Age Appropriate
Previously
"It means that you and your mother need to talk."
Shaking her head, Gabriella turned away from her Aunt. "I don't want to talk to her."
"Just give her a chance…"
"Trust me when I say that talking to her will do no good. She's not interested in fixing this."
xx
"Gabi, I am so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am and how terrible I feel about anything, but honestly at this point, I just want you back home. I know how stressful this all can be on you and I have been no help at all. You're nearly 6 months pregnant and I haven't spoken to you at all since you told me. I want to be a part or your life and this baby's life too."
"Mom, you don't understand!" Gabriella cried. "You made me feel like shit and you kicked me out! Do you even remember what you said to me? Do you even know how much your words affected me that night?"
xx
"Why would you do this to me? Isn't it hard enough that I have to deal with raising you as a single mom, but now you've gone and got yourself pregnant by a 20...oh excuse me, now 21 year old male."
"It's not like I did it on purpose!"
"Nothing you do is ever on purpose! Just like the things you said to me the other day, the way you've been treating me since your father passed, your bulimia, the fact that you got involved with an older man. None of that was on purpose either, right?"
xx
"Baby, I'm trying, I honestly am. I want to be the mother I haven't been."
"It's a little too late for that."
"I…"
"Mom! Right now, I need this. I need to stay in a place where I feel wanted, where I can be at home and feel loved and be around the people that want to help me. Things are going okay right now, and I'm not willing to risk that."
I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different.
-T.S. Eliot
Chapter 13
Gabriella smiled from her position lying across Troy's bed 2 weeks later as she observed his inspection of the picture in his hand.
"It doesn't even look like…"
"It's a leg, Troy," Gabriella answered before he could finish his statement. "Trust the doctor, she knows what she's talking about."
"I know, but it's just really unbelievable. I…I can't even…" He stopped suddenly, turning his head to stare at her and she looked back questioningly.
"What?"
Without answering, he stood up and catapulted himself onto the bed next to her, making her bounce up and down with the mattress. "Troy!" she giggled, but immediately stopped at the intense and meaningful look on his face as he placed his hand softly on her rounded stomach.
There was a comfortable silence that fell over the two of them as he rubbed his hand gently around the smooth and slightly hardened surface. Biting her lip, Gabriella watched him in curiosity, waiting and wondering if he was going to say something. And in a last minute impulse, she rested her hand on top of his, making him look up and meet her eyes.
"There's a baby in there," he spoke so softly, she had to think about whether he'd actually spoken to her. "I still can't even fathom the thought…that's my child in there."
Nodding, she moved his hand slowly so they were rubbing her abdomen together.
"I never thought there was something I could feel so strongly about or care so much for but when I see you and my…" he stopped, staring at her stomach, trying to find the words to say. "I find myself feeling so protective of you and our baby and I just…I wonder if it's strange that I'm actually excited about being a father to this kid."
Gabriella smiled, her hand moving to stroke the top of his head, drifting down slightly to play with the hairs on the back of his neck. "It's not strange. It's sweet and very responsible and the fact that you're willing to be here says so much more about you than most guys out there."
"Why wouldn't I be here? I would never leave you to deal with this alone…"
"I know," she cut him off quickly. "And I appreciate that so much, but you know we're still kind of in over our heads on this one. Although I'd love to live the fairy tale life with you, we've still got so much to figure out."
"And we will! As time moves on…"
"It's already almost March. I'm due in June. We've got to figure it out sooner rather than later."
"I know. That's what scares me about the whole situation."
"What? The fact that it's happening so fast?"
"No, not at all. Sure it would be nice to have more time, but I'm scared that I won't figure it out."
Gabriella's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she stopped her actions with his hair and dropped her hand to give him her full attention. "What are you talking about?"
"What if I don't figure any of this out, what if we don't? What if he or she gets here and we have nothing done or solved because we don't know how to? And then what if we're terrible parents because we have no idea what we're doing because we've never done this before. I…I can't do that to our kid. I can't be some deadbeat that can't even support…"
"Troy! Stop thinking like that. This is why we have help. Aunt Mel and believe it or not Chad and the guys, your dad's not cutting you out completely, and maybe even your mom might turn a new leaf." She stopped as she let herself believe in her own words, calming her own fears as well. "My dad always said that if you think negative, everything will come out that way, but if you keep your head up, only good things can come your way."
Troy looked over at her pretty much flawless face, her chocolate brown eyes, and olive skin that seemed to be glowing and smiled, reaching to lace their hands together. "Your dad sounds like a wise man, wish I could have met him."
Releasing a small smile as well, Gabriella nodded. "Yeah I wish you could have met him too. I think he would have liked you," she commented, letting out a laugh after. "You know after he had gotten over the fact that you're 3 years older and got me pregnant."
