Here's the next chapter for you guys, enjoy!

Work it Out

Gabriella leant against the driver's door of her car, and waved to her old students as they walked past on their way home.

Today was Thursday, and after another day and a half in bed, Gabriella was fully recovered, from what seemed to be a sickness bug, and was back to being her normal, cheerful self.

"Mummy look, there's Aunt Katie." Anna said to her Mum, as she played with her mini basketball, on the pathway next to the car.

Gabriella looked to where Anna had just been pointing, and sure enough her sister was making her way to them, but unlike normal, she was running, something wasn't right, Katie never ran, unless her niece sweet talked her into it.

Gabriella pushed herself off of her car, and walked towards her sister. "Hey Katie, what's up?"

"Bella, well her family actually. Her Dad just phoned her, her Mum has left, he got back from work and she'd gone, she's taken all of her stuff and gone, she just left some note, it said something about not loving them anymore and that she loved her new man better, Bella shut down after that, so I don't know the rest."

"Okay, I'm guessing you're telling me this because Bella is crying her eyes out somewhere."

"Yep, in the gym, she won't leave, or let anyone talk to her, not even Alex. She's just sat at the top of the bleachers crying, Troy can't start practise because he's worried about Bella, all the team is worried about her actually."

"Okay, put you bag in the car and get you nephew out while I get Eb, I'll come in and see if I can get anything out of her, after that, I honestly don't know what to do." Gabriella told her sister, as they unstrapped the twins from their car seats and after Gabriella had locked the car, they took one of Anna's hands each, and made their way inside, in an attempt to help their brother's girlfriend open up.

TGTGTGTG

The boys on East High's basketball team were some of the most well known boys around the school, not because they were popular, but because they were all really lovely people, and they were incredibly good at basketball.

The team stood and watched as their captain tried to convince his girlfriend to talk to him, or just to let him anywhere near her. Bella was popular amongst the boys on the team, mainly because she was their biggest fan, and because they all knew her really well from eating their lunch with her, and her occasional visits to their free period practises.

"DADDY!" The team tore their eyes away from the young couple on the bleachers, to find their coach's eldest daughter making her way into the gym.

"Hey princess, did Aunt Katie come and speak to Mummy?" Troy asked, as picked Anna up and rested her on his right hip.

"Yep, look!" Troy looked to where is daughter was pointing to find his wife, sister-in-law and other children entering the gym.

"Okay guys." The team turned to look at Troy. "Do me a favour and start warming up, practise your shooting, it doesn't matter what position you play, you can all practise, I'm not sure how much more we'll get done today so this is better than nothing. Cam do me a favour and take Anna banana here with you, but be careful, she's only small and very easy to fall over, let's go!" The team all ran to collect balls, while Cameron, or Cam as he was known, made his way over to his coach.

"Okay Anna, I need you to go with Cam here so I can help Mummy with Bella, okay?"

"Is he good at basketball?" Anna whispered to her father, not wanting Cam to hear.

"Yep, he's co-captain after Uncle Alex, and he's Uncle Alex's best friend, so he's very good, is that okay?"

Anna nodded, as Troy put her down and bent down to her level, indicating for Cam to do the same.

"Hey Anna, I'm Cam, I hear you're very good at basketball, like your Daddy and Uncle, you wanna come with me and show the others how good you are?" Cam asked, as he held his hand out to his coach's little girl.

Anna turned to look at her father for reassurance, and when he gave her a reassuring smile she took hold of Cam's hand and let him lead her of to join the rest of the team.

Troy straightened himself up to find his wife standing next to him. "I'm sorry babe, but I can't start practise like this, I'm worried about her, Alex is really worried about her, even the rest of them are worried about her. She won't let him get any closer than he is, she said something about him thinking she's a mess, and that he might as well just dump her now and get it over with. I have no idea what to do, and Alex is just winding himself up, so can you please talk to her?"

