J O U R N E Y
Chapter 6: In the Case Of…
Written by: BeneathTheSurface
Summary: Sequel to E X T R A H E L P. Twenty nine year old Gabriella Montez and her girlfriend twenty two year old Sharpay Evans are making a new chapter in their lives. Gabpay; femslash; GabriellaxSharpay
--
Gabriella was running around the house, trying to get ready for work. She slept late even though Sharpay was there; trust she yelled at her for not waking her. She was brushing her teeth quickly as she ran a hairbrush through her hair, still trying hard to get ready.
She spit out the toothpaste. "Shar, what time is it?!" she yelled to her fiancé who was in the kitchen, fixing breakfast.
"Summertime!" She sang back jokingly, causing Gabriella to roll her eyes in annoyance. "It's 8:15," she replied being serious, causing the brunette to groan and run out of the bathroom. She placed her heels on, on her way out of the room; somewhat hopping out.
"Whoa okay, don't do that. We don't need our future child getting brain damaged because you fell putting heels on," Sharpay said as she poured milk into her bowl of cereal.
"Well trust me the brain damage wouldn't be from me falling," Gabriella said, running her hand through her hair.
"You're funny," Sharpay replied sarcastically, placing a spoonful of Coco Puffs in her mouth, before walking to the living room to turn on the television. "Ugh…news; flip," she mumbled.
Gabriella heard them mention someone named Chad, so she ran to the couch "Put it back real fast," she said stopping behind her.
"Gabs it's just the news,"
"PUT IT BACK!" she yelled, scaring Sharpay half to death.
"Jeez someone's hormonal," she replied, putting it back to the station.
Chad Danforth of the New York Knicks has been removed from the NBA's roster after coming out about his sexuality and who he was involved with. If you didn't already find out, he's involved with Ryan Evans backup drummer of the Rolling Stones…
"I can't believe it," Gabriella whispered in shock.
"I know, I mean I can't believe the Rolling Stones are still alive," Sharpay responded, causing Gabriella to roll her eyes and look at the back of Sharpay's head in anger.
Sharpay felt eyes burning into her, so she looked up at her fiancé "Oh you meant about Chad. Yeah that's a shame," Gabriella continued to give her death glares. "Baby aren't you gonna be late for work?"
Gabriella checked her watch "Damn," she hissed, before grabbing her purse "Call Ryan and Chad please," she added before running out the door, closing it behind her.
"Yeah sure, love you too," she mumbled, placing another spoonful of her cereal into her mouth, flipping the channel to Spongebob Squarepants "Woooo I love this episode," she smiled as she started watching the cartoon.
--
Gabriella walked into the firm, greeting the receptionist at the front desk, then made her way to Mark's office. She walked in without knocking as he was sipping his coffee. She is so close with him that they have no problems with the other not knocking, except in the case of being at home then they'd much rather want the other to knock.
"Hey Gabs, what's wrong?" he asked concerned, knowing something was up just by the way she looked.
"I just heard Chad Danforth was removed from the NBA because of his sexuality. Isn't that discrimination?" she asked, taking a seat in front of him.
He took another sip of his coffee and nodded "Yes it is, but we can't do anything about that, unless he comes to us," she continued to look at him "You were asking me to represent him, weren't you?"
"Yes," she finally said in a shockingly loud tone.
"Gabriella I imagine something else is bothering you. You mind telling me? If not please stop taking it out on me," he asked in a concerned yet fearful tone.
She sighed, looking at him with sad eyes "I'm sorry, you're right. I've been having a slightly terrible morning, I mean it is Sharpay's fault; sort of. Since she's been taking time off, she hasn't been that great; not like lazy or anything. The house is always clean, but I mean she's becoming rather sarcastic and joking about everything, it's annoying," she said in a frustrated tone.
Mark smiled at her, walking out from behind his desk and pulling her into a friendly hug. "Gabriella she's doing it to annoy you; yes, but it's all out of love. She cares, she just likes to liven things up a little; she's always been that way,"
"Yeah, but just once would it kill her to take things seriously? I mean when the report on Chad came up she was too busy noticing about the Rolling Stones being alive still,"
Mark looked at her in disbelief "They're still alive?" he asked, causing her to glare at him "Sorry, but you know she understands. Call her later after the morning has been taken in and ask her to call Chad and Ryan,"
Gabriella let out a sigh and nodded. "Yeah okay," he placed his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.
