THE WINDOW

Part Three

For the Two of Us

Sharpay Evans had always been one of those people who got very excited about a lot of things. She liked to share her happiness with the people around her, she was a giddy person who smiled and chuckled and laughed whenever she wanted to. And it was all the little things that cheered her up – when listening to a good song or eating a spectacularly good sandwich. It could be anything that made her want to dance around in joy, but never – never – had anything in the entire world made her as happy as this day had done.

So far – well, she hadn't really accomplished much because she was too excited to be able to function properly. Gabriella was moving in with her today and she was insanely nervous, but she also couldn't wait. Denise and Valerie had brought her breakfast this morning as usual, and she had wanted to clear up some space in her bedroom for Gabriella's clothes, but had ended up throwing everything on the bed. She didn't have room to place it anywhere else, and she was too excited to figure out a solution in this entire mess. She just wanted to see Gabriella again and call her 'Roomie'.

And now she was almost there – she met with the movers outside Newark Airport and drove with them to the apartment to make sure everything got there alright. They were going to be there soon, so Sharpay, Valerie and Denise went down to the street to wait for them. Denise and Valerie took it quite alright, but were almost going crazy – Sharpay was tripping all over the place.

"Calm down Evans, would you?" Denise sneered with a chuckle and leaned against the wall with her hands in her pockets.

Sharpay turned to her with a raised eyebrow. She could tell that her friend was absolutely enjoying seeing her jump around like this. Denise had always been cool like that, and Sharpay had always loved that about her. She was glad that they were still friends after dating – she wouldn't have wanted to lose her.

Valerie took a step back and did a dancy-squirm, "Now, why do you say that, honey? You don't enjoy seeing her like this?" she fake-joked and this time Sharpay turned to her with a raised eyebrow. What was up with all the mocking Sharpay they were doing today? That wasn't fun!

Denise chuckled and shook her head which caused her fringe to fall slightly into her eyes – that gave her such a boyish charm, "She was never like this when she was dating me." she commented in a whatever voice.

"Well, that's because our relationship sucked big time." Sharpay fired back, happy to now tease her and to occupy her mind from Gabriella and the moving in. It was nice to have those two sillies to talk to whenever she needed it.

Denise made a face in her direction and sneered back at her, "Haha, you're so funny."

Sharpay was about to fire something back at her, but Valerie interrupted their banter like she usually did whenever it started; it was a good thing that they had her, otherwise they'd never stop bantering, "Uh! Uh!" she exclaimed and pointed down the street while she jumped up and down, "I see a van! There's a van – coming down the street!"

Both Sharpay and Denise turned around on the sidewallk and stared down the busy street. Sharpay could feel her heart starting to beat faster as she tried to make out if Gabriella was in the van or not. She really hoped this was the van because she was soon going to lose her mind if Gabriella wouldn't be there. She wanted to hug her and kiss her – and then she wanted to welcome her to her – their – flat.

"Uh! Uh!" Valerie said and did her thing again, "I see a curly Latina – that's her! It's Gabriella!"

Sharpay couldn't help herself; she pulled an all-Valerie move and started jumping up and down on the pavement like random and she saw out of the corner of her eyes that Denise shook her head because of her, but she didn't care. She was too excited to care about Denise, and when the van pulled up against the curb, she rushed to the side and opened the door to where Gabriella was seated before the engine was even turned off.

"Hi!" she squealed as Gabriella jumped out of the van and wrapped her arms around her in a deep hug, "I can't wait to have you live with me."

Gabriella kissed her cheek and said, "Lucky it's today then, huh?"

Sharpay chuckled lowly as Gabriella hugged both Valerie and Denise and the movers got out of the van as well. They started unloading Gabriella's things onto the sidewalk without a word, and Sharpay grabbed the nearest box. Denise snorted at her and shook her head, "What are you doing, Evans? Trying to carry boxes? Don't you think someone with actual muscles should do that?"

Gabriella looked from one of them to the other in confusion, but when nothing was said, she turned to the redhead and Valerie explained, "It's make fun of Sharpay-day today."

Gabriella then shrugged it off and that was that because she grabbed a box as well and turned to the door. "Come on honey!" she squealed and Sharpay felt the need to dance around in joy, but she followed the other girl into the building instead.

