A/N: I don't own anything…except the plot!

So, those of you who reviewed wanted me to continue and so I will. But I'm warning you now, when I write I don't write in one big go and I don't necessarily write every single day, that's why things sometimes take so long to get out. I also have absolutely no idea what Jasmine is about to say to Troy and Gabriella, so if I write something half decent, then send a round of applause my way please :)

Anyway, just let me think of a title…hmmm…got one! Now let's commence the chapter…enjoy!

The Truth

"Yeah…okay, thanks Joe…yeah speak to you soon…bye."

"What did he say?" Troy has just phoned his boss to ask for some much needed time off, he'd had a few days when the twins were born, but now he felt like he needed more, he needed to be with his family.

"He said that I should take as much time as I need because I'm owed a lot anyway and that I shouldn't worry about them being short staffed because of it, as you guys are way more important than that, and you are Brie. We're gonna get through this, we're gonna get everything back on track before I even think about going back to work." Gabriella sighed as Troy took her into his arms, she'd had a hard time sleeping last between worrying about Jasmine and the boys waking up to be fed or changed, she hadn't had much time to sleep and when she finally did manage to, it was restless and really worrying for Troy.

"Listen, the boys are asleep again and the school knows that Jazzy won't be in today, why don't we just go back to bed for a bit?"

Gabriella shook her head. "I can't sleep Troy, I want to but I just can't," Troy could hear the frustration in his wife's voice, but knew there wasn't really much he could do to help.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, I know how tired you are, but why don't we just go and lay down for a while? You might even fall asleep, but if you don't then at least you're resting rather than trying to do housework, that can wait." Gabriella smiled from against Troy's chest and lifted her head to look him in the eye.

"Carry me?" Troy chuckled at Gabriella's request, but still did as she'd asked, picking her up as if she were a child, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder and place a kiss to his neck, which Troy returned to her shoulder, as he started up the stairs.

They reached the top of the stairs to find Jasmine poking her head out of her bedroom door, a look of worry etched all over her face.

"Hey sweetheart, you okay?" Troy asked, as he came to a stop outside Jasmine's room, putting Gabriella down but still keeping his arms wrapped round her.

"Erm no, not really…can I talk to you both?" Troy watched as his daughter's eyes became watery and knew that this wasn't a conversation that could be put off.

"Yeah, let's go to our room so that we can keep an eye on the boys," Troy held out an arm to Jasmine, who briefly disappeared back into her room, before re-emerging with Rosie and cuddling into Troy's left side, like Gabriella was his right and allowing him to lead them to the main bedroom.

TGTGTGTG

Jasmine wasn't sure she wanted to do this anymore; she was scared about what her parents would say and worried about whether it was even the right thing to do in the first place. She was cuddle up with Troy and Gabriella in their bed, they had put the pillows against the headboard and had the duvet pulled up to their waists. Troy had put himself in the middle, saying he wanted to be able to hug his girls equally and so had his arms wrapped around their shoulders.

"Okay Jazzy, we're all ears talk to us."

"I-I can't Dad, it's not that simple, I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Sweetheart you're not going to hurt anyone."

"But I am Dad, it's gonna hurt me and you two and I don't wanna hurt anyone."

"Why's it gonna hurt us sweetie?" Gabriella asked, as she sat up so she could see Jasmine round Troy, there was no way she was going to sleep now.

"'Cause…It's gonna hurt because I've been hiding something big and it's gonna make you guys feel bad for not knowing." Jasmine sniffled as a few tears escaped the confines of her eyes.

"Sweetheart, please just tell us, I promise you, you'll feel so much better for it afterwards," Troy said, as he took his arm away from Gabriella to wipe away Jasmine tears, before reaching back to hold Gabriella's hand.

Jasmine nodded and took some deep breaths, before turning to look her parents in the eye.

"What happened yesterday, it's not the first time something like that has happened, it was just the time that I've flipped because I've had enough of it all and…I don't care what you say, but I'm not going back to that school anymore…I just can't."

"Alright, we're listening, can you tell us everything?" Jasmine nodded at Troy and swiped at her falling tears.

"I don't wanna talk about all the little incidents, there's too many of them to remember and they happened so often that they've all kinda started to merge together. The easiest way to explain it is that I'm the one that everyone picks on, I'm the butt of everyone's jokes, I'm the one who everyone takes advantage of, basically I'm probably the most hated pupil, maybe even person in the school. The boys never do anything physical, they just shout and laugh and the teachers tell 'em off when they hear, but it's the girls who cause the most damage. They…they hurt me, they taunt me and laugh at me and then they hurt me. They throw things at me in the changing rooms, after PE…they throw things at me and then they push me so I'm on the ground, then they hit me and kick me and…they whip me, I don't know what with, their belts I think, I don't look at them, they'll only see the tears and hurt me more. I tried to fight back at first, hurt a few of them at times, but there was always more of them and they started to hold me down, so that I couldn't fight back, they don't do that anymore though, I don't even attempt to fight back now. My back's pretty messed up now, that's where they whip me, I've looked at it a few times in the mirror, it's all torn up and horrible looking." Jasmine took a deep breath and wiped away the silent tears that had been falling. "That's it, that's everything, I'm sorry."