"Troy calm down that's why I'm here, take her for me, and I'll get Alex to come back down here, get him to join in with practise, it'll take his mind off of things while I try and convince Bella that things are going to be alright, you get me?" Troy nodded as he took his daughter from his wife, and watched as she said something to Katie, before making her way up to the top of the bleachers.

TGTGTGTG

Alex gave Bella's thigh one more tight squeeze, before getting up and heading in the direction of his approaching sister. Bella had sat herself on the top row of seats on the bleachers and wouldn't let anyone come anywhere near her. The nearest Alex could get to her was the row of seating in front of her, and being there the only way he could comfort her was by placing his hand on her knee and thigh, she wouldn't even give him her hand to hold.

"She won't listen to me Gabs, she keeps telling me to leave her, I'm not sure why, something to do with her parents splitting up being her fault. Please Gabs go talk to her, talk some sense into her, tell her I love her, please?" Alex pleaded with his sister, as they met on the bleacher steps.

"Alex please calm down, I'm gonna go talk to her, just please go join in with practise, forget about it for a minute and let me talk to her, then you can give her a hug and I'll take her home with me, okay?"

Alex nodded, as he gave Gabriella a hug, and reluctantly made his way down to join in with practise.

"Bella sweetie, where can I sit that will make you feel comfortable?" Bella had already lifted her head to look at Gabriella after realising that Alex had gone.

"C-can you s-sit next to me? I wanted a h-hug of Alex, b-but I think I've u-upset him."

Silently, Gabriella made her way towards Bella and sat down in the seat next to her, she opened her arms and Bella immediately feel into them, sobbing.

"Bella honey listen to me, Alex loves you and he's really worried about, he isn't going to leave you because it's not your fault your parents are splitting up, you hear me, it's not your fault."

"B-but she l-left without even s-saying goodbye, s-she just l-left, she d-didn't even say s-sorry." Bella said in between tears, as she buried her face even further into Gabriella's shoulder.

"I'm gonna tell you the truth sweetheart, your Mum has gone, for whatever reason she has chosen, she's gone, but you have to speak to your Dad, it's just you and him left now, and you need to communicate in order for you both to know how the other feels, I bet you he's just as upset about this as you are."

"I do talk to my D-dad, but I can't t-talk to him about girly s-stuff, it's just t-too embarrassing." Bella sniffed.

"Okay, so you can talk to me or Lucille about the girly stuff and your Dad about the rest, yeah?"

Bella nodded. "Now, how about you go give Alex a hug and tell him you love him, while I round up my children and stop my sister flirting with Cam, okay?"

Bella once again nodded, and wiped away her tears, as she and Gabriella got up to make their down the bleachers.

"CAMERON! Stop flirting with my sister, and let her round up her nieces and nephew so we can go. Now Katie!"

The rest of the team laughed at Cam and Katie, before saying bye to Mrs Bolton, as she was to them, and knuckling down to some proper practise.

TGTGTGTG

Gabriella sighed, as she waved off Bella, Alex and Mark, Bella's Dad. Back at Troy and Gabriella's Bella had phoned her Dad, and on Gabriella's request invited him over for dinner.

They had talked about everything and anything, they had worked out why Bella was feeling the way she was about her Mum leaving, and now pretty much knew everything that the other was feeling, but Mark had agreed that Bella should have girly conversations with Gabriella or Lucille.

"Mummy, where's Daddy?"

"He's taking your Aunt Katie home, you should be in bed young lady, why are you up?" Gabriella questioned her daughter, who was standing in her pyjamas at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ebonnie and Oscar are awake, they didn't cry though, that's why you don't know, that's why I'm up." Anna answered her soft bunny in her left hand.

"Okay, you go back to bed, while I check on you brother and sister, then I'll come check on you, okay?"

Anna nodded, and started making her way back upstairs with Gabriella hot on her heels.

TGTGTGTG

Gabriella laid flopped out on the sofa waiting for Troy to come home, it was an hour and a half ago since he'd left to take Katie home, and Jack and Lucille only lived ten minutes away by car.

Just as she was about to consider phoning Lucille, the front door opened and Troy came in.

