Disclaimer: Sadly nothing has changed on owning HSM yet

Disclaimer: Sadly nothing has changed on owning HSM yet. Do you think Kenny and Disney Inc. can be bribed?

Author's Note: First off, so sorry for the huge wait. I hate it when authors take really long to update, and I started getting frustrated with myself for making you wait that long. Real life has just been completely hectic for me lately and I'm struggling to make time to sleep, let alone everything else.

Secondly, I don't know if any of you guys have picked up on this, but this story has had a lot more conversation than in my other fics? At first it was one of my intentions to work more on the conversation, since that is what I find most difficult about writing, but in the process I've somehow lost all the feelings/thoughts/descriptive bits I usually have. So that's also part of the reason why it took so long, I've been trying to get that back a little bit, and it proved to be more difficult that I thought.

Finally, thank you all for the awesome reviews. Truthfully, I can't see whatever awesomeness you see in my writing, but hey, I'll go with it. Hehe. You guys rock!

Anyway.. back to the story. LOL. Hopefully it goes well…

".. Okay, remember if it gets any worse, come back and see me," she said kindly as she led a mother and her son out of her office and into the hallway. Turning around she closed her door, walked back to her chair, and plopped down, leaning the back of her head against her chair as she let out a deep sigh. Gazing around her office, her eyes caught a glimpse of a picture of Noah and herself, as she wondered what had become of those two deliriously happy people from the photo.

Once again the events of last night came tumbling back into her mind. Gabriella didn't know what was going on with herself anymore; the night had started out so well. He had cooked for her. Something he hadn't done in months, and add to that, cooking one of the first meals they had shared together, surely that should have counted for something? And even though he had done that, even before the practice in Albuquerque had even been mentioned, she knew she had been resistant. He had been sweet and perfect, and at the time, she couldn't bring herself to be happy about his obvious attempts. He was trying, really trying, she knew that, but deep inside she couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy of his actions. Of course he had been trying, but not once in the last four months had he ever cooked for her, what made this trip any different? This triggered off thoughts of suspicion, which only served to make her feel even worse. She shouldn't be questioning her husband's actions, particularly if she had no grounds to do so; he was being nice, yeah, nice, that was it.

She was content with those final thoughts for a moment, until a tiny sliver of doubt crept back into her mind. What if something had happened on the trip? He did seem awfully happy… No, he'd just won his case; of course he'd be happy… Right… But he cooked for me; he hasn't done that since before it all happened. What if this is his way to throw me off his track? … No, he wouldn't. Not again. No… Just no. End of discussion.

She shook her head, and tried to push all thoughts about last night and Noah out of her mind. It was this sort of thinking last night that had lead to her being completely exhausted today. She had spent hours trying to fall asleep once Noah had left the room the night before. Her mind too busy overanalyzing every single little detail of their life together, to let her fall asleep. And when she finally had fallen asleep, Noah had accidentally woken her up whilst trying to get to bed, which only made it even harder for her to fall back asleep, knowing he was right there beside her. Normally, Noah sleeping beside her didn't affect her so much, but, every now and then, when she was having a day like yesterday; when Taylor or any of her other friends would bring up her situation with Noah and all her pain came to the surface, having to sleep a few inches away from him, really wasn't what she needed.

Closing her eyes, she tried to savor the silence as she attempted to get a little shut eye before lunch.

Unfortunately for her the silence didn't last too long as Troy came bounding into her office, whistling to some unknown tune as he went over to her now full candy jar. She groaned at the disturbance, knowing that it was Troy, coming in early, before she even opened her eyes. Not even bothering to greet him, she repositioned herself so that her head was now resting in her arms, as she leant against her desk.

"Ooh, someone's not in a good mood," Troy said, his voice sounding far too cheerful for her liking, as he helped himself to her candy jar.

Knowing her current appearance spoke for itself, she remained silent, still desperately trying to get some much needed rest, as she distantly heard Troy move towards her couch, presumably with the candy jar still in his hands, before falling into a peaceful slumber.

Troy sat comfortably in the corner, a small smile playing on his face as he watched Gabriella doze off, taking note of how childlike and adorable she looked. Not having the heart to wake her, he picked up a magazine and quietly flicked through it, and began to snack on a few pieces of the green gummi bears she had specifically added in the jar just for him, whilst he waited.

