Here For You
An earth shattering scream disrupted the silence at three AM on Wednesday and Troy was up out of the bed and on his way up the stairs before Gabriella had really had a chance to register what was happening.
"Uncle Troy?"
"Stay there." He told Amelia as she stood in her bedroom doorway clearly alarmed by the sudden disruption to her sleep.
Walking into Summer's room he found that Maddison was already there trying to calm her sister down but Summer was curled tightly into a ball and didn't seem to have registered her sister's presence. Gently he sat down onto the bed next to his niece and wrapped her in his arms; feeling slight relief when she didn't try to push him away.
"It's alright Sum, just take some deep breaths, it was just a dream sweet girl; it was just a dream." This wasn't the first bad dream Summer had experienced since last weeks ordeal but it was the first one that had caused her to wake up screaming. Troy hadn't wanted her to go back to school on Monday, he'd wanted her to stay home with Gabriella and rest but Summer had been insistent, she enjoyed school and didn't like the idea of being at home doing nothing all day. After seeking reassurance from the school Troy had sent her in on the basis that they would call him if they thought she was struggling; he knew Summer would play things down if she thought she'd be sent home.
"It...it felt so real."
"I know but you're awake now and the only people here are the ones who should be." Summer accepted the tissue Maddie was passing her and momentarily left Troy's grasp to tickle Luna's ears; her big brown eyes showing nothing but concern for the upset girl on the bed.
"Everything okay?" Gabriella appeared in the doorway with her arm around Amelia; despite the sleepiness in her eyes the young girl needed to make sure her sister was okay before she went back to bed.
"Yeah, Summer just had a bad dream but she's okay now; Maddie can you take Amelia back to bed for me? I'll come and check in with you both before I go back to bed." Maddie nodded and pressed a kiss to Summer's forehead before leading Amelia out of the room.
Gabriella was clearly still half asleep but made her way over to sit on the other side of Summer, wrapping her arm around her and pressing a kiss to her head; she was after all the only person who truly understood what it felt like to have these kind of dreams. She had yet to experience any since last weeks attack but Taylor had warned Troy that as Gabriella's shoulder started to heal and she started to take less of her pain medication, which was also helping her to sleep, she would more likely start struggling with sleep and judging by her past that was likely to mean horrible panic attack inducing nightmares. Troy hated to see any of his girls upset and was thankful that for now he was only dealing with one set of bad dreams.
"I think maybe you should stay home with Gabi tomorrow Summer; take it easy and catch up on some sleep."
"No, I'll be okay Uncle Troy, I really would rather go to school." Very rarely did Troy put his foot down with things, he and the girls usually reached some kind of compromise but he was starting to think this might be a foot down kind of situation.
"Why don't we all go back to bed and then before Uncle Troy leaves for work you guys can talk and he can make a final decision then on whether you go to school or not. Staying here for the day wouldn't hurt but after a few more hours of sleep you might feel much better and he'll feel like you're up to going to school; either way Uncle Troy gets the final say, sound fair?" Summer nodded and let the couple give her one last squeeze before they moved from the bed and Troy helped her to get settled back under the covers.
"Do you want me to sit with you until you fall asleep? I don't mind if you think it will help."
"I'll be fine Uncle Troy, Luna's here to protect me and I'm comfy again now anyway; you should take Gabi back to bed before she falls asleep standing up." Troy turned to where Gabriella was now leaning against the wall and smiled when he saw her eyes were barely open.
"Okay but if you need me you shout for me." Summer nodded and after Troy had pressed a kiss to her forehead, she watch as he wrapped an arm around Gabriella and led her from the room.
TGTGTGTG
"Thanks for this Shar, I shouldn't be long."
"Take as long as you need Ella, I've got emails I can go through while I wait." Sharpay grabbed her phone from the cupholder in her car and smiled at Gabriella as she closed the door.
