that wasn't an option. She had never felt lazier in her life than she felt the last few weeks and what had been her past tinges of envy at the women who wandered around pregnant and glowing had become fully formed waves of jealousy since she was reduced to bed rest. Still though, she thought as she rubbed her bump affectionately, it would all be worth it in the end.

After a quick shower Gabriella had left her hair wet as she dressed in a shirt dress and went to find her fiancé. They had a doctor's appointment at 3pm, and although she wasn't outwardly hoping too much, she would be lying if she said she wasn't secretly anticipating an end on the restrictions she was currently living under. It wasn't like she was going to go and start doing everything as soon as she got the okay – but just the prospect of going shopping or making Troy dinner or being able to go to the arena to watch a game was just the little things that she would give anything to be able to do again.

Still though, she knew better than to verbalise it out loud because she didn't want to be too disappointed if it didn't happen so, as she went looking for Troy, she carefully tried to hide her giddiness at the prospect of her incarceration being over in a few hours.

Troy wasn't supposed to have training that day, but it was possible he had been called in. As it was though, she found him sitting on the sofa with a remote in his hand trying tilting his head to the side as he was trying to get the player on the screen to do what he told him to. She almost giggled – only Troy would spend his time off from basketball playing basketball on the computer. She looked to see what he was playing and smiled as she saw him cheering when the Phoenix Suns scored, even though they were playing against the Hornets.

She walked over and dropped down to his ear, her arms wrapping round him as she whispered. "Traitor."

He dropped the remote at the sound of her voice and she couldn't help but giggle as he turned around, smiling sheepishly at her. "You're awake!"

"Yeah," she laughed as she pulled back. "And you're making the Suns kick the Hornets ass – angling for a trade, Wildcat?"

"I...I wanted to see how good computer game me is," his cheeks flushed an adorable red as he spoke and she seized her lip between her teeth to stop from laughing as he quickly continued. "See, if I played as the Hornets then I would have to sub myself in and out and that...that would be kinda arrogant but if I play against us then I can see how the computer makes me play and tell if they made me good or not because, Chad is kinda lousy at the game so that's not a fair test..."

She nodded, watching as he flinched at his lame excuse and ran a hand through his hair. He was a naturally handsome guy, but never more so than when he was all bashful and awkward.

"So how good are you?"

"I've scored like 3 points and got a total of like 6 minutes," he gave a self-deprecating grin. "Turns out computer me can't shoot from inside the paint either. Who knew?"

She laughed and leant over and kissed his lips softly. "Well, a computer version was never going to be as good as the real thing."

His lips tugged into a grin then as he made a show of turning the TV off as he looked up at her. "So..."

"So...?" she giggled as she shook her head and walked over towards the kitchen. "You want something to drink?"

"You're supposed to be resting," he called after her and she almost rolled her eyes. He really took the whole bed rest thing seriously and although she wanted to explain to him that pouring a glass of orange juice wasn't going to cause any dramatic spikes in her blood pressure, she figured the best tactic was just to ignore it.

"Did you get much sleep last night? I'm so sorry for keeping you up."

"I don't know, sleeping under the stars with you wasn't the worst way to spend my night," he said as he walked in and quickly manoeuvred himself in front of the refrigerator, shooing her away towards a seat with a smirk. "This isn't resting."

"Troy..."

"Gabriella," he repeated in the same tone as he grabbed the carton of juice and poured them both a glass. "We've got a doctor's appointment this afternoon – don't you want to be truthful when you tell Dr Caldwell you've been following the rules?"

"I have been following the rules," she muttered, her arms crossed. "I've been doing everything I was told to."

"I know," he said as he walked over and sat the glass down with a kiss to her forehead. "You hungry?"

"Nah," she shook her head as she took a drink. "I thought you were meeting with Kyle?"

"I met him," he scowled and she put her glass down at the dark look that had crossed his face. She gave him a moment to see if he would expand on his own, but when he didn't she scooted her chair closer to him and reached over and took his hand with a smile as he shot her one back. "He's a jackass."

"This we knew," she laughed as she gave his hand a squeeze. Kyle had been the best of a bad lot in terms of the sports agents that had tried to get Troy to sign up with them and to be honest, she found him pleasant enough in a sort of underhanded, unpredictable way. "What did he say?"

