A/N: As promised :D No more exams :D Yay! Woohoo :D And now...university in September. I'm not scared. At all...

Anyway, enjoy :D

Chapter 9

Troy watched Gabriella leave and he ran a hand over his face. What did he do? Seriously? What could he do? At the suggestion of a bath, Gabriella seemed to realise what she was doing and left. Why? He didn't know. All he'd wanted to do was to help. Maybe that's what drove her away. Maybe it scared her.

He still stared out of the window, looking down at the Scarborough people, milling about. The shops were only just opening and so there wasn't the calm buzz that usually hung around Scarborough's town centre.

Maybe he should've run after her. After all, the chances of her drinking the second she got home were too high to contemplate. It was too painful to think about how she might be killing herself. But what could he do? If he pressed too hard, he could be the reason for her to actually go through with it.

He collapsed onto the nearby armchair and closed his eyes. This was what he'd tried to avoid the whole of Andy's life. He hadn't wanted complications and he hadn't wanted drama. Not just for Andy's sake but for Troy's own selfish fear. The sheer thought of things messing up his ever-faithful routine scared the crap out of him. He liked the way his life was at the moment and he didn't want anything messing it up.

So was Gabriella worth all of this? Was it worth having Gabriella in his life if he had to cope with drama this huge? After all, there was always going to the chance that she'd relapse. This could be the first time of a lot of relapses that he'd have to deal with.

Was she worth it?

Hell yeah. So she had baggage; so did he. But, he didn't care about that. All he knew was that he wanted her in his life. She made him smile. She made him happy. She made him feel alive. Scratch that. She made him feel things he'd sworn never to feel again. All of Andy's life, Troy had concentrated on being a good father and protecting his son; the result of that being that he'd never had a long-term relationship since Andy's mother. He'd mostly just had meaningless flings. But, Andy was now grown up and could take care of himself. So Troy really had no reason to hold back anymore.

He wanted her in his life. He just wanted...her. If that meant that he had to cope with a few relapses when her demons were more ferocious than ever, he'd be there for her. He wanted her to be okay. He wanted her to be strong enough to fight those demons. In fact, a selfish part of him wanted to be the reason that she was strong.

He shook his head to himself as he stood up and grabbed his mobile, ringing the garage.

Andy picked up on the second ring. "Bolton's garage, Andy speaking."

"Andy, it's me. I need you to check the employee records and tell me Gabriella's address," Troy instructed as he grabbed his keys.

"Why?" Andy asked as there was some rustling in the background.

"She's left. I don't know where she's gone but I'm pretty sure she's not gone to her parents' place." 'Pretty sure' didn't cut it. He was certain. From what he'd witnessed that morning, she wasn't going to be very willing to admit to her family that she'd relapsed into her addiction. So there were really only two places she would've gone: either her home or one of the pubs in Scarborough; and for such a small town, there was quite a variety to choose from. So from those two options, he was praying that she was at home and that she didn't possess any alcohol.

Andy recited her address as Troy quickly scribbled it on the edge of the local paper. He tore the corner off as Andy spoke. "But Sharpay and Zeke are on their way over, to make sure she's okay."

Troy sighed as he locked his door. "Well, when they find the flat empty, they'll either go back to the garage or call Gabriella. Honestly, Andy, Sharpay and Zeke are not my priorities right now."

Andy paused. "You've never done this before, Dad. You're finally taking care of someone other than me."

Troy frowned. His son didn't sound like he was teasing Troy. Then again, he didn't sound all that upset, either. If anything, he sounded glad. After all, Andy had grown up seeing Troy concentrating on building a safe environment for him. It was probably nice for Andy to see his dad thinking about something else for a change.

Instead of responding like he should've, Troy simply said, "Get back to work," before hanging up.

Gabriella opened the door, dressed in an oversized Billy Joel tour shirt. She sighed when she saw Troy standing in the corridor of her block of flats and she averted her eyes. "Why did you follow me?

He shrugged. "I want to help and I wasn't sure what you were planning on doing after you left."

She opened the door wider and gestured for him to come inside. "Actually," she began as she headed to the kitchen, "I've just been listening to some music. It calms me down."

"Billy Joel?" Troy asked quietly as she switched the kettle on.

She nodded as she turned to him. "Long-time fan. My brother, Alejandro, played 'Leningrad' for me when my family had almost given up trying to get me to get help for my...problem. So every time I think about alcohol, I listen to it. But, I guess I was a little late this time." She turned back to the kettle, pouring two cups of coffee.

She set both of the cups on the kitchen table and she sat opposite Troy. He ran his finger around the rim of his cup. "Why did you leave?"

She shrugged. "My boss just found out that I'm an alcoholic. I don't want you to judge me."

He frowned. "Why would I judge you?"

"I can think of one good reason," she whispered.

He shrugged. "I don't know what made you become an alcoholic but I know that you're not a bad person. Let me help."

She nodded slowly. "Okay," she whispered.

"How do you feel?" he asked quietly.

She frowned and sipped her coffee. "Helpless. You don't know how it feels, you know."

"Tell me," Troy whispered.

Gabriella sighed, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. What did she have to lose? Her boss had let her pass out on his bed, drunk, after she'd apparently tried to seduce him. It wasn't like she had a great deal of pride and dignity left. A lot of people would've thrown her out and fired her. The least she could do was try to help him to understand.

She took a deep breath. "You know when you're a kid and your mum puts a box of sweets on the table? And she tells you not to have any. And when she leaves, you have one. But you say that'll be it. You'll have one and then you'll stop. And before you know it, you've eaten half the box." She looked at him, tears trickling down her cheeks. "That's what it's like. Last night, I did it on purpose. I wanted to forget. But, other times, I've said to myself that I'd have one glass of wine or one pint of lager. It doesn't work like that. Once I start, I can't stop until I've passed out and I wake up."

