Need You Now
Hey guys, thanks for all of your reviews for the last chapter, and sorry that I haven't been able to update in so long, but hopefully the last chapter should be out in the next week, anyway for now, here's chapter 26, I hope you like it and please review!
Chapter 26
Walking up the grey stone steps to the court house, the group of younger adults and older adults alike seemed oblivious to the pounding rain, the howling winds and the hustle and bustle of the busy building they were heading for, each of the gang and their parents wearing a deep frown which portrayed just how nervous they really were about the start of the court case.
All of them but one that is, Gabriella's face showed only a look of pure fear and dread, moreover Troy could feel himself physically wincing as he felt Gabriella shaking in terror, his arm wrapped securely around her petite waist, the two of them leading the way up to the court house.
Ten minutes later, they were all standing in the main foyer, waiting for the prosecutors to come and get them for the start of the case, Mike Montez having also now joined the group, each of them shuffling their feet nervously and Mike counting the ceiling panels as he tried not to look at his daughter, who he knew from a recent conversation with Jake Danforth still felt utterly betrayed by her biological father, and even in Mike's eyes, he couldn't blame her, but if it was the last thing he did, he was going to make peace with his daughter and be a part of her life, even if that was only a small part and not the father figure that he really should have been.
However, everyone's heads snapped up, their eyes locking on the engaged couple, as Gabriella turned around in Troy's arms sharply, shrugging him off, taking a few steps backwards, and staring at him for a few seconds before the tears started to roll down her cheeks, coming thick and fast, her breathing becoming erratic.
"Troy, I can't do this, I can't go in there and face him, I'm too weak for any of this," Gabriella sobbed, her voice getting louder and louder with each word as the gang and their parents, a long with Gabriella's biological father, looked on helplessly.
"Gabriella Anne Danforth-Montez, don't you ever dare let me here you say that you are weak, because in all honesty, you are the strongest person I know!" Troy said, astonishment weaving through his firm tone, as he could not believe the words that were tumbling from his girlfriends mouth. "Ella, you have been through more than anyone else I know, you managed to get through believing that your Father was dead, your Mother killing herself, being basically tortured by your Mother and her boyfriends repeatedly for six weeks, transferring schools G-d alone knows how many times, the joint funeral of your parents, being shot, having to pack up your family home because your parents were no longer there to live in it with you, learning to live and get used to a new family, high school in general, the return of your torturer, and somehow you've managed to survive nearly seven years of me, if that isn't strength Gabriella Danforth-Montez, then I for one don't know what is," Troy finished firmly, looking up at the group that surrounded them, who had all been visibly wincing during Troy's speech, realising just how bad things had become at certain points, but who all nodded in agreement with him now, as Gabriella fell against his chest, her tears instantly soaking through his shirt as she balled it up in her fists.
"Okay, you're right, I can do this," Gabriella whispered softly, looking Troy deeply in the eyes as she did so, and their own private conversation was held just from their shared looks, as Troy raised a hand to gently stroke the side of Gabriella's face, and gently brush the hair away from her face.
"I know that you can baby girl, I am so proud of you and everything that you have and are gonna accomplish, I love you so much Gabriella," Troy breathed out gently, his breath smelling minty on her face as she turned to look at him once more.
"I love you too Troy Bolton, forever and for always," she smiled softly at him as he dried up the last of her tears and the gang around them deliberately looked away, feeling uncomfortable about interrupting an obviously private moment between the pair.
"Forever and for always, babe, forever and for always," Troy smiled as he gently kissed the tip of her nose, causing Gabriella to burst into a fit of giggles as everyone else smiled, but she instantly stopped laughing when she turned her head to the side and saw her enemy from high school, the head cheerleader Joanie Kinswalla, the only one who had potentially any clue of what Gabriella had gone through with Rick, given that she was his niece, and he had taken his four and a half years away from Gabriella out on her, only much less violently then he ever was with Gabriella. The two young women nodded politely to each other, each offering the other a small piece of support, knowing that it was going to be brutally difficult for both of them on the witnesses stand that very day.
