Disguised Affection Chapter 34

Sprinting up the flights of stairs up to the third floor, Troy finally pushed open the door and ran down the hallway, counting the rooms. '319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324.'

Troy came to a halt in front of the door, sliding his card into the door and quickly springing it open, not caring as it swung open and loudly banged against the wall.

"Gabriella? You here?" Troy called out, running into the room, his hopes completely shattered as he saw the room empty, the bed appearing seemingly untouched, and Gabriella nowhere to be seen.

---

His heart was racing. He couldn't believe this was happening. Where was she?

Troy felt a mixture of emotions hit him all at once—anger, frustration, confusion, shock, anxiety, but most importantly, fear. Troy quickly ran into the room, darting towards the bathroom and seeing it completely empty, with no sign of Gabriella whatsoever.

After quickly checking the rest of the room one more time, Troy felt his heart sink as he realized she wasn't there at all. Sitting down on the bed, Troy put his hands in his head, his fingers grasping at his hair as he racked his brain trying to figure out what to do next.

Where could she possibly be? What if someone took her?

"Tomas?"

Troy's head whipped around at the sound of his name being called, immediately leaping up from his spot and running towards the door, seeing Gabriella standing there with an extremely confused look on her face.

"Gabi!" Troy breathed out in relief, stopping in front of her and cupping her face in his hands, his eyes scanning her body making sure she was okay. "Are you alright? What happened? Did someone come by? Why did you leave?"

Gabriella quickly cut off Troy's rapid firing of questions, bringing her fingers up to pinch his lips together. "Slow down Tomas. Take a deep breath, and stop freaking out."

"Freaking out? Freaking out!?" Troy exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. "What do you expect? I sent you here last night, thinking you'd be completely safe. I have one hell of a day in closing out this job, and I call you and you don't answer. Then I come here expecting to see you and you're not here! I didn't know what happened, and I still don't. All I have been thinking about is if you are okay and what I'd do if you weren't, and-,"

Troy's words were cut off once more, but this time by Gabriella's lips as she placed her hands on the back of his neck pulling him down towards her. For a moment, Troy's hands were stiff at his sides but as soon as he felt her fingers tangle in his short black hair, he came to his senses, quickly wrapping his arms around her back and pulling her body closer to him.

Gabriella released her lips from his a few moments later, watching Troy with a grin as his eyes slowly fluttered open.

"What was that for?" Troy asked breathlessly, bringing his hand up to softly brush a curl of hair behind her ear.

"You were rambling," Gabriella giggled, leaning up to quickly peck his jaw before escaping from his grasp. Troy watched as she walked towards the door, grabbing her stuff that had been left in the doorway before shutting the door and making her way towards the bed as if nothing was wrong.

"So are you going to tell me or not?" Troy asked impatiently.

Settling herself down on the bed, Gabriella began to search through the bag of food she had, not looking up at him. "Tell you what?"

Troy let out a loud sigh growing extremely frustrated after the long day. "Tell me where you were! Gabriella, I've been worried sick!" Troy confessed, running a hand through his hair while he paced back and forth in front of the bed. "And you just sit here as if nothing is wrong."

Troy stopped pacing as he felt a small hand lightly grip his arm before his body was turned to face her. "Tomas, nothing is wrong. I'm here, I'm safe. I know you've had a long day and I'm sorry for not answering your calls earlier and worrying you. It's sweet that you are so worried about me, but really, I can take care of myself."

Troy just nodded, noting the pleading look in her eyes for him to calm down and trust her. "Are you ever going to tell me where you went though?"

Gabriella giggled at his persistence, pulling her sandwich out of the bag and holding it up to show him. "I went to get food. You really didn't expect me to just sit around in this hotel room all day, did you? Sure the hotel is nice, but I was really craving some fast food."

"How come you didn't answer your phone then? I must have called you fifty times."

