A/N: So, I'm back. My life will be a lot less busy than I've been in the next few weeks. I've been really busy finishing up the figure skating season and healing after my trip to the hospital last week due to using minty shampoo (I'm allergic to artificial mint flavoring.) Anyway, spring break is next week and I'll be in France and England but you'll probably get quite a few updates while I'm there because I won't really be doing all the touristy stuff since I used to live there.
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Taking one last look around the bathroom Gabriella checked to make sure everything was packed for their weeklong trip to Albuquerque. It wasn't a big deal if they forgot any of their toiletries, toothpaste, shampoo, razors, everything would be easy enough to buy if they forgot it. She had this gut feeling she was forgetting something though, mentally she ran through a list in her mind, clothes, underwear, toiletries, laptop, cell phone, chargers, she had everything. Maybe it was just the perfectionist in her.
"We better get going soon if we want to make it in time for dinner," Troy leaned against the doorway of their bathroom spinning the car keys around his finger. They'd driven home yesterday after skiing. He was slightly hesitant to leave home again after being gone for so long but it would be worth it, going home and seeing his family.
"I don't know what I'm forgetting," she sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"You aren't forgetting anything El," his impatience was beginning to rise, "So let's go now."
Taking one last final glance around the room she walked toward the exit.
"If it was something important, you'd remember it," Troy helped her get over her worry.
"I guess you're right," shrugging her shoulders, "You want to drive?"
"Sure," He'd only driven minimal amounts since he had been home. Gently, he picked up his duffle bag and grasped the handle of her suitcase and Gabriella lead the way carrying her purse and a bag containing her laptop, notebooks, and a few bundles of papers for work she intended to work on sometime the upcoming week. Together, they took the elevator down to the parking garage, smiling at others they recognized that lived in the apartment building. Most of their neighbors were fairly new and Troy probably didn't know.
Once the car was packed they exited the parking ramp, heading toward the freeway. Nine hours and they would be in the comfort of their childhood home. Troy turned the knob on the radio down while Gabriella called their mothers to inform them that they were on their way home. When she hung up Gabriella began fiddling with the radio, going from station to station, briefly listening to each song as they passed.
Troy snorted, "What the hell is this?"
Music vibrated through the speakers of the car, an almost techno futuristic beat reaching to his ears.
Gabriella giggled, the song wasn't the most creative to say the least, "Like a G6."
Troy's nose immediately scrunched, "As in the air plane?"
"Yep," Gabriella cranked the volume up and began bobbing her head back and forth jokingly. It was a fairly easy song to bob your head to.
"This is ridiculous," Troy rolled his eyes at the song unimpressed, "Not really your type of song either."
"Oh, you know how much I love over played radio songs," she continued to play along.
Finally Gabriella resumed her search for an okay radio station. She began to get slightly frustrated passing by classical, Christian, and Spanish channels, none of them suiting the proper road trip music selection.
"I see the music industry has really become creative since I left," he spoke as she passed a station playing something he could only describe as yodeling.
"Very," she said landing on a station she thought they'd be able to handle for more than five minutes. The latest Train song was playing.
Gabriella pulled a notebook out of her bag along with a pen. It was about two years old now, yet she hadn't opened it once. The cover was white, purposely picked out to fit the theme. Her large, loopy, writing covered the front along with a few loopy designs on the cover. She never forgot where she left it after he left for war, it lay untouched in their hall closet in a box along with the few magazines she had purchased intending to cut out images and paste them in the notebook. It was labeled, 'T+G Wedding'.
Never having doodled her and Troy's name in a heart or Mrs. Gabriella Bolton, she had looked forward to the moment she could, deciding that when she was engaged was the appropriate time. Flipping over the front cover she debated what the first entry would be. She wasn't sure whether she should just start a to-do list or leave the page open for her to doodle on or put something important. Flipping the first page also, she began her to-do list on the next page.
After titling it she began a neat bullet lined list starting with the most important items; church, flowers, dress, reception location, invitations, rings, bridesmaids/groomsmen, food, photographer, cake, and her mind began to run out of ideas at band/dj.
Biting the edge of her pen, one of her bad habits, she didn't know what else to add. Not that she needed more, it was a lot to thing about just writing it down on paper, "Everyone's going to think we're crazy."
"What do you mean?" Troy assumed she had been doing some work but didn't know what prompted her statement.
"Planning a wedding in two months," flipping another page, she decided the next one should probably be used for working on rationing their budget, "How much do you think we should plan on spending?"
