When the girls woke up a few days later, the twin begged Gabriella to face-time Troy, the junior very happy to comply with their request. He answered on the second ring. "Hey Baby." He noticed the twins. "Hey girls, how are you?"
Imogen responded. "We're good." In the background, they heard Tyler call for Imogen. "I'm going to play with Tyler, bye Troy love you."
"Love you too, bye Imi." Troy turned his attention to Jasmine. "Are you ok Jas? Are you going to play with Imi and Tyler?"
"I'm ok, I miss you Troy. I just want to stay with Ella."
He smiled sadly as he noticed Gabriella hug the little girl. "I miss you too Angel but I'll see you in a few days when you come back home." The oldest twin nodded sadly making Troy inwardly sigh. "How about this, you try and have fun for the next few days while you're in Arizona and Ella and I will take you out for some fun when you come back."
"Ok Troy."
"Can I see a smile now, I don't like seeing you sad." She gave him a small smile. "That's my girl. Have fun Jas and I'll see you soon. I love you."
"I love you too Troy, see you soon."
Gabriella turned to her younger sister. "I'm gonna talk to Troy for a second, do you want to go play with Imi?" Jasmine looked unsure and she caressed her cheek. "I'll come and get you when I'm finished ok? It's just for a few minutes and you'll have Imi but if you don't want to, you can stay with me."
She shook her head. "I'll go play with Imi but promise you'll come?"
"I promise Angel." She kissed the girl's forehead before she left the room and turned her attention to her boyfriend. "Hey Wildcat."
"Hey Baby, is everything ok over there?"
She sighed. "Sorta, Jas has just been so timid, it's so weird. I don't mind her being around me, I mean I love it when she's with me but I also don't want her to need me like that, it means she's uncomfortable."
"I know, it's hard because she's still young and everything's so different to what she's used to but I'm sure that once she gets used to it, she'll open up a bit more. But how are you Baby?"
"I'm ok, it's weird being around here and everything with my dad is complicated but it hasn't been a complete disaster. How have you been?"
"Alright, I miss having everyone here but you most of all."
She smiled sadly. "I miss you too Baby."
She heard some noise in the background before Troy sighed and directed his attention to her. "I hate to cut this short Brie but Dad wants to have a one-on-one for some more practice, I'll call you back later ok?" She nodded. "Alright, I miss you Baby and I love you."
"Go play basketball Wildcat, I love and miss you."
Meanwhile
Jasmine walked into the room and went over to her sister and Tyler. Imogen got up and hugged her. "Can I play with you?"
Imogen smiled. "Come on Jassy." They sat down and Imogen gave her sister some of her building blocks.
All the kids started building – Jasmine making a tower. Once her tower was starting to become high, Tyler walked over and knocked it over. Jasmine looked at the boy above her. "Tyler please don't do that." She started building her tower again only for the boy to knock it over again. "Please stop knocking it over." The boy only laughed and repeated the action and Jasmine looked at her sister who was also laughing. Jasmine bit her lip and stopped playing with the blocks.
Tyler turned to Imogen. "She's a cry baby."
Jasmine whimpered. "No I'm not."
"Yes you are, you're a big cry baby."
"Stop being mean." The boy walked over and slapped her cheek bringing tears to the little girl's eyes before she ran out of the room to find her sister. Imogen followed after her, guilty for laughing at her sister. Jasmine found Gabriella and ran into her arms. "Ella." She whimpered.
"Jas, what happened? Why are you crying?" Noticing her sister's breathing was very uneven, she cupped her cheeks. "It's ok Angel, I've got you but you have to calm down. Copy me ok?" Jasmine copied her sister until her breathing returned to normal and buried her face into Gabriella's chest. "What happened Baby?"
"They were mean to me." Gabriella asked her to elaborate. "Tyler kept knocking my blocks over, I asked nicely for him to stop but he kept doing it and they were both laughing at me. Tyler called me cry baby and hit me when I said he was being mean."