"He thinks that I'm half way to getting traded by not being all about basketball, or something," he sighed as he dropped his head onto the table. "See, all I want to do is play basketball and then come home but apparently I'm operating under the false pretence that I'm going to have any lasting career with the team and I should be maximising my earnings just now because clearly the team is just keeping me around until they can throw me in a deal to get a real star here."

She frowned as she brought her hand to his hair and ran her fingers through it. Nothing irritated her more than people who under-estimated him. so he wasn't the tallest guy on the planet, so he wasn't going to be the next Kobe, or Lebron, or any other list of superstars – he was him and, her bias aside, he was pretty damn great just the way he was. Sure he might not make the cover of the next video game, or become a league MVP, or win multiple championships but so what? 90% of the league wouldn't do any of that either.

"Well, that's just stupid because it's pretty damn obvious that the team all rate you very highly," she said as she leant down and rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh. "What does he want you to do?"

He groaned as he dropped his head. "Play the game, apparently. Meaning schmooze and court sponsors, be 'marketable'."

"You are a talented, good looking, friendly, approachable guy," she said in confusion. "You are like the walking, talking definition of marketable already."

"I lack dedication which makes people nervous about me," he murmured into the table. "Basketball should be first, commercial life second and personal life somewhere after that at this stage or some other crap like that because you'll still be there in ten years for the whole family thing."

"Oh," she said softly as she bit down on her lip. This was not the first time someone had said this or some form of this to them both but it didn't hurt any less when she heard it. It was funny – to hear people talk you would think that she was trying to ruin his career. Or that she was deliberately getting in the way of him being great when in reality she was his biggest fan. She had never encouraged him not to do something and when he got down about injuries and pressure in college she had always been there for him to vent to and to try and encourage him. She would do anything to make him happy and she knew that basketball made him happy so in no circumstance would she ever get in the way of that and it hurt that no one ever saw that. They saw this millstone that was holding him back, when in reality she was the one who was trying to encourage him, make him believe that he could do anything he wanted to do.

"Gabriella?"

She blinked at the sound of her name and saw him looking at her in concern and she shook her head and offered him a small smile. "Yes?"

"You kinda zoned out on me there."

"I did? I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she asked softly, her hand reaching over to run over his ear to give him any sort of comfort she could give him.

He just looked at her for a second before he reached up and took her hand. "You know I don't believe any of that, right?"

"I know that," she smiled, knowing he was honest. "I just...it frustrates me that other people don't get that what makes you so amazing is that you don't just have one thing that's important. You have so many things that make you you apart from your ability to play basketball and every time they say that it's like they are acting like you're not entitled to do that and...and you know what? See if I went to Kyle and said to him, sorry – you can only answer your cell phone constantly and if you don't it means you're not committed then he would be mad and...and he'd be right but he thinks because you're a 'sports guy' that he can say that stuff. And, you know what?" her eyes were flaming as she looked at him before she stood up and marched over to the sink, furiously rinsing her glass before walking to refill it, just needing to do something to try and calm down. "You...you are worth so much more than anyone. If you want to focus more on your career just now then I will support you a hundred percent, but...I hate when they act like you have to fit their idea of what you should be or else you're not 'trying hard enough'."

"Apparently I have a good face and personality that I could use to sell things, since I'm never going to be a great NBA player..."

He trailed off and Gabriella didn't need to be a mind reader to see that he hated that. You would have to be blind to fail to see Troy's looks but he was so much more than a pretty face.

"You have a lot of good things you could use to do different things," she said as she walked over and ran her hand through his hair. "I, personally, think that you're pretty amazing at what you're doing now though."

"You're kinda biased though," he said, but she could see the smile tugging at his lips telling her that at that moment, whatever she was saying was exactly what he needed to hear.

"Actually, you're right – I am biased. Maybe you should just give it all up and go sell broken down old trucks or something. You at least know all about that."

She giggled as she saw him frown slightly before he saw the teasing smirk on her face. "That's mean – I don't know why you have to make fun of my truck even when the poor thing has been dead and buried for like a year."

"Because," she whispered as she walked her fingers up his arm. "You gave the distinct impression that if the engine hadn't blown up it would still be your preferred mode of transport."

"Probably," he admitted as he caught her hand. "Loyalty is usually considered a good thing, you know?"

"Loyalty is good but not when it leads to us breaking down on every date. Maybe it's a good job you're good at basketball – I'm not sure I could, in good conscience, let you sell cars to other people."

