Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Chapter 28 – Friends Again

The next morning, Troy showed up on Gabriella's doorstep and rang the doorbell. Seconds later, the door opened.

"Troy? What are you doing here? It's not your turn with the kids." Gabriella started to shut the door in Troy's face but Troy spoke up.

"How do you do it?"

"How do I do what?" Gabriella asked, now curious as to why Troy was actually on her doorstep.

"How do you raise three kids by yourself? I mean…I guess you have David's help occasionally but you basically raise them by yourself. How do you do it?"

"Well not that it's any of your business, but David hasn't been a part of my life for quite a while now, so actually he doesn't help out at all." Gabriella began to get impatient with Troy. "Where is this coming from Troy? Why do you want to know suddenly? You've never seemed to care before."

"Can I come in so we can talk?"

Gabriella hesitated. "Yeah, I guess so." She opened the door up wider so he could enter and he went straight to the couch. "Troy, what's going on?"

Troy put his head in his hands and sighed heavily. "Stacy was killed in a car accident a few weeks ago."

"Oh my god. Troy, I'm so sorry." Troy looked up and saw the sincerity in her eyes.

"The reason I ask about how you raise three kids is because I'm struggling trying to figure out how to raise just one. You'd think I've never been a father before now, but I guess I just depended on you so much when we were together and then I depended on Stacy and now I'm just so lost as to what to do."

"It's not easy, Troy, but it does get better the longer you work at it."

Troy nodded and stood up. Gabriella got up also and walked him to the door. Troy opened the door and was walking out when Gabriella spoke up again.

"Listen, Troy. I'm having a birthday party for Abigail's first birthday and I know it would mean the world to the kids if you were there. Why don't you come? And Alex, too. I think it's going to be fun."

"Uh…sure…yeah…that would be great. When is it?"

"Two weeks on Saturday at 1:00. The day after her birthday. Its going to be here."

"Ok...I'll be here. And Alex will too."

Troy left, feeling a little better about the relationship he had or lack thereof with his ex-wife. Maybe things would turn out alright.

Two weeks later, Troy and Alex showed up at Gabriella's doorstep for his daughter's birthday party. Gabriella opened the door and let them in, leading them to the backyard where the rest of the family and friends were. Alex ran off to play with all the kids while Troy stood around feeling awkward at being in his old house again for reasons other than to pick up his kids. He looked around and found that he didn't know many people. These must be people that Brie works with. After a while, Troy finally spotted Gabriella in the large crowd of people. He smiled and waved and she waved back, but they didn't speak to each other.

Finally, when the cake and ice cream had been eaten and the presents had been opened, the crowd began to thin out. Troy was looking for Alex so they could leave when Gabriella came out the back door of the house after having put Abigail down for a nap.

"Troy, Alex is upstairs in Caleb's room asleep in case you were wondering. Looks like he just passed out along with Caleb. Those kids played hard today."

"Oh, thanks. Yeah I was just looking for him actually so we could go. I'm sure you're probably tired of everyone being here and just want some peace and quiet."

"No actually I like it when there are people here. It gets kind of old talking to kids all the time. Sometimes all I need is a little adult interaction."

Troy laughed at this. "Well I guess I'm going to go get Alex and get out of here."

"Why don't you wait until he wakes up? It's really no problem. You're welcome to stay here for a while longer."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course." Gabriella smiled the first true smile he had seen directed toward him in a long time.

"Ok, well then let me help you with the clean up."

"It's a deal."

Troy and Gabriella cleaned up the backyard and put away all the snacks that were left over from the party. When they were finished they both crashed on the couch.

"Who knew a one-year-old's party could cause such a mess?"

"Oh…I know. That was ridiculous. But thanks for helping me. I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

Troy and Gabriella sat for a few minutes in comfortable silence.

"Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"I forgive you."

"Huh?"

"I forgive you. You know…for everything that ever happened between us. I'm sorry that it has taken me this long, but I realize that you have been through as many struggles as I have and its not fair that I have been treating you the way I have. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I don't deserve your forgiveness honestly. I was a jerk. I know that what I did was a mistake but it was stupid and it doesn't deserve to be forgiven."

"Friends?"

"Friends." Troy smiled at Gabriella. "So now that we are friends again, can I ask what happened to David?"

"He started up his music career again."

"Oh. I thought he was done with that."

"I thought so, too. But the day that I got home from the hospital with Abigail he broke the news to me. He got a new record deal. But I pushed him into it. I told him that I didn't want to hold him back. I wanted him to pursue his dreams. But he wanted to stay with me. So I risked what we had. I told him that we could try both for a while. We could date while he was doing the music thing. It worked for a while but then visits and phone calls became fewer and farther between. And finally they just stopped. I tried calling him but I always got his voicemail. So I wrote him a letter and enclosed my engagement ring and told him it was over. There was no going back this time. I haven't heard from him since."

