Soulmates Chapter 6: Angel, a high school musical fanfic

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.

"Troy, there was an accident… Gabriella's in the hospital."

Troy Bolton rounded the corner of the emergency room foyer, his shoes squeaking on the freshly polished floors. He almost collided with a nurse who was carrying a tray of unopened medical supplies and he nearly tripped over a man that was sitting on the floor with his head between his legs.

"Troy wait up." His best friend, Chad Danforth, yelled behind him while he, Zeke and Ryan tried to catch up with him.

But Troy didn't stop and kept running through the hallways until he reached the front of the sign in desk. "I'm looking for a Gabriella Bolton. She was brought in today from a car accident."

The nurse didn't even bother looking up from her computer but just nodded her head and typed in the name. Troy tried to catch his breath while he stood there and eventually his friend showed up, red faced and near death from running so fast.

"How come you don't run that fast on the court?" Chad joked, but Troy didn't laugh.

Finally the nurse looked up. "I'm sorry sir; we don't have a Gabriella Bolton signed in. Are you sure she came to this hospital?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure. Can you look again? I know she's here?" Troy's heart was racing and sweat was pouring down his face. Somehow, the group had managed to buy tickets for a nonstop flight to New York City, caught a taxi cab and made it in the hospital in less than four hours.

"I'm sorry, sir, there is no one under that name. Maybe you should try another floor." The nurse dropped her head and turned back towards what she was working on before Troy and the boys arrived.

Frustrated, tired and upset, Troy slammed his fist on the counter to get the nurses attention. She bolted up out of her chair and practically fell backwards on top of another nurse.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry but I know that Gabriella is here. We got a call a few hours ago from my best friend's girlfriend and they said that they were in a car accident and she was being rushed here, to the emergency room, on an ambulance. So if you would please check your computer again for any one under the name of Gabriella Bolton, I would really appreciate it."

"Yes, sir…" The nurse almost seemed afraid of Troy's rage and what he would do if she said 'no.' "I'm sorry sir, the only person we have listed under the name Gabriella is a Miss Gabriella Montez and she was brought in with a contusion to her head and several possible bone fractures."

While the nurse kept talking about all of the injuries Gabriella 'might' have received, Troy's face fell and the nerves in his stomach exploded.

"That's her. What room is she in?" His voice was so soft that the noises from the hospital almost blocked him out completely.

"Four Seventeen. But sir, only family are allowed behind the desk." Chad, Zeke, Ryan and the nurse all stared at Troy and waited for him to answer.

"She's my wife."

Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There's always one reason
To feel not good enough
And it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh beautiful release
Memory seeps from my veins
Let me be empty
And weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

"Taylor," Troy called through the hallway as he weaved in and out of patients. "Taylor, oh my gosh, is she okay? What's wrong? Have you seen a doctor yet? Can I go in there?"

Before he could say anything else, he was taken aback by the look on Taylor's face. It was obvious that she had been crying and there was deep fear in her eyes. There were cuts and bruises on her face and hands and her white blouse had spots of blood.

"Taylor? Are you okay?" His voice dropped and suddenly the hospital fell silent. "What about Sharpay and Mrs. Montez?"

"I'm fine Troy, thanks for asking." Even her voice sounded bruised and beaten. "The rest are fine, Gabriella is the only one that is seriously hurt…"

"How serious? Taylor, what's going on?" The girls' eyes fell to the floor and silence fell between them. It took everything in Troy to not scream in torment and worry.

"Chad, oh my gosh!" Taylor perked up and ran to her boyfriend as soon as he rounded the corner. As fast as she could, she limped in his direction and wrapped her arms around his neck. For a split second, Troy thought that he saw love and worry in his best friends eyes, but they soon turned cold and cruel.

"Taylor, I need to talk to Troy for a minute." His voice was cold and harsh and when he said Troy's name, he sounded repulsed.

"Why? What's wrong?" She seemed to be purposefully trying to cling tighter onto her boyfriend in a hopeful attempt to distract his attention.

"Why don't you ask him yourself, Taylor?"

"Ask him what?" Troy's back stiffened as he stared at his friend.

"Ask him if he's married to Gabriella." Just as he finished saying it, Zeke, Ryan, Sharpay and Mrs. Montez appeared in the hallway. Troy barely took notice of the crutches Sharpay was using to walk with or the gash across his mother-in-law's forehead. Instead, all he saw was six disappointed and hurt faces, none of whom had anything else they wanted to say.