"We're ready for you now," A voice called out, and immediately Gabriella was snapped out of her daydream as she followed everyone else into the courtroom, and she, Mike Montez and Joanie all went to sit with the prosecutors.
Six and a half hours later, the case had taken four breaks, Rick had been held down for threatening to kill Joanie and Gabriella, Joanie had been walked out of the room in hysterics, and it was finally Gabriella's turn to give evidence, so, shaking like a leaf, she slowly pushed herself up away from the prosecutors table and made her way to the stand, feeling every eye in the room on her, and shuddering when she could hear a cruel laugh from behind her, belonging to the one person that scared her more than the monsters in the dark had when she was only a child.
Sitting in the stand, Gabriella's eyes whizzed around the room, desperate to find the pair that she needed to give her strength, but was only met with hard stares from everyone in the room, except for the gang and their parents, who each gave her reassuring smiles, and Rick, who smirked at her ruthlessly, leaning back in his chair, and eyeing her up, making Gabriella tremble again, before her eyes ultimately caught on the shining cobalt ones that she had been looking for, and locked on them, as Troy smiled encouragingly at her, and she smiled slightly back, still looking beyond petrified, as the prosecutor started to ask her questions, and her mind wandered back over all of the problems that Rick had caused her to live over the last five and three quarter years, including being terrified to leave the house when he was stalking her a year before she had even met him, making her try to give up or run from her friends twice, using her own parents against her, making her unable to trust someone for a long time after meeting them, being scared to go home at night in case he was there, almost failing her junior year at high school, always looking over her shoulder paranoid that someone was following her, living in fear that one day he would find her again, which only proved horrifyingly true, and the one that had taken the most toll on her, being terrified of Troy touching her or coming anywhere near her, although she had drawn her strength from him over the course of her Mother's death, her parents funeral and moving in with the Danforth's, after that, she shut down, frightened that he would try and hurt her, and often hiding from him behind Taylor and Sharpay, whimpering I fear, as they looked at him helplessly and Gabriella knew that those times had been hard for Troy too, seeing the terror in her eyes whenever he touched her had nearly killed him, and she knew that, it had nearly killed both of them over the two months before she finally started o relax around him and the other guys again, which was all courtesy of a talk that she had had with Lorraine Danforth, Lucille Bolton and Sharpay, who she would always be eternally grateful to for helping her to see the light, and essentially saving her relationship with Troy, as well as their lives.
Gabriella remained strong all throughout her testimony, telling the brutally honest truth, and watching as many people in the court room winced with her story of what Rick had done to her over the years, and of the pictures which she had taken each time that he had beaten her once more and had kept over the years, thankful now that she had had at least the brains to do that at the time.
However when the defence lawyer started to ask Gabriella questions, she started to tense up and the fear and anxiety reappeared, especially with the lawyer bringing up her Mother and her Father's roles in everything that had happened to her. Gabriella could literally feel her façade fading away as the lawyer rattled off more and more questions, and she shrank backwards into the chair, the trembling starting again as she started to feel like the same small, terrified child that she had really been in the September, four months after her sixteenth birthday, when Rick waltzed into her life, practically moving into the Montez's home right from the beginning, and taking away the friendships that she had established in the January of her sophomore year of high school, only months before, the love relationship with Troy only the March beforehand, and the friendships that she had eventually made with Sharpay and Ryan in the May, after the four months of battling against Sharpay and her little poodle Ryan, and loosing Troy to her only two weeks into the Summer that same year.
