Chapter 6


"Yeah," Troy said, since he noticed that neither of them was saying anything. They were just staring at each other in their weird way, "Gabriella is your mother."

That word again. More tears started to appear in Gabriella's eyes, but this time, she wasn't the only one, who had tear streaks along her cheeks. Taking a risk, Gabriella stepped a bit closer and said,

"Max don't cry," her voice was surprisingly calm, though her body was pretty much shaking, "Please, don't cry."

She almost jumped, when Max suddenly lunged at her. Then boom she was hugging her and she was hugging her daughter back, feeling like she really did belong here. She had cared for Max even before she knew that she was her daughter and yet now…

Troy was watching them from a foot away and he had hard time trying to stop himself from crying. In the corner of the room Taylor and Sharpay were hugging themselves and Ryan and Chad were just smiling widely.

"I can't believe this," Max said, pulling away, "I mean," she looked at the ceiling, "So you'd know, I don't cry usually."

"Yeah, me neither," Gabriella said, blinking rapidly and wiping her eyes dry, "Gave up on that after a good while."

"They do you no good, do they?"

"No, no good at all," Gabriella answered, already smiling lightly. Max looked down from the ceiling for a moment, just to smile back at her. Troy found himself smiling just for the simple fact that those two were doing it.

"Max," Gabriella started and the girl looked down again, "You remember when you asked about my daughter and what I would say to her if I found her?"

Max nodded.

"So I don't have to tell it all over again?"

Max smiled slightly and shook her head.

"Well, I still want to tell you something," Gabriella said, "When I had you, you were pretty much the centre of my life. The centre of our lives," she amended, "I loved you more than I loved anything else in the world and I'd given up anything for you. When I found out about the chance of you having the disease – I panicked. I could handle myself being sick, but you… What I'm trying to say is that I would have never left you, ever, if I'd thought that I had another way back then."

Max nodded slowly, "I know. That was in your speech too."

"It was?" Gabriella asked. Max nodded again. "Damn."

Troy came up to them at that point and laughed, "Gaby, you shouldn't use that kind of words around our innocent daughter."

"Our daughter," Gabriella just had to grin slightly at that phrase, "knows probably more of those kinds of words than you and I together."

"I like that," Troy whispered to Gabriella's ear, making her shudder, "You and I together."

"What did he say?" Max almost immediately asked as Gabriella's eyebrows rose and she took a deep breath.

"Nothing," Gabriella quickly said, but she knew that her voice betrayed her so she added, "Just being his old, nasty, suggestive himself."

"I'm not old!"

"Hey," Sharpay called from the bar, "Want to join us here? We'd like an update on you two, right about, well now."

"We're coming," Troy called back, while Max and Gabriella were still eying each other. They followed though and soon they were all sitting around the counter – Sharpay, Ryan and Taylor behind it and Chad, Troy, Gabriella and Max in front of it.

Troy suddenly jumped up and opened the refrigerator and pulled out two huge containers. He then took an equal humongous scoop and put some of ice-cream in the container onto the bowls.

"Oh, thank you," Gabriella breathed out as Troy gave her a bowl full of caramel ice cream.

"Yeah, dad, you're great," Max said, her spoon already in her bowl.

Troy gave everyone else a bowl as well before he sat down with the biggest bowl.

"What?" he asked, as everybody stared him. He looked at the bowl and explained, "After this day, I'm in desperate need of a brain freeze."

"You can't have that," Ryan pointed out, "You actually have to have a brain for it to freeze."

Everybody laughed and soon enough they all got relaxed enough for Taylor to ask,

"So, not that I'm prying or anything, but where do the two of you stand right now?"

Troy stopped eating and looked at Gabriella who had put down her spoon and was looking as it disappeared into the part of melt ice cream. Max was looking between the two of them, anticipation glowing in her eyes.

"Umm," Troy started, "You know what? I have no idea."

"Yeah, I agree to that one," Gabriella replied and the two of them looked up at the same time. They smiled briefly, before returning to their ice cream.

"Wait, you're not getting together or anything?" Max asked. Both of them looked back up immediately. Troy quickly said,

"I mean we could get back together someday, but Angel, we barely know each other. I mean, we just met over some long years and we might not, you know, feel the same way about each other than we did before, you know…"

"Yes," Gabriella answered, believing that Troy meant that he was not feeling the same way about her anymore. "He's right. We've both changed over the years and well, you can't force love onto someone."

