A/N: Okay, I know I haven't been updating. A little thing called homework! ARGH!!! Don't own HSM. And I've been co-writing 'Down in the jungle' with HSMandChelseaFCfan it's a oneshot. check it out and her other stories. She rocks!

Chapter 6 – Thoughts and Promises

Troy rocked Allie back and fore as he stuffed a spoonful of egg fried rice into his mouth. "Mom!"

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Gabby really doesn't want to hear about that." He protested as he once again interrupted a story from when he was three.

"Yes Gabby does." Gabriella exclaimed.

"Mama!" Allie whined sleepily.

Gabriella rushed to the other side of the island and gently lifted the little girl into her arms. "Shh… Mi hija, it's okay. What's wrong?"

Allie sniffed and coughed slightly. "Mama, can I have some more ice cream, please?"

"No, Allie. I think you've had plenty, don't you Uncle Troy?" She asked the young man, glaring pointedly.

Troy sighed and nodded. "Yeah. You're already sick. We don't want you to be worse, do we? How about some warm milk?" He suggested.

Allie bit her lip cutely in thought and finally nodded, raising her arms for Troy. "Yes please."

Troy rose from his stool and went over to the fridge. "You stay with your mama and I'll hold you once I've got your milk."

She nodded, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. "Can I watch 'Cinderella' later, Uncle Troy?"

Troy poured some milk into a plastic beaker and placed it into the microwave, timing it to be heated for a minute. He turned to Allie and smiled softly. "Maybe. What do you think, Gabby?"

Allie looked up to Gabriella with a cute pout. "Please, Mama?"

Gabriella sighed and turned to Lucille and Jack. "What do you think, Lucille and Jack? Should she watch 'Cinderella'?"

"Don't bring us into this." Jack declared, scooping some chicken foo yung and swallowing it. He pointed the fork at Gabriella and smirked. "This is more entertaining than those reality TV shows they do."

Gabriella laughed in disbelief. "Not what I was hoping to hear." She turned back to Allie and tightened her hold on her. "I'm sure Uncle Troy would love to watch 'Cinderella' with you."

Troy turned to the microwave when it beeped loudly and he opened the door. He took the beaker out and took a sip, seeing if it was warm enough. "There you go, Chocolate Baby." He said softly, handing it to her.

Allie took it off of him and took a sip. "Thank you, Uncle Troy."

"Wow." Lucille said in amazement. "And I can't get him to wake Jenna up on a morning."

"Jenna?" Gabriella asked as she and Troy both took their previous seats opposite each other.

"Our daughter." Jack explained.

"You can't be bothered to wake your own sister up?" Gabriella giggled.

"I was in high school! I love Jenna. If she has trouble with boys, I'm the first one she runs to." He explained modestly, eating some noodles.

"Yeah. They're all afraid that they'll end up in the hospital!" Lucille exclaimed.

"One time!" Troy protested.

"You sent a guy to the hospital?" Gabriella asked in disbelief.

Troy rolled his eyes. "One time. No one messes with my little sister."

Jack chuckled. "But, we did ground him for a month."

His son sighed. "A minor set-back."

Gabriella rolled her eyes as she rocked Allie back and fore. "Right. But, Zeke was exactly the same with me. Except, no guy got sent to the hospital."

Troy poked his tongue out. "Shut up."

She giggled and placed Allie's empty cup on the island counter. "Why?"

"Uncle Troy, can we watch 'Cinderella' now?" Allie whined before coughing slightly.

Troy nodded and got to his feet to take the little girl in his arms. "Of course." He carried her into the living room and then Gabriella heard her daughter's infectious giggles.

Gabriella sighed slightly and stood to place her plate into the sink. Why was he being so nice to her and Allie? Okay, that was a stupid question. It was pretty obvious why he was being nice to them both…and it definitely wasn't that he was her boss. She hadn't thought like this since…ever. She had never thought about how guys looked and definitely not how they acted. During her early education, she had been too young to like boys in that way and during high school, she focussed on her studies so she was sure to get into medical school. Which then resulted in her being labelled a geek so no guy other than Zeke and Chad hung out with her. However, during college she had had her first couple of boyfriends…until Allie. And then her love life literally went down the tube. Forgetting about males not having the ability to settle down with a daughter, she didn't have the time for a committed relationship.

"Honey, are you okay?" Lucille asked, appearing beside her.

Gabriella nodded and plastered a smile on her face. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Jack asked, handing her his empty plate.

She placed it in the sink and smiled slightly. "Now I know why Troy is always concerned."

