A/N:First of all: Apologies for the inconvenience the other day. I posted this chapter but xLeeRamdomx and I agreed it wasn't good enough so I deleted it and edited it :) I'm much happier with it now. And thanks a million to xLeeRamdomx :)

Mock exam tomorrow. Not fun :(

Don't own HSM x

Gabriella groaned with disbelief when she saw the sight of the office. She felt Troy squeeze her hand and she tilted her head to smile bravely at him. "How long do you suppose this'll take us?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't like to say. Gabi, I had no idea I smashed a window when threw him, I swear."

She shrugged. "It's a window. Just think about what would've happened if you hadn't broken a window."

Troy let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her instead. "It doesn't bear thinking about."

She sighed and looked down on Kaden who was clutching an action man toy. "Kaden, I want you to pick the books and papers up, okay? Be careful of the glass. It's really sharp."

He nodded obediently. "Papers and books," he murmured thoughtfully. "Why is everything smashed?" he asked innocently.

Gabriella glanced at Troy who nodded. She crouched in front of him. "Your daddy saved me. He was my hero. A very nasty man tried to hurt me and your daddy stopped him."

"Like in fairytales?" he asked innocently.

Gabriella laughed softly. "Exactly like in fairytales. Now go on. This office isn't going to clean itself." She kissed his forehead and hugged him.

As she rose back up, Troy brought her into his arms. "So, I'm your hero?" he smirked.

She rolled her eyes but smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Yeah. You are," she whispered. "You're always saving me."

He shrugged, tightening his arms around her. "Somebody's got to. I mean with Austin and the way you hop..."

She gasped. "That was uncalled for," she exclaimed. She smiled when he leaned down to kiss her gently. She pulled back and bent down for a cardboard box. "Come on, Cowboy. You're dealing with the tables and chairs."

"Why me?" he exclaimed.

She bent down and began tossing the shards of glass into the box. "Because you're stronger than me," she replied.

Kaden suddenly let out a loud cry and ran over to Gabriella. "Gabi!" he yelled.

She jumped but embraced him nonetheless. She pulled back and dried his tears. "What is it? What happened?"

He held up his right hand where a long cut went from one side of his palm to the other. "I didn't see the glass when I picked this up," he whimpered as he held up a piece of paper with his left hand.

Gabriella hugged him tightly. "Oh, Sweetie!" She glanced at Troy who seemed content that she was handling the situation and continued to sort the furniture. She pulled back and looked at his hand. "Will you let me fix it?"

He nodded numbly. "Yeah," he whispered.

"Wait here, okay?" She kissed his forehead and left the room before returning less than a minute later with a first aid kit. She knelt in front of him and began with wiping his hand with antiseptic. "You're very brave. Braver than Daddy. He winced all the time."

"Hey," Troy protested.

Kaden giggled. "Auntie Taylor says that Daddy and Uncle Chad were...um...wimps in high school," he said innocently.

"Kaden!" Troy exclaimed incredulously. Kaden simply replied with a cheeky giggle.

"Well," Gabriella began as she started wrapping some gauze around Kaden's hand, "I can't comment on that but I wouldn't be surprised."

"What is this? National pick on Troy day?" Troy joked.

Gabriella tied the final knot and kissed Kaden's hand. "All better." She turned her cheek towards him.

He giggled and kissed her cheek. "Thank you, Gabi."

"Now, what was on this piece of paper?" she asked.

He shrugged as he handed it to her. "Just numbers." He skipped away and began picking up more books and pieces of paper.

Gabriella felt her throat go dry and she moved into a cross legged position. This wasn't possible. As the cogs turned in her head, clicking the jigsaw pieces into place, she felt the colour drain from her face. She surprised herself. She didn't freeze, didn't even shed one tear. She simply read the note over and over again. It seemed impossible to think that after all Austin had taken away, he still wanted to take more.

"Gabi?" Troy asked. He slowly walked over and knelt in front of her. "What is it?" He slowly slipped the piece of paper from her hand and read it. He regarded her as he spoke. "And this is..."

