Disclaimer: … Yeah, still not mine unfortunately

Disclaimer: … Yeah, unfortunately it's still not mine.

Author's Note: I'm going to start to sound like a broken record, but you guys are amazing! I particularly want to thank all those that mentioned that they didn't usually read stories like this one, but gave it a go anyway. You guys are seriously awesome.

I would have had this chapter up a bit earlier, but my brain is going slightly crazy with all this angst, so I wrote a little Corrie&Trevor (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody) one shot, Math Just Got Exciting to distract me for a little while. Check it out if you're into those two as well. It's extremely different to most of my other stuff, a lot lighter. I was trying to escape the angst, so yeah, I avoided going too in depth.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the chapter!

She glanced over at the clock for what felt like the fiftieth time; forty-five minutes. She sighed. For the past forty-five minutes she had been sitting in her car, parked in the driveway, just staring out the window, looking towards the front door of her house. She knew he was home, she could see his shadow through the window as he sat in the living room, presumably reading the daily paper, but still, knowing that he was right there, she couldn't bring herself to get out of the car and confront him.

She knew what she was going to do, what she had to do, but it was still hard. He was the man she had been with for the last four years. The man who had once swept her off her feet, who had made her stomach queasy with butterflies and her heart swell with joy. But he was also the one who had broken her heart, smashed it into a thousand tiny pieces, and hadn't been able to repair it.

Once again she wondered when and why it had all gone wrong. They used to be happy; so happy. And even though he had put her through so much, a wave of sadness still washed through her as she remembered what they had, and the fact that in a short while it would all be over. She never thought this day would actually come; that it would actually happen to her. She had always promised herself that what had happened to her parents wouldn't happen to her, and had even gone as far as to take Noah back when she found out he had cheated on her. But now she was realizing that things didn't always turn out as planned. Some things were just not meant to be, and Noah and herself were just one of those things.

She looked over at the window again; he was still sitting there. The clock was ticking and she knew she should just get out of the car and get it all over and done with, let the heartache finally be over. Shaking her head she forced out of her car and began to slowly walk to the front door. When she reached it she paused. Once she opened that door everything that had been apart of her life, of who she was, would be over. She took in a deep breath, mentally getting herself ready for what was in store for her, and then slowly put the key through the hole, turning it carefully before opening the door completely.

Walking through the hallway she saw him sitting on the chair by the window, reading the paper, just as she suspected he would be. She knew that he had heard her, but he didn't bother to greet her hello, or make a move to kiss her on the cheek like he usually would. She placed her bag by the door and took a seat on one of the other couches in the room. The pair sat in silence for a little while, Noah still not acknowledging her presence, and Gabriella thinking to herself, now realizing that she had no idea how she was going to do this; how she was going to actually end her marriage.

"Hi," she said quietly, finally breaking the deafening silence between them.

For the first time since she arrived her looked at her, glancing up from the paper, "Hey," he said briefly before going back to the paper again. She swallowed; this already wasn't an easy thing for her to do, and the way he was currently acting wasn't helping her at all. She watched him for a moment and it occurred to her that even though things were somewhat awkward between them, never before had he ever acted this way towards her. She wondered if maybe he knew it was the end too. As if it were something you could smell in the air coming a mile away.

Knowing that no amount of time could possibly make the situation easier, she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to sum up all of her courage to finally say it. "I decided that I would take up Maddie's offer to open the practice. I'm going back to Albuquerque," she said simply.

This caught his attention and he closed the paper and put it down. "So that's it, is it? You weren't going to discuss this with me? I was under the impression that something of this magnitude would be talked over with your husband before anything final was decided," he said in an even and steady tone and she recognized it as the voice he used when he was dealing with his clients. That voice that was so sure, so confident; almost a little too confident for her liking. It was as if he knew something that she didn't.

As the word 'husband' came out of his mouth a flicker of anger sparked within her, and she had to suppress the urge to let out a laugh. "Well given the circumstances I didn't think you deserved a say in the matter," she responded icily, feeling the sadness and uneasiness she had been feeling moments ago start to dissipate, being replaced by a slow burning anger.

