A/N: This is it. The chapter I know you've all been waiting for. The real reason why Troy and Gabriella ended it those twenty years ago, and why there's still so much tension between them. It's a long one – after waiting ten chapters to discover their past, and with that cliffy from last chapter, you guys deserve it. Thanks for sticking in there with me! I hope you enjoy, and please review to tell me what you think about it! Please?

-

Previously:

Anabela was talking before she really even realised. 'Do you remember in kindergarten, how you'd meet someone, and know nothing about them, then 10 seconds later you'd be playing like you were best friends, because you didn't have to be anyone but yourself?'

Charlie chuckled. 'Yeah?'

Anabela smiled. 'That's how I feel around you. I don't know much about you, anything about the really important stuff, at all. And you don't really know that much about me, either. But it feels like it doesn't matter. I can just be me around you, just this girl, without any prejudice or expectations about who I am.' She blushed. 'Does that make sense?'

-

Now on to…

Chapter Ten

I Forgot To Remember To Forget

-

'Gabriella?' He could hardly believe it was her, fallen on the grass, staring up at him, her face suddenly scared.

'Troy?'

She looked exactly the same as she had as a teenager. She was still the petite brunette he had fallen in love with almost immediately, that New Year's Eve so many year's ago now.

'I'm so sorry!' He held out his hand, which, after looking at it for the slightest second, Gabriella took, standing up gracefully. She was blushing as she brushed the dirt off the back of her dress.

They stood in silence, watching each other, too embarrassed to talk. There were so many things Troy wanted to ask. (Why did you leave? Why did we never figure it out? Could we have figured it out? What have you been doing in the twenty years since I last heard from you?) Ever since he had seen her at Taylor and Chad's place, he could not get her and their past out of his mind. And now she was here, with those same dark eyes watching him in that same, curious way. He wanted her to stay with him. He needed her to stay with him. He needed to get their past out in the open, once and for all. And so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

'Would you like to have a coffee with me?'

She looked surprised, but her face relaxed into a smile. 'That'd be nice, Troy.'

-

'I'm back again, Zeke!' Troy called through the pastry shop door. The chocolate-coloured man smiled at the two of them over the counter.

'Look at this. Just like the old days. Troy and Gabriella coming to beg for some of my baking.'

'Except this time we'll pay,' Gabriella added.

Zeke waved his hands. 'No way. You guys are like family.' Gabriella began to protest, but Zeke was louder than her. 'Just accept and nod, okay? What would you like?'

'Two coffees, please,' Troy said, watching as Gabriella, blushing a little, scanned the numerous goodies in the display.

'You make it so hard to choose, Zeke,' she groaned. 'Do I want the cherry pie or a little pavlova?'

'How about the apple tart?' Zeke offered, pointing to part of the display that Gabriella hadn't noticed.

'Oh, yum. Yes. One of those, please.'

Troy chuckled at her, and pointed at the chocolate cake. 'A slice of that for me, please.'

Zeke nodded, waving to a spare table by the window, overlooking the park. 'Take a seat. They'll be ready in a minute.'

Gabriella took her seat and watched the life in the park. The mothers gossiping, keeping one eye on their young children scrambling over the play equipment. She could remember being one of them, only half listening to the conversation, most of her attention turned to Anabela, gurgling with childish delight as she flew down the slide, made friends climbing the tower, looked around in surprise as she fell off the balance beam. Gabriella had been fascinated by everything Anabela said or did, and while she cherished how close they were now, sometimes she wished she could see that same innocent pleasure on her daughter's face.

She turned her face back to Troy as he cleared his throat, and smiled uncertainly at him.

'I don't really know what to say,' he said quietly, a red tinge appearing on his cheeks.

Her smile became a little softer. 'I don't know what to say either. We've got twenty years to catch up on. It's not exactly something that can be explained over coffee.'

Troy shrugged. 'I'm willing to try. What have you been doing since I saw you last?'