"So Kyle says I can't play basketball, you say I can't sell cars – I don't have much going for me. I guess I still have my looks, right?"

"Exactly!" she teased as she leant over and pecked his lips before leaning up to his ear and whispering. "I would definitely buy anything you tried to sell me, Wildcat."

She pulled back but he put his arms around her waist to hold her in place as he leant his chin on her bump so he could look up at her. The affection in his gaze was apparent and it never wavered from hers. "You know, I could give all the other stuff up tomorrow and I'm not even sure I would miss it that much right now."

"You're just having a bad couple of weeks," she said as she brought her hands to his neck. "The pressures of being an NBA superstar are getting to you."

"I'm not a superstar."

She looked at him and she could see that it was something that was really bothering him and she had no idea how, after he had listened to countless people telling him the same thing in college, that he was still letting it bother him now. "Maybe not to everyone else, but in here they don't count."

She leant down and pressed her lips to his and pulled back to see him smile up at her softly as he brought his hand up to hold her chin in place so their eyes were locked. "No one else ever counts."

She couldn't help the broad smile break out across her phrase and it only widened as they held their gaze for a moment before he grinned at her. "Right, come on, Ms Fiancée – we have a doctor's appointment to get ready for and some of us aren't naturally as gorgeous as you and need to get ready."

She couldn't help but giggle at his attempts at sweet talking her, and although she didn't feel anything close to gorgeous in her present state, when he would talk to her like that she almost believed it. She stepped back and let him stand, where he pressed a kiss to her head as he passed. "And no cleaning up while I'm getting ready – you're supposed to be resting!"

She rolled her eyes at his instructions and took another drink from her glass, almost getting swept up in her thoughts. She wasn't sure how many minutes later it was that she realised she had been day-dreaming when she snapped out of it and moved to get ready for leaving. It was only when she had put sandals on her feet, been to the bathroom (again) and put some light make-up on that she found herself sitting almost nervously waiting for him to come out the bed-room. She couldn't help but feel like a child at Christmas with her excitement at getting to go out. She knew that it would be a brief trip out, but still – seeing more than the walls of their house or the garden would be pretty much perfect.

She resisted the urge to shout for Troy to hurry up, but as soon as he emerged she found herself standing, slinging her purse over her shoulder and grinning madly at him in excitement.

She was just about to head towards the door when her cell rang. She looked down and saw her mom's picture flash up and she couldn't disguise the moan as she looked at it, not wanting to reject another call from her mom after all.

"It's my mom," she said in answer to Troy's silent question and she looked at him. "Would it be really terrible if I didn't answer?"

"You always make me answer my mom," he said slowly with an apologetic smile and she sighed in acceptance. She did and although she was a firm believer that you only get one mom and that meant you had to always make time for them she still, somewhat selfishly, just wanted to go out. "Just tell her we're leaving and you'll talk later."

"Fine," she sighed as she dropped her purse to the floor and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Gabi?"

She bit her lip and tried to hide the groan that wanted to escape her lips. "Hey, Mom..."

Troy started chuckling at her clear lack of enthusiasm and she narrowed her eyes at him before reaching over and picking up an orange out the fruit bowl and lobbing it at his head. He gasped as he looked and she couldn't help but grin in triumph as she stuck her tongue out at him before turning away, just to avoid laughing. "Sorry Mom, can you repeat that..."

"I was asking how are you feeling?"

"Oh, great, awesome," she said, only to giggle as she felt Troy wrap his arms round her from behind as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder and her head causing her to lean back against him, turning away from the phone enough to kiss him softly in return. "Amazing..."

"Oh," she vaguely heard her mom's voice in the background as their lips met again gently before he pulled back with a smile. "Can we talk?"

Gabriella watched as Troy tapped his wrist and pulled back and she nodded in understanding before she turned her attention back to the phone. "Sorry, Mom?"

"Is everything alright? You're very distracted today?"

"Yeah," Gabriella smiled as she saw Troy walk away and nodded. "Um...yeah, I have a doctor's appointment soon so I'm actually getting ready to leave."

"Oh, who's taking you?"

The smile fell from Gabriella's face as she frowned. "Troy's taking me. You know he's at home this week."

