Troy and Gabriella silently made their way to the rooftop, hand in hand. Once they reached the bench, Troy sat down sideways so his back was against the arm. He pulled Gabriella down so she was in between his legs and they were laying stomach to stomach and her head on his chest. They sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"When I moved away from you, I was devastated. I stopped doing all things that reminded me of you because it was too painful, hence the singing stuff, and the jewelry. I didn't care for my grades, I never went to basketball games, and I closed myself off from everyone. I don't think I've truly smile since we were together. My friends don't even know the real me." Gabriella started. Troy was quiet, pain rising in his eyes as the thought of the pain his wife went through.

"I hated basketball. The only reason I kept playing was because I knew you'd want me to. Our friends would tell me that I was never happy. They would get frustrated because I pushed them away and closed myself off. They understood though. My mom was constantly worried. I skipped meals sometimes, never really had a proper conversation with either of them until about 5 ½ months ago. They tried to send me to counseling; didn't help." Troy told her.

Silence.

"I cried myself to sleep every night…" They said in sync.

Silence.

"I wish I could have been there for you." Troy said and held her tighter.

"Me too."

Silence.

"Why didn't our parents let us stay together? Our daughter had just died a month prior, damn it. It wasn't fair." Gabriella angrily yelled, though not loud.

"I don't know baby. I am in no way defending them; what they did was not right. But maybe they thought after a month we were over it and decided it was better for us to have some alone time. I really don't know though. But whatever the reason was, they were wrong. It just made everything worse. Did you know the only thing keeping me from committing suicide was you? I thought very seriously about it. But then I thought, 'No, I can't do that to Brie.' I promised myself that as soon as I was out of high school, I would fly here and get you." Troy admitted. Gabriella gasped when he mentioned the suicide and tears made their way down her face.

"Please. Never, ever think about suicide again." Gabriella pleaded. "But I have to be honest. I thought of doing it too." Gabriella sobbed and then heard a sob that hadn't come from her.

"No." Troy shook his head and then leaned his forehead on hers. "Don't you dare ever think about it ever again. Do you hear me?" Troy demanded. His tone had so many emotions; plead, demand, broken, shock, unsettled, anger, disturbed, love, compassion, and so many others.

"I won't. I promise. But you have to promise too." Gabriella replied.

"I promise." He hesitated. "Unless something, which nothing will, were to happen to you." He finished painfully. The thought of something happening to Gabriella practically killed him.

"Troy." Gabriella whimpered.

He hushed her. "You don't have to worry because nothing is going to happen to you."

"If you get that exception so do I." Gabriella told him.

"Brie-"

"Troy." She cut him off. He kept silent knowing he wouldn't win this one. He cringed even thinking that the exception applied to her promise too.

Silence passed through the couple again.

"Why do you think it happened to us? Why did god take her away from us?" Troy asked.

"I don't know. I believe everything happens for a reason. Maybe we weren't meant to be parents at the time. Maybe we were meant to lose her so we could be separated, and then our relationship would be stronger. And we would know what it was like to be apart and it would never happen in the future. Either way, I don't like it. But it was meant to happen. There is some lesson involved that we were meant to learn. I just wish we could have learned it a different way." Gabriella explained. Troy nodded.

Silence.

"If we hadn't lost Lilly, what do you think we would be doing?" Gabriella questioned.

"I think we would be here in Albuquerque since your dads company did want to transfer him. I think we would be on our way home to see our daughter and we would play with her for a while before going to do our homework. We would lay her in-between us on our bed. She would nap while we could do homework. After that, we could cuddle on the couch with Lilly and watch a movie. We could feed her, sing to her, and put her to bed together." Troy answered.

"If only…" Gabriella trailed off.

"I never want to experience the pain I've felt over the past year ever again. It hurt so much." Gabriella sobbed. "Being on the opposite side of the country from you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Please never leave me again Troy, no matter what our parents or anybody else does. Please." She clung to him sobbing into his chest.

"Shhh, Brie. It's ok. Don't worry; I will never ever leave you again, no matter what. I promise. We will forever be together." Troy soothed her.

They laid there for a while and Gabriella felt her eye lids grow heavy. Troy watched her sleep peacefully for a while before he gave into his own tiredness and fell asleep holding tightly to Gabriella.

TroyellaloveT

An hour and a half later, Troy slowly woke from his sleep. Looking down, he saw she was still sleeping. Troy checked his phone for the time and figured they should get home soon. Thankfully they didn't have any homework to complete so they would cuddle back up in bed or on the couch when they arrived home. Deciding not to wake her, Troy carefully repositioned her so he was holding her as you would a baby rocking him or her to sleep. He stood, again trying not to wake her, and descended down to stairs and toward the exit of East High. He set her in the passenger's seat when they reached his car and buckled her. Sitting in the driver's seat, Troy buckled himself, started the car, and started on his way home while holding onto his wife's hand.

When they arrived home, he picked her up out of the car and brought her inside. He lay on the couch and laid Gabriella on his chest. Gazing at her, he rememorized each detail on her mesmerizing face. The lip gloss on her full lips was still slightly shinny but was wearing off. The nostrils on her button cute nose were faintly widening as she inhaled and shrinking when she exhaled. Her cheeks had light mascara trails from the crying she had done. Her eyes which were peacefully close had no eye shadow on, for which he had persuaded her this morning not to wear any because she was gorgeous without make-up. Sadly, he hadn't persuaded her to wear no make-up considering she had a light coat of foundation on and some mascara on her eye lashes. Her dark curls were spread out on his chest and he took a deep breath in to fill his nostrils with her unique scent. She simply looked stunning.

She stirred, coming back to consciousness. As he looked at the clock, he realized he had been staring at her for over an hour. He kissed her forehead.

"Hi, beautiful."

Her chocolate brown eyes fluttered open and his breath caught in his throat.

"Hi." She whispered her voice thick with sleep. She noticed that she was no longer on the roof top but instead at Troy's house. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"We slept for an hour and a half on the roof top, plus the ride home, plus the hour here. I'd say about 3 hours or so." Troy answered.

"Oh, wow." Gabriella said surprised. "You should have woken me."

"Nah. You know I love watching you sleep. Plus, I haven't really gotten my time to do that nor rememorize your face since we've been back. I was staring at you since we got home and when you started waking up; I hadn't even realized I'd been staring at you for the past hour." He paused she looked into her eyes. "You're so beautiful."

She blushed and looked away. He still made her blush after all these years.

"I love you." She told him returning her gaze to him.

"I love you too."

I am so, so, so, so, so, so sorry. Gosh, time fly's FAST. I hadn't even realized this long had passed and suddenly I was like, 'sh--! They're gonna kill me!' I've been so busy with school, and doctor's appointments, and cheerleading practice and competitions ranging from Massachusetts to Rhode Island every weekend. January-May is hectic times for me every year. I'm still trying to find out what's wrong with me. I've got another test at the hospital on Monday. Wish me luck. Again, sorry. I know I always have excuses so I'm sorry for that too. But they're true. I promise. I will really try to update more often. I'll try hard! Love you guys!

P.S. Sorry it's not very long. I tried to make it longer. I'm not good with lengthening these.

P.S.S. This chapter would have been up earlier but FanFiction would not let me post it! :(