A/N: This is chapter 5 :) Don't own HSM x

Chapter 5 – She's okay

(A/N: This is me)

Gabriella sighed as Troy pulled into the parking lot of Albuquerque hospital. "You don't have to come in." She protested. "Everyone knows me. And Daisy is okay being tied up outside. I don't like it too much but I don't know where else she can go."

Troy shook his head and un-clicked his seatbelt. "I want to. Blitzen and Daisy are fine in the back. The windows will be rolled down and I just…I need to make sure you're okay."

"You don't know who I am." She mumbled as she pressed the button on her seatbelt. She turned to face him and sighed. "You really wouldn't want to care about me if you knew who I am."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Can I please just make sure you're okay?"

Gabriella nodded reluctantly. "Fine." She muttered. She twisted in her seat to face the back seats where Daisy was lying, her head resting between her paws. Gabriella was surprised that she hadn't woken up when Troy had pulled his beat up old truck to a loud stop. Blitzen was lying next to her, his head resting protectively over her back but his eyes were wide open. "Take good care of her, okay Blitzen?" She stroked his ears and smiled at him.

Her door opened and she jumped slightly as she twisted to face the front. Troy stood there, smiling brightly at her as he held her door open. "They'll be fine. I promise." He helped her out of his truck and quickly locked it behind them.

They began walking into the hospital together when Gabriella turned to Troy. "I want to thank you again. Thank you for saving me."

"Don't think anything of it." Troy brushed her off. He noticed how pale she looked and he touched her arm to stop her walking. "Hey, you okay? You don't look so good."

"Can you help me?" She whispered. "My head hurts. My mom's working on the sixth floor – the children's ward."

Troy nodded and picked her up, wanting to get to the children's ward as fast as possible. He skidded to a stop at the elevators. "Gabriella, where are the stairs?" He asked, his eyes locked on the flashing number ten. Tenth floor?!

Gabriella weakly raised her arm to point at a door on the other side of the corridor. "Over there." She dropped her arm and closed her eyes. She snuggled further into Troy's chest and sighed, fighting her heavy eyelids.

"Don't leave me, Brie." Troy mumbled as he jogged over to the door which Gabriella had pointed out. He jogged up the stairs, forcing himself not to slow down as he approached the door with the black six painted on the frosted glass. He finally found a good, productive use for all of the suicides his father made him do. He kicked the door open with a little more violence than he originally intended. The door slamming against the wall caused a loud noise to reverberate through the corridor.

Several nurses and doctors turned to face him and a doctor from over near the nurses' station rushed over to him, her hand immediately stroking Gabriella's forehead. "Oh, mi hija." She cried.

Troy noticed that the doctor, kind of, looked like an older version of Gabriella. Mi hija? Is that Spanish? His mind quickly whirled through the semester of Spanish he had taken after Taylor had persuaded him to. If truth be known, he had just wanted her to shut up. "She's your daughter." He realised.

The doctor looked up and smiled, her chocolate eyes sparkling exactly like Gabriella's did. "Yeah. What happened? Wait, tell me as I'm examining her. Come with me." She began walking away and Troy quickly followed her. She entered an empty room and held the door open for Troy. "Can you set her down on the bed, please?"

Troy nodded and walked further into the room. He laid her down gently onto the white bed and then brushed some curls from her forehead. He turned to Gabriella's mother and his eyes widened as he read her nametag. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Half an hour left. "Oh, God." He mumbled as he turned back to Gabriella who had finally drifted into unconsciousness.

The doctor looked up from a clipboard and frowned. "Everything okay, Troy?"

"Does everyone know who I am?" He exclaimed. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm fine. I just…I didn't know she was a Montez, is all. If my dad or friends find out about this, they're going to kill me and then bring me back to kill me again."

The doctor held her hand out. "I'm Maria, Gabriella's mother."

Troy shook her hand and nodded. "I kind of figured that. I must thank Taylor for practically forcing me to take Spanish."

She chuckled and set the clipboard down. "So, you still want to stay?"

"Hell yeah. Does everyone think I'm that shallow?" He mumbled.

"Well, I don't know about everyone else, but Carl does. But, I don't." She smiled softly as she walked over to the other side of the bed. She took a thermometer out of her lab coat and placed in her daughter's ear. It beeped and she took it out again. "Troy, what happened to my daughter?"

Troy sighed, stroking Gabriella's hand. "Well, I was playing with Blitzen, my dog, and he gets ridiculously distracted. He ran off and I followed him and then we met Daisy who was whining. I dove into the lake and pulled Gabriella out. I gave her mouth to mouth and then she was complaining about having some pain on her head." Troy explained, looking up at Maria.

"Where about on her head?" Maria asked immediately.

"She was holding it at the back." Troy replied, still gripping Gabriella's hand.

Maria rolled her daughter over slightly so she was facing Troy more. She began feeling the back of Gabriella's head. "There's a slightl bump there. I'm just going to get a cold compress, okay?"