She let out a little laugh. 'That's a pretty big question, Troy. Want to narrow it down a little?'

He grinned. 'Okay, okay. First. Was that your daughter at Taylor and Chad's?'

Gabriella nodded. 'Her name's Anabela. She turning seventeen next March.'

'She looks exactly like you,' Troy said.

Gabriella giggled. 'I always joked that her dad mustn't have very strong genes. There's hardly any of him in her at all.'

'And her dad would be…?' Gabriella paused a little, and Troy backtracked. 'If that's okay, I mean…'

Gabriella smiled reassuringly, nodding in thanks to Zeke as he brought over the sweets and coffee. 'No, it's fine. Her father's a man called Neil. We met at university. He was studying to be a lawyer, and I was doing medicine. He was charming and kind and very lovely. The first few years were great, but later he got an important job at a law firm, and his whole life began to revolve around work.' She shrugged, picking at her pastry. 'Anabela came along and it was like being a single parent. I was struggling to keep my job and look after her as much as I could…Mom came up around that time and took over the mothering duties for a while. I felt guilty, like I wasn't being a good mother or wife.' Gabriella sighed. 'It just fell apart after that. We were fighting constantly, and we mutually decided it wasn't going to work out anymore. So he left.'

Troy blinked. 'Wow. I'm sorry, Gabriella…'

She smiled. 'It's fine. We get on okay now, and Anabela still speaks to him on the phone every week, and sees him when he comes to Boston. She's been to his place in California a couple of times. He happily remarried, with a daughter and another baby on the way.'

Troy opened his mouth to ask another question, but Gabriella beat him to it. 'You asked me one, now I get to ask you one.' She smiled. 'Charlie is your son?'

Troy laughed. 'I thought that would've been obvious.'

Gabriella grinned. 'Well, yeah. He looks exactly as you did when you were seventeen.'

He shrugged, smiling. 'Mom was just glad he got my eyes.'

'I'm sure all the girls are too,' Gabriella said cheekily.

'Well, they reeled you in!' he said, his smile teasing.

'Your eyes and other things,' she said, giving him a look that conveyed so much Troy had to look away, down to his coffee, growing cold in the air conditioned room.

'What happened to us, Gabi?' he asked quietly. She tried to ignore the curl of excitement in her belly she remembered experiencing as a teenager whenever Troy used his nickname for her. 'Being with you…it feels like no time has passed between us at all.' He looked up; her head was bowed, and her fingers were playing with a sugar packet. 'I can remember that time around graduation so clearly. It was like one minute we had our future planned out together, the next you were gone and all we had envisaged was in ruins.'

'I know.' Her voice was quiet. 'I'm sorry, Troy. I know it was all my fault.'

'It takes two to make a relationship,' he said. 'It was as much my fault as yours.'

-

Twenty years earlier…

Troy opened his front door to see his girlfriend standing on the porch, beaming. He knew straight away.

'You got in!'

She nodded, and he lunged for her, picking her up in his arms easily and twirled her around, making her laugh in delight.

'Oh, Gabi, that's great!' He let her down and pulled her in for a kiss, trying to convey all the pride and happiness her felt for her in the way his mouth moved over hers, the way he embraced her as if she was the most precious thing he had ever held.

They pulled away for air, and she rested her head on his chest. He buried his face in her hair, smelling the sweetness that in part came from her strawberry shampoo but also from her, her distinctive scent that he could never get enough of.

'So, Harvard, huh.'

She giggled. 'Yep. I never thought I'd get in. I thought it would be UNM with you and Chad and Taylor and everyone. Which I was so excited about.'

'You can't turn this down, Gabi,' he murmured into her hair. 'This is Harvard we're talking about.'

'I know it is.' She pulled away from him, leading him to his mother's love seat that had taken up residence on the front porch when he was twelve. She sat down, and looked at him intently. 'I just want to be sure about it, is all.'