"Yes, you better get out of here!" Denise yelled after them, "And let us butches do the work."

Sharpay stopped and turned around with a huge laugh, firing right back at them, "Val? A butch! There's some news!"

She could hear Valerie object loudly to that statement before the door smacked close.

-

"Wow!" Gabriella exclaimed as she fell into the white couch in the living room with a content sigh, "I can't believe I live here now." she continued as she looked around the flat with big, round eyes and a huge smile.

Sharpay looked up from the drawer in the desk in the living room and shot her a huge smile, "I can't believe it either, Bri, y'know?" she said, and didn't know how to really explain herself. She had been waiting for a love like this to come along, but she had never thought that it would really happen; it wasn't many people that got something as wonderful as this – it was almost too perfect to be true. "You just... you just make me so happy."

Gabriella turned over slightly and rested her head in the hand that was help up by her elbow, "You make me so happy, too." she softly said.

Sharpay pulled up an envelope she had just picked up from the photo shop a couple of days ago and waved it to Gabriella, "Look what I've got..." she sang and almost danced across the floor.

Gabriella sat up in the couch with a sneaky smile across her face and a mysterious look in her eyes, "Is that...?" she whispered, letting her voice trail off to nothing.

Sharpay only had to nod before Gabriella had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her onto the couch too. Sharpay was just as excited to see this as she was. A few weeks ago they had done something none of them had done before, and they had only gotten the idea because Valerie and Denise told them that they had done it. Gabriella had been very shy about it, but it had turned out to be very fun – actually it had been so fun that they wanted to have it for real.

See, they had... taken naked pictures of themselves with Sharpay's digital camera, and they hadn't even seen them yet, so Sharpay had gone to the photo shop to get the pictures on real photo paper in case her computer ever crashed because she – really – didn't want to lose these.

"I haven't even looked at them yet." the blonde explained as she snuggled up to her girlfriend, who wrapped an arm around her, "But I think they turned out really great. Especially the ones on this couch."

Gabriella chuckled warmly, "Sure, there were the ones in the couch, the bedroom and the kitchen-" she paused briefly and cringed, "-yeah, and the one time in the chair until you fell into the stereo."

Sharpay made a face, "Yeah, let's not talk about that." she said and Gabriella nodded quickly in agreement – because that hadn't been pretty.

Sharpay opened the envelope and pulled out the load of photos, but before she turned them over, she felt the need to tell Gabriella about the little thing in the store, "Y'know? They totally laughed at me in that photo shop. They were staring like... really weird." she said in a serious voice, having a feeling why they would be laughing of her.

Gabriella arched an eyebrow; she had been to that photo shop with Sharpay before and she knew everyone who worked there, and Sharpay could tell that she was having very similar thoughts to the ones the blonde had herself, "You think they looked?" she questioned.

"...maybe."

"Wow." Gabriella said in a very monotone voice before she completely pulled out of it and laughed, "Then that college kid with the zits and the round glasses must have gotten excited!"

Sharpay laughed in agreement as she turned the pictures over. She didn't even mind if they had looked at their pictures, they were the ones with the sad lives if that was. They could just go out and meet someone and get them some sex themselves. She didn't mind, she had Gabriella, the very hot Latina next to her in this couch, and she was all she'd need for the rest of her life.

Gabriella squealed at the first picture, "Wow! Look at me, I'm totally hot in that angle – my breasts are huge!"

Sharpay stared briefly at the picture and then glanced to the side to give Gabriella's breast in natural a quick once-over, and she had to admit, that for some reason they seemed very huge in this picture, "Would you shut up, Bri, you're always hot." she replied instead, knowing that if she commented on the breasts, she'd get a slap on the side of her head.

Gabriella slapped her even if there was no mentioning of breasts at all in her sentence, "Like you're not drooling and secretly sneaking that photo into your wallet, huh!"

Sharpay gave Gabriella an 'I can't believe you'd accuse me of that'-look and said, "Why are you saying that, Bri? Well, that's just mean!" she teased her, and enjoyed the look on Gabriella's face, because the Latina knew exactly what was going on; that Sharpay was only teasing her – she always knew everything Sharpay was doing, it was kind of scary like that.

