Gabriella lied awake in bed, staring up at the off-whit ceiling. It was around four in the morning and Gabriella just couldn't sleep, in a couple of hours she was to wake up and go to her first day of college. She was extremely nervous and couldn't go back to sleep; her mind was running a mile a minute. Even though she was really good at school it still made her nervous every year to go back. So she tossed and turned for hours, waking up Troy a couple time as well as Bella who was lying curled up next to Troy's side. When her alarm finally went off at seven thirty Gabriella felt her nerves grow even more, she almost felt like getting sick. She knew the only way to stop being so nervous was to get her mind off of whatever was making her worry.

After turning off of her alarm she left for the kitchen, hoping that if she kept busy making breakfast then she would be fine. She stood in the kitchen making chocolate chip pancakes and bacon; Troy's favorite breakfast for about ten minutes before Troy came sulking out of the bedroom, Bella in tow. He took one whiff of Gabriella's cooking and immediately woke up. He smiled then walked over to Gabriella wrapping his arms around her middle and resting his chin on her shoulder. He breathed in her scent before he mumbled into her shoulder, "You are so amazing babe, why are you so good to me?"

Gabriella smiled and continued to make breakfast, not saying anything. Her smile grew even more when Troy spun her around and pulled her in for a long kiss.

Their connection was soon broken when they young couple were interrupted by many loud barks. Troy and Gabriella turned to see Bella at their feet, wagging her tail, "Look's like someone's jealous," Gabriella said patting her husband's chest then she turned back to the food.

Troy leaned down and pulled his puppy into his arms, "Hey missy why are you being like that? Huh? Why can't daddy love on mommy," he said to her.

Troy turned back to Gabriella and said, "I'm going to take Bella out for a bit. What's the ETA on breakfast?"

"Ten minutes," she answered.

Troy nodded before he asked, "How about ETA on school."

Gabriella's face turned sad at Troy's words as she kept her back to her husband, she didn't want to let Troy see that she was so nervous. She took a deep shaky breath before she said, "Um about an hour fifteen," she tired to hide her shaky voice. Troy didn't notice Gabriella's strange behavior; he just nodded his head as he slipped on his flip flops.

He walked out of the apartment, Bella still in his arms. The second Troy closed the door Lizzie was there holding her arms out, Bella was her new favorite toy. The small dog barked and then jumped into the little girl's arms. Troy couldn't help but laugh when Bella licked all over Lizzie's face and the little girl giggled. She walked away from the door and sat down on the ground next to her toys with Bella.

"I see how it is, you like Bella more than me. That's fine I don't want to color with you either," Troy acted faux hurt. Lizzie looked up at her best friend and saw a sad look on his face. She put down Bella and jumped into Troy's arms, "I's sorry Troysie I loves ooh. I loves ooh more dens Bella's," she kissed his cheek then asked, "Please can ooh color whiff me's," she said batting her eye-lashes.

Lizzie melts Troy's heart. That little girl knows just how to get him to do anything for her, just like Gabriella. Troy and Gabriella only had been living in California for three weeks but they'd both would jump in front of a bullet for their three year old neighbor. Troy was never one for hanging out with little kids but something was different with Lizzie. When he wasn't with Gabriella he was sitting outside the apartment with Lizzie, a lot of the time with Gabriella too. H loved watching Gabriella sitting with Lizzie in her lap as she painted her toe nails, she was so sweet and gentle; he couldn't wait until they finished school so they could have babies themselves. Lizzie was so adorable but Troy couldn't wait to see his baby who would have Gabriella's olive skin and dark hair with his deep ocean blue eyes.

Troy put down Lizzie and they both began to color in Lizzie's princess coloring books and Belle lied in Troy's lap and took a nap. Gabriella quickly took a look through the front window, making sure that she needed to make three plates instead of just two. She smiled when she saw Troy and Lizzie sitting with their backs to the window, working hard on their colorings. She made sure she had their order correct then made her way outside.

Both Troy's and Lizzie's eyes lit up when Gabriella put food down in front of them, "Troy, three choco-pancakes lots of syrup and extra crispy bacon," Gabriella said, "Lizzie-Bear, one choco-pancake, butter instead of syrup and soft bacon."

She handed them a fork and a napkin then sat down with them with her own food. Gabriella couldn't help but laugh at Troy and Lizzie who were so enthralled with their food that they didn't even look up and say anything.

"Lizzie where is mommy," Gabriella asked.

"She'd in da house doin erk and daddy's sleep. So'd mommy said I'd gotta be's quiet, den I sod Troysie so'd I comeded outsides," Lizzie explained as she continued to eat.

