Chapter 38

A/N: If you only read one new chapter please go back to read the real chapter 36. I do not own High School Musical.

Troy was quietly panicking as he drove Gabriella home about two o'clock. He parked in the drive and opening her door and lifting her out he took her hand and led his equally nervous wife into the house.

Maria had been cleaning the kitchen and she looked up with a small frown of uncertainty when she recognised the distinctive sound of Troy's truck. Watching Troy and Gabriella enter still holding hands it was obvious that they were no longer following her request to break off their relationship if they ever truly had. Maria was extremely upset that her daughter had defied her in this way. It would have been nearly impossible to establish a comfortable relationship with Eduardo if she hadn't given up on the idea of loving Troy. And even though the marriage could now be avoided Gabriella would be far better off having made a clean break from Troy instead of hoping that they could somehow maintain a relationship even when they would be completely unable to contact each other in any way for eighteen months. Trying hard to control her anger she turned to her daughter and quietly asked her to talk in the other room.

"No Mom, anything you want to say about Troy you can say right here in front of him. You were wrong when you tried to send him away when I needed him the most; and I'm not going to let you do it again." Gabriella replied wrapping both arms around Troy showing her mother that she was not about to back down over this.

"I only want what's best for you mija. This relationship with Troy cannot continue, and the longer you drag out finishing it the more it will hurt you both" Maria said pleading for her daughter to be sensible.

"Troy knows I'm not going to marry Eduardo, Mom, there's no reason for us to break up" Gabriella replied.

Maria frowned at her daughter. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone Gabriella, I'm very disappointed in you. Please tell me that he doesn't know where you are going. It could get us all in trouble."

"I trust Troy with everything Mom. Besides I'm not going with Aunt Ginevra. We came up with our own plan. I'm going to stay here with Troy" Gabriella declared.

Maria stared at her daughter in exasperation. "Gabriella that's impossible! Your father will come and get you when we don't turn up on the 21st. And where will you stay, Jack and Lucille won't let you just move in with their son."

"Mrs Montez, Gabriella and I were married on Friday. She can't be forced into another marriage, I love her and she loves me, we want to be together." Troy looked Maria straight in the eyes refusing to back down or show uncertainty.

For a moment an expression of happiness crossed Maria's face before being ruthlessly banished. Gabriella who was looking at the floor missed it but Troy noticed and relaxed slightly. It seemed their speculation might be correct. Maria had deliberately left the permission form for them to find.

"Are you sure this was the right thing to do Mija. High school romances rarely last forever. How can Troy support you and take care of you? Marriage is not a game; it takes time and effort to make it work." Maria declared with frustration.

"What Gabriella and I have is not a normal high school romance" Troy interrupted. "I am more than willing to put the effort and the time to make it work. I love her. She is a part of me." Troy added tenderly when he cast a loving side-glance at his wife. "Even if you're right (and I don't for a moment think that you are) if our marriage doesn't work out in the long term it is still worth the chance. I promise you that I love your daughter with all my heart and I will do everything I possibly can to look after her and make her happy she's not just my wife but also my best friend. That won't change no matter what else does."

"It wasn't just the right thing to do Mom, it was the only thing to do. I can't live without Troy in my life. I couldn't go into hiding and not speak to him for 18 months. I just couldn't do it. I know Troy and I are young but we are meant to be together" Gabriella said pleading for her mother to understand and accept their marriage.

"Mrs. Montez, I know it's too late to ask this. It means so much to us that we have your blessings for our marriage. Would you give us your blessing?" Troy asked as voice rang with sincerity.

Gabriella looked at her mother anxiously.

"Oh Mija!" Maria cried hugging Gabriella with tears in her eyes. "I only ever wanted what is best for you. I'm still not convinced that marrying Troy was a good idea. But it's done now and you can count on my full support. I pray that you are right and that your love is strong enough for all the obstacles you are going to face." Maria then turned to Troy "Welcome to the family" she said giving him a hug as well.

"Thank you Mrs Montez" Troy said hugging his mother-in-law awkwardly.

"I think it's time you started to call me Maria, Troy" she said smiling.

Gabriella's eyes filled with tears of relief. She had tried to prepare herself to deal with her mother's anger and disapproval but as a result of having moved so often she and Maria had always been very close and it hurt her to think they might part on bad terms.

Troy took Gabriella's hand and smiled encouragingly.

"What are you going to do next year? Will you still be accepting your place at Stanford or will you go to U of A with Troy?" Maria asked working hard to make her voice sound calm.

"Yes Mum I'll still go to Stanford" Gabriella replied surprised her mum hadn't asked earlier.