"And here I thought you'd be so busy today that you wouldn't even miss me. My phone was off because it is dead. In my haste to leave last night, I forgot my charger," Gabriella explained, watching as he took a deep breath, finally calming down a bit. "Here," Gabriella pulled a french fry out of her bag before shoving it in his mouth, causing his face to scrunch up in confusion. "Eat something and relax. We're both safe, everything's done for the day, and honestly, you stressing out is stressing me out."

Nodding his head, Troy grinned as he realized she was right. Reaching his hand over to her bag, he pulled out a few more fries before popping them in his mouth, chuckling at Gabriella's shocked look. "What?"

"You jerk! Get your own fries! I've been craving some good fast food all day, and now you're eating it all."

"You're the one who stuffed a fry in my mouth earlier Montez!"

"Yeah one fry, Tomas! I never said you could have more," Gabriella playfully glared at him, hiding the bag behind her so it was out of Troy's reach.

Troy wasn't concerned any more with the food though. The moment his alias had slipped from her lips, realization dawned on Troy. He needed to introduce her to the real him. The thought scared him to death, afraid that she wouldn't feel the same about Troy Bolton as she did about Tomas Martinez. He could only hope that she would realize that his feelings for her remained the same and that hers would stay the same for him, regardless of his name and appearance.

"What's wrong? You look worried," Gabriella broke his train of thought, picking up on his sudden change in demeanor.

Troy sighed, shifting on the bed so he could face her better, his eyes staring into hers. "I was just thinking…months ago before all of this happened, I never pictured things turning out the way they did. I had just gotten out of another undercover job, and I went into this one hoping to advance my career by taking down the biggest mafia family in the region. I never thought for a second that I'd come out of it with a new outlook on life and my career."

Gabriella nodded briefly, her eyebrows scrunching up in confusion as she tried to figure out where he was going with all of this.

Noticing her look, Troy took a deep breath before clarifying. "I quit today."

"You quit your job?" Gabriella asked, her jaw dropping in shock.

"Well, yeah. Not completely. I'll still be working there, just not as a field agent going undercover. Those days are done."

"Why?"

"Because before, I didn't have anyone to come back to."

Gabriella felt her breath catch in her throat at his confession. His words still echoed in her head as the meaning continued to sink in.

After nothing was said for a few moments, Troy felt the need to follow up his previous statement. "Listen Gabi, I don't want to freak you out or rush into anything, but this job changed me a bit. Even though I had my family, my friends, and Angie back home, my focus was still on my career. Sure it sucked sometimes going from one undercover assignment to another, but I kinda thrived on it. But after these last few months, I've realized that I don't want to be away from the people I care about for months at a time, both myself and them wondering if I'll be coming back alive. I want to live a semi-normal life…be able to have a normal job, have a family, to stop looking and living like someone else. I know we have a lot to talk about, but I really want to try and make things work between us. I realize though that while I know you, there's a lot of me that you don't know. So with that being said, I'm Troy Bolton," Troy finished with a small grin, holding out his hand for her to shake. "What would you like to know Miss Montez?"

Gabriella couldn't help but grin as she glanced down at his hand that was held out in front of her. Slowly she placed her tiny hand in his larger one, feeling a warmth spread through her at his touch. "Troy, huh?"

Chuckling nervously, Troy brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah."

"I was wondering what the 'T' stood for when I asked for the reservation under 'T. Bolton'. I spent all day thinking of names starting with 'T'."

"Nothing like being productive," Troy joked playfully.

"Don't judge! You weren't the one left alone for a whole day with nothing to do."

"Alright," Troy held his hands up in defense, laughing as she stared him down. "So what'd you come up with then?"

"Let's see, there was Trevor, Tony, Taylor,-"

"Taylor?! That's a girl's name."

"It can be a name for a boy too. Stop being so stereotypical," Gabriella ordered while Troy just chuckled, motioning for her to continue. "Then there was Tim, Thomas,-"

"Thomas?"

Gabriella just giggled as he shook his head at her. "What? I thought maybe the guys down at the FBI alias creating division were lacking on their creativity skills."

"Majorly lacking."

"Stop interrupting!"

"Fine, fine, continue," Troy chuckled.