"Great, well I we have cases to go through in the meantime. You can call her during lunch," he told her as she agreed, sitting herself back down in the chair.
--
"I can't believe he didn't tell me! I'm his boyfriend and I have to find out through the damn press that he's being dropped," Ryan yelled, pacing back and forth in Sharpay and Gabriella's apartment.
"I know, but Gabriella said she'd try to get Mark to represent him if he wants to take it to the courtroom," Sharpay explained. Ryan stopped and walked towards her, sitting down on the couch.
"Yeah, but it's up to him and I know how hard it was for him to come out to the world and now the NBA pulls this shit. It isn't fair,"
"No it isn't, but that's why you beat the system. Gabriella's right, Chad can't just lay around and pretend everything is okay when it isn't. Gays haven't gotten treated respectfully for years and we're still not, but that's why you must fight back. Plus Chad loves basketball, I can't see that guy playing or doing anything else," Sharpay said to her brother.
He just didn't understand why his boyfriend of four years couldn't tell him about this. They told each other everything and it just didn't seem fair that he'd hide something like this from him. He was glad he could talk to Sharpay about it though. She was another person he confided in and she understood everything he's going through; she's his twin; they're connected.
"I'll tell you what, we should go over to his place and we'll make sure that he gets what he deserves. His spot back on the NBA," Sharpay said, patting her brother on the knee before walking into the bedroom to get dressed.
--
Gabriella sat in the lunchroom of the firm, picking through her food as Mark watched her curiously. She hasn't called Sharpay yet and he just wondered when she planned on it. She hasn't really told him anything about their relationship; how it's been going and everything. He continued to watch her curiously, until he spotted the shiny ring on her ring finger on the hand she was using to play with her food.
"Gabs, are you engaged?" he asked her curiously. She glanced down at the ring and a smile soon crept across her face, thinking about that night.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you. But since we're being honest and all, I might be pregnant too," Mark spit out his soda, shocking her at first.
"What? You're pregnant? Who's the father?" He asked, making her laugh and shake her head slightly.
"Sharpay is…? Wait that didn't come out right," she said as she thought about what she just said "There's this new procedure that scientists created for women who are in a homosexual relationship to have a baby where they can pass the same genes to their baby," Gabriella explained to him as he continued to look at her confused.
"Wow that is something, but congratulations. You're gonna send me a wedding invitation, right?" He asked, making her laugh and nod. "Good, then I guess this would be a good time to tell you I have a wife and two boys," he added.
"What?" she said in disbelief.
He scoffed. "Gabriella a lot of shit can happen in four years," he said as she nodded.
"Yeah apparently a lot can," she agreed as her cell phone went off. She looked at the caller I.D. and answered it right away.
"Hey are you over there yet?" she asked through the receiver.
"Nice to talk to you too," Sharpay replied.
"Hi baby," Gabriella shrugged.
"Much better and yes I am on my way with Ryan. He isn't happy one bit. Apparently, Chad didn't tell him that he was dropped either," Gabriella shook her head.
"What? Why would he do that?" she asked out loud to herself and to Sharpay.
She shrugged. "I have no idea, but we're going to find out and I have a feeling Ryan is really gonna lay it on him," Sharpay replied glancing at her angry brother while she tried to keep an eye on the road ahead.
"Well tell me if you find anything else out," Gabriella sighed.
She nodded "Of course, well we're here. I'll talk to you later, love you,"
"Love you too, bye," Gabriella hung up and looked at Mark who was waiting for her to tell him what was going on.
"Ryan didn't know, so Sharpay and he are going over to his place to find out some information," she summarized as he nodded. "I really hope he decides to go through the whole lawsuit thing because that guy loves basketball,"
"Oh trust me I know; that was all he talked about in my class," Mark replied "And I really hope he does too. It's about time him and the rest of the gay community got some respect,"
--
Sharpay and Ryan made their way up to the front porch of Chad's house. Sharpay walked towards the side window and looked inside, but saw not a single thing moving inside the house. Ryan hopped up to grab the key over the door that he would use to get in all the other times and opened the door.
