RECAP
When she stepped into the bedroom, the sight before her made her scream.
When Troy heard her scream, he dashed out of the bathroom.
"Gabriella, what's the matter?"
END RECAP
The sight before Troy absolutely stunned him. The room was absolute disarray. Their clothes were strung across the room, the bed was torn apart, and the furniture was thrown everywhere. It looked as though a hurricane had gone through their room.
Troy looked over at Gabriella, to see tears coming down her face. He gathered her in his arms and just held her close. Gabriella looked up at him, with an angry look on her face.
"Why do they have to do this? Why oh why?" she said fiercely
"I couldn't tell you princess, but whatever this is all about, it's more serious than I thought. Now, I suggest that we clean this up, just so the people won't start talking." Troy said smiling at his humor.
Over the space of the next hour they cleaned everything, as well as check to see if anything had been taken. To their surprise, nothing had been taken. When they were finished, Gabriella changed, and collapsed on top of the bed. Troy was in the other room on the phone, so Gabriella had some thinking time.
As she lay there thinking of all that had happened to her today, her thoughts fell on her father. Why had he not told her about any of this? Did he just never get around to it? Maybe he had forgotten? Whatever it was, she wished he was here to help her. Then her mind fell on Jasper Casmir, and how evil he really was. Just thinking of him made Gabriella fume. Then, as if a lightening bolt had hit, the realization hit her. She needed to do something about all this. Her father had kept it secret for a reason, and she felt she needed to do everything in her power to do just that. She was going to find that cave first.
Troy walked in the room, closing his cell phone. He walked over to the bed and sat next the Gabriella, and sighed.
"Troy, I have to tell you something." Gabriella said. Troy looked over at her.
"Sure, go ahead princess."
Gabriella took in a deep breath. "Well, I've come to a conclusion. I feel that I need to do something about all this mess. I think we need to find that cave before Casmir does. My father kept it a secret for a reason, and I feel, being his only child, that I need to do that for him. And, I'm sorry to say this, but there's nothing you can do to change my mind." Gabriella said in a firm voice.
A grin started to spread on Troy's face. Then he started to laugh. Gabriella was shocked at this.
"Troy Bolton, don't you laugh at me!" Troy just wrapped his arms around her.
"No, no, it's not like that. It just amazes me how alike we are. I just got off the phone with my boss at the CIA. I felt that action needed to be taken on this. It has gotten way to out of hand. I'm glad I wasn't the only one feeling it." Troy said, smiling down at her.
Gabriella smiled as well and hugged him tighter.
"How did I get so lucky to be married to a guy like you?" she said to him.
Troy chuckled. "I could say the same for myself." Then he kissed her like he never had before.
CIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIA
Then next morning while Gabriella was in the shower, Troy was sitting in a chair, contemplating what they should do next. When Gabriella came out in her bathrobe, Troy smiled and opened his arms to her. She smiled back, and walked over and sat on his lap.
"Well you look beautiful princess." Troy said kissing her cheek.
Gabriella giggled. "Oh, I know, my bathrobe is just so flattering."
Troy faced suddenly turned more serious. "Gabriella, what would you say we went to New Mexico?"
Gabriella looked at him closely. "Sure, but why may I ask?"
"Well, to get right to the point, I thought that we could search through your dad's old things. Maybe we could find some information we might need. It's always a smart to start with the source."
Gabriella thought over this concept and turned to look at him.
"When do we leave captain?" she said saluting him. Troy laughed out loud and hugger her tighter to him.
"I'll call and make the next flight to New Mexico."
"But how in the world are we going to pay for this?" Gabriella asked hurriedly.
Troy waved it off. "The agency pays for it all. That's the joy of working with the CIA, they pay for everything." Troy smiled.
Gabriella glowered at him, but smiled anyways. Then she moved off his lap and quickly got dressed and started packing. Troy called the airport and booked a flight for them. He also called his mother, Janna, telling her that they would be coming and needed a ride from the airport. She was delighted they were coming, and immediately agreed.
About an hour later they were walking on to a nonstop flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Through the course of the flight, they talked about how long it had been since they had been to their hometown. They laughed over old memories, and cried over hard times.
Three hours later, they were walking into the Albuquerque Airport. Troy breathed in deeply, taking in the rich smell that surrounded them.
"It's good to be home." He said taking Gabriella's hand, and her bag in the other.
They walked outside, and found his mother and father standing there. They were both smiling when they saw the young couple.
Hugs and kisses were issued all around, and Gabriella and Janna sat talking in the car, while Troy and his dad, Jack, went to get the rest of their luggage.
Twenty minutes later, they were at Troy's childhood home putting their stuff in the guestroom upstairs.
Troy walked over to the window, while Gabriella going through her things.
"Wow." Troy whispered, staring at his backyard. It had been so long since he had been here. It felt like a lifetime.
Gabriella walked slowly over to him. She looked up at him. His eyes seemed to be in another world.
"Hey, is anybody in there?" Gabriella said softly. Troy shook his head and looked down at her. He smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"It's good to be home."
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The sun was shining brightly the next morning as Troy and Gabriella walked over to her childhood home.
Gabriella smiled as she remembered all the times she and Troy had walked down this sidewalk.
When they got there, Gabriella rang to doorbell. The door opened, but quicker than it normally would. Gabriella's mother was smiling wide when she saw them.