Troy's face paled slightly, in all honesty he had no idea what their financial situation was, he knew the government had paid off his college debts, but he knew they still had to be paying off some of the loans they had taken, "I'm not sure."
Gabriella stared at the blank page, "I don't even have a ballpark guess as to what a normal wedding budget is."
"We can talk to Matt and Julia, I mean their wedding was a bit bigger than I picture ours to be but at least we'll have something to base it off," Troy stated.
"It seems like such a long time ago they got married," Even if it only was two years ago.
"I know," Troy paused, he'd been deferring from questioning about Matt, Julia, and his niece for a reason, he was slightly jealous, "What's her name?"
"What's whose name?" Gabriella asked confusedly about his question.
"My niece," he replied quietly, feeling a little ashamed of not remembering his own niece's name.
Gabriella realized that she must not have mentioned her name before, "Sophia, but we call her Sophie."
"That's nice," he noted, not really sure what to mention about the name. It wasn't that he didn't like it, he just hadn't thought too much in depth about names.
"Mhmm," Gabriella fiddled with her phone while waiting for a response from her mother, "We should go on a double date with Mom and Marcus while we're down there."
"Definitely," Troy hadn't been sure how comfortable Gabriella really was about her mother's new relationship while talking over the phone. She had seemed happy about it but both of them had been high on love at the announcement of Troy's departure, "What's he like, other than the fact that he mows lawns and builds patios?"
"I guess I don't know much, he's a research scientist and has two kids. He's somewhere around mom's age and divorced. After his second kid was born his wife left him to go out and 'dance,'" Gabriella hinted at the reason he was out dating.
"That's harsh," he shivered at the thought of being dumped for such a lame reason.
"Commitment just isn't what all people want I guess," she shrugged her shoulders.
"It'll be nice to see Maria with someone though. She's had to have been somewhat lonely," Troy didn't even want to think about what it'd be like to loose a spouse, "Especially after you moved out."
"I think that she's starting to realize that, even though it's still quite a few years away, she's going to have to retire and she doesn't want to be alone," Gabriella truly wanted her mother to be happy, whether it be with a man or not.
"Just think, if they get married you'd have step siblings," Troy knew it was a little early to be talking about marriage but he didn't doubt that the relationship was committed at this point.
"I know," Gabriella rested her head on the window, watching the clouds formations around the mountain tops they were passing.
A few moments of silence passed as they neared the New Mexico border, "Do you want to stop and get some lunch?"
They were nearing a restaurant at the very edge of Colorado, one that they ate at almost every time they made the journey to New Mexico.
"Sure," Gabriella smiled at the thought of food.
Troy drove his mid-sized crossover Acura RDX into the familiar driveway of his parent's house. It had taken a while for him to stop calling it his home after he'd moved out. Throughout college, he had considered it home while living in dorm rooms and small apartments. Until Troy had moved into his apartment with Gabriella, he truly considered it home, and it would always be his home. Now, he considered his apartment in Colorado home. Even if it wasn't a permanent house for him and Gabriella to live in, it was still home. It had taken a while for him to realize that maybe it wasn't the structure that made a home, but the people contained in it.
Looking over at a sleeping Gabriella, he trailed the back of his fingers down her arm gently before applying a little more pressure to wake her up, "Ella, baby, we're here.'
Gabriella opened her eyes before quickly shutting them, the rays of the New Mexico sun were too bright for her pupil's to contain in such a quick motion. Stretching her arms above her head, she let out a gentle yawn, "How long ago did I fall asleep?"
"About an hour and a half," he smiled at her gentle face, she was as adorable as always. Deciding to lean in for a quick kiss, Troy tucked a curl of her untamed hair behind her ear. After pecking her lips, he gently pressed his lips underneath her left earlobe with a smile on his face, "You're too beautiful for your own good."
Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Okay Romeo, let's get moving. Your mother is probably almost dying with anticipation."
Troy opened the door, not being able to wait any longer either. He had come to appreciate his mother more and more everyday. She had helped him through the toughest decisions he'd had to make in his life, raised him to be a gentleman, and was always there whenever he simply needed a hug. She had also been the first one to find out that Gabriella and him were dating and accepted it while lecturing him on the severity of dating a best friend, making it clear that if something were to happen things between them would never be the same.
Gabriella was the first to make it to the trunk and began to slide out their organized luggage. Troy slung the duffle bag over his shoulder and grabbed the suitcase while Gabriella took care of the lighter bag and her purse, "Ready?"
