Troy looked over at Gabriella and back over at Grace, who was standing there watching the woman cry. Grace looked up to find her dad staring right back, Grace waved him over.

"Dad" She whispered. "I think you need to do something."

"Like what?" Troy asked in a hushed hurried tone.

"I don't know I'm just a kid but you've got to do something." Troy slowly and awkwardly made his way over to Gabriella. He sat down beside her on the couch where his jacket had been and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey it's okay." Gabriella shook her head.

"N-N-No it's not." Gabriella continued to sob Troy looked over at Grace hoping for advice, she mouthed to him 'hug her' and he did just this. Using the arm already around her shoulders he pulled her in. Her head fell into the crook of his neck and her arms found their way around his torso. Troy kissed the top of her head whispering soothing words into her ear, using his big warm hands he began to gently stroke the ends of her hair. He had no idea what he was doing. He hadn't seen Gabriella for ages and they were already this close. Her sobs soon subsided and were replaced by the occasional hiccup.

"I'm sorry." Gabriella hiccupped before grabbing a tissue from the box on the table.

"Hey, it's okay." Troy said as he reached up to put stray strand of hair behind her small ear. Gabriella wiped her eyes, clearing away all running mascara and eyeliner. Their eyes locked for a split second before Gabriella averted her eyes to the table, a blush rushing to her cheeks.

"No it's not Troy. Stop being yourself okay you're too damn nice!" Gabriella joked, Troy laughed. "You should probably get going now; Celina will be wondering and all." Troy stood up.

"Yeah you're probably right. It was nice seeing you again Gabriella." He lent across to give her a hug but not before slipping something onto her desk.

Gabriella sat in the chair behind her desk; she could not believe she had done that. Deciding her desk looked a little cluttered she made an effort to tidy it up; when she stumbled across a note, similar to one she had received years ago.

Dear Gabriella,

It was nice seeing you again.

Maybe we could catch up.

See a movie?

We meet there this time ;)

Cute guy in Doctors office

(a.k.a Troy)

P.S Number's still the same.

Gabriella smiled. She still had that note he had given her many years ago and would red it when ever she felt lonely. She sat there starring at the note, Should she call? Should she leave it? He was married after all. She picked up the phone, her hands shaking, and dialed that all too familiar number.

"Hello?" The voice from the other end of the line asked

"Thank God you answered." Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong Gabs?"

"Taylor, guess who I ran into today?" There was a short pause.

"The Pope?" Taylor joked "I don't know, tell me."

"Troy." Gabriella sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Troy? As in…?" Taylor was cut off by Gabriella

"As in… Troy Bolton? Yes."

"What? How? When? Where? Why?" Gabriella walked Taylor through Troy being married with a daughter and his wife seeking IVF treatment.

"I mean he's married Tay! What do I do?" Gabriella often asked for Taylor's advice.

"Well I think you should go to the movies with him, see what he wants." Sharpay answered.

"Sharpay, when did you join this conversation?" Gabriella asked

"Well I've always been here. Taylor's helping me plan the wedding. Remember?" Sharpay has been engaged to Zeke for approximately two weeks, but Sharpay being, well Sharpay she needs all the time in the world to plan the perfect wedding. Gabriella was now the only one with out a husband and/or kids. Taylor married Chad a year after college and they have a four year old son Max. Kelsi and Jason got married two years ago and have an eighteen month old daughter Michelle and Ryan and Martha have been married for seven years and have three children; Sarah who's five, Andie who's three and Hugh who's also eighteen months old.

"Yeah, Yeah I remember. So you really think I should go?"

"Yep call him right now and arrange to meet him." Gabriella sighed in defeat before ending her call with the girls. She shakily dialed the digits that would connect her to Troy.

"Hello?" Troy's deep strong voice answered.

"Umm… Hi Troy, I uhh got your message." Gabriella inwardly groaned at the fact that she had just made a fool of her self, stumbling over her words like that.

"Oh cool. We haven't spoken in ages. Well we spoke today but that really wasn't one on one, face to face…Although" Troy's rambling was cut off by Gabriella

"Troy, you're rambling." Troy chuckled

"Well you know me."

"Yeah, I do. So how about tomorrow night at say 7pm the cinema on the corner of the shopping strip?" Troy nodded though he knew she couldn't see. "Well I'll see you tomorrow?"

"It's a date." Gabriella smiled hanging up the phone with a sigh she collected her belongings and left her office.

Troy hit the end button on his mobile before stuffing it in his pocket.