"I saw you coming up the road. What in the world are you two doing here?" Gina Montez said, hugging both of them.
"We needed to come and look at some of dad's old things." Gabriella said as they walked in the door.
"Well, you're welcome to whatever. But may I ask why you need to?" her mother questioned.
Gabriella, with the help of Troy, explained everything to her. Gina was shocked at what she heard, and was worried for the two of them.
"Don't worry; we'll be perfectly fine mom." Troy said. Gina smiled at him calling her mom.
Gabriella led Troy upstairs to the attic where all of her father's old things were kept. Troy marveled at all the things up here.
"He has a bunch of stacks of paper over there." Gabriella said pointing in the corner. Troy walked over to where she had said and found the papers.
He grabbed a stack, sat on the ground, and started the long and tedious process of going through them.
After about two hours had passed, neither of them had found anything. Gabriella sat on the floor and looked around the old attic. She sighed. Where are you dad? She closed her eyes and concentrated hard, as if she might get some inspiration as to where to look.
When she opened her eyes, they fell on an old table drawer, back behind everything else. She smiled to herself. Thanks a million dad. She walked over to it and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Then she noticed it, a key hole. Great, now what am I going to do? She looked around, trying to think of where the key might be. She saw Troy back in the corner, still going through papers. Gabriella smiled. Of course, why wouldn't Troy know how to?
"Troy come here, I found something." Gabriella said. Troy jumped to his feet and walked over to her. He knelt down beside her and examined the drawer.
"Do you think you can get it open?" she asked nervously. Troy smiled.
"Of course I can. I didn't train to be an agent for nothing." He took out a thin case from his jacket and produced a thin small wire. He stuck it in the hole and fiddled for a second. Then there was a soft click. Troy grinned.
"There you go princess." Gabriella smiled like a little girl. She kissed him on the cheek and opened the drawer.
Inside there were some old worn papers with millions of little notes and drawings. There was also a brown book, old and shabby looking. Gabriella took it carefully in her hands.
"It's his old journal. I saw him writing in it once, but he quickly put it away when he saw me. My mother had thought it was lost." Gabriella said sadly.
Troy put his arm around her shoulders. Then he took out the other papers. He looked at them closely. There were a bunch of things on different caves or geographical places, but nothing on the ruby cave.
He looked at a particularly old piece of paper. His eyes widened when he read what was on it.
"Gabriella, look at this." Troy said pointing at the paper. Gabriella leaned in closer and read the page.
It was all about his exploration of the ruby cave with Matthew Caine. It told of what was inside the cave, who had gone with him, and many other things. But it had no map or any indication of where it was located.
"Well, we were close. Maybe you should look through the journal, it might have something." Troy suggested.
Gabriella nodded and picked it up. She looked through the pages until she fell on a certain one. It read:
June 23, 1999
I've made a huge discovery. Gabi's ruby ring is from the ruby cave itself. Someone must have taken a gem from it and made the ring. This worries me. Someone else knows the way to the cave. I don't know who, but I plan to find out.
Troy and Gabriella stared at the journal entry. This was a complete shock. Gabriella had never known it at the time, and she certainly didn't know it now. Then something dawned on her.
"This was a month before he died in the car crash. I was eight." Gabriella said. "I wonder if he ever made any progress on finding the other person."
"I don't know, but we better figure that out too." Troy said, standing up. "Come on, let's take this stuff and go get some lunch." Troy helped her up and they walked down the stairs. As they were turning the corner into the kitchen, Gabriella noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
"Troy, there's someone looking through the window." She said in a whisper. Troy turned to see a man duck away from the window.
"Gabriella, you stay here, call the police, I'll be right back." Troy quietly snuck out the back door and walked around the house. He peaked around the south end of the house to see a man peering through the window. Troy snuck up on him and bashed him over the head. The man fell to the ground. Troy wiped his hands as Gabriella came out.
"Who is he?" she asked worried.
"I don't know, but I bet I can make a good guess. I think we're being followed." Troy said leading Gabriella back into the house.
Ten minutes later the police arrived and took the man. Troy explained what had happened, and told them to contact the CIA when they got information out of him. When the police had left, Troy walked into the living room to find Gabriella sitting on the couch reading a magazine.
"I think we need to go on another little trip." Troy said, breaking the silence.
Gabriella looked up at him. "Where to this time?" she asked.
"McLean, Virginia. CIA Headquarters. I think it's time we did a little more advanced research." Troy said, sitting on the couch next to Gabriella.
"Okay, whatever you think is best." Gabriella said, looking back at her magazine.
Troy stared at her. "Hey, Mrs. Bolton, why don't you please your husband for a moment?" Troy said removing the magazine from her hands and taking her in his arms.
Gabriella smiled. "Mrs. Bolton, I like the sound of that." Troy smiled as he leaned down to kiss her. He kissed her passionately. Her hands went up into his smooth, sandy hair, while his were lost in her silky black hair. After a few minutes, neither of them could go any longer without air. Troy pulled back and breathed deeply.
"Thank you Mrs. Bolton, I'm pleased."
(a/n: wow, that was a long one. So, how did you like it? How are you liking it so far? Please review, I love hearing your thoughts on it. I'm having the time of my life writing this story. So keep reading.)