"Yep, let's go," Troy motioned for Gabriella to lead the way, noting Maria's small sedan and a car with a car seat in it, presumed to be Matt and Julia's. The wheels of the suitcase clicked over each crack of the brick walkway. Gabriella opened the door quietly, faintly hearing laughter coming from the living area attached to the kitchen. Setting her bags down with Troy near the steps, he allowed his voice to drift through the house, "Mom? We're here."
Suddenly the laughter from the living room stopped and Lucille's head popped out from around the corner. For the first time in the nineteen years she'd known her, Gabriella watched as Lucille literally bounded down the hallway in somewhat of an odd run.
Lucille was miserably struggling to hold her tears back as she wrapped her arms around her son, she began to repeatedly whisper, "My baby, my baby." Jack had found her in various places around the house, Troy's bedroom, their bedroom, the living room, looking at pictures of their son in his childhood with tears dripping down her face, whispering, "My baby, my baby" when she thought no one was around.
Numerous members of the Bolton family streamed in, one-by-one, to welcome Troy home. Gabriella occupied them while Lucille hogged her son and whispered, "I love you Troy."
"I love you too Ma," the words 'I love you' had been thrown around a lot more since they learned of Troy's deployment, but hadn't been thrown around lightly. However, to an outsider, it would be quite the sight seeing a family with five men throwing the term around to each other.
Gabriella hugged Jack first, "How's he doing?" he questioned.
"Still adjusting, he'll be fine though," Gabriella didn't take offense when Jack abruptly left her standing when Lucille let go of Troy.
Jack stepped up to Troy and threw an arm around him, "How ya doing son?"
Gabriella knew that Jack had been the one to hold up the family through birthdays, holidays, and any day in general that had been particularly difficult for the family to get through without Troy, which explained her surprise when she saw Jack swipe his eyes to prevent a tear of happiness from falling.
"I'm good," there wasn't much he could say now about the past few days. Everyone understood, except for Troy, when Liam stood up next to hug him. Gabriella hugged her own mother and they continued to watch each member of the Bolton family step up to hug Troy and recite 'I love yous' or 'I missed yous.'
"How've you been," Even though she'd already had her reunion with Troy, she knew she couldn't get through this without letting a tear or two drop.
"Great," she responded to her mother, who was waiting to give her future son-in-law a hug, but being respectful, waited for everyone to have their moment with him.
"How's Troy been?" Maria questioned, wanting more of a response than the 'good' Gabriella had given Jack.
Gabriella sighed, knowing that Troy's return home had been more difficult than anyone had expected, "He just gets a little freaked out every now and then, you know? He's so worried about the future, he just needs to relax a little."
Maria shook her head in understanding and squeezed Gabriella's shoulder encouragingly, "He'll be fine honey, trust me. War is so traumatic, it takes a while to heal."
"I know, it just freaks me out seeing him vulnerable."
"Well, it's your job as his future wife to hold him up during rough periods of time," Maria passed on her own relationship advice.
"I know," Gabriella responded, seeing Lucille swoop in for a hug. The two rocked back and forth gently with large smiles on their faces. Troy was finishing up, hugging Julia and Maria stepped forward for her turn. Her daughter had stolen the man's heart and was about to become family, officially.
After Maria had given him an appropriate kiss on the cheek, a hug, and a few words of encouragement, Gabriella was discussing something with Lucille when she felt Troy slip his arms around her waist from behind, her immediate response was to giggle. She tilted her head up to look at him and accepted a surprise kiss.
People began trailing out of the crowded foyer, back into the living room. Troy and Gabriella stayed for a second or two longer than everyone else to sneak a few quick kisses.
Troy picked her up and spun her in a circle, Gabriella squeaked out a "Put me down Troy," in the midst of laughter. Placing his hand on her cheek he bent his head down and softly pressed his lips to hers, once, twice, and he whispered a soft, "I love you."
Gabriella mimicked his previous actions, "I love you too."
They joined everyone else, minus Lucille who was checking up on dinner, and found an open spot on the couch. Troy pulled Gabriella on his lap to conserve space.
"What have you crazy kids been up to the past few days?" Jack questioned, making small talk.
"Oh, we've been living it up," Troy responded in his natural sarcastic nature, "You know, hitting the slopes, shopping, eating, hanging out at home," he squeezed Gabriella tight at his last remark, "We're really rebellious."
The boys all chuckled at Troy's response. "Hey now, from what I hear, you've spending your free time changing dirty diapers," Troy accused Matt.
