She woke up slowly, turning to see him slip his white undershirt on as he was only dressed in blue boxers and black socks. She yawned and stretched, flipping over to snuggle with the blankets opening one eye and looking at the engagement ring on her finger smiling. Troy looked over seeing her gaze at the ring. He smirked walking over and crawling into bed with her kissing her forehead. Her brown eyes shot over to his beautiful blue ones.
"Morning fiancée." He husked, kissing her lips. She kissed back as he pulled her closer to him.
"Fiancé." She whimpered. "I'm sore." She said stretching again. He frowned grabbing her hands.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked resting his forehead against hers. She giggled.
"No. Not at all. But I've never had so much sex in my life within three hours." She noted and he smirked.
"I can't help it, we were celebrating." He kissed her again. "Now, on your official proposal I will make reservations tonight at seven." She smiled.
"Can't wait." She smiled kissing him again.
"Maybe I'll see you at my ceremony?" He wondered and she shrugged.
"Depends what's going on with my assignment. I'll text you though." She said as he finished getting dressed, him leaving in an excited hurry. Gabriella heard the door shut and she fell back on the pillows screaming in excitement. She was engaged to the man of her dreams.
The entire time Gabriella dressed today, she kept one eye on her ring. She couldn't stop staring at it and the significance of it. She slyly covered it up, excited to only show Taylor and Ariel. After parade she walked up to the board seeing Chad, Taylor and Gabriella doing community service ride along together. Gabriella searched for them but only found Taylor walking to the car.
"Taylor!" Gabriella cheered, running over to her. "I hav-"
"I know, I get it. I over reacted last night." Gabriella's grin fell as she opened her mouth to correct herself. "I just…I really thought he wanted to be with me. I've been falling for him since we started and it sucks. It sucks seeing you so in love with Troy and I never find anyone." Gabriella nodded slowly, keeping her hand out of Taylor's vision.
"I know babe." She said as she huffed seeing Chad come to them.
"And now we have to deal with him all day." She said rolling her eyes.
"You guys need to talk…" She encouraged as he walked up.
"Ready." Chad said as Taylor walked away, rolling her eyes. He just stared at Gabriella.
"You guys need to talk today." Chad nodded as Gabriella followed. They met Taylor at the car and started up and headed out. The car ride was silent as Gabriella chose the back seat strategically. They were supposed to be doing community service but were assigned for reports of suspicious activity around a warehouse, a park and a baseball field. They reached the warehouse first looking around seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Chad looked at Taylor as he parked the squad car, Gabriella looking around outside feeling awkward tension.
"Did you mean everything you said?" He asked her as Taylor shot him a look crossing her arms. Gabriella felt awkward, pulling her phone out.
'Uh-oh, the talk is happening'
Troy getting ready for his swearing in ceremony, smiled to himself as he adjusted his tie before responding to Gabriella's SOS text.
Just ignore them and do your job. I love you
Gabriella felt a smile creep on her face, excited for what was in store for both of them tonight. Hours of sex, a great dinner, and celebrating the rock on her finger. She paused looking up to join the conversation.
"I just…I think we should talk this out like mature adults. I didn't mean to lead you on, I love Emmy with my whole heart." He said honestly as Taylor looked like she was going to cry. Gabriella felt her heart sink, looking out the window.
"I'm going to chill outside and get some fresh air." She said slipping her phone in her pocket and opening the door. Taylor sighed.
"I just think we should let it go." She said honestly, looking at a man she saw herself with for the rest of her life. He frowned.
"I want to get to the bottom of this. You're a good friend to me Taylor." She let a tear roll out.
Gabriella sighed as she rested against the car, pulling her phone out again rereading his message. She smiled, resuming her thoughts about how much more alone time she'd have with him tonight. Maybe she should get some lingerie. She began to type a reply to Troy when she looked up and saw a man walking around the side of a building dressed in maintenance gear. She raised an eyebrow looking at building noting how it was vacant wondering why someone was reporting to work. She turned to the door and hit it gently.
"Hey, I'm going to check it out." She said smiling at Chad. He shook his head.
"No, we all have to go in-"
"I'm not going in, I'm just going to check it out." She said urging him to finish their conversation. Chad looked at Taylor as he opened the car door.
"We'll finish this later." He said facing her as she quickly got mad.
"You know what no. We're going to finish this now in two seconds." She demanded. "Gabriella start your search, we'll be there in a second." She said as Chad left the car door open turning to face her.