"But you do love each other," Max exclaimed, "You've both told me so yourselves! Remember dad, when you finally told me about mum and you said you loved her more than anything in the world and that you'll never love anyone else that way?"

Troy felt suddenly that all the ice cream in the world couldn't relieve him from the warm feeling going all over his body, since all the adults, including Gabriella, were staring at him. He mumbled something in response, before hiding his face into his hands. This was it, now Gabriella would think he was just a pathetic little man…

"And Gaby, you told me that though you loved Orlando, it was the love that came from the safe feeling he was giving you and that it never, ever came even close to what you had with that fiancée of yours. All about that passionate love… You told me that if you had to choose, you wouldn't bother to hesitate."

Troy removed his hand from his face. He couldn't have heard that right. Maybe he imagined it to lessen his embarrassment.

But everyone's glances of disbelief had moved from Troy to Gabriella, who now wanted very much to be eaten by her own ice cream.

"I might've said that," she said, feeling that she was blushing. She was a grown woman. Grown women do not blush!

A huge grin spread over Troy's face as he looked at her. For some mystical reasons, she still loved him. Even after what he had said. And then when he understood and wanted to find her more than anything, she showed up. Ryan had hit the bullseye on that one. It was fate. It had to be.

"You really said that," Troy asked then.

Gabriella, as stubborn as always, asked back, "Did you say those things?"

Troy didn't hesitate, "Yes I did and I meant every word."

"Oh," the steeliness from Gabriella's voice disappeared, "Well, uh…"

"HELLO!"

Everybody froze in terror. It couldn't be.

"HELLLOOO!"

It was.

"Damn," Almost everyone except little Jonathan chorused.

"Are you in… Troy!" Sarah came into the view, "Honey, I want to explain what happened." Max's forehead hit the table with a bang as she groaned.

Chad leant over to Ryan and whispered, "I never understood what she saw in that chick."

"Makes two of us," Ryan whispered back.

"Three," Taylor added to their whispered conversation, putting her hands around her son's head, as to shield him for that woman.

"Hello, Sarah," Troy managed to squeeze out with some politeness. "You know, I think this is a closed party. Friends or close family only."

Sarah walked to Max what she thought was a seductive way but for Gabriella she looked like a chicken with crutches.

"Oh, but I am close family, aren't I Max? I'm the only mother figure you got."

Sharpay pulled in some breath and Gabriella herself was gripping the spoon hard enough that it bended a bit.

Taylor was glaring Sarah in a way that could've made her eyeballs pop out. But Max, used to the Blond Screecher, just shrugged. "You're definitely not the only one."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, "Is your father seeing anyone?"

"I do not see how's that your business," Troy started, but Max shook her head. "He's not seeing anyone at this precise moment, but he might. About the mother figures, look around the table." The politeness in her words shocked everyone, including herself.

"Eating ice cream are you?" Sarah said, ignoring the last thing Max had said and looking at the bowls, being obvious to the fact that everybody was staring at her and wishing for her to leave. "I think it makes you fat and some…" her eyes stopped on Sharpay and Taylor [Both of whom were very thin, I tell you, "…can't afford that."

Sharpay just smiled at her, in her mind wishing that she'd just crawl into a dark corner and die. Taylor just nodded, "Yes, I know what you mean," while she looked her up and down. Not that she was fat either, but at least Taylor got to return the favor. Sharpay grinned.

"And who are…" She looked at the brunette who was sitting next to Max. The woman looked up at her and Sarah's eyes widened.

"Oh, Miss Black."

"You know her?" Sharpay asked, a bit surprised.

"Of course," Sarah said, "We're what you'd call start-out friends."

For a moment everybody stared at her in disbelief until Chad found it a good time to chuckle at the way his son was sleeping. Sharpay nodded at Sarah before turning her face away her. Ryan did something similar, while Taylor just gaped at Sarah. Max got caught in a tremendous coughing spree and behind Sarah Troy was doing 'insane' and 'loco' motions to Gabriella, who was fighting a huge grin, which was forcing it's way to her face.

Then she made a decision. As she rose, everyone's eyes went on her. She grinned and said,

"I would rather marry a five foot seven tarantula, then ever call you a friend of any kind," everybody looked a bit shocked, but for different reasons.

