Here it is guys chapter eight, enjoy!

Perfect Gift

"Gabs it's not funny, her birthday is tomorrow and still haven't got her anything, I brought you with me for help and guidance, if I knew you were just gonna laugh at me then I would've pulled Katie and Cam apart for the day and brought her, but I didn't, I brought you, my big sister, the one I thought would be able to help me with this, so please Gabs, stop laughing."

Gabriella took a couple of deep breaths, before talking to her brother. "I'm sorry Al, I'll stop laughing I promise, but can we please leave the sports shop, Bella may be very good at sport, but that doesn't mean she wants something sports related for her birthday, come on, I know just the place."

Alex huffed before following his sister out of the shop. Tomorrow was Bella's birthday and Alex and Gabriella were shopping to find her a present Alex could give her. They'd been in the mall nearly all morning now, and Alex was just about ready to give up, he brought Gabriella with him for moral support, but she just found it funny that he had no idea what he was doing.

Yesterday during physio, Gabriella had received the news that her knee had healed incredibly well, she just had to keep working on building back the muscle strength in the knee and she would be walking unsupported in no time, she had progressed onto just using one crutch, and even managed to hobble round the house without using any at all.

"Okay, we're here." Gabriella stated, after a few minutes of walking through the mall.

"Gabs this is a jewellery, I'm not planning to propose you know?"

"Yes I now that, but this jewellers have this beautiful range of charm bracelets, I think Bella would like. Remember the one Troy got me Christmas? That came form here, he saw me looking at them and brought one for me, you know what one I'm talking about, right?"

"Yeah I know which one you mean, and I really like it, do you really think that Bella would like one as well?" Alex asked, as he moved to the other side of Gabriella to have at look at the bracelets on display.

"Yes, I really do think Bella would like on as well. Now come on, let's go in, have a look, hopefully buy something, and then I'll buy you some lunch, sound good?"

"Yeah it does, thanks Gabs."

"Anytime little brother, anytime."

TGTGTGTG

"Remind me again why I came in a car with you, when I value my life?"

"Gabs I'm not that bad of a driver, and besides you've been in a car with Katie, and she's worse than me for driving recklessly."

"She so is not little brother." Gabriella stated, as she put her key in the front door and pushed it open. "She at least brakes gradually, rather than slamming then on, and hoping I don't go flying out of the car."

"Who brakes gradually?" Katie asked once Gabriella and Alex were both inside.

"You." Gabriella answered, as she plopped down on the nearest part of the couch.

"Dude have you been forgetting how to brake again?" Cam asked, from his spot on the floor, where and he and Anna were trying to put together a giant jigsaw.

"I was braking…"

"Yeah, just not very well." Gabriella interrupted.

"Children stop arguing, how old are you, three?" Lucille asked, as she and Bella came in from the kitchen, at the same time as Jack and Troy came down the stairs.

"They aren't children Grandma, they're adults, I'm a children 'cause I'm only six." Anna stated proudly, holding up the right amount of fingers to prove her point.

"We know you're a child sweetheart." Lucille said, as she silently corrected Anna. "And so is your Uncle Alex, he's just supposed to be an older child, but sometimes I think he's younger than you, your Mummy on the other hand, well I think she should just stop stooping to your Uncle's level."

"What does that mean?" Anna asked, as Cam handed her another piece of the puzzle to slot into place.

"It means your Mummy needs to act more like an adult, and not like a child, like Uncle Alex does." Katie explained, as she got up from her seat on the couch, and took up residence on Cam's lap.

"Hi babe." Cam greeted, as he moved his legs from under Katie, so that she was no longer sitting on them, but in between them. "I never knew I was a seat, thanks for letting me know!"

"No problem." Katie answered, as she took a piece of the puzzle and put it in place, earning her a thank you from Anna, who now found fitting in her current piece, a whole lot easier.

"How did the shopping go guys?" Troy asked, from his seat on the couch next to Gabriella.

"Good thanks." Alex answered, as he moved one of Anna dolls, so he could take a seat next to Bella.

"Tiring." Was Gabriella's answer, as she rested her head against Troy's shoulder.

"I'm not surprised your tired Gabs, I did kinda make you walk everywhere today, sorry." Alex apologised, as the days walking took its toll on Gabriella, and she began to fall asleep against Troy's shoulder.

TGTGTGTG

"Hey Mark." Gabriella greeted, as they made their way into his and Bella's house late in the morning the next day.

Today was of course Bella's birthday, and while Alex had had been there since the crack of dawn, everyone else was only now arriving.

"Hey guys, how's the knee Gabi?" Marked asked, as he shut the door after Anna had entered.

"Yeah, good thanks, how are you?"

"Eh, I've been better, but we're getting there, Bella's still finding it hard to understand why it happened, but Alex is usually here when that happens, so I don't have to deal with it alone."

Alex had been spending a lot more time with Bella and Mark, and was only really at home when Bella and Mark went to visit family, or Lucille wanted him home for something.

Anna decided now was a good time to make her presence know, by tugging on Mark's trouser leg, until he looked down to see what was happening. "These are for you, thank you for having us here." Anna said, as she handed Mark a bunch of flowers.

"Thank you Anna, they're very nice. Why don't you a me, go find a vase to put them? The love birds are out back, if you wanna head out there guys, I thought we could have a BBQ, seeing as it's nice outside."

"Sounds good" Troy said, as he put the sleeping twins off to the side, before following the others out to the back garden.