Gabriella shrugged, placing a hand on her holster incase anything happened. She noticed the doors were open, maybe allowing people to not squat here. She sucked her breath in, walking carefully, crouched. For some reason her adrenaline was on high, looking around the warehouse. She looked back at the car seeing Taylor rant her life to him as she hopped up on a carrier entrance and looked around. Everything seemed well so she was ready to jump down when she heard a door. Her back facing the light, and her front facing the warehouse. She raised an eyebrow again when grabbed her radio.
"Guys requesting back u-" when a gun began to fire. She tried ducking but she was struck in the chest, screaming and hitting the floor in a second. The pain was unbearable, she gasped for air crying. She screamed in shock, reaching over to grab her radio grunting when the person who shot her chuckled then left the warehouse, shutting a door.
"I'm going to say this once to you, don't talk to me like I'm your side hoe. Don't try to make me laugh because you feel like feeling better about yourself. I deserve better and by you doing this to me, it brought me back down. You gave me hope that you would leave Emmy and be with me. But you just used me as a work wife to have fun. I'm done." She huffed when Chad looked up seeing Gabriella out of sight.
"Damnit El." He said getting out of the car hearing her radio ask for back-up when he heard gun shots. He ducked quickly when Taylor sat up looking out of the window in fear. Chad drew his gun as the radio confirmed his worst fear.
"HELP ME I'VE BEEN SHOT." She screamed as Chad took off running screaming as Taylor fumbled out of the car trying to get on her feet when she fell and hit the pavement. She felt tears build up as she shot up, started screaming and running up to her.
Gabriella gasped again screaming for help. She moved her arm down, touching blood, screaming in pain. She cried a little more, feeling blood trickle everywhere. She heard screaming from Chad and Taylor as they ran up. She grunted, feeling sweat drip down her face. She heard her name.
"230 what is your situation?" The radio called.
"230 where's your location?" Zeke called frantically.
"Taylor!" She yelled, failing to yell louder feeling every bit of energy draining from her. "Taylor!" She screamed again. Chad running as fast as he could to the pained voice, found her on the floor crying. Gabriella began shaking in fear, and gasped feeling a jolt of pain.
"Oh my god." Chad screamed running to her side. "Taylor cover me!" He shouted as Gabriella grabbed his arm quickly squeezing as tight as she could. He looked down into her eyes wide in fear as he had to control his breathing.
"Don't let me die." She said hoarse, her throat dry. Taylor saw a massive pool of blood and her bleeding body everywhere. Taking a sharp intake of her breath, she grabbed her radio.
"We need paramedics and back up at the abandon warehouse on western and thirty first. Cop shot, need immediate assistance." She said as her gun was drawn surveying the scene looking for another possible shooter. "Possible active shooter still around."
"10-4 230." The dispatch responded. "Cop down, I repeat cop down at Western Warehouse. We need all personnel." Dispatch shouted frantic.
"Gabriella, it's okay. We're here." Taylor soothed. Gabriella shook crying as Chad took his gear off, taking his uniform shirt and using it as a compress to stop the bleeding. She flinched and screamed as he pressed down. She started crying looking down.
"I'm going to die." She sobbed. Taylor bit her lip, wiping the sweat away looking around gun drawn. Chad continued his compress as Gabriella cried. "Oh my god." She said as Taylor dropped the gun facing her.
"It's going to be okay babe." Taylor said kindly as Chad snapped at her.
"RESUME COVERAGE." He growled. "Do you want to end up on the floor?" He shouted as Gabriella's breathing began to go shallow.
"I heard him leave." Gabriella said as Taylor growled at him dropping to her best friend's side.
"No you're not. I promise you, you're not going to die." Taylor grabbed her hand. "Helps on the way." She assured holding her own tears back. "You need to stay calm and focus on your breathing." Gabriella clenched her teeth shaking in shock. Chad felt a change in her temperature as her body began to go icy, she looked down seeing her chest, getting dizzy. Taylor squeezed her hand tighter praying.
Troy stood at the head of the podium, his nerves shaken but not knowing why. He spoke in front of the public often and was never afraid of it. He cleared his throat.
"I would just like to thank all of you possible for this opportunity. You know how bad I've wanted this and without you guys it would make it hard to even be the officer I am now." Troy said looking around the room. They all applauded him, some officers leaving in a hurry. "I can't wait to fully serve you and continue to drug bust." Troy shook a few hands with people, stepping down the podium upset that Gabriella missed his meeting. Chief walked up to him shaking his hand.
"Congratulations Troy." Chief told him. "Were extremely proud of you." The man smiled.