"Oooh, she hates tarantulas, it's in the top of her natural enemies list," Chad pointed out for Sarah.

"You are the worst kind of woman I have EVER met," Gabriella continued, "All you ever care about is money and fame. You called Max stupid and when I disliked you for it before, then now I just plainly hate you for it."

"I didn't mean that;" Sarah defended herself, "I was just sooooo worried..."

"…About your nails," Gabriella continued for her, as she kept stepping closer, "You know what? Max was lying. Troy is seeing somebody and well, guess what, that's me."

Everybody stared again, again for different reasons. Troy recovered rather quickly as he jumped in,

"Yeah, I'm in love with her," he did a sweeping hand motion, "definitely."

"A week? You found yourself another bitch in a week?"

"Alright," Gabriella snapped, "I'm going to do something the guys in here wouldn't do because they're gentlemen, what Sharpay probably wants to do, but won't because of children present and which Taylor won't do because she's do nice."

"Wha…?" Sarah started, but didn't get farther than that.

SLAP

Sarah's hand went to her cheek automatically. "You, you…"

"Get out," Gabriella said, "Before I do it again."

"You…"

"Listen to her," Troy said, "Because I for one won't restrain Sharpay if she wants to have a swing."

"Yeah," Max agreed, "And never call my mum a bitch again."

"See where our kid get's her vocabulary from?" Gabriella asked from Troy, who grinned, "From the worst kind of people ever – Blond Screechers."

"Your kid," Sarah gasped out, "Max's your, your, your…"

"Kid?" Taylor offered, "It's a hard word, we know."

"What is going on?" Sarah asked, "I… I…"

"Am going?" Sharpay offered, "and personally I'd recommend running, because Gaby looks murderous. Bad look on such a sweet, innocent woman…"

Sarah did just that, she turned around on her heel and practically ran from her spot.

Near the bar counter, everybody burst out laughing. "I wasn't too mean, was I?" Gabriella asked, after they'd stopped.

"Are you kidding me?" Sharpay asked, "You can't honestly be worried about that."

Gabriella shrugged, but suddenly she felt something. Someone had taken her hand and was squeezing it gently. She looked up at Troy, who was using his left hand to eat his ice cream.

She smiled.

"So, since Max's here and the old crew is kind of back together…" Chad started.

"Kelsi isn't," Gabriella interrupted, "Where is she anyways? And what about Zeke?"

"Hmm, I forgot you're behind on the High School People news," Taylor said, "Kelsi and Jason got married and they're both working on Broadway. Kelsi writes music for the musicals and Jason usual takes parts in them."

Gabrielle nodded, "Makes sense so far."

"And Zeke owns a high level chain of restaurants and he himself is the head chef in the biggest one. He also got married. Found a nutty blonde person on the streets."

"Nutty blonde person?" Gabriella asked. She was pretty sure she knew who they were talking about, but she couldn't help it so she asked, "He got married to Darbus?"

Everybody started to laugh, when Sharpay looked a little… flustered.

"Oh come on, Sharpay, I was just kidding, but now, spill," Gabriella asked, "What did he make you this time? Caesar salad? Treacle Tart?"

Sharpay looked up and grinned, "Crème Brule."

"Didn't he already make that thing?" Gabriella asked, thoughtful.

"Nu-uh," Ryan answered, "He made it specially sweet and sour for her. With the exact amount of love…"

"…sweetness…" Chad added, smiling.

"…caring…" Taylor put in.

"And pure lust," Troy ended and Sharpay was ready for the teasing to start. When it didn't she looked up to see Gabriella smiling at her. "What?"

"Nothing. I'm jealous of you."

"Huh?" almost everybody chorused.

"I mean I wished I had a guy like that who goes through all that trouble just for me," Gabriella said, grinning. Sharpay perked up visibly and nodded, "You know, I just remembered why I loved you more than I loved these losers."

"Thanks a lot," Chad scoffed at her. Troy though was going through all of his pockets.

"Dad, did you lose something?" Max asked, after she stopped laughing over the adults' antics.

"My phone… Where is it?" he asked, patting all over his blouse.

"Back pocket," Max said, "It's always in the back pocket."

Troy found it soon enough and quickly started to press the buttons of it. Three minutes later, he sent away a long text message.

"What did you do?" Ryan asked.

"Told Zeke what was going on and asked for the recipe for Crème Brule," Troy answered grinning, "I might want to try and make one some day."