Maria smiled not sure that she believed Gabriella would follow through with this, but willing to let her daughter make her own decision, "I would understand if you wanted to stay in Albuquerque with Troy you know. I had given up on the dream of you attending Stanford when your father's arrangements for the wedding arrived."

"You knew that Eduardo wouldn't let her go to college? I thought Stanford was important to you." Troy exclaimed angrily.

"It was important to me particularly because it has been Gabriella's dream for so long. I didn't like the idea of her being forced to give it up, but I couldn't find a legal way out of the contract that I could possibly afford. I simply did not have the ten million dollars that reneging on the contract would have cost me. I'm sorry Mija" Maria apologised to her daughter.

"What happens with that now, will you have to pay?" Gabriella asked fearfully.

"No Gabi, I didn't renege on the contract, you circumvented it totally without my knowledge or assistance" Maria reassured her.

"Will Gabriella and I have to pay instead?" Troy asked anxiously.

"No Troy, because Gabriella never signed the contract, she cannot be held accountable to it. Even if they wanted to try to sue either of us for breach of contract Gabriella and I are now American citizens, any action would have to be taken through the American court system and the Americans do not look favourably on enforcing Marriage Contracts involving minors. Neither Alejandro nor Eduardo will want to risk the publicity and damage to their reputations that taking this to court would undoubtedly bring. Especially with such a slim chance of winning. Truly there is nothing to worry about. And if they do try we could threaten to write to the major TV networks and current affairs shows, this is the sort of story they would be interested in. The threat of what that would do to their standing in the community and their business affiliations would make both Eduardo and Alejandro withdraw their claim or perhaps even settle in our favour with a payout in return for not exposing them to the media."

"I don't want their money. I just want them to leave Gabriella and me alone." Troy said still a bit concerned about Gabriella's father's reaction.

"How did your parents react Troy, will they let you and Gabriella stay with them until Graduation?" Maria asked putting the kettle on.

She watched worriedly as Troy ducked his head and reached up to rub the back of his neck, sure signs of nervousness. Maria stared at him silently demanding an answer. "Well they don't exactly know yet" he said. "They are away for the weekend and won't be back until about five o'clock. We'll tell them when they get home."

"Oh... What will you do if they won't let Gabi stay with you?"

"I think that they will, we overheard them discussing the possibility of inviting Gabriella to stay with us when you left." Troy answered.

"But they haven't followed through with the invitation" Maria reminded him.

"No but it has only been a week. We overheard the conversation on Sunday and I haven't seen much of them this week. We've all been so busy and they left Friday before I got home. When I heard them, they decided to wait until I brought it up, they agreed that they would consider letting her stay if it was important enough to me to actually ask them."

"Though I think that Troy's father at least is hoping that Troy doesn't ask" Gabriella added insecurely.

"Yeah that's just a Coach thing though Gabriella." Troy attempted to reassure his wife.

"A Coach thing?" her mother asked curiously.

"Yeah Dad likes Gabriella and is happy we're together, but 'Coach Bolton' would ban the entire team from having girlfriends or any other outside interests if he could." Troy explained "he thinks they're a distraction and we should all focus more on Basketball. Gabriella is especially targeted in that because he still partly blames her for me getting involved in musicals as well."

"I see" said Maria laughing as she recalled some of Lucille's frustration with her husband's priorities over the past year.

"Have you got a backup plan if Jack and Lucille don't allow Gabriella to stay with you?" Maria asked concerned that Troy had evaded the question earlier.

"Not really Mum, I thought of asking Taylor, Kelsi, Martha and maybe Ryan and Sharpay if I could stay with them for a few weeks each once you leave, then if Coach and Mrs Bolton haven't changed their minds about us I don't know what we'll do."

"Or you could accept the early entry to Stanford and live in the dorms on campus" her mother interjected.

Gabriella sighed "yeah I guess I could though I don't want to if I can avoid it. It's just so far away"

"This new project is going to pay very well, and considering after our mammoth shopping trip courtesy of your father's credit card, I no longer have to provide you with any material possessions for quite some time I'm sure I could afford to fly you back to Albuquerque every fourth weekend as long as you kept your grades up."

"That's very generous of you Mrs Montez" Troy said quietly. He wasn't sure about this offer, was Gabriella's mother trying to help them or was she trying to separate them again by encouraging Gabriella to move to California six months early.

Maria could hear the rejection of this idea in both the young people's voices, so she let the subject drop, not wanting to have another falling out with her daughter and new son-in-law.

A/N2: Thankyou to Wildcats2016, Pumpkinking5, iminlove13 and FlovesHSM for your support.