A/N: Again, a pretty heavy chapter, but hopefully you can empathize with the two. I know they're messed up, but I hope you can get past that. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing! Hopefully I didn't disappoint anyone with this chapter.

Gabriella had seen Troy at his lows, but this? She couldn't even imagine.

Fear misted through her body as though it was a fog that seeped in her blood stream. The car was parked in front of a ghostly white building that reminded Gabriella eerily of a hospital. She was well aware it was not one, but she could not recognize the sign that stood in front of it, for the blackness of the night sky blinded her. The heart welded inside her chest beat at an uneven pace, unaware of what she should have been doing right now. The stone statue to the left of her stared with cold, bloodlust eyes forward. Never had she ever been so afraid of him.

Panic was sent through her body the whole drive over. She was certain he was going to drive them off the side of the mountain, with his eyes distantly locked on some object else where. Flashbacks of the horrific car crash swelled her the whole time, but she fought to stay in the present. The offer to take the wheel had come to her lips more than once, but her voice could not be found. She was too terrified that he would snap at her again if she said anything. For the moonlit orbs were two circles that came from her worst nightmares. Troy in indescribable pain.

Without saying a word or even noting that she was in the car with him, Troy's violently trembling hands yanked the driver's door open and he jumped out of the car. Gabriella's warm body was still sticking to the leather of his seats, but just watched stupidly as he began to make his way towards the building, not even bothering to wait for her. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, knowing that if she didn't follow him, she would probably freeze to death in the car. So she hopped out and chased after him.

Her long legs had almost had to sprint to keep up with his brisk walk as they approached the building. Gabriella's eyes that matched the color of the night sky narrowed as the letters on the building formed words. She could make out the sketches of the letters until her tiny stomach sunk to the floor like a brick slammed in it. Her heart skipped for beats before she reflexively reached up to chew at the nonexistent nails on her right hand.

The Frisco Rehabilitation Center.

Rehab.

"Troy!" The voice immediately called out the second Gabriella stepped behind her fuming boyfriend into the overheated center. The woman stationed behind an overly large desk that sat in too tiny of a room stood as Troy trotted over to the desk. Gabriella inhaled the hospital-like fumes and cringed behind Troy as though this woman would do something to her. It was just the fact of being in an unfamiliar place that scared her. And it also didn't help that her boyfriend looked like he was out to commit mass murder. "Sweetheart, what are you doing here so late?"

Gabriella glanced at the clock to see that it was rounding on nine o'clock on a Thursday night. Each second that ticked by seemed to heighten Troy's anxiety, as well as her own. What were they doing here? Obviously Troy knew someone here, but who? Cousin? Lost bother? Aunt, uncle? She could rule his parents out, since his dad was the manager of the Bulls and his mom? Well, Sydney worked with her right? So she couldn't be in rehab if she had a job.

"I just had to see her." Troy's low and dangerous voice almost made the receptionist jump back in fear. It seemed to be too much for the woman in her fifties to handle. Gabriella herself almost leapt away from his back, Troy almost frowning with his hard face when she took a step back from him. What was his problem? Screaming at her and being cold then frowning when her body heat was removed? Make up your mind!

"Oh um… just… just let me know when you leave." The woman with bright pink nail polish stated before staring fearfully at Troy as though he had a gun in his hands.

"Always." Troy mumbled before abruptly turning towards the left and began to walk in a mechanical motion.

Was she to follow him? Or was he just going to leave her out in the cold? Gabriella could barely take his silence anymore. But she sure as hell wasn't going to ask him what he wanted her to do. Not if she wanted to keep all of her body parts in tacked. "Wait…" Gabriella mumbled pathetically under her breath, knowing that Troy wouldn't even hear her.

Her slender legs bounded to him until she found herself walking through a blank hallway. The nerves in her stomach began to dance together to a wild beat. Curiosity bubbled through the pores of her skin, but fear seemed to be her main emotion. He still would not look at her, but the glow of his white eyes was enough for her to know that anything he would say would not be friendly or approved by Disney.