Chad looked at Taylor, who was giving him long glances from across the table. Chad shook his head. More glances. "No."

Long glance.

"Fine," he gave in, "I'll get the damn recipe."

That sent everyone over it again and they laughed about Chad's whipped position. "Remember when we found out that Zeke was baking in the first place?" Chad asked, just to get the attention off himself.

"Yeah, you went crazy," Troy nodded, "Told me that me and Gabriella ruined the whole school, since the worst thing happened – Skaterdudes mingled with us!"

"Oh go to hell," Chad muttered, "We helped the two of you together, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Gabriella agreed, "After you split us up."

"Oh… Right," Chad said, "But we were deeply sorry, of course. We even came to the winter musical and I, the man who never, ever could've been in a musical before, was the singing star."

"You mean you got a lead as well?" Max, asked interested.

"Nu-uh," Troy answered to her daughter, "He was literately a singing star with a smiley sewn to the back of his costume."

"Oh…"

"Well," Taylor said, feeling like she should advert the subject away from her husband, started, "Gaby, since we haven't even seen you for a long, long time, not that I'd blame you for not keeping contact with your ex best friend," Taylor gave an exparated sigh, "but what have you been up to?"

"Yeah, tell us," said Ryan, "We kind of discussed what you could do and I'd like to find out who got closer."

"Well I'm in biomedical research and I'm specialized on hematological neoplasm," Gabriella said, as she ate her a bit melt ice cream.

"Oh, well," Taylor said, trying to look like she understood what she had said, "I got the closest answer, I think, since I predicted she worked in medicinal area."

"Well, mine was close too," Ryan argued, "Since she is doing something we can't spell or pronounce."

"He-e-ma-too-logical," Taylor said, "See I pronounced it."

"Oh, zip it both of you," Sharpay said, "One day she'll retire and then she'll be the headmistress in a school full of tiny Einsteins and Einsteinettes."

Gabriella laughed, "So that said, what's up in your lives?"

Sharpay decided to give her the short overview, "Chad is a basketball player for the Lightning Bolts, he got married to Taylor three years ago and their son is one years old and his name is Jonathan. Taylor teaches science in the university just nine miles away from here."

"Ryan is single, duh," Sharpay grinned, "He is giving yoga classes, since we don't really need the money, but still, he makes some."

"Zeke opened his first restaurant six years ago in Albuquerque, but after he worked it onto the top, wanted to move to a more crowded place, so I helped to set him up in just outside of California. He's been working his way to the top ever since. We got engaged four years ago, got married two years ago. I've been working on a chain of beauty salons and I'm doing great so far."

She pointed to Troy, "He's the coach of Lightning Bolts, but doesn't play pro anymore. He used to under a weird name, but he gave up about two years ago and started to coach the team Chad was on. He's been single forever, only with two or three serious girlfriends."

"Was that Sarah woman one of those 'serious' girlfriends?" Gabriella asked and Troy scowled at himself inwardly.

"We didn't believe so until Max called us, near hysterics and told us that they were thinking of getting married. Then she screamed something at someone and then the phone was hung up."

Max grinned, "That's when I ran out of the house and ended up under Gabriella's roof. She dragged me into the house, because she was sure that being a stubborn ass as I was, I would've slept on the street just to not go home."

"I didn't call you a stubborn ass!" Gabriella exclaimed. Max grinned, "I know, I called myself that. Though I'm very glad that I ran away that night."

"Not that I think running away is okay," Troy said, "But maybe that one time, it worked out for the best." His hand squeezed Gabriella's under the table and the woman smiled slightly as she squeezed back.

Troy hadn't gotten her out of his head for not a single moment. He was afraid. Yes, Troy Bolton was very afraid.

He had no idea where the two of them were standing and he didn't want to let go of her hand if it meant that she'll pull it away; maybe for good. What if she didn't love him anymore?

No, Julie said that she had told her that she always had passionate love for him and she hadn't denied it.

She hadn't agreed to it either, you moron. Troy glanced at Gabriella, who was smiling fondly at Max, who was telling the rest of the crew some kind of story. She finished and the whole table, including Max and Gabriella erupted in laughter.

There they were, the two most important women in his life, just sitting and talking. Just being there, together, without any tenseness between them like it had been on the stage. They looked just content with how they were.

