A/N: Since Sweethearts was such a big hit, I decided to continue it and start this one. It's going to take place three years in the future when they're graduating college.
Disclaimer: I don't own and/or am affiliated with any of the characters, the movie, music, etc.
Oh, why you look so sad? Tears are in your eyes
Come on and talk to me now.
Don't be ashamed to cry, let me see you through
Cause I've seen the dark side too.
When the night falls on you, you don't know what to do,
Nothing you confess can make me love you less
I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you, I won't let nobody hurt you,
I'll stand by you.
So, if you're mad get mad, don't hold it all inside,
Come on and talk to me now.
"Brittany?"
"No. Jessica?"
"Too common. Stephanie?"
"That's way too common. Bridgette?"
"Nah, too… fat."
Gabriella scoffed. "Too fat? What is that supposed to mean?" She looked towards her husband incredulously, who, at the moment had an innocent look on his face. The couple was sitting on the couch, with Gabriella's feet in Troy's lap, receiving a long overdue foot rub. They each had numerous baby name books strewn across the couch and a bowl of popcorn sitting in the middle of them.
"Don't you remember Bridgette Nelson from East High?" Troy said, trying to explain the reasoning behind his comment. "She was the size of a whale, and remember that time she broke the stole in Earth science? Every time I think of that name I'll think of laughing at her while she sat on the floor with egg all over her head."
"Troy that's horrible." Gabriella said, repulsed.
"Yeah, well, I don't want to look at my child and think of humpty dumpty." Afraid of any sort of rebuttal out of his wife, Troy stuck his nose in the book and called out the next name. "Bethany?"
"Bethany Bolton? Isn't that too…"
"Well you come up with one then." Frustrated, Troy threw the book across the room and pick up another one that was sitting on the couch. He had made fun of Gabriella when she came home with a box full of baby books, saying that it wouldn't be too hard to pick out a name, but now he was grateful and eating his words.
"Fine, I will." She paused for a moment, flipping through pages while Troy munched on the popcorn. "Oh, how about Evelyn and call her Eve? Like Adam and Eve?"
"Eve… who created sin? I don't think so." Troy looked back down at his own book and smiled. "Charlie! And then if it works for a boy and a girl."
Gabriella frowned, realizing that her husband was not enjoying spending a Friday night without the television on and his group of loud boys cheering at men running around in spandex.
"No, I don't like Charlie. How about Ruth?"
"Oh, I forgot that we were having a ninety year old." A handful of popcorn flew into Troy's face.
"I like Ruth; it's very, very..."
"Old." Troy interrupted, wiping the kernels onto the floor. "It's very old."
"I was going to say established. And besides, the little girl on 7th Heaven's name is Ruth and you don't seem to mind that, seeing as you watch the reruns all the time."
Blushing a deep shade of red, he huffed and crossed his arms tightly around his chest. "I do not watch them all the time, just when I'm bored and in need of a good nap."
"Oh, so you must need a nap all day on Saturday then?" This time Gabriella got a face full of popcorn.
"I don't like that show and besides, that little girls name is Ruthie."
Gabriella raised an eyebrow and then looked back down at her book.
"How about Ginny? Ginny Bolton, that sounds kind of nice."
"Ah ha! I have a great one! Moon Unit and Little Pixie Bolton! Or in case those don't work out, we could have Ahmet and Apple!"
When he looked up Gabriella had a very cross look on her face and he could tell that trouble was soon to come. However, she let out a high pitched laugh before running over, picking up the bowl of popcorn and pouring it all over his head.
"There is no way that we are naming our child after a fruit!" She giggled at the sight of Troy, who was covered in greasy, buttery popcorn. "I would much rather prefer something like Harry Potter or the White Witch!"
"Oh you would, would you?" And then Troy jumped up off the couch and bolted towards Gabriella. She was too quick though and soon the couple was chasing each other around the house, up the stairs, into the bathroom and finally ending in the bedroom.
Wrapping his arms around Gabriella's waist, Troy swung his wife into the air before gently placing her on the bed. He anchored his body onto of hers and looked down into her beautiful brown eyes.
Mesmerized, the just smiled at each other, catching their breath and taking in the moment.
"I think anything goes well with Bolton."
"Even Ruth?" Gabriella said in between breathes. Troy's nose was centimeters away from hers and his hot breath was sending chills down her spine.
"Even Ruth." A quick smile grazed across his lips before he leaned over and kissed her passionately. They remained that way for a long time until Gabriella broke away with a very unpleased frown across her face.
"We need to stop, I'm leaving tomorrow and I have to finish packing." Her reminder caused Troy to frown too, however, he did not move.
"I don't see why you need to go all the way to New York to go wedding dress shopping. Especially since we are already married."
"New York was Sharpay's idea," Gabriella explained. "But if you remember, we both agreed on going through with the family for the sake of our friends and family."
"I know." Finally, Troy lifted his body into the air, stood up and walked to the other side of the room. "I just don't like the idea of you walking around New York City. It worries me."
"Why? Are you afraid I'm going to get kidnapped or something?" Even though it was intended to be a joke, it was obvious Troy did not appreciate Gabriella's humor at the moment.
