Love Overcomes it All
Chapter Six:
Where are you now.
Summary: Love: Strong affection, unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for others. An emotion so strong, that when put to the test can overcome anything.
Disclaimer: This is simply my imagination at work. I do not own the characters, Disney, or any lyrics. Sally's dinner is fictional, I made it up, right now I am guessing that there is no such things, but it's a popular name and I could be mistaken.
AN: Well here is the next part to Love Overcomes it all. This is also an important chapter. I cannot count how many times I have read over this, sorry if I have missed any mistakes. Also Troy's teammate's name is Jordan Michaels, just to clear that up. I know this is a late update, sorry for taking a month to post. I had to take some time and focus on other things in life. I also needed some time to write later chapters of this story. I am working on chapter ten which as of right now is the halfway point of this story. There will be maybe twenty or so chapters, however that could change. I'm very excited for where this is going, I know these chapters can be boring, but just hold on.....things will get interesting soon.
~Kaitlynn
Where are you now?
'Cause I'm thinking of you
You showed me how
How to live like I do
If it wasn't for you
I would never be who I am
Staring up into the blue eyes now, they were as beautiful and striking as ever.
Her eyes were wide, and her legs were shaking. She wanted to run.
Maybe it was a dream. Maybe she was just so stressed that she imagining him. Her lashes swept over her cheeks as she blinked. Her eyes opened and he was still there. What. The. Fuck.
Her mouth opened and she spoke against her will. He chose the same time to utter her name.
"...Troy.."
"Gabriella."
His voice sounded calm. As if it was normal for them to run into each other like this. It had been fifteen years, and he was acting as if nothing ever existed between them. Silence loomed between them, the air was thick, neither knew what to say. It happened suddenly. It was almost like something snapped inside of him.
".Brie.." He breathed out as his strong arms reached for her and he enveloped her in a hug.
If it was under any other circumstances, she would have pushed him away. She would not fall into the trap. She would not risk falling in love with him again. But her daughter was sick, and she was breaking. So she clung to him with all the strength her frail body could muster. But then her head snapped up.
"...Rachel..."
"Who is Rachel?"
Shit. Instead of the excuses her mind was screaming her to feed him, she told the truth.
"My daughter..."
"..Oh.."
She saw the pain etched onto his face, but she did not know how to tell him. Your have a daughter. She has cancer. It would never be easy. She opened her mouth again to try and get some sort of explanation out. But before she could string any words together, the caring Troy she knew made an appearance.
"Hold up, Why is she is the hospital? What happened? Is she okay? Are you okay? Is.." He rambled on until a petite hand came up and placed itself over his mouth.
"You're asking me all the wrong questions."
"What?" He inquired, a cute confused look on his face.
"Ask me what her last name is..."
"Gabriella, you're not making any sense. What does her last name have to do with anything?"
"Troy, just ask."
"Okay, Fine. Gabriella, what is your daughters last name?" He said, confusion and humor laced in his tone.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "Bolton." He eyes automatically closed as she prepared herself for an onslaught of yelling and profanities, but they never came. For when she opened hey eyes to look at him, he was laying on the floor.
"Miss, what happened?" A near by nurse questioned as she called a doctor for help.
"Oh nothing really, he just found out that he has a daughter."
The nurse looked at her dubiously before proceeding to help the fainted man on the floor.
Meanwhile a girl occupying one of the rooms in the cancer ward was becoming very impatient. White hot pain was shooting through her body, and dammit where was her mother with that nurse?
Rebecca felt bad for Rachel, but at the same time her brain kept flashing to the look of horror that had crossed Gabriella's face.
Rachel groaned again, causing Rebecca attention to shift back to her. She was trying to lift her head to look at the clock, but the pain caused by her movements were too unbearable. With a plop her head lolled back against the pillow. Even fucking cotton hurts, she realized and she winced from the pain of laying her head back down too carelessly.
"What time is it. And-" Another shot of white hot pain filled her and she grimaced. "Didn't my mom say she was getting a nurse? Can you get her? It's been at least twenty minutes." But Rebecca knew there was more. She couldn't just leave the room in search of Gabriella.
One. What would she find? Two. What explanation would she give Rachel? But her questions were answered when Gabriella approached the room accompanied by a nurse.
"I'm so sorry, They needed me to run some papers to someone, and I asked a nurse to get some more pain meds to you but I guess she never got to it." Gabriella spoke, and Rachel believed the lies.
"It's whatever, hand 'em over." The eager teenager reached for the cup of water and pills, ignoring the pain that shot through her arm, just wanting it to diminish.
"Mom, can you-"
Gabriella called out hurriedly as she exited the room."Sorry, gotta run. They still need me. Be back in a few, bye."