"Can…can we see your back?" Troy didn't know how to react to what his daughter had just said, but he needed to see what these monsters had done to her.

"Yeah, just…just don't touch it," Jasmine moved out from under Troy's arm, so that she was sitting on the side of the bed and cuddled Rosie tightly to her chest as Troy lifted the back of her top.

Gabriella couldn't help the sharp intake of breath that she took when she saw the sight of Jasmine's back. It was covered in lines, at all different angles and of all different sizes. They were all over her back and some were clearly older than others, but the ones that caught her attention were the ones at the bottom of Jazzy's back. They were red raw, like they were recent and a couple of them looked as though they had been bleeding, Gabriella had no idea how Jasmine had tolerated the pain without letting it slip at all.

"Angel, does it hurt? These ones on your lower back look really sore."

"I guess…only a little though, I've learnt to block it out," Jasmine shrugged her shoulders to make Troy put her top back down.

"Jazzy, when you came home slamming the doors the other day, had they hurt you that day?" Gabriella was starting to understand Jasmine's recent behaviour.

Jasmine nodded. "That's where the ones on the bottom of my back come from."

"That's why you made me leave the bathroom when you changed?" Jasmine nodded silently, unable to find her voice.

Troy couldn't take it anymore, Jasmine was sitting with her back to them, crying and that broke his heart, he needed to have his clearly broken daughter in his arms.

"Jazzy sweetheart, come here please," Turning round Jasmine found Troy with his arms open to give her a hug and Gabriella holding the covers up for her to climb under. She crawled over to them and for the first time in a long time, settled herself in Troy's lap and buried her face into the crook of his neck, just as the flood gates opened, allowing her to cry out every single one of her emotions, allowing her to cry harder than she every thought she could.

Troy simply held his daughter as she sobbed against him; he was at a loss of what else he could do. His daughter, his angel, his baby girl had been tormented and hurt and scarred for what seemed to be no good reason at all.

As Jasmine's sobs lessened and her breathing started to regulate, Troy took one arm from around her and wrapped it round Gabriella to bring her into their hug, they needed to get through this as a family, they had to.

Gabriella gently took Jasmine's hand away from its tight grip of Troy's t-shirt and simply held it in between her hands, softly running her thumb back and forth over her knuckles.

"Jasmine honey, why do they do this to you? Have you ever done anything to provoke them at all?"

Jasmine shook her head. "No D-dad, n-never."

"Then why you sweetheart?"

"I…I d-don't know," Jasmine was shaking from her crying and Troy pulled the duvet up so that it was wrapped around Jasmine's shoulders. "I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to h-hurt you b-both."

"Jasmine look at me," Troy's voice was stern and scared Jasmine as she turned to look at him. "Don't you dare apologise about this, none of it is your fault and I promise you that you will never have to go back to that school, ever. Me and your Mum aren't really hurt sweetheart, just upset that we weren't able to pick up on the pain and suffering that you have been going through. We're gonna make this all better sweetie, we're gonna take care of you and put that sparkle back in your eyes, but right now I need you to do something really brave for me, can you do that?" Jasmine nodded and allowed Gabriella to wipe away her tears.

"We're not going to contact the school about this, they clearly have no idea how to handle these things, seeing as they've let things get this far, but we have to do something about it, I think we need to phone the police."

"N-no Dad, I c-can't."

"Jazzy, sweetheart, there is no way we can just let this go, they've seriously hurt you and they deserve to be punished for that."

"I'm scared."

"I know you are angel, but your Mum and I will be with you the entire time, I swear. You just need to tell them exactly what you just told us and let them take some pictures of your back for evidence, then we'll give those wounds a good old clean for you and give you something to take away the pain. Do you know the names of all the people who did this to you? Was it always the same people?"

"Yeah, I know their names; they were always the same ones who hurt me." Troy nodded and picked up the phone on the bedside table to call the police, this was the start of a very long process, but it was a process Troy was determined to win.

TGTGTGTG

She couldn't stay in the room any longer; she just couldn't bare to see her daughter in that much pain. The police had been amazing with Jasmine, they'd been gentle and calm with her as they'd spoken and had constantly reassured her that they were going to get this sorted. They took pictures of her back and told Troy and Gabriella to take her to a doctor in the next couple of days, just to make sure there was no underlying infection.