Taylor spoke first. "What do you mean, ask if he's married to Gabriella?" Everyone's eyes were firmly planted on Troy. He didn't know what to do or how to begin to explain this to his family and friends. Yes, he and Gabriella had considered telling them in the beginning and then changed their minds in the midst of the wedding planning fiasco, but now he was deeply regretting that decision.

"I… We…" He looked to his left and saw Sharpay, who had knives for eyes and Mrs. Montez seemed to be on the brink of tears. But the worst part was seeing his best friend, practically his brother, stand before him with the biggest look of disappointment. It was worse than losing any basketball game.

"You what Troy?" Even Chad's voice seemed to feel lunch a punch in the gut. "Did you think that it would just be okay that you forgot to mention that you and Gabriella were married?"

"Were you just going to let us go through with the wedding?"

"How could you not tell us?"

"Troy, dude, we would have been happy for you. Why did you hide it from us?" Thousands of questions flew in his direction and with every one, he felt guiltier about what he had done. It was, after all, his decision to jet off to France and get married on the spot.

"I can't believe you Troy. After all we've been through –." Chad was the last person to speak and his words hurt the most.

"No, Chad, I can't believe you!" It seemed as if the Emergency Room had stopped and everyone in the entire hospital was watching the scene display out in front of them.

"I can't believe how you are all treating me right now. My wife, and yes, Gabriella is my wife, is in the room next door and I have no idea what the hell is going on. Speaking of which, where are all the doctors?"

"Troy don't change the subject." Mrs. Montez seemed to be scolding him.

"Don't change the subject?" His voice bounced off the walls and rang out through the hallway. "I'm sorry, but the health of the woman I love is all I'm worried about now and if you guys cared about her as much as you say you do, than it should be the same for you. So what if Gabriella and I got married? She was in Paris…for six weeks and I couldn't take it anymore."

"You couldn't take what Troy? Not having sex?" Chad's eyes fell to the floor as soon as he said this, but he knew it was too late.

"Screw you." Spit and hate flew out of Troy's mouth as he spoke. The venom and anger raging inside of him seemed to explode. "You know what, screw all of you. I love Gabriella more than anything else in this world and we decided to skip the whole charade and just get married. End of story. But you, YOU, Chad, seem to think we did this to spite you. If that's how you really feel, then you can just go to hell."

"You know what, you ass hole." Chad spoke so loud that Troy jumped.

"I'm through with you. You and I are through!" Furiously, he grabbed Taylor's hand, turned on his heel and stomped down to the hallway. Zeke, Ryan and Sharpay soon followed leaving Mrs. Montez and Troy standing by themselves outside Gabriella's doorway.

"Troy…"

"I don't want to hear it." Sweat still poured down his face and he bit back tears while trying to catch his breath. "I'm sorry about all of this Mrs. Montez, but when you want to hear the whole story, Gabriella and I will be glad to tell you. But for now, I'd like to see my wife."

"Just one thing before you go inside." The softness and politeness in Mrs. Montez's voice seemed to bother Troy more than Chad's rage did. It seemed like the whole ordeal hadn't even bothered her, either that or she was just too surprised.

"Calm down before you go in there," a part of her voice told him that she was actually begging. "Please, never let my daughter sees that you are upset; she can't handle that."

Troy nodded quickly before looking back at his mother –in-law for one last time. She was crying. A huge pang of guilt hit him right in the middle of the chest, but he could find no words to apologize for what had happened.

"Ma'am, I -."

"Not now Troy." She brought a hand up to her crying eyes, ignoring Troy completely and momentarily hiding herself from the world.

Troy just turned around and pushed open the door to the room where Gabriella was waiting silently inside.

In the arms of an angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort there

Flashback

"HORSE! I win!"

"No way. There's no way you could have made that shot. That show is my famous, Chad Danforth, signature shot!"

"That everyone knows how to do!" Troy and Chad were standing in the middle of East High Schools gym, just the two of them, playing a wild game of 'HORSE.' They were home for Christmas break and after much convincing and lots of chores, Coach Bolton had given Troy a key to the gym and told them to 'have a good time.'

Troy threw Chad the ball who had a great look of confusion on his face. "How do you know about that shot?"

"I've known you since before you liked basketball. Of course, I know about the 'shot.'" Troy just continued to laugh as he wiped his face off with a towel, took a swig of his water bottle and sat down on one of the old, plastic bleachers.

"Hey lets take a break."

"Why?" Chad was twirling the ball on his finger. "Are you tired, old man?"