He didn't respond immediately, but by the look on his face he seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. "I thought you might have known," he said slowly, his voice not hinting at any form of surprise or even regret.

The fact that he was so unaffected by her words began to agitate her. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out Noah? Taylor works in the same office as you for Pete's sake!" she let out angrily, hoping to spark a reaction out of him, but when no response came she continued. "Did you honestly think that you could get away with it again? That just because I took you back once, that I'd do it again?" she said heatedly. She could feel the blood pulsing through her veins and her heart pumping a mile a minute as the anger inside of her gradually began to grow stronger.

After they had gotten back together they hadn't talked about his infidelity, and she never confronted him on what she felt about it; it became one of those taboo topics, always danced around, but never mentioned. But now, with the finality of their marriage drawing near, Gabriella could feel herself begin to break as all of her pent up emotions started to flood to the surface.

He still hadn't answered her, which only served to irritate her even more. "Are you even going to say anything?" she questioned him angrily, outraged that here she was ending their marriage and all he could do was sit there silently.

"What do you want me to say Gabriella?" he responded in a calm voice.

She got up from the couch and threw her arms up in the air. "Damn it Noah, just say something! Anything!"

A silence fell over them as she began to pace around the room. She stopped abruptly by the fireplace, picking up one of the many frames that adorned it, fingering it delicately. The picture she picked up had been one from the earlier months of their relationship; she remembered she had invited him along to one of the birthday parties of one of her friends. Their features in the picture were smaller, as they weren't the main attraction of the picture, but instead had been accidentally caught in the background, but you could still see it; how happy they looked. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and his around her waist as they danced slowly, each of them displaying content smiles of happiness across their faces. She sighed quietly and placed the picture back down, as memories of better times coming back once again.

He watched her intently, never once taking his eyes off her as she moved around the room.

"Why?" she said quietly. The anger in her voice was still apparent, but was now masked slightly by a questioning tone.

He didn't need to ask her what she was talking about. "I don't know."

She whirled around to face him. "We were happy Noah, and you screwed that up, and now you can't even tell me why?" she exclaimed.

"Gabriella, do you think I wanted this to happen to us!" he said as his voice rose for the first time. "I'm sorry okay!"

"No it's not okay!" she replied hotly. "Sorry isn't going to cut it anymore! I need to know why!"

"I don't know!" he persisted, throwing his hands up in the air, but remained seated. "It wasn't something that I planned, it just happened."

She glared at him. "Things like that just don't happen Noah," she said bitterly. "For months I've been trying to figure it out; why the happiness we had wasn't enough for you," she paused for a moment, as her face softened and revealing her pain. "Why I wasn't enough for you," she added in a lower voice, no longer sounding as angry as she was before, "but I still haven't been able to figure it out."

Standing up he made a move to go comfort her before realizing what he was doing and stopped short. "Gabi it wasn't you…" he said softly, "it was never because of you."

"Then why?" she said desperately, pleading with him, as her eyes begging him for an answer.

He turned away unable to handle the sight of her pain. He knew what he had done to her, and he hated himself everyday for it; it was the exact reason why he had done what he had last night.

Suddenly becoming aware that her eyes had become watery, she breathed in deeply, not allowing herself to let them fall. She glanced at his figure, his face still not looking at hers, and knowing that she wouldn't get an answer she tried a different approach. "How long?" she said simply.

"No. We didn't," he replied.

"Noah, don't do this, just tell me. How long?" she persisted restlessly.

He turned to her, looking her straight in the eye. "I wasn't lying to you when I said that she left, she did. And I wasn't sneaking around behind your back all these months either. That was the only time."

She searched his eyes for a sign that he could possibly be lying. "I'm not sure if I can believe you anymore," she responded truthfully. "If you weren't doing anything, then why was she with you last night?"

"Last night wasn't what you think it was," he said simply, deciding that she needed to know.

The anger crept back into her voice again. "Don't you dare," she warned. "Taylor saw you with her."