"My bank details," she whispered. "He was going to take it all. He's smart. He wouldn't have left a trace. And it would've simply...gone." She banged the hardwood floor and tears finally streamed down her cheeks. "It's not fair. Why won't he stop?"

Troy shrugged. "I don't know. I wish he would."

Kaden came over and tapped her shoulder. "Don't cry, Gabi." Held out his action man figure. "Action man will help. He's a hero. And Daddy will make it better. He said he always saves you."

Gabriella smiled weakly. "That's sweet but I just don't understand why he won't leave me alone. Am I really that bad of a girlfriend?"

Troy wiped her cheeks with his thumbs. "No. You're brilliant. He's just mentally unstable."

Gabriella smiled slightly and looked back at the numbers scrawled on the piece of paper. "Kaden, I'm so sorry."

"Why?" he asked timidly.

"You got hurt, didn't you?" She held his tiny bandaged in both of hers and kissed his palm. "Does it hurt?"

He shook his head. "No," he murmured. "Not anymore."

She smiled bravely up at him, still feeling tears sting her eyes. "That's good. I don't want you being hurt because of a bad guy." She hugged him tightly and then gave him his action man toy back.

"How'd he get it? I'm no expert but, even for a lawyer, it's got to be difficult to get a hold of someone's bank details." Troy helped Gabriella to her feet and held her shoulders. "Any ideas?"

She folded her arms. "Ideas? I have plenty. I'm a lawyer. Part of the territory. Because of him, Kaden is hurt. This is the final straw." She stepped away from him and wandered over to the smashed window. "My first idea? The only way he would've found those numbers is through me leaving a bank statement behind. There's no other way." She turned to Troy and Kaden. "My second idea? When I contact the police, and I will before the sun goes down, he will get at least thirty years behind bars for this and for what he did to me." She walked over to Kaden and picked him up, resting him on her hip. "My final idea? We're going for ice cream. Thank you, Kaden." She kissed his forehead and held him closer.

"How can I help you?" the police lady behind the counter asked nicely.

"I need to report a case of harassment," Gabriella said professionally.

"What is your name?"

"Gabriella Montez and this is my partner, Troy Bolton," Gabriella explained.

"I know who he is. We were in school together. Hi Troy." She smiled warmly at him.

"Hi Tina," Troy greeted.

"Right, well, if you'd like to take a seat, I'll just get someone to see you," Tina said politely.

Troy tugged Gabriella over to the chairs and sat her down. He squeezed her hand for support. "You okay?"

Gabriella nodded and looked across at him. "Yeah. Seems surreal though. After all of the tears, all of the times I froze, he's finally getting what he deserves. Or the start of it, at least. It'll be a few weeks before the trial."

"And you're going to be your own lawyer?" Troy asked.

She nodded. "It's better that way. While not many judges are fan of attorneys being their own lawyer, from the lawyer's point of view, it's much better. Less time consuming as well."

"Remember when your car stopped working at the ranch and I fixed it?" Troy asked thoughtfully.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah. I haven't a clue what you did but it hasn't driven this well since I bought her."

He chuckled and curled a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I wanted to fix your car because I would've done that for anybody. But I took you to the tree house because I knew that you weren't anybody. You were somebody I wanted to have in my life. I guess I wanted to share something with you. I know it's taken a long time and I honestly wish it hadn't happened to you but things are finally working out. Just like I promised."

Gabriella smiled. "I know. But, I don't wish it hadn't happened. I'm glad it did. I wouldn't change one second of it because at the end...I met you."

Troy was about to open his mouth when a policeman came out of the back door. He smiled politely and held his hand out as Troy and Gabriella rose to their feet. "Officer Johnson. Pleased to meet you. If you come with me, we can discuss your problems in private."

