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

A/N: Oh hey guys. Long time no speak. I know, I know, it's been forever. Let me just warn all you students out there: College Apps SUCK. I'm going to try to update this as often as I can, but when I'm not doing homework, I'm doing college apps, and when I'm not doing college apps, I'm doing homework. But let's not talk about my life suck. Hopefully you guys like this chapter and won't want to kill me after it. Enjoy…


Chapter Twelve – Why?

Gabriella sat on one side of Mariana's hospital bed, while Lucas and Lily sat on the opposite side. The four were playing cards on a small lap table that Mariana had placed in her lap.

"Another win for Gabriella!" Gabriella exclaimed happily as she placed down the winning cards.

Lucas groaned, "Are you kidding me? How are you so good at this game?"

Gabriella smiled, "Just practice."

"Let's play again!" Lily suggested.

Gabriella laughed and shuffled the cards in her hand before she started to deal them again. Just as she was finished dealing, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Mariana called.

Gabriella turned her head, curious to see who was going to enter. The door opened and Lucille and Troy came walking through.

"Oh Mariana, when Troy told me, I was so worried. I'm glad to see you're alright," Lucille exclaimed quickly making her way over to the bed to hug her friend, "And while you're recovering, if Maria, you can't get home from work in time, the kids are always welcome at our house and I'd be happy to drive them wherever. Whatever you need, we'll help out in whatever way we can," she assured them.

Mariana squeezed Lucille's hand in gratitude, "Thank you."

By that time, Troy had already made his own way over to the bed and kissed Gabriella's cheek, "Good morning," he whispered.

"Hi," Gabriella whispered back.

"So what are we playing here?" Troy asked. Gabriella opened her mouth to respond, but Lucas quickly responded,

"Rummie! Except Gabriella and grandma are really really good at this game, so they just keep winning," Lucas complained.

"How about I'll be on your team Lucas and we'll beat your sister," Troy suggested, grinning.

"I get to be on Gabi's team!" Lily announced.

Gabriella smiled, "We'll take'em, right?"

With that, Gabriella began dealing again, this time with a competitive grin on her face. After seven, extremely close rounds, Mariana had come out on top with three wins, while the other two teams only won two each.

"We have to play again!" Lily exclaimed.

Mariana chuckled, "Oh we have to, do we?"

"Yeah!" Lucas agreed, "to break the tie between our two teams."

Troy leaned back in his chair nonchalantly, "Luc, don't even worry about it, we're clearly better than the girls."

"Looks like someone is just afraid that he'll lose," Gabriella challenged.

"Oh I don't think so," Troy shook his head, "You're on."

Just as Troy was about to begin dealing the cards, there was a knock on the wooden door. Dr. Avery walked in with two nurses.

"I hate to interrupt this lovely card game, but we need to begin prepping Ms. Ortiz for surgery," Dr. Avery announced.

The lighthearted mood in the room immediately turned serious. The reality was beginning to set in, this was really happening.

"I'll give you a few minutes," Dr. Avery offered, before he walked out of the room.

There were a few moments of somber silence, before Lucille spoke,

"It was lovely to see you," she smiled, hugging Mariana.

"Oh thank you for coming to visit and thank you for taking Lucas and Lily," Mariana whispered.

"It's our pleasure. I'll bring them back tomorrow morning," Lucille assured her.

Lucas and Lily approached their grandmother and quickly engulfed her in a long warm hug. Gabriella watched as they whispered words of love and luck.

While Lucas and Lily spent precious time with their grandmother, Troy moved towards Gabriella to say goodbye.

"You'll keep Lucas and Lily busy, won't you?" Gabriella requested quietly.

Troy nodded understandingly, "Of course we will, this is my family we're talking about."

Gabriella smiled, "Thank you."

"She'll be ok," Troy whispered.

Gabriella nodded quickly, trying to keep her tears from falling. It wasn't that she thought her grandmother wasn't going to make it, it was just that there this was this worry that plagued her. The thought of what if.

Troy pulled her into a tight hug, and kissed her forehead comfortingly.

"You can call me tonight," he whispered.

Gabriella nodded, "I will."