Noah let out a sigh knowing that what he was about to tell her next probably wouldn't go down very well. "We staged it."

"You what?" she said incredulously, as she took a few angry steps towards him. She could not believe what she was hearing. Had he really just told her the whole thing was an act? That he had done it on purpose? "You have some nerve, you know that?" she said, her voice was now dripping with not only anger, but distain too, as she glared towards him.

"Gabriella, did you honestly think I would be stupid enough to cheat on you at work, knowing full well that one of your best friends worked with me?" he questioned her.

"I don't know. Maybe it was one of those things that just 'happens,'" she shot back at him sarcastically.

"Gabriella, you don't love me anymore!" he exclaimed finally. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice it all? The way you'd stiffen whenever I touched you. Or how you'd always turn and give me your cheek when I kissed you hello?" he said raising his voice.

She didn't miss a beat. "Is that what you think Noah?" She didn't give him a chance to respond before she began again. "Do you really think I would still be here if I didn't love you? The only reason why I stayed this long was because I still loved you!" she cried out angrily. "I tried, Noah, okay, I really tried. I wasn't ready to give up on us. Everyone kept telling me to leave you, that I deserved more than you, and that I'd be better off, but I stayed with you because I loved you. I still believed that you were the man I married and I wasn't about to throw it all away for one mistake."

He didn't respond, knowing that she still had so much more to say. He just stood back letting her release months of pent up emotions that he had caused.

"I thought that time would make me forget about it; give me a chance to forgive you for it. But every time you touched me, I would remember what you did, and every time you went on a business trip, I'd wonder if you were doing it again. I tried to fight it, God, I tried so hard to convince myself that it was all in the past; that you wouldn't do it again, and that I could forgive you and move on, but I couldn't." Her eyes were filled with tears now, and yet she still wouldn't let them fall as she poured out all the feelings she had bottled up for the last few months.

She took in a few deep breaths. "Do you have any idea how much it hurt Noah?" she said quietly, her voice full of raw emotion. "To know that you had cheated on me in the first place, and then for me to live everyday after that wanting so desperately for things to go back to the way they were, but not being able to get past it. Do you know how that felt?" She paused.

"You broke my heart Noah."

He felt his throat close up, and his heart start to ache. He knew it was bad, but he had never realized just how bad it was. Breathing heavily he finally spoke up. "Don't you think I didn't know that? That I couldn't see your pain? I saw it everyday when you looked at me in the morning, and I hated the fact that I was the reason that we became what we were," he whispered back to her softly. "That's why I had to do it. I realized the other night that we were a failed cause. I couldn't let you keep suffering over something that wasn't going to work."

He slowly reached out for her, but she pulled her arm back harshly. "And you had to hurt me even more to do that?"

"Gabriella I-" he began before she quickly cut him off.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she interrupted him, once again angry. "That because you were doing it for my 'benefit,' I should be grateful?" she said incredulously. "No, Noah, you could have told me and given me that choice."

He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again, thinking better of it.

Wordlessly she unclasped the necklace that hung around her neck and let it land in her hand. She looked down at the ring she had been wearing for the past few years, gently fingering it one last time. "This is yours," she said emotionlessly as she thrust the ring and necklace into Noah's hand before storming up the stairs; not looking back once.

...

...

...

Hours later she walked down the stairs, her suitcase trailing at her heels. Stopping briefly to pick up her handbag, she reached for the door handle when Noah's hand grabbed her arm. "Gabriella, wait," his voice pleaded with her.

She stopped short, still very much angry with him over what he had revealed to her. Instead of yelling at him once more she just stood there staring at the door, letting him know that she would hear him out, but not bothering to look at him.

He let out a sigh of relief and gently released her arm. "Would you have really let go if I had talked to you about it?" he questioned carefully.

She thought about it for a moment; he was right, and she hated that he was. Despite how much it hurt, she would have still tried to hold onto the last pieces of thread that were holding her marriage together. But she didn't tell him this.

