Here's the next chapter, sorry it's later than planned, but I just didn't feel like writing, and although I tried to get it done in one night, it just wasn't gonna happen, unless you wanted a rubbish chapter that is. So anyway, it's a day later than planned, but enjoy!

Step by Step

Gabriella winced as she took off her seatbelt. When they'd left the hospital her pain medication had still been in affected and therefore she didn't feel that much when Troy moved her, but now they were back at the Bolton's and she had to be moved again, Gabriella wasn't looking forward to it.

"Brie? Brie, you alright?" Troy's voice was what broke Gabriella from her painful state.

"Huh? Oh what, yeah I'm fine, I think my meds are starting to wear off though, so this is gonna hurt." Gabriella said, as she turned to look at Troy who was standing in the car doorway.

"Okay don't worry I'll be gentle, lets take it slow. Can you turn round so your legs are hanging out of the car?" Troy asked, anxious not to cause Gabriella more pain than she was already in.

Gabriella nodded, as she slowly, but surely moved so that her lags were hanging out of the car like Troy had asked.

"That's great Brie; take my hands so that I can help you stand up." Troy held his hands out for Gabriella to place hers into, and like that he slowly and gently pulled Gabriella into a standing position.

"Great, now all you gotta do is relax, I have to do the rest, you ready?"

Gabriella once again nodded, as Troy bent down and gently swooped her up, so she was in his arms and he was carrying her bridal style. Gabriella buried herself in the crook of Troy's neck, as Troy kicked the car door shut, and then cradling Gabriella in his arms made his way inside.

TGTGTGTG

"Here sweetie, take these." Lucille said, as she handed Gabriella her medication and a glass of water.

"Thanks." Gabriella replied, as she swallowed the two tablets, one at a time. "Where's Troy? He said he was coming back and that was over fifteen minutes ago." Gabriella's voice was quiet, her longing to be with Troy showing through.

"He was just gonna jump in the shower sweetie, unlike you he wasn't a patient so he wasn't allowed one at the hospital. I think he wanted to change as well, put some sweats on, same as you, he wants to spend the rest of the day with you, so he wants to be comfy, he'll be back soon. Do you want anything to eat, or are you okay at the minute?"

"I think I'm okay right now, I wanna let the meds kick in before I eat, I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to pain."

"Gabriella, honey you have four broken ribs, you are in no way being a wimp, you've got some serious injuries sweetheart, so don't ever think you're being a wimp, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Lucille, could I maybe have some pasta, that's kinda easy to swallow, I won't have to chew much." Gabriella asked, her shyness coming through.

"I think that's a good idea, I wonder if Troy wants some." As if on cue, Troy come bounding down the stairs, freshly showered with a blanket in his arms.

Lucille and Gabriella laughed. "What?" Troy asked, uncertain of what he'd done now.

"I talk about you and you appear its magic." Lucille said, a Gabriella continued to giggle the best she could. "Anyway, Gabriella wants some pasta for her lunch 'cause it'll be easy for her to eat, I wanted to know if you wanted some as well?" Lucile questioned her son, as he came and took a seat next to Gabriella.

"Yeah why not, sound good thanks Mum, but I'm not eating it without ketchup, it's the law." Troy stated proudly causing Gabriella and Lucille to once again laugh at him.

"What ever keeps you happy son." Lucille said, with a laugh, as she left to go and cook some pasta

As Lucille left Troy turned to face Gabriella. "How you feeling?"

"I've felt better, but your Mum just gave me my meds so they should start kicking in soon, what's the blanket for?" Gabriella asked, gesturing to the fleecy blue item on Troy's lap.

"I figured we'd be on the couch all after noon and I didn't want you to get cold, so I brought this down with me, it's big enough to fit us both under, what way is the most comfortable for you so sit?" Troy questioned, Gabriella's comfort top of his priority.

"I'm not sure really, I wanna cuddle up with you though, I know that much."

"Okay, how about I sit behind you, and you sit between my legs, the blanket will fit over us both and I can cuddle you that way as well, what do you think?"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea, you'll have to help me move forward though." Gabriella said, as she managed to sit herself up.

Wordlessly Troy moved until he was in front of Gabriella and then gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her forward enough so he could fit behind her. He then climbed onto the couch and settled himself behind her.

"Comfy?" He asked, as he pulled the blanket over them.

Gabriella nodded contently, as she settled herself back against Troy, his arms straight away wrapping around her, giving her the comfort he knew she wanted.

