NOTE: I know a few of you that are reading my story were asking for a quicker update, and I sincerely apologize for making you-and everyone else who's reading this-wait to see what happens next...especially after I made that cliff hanger at the end of my last chapter. I just want to explain why I couldn't update sooner.

1. A huge science project for school

2. Dance practice

3. My computer had a problem with it

4. I had to update Two and a Half Weeks (my other story that's in progress)

My computer is now fixed, and my project is done, so I should be able to update quicker. However, dance is still making me really busy and I need to do my other story, too. But I promise you all that I'm doing the best I can to get these chapters out. So again, I apologize for this wait. I hope you understand why I couldn't update sooner! Thanks for being patient and also thanks for reading and/or reviewing this story! Hope I made this chapter worth the wait.....if it's not, feel free to be mad at me.

"Brie Bolton."

Brie, excited, skipped onto stage, a huge smile on her face. She had gotten in! She was going to New York! She was going to be trained by professional ballerinas!

One of the dancers handed out a pamphlet containing information about the ballet training to each of the girls who were on stage. "You can look these over," she began. "And then have your parents call the phone number that's inside of them sometime before January is over to confirm your spot in our program. We congratulate you all on making it into this."

Everyone in the audience clapped and cheered. Well, all of them except Gabriella, who had her face buried in Troy's shoulder and was letting both happy and sad tears flow from her eyes.

"It'll be alright," Troy comforted, pulling Gabriella into a hug and kissing the top of her head. "Everything will be okay. Remember what we talked about? About you being brave and being able to accept the fact that our kids aren't babies anymore?"

"Y-Yes. B-But I-I'm gonna m-miss her," Gabriella sobbed. "T-Though I a-am s-so v-very happy s-she got i-in."

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Julliette wondered, noticing that her mother didn't look happy like everyone else around them did.

Gabriella wriggled out of Troy's arms and hugged her youngest daughter. "You won't grow up on me too fast, will you?" she asked, forcing herself to stop crying.

Julliette hugged Gabriella back. "I can't help how fast I grow. But even when I'm a mommy like you are, I'll still love you and I'll come over and visit you every week! You're the best mommy in the world!" Then, she went over to Troy and threw her arms around him. "And you're the best daddy!"

"Are you okay, Mom?" Samantha questioned.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What happened?" Troy Jr. wanted to know.

"You kids are growing up too fast," came Gabriella's gentle reply.

That night when Troy and Gabriella were in bed, Gabriella asked, "Do you think I'm being too selfish to want Brie to stay here instead of going to New York?"

"No, you're not being selfish. You're just worried. It's normal, so try not to worry about it," Troy answered, wrapping Gabriella up in his arms and kissing her forehead.

Gabriella let out a soft sigh. "I'm trying to get over this fear. I really am."

"I know you are. And I'm proud of you." As he spoke, Troy kissed Gabriella's lips.

Gabriella smiled and kissed Troy back. When she was finished, she told Troy, "I can't sleep. I'm too worried about Brie going away."

"Try, honey. Okay? You need to close your eyes and get some rest. We have work tomorrow."

"I'm not gonna be able to."

"How do you know? You didn't even try, baby girl. Now just snuggle against me, get warm and comfy, then think happy thoughts. Before you know it, you'll be fast asleep."

"I don't know about that."

"Alright. If you really think you can't sleep, then why don't we go downstairs and watch a movie or something?" Troy suggested.

"Okay. I guess we could do that," Gabriella agreed.

"Mom, are you mad that I got into the New York ballet program?" Brie questioned the next evening at the dinner table.

"No, Brie. I'm not," Gabriella replied. "I just have to get used to the idea of you leaving home for the summer."

"But I can tell you're not happy. Every time I mention it, you try to change the subject. It's like you don't even wanna think about it. It's like you don't even care," Brie protested.

"I do care. I'm just not good at being separated from people I'm close to. But I promise you that I'm trying to get over that weakness. And I am glad you got in," Gabriella told her daughter.

Brie looked her mother right in the eyes. "You're lying," she accused, a slight sound of harshness in her voice. "You don't care about what I wanna do. You want my life to be just like yours. Fall in love, get married, have thousands of kids, and be stuck at home all day when they're babies because they can't be alone. You want me to get a job like yours, you don't want me to be a professional-and maybe famous-ballerina. I get it. But I need to tell you that I'm not doing what you want me to do. I'm not letting you plan out my life."

"Brie Anne Bolton!" Troy spoke sternly. "Stop this! You're being disrespectful!"

"Don't call me that!" Brie snapped. "I'm not a Bolton anymore. Not if this is the ridiculous way Boltons are!"