Gabriella sighed and kissed her sister's forehead. "I'm sorry Angel, that wasn't very nice but you aren't a cry baby, you're a good girl and I'll make sure that Charlie talks to Tyler so he knows that wasn't a nice thing to do." She looked up and saw Imogen standing at the door, Gabriella smiled at her and she came towards them. "Imi, Jassy told me that you and Tyler weren't being very nice to her and that's made her upset."
Imogen looked down. "I'm sorry Jassy, I'm sorry that Tyler was mean to you and that I laughed when he knocked your tower over." Jasmine only turned further into Gabriella not responding making Imogen bite her lip and look at her older sister pleadingly. "Jassy doesn't love me anymore."
Gabriella held the little girl in her lap tighter and looked at the youngest twin. "It's ok Baby Girl, Jassy's just upset but she still love you."
Their conversation was interrupted by a booming voice. "JASMINE MONTEZ, GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE."
Both twins looked at their older sister fearfully and Gabriella's heart broke at their expression. "It's ok girls, you're safe with me remember?" She stood with Jasmine in her arms and held Imogen's hand as they walked down the stairs to find Charlie and Tyler in the living room. "What's going on?"
"Jasmine get here now." Gabriella smiled and placed the girl on her feet and she hesitantly walked towards the man. "You've been very naughty. You were mean to your brother and you need to say sorry." Jasmine shook her head. "You do as you're told."
"I didn't do anything."
"Don't you lie. Tyler told me that you said he was mean and you need to apologise or you'll be punished."
She whimpered. "He was knocking down my tower and he called me a cry baby and hit me."
"I told you to stop lying." He gripped her wrist tightly and hit her hand making her cry.
Gabriella pulled Jasmine so that both twins were behind her. "Don't ever touch her like that again. I told you that you have no right to discipline my sisters and you will NEVER hit them like that again." By this point, Chad and Lachlan had walked into the room and taken the twins into their arms.
"I'm your father and she should do as she's told. She hurt Tyler's feelings and that is not acceptable in my house."
Imogen spoke up. "Tyler was mean to Jassy."
"YOU SHUT UP." Imogen gasped and buried closer into her brother's arms. Charlie turned his attention to Gabriella, grabbing her wrist tightly. "AND YOU, YOU DO AS YOU'RE TOLD. I'M THE FATHER AND YOU'LL SHOW ME SOME GOD DAMN RESPECT."
Gabriella tried to escape his grasp. "Let go, you're hurting me. You're as bad as Casey."
The statement hit him like ice cold water. "Gabi I -"
"No you don't get to call me that anymore, you've lost the right. My sister came to me crying because your son hit her and I can see where he gets it from. You told us that we had to come stay a week with your family but we're leaving now. It's not safe for them to be here with you."
"Gabriella I'm -"
She held her hand up to stop him. "Don't even bother, you don't mean it. We're packing our bags and leaving, don't expect to see us again and don't sabotage any of the plans we had in place. We complete our part of the deal but you're putting our sisters in danger and that's not acceptable, we're going now."
They walked upstairs and Gabriella grabbed her phone to message Troy. I'd call but I don't have enough time to explain. We're leaving for the airport now and we're coming home. Is it still alright for you to pick us up? If not, we can get a taxi. I promise I'll explain when we get home. I love you Troy and I'll see you soon 3
When she sent the message, she turned to her sisters and pulled them into her arms. "It's ok my girls, we're going home now. I'm sorry we brought you here and I'm sorry you got hurt Angel but I promise we're never coming back. Let's pack our things and we can go see Troy."
Gabriella started packing their things and Jasmine grabbed her younger sister's arm. "Thank you for trying to help me, I'm sorry I ignored you. I love you Imi."
"I love you too Jassy and I'm sorry I was mean to you. You're my sister and my best friend and I love you." They hugged before they helped Gabriella finish packing and they left for the airport. Gabriella having gotten a response from Troy saying that he'd be there and that he loved her.