Almost an hour ago Gabriella had received a call from Troy asking her if she could somehow pick Summer up from school; the school had phoned him to say she'd been found in the toilets crying and they thought it would be best if she went home to rest. When she'd woken up on Wednesday morning Summer had been in good spirits and Troy had seen no reason for her not to go to school and although this morning Troy had already left for work by the time the girls were up, Gabriella had again seen no reason why Summer couldn't go to school.
Troy was working almost two hours away today and was considering coming home early to pick up Summer himself but Gabriella knew a quick call to Sharpay would be all it took for her to get a lift to the school and leaving The Ranch wouldn't be a problem; both Helen and Hannah had things handled with the animals for the day and were happy to stay and keep an eye on things until Gabriella returned.
"She's just in here, make sure you sign her out at reception before you leave." Gabriella thanked the secretary who had led her along the colourful school corridor to the nurse's office where Summer was being looked after. She knocked on the door and was greeted with the smiling face of the school's nurse; Beth.
"You must be Gabriella, come on in, Summer's just resting her eyes on the examination table." Stepping into the room Gabriella found Summer curled up under a blanket looking rather pale, confirming her suspicions that this was more than just the young girl's emotions getting the better of her.
"Hey sweet girl, what's got you not feeling so great?" Summer didn't answer verbally only squeezed her eyes shut further as more tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Don't cry Sum, come here, sit up for me." Gabriella helped Summer to sit up and then sat down next to her before wrapping an arm around her, encouraging the young girl to rest her head on her shoulder.
"I started my period today." She admitted quietly as she plucked a couple of tissues from the box that Beth had placed next to her.
"That doesn't normally get you this upset and you seemed fine this morning, what's going on Summer?" Again Summer didn't answer verbally only turning herself to burrow further against Gabriella as her tears came back in full force.
"I think from the little bits I've managed to get from Summer since she's been with me that maybe her starting her period today was the thing that pushed her over the edge, would I be right Summer?" The young girl nodded and Gabriella smiled at Beth; her demeanour was quiet and calming and suited her role of a school nurse perfectly.
"I maybe haven't been sleeping as well as you and Uncle Troy think I have and I think today it all kinda caught up with me." Gabriella moved slightly so that Summer could no longer lean against her and made sure the young girl was looking her in the eye before speaking.
"I know everyone has told you how brave you were last week and that's true you were brave..."
"You were too!"
"We were all brave last week but just because we were brave at the time it doesn't mean we can't let the whole thing get to us now; my past tells me that once things have had a few days to settle in and my injuries start to heal that the mental hurt starts to show itself more, it's okay to show that mental hurt Summer."
"But you haven't."
"No not yet but I know my brain and body well enough to know that it will catch up with me soon, especially once we hear back from the police and I know that when that happens Uncle Troy will be there to take care of me, just like he and I are here to take care of you now; you shouldn't suffer in silence."
"Summer have you been keeping how you're feeling from your Uncle and Gabi because you feel like you don't want to give them more to deal with?"
"Yeah I guess I have."
"You should never be afraid to talk to them, you probably worry them more by not telling them things." Summer looked into the smiling face of the nurse and knew she was right.
"I guess I just didn't know how to talk to you guys, things always get worse at night and I've been kinda scared of the dark to be able to get out of bed and come and talk to you." Gabriella wrapped her arm back around Summer and placed a kiss on her temple; hating that the young girl had felt the need to keep things from herself and Troy.
"Summer how would you feel about talking to a counsellor maybe? Someone who could come into school and talk to you; it doesn't mean you should keep things from Troy and Gabi but maybe having someone else to talk to would help you process things a bit better."
"Would that upset Uncle Troy?" She asked Gabriella as she turned to look at her. "I don't want to do it if he thinks I would rather talk to someone else over you guys, I just think maybe this person could help me sort things out in my head and then you guys would be there at home to help with the night time stuff."
"He wouldn't be upset sweetheart, he'd be happy that you were letting people in; if Beth can organise some counselling for you, is that what you want?"
"Yes please."