"Tyler, Todd, Thaddeus, Thatcher, Thorbert,-"

"Thorbert!?? Now you're just making shit up," Troy interrupted, smiling as she erupted into giggles. "So Troy never crossed your mind, huh?"

"Nope. I guess it fits though. Personally, I like Thatcher though. I think I'm gonna call you that from now on."

"Don't you dare!" Troy told her sternly, shuddering at the thought causing Gabriella to laugh even more.

"I think you'd make a good Thatcher. We might need to change your wardrobe a bit though. Something tells me you need to be wearing polo shirts and slacks, with maybe a few sweaters as well."

"Not funny Montez."

Gabriella just laughed, going back to finish up her dinner, looking up as Troy watched her curiously with a serious look on his face. "What?"

"All joking aside, I know you have questions Gabi. You've had them for weeks I know, and I told you I couldn't tell you anything for your own safety. Well that's done with now. I want to be honest with you and answer any of your questions. I've tried to be as honest as I can with you these past few months, but that could only go to a certain extent, which means that you don't really know me."

Folding up the wrapper around her sandwich, Gabriella stuffed the remainder back in the bag before shifting on the bed so she was sitting with her legs crossed in front of her. She knew what he was getting at without saying it. She picked up that he was worried she wouldn't feel the same about him, once she found out who he really was. "Troy," Gabriella began, her hand reaching out to grasp his arm so he'd look at her. "I'm not going to up and leave you once I find out more about you."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, I stayed here in this stupid hotel room for almost twenty-four hours, waiting for you to show up. If I didn't want to give us a shot, I would have been long gone awhile ago."

"Stupid hotel room huh? Glad to know I wasted my money on an expensive room when I could have just put you up in a cheap Motel 6 room. I'm offended."

"Shut up," Gabriella muttered, shoving his shoulder while he laughed. "I guess you are right though. I do want to get to know you Troy, not because I need to know if I'll still have feelings with you…those feelings aren't going to change. That being said, I'd like to get to know you better."

Troy nodded in agreement, a small smile working its way onto his face as he got an idea. Leaning forward, Troy brushed his lips lightly against hers, his hand trailing up her arm to cup the back of her neck, gently pressing her closer. Troy broke the kiss a few moments later, but quickly brought his lips up to peck her forehead before standing up with a grin. "Come on," Troy told her, extending his hand to her.

Somewhat tentatively, Gabriella placed her hand into his, allowing him to entangle their fingers. "Where are we going?"

"To my place," Troy answered, picking up her bag of food with his other hand and leading her towards the closet where her bag was. Letting go of Troy's hand for a moment, Gabriella quickly stuffed all her belongings in the bag before grabbing his hand once more.

"Your place, huh?"

"Yeah, I figure what's the point of staying here in a hotel when we can stay at my place. I haven't been home in months. I miss my bed," Troy pouted playfully, opening the door for her and ushering her out, before closing it and taking her hand as they made their way down the hall. "Plus, what better way to get to know me then to see my place, meet my friends, meet Angie."

"Who's Angie?" Gabriella finally asked, being curious since he'd mentioned her name earlier.

"Angie is my friend Jason's daughter. Remember that time a few months ago when we went to get pizza and that little girl started crying and holding onto me?"

"Yeah," Gabriella answered as they reached the elevator and stepped inside.

"That's her."

Realization suddenly dawned on Gabriella as she recalled the angel tattoo on Troy's shoulder blade and the story behind it. "Your tattoo," Gabriella reached up to touch his shoulder blade, her fingers lightly ghosting over his shirt where the tattoo was underneath. "She's the one you got it for?"

Troy nodded, his hand enveloping Gabriella's once more after hers trailed back down his arm to her side. "Yeah, she is. Although the story I told you before wasn't quite true," he admitted, continuing as he saw her listening intently. "Angie's mom died a little over a year after she was born. The night it happened, Jason had just finished up a case he'd been working on for months. The guy he'd been after was into all kinds of shit, and he was going away for life. When J got home that night, his wife came out to greet him. Turns out, the guy's brother had followed him home and ended up shooting her before speeding off."