TGTGTGTG

Gabriella laughed as Katie, Alex and Troy built a tower with Troy's old building blocks before the twins excitedly knocked it down, and Troy feigned hurt making them laugh.

Half an hour ago Mandy had brought the twins over to visit their sister and Troy, and while Mandy and Lucille talked in the kitchen, Troy took on the roll of playing with the twins.

Gabriella laughed again, as Mandy and Lucille entered the room. "I'm surprised they're still awake, I took me ages to get them to go off last night." Mandy said, as she and Lucille took a seat with Gabriella on the couch.

"I was thinking about them, but I was so tired, I think the meds had something to do with it, and Troy was there so… yeah." Gabriella trailed off, as a blush crept onto her face.

Mandy and Lucille laughed at Gabriella's embarrassment as Troy suddenly stopped what he was doing, causing the twins to become very unhappy.

"Sorry guys but I just remembered something, I'll be back in a minute, I promise." Troy said, as he ruffled the twins' hair before leaving the room.

"Where's he gone guys, huh? Where did Troy go?" Gabriella asked her brother and sister who simply kept their eyes glued on the staircase, which Troy had disappeared up moments before.

Moments later Troy was back with a mini basketball set in his hands.

"Here Mum, hold this." Troy said, as he gave Lucille the hoop.

"Alex buddy, come here." Troy said, as he moved the coffee table to the side of the room and sat in the middle of the room, in throwing distance of the hoop.

Alex immediately saw the hoop in Lucille's hands and the ball in Troy's and plopped himself down in Troy's lap, his brown eyes looking at Troy expectantly.

"Don't look at me like that, your gonna play with it not me, I'm just here to help you aim, so here." Troy said, handing Alex the ball. "Shoot." He added, pointing in the direction of the net.

Alex looked at Troy momentarily before turning round and looking in Lucille's direction and launching the ball into the air, watching as it came back down and swished through the net.

"Alright Alex, great job!" Troy exclaimed, as he wrapped his arms around the little boy in front of him and fell backwards, causing fits of laughter to erupt from Alex's mouth.

Troy placed Alex back down and let him wander off, before holding his arms open for Katie to run into.

Katie wasn't so sure about playing basketball and took a little more persuading from Troy, before she turned around, and just like her brother sent the ball flying through the net.

Troy looked over towards Gabriella to find her with a huge grin on her face, he watched her until she looked in his direction and he winked at her, before picking up the soft, small orange ball and having ago himself.

All he had wanted to do with the basketball set was let the twins have fun and maybe make Gabriella laugh, he had accomplished both these things, and knew this was the first step into helping Gabriella heal.

Helping her smile again, for real.

TGTGTGTG

"How do you do that everyday? I was only playing with them for a couple of hours and I'm already knackered, I seriously do take my hat off to you." Troy said, as he collapsed on the couch next to Gabriella, making the three women around him laugh.

After playing with Troy non stop since they'd arrived the twins finally gave in to their sleep loss from last night, and fell asleep cuddled up on the couch. With help from Mandy Troy had managed to scoop them both up and take them upstairs, to let them sleep on the bed in the spare room.

"They were pretty crazy today babe, I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did, and anyway, I'm at school most days so it's Mandy who does all the running around." Gabriella said honestly, as she allowed Troy to wrap his arm around her, and pull her into his side.

"You are far too modest for your own good young lady." Mandy spoke up, wanting to set the records straight. "You do just as much running around when you get home from school, than I do all day, sometimes I think you do too much running around, especially when you don't sleep, we are here to help you, you know, you aren't supposed to do it all by yourself." Mandy said giving Gabriella a look that told her she knew in her heart that Mandy was right.

"I know all that Mandy, but I'm not gonna sit back and watch other people play with them, when I know they'd rather be with me." Gabriella spoke softly, she hated it when people told her she did too much for the twins, she could never do too much for them.

"Okay we'll stop that conversation there, Lucille and I would like to have a chat with you both anyway."

"What's going on Mum?" Troy asked, as he sensed Gabriella tense up at the mention of the word chat, it wasn't one of her favourite words at the minute.

"It's nothing to worry about, we've just had an idea, and we want to run it by you both." Gabriella and Troy nodded in understanding, as Lucille took a deep breath before continuing.

"You're probably gonna be here for a month Gabriella, maybe even more, and we don't think that you or the twins will be able to survive that long with only short visits of seeing each other, so we wanted to know what you'd both think to the twins being here as well." Noticing that neither Troy nor Gabriella looked ready to say anything, Lucille continued.