"Go to you room!" Troy yelled. "And don't come out until you're ready to be pleasant again!"

"I don't have to listen to you anymore! If I'm not a Bolton, which I refuse to be now, you're not my father!"

"Nothing will change the fact that you're part of this family," Troy pointed out. "And I'll always be your father. You can't do anything to change that."

"No, you're not my father. If you were, you wouldn't be defending my stupid mother who, by the way, is not my mother anymore."

Gabriella began to cry. Getting out of her chair, she hurried upstairs and into her and Troy's bedroom, where she flung herself on their bed.

"Look what you did. You made your mom cry!" Troy exclaimed angrily. "You kids all know she's sensitive and yet you go and hurt her feelings-and break her heart. Well, Julliette and Sam don't. But you and Troy are like how Mr. Evans and Mrs. Baylor were in high school-rude."

"You know what? You're rude!" Brie spoke. "And selfish!"

Troy got up from the table and walked over to the stairs. "I need to get out of this room."

"Daddy! I'm scared!" Julliette whimpered. "I don't like fights!"

"Come here," Troy instructed his youngest daughter gently.

"Do you wanna go somewhere that's not crazy?" Troy Jr. asked Samantha. "I'm getting tired of this."

"Sure," Samantha replied.

Troy Jr. and Samantha both got out of their seats and left the room, leaving Brie all alone.

"Daddy, will you make this stop?" Julliette wondered as she ran over to Troy and hugged him. She then began to cry. "I-I'm s-so s-scared."

Troy lifted Julliette off the ground and into his arms. "Let's go upstairs and see your mommy." He began going up the stairs. When he got to the top of them, he walked through the hallway until he reached the master bedroom, which he stepped into. Immediately, he noticed his wife lying on the bed crying. Going over to her, he sat down, allowing Julliette to sit in his lap, and started rubbing her back. "It'll be okay," he comforted.

Gabriella pulled herself into a sitting position and snuggled against Troy's side, resting her cheek on his shoulder. She then let herself wrap her arms around him.

Julliette looked at her mother. "I-I g-got s-so s-scared."

"I-I know. T-This i-is s-scary for e-everyone," Gabriella told her daughter.

Julliette began hugging Troy. "D-Daddy's g-gonna try t-to make i-it b-better. B-But if he c-can't, I-I d-don't k-know what w-we're g-gonna d-do."

Troy pressed a kiss onto his wife's nose, then one on his daughter's head. "Everything's gonna turn out alright."

"Troy, you were right when you got mad at Mom and Dad about dating Sadie," Brie began as she walked up to her brother and Samantha. "Because our parents aren't really the best people in the world."

"Don't say that, Brie!" Samantha exclaimed. "Mom and Dad are wonderful!"

"No, they aren't. They want what's not best for me."

"I don't think those kind of things about them anymore," Troy Jr. told his sister. "I now understand that I'm not the only person in Dad's life and that he has a right to spend time with Mom or anyone else he wants to. And I understand that Mom just does stuff because she cares about me."

"Why is everyone turning against me? Don't you get what's happening?" Brie began to sob. "I-I d-don't w-wanna h-have m-my w-whole l-life p-planned o-out f-for m-me. I-I n-need t-to b-be a b-ballerina. I-It's w-what's b-best. I-I r-really w-wanna d-do it b-but M-Mom h-hates t-the w-whole i-idea. S-She w-was e-excited f-for m-me w-when I-I f-first t-told h-her a-about t-the o-offer. T-This i-is w-why I-Id-don't w-wanna b-be a B-Bolton a-anymore. T-They're n-not n-nice. I-I m-mean, t-they a-act a-all n-nice, then t-they j-just g-go and t-turn o-on y-you."

"Maybe you should try talking this out with Mom," Samantha suggested.

"S-She w-won't l-listen."

Nighttime came. Julliette, who was still upset, had insisted on sleeping with Troy and Gabriella in their bed instead of in her own. However, it was very crowded, especially to Troy, who was squeezed in between Gabriella, who was clinging to him and allowing her head to rest on his chest, and Julliette, who was right up against him do that she wasn't so close to the edge of the bed.

"Good night," Troy said, giving Gabriella a kiss on the lips and Julliette a kiss on the forehead.

"Good night, Wildcat," Gabriella returned, snuggling into her husband and closing her eyes.

"Good night, Daddy," Julliette acknowledged.

"It's really crowded in here," Troy commented. "Julliette, do you need to be in this bed with Mommy and I or can you go back in your own room?"

"I'm still upset about the fight," Julliette replied.

