Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

A/N: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!So guess what???? I bet you all already know but HSM2 won best soundtrack at the American Music Awards!! Yay for them!!! Anyway thank you so very much to everyone who reviewed!!!!! They mean so much to me and I love getting them. Enjoy…

Last Time…

He was in almost the same situation now, not being able to tell her just how much she meant to him.

"Troy" Marie said waving her hand in front of his face. "Hello are you still with us?"

"Yeah. Sorry I was just thinking. And to answer your question, yes I would turn the Queen of England's pulpy orange juice down." Troy said.

"Ok then" Marie said. Taylor smiled she knew exactly what Troy had been thinking about and to this day the only person who had ever been able to get Troy to drink pulpy orange juice was Gabriella.

Chapter Ten

It's All My Fault

Taylor, Chad, Chris, Troy and Marie had just finished eating dinner. Over the course of dinner Marie had loosened up a bit and Chris had taken to her.

"Mommy may I be scused from the table please?" Chris asked Taylor.

"But sweetie don't you want dessert?" Taylor reasoned.

"Ok, after dessert can I be scused?"

"Yes, after dessert you may be excused." Taylor said stressing the proper way to pronounce excused. "Chad, why don't you go get the dessert?" Chad nodded and got up from the table. A few moments later he reappeared with an apple pie.

"YAY! My favorite!" Chris exclaimed as everyone smiled. Taylor cut up the pie and served it to everyone. Chris managed to down his in record time.

"I'm finished!" Chris exclaimed with his mouth still full of food.

"Chris don't talk with your mouth full" Chad said ironically as his mouth was also full of food.

"Chad! Same goes for you!" Taylor scolded.

"Like father like son" Troy said causing Marie to giggle.

"Ok mommy I finished eating, now can I be scused from the table?" Chris asked.

"Yes you may" Taylor replied calmly. Chris jumped down from his chair was ran over to Marie, whispering something in her ear. She smiled and nodded.

"Taylor, that was absolutely delicious, thank you so much. However your son is very anxious to go outside and play basketball with me, so may I also be excused?" Marie asked softly.

"Of course" Taylor said kindly. Marie stood up slowly,

"Let me just take the dishes in then I'll be right out. Ok Chris?" she said as she began collecting dishes.

"No Marie, you go on out, we'll get these" Taylor insisted.

"No please Taylor let me just take these in, it will only take a moment." Marie insisted. Taylor sighed knowing she wasn't going to win this war.

"Thank you" Taylor said gratefully. Marie smiled, she was going to get used to people thanking her.

"No, thank you" she replied softly as she gathered up the last dishes and brought them into the kitchen.

Once she had left the room, Troy sat back in his chair and sighed, Chad still had a look of disbelief on his face and Taylor also quietly sighed. All at once they all said softly,

"Wow" once the three realized they had said the exact same word they looked at each other for clarification.

"I can't believe how much of Gabi is still there and yet there is still so much missing." Taylor spoke softly. "She uses the same phrases and hand motions but she is still so reserved, so grateful for everything."

"I know, Jeff's taken so much from her, too much. It hurts me to think of all the pain that bastard has caused her." Troy said "He took away all of her confidence, her spirits, her baby, he abused her so badly while she was pregnant he killed the baby!"

Taylor covered her mouth with her hand in shock,

"I couldn't imagine losing a child, even an unborn one."

"And what's worse she blames herself for it." Troy said.

"But why?"

"Because Jeff said it was her fault, he made her believe it was her fault."

"That's not fair" Taylor said quietly.

"Nothing she's been through is fair" Troy pointed out. Taylor nodded.

"Chad are you alright? You've been awfully quiet." Taylor observed.

"I just can't believe Chris wanted to play basketball with her instead of me" Chad said.

"Oh Chad! For heaven's sake how can you say that, this, this is good for her." Taylor scolded.

"I was only joking; I just couldn't believe all this is really happening to Gabi." Chad said seriously.

"I can't either" Troy said.

"Now, come on, let's go do the dishes" Taylor said. Troy and Chad groaned. However as soon as Taylor sent them death glares they eased up.

"Ok fine we're coming, gosh, chill" Chad spoke, as the pair followed her into the kitchen.

Taylor washed the dishes as Troy dried them and the Chad put them away.

