Chapter 19 – Wedding Box

Saturday, September 7th, 2024

I smiled as Troy rubbed my shoulder softly, he leaned over to kiss my shoulder as I took his hand into mine, "I feel like we have done everything that we have done as kids,"

Troy shook his head as he turned over to face me, "We have one more thing that we need to accomplish and then we have another stop to do before we go back home," I looked at him and he rolled on top of me, his lips pressing against mine while I wrapped my arms around him. "Again?" I whispered, he laughed with a nod, his lips going everywhere, "Nope, not again, come on, put some clothes on,"

"Troy, it is like ten at night!"

"And?"

"Where are we going?"

He laughed, "Just put some clothes on before I change my mind," I pushed off the bed and I pulled on a dress that I was wearing earlier. Troy smiled as he stuffed his feet into a pair of shoes while he kissed the side of my head. The past week had been almost bliss with each other. We hammered out the remaining things that were major issues between us and we talked through them.

Now, we were hitting up every single location that we had spent quality time at with each other. We went back to remember why we loved each other and we were remembering. We were having sex almost two to three times a day because suddenly, we can't keep our hands off each other. We seemed to be in our honeymoon phase again. Hell, not even our honeymoon, we were in our beginning of our relationship stage.

Troy and I linked hands while he grabbed his car keys from the table and I followed him to the car. Troy slid into the driver's side and I got into the passenger side as I looked at him confused. He smiled over at me as he put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway.

"Alright, can I get a hint?"

"You kicked my ass there. You told me you loved me there."

I gasped, "The original Swings!"

"Lance gave me a key last week before we left," he said looking over at me, "because I had an idea," I shook my head and I smiled over at him while he held my hand tightly. Troy turned up the music as I leaned over and rested my head on his shoulder. I yawned and Troy smiled, "This is very familiar,"

"Yea, it is, we would go from a date to Swings so you could still get your reps in. Lance loved when you stayed late but Gary hated it." Troy laughed, "Gary really hated it which is why I would do early and late. A lot of the times, we would go back to my house and crash, I would be up the next morning at six to go work with Gary."

"No way, I never knew that,"

"You slept till ten, I was never surprised,"

"You were always back next to me!"

"Well, I definitely went back to bed once I got back," I laughed and I leaned over to kiss his cheek. He pulled into the empty parking lot and he put it into park as he looked over at me. "You ready?" I nodded my head as I slid out of the car.

I went over and Troy leaned over and I laughed as I jumped onto his back. He secured me with his arms, "Is your elbow okay," I questioned, "It's fine," he said, "We haven't talked much about your elbow," I said quietly, Troy sighed, "Maybe we can do that tonight,"

"Maybe we can," we got inside and I saw a light on as I scrunched my eyes, "Who is here?"

"Uh…not sure,"

He knew because his voice didn't waver. He didn't ask me to stay outside.

He knew.

He walked through the door when I saw a couple of the Royals training staff and Gary. I frowned as Troy let me down and I crossed his jacket over me, he turned to look at me and he smiled, "Brie, I couldn't imagine doing this anywhere else with anybody else." I frowned as I looked at him, "Troy, what in the world,"

He smiled as he turned his head over his shoulder while looking at the three men standing around talking. Why were they here at nine thirty, why were they here period.

"Today has been six months since my surgery Brie, six months, I can throw off a mound tonight for the first time." My eyes grew in surprise as I looked at him with awh, "What?" Troy smiled, "It isn't much but it definitely will be my first pitch off a mound in six months and I am so happy you get to do it here with me."

"Oh my God, Troy," he kissed my forehead and then he turned around to greet several different people. I stopped at the bench as I tugged my legs up underneath of me as Troy twisted his hat around as one of the Royals executives tossed Troy his glove. It landed into his hands smoothly and I couldn't help but smile. He talked with them as he gained his instructions on what he is doing. Troy grinned because he was so happy.