"Alright," Troy sighed, pulling the covers onto Gabriella more than they already were, then wrapping his arms around her body. "Are you gonna be able to sleep tonight or is it gonna end up like last night?" he questioned.

"I think I'll be able to sleep. I'm really tired," Gabriella answered.

"Okay. Well you just try your best. I love you, baby girl."

"Love you, too."

The next morning, the Boltons woke up to find that a thick layer of snow was covering their yard and driveway.

"Is school cancelled?" Troy Jr. asked anxiously as he appeared in the living room where the rest of the family, excluding Brie, was sitting and watching the news' school closings.

"Yup," Troy responded. "It is."

"Yes!" Troy Jr. shouted.

"I'm happy about it, too," Gabriella told her son. "I'm looking forward to not having to get ready at all today. I rarely get to do that. And guess what? We have some hot chocolate. I can make some for all of us and we could drink it while watching a movie, sound good? And then after we can finally have a family reading time."

"Can I skip the reading part?" Troy questioned.

"Wildcat, there has to be something you would be interested in reading," Gabriella told her husband. "Come on; let's go look at the books I have in our room."

At that moment, Brie came into the room, still wearing her pajamas. Apparently she had somehow gotten the idea that school was cancelled. "I need to apologize," she announced.

Everyone looked at Brie.

"I was being really mean yesterday. I totally lost control of myself. I didn't mean most of the things I said, especially the things about not being a Bolton anymore. I really was just angry and words that I didn't wanna say came out. But I love you all; I promise I couldn't ask for a better family. Please forgive me."

"I will," everyone acknowledged.

"Thank you." Brie then went to each member of her family and hugged them. When she came to Gabriella, she began, "I'm sorry if you don't want me to do the ballet program."

"Brie, I do," Gabriella smiled. "It's just that I'll miss you a lot. But if this is something you really wanna do and if it's that important to you, then I want you to do it."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Gabriella then turned to Troy. "Alright, Wildcat. Let's go look for an interesting book for you to read now."

Troy gave Gabriella a slightly annoyed yet completely loving look. "Okay."

"Why are you looking for a book?" Brie questioned.

"We're gonna have family reading time later today. And a movie time," Troy explained.

"Oh."

"So I need to find a book your father will read," Gabriella added as she grabbed Troy's hand and led him upstairs, then into the master bedroom, where she gently pulled him over to all her books, which were lined up neatly on a small bookshelf. "Let's see. What genre do you think would interest you? I mean, I mostly have romance novels, but I have a few different ones, too."

"Um....how about sports?"

"Sports isn't a genre, Wildcat. It's a topic."

"But Gabby, it's pretty much my only interest. Besides you and the kids." As he spoke, he pulled a book from the bookshelf. "Oh, look! Here's Troy's baby book. I'll read that."

"Wildcat, baby books don't count."

Troy opened the book and showed Gabriella their son's handprints and footprints that had been taken at the hospital not long after he was born. "Honey, look at this."

"Aw, they're so tiny!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I can't believe twelve years has passed since he was a baby."

"Me neither," Troy agreed. "It seems like just last week I was rushing you to the hospital in the middle of the night because our twins were about to be born."

"I know. Now, let's find a book for you to read. And please cooperate."

Troy put the baby book away, then asked, "What are you gonna make me read?"

Gabriella glanced at all the books on the shelf. "How about......"

"How about what?" Troy wanted to know.

"A book from when the kids were toddlers. My First Book of Bedtime Stories. Wanna read that?"

"Gabby, I'm not a little kid."

"I was joking!"

"You're silly, my love, you know that?"

"Wildcat, stop trying to change the subject! We kind of have to be serious with this!"

"I am." Troy then caught sight of the East High senior year yearbook that was lying on the floor on top of a whole pile of yearbooks. Grabbing it, he announced, "I'll read this. It has someone really cute in it, so I'll love it!"

"You know, for when we read I was planning on sitting right next to you, so you won't need a picture to see what I look like."

"I have an idea! How about just the kids read while we take a hot bath together. Please? We haven't taken a bath in so long, baby girl. I miss it."

"That would be something to do when we have 'us' time, not family time. So we can do that after the kids go to bed tonight. I promise you we will. But for now you really need to pick out a book to read. A real book."

Troy started kissing Gabriella on the lips. "I love you," he murmured.

"Love you, too," Gabriella returned, kissing Troy back. "But that isn't gonna bribe me into letting you not read."

"Gabby....."

"Alright, the hot chocolate's ready!" Gabriella called from the kitchen, where she had just been making six cups of hot chocolate.

Troy Jr., Samantha, Brie, and Julliette, all hurried into the kitchen.

