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Chapter 13: Home Sweet Home

GABI'S POV

We sat in Dallas, Texas waiting on our connecting flight from Inverness to Albuquerque. It was 1 AM and we were all exhausted, everyone was there, the Bolton's, the Evans', the Danforth's, the Baylor's, the Cross', the Neilson's, the Cox's, and the McKessie's, plus all of us kids. We took up a good portion of the airplane needless to say. There was huge rain storm in Dallas and we weren't leaving anytime soon. Troy and I were laying on the floor, with his head propped up on our carry-on bags, and mine was on his chest. Zeke, Pay, Kelsi, Jason, Taylor, Chad, Ryan, and Martha were all in this same position. We were exhausted and trying to get whatever sleep we could.

I woke up, and was just laying there with my eyes closed. I was thinking about the past few months, past year and a few months actually when I started to giggle. Troy must have felt me moving because he woke up.

"What, El, you okay, what's going on?" he mumbled half asleep.

"I'm fine Troy, sorry to wake you baby." I said

"No it's okay. What's up?" He asked, trying to look down at me.

I sighed and smiled, "I was just thinking."

"About…"

"The past year and a few months. It's been one hell of a ride." I laughed, despite the gravity of the situation really. Troy gave me a strange look and shrugged, he closed his eyes to go back to sleep and I did the same thing.

Finally, after what felt like forever they called our flight. We all got up and started straightening out our clothes and such. We were such a mess, all emotional and tired, and hungry, oh wait, no that's just Chad.

"Mom." Chad whined, dragging out the one word, "I'm SO hungry."

"You're always SO hungry." I mocked him, "Aren't you ever anything else?"

"No honey, he's just hungry." Mrs. Danforth laughed. I smiled, she was hilarious.

"Believe me, we've tried to teach him to be something else, but it really is useless." Mr. Danforth said, giving me a hug.

"You're going to fit in well Hot Stuff, all anyone here does is make fun of me." Chad grumbled

"Well, if that's all it takes then ANYONE could fit in here." I said. He glared at me and I quickly moved to the other side of Troy so I was farther away from Chad. Everyone laughed at our antics. Once we got settled on the plane we had to wait forever to take off.

Finally we landed in Albuquerque. It all felt so different from the last time I was there. Everything was brighter and just all around nicer, although that could just be the circumstances. I smiled as Troy intertwined our fingers, then Pay linked our arms together. The four of us, Zeke, Pay, Me, and Troy all made our way through the airport, ahead of the rest of the group. We were laughing and having a good time. Chad had stopped complaining since they fed us breakfast on the flight. We gathered up our many, well Sharpay's many, bags and made our way to the cars. Troy, Lucy, Jack, and I took a cab, while the other parents had cars there since they weren't in Inverness as long.

We got home and unloaded the car, Gilligan was so excited to be back, home…gosh I can't get over how amazing that sounds. Jack got back in the car and went to get Walter from the vet's office, where he'd been staying while they were gone.

"Brie," Lucy said, "Let's call the girls and go shopping."

"Really?" I asked

"Yeah, all you kids have the day off from school tomorrow, you've been through enough where you deserve a day to rest. All you kids are going to Lava Springs."

"Lava Springs?" I was confused, I'd heard the name before, but I couldn't remember where.

"The Evans' resort and spa. You guys are going to chill there tomorrow, you girls can go to the spa and such. But I think that today we should go hit the mall. Besides, the rest of you stuff won't be here until tomorrow." Lucy said with a smile.

"Oh, but I have enough clothes and such now." I reasoned

"Nonsense. A woman can NEVER have too many clothes." She said, did I mention that the Bolton's are rich? When Lucy's father died, she inherited his business and fortune, so of course they can afford everything, but still, they shouldn't be spending money on me unnecessarily. "Look, I NEVER get to spend money on a daughter, please." She did a little pout.