'Gabi, we've talked about this…'

'I need to talk about it again, Troy.' Her face was now unsure, after being so full of light and happiness just seconds ago. 'Harvard's a long way away. You'll be down here, playing basketball with the guys, with all of our friends, and I'll be miles away, doing medicine.'

'You can't give up your dream, Gabriella.' He wanted to reassure her, to make those frown lines that had appeared between her brows disappear. 'You've wanted to go to Harvard since you were tiny. You have to do this.'

'But you weren't part of the plan when I was tiny, Troy.' He was horrified to see that tears had appeared in her eyes. 'Since I met you, everything that I had planned, with Harvard, with everything, it all doesn't matter as much. You matter to me, and I want to be with you. I can just as easily do medicine here.'

'You don't think we can't handle you being far away?'

She shrugged, and he could see how hard she was trying not to let the tears fall. 'Long distance relationships haven't exactly got the greatest track record, Troy. We're going strong now, but we've only been together for a year and a half. I know that's a long time for people our age, but…' She took a deep breath. 'I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I don't want to make it harder on either of us by moving away.'

'Oh, Gabi.' It had been nine months since he had first admitted that he loved her, but he still was amazed every time she said those three little words. And now, when both of them were at the edge of an unknown future together, to hear her tell him that, in her sure, matter-of-fact way, Troy felt too full with emotion. He pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. 'I wouldn't tell you to go if I didn't think we could handle it. I love you. I can't picture spending my life with anyone but you. You're the most important person in the world to me.' She began to cry, making a wet patch form on his shirt. 'And I know it'll be hard, but I want to make it work. I know that you want to go, and that means I want you to go too.' He stroked her hair, kissed the crown of her head. 'We'll make this work. There's the phone. Email. Many hours that I will spend in my old truck travelling to see you, even if it is just for one night, a couple of hours, mere minutes…'

She gave a wet giggle, and lifted her head to face him. Even with bloodshot eyes, pink cheeks, and a runny nose, Troy still thought she was perfect.

'You're sure?'

'I've never been so certain of anything in my entire life.' He kissed her gently. 'I love you, Gabriella.'

Gabriella was reassured by his words, but when her mother brought up Troy and Gabriella's relationship a month later, when Gabriella was packing to leave for Harvard, the brunette began to feel uncertain.

'How have you and Troy figured out the distance?' Carmen asked, labelling the boxes Gabriella was packing up.

Gabriella shrugged. 'He says we'll make it work. He'll come up on the weekends when he can, we'll talk over the phone, email each other, and there are always the holidays.' She smiled at her mother. 'He seems really sure about it all.'

Her mother bit her lip, and looked down at her hands. 'I love Troy like a son, Gabriella, you know that, and I think he's a wonderful boy. But the two of you are very young. It's difficult, being so far away from each other. Is it fair on either of you to deal with the problems of a long distance relationship?'

Gabriella frowned. 'I love him. He loves me. He told me we'd work it out.'

Carmen still looked uncertain. 'I'm just a little worried about the pressure of something like this. I know you two care for each other deeply, but…'

Gabriella began to feel uncertain herself. 'But what?'

'It's a big ask, for you two to keep the relationship going. I just want you to think about what you're asking of him, asking of yourself.'

Gabriella knew that she and Troy were more serious than any other couple their age, and that they loved each other dearly. But her mother's words made her unsure; the more she thought about it, the more certain she became that it was too much to ask. Troy couldn't be asked to live half his life in Albuquerque, where his passion for basketball thrived, and the other half in Boston, where she would be.

She didn't want to do it, she spent nights trying to find a way around it all, hours crying at her desperation, but her decision was already made. She would have to end it.

The week before she left, she and Troy met at the basketball courts in the park. She was nervous, twisting her hands in her skirt. He could tell that something was up from the minute he laid eyes on her.

'Are you okay?'

She shrugged. 'Um, yes and no.' She took a deep breath. 'We've got to talk, Troy.'

'About what?' He was frowning.

'About me going away.'