Two magazines, countless green gummi bears, and half an hour later, Troy was completely bored. There was only so long a guy could read about Britney Spears' latest mental breakdown, without possibly having a mental breakdown of his own. Looking down at his watch, he realized it was definitely time for some real food. Taking a glance over at Gabriella, a broad grin came over his face, and the only word that came to mind to describe her, would have been "Aw." Knowing that if he didn't get some real food in his stomach now it was very possible his stomach would start to eat itself, and that Gabriella really needed some rest, he decided it might be best to head down and grab some food for them before attempting to wake her up.

...

...

...

Placing the food down on the small coffee table in the corner, Troy quietly crept around Gabriella's desk. "Gabi?" he said in a sing song voice, and waited for a response, "Gabriella," still no response. "Gabriella, come on, it's food time," again nothing. "Gabi," he tired again, only this time poked her gently in the cheek. Gabriella stirred slightly, and mumbled something incoherent before drifting back off to sleep. Troy had to bite the inside of his mouth to stop from laughing. She was just far too cute. Knowing it would take forever if he proceeded to wake her this way, he took drastic measure. Carefully, he maneuvered around her chair so that he could place both hands on either side of her waist, and then quickly poked her in the side.

A loud shriek could be heard as Gabriella instantly sat up, now completely awake, as she rubbed her hands over her sides. Looking around her room she turned around to find Troy hunched over by the window laughing in utter amusement. She pouted and glared at him before huffing and sitting back down at her desk and closing her eyes again.

Once his laughter had died down, Troy spoke, his voice giving away his amusement, "Aw, Gabi, come on! Up up! It's food time!" she grumbled back something that sounded like she wanted to stuff him with gummi bears, which only caused Troy to laugh again. "Seriously, it's actual food, instead of that stuff we usually eat. I went to that place down the street you love so much and got you some, but hey, if you don't want to eat it, I'll be more than happy to," he said with a smile on his face, knowing that she would definitely get up now.

Slowly she lifted her head, and looked up at him skeptically, "That little place with the cute display in the window?" she asked as she watched him walk around the room.

"Yup," he said simply, "I even got you your favorite," he added as he lifted up the bag and dangled it around temptingly.

Suddenly now full of energy she sprung up and bounded over to him, grinning widely at him, "You're the best friend ever," she said giving him a quick hug around his waist and making a grab for the bag, only to have him pull it out of her reach at the last second.

"Uh uh uh, not so fast," he said, holding out his hand to stop her. She pouted. "One condition," he paused, watching as her eyebrow rose, "You have to tell me what happened last night with Noah."

"How'd you know something happen?" she said as she sat down on her couch crossing her legs, like a child would, signaling to him that she'd accept his condition.

Sitting down as well, he began to unpack the contents of the bag. "Well besides the fact that you just told me?" he said grinning at her cheekily. "No, really, I'm one of your best friend's; it's my job to know these things," he said watching Gabriella already digging into her lunch. "That and you only ever sleep in your office when you've had a really bad night, and a lot of your really bad nights tend to revolve around Noah," he added, before looking down at his own lunch to avoid her gaze, and shrugged as if knowing that detail about her behavior was common sense.

She looked up from her lunch and smiled at him, somewhat amused at the fact she he had taken note of her sleeping tendencies. She relished in the fact that she hadn't needed to tell him that something was wrong, he just knew. Of course she shouldn't have been at all surprised. Troy had always been able to read her like a book, and she loved the fact that he could.

She took another bite out of her sandwich, "Mmmm, damn this stuff tastes so good," she said, savoring the taste in her mouth.

He nodded, and took a few bites of his own lunch, he waiting until Gabriella was ready to explain. After a while of only being able to hear the quiet chewing from both of them as they devoured their lunches, Troy spoke up, "So?" he questioned.

Gabriella put down what was left of her lunch, closed her eyes and let out a lengthy breath. "That bad?" She nodded. "I take it he didn't think too highly of the practice being in Albuquerque?"

"Well," she began, "the fact that the practice was in Albuquerque wasn't really what we discussed." Troy raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, and silently urged her to continue. "We didn't actually talk about that much… more so who I had told about it first, or rather… not first."