Gabriella gasped and brought her hand up to her mouth. "Right in front of him?" Troy nodded sadly. "Did they catch the guy at least?"

"A little over a year later, they did. Right after it happened, Jason went into a major depression though. He couldn't take care of himself really, let alone Angie. His parents decided it'd be best if he lived with them for awhile, and they asked me if I'd take Angie in since I'd already been stepping in to watch her a lot. So I worked fewer hours and took care of her for about ten months; Chad and our buddy Zeke taking turns as well when I had to work. After that, J got better and ended up coming back to work around a year after the incident. Then a few months after that, he tracked down the guy."

"Did he end up in prison?"

Troy shook his head as they walked out of the elevator and headed towards his car. "He ended up getting the death penalty. The guy was wanted for another murder as well. We had to hold J back from killing the guy the day we arrested him though, but we couldn't really blame him. He had to watch his wife die in his arms. I still don't know how he made it through all of that, but I know Angie is a huge part of it now. He adores that little girl."

"Sounds like you do too," Gabriella smiled, stepping into the car as he opened the door for her.

"I do. I've missed her like crazy these past few months. Wait till you meet her, you're gonna love her," Troy told her, his eyes lit up and a huge smile on his face as he spoke of her, causing Gabriella's face to light up as well.

"I can't wait."

---

After a twenty minute drive to Troy's house, most of which was spent with Gabriella firing off questions and learning more about Troy, the two stepped out of Troy's car and made their way up the sidewalk to the front door.

Troy stopped though when his eyes glanced over to the backyard next door, spotting Angie in the backyard playing with some toys.

Seeing the way his face lit up upon seeing the little girl, Gabriella had no doubts as to who she was and quickly followed Troy when he took off for the gate leading to Jason's backyard.

Quietly, Troy stepped into the backyard, closing the gate and walking over to where Angie was busy playing with a tea set. Gabriella couldn't help but smile while she watched Troy sit down, smiling from ear to ear as he looked at the little girl who still hadn't noticed his presence.

Troy scooted a little closer, smiling over at Gabriella who was now standing behind him, before leaning over and picking up a cup from the ground, holding it out to the little girl. "Can I have some?"

"Uncle Twoy!!"

Before Troy could react, he found himself flat on the ground with Angie's arms wrapped tightly around his neck while she squeezed him as tightly as she could. "Hey Angel face," Troy finally spoke up, bringing his hand up to rub her back gently. "Miss me?"

Angie didn't say anything, but instead nodded enthusiastically in response with her face still buried in Troy's shoulder.

"I missed you too kid," Troy whispered, bringing his arms up to hug her tightly before sitting up.

Gabriella just looked on quietly, not wanting to interrupt the reunion between the two of them. She had remembered the first time she'd seen Angie and how she'd reacted when she saw Troy and was then torn away. She couldn't imagine what it was like for a little girl to go through all that she had, but she knew that both Angie and Troy needed this moment.

After what seemed like not long enough to Troy, Angie pulled back from the hug, seating herself in Troy's lap and looking up at him with her face completely lit up. Reaching her tiny hands up, she tugged on Troy's hair, looking at it curiously. "Your hair is still diffewent."

"It is," Troy laughed, pulling his hair out of her grasp, "but it will be back to normal soon."

Angie wiggled her hand out of Troy's grasp, placing it on his cheek. "I missed you so much Uncle Twoy."

"I know Angel," Troy sighed, leaning down and kissing her cheek as he pulled her into another hug, taking a moment to glance up at Gabriella who was smiling at the two of them.

Angie shifted her head on Troy's shoulder, her eyebrows scrunching up in confusion when she noticed Gabriella standing there. "Uncle Twoy?"

"Yeah Angel?"

"Who's that?"

Troy whipped his head around, following Angie's eyes to where Gabriella was standing. Troy smiled before standing up and walking over to Gabriella with Angie still clinging to him.

"Angie, this is Gabriella. Gabriella, meet Angie."