"I'll look into it this afternoon, I know of a lovely lady who's helped children in this school before. Now young lady you are going to go home with Gabriella and rest and you're going to take tomorrow off to do the same thing. I know you're worried about missing class and so I've managed to put together a few work sheets from your teachers but only if you feel up to it, they all said with it being Friday tomorrow you won't be missing much and so you should rest more than you work, understand?" Summer nodded and stood up from the table to grab her bag where she'd seen Beth put the work sheets earlier.
"Thank you so much for looking after her Beth, it's good to know she's well taken care of while she's here." Gabriella took Summer's bag from her and slung it over her good shoulder allowing her to then wrap her arm around the still shaking young girl.
"I'm just glad you felt like you could open up to us Summer and we can get you the help you need." Summer smiled at the nurse as she held open the office door allowing herself and Gabriella to step into the corridor where they then made their way down to reception and after signing Summer out, carried on to Sharpay's car.
The blonde turned and smiled at her friend as she opened the back door and climbed in herself before turning to help Summer get her seatbelt on and then allowed the young girl to curl into her side and take whatever comfort she needed.
"Do you need me to stay with you guys once we get back Ella?"
"No we'll be fine thanks Shar, we're going to thank Helen and Hannah and send them on their way for the day and then we're going to change into our pj's and curl up on the sofa and rest; Summer and Gabi chill time is exactly what we need right now."
TGTGTGTG
Later that afternoon Troy made his way through the gate and into the back yard, Maddie had text him not so long ago to say that's where they were and to come in that way rather than through the house.
"Uncle Troy!" Troy caught Amelia as she came charging at him; he'd never get over how excited she was to see him on his return home.
"Hey 'Lia, how was your day?"
"It was good, I was a bit confused when I saw Maddie waiting for me when I got off the bus and then I was quite sad when I found out Summer wasn't feeling good but she's sleeping now so that will help her feel better." Amelia left Troy's embrace to go back to playing with Barney and Zeus and so he went over to join Maddie who was sat watching her sister on the porch steps.
"Summer's asleep?" He asked as he put his bag on the ground and joined her on the steps.
"Yeah, Gabi too actually; that's why we're out here, they're on the couch and little Miss Amelia wasn't doing too good at keeping quiet so I brought her out here to try and get her and the dogs to run off some energy, Luna obviously wouldn't leave Summer's side."
"Thanks Mads, I appreciate it, we know they could both do with the opportunity to catch up on sleep. Any idea why Gabi asked me to stop off and buy these?" He reached into his bag and pulled out two packs of battery powered fairy lights.
"I think from what she briefly said while Summer was in the bathroom that Sum has been struggling with the dark, I think she's waking up from these dreams and then thinking she can see things in the dark and that's making her too scared to leave her bed and come to you."
"And I'm guessing 'Brie's thinking that putting these in her room will help her be less scared."
"Yeah I think so, these packs aren't very big so I say we just wrap them round her bed frame and then order her some proper ones online; at least these won't be too bright so she'll be able to sleep with them on all night and you won't have to worry about sneaking back in and turning them off once she's asleep." Troy liked that idea, he very rarely went fully into the girls rooms while checking on them when they slept, he didn't want to wake them up and frighten them.
"Alright I'm going to head in and shower and then I'll start on dinner."
"Dinner's all sorted, I made pasta bake, it's in the oven waiting to be heated up when we need it, I didn't have much homework today so I figured that would be a helpful use of my time."
"Who are you and what have you done with my niece?" Maddie rolled her eyes at Troy but still stood with him to receive the hug he was offering.
"New plan, you go and shower and change and then we'll go and set these lights up for Sum, it'll be a nice surprise for when she and Gabi wake up."
Half an hour later and while Maddie made her way into the kitchen to turn on the oven for dinner, Troy made his way into the lounge. While they were both sleeping he didn't really want to wake them up but he knew if they slept too late then they'd find it hard to sleep tonight.
