Troy was alone once again, staring at his wife's body, with that same uncomfortable silence still lingering in the room. The feeling of losing Gabriella, not once, but twice killed him inside. It probably killed everyone initially, but him the most.

"You look so peaceful…" he told the corpse. "…and beautiful." The door creaked open, revealing another nurse pushing two carts intro the room.

"They're yours for the night." She said as Troy thanked her with a nod. "Goodnight sir." And with that she left, leaving the family behind in darkness. Troy stared down at his children snoring in their cart things and smiled, then looked back at Gabriella's body.

"You know, they even snore like you…" he laughed silently, trying to find something to talk to her about, other than the fact that she was dead and not with him anymore. "I-I'm sorry, babe, but what am I supposed to say? I thought that these kids would take my mind off of you, but it just makes me think of you even more." Tears streamed down his cheeks and his voice began to tremble, making it harder and harder for him to say anything. He finally gathered the pieces of him together and positioned himself next to her on the bed, embedding his head in her hair and slowly drifted off to sleep, occasionally waking up every hour or so to check on the twins. Both were sound asleep, not even an explosion could wake them. His eyes gave into the gravitational pull placed upon them, surrounding Troy's world with darkness.

"Troy…." A voice whispered into his ear, jolting him awake. He fell off of the bed, landing on the cold concrete floor as he peaked over the bed. There she was again….glowing like she had before. Her grin/smile lit up the room and her hair blew like there was a breeze.

"What….you've got to be kidding me! I thought that…..oh my gosh." Troy scrambled to his feet, contemplating her presence over and over again in his mind. She walked towards him, her dress swaying with every movement. Pulling him closer by his belt loops, her hands moved their way up across his chest and up to his neck. Her lips caressed his, soothing his heartache and restored his heartbeat back to normal.

"You're supposed to be dead." he spoke softly, pulling away for just a brief moment. He kissed her again and this time when they broke away, she looked up into his ocean blue eyes. She smiled, blinding his vision with her pearly white teeth.

"Silly, I am……" she grinned as he pushed her away suddenly. "Baby, what's wrong?" Troy stood there, looking for the twins who were no where in the room. The room began to close in around him and he had a harder time breathing. "I am dead…I am dead….I'm dead, Troy. What did you think?" Gabriella screamed, her face growing bigger and bigger.

"Sir….sir. Are you okay?" a nurse rushed over to Troy's side, shaking him to wake up.

"Yeah, yeah. I-I just had a bad dream, that's all." he answered, getting up off the bed.

"You screamed so loud, I'm surprised the twins didn't wake up. It sounded like someone was murdering you or something." The nurse explained.

"It was something like that….but I'm fine." Troy assured her, watching her walk towards the door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked just before closing the door. He nodded and the door shut quietly. He sat down in the chair next to the babies and watched their chests rise and fall with every breath. Their tiny little hands fussed around their mouths and their feet kicked quietly every once in a while.

"You're not okay." Gabriella told him as she stood by the door.

"Oh god. Please tell me this is just a dream…." he replied irritated, placing his head in his hands.

"This isn't a dream, Troy. It's me…." she answered, not moving any closer just in case she freaked him out.

"Well you need to go…right now. I-" he sighed. "I can't do this anymore….." He waited a moment or two before looking up at her. She was in the same outfit as she was earlier that day and in his dream….the white dress and her hair hung just below her shoulder, curled.

"I'm not going anywhere." she whispered, stepping closer with every word just as Troy climbed higher and higher onto the bed.

"Don't even think about it……just go. I can handle this." he scolded. Gabriella stepped back, almost crashing into the twins' carts. Stopping herself, she turned to face her children, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I never said you couldn't. In fact, I know you can." she said softly, bending farther down to look at the twins. "They're so beautiful…." she paused, stroking Zoey's bare head. Troy cleared his throat and smiled at her as she looked up. "Oh, I'm sorry. Guys aren't beautiful….they're handsome. Therefore, she's beautiful and he's handsome. Better?" She let out a small laugh, leaving the twins sleep and walked over to the bedside chair. "I take it, this is where you spend most of your time, right?" Troy nodded and she pulled a small smile/grin on her face.

"I'm sorry…about the way I greeted you. I had a really bad dream." he explained, climbing down from the headboard and sat next to her body, which was growing colder and colder. The pigment in the skin became faint and her hair lost it's bounce/shine.

"I know. I was in it, wasn't I?" she answered, lowering her smile and her head.

"Yeah. I just….it's just that….you're there! You're everywhere now, I can't seem to……" he stuttered, trying to find the right words to say so that she would understand.