"Ah," Troy said now understanding, "So the bad night was because he blew up over the fact that you didn't tell him first, and told Taylor and I before him?"

She nodded. "He literally just snapped. We're sitting down having dinner that he cooked for us, I tell him about the job and he was really happy for me. It got a little awkward once I mentioned that it would be in Albuquerque, then once I mentioned that I'd already spoken to you and Tay about it, he just blew up!" she said. "I just went up to bed straight after that. Then later, he comes up and he's apologizing to me about it all." Closing her eyes, she brought one hand up to her eyes, closed them and started to slowly massage her temples.

"I have no idea what is going on anymore," she said in a slow, low voice. "Every time I think I'm actually moving towards getting past it all, something happens that sends me spiraling back down to the starting box, and then I get all these thoughts that I want so desperately to shake, but they just keep coming back."

Troy leaned over and placed a comforting hand on her knee, not knowing what to say. He hated this. This was the part where he sucked it up and put all his feelings for her aside, and tried to act like he was just a friend. Every time it got harder and harder to do, because the longer she went on with this, the more he pained for her and desperately wanted to tell her that she didn't need all of this. That she didn't need Noah. That she was better than this. But he stopped himself from doing so every time; she didn't need another person telling her what to do at this point. She just needed someone to be there.

"Gabi, come here," he said comfortingly, as he opened his arms out to her. Opening her eyes she looked up, and moved over towards him, and eased herself into his open arms.

He shifted slightly, rearranging himself so that Gabriella would be more comfortable in his arms, so much so that she was practically sitting on his lap, but Gabriella either notice or wasn't bothered by it, so he didn't mention it either. Slowly he rubbed soothing circles on her upper back, attempting to convey to her that he was there. They stayed like that for a while; Gabriella's head resting on Troy's shoulder, her eyes closed as she let Troy's strong arms encircle her, as he continued to rub her back.

"You know," he said quietly, hoping that she hadn't fallen asleep on him, "we should go out tomorrow night, you, me, Taylor. We'll have dinner, go to that nightclub Taylor likes so much, I'll let you pick out a girl or two for me and Taylor can mock them." She giggled softly. "Just have a night off to forget everything and have some fun. What do you say?"

"Sounds great."

...

...

...

Loud music thumped, and people around them danced as Troy and Gabriella sat at one of the quieter tables around the club. "Ooh, okay, what about that girl over in the left corner? With the long blonde hair and the green top?" she asked as she continued to scan the loud club for more potential dates for Troy.

He glanced over his shoulder and searched for the blonde. "Which one? The only one I can see matching that description would be the one now against the wall making out with that guy."

She turned around and took another look, scrunching up her nose at what she saw, "Oh ew, I did not need to see that. Sorry, she wasn't doing that a moment ago."

"Well she sure works fast," he said chuckling, as Gabriella started to giggle. "Actually, on second thought, maybe I should go over there anyway, she seems like she'd be a bit of fun," he said in mock seriousness as he started to stand up.

Gabriella grabbed his arm before he could go any further and pulled him back down, "Oh no you don't. We're looking for someone for you to date; random hook ups don't really fit the job requirements."

He pouted playfully, "You always ruin my fun." She simply laughed at him and sipped her drink. "When did Taylor say she'd be here? She already missed dinner. How much longer could it possibly take?" he questioned, looking down at his watch.

"Hm, she should have been here by now," she said glancing around the room in hopes that Taylor was already here, dancing with some guy and they just hadn't seen her yet. "Nope, I don't think she's here yet, maybe we sho-" she was interrupted by the sound of her phone vibrating on the table, she looked down at the screen, "And what do you know?" she said flashing Troy a smile and showed him her phone before she answered it.

"Taylor! Are you still at work?" she yelled into her phone, trying to block out the music around her by holding her hand to her ear.

"Yeah, I am, sorry. But Gabi I've got to tell you something," Taylor said over the phone, her voice filled with regret.

Gabriella couldn't hear a word of what Taylor said over the music around her, "What was that Tay? I can't hear you?" she yelled back again.

On the other end of the phone, Taylor sighed as she sat in her office, taking a quick glance at her closed door. "I said I've got something to tell you!" she yelled back.