Gabriella sighed deeply, it made her heart ache whenever Lizzie told her about Daddy wanting her to be really quiet or she'd be in trouble or how mommy was at school or work and that daddy made mommy cry. But Gabriella couldn't muster up the courage to go to Sara and ask her if she needed a ride to a police station, mostly because she didn't want Lizzie to get in trouble with her father. Every time she is away from the apartment Gabriella worried about Lizzie and Sara and when she's home, Gabriella always keeps one ear open just encase she could hear anything bad going on. Ever since she first heard Lizzie tell her that her dad was always mad and angry and how he would hit Sara, she knew she would have to do anything before they were too late.

Lizzie finished her food as fast as she could, then looked up at Troy, "Wend ooh comes homes?"

Troy paused from eating to answer, "Um around dinner time, we have to go to school and work today. Once we get home we'll go swimming. I promise."

Once Troy said school Gabriella's face dropped, this time he saw it. He placed a hand on her knee and squeezed it and gave her a sympathetic look. She looked down at her plate instead of Troy's eyes. He then leaned over to Lizzie and whispered something in her little ear. Gabriella looked up only when she noticed little feet shuffling over to her. Lizzie leaned in and wrapped her arms around Gabriella's neck, giving her a hug. She then plopped herself down in Gabriella's lap, "No be's sad Gabby, schools will'd bes fines," Lizzie said then gave her a kiss on her cheek. Gabriella shot Lizzie a smile and then let her snuggle into her lap. Troy looked at his wife and telepathically told her everything was going to be okay, she was going to survive. He was also nervous about school but he wanted Gabriella to not be worried, he knew if she knew he was scared too then she would never be okay with going to school; in his mind her confidence came first.

Two hours later both Troy and Gabriella stood in front of Troy's truck, looking up at the many large buildings that made up Sacramento State. They both had their schedules and maps tight in hand. Each had a full day of school but had various brakes during the day which they planned out to spend together.

Troy walked his wife to her first class, rubbing her hand the whole way; a calming technique Gabriella loved, something he learned about her even before they officially started dating. First day of the rest of their lives was just beginning, why was it so hard to embrace it, why was growing up so difficult.

"I love you," Troy said before he left to his own classroom.

"Always and forever?"

"For eternity," he responded.

Two seconds was all it took for Gabriella to relax. Her first class, a math class was actually enjoyable, she found that she loved her teacher; she was very entertaining. Gabriella didn't see anyone she recognized but that was okay; she found that all these new people reminded her of her old classmates. She could swear that the person sitting beside her was a version of Chad and the person sitting in the back of the room was Jason. There even were versions of the Evans twins and Taylor. These people, even though Gabriella didn't really know them made Gabriella feel so comfortable, so at home.

For Troy school was school; boring. His classes went just like he thought, boring. None of his classes so for entertained him, he spent the majority of the day thinking about Gabriella and how she was doing. He knew she was having a great time, she's always loved school He just had to last for four more years and then he wouldn't ever have to go back.

Even though his first day wasn't amazing he was definitely up to listening about his wife's first day. Troy laced his fingers with hers as he drove listening to all of the things she learned and did. He loved listening to her stories, no matter if it was about something super boring or about something extremely girlie. He loved it mostly because as she told her stories her eyes would light up, she would look like a kid on Christmas morning; so excited. She spent the whole ride to work talking, sharing first day funny stories, first day acquaintances as well as her teachers; and not once was Troy bored.

Troy wasn't alone at work, he had friends but that day he was having a down day, he just wanted to go home crawl into bed and hold his wife tightly in his arms. He rarely had these down moments but whenever he did he could never figure out the reasons why, but once he was with Gabriella his sadness disappeared. All he had to do was survive a couple hours of work then he could see his sweetheart again, better yet see her in a small black bikini. As he worked her kept that image of his wife in his mind hoping it would ride him of his down attitude.

Gabriella did her work at the bookstore as fast as she could; she liked to continuously work and her boss definitely loved that, he even wished that she was available to work more often. Unlike Gabriella wished she was forced to take a break, however this particular break proves to be extremely helpful. When her break was announced she happened to be in the family/life section so she sat down in the most secluded spot and looked at the first book sitting on the end of the table beside her. She relaxed in the chair and began reading a book which was based on family law. Gabriella flipped through the different sections she found interesting. After a while Gabriella became bored with this book, which may be hard to believe. She was about to go find a new back when a title caught her eye, "Temporary Custody".

