AN: Hello all. Remember that story I told you I was writing, called The Light of Love? Well, I'm not sure I'll ever post it, because it's an idea similar to another story's idea. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, as I would just message the author and tell them I was writing a similar story but I was not plagiarizing; however, in a review to this story, I asked the author a question about something in their story and, well... needless to say, they hate me now. I guess I was being extremely rude (although it was just a simple question that was in no way a flame), and "no one ever talks to them like that." So I have a feeling that if I were to post this story, they would report it and have it deleted, even if I told them I wasn't copying. But we'll see!

And I'm writing another new story (I get way too many ideas for things), called Almost Happily Ever After, which I probably will post, so stay tuned!

Just one chapter left!

Title: Time Will Tell
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: Gabriella is raped in senior year and falls pregnant. Without telling her friends about it, she and her mom move to Florida. Six years later, she sees an old friend... and it all goes downhill from there.
Genre: Romance/Tragedy
Chapter: Chapter 7

Over the next few days, things seemed to calm down. Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, Zeke, Ryan, Jason, and Kelsi all had to go back up to Monte Vista, since they couldn't miss more work. But Taylor and Chad promised to come back down the following weekend.

Maria left on Sunday, satisfied that Troy could take care of Gabriella. She also promised to come back as soon as she could.

Gabriella was still staying at Troy's place, and Troy was worried that she was never going to be able to go back to her house. So finally, on Sunday afternoon, he sat her down and said, "Gabriella, are you planning on going back to your house?"

Her eyes had filled with tears, as was prone to happen almost all the time. "Why? Do you not want me here anymore?"

"No!" said Troy quickly. "It's not that at all! But, if you don't wanna go back to your house, you could move in here... permanently."

Gabriella's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, if you want to," he said. "But it might be better for you to move in here instead of continuing to pay mortgage on a house you're not living in... and here you'd only have to pay for half."

She blinked a couple times before smiling slightly. "You'd really let me live here?"

"Of course!"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. Can you take me down there to get my stuff?"

"Sure. Now?"

"Um... yeah. I have to go back to work tomorrow, so it might be good to do it now."

Troy nodded and they stood up. He quickly grabbed his keys before leading her out to his car.

As they drove, he asked, "Are you sure you're ready to go back to work?"

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah. The school offered me another week off, but... I can't."

"Why not?"

"I can't be selfish, Troy. My students need a real teacher who actually knows the subject, not some English substitute reading from a textbook. Besides, I missed three days. It's about time I went back."

Troy just nodded. After a few more silent moments they reached her house. It looked so empty; depressing. Gabriella started to tear up just from the sight of it. The last time she'd been in that house, Eva had been alive.

She unlocked the door and entered the dark house, with Troy right behind her. She turned on the lights and felt her heart rip apart at the sight.

Eva's abandoned toys were littered all over the family room, and her book was lying open on the kitchen table. As they proceeded into her daughter's room, she saw it was exactly the way she'd left it that Wednesday morning. The barbie bed was unmade, her toys and videos were scattered along the ground, and she'd been in the middle of playing Life with her stuffed animals.

Gabriella burst into tears at the sight of it and leaned against the door frame before sliding down to the ground. Troy immediately came up behind her and hugged her, his head in the crook of her neck. As she sobbed into the wall, Troy murmured, "Shhh, it's okay," soothingly into her ear until she calmed down.

She took a couple deep, steadying breaths before standing up. "Sorry, Troy," she said quietly, feeling ashamed. "It's just hard-,"

"Hey," said Troy, moving his hands up and down her arms. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for."

Gabriella turned around and gave him a small smile. "Thanks," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. "You've been so great these past few days. I don't know what I would've done without you."

"I was more than happy to be there for you," said Troy quietly, hugging her back.

They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying being in each other's arms. Finally, Gabriella pulled away. "I don't know what I'm going to do with all her stuff..."

"You're not gonna keep it?"

She sighed and stepped carefully into the room, cautious not to step on or touch anything. "I'm too afraid to touch her things. I want to keep it just like she left it."

"But, if you sell the house..."

"I don't know what to do," she said miserably.

"Well... do you want me to move in here?"

"What?"

"If you want to stay here, I can stay with you..."

She shook her head. "No, I can't bear to live here anymore." She sighed again. "I guess I'd like to take all of her stuff with me, but..."

"But what?"

"Where would we put them?"

"Well," said Troy thoughtfully. "If you want, we can keep them in my – our – garage."

"That'd be great,"

"I have tomorrow off, so would you like me to pack all her stuff up while you're at work?"

Gabriella nodded. "And take everything. Leave nothing behind."

"Okay,"

"Well, you don't have to take her mattress and stuff, but all the sheets... and you don't have to take the furniture yet. We'll leave the furniture for later."

Troy grinned. "Okay."

"Would you mind keeping the furniture in the garage too?"

"No problem,"

Gabriella walked over to and slowly sat down on the bed, running her hand over the comforter absently. After a few minutes, Troy approached her and touched her shoulder. "Gabriella, you need to get your stuff."

She nodded slowly, still looking at the empty bed. Then she stood up shakily, and Troy placed his hands on her waist to steady her.

"Thanks,"

For the next hour, Gabriella packed up all of her stuff. She used all of her suitcases, and even a couple boxes from her garage, to get all of her shoes, clothes, makeup, jewelry, and personal belongings. Troy helped her load everything into his car, and right before they left, Gabriella took a picture of her and Eva off the wall and kept it on her lap the entire ride back to Troy's house, staring at it.