Troy was mindlessly drying the dishes as he watched Marie through the window as she played basketball with Chris. Taylor watched him as he continued drying the same dish for 5 minutes.

"Troy, hello, are you still there?" Taylor asked, waving her hand in front of Troy's face. Troy just continued staring out the window. Taylor looked at Chad and Chad said,

"Good god, I haven't seen him look at someone like that since high school"

"Yeah well that's because the person he is looking at is the only person that ever made him look at someone that way." Taylor pointed out. Chad nodded in agreement.

"Troy, dude! Hello!" Chad said trying to snap him out of the trance. Still nothing.

"Troy, look! Ms. Darbus is playing basketball!" Chad exclaimed. Still nothing.

"How come that worked when Gabriella used to do it?" Chad huffed.

"Because that was when we were in High School, and Ms. Darbus was actually around!" Taylor said.

"Look at her, she always wanted to be a mother or work with kids." Troy spoke suddenly. "I always knew she would make an amazing teacher and an even better mother."

"I know, Troy. She always said that all she wanted in life was to be a mother and to be with you forever." Taylor said softly as she too watched the way Marie interacted with Chris. Troy turned to look at Taylor,

"That's all I ever wanted too. To have by my side always and forever." Troy said softly.

"And now you're getting that chance Troy. She's here, she's in the flesh. Gabriella still in there somewhere, she's just waiting to find a way out." Taylor said. Troy nodded,

"I know, I'm just afraid of losing her again. I don't think I could take that"

"She'll come around Troy, just give her time" Taylor said.

Suddenly the adults heard an ear piercing scream, they all turned around and looked out the window only to see Jeff grabbing Chris.

"Taylor, call the police! Chad come on!" Troy yelled before he ran out the door.

With Marie and Chris just as Troy turned around to talk to Taylor…

Chris threw the ball towards the basket and it went straight in.

"Yay!! I win!" Chris exclaimed.

"You did! Good job!" Marie exclaimed happily, picking up Chris and twirling him around. Chris giggled, however suddenly he abruptly stopped.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Who's dat?" Marie set Chris down and turned around, coming face to face with Jeff. Her face paled quickly.

"J…Jeff w…what aa…are you doing here?" Marie stuttered.

"I'm here to reclaim what's mine!" Jeff said loudly.

"H…how d..did you find me?"

"I have my ways!" Jeff said evilly. "Now come you bitch, you're coming with me!" Jeff grabbed her wrists pulling her towards him.

"No" Marie said softly.

"EXCUSE ME!"

"N..no. Jeff you can't just take me away"

"I CAN AND I WILL. YOU DISOBEYED ME YOU WORTHLESS SLUT! I TOLD YOU NOT TO FUCKING TELL ANYONE AND YOU DID!" Jeff yelled punching her stomach.

"I…I didn't tell Troy anything." Marie said.

"WELL HE FUCKING FOUND OUT!" Jeff hollered throwing Marie on the hard cement ground.

"Marie!" Chris yelled, moving towards her to make sure she was ok.

"No, Chris, please don't come here. Please." She begged him afraid Jeff would hurt Chris.

"Ahh what do we have here?" Jeff said evilly.

"You're being a meanie" Chris said boldly.

"Am I? WELL GUESS WHAT? I CAN BE EVEN MEANER!" Jeff yelled picking Chris up harshly. Marie screamed.

"Put him down! Please don't hurt him!" Marie begged tearfully as she got up slowly.

"WHY SHOULD I?" Jeff yelled.

"Because I told you to stay away from her!" Troy yelled.

"BOLTON!" Jeff spat.

"Put him down!" Chad demanded.

"Ok" Jeff smiled evilly before he threw Chris on the ground just as he had with Marie.

"ASS HOLE!" Chad yelled, before he ran over to his son. Jeff moved over towards Marie and grabbed her wrists.

"YOU'RE COMING WITH ME! NOW MOVE BITCH!" Jeff yelled pushing Marie hard. Marie winced in pain.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Troy yelled.

"MAKE ME!" Jeff yelled back.

"FINE!" Troy lunged towards Jeff punching him square in the face. Jeff released Marie as he lost his footing and she fell to the ground. Jeff threw a punch at Troy's face but he missed and punched Troy's stomach instead. Troy took a moment to catch his breath and then threw another hard punch into Jeff's stomach.