Troy squeezed Gabriella's hand, one last time, before he made his way over to Mariana. As he leaned over and hugged her, she leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Remember what we talked about." Troy nodded, before he pulled away


Gabriella sat with her heavy head in her hands as she listened to Doctor Avery explain what had happened during the surgery. Why suddenly was everything so wrong?

"We were successfully able to perform the bypass, however Ms. Ortiz suffered from a stroke during the surgery," he explained.

"But what does that mean for us?" Maria asked bluntly.

"We're going to monitor her brain activity and then decide how best to proceed," Dr. Avery answered.

"You're not answering my question. When is my mother going to wake up?" Maria pressed.

"I can't answer that with any degree of certainty. Depending on the damage, it could be hours, days, weeks or never."

Never. That word echoed over and over in Gabriella's brain. No, she decided, she wasn't going to let herself think like that. The doctor had said Mariana could wake up. That was what she going to focus on, the silver lining.


Dr. Avery called Gabriella and Maria into his office about 3 hours later. As if the tension between Gabriella and Maria wasn't enough, Dr. Avery added a layer of somberness to the thick atmosphere.

He motioned for the two women to sit down in the chairs directly in front of his desk.

"I've just received the results from the tests we ran and I have to say that the results are not what we had hoped for. It seems that Ms. Ortiz suffered severely from the stroke. It seems that her condition is growing worse as the hours press on. We've had to put her on life support and her brain activity is lowering as we speak," Dr. Avery explained sadly.

"Why aren't you doing something about it?" Maria demanded.

"Honestly we've done everything we can," Dr. Avery answered.

"But she could still be ok?" Gabriella asked hopefully.

Dr. Avery shook his head, "In her current state, the likelihood that her condition gets better is low."

"But there's a chance?" Gabriella pressed, inching to the edge of her chair.

"There's a very small chance, but even if she does get better, she'll never be the same. She'll likely have severe memory loss and will most likely be blind."

"We could help her. She could wake up," Gabriella muttered hopefully. She was not giving up on her grandmother. Not now. Not ever. She would be ok. She had to be.


An hour later Gabriella and Maria were back in Mariana's hospital room. Mariana had machines surrounding her and wires attached to different points on her body. She had a tube in her nose helping her breathe and a large bandage over her chest.

Gabriella sat on one side of her grandmother, grasping Mariana's hand tightly, while Maria sat at a small table near the end of Mariana's bed. There was a knock at the door and then Dr. Avery entered and quietly asked for Maria to join him in the hallway.

Gabriella stayed inside the cold room, her hand firmly grasping her grandmother's weak one. She'd been whispering words of encouragement the entire time, in English and Spanish – just for good measure.

But the woman lying in front of her was not the grandmother she knew. This woman was pale and weak. Her grandmother was warm and strong. Gabriella had faith that the Mariana she knew would come back, she'd wake up. The Mariana she knew wouldn't give up.

When Maria reentered the room, her face looked torn. She walked over to Gabriella, "I want you to understand that the doctors did everything they could," she began softly, "However your grandmother's condition has deteriorated completely now. They say she's brain dead. The only reason she's still alive is because of the machines that are keeping her heart beating and her lungs working," Maria explained quietly.

"So we just wait for her to wake up," Gabriella reminded her firmly.

Maria shook her head, "I don't think that's going to happen. We need to think about taking her off the machines."

"No!" Gabriella exclaimed, "She's strong, she'll wake up from this."

"Gabriella I know this is hard for you to accept."

"It wouldn't be so hard if you would just give her a chance!" Gabriella countered.

"Stop acting like child, the doctor says she's not going to wake up," Maria responded angrily.

"No, the doctors say it's unlikely she's going to wake up," Gabriella interrupted fiercely.

"They said there is a 1% chance, for someone who was young and healthy. The probability decreases as people age," Maria reminded her daughter.

"So why can't we give her that chance? It's barely been a day!" Gabriella threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"Gabriella things aren't going to get better. The reality is we don't have the resources to keep her on the expensive machines," Maria argued.

"I'll work more and I have money saved," Gabriella protested, "I can help with the finances," she insisted.

"What about Lucas and Lily? Is it fair to them to give them false hope?" Maria questioned.

"How do you know it's false hope?" Gabriella demanded.

