AN: Okay, I really should stop saying this, but this chapter is highly uneventful. I'll refrain from saying 'boring' but in this chapter, it really IS uneventful. One interesting thing happens, and everything else is kinda pointless. Good news, though, is that it's long! Although, depending on how you look at it, that could be bad news. It's long, but nother happens, so it's like 8 pages of 'near pointless'. But I'll just stop typing now.
Okay, so I lied before. Chapter 12 is my absolute favorite chapter. And I love the epilogue too. Those two are tied and chapter 9 comes in third. But anyway, look forward to those.
Again: Please check out the HSM Fanfiction Idol forum. We really need people to sign up. :-) You KNOW it'll be fun! And come on, I'm a judge. Isn't that reason enough? ;-)
Title: With You
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: Troy is married with a small daughter. Gabriella is married and pregnant. They didn't keep in touch after school following a nasty break-up, but everyone knows that true love never dies.
Genre: Drama/Romance
Chapter: Chapter 11
Gabriella loved everything about the Danforth house; the smell of baby powder and burst toast, the loud and carefree atmosphere of young children constantly at play. Every time Gabriella went there she felt like she was at home. She wasn't sure why, but Taylor's house always seemed much more welcoming than anywhere else she'd ever lived.
Jessie and Kyle were two of the most adorable boys she'd ever seen, even if they were a bit out of control. Both of them looked exactly like their father; dark skin, dark eyes, wild, curly hair – although Kyle's wasn't as big as Jessie's or Chad's yet, seeing as he was only four months old. The only similarity they had of Taylor's was maybe their noses or chins; for the most part, they were miniature Chad's, in both looks and personality. On Gabriella's first day with them, Taylor complained about how much she wanted a daughter.
During Gabriella's second week with the Danforth's, Taylor took her out for lunch so they could catch up, leaving Chad to take care of Jessie, Kyle, and Jackson. Throughout the entire meal, Taylor kept trying to get Gabriella to tell her what was wrong, but Gabriella was adamant about keeping silent. Taylor finally gave up and the rest of the meal was enjoyable, what with Taylor entertaining Gabriella with stories of the type of things her two boys got into.
When they returned to their house, however, they found it smelling of dirty diapers and burnt milk (not as good a smell as burnt toast), and Chad was running after Jessie in the living room. Jessie was laughing happily but Chad looked beside himself. "Jessie, please, please come back-"
"Chad? What's going on?" Taylor nearly yelled over the sound of Kyle and Jackson crying loudly in their respective rooms.
Chad caught sight of them and his face turned to that of anger. He stood in front of them, hands on his hips, a half empty bottle in one hand and a pajama shirt dangling from the other, and scolded them, "Where were you?"
"We were at lunch," Gabriella informed him. "I think we told you that..."
"You guys were gone for an hour and a half!" he snapped. "Do you know how hard it is to take care of three screaming boys?!"
Taylor crossed her arms. "No, tell me, Chad. After all, I don't watch them every day when you're at work."
Chad gaped at her for a moment before stuttering, "W-well... you only watch... two."
Gabriella giggled.
Chad blinked a couple times before firing up again. "Anyway, you should know not to let me watch them for too long! I'm a guy, I don't know how to do this kind of stuff!"
"Well, the point of an all-girl's outing is so we can get away from the kids for about an hour and have time for ourselves," Taylor informed him.
"Okay, yeah, so how about you go take a girl's day out and your children will get taken away by social services. That sound good to you?" mocked Chad.
Taylor rolled her eyes. She removed the pajamas from Chad's hand and hit him with it. "You go get Kyle. I'll catch Jessie."
"Thank you!" sighed Chad. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the mouth, causing Gabriella to laugh again.
As she was walking away from them, she heard Taylor slap Chad again and say, "Chad! Stop, we have work to do!"
Gabriella entered her room to find it smelling horribly from Jackson's dirty diaper. She quickly changed him and lay him on his back on her bed to play with him, but before she could, a huge wave of nausea hit her.
She stumbled slightly, holding her head as everything started to spin. She picked up Jackson and placed him safely inside of his crib. Just in time, too – at that moment she felt bile rising up in her throat and ran into her adjoining bathroom, lifting up the seat of the toilet as she threw up.
Cold sweat had gathered on her forehead when she was done, and she flushed the toilet, sitting on the closed seat shakily. She was pale and clammy all of a sudden, and her hands were shaking. She walked towards the sink, her legs feeling like blocks of lead, and stood before the large mirror. Her face was as white as a ghost and her brown eyes looked somewhat lighter and sunken. She pulled her hair back, away from her sweaty neck.