Gabriella sat down on the couch, the phone held in her hand. She curled her feet under herself and took a deep breath. She had two phone calls to make and at the minute, all she was doing was trying to figure out which one would be less problematic. When Greg found out what had happened, he'd have a cow...and pig and a goat, too. Meaghan, though. That was a whole different problem. As far as Gabriella could see, there were only two options: either let Meaghan find another attorney which would take another few weeks, or allow Gabriella to be an objective attorney for the both of them and everything could be sorted, in theory, in one final meeting.

Troy wandered in and smiled sadly. "You okay?"

She nodded as she looked up at him. "Yeah. Who do you think I should call first?"

"From a guy's point of view, my mom. Your dad'll be furious," he exclaimed as he sat next to her.

She nodded. "I know." She looked back to the cordless phone cradled in her lap.

"But from a lawyer's point of view, I'd call your dad first," he said. "I think," he added afterwards. "That's coming from the expert lawyer who went to Columbia."

Gabriella laughed and slapped his arm playfully. "I think I'm going to call my dad first."

Troy nodded. "Okay. Would you like me to be here?"

Gabriella thought about it for a moment and finally shook her head. "Is it okay if I talk to him privately?"

Troy smiled and kissed her forehead. "Of course it is. I'll be outside with the horses, okay? They still need to be groomed today."

Gabriella smiled. "Alright."

Troy dropped one final kiss to her lips before standing up. "I love you," he called over his shoulder.

"I love you, too," she called after him. When she heard the front door click shut, she dialled her parents' number. She held the phone to her ear and held her breath as she heard the dialling tone.

"Hello?" Greg answered.

"Hi Papi," she murmured. "It's me."

"Oh, hola, mi hija," Greg said with surprise. "How are you?"

"Well, that's kind of why I wanted to call you. Austin's back," she said quietly.

"I know he is. Troy told us," Greg whispered.

"I know. But Troy, Kaden and I were cleaning my office up, which is luckily covered by my insurance, and Kaden found a piece of paper. Papi, Austin was going to take my money from my bank account," Gabriella said quickly.

"What?" Greg growled.

Gabriella rolled her hands. "Don't worry, it's being dealt with. Tomorrow, a couple of policemen are going to wait with me and as soon as Austin arrives, they're going to arrest him. The trials will be a couple of weeks from now meaning the divorce will be well out of the way."

Greg sighed. "I wish I was there, sweetheart."

"Me too. But don't worry. I've got Troy. And Jack, Mike, Chad, Ryan, Jason and Zeke. Even Sharpay. I don't think Austin will ever come back after dealing with them," she joked.

Greg chuckled. "Hey, your mom wants to talk to you."

"Mi hija?" Maria asked.

"Hi, Mom," Gabriella greeted. "How are you?"

"Forget about me, honey. Did your father tell you the news?" Maria asked excitedly.

"No. I was a bit busy," Greg called in the background, making Gabriella smiled.

"What news?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, Troy called us. He got us thinking. We're moving to Albuquerque," she said quietly.

Gabriella frowned. "Really? Are you okay?"

"Yes, we're fine. We just want to be close you. We don't want to miss you being happy and miss Kaden, either. So, what do you think?" Maria asked.

Gabriella was silent for a moment and then laughed. "You said Troy called. I think that would be amazing. I miss you both so much. But what about California? You both love it so much."

Maria laughed heartily. "You think we love this place more than we love you?"

"That's what Troy said," Gabriella murmured.

"Well, he speaks sense. I'll let you go, okay? Our house is on the market, we're hoping to move down by the end of the summer," Maria explained.

Gabriella smiled. "I love you."

"Love you, too, mi hija. Talk to you soon, okay? Bye."

Gabriella hung up and smiled. It hadn't been as painful as she'd feared. She dialled Meghan's number and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" Meghan greeted.

"Hi, Meaghan. It's Gabriella. I felt responsible to inform you that at our final meeting next week, Mr Ames won't be there. He attempted to steal the money from my bank account," Gabriella explained.