"You think he would have tried to kill me?"
"Probably," she giggled. "But he would have calmed down eventually and realized it wasn't the best thing to do."
"Because in the end it would hurt everyone right?"
"That and I don't think he'd want to spend the rest of his life in jail and away from us."
"Oh, ha-ha."
After a slightly awkward silence, Gabriella's face light up and she grabbed Troy's hand. "Let's go do something!"
Glancing at her oddly, he couldn't help the infectious smile that spread from her face to his. "Like what?"
"I don't know; anything!"
"We can't exactly do just anything, Brie, especially not you."
"I not talking anything drastic, but I want to have fun. I feel like we've constantly been stressing and we just need to let loose and forget about it for a while."
Staring at her bright and shining face that was suddenly filled with life at the thought of actually having the perfect idea to deal with some of the tensions and worries that had been surrounding the two for months now, Troy couldn't help but feel some sort of excitement at her plan. "Let's do it."
-XOXO-
"Troy!" Gabriella yelled out in a giggle. "Don't let me go!"
"I'm not," he assured her, his hands rested securely on her waist. "Are you sure you should be doing this?"
Gabriella continued to glide somewhat unsteadily on her ice skates, holding on to the side of the rink as well as using Troy's arms for support. "I'll be fine, as long as I don't fall."
Chuckling, Troy gripped a bit tighter. "I'm not so sure that I can guarantee that."
"You better not let me fall," she freaked out, grabbing onto his arms. "Admit that you're having fun and this was a great idea."
"No."
"Admit it!"
"No."
"Troy!" She stopped suddenly, gripping tightly to the wall as he gripped tightly to her. Turning around slowly in his arms, she faced him, allowing him to see the red nose and cheeks she was sporting even with her pea coat buttoned all the way up to her neck and a hat on her head. "Why won't you admit this is fun?"
"Because I'm trying to make sure you don't accidentally have too much fun and hurt yourself."
"I'm not going to hurt myself," she rolled her eyes. "That's why you're here, duh!"
Seeing the glare that he gave her, she giggled and squeezed his hand in her own gloved one. "I'm fine, Troy. I need this, we need this. There's nothing in the pregnancy handbook that says you can't go ice-skating."
"There is no pregnancy handbook…"
"Exactly!"
"But I'm sure if there was, there would probably be something against in-line ice-skating while pregnant, especially in 43 degree weather."
"Oh, lighten up! It's always cold in Albuquerque in the end of February, so it's not like I wouldn't have had to face the cold eventually. I'm not confined to my aunt's apartment you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, we're here aren't we?"
"Yes," she smiled. "Thank you!"
"I can't say no to you." He responded, not meeting her eyes for a second, but focusing on her lower half, particularly glancing to her hidden stomach. "And I honestly think you might be starting to take advantage of that."
"I would never!"
"Liar!"
"Rude!"
"You're lucky you're pregnant."
Dropping her jaw, Gabriella pouted at him. "What are you trying to say, that if I wasn't pregnant…"
"You'd never get your way," he finished her sentence with a placating smile.
She nodded with an admiring look. "Nice cover up."
Troy smiled as he grabbed her hand and started to skate again, prompting her to skate beside him. "I'm glad I came out here with you."
Smiling brightly, she squeezed his hand. "I'm glad you came with me too. I'd look mighty lonely if I was out here ice skating by myself."
Chuckling, he nodded. "Nice to know."
"I'm just kidding," she replied, nudging him with her hip. "I love this, I love us right now, despite the situation and honestly, you're all I could ask for. Don't ever leave me."
Skating and front of her and stopping, grabbing her hips to pull her to him in the process, Troy's eyes connected with Gabriella's instantly. "You should know by now that I'm not going anywhere. I've given too much and you're worth too much to me."
Biting her lip with a shy smile and looking up at him through her eyelashes, Gabriella didn't hesitate before sliding her hands up to his biceps and pulling herself up to press a light kiss to his lips. There was no doubting this is definitely where she wanted to be and who she wanted to be with.
HELLO! (: HAS ANYONE GONE TO SEE TWILIGHT BRAKING DAWN PART 2? I LOVED IT, GO SEE IT! I cried lol.
Hope you guys are not getting bored with this story, because I realized the last few chapters have been a bit slow and a bit more focused on Troy and Gabriella building a relationship again rather than the baby, but NO FEAR! Drama is in store. I'm definitely looking to more the story forward a bit in the next 3-4 chapters because I won't go through her entire pregnancy of course. So keep reading and reviewing, yeah REVIEW! and I will see you again with another update on 11/25!
And Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you guys will all enjoy the end of this upcoming week and spending it with your family and loved ones.
~xxTheRainWillFallxx