'What about it?'

She swallowed, hard. 'I love you, Troy, but I can't ask you to spend so much of your time seeing me, travelling up to Boston…Your life is here, in Albuquerque. And mine is in Boston. It's not fair on either of us to live half a life, always thinking about the other, what they're doing, missing them, wondering what they're doing, trusting them to remain faithful through the years…'

'Gabi. You can't be serious.' His face was shocked, upset, hurt. 'What are you saying? You want to end this? End us?'

She willed the tears not to fall. 'It's impossible, Troy. I don't want you to be giving up your life for me. I can't ask you to do that. But that's what you'd be doing, if we tried to do the long distance thing.'

'No, I wouldn't.'

'Yes, you would. You'd be splitting up your life. There'll be games to play, but you'll be either feeling guilty about having to miss them to see me, or feeling guilty about not seeing me so that you could play. There'll be group outings that you won't be able to go to because you'll have to come up and see me.' She hung her head. 'You'll end up despising me for it. I don't want that.'

'I won't. I promise I won't.' He longed to push back her hair, so that he could read her expression. 'Gabi, I love you. We belong together. We can work it out.'

She shook her head, looking back up at him, the tears falling freely now. 'I gotta go my own way, Troy, and you yours. We can't do this to each other. It isn't fair.'

Troy shook his head. 'No, Gabi. I love you. And I won't let you do this.' He pulled her into a rough hug, and she sobbed into his shirt, trying to capture in her memory the feel of his arms holding her, the hurt she felt inside as she realised he was crying too, the shiver she felt when his lips pressed against her hair.

Forcing her chin up, Troy pressed his lips to hers, trying desperately to make her stay. But even as Gabriella ravaged his mouth with tragic hunger, she knew that their relationship was lying in broken pieces around their feet, sparkling maliciously in the afternoon sunlight.

Squeezing her eyes tight, knowing this was the hardest thing she would ever have to do, she pulled herself from his grasp and took several steps back, so her couldn't reach her. There were tears running down his cheeks, and she tried not to notice that it made his eyes seem even bluer. Was she really doing the right thing? How could she possibly leave this boy, this man, like this?

'Bye, Troy,' she said softly, and, after one last look into his heartbreakingly despairing cobalt eyes, she turned away.

-

'I was so uncertain about it all,' Gabriella told him, not wanting to meet those eyes she remembered so well, choosing instead to look at her empty coffee mug. 'You and I…we were so serious about each other. And while I desperately wanted to keep what we had, I knew that we'd end up hating each other with the pressure of that distance.'

He nodded. 'That's what would have happened. I don't blame you, Gabriella.' At her small smile, he pressed on. 'I wanted to go after you. I wanted to follow you up to Boston. For a while I had this ridiculous idea in my head that I'd sit on your doorstep, in all weather, no matter what happened, just waiting for you to let me in, so we could figure it out.'

She smiled. 'Why didn't you?'

He shrugged. 'I didn't think you wanted me to.'

Gabriella sighed. 'Do you want to know the truth?'

'It was twenty years ago, Gabriella.'

'I know. And it seems ridiculous for it to still feel this raw, right?'

Troy had thought he had been the idiot, thinking about her years after she'd left, and although so much had happened in these twenty years, he had been surprised at the intensity of emotions that had hit him when he first laid eyes on her. Shock and a little bit of pleasure, but then also hurt. He knew they had both believed they would never see each other again. 'It's not ridiculous at all,' he said quietly, catching her eyes.

She bit her lip. 'Well, in that case, I did want you to come. I was the damsel in distress and I wanted a knight to save me. But it was unreasonable of me to want you like that. It wasn't fair.' She shrugged. 'In the end I just had to move on.'

'And you didn't keep in contact with any of us?'

She looked up at him apologetically. 'No. It was too hard.'

'Taylor was inconsolable.' He didn't want her to feel guilty; he just wanted to lay down the facts. 'Everyone couldn't understand why you'd cut ties with them all, leaving with barely a goodbye.'