"We phoned Jack and he has agreed to this, I think he has a soft spot for the twins, and he's more then happy to have you all here. Mandy has everything sorted at her end, and even has travel cots and some of the twins' belongings, to allow them to start staying from tonight; we just need to know what you guys think about the idea."

Troy and Gabriella sat in silence. They were stunned enough when they had been told Gabriella would be staying at the Bolton's for her recovery, but for the twins to be there to, neither one of them expected this.

"Before you give us your final opinion, there is one more thing." Mandy said. "While you're gone we want to decorate you room Gabriella, we want a place for you to be a teenager, and for the twins to be the twins, and we think your room is big enough for us to work our plan into. We aren't gonna separate you, that's not going to happen, end of, but we are, in a way, gonna separate your room. You can get your side, we'll paint it whatever colour you want, and add any finishing touches you want, the other half will belong to the twins. They can have a different colour to you and we'll add in extra storage for their growing number of toys, we also want to buy you all new beds. We want to get you a bigger one, a double maybe, and we'll get the twins their first beds, the little ones with safety rails and stuff like that. It's about time, you guys had a change of scenery around you, it's been that way since before you got here, and now it's finally time to make it yours."

Tears were now rolling down Gabriella's face, as Troy finally managed to speak. "I don't know what Gabi is thinking right now, but I think it's a great idea, I'd love the twins to be here, I want to get to know them just as much as I do Gabriella, after all they're your whole world, right Brie?"

Everyone looked to Gabriella for her response, but she simply buried herself into her favourite hiding place, the crook of Troy's neck. Sensing Gabriella was feeling overwhelmed, Troy pulled her closer and simply held her there until she found the words to speak.

"I, I really don't understand why this is all happening now, I, I'm just so confused, I just, I don't know." Gabriella said, as she freely let the tears roll again, and pressed her face against Troy's chest.

"Gabi honey, we don't need a decision right now, we didn't expect you to, we just want to know your thoughts and feelings for the whole idea." Lucille said, as she reached across the couch and took Gabriella's hand into hers.

"My feeling are that I'm in shock, so much has happened recently, I'm still trying to let it all sink in, or trying to get it out. My thoughts are that I more than defiantly want the twins to be here, and I think a new room sounds great Mandy." Gabriella spoke softly, but confidently, allowing the others around her to know that she was certain with her decision.

"In that case." Mandy started. "You Mr Bolton had better help me get the twins' things in from the car, they may be small, but they have an awfully large amount of belongings.

Troy planted a soft kiss on Gabriella's forehead, before getting up and giving his Mum a hug, as he followed Mandy outside to her car.

TGTGTGTG

"This is crazy you know, I can't believe we're all under the same roof with a family, it's completely crazy." Gabriella whispered to Troy, as they stood over the twins' cots and watched them sleep soundly.

Mandy had stayed for another hour after Gabriella and Troy had agreed to their plan. She'd help to prepare the spare room for the twins, and looked after the twins when they woke up from their nap. When she'd left Katie and Alex weren't to sure why she was leaving without them, but they soon got preoccupied as Jack returned home from school, and immediately started to play with them.

"I know it seems crazy now, but I'm sure we'll get into some kind of routine, then things will seem less crazy." Troy replied, as he wrapped his arms round Gabriella from behind, and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I hope you're right." Gabriella answered, as a small yawn escaped her lips.

"Come on beautiful, let's get you to bed, it's been a long day, and I for one am ready for bed, so I think you are to." Troy stated, as he turned Gabriella round, so that she was sideways on to him, and therefore it was easier for him to scoop her up into his arms.

He left the twins new room silently, and made his way to his, gently pushing the door ajar, he made his way over to his bed and softly placed Gabriella down.

He walked round and climbed into his side of the bed, as Gabriella took the medication that would ease her sleep, even if it was only a little.

"Hug please." Gabriella said looking Troy straight in the eye.

Troy didn't answer, but instead held his arms out to Gabriella, who gingerly moved into them, and allowed Troy to move them both into a lying position.

"Just sleep, sweetheart, I promise you everything is gonna work out, we just have to do it step by step, you and me, together."

Gabriella responded by nuzzling her face against Troy's chest, before they both allowed sleep to finally catch up with them, and take them into a dream land, where everything was going to be just fine.

TGTGTGTG

There it is guys, hope you liked it.

Once again I apologise for it being a day later then planned, but these thing happen, it 's here now anyway!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!