She tried not to look at the other patients that passed. They all seemed the same to her. Pale faces, trembling bodies. Is that what she looked like under the florescent lights? She couldn't tell. Troy's body seemed to be drained of every emotion beside pain. She knew that his anger was influenced by his torment, so that didn't even count. Well, not in her book.

After what seemed like decades, they finally stopped in front of a bright white door that continued to give Gabriella the impression they were in a hospital. Her tiny heart began to make an echo off the sides of the barren walls. Troy slowly brought his iron fist to the door and pounded it against the plastic door. It was a moment before Gabriella realized she wasn't breathing.

Forever and a day passed before finally the creek of the door startled Gabriella. She watched as a thin, frail woman about ten years older than her own mother stepped out. The woman was about an inch shorter than Gabriella's boyfriend; through she seemed to be about an eighth of his body mass. Her thinning, frail sun burnt hair looked as though it had been fried off and each strand could be broken just by touching it. Her emotionless grey eyes grazed the white snow color with dark purple circles that rimmed the edges. The flannel plaid shirt that covered her sickly body seemed to be her nightgown. Gabriella got the faint idea that she looked as though she was a survivor of the Holocaust. It sent chills down her frozen spine.

"Troy!" The woman's eyes almost lit up to a faint pale blue as they landed on the trembling boy. She flung her arms around him as though she belonged to him. Troy's eyes shut automatically and he pulled the woman close to him. "Baby, what are you doing here this late?"

Baby? Gabriella's black eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Who was this woman? And why was she gripping Troy like her life depended on it? Gabriella tried to exuviate through her bony face, only to find that somehow it was strangely familiar. It was difficult to say that anyone could relate to this look of death, but somehow it was as though Gabriella had looked into the same face. The same shaped nose, the same white eyes…

"You weren't sleeping were you?" Troy questioned as he pulled away from the sick woman. As he did, Gabriella noticed the yellow bruises on her arm that didn't look like they'd ever go away. Tiny purple dots were stationed in the center, causing another round of shivers through Gabriella's spine. Heroine addict.

"No… no, I was just watching TV," She stated and beamed brightly. "I'm glad you're here."

Troy smiled the familiar fake smile Gabriella was so accustomed to. "Look, I forgot my keys at the counter…" Troy informed the woman, not even bothering to look at Gabriella. What? No he didn't. Gabriella's eyes shifted to his pants pocket that was bulging. Why were they leaving? His keys were right there! And Gabriella wanted desperately to know more about this woman. Who was she? "This is Gabriella…" He noted, pointing to her.

A knowing smile curved onto the woman's face as her eyes drifted to Gabriella's smooth face. A tiny hint of happiness coursed her lips. "Ahhh, Gabriella? I've heard so much about you."

So she knew her. "I'll be right back…" Troy then sprinted off in the other direction. Where was he going? He seemed to have a knowing look on his face when he left, but didn't dare to look at her. He hadn't actually laid his bright eyes on her since their argument in the kitchen.

Gabriella turned back to the woman standing before her with a large grin plastered on her face like a mother just about to meet her future daughter in-law. The teenager smiled shyly before the woman shook her head violently. "Gosh I'm rude. I'm so sorry, I'm Lucille."

She held out her bony hand weakly for Gabriella to take. As her own small limb reached out, she was deathly afraid that she might rip this woman's hand off. As her fingers clenched around the waxy skin, Gabriella noticed how icy the touch was. No circulation was present. It was like the woman was a dying corps. "Gabriella."

"I've been dying to meet you. Troy just… he said you were incredible. He's so… smitten," She grinned at the empty hallway as though Troy was listening in. Gabriella couldn't help but feel her heart skip four beats. Even though he hated her right now, he was still smitten with her? That was a plus wasn't it? But why would he talk so highly about her to the drug addict? How did he know her? "Come on in."

Gabriella carefully walked around her into the tiny room. The air was almost as frozen as the tundra outside, the large window above the burnt maroon bed made the atmosphere seem colder than what it really was. "You're not cold are you?" The woman chimed in a motherly voice.