He ran his hand along Luna's back as she brushed past his legs on the way out of the room and then stopped for a minute to observe the scene in front of him. Gabriella and Summer were in the corner of the couch, their legs both outstretched making it so that they made up a ninety degree angle and while Gabriella was resting against the couch itself; Summer was resting against Gabriella, the older woman's arm resting protectively round the young girl as they slept. Troy couldn't help but take a quick picture of the pair before making his way round the couch and deciding on the best way to wake them up. He sat down on the couch next to Gabriella's legs and was surprised to see her brown eyes looking back at him.
"Hi beautiful, how you doing?"
"I'm okay, how was work?"
"It was good, I hated that I was so far away when Summer needed me though, thank you for taking care of her."
"You know I would do anything for these girls and Sharpay just likes any excuse to get out of the salon for a little while." Troy chuckled knowing this to be true, their friend put everything into her business but her attention span wasn't always the best and so time away from the salon was often needed to get her back on track.
Just as he was about to ask Gabriella about ideas on how to wake up Summer the young girl started to groan and slowly rolled onto her side, allowing her to see Troy when she finally opened her eyes. "Hey sweet girl." He greeted as he reached over to push hair out of Summer's eyes. "How you feeling?"
"Pretty crappy to be honest." She replied as she reached up to rub the sleep from her eyes. "And I need to pee." Troy chuckled at Summer's bluntness but shouted for Maddie while he helped Summer to her feet.
"What's up Uncle Troy?"
"Can you help Summer to the bathroom and then grab her some painkillers before helping her upstairs please?" Maddie nodded and wrapped her arm supportively round her sister and quietly led her from the room.
"How about you 'Brie? Do you need any of your meds?" Troy helped Gabriella to her feet and watched as she slowly stretched out her body.
"No I think I'm good for now." Gabriella leant herself against Troy and he happily wrapped his arms around her as she took an extra couple of minutes to properly wake up. "Why is Maddie taking Summer upstairs?"
"Because I was a good boyfriend and stopped off at the store on the way home and purchased the things you asked me to."
"You got fairy lights?" Gabriella looked up at Troy and he couldn't help but laugh at the excitement in her eyes.
"Yeah, they only had battery powered ones in small packs but I figured they would be better than nothing."
"Absolutely, thank you for getting them, we can always order some proper ones online."
"That's what Maddie said, she had the idea that we could set them up to surprise you both, you aren't disappointed are you?"
"Of course not, I wanna see too though." As if on cue Amelia came bouncing into the room, Troy wasn't sure where she got her energy from but he did sometimes wish he could borrow some.
"Uncle Troy Maddie says if you don't come upstairs now she's taking Summer in without you."
"Okay 'Lia we're coming, just calm down a little bit please, you don't want to break anything with all of your bouncing around." Amelia smiled cheekily at her Uncle before turning and hopping out of the room; he seemed to think her bouncing would end badly but he didn't mention anything to do with hopping.
Arriving on the second floor they found Maddie and a now slightly more alert Summer waiting outside her room. "Finally, what took you guys so long?"
"Sorry Mads, Amelia was being a pain in the butt and insisted on hopping up the stairs."
"Okay, well I'm gonna cover Summer's eyes so you should cover Gabi's, Amelia can you hold the door open?" Amelia hopped over to the door and helped it open, allowing Maddie and Troy to guide Summer and Gabriella in. "On three you can move your hands Uncle Troy, one two three!"
"Wow." Troy pulled Gabriella to lean against him and they both watched as Summer took in the new additions to her room. "You did this?" She asked turning to her big sister.
"With Uncle Troy's help but the fairy lights themselves were Gabriella's idea."
"I love it, thank you." Troy and Maddie had attached one set of lights to the top and bottom of Summer's bed frame respectively and with the curtains closed to mimic night time they gave off exactly the right amount of light.
"It looks perfect you guys, nice job." Gabriella moved to sit next to Summer on the bed and linked their uninjured hands together. "My thinking behind the fairy lights was that if you wake up suddenly in the night it won't be completely dark and it wouldn't be as frightening for you."