Maria sighed, "Gabriella this is what's best for this family and more importantly, it's what is best for your grandmother."

"Killing her is better for everyone?" Gabriella spat bitterly, "Despite what you might think, I'm not a child anymore. I have opinions and it hurts that you won't listen to any of them."

Gabriella turned, furiously, and walked out of the hospital room. She couldn't understand why the people around her didn't have the same faith that she had.


Gabriella sat in the cafeteria, tears streaming down her face. Why didn't anyone else have faith that her grandmother would make it through? Why didn't they remember her strength? Why couldn't they give her a chance?

She was so angry with her mother. Why was she rushing this? Why couldn't they just wait a few days? Why was she giving in so easily?

She refused to believe that there was nothing left the doctors could do. This was the 21st century, wasn't there some new technology to help her grandmother. There had to be something, anything, they could at least try.

She heard the familiar clicking of heels and before she knew it her mother was sitting in the chair opposite her.

"Try to understand that I'm doing what's best for this family Gabriella. Despite what you might think, I didn't want it to work out this way either" Maria explained quietly.

"Why don't you give her more time?" Gabriella asked, an angry tone audible in her quiet voice.

"I've talked to Dr. Avery, we've exhausted every possibility. Taking her off the machines is our only option," Maria answered.

Gabriella looked up at her mother with cold eyes, "I'm not going to change your mind, am I? You're not going to listen to my opinion, are you?"

"She's gone Gabriella, nothing is going to change that," Maria whispered, "You should go and say your goodbyes."

"What about Lucas and Lily?" Gabriella asked.

"I think it'd be too hard for them to be here for this. I'll give you time with her."

Gabriella nodded, silently. She stood up from the table and walked out of the cafeteria, towards her grandmother's hospital room. Carefully, she pushed open the door and walked into the room. She sat down in the uncomfortable plastic chair and pulled it closer, before she laced her hand with her grandmother's.

"Abuelita," she whispered, "I want to keep fighting for you, I really do, but she won't let me. I don't want to lose you. I don't want this to end. I feel like I just got you back," her voice cracked. Gabriella quickly wiped the tears that were falling,

"I don't know what I'm going to do Abuelita. I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with Maria being here. I want you here to help me.

"If you just show some sign of life then maybe the doctors won't have to do this. You could just move your finger to show them how strong you are. Prove to them that you can make it. I've tried, but they won't listen to me. They'd listen to you though," Gabriella sniffled.

"Te amo mucho, abuelita," she whispered, kissing Mariana's knuckles affectionately. Gabriella closed her eyes tightly, trying to block the tears. She lay her head down trying to be as close to her grandmother as possible.


Gabriella sat on Mariana's right side, while Maria sat on the other side. Gabriella gripped Mariana's hand tightly, as Dr. Avery walked into the room. Silently, he walked over to the left side of the room.

"I'm so sorry this is the way it had to end," he said softly.

Maria nodded in gratitude, while Gabriella squeezed her eyes shut, trying to wake up from what seemed like a nightmare.

Gabriella listened as Dr. Avery flipped off the switch of the life support machines. She heard the steady beat of the heart monitor slowly decrease until it formed a long single beep. Dr. Avery shut off the machine and quietly whispered that he'd give them all the time they needed.

Maria leaned up and kissed her mother on the forehead and murmured a prayer before she stood up and quietly exited the room.

As soon as she was alone in the room, Gabriella burst into sobs. She felt her heart wrench as she suddenly realized that this was not a dream. Her grandmother was dead. She was gone. Her only adult family member she'd ever been able to rely on was gone.

She should have fought harder. She should have fought harder against her mother to keep her grandmother alive. She felt like she'd failed. She'd failed her brother, her sister, herself, but most important her grandmother.

Gabriella clutched her grandmother's hand, trying to prevent the pain that was spreading through her body, from getting more intense. She lay her head down next to Mariana and closed her eyes. She wanted to stay with her grandmother for as long as possible.


A/N: So I know MOST of you are going to want to kill me, right now…and there isn't really much I can do about that. However, this is the beginning of climax of the story. The excitement is only just beginning. I have a lot more in store for you guys. Thanks for reading, please review!