"The food must've not agreed with me," she told herself groggily. She stumbled into the bedroom and quickly changed into a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt, suddenly feeling very cold despite the late August heat. She slipped under the covers of her bed and lay there, shivering slightly.
She fell asleep for a few minutes, only to be awoken by Jackson's cries. Gabriella groaned, but threw the covers off her body nonetheless. She stood up, knowing that Jackson probably needed to be fed, but before she could reach him her head started to spin again.
"Oh, no..." she groaned, and before the knew it, she was hunched over the toilet, puking her guts out once again.
"Taylor!" cried Gabriella weakly from her position in the bathroom. "Taylor..." she trailed off as more bile reached her mouth.
When she was done five minutes later, Jackson was screaming. Gabriella flushed the toilet once again and stepped into her bedroom, jumping at the sight of Chad standing there with the shrieking Jackson in his hands.
"Oh, I can do that," Gabriella slurred, her head pounding.
"No, you're sick," said Chad, concerned.
"It's just food poisoning," protested Gabriella.
"Nevertheless," Chad stated. "You should rest. Don't worry, we can take care of Jackson for you."
"But he's hungry..."
"We have formula."
Gabriella sighed. "Okay. If you're sure."
"Of course I'm sure. Go on to bed," Chad winked.
She didn't need telling twice; Gabriella climbed into her bed and gathered herself under the covers, curling into the fetal position to try and keep warm. She shivered anyway, her teeth chattering loudly, as she tried to fall asleep.
I wish Troy were here... she found herself thinking as she finally fell into unconsciousness.
Gabriella woke up an hour later to her stomach churning and threw up for a third time. Thoroughly disgusted at her sickness, she spat into the toilet before flushing, and this time brushed her teeth to rid herself of the gross taste in her mouth before climbing back into bed.
She spent the rest of the day sleeping and throwing up on-and-off, waking up at random hours of the day from nausea and passing out when it passed. It was the longest day she'd ever suffered through, and when she woke up at seven the next morning, feeling good as new, she was elated.
She dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and wandered into the kitchen, where she was Chad passed out on the couch, an empty bottle in one hand and a happy Jackson in his arms.
"Hey buddy," cooed Gabriella, lifting him from Chad's grasp. "I missed you yesterday. Sorry I got so sick, honey!"
Chad started, his eyes flying open from the movement of Jackson leaving his arms. "What you want!?" he yelled, before his eyes focused in on the laughing Gabriella. "Oh. Gabriella. It's just you."
She giggled. "Just me."
Chad stood up and dusting off his pants, setting the bottle on the coffee table. "Feeling better, I see?"
"Yup. I feel one hundred perfect better," she announced.
"That's great." Chad grinned before yawning. "Well," he stated. "I think I'm gonna go get some sleep before Taylor wakes me up."
"Okay, bye," said Gabriella, jiggling Jackson in her arms.
After Chad left the room, the house was eerily quiet. Gabriella cleared her throat loudly and glanced down at Jackson, who was chewing on his fingers whilst staring at the blank television. Gabriella sighed and said, "This is fun." Her words echoed throughout the house and she wished someone would wake up. When nothing happened she sighed again and walked back to her room.
"Okay, now where were we yesterday?" she asked Jackson. "Oh, yeah." She lay Jackson on her bed, lifted up his shirt, and blew a loud raspberry on his stomach. Jackson giggled happily and Gabriella gasped. "Jackson, you laughed!" she cried gleefully. "Oh you're so cute!" she cooed, pinching his cheeks gently. She tickled him under the arms and he giggled again.
She leaned over and picked up her cell phone to take a picture, but when she opened she saw You have 31 missed calls and 12 voice messages flashing at her. She bit her lip guiltily and saw that every single one of them was from Troy. She debated with herself for a long time on whether or not she should listen to the messages or call Troy back. No, I came here for a reason, she told herself firmly, and shut off her phone, closing it with a snap.
The snap startled Jackson, causing him to jump, and slowly his face screwed up and he started to cry.
"Oh, no, Jackson, don't cry!" said Gabriella quickly, picking him up and jiggling him in her arms. "Shh, sh, it's okay." When he didn't stop, she rolled her eyes and said quietly, "Maybe they'll wake up now."