A smirk fell over Rachel's face, something was definitely up. "Fine, just ignore the kid with cancer."
Troy Bolton's day had started off normally. He had woken bright and early, showered, packed his gym bag, went to Sally's to eat breakfast, and headed off to practice. He goofed off a bit with his buddies and fellow players in the locker room before getting into practice mode. Coach was running the normal drills. Everything was just as it was everyday. That it until Michaels made a jump shot, fell on his ankle funny and Troy volunteered to ride in the ambulance with him. Coach was very precise, he wanted Jordan to get the right help and insisted it would come faster if they came to them. So Troy's request to drive his friend to the hospital was ignored.
They got to Los Angeles Memorial Hospital safely, and Jordan was rushed off. Leaving Troy in the main lobby, where he was attacked by rambunctious Lakers Fans'. It had not taken long for the hospital security to come and rescue him, but their attention was immediately focused on getting the fans out of the hospital. Leaving Troy to venture on his own in search of Jordan. Troy was quick to dart from the room, and began looking for someone to assist him. The problem? The nurses were not doing rounds and doctors were not in the OR, they were attempting to get rid of the mob that had formed. The mob that was screaming Troy's and Jordan's name. So he was left alone, in this massive maze-like hospital, to find his friend.
Fifteen minutes, and numerous floors later, he still had not found Jordan. He should have just stayed by the lobby. On a normal day he would have gladly signed autographs and posed for pictures, he would even converse with his fans. On a normal day that would not have taken place in a hospital. On a normal day people would have stopped when they recognized him, not leave him standing there lost and alone. On a normal day he would not have ran into Gabriella Montez. He would not have rage flood through him when she mentioned her daughter. He would not be shocked when she said the girl was his daughter. He would not have fainted, and he certainly would have taken notice to the oncology sign to the left of them.
This was not a normal day.
Troy awoke to blinding white lights and a nurse with her hair pulled into a tight bun hovering over over him. She had a clipboard that she was using to write notes onto.
"Hello." The chirpiness of her voice was a little unnerving to him.
"...Hi.."
"You had quite a fall there, Mr. Bolton," She paused, waiting to see if his fainting spell would register. "Do you remember what happened."
His piercing blue eyes moved from the frightening looking nurse to scan the room. Why couldn't he get thoughts of Gabriella out of his head. She was the love of his life, and of course he thought about her. Almost every day. But today seemed different, almost as if he was missing something. Suddenly it clicked. The memories flooded back and he almost felt sick. He needed to get to her. In a sudden movement he harshly yanked the hospital sheet off of him and stood. The nurse looked at him shocked and put a hand out in a motion to stop him from moving any further. "Sir, you should take it easy, you just woke up, you need your rest." Troy did not give her a second glance, he called his answer out as he walked through the door. "I'll be fine." Troy's muscular legs pumped harder and harder and he raced down the hall. The hallways that were deserted when he had first gotten into the hospital. He was lost in his own scrambled thoughts but was quickly pulled out of them when he crashed into a small body and multicolored papers flew everywhere. "Shi-" He started but stopped himself when the woman glared up at him and then gestured toward the children who were standing not far off, definitely in hearing distance. "I mean, darn, I'm so sorry, I really didn't see you."
"Great, you run into me, then you make fun of my height."
"No, no I didn't-" He began to explain himself but stopped when the woman just grinned at him.
"Relax big-shot," Well she definitely recognized him. "I was joking."
"Right," His left arm stretched to the back of his neck, a nervous habit he could never break. "Let me help you with that." He bent down and scooped the fallen papers up, arranged them so they were no longer sticking in every direction, and handed them to the woman. "Here you go, sorry again."
"Thanks, and really it's fine." She gave him one last smile and turned to walk away.
"Wait a second!"
The petite woman jumped at his exclamation and slowly turned. "Yes?" She drawled the word out, causing Troy to wince, he was coming off as a complete freak. "Could you point me in the direction of the cancer center?"
"Children or adult?"
"Children."
"It's on the eighth floor, this is the second. Go straight down that hall," He finger pointed into the hall directly in back of him. "There is an elevator to the left, take it to the eight and a nurse up there can help you. She gave him an odd look.
"I'm not a freak, really."
Her eyebrows rose up in a questioning manner, "Sure you aren't." and with that she walked away.
Today was definitely not normal. "Thanks again, and sorry, thanks, bye."
Troy shook his head and lead out a breath, now it was time to find Gabriella. He spun on his heels and walked toward the hall that had been pointed out, hoping to god that he would be spared an awkward moment, and wouldn't run into that woman again. He was confused as hell and his head was beginning to pound.
