Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Chapter 25 – Birth of Another Bolton

Two weeks after David proposed to Gabriella, they were sitting at David's house watching 3-year old Caleb and 5-year-old Annabelle play in the floor. Gabriella was writing in a notebook some new plans she had for her and David's wedding when she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She quickly grabbed her stomach and inhaled sharply as the pain took her breath away. David noticed this and was alarmed by Gabriella's actions.

"Babe, you ok?"

"Yeah…I think so. Just a sharp pain. I'll be fine." She looked up at David and tried to give him a reassuring smile, but he didn't believe her. As the kids continued to play, David kept a close watch over Gabriella. A few minutes later, Gabriella stood up to go get a glass of water when she felt liquid start trickling down her legs.

She looked at David and locked eyes with him, silently communicating what needed to be done.

"Call your mom; I'll load the kids in the car."

Gabriella nodded and dialed her mom's number.

"Of course I'll take care of the kids. I'll be waiting for you to drop them off on your way to the hospital. Do you want me to call Troy and let him know what is going on?"

"No…I don't want him there…at least not yet."

"Ok. But you do need to let him know at some point. It is his child after all."

By the time Gabriella got in the car, David had already buckled the kids in and loaded her bag. He quickly drove to her mom's and gave her the kids, then drove even faster to the hospital.

When it came time for Gabriella to deliver the baby, she asked David to wait in the waiting room. He was confused, as he had assumed he would be coaching her through the whole birthing process. But when she quickly explained that it would be awkward for her, he felt a little hurt that she didn't want him by her side.

Two hours after Gabriella was taken into the delivery room, the doctor came out to get David and informed him that Gabriella and the baby were doing just fine. David felt relieved and followed the doctor as the he led David into Gabriella's room.

David stopped just inside the door and stared at Gabriella as she held her new baby girl. Gabriella looked up from the baby and smiled at David. David walked over to the side of the bed and looked at the baby.

"She's beautiful."

"David, meet my daughter, Abigail Hope."

"She has your eyes."

"She's absolutely perfect."

"Can I hold her?"

"Of course." Gabriella handed Abigail to David. She watched David interact with Abigail as David talked to her.

"David, I'm sorry if I hurt you earlier when I was going into the delivery room. I just thought that it would be awkward for both of us considering we have never done anything to even come close to putting me in this situation. But I'm really glad that you are here for me and have been every step of the way. You know I love you right?"

"It's fine…really. And I love you too. So much. I was just afraid of you being alone in that delivery room. I didn't care how awkward it was, I just wanted to be there to make sure you were ok."

"And I was. I am. But thank you for caring."

"I care about you so much it hurts sometimes."

David sat down in a chair beside Gabriella's bed and held her hand as they talked for the next couple of hours. Gabriella had called her mom to let her know about Abigail and that they were both ok. Mrs. Montez had told Gabriella that she would bring the kids by in the morning to meet their newest sibling.

Around 9:30 that night, David was still sitting next to Gabriella's bed. Gabriella watched him as his eyes began to get heavy.

"David, you're tired. We've both had a long day. Why don't you go home and get some rest and come back tomorrow."

"No, that's alright. I'm ok right here. I don't want to leave you."

"David, I'm fine. Abigail is fine. And if we need something there are nurses all around here who can help us. And in the case that something should go wrong, the doctor has your number. You'll be the first to be notified. I promise."

"Ok. But I'll be back first thing in the morning."

"Ok." David leaned down and kissed Gabriella then turned to leave, whispering 'I love you' on his way out the door.

Gabriella waited about 10 minutes after David had left before she picked up the phone and dialed a number she used to dial regularly.

"Hello?"

"Troy, its Gabriella."

"Brie? Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything is great actually. Sorry I'm calling so late."

"It's ok. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that you have another daughter."

"You had the baby?"

"Yeah. She's beautiful, Troy."

"I'm sure she is. Can I come see her?"

"Yeah. You could stop by sometime tomorrow and see her if you'd like."

"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks for letting me know."

"Yeah…goodnight."

Gabriella hung up and turned over in bed, trying to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

The next morning, Gabriella awoke to hushed whispers. She opened her eyes and saw Troy standing there holding their daughter.

"Oh, look. Mommy's awake," Troy said to his daughter, as he looked over at Gabriella.

"I see you've already met your daughter."

"Yes…she really is beautiful, Brie, just like you said. Have you already given her a name?"

"Abigail Hope Bolton."

"That's beautiful."

Troy sat down and talked with Gabriella about him getting to see Abigail. They decided that it would be best to wait a while before Abigail was allowed to go stay with Troy on the weekends he had the kids so that she wasn't getting exposed outside too much. However, Gabriella decided that it was only right that Troy was still allowed to see her, so she offered to let him come by and see her from time to time at her house.

Before Troy had a chance to leave, David came walking in with a bouquet of roses for Gabriella. Gabriella smiled at David, but David looked extremely uncomfortable seeing Troy sitting in there. Troy got up to excuse himself to go but David cut him off telling him to stay, and that he really should be going also because he had a lot that he needed to do. Gabriella was confused by this because he had seemed so eager the previous night to stay with her. David left, leaving the roses, and Troy left not longer after. Gabriella waited a couple of hours before trying to call David. However, when she did call him, it went straight to voicemail.

David never came back to see Gabriella that day and she was beginning to get worried because he hadn't returned any of her phone calls either. The next day, Gabriella and Abigail were released. When Gabriella arrived at home, Troy was there to greet her.

"Hey. I talked to your mom to see when you were coming home and she mentioned that it was today so I decided to come and wait for you. I thought that maybe you might need some time to recuperate so I'd like to offer to take the kids for at least a few days while you get back to yourself and readjust to having a baby around again, if that's alright with you."

"Troy, I'm surprised, but very thankful for that offer. That would be great. I love Caleb and Annabelle to death but as you know they are a handful and I don't know if I could handle them and a newborn by myself. Thank you so much."

"No problem." Troy helped Gabriella open the door and get inside, and then went to pack some of the things that the kids would need for a few days with him.

Later that evening while Abigail was sleeping and Gabriella was resting on the couch, there was a knock at the door. Slowly, Gabriella made her way to the door and looked out the peephole. It was David.

Gabriella opened the door and smiled brightly at him. "Where have you been? I've tried calling but you never answer."

"I…uh…I had some thinking to do."

"Oh…does this have something to do with Troy being at the hospital yesterday?"

"Uh…yeah…partly. I just didn't think you would call him that soon, so I was extremely surprised to walk into your room and see him sitting there."

"David, I love you and no one else. But you have to understand that even though what Troy did to me was wrong, I can't take the kids away from him. He deserves to be a part of their lives, and they deserve to have him in theirs, even Abigail. I want to her grow up knowing her dad because I didn't."

David sighed heavily. "I love you, too…so much. And I'm sorry. I guess I was just really jealous that he was getting to be involved in another part of your life when all I really want to do is forget about him and how much he has hurt you. And I want to take you and your kids and move somewhere far away where none of us can ever be hurt again and we can all live happily ever after."

Gabriella laughed at this. "Oh David…if only that was possible."

David pulled Gabriella into a hug. "But I have done some thinking and I really need to talk to you."

Gabriella leaned back and saw the seriousness on David's face. "Ok…" she said, unsure of what David was about to tell her. She led him over to the couch and they both sat down.

"Gabi, I want to start up my music career again."