"Who was that?" Troy jumped about a foot in the air.

"Crap Celina! Don't do that! Do you want to be a widow?" Celina rolled her eyes, pushing herself off of the doorframe before moving closer to Troy.

"Who was that on the phone?" Celina completely ignored Troy's previous comments.

"My sister." Troy stated, completely forgetting that he didn't have a sister, and by the look on Celina's face she picked up on his error.

"You don't even have a sister Troy. Why are you lying to me?"

"I'm not lying. It was Sharpay; she just rang me to inform me about her engagement to Zeke. We're not related but we are close, like brothers and sisters." Troy quickly explained trying to cover up his very stupid mistake. He had received a call from Zeke last week informing him of their engagement. Troy was still in close contact with the boy's and their wives, what surprised him was, so was Gabriella yet she was never at any of the events he attended, with an exception for the weddings, but she had always left early on in the receptions as if trying to dodge Troy. Celina glanced at Troy, doubt etched on her face. She sighed and sat down on the couch opposite Troy.

"What are we going to do about the whole searching for Grace's parent's thing?" Celina asked a hint of desperation in her tone.

"Well they'd have to have her mothers name in a file somewhere just incase this day were to come." Celina nodded and stood grabbing the land line phone from its cradle.

"Well I'll just have to call the adoption house and see if Ms. Maguire is still an employee there." Troy nodded and watched as his wife long skinny fingers hit the buttons. Troy waited for Celina to finish talking to Mr. Darcy (A/N don't you just love that movie).

"Well?" Troy asked a little nervous

"She still works there. We are going to meet her the day after tomorrow, after Gracie comes home from school." Troy nodded informed his wife that he was going to tell Grace the plans. Over the years Celina had noticed that Grace had taken more of a liking to Troy, when it should be the other way around. Grace went to Troy for advice, all types of advice, from school work to getting boys to stop being annoying. Grace had even gone to Troy when she had gotten her first period which, by the way she got when she was eleven.

Troy knocked on his daughter's bedroom door waiting for her permission to enter.

He walked in to her room to see her curled up on top of the heating vent, book in hand and a purple fuzzy blanket draped around her shoulders.

"Hi dad." She closed the book placing it on the ground next to her leg "What's up?"

"Well the day after tomorrow we are going to meet with Ms. Maguire." Troy explained knowing full well that she would not know who he was on about.

"Who's Ms Maguire?"

"She was the lady who introduced you to us. She's going to help us track down your mother." Grace's jaw fell open

"So soon? What if she doesn't want to meet me? What if she hates me? What if she has another family I'm not meant to be part of?" Grace was now in a full frenzied panic.

"Whoa, slow down squirt. I'm sure she'd love to meet you. I bet you you're the spitting image of her." Grace smiled and moved over so her father could sit next to her. Troy took a seat on the floor and Grace placed her head in his lap looking up at him she asked,

"Dad, what if I want to live with her? Would I still be able to see you?" Troy stroked his daughter's hair as they sat.

"Of course. Let's make a pact, if you go and live with your biological mother you and I will meet up once a month for pizza and a movie. Do we have an agreement?" Troy stuck out his hand or her to shake.

"Better yet, let's make it every week." She grabbed his hand and the shook on it.

"Off to bed squirt." She jumped off of his lap and scrambled into her bed. Troy lent down and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Nighty-night squirt."

Gabriella had been panicking all day. It was now 6:30 pm and Troy and she would be meeting in half an hour. Gabriella wore simple dark washed jeans with a gray tank underneath a purple plaid shirt and simple white volley's to finish it off.

She made her way through the lobby of the cinema searching for Troy. As she rounded the corner she saw him waiting by the candy counter. He spotted her and waved her over she skipped over to him feeling all giddy.

"Hi Troy!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek Troy laughed at her behavior.

"Gee Gabs; have some red cordial before you left?" Gabriella laughed

"Come on! Let's go get our tickets." She placed her small hand in his lager one intertwining and began to drag him through the crowd to the ticket booth. Troy followed behind, his hand still encasing hers. This is how things were, how the should be, how he wanted them

Just like high school.

A/N: My brother comes back from his pilot training tomorrow (he'll be flying 777's to LA soon!) so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update because he likes to steal the computer and watch Gordon Ramsay on youtube so we'll just see!whispers sorry if there are any spelling errors. Now i've got to go do my paper on USA they like to stack it all on in one week i swear!Review if you'd like.

XxPeace OutxX

LizzXxXx