"Boohoo," Gabriella said with a shake of her gorgeous head, "stop crying and let's see the rest of the pictures, shall we?"

Sharpay opened her mouth to object, but Gabriella only had to slightly raise her left eyebrow before she bent her head and flipped to the next picture. This one was of Sharpay herself and she was looking quite good, too.

Gabriella lightly placed a finger on it, "Now see..." she begun with a soft voice, "that's wallet-worthy!"

Sharpay rolled her eyes at her and flipped to another picture before Gabriella could comment more on the picture.

"Hey!" the Latina objected in a snappy voice, "What's up now? I'd love to have it in my wallet."

Sharpay didn't know whether to laugh or act mad. She wanted to tease Gabriella the way she always did, but truth was – she really couldn't right now. This moment was just too perfect for words. They were sitting on this couch like a real couple; there was no rush, no hurry, because the 'weekend' wouldn't soon be over; there was plenty of time for them to do all the small things too. And she just wanted to snuggle up to her girlfriend and just lay with her.

Sharpay leaned slightly forward and placed the stack of photos on the coffee table, before she turned to Gabriella with questions in her eyes, "Bri?" she asked her, and the other woman stared right back at her, probably confused that she didn't fire something back at her, because that was what usually would happen, "Can we just... lie here for a while?" she patted the couch and shot Gabriella what she believed was a charming smile.

Gabriella placed a hand on top of hers and looked at her with so much love, Sharpay couldn't believe how lucky she was, "Sure..." the brunette whispered, "We can lie here as long as we want."

And Sharpay reached out for her girlfriend and pulled her closer; there was nothing in this world that could compare to the feeling of having Gabriella in her arms like this; it was snuggle-time!

-

"So I would very much like to raise my glass," Valerie begun as she lifted up her super-size cardboard cup filled to the brim with coke with a huge smile on her lips, "For Sha-"

"-it's not a glass." Denise interrupted her as she was about to toast Gabriella and Sharpay for moving in together. She nodded towards the white and red cup in Valerie's left hand and continued, as the redhead questioned the interruption with a raised eyebrow, "It's not!" Denise said and continued to her point, "It's a cup. It's made of cardboard. It's not a glass – that's made of... uh-uh, surprise there, glass!" she mocked her girlfriend.

Valerie made a face in Denise's direction and demonstratively turned her head the other way so only Gabriella and Sharpay could see her. She raised her cup again and tried one more time to toast them, "As I was saying..." she begun, but did not once turn her head, "I would like to raise my cup!, toasting Sharpay and Gabriella!" she carefully pushed her cup up against first Gabriella's then Sharpay's, before finishing, "...and their relationship that is, thankfully, moving forward."

Gabriella sipped her sprite and smiled at her, "Thank you Valerie."

"Yes thank you, Val," Sharpay added after placing her cup on the table again, "but now that you've toasted us, I have something I'd like to share..."

All three heads pecked in her direction and Valerie seemed to have forgotten how 'upset' she was with Denise when her interest went to Sharpay and her eyes lit up with excitement. Denise was pretty much like she always was; she took everything cool and collected, and for Gabriella … well, she looked like a big question mark and Sharpay adored having the three of them with her for a moment like this.

It was only a few days later and they had gathered at the McDonald's where Gabriella and Sharpay had their first 'date' in New York to celebrate that Gabriella was settled in the new apartment. Valerie had insisted that it was definitely something to celebrate and they were having an early dinner here before going to the movies to catch something – they didn't know what yet, they'd see what was there when they were ready.

Sharpay was thrilled that they wanted to go out together and grab a bite to eat, because she had something else that she wanted to share with them. She had had it for a while, but hadn't known when to break the news, so she decided that it would be good to do it today since they were already celebrating. She had placed it in her purse just to have something to show them.

Gabriella touched her arm lightly and said to her, with a small smile, "What is it honey?"

Sharpay reached into her purse and when her fingers touched the cool plastic surface, she couldn't help but smile; this was too good to be true, yet it still was, "I've... finally done it." she pulled her hand out of her purse and let the item drop to the table with a squeal.

