September 29th, 2010: 2:01 PM

Gabriella pulled her SUV into her driveway. As she turned it off, her phone began to ring.

She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it.

Troy.

She opened the text and read it.

"Are you still mad at me?"

She leaned back.

"You broke another promise. Of course I'm still mad."

She got a text back quickly.

"I told you I was sorry. Please don't be mad anymore."

Gabriella sighed and looked at her house.

"When can you take a flight to get here?"

"I don't know baby. The aftermath winds are tearing things up here in New York."

"Try to get a flight as soon as possible."

"I will. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Alright."

"I love you."

She didn't respond to that text. She just slipped her phone back into her pocket and leaned against the steering wheel.

"Why does life have to be so tough?"

She got the strength to get up and go into the house.

It had been a rough day at school.

"Hi sweetheart!" Her mother ran to kiss her. Gabriella ignored her.

"What is wrong?" Maria followed her as she sat down in the living room chair.

"Troy is what's wrong." Gabriella covered her eyes with her arm.

"Still upset about him not coming?"

"You bet I am."

"He will come Gabriella. Trust him. He is a good man."

"Yeah, sure."

"He is."

Gabriella snickered sarcastically. "He's just rushing the airport for the next plane to Massachusetts."

Maria frowned. "You know he is trying."

"Not hard enough."

Maria sighed.

Gabriella sighed also. "Where's Griffin?"

"Taking a nap. He was very tired after your father took him to the park."

"Oh." Gabriella felt a wet nose touching her hand. "Hi Coltie."

Colt wagged his entire rear end.

"I'm surprised you're away from Griffin."

He whined a little and set his chin on the edge of the chair.

"What's wrong boy?" She scratched his head. "Got girl problems? So does Troy."

He whined a little louder.

"What?"

He barked in a whiny tone.

"Is it Griffin?" Gabriella sat up.

Colt backed away and barked four times. He began to swirl around frantically.

Gabriella became worried. She got up from the chair and followed Colt downstairs.

He nudged her bedroom door open with his nose and sat down beside Griffin, wagging his tail.

"Colt, he's perfectly fine." She rolled Griffin over.

Colt persisted. He cried and spun around in circles.

"Stop Colt, he's just fine."

Colt became crazy. He woke Griffin.

Griffin sat up and immediatly began to scream.

"Griffin..." Gabriella squated down. "I'm sorry for waking you up baby, stop crying."

He wasn't crying because he had woken up. He was crying because something hurt. Gabriella could tell the difference.

"What's wrong, Griffie? Tell mommy what hurts."

Griffin screamed harder. Maria finally ran downstairs.

"What is going on?"

"I don't know. He won't tell me what's going on."

"Maybe he got scratched."

"He wouldn't be crying like this."

"I do not know then... "

Gabriella placed her hand on Griffin's back. He jumped and began to cry harder.

"Is it your back?" Gabriella quickly pulled her hand away.

Griffin nodded.

Gabriella's heart began to race.

"Oh god, Spina Bifida... hospital... hurry- "

"Hold on sweetheart. Look at his back first. Make sure he did not just scratch it."

Gabriella moved around to his backside and lifted his shirt up a little. "No scratches mom. Spina Bifida- "

"Let me call the paramedics... " Maria ran out of the room.

...

Griffin sat alone in a room. Gabriella waited anxiously outside. She could hear his screams from outside the room.

He was consistantly screaming 'Mommy'.

Gabriella quickly called Troy.

"Gabriella? Hey- "

"Troy, Griffin's in the hospital." She was sobbing.

"Why? What's wrong?" Troy sat on his bed.

"I... I don't know... He woke up screaming and said that his back was hurting... "

Troy's eyes got wide. "Oh no... "

"I need you... " Gabriella sobbed and cried harder. "I really need you here... "

Troy's eyes watered. "I don't know if I can get a flight down there, baby... If I can, I'll call you, but if I can't, call me and give me updates."

"Please try... "

"I'll try as hard as I can. Just hang in there Brie... I love you, and tell Griffin I love him."

"We love you too... " Gabriella hung up and cried into her mom's shoulder.

Fifteen minutes later, a doctor emerged from Griffin's room. Griffin had finally stopped screaming.

"Gabriella?" The doctor approached her.

"That's me." She stood up and wiped her tears away. "Is he okay?"

The doctor rubbed his forehead. "Well, something has gone terribly wrong with his body. His body cells are attacking the weak spots on his body, which is the Spina Bifida. The nerves where the Spina Bifida infected his spine were being attacked by his body cells. We gave him some safe painkillers, and it has stopped the pain for now."

"How long will this last?"

"I'm going to say approximately a week to a month. It could end tonight for all we know."

Gabriella looked at her mom. "Can we take him home?"

The doctor sighed. "We have to keep him for four days of observation."

Gabriella nodded. "Thank you. Can I go see him?"

"Sure. He's been wanting to see you."

She rushed into his room, telling her mom to stay in the waiting room.

She approached his bed. "Hey Griffie... " She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled a little at him. "Are you okay now?"

Griffin nodded sadly. "Daddy... "

Gabriella took one of his hands. "Daddy's trying to find a plane to get down here. If he can't, he's going to call and talk to you on the phone."

Griffin played with her bracelet. "Fishies?"

She giggled a little. "Yeah, those are fishies on my bracelet. Here." She took the bracelet off and tightened it on his wrist. "You wear it."

He smiled a little. "Fishies."

Her phone rang.

"Troy?" She held the phone to her ear.

"I've got a private plane. He's gonna get me there in about three or four hours. I've got it assured with my principal that I can get two weeks off to come home."

Gabriella sighed in relief. "Thank god. Please, hurry."

"I will baby. I'll see you in a couple hours."

"Okay, bye."

Griffin looked at her. "Daddy?"

She smiled happily and kissed his hand. "Daddy's coming home baby."

Griffin became exited. He sat up and started blabbing like crazy.

"Yep, daddy's coming home... "

It would be one crazy return.