"You can't get me out of you head, right? Everywhere you turn, I'm there." Gabi completed his thought, looking up.

"I don't want to though. I just want to see and dream about the person I fell in love with, not someone who boasts about them being dead. You know…I mean, I-" he explained just as Zoey let out a little cry and Troy rushed to her side, picking her up slowly. He brought her back over to where Gabriella was sitting and stood there, rocking her back and forth and then he resorted to bouncing her up and down. Her big brown eyes glared at him as her hands hit his chest and arm softly. "You're going to grow up to be just like your mommy, yes you are!" he told her in a baby voice, tickling her stomach. Gabriella watched him with gratification….he was so good with her.

"May I?" Gabi interrupted the father-daughter bonding moment.

"Can you, I mean…." he asked as she nodded her head and she held out her hand for him to take, just to make she was real for the moment. Her soft, tan hand, rubbed against his and he handed Zoey to her mother. The baby cried for a split second, then settled in her mother's arms. Gabriella's smile lit the room, the sun couldn't even be brighter. Zoey's eyes were wide open, staring at her mother's illuminated face, her hands poking at Gabi's teeth.

"Hi baby girl….mommy's here." she squeaked, rocking the chair back and forth to put the child back to sleep just as her brother decided to let out a cry for attention. "Uh oh…someone feels left out." Troy picked his son up and sat down on the edge of the bed, facing the girls and let out a sigh. "What?" she asked concerned that something was wrong.

"Now this is how it's supposed to be…." he whispered, gazing down at Charlie's round baby face and then looked into Gabriella's teddy bear eyes. "….me, you, holding the twins. This moment….this was how it was supposed to be forever….you and me, alive." Gabriella's eyes started to tear up, becoming glassy.

"I-I can't do this anymore. Take her." she pushed Zoey into Troy's chest and walked over towards the window, tears starting to stream down her face. Troy, however, struggled to get over to the temporary bassinets as he juggled each twin in one of his arms. Once placing them in their carts, he strode over to Gabriella.

"Hey….talk to me. What's wrong?" he turned her around, placing his hands on her shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Me….that's what's wrong, Troy. You even said it yourself……I'm dead and I'm not supposed to be." she sobbed into his chest and she stayed there for the next few minutes, crying as Troy held her comfortably in his arms.

"No one's supposed to be dead, baby. Well, except maybe for old people, but that besides the point. Look, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way….I didn't mean to, you know that. I'm just confused." he said lightly in her hair as she pulled away slowly. Gabriella looked up at him with a grin/frown for no apparent reason.

"Confused? About what?" she asked, pushing a stray piece of his brown hair out of his eyes. He smiled.

"You've got to be kidding me, right? What am I supposed to do, Gabi? Do I take them home and never talk about you or do I just give up on them and me?" he screamed softly, turning away and faced the nightscape of downtown Baltimore. The bright lights that lit the city became blurry in Troy's vision, his eyes glassy with tears of distress.

"GIVE THEM UP! You can't be serious! These are our kids you're talking about. And even though I'm…well, you know, you can still tell them about me…." Gabi explained angrily. She put herself in front of him and turned his attention to her eyes rather than the city.

"I never said anything about giving them up……I mean, I've thought about it, but I wasn't going to do it…….it wouldn't be fair to them." he answered alarmed.

"I'm sorry, I guess I just didn't hear you right." she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his waist, tightly hugging his body.

"It's okay……." he told her, pulling her chin up with his left hand while his right hand moved up under her neck. And then they kissed, deeply and passionately. Pulling away, they both smiled and then she backed away towards the door. "What are you doing?"

"I have to….." she began, stopping at the twins' carts. She bent down and kissed each forehead, whispering "I love you" in their ears.

"Not again……you can't tell me there isn't something that you can do to come back, bargain with Him or something." Troy pleaded, grabbing her arm right before she headed out the door.

"You know that I would do anything to come back, believe me….I've tried everything. This is the closest thing." she told him, ripping her arm away from him. "Just, please……" she rose up to kiss him, slowly interlocking her lips with his as he deepened the kiss. "Know that I love you and I'll always be with you…..in your heart." she whispered in his ear after pulling away. He looked at her flirtatiously and smiled as she walked back into the brightness of the white hallways, eventually fading away.

Hey guys……I loved the first chapter of this story, so I just wrote a continuation. Please tell me if you like it and if not, then I'll take it off and then just leave it a oneshot. I have a plot in mind….if this goes anywhere….

crazybrunette