"Wow…just like last time."

"Just like last time."

Just then Alex walked in.

"Dad, I want to go home."

"Ok, buddy, let's go. Bye, Brie. Thanks again…for everything."

Gabriella smiled at Troy and let him out the door. Things were finally looking up for both of them. Hopefully now they could manage to keep their family happy.

A few days later, Troy and Alex showed up at Gabriella's again.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"Are you and the kids doing anything? I thought that maybe we could all go to the park."

"No, we're just sitting around here. I'm sure the kids would love that."

Gabriella got the kids ready and she and Troy took them to the park. Gabriella and Troy took turns taking Abigail on the slides and swings. Then finally after she started to get tired, both Troy and Gabriella sat down on a bench together while Alex, Annabelle, and Caleb all played together.

"I'm really glad we did this. I like seeing our kids play together."

"Me too. We should do this more often."

And they did. At least once a week all six of them got together and hung out. They watched movies and went to the park. Or sometimes they just got together at Gabriella's and let the kids play while Troy and Gabriella sat and talked.

About three months later, Troy stopped by to see Gabriella and the kids. Troy's parents had asked to take Alex for the day and Troy found he didn't want to sit at home by himself, so he headed over to Gabriella's.

"Troy? Hey I didn't know you were coming over today. Where's Alex?"

"He's with my parents for the day. They decided they didn't spend enough time with him so they asked to hang out with him. I didn't want to sit at home by myself the whole day so I thought I would come see you and the kids."

"Well actually I guess my mom had the same idea. She actually has the kids for the day."

"Oh…ok." Troy began to feel awkward. He knew that he and Gabriella were friends now but they hadn't been together without the kids around since they split up. "Well I…uh…I guess I will go then."

"Troy, you're welcome to come in and hang out. I could use some company. I was just planning on baking some cookies before the kids got back tonight."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be in the way."

"I'm positive."

Gabriella let Troy in and they headed to the kitchen where they got out the ingredients to make cookies. While they mixed up the ingredients they talked and laughed, sharing stories about things that happened at work or with the kids or funny memories that they remembered that they shared.

Troy was measuring the flour when he got an idea.

"Hey Brie."

"Hmm?" Gabriella turned around, only to have a handful of flour thrown at her. "Oh its on now!"

Gabriella dug her hand into the canister of flour and threw some back at Troy. Before they knew it, the canister was empty and the kitchen was completely white with flour. Troy was looking for something else to throw when Gabriella called a time out.

"Something wrong, Brie?"

"Yeah, I think I got some flour in my eye."

Troy went to get a washcloth and brought it back, wet with warm water. He reached over and began to wash her eye.

"Better?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Troy started to wash Gabriella's whole face off with the cloth. When Troy was finished, Gabriella opened her eyes and locked eyes with Troy. Until then, they hadn't noticed how close they were to each other physically. Troy kept his eyes locked with Gabriella's then slowly closed the distance between them, brushing his lips against hers. Gabriella responded by putting her arms around his neck and pulling him back against her, deepening the kiss.

When they pulled apart, Troy laid his forehead against Gabriella's and stared into her eyes.

"I've missed you, Troy."

"I've missed you too, Brie." Troy leaned in for another kiss, putting all the passion he had held inside for her into the kiss. Troy picked Gabriella up and she put her legs around his waist. He carried her to the couch and laid her down then climbed on top of her where they continued to kiss for several minutes until Gabriella finally pulled back and looked at Troy.

"Troy, what does this mean for us?"

"I don't know. What do you want it to mean? I'll be completely honest, Brie. I've missed you so much. Even when I was getting ready to marry Stacy, I was wishing it was you. That day in the hospital when I came to see you and Abigail, I saw the ring that David gave you. I was heartbroken. I couldn't believe that you had moved on so quickly after we split up."

"Troy, I really hadn't moved on completely. I was still in love with you and I don't ever think I can completely get over that. You've held my heart since high school and I don't think any other man will ever truly hold it as long as I live. But I accepted David's proposal because with everything that had went on between us, David had been there. He saw what I was going through and he was there for me. I did love him, but not the way that I loved you. But I just wanted someone who would stick by me."

"Brie, I want to be the one to stick by you. I want to be the one that holds your hand when you're upset, even if I'm the one that upset you. And I don't want any more communication problems. I want us to be able to talk about everything. I love you so much and I don't think I can go another day without you in my life. Can we try us again?"

"I love you too, Troy." Gabriella leaned in to kiss Troy again. "Does that answer your question?"

"It sure does." Troy smiled and leaned back down to kiss Gabriella, both happy to be in one another's arms again.