Troy gave Gabriella's hand another squeeze and she turned her head and smiled. Troy found himself staring at her lips as they curved into a smile and he couldn't help, but grin widely back. Their eyes locked for a brief second as Troy looked up. They both breathed quietly and looked away. In the farthest end of the counter, Sharpay Evans rolled her eyes with her brother.

Gabriella turned to look away with just a tiny smile. In one night she had almost forgotten everything bad that had happened between her and Troy and now she just wanted for it to go back to how it used to be before those horrible mistakes she had done. Before those mistakes Troy had made.

His hand was still holding hers and she just wished he'd never let go. This felt so right. Her eyes stopped on Max, who looked up almost immediately as feeling somebody looking at her. Max smiled and Gabriella smiled as well. Who could not smile if an angle like that grinned at you in her contagious way?

Another squeeze to her hand. Gabriella started to slide her thumb over his in a ticklish manner and it didn't take more than two times for Troy to stop chatting to Chad as he flexed the muscles in his hand a bit. Gabriella grinned; she still knew how to get him just a bit winded.

Troy squirmed a bit, not wanting to give Gabriella the pleasure to make him even smile. But it was so hard not to. If he could hardly not smile because of the tickling, then not smiling because he knew that Gabriella still remembered his ticklish thumbs, was twice as hard.

Suddenly Troy pulled his hand away from hers. Gabriella looked up, but before she could even raise an eyebrow, his hand was back in hers, but in a different way. Now Troy's fingers started to move up and down in her palm making her wriggle in the barstool a bit. Her palm was the most ticklish place on her hand and Troy was using it against her.

Max noticed that Gabriella was acting a bit weird, since she kept tapping her foot against the ground and giving his dad glances that could kill. She also tugged her hand from time to time, but it seemed to be stuck at something. Finally having enough, Max stuck her head under the table. A moment later her head appeared again with a huge grin on its face.

"What're they doing," Chad asked, since they were fairly obvious. Troy kept grinning as Gabriella tried to do something with her hand, which wasn't budging.

"Dad's tickling her arm and isn't letting go. Gaby is going nuts."

Chad chuckled, "They always knew how to press each other's buttons…" Then he leant over to give Taylor the message.

Suddenly everybody's eyes went to Troy who let out a loud gasp. Next to her, Gabriella pulled her hands away from under the table and placed them onto the counter, where she scratched her left palm, just to get rid of the tingling feeling.

Troy was watching her with wide eyes. "You… You…"

"What did she do?" Ryan asked.

"She… She… just… That was… low!"

"Not like I haven't done it before," Gabriella said with a grin, while Troy stared her, unbelievable look on his face. The he shook his head and looked at his bowl which was pretty much empty.

"I need more ice cream. Really cold ice cream."

"I'll put you some, since your obviously not in a position to do so yourself," Gabriella said, grinning widely and in a closer look you would've seen a slight blush. Troy was the only one to see it, but he was too busy not trying to think at all.

"Why isn't he in the position to get some ice cream? What's going on?" Max asked, completely out of the loop.

It took a few more seconds for Taylor to figure it out and she started to chuckle. Gabriella, who was filling the bowls, turned around and winked at her.

"Sweet, innocent woman in your face Sharpay," Taylor gasped out, before laughing even more.

"What?" Sharpay asked, before her mind started to put it together. Why Troy had released Gabriella's other hand so suddenly, why for a few seconds both of Gabriella's hands were under the table… "Oh… sweet Jesus…"

She burst out laughing.

"What? Explain," Chad said.

"Don't tell them," Gabriella said, the tiny blush again on her cheeks, "If they can't figure it out…"

"Figure what out?" Max asked, "I'll figure it out if you tell me what."

Troy and Gabriella looked at her, before they both abruptly looked away, "You're better not figuring it out," Gabriella finally said, grinning, "You're even better not doing this yourself for a goooood while."

"Well," Troy said, clearing his throat, "Do you remember the prom night, Gaby?"

"How couldn't I if I have a reminder eating ice cream right next to me?" Gabriella asked with a grin. Troy blinked, before coughing loudly and returning to eat ice cream. He needed lots of cooold ice cream if they talked about those things.

"Wait, you made her on Prom night?" Ryan asked, grinning widely.

"Yeah, well," Troy said, "I didn't mean that part of the prom night, but the time when we were actually at the prom."

"Wait what do you mean I was made on prom night?"