After letting Jackson cry loudly for a few minutes, long enough to wake up Taylor, Gabriella put him over her shoulder and started to pat his back, the only thing that would ever calm him down. She wondered briefly how often Troy did this when she lived with him and how it had affected Jackson.
A few moments later, as Gabriella predicted, Taylor was awake and had come to pay her a visit. "Hey," she said, leaning against the door frame. "Feeling better?"
"Much!" said Gabriella happily. "I feel as if I was never sick. Hey!" she said suddenly. "Let's go for a walk today!"
"Why?" inquired Taylor.
Gabriella shrugged. "Why not? It's nice out and I wanna get out of the house – no offence," she added quickly. "But I love going outside. Whaddya say?"
Taylor shrugged. "Okay." She cracked a smile. "But this time, let's actually take the kids with us, okay?"
The former giggled. "Deal."
Gabriella brought Jackson into the family room with her and sprawled Jackson out on a blanket with some toys to occupy himself while Taylor got some cereal from the cupboards. "What do you want?"
"I'll have Cheerio's," she said, surprising even herself. Her mind instantly went to Lauren and Gabriella realized how much she missed her, but she shook the thought from her mind.
"Watching your cholesterol, are we?" Taylor joked.
"Oh, you know it," said Gabriella seriously.
Taylor poured her some cereal, milk, and orange juice, and Gabriella was just about to take a bite when Taylor said, "Um, Gabriella, didn't you put Jackson on his back?"
"Yeah, why?" asked Gabriella, her spoon halfway to her mouth.
Taylor slowly smiled and pointed. Gabriella turned around and saw Jackson laying on his stomach.
"Oh, my God!" she yelled excitedly, dropping her spoon back into the bowl, causing milk and bits of cereal to fly everywhere. She took no notice.. "He rolled over! He rolled over, right!?" she said to Taylor.
Laughing, Taylor responded, "Yeah, I think so."
Gabriella screamed excitedly and bustled over to Jackson, gently turning him back onto his back. "Do it again, Jackson. Please? For Mommy?"
Jackson smiled and sat there, looking at her.
"Go on, get the toy!" Gabriella pointed but Jackson didn't move. Gabriella frowned and looked up at her friend. "Taylor-"
"Look!" pointed Taylor and Gabriella looked back at Jackson. Jackson was on his side, his back turned to Gabriella, and was reaching for a set of red and black plastic keys that he liked to chew on. For a few seconds he was balanced on his arm before toppling over onto his stomach. He wasn't strong enough to prop himself up on his elbows, but he was able to lift up his head and grab the keys, sucking on them in his mouth.
"Taylor, he rolled over!" cried Gabriella ecstatically. "He rolled over!" She picked up Jackson and turned him over, so that he was facing her. "You are such a big boy!" she said to him in her baby-voice. All he did was giggle and drool dripped from his mouth. "Ech," said Gabriella. "Okay, you can go play again." She put him back down on his back, where he lay contentedly, happily chewing on his keys.
Taylor laughed at Gabriella's excited display but was interrupted by the ringing phone. As Gabriella sat back down to eat, Taylor answered it, still laughing slightly. "Hello?" There was a pause and Taylor said slowly, "Oh... hi, Troy."
Gabriella looked up in horror and dropped her spoon again, with a clatter that was loud enough to wake up the whole house. She glanced at Jackson quickly, but he didn't cry. She turned back to Taylor and mouthed, "NO."
"Gabriella?" said Taylor, staring at said woman. "Um, no, I haven't talked to her in a few weeks... why?"
"What's going on?" came Chad's voice in the hallway. A few seconds later he appeared in the family room, looking exhausted.
"Sh!" said Gabriella frantically and Chad raised an eyebrow.
"Here? Um, no, she's not here. Why would she be here?" said Taylor unconvincingly. Gabriella rolled her eyes as Taylor continued, "I'm sure she's fine, Troy. She probably just went to... get away," she finished lamely and Chad eyed them both suspiciously. "Yes, if I hear from her I'll call you. Okay, bye."
As soon as Taylor hung up the phone, Gabriella groaned. "Could you have been any more obvious?"
Taylor held up her hands in self-defense. "Hey, this isn't my problem. You told me to lie and I did. Against my better judgement, might I add."
Gabriella sighed. "Yeah, okay." She took another bite of her food and chewed thoughtfully. After swallowing she said brightly, "When do you wanna go on that walk?"
"What walk?" asked Chad.