Troy nodded. "Sure." He watched Maria close the door and then he took his cell phone out to text his mom as to where he was and why he could possibly be a little late. He put his phone back into his pocket and turned to Gabriella. She looked so peaceful. She looked exactly like she did when he saved her life…except she was wearing his jacket which was extremely endearing. They had both dried off slightly but were still damp and Troy had already expressed his concern to her about her getting pneumonia.

Maria returned and walked back to her previous position and placed the cold compress on the back of her daughter's head. "Could you hold this for me?"

Troy nodded and swallowed nervously. He honestly trusted Maria and knew that she wouldn't have asked him to if it would possibly hurt Gabriella but he still feared he would make things worse. He placed his hand where Maria's had been and sighed softly when he felt Gabriella's damp hair beneath his fingers. "Is she okay?"

Maria nodded. "She will be. Don't worry about her. She's strong." She reached into her pocket and brought out a needle she had obviously prepared whilst getting the cold compress.

"What about her head? The bump is pretty big." Troy mumbled worriedly.

Maria smiled at him. "That's a good thing. The quicker the lump appears, the quicker it'll heal. When she was a little girl she would always get lumps and bumps because she was always playing with her brothers. She's covered in scars. She'll be fine."

"She's unconscious." He murmured, staring at her peaceful face.

"It's probably a slight concussion. Is this your jacket?" She gestured with the needle to the denim jacket covering her torso.

He nodded. "Yeah. I thought she might be cold. And her tee-shirt kind of went see through."

Maria laughed softly and placed the needle on the bedside cabinet and began unbuttoning Troy's jacket. She pulled her daughter's arm out of the sleeve and rubbed the exposed skin of her upper arm with some cotton wool. "Before you ask, it's just a simple shot. It'll kill any chances that she could've picked something up from the water." She quickly, in a movement so smooth and fast that Troy barely saw it, injected the medicine into Gabriella's arm and then began rubbing Gabriella's arm until it stopped bleeding. She placed the cap on the needle and dropped it into her pocket.

"She said I wouldn't care about her if I knew who she was…Did she mean because she's a Montez?" Troy asked, lifting his eyes to Maria's.

Maria took a deep breath. "Probably. She doesn't hate you." She spoke slowly, thinking carefully of what to say. "Far from it. She hates the stupid feud that's been going on since forever. But, she thinks that you're like everyone else."

Troy smiled slightly. "She's wrong."

"Excuse me?" Maria cocked her head to the side.

"Please. The sooner I can get out of New Mexico, the better. If I was any other Wildcat, I probably wouldn't care. But I do." Troy said softly.

"Why?" Maria whispered. "I've never talked to a Bolton or a Wildcat that voluntarily admitted they cared about, not only a Knight but, a Montez."

Troy shrugged. "I honestly don't know. It was something that's been nagging at me for a while and part of it is because I see what other people don't. When I had my appendix out four years ago, it showed me what really matters in life. And a stupid feud between Wildcats and Knights, Bolton's and Montez's, is so pointless."

Maria smiled softly. "I know it's hard. I can see it in Gabby's eyes that she doesn't like it. But, I'm going to be calling my husband and sons pretty soon so I think you should go."

"What about Daisy?" Troy asked suddenly.

"Just tie her up outside. I'll get one of my sons to take her home." Maria replied softly.

Troy removed his hand from the back of Gabriella's head and bit his lip thoughtfully. "Do you have a piece of paper and a pen?"

Maria nodded and brought out the stationary desired by Troy. "Here you go."

Troy scribbled something down and folded the piece of paper up neatly. "Could you give this to her, please? Tell her that I hope she feels better soon." He smiled slightly as he handed them back to Maria. He kissed Gabriella's knuckles and sighed as he got to his feet.

***

(A/N: This is HSMandChelseaFCfan)

Gabriella felt her head throbbing as she awoke from her state of confusion. She couldn't figure out where she was as a dimly lit room came into her view; her eyes blinking as she adjusted to the light. Lifting her hand, she turned to see several pieces of medical equipment and kid's posters on the walls to cheer the room up. She had no idea how long she must have been out of it. Suddenly she sat up quickly - something she was soon regretting, feeling the pain shooting through her head – as she remembered Troy and everything that happened.

"Gabby?" A voice asked softly.

Gabriella turned to find her mom with some papers in her hand. "M-Mom." Her voice was groggy as her Mom stood up and handed her a glass of water and a straw. "Thanks."

"Gabby!" Gabriella groaned at the loud voice of her father as he entered the room and walked towards her. "Thank god you're okay. I was so worried about you, Princess; you gave us quite a fright. Your Mom said if it wasn't for some guy walking his dog, you could have drowned."

Gabriella eyed her Mom suspiciously. She knew her mom would have known that Troy was the one who had brought her in but had obviously decided not to disclose that information in worry about what any Montez or Knight involved in the stupid feud would do. Wait, wasn't she wearing Troy's jacket before? Her body was now covered with one of her Mom's more unfashionable cardigans. "I know. I'm sorry."

Maria shook her head as she held Gabriella close to her. "You did nothing wrong. We're just glad you're okay."

"Where's Daisy?" She asked, suddenly remembering her dog was with Troy.