"I knew you wouldn't want to give up, but I needed to get you to realize that it was finally over between us. I couldn't keep hurting you anymore." Still she stayed quiet. "Gabriella, I'm sorry okay? I know you hate me for this now, but maybe in a few months you'll realize that I did you a favor."

She quickly turned to face him. "Oh really? Am I supposed to be thanking you for cheating on me now? For adding one more thing onto the list of ways that you've hurt me?" she said angrily, as her eyes shot a piercing look at him.

Noah wasn't deterred. "Gabi, you know just as well as I do, that we were over a long time ago," he said softly, not letting himself get angry with her.

"So what Noah!" she yelled. Throwing her arms up she walked over to the bottom of the staircase and whirled back around to face him. "There were other ways to tell me! You should have given me a choice!"

"Honestly, would you really have taken it?" he persisted.

"That's not the point!"

He sighed. "Look Gabriella, you have every right to be angry with me, and hurting you again wasn't my intention at all. I just needed you to see that what we had was no longer worth fighting for. I love you, but you can't trust me anymore, and you can't love me like you used to either. So it's time to move on," he said sincerely.

Looking directly into his eyes she could see that he had meant what he said. She felt the anger she had been experiencing begin to subside, now turning into sadness as it dawned on her that her marriage was finally over. It was finally the end.

"I'm letting you go Gabriella," he stated simply. "You deserve to be happy, really happy." He slowly walked up to her. "I hope you find someone that makes you feel that way."

Unintentionally her mind flickered to the thought of Troy and she blinked quickly when she realized the implications of that split second thought. She watched carefully as Noah approached her, not moving a muscle. She let him lean into her as he softly pressed his lips to her forehead. "Goodbye Gabriella," he said gently before quietly walking away.

She let out a deep breath that she hadn't known she had been holding, letting her shoulders slump downwards. She turned briefly in the direction of where he had gone. "Goodbye Noah," she whispered to herself softly before gathering up her things and walking out the door.

...

...

...

Sitting down in her car, she leaned the back of her head against her seat, closing her eyes. She breathed in deeply, her mind still processing all that had happened in the last few hours, and more specifically, the fact that Troy's face had popped into her mind. She knew it meant something and it made her feel a little uneasy given the circumstances.

She wondered if she had been unknowingly drifting further away from Noah and closer to Troy. To her knowledge she had never done anything that with Troy that would lead him to assume that she was anything more than a friend to him. But then again, they did have a different kind of friendship to any that she had ever had before. Maybe it was that special connection that they had, like Taylor had said.

Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, and pulled out her cell phone, dialing a familiar number.

"Maddie! It's Gabi," she said in the most cheerful voice she could muster.

"Gabs!" Maddie responded enthusiastically, "How are you?"

"I'm…," she tapered off as she thought about it. It was obviously one of those questions that you instantly replied 'good' to without a second thought, but really, how did she feel right now? All the thoughts of what had happened were still so fresh in her mind that she hadn't been able to accurately pinpoint what she was currently feeling; so many things had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Realizing she had yet to answer Maddie she went on, "well, I'll explain it all to you when I get there." Before she could continue any further Maddie suddenly cut her off.

"Wait! Did you say 'get there?' As in here? Does that mean what I think it means…?" Gabriella could just hear the excitement building in her friend's voice and she couldn't help but smile widely.

"When you do need me there?" she questioned simply, smirking as she did so. She could just imagine Maddie jumping up and down with excitement.

Her thoughts couldn't have been very far off as all that could be heard from the other end of the line was the loud squealing of a very happy Maddie.

Author's Note: I love angry/angsty Gabriella. She's just so much fun to write, hehe.

And yes, Noah wasn't a complete ass, like most of you wanted him to be, but I just can't see Gabriella not clueing into the fact that the guy she was with for so long wasn't all that he seemed to be. When I was bouncing ideas off my friend, she laughed at me because I was so adamant about Noah not being a complete jerk; I'm sorry, but I just can't see it!

So bye bye Noah! From here on in, it's all Troy&Gabriella! Yay!

But it looks like our girl might be jetting off to Albuquerque after all…

As always, I love to hear your thoughts, so click that button and let me know!