He closed his eyes as the elevator doors dinged shut and let his mind wander. He had ran into his ex-girlfriend, well ex-wife, the woman who he left. Who he chose basketball over. He could be happily married right now with a family, but he wasn't, all because he chose a sport over the love of his life. He was wishing that he could take it back, that he could go back in time and let her know how much he loved her. How much he still loves her. As the elevator came closer to his stop he exhaled a nervous breathe. He was about to meet his daughter. Would she want to meet him. Would she hate him for not being there? Would Gabriella even allow him to see her? He felt light headed at the thought. She had to let him. He had to see her, she had to know that he knew of her pregnancy he would have never left. But then again he shouldn't have left her, pregnant or not. He had made so many mistakes and he knew he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her is she let him.
He immediately stepped into the beige hall when the metal doors opened.
"Excuse me," He muttered to the people waiting to get on the elevator as he stepped around them. When he arrived at the end of the hallway he looked around trying to locate the main desk. He spotted it, off to the far right of the room, a man that appeared to be in his mid thirties or forties was talking into the phone and jotting notes down. Troy waited to side of the desk rocking on his heels impatiently, right, left, right, left.
"How may I help you, sir?' The man asked when he noticed Troy, having already placed the phone back onto it's holder.
Troy remembered that Gabriella had spoke their daughter's name, but it was before she had told him she was his daughter and he was finding it difficult to remember it.
"Um, last name is Bolton."
The man looked up quizzically, "First name, sir?"
Words along the lines of shit, damn, and fuck, rang through Troy's brain. His eyes widened and he yelled out, "Rachel!" Startling the poor receptionist.
"Okay then..." He trailed off, fingers furiously typing at the keyboard. "Ah, Rachel Bolton, room number 802 It is located right around the corner to the right."
"Thanks, man,"
He received a smile but knew the receptionist was just secretly happy at his departing. Well he could just go...type.
Troy closed his eyes and rubbed his hands together, he had just passed room 801, which meant 802 was next. He reached the door and hesitantly brought his hand up to knock, only to pull it back down to his side as he was overcome by another wave of nerves. He let a partial laugh escape his lips at his absurd behavior. He hadn't seen Gabriella in fifteen years and she still made him nervous as if he was picking her up for their first date. His hand was subconsciously moving to the back of his neck, ready to rub it. He pulled it back down and instead balled it into a fist and knocked on the door. The seconds that passed as he waited for Gabriella to answer the door were torture. The brown door finally creaked open and he noticed that it was not Gabriella who had answered it. Instead another woman who looked to be around his age was looking up at him. She opened her mouth, most likely ready to question his identity but he would not have answered her anyway. For when he looked over, he saw Gabriella who was wide eyed staring at him, but he was more focused on the girl laying on the hospital bed. She had long brown hair, and he could tell that he eyes were the same shade of stunning blue as his own. Her skin tone was a bit pale and purple circles laced the outside of her eyes. Her lips were dried out and she had wires and machines around the bed she was on. One wire an IV that was taped to her left hand. She looked like she had been hit buy a car, and had probably spend most of the morning and early afternoon throwing up, but the sight of her made him smile. He saw the resemblance of himself in her and pride swelled within him. He took notice of the shirt that had JV basketball labeled onto it and his heard swelled further, she played his sport.
"Mom, why is Troy Bolton here?" Rachel question and Troy was brought out of his trance. Rachel, of course knew that he was her father, but Troy did not know she was aware of that detail.
"Becca? Can you give us a few minutes, please?"
This time it was Gabriella that spoke up, but Troy did not need to look up to know that. He would recognize her voice anywhere. Rebecca, or Becca as Troy now knew her as, gave a small smile and wave to Gabriella and Rachel, before turning toward the door. When Gabriella heard the door click close she turned to Rachel and winced at the look on her face. It was one of complete shock and confusion mixed in with many other emotions that she could not decipher. She had no clue how to explain this to her. So she opened her mouth and spoke the obvious.
"Rachel, this is your father. Troy this is Rachel, our daughter." Troy's eyes shifted to Gabriella's a smile on his face at the words she had used. However, he quickly turned back to Rachel when he heard the groan that came from her side of the room.
Rachel had been sick all day, vomiting and barely eating. The chemo making her stomach revolt against her body. She had barely managed to finish the lunch that Rebecca had brought for her, and it looked like it was about to show itself again.
"Oh gosh." She said right before she leaned over, the contents of her stomach spilling into the bucket that was placed by her hospital bed. Gabriella was ready to rush over and assist her daughter, but Troy beat her to it. He was at Rachel side in an instant, holding her hair back and comforting her as she was sick. It warmed Gabriella to know she would have a great father.
As for Rachel, it was not the way she had imagined she would meet her father, but she was just happy he was there. Those were her last thoughts before she lent over the bucket again.