Hello! Enjoy this chapter! I love hearing your reviews, it means so, so much to me. Reminder: Gabriella's thoughts are italicized.
**With Troy**
"Aid? Chad?" Troy unlocked the door to his best friend's house and was met with silence. This was rather odd. He could always count on yelling coming from his best friend, telling his naughty son to stop running around the house or to get off the high cabinet before he gets hurt.
Troy sighed, a bit confused until he heard soft cries coming from Aiden's room. Troy slowly walked over into his room and saw Chad comforting the little boy who had silent tears running down his face. Troy's heart clenched. Aiden was someone who always had the biggest smile on his face, so happy all the time, and was always ready to give the biggest hugs to his Uncle Troy.
Chad must have sensed Troy's presence in the room, and faced him with a small, sad smile as he kept Aiden close to his chest. Aiden looked up from his father's arms, saw Troy, and started crying harder, still trying to muffle his father's chest. This confused Troy. Troy was the first person who Aiden would always go to, so it broke Troy's heart, knowing that he was maybe the reason Aiden was crying.
"Hey, Chad?" Troy asked, causing Chad to turn around. Unfortunately, Aiden still couldn't look up to see Troy's face. "Can I talk to my Lil man for a bit?" Chad felt Aiden tense up before looking at his dad, nodding slightly, giving Chad the okay to talk to his Uncle Troy. Chad respectfully left the two, not before squeezing Troy's shoulder before he left the room.
Troy slowly walked towards Aid and crouched down to his height. "lil' man, what's going on?" Troy urged the little boy quietly.
Aiden finally looked up and squeaked his question. "Are you going to forget me?" This caused Troy to become more worrisome. He sat next to Aid on his bed, before picking him up to sit on his lap and waited until Aiden looked up again. "Did I do something bad, Uncle Troy?" Troy grew even more confused.
"What are you talking about, Aid?" Troy questioned softly.
"Are you going to never come back, like Mommy?" Aiden looked up at Troy in tears.
Troy closed his eyes for a bit, keeping his emotions under control and then pulled Aiden into his chest and held him tight, which only caused Aiden to cry more. Troy laid his cheek against Aiden's small head and kissed his forehead before urging Aiden to look at him.
"Aiden, look at me." Troy urged. Aiden slowly looked up at Troy, still clutching Troy's shirt. "You did nothing wrong, Aid, nothing at all. I may be leaving this house, but I am never going to leave you." Troy stated firmly. Aiden pulled himself away from Troy's chest, focusing on Troy, listening to what he was saying. "You are always, always going to my lil' man. I will always come to you whenever you need me. Whether it's because Dad won't take you, Chuck E. Cheese, play ball with you, or anything else, I will always be here for you. I promise." Troy said, causing a wobbly smile from the little boy.
Troy smiled back softly before turning serious. "Do you think you can promise me something?"
"Anything." Aiden replied, with no hesitation.
Troy nodded, "Okay, because I need you to promise me that you'll always be here for me. Do you think you can do that for me?"
"I promise." Aiden nodded eagerly.
"Good, because you're my partner in crime, and partners don't leave each other hanging. Deal?" Troy said with serious hope and a lot of heart.
"Deal," Aiden swore with promise.
Troy smiled and pulled him in once more, kissing his head, "Love you, lil' man."
"I love you too, Uncle Troy." Aiden squeezed him once more.
"Okay. I need your muscle. We got some things to load up." Troy said, picking Aiden from his lap and putting him down.
**With Gabriella**
"Good job, baby." Gabriella praised Rosie after taking her medicine. Rosie indeed had become a champ at adjusting to what life had thrown her way. "You ready to go to Uncle Chad's house?"
Gabriella asked, already grabbing her car keys.
"As long as Aiden is there." Gabriella's mouth fell open with shock and amusement.
"So, you're going for Uncle Chad or Troy?" Gabriella asked, pausing to look at her daughter.
"I mean they're okay, mommy. You three are just really old." Rosie replied straightforwardly.
"Me? Are you saying I'm old?" Gabriella questioned.
"It's okay, mommy; I still love you. Now let's go!" Rosie snatched the car keys out of Gabriella's hand and raced to the car.
Gabriella just shook her head in disbelief and hurriedly followed Rosie to the car, before driving off and making their way to the Danforth residence, where they were heading down to help Troy with moving his stuff.
Thankfully with the help of three adults and two very eager kids, Troy had finally moved his things within a day to his new place. Troy felt content and happy. It's been a long time since he's felt this way, and at some point, Troy was scared it wouldn't last, but as long he had his little family here, nothing could get in the way of him starting his life over again and making it a better one.
The next morning Gabriella had dropped off Rosie at school and then went back to her house. Gabriella felt the same way Troy was feeling. Of course, she had all the love she needed from Rosie, but there was something more than Gabriella needed, and she knew without a doubt it was Troy, back into her life, where he's meant to be.