"Take it easy Troy, 50%,"

Troy didn't know what fifty percent was, I chewed on my lip gently while I looked over at Troy who did some easy throws to a guy in a blue shirt, I squinted as I looked and I laughed, Troy and Cody both looked my direction and I waved, "Cody,"

"I had to!" he said with a shrug, I smiled with a shake of my head as they both went back to work. I was trying to figure out why we were doing this so late. I was trying to figure out how he convinced all of these people do it this way. Troy nodded his head as he did another and then another soft warm-up toss. I wrapped my arms tightly around me and I went to my cell phone as I took a snapshot of him in the wind-up.

He was pitching.

I breathed as I watched him, softly, toss the fastball to Cody who was crutched down, God, this made me feel seventeen again. I then took to my twitter account and I smiled softly.

It has been a long six months but here we are…I love you T! TroyBolton14

I smiled as I sent it along with the picture when the training staff motioned to Troy that it was time to slow down and wrap it up. He frowned but understood he couldn't push it. I watched him throw ten more to cool down and then somebody tossed him a towel. He wiped his face off and he reached down to grab a Gatorade that was sitting against the wall. I smiled as I stood up and stretched as they took Troy through some stretches but I leaned against the wall to watch.

Troy laughed and I knew it felt good. I knew he wanted to keep going.

Troy finished off the Gatorade and threw it in the trashcan. He looked up at me and I let a small smile across his face. I walked over and I wrapped my arms around his neck, "That was amazing," I whispered, "I am so happy for you." Troy kissed me and I squeezed myself too him.

"Can we pop a bottle of champagne for this moment right here?" I turned to look at Cody and I smiled as Troy tugged me close, "What? That they are talking?"

"Yes! It is about damn time!"

"Everything is falling into place as we need it." Troy squeezed me and then he let go to say something to the staff that was here in New Mexico. I bit down on my lip and Cody came over to hug me, "How are you doing?"

"A hell of a lot better."

Troy took a drink of his beer as I let my headrest on his shoulder, our eyes connected with the stars, "I can't believe that you got all of them here."

"It didn't take much convincing, the Arizona crew came over from Surprise. Also, Cody was itching to see if our fixing marriage was real or if we were kicking each other asses," I laughed and Troy chuckled, "I bet he was anxious,"

"He was, trust me," I smiled while Troy rolled a beer bottle between his fingers, "My elbow feels great Gabi,"

"I know Troy, I truly do know, because you got upset like you were seventeen again and they limited how much you could throw a week. You got upset over it." Troy laughed and nodded, "I did I wanted to keep going." I leaned over to kiss his cheek and he sighed, "I don't know Gabs, I wish we could live in this bubble that we have created forever but now…now it is time to almost time to go home."

"I thought we had one more stop…"

"We do but it is short,"

"Oh…"

Troy kissed the top of my head, "I would by lying if I told you I wasn't scared because I don't want this to go. I want us to stay in this blissful life." I laughed, "Troy, life isn't blissful,"

"Tonight was blissful Gabi, I made my first attempt at a comeback, I had you watching me, my best friend was there, the only thing missing is my daughter,"

"I miss her a lot,"

"I know," he kissed me again and I sighed as I leaned into him, his arm draped over top of me. "Troy, this was the best thing we could have done and right before our anniversary,"

"Can you believe it has been six years?"

"That was a lot of fun that day,"

"It truly was,"

"Can we celebrate your 30th birthday again, can we try again?" I asked looking back at him, "Let me do something for your 30th birthday," Troy shook his head, "I don't want to babe,"

"No, please, I had this big plan for your 30th birthday!"

"As long as you don't care if I throw you a 30th birthday," I shook my head, "No, please do," Troy smiled, "Fine, you can try it again." I leaned into him as my eyes went back to the stars, "I can't wait to see Lo," I whispered, "I miss her a lot,"

"I miss her too. It was a nice break though,"

"Indeed was,"

He kissed me softly and I took his hat off his head and I placed it on mine. "I always love when you wear my hats," he whispered, I smiled softly while I pulled him into my arms. My fingers ran through his hair and we kissed a little bit harder. He kissed me again and then he pulled back to look at the stars. His hands wrapping around my waist while he breathed.