Just then sirens could be heard.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH! YOU CALLED THE POLICE!" Jeff yelled at Marie, forgetting Troy and moving towards Marie. Before Troy could stop him, Jeff kicked Marie hard in the abdomen.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE HER ALONE! SHE'S DONE NOTHING TO YOU!" Troy yelled angrily.

"Everyone freeze!" the police officer yelled. "Which one of you if Jeff?"

Troy and Chad pointed at Jeff. The officers rushed over to Jeff and handcuffed him.

"Mr. Sander you are under arrest for the assault of Ms. Garcia. You have the right to remain silent as anything you say will be used against you in court." The police officer said sternly leading Jeff over to the police car.

Troy rushed over to Marie, who was sobbing. He gently rubbed her arm trying to calm her down.

"Where's Chris? I…is he ok, please tell me he's ok" Marie said suddenly.

"He's fine, calm down it's ok." Troy said gently.

"It's my fault, he's hurt, it's my fault" Marie said.

"It's not your fault, you didn't hurt Chris, Jeff did. You did nothing wrong. Come let's go inside." Troy said softly. Marie just nodded.

They entered the kitchen and Marie immediately burst into tears. Chris was sitting on the kitchen table, as Taylor cleaned up the few cuts he had gotten after Jeff threw him on the ground.

"I…I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Marie kept repeating.

"Marie you have nothing to be sorry about" Troy assured her.

"No, it's my fault, everything is my fault, it's my fault." Marie said. Troy turned her around so that she was facing him.

"Marie, please listen to me, you did absolutely nothing wrong. None of this is your fault. OK?" Troy said firmly. Marie nodded.

"Now, are you ok? Where does it hurt?" Troy asked.

"I'm fine" Marie assured him. "What about you are you ok?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. It's you I'm concerned about." Troy said trying to look at the cuts that had appeared on the arms, but she covered them with her other hand.

"It's nothing." Marie said softly.

"Let me just clean them and put some bandages on them" Troy said softly.

"Ok" Marie said.

Troy got a damp cloth and gently began rubbing the damp cloth over the cuts, cleaning out the dirt. He dried it and wrapped a bandage around it.

"It that too tight?" he asked.

"No, it's fine. Thank you" Marie replied quietly. Just then Chris came running over and hugged Marie tightly.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine, are you ok?" she asked him softly.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Was that your friend who was mean to you?" Chris asked.

Marie nodded.

"Yes Chris, that was her friend who was mean to her. But he's not really her friend anymore." Troy said.

"Good, cause he was a meanie to everyone." Chris said.

"Exactly." Troy said.

"I'm sorry he hurt you Chris" Marie said.

"It's not your fault, you shouldn't be saying sorry, he should" Chris said. Marie felt tears in her eyes, but refused to let them fall.

"Thank you for saying that" Marie said hugging Chris tightly.

"You're welcome" Chris said before he let out a long yawn.

"I think someone is tired." Taylor said. "It's time for someone to go to sleep."

"And I think we better head home too" Troy said.

"Ok Chris say goodbye to Uncle Troy and Marie." Taylor said.

"Bye bye Uncle Troy" Chris said hugging Troy.

"Bye, little man. Good night"

"Bye bye Marie" Chris said hugging Marie.

"Good night Chris. Thank you for letting me play with you" She said sweetly.

"It was fun" Chris smiled.

"It was" Marie replied.

"Bye guys" Taylor said. "Thanks for coming over. Come again, any time."

"Thank you for having me. I'm sorry I caused so much trouble." Marie said.

"You didn't do anything wrong, please, it was so nice to have you" Taylor assured her.

"Thank you" Marie said.

"Bye Taylor, don't worry we'll stop by soon" Troy said.

"Bye Chad" Marie said.

"See ya soon" Chad said.

"Bye man" Troy said.

"See ya dude." Chad said. Troy and Marie walked out to the car as Chad shut the door behind them.

Just a few minutes into the drive home Marie fell asleep. Once Troy pulled up outside his apartment, he carried Marie bridal style into the apartment. He gently put her down on the bed, not wanting to wake her. He moved the covers over her, so she wouldn't be cold in the night. Before he left her to sleep in peace he kissed her forehead gently and whispered,

"I love you"

A/N: So…what did you think? Was it any good? You know I thought about splitting it so there was a cliffy but then I felt like being nice! Please review with any suggestions, comments, questions, concerns, anything!