"You wish. Actually, I wanted to ask you something." Troy waited for his best friend to walk over and join him on the bleachers and for a moment, there was a feeling of reverence shared between the two.

"Wow, I've never sat on the bleachers in this gym before." Chad whispered.

"Yes you have, we used to come in here for those stupid sex- education class."

"Yeah, I skipped those." Troy gave him an odd look. "What? I was always well, practicing sex education…"

"What? How? Every time I tried to skip out Mrs. Janice, the assistant principal would always stop me."

Chad just laughed and stared at his friend meekly. "There are something even the famous, Troy Bolton, will never know."

After several more minutes of pestering questions, Troy finally gave up and remembered why he had brought Chad here in the first place. "So listen, I know it's still a little early and I doubt Gabriella's even thought about this, but I was wondering…"

"I'm sorry man, I love you… but more like a brother." Chad's comment earned him a punch in the arm.

"What I was asking was, well, if you would be my best man? I mean, you are my best friend after all and there is no one else I'd rather stand up there next to me…"

To say that Chad was stunned, would have been an understatement. The look of surprise and elation on his face was absolutely priceless. There was a long pause before he reached over and gave Troy a huge, bear like hug around the neck.

"Dude, I would be honored." He smiled. "Does that mean I get to wear a best man patch?"

"A what?" Troy laughed, amused.

"A best man patch, you know, like in the movies. I want one of those shiny badges that means I get lots of special jobs and stuff."

"Don't worry Chad, I'll find you a 'special' patch." Troy picked up the ball that had been discarded to the ground and began dribbling it in front of him. "But now, how about loser buys drinks?"

Chad jumped up out of his seat and ran out onto the middle of the court. "What are we playing too?"

"Umm, how about… wildcats?" Troy tossed the ball to his friend before getting in position for the face off.

"Alright then, Wildcat. You might as well go ahead and clean out your wallet… I feel like lobster."

So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There's vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep on building the lie
That you make up for all that you lack
It don't make no difference
Escaping one last time
It's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

When Troy walked into Gabriella's hospital room, it was darker than night. The only way he knew she was in there was because of the lights on the machines and the soft, sniffing noise she was making.

"Gabriella, babe, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He slowly made his way over to the bed, careful not to trip over anything as it was so hard to see.

"I heard the fight outside. Troy what have we done?" Her voice was soft and scratchy and it sent shivers down Troy's spine just listening to her speak.

"Don't worry about that right now, just worry about you and our little peanut getting better."

A huge sob escaped her lips and for a long time she didn't speak. "Troy," her voice was broken and hollow. "There's something you should know."

"What's that baby? Oh, I forgot, I bought you something." It took him a few moments to shuffle around and find the bag that was sitting on the floor next to his foot. He pulled out a small item wrapped up in tissue paper and handed it to her.

As she unwrapped the paper, Troy felt confident that everything would work out. Granted, he felt horrible about the fight that happened earlier but figured it would all work out eventually. They would still have the wedding and Chad could still be his best man. It would all work out for the best…

"Troy, you shouldn't have bought this." Gabriella spoke after admiring the gift in her hand. It was a white t-shirt, made especially for infants with the famous "I love New York" design on the front.

"Why? I thought it was great; I picked it up at the airport. Wait until we tell our peanut about this story. You know on the flight over here I looked up a whole bunch of names and I found a couple I thought you might like. What about Elizabeth or Aaron?"

"Troy…" She was crying now and suddenly a sick feeling appeared in the bottom of Troy's stomach. "Troy listen to me."

Her hand dropped the shirt in his lap before she rolled over to the side with her back facing him. "Troy I lost the baby."

"Wh.. wh.. what?"

"Troy, in the car accident, the baby died." She was crying and his head was spinning. That feeling of joy he had earlier completely disappeared. "I'm so sorry Troy, I didn't mean to loose our son."

"Son? It.. he.. was a boy?"

"I'm so sorry." And then her sobs filled the room and his heart began pounding inside his chest. He knew nothing else to do but escape out the door from which he had entered just moments before.

Once outside, his legs gave out and Troy collapsed onto the floor in the hallway. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't see, but instead, Gabriella's crying voice and the image of his unborn son was suffocating him. He twisted the shirt in his hand and then out of the corner of his eye he saw a man with brown, curly hair walking towards him.

"Chad… please… help me." Pain overcame him and Troy covered his face with the shirt in his hands and just cried.

The song is "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. Don't kill me just yet! There is going to be a whole LOT more drama coming up. Feedback would be awesome. Thank you to everyone who has submitted feedback; I really appreciate it!!