"You can take whatever cup you want," Gabriella told all the kids. Then, realizing Troy wasn't there, she called, "Wildcat! Where are you? Come here!"

As Gabriella finished speaking, Troy appeared in the kitchen. "I'm right here. Are we gonna watch a movie now?"

Gabriella nodded and handed Troy a cup of hot chocolate. "Here you go." She then grabbed the remaining hot chocolate cup as she allowed Troy to take her hand and lead her into the living room.

"What movie are we watching?" Troy Jr. asked.

"A Christmas Carol-since it's almost Christmas," Gabriella replied. "And that's what book you're reading this afternoon, Wildcat," she added, looking at her husband. "It's a good story. You'll love it."

"Precious Gabby," Troy began.

"A Christmas Carol is a short story! It's only about ninety pages."

"That's ninety pages too many," Troy complained.

"Wildcat. I want you to stop complaining. You can cuddle me while we read; but only if you stop pouting about this. It's getting to be a bit riduculous."

Troy sat down on the sofa. "I hate to read. You know that."

Gabriella walked over to the DVD player and placed the A Christmas Carol DVD inside of it before pressing the button to play it. Then, she went over to Troy and sat next to him. "You're crazy."

"You're crazier, my love," Troy disagreed gently.

"The movie's starting!" Julliette told everyone. "So Mommy and Daddy, can you please not talk during it?"

"We'll be quiet starting right now," Gabriella promised.

"Okay, let's read now," Gabriella said as the ending credits of the movie appeared on the TV screen. "And here's rules we need-well they're pretty much rules for you." She pointed at Troy.

"There's rules?" Honey, this isn't a game!"

"We all need to be quiet in consideration of each other and read for at least half an hour as a family. Okay, Wildcat?"

Troy pulled Gabriella into a hug and pressed a kiss onto her cheek. "You're silly, yet sweet. And I love you for it."

Gabriella let out a giggle as she snuggled into Troy, allowing her head to rest on his shoulder. "You're crazy. But also loving and affectionate. I love you, too."

"I'm gonna go get my Warriors book," Samantha announced.

"I'm gonna get mine, too," Troy Jr. told everyone.

Brie and Julliette also decided to get their books, so they followed Troy Jr. and Samantha, who were already walking out of the room.

"Come on, Wildcat. Let's go get our books," Gabriella suggested.

Everyone was in the living room reading. Troy and Gabriella were snuggled up together on the sofa, Samantha and Troy Jr. were leaning against the sofa while sitting on the carpeted floor, Brie was sitting in a chair, and Julliette was on the part of the sofa her parents weren't occupying.

"I love you," Troy murmured suddenly, leaning over to place a kiss on Gabriella's cheek, then her lips.

"Shhh. You need to be quiet," Gabriella told her husband after returning his kiss. "Everyone's trying to read."

"How much time is left?"

"Look at the clock."

Troy turned so that he could catch a glimpse of the clock that was on the wall. It showed him that only five minutes had passed since the family reading time began. Sighing, he tried to pay attention to his book again. But he just couldn't. So he decided to give Gabriella another kiss.

"Troy! Why do you keep trying to kiss me?" Gabriella questioned.

"I love you," Troy responded.

"Well I love you, too, but can you please try to pay attention to the book and not to me?"

"I can't help it. You're so beautiful."

"Julliette," Gabriella began.

Julliette faced her mother.

"Can you please sit next to Daddy and I can sit where you're sitting? Because Daddy's being slightly disruptive toward me."

"Okay," Julliette agreed.

"So, was reading today that awful?" Gabriella asked Troy that night when they were relaxing in the bathtub. Even though he had been being very stubborn that afternoon, she had still kept her promise to take a bath with him.

"Not as bad as it could have been, but bad enough," Troy answered, pulling Gabriella over to him and positioning her so that she was sitting in between his legs. He then wrapped his arms loosely around her, letting them go just a tiny bit underneath her shoulders.

Gabriella snuggled against Troy's chest. "How far did you get in the book?"

"To page six."

"Page six? Wildcat, I got to page thirty in my book! Troy even got more than ten pages read!"

"How do you know he did?"

"Because I saw him turn a page of his book at least fifteen times."

Troy nuzzled his wife's wet shoulder. "You are too smart, my love," he told her.

Gabriella smiled happily and closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax a little. Before she knew it, she was asleep.

"Gabby," Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear, checking to see if she was awake or not.

No response came.

Troy, deciding that Gabriella was asleep, let his head fall on top of hers. It wasn't long before he was sleeping along with her.

Oh, I have a baby name poll up on my profile. Please vote in it if you didn't already!