I breathed with him.

I was happy.

Sunday, September 8th, 2024

I went into Troy's closet as my eyes swept the area to make sure there wasn't anything that needed to be taken back with us tomorrow when we left in the morning. He was downstairs fixing something that needed to be broken as I reached up when I saw a box.

I frowned because it looked so familiar and I just couldn't place it. I couldn't place where I had seen this box before. My stood onto my tiptoes and I reached forward with my hands and I grabbed the edge but my hands slipped. I fell flat on my feet and I frowned as I reached up again and got a better grip. I eased the box off the shelf and the dust came flying with it. I coughed as the dust filled my lungs and I then sat the box down.

Holy shit.

"Troy!" I yelled, I backed out of his closet and I sat down on his bedroom floor. My legs crossing underneath of me as I began to peel back the tape on the box. "Everything okay?" Troy came into the room and he looked down at the box, "What is that?" I looked back up at him, "You don't remember?"

He bit on his lip and he shook his head, "No, I don't, am I in trouble for not remembering?" I laughed and shook my head, "I forgot what it was at first," Troy sat down next to me and I peeled back the rest of the tape. "It was the box that we made about a week before we got married." I said, Troy gasped, "The one that we said if we ever needed help during a rough patch to open," I nodded my head, as I don't really remember what we put in here.

Pushing back the top of the box, I smiled as a whole bottle of wine was sitting in the corner of the box. Troy reached over for it and he grinned, "Now, this was good planning on our part." He got up and went running to the kitchen to get a corkscrew. My eyes surveyed the rest of the box and I couldn't help but smile.

There was a note to each of us that the other had written. There was an envelope and another piece of paper sitting at the bottom. Troy came back with two glasses and the bottle already popped. He sat down next to me and he poured me a glass of wine. "Okay, what do we have here?"

I picked up the belonging as I took a drink of the wine and then Troy surveyed them, "Let's save the letters for last,"

I agreed so I opened the envelope and I couldn't help but laugh, out came about thirty pictures of Troy and I from our dating and engagement days. Troy laughed as he took part of the stack, "Goodness," he muttered, he flipped through them as did I and in each of them, his smile looked like he was smiling at Logan. "That is how you smile at Logan," I said quietly as I showed him. He frowned, "I smile like that to you,"

"Sometimes," I mused, "Not recently," I looked over at him and I smiled, "That smile tells me how happy you are and as long as I see it with Logan, I know you are at least happy."

"I'm happy with you, I am always happy with you."

I nodded and I went through more of the pictures and I looked at each and I knew how in love we once were. I know we were star struck teenagers on a path of greatness but I never knew how it would all play out. Troy put his hand on my knee when he turned a picture to face me, a laugh bubbled in my throat as it was from prom night.

"I thought you looked so beautiful in that dress," he said quietly, "I still do. I think that was one of my favorites, right with your wedding dress," I smiled and leaned into him while I took another drink of the wine. I picked up the pictures so I could find my favorite of Troy. I went through them and then I smiled as I stopped on one, "This…" Troy looked at it and he grinned, "That was at our spot," he said, I nodded, as it was a picture of him laughing with a beer in his hand. It was a newer picture but he looked so care free and happy.

"That is the Troy I miss,"

He looked up at me and he took a deep breath, "I miss him too."

"Where did he go?"

"Pulled underneath the current of the top player on his team, the husband who failed, and the dad who doesn't want to screw up." My eyes lifted to him and I turned my head slightly, "Troy, you never failed as a husband anymore than I failed at being a wife."