Troy groaned loudly, while Gabriella chuckled slightly, though the tiny blush was still on her face. Thank god for the low light in karaoke bars.

"Think, Angel," Troy said, quietly, "Cause we are not elaborating."

He was getting more flustered by the minute and every time Gabriella looked at him… Thank lord for the cold ice cream.

Luckily Gabriella changed the subject from Troy and herself to Chad and Taylor by asking what they did on the prom night. It worked.

From there they started to remember times before Gabriella left and they had fun doing that.

Finally it was pretty late and they came to a decision to wrap it up for the night.

"Troy?"

Troy, who had been finishing up putting the tablecloths back to where they belonged, turned around to see a bit nervous Gabriella behind him. It was the first time he saw her in this way since college, since during their counter party she had been funny and challenging and teasing even. Now she looked like she wanted to have the earth swallow her.

"Gaby, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she quickly said, noting that the group by the exit was looking them closely, "I just wanted to ask…"

The group waited for a good few minutes before Gabriella and Troy joined them, holding hands. They looked a bit uncomfortable as they stood in front of them.

"Julie," Troy started, "Gaby and I were wondering if you could…"

"Spend the night somewhere outside of the house?" Max asked. Since their expressions were purely shock, she took it as a yes, "I can go to Aunt Sharpay's, I think."

"Yeah, she can. We'll let the two of you talk."

"Actually," Gabriella started, but Troy stopped her. Instead he said, "If it's alright with you, Max?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Max said with a smile, "Just don't get into an argument and…" she looked at Gaby, "promise you won't go anywhere."

Gabriella's heart soared, "Oh god, I'd never leave you again. I promise."

"Good enough for me," Max said with a slight smile, "I'll be going with Aunt Sharpay and Uncle Ryan. Dad can give you a lift to the house right? You came by foot."

Gabriella nodded and Max and Ryan, alongside with Sharpay hurried away before they could reply anything else. Gabriella turned around to face Troy.

"I thought we were going to go to a restaurant to speak?" she asked. Troy shrugged,

"We can talk in my house," he offered, "It's quiet as well."

"Yes, but, well, I had a reason why I didn't offer to talk in my house," she said, rather quickly.

Troy hadn't thought of that before, so he asked, "What was the reason?"

Gabriella bit her lip and took a big step towards Troy. She put one of her hands onto his chest. Troy's breathing slowed and his hands moved to her waist while he leant forward.

Gabriella quickly stepped away, breathing just a tiny bit louder than usually, "See?" she asked, exparated, "We need to talk about Max and well, us."

Troy grinned wickedly, "And you don't think you should resist the Troy Bolton charm, while we're in a completely empty house, just the two of us…"

Gabriella scoffed at him, "Unless you're forgetting it was me who stepped away from you a moment ago."

Troy shrugged, still grinning, before his expression went serious, "Listen, Gaby, I know that lot of things have happened between you and me and keeping the emotions under control can be difficult, for both of us, but I promise to try my hardest while we talk, because I'm rather interested in both of our subjects."

The two of them walked to the car. As a gentleman Troy opened the door for Gabriella, who grinned and sat in, Troy hurrying around the car to the driver's seat. The drove towards the house, not speaking much, but their hands kept battling.

"Keep your hands on the wheel Bolton," Gabriella commanded, changing the radio station.

"You keep your hands away from the radio, Ms. Montez," Troy answered. Gabriella fell silent for just a moment, before she grinned and changed back to the radio station she liked. Just then it begun,

"We have received a call from one of our faithful listeners, who ask to perform a song live. We're happy to comply so, here you go."

"Love is everywhere you look," a woman sang, "Love is always right next to you."

Gabriella grinned and looked left from where Troy was looking right back to her. And then…

"Made you look didn't we? If you are listening this, then Bolton, you're whipped – she's taken over your car! Bolton and Montez, sitting on a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!"

"Well, that was an interesting end for that song…"

But Gabriella and Troy weren't listening. Instead they were staring at the radio.

"How did they…" They started together.

"I don't…" "Me neither."

They laughed as Troy pulled over by his house. He helped Gaby out and they walked into the house [After Troy unlocked the door of course

"Home sweet home," Troy let out as he hung up his coat and took the black raincoat from Gabriella's hands, since she hadn't worn it and hung it up there as well. He led him to the living room where he offered her a drink. She accepted it, just in case.