"They make the room feel really calm, I definitely think they're going to help; thank you Gabi for the idea and you Uncle Troy and Maddie for making it happen."
"You're welcome sweet girl but remember that if you do wake up and can't calm down or you don't want to be on your own, you can always come down to us." Gabriella told her as he looked up to Troy who gave her a nod of confirmation. "You should never be afraid to come and talk to us, no matter what time it is; we'll always be there for you, all of you." Troy loved how protective Gabriella was becoming over the girls and despite their bedroom being her safe haven, the girls would always be welcome when it came to comforting words and cuddles being needed.
TGTGTGTG
He was glad it was Friday, he'd had a good first week in his new role, the feedback from his bosses had been really positive but after what had happened last week he couldn't help but feel guilty that he'd spent so much time away from home; at least it was the weekend now and he planned on making sure his girls were all as happy as they possibly could be.
Pulling his car through the front gate he was surprised to see the girls, along with Abigail and Aiden all out on the front porch and the look on Maddison's face immediately had him worried.
"Mads? Everything okay? Why is Taylor here?" He knew Chad would still be at work and so it must be Taylor who was here with the twins and as he grabbed his bag and jacket from the car Maddie came down the steps to greet him.
"Taylor's here because she wanted to check in on Summer after hearing she came home early yesterday but her timing couldn't have been more perfect because ten minutes after she got here the police turned up."
"I though they were going to call before they came."
"So did Gabi judging by the look on her face when she opened the door to them, they left about five minutes ago and then Taylor sent us out here to wait for you because Gabi was starting to panic."
"Did you hear what the police said?" Maddie shook her head and Troy wrapped an arm round her shoulders when he realised she was starting to get emotional.
"I only glanced at Gabi as we came out here but she looked so pale and she was shaking so bad Uncle Troy."
"Listen you take these guys round into the back yard so they can play properly and I'm going to head inside and check on Gabi and Taylor okay? Thank you for staying calm and keeping an eye on these guys." Maddie left Troy's embrace and called for the others to follow her as she made her way round the side of the house but Summer hung back for a couple of seconds to let Troy wrap her in a hug before she too headed towards the back yard.
Closing the front door behind him Troy found the two ladies at the kitchen table and after dropping his bag and jacket on the island quickly made his way over to them; Gabriella was sat on one of the dining table chairs and Taylor was crouched in front of her, doing her best to calm her friend's erratic breathing.
"Tay? Maddie said the police were here? What on earth did they say?"
"I'll tell you everything Troy but I need you to work your magic and calm her down, if she carries on like this too much longer she's going to pass out." Taylor stood up and Troy immediately took her place, this was the worst panic attack he'd seen Gabriella go through so far and so he cupped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.
"Hey beautiful, I know you feel like you can't breath right now but you can, you just need to take it nice and slow, can you do that for me?" He only received a shake of her head in response and realised he needed to get serious. "Gabriella." His voice was quiet but firm and he immediately had her attention; he never called her by her full name unless he meant business. "I need you to take big deep breaths sweetheart, I promise you it will help, you just need to try; in through your nose and out through your mouth." The tears were still pouring from her eyes but she had taken in what he'd said and was starting to regain control. "That's it baby, keep going like that, you're doing so well." He vaguely registered Taylor opening the back door to let in fresh air and then felt her beside him and realised she had taken hold of Gabriella's wrist to take her pulse.
"It's coming down Troy, we just need to keep it down." He nodded in response as he kept his focus on his girlfriend and now that she was calming down he started to use his thumbs to wipe the tears from her face.
"Does that feel better 'Brie?" She nodded and so he stood and pulled her with him, spinning them round so that he was now sat in the chair and she was able to curl up on his lap. "You're doing so well baby, just keep taking those nice deep breaths for us." He held her tightly against him and pressed soft kisses into her hair as she continued to calm herself down. "Why's she twitching Tay?"
