Lachlan's phone went off and he answered it immediately, listening to what was said. "Ok, is she alright." After some silence, he sighed. "Ok, we'll be right there, thank you for letting me know. Please take care of her." He turned to the others in the room. "They found Gabi but they wouldn't tell me how she was, they said we had to go to the hospital as soon as we can."

Troy looked at his father for permission, the man responding. "Troy, all of you go to the hospital, I'll handle the hospital and discuss some things with your mom, call us when we should come down."

"Thanks Dad." He said quickly before they were all out the door.

They got to the hospital and ran to the front desk. "Gabriella Montez please."

The receptionist looked at them sadly. "The doctor is currently with her, she'll be out in a moment."

After what felt like an eternity but was only a few minutes, Dr Abigail Miller came out. "Gabriella Montez?" Troy, Chad, Lachlan and the girls all walked over. "You're family?"

Chad spoke up. "Brothers and sisters." She looked at Troy quizzically. "He's her boyfriend but he deserves to hear whatever you're about to tell us."

She nodded. "You may want to take a seat." That sentence alone made their hearts drop. "I'm Dr Miller and Gabriella will be my patient throughout her stay here. Would you like the good or bad news first?"

Lachlan spoke up. "Good news first."

"The good news is that Gabriella is alive, she is not currently conscious but she will be soon and I'm certain she will make a full recovery with some medication and a bit of TLC which by the looks of things, won't be too hard with the group of you sitting in front of me."

"I'm glad she's ok, but I'm afraid to ask, what's the bad news?" Troy asked.

"You're the boyfriend?" He nodded in response and she continued. "This may be a little harder on you. Gabriella is only 15, am I correct?" They nodded slowly, scared of where she was going with this. "For starters, Gabriella was found in a car crash, in the back seat. The car was travelling over double the speed limit and crashed straight into a concrete barrier. It's a miracle that Gabriella's injuries are not more extreme. She'll only have a cast on her left arm." This was the part she was not looking forward to informing the teens. "Upon closer examination of Gabriella, we discovered some bruising on her body. There was bruising and bite marks around her breasts and bruising around her... genital area. There was no penetration however, I'm sorry to tell you that Gabriella was sexually assaulted."

No one knew how to respond and Abigail looked at them sympathetically. "I understand how difficult this is for you to hear. When Gabriella wakes up, the police will get her statement and Austin Brooks will be put away for a long time, he'll be taken into custody along with Casey Montez as soon as they are realised from the hospital. I understand that this is hard news for you all but when Gabriella is awake, this will be a traumatic memory and she's going to need your support as much as possibly." Her gaze turned to Troy's. "Especially yours. A lot of assault victims have their partners leave them -"

"I'm not gonna leave her." Troy said definitively. "I can't believe someone would intentionally hurt her, but I'm going to be there for her and help her with whatever she needs."

Hours later saw Troy and Chad sitting either side of Gabriella's bed. Jack had taken Lachlan and the girls home, having permission from child services to be their temporary guardians until their father was contacted to either take custody of them, give custody or they'd be put in foster homes. Troy had Gabriella's hand gripped between his own as Chad was asleep in the chair, but he couldn't sleep.

He felt Gabriella's hand twitch in his own and her fingers tightened around his own. Her eyes fluttered before opening, looking around the unfamiliar room. "Wh-where -"

"It's ok Baby, you're safe." Her eyes snapped to Troy and she threw herself into his arms, her own wrapping tightly around his neck as she cried. "You're safe Sweetheart, I'm never gonna let anyone hurt you again. I love you so much." He moved to sit in her previous spot on the bed, pulling her into his lap. "Do you want me to wake your brother?"

She shook her head. "N-not yet."

He cupped her cheek and stroked her hair. "Ok Baby, shh, just breathe for me ok? You're ok, you're safe. I'm here with you and I'm always going to protect you."

She snuggled into his chest but then she was assaulted by memories of what Austin did. "I-I'm sorry." She sobbed as she tried to get out of his arms. He only held her tighter in his embrace, but not tight enough to hurt her.

"No sorries, it's ok. You did nothing wrong."

"But he - he - he -"

Troy kissed the top of her head. "I know, I know and I'm so sorry."

"It was supposed to be you." She whimpered and it stabbed at his heart.

"And I would've been honoured Baby."

"It hurt so much."

"Does it still hurt?" She nodded slightly in response. "Where does it hurt?"

She looked down. "My chest and my umm down there."

He kissed the top of her head. "I'm so sorry Baby, I'm sorry that you had to go through this, you didn't deserve it."

"Is it supposed to hurt like that?"

It was moments like this that portrayed her innocence and it killed him that she'd been hurt so bad. "No my beautiful girl, it's not and it will never hurt that bad. Forgive me for even mentioning it but I promise that if some day we do anything physical, it's never going to feel like what he did to you ok? Nothing is ever going to feel like what he did."

She nodded. "I feel disgusting."

"You're not disgusting Baby. You're beautiful."

She looked down the top of her hospital gown and gasped at the bruising. It was interrupted by Troy blocking her view, moving the gown back into place, the pressure of his hand on her chest so light that she felt no pain. She pushed him onto his back and cuddled into his side. "Can - can you cuddle me tonight? I don't think I'll be able to sleep if you're not holding me."

He kissed her forehead. "Of course we can cuddle Baby." He wrapped his arms tight enough around her for her to feel safe but still loose enough so that he wouldn't cause her pain. "Sweet dreams Brie, I love you so much."

"I love you so much Troy, sweet dreams."