When they got there, Troy asked her, "Are you gonna wanna go back for anything else?"

"Besides Eva's stuff? Well, yeah, probably," answered Gabriella, still staring at the picture. Once all her stuff was in the guest room (now known as Gabriella's room), she locked herself in.

That night, Troy couldn't get to sleep. He was confused about his relationship with Gabriella, above anything. Did she really love him? She hadn't done or said anything on the matter since the funeral, and Troy was afraid to ask her. She had just lost her daughter four days earlier; it was too soon to grill her about where they stood.

But he really wanted to know.

Finally he couldn't take the endless staring at his ceiling, so he got up and went into his kitchen to get a cold glass of water. He drank it within seconds, the iciness chilling his throat. However, it seemed to waken him up instead of making him sleepy.

As he was passing by Gabriella's room, he thought he heard her voice from inside of it. He pressed her ear against the door quietly and strained his ears.

After a couple of seconds her heard her singing, ever so softly, "I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me... I still feel your touch in my dreams... forgive me, my weakness, but I don't know why... without you it's hard to survive..." and then she stopped and he heard her sniffing and gasping; she was crying again.

He knocked on the door quietly and she immediately stopped. Then she said, as if trying to keep her voice normal, "Uh, Troy?"

"Yeah," he said through the door. "Can I come in?"

Pause. "Um, why?"

"I heard you crying,"

Gabriella stammered, "Um, no, I wasn't..."

Troy opened up the door anyway to find her sitting up in bed, her hair up in a messy bun, wearing her old East High t-shirt. "Gabriella, it's okay to cry," he said softly as he sat down next to her. "It's only been four days. You're allowed to cry." He stroked her hair. "You can cry for your entire life."

"But..." she stuttered, her eyes filling again. "I want to be strong."

"Why?"

"Because you said I was," she cried, her eyes becoming waterfalls again. "And Eva didn't want me to cry... I feel like I'm failing you two by crying..."

"Oh, Gabriella." Troy put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I don't want you not to cry because I said you were strong. You are strong, and I expect you to cry. Crying is the least someone can do when a person close to them dies. You're strong because you're still living; you're still getting through every day life. And," he broke away from her and looked deep into her chocolate brown eyes. "You can still find the strength to love again." He paused. "Right?"

She blinked at him a couple times before looking away. Troy mentally slapped himself. What is wrong with you? He cursed himself. Her daughter just died, and you're asking her to tell you whether or not she really loves you?

"I'm sorry," said Troy quickly. "I really am, I shouldn't have-,"

"Troy-,"

"Sorry," Troy said shortly, getting up and striding towards the door.

"Troy, please, listen!" wailed Gabriella from behind him.

He instantly stopped walking and turned around.

"Please, just wait," she said softly.

Troy nodded and came back towards her, sitting at the foot of the bed, waiting.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriella started. "You deserve an explanation. I mean, I kissed you and then pretty much announced to a whole church full of people that I loved you. But then I don't even bring it up-,"

"Gabriella, its only been a day and a half," said Troy gently. "It's fine."

"No, it's not," she argued. "I should've explained myself right away." Pausing briefly, she added, "But maybe you should ask me what's been worrying you."

Troy paused too. "Gabriella, really, you don't have to do this now-,"

She put her fingers to his lips and said, "Yes, I do."

Troy blinked and sighed. She removed her fingers and he asked, "I just want to know if you really do love me. I mean, were you just saying it in the moment? Was it just something that slipped out but didn't mean anything? Was that kiss just a friend thing?" He took a deep breath.

Gabriella took a moment to answer. "Of course I wasn't just saying it in the moment," she finally said. "And it did slip out, but that doesn't mean I didn't mean it. And no. That kiss was definitely not a friend thing. But, I just feel so bad... I mean, Eva just died! I feel like I shouldn't be falling in love so soon! But then again," Gabriella seemed to be talking to herself more than Troy now. "Eva was my daughter, so it's not like she'd care. In fact, this is what she wanted. It was her dying wish!" She looked back into Troy's eyes. "I'm so confused, Troy."

Troy pulled Gabriella into his arms and rocked her back and forth slowly. "It's okay, Gabriella. You don't have to make a decision right now. I can wait."

She pulled away and look deep into Troy's clear blue eyes. "But I already made my decision. I love you, Troy, and I want to be with you forever.

He grinned. "Really? You mean it?"

"I mean it,"

Troy swooped down and engulfed her in a passionate kiss.

They kissed for a few minutes before Troy pulled away. "And... um... what did you mean when you said that I'm never gonna be able to walk Eva down the aisle at her wedding?"

She blinked at him quizzically. "What?"

"Remember... right before the funeral, you were thinking about everything that Eva wouldn't be able to do in her life... and you said that?"

Gabriella stared at him for a few more seconds before blushing furiously. "Oh! Yeah, I remember..." she laughed nervously. "That night I had a dream of Eva's wedding, with you walking her down the aisle... I guess that's where that came from."

Troy couldn't ever remember loving Gabriella more than at that moment. He leaned in and kissed her again, but this time she pulled away.

"I-I just need to say this first," she said uncomfortably. "Um..." She let out a tiny laugh. "This is kind of embarrassing..."

"Remember, you can tell me everything," Troy reminded her, stroking her hair.

She smiled slightly. "I know..." Gabriella breathed in and then said, "I don't want to have sex... yet. I'm just not ready."

Troy nodded understandingly. "I expected that. Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine with just kissing you."

And, grinning, he leaned in for more.