"No… no I'm fine, thank you." Her voice sounded timid as she spoke. Never before had she been so perplexed. But this lady's personality didn't seem to fit her body. She seemed so happy to see Gabriella, and Gabriella couldn't deny that there was something about the woman she liked. Even though it was painfully obvious that she was a heroine user and probably broke the law thousands of times, she still had an almost… parental instinct to her. Gabriella couldn't help but compare being around her to being alone with a mother you hadn't seen in a long time. The way a mother should be, not screwing other guys to forget the father who crushed your world.

"So… Troy finally let you come huh?" Lucille asked as she leaned against the countertop that held her tiny stove. The way her lanky legs stuck out away from her body reminded Gabriella faintly of an action Troy would do himself. Where was he anyways?

"I guess you could say that." That wasn't a lie; he did let her come, just more didn't tell her where they were going and sped down a road causing Gabriella to almost have four heart attacks.

"You're not… uncomfortable… being… you know… here…" Lucille seemed to be referring to the rehab center itself.

"What? No!" Gabriella honestly exclaimed. "Not at all." She was growing fond of this mystery woman, even if she had only been in the room with her for a few minutes. There was something about her that was so familiar, the way her white eyes were locked intensely on Gabriella. Sort of the way…

Her stomach fell to the floor with a crash.

The moment the realization hit her like a thousand pound truck, the door opened again and her theory was officially confirmed. Troy strode into the room, immediately lighting up the darkness with his ice-flames in his eyes. They eyes that matched perfectly with Lucille's. How could she be so blind to not see it before? The nose, the orbs, their body language was almost in sync. She was so shielded by her own torture and worry that she didn't even think twice of what Troy said was a lie. A complete lie. How could she miss something so huge? That's why Troy left. He didn't want to just come out and say it, he wanted her to figure it out. Why though?

"Did you find them?" Lucille questioned, though a rush of warm heat flooded her face while gazing upon her flesh and blood.

"Find wh… oh!" Troy caught himself in his dark voice. "Yeah… I did," The anger that was present before seemed to be oozing through his pores and dripping to the floor. All that was left was his despair. His broken body that matched Lucille's. How could Gabriella overlook that? "Thanks Mom."

That was it. For the first time all night, his heavy head lifted across the room and Gabriella's soul was sucked through her body. A gaze so powerful her thin body was almost slammed against the wall from the force. Torment radiated from the gaze and stuck to her stick like crawling spiders. Black and white, opposites would not leave each other. It was out in the open now. Everything she had ever wanted to know was there. Why he wouldn't date her in the beginning. Why he was so "fucked up". Why he was depressed. Why he was afraid of needles. Why he couldn't handle life itself. Why he lived alone.

His mother was a heroine addict.

Troy's trembling hands left the door open for Gabriella to follow. Timidly, too afraid that she'd set him off once again, she hurried into the warmth of his house only to be greeted by a furry ball of fluff. Her midnight eyes almost burned in pain, now knowing everything. "Hey Sade…" She whispered before pressing a tender kiss to her boyfriend's husky, and then stood with shaking legs.

What could she say to him? Nothing. Through the long ride back to his house, the black car was filled with heavy air. Both were lost in their own thoughts, and at least Gabriella didn't have to worry about falling off the edge of a cliff, because his moments were cautious now. She couldn't get over how friendly Mrs. Bolton was, and how great she got along with her. But the whole time, she couldn't remove the looming pain of Troy not saying a word to her. Not even around his mom. And now, Gabriella watched the black shadows cast over his tense back muscles, staring blankly into the large glass window leading to the winter night.

Think of something! Gabriella's mind screamed as she tiptoed into the blackness that surrounded him. Only a dim lighting caused the petrifying, yet sexual tension through the air. Her heart was beating at an irregular rate. Softly, she crept so she was only a yard away from him. The yard seemed too far, yet not close enough for her.

"You should go."