"Taylor and I are gonna take the kids on a walk," explained Gabriella happily. "Wanna come?"
"Um, you know, I think I'm gonna stay here," he answered. "Jessie was up all night because of Jackson and Kyle so he'll be really tired. I'll stay with him."
Gabriella shrugged. "That's fine."
"I'll go feed Kyle and then we'll go, okay?" said Taylor and Gabriella nodded in agreement.
Ten minutes later, after everyone had been fed, burped, and changed, Taylor and Gabriella left, each pushing a stroller with their respective son. Chad waved them a cheerful good-bye, and when he was sure they were gone, he went back into the family room and searched their phone for past calls.
When he found Troy's number, he pressed call and waited. He didn't have to wait long, however, for Troy to answer – he heard Troy's voice say, "Hello? Gabriella?" after the first ring.
"No, man, it's Chad."
"Oh," said Troy, downtrodden. "Well, I mean – it's nice to hear from you, but I just-"
"You're looking for Gabriella?" tried Chad.
Troy sighed. "Yeah." There was a pause before he said, "Was Taylor... lying to me?"
"Uh... yeah," said Chad. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let her, but Gabriella really doesn't want you to know where she is for some reason."
"Oh," Troy repeated sadly.
There was a long silence before Chad asked cautiously, "Do you know why she left?"
"Yeah... I-I think so," said Troy slowly.
"Why?" asked Chad. "She won't tell us anything-"
"I think," said Troy, "that if she doesn't want you to know, I shouldn't tell you. Besides, if she's unsure of what to do, telling people wouldn't be the best thing for me to do right now."
Chad nodded. "Well, then what are you gonna do? Come down here and get her?"
Troy laughed lightly. "No, that probably would be the second worst thing for me to do. She's hard a hard few months and I should just give her her space for now. She'll come back when she's ready... I hope," he added, his voice filled with such despair that Chad felt uncomfortable. He cleared his throat nervously and was about to say good-bye, when Troy said, "So how is she? And Jackson? What have they been up to?"
"They're good," said Chad. "Gabriella was sick all day yesterday – she and Taylor went out to lunch and I think she got food poisoning. She was throwing up and everything."
"Is she okay?" asked Troy, concerned.
"Oh, yeah, she's fine," said Chad quickly. "Yeah, don't even worry about. She and Taylor are on a walk with the boys right now. Oh," said Chad, suddenly remembering. "And I woke up this morning to Gabriella screaming with happiness because Jackson rolled over."
"He rolled over?" Troy breathed. "Already?"
"Yeah," said Chad, interested in this fatherly tone Troy was talking in.
"Wow..." Troy trailed off.
Chad cleared his throat again and said, "Well, I, uh, better get going. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Yeah. And if anything... bad happens... will you please call me?"
"Of course, man!" said Chad. "I'll see you later."
"Bye," said Troy miserably, and Chad hung up.
Chad yawned and turned Jessie's baby monitor on before laying down on the couch, curled up, ready to take a nice needed nap, when the front door burst open. He sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes and mumbling about never getting a break. He stood up in time for Gabriella to run past him, hand over mouth, to her bathroom. Taylor ran after her, crying, "Gabriella! Are you okay?" She stopped briefly to tell Chad to take the boys out of their strollers before tearing after Gabriella again.
Taylor found Gabriella hunched over her toilet, throwing up yet again. Taylor helped hold her hair back as Gabriella puked. When she was finally done, and felt like the had emptied all of her internal organs into the toilet as well, Gabriella flushed the toilet and closed it, sitting on top of it. She was shaking again.
"I don't know why I keep throwing up," she said with her eyes closed. "I feel awful and disgusting." She sighed. "Does food poisoning usually last this long?"
Taylor shrugged. She went Gabriella's toothbrush and squeezed some toothpaste on it for her, holding it out to her friend. "Here."
Gabriella smiled thankfully, brushing her teeth and tongue furiously. Once she had spat it out and gurgled some water, she turned to Taylor and said, "Now I feel perfectly fine. I feel like I could go outside and jump around and I wouldn't get sick."
"Well, don't, because you probably will," said Taylor firmly. She pushed Gabriella onto her bed and dug through her drawers, tossing her a pair of pajamas pants and a tank top. "Wear that, just to stay comfortable. I think you should stay inside, or at least near a toilet or bucket, until you're sure whatever you have has passed."
Gabriella nodded. "Thanks Taylor. You're the best." She grinned.
"I know," laughed Taylor.