For a while they talked about Julie and what had been going on with her life. Then the subject changed.

"What are we going to do about us?" Troy bluntly asked. Gabriella smiled from the armchair she was sitting, while Troy was sitting on the wide sofa.

"I don't know," she replied, looking right at Troy's blue eyes. Jeez, a girl could get lost in those… she quickly shook her head and Troy smiled a bit. Gabriella continued, "I mean we can't very well go back to the way we were before those things happened, can we?"

"I don't know that," Troy answered as he moved and pulled Gabriella gently up, before they both sat onto the couch. He looked into her eyes and it took a moment before he managed to drag his eyes off again, before he asked, his voice barely hearable, "Can we?"

Gabriella shook her head, "We can't. I mean we have to see if things work out between us, before… Troy, you can't do this to me!"

Troy jerked back a bit, "Do what?"

"I thought I had my life all worked out. I had a work that I loved, my house was okay, my friends were somewhat behind me and then you just show up and I don't even care about anything else right now. You just turned everything upside down."

Gabriella was ranting badly when Troy finally stopped her. She looked up at him and she had some tears in her eyes. Troy smiled lightly, "If this is your way to tell me that you love me, then Gaby, I love you too."

Gabriella opened her mouth, but Troy stopped her,

"Yeah, I know that we can't just be who we were. When I met you I was the basketball guy, but I wanted to be just a guy. You gave me that. But you also made me to be other things – you made me be a freaky-callback-guy, you made me be a singing guy, you made me a dad."

"Though I'm not hoping that you'd marry me right now or anything, I'd want to make sure you were close. I want to have you close and even if we can't get as close as I'd want, just for the simple reason that getting together too soon and finding out that we don't match anymore and then break up would hurt Julie, I still want you, Gaby. I want you."

Gabriella was pretty much crying again. Still she gently looked up at him and said, "Troy, you've always had me. Ever since that Teen Party."

Troy smiled slightly and brought his lips down to meet hers. As they pulled away, Troy asked, "So Gaby, would you be my girlfriend?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Gabriella answered, laughing as Troy sat down onto the couch again and pulled her down with him. He fell flat on his back with Gabriella on top of him. They laughed a bit until Gabriella rolled onto his side, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"How are we going to Max?" she asked.

"I'd say, something like this…"

When Max was driven home by Sharpay the next day, the first thing they noticed was that Gabriella's shoes and coat were still there. Sharpay got a calculating look on her face so when Max started to open the doors to the living room, she stopped her. She quietly opened the door and peeked in to see Gabriella and Troy on the couch. Clothed, thank goodness.

They were both sleeping on their sides, very much pressed together though the couch was rather wide and there was room. One of Troy's hands was under the pillow they shared and the second one was on Gabriella's bare stomach. No it wasn't bare, because she wasn't wearing anything! It was bare because her shirt had ridden up a bit, thus revealing a bit of her stomach.

Gabriella's hand was also under the pillow. Her second hand was resting on Troy's hand and her neck was tilted a bit.

Max and Sharpay both grinned a bit and made their way to the kitchen, practically tip-toeing.

Troy woke about half an hour later and the first thing he noticed was the woman in front of him. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as he thanked god for her actually being there, in his arms. He didn't know what he did to deserve this second chance, but whatever it was, somebody tell him and he'll do it one hundred more times, just to show how grateful he was.

Smiling, he gently moved Gabriella's hair onto the side and kissed her ear. She wiggled her head a bit, but other than that didn't wake. He gently kissed his way down her neck, making her moan slightly.

"What time is it?" she asked, really quietly as Troy looked at her.

"11am," he answered, smiling. Gabriella smiled back sleepily before asking, "Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hall, first door to the left," Troy answered and as she left, he though, that his love from his past had returned to him in the present and now all he could do was to hang on tight. It happened rarely that fate gave someone a second chance and here was his. It had come from the past, it was here in the present and he just hoped it'll be there in the future – His one and only true love.

THE END…

…Or is it? Who knows, I might want to continue someday, just not right now.

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A/N – So what did you think? Is this good enough? Please Review, because if I get lots of reviews, I know I'm appreciated and you like the way I write. It'll encourage me to write more! Other than that, I got and idea yesterday – Have you seen parent trap? Would you like to see a fanfic about Troyella based on that? Twins Vanessa and Valerie – parents Troy and Gabriella – life is chaotic!