"I let things slip Gabi, I was a douche bag,"

"So? I was a bitch. We were both wrong in everything that happened. Nothing is going to ever change that Troy. We just have to accept it and figure out how to change." He sighed and he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You also will never fail at being a dad to Logan. You love her to no end Troy, you light up her world and you fight for her when I am being dumb. You protect her. You love her. You do everything that she ever wants you to do. You won't fail…not ever."

Troy pressed his nose into my temple and I stroked his arm, "About being the best…I can't help you there. You brought that upon yourself," Troy laughed and I kissed him, "You are an amazing man Troy Bolton and I could not be more honored to be your wife."

He kissed me softly and I kissed him back, "I love you,"

"I love you too."

He took a long drink of his drink while I pulled at the list that was folded in half. I smiled as I unfolded the list and I smiled.

"Things to remember when we are fighting…"

"Oh…this should be good."

I pulled my legs up and I began to read the list.

"Number one, remember how hot each other is," Troy laughed and I smiled, "Number two, remember the times underneath of the stars and the slow moments that are forever in our memories," My eyes scanned the page and then back up, "Number three, don't forget to say I love you everyday. No matter what the situation is, say I love you."

"We definitely failed that one."

My eyes looked up at him and I nodded, "We do need to be a lot better about that, a simple reminder that we do love each other." Troy set his glass down and he crawled over to me, "I can remind you right damn now how much I love you," I laughed as he pressed his lips against mine, I breathed his intoxicating breath while I pulled away just for a moment, "Let's finish this and then you can do this…" he smiled and I kissed him.

He settled behind me as I went on with the list. "Number four, don't ever stop being sexual Troy,"

Troy hooted with that one and I couldn't help but laugh, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders while he kissed the top of my head. "Number five, when the days get long, remember that we are there for each other."

"Number six, reach out to each other for comfort instead of turning against each other,"

"Fuck," Troy said, "We need to staple this up in our bedroom," I stroked his hand with my thumb as I leaned back into him, "Yea, we do." Troy laughed quietly and I continued, "Number seven, never use the word hate. Use the word love instead."

"Cheesy," Troy commented, I laughed and took a deep breath, "Number eight, don't ever forget the nights at Swings where we both worked hard at two things. 1.) Making our dreams come too and 2.) Supporting each other no matter what the time is."

I smiled reading the next on, "Number nine, always support each other no matter what the choice we make is."

A frown came over my lips as I read the last one on the list.

"Number ten: never walk away from a fight."

I let the paper drop to the ground and I covered my face with my hands and Troy squeezed me back to him, "We followed that rule so well for a long time,"

"And then we forgot all of the other rules."

"And shit feel apart," Troy finished, I nodded and he kissed me softly on the temple as I turned to face him. His eyes met mine and I met his as the standard battle of brown vs. blue He reached forward to stroke my cheek with his thumb but I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his. His lips parted gently and I moved into his lap as he secured me tightly in his arms. He pulled away and he kissed my collarbone.

I gasped and he lifted my shirt up, my arms went up and once it was gone, he pulled me in a little bit tighter. His bare rough hands on my skin that caused excitement to race through my body. He reached up and easily flicked my bra off from my body. I kissed him again redirecting his mouth to mine and he squeezed my sides tightly, as he pulled me in to him. I reached down as I slid the Nike shorts off his hips, I elevated my hips and he help kick them off.

He laughed as he picked me up and easily laid me down onto the bed. His t-shirt got lost along the way and I pulled him into another kiss. A word had yet to be spoken between the two of us since the final look between each other. The intense connection that had been lacking for all of these months had surged through. He worked his lips down my body and I groaned from the satisfactory of it all.

Troy stroked my back with his finger as we were both buried underneath of the blankets. I sat up and I leaned over the bed for the bottle of wine and the two letters that were left. "We didn't finish,"

Troy smiled, "I beg to differ," I rolled my eyes and he kissed my temple as I took a drink of the wine bottle and I handed the card addressed to Troy over to him. "Hell," he muttered, he sat up and I looked around for a shirt only to find his. I pulled it over my head and stuck my arms through the loop. "Read yours first,"

"Aloud?"