"No," he sighed. "But it is possible. You have the baby to think of and I don't exactly see Kelsi fighting off a robber."
The both let out a light chuckle while they thought of their musically talent, yet petite and quiet friend trying to beat up a bad guy. "Troy, I'm going to be fine. It's only two days and I'll be home before you know it."
"I'm just going to miss you, is all." Getting up from the bed, Gabriella walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Even though she was completely confident that everything would go wonderfully on their trip, she closed her eyes and inhaled Troy's soft scent, just in case.
"I know that and I'm going to miss you too. I'll be home and in your arms before you know it." Troy leaned over and kissed her again, this time more delicate and loving than before, but with the same vigor as ever.
"You know, I could save my packing for later…" Not needing anymore convincing, Troy picked up Gabriella and carried her over to the bed while trying to unbutton her blouse.
"What about Holly?" She said in the darkness.
"I'm sorry, are we having a Christmas decoration?" And with a giggle and a squeal, Troy and Gabriella stopped talking about baby names.
And hey, what you got to hide? I get angry too
Well I'm a lot like you.
When you're standing at the crossroads, don't know which path to choose,
Let me come along, cause even if your wrong
I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you, I won't let nobody hurt you,
I'll stand by you.
Flashback
"Excuse me ma'am, I was wondering if you could tell me if flight 791 has arrived yet?"
A tall, husky woman in a navy blue uniform looked up from her computer and into a set of sky blue eyes. She frowned at the customer before looking back down at the computer and typing away feverishly.
"Flight 791 will land…" She turned her head away from the computer screen and back towards the nervous looking boy in front of her. "At seven forty five, just like I told you ten minutes ago."
"Th . . . th . . . thank you." After the attendant nodded her head, the boy turned on his heel and ran towards the window that overlooked the airport runway.
Troy Bolton was so nervous his insides hurt. Gabriella was coming home from Paris today and he could hardly wait any longer. He had been sitting at the airport for four hours, waiting for her arrival. Now, six mochachinos and several snickers bars later, he was pacing nervously in the gate area waiting for her to get off the plane.
But sure enough, the flight was delayed. The voice belonging to the impatient attendant came over the loud speaker some thirty minutes later announcing that storms in the area were keeping the plane from landing. It would be another hour, she said, and Troy's heart sunk.
It was bad enough that he had not seen her in close to a month, but it was even worse to think that she was just floating in the sky, unable to land. His stomach knotted and sweat began to bead up at his fore head; What if something bad had happened and this was the airports way of minimizing panic.
What if there was an attack, Troy thought to himself, or worse, what if there was a crash? His mind was racing with ideas of the possible things that could be happening to Gabriella's plane. He saw evil men wearing West High basketball jerseys carrying jars of spiders walking down the aisles and one time he saw the airplane nose down, diving towards the ground.
But then he heard his name being called, over and over again. Where was it coming from, he thought. Was it Gabriella? Was she heart? And then he opened his eyes.
"Troy, Troy, baby wake up." As his eyes fluttered open he saw Gabriella hovering over him, with her beautiful smile that captured his heart. "Troy, are you alright?"
He just nodded. His mouth was dry, his head spinning and for some reason, he couldn't find words. All he could do was just stare at her, take in her beauty and look into her beautiful brown eyes. Then, something inside of him gave him the urge to stand up and kiss her, hard and passionately on the lips, a kiss that would make up for every missed kiss in the last months. So he did.
"Troy," Gabriella blushed when the pulled away. "People are staring." Sure enough, a crowd of people were watching the couple make out in the middle of the airport. Troy gave them a rude look before turning back to him.
Finding his voice, he said. "How was your flight?"
"Long and exhausting, but I'm so glad to be home." She reached out and grabbed his hand. "How are you? What were you dreaming about? You kept saying something about not the spiders, anything but the spiders!"
His cheeks turned scarlet and his mouth became dry again. "I um," he choked. "I was just dreaming is all. So tell me everything? I can't wait to hear how the end of your course went! Everyone at home is so glad to see you again, your mom and Taylor have been talking incessantly about taking you shopping and doing all that girl stuff…"
"Troy?" Gabriella stopped in the middle of the airport and looked at him. He turned around, worried that she had forgotten something on the plane or decided to go back to Paris.
"What? What happened?"
"Did you just say the word 'incessantly'?" Inwardly, he breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't going to say that she fell in love with a dark hair Parisan. Outwardly, his cheeks turned the darkest they had been all afternoon and his throat cracked.
"Yeah um, since you've been gone and basketball season ended, I've um, been reading." The last two words were so quiet that he could hardly hear himself.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't understand you?" As Gabriella's eyes poured into his skin, Troy became more and more embarrassed.
"Well, I had some free time so I thought I'd do some light reading." The couple was silent for a while and she had a look on her face signaling that she was pondering what Troy had just said.
"You were reading?" She asked as kindly as possible. "Like what? The news?"
He blushed again. "No, like Moby Dick, Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, you know, the classics."
Gabriella walked up to him so that they were face to face and only inches apart. Turning his eyes to the floor, Troy had this incredible fear that she was going to laugh at him and call him stupid. But instead, Gabriella placed her soft, petite hands on his cheeks and lifted his head so that she could see his eyes.