If Gabriella hadn't been listening through the silence, she wouldn't have heard his hard, yet quiet voice. It was the first thing he had said to her since "get in the fucking car". She could see through his black long-sleeved shirt he was trembling dangerously. Gabriella softly bit her bottom lip and shook her tired head. "Troy…"

"Ari's probably waiting for you." He murmured in a vexatious tone. The rough hand gripped the chair resting behind him as though he would crumple if it didn't hold him up.

"My mom's there for once." She was thankful that this one time, her mother hadn't decided to go out.

"It doesn't matter," His strong neck muscles tensed, making Gabriella remain stationed and refused to move in her spot. "Go Gabriella."

That hurt like a thousand needles. But she had to stand her ground. She knew that if she left and lost this argument, she had the possibility of loosing him. Forever. "No."

Troy stiffened, finally mechanically maneuvering around to meet her hollow gaze. Torture. That was the only thing swirling through the large purple circles beneath his eyes. He was dying, Gabriella could see it. "There's nothing to say," his voice was threatening and he seemed to be reading her mind. "Go home."

"There's everything to say," Gabriella shot back, the gun in her hand now. "I'm not leaving."

"What do you fucking want Gabriella?!" Troy's voice rose to brush the edges of yelling, but his vibrations told her he was attempting to hold in his emotion. "You saw everything!"

"I want you to be happy!" Gabriella matched his furious level. "I want my Troy to be able to talk to me!"

"YOUR TROY, GABRIELLA?" He was back to atomic bombs as his voice boomed. Gabriella jumped back from the swept of wind that erupted from behind him. "Let me tell you something about your Troy. He's mom's a fucking drug user. Her shit-faced boyfriend fucked her life up and Troy's. Troy's lived the past three goddamn years by himself because his mom would be shooting up every second she got!" The rounds of trembles from his bones caused Gabriella's skin to crawl. His heart was breaking before her black eyes, and all she could do was watch it happen. "Your Troy's been dying since freshman year."

"Oh Troy…" She took a determined step forward and reached for him comfortingly, but Troy immediately slammed his back into the ice window to get as far away from her smooth hand as possible.

"Stop it!" He announced desperately. Clearly he wasn't going down without a fight. The only problem was neither was she.

"Just talk to me!"

"No! I don't need your sympathy!" Gabriella watched helplessly as acidic tears finally were released from their prisons and rushed down his bronze face faster than Niagara Falls. The white circles in his eyes filled up with a crimson red while the flood let emotions that had been bottled up for so long just let go. "I don't need… I don't need…"

There was only one thing she could think to say in the blackness. "I love you Troy."

Gabriella's slender body rushed to him and took his sculpted body to the glass window. Her embrace was so powerful that the heat in her body absorbed through his skin. Sobs echoed through the walls of the empty kitchen as Troy's wet face burrowed into Gabriella's black cascades. "…need you."

Before she knew what was happening, furious lips attacked her mouth. Gabriella slammed her eyes shut as Troy's angry teeth bit at her bottom lip. Desperation was trembling with his shakes as his calloused hands gripped frantically at her tiny back. Her own tears slipped down her face at his hysteria, unable to do anything but let him try to relieve his pain. Her heart smashed against his chest.

They slid against the frozen glass to the floor until Troy was sitting curved, his back to the glass. His kisses were rushed and tormented against her lips. There was no use attempting to slow them down, for it would do nothing. His tongue was shoved violently into her mouth in attempts to free himself. If this was what he needed, she would give it to him. She would give him anything just so he could be ok.

But his energy seemed to be sucked out of him as quickly as it happened, Troy's kisses mutated into sobs. He couldn't seem to press his lips against hers any longer without the violent tremors overtaking his stone body. Almost as though she wasn't certain it happened, Gabriella did the only thing that seemed logical at the time.

"I'm sorry… Troy I'm sorry…" Gabriella whispered horrified while holding him tightly and stroking his hard back as he cried into the wave of her midnight curls.

"Don't…" Troy choked back. "Please… just don't…"

It was going to be a long night. But whatever happened, Gabriella wouldn't leave his side.

Not ever.