"Yes," I answered, he nodded his head as he opened the card. I took another drink and I offered a drink to Troy but he waved his hand to say no. He pulled out the piece of paper and I instantly recognized my handwriting but I couldn't think of anything that I said.

He opened it slowly and he cleared his throat.

"Troy, I know that you think this is silly. I know you think that this is almost stupid because in your mind, nothing will ever go wrong. You think that life is rainbows and butterflies and you think this is just a jinx to the marriage that we are committing too…but here we are. You are reading this letter currently and I hope we are at least sitting in the same room, I hope that we are at least talking, I hope it isn't too late for any of this." Troy paused as his eyes looked up at me, he then looked down at the paper, "and I hope that we still have a chance for our marriage to work because I will never be able to love anybody like I love you. You are my soul mate. You are my person. You are my everything."

I felt my chin tremble but I kept my emotions in check. "Later this week, we will commit to each other with vows that will link us together until the end of time. Maybe we hit another rough patch after a miscarriage, or something happens to your career, or maybe we just grew apart and there is no saving us but I have to tell you, I have to tell you that you are my person. You are the only thing that will ever matter to me even in the slightest in this world. This is even a reminder to me that nothing can be that bad, nothing can be that bad to split us apart because we are forever," the tears started slowly and I tucked the sheet around me tighter to keep from shaking.

"I love you Troy, maybe, maybe something happened but I think I will always love you. I will forever and always love you until the world is dark forever and I will love you beyond that. Nothing will ever make me fall out of love and I hope that his letter helps remind both of us that we can do this. I hope it reminds us that we are forever and that we can do this. We have done this. Just keep going, keep doing this. Keep loving."

I wiped a tear away as Troy finished, "Love forever…Brie,"

I looked at him and he leaned over to kiss me quickly, "I do love you Brie, I love you more than you will ever realize," I hugged him tightly and he kissed me on the cheek as I let go. "Your turn," I nodded as I opened the letter and I settled into the bed. I crossed my legs underneath of me while I bit down on my lip when I got the letter out. Troy's messy handwriting came back to me and I was already ready to cry.

"Brie, I hope you never read this. I pray you never read this because I don't want you to read this. I don't want you to ever think that I failed at loving you. I don't want you to ever think I hated you. I don't want you ever to think that something was wrong between our marriages. How could our marriage end in this? How could we be sitting here reading these letters contemplating our marriage? That isn't us. That makes me hurt just thinking about it and I hope that maybe we are fixing things. I hope that we are doing better by this point."

My voice was shaking, "I am so in love with you it hurts everyday Gabi, I am so in love with you I can't believe our lives would ever come to this, and you are my life Gabi. You are the thing that I live for. There are so many moments to our lives that connect us. Some of them are happy and some of them are sad but they made us who we are today and this is just another bump in the road. I will never just give up on our marriage. I will never just give up and stop fighting. I will fight for you. I will fix it. I will be there for you and I will make you the happiest girl alive,"

I paused as I sucked in a long breath and wiped away tears, "Maybe we are doing this so we can remind each other that even though shit got bad, we are still Troy and Gabi. We are still the same couple who ate pizza together, watched too much baseball, and gazed at the stars. We are still the same couple who dream of having years worth of success and plenty of children to share it with. We are still the same people who fell head over heels in love with each other without even trying. We are soul mates Gabi. We are meant for each other and I will never think otherwise so fucking forget this. Fucking forget whatever we have been so pissed off about,"

I laughed and wiped away more tears as I finished the remaining paragraph. "You are the only woman I will ever love Gabriella Bolton, yes, I know, we are not married yet but when you read this, you'll be my wife and you'll be the best thing that has ever happened to me. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me because you taught me that I could love more than just one thing. You taught me what it meant to be an athlete. You taught me how to be a brother. You taught me how to be a son. You taught me so much and I will never let that go. I will always be thanking you. So, I love you Gabriella and I hope you never in your life need to read this because that means I did something wrong in my life and I never…ever want to do you wrong."

