What Happened to Daddy's Little Girl?
Troy's Pov:
The days seemed to slip away from me and before I knew it, about 3 and a half weeks had flown by. It was January 21st, 11:45 to be specific. I was lying awake in my bed after long day. You guys are probably wondering what happened to Carlos. Did he come out of his coma? Well, that is a night that will forever be embezzled in my mind.
Flashback
Gabriella, Vanessa, and I were all making out way up the house porch after just coming home from the hospital. Ever since we left, Vanessa wouldn't let me put her down. She clung to me as if her life depended on it.
Taking out the keys from my back left pocket, I skillfully glided it through the keyhole and turned it to the left, unlocking the door in the process. Stepping into the house, I stopped before walking into the living room. The small black dog greeted us by nuzzling her nose against my pant leg. Bending down, I scratched her head and picked her up, letting Vanessa pet her. Her giggle filled the room as the black dog licked her face.
Turning my head from Vanessa, I looked over at Gabriella who was cleaning off the living room table. Her left hand held a garbage bag, while the other one held Windex and paper towels. I smiled as I watched her. She made sure not to miss a spot as she wiped up the crumbs off of the table and hardwood floor. Walking over to her, puppy and Vanessa still in hand, she stopped me before coming any closer than 5 ft.
"Let me just wash my hands just to be safe," She told me while walking over to the kitchen sink.
After she dried her hands she walked back over to us, reaching out to pet the dog, while I laid a kiss in her brown curls.
"Thank you for cleaning up," I told her. She locked eyes with me and smiled. Leaning in, I kissed her gently on the lips before wrapping my arm around her.
"Hey, we still need to name this pup." Gabriella told me. I nodded in agreement.
"Why don't we go into the playroom?" Leading her out of the kitchen, we walked to the other side of the house and into the play room.
Setting the puppy down, she immediately ran around the toy filled room inspecting everything she could find.
Gabriella and I both sat down in the middle of the floor. I placed Vanessa between my legs. I was surprised when she made no attempt to cling onto me even more.
"Gabalala up" Vanessa held her tiny arms out for Gabriella to pick her up.
Vanessa sat contently on Gabriella's lap, while I played tug o war with the dog. Every time I tried to pull the chew toy away, the black dog would pull harder.
Eventually, the dog got bored and dropped the toy. She then scurried over to Vanessa and jumped on her.
I watched as Vanessa lost her balance and grabbed Gabriella's shirt for support, even though the whole time Gabriella had a hand on Vanessa's back, making sure se wouldn't fall.
A smile appeared on my face as I watched Gabriella interact with Vanessa.
"It's ok Vanessa. Look, he just wants to say hi," She told Vanessa softly. Gabriella picked up the small dog who immediately began licking Vanessa's face, making her bust out in giggles.
"What are you going to name her, Ness?" I asked her while scooting over to them. That was a bad thing to ask. If she had any say in what this small black dog was going to be named, she would have named her, 'dog'. Partly because it was one of the few words she could actually say well. Just look how she butchered Gabriella's name. But I thought it was the cutest thing when she spoke.
Thankfully, Vanessa shrugged her shoulders signaling she didn't know.
"How about I think of a name?" I heard Gabriella ask Vanessa. I watched as Gabriella shook her head, 'yes', eagerly and hugged the dog. I guess we still need to work on being gentle with her. Gabriella took the tag wagging dog and set her on the ground.
"Do you want to call him Shadow?" Vanessa clapped her hands at Gabriella's suggestion. I got up from my spot on the floor and walked right outside the room to where her bowl was. Taking the bag of food, I shook it to get her attention.
"Well I guess it's settled then. Shadow, come get dinner." I called to her while pouring the contents from the bag into the bowl. The water bowl already had water in it, so I didn't need to refill it. I heard the scampering of claws before I even finished pouring.
Not long after, I saw Gabriella and Vanessa.
"She's getting hungry," Gabriella told me just as my cell phone started to buzz in my pocket. Reaching in my front pocket, I pulled out the silver blackberry.
"Well, we'll get dinner right after I answer this." I told her while flipping the phone open.