"It's just from where her whole body went into panic mode and she was putting so much effort into trying to breathe that her muscles all tensed up, it'll ease off as she calms down." Troy nodded his understanding and continued to press kisses into Gabriella hair as she continued to regulate her breathing.
"How you feeling sweetheart? Do you need anything?"
"I'm tired Troy...can you take me to bed?" Her voice was quiet and shaky but Troy had clearly heard her because he stood with her in his arms and carried her through to their room, where he managed to pull back the covers and settle her comfortably against her pillows.
"I need to go and speak to Tay but I'll be back as soon as I can." He told her as he laid the covers back over her and watched her body relax into the bed, despite her muscles still twitching from the panic.
"No Troy...please stay." He wanted to stay with her as much as she wanted him there but he needed to know what the police had said to get her into such a state in the first place.
"'Brie, do you trust me?" She nodded, her eyes starting to droop as the panic attack start to take it's toll. "Then I've got a plan." He left the room and made his way over to the back door. "Zeus, come here buddy." Taylor watched as Zeus arrived at Troy's feet in seconds, instantly sitting and waiting for his next command. "I need you to look after Gabriella." He told the dog as he led him through to the bedroom. "Lay with her and make sure she knows she's not on her own." Zeus barked in response and jumped up onto the bed where he settled himself next to Gabriella; his head resting on her right leg, allowing her to reach down and tickle his ears in acknowledgment of his presence. "Zeus is going to look after you sweetheart but if you need me you send him to come and get me, I'll only be outside." He received a mumble in reply and happy that Gabriella was feeling safe as she fell asleep, he made his way outside where Taylor had gone to check on the children.
"She's sleeping, now can you please tell me what the police said? I knew it would upset her but that's the worst attack I've seen her have Tay." Taylor smiled at Troy as he loosened his tie and undid his top button.
"I know but I think Maddie and Summer should hear this too, are you okay with that?" Troy nodded and made his way over to where the elder two girls were sat on the porch swing while Taylor called Amelia over to the steps. "Amelia, I need to talk to Uncle Troy and your sisters about something so do you think you can look after Abigail and Aiden for me? Make sure they don't get into too much trouble? Uncle Troy will fill you in later if he thinks there's anything you need to know."
"I can do that Taylor, you can trust me." Amelia ran away to 'look after' the twins while Taylor pulled up a chair next to Troy and in front of the girls.
"So the police had good news and bad news today and I'm going to tell you the good news first because I need you to keep that in mind when I tell you the bad news. The police have so much evidence against this guy that they don't even need to send him to court, they've been able to charge him with the attack on Gabi and the harm he caused to you Summer that he's gone straight to prison where he'll be staying for a very long time."
"That's good, I'm glad he can't do this to anyone else."
"I'm afraid that's where the bad news comes in Summer because this isn't the first time he's done this, he's never attacked anyone before but he has taken an interest in people like he seemed to with Gabi. He worked for a different firm before this one and it was a few years into his employment when the company started to receive complaints from two different ladies who he delivered to regularly about his behaviour during their deliveries. The company spoke to him and he seemed to back off but that only lasted a couple of weeks before he started up being over friendly again and making comments towards these ladies that just weren't appropriate; he was reported again and this time the company decided to let him go, they didn't want his behaviour affecting their reputation."
"So if he was basically fired from his last job how did he get this one without any references?" Taylor took a deep breath and Troy knew he wasn't going to like what she was about to say.
"His brother in law works in the HR department at this company and forged references to get him a job, the bosses saw these references and didn't have any need to question them."
"I knew I should have contacted the company about him, I was going to do it when I got back from training, I should have done it before I went." Summer flinched as Troy rose angrily from his chair and started pacing back and forth on the deck.
"Troy you need to calm down, it seems he was playing the long game with Gabriella, the police think he started flirting with the other women a lot sooner, he seemed to be taking his time in trying to befriend Gabs first; it's likely that all your call would have done is got him a warning from his bosses and potentially led him to hurt Gabi sooner, possibly at a time when she was alone and help wasn't near by. Please come and sit back down, you're scaring the girls." That caused him to stop his pacing and he instantly moved to sit between them both; he didn't ever want them to be scared of him.