I dropped the paper, as I couldn't continue with the tears streaming down my face. I covered my face and Troy pulled me into his arms, "I love you," he whispered into my ear, I held on to him and he held on to me as we came to the conclusion that we could never not be with each other. We were stuck together forever because our lives would be worse without each. He stroked my back and he kissed my temple, "I am so fucking in love with you,"

I kissed him again and again over and over. "I love you too," I said, his eyes looked into mine, "I am so happy that we came here," I told him, he nodded with a smile, "This was the best thing we did all year."

"Troy, I can't wait until I see Logan,"

"I miss my little girl,"

"I miss her just as much,"

Troy laughed and he tickled my stomach, "I miss seeing both of you together."

"Same, same,"

He kissed me again and that kiss lead to another which lead to another thing.

Monday, September 9th, 2024

Reaching over, I pressed my lips to Troy's shoulder and hugged him closer to me. He twisted around and I smiled, my fingers reached up and I ran my fingers through his hair. "Brie," he whispered, I smiled, "Are we going to go back to work?"

"I was going to go back to the Royals," Troy said, his fingers running down my arm, I nodded my head, "I told Joel we might need a month,"

"He will probably welcome you back,"

"I think I will, I don't know, I just want to do this with you?"

"I think it is time for us to try the normal part." Troy smiled, Troy kissed me again and again, "I think it is time to move Logan downstairs," Troy whispered, I giggled, "Troy,"

"What?"

"You just want me all to yourself,"

"I'm tired of having to go somewhere else to have hot, loud sex with you," I giggled and I turned to kiss him, "Maybe she just needs more sleepovers at her grandparents house," Troy smiled, "Every other night?" I pushed his shoulder and he smiled, "I would miss her too much."

"She is growing up so fast," I whispered, Troy tucked his arm around me, "I know, can you believe she will be the big five," I smiled and thought about Logan, her adorable smile and the way she could run and play for hours without even trying. "I cannot wait for a friend dinner,"

"We need to patch our relationship up with Josh and Melissa," I frowned, "I am still upset with Melissa Troy,"

I looked up at him and he looked at me with a sigh, "I know, and you have a right to be because she was horrible to you about it but we can't drag this out Gabi." I laid my head down on his shoulder, "I just want a baby and she took it all for granted."

Troy didn't say anything, he just rubbed my shoulder and I took deep breath, "I love you," he whispered into my ear, "I know how much you want a baby but you can't get mad at our friends for having babies and dealing with it a certain way,"

"Troy," I sat up but he pulled me back down, "No, Gabi, I get why you are so frustrated with her. I get it, I understand, it isn't easy for me to see all of my best friends become dads again, it isn't easy to see them in love with their new kids either but I don't hate them."

I closed my eyes, "Okay,"

"Brie,"

I turned into him and I let my head press into his chest, "Brie," he said softly, "It's okay," my shoulders shook with pain from the entire thought of it all. Troy turned and he pulled me into his grasp as his body blocked me from the world and he pressed his face into my head. "Oh baby," he said quietly, "It's okay,"

"I am so tired of hearing of our friends get pregnant and our friends getting to have more and more babies,"

"It's okay baby, It's okay," he kissed the top of my head again, I pulled back and let my headrest on the pillows but Troy kept me close. Troy rubbed my shoulder and I reached up to wipe the tears away, "I am so tired of it all,"

"We'll join them some day, okay?"

I shrugged, "I don't know,"

"Brie, there are a lot of different options we can take."