"Okay, still can't hear you, hold on," Gabriella said, then covered her phone and spoke to Troy, "I can't hear a word she's saying, I'm going to see if I can't hear her better over there," she said as she indicated to the corner by the pay phone. Troy nodded, and watched as she walked over there. "Ah, okay, let's try this again. Where are you Tay? Troy and I have been waiting for ages! You missed out on seeing Troy get hit on by a guy," she said laughing.

"Oh, really? Damn, I would have loved to see that," Taylor said laughing, but then stopped abruptly when she remembered the reason for her call. "Gabs, I've got to tell you something," she said seriously.

"You're not going to be making it tonight, are you?" she questioned, "Taylor you work far too hard! You need a break. Seriously, you work more than I do!"

"No, it's not that. I, er, saw something whilst walking through the office on my way out tonight," Taylor said, her voice sounding hesitant. She was not expecting for this phone call to go well, and the fact that Gabriella seemed to be in a happy mood wasn't helping at all. This was going to hurt.

"Okay, what?" Gabriella asked cluelessly, "Was your secretary trying to seduce one of the partners again?" she joked.

Taylor closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, "It was Noah," she said simply, hoping that Gabriella might notice the tone in her voice.

On the other end of the line, Gabriella paled and the smile that was radiating from her face slowly started disappearing with every passing second. Her mind was racing as the doubt from the past few days began to creep back into her mind. There were so many different ways that she could have interpreted what Taylor had just said, and for the moment she was forcing herself not to jump to any conclusions, at least not yet. "Well of course you'd see him there Taylor. He does work there," she joked uneasily, hoping the background noise from the nightclub would drown out her slight cracking of her voice and that Taylor wouldn't hear it.

But Taylor did hear the change in her voice. She hated to be the one to say this to her, but Gabriella needed to know. "Gabi," she said her voice full of sorrow. She paused, wracking her brain for words that could possibly make saying this hurt a little less.

She needed to know. She needed to put an end to all these doubts once and for all. "Just say it Taylor. Tell me," Gabriella said firmly, hoping that this time her voice would not betray her.

Taylor sighed. "I was getting all packed up and ready to go and I figured I was the last one there, so I went and did a quick sweep of the floor. When I got to Noah's office, I saw that the light was still on, and I thought I'd pop in and ask him to lock up when he was done. But as I got closer to his office, I heard voices," she paused for a moment, and breathed in, "Gabi, Noah wasn't alone… He was with Theresa."

Gabriella stopped moving and remained motionless as the loud music around her began to fade, and the throngs of people dancing in the busy nightclub began to blur into a mass colors until everything around her seemed to disappear completely, leaving her standing alone. Theresa. Noah's former business partner. The one he had slept with. The one who had started this whole thing to begin with. Gabriella took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her mind going into overdrive as she tried to process this new piece of information. There was no way she couldn't not jump to conclusions now, not when that woman was involved. Giving in she let her mind get carried away by the endless possibilities.

Theresa.

He was there with Theresa.

What in the world did that mean? Did she just come back? Or had they had been secretly seeing each other all this time? The possibility of it struck a nerve, and a flicker of anger sparked inside of Gabriella. What if he had been lying when he said she left? What if he really had been secretly seeing Theresa behind her back this whole time? This whole damn time? After all the pain, and all the tears that he had caused her, he could have possibly been with her the entire time? This whole fucking time? That was it. If Gabriella found out that he had been lying to her this whole time; that would be it. There would be no second chances. None of this forgive and forget. Not this time. No, that would be it for her. Not that she had even forgiven him for the previous incident yet.

She took in a deep breath trying to calm herself the best she could. She hadn't even heard the full story and she was already second guessing Noah. That was definitely not a good sign. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, the realization of what this meant for her and Noah finally hitting her hard.

"Taylor," she said, her voice sounding strong and emotionless given what she had just heard, "what did you see?"

Taylor took a deep breath and prepared for the worst. "Theresa was pressed up against the desk, and Noah was standing in between her legs with his arms circled around her waist," she said in a sad, hushed voice. "I couldn't tell if they were actually… kissing or not, from where I was," she paused for a moment, letting it all sink in a little, "but Gabriella, it definitely didn't look like it was just something friendly," she added quietly.

Gabriella took in another deep breath, and blinded several times in an attempt to push back the tears she could feel beginning to form. There it was. Even if Taylor hadn't been sure if anything had actually happened, the position they were in wasn't exactly screaming an innocent conversation in her eyes.