Jasmine had been incredibly brave throughout the whole thing and had kept her emotions in check, but let a few tears fall when the photos were taken, she was clearly in a lot of pain with her injuries. But it was when Troy was showing the police out, that Jasmine let her shields down and finally allowed the tears to fall. Gabriella immediately wrapped her in a hug and gently rocked them from side to side, biting her lip to stop her own emotions from taking over. Troy had come back into the room and taken them both into his arms, rocking them all and shushing Jasmine's agonizing cries, that's when Gabriella had, had to leave.

She'd first gone into the dining room to check on the boys, they were both sleeping peacefully, but that didn't stop her from simply staring at them for a minutes, something she'd decided she could easily do all day. Now though, she was in the kitchen, just pottering about, cleaning around the work tops, emptying and then re-loading the dishwasher.

"There you are, we wondered where you'd hurried off to," Gabriella turned round from her staring out the window to find Troy leaning against the doorway connecting the dining room and kitchen.

"Sorry, I just needed some space for a bit; it's horrible to see her in that state."

"I know it is," Troy agreed, as he walked over to Gabriella and pulled her into a hug. "She's gone to wash her face now though; she says she's got some things she wants to give to the boys."

"That sounds mysterious, does she want us to have the boys in there, 'cause they're asleep right now."

"Nope," Troy answered, as he bent down to snatch a kiss from Gabriella. "She said she wants to show us and then give them to the boys when they wake up, she said, they'll appreciate them more as they grow up."

"Mkay," Gabriella replied, as she enjoyed her time being wrapped up in Troy's arms.

"Erm, can I show you guys now?" The couple broke apart a few minutes later to find Jasmine standing in the kitchen doorway with a blue paper bag hugged secretively to her chest. "Are you alright Mum?"

"Yeah Jaz I'm fine, this whole situation is just a bit overwhelming that's all, I just needed some space and a hug," Jasmine smiled hearing that, her Dad's hug seemed to make everything better right now. "Shall we go back to the lounge?"

"We shall indeed my dears," Troy responded. "Shall we skip?" He didn't wait for an answer and started his skip regardless leaving his wife and daughter laughing in his wake.

"No Dad, just no!" Jasmine told him, as she and Gabriella walked into the lounge and plopped down onto the couch, Troy and Gabriella sandwiching Jasmine in.

"Grandma took me to buy these the day you had the boys, she said, they didn't have anything like this yet and that if it came from me it would be all the more special. I choose them because they kinda remind me of Rosie, I had her from when I was a baby and I hope they keep these as long as I have." With that said Jasmine opened the bag and pulled out two light blue teddy bears. They were cuddly and soft, exactly like Rosie and were pretty much alike, apart from the special touch Jasmine had, had added. On the left side of one bear, over it's heart, the word 'Mitchell' had been professionally stitched in and on the other, the word 'Michael'.

"Sweetheart, they're lovely," Gabriella complimented, as she picked up one bear and Troy picked up the other.

"I was gonna show them to you a couple of days after you brought them home, once they were kinda settled in and stuff, but then things started getting tough at school and then I started to worry that you had bears for them anyway, so I didn't bother, but they might as well have them, it's not like I can give them away, they've got their names on them."

"They really are lovely Jaz," Troy said, as he wrapped his arms round his girls. "Listen, I know things are incredibly crazy right now and they're probably gonna be that way for a little while longer, but I promise you both that things will get better. I'm not gonna go back to work until the boys are properly settled with a good routine and you, young lady, are settled in a new school. This is gonna be a fresh start for us, I think it's something all of us need, but there are some rules. We've gotta be honest with each other, say something when you need help or you feel ill or you're struggling with something and we'll work through it together. We're gonna spend some time bonding with each other, especially you with the boys Jaz, they'll need their big sister, so maybe you can help us with them, give them their bathes, soothe them to sleep, feed them sometimes and maybe even change them, they need their big sister, honey."

"I know, I think I'm ready for the challenge." Gabriella laughed and placed her teddy back in the bag like Troy.

"So what do you say we start our bonding tomorrow and go shopping, leave your Dad in charge of the boys?" Jasmine nodded eagerly, happy to be doing something girly with Gabriella.

"Don't give me that look Troy Bolton, they're your sons, I went through eight hours of pain to have them, the least you can do is take care of them for the day."

"Yeah Dad," Jazzy joined in on the teasing. "It's called bonding!"

TGTGTGTG

There it is people, not very long, but deal with it; it's a very deep chapter.

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