TGTGTGTG

"You like the bracelet then Bella?"

"Yeah, it's beautiful, how did you convince him to buy something like this?"

"Well after laughing at him, and nearly causing him to have a mental break down, I took him to the jewellers where Troy got my charm bracelet from, I knew you'd said you liked it, and by then Alex was stressing out, so we went in, took a look, and came out with that. If we'd of come out empty handed, I think I may have strangled him."

"Strangled who?" Troy asked, as he and Alex came in with the twins, after changing them.

"Alex." Jack answered. "It seems if you ever need to buy something really important, you should never take Alex, he's pretty rubbish at shopping." He joked, as he and Lucille took Ebonnie from Alex and Oscar from Troy, so that he could cuddle up with Gabriella.

"I'll admit I'm rubbish at shopping, I ain't denying that, that's why I took Gabi, I just didn't count on her laughing at my every choice."

"What do you expect me to do, when the only shops you went in are sports related, I mean don't get me wrong, Bella is great at sport, but when it's your girlfriends birthday, you buy her something she wants, not something you can borrow as well."

"Yeah well, she likes what I did get her, and that's what matters the most." Alex stated, as he adjusted Anna's head, which was resting on his lap, while her legs and body lay across Bella's, as she slept.

"Is the banter always this good at your houses? 'Cause if it is I'm coming round more often." Mark laughed.

"Yea, we're pretty good when it comes to banter." Troy said, as he softly began to massage Gabriella's injured knee. "We're also very good at teasing each other, but that usually falls in with the banter. Is this helping a little?" Troy asked Gabriella, as he continued to work on her knee.

"I never said it was hurting." Gabriella answered, as she relaxed against the arm of the couch.

"No, but your face did, so is this helping a little?" Troy repeated his question.

Gabriella nodded and closed her eyes, as she let her head fall to the side and rest against the back of the couch, as the banter and teasing continued around her.

TGTGTGTG

"So, do you really like it?" Alex asked that night, as he laid in bed waiting for Bella to come out of her bathroom and join him.

"Alex will you stop worrying, I love it, it's amazing, and I'm very glad that Gabi took you to the jewellers so you could buy it, so stop worrying, you're supposed to be happy today, it's my birthday!" Bella replied, as she pulled back the covers and climbed into bed next to Alex.

"Yeah I know it's your birthday babe, but you're not happy though, are you?" Alex asked, turning this banter like conversation into a serious one.

"I'm going to sleep, night Alex." Bella said, as she gave Alex a quick kiss to the cheek, before rolling over, turning off the light and going to sleep.

"Bells please just hear me out, your Mum only left just over a month ago, and on your birthday you don't even hear from her, I'm kinda surprised you haven't tried to talk to me about this already."

Bella didn't have a come back to that, she had wanted to talk to Alex about her Mum, but everything and everyone had been so upbeat and happy today, she had just hoped she could make it through the day, without someone bringing the subject up.

But now Alex had seen through her act, and all she could do was keep her back turned to him and cry. She'd expected a card from her Mum today, maybe even a phone call, or possibly a visit, what she hadn't set herself up for was not receiving any form of contact at all.

Alex knew Bella was crying, he could feel the mattress shake as she did, and now he felt bad for bringing the idea of her Mum up.

"Bells baby I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, please stop crying." Alex pushed himself up, so he was leaning on his left elbow, his head resting on his hand, as he tried to look over Bella's shaking body and see her face.

Alex was about to wrap his right arm over Bella and pull her against him, when she rolled over onto her other side, her face hidden in Alex's chest as she cried and let her pent up emotions take over.

"S-She didn't even s-send me a c-card Al, she d-didn't even… she didn't even a-acknowledge her own d-daughter's birthday." Bella cried.

"I know sweetie and I'm sorry, but I wish we'd of spoken about this earlier so you didn't end your birthday by crying." Alex said, as his hand ran through Bella's hair, slowly calming her down.

"I know I'm s-sorry, I just kept holding onto the idea t-that maybe, she'd put a c-card through the d-door in the afternoon, or pop in later on, I guess I s-should have know better."

"Just forget about it now babe, what I want to know is; did you like your bracelet?"

Bella pushed herself up from her current position to give Alex a kiss on the lips. "It was the perfect gift." She whispered, as she settled herself down against Alex's chest, and they ended her birthday together, on a high.

TGTGTGTG

"You know you need to start planning Dad's party before it happens, right?" Gabriella asked Troy, as he climbed into bed next to her, and turned off the bedside lamp as he did.

"Yes Brie I know that, I just have no idea where to start." Troy answered, as he wrapped his arms around Gabriella and pulled her against him, as he laid them both down for the night.

"Why don't you ask the boys? They wanna be a part of this, so take some time out of practise one day at the beginning of the week, and brain storm with them, see what they can come up with and go from there."

"See this is why I'm rubbish at this, I'd never even thought of doing something like that, can't you come and help me?"

"I guess I could, this party isn't gonna happen if I don't is it?"

"Nope."

"Okay, how about Tuesday, I need to go in and speak to Anna's teacher on Monday, so I can do Tuesday, and that way, on Monday you can make sure all the boys will be there on Tuesday as well, okay?"

"Yep, thank you." Troy said, as he leant down to give Gabriella a kiss.

"I love you." Gabriela said, as they pulled away from their kiss.

"I love you too Brie, and you have no idea, exactly how much."

TGTGTGTG

There it is, chapter eight, it's a day later than planned, but it's here now, so that's what matters.

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