Valerie was the quickest one of them to reach for it, and she squealed too when she realized what it was, "You've made a CD!?" she shrieked and turned it around so they could all see the front cover which had a picture of Sharpay on it.

Gabriella's mouth went wide open as she snatched the CD from Valerie's hands to inspect it herself. She stared at the front cover for a few seconds, still with open mouth, before she got that one closed and turned the CD over. She ran her finger down the track list and turned to Sharpay afterwards, "Fuck you!" she said and placed the CD on the table again (it was soon picked up by Denise), "I can't believe you didn't tell me about this!"

Sharpay couldn't not smile when she placed an arm around Gabriella and kissed her cheek lightly, "I wanted it to be a surprise!" she said and pulled back again, "I've been working on it for a long time, and it's getting released next Monday!"

"You serious?" Denise asked and turned the CD around in her hands again and again, "Wow, look at this," she pointed out to only Valerie because she was next to her, "it says 'Of the popular Broadway shows Mamma Mia! and Chicago'." she looked up at Sharpay again with a huge smile and gave the CD back to her, "Congratulations man, you really deserve it."

Sharpay smiled even wider, "Thank you."

Gabriella reached for the CD again and stared at it like Denise had just done, "Sharpay Evans," she read aloud, "The Window." she paused and turned to look at Sharpay with questioning eyes, "It's titled The Window?"

Sharpay shrugged. She knew that it was sort of weird, but she had written a song about everything, and since a window was what started it all – why not write about it? Plus, the window could mean so many other things and people could interpret it the way they found the best, right ? "Sure," she said, with a slight nod, "I just... wrote about it – the window."

"Aw!" Valerie exclaimed from the other side of the table, as she placed a hand on her heart, "That's so sweet." she continued, because she knew all about the window and their first meeting, since Sharpay had told her everything.

"I can't believe my girlfriend is gonna be a famous singer now." Gabriella softly said and nudged Sharpay in the side, "Just think about it... When I get a job, you and I will be unbreakable, huh?" she wriggled her eyebrows and couldn't help but laugh.

Sharpay laughed as well – it was a lie what Gabriella had just said; they were already unbreakable, weren't they? She thought they were great, and even if they didn't have any money... they'd be great still, she was sure about that.

"So how about you guys get me a new stereo?" Denise questioned with a charming glint in her eye.

The other three laughed, but as their laughter died off into silence, they all heard something that they'd have rather lived without hearing. It was three guys sitting on a table behind them. They were about their age, pretty attractive, and normally Sharpay would have thought they were pretty cool, but it was the conversation they were having, that totally put a dimmer on their happy moods.

She had experienced gay bashing before, it was something that practically all homosexuals would have to go through at one time in their life or another, but this was just harassment in a really, really wrong way. She got that people had their opinions and sometimes they felt the need to say them aloud, even if it was wrong. But discussing this subject with such raised voices in the middle of the afternoon at McDonald's where families were having fun together and young kids played with laughter – that was just incredibly unthoughtful.

"...guys, that's bad enough, but I seriously hate it when I see two of those lesbians walking down the street with their kids. It's just wrong, it's just plain wrong." one of the guy said, and Sharpay felt her insides freeze – she couldn't stand listening to this, she really couldn't. Especially because she knew that kids was something that they all wanted; she wasn't quite sure about Gabriella because they hadn't really discussed the matter yet, but she knew that Valerie and Denise would be the best parents for either a boy or a girl in a few years time.

Another of the lads around the table answered, "I agree. What if they get a boy? How on earth are they going to give him the best childhood? And a girl too, of course, she'll never know what a man feels like, and all that other junk."

Sharpay turned around to her friends and tuned them out to the best of her ability. Valerie took everything very personal when it came to this subject and she looked just about ready to burst into tears. Gabriella just looked shocked, and Sharpay understood why – she hadn't really experienced anything like this yet, and the first episode always takes its toll. Denise looked pretty much like Sharpay felt herself; angry, and damned-ready to hit or kick something. Sharpay could never let something like this pass by, but she still didn't know how to go around the situation.

Denise placed an arm around Valerie, who mumbled, "God... why won't they just shut the fuck up?"