"I just thought he would maybe...but, oh...well, that's nice that he made the time," her mom said causing Gabriella's head to tilt back in exasperation. One day she would have a phone call and not say anything like that. She had definitely gotten better since she had visited, but every now and then she would let something slip.

"You know, Mom – I really need to go," she said as she closed her eyes before forcing a smile on her face. "Is everything okay with you?"

"I'm fine, sweetie – I just really need to talk to you about something."

"I really don't have time," Gabriella said as she spun around. "Maybe later?"

"It's really important..."

"Mom," she paused as she bit down on her lip. "Is something wrong with you? Are you okay?"

"Yes, of course – I promise. It's nothing to do with me. Just...something I need to talk to you about."

"Mom, if this is about me coming to stay with you then it's still no," she said wearily as she rubbed her eyes. Conversations about her generally ended with a 'helpful' suggestion that had Gabriella seeing out her last month elsewhere. "Listen, we'll talk about it later, okay? I really have to go."

"Gabi, wait – it's..." she heard her mom sigh and waited. "It's something that can wait until later. I hope things go well at the doctors."

Gabriella gave a warm smile then and nodded. "Me too. Thanks, Mom. Love you."

"Love you too," her mom said. "I'll talk to you both later."

She let her mom hang up before she turned to Troy who was watching her with amusement. "What?"

He shook his head, the grin never leaving his face. "You make the most adorable faces on the phone."

She blushed and looked down. "I don't."

"You do – even when you're annoyed you do this little thing with your nose that you never do when you're annoyed in person."

Her hand went to her nose instinctively which caused him to laugh as she tried hard to look scandalised. "You're so not helping keep my blood pressure down."

"What? It's cute!" he laughed as he made a move at walking over to her causing her to shake her head and back away. "Baby..."

"Don't even try sweet talking your way out of this one. We're mad," she warned as she grabbed her purse and shot him a look over her shoulder.

"You don't look mad..." he said as he took a step towards her and she could see from the smirk on his face that told her that nothing good was going to come of it.

"Troy..." she warned as she held her hand up, backing away slightly until somehow he had her caged against the door, smirking down at her.

"How about," he whispered as he leant down nuzzled the side of her face with his nose as he brought his lips to her ear, his warm breath making her stomach flutter as she brought a hand up to grasp his shirt. "How about I take you for a smoothie enroute to the hospital?" he pressed a kiss to the side of her head and she felt her breath catch as he continued. "And, how about, when we're done, providing you agree to the rules, we go to the park and have a late lunch together?"

"Really?" she whispered as she looked at him hopefully. She hadn't been out of the house in three weeks and it was driving her insane so even a take-away smoothie and thirty minutes in the park would be perfect. "Oh Troy, yes! Please..."

He grinned as he pulled back and smiled at her. "Are you still mad?"

"I guess not," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Should I get a blanket to sit on? Oh, I should put more makeup on in case I look pa..."

She was silenced as he put his fingers over her lips, the small contact interrupting all her thoughts. "I have a blanket, and you do not need makeup on because you are beautiful just the way you are," he leant down and replaced his fingers with his lips. "Trust me."

"With anything," she whispered as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him softly. "You're too good to me."

"I guess I am pretty awesome at some things," he teased as he shook his head. "I gotta do something to keep you interested, right?"

"And bribing me with lunch does that?"

"Not just lunch," he scoffed dramatically. "I'm throwing a smoothie in there too."

She laughed and shook her head. "The smoothie does tip it in your favour."

"Exactly," he grinned as he offered her his arm gallantly. "You know, I find it funny that your favourite dates are still ones like I took you on in High School."

"I guess I'm an easy girl to please," she smiled up at him, her fingers grazing his cheekbone. "Let's remember that when you're getting all down in the mouth about something some idiot says, okay?"

He leant down and pecked her forehead softly before looking at her, his expression hard to place as he looked at her, but she could see the affection in his gaze. For her, all she wanted was for him to be happy and she smiled back as she saw the smile pulling at his lips as he enlaced their fingers before pressing his lips against their joined hands. "Okay."

They both knew that it wasn't possible for her to make all the stresses, demands and expectations on him disappear. All she wanted was for him to know that with her, none of that mattered. He could be anything, but all she would ever ask him to be was the man that she had fallen in love with, and, as she watched him guide her towards the door, a smile still on his face and their hands still clutched together, she knew that no matter what else was going on that's all that really mattered to him as well.