Angie kept her hands wrapped tightly around Troy's neck while she looked curiously at Gabriella, who smiled at her before extending her hand. "Hi Angie. You can call me Gabi if you want."

Finally, a smile crept on the little girl's face as she reached out and shook Gabriella's hand, never loosening her grasp on Troy's neck with her other hand. "Hi Gabi."

"Your Uncle Troy told me a lot about you. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Angie responded shyly, laying her head on Troy's shoulder as he rubbed her back. "Uncle Twoy?"

"Yeah Angel?" Troy answered when she lifted her head off his shoulder to look at him. "I like her. She's pwetty."

Troy laughed along with Gabriella before leaning down to whisper something in Angie's ear, but being certain it was loud enough that Gabriella could hear. "I think she's very pretty too." Troy admitted to her, his eyes though completely focused on Gabriella, who blushed at his comment.

The moment between them was broken though by the sound of the sliding door opening. "Hey Troy!"

"Hey J!" Troy greeted, walking over with Angie still in his arms, giving his friend a hug.

"I saw you back here with Angie, but I figured I'd leave you two alone for a bit. You happy your Uncle Troy is back?" Jason asked her, immediately earning an emphatic nod. "I know we keep telling you this, but not a day went by where she didn't ask about you. Sometimes I think she loves you more man," Jason added jokingly.

Troy laughed, shifting Angie in his arms while shaking his head. "Nah man, she just misses my chocolate milk is all. Oh, by the way," Troy said, taking a few steps closer to Gabriella and placing an arm around her to usher her forwards. "This is Gabriella."

"Hey," Jason greeted, stepping forward to shake her hand. "I'm Jason. I've heard a lot about you from Troy and Chad. Apparently Troy here loves to talk about you," he added, wincing when Troy socked him in the shoulder.

"Uncle Twoy?"

"Yeah Angel?" Troy answered, both he and Gabriella grateful for the interruption.

"Did you say chocowate miwk? Can you make me some?"

"You have to ask your dad," Troy told her, laughing at her adorable puppy face.

"Daddy, can I have some?"

Jason smiled, ruffling her hair with a nod. "Sure thing Angel. Let's go inside and get some."

"Yay!"

"Told you she just missed the chocolate milk," Troy chuckled, intertwining his fingers with Gabriella and pulling her along as the four of them went inside.

---

Troy hopped out of the shower, wiping off the steam on the mirror and grinning in satisfaction when he noticed his hair had returned almost to its normal color. It was still darker than usual, but the solution he'd used to remove the color had worked good enough for now.

Quickly putting on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Troy headed out of the bathroom to find Gabriella, who he'd hoped hadn't found any embarrassing pictures of him in the time he left her to look around his house.

He felt a smile creep on his face when he walked by his guest room that was home to all of his trophies and other awards, and noticed her standing there gazing down at a picture in hand.

Softly treading across the carpeted floor, Troy snuck up behind her, placing his arms around her waist while he pulled her body back to lean against his. "Find anything interesting Montez?"

Gabriella giggled, glancing back down at the photo before looking up at him. "Just some cute pictures of you. I take it you like basketball?"

"Love it," Troy admitted, "used to live and breathe it."

"I can tell," Gabriella agreed amusedly, setting Troy's senior year basketball picture down before picking up another one from his early junior high days, erupting in laughter when she looked at it.

"Something funny?" Troy deadpanned playfully, unable to stop his own smile. "I got braces soon after that, trust me."

"Aww, the gap is kind of cute though," Gabriella teased, pointing out the small gap in the picture between his two front teeth.

"I can't believe my parents didn't get me braces sooner than that. Seriously, that screams geek right there."

"I think it's adorable," Gabriella giggled, placing the picture back before spinning around in Troy's arms, her eyes widening as she noticed his hair. She couldn't resist bringing her fingers up and examining a few strands before running her fingers through his hair and down to his neck where her fingers played with the hair there at the back of his neck.

"Different huh?"