Maria smiled and gave her daughter a secretive wink. "She's fine. He left her tied up downstairs and Landon took her home before returning."

Greg cleared his throat as he moved towards the door. "I'm going to go tell the lads that she's fine now. They might as well get back rather than hanging around now we know she's fine. Plus they've got a big game coming up and I don't want Carl or Zeke missing valuable practise time."

Gabriella rolled her eyes as Maria gave her husband a nod. "We'll be home later on hopefully. Just need to make sure Gabby is okay." Greg disappeared before Maria turned back to Gabriella. "He left you this. I didn't think it was a good idea him being here knowing how your father and brothers would react if they saw him. He told me to tell you that he hopes you feel better soon."

Gabriella felt a blush gracing her warm cheeks. "Oh."

Trying to keep her smirk off her face, she gave her daughter a look. "He's a charming young man. He seemed genuinely concerned for you."

Her chocolate brown eyes refused to meet her mother's brown eyes. "I know." Letting out a sigh, she opened the piece of paper.

"Don't let your father, brothers or any of the knights catch you with that but I do think you should call him and let him know you're all right." Maria whispered.

Gabriella folded the paper back up but kept it securely in her hands. "Maybe later, Mom. I'm pretty tired right now."

Maria nodded, placing a gentle kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Ok well I'm going to just finish up this paperwork and I'll get one of the nurses to sort your discharge papers out since I had to admit you and then we'll go. Just rest for now."

Gabriella nodded and closed her eyes as her mind replayed the day's events over again and the feeling of the warmth she felt when Troy carried her, making her heart flutter at the memories.

***

Troy had returned home after leaving the hospital and he hadn't been able to get Gabriella out of his head the whole journey home. How he hadn't known she was a Montez straight away was a mystery to him. She looked so much like Carl Montez and his older brother…Landon, was it?

"Troy?" A voice broke his thoughts.

Troy smiled as he tossed his keys on the table and Blitzen went to lay down in the living room. "Hey, Mom."

Lucille dried her hands on the cloth and walked over to her son who was sat at the island in the middle of their kitchen. "Honey, is everything ok? I was worried after I got your message. What happened?" She sat down next to him and watched him curiously.

Troy replayed everything that had happened from the park to the hospital, including the part about the girl he'd saved being a Montez after making sure his father wasn't around. He would never hear the end of it if his father found out he had helped save a Knight, much less a Montez. It was just something he knew his father didn't believe in as apparently they would never help one of them in an emergency.

"Mom, I've never felt so scared before. Just seeing her there so helpless but yet so beautiful, looking like she was in just a peaceful sleep…I don't know. It's something I've never felt before. And now all I want is to know she is okay. I don't care if she doesn't want to ever speak to me again but I just need to know she is okay." Troy whispered quietly, finally lifting his eyes to meet his mother's gaze.

Lucille smiled at her son, hearing such genuine concern for someone in his voice. And especially someone who she, too, knew her husband would not agree that she deserved Troy's help. "I'm sure she is, Troy, and if she really is as amazing as she sounds, then I'm certain it won't be long before she's in touch." Squeezing her son's hand, she smiled at him; her once little boy that needed her help was becoming a man who was now helping someone else out in emergencies rather than turning to her. "I'm so proud of you, Troy." She kissed his forehead and got to her feet.

***

Walking into the noisy household, Gabriella headed straight up to her room, wanting to avoid any more questions. Locking the door behind her, she shook her head seeing a sad Daisy, looking out the window. Dropping her bag to the floor, she caught the young dog's attention and before she knew it she felt two paws resting on her stomach as Daisy barked in relief and happiness at seeing her owner.

"Miss me much?" The dog barked happily as Gabriella ruffled her fur before heading towards her bed. She took off her clothes that had dried off and headed into her bathroom in her underwear, knowing she needed a long and hot shower to take away some of her stresses with Daisy waiting dutifully outside the door.

Gabriella hadn't been able to get the thoughts of Troy out of her head as she remembered the concern she heard in his voice when he revived her earlier and the scared look upon his face. Plus, when they'd spoke for the few minutes she was conscious, he, too, had been so normal with her and seemed to bear the same feelings as she did towards the ongoing feud.

Her cell phone rang from inside her room but she just ignored it, knowing she would get it later. She stepped out of her refreshing shower, feeling a whole lot better. Her headache was still there but she felt like some of the pressure had been lifted from her. Opening the door, Daisy lifted her head and looked at Gabriella before placing her head back down, knowing she wasn't moving far. Picking up her cell, she saw it had only been Sharpay who had called, obviously wanting to know if she was okay – she probably had been harassing her brothers and Zeke for information before having to finally resort to troubling Gabriella herself – but Gabriella knew her best friend would understand her if she didn't get back to her tonight.

Pulling on her pyjamas, she lifted the piece of paper she'd pulled from her bag – along with Troy's jacket she'd found her mom had hidden in there - and looked at it several times before letting her fingers dance over the numbers on her cell. Why was she really doing this? Why was she doing this at all? All she knew was that it was too late to change her mind the second she heard his voice.

"Hello?"