"Oh God," Meaghan exclaimed. "Gabriella, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry. You weren't to know. Now, we have two options. First, I can allow you to find a replacement attorney but there's a risk that it'd be time consuming and I know that both you and Jack want this over with, really. Or I could be an objective attorney for the both of you and then it would be over in one more meeting," Gabriella explained. "I'll ask Jack but I'm pretty sure I know that he'll be fine with me being objective."

"Oh, Gabriella. After I brought that jerk back into your life, you're still willing to do my divorce. Troy told me the whole deal," Meaghan explained. "I'll be fine with you being objective."

"Thanks Meaghan. I know that things could be better between you and Jack but I know that he's grateful for your cooperation.

"Yeah," Meaghan whispered. "I haven't been the best wife. I just feel like we're different people."

"Yeah. I understand. I don't want you to beat yourself up about Austin. It's being sorted," Gabriella explained.

"Alright," Meaghan whispered. "I'll let you go."

After they had hung up, Gabriella made her way out of the house and immediately set off for the paddock where she knew Troy was. And, as predicted, Troy was walking Misty around the enclosed space. It was only a slow walk but it was in order for Kaden to be safe. Gabriella leant her arms on the fence as she watched him. They weren't going particularly fast. In fact, Gabriella could tell Kaden would get around the paddock quicker on his hands and knees. Troy loved letting Kaden ride Misty and Gabriella could tell that Kaden enjoyed it even more. It seemed impossible to think that such a tiny, innocent boy had finally solved the mystery of why Austin had come to Albuquerque. It finally made sense. And it was because of him. He wouldn't know until he was older. All she wanted was for him to know that he helped her make things better.

Troy spotted her from the other side and waved to her. She giggled and waved back. Kaden waved excitedly at her before Troy obviously told him to hold the reins. Troy turned back to her and she blew him a kiss. He began dancing the 'night fever' dance and she threw her head back as she laughed. Troy took Kaden off Misty and set him on the other side of the fence. Kaden ran off towards Jack's house and Troy quickly unsaddled Misty before making his way over to Gabriella. He stood similarly to Gabriella, his arms resting on the fence.

He bent down to kiss her lips. "So, how did it go?"

"You were right. Meghan was easier to talk to," she murmured. "My dad wasn't hard, exactly. But, it was hard to tell him. I did. But it was difficult. My mom said something interesting though."

"What did she say?" Troy asked.

"That someone called them up and told them I was missing them. Troy, why didn't you tell me?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged and looked at his feet like a naughty child. "I don't know. I didn't think they'd mention me." He lifted his head. "I didn't want it to be about me. I thought about what you said. Remember? You wanted them to move down here. So, one day while you were out with the girls, I called your parents up."

She smiled up at him. "I'm not sure what to say."

"You can say what my mom said," he replied.

Gabriella sighed. "She was so apologetic for bringing Austin down here. It's like she's a different woman to who I was working with before. I think, now, she just wants it over with like everyone else does. I tried to convince her that it's not her fault but...I think we need to see her outside of the office. No suits or briefcases, just me, you, Kaden and Meaghan."

Troy nodded. "Alright."

"She agreed that I can be an objective attorney for her and Jack," Gabriella murmured.

Troy looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

Gabriella shrugged. "It's the quickest way. This way, Meaghan doesn't have to find another lawyer and we can, in theory, finish it in one meeting next week."

"Really?" Troy repeated.

She nodded. "Yeah. Next week we'll probably find out who gets the ranch."

"Who do you think will get it?" Troy asked.

Gabriella quirked an eyebrow.

"You can't tell me, can you?" he asked quietly.

"Objective, remember?" She smiled up at him. "She's not going to take it away. I can promise you that." She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. She looked deeply into his eyes. "Stop being so scared. Remember what you said to me before our first date? You said that you don't have to be sure what happens next. Remember?"

Troy nodded. "Yeah. I do."

She rested her forehead against his. "And forget about Austin. He's as good as gone. I'm not going back to him or back to New York or Silicon Valley. I promise."