However, that feeling deflated once she saw this next thing. Gabriella was shocked to see James sitting at the front porch of her house. She hadn't heard from him for so long. Gabriella always had this fear in the back of her mind that James is a literal psychopath. Gabriella also feared that he wouldn't care or think twice about hurting her or Rosie. Why and how was he always here? He needed to stay away, far, far away from them, wasn't that the deal with social services?
"Ah, there's the trash mother." James chuckled, walking up to Gabriella. Gabriella immediately took a step back.
"Excuse me?" Gabriella replied, clearly heated from frustration and fear.
Before Gabriella could move any further, James yanked Gabriella's wrist and pulled her to him, shaking her.
"What kind of mother refuses to tell her child's father that she's sick?" James snarled.
Gabriella's brown eyes grew wide. How the hell did he find out? Gabriella tried pulling away from him, but James held her with a tight grip.
"How did you even find out?" Gabriella asked with shock and worry, she knew James was crazy, but she wasn't sure exactly to what level he would be..
"I have eyes and ears around here, Gabriella," James explained. He pulled Gabriella even closer, whispering in her ear. "You'll never be alone. You'll never get rid of me."
"Let go of me, James," Gabriella demanded with as much strength as she could. However, she couldn't help the tears welling up in her eyes.
Eventually, James released her hands with a strong push making Gabriella fall.
James crouched down to her level while Gabriella remained on the ground. James stayed silent, slightly looming over Gabriella.
"You know, I heard your little boy toy was holding your pathetic hand. But you see Gabriella; you might as well be giving yourself and Rosie to a fucking murderer." James smirked, clearly getting Gabriella's attention.
Gabriella's body went stiff, first just hearing James mention him, but now hearing this?
"What the hell are you talking about?" Gabriella growled.
"Well, the murderer caused a car crash, killing two innocent little children, and if I remember correctly, one was exactly Rosie's age. Some say he was intoxicated", James explained with fake sympathy.
After hearing this, Gabriella's adrenaline caused her to stand up; however, Gabriella couldn't even get a word out after hearing this; she just continued to stare at James.
James stood up, quietly getting into Gabriella's face. She could smell his disgusting cigarette breath as he opened his mouth. "Gabriella, I have more connections than you know. I know how this goes; what to say and what to do to get what I want, and I just personally wanted to tell you I'm going to get custody over Rosie. One way or another."
Gabriella couldn't help but push him away in anger. "You will never even come close to that. You are a sick fucking person, and if you honestly think that I would even let you near Rosie, you're out of your mind. She's a little girl and sure as hell doesn't need her psycho father ruining her -."
A loud slap was heard in the quiet night, and it wasn't from Gabriella. "You watch your mouth bitch. You don't know shit." James growled. "If you do care about Rosie, the way you claim to do, well, I'll leave you alone. On one condition."
Gabriella still clutched her burning cheek and stood there in unbelief of what James had just done. This reiterated that she would die fighting for Rosie than let her back into that sick man's life.
"What, James?" Gabriella knew nothing good or even fair would come out of this favor: evil, evil, and evil.
"Re-evaluate the boy you're screwing around with because you might as well be dating a killer. And honey, if you think I'm bad. He's the worst. For all you know, the next time Rosie's in a car with him, she will be dead before you know it." James gave his ultimatum and walked away, not before telling her she's a terrible mother.
Gabriella quickly gathered herself before unlocking the house and locking the door. Before she could even think about anything else, she made sure to close the curtains and lock all the windows and the doors in the house. Now more than ever, she was anxious that James or his "people" could do something.
After she was done locking everything, she fell onto her bed. Rosie had and always would be her number one priority. She would never let James take her. God, even thinking or saying his name, makes my skin crawl. And also, she could not believe Troy, the gentle boy she knew when she first met him, and now the man who Gabriella was in love with, killing people. Two kids. One who is Rosie's age. She knew she had to break things off with him. No matter what reason she was trying to think of or how to make it all work, she couldn't get rid of the fact that he had killed someone, and he never even thought to tell her. As Gabriella continued to think, the angrier she was and how betrayed and worried she was becoming. Gabriella knew she had to rip the band-aid off. She couldn't lose Rosie, and now, she couldn't trust Troy.
Gabriella looked at the clock and saw that there were still four hours left before she had to pick Rosie up from school. It was now or never to confront Troy. She knew the more she put it off, the more it would hurt. She pulled out her phone, ready to text him.
"Hey, are you busy right now?" -Gabriella
His reply was almost immediate.
"Hey! I just got home. I picked up some burgers if you wanted to swing by before picking up Rosie."-Troy
Gabriella's heart squeezed. Lately, he had made himself an important member of Rosie and Gabriella's life. God, Why does this hurt so much?
"We need to talk. Is it okay if I can come over in 15?"-Gabriella
"Yes, of course. Is everything alright?"-Troy
Gabriella managed to get herself into her car, not before sending Troy a reply.