"But it won't be my baby,"

He brushed a piece of hair away and he kissed me softly again, "I know, I'm sorry,"

Sitting up, Troy grabbed me by the waist and he kissed my back, "You are going to be okay and we are going to make it through this. We will do the doctor thing and marriage counseling and then we will see where we stand with the baby thing,"

"What if nothing is wrong? What if we just have terrible luck,"

Troy laughed, "Brie, we don't have terrible luck. I am doing what I love, you are doing what you love, we have a beautiful four-year old and we are finally fixing our marriage. We do not have terrible luck no matter what the hell the last year has said about us, the tommy john was the con of doing the job I love and having a miscarriage was the downside of the horrible part of life but we do not have horrible lives."

He kissed me softly, "We ran into some bad times but there is nothing but good to come with them, I promise," I turned to look at him and he kissed me again, "Okay, question, do you want to make another stop or do you want to go home?"

"I want to go home Troy, I miss my baby," he nodded and he stroked my back and I smiled at him, "I love you," I whispered, I leaned down and kissed him, his arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me closer to him. "I love you too,"

He kissed my forehead and I snuggled closer to him because maybe I wasn't quite ready to leave.

Tuesday, September 10th, 2024

I munched on a fry as we were back in the good state of Missouri but we still had a good two hours to go. "October, I will schedule a doctors appointment with a fertility doctor," Troy squeezed my hand tightly, "Good, maybe it will be a simple fix,"

"I am just in denial over the whole thing. I had Logan so how could I have four other miscarriages?" I paused to think about it, "I just scared that they will tell me I will never be able to have another baby again or that it's going to take fertility treatments,"

"There is nothing wrong with that Brie,"

"I just failed as a woman then, the one thing I was meant to do I can't do."

"You also don't know that, Gabi, stop panicking about the things that don't matter right now." I looked over at him and he rubbed my knee, "I promise you, we'll figure this out together but just relax about the whole thing."

"That's easy for you to say Troy,"

"Alright, let's make a deal,"

I frowned as I looked over at Troy, "For the next three weeks, we don't talk about another baby. It is a forbidden subject and you can't think about the outcome of a doctor's appointment that isn't even set yet. Let us spend three weeks with our daughter and three weeks playing baseball again. Let's just spend the next couple of weeks having fun and being Troy and Gabi. I don't want to stress about that stuff,"

I sucked in a breath and I looked over at him, "Okay,"

"Just give us some normalcy,"

"Fair,"

My eyes noticed the signs for Overland Park and I was beginning to grow anxious. I couldn't wait to see Logan after a long ten days separated from her. I picked up my cell phone and I called Joel's cell phone. It rang a couple of times and then it picked up, "Gabi!"

"Joel! Hey, how are you?"

"Good, good, how are you?"

"A lot better," I confirmed, "It was what we needed,"

"I am glad, how can I help you?"

"Troy and I are going to join you guys on the road if you still want me I will come,"

Joel laughed, "I would love for you to join us! Are you sure you don't want to just wait until we are at home?"

"Are you sure?"

"We have everything going smoothly, spend some time with Logan."

"Thank you,"

"You're welcome,"

"I'll see you soon then,"

"Soon,"

I hung up and Troy smiled over at me, "Is he excited?"

"Probably, I heard it wasn't going well." Troy smiled and he rubbed my knee gently as we pulled through my dad's town. I sat a little straighter because I couldn't wait to wrap my arms around Logan. Who cares if it was almost nine at night as we came rolling through to take her home, I just wanted her to be home. He drove a little faster on the deserted roads after a long day of driving. He pulled into the gated community and waved to the guard.

Troy rolled through as I unbuckled my seat belt and Troy twisted around the neighborhood. He came to my dad's house and eased into the driveway, once the car was stopped. I opened my door but Troy was racing around the front. I laughed and I ran ahead as I pushed him with my hip and then my hands as I landed on the front porch. Troy landed on the railing and I laughed, as I knew that was going to leave a bruise.

He groaned as I knocked on the door once and then opened it up, Troy came up from behind me as we stumbled into the house with a laugh. "Well…this is a good sign," Troy and I looked up at my dad and a sleepily Logan lying in his lap. She lifted her head and she gasped, "Mommy!"