Gabriella sighed. 'It all reminded me of you, Troy. If they weren't asking why the two of us couldn't make it work, they'd be talking about something we'd all done together, or what you'd been doing…And I couldn't bear it. The only Wildcat I've kept in contact with all these years is Ryan.' She thought she could see a little spark of the same jealousy Troy had harboured for the blond boy as a teenager, but she dismissed it. 'And that was only because he kept hounding me until I sat down and listened to what he had to say. And I'm glad I did. He's my best friend, and means the world to me.'

Troy chuckled. 'I always thought that something might happen between the two of you…'

Gabriella looked at him, not sure she understood where he was going. 'Sorry?'

Troy shrugged. 'When I was younger, and still a little uncertain about where we stood with each other, I was positive that something would happen with the two of you when you were older. That it'd be the two of you having kids together, that kind of thing.'

Gabriella laughed out loud. 'Ryan and I? Nah. He's gay, Troy.'

Troy stared at her, which made her laugh harder. 'What?'

'He likes guys,' she said, spelling it out for him. 'I thought everyone knew that.'

Troy looked astounded. 'I feel like an idiot.'

Gabriella giggled. 'There's been nothing other than friendship between Ryan and I. Although he's been more of a father to Anabela than Neil ever was, so I guess you were right about that part.'

'I'm sorry.' Troy bit his lip. 'For thinking all that time that there was something between the two of you…'

Gabriella smiled, and reached for his hand across the table, giving it a quick squeeze. 'It's okay, Troy. Anyone could've made the mistake. He lived with me in Boston for a little while, when Anabela was five and Neil had just moved out. To help me get back on my feet, you know? Anyway, after he moved back out, a couple of years later, a woman in my apartment told me she thought Ryan had been the reason why Neil and I divorced.' She giggled, pulling her hand away from his to push her hair back from her face. 'Ryan laughed so hard at that.'

'How is he?' Troy asked. Despite holding a grudge at how easily Ryan could make Gabriella laugh, Troy truly liked the guy, and was curious as to how he had been doing these past few years.

Gabriella smiled. 'He's great. He's working on Broadway now, directing musicals. Sharpay's really resentful about it. I think she always thought she'd be the successful one, but there Ryan is, adored by everyone he works with, while she's a lowly actress still trying to make it big.'

'That's what you call karma, I guess,' Troy said, grinning.

'Ah-huh. It's a bitch.' She smiled at him. 'Hey, you've heard all about my failed marriage now, whereas I don't even know who Charlie's mom is.'

The blue-eyed man's face fell a little. 'Her name was Kate. Kate Foreman.'

Gabriella swallowed. 'Was?'

Troy nodded. 'She died nine years ago.'

Gabriella didn't hesitate. She took his hand again, her face grave. 'Oh, Troy. I'm so sorry for being so glib.'

He smiled softly. 'Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago.'

'How did you meet?'

'She was a nurse. When you left, things were kind of difficult. The only thing I felt I knew was basketball. And it was a huge release, chucking the ball around and just forgetting about everything to do with you and why you'd left.' He smiled. 'I worked myself too hard. I did everything to get to the top, and I got there.'

'I always knew you'd make it big,' Gabriella declared proudly.

Troy laughed. 'Well, thanks. Anyway, one practise I injured my knee a little, and insisted on playing that night.' He chuckled. 'It was the biggest mistake and also one of the best things that ever happened to me. I had to get my knee reconstructed and everything, but if I hadn't been injured I wouldn't have met Kate.'

Gabriella smiled. 'So that's why you're coaching the Wildcats now? Because you got injured?'

He nodded. 'I got to play another season or two, but then I had to get out of there. Kate helped me through all of that, and got me excited about coaching. I still do training camps and stuff, but it's mainly the Wildcats now.'

Gabriella knew she was delving into difficult territory here, but she couldn't help herself. 'What happened to Kate?'