"Let's do it!" I said, we both took a shower and changed before heading out to the mall to meet the girls, Sharpay, Taylor, Martha, Kelsi, Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Danforth, Mrs. Baylor, Mrs. McKessie, Mrs. Cox, Mrs. Neilson, and Mrs. Cross.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Sharpay squealed linking arms with me. We went in and out of basically every shop in the mall. We bought so many clothes, all picking out stuff for the guys.

"If we didn't do this they NEVER would." Lindsay Cross sighed.

"If we didn't do this they would dress horribly." Michelle Danforth said.

"Except for the Evans men, they know how to dress." Elaine Baylor commented with a smile.

"Years of work, trust me." Claire Evans said shaking her head.

"I'm sure!" Christine Neilson said dryly.

Finally we went our separate ways and headed to our cars. "We just have one more stop." Lucy said.

"Where?" I asked

"Well, Troy told me what your dream car was." She said with a sly smile.

"The Saab 9.3 Convertible?" I asked, slightly confused

"Yes, in the polar white." She confirmed, I nodded my head yes, "Well, here we are." She said, as we pulled into the Saab dealership.

"Lucy…" She got out of the car without a word and we made our way into the dealership.

"Mrs. Bolton, so nice to see you. We have your car ready and we've sent the papers to your office, if you'll just sign them and mail them back when you get a chance." The older gentleman said. "Oh and you must be Gabriella. Welcome to Albuquerque my dear."

"Thank you sir." I replied, I was still slightly confused.

"Here are your keys." He said, handing me a key

"To what?" I asked

"Your new car dear." Lucy replied with a chuckle. I looked at her shocked. "Well you do need some means of transportation." She reasoned.

"Oh my G-d," tears welled up in my eyes, "you all are just too good to me. You really don't need to do this."

She hugged me, "Yes sweetie we do, besides you're part of the family now, well, not officially. We're not adopting you because we know you will enter it by other means." She said with a smirk, as she fingered her necklace. Lucy always wears the same necklace, it's a white gold chain with Jack's class ring around it that he gave to her in high school.

I giggled, "I hope so." I said as I began to play with Troy's ring on my finger. It was much too big for me.

"We'll get a chain for that, you don't want to lose it." She commented. I smiled and we exited the dealership, I slipped into my new car and put the roof down. It's so amazing. I had a Saab at home, but it was a 9.5, a more reasonable car for a teenager. But this was SO incredible.

We got home and unloaded our many shopping bags, the room that I stayed in when I originally ran away had become my room. It looked out over the backyard and had a nice balcony. I began to put my new clothes and stuff away neatly in my room before dinner was ready. Gilligan came prancing into my room with her toy in her mouth, as always I laughed, and jumped onto my bed. I gave her a kiss and went back to unpacking.

Suddenly I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around my waist. I leaned into Troy's body, but continued what I was doing. I moaned as Troy began to nip at my neck, quickly finding my sensitive spot and sucking at it, leaving a mark I'm sure. I turned in his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck. He grinned as he pulled me closer. He leaned down and kissed me, backing up so he could shut the door. He then led me to the bed. I fell onto it when I felt the backs of my legs hit it. Gilligan jumped up, surprised that we were there, and went to go sit on the balcony. Troy gently laid on me. My hands roamed down to his chest and slipped under his shirt, gently tracing each well defined muscle as they made their way up. His arms slipped under my shirt. He began to gently massage my breasts and I moaned into his mouth, as he groaned when my fingers lightly skimmed over his abs. I was about to take his shirt off when,

"DINNER!" echoed through the large house. Troy and I pulled away and sighed, he leaned down and gave me a small kiss on the lips and then pushed himself up.

He held his hand out for me to take, we straightened ourselves up, and I dabbed a little foundation on my fresh hickey, yeah thanks a lot Troy, and we made our way downstairs hand-in-hand.

AN: There's the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it!!

Mollie XOXO