"You read Pride and Prejudice?"
Troy nodded. "Yes, but it was horrible, definitely a chick book." Giggling, Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him square on the lips. He seemed a little taken aback by his wife's sudden gesture, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
This time the couple didn't mind that there were onlookers and passerbyes that would stare and occasionally whistle. Nor did they care that twice a police officer came and asked them to move out of the way. Instead, Troy and Gabriella stood in the middle of the airport kissing each other madly and just remember what it was like to be in each others arms.
"Are you ready to go home?" He asked as they walked through the automatic doors towards the parking lot. "Or would you rather go back in the airport and have an encore performance?"
Gabriella laughed. She was holding Troy's hand as through the parking garage towards his car. The heat of Albuquerque stung her cheeks like a million tiny needles, but she missed it. The blaring, setting sun was as beautiful as ever and the smell of the town she found love and happiness in was better than any fine perfume she might have discovered in Paris.
"So here we are." Looking up, Troy was loading the trunk of his car with her heavy luggage and the passenger door was open, waiting for her to take her throne. "I think your mom's having a little surprise, welcome home party. I don't think I was supposed to have told you, but I know how much you hate surprises…"
"I missed you Troy." She smiled, staring into his blue eyes. He turned away from the luggage and gave her an odd look.
"I missed you too, babe. But you are home now and if I have any say in it, the next time you go to Paris will be with me."
Giggling lightly, she felt several tears pore down her cheeks. "No, I really, really missed you. Sometimes it would be so unbearable, I just couldn't stand it."
Troy rushed to her side when he realized that she was crying and wrapped his arms around her petite frame. "It's okay, you're home with me and I'm never going to leave you again."
"You didn't leave me, I left you! I hate myself for leaving, too!" More tears poured out of Gabriella's eyes and Troy's heart hurt.
"Why? Gabriella you had a great time and learned lots of interesting things, I'm sure. And you leaving didn't do any harm, did it? In fact, lots of good happened. We got married and I've been reading…" Even as he said it the color rose in Troy's cheeks.
"I know… it just… feels so weird to be home."
"Yeah? Well, in my opinion home isn't necessarily a certain place or a dot on the map. Home is where the people you love are and where you are the happiest. I am the happiest with you and I love you, so no matter if you are in Paris, France or Raleigh, North Carolina you are my home."
Gabriella wiped the tears away from her eyes and smiled. "Then as long as I was with you, I never left."
End Flashback
Take me in into your darkest hour, and I'll never desert you.
I'll stand by you.
And when, when the night falls on you baby, you're feeling all alone,
You won't be on your own, I'll stand by you. I'll stand by you, won't let nobody hurt you. I'll stand by you
Present Day
Troy was standing in the middle of the airport again, but this time Zeke and Chad were standing on either side of them, both reading the sports section of the Sunday paper. The girls were coming home today and doing the best job they could as their significant others, they came to pick them up at the airport. Zeke and Chad were a little less thrilled to do this than Troy was, who picked them up promptly at six o'clock in the morning so that they could make it in time to meet their flight, which arrived at two thirty.
Now, after grabbing some breakfast and lunch and several cups of coffee in between the boys were leaning up a pole, staring out the window of the airport. Troy had that nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach again, but it only grew when Gabriella didn't call him to say that she was on the plane, safe and sound.
"Troy, you're going to have to stop pacing." Zeke said, not even looking up from the paper. Both men had been much less nervous than Troy was, but definitely more edgy, especially since they were woken up so early.
"Yeah, dude." Chad added, "You digging a hole in the middle of the airport isn't going to bring the plane here any faster. Now, if we would have just slept in and waited to come until like noon or so…"
"Oh will you stop it with sleeping." Troy barked, unintentionally, at his friend. "That's all you've talked about today, sleeping! Plus, the girls should be arriving any minute and they were supposed to call..."
As if on cue, Chad's cell phone rang, Troy stopped pacing and stared at his friend diligent.
"Hey Tay!" Chad said, smiling into the receiver. "What's wrong? Okay, Taylor you've got to calm down, I can't understand you."
Zeke and Troy both gave Chad an uncomfortable, worrisome look.
"Gabriella's where? What happened? Okay, I'll tell Troy. We'll be right there. Okay, I love you Taylor and I'll call you right back."
Troy's heart was pounding in his chest and he could barely stand up. He watched as Chad pressed the 'end' button on his phone and then closed the lid. What seemed to take hours was only a few seconds until Chad looked up at his friend, tears brimming his eyes.
"That was Taylor."
"I got that part, thanks." Troy felt the urge to choke his best friend.
"What's wrong with Gabriella? Where is she?"
Chad let out a heavy sigh and wiped his eyes. "Troy, Gabriella's in the hospital. There was a car accident and…"
I'll stand by you. I'll stand by you.
The song is "I'll Stand By You" by Carrie Underwood. Feedback would be amazing. I'm leaving for vacation in a week so updates might be few and far between but I'll try my best to updates as much as possible!!!! Thank you to all my readers and reviewers . . . you guys are amazing!