"Calm down, sweetie." Denise said and awkwardly tried to console her, since that really wasn't her thing, but she'd do anything for Valerie.

Sharpay reached for Gabriella's hand beneath the table and gave it a light squeeze. To reassure Gabriella, but also to give herself strength, because well – she was going in. She took in a deep breath and pushed her chair back slightly, "I'll be right back." she mumbled to her friends and stood up, feeling ready to kick some ass – those guys wouldn't know what hit them!

Gabriella was about to protest, but Sharpay gave her such a look that the Latina knew she shouldn't say anything. Sharpay took in another calming breath and marched right up to the table where the guys were sitting, placing a hand against each side of her hip.

One of them looked up with a questionable look, "Can I help you?" he said, his voice harsh and demanding.

Sharpay bent down slightly and said to him, in a low voice, "This is probably not the place to let know of your disrespecting and ignorant opinions on the gay population in this country, alright? So if you could please just be quiet, we'd rather if you didn't ruin our dinner." she finished in an 'I know better'-voice, and a hateful look in her eyes.

One of the other guys, the one who hadn't spoken at all, now said to her, "Why do you care?"

She turned her head the other way and rested it in her hand, which was held up by her elbow on their table, "I'll tell you why I care, stupid." she continued in her voice, not once thinking about the fact that these guys were all at least twice her size and that they could beat her up in a second, "You see my two friends over there? The girl who has her arm around the redhead? Yeah, you do? They are couple. Les-bi-ans." she slowly pronounced for him and stood back up straight, pushing her sunglasses further on to the top of her head.

"That's a girl?" the third man let it slip, but quickly covered his mouth and looked away.

"That's a girl, yeah." Sharpay said in a-matter-of-fact-voice, taking Denise in defence like she had done so often before, "And you see the gorgeous Latina over there?" she couldn't help but brag because she knew that they'd find Gabriella attractive, most guys would; and she didn't look the 'regular' lesbian (except that there wasn't a 'look 'for lesbians, she was talking the voice of annoying stereotypes here), and well... she was just incredibly beautiful and borderline amazing.

"Yeah?" the second man asked her in a curious voice, while the other two 'mhm'ed to get her to continue.

Sharpay just snapped, "That's my girlfriend." and pushed her sunglasses onto her face, so they couldn't see her eyes. She was a where that her three friends had listened closely to everything, and Denise snorted loudly. The three guys just looked completely surprised to find out that Gabriella – and Sharpay herself for that matter – were lesbians too. She couldn't help but add as a last thought, just to annoy them a bit more, "We're just a table full of lesbians, alright? So next time... keep your nasty opinions to yourself, for believe me when I say – no one's gonna wanna hear them."

And with that she turned around and waltzed right out of there; her friends quickly scattering to follow right after. They couldn't really stay there now and risk getting beaten, plus; this was a much stronger way to end her little speech for those ignorant dudes. This was an afternoon it would take a while for them to forget.

-

Sharpay closed the bathroom door behind her and went into the bedroom feeling much more relaxed. It had been a long day and the meeting with those guys still summed within her, even if she never once took a punch – neither physically, nor verbally. But she kept thinking about what those guys had been talking about, for she couldn't help but wonder; what about babies? Did Gabriella want to have them, or did she just want it to be the two of them? Sharpay really wanted at least one kid, she had always wanted that, but... she was getting uncertain about everything now because she didn't know how Gabriella felt about this.

And now she was just thinking – should she talk to Gabriella about this or not?

She decided to ignore it for know and smiled when she saw that the Latina was beneath the covers, reading a book with her black secretary glasses on – they made her look so sexy. Gabriella looked up at her when she heard her enter, and immediately closed her book, "Wow..." she whispered, "You look kinda hot like that."

Sharpay glanced briefly down at herself; she was wearing yellow boy's underwear, a white, loose top, and her hair was all wet and clingy. She licked her lips and sat down by the side of the bed, right next to Gabriella's hip, "And you're sexy with your glasses on."

"Well, maybe I ought to wear them some more, then." Gabriella giggled and leaned forward slightly, pressing her lips against Sharpay's and giving her a long kiss. When she pulled back, she kept her forehead close to Sharpay's, "Come to bed with me." she whispered in a suggestive voice.