"I'm sorry girls, please tell me his brother in law has been fired for this at least Tay?" He wrapped an arm around each of the girls and used his feet to very slowly start pushing them back and forth.
"Yeah, he was fired with immediate affect as soon as the police visited the company and there's a chance he could be charged with forging documents. The company are supposed to be contacting Gabriella within the next week or so to offer their apologies and see if there's any way they can make it up to her; apparently the police have suggested they offer Gabi free deliveries for a while."
"That's the least they can do, have the police figured out why he decided to attack Gabi when he did?"
"They haven't got much out of him to be honest Mads but from what he did tell them he seemed to be getting frustrated that Gabs wasn't returning any of his advances and he'd noticed that Troy hadn't been here for a few days and just decided he was going to make his feelings clear. They don't think he really had a plan when he turned up here but they know he definitely wasn't expecting you to be there Summer, they don't think he ever intended to hurt you but panicked and that's why he grabbed you and threw you like he did. They're not entirely sure that he planned to hurt Gabi how he did, they think he just wanted to frighten her and get her to admit that she had feelings for him too but when she actually tried to fight back it threw him off and he just went for causing her pain, which they admit seems odd considering he supposedly had feelings for her. They're going to look further back into his employment history; make sure he hasn't done anything like this before and if he has they'll be able to further punish him for it. I know that's a lot to take in and I know it doesn't help the fact that today's panic attack probably won't be the last Gabi has because of it but it is over now and we can concentrate on getting things back to how they were."
"It's not going to be that easy though Tay, you and I both know that it won't just be this attack she has flash backs of."
"I know that Troy but it's different this time, she has you, she trusts you with every part of her, even when she's in the middle of a panic attack you're the one she wants, even if you do have to be a bit firm with her."
"Taylor would if help Gabi to speak to a counsellor like I will be at school?"
"I don't know Summer, she never wanted to before but that was because she only really felt comfortable with Shar and I but it might be different this time, maybe when she's gotten over the shock of what the police told her today Uncle Troy can mention it to her, I know plenty of people through work who I could put her in contact with if that is what she wants."
"Girls throughout this whole process we've treated you like adults and haven't hidden anything from you because you went through it with Gabi and we didn't want you to think we thought you couldn't handle it but I need you to promise me right now that you won't bottle up how this new information makes you feel. Taylor's right in that this is a lot to take in but we're all here for you whenever you want to talk, I will probably spend a lot of the weekend being overly protective of 'Brie but that doesn't mean you can't come and talk to me or her for that matter, when she's calmed down from today."
"And don't ever forget that Chad and I are only down the road and Shar and Zeke are only just a phone call away."
"Exactly and you have Luke Mads, we all know he hates it when you keep things from him, you know he's always welcome here if you need him or you can go there, just let me know that it's happening and I'll be fine with it. Bottom line girls there's so many people who are here for you, don't ever feel like you're alone in this."
"We both promise to not shut anyone out so long as you promise to talk to people too, you're allowed to be upset and angry Uncle Troy and I know sometimes you think you need to hide how you feel from us and Gabi but you can always invite Chad and Zeke over to play ball because we all know that's how you blow off steam." Troy chuckled; Maddie knew him so well. "Also don't forget to talk to Gabi, you guys have always talked to each other about everything, don't think that just because she is suffering the worst from all this that she won't want to know how you feel because she would; she wants to be here for you too." Troy tightened his grip on the girls shoulders and pulled them closer; how did it go from him making sure they would talk to people to them making sure he would talk to people.
"Let's just promise that we'll all be here for each other and go with that, I can't handle any more emotional from the heart speeches today." Taylor laughed as Troy stood and pulled the girls into a proper hug and after they'd finished promising, she promised on behalf of the others. It would be a tough road but the family in front of her were made of tough stuff and she was certain they'd make it out the other side stronger than before.
TGTGTGTG
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