He started storming in, but Sharpay pulled him to a halt. "What?" he hissed.
"Ryan I know you're upset, but don't take it out on him just yet. Wait until you hear what he has to say, okay?" she explained to him with a hard expression on her face, causing him to soften his and nod.
"Okay," he whispered as they walked to his room in the back to find beer bottles on his dresser and night table and the young man passed out on the bed. The room was shielded of any light as the television played highlights from a game; Sharpay's guess was it was ESPN.
"Chad?" Ryan walked around the mess on the floor, leaning down in front of his boyfriend who looked dead asleep. "Chad babe, wake up," he whispered, stroking the back of his hand against the darker male's cheek.
Chad's eyes opened slowly looking at his boyfriend "What time is it?" he asked.
"About two o'clock; Sharpay's here," he told him, causing Chad to glance up at the blonde female who gave him a reassuring smile.
"I guess you heard about the NBA thing," he stated, causing Ryan to nod.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked him softly, leaning down on his knees.
"I was scared. I didn't want to make it a big deal and the thought that I might not be able to support you one day hurt," he explained.
"Chad, you having money doesn't make me love you; you just being you does, but basketball is everything to you and you just can't give up your dream like that," Ryan explained, looking up at Sharpay for help.
"Yeah Chad, I mean professional basketball has always been your dream to play and just because a bunch of homophobes decided to take that away doesn't make it okay. Gabriella knows a great lawyer that'd represent you if you are interested. We figured you'd want someone you trust so, remember Mr. Gregg?" Sharpay asked, walking fully into the room.
Chad looked at her confused. "Our English teacher?" she nodded. "What about him?" he asked her.
"He has his law degree from Harvard. He only taught because his mother got really sick and he needed to take care of her, but since her death he decided to go back to being a lawyer. Anyway, we know him and he is someone we trust. He helped me at my intoxicating state and I think he'd not let a case like this slip away and you shouldn't let something like discrimination slip away either," she told him, now sitting at his bedside.
He looked between the two twins, knowing they were right. He shouldn't sulk around when he could be playing a game that he loves. What the NBA did was wrong and he needed to get back into the game and he felt confident that Mr. Gregg could be the one to do just that. He just prayed that his team wouldn't like him any differently though.
Chad sighed and nodded finally. "Okay, lets do it," he told them, making them smile at him.
"Great, I'll go call Gabriella and you can rest that little head of yours," she told him, patting his leg, before getting up and out of the room to call her fiancé.
--
That night, Sharpay and Gabriella were sitting down on their bed, holding each others hands waiting in anticipation for the timer to go off. Gabriella seemed a little more nervous then Sharpay though, even if the blonde really was nervous too.
Sharpay wrapped her arm around Gabriella, pulling her close to her, kissing the top of her head "I love you and whatever happens, I will still love you," she whispered to her as Gabriella nodded.
"I really hope this timer goes off already," Gabriella commented, making Sharpay laugh slightly.
"Me too, I wanna know if I'm gonna be a daddy…wait, am I the daddy?" Sharpay asked confused, making Gabriella smile up at her.
"You sure act like it," she told her, but then kissed her lightly afterwards. "But maybe that's a good thing," she added as Sharpay agreed with her fiancé.
Before they knew it the timer went off, causing them to look at each other. This was it; they were going to find out with they were going to be parents to a living human being. Sharpay hoped she wouldn't screw up at being a parent; she just wanted to be a good mom…or dad, whatever she was going to be to it.
"Sharpay?!" she heard from in the bathroom, causing her eyes to dart to Gabriella; their eyes locked and she already knew…
Woohoo! Another update! :) I'd like to dedicate this to X0He'sAllThat0X because you are amazing author and person. Thank you for the sweet reviews from you and everyone else. I'm sorry there is a cliffhanger here, but I knew I had to make one eventually. But anyway please review because they make me happy and plus, the more you review the more I will update faster; think of it that way. :p But you guys can predict what's going to happen or you can just wait.lol Up to you and anyway review and thank you again.