"Hello?" I said into the speaker. While waiting for a response I took Vanessa from Gabriella who was more than happy to be in my arms.
"Hi this is Crystal from Sinai Hospital. I would like to inform you that a Carlos Hudgens has woken up from his coma. It is recommended that you come down to the hospital as soon as possible." The woman sounded like a recording. She must have to say this multiple times throughout the day. I didn't know whether to be nervous or happy about the news I just heard.
"Thank you. We will be down there as soon as we can." I told the lady. Without even so much as a goodbye, the woman hung up. Closing my phone, I settled it back into my front pocket and then adjust Vanessa to my right hip.
"Carlos came out of his coma. They want us at the hospital." I told Gabriella.
"How soon do they need us to be there?" Gabriella asked me while searching for the keys to the car.
"They didn't say. All they said was that it is recommended that we be there. I think I'm going to bathe Vanessa and put her in some pajamas before we go."
"How about I bathe her, and you get everything ready. Get her pajamas out and everything we need." Gabriella offered.
"Babe, I don't want to put you through that. You're probably going to get soaked." She shook her head and took the little girl from my arms.
Following her upstairs into Vanessa's room, I watched as she undressed Vanessa, shaking my head in the process. Bad move.
I had an amused look on my face once Gabriella got Vanessa undressed. As soon as Vanessa was undressed she went running out of the room and away from Gabi.
"Rule number one always undress her right when you are ready to put her in the bath." I spoke loudly as I followed her out of the room.
In response, Gabriella stopped chasing Vanessa for a moment and stuck her tongue out to me.
"Which brings me to my next rule. Never take your eye off of her for one second." Vanessa was on one end on the hallway, while I was on the other. Vanessa came out of the middle guest room leaving a trail of toilet paper behind her.
Once she saw Gabriella coming towards her, she dropped the paper and ran towards me.
"And rule number three. When she gets close enough you have to punish her…by the tickle monster," I scooped Vanessa up and tickled her until she was hysterically laughing.
Stopping, I let Vanessa calm down a little. Gabriella was walking over towards me with her hands on her hips.
"Anything else I should know oh-righteous-one?" I laughed at her comment.
"Nothing else except when someone looks as beautiful as you do now, one should give me a kiss." She did exactly that. She planted one right on the corner of my mouth.
"Alright, now that that's settled. Vanessa? Gabriella's going to give you a quick bath. No splashing her or else the tickle monster is going to come after you." I growled playfully and then handed her to Gabriella.
I walked back into Vanessa's room and picked out some pajamas which consisted of warm button up one piece footie pajamas with the care bear design.
Wow Gabriella really did know how to give a quick bath, because before I knew it, Vanessa was running through the room with her duck bath towel wrapped around her.
"Come here you," I said while grabbing her once she came into arm length. Laying her down, I slipped pull-ups on her since I didn't know how long we were going to be out for. Plus I didn't want to wake her by changing her when we came back tonight.
After that, I put her into the pajamas I took out previously, and buttoned them up.
"Are you ready to go?" Gabriella came into the room, not a spot of wetness on her. I see she only gets me wet.
"Uh yea, I think so." I told her while picking Vanessa up. She gave a yawn and rested her head on my shoulder. Putting my hand on the small of Gabriella's back, I led her downstairs.
Before leaving the house, I made sure I had Vanessa's juice cup in the bag. Walking out the front door, we were met with the winters chill.
"So how many times have we been to the hospital today?" Gabriella asked me once we had gotten in the car."
"Too many for one day," I told her while backing out of the driveway, hand in hand with her.
It didn't take long to arrive at the hospital. Since we already visited Carlos once before, we knew where his room was.
Sure enough the doctors had him sitting up in bed wide-awake. I felt a little nervous about being near him. When his eyes locked with mine, he gave a small grin. I walked apprehensively over to him and set Vanessa on the bottom part of the bed.
Gabriella walked over towards Vanessa making sure she didn't fall, while I brought a chair over to Carlos.
"I uh would like to apologize." His voice was raspy. His face had pure shame written across from it.
"I think two apologies are in order. While you were in a coma, I expressed my feelings a little too much. I'm embarrassed and ashamed." He probably didn't even know what I said.