Her eyes once more scanned the crowded room, Rick still smirking back at her, the jurors each looking deep in thought, most other people looking at her with sympathy, the girls and their Mother's looking at her with worry, the guys and their Father's each glaring at the defence lawyer, each looking ready to murder him for doing this to Gabriella, their hands all clenched into fists and their teeth grinding. All but one that is. Gabriella's eyes locked once more onto Troy's and a sense of calmness overcame her as she started to become more confident again, although she could personally tell that Troy to was considering whether or not murder would become legal at this point for him, but for that short while, his attention was fully focused on Gabriella, and the couple just stared at each other for a matter of moments, before Gabriella turned back to the defence lawyer once more, a new found strength boiling n her blood as she answered with confidence once more, sure that she heard Troy whisper, "That's my girl," in relief when she had started to answer the questions once more.
Two days later, and they were all back in the room for the verdict, the jury having finally reached one only a few minutes before after three days of witnesses, videos and other evidence used to incriminate Rick, and it was clearly having an effect on Gabriella, she had barely eaten over the past few days, only eating when Troy spent a good two or more hours coaxing her, she had barely slept in two nights, just lying in her bed trembling as Troy, who was also kept awake, had his arms wrapped tightly around her as he stroked her hair, she hadn't said a word to anyone except for Troy outside of the court room, and that usual sparkle was gone from her eyes, along with her smile.
As the sentence was read out, the whole court room erupted into cheers and laughter, the judge smiling himself with relief as he made no move to calm everyone down, the gang and their parents all hugging each other and the prosecutor, most crying tears of relief as the defendant was led out of the court room, but Gabriella stayed sitting in her seat, a look of shock on her face as she stared forwards, before her lips curved slowly upwards, a smile breaking out on her face as the sentence rang out through her head.
A hundred and thirteen years, all to be served back to back, for his many dozens of crimes, to be served at a maximum security prison, no chance of bail for a hundred and thirteen years, no chance of an escape for a hundred and thirteen years, no chance at freedom for a hundred and thirteen years. He was finally out of her life for good.
Stepping out of the courthouse, the sun was finally shining once more, and Gabriella grinned as she lifted her face to the light, she finally felt free, free from the constraints that had kept her prisoner for the last six and three quarter years, free from Rick, and most of all, free from her fears.
Turning around, she smiled at the gang and their parents, hugging them all individually, before pulling away and smiling once more at them, "Thanks you guys, there's no way that I could have ever done this without you, thank you for always being there for me," Gabriella murmured sincerely, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Hey, no more crying, huh?" Sharpay grinned, pulling Gabriella in for another tight hug, "I think that we've all cried a few too many times over the past years, now we need to be happy and celebrate, cause he's never coming back!"
Gabriella laughed as she broke apart from Sharpay once more, her gleaming eyes meeting the shining ones that looked like mini oceans with the sun bouncing off of them, and launched herself at Troy, wrapping her legs around his waist as his arms found her waist, and her arms found his neck, fingers wrapping tightly into his hair as she pulled his lips to hers, both of their lips instantly parting, as their tongues started to dance together in a passion filled kiss.
Seeing this, the gang's eyes all widened as they turned away and started pointing out various landmarks to their parents from the top of the steps, the older adults only laughing at their children's pathetic attempts to keep them distracted, but stayed facing the other way anyway, well aware of what was going on behind them, given the way that similar scenes had played out over the years in which Troy and Gabriella had been dating, especially when all of the families had taken a vacation together during the gang's senior year of high school.
"It's over Troy, it's finally over," Gabriella beamed, as he placed her back on the ground, his arms still wrapped around her waist as her smile lit up her features more than the gang had seen them light up in over five years, since this mess had all begun the first time around, not including the year before when she was stalked by him.
"Yeah baby doll, it is," Troy grinned, pulling her close to him and smelling the coconut smell of her shampoo, before reaching down and kissing her softly, instantly being able to taste her strawberry scented lip gloss as they both smiled like idiots into the kiss…
Well guys, I hope that you liked it! Please review and hopefully the last chapter will be out in a week or less depending on when I have the time to finish it.