Sharpay really wanted to talk to her about that baby matter, even if that sounded so good. But she knew that she wouldn't be able to enjoy anything right now if she didn't get this off of her mind. She'd just have to ask her. They could talk about everything, it wasn't such a big deal. "Actually..." she whispered, and she could tell that Gabriella's face fell greatly, "That sounds really good," she added then, just to make the sad-face go away, "there's something I want to talk to you about."

Gabriella leaned back again and shot her a questionable look, "What is it, Sharpay?"

Sharpay crawled over Gabriella's legs and onto her side of the bed. She sat there Indian style and contemplated about how to phrase herself for a second, but when she felt Gabriella's fingers reach for hers, she knew that she could just say it without troubles, "About those guys at McDonald's today..." she begun, and Gabriella immediately opened her mouth to say something, but Sharpay quieted her with a wave of her hand, "No, let me say this, sweetie..." she said, and Gabriella shut her mouth, "I've always wanted kids," it came quickly and that was the best way, "and I don't think it's wrong, and I don't think we'd be any less a family than some other family. I also think that the child would have all opportunities even if we're two females. It's always been a wish of mine, and now I was just wondering how you feel about that?"

Gabriella's grip on her hand got harder, but the smile on her lips and the look in her eyes spoke volumes when Sharpay looked up at her, "I think those guys were wrong, honey, I think that... I think that we'd be amazing parents, and I really want to have a family with you."

"You do?" Sharpay softly whispered and crept closer, feeling a lot better already.

Gabriella nodded and kissed her briefly on the lips, "I do." she confirmed, "We can give a child everything it wants and you know that. How we'd get a child, through adopting, one of us giving birth to it, I don't care, the future will tell, we'll see, but... I really want that to happen."

Sharpay leaned in closer and kissed her repeatedly on the lips, "Thank you, I love you." she said.

Gabriella smiled warmly at her, "Alright then," she begun and reached onto the floor for something, "now that that's off the table... can I tell you how hot you look?" she continued, as she pulled up a bottle of wine and two glasses.

Sharpay took both glasses from her hands as Gabriella started to pour the wine, "You're very welcome to do so."

The Latina placed the bottle on the night stand next to her bed and said, "You look very hot when you're all wet." she stated and took her glass from Sharpay, "So? What do you wanna toast now? We've toasted us moving in together, we've toasted your CD... Any ideas?"

"How about we toast the future?" Sharpay suggested with a glint in her eye, "That we toast us having a family someday?"

Gabriella wrinkled her nose and said, instead, "Nah, how about we just... toast us?"

Sharpay nodded, "I really like that idea." she whispered and locked her eyes with Gabriella's again, feeling better than she had done in years. Right this moment, right that second, she knew that she couldn't be happier, because she had everything she could ever wish for, or at least she had it right in reach. They were so amazing together, and until now their love had been so great, their relationship had been so wonderful, all because Sharpay grabbed her chance and kissed Gabriella right that day in the Albuquerque mall, and because Gabriella grabbed a chance herself and went to see Sharpay when she was in New York.

It's funny how things work out sometimes, isn't it?

Gabriella raised her glass with a smile and said, "For the two of us"

"For us." Sharpay confirmed as they clinked their glasses.

Thank you so much for reading this last chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! As I also hope that you've enjoyed this entire story? Thanks bunches for reviewing.

I want to explain the scene at McDonald's. That has sort of happened in real life, now... Not with the whole babies part, it was another conversation those people were having, but it was about lesbians, and my friend, she went right up to them and defended herself, her girlfriends and her other friends. I just added the baby part because I could use it in my story ;b

Anyway, drop me off one last comment, please?

I've already got new projects planned. I'll be posting a one-shot soon (I just have to write it first, haha) and it'll be another femslash one. It's going to be a crossover between Wizards of Waverly Place and Sonny With a Chance, having Sonny and Alex as the main characters, so I just wanted to let you know, in case you're interested in reading. And after that... I might be writing a Troypay fic, but I'm not totally sure yet.

Disclaimer; I don't own High School Musical.