Gabriella blinked a few times, bringing herself out of her stare and connecting her eyes with Troy's, which were now their normal blue color. "Yeah, it is. In a good way though. I couldn't really picture it before, but I like it."

"Good to know you're not going to ditch me because of my hair color," Troy teased.

"Of course not," Gabriella agreed. "But, if the gap came back, I can't guarantee the same thing."

Troy dropped his jaw, pretending to be shocked for a moment before shaking his head at himself. "Eh, I'd dump me too if the gap returned."

Gabriella giggled, leaning up to capture his lips with hers. "I'm just messing with you. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Well so far, I haven't scared you off, and neither has my past," Troy began, taking her hand and pulling her out of the room towards his front door. "Let's head over to see Chad in the hospital though. If he doesn't scare you off, then I don't know what would."

---

Troy stopped outside of the hospital room, looking inside the small window to see Chad sitting up in his hospital bed, looking unhappy as he talked with one of the nurses. Knocking and pushing open the door, Troy wasted no time making fun of his friend.

"Danforth, stop harassing the nurses. They will not be bribed to go get McDonald's for you. You're not cute enough for that."

"Hey, your brown hair is back!" Chad exclaimed, ignoring his comment. "Is that why it took so long for you to come and see me? Too busy styling your hair? I swear, the least you could do is come visit the guy who took a bullet for you man."

Troy laughed, pulling a bag from behind his back. "I brought you food, does that count for something?"

"I knew there was a reason you were my best friend!" Chad smiled like a little kid on Christmas morning, eagerly snatching the bag of fast food from Troy and immediately stuffing his mouth. "Mmmm sooo good. This definitely beats whatever excuse for a meal they tried to feed me earlier."

"Glad you like it man," Troy chuckled, turning back to glance at Gabriella over his shoulder, who was standing by the door, motioning for her to step forward.

"So that's the reason it took so long for you to come see me!" Chad exclaimed, a light bulb going off in his head. "It's alright man, I would choose her over me too."

"Chad, stop trying to flirt with her, she's taken," Troy scolded, gently grabbing Gabriella's forearm and tugging her into his side.

"You mean you picked some pretty boy like him over a man like me?"

"What makes you more of a man than me?"

"I took a bullet today, what did you do?"

Troy shook his head, exchanging an amused glance with Gabriella. "You're gonna hold that over my head for awhile, aren't you?"

"You got it. Anyways, are you going to properly introduce me to your girl there, or are the two of you just going to have eye sex all night?" Chad asked, causing Gabriella's cheeks to flush pink in embarrassment.

Troy pulled Gabriella into his side before sending a confused look to Chad. "Eye sex? Really man?"

"I read it in one of those magazines," Chad admitted, gesturing to the stack next to his bed. "You'd think they'd have some sports magazines up in here, but no. There were some nice smelling perfume samples in some of those though, I must say. Enough about that though, get on with it Bolton! Introduce us!"

"Right," Troy said, walking closer to the bed and pulling Gabriella with him. "Chad, Gabriella. Gabriella, Chad," Troy introduced quickly.

"It's nice to finally meet the girl who turned my best friend into a babbling idiot over the past few months."

"Nice to meet you too," Gabriella giggled, shaking his hand before wrapping her arm back around Troy's waist.

"So I heard everything went smoothly, aside from you beating the crap out of Raul during questioning."

"He had it coming."

"I bet he did. That asshole shot me. How does it feel though to be done man?"

Troy sighed, the grin tugging at his lips revealing his true feelings. "It feels great. I'm glad it's finally over," Troy told him, those two short sentences summing it up for Troy. Months earlier, he'd been pissed off at the Chief for being assigned the job. But now with taking down the Montez family and a huge crime ring along the way, and with having Gabriella by his side free from her old life, Troy couldn't help but smile. It was finally over.

Erin & Corri AN: We are so sorry for the months between these last updates. Thanks to all who are still reading, we appreciate it! Just the epilogue left now. We appreciate everyone's support and reviews on this story. There's a banner posted for this story now on Erin's profile for you guys to check out if you want. Thanks again!