"Gabi," Taylor said tentatively, "I know I was giving you a hard time about it the other day, but you know I wouldn't say something like this if it weren't true right? I would never purposely hurt you to prove myself right."

Gabriella gave a small nod, but then realized Taylor couldn't see her, and she was in part glad that Taylor hadn't decided to tell this to her face to face, she didn't think she'd be able to handle it right now. "I know Tay," she mumbled back quietly, "I trust you. If you say that's what you saw… then, I guess that's it," she said sadly.

It was true; she did trust Taylor's word, but inside a small part of her still wanted Taylor to be wrong. She wanted to believe that she hadn't just wasted the past four months sitting through all the pain for it to just fall apart regardless. That she hadn't wasted all these years with Noah just for nothing. And maybe, a part of her, the stubborn part, had wanted to prove everyone wrong. Prove to them that some couples do survive these sorts of things and that in the end it would be all worth it. The larger part of her knew that this was it for her. She had immediately thought the worst in Noah tonight, and if she continued on with it, she knew that she'd be forever wondering and questioning his actions, and that was no way for a marriage to operate. She shouldn't have to worry about what he was doing every second, or if he was lying to her when he returned back from a business trip. Tonight confirmed it for her, there was no point in denying it any longer, it was time to face the facts and accept the inevitable.

She and Noah just weren't going to work out.

A huge wave of sadness overcame her, and once again she had to fight back the tears.

"Gabi, talk to me, please," Taylor said finally after all the silence. She was worried about Gabriella, she had a tendency to bottle up emotions and try to work them out on her own without giving anyone else a chance to help and comfort her, and normally Taylor would let her do just that, but something this big was definitely going to take its toll.

Gabriella gave a small faint smile, "Taylor, its okay," she said, trying to sound reassuring, but was failing miserably. "I just need a little time to think through this all."

"You're sure?" Taylor responded skeptically. There was no possible way she believed Gabriella was fine, and not physically being with her right now to comfort her friend was killing her.

"Yes, Tay, I'm sure," she tried again, "And before you say anything, I know I can call you for anything, and I'm grateful for that, really, but I need to work this out for myself first."

Taylor gave up knowing that if Gabriella needed her, she would ask for it. "Okay, fine. But call me anytime okay? I'm here for you sweetie."

"I know, thanks Tay."

After saying their goodbyes Gabriella remained leaned up against the wall, trying to compose herself, even though inside there was complete turmoil.

Back at the table, Troy had his eyes on Gabriella. At first he was just keeping an eye on her, making sure she didn't get jumped by any unwanted male advances. But as he continued to watch on, he could see that by the expressions on her face and the obvious change in her overall appearance that Taylor had been the bearer of some very bad news. Seeing her walking back towards him, with a fake smile plastered back on her face, he quickly diverted his gaze and made it look like he'd been searching for potential dates.

"You're back," he said smiling at her, as he offered her a drink, which she gratefully took. He didn't ask what Taylor had called about, knowing that she wouldn't be so willing to talk about it this time. "You know, I don't think there's anyone here that tickles my fancy," he said smirking at her, "so how 'bout you finish that drink, then we'll head back to my place and crash?"

Mentally she thanked Troy. "You sure?" she asked, still sipping the drink. He nodded back as she downed the rest of the drink. "Okay, well let's go," she said picking up her purse, and let herself be guided out of the busy nightclub by Troy.

Author's Note: So… turns out Noah isn't as good as we all hoped. I know, I know, some of you will be a little irked, since it's unlikely that Gabriella would marry an ass, but you'll see.

I'm not too sure about this chapter… it feels off somehow, maybe a little forced and the flow between this chapter and the last doesn't seem right either? But that might just be because of the writing, since I'm trying to fuse together how I've been writing in this story so far, with writing from my previous stories, and that's proving to be a bit difficult.

Hopefully the next chapter will be up around/soon after Spring/Easter break, if all goes according to plan.

As always, constructive criticism, so hit that little button in the corner, and let me know what you think! I'd love to know what you think. Whether you think the way I've made Gabriella handle the situation thus far is in character, or what you think about Troy and all that, any complaints or anything, let me know! I'll be fine with criticism as long as it's written somewhat nicely. LOL.