"I don't know."-Gabriella
**With Troy and Gabriella**
Gabriella made it to Troy's apartment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before ringing his doorbell.
One minute, two. Troy answered the door, then. It was evident to see the uneasiness and worry in his eyes. Things had been going so great with him moving, his new job, and Gabriella's relationship.
"Hey." Troy greeted softly with a happy tone, weighing out what was happening or what could be happening for this conversation.
"Hi." Gabriella breathed. "Can we talk?" Gabriella asked, not meeting Troy's eyes.
"Yes, of course. Come in." Troy welcomed. Once the two of them settled in the kitchen, Troy decided to speak up, hopefully, to lighten up the mood. "What do you wanna drink? I got orange juice; I got cider! And I have-"
Gabriella cut Troy off. She had to do this, now or never.
"When were you going to tell me?" Gabriella asked with a shaky voice.
Suddenly, Troy became quiet and confused; what was she talking about?
"What are you talking about?" Troy asked softly.
Here Gabriella goes.
"The car crash. The one where two kids got killed. The one you were involved with." Gabriella finally looked up at Troy to see the color of his face drain and replaced Troy's confusion with fear.
"How'd you hear about that?" Troy questioned with shame.
"It doesn't matter how I heard that. Was it true?" Gabriella clipped.
"Gab…" Troy didn't know how to talk about this.
"Troy was it true," Gabriella stated more than questioned.
Troy stayed silent before replying with, "Yes." Now, Troy couldn't even look at Gabriella.
"Troy, I hope you understand, but I can't let you be around Rosie or me, knowing you did that."
Troy's heart didn't just break; it was fucking shattered. Troy looked up with urgent eyes, and he was almost sure that Gabriella could hear his heart beating fast. "Gabriella..it's complicated, please. I don't- this is-."
"I'm sorry, Troy. You can't be around us." Gabriella wiped the tears that were about to fall and got up to leave.
Troy followed her in a frenzy. "Gabriella, can you at least let me explain?" Troy begged.
Gabriella didn't respond but quietly closed the door once she exited his house.
Troy tried to call her name once more, opening the door, but she was already in her car, backing up from his driveway.
It would have been common for Troy to be angry, annoyed, or betrayed, but all Troy could feel was hurt. Hurt that Gabriella didn't want an explanation and hurt that she judged him.
**With Gabriella**
A couple of days passed since Gabriella pushed Troy away from her and Rosie's life. She realized how quiet things at her house has been. Gabriella's attempt at dodging Rosie's questions about Troy's whereabouts; however, Rosie was tired of not getting answers.
The two sat in the living room watching a movie; however, both of their minds were far from the film.
"Mommy, please tell me where Troy is. I miss him." Rosie asked Gabriella with wide eyes, begging for an answer.
A doorbell saved Gabriella from answering. Shoot. She forgot about Chad coming over to drop off Aiden. At least, Rosie could be distracted from missing Troy for a bit.
"Aunty Gabi!" Aiden screamed before giving Gabriella a quick hug, and immediately finding Rosie and grabbing her outstretched hand. The two then ran for the backyard to play.
Gabriella started turning back towards Chad, "Thanks for bringing Aid over." However, Gabriella was caught off guard once she turned around to see Chad's serious face. And you don't usually see Chad Danforth with a serious face. Troy. Chad had also come to talk about Troy.
"Chad-" Gabriella began.
Chad interrupted. "Gabriella, you messed up," Chad said plainly.
This, of course, made Gabriella upset. He couldn't possibly understand the risks. Gabriella looked behind her before closing the door and leading her and Chad to the front porch.
"Look, Chad, if Troy sent you here to explain, please, just don't. What happened, Chad, it's for the best."
Chad stared at Gabriella. "He told me what happened, but he didn't send me to talk to you," Chad explained. "Gabriella, you have no idea what Troy's been through. You couldn't even understand half of it." Chad stated.
"But Chad, how could you let Aiden be around Troy, knowing that happened?" Gabriella tried to reason.
"Don't you dare bring Aiden into this that way. Troy loves Aiden, and Aiden loves him back, just as much. He's not only my best friend, Gabriella, but he's my brother. And I would've thought you, more than anyone, understood Troy and his character. He's told me that you would understand him more than anyone", Chad replied, becoming angry and upset at Gabriella's question. However, Chad wasn't done yet. "I don't know where you heard this from, but you don't know Gabriella's whole story, you don't have a single fucking clue, Gab," Chad stated sadly.
Gabriella didn't know what to say except. "What do you want me to do, Chad?" Gabriella looked up at Chad, exhausted.
"I want you to talk to Troy. He's crushed, Gabriella. You judged him without knowing what happened. Troy's already held so much burden inside him. He doesn't deserve more, Gabriella, especially not from you. Please, promise me you will talk to him. I know he's hurt you in the past, but he cares so much for you and Rosie. Don't ruin this, Gab." Chad left Gabriella with that note before calling Aiden and leaving the Montez residence.