Jack nodded. "Comes from me."

Lucille smacked his arm and glared. "Excuse me?"

"I mean from the both of us." He grinned innocently.

Lucille rolled her eyes and turned to Gabriella, glancing at the clock behind the brunette's head. "Oh, bother!" She exclaimed. "As much as Jack would love to help you wash up, we have to go. Jenna and Cody are due back and our house is a good twenty minutes away. Jack will drive back for Troy."

Gabriella shook her head. "It's okay. I'll drive him or call my brother. It's cool, I promise."

* * *

Gabriella giggled at Troy's position on the couch as she reached for the DVD remote to switch the movie off. She sighed gently and walked over to the couch to brush Allie's dark hair out of her face. People often complimented her on how alike the both of them looked and how no one ever found something in Allie which wasn't in Gabriella. Whether it was to do with her personality or appearance, they were exactly the same.

Except one thing no one else saw but her. She saw the one thing that separated them from being truly identical. Something Gabriella couldn't escape. Something that haunted her when she slept. She forced her tears not to fall and shuffled out of the living room and into the hall closet to find a large, thick, woolly blanket. She closed the closet and made her way back to the lounge. She slowly unfolded the blanket and draped it over her daughter who was lying comfortably beside her boss. Both of them were sleeping and Troy's arm was wrapped protectively around her shoulders. Small snores escaped Troy's mouth and she mentally admired his nose wrinkled whenever that happened.

As she curled up in the armchair positioned in the corner of the room, she wondered what he dreamt about. Then again, it was fairly obvious, even to her. She focussed her eyes on Troy and Allie as she wrapped her dressing gown tighter around her petite frame. He was so handsome. All her life she had refused to call guys sexy or hot after being brought up by an old fashioned father – one that was, coincidentally, not Zeke's.

His body was sprawled over the couch horizontally – now partially hidden by the red and white blanket. His sandy blonde hair was massively dishevelled and his left arm was hanging over the side of the sofa while his right – and once again she admired this – was hugging Allie close to him. His facial features were sharp although she could imagine that they had been much softer as he was growing up. His body was firm and muscular which she knew was from hours of intense basketball training. Even though she couldn't see them, Gabriella knew about his eagle wings and she wondered how they would feel is she touched them.

She shook her head violently, erasing the thoughts – which were not so innocent – from her mind. She couldn't – no, she wouldn't – think like that. Especially as the man was her boss. She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and noticed how late it was. Ten thirty. After Jack and Lucille had left, she had cleared everything away and then talked with Troy in the lounge as Allie watched 'Cinderella'. However, she had gone upstairs to put some laundry away and when she had returned in her pyjamas and dressing gown, the DVD credits were rolling and both Troy and Gabriella were asleep.

She got up and switched the small lamp on low and turned the main lights out. She walked over to the couch and leaned over Troy's chest to kiss Allie's forehead before moving her body to lean over Troy's face. She brushed his bangs from his forehead and his lips immediately turned up into a smile and a small sigh made her blush slightly.

She traced her fingers over his cheek closest to Allie and before she knew what she was doing, she kissed his cheek closest to her. She pulled back and marvelled in the feeling of his skin beneath her fingertips. So perfect.

The one word she hadn't used since she had held Allie for the very first time. She knelt next to the couch and became nervous as Troy started to stir, his snores now morphing into sleepy grunts. He used the hand hanging over the edge of the sofa to wave blindly at Gabriella's hand which was still stroking his cheek. She moved her hand to her side and waited patiently for him to come around.

After a few seconds of blinking rapidly to remove the sleep gathered in his eyes, he smiled sleepily at the young woman beside him. "Hey." He croaked.

She smiled slightly and nodded her head towards Allie. "Did she enjoy it?"

He sighed and turned his head so he could face her properly. "I have no idea. I think I fell asleep before she did."

Gabriella giggled quietly and cocked her head to one side. "Is Allie Baylor that boring?"

"No way, if anything she's- Baylor?" Troy interrupted himself to question the choice of name.

Gabriella smiled slightly. "Don't get any disturbing and gross thoughts into your head. I didn't give my name up when my mom and dad adopted me because my genetic father meant so much to me. But, then I had been in the family for so long… It made sense when she was born." She rubbed her forehead tiredly.

"Well, I'm glad to hear there's no disturbing relationship going on in my country club staff." Troy concluded, earning a playful glare from Gabriella.

"Well, that's basically it. Nothing more, nothing less." She muttered, avoiding his eyes and finding great interest in her fingers which were squirming nervously like a pile of worms.