"You got me," Matt held his hands up. His life had been interesting in different ways lately.
"Speaking of, where's the baby?" Sophie was the only Bolton lacking a presence currently.
"Napping, like always," Mason commented.
"Except at midnight," Liam reminded of how the baby had disturbed their sleep more than once.
"Oh shush now," Lucille scolded her younger sons, "You guys were like that too, I'm sure Troy and Matt remember. Come on now, dinner's ready."
To eat dinner together, they had to eat at the large table in the dining room and pull up extra chairs from the small breakfast bar in the kitchen.
Sitting down, everyone in the room felt loved and cherished. The family, even though living in three different states, felt united. Everything seemed perfect as couple's slid hands under the table and childhood memories were brought up and discussed with embarrassment.
After dinner was finished, everyone gathered in the living room once again. Dinner conversations carried over and everyone was munching on brownies. Gabriella was sat between Troy's legs on the floor and was gently stroking Troy's arm that was wrapped around her waist.
"Let's go out and play some ball," Matt was the first to initiate the ever important post-dinner basketball game that was held almost every night.
The men, Jack, Matt, Liam, and Mason all stood up to change into their basketball shorts, it was known that shirts were pointless because they'd come off shortly after the game began. Troy made no sign of movement.
Gabriella turned her face to talk to Troy, but in the opposite direction of Lucille, Julia, and Maria who were sitting on the couch perpendicular to them, "Aren't you going to go play?" She whispered quietly.
Troy's response was a simply shoulder shrug.
Gabriella stroked his arm a little harder, "Come on baby, go play with your brothers."
Troy's arm tightened in response, she seemed to be having a single ended conversation.
"Babe, what's up?" It was odd he didn't want to go out and play basketball with his brothers.
"I'm perfectly comfortable right here," was all he'd allowed to be spoken.
"We'll come out and watch in a few minutes," she said, "Now go play ball with your family, we've had each other to ourselves the past few days, I think you can spare a few minutes for your family."
Troy took the hint to go outside with his family, "You'll be out soon?"
"Yes, we'll all be out soon," she confirmed, noting that once again he wasn't ready to be separated from her, even if he was just going outside.
He peppered a kiss to her cheek before he stood up, and Gabriella did too, simply to move to the now unoccupied reclining chair.
She joined in with the girl's small talk, something about Julia getting a baby swing. The men passed through to the backyard half court fairly quickly and as soon as the last one closed the door the previous conversation seized.
"Have you two planned anything for the wedding?" Lucille questioned giddly.
"Jeez, everyone's been asking me about that, and no we just picked the church we told you about and a general time frame," Gabriella said, not wanting to commit to a certain date without Troy.
"Ooh, when are you guys thinking? Summer wedding? That could be so pretty, you could have the reception outside," Julia started, excited at the possibility of maybe helping her sister-in-law with planning her wedding.
"Umm, we were actually thinking March," Gabriella quietly stated, knowing that her family probably wouldn't approve of the early date, "Late March, when Troy's on spring break probably."
"March!" Julia and Maria exclaimed in unison, before Maria continued, "Gabriella, that's in three months! How do you plan on getting everything ready by then?"
She pulled her legs up to her chest, Troy would be able to tell that she was nervous if he was in the room, "I'm not sure, but we just want a small wedding. Family and a few friends, fifty people tops."
"Still Gabriella, you have to get a dress, flowers, cake, reception hall," Lucille continued.
"I know, I know," her frustration was beginning to grow, she was well aware she'd have to bust her ass to get the wedding ready on time, "But we just want to get married. It's well overdue and the sooner the better. We really don't care about anything else, we love each other and we just want to get married."
"Gabi, honey, we just want you to know that it's going to be hard to plan a wedding that soon, okay?" Lucille told her, "But we're all here to help out."
"We want you guys to get married soon too, we aren't trying to discourage it. Everyone thinks you guys deserve the best wedding possible," Maria excused.
"Troy and I want a small wedding, I told you that. We want family and maybe a few of our good friends from college and Denver, nothing over the top," Gabriella hadn't even told any of her friends from high school that Troy had gone to war. Many of them probably didn't even know that they were still together, it would be awkward to invite them. Unlike the few friends she made in the Denver area, she didn't see having future relations with them. If friendships were meant to be, they would have kept in touch.
"That's fine, if that's what you guys really want," Maria said with acceptance.
"We aren't big on the massive blow out weddings. We'd rather have a wedding than a party," Gabriella finished explaining herself.