"Anytime sir. I'm glad to finally begin my role." Troy fixed his new hat, saluting the man as he walked away. Troy grinned ear to ear walking to his office hearing officers running. He looked up and wondered what was going on.
"Helps almost there 230" The radio said. Chad responded back.
"Hurry, we're losing her." Chad shouted. Gabriella was breathing heavily, but more relaxed. She lied there, still bleeding and holding onto Taylor. Chad held a strong compression on her chest, not releasing the initial pressure. She closed her eyes. "El, you need to keep your eyes open." Her eyes fluttered back open. Taylor stroked her hand.
"Can you..." she trailed off closing her eyes. "Can you tell him that I love him." She said softly as she closed her eyes sighing, tears falling from her eyes. "I love him." She closed her eyes sighing again.
"Gabriella, you're not going to die." He reassured as he looked down seeing her hand still holding his arm. He looked at the jewelry on her left finger. "Are you fucking kidding me." He said knowing damn straight that the jewelry wasn't on her yesterday at the bar. He looked at her with her eyes closed and shallow breathing. "Brie wake up! You are not dying you can't die!" He shouted and she didn't move. Chad cried dropping his head. The paramedics ran in with a gurney. "Wake up!" He shouted when she woke up gasping for air, grabbing onto his arm tightly.
"Chad you need to keep the compress." Sharpay screamed at him as he nodded, everyone getting Gabriella on the gurney. They all took off running to the vehicle as Taylor remained on her knees surrounded in blood. She looked down at her hands shaking.
"What happened?!" Jason shouted looking at the blood everywhere. Taylor still stared at her hands shaking.
"We let her in alone and we found her shot." Zeke looked at her being rolled in the ambulance. Jason dropped to his knees holding Taylor's hands from shaking. She looked up at him, tears falling rapidly.
"She's going to be okay Taylor." He said calmly.
Sharpay removed her items from her body, even taking her ring off. He looked down, seeing her eyes closed, curly hair hanging off the gurney, in her officer suit. He started crying, hoping she'd live. She hooked her up to a machine looking up and getting a police officer lead in front of the ambulance.
"Prepare the hospital for the OR. She has a weak pulse, but still breathing." Sharpay said into her radio as she looked at her heart rate on the screen. "Keep that compression, it's saving her life." Sharpay said seeing Chad nod. "Come on El." She said looking down at the pale body under her and then at her ring. "You can't leave him now." She said trying to stabilize.
"Hey Lee, what's going on?" Troy asked curiously as he began to gather his belongings to head out.
"There was a call for a down officer that required all personnel to attend. I would ask for Officer Roberts." Troy nodded scrolling through his work phone contacts finding Roberts name. He dialed.
"Alright, the shell casings are over there. Get the squad to take a picture then send those bastards over to forensics." He felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out seeing Troy's name. He answered it.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Hey Roberts. What's the situation on this down officer?" He asked him opening his hand book and grabbing his keys to assess the scene. He looked out the window seeing Chief walking down the hallway as if he saw a ghost. Troy started to feel panic rise in his body when he heard the words he never wanted to hear.
"Officer Gabriella Montez." He replied and Troy immediately felt his entire world flip over. Troy couldn't tell, but he swore a flash bomb went off and everything went slow. He dropped his phone, seeing Lee look at him curiously. Troy looked at the door as Lee picked up the phone talking to Roberts. In slow motion, Lee put his arm around Troy and dragged him with to the car. Troy was sick to his stomach as they bolted down the hallway to the parking garage. He looked over and saw Chief speaking to him and opening the door. He couldn't hear anything.
"Oh god oh god." Troy said unconsciously wanting to throw up.
Chad, Taylor, and Jason were all in the waiting room along with many other rookie cops and some older ones. To say everyone loved her was an understatement. She was rushed into emergency surgery, worried that they might not see her again.
Chad was pacing. That was his sister, he promised Troy he'd protect her no matter what. And now it was his fault that she was in the hospital. He heard pounding foot steps that brought him out of his thoughts. He saw Troy. Oh god.
"Where is she?!" He croaked. Taylor looked up at him. She closed her eyes continuing to pray.
"She's still in surgery right now." Taylor spoke up seeing Chief and Detective Filmore walk up behind him. Troy fell to his knees inconsolable and erratic. He looked at Chad, his shirt covered in blood…her blood.
"What the fuck happened?!" Troy asked as Chad tried picking him up to put him in a chair as he was weak.
"She was just walking around the building seeing something and she requested back up when she got shot." Taylor told him. He heard Taylor say the sentence over and over again, now getting angered by the situation. He pushed Chad off him as he was standing now.