"Gabby, I'm sorry. Please tell me I didn't upset you. I did, didn't I?" He asked desperately. He wanted to hold her, to hug her, to tell her everything was alright. But, a cute mini version of the woman he wanted to hold was already in his arms, sleeping, which was forcing him to stay in his lying position on the couch.

She giggled quietly and kissed his cheek. "No. Just awoke a few memories." She whispered, getting to her feet. "Do you want to stay here all night?"

"Will I get a bad back?"

She nodded. "Most likely." She reached down and pulled the blanket back before reaching out to pick Allie up. "I'll be down in a minute. Can you fold the blanket?"

Troy nodded as he sat up to stretch his arms behind his head. "Sure thing. Hey, um, I'll totally call my parents to come and pick me up."

After briefly – Gabriella didn't realise just how brief it was – thinking it over she jumped at the chance, tightening her grip on her daughter. "No. It's okay. Just let me put Allie to bed, okay?"

He knitted his brow together and opened his mouth with words of protest spilling out. "No, it's okay. I don't want to intrude."

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "You're not. This is the second day you come around. If you were intruding, I would've kicked you out. Just give me a minute!" She left the room before Troy could say anymore and he rolled his eyes at how stubborn she was.

He grasped the blanket and noticed the colours of it, wondering why it was simply red and white. He started folding it and he suddenly smelt the lingering fragrance of the blanket. He felt his knees become weak and he fell backwards onto the couch so he was in his previous lying position. The fragrance wasn't something he could put his finger on. It wasn't flowers or perfume or even washing powder. Whatever it was, it was heavenly.

It made him think of Gabriella and he closed his eyes as he basked in the delicate scent. It was like Gabriella's body had replaced the blanket and she was lying on top of him. Although, in the case of professionalism, he shouldn't be feeling this way for Gabriella but how do you stop the heart? She was so innocent and honest and so protective of Allie. She wasn't like any woman he'd ever met.

Being a popular business man and jock during high school and college, had always been something of a ladies' man. He had had a couple of serious relationships – definitely one – but they had always ended the same way: the girl realised he didn't want commitment. He now had a reputation of thinking how a woman would cramp his style. And maybe a couple of days ago, he did think that. But, why did Gabriella suddenly change his mind?

"What are you doing?" A voice asked unsurely.

Troy opened his eyes to see Gabriella hovering over him. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks and he sat up. "I wanted to…"

"I don't want to know." She interrupted with a slight smile as she started to fold the blanket up. "Why are you doing this?"

Troy met her eyes as their hands moved in sync before Gabriella placed the folded blanket on the coffee table. They both sat down on the couch and Troy turned to face her. "Doing what?"

"This." She whispered. "Coming over. Buy Allie her doll and hanging out with me…"

"Do you not want me to?" He asked quietly after a moment.

She shook her head. "It's not that…exactly…"

"Then, what is it? Because I want to do this. Not as your boss but as a friend. For years, girls have been pining over me and you didn't. And I like it. And Allie is amazing. Just like you. But, if I do or did anything to upset or offend you, please tell me." He pleaded softly.

"You didn't upset me." She whispered before finally meeting his eyes. "But, you have to promise me something. I want you to stay here tonight. I don't know why but I think it's because I know Allie will like it if she wakes up to her Uncle Troy."

"So, what can I promise?" He asked slowly.

"You have to promise you won't fall in love with me." She said sternly.

"Are you sick?" Troy asked worriedly.

"What?" Gabriella gasped. "No. Where did that come from?"

"Jenna, Kelsi and my mom made me watch 'A walk to remember' after agreeing I am not romantic. That's one of the lines Jamie used when she first met Landon." He explained his theory.

She shook her head. "I'm not sick. But, promise me you won't fall in love with me."

Troy shook his head slowly. "No."

"Excuse me?" Gabriella whispered, cocking her head to the side.

"I'm not promising that." He said calmly.

"Why not?" She asked and the fear lacing her voice didn't go unnoticed by Troy.

"I told you I don't make promises I can't keep." He whispered, taking her dainty hand in his large one.

"What are you saying?" She spoke softly.

"I think I'm saying that I'm in love with you." He murmured, bracing himself for her reaction.

A/N:Okay, I know I'm evil. But, seriously, don't you guys know me by now?

A/N 2: HELP NEEDED I am changing the title of this story. So far I have 'Fight for love' or 'Challenges in love' Both of which are HSMandChelseaFCfan's ideas. Any other ideas are welcome and I will pick my favourite when I find it. Please help!