Troy picked up his spoon, spinning it in his hands. 'She got breast cancer. She was only twenty-eight. Charlie was six. The doctors thought she'd be fine; she received all the treatment, ate the best she could, kept up her physical activity.' Troy placed the spoon back on the table. 'During one of her check-ups they spotted something that shouldn't have been there. Two years later the cancer had spread to her brain, and four weeks after that she was gone.'

Gabriella knew her own eyes were filling with tears. 'I'm so sorry, Troy.'

He nodded. 'Me too.'

She looked down at the table. 'I can't even comprehend losing someone that close to you…It's so unfair! You and Charlie were both so young…'

Troy smiled sadly. 'Yeah.' He looked out the window. 'Charlie's kept me going. He's not like other guys his age. He's a little more mature, more sensitive…I know he must think it's unusual, for us to be so close, but after Kate…'

Gabriella stared down at her lap, pondering the tragic life of the man in front of her, too sad to speak. Troy seemed to sense this, and shook his hair from his eyes, clearing his throat, blocked a little from sorrow.

'I'm sorry for being so miserable, Gabi…'

She shook her head. 'Don't ever apologise for something like that, Troy.' She glanced up at him, and he realised her own eyes were full of tears. 'Do you know why I came back? Why I returned to Albuquerque?'

He shook his head wordlessly.

'My mom. She has breast cancer.'

His eyes widened. 'Your mom? Carmen? Breast cancer?'

Gabriella nodded, her mouth set in a grim line. 'I'm 37 years old and the thought of losing her scares me shitless, Troy. But I can't even begin to imagine what it would've been like to have lost Kate, thinking that you had the rest of your lives together…' A tear fell and she wiped at her eyes furiously, angry to have gotten so upset.

Troy reached for her hand, stroking her skin with the pad of his thumb. It felt so familiar, his skin so smooth despite all the years of basketball, and Gabriella could feel herself begin to calm.

'Don't think that your situation is any less important, Gabriella. She's your mom. But you're not going to lose her. She'll be just fine.' He smiled. 'This is Carmen we're talking about. Carmen Montez, who is both the loveliest and scariest woman I have ever met in my entire life.'

Gabriella let out a watery giggle, knowing instinctively he was remembering the time when Carmen had accidentally walked in on Gabriella and Troy barely dressed, making out. If she remembered rightly, Troy hadn't come over to her house for months after that.

'She'll be fine,' he repeated, looking into her eyes. There was so much certainty behind them that Gabriella could feel her insecurity melt away.

'Thanks, Troy,' she whispered, squeezing his hand. She noticed her watch, and did a double-take as she realised the time. 'Oh, no! I was supposed to be back home an hour ago!'

Troy handed her a napkin to wipe her face with as she rummaged in her bag for her phone. Sure enough, there was a text from Carmen.

You coming home any time in the next century? I'll bake my own brownies if you don't hurry up! Xx.

Gabriella laughed, and looked at Troy apologetically. 'I'm sorry. I really have to go.'

He nodded. 'Sure. I understand.'

She put her bag over her shoulder, and she smiled. 'I really enjoyed talking to you again, Troy. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.'

He raised his eyebrows cheekily. 'Just like kindergarten, right?'

She grinned happily, surprised and delighted that he remembered their old phrase. 'Exactly like kindergarten.'

'We should do it again sometime,' Troy said, and Gabriella nodded.

'That'd be nice.' She stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. 'Well, you know my number.'

He nodded. 'I do.'

'Okay.' She was blushing a little. 'Bye, Troy.'

'Bye, Gabriella.'

-

Up next:

How could she be thinking so much about Troy, when there was so much going on in her life right now? She was trying to help her mother, make sure that Anabela was okay…

But he was still so gorgeous. That body, that smile, those eyes…He could still make her melt with a simple grin.

Gabriella groaned, pulling her pillow over her eyes. She was going to have a hard time getting to sleep tonight.