"Where did she get shot?" He asked feeling sick, sitting down on his own.
"Chest." Chad told him getting choked up, his voice cracking. "Troy I'm sorry." He said tears in his eyes. Troy felt his stomach drop as the tears we're pouring.
"You fucking did this to her?" He asked pushing him again. Chief and Filmore stepped in to make sure this wouldn't get out of hand.
"It was an accident Troy-" He repeated as Troy formed a fist to hit Chad, but then distracted when he saw nurses across the hall sprinting with extra bags of blood.
That's when it really hit him. He dropped to his knees, dropping his head into his hands sobbing. Taylor walked over, consoling him as Chad gathered himself together and left the waiting room. He cried and she rubbed his back as Chief and Filmore walked around trying to get more answers. The news broke all over the television and Chief dropped his head. It wasn't more than five minutes when they heard a door fly open for the second time. They all looked up as Troy wiped his tears as the door revealed a man dressed in blues with a crying woman behind him. Taylor's head shot up and she stood up quickly as the man stopped in front of her.
"After all we've been through…" The man spoke at a loss of words. "After your father was shot down, and we basically adopted you…this is how you pay us back." He said looking at Troy then at her. "You should be ashamed of calling yourself a police officer because your father would be disgusted in you." He finished cold as the woman behind her let out a sob. Tears were pouring out of her eyes as she opened her mouth.
"Mr. Montez I'am-"
"Mr Montez, we need you." A nurse came running out as Troy stood up following him.
"Sorry, I'm on my way." He rushed as the woman stood behind him gripping her rosary and a tissue. Troy, hoping for information accidentally ended up in between the nurse and her father.
"She needs blood and he's an only match." She said as Troy nodded placing a hand on his dad's shoulder. He turned around as Mr. Montez left, him facing her mom now. She let out a sob as she launched herself into his chest.
"I'm going to lose my baby girl aren't I?" She cried as Troy rubbed her back, Taylor grabbing her coat and walking away. Troy closed his eyes as he tried relaxing her mother.
A few hours went by and some of the cops filled out, some in. Troy remained there feeling all the guilt in the world as his parents joined him, dragging him out of the waiting room and to the cafeteria. Taylor gave him the ring right before she left.
"How are you doing sweetie?" His mom asked him, as he looked up clenching his jaw to hold the tears back.
"I um…last night I proposed to her." He said looking at his parents as Jack gave him a grim smile. "How do I go from the happiest night of my life…to this?" He asked with his tears pouring down as his mother grabbed his hand.
"You just pray she will be okay, and then when she wakes up you keep your head up." Troy nodded wiping his tears. "Then you will marry her, have a lot of babies, and grow old together." She assured as he nodded looking at his father. They stood up, walked back to the waiting room where he pulled the ring out of his pocket Taylor gave him. He closed his eyes. Why couldn't right now be simpler as this morning? Interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of a door, a doctor finally emerged. Troy shot up along with everyone.
"Miss Montez suffered a major blood loss. The bullet grazed her heart and exited her back, but we finally found the location of the bleed and reduced the pressure. We're giving her a blood transfusion right now." Troy sighed thanking God that she was alive. That's all he needed. "She's still hooked up to the machines since we just took her out of surgery. I'll allow you to see her for a couple of minutes. "Troy nodded looking at her family as Mr. Montez looked at Troy.
"You've been waiting longer than us. Go." He said as the doctor looked at them all. He frowned.
"It's extremely likely that she will not make it through the night. I need you to realize how serious her condition's in, she still isn't responding to major tests." He said as they all nodded, walking over to the room. The doctor allowed Troy first. He walked in, seeing her lie in bed, hooked up to all the machines. Her breathing tube was still hooked up to her mouth. Troy felt his heart ache, seeing his fiancée shot. Out of all the people in the world, she had to have gotten shot. Life was going perfectly well and was distraught at the fact that this traumatic event occurred. He sat there, grabbing her hand and looking in her lifeless face. He felt a sob overcome his body.
"I'm so sorry baby." He said to her, kissing her hand. He looked at her pale body that was drained of blood. He observed how painless her face looked. He kissed her hand again holding it closer to his face. "Don't leave me." He said feeling a gentle hand on his back pat him as he looked up seeing her father on the opposite side as they all cried.
Holy cow guys I left you all hanging and I'm so sorry! I just started my masters program and completely forgot to update my story! I hope you enjoy!
*btw there are 10 more chapters left omg.
-Nic