"Well, we should go dress shopping this week," Lucille spoke, knowing that Gabriella may be the only one of her future daughter-in-laws that she was close enough to and would willingly bring her dress shopping. Lucille was terrified of the typical mother-in-law stereotype, however she didn't think any of her son's girlfriends could down right hate her.
"That'd be fun," Gabriella said, knowing that she wouldn't want to share the experience with anyone other than her mother and Lucille.
"My baby's getting married," Maria had repeated the words many times since the engagement, realizing her baby wasn't really a baby anymore.
"Let's go outside and watch the boys finish their game," Gabriella said and stood up, wanting to deviate from the discussion.
The other girls followed and when Gabriella made it outside, she saw Troy wink at her with a big smile on his face. She was happy he was having fun, doing something he loved. At the end, the game was somewhat tied, the only time any of the Bolton's would loose track of the score accidentally. Really, it didn't matter.
Gabriella walked into Troy's childhood bedroom, which was still adorned with their high school and college pictures and Matt's bed. Matt and Julia were staying in what was once the guest room, which had more space to fit a portable crib for baby Sophie and to give both couples the needed privacy.
Rubbing moisturizer into her face, she sat at the edge of the bed where Troy was currently sitting, "You looked like you had fun out there."
"I did," he was freshly showered and Gabriella gently picked up his foot and began to knead.
Noticing him wince slightly when she bent his ankle, she wouldn't let him get away with it, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just sprained it a few weeks ago at war," knowing he should have mentioned it to the doctor a few days ago, but it had been fine. He'd barely noticed the pain while at war because he was so concentrated but the un-properly healed sprain had made itself noticeable while running around on the court.
"Do you want me to tape it for you?" Gabriella had received many sprains playing soccer in high school and had gotten fairly decent at taping ankles, especially during college when Troy was on the basketball team.
"Sure," Troy watched as Gabriella exited and returned, having made a trip to the bathroom where a first aid kit sat underneath the sink.
Gabriella kneeled on the ground and Troy moved to the edge of the bed, placing his foot in a flexed position on Gabriella's knee. Winding the tape round and round, "Can you flex anymore?"
"No," Troy knew she always checked before finishing, to make sure it was as tight as possible.
Once she ripped the tape, Troy thanked her. Gabriella placed the roll of tape on Troy's bedside, saving it for later. Troy moved back to his side of the bed as Gabriella slid off her shorts and turned her back to lift her, Troy's actually, shirt up, but left it around her neck while she could removed her bra. Not moving all the way over, Troy's hands beat hers to the clasp of her bra, which he unhooked for her. Sliding it down her arms, she let it drop to the floor and pulled Troy's shirt back over her body. Climbing into bed, she flicked of the light and allowed Troy's arm to wrap around her waist. Feeling his lips press against her neck she groaned, "Not now Troy."
"Come on baby, live a little," Troy whispered while gently rolling her from her side to her back and crawling so that he was half on top of her.
"Troy, we're in your parents house," she scolded all while whispering.
He continued to press kisses along her neck, allowing his lips to trace her defiant jaw line and around the curves of her ear, "So what."
"Baby, we can't do it in your parent's house. People will hear us," she was beginning to weaken more and more with each kiss.
He chuckled, "But we can do it at your mom's house?"
"When she's not home," when their relationship had furthered, sexually, Troy's house had been avoided during intimate time. His mother was always home and they'd surely get caught. Gabriella's house had been safe because her mother worked late a lot or was gone for days at a time on business trips.
"So you're saying that if my Mom isn't home sometime this week, we can do it here?" He pushed the subject further.
"Maybe, if everyone is out of the house," it was odd, but Gabriella realized that Troy and her had never actually gone all the way at his house.
"Challenge excepted," he let his kisses slow, to weaken his excitement, "However, if I can't make it happen, we might have to sneak out and spend the day at your Mom's. I don't think I can wait a week."
"You've done it longer before," she reminded him.
"I know, but you weren't wearing my shirt and taking your bra off right in front of me," he groaned at her earlier actions.
"Shh," she giggled, trying to keep quiet knowing there were other people just through the war. She let Troy pull her close to him, so that their bodies were plastered together.
So this story is going to drag on a little longer than I thought. I know it seems like all they do is go to bed, get up, go to bed, get up, etc. but I promise you'll have some sweet moments with Liam and some variety with dinner with Marcus etc. I'm not sure how many chapters it's going to be exactly, but I do know that it'll end at their wedding and then there will be an epilogue.