"I heard you. You can hear everything around you when your in a coma. And the last thing I want you to do is apologize. You have every right to say what you did. I guess I was just preoccupied with what was happening, I forgot about a few things." I nodded my head.
"Still, it wasn't right of me to say what I did after all you have done for me." I told him. My voice broke in the process. I looked over to Gabriella to find her holding Vanessa, swaying her in the process.
"I would just like you to know that this is going to take some time for me. It's not easy hearing your wn daughter calling someone else daddy. Or not wanting you around. I'm not going to say, that I wont get angry now and then, but I will do my best to control my anger." He said. Carlos then grabbed the cup on the bedside table and took a sip.
"You have every right to be angry. I would be furious too, it's just that when you endanger someone else in the process, then it comes to be a problem. Well, I probably shouldn't say endanger, I should say when you don't take care of her the right way." I told him. He agreed with me. Looking at his face, I felt sympathy for the poor guy.
"I'll make you a deal. As long as I get to spend sometime with her, whether it's alone, or with you and her in her playroom, then I will do my best not to get angry when she calls you daddy. I just want to play with her, and spend some time together without having her crying." I smiled and put out my hand for him to take. Things were going to get better. I was sure of it.
Before we knew it, the doctor ushered us out, saying that Carlos needed his sleep. They were also going to release him tomorrow. Getting up from the chair, I put it back in it's place before taking Vanessa from Gabriella's arms.
Walking back over to Carlos I bent down so he could give Vanessa a kiss before we left. We said our goodbye's and then retreated back home."
It didn't take too long to get Vanessa to sleep considering she was falling asleep during dinner. Once she was settled in her room, sleeping soundly at about 8 oclock, I laid down on the couch downstairs in the living room.
Gabriella came in not long after. Her arms hugged around herself.
"Come here, you," I told her while beckoning her to come over to me. She sat herself on the far end of the couch. Putting my arms around her, I positioned her so that she was lying on top of me.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you. You were absolutely right." I told her while running my hands through her hair.
"I'm sorry too. I was out of place. Let's not fight again, deal?" I smiled and kissed her gently on the lips before responding.
"Deal!"
End of Flashback
"I smiled thinking about the memory. I have to say, things have gotten a lot better since then. Pulling up the covers I settled myself in the warmth of them.
Not long after, I soon fell asleep, only to be woken up 6 hours later.
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed," I groaned and opened my eyes to see Vanessa jumping up and down, and Carlos standing right next to the bed smiling.
"Get him Van." Carlos exclaimed to Vanessa who responded by running over to me, only to fall on top of me.
"Not that this isn't nice or anything, but why are we so excited today?" I asked Carlos while I took Vanessa off my chest in order to sit up.
"Did someone forget what today is?" Carlos asked while sitting on the edge of my bed.
"Uh Saturday?"
"Wow how can someone forget their own birthday?" I smiled as soon as Carlos said this.
"I guess it just slipped my mind." I told him while getting out of bed. Vanessa reached her arms out to me and I settled her on my hip.
"Well, then Happy Birthday!" Carlos patted me on the back and then smiled.
"Thanks! I just want to shower and get dressed before having breakfast." I told him while placing Vanessa on the ground so she could run around.
My shower only last about 15 minutes. Getting dressed, I put on a pair of pants and a t-shirt and made my way out of my room.
Getting ready to walk down the stairs, I found Carlos and Vanessa close to the bottom step. I had been working on teaching Vanessa how to go down the steps by herself. It was adorable. She would sit down and slide herself down each step. Of course I would be right next to her though.
Walking down to where the two of them were, I heard the doorbell go off.
"Here, I'll finish up here for you." Carlos nodded with a strange smirk on his face and went to go get the door, while I turned back around helping Vanessa go down the stairs.
As soon as she reached the bottom step I heard, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TROY!!"
Turning around I was faced with 7 familiar faces; the faces of my seven best friends.
I didn't get a lot of reviews for last chapter. You guys really make my day when you review! I know the whole chapter was practically a flashback, I hope you still liked it.