She began reading and soon was completely engrossed in the book. Once she was done reading she began smacking herself, wondering why she would read this knowing she would have to think about it in her own life. With all the new info she just retained she began thinking that this Temporary Custody would be the best for her little neighbor. Wait a minute, was she actually thinking the best thing for Lizzie would be to get away from her mother; if it was her than she wouldn't want to be separated from her mother. Even if Lizzie was to leave her mother's side where would she go, and who with. Gabriella wondered why she was even planning out a new life for Lizzie when she didn't have the guts to do the first step, first find out if Sara needs help. She quickly shrugged the thoughts from her mind and then heard her bosses' voice telling her that her break was over.

About two hours later Troy and Gabriella were at the gates of the apartment pool with Lizzie and Sara beside them. Sara walked over to one of the large tables and placed down her school supplies, she needed to get a paper done but she also needed to be there for her daughter.

"Comes ons Troysie lets goes," Lizzie's voice chimed.

They all laughed, "Elizabeth giver Troy a second to put his stuff down," Sara said then laughed when her daughter folded her arms and frowned.

Troy put down his bag full of towels, sunscreen, water bottles and his and Gabriella's cell phones. He slipped off his flip flops and took off his shirt which got eyebrow raises from all of the women who were at the pool and even those passing by the outside of the gates to the pool. He jumped into the deep end of the pool then swam over to the edge and Lizzie jumped into his arms.

Gabriella pulled up a chair to the table and sat down next to Sara, who now had her textbook open and highlighter in hand. Gabriella just sat in silence as she watched Troy throw Lizzie up in the air and catch her; Lizzie laughed so hard. Gabriella smiled, Troy was so good with that little girl; they were like best friends.

"I wish Lizzie had a father like that," Sara said looking up from her work, Gabriella looked over at her and saw her look down and fiddle with her pen, "I always thought that any guy could be a great father if they were given an angel but I guess that is just me being naive."

Gabriella opened her mouth to begin to say something but was lost for words; nothing she could think of sounded good to say.

"Everyone told me that Elizabeth would never have a normal life if she didn't have a mother and a father there to raise her, after all I was only raised by a mother and I ended up pregnant at fifteen," Sara continued, she took a deep breath, "I thought Lizzie's biological father would be there to help me raise her, I believed he was a good guy but his father wasn't going to let him give up his football scholarship so he signed away his rights. It took me a little while but I then told myself that I was going to prove everyone wrong and raise her myself but as you can see that really didn't work out."

Gabriella scooted closer to Sara as Sara began to wipe away the few fallen tears. Still Gabriella couldn't figure out anything to say.

"I stayed with the first guy I could find. I met Kevin two years ago at a Starbucks. He was super cute, had a job, a car, an apartment, his life was stable, something I always wanted for Lizzie. He seemed like a nice great guy that I could raise my daughter with, I didn't really love him, we were more like friends at first. He was a man that I thought would make having a baby at fifteen easier. Well it has actually made it much harder," she said finally looking up into Gabriella's eyes, "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to listen to my sob story."

Gabriella shook her head and rested her hand on Sara's knee, "No problem at all, if you ever need anyone to talk. I mean I'm not a mom but I am a great listener. And if you ever need help with Lizzie we wouldn't mind helping I know that Troy would love that."

Sara smiled as she wiped away her tears again, "Thanks. I just don't know how my life ended up the way it did."

"Sara you are only eighteen, your life is still beginning. If you don't like how your life is going then change it, make it end up the way you want. I know that Lizzie would like that very much," Gabriella responded.

Sara nodded her head, "Yeah your right."

She took a look back down at her work and sighed heavily. Gabriella glanced over at Troy and Lizzie and they seemed to be having fun, he was teaching her how to blow bubbles. She then turned back to Sara and saw the stressed panicked look on her face.

"Why don't you go to the library or maybe a Starbucks and finished your work, we can watch Lizzie," Gabriella said.

Sara smiled, "Thanks but I have tons of work to get done I may not even be done by midnight and Kevin is out partying with his friends."

Gabriella took a second to think, "Well we don't have any classes until after lunch tomorrow, Lizzie can spend the night with us, a little slumber party. That way you can have the night all by yourself and you can get your work done. I know that Troy and Lizzie would really like that. And I would really like to help you out," Gabriella explained.

Gabriella saw Sara's eyes light up and saw the stressed look diminish in her face; she really appreciated the help that her neighbors were offering.

"I'll go put together her stuff and leave it by the door, thanks again Gabriella you are amazing," Sara responded giving Gabriella a big hug.

"No problem," Gabriella smiled.

It was the first step in helping not only Lizzie but her mamma as well.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? PLEASE REVIEW. TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN NEXT.

HANNAH