"Is it always there? The temptation, I mean," he murmured.

"Always," she murmured. "Remember the night at The Duchess? It was torture. There's always a voice, urging me to skip work to go to the pub or to pick up a bottle of wine when I'm shopping. It's always there." Tears came faster then and a rather embarrassing sob left her throat. She started taking deep breaths, trying to calm down enough to talk.

Troy moved to the chair closest to her and touched her hand. "Hey, look at me. Brie, look at me."

She reluctantly looked at him. "What?"

"I'm not judging you. You're not any less of a woman than I thought yesterday. Do you believe me?" he whispered.

She shrugged. "I guess so." She sighed and concentrated on tugging at the loose cotton thread on her shirt. "You know, it's a constant battle against the voices. They tell you that it's okay to drink, that it'll make everything better. Sometimes I'm strong enough to know that it's wrong. I was that strong for ten years. But, other times, like yesterday, I'm too weak and I can't fight them anymore."

Troy paused on that. He couldn't comprehend feeling so dependent on something, on anything. He couldn't relate to her. But, he could try to help her. It wasn't to do with her being his employee. In fact, he hadn't thought about the garage since he'd phoned Andy. This was different. Troy was helping her because he wanted to, not out of obligation. Troy was helping her because they were friends, whether she was fully aware of it or not. He was determined to help her because, against his better judgement, he cared for her.

Emerging from his thoughts, Troy rose and held his hand out expectantly. "I'm going to make you better."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and didn't take his hand. "Troy, this isn't some kind of virus I can take a few doses of penicillin for and get better. I'm always going to be this way; I'm always going to be fighting my demons because that's what an addiction is. It's demons, taunting you, preying on your weakest moments."

Troy sighed and crouched down in front of her, like you would in front of a small child. "I'm not going to cure you. Maybe 'make you better' wasn't the right choice of words. I'm no therapist or psychiatrist. I never have been. But, I want to help you get stronger. Can I do that?"

Gabriella sighed. "Well, it can't get any worse, can it?"

Troy pulled them both to their feet and brought her into his arms, holding her tightly. Unlike the first time he'd held her, in his office after she'd 'saved' him, he wasn't appreciating her body. He wasn't memorising every perfect curve in every perfect place. He didn't even have to try not to get turned on by her. This was because all he could think about was her being alright, being strong enough to fight the temptation.

He pulled back and brushed some of her dishevelled curls from her face. "Can you promise me something?"

"I can try," she whispered.

He smiled. "That's what I want you to promise. Promise me you'll try to stay sober."

She looked at him, really looked at him. Gone was the stubborn man who was reluctant to give her a job. In his place was a caring, non-judging, and sympathetic man. He didn't care if she was an alcoholic, he just wanted to help.

"Not many people have asked that of me before," she whispered.

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess they just expect me to be able to stop and that's it. But, it's not like that." She inhaled sharply. "Troy, I can promise that I'll try. But what if I relapse? I don't want you to go through this again."

He shook his head. "I don't care. I'm glad Andy and Steph found you. Where's your phone?"

She frowned but pointed to the kitchen table. "Just there. Why?"

He grabbed it and began pushing buttons, immediately being able to find the phonebook and successfully add his number. He handed it back to her. "You have my number now. If you ever find yourself on the brink of a relapse, if you're drunk in a pub and realise what you're doing, or if you've bought alcohol and afraid of what you might do, just call me, okay?"

"You don't mean that," she muttered.

"But I do," he pressed. "No matter what time it is, where you are, day or night, hell or high water. I'll come and help you."

"Thank you," she murmured. "I'm not sure what would've happened if Andy and Steph hadn't brought me to you."

He shrugged. "Don't think about that. You're home now and you're going to get stronger again. I promise."

Gabriella was silent for a moment. "Can you not tell anybody? I mean, it's not really something that I'm comfortable with people knowing."

He smiled. "Your secret's safe with me. Just promise me you'll try to stay sober."

She nodded solemnly. "I promise," she whispered. She looked up at him and her breath caught in her throat. He was mere inches from her face. That wasn't what bothered her. She wasn't scared by the chance that he might kiss her. What terrified her was the churning in her stomach. It wasn't butterflies. It was more like a herd of elephants stampeding inside of her. A ferocious heat raged through her veins, her heart was working overtime in her chest, and her mouth felt incredibly dry. The pure, natural, animalistic desire she felt scared her to death because it wasn't due to his looks. It was because of how downright caring he was being.

Maybe it was because she was hungover and she was still rather vulnerable, but all she knew was that she wanted him.

There was a part of her that wanted the feeling to stop. She wanted to be able to think clearly, to think rationally and to reason exactly why they should never be together. But as he rested a hand on her waist, fuelling the fire within her veins, and took a hesitant step towards her, she realised that she didn't want it to stop. She wanted it to last, she wanted it to continue until it consumed her in fire and heat until there was her, there was Troy, and there was nothing else.

He tilted his head slightly to hers, slowly making the inches, centimetres. Then, the gap between them was no more than the mere breadth width of a hair.

Until a high pitched ringing pierced the air.

Reality seemed to crash down and she leapt away, taking all of her effort to quash the desire within her. "Umm, th-the phone," she stuttered as she made her way over to the landline phone. She pushed the 'answer' button. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Gabriella!" a voice exclaimed.

Gabriella seemed to snap out of her inner turmoil and had to smile at her friend's panic in her voice. "Shar! I'm here. I'm fine, I promise."

"Gabs, from what Andy said, I think we really need to talk," Zeke said softly.

Gabriella glanced at Troy who gave her a small nod. She gave him a small, thankful smile. "You can come on up."