"Troy, where the hell were you? Anna woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep because she was expecting you to come back, I had to sit with her until she fell asleep again, and that was after I promised her you'd go and see her when you got back, so go, I'm going to bed, I'll see you in the morning." And with that, Gabriella got up from the sofa and walked past Troy to go to bed. She was angry with him for not even phoning her, and now he didn't even have an answer as to why he was so late.

Troy sighed, as he made his way around the bottom half of the house, locking and turning everything off, he knew Gabriella would be angry with him, he had needed time to get his head round what had just happened, before telling her.

TGTGTGTG

"Brie, I need to talk to you, please just roll over and listen to me."

Troy had checked on all three children to find they were all safely asleep, he had then entered his bedroom and changed into a T-shirt with his boxers, before deciding he needed to talk to Gabriella tonight, he couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Gabriella rolled over to look at Troy. "I'm sorry for being so snappy with you when you got back, I'm just tired and Anna wouldn't go back to sleep because she was being a typical Daddy's girl, and I'm sorry."

"Me too Brie, I should've phoned you, I'm sorry, I just, I had an argument with Dad about how I'm not training the boys properly, and how if we carry on the way we are, we'll never win the upcoming championships."

"Oh babe, come here, if I'd of known, I'm sorry." Gabriella held her arms open, and Troy climbed into the bed and into her arms, finding the much needed comfort he needed from his wife.

"The boys love how I train them Gabs, they love how we play games, but I also make them do drills that they hate, I do exactly the same thing as what Dad did with us when we played, so why is what I'm doing now, not good enough all of a sudden?"

"I don't know honey, but I'm sure it'll work itself out."

"That's just the thing though Brie, it wasn't like normal arguments we've had, he was being deadly serious, he sent Mum and Katie out of the room, he was fully shouting at me Brie, Mum had to come back in, in the end to stop him doing something he'd regret. I don't get it Brie; I just don't get it, why all of sudden am I doing something wrong? Why is he telling me this now? So close to the championships, I just don't get it."

Gabriella kissed Troy's hair, as he cuddled himself closer to her, words wouldn't help Gabriella right now, she just knew that by holding Troy and letting him get his emotions out, he'd soon feel a lot better about things.

TGTGTGTG

Troy and Gabriella had both fallen asleep soon after their chat, and were still cuddled up together, until they were woken up by their bed being shaken.

"Mummy, Daddy, wake up. I'm scared." It was Anna, and she was crying.

"Anna banana, what's the matter honey? Why the tears?" Troy asked, as he untangled himself from Gabriella, and scooped his daughter up onto the bed.

"I-I had a s-scary dream, t-there was this s-scary dog, he was c-chasing me Daddy, he got m-me and then he a-ate me, I was r-really scared."

"Anna, it's okay now, you're awake, the dog can't get you now because you're awake sweetie, please don't cry." Gabriella spoke softly to her daughter, as she ran a soothing hand through her hair.

Anna snuggled further into her father's body. "Can I stay here with you? I don't wanna go back to bed."

Troy looked at Gabriella for an answer, which she already had. "I guess you could, but you have to lay still, and sleep nicely because Mummy and Daddy need to sleep as well, and Daddy has work tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay Mummy."

Troy and Gabriella moved apart, allowing Anna to snuggle into the gap in between, and pretty soon fall asleep.

"That was simple." Troy said, as he pulled the covers up further over Anna's body.

"Yeah it was, night babe." Gabriella said, as she leant over to give her husband a kiss.

"Night sweetie, sleep tight, I'll see you in the morning, I love you, you know?"

"Yeah Troy, I know, 'cause I love you too."

That was how they slept for the rest of the night, cuddled up with their eldest daughter. Gabriella just hoped that Jack and Troy could sort out their argument quickly, before the children started to pick up on things, and definitely before it got any worse.

TGTGTGTG

There t is guys chapter three, hope you liked it!

I've had a really rubbish day today, tears were involved, so;

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!