She came running over and I squatted down as she tackled me in a hug. I squeezed her tightly to my chest and kissed the side of her head. "How are you baby girl?" she giggled, "I missed you mommy," I smelled her sweet scent, "I missed you so much baby," I pulled back to look at her sweet face and I stroked her cheek and she smiled, I laughed and Troy then came from behind and lifted her up. She squealed loudly and Troy laughed.

"Daddy!" he twisted her around and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Troy closed his eyes as he held her tight, "How is my princess?" she giggled, "I missed you daddy,"

"I missed you too sweet girl," Troy stroked the back of her hair and my mom came out of the room with a smile, "How is everybody?" my mom asked, Troy looked at me with a smile, "We are doing a lot better," I said to her, she smiled, "Good, Logan was good of course," I smiled softly as I reached over and stroked Logan's hair. "We are wanting to do a dinner this week before we go back to work," I mentioned softly, "That sounds nice,"

"Thanks for watching her," Troy said, I bent over for her bag, "No problem. Your mom had fun with her too."

"I bet. We'll see you guys later this week,"

My dad walked us out but he held me back as Troy went to put Logan in her car seat. "How did it go? Really?" I turned to face my dad, "You saw how it went dad, and we are 80% back to normal. We still have a couple of things that need to be smoothed out and put to the test but we are doing a lot better. We are acting like a couple and communicating again. We had a good time in New Mexico."

He squeezed my shoulder, "I am so happy,"

"Thank you again," I hugged him and he hugged me back, "There is nobody else for you Gabi, he is the one,"

I squeezed him a little tighter, "I love you dad,"

"I love you too,"

He smiled as I walked away to get into the car with Troy. I slid into the passenger seat and Logan was beaming from the back, "Momma, I love school!"

"I'm glad baby, you are going tomorrow,"

"Okay!"

Troy smiled as he started the car and made the drive back to our house. I leaned my head back against the headrest and I reached for Troy's hand. He smiled as I laced our fingers together and my eyes looked back at Logan who was smiling back at me. "Tell me about your visits with papi and grandma and everybody,"

She started to talk a mile a minute but you could tell she was tired, her eyes were slowly starting to fall as she talked about the parks that she visited, the Royals game she attended, the days at school with her new friends Grace and Blair. She giggled about the pet rabbit in class and Grandma Lucille's dog Aggie.

Troy shared a smile with me as I turned to look at her again, "Did you let grandpa do your shots?" she frowned but nodded her head, "Yea, momma, I think I need to check,"

"When we get home baby,"

She went quiet after that and five minutes later we pulled into our driveway. He opened the garage door and slid the car into the correct spot while I got out. I went to grab a sleeping Logan as she rested her head on my shoulder and I rubbed her back. Troy opened the door to the house and Skip greeted us with a meow. I walked through the house and right past Logan's room and into our bedroom, Troy laughed from behind me.

"Gabs,"

"I missed her."

"Okay, just for tonight."

"Just for tonight. Will you grab her meter?"

"Yes,"

I laid her down as she was already in her PJ's. I went to my closet and I changed into a tank top with a sweatshirt of Troy's. I then crawled onto the bed as Troy was checking her blood sugar. "She is good." Troy said, I crawled underneath of the blankets and I snuggled up with Logan and she snuggled right back.

This was the life. This was everything that I wanted. This is everything that I needed.

Ten minutes later, Troy joined the bed and I instantly knew I was wrong. Troy wrapped his arms around the both of us and I smelled the comfort between us. The two of us protecting Logan from the harmful world. This was everything. This was everything that I needed.

Ek! Happy Thursday! This is your Sunday update because well…I will be on the East Coast all weekend! So I hope you guy enjoyed the update!

You may or may not get one next weekend because I am back to a very busy schedule with school! Senior year though so it shouldn't be too bad!

Thanks for the patience!

Xx Jo

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