Time is a funny thing.

You can't go backwards. You can't fast forward. You can't pause and hit the stop button whenever you would like. The only thing you can do is move forward and learn from mistakes. In this case, it wasn't a matter of learning from mistakes, but learning that things in life aren't always fair.

Five seconds had passed before a whistle was blown. It echoed through the silent gym as only gasps of shock were heard, and Troy's harsh breathing.

Ten seconds had to pass before anyone realized that Troy wasn't just on the floor for the fun of it. There was something wrong as his left hand gripped his right upper arm and his body rolled slightly around as he tried to find the most comfortable position.

His eyes were closed shut as it only took Troy a second of being on the floor to feel an unbearable pain shoot through his dominate arm. Tears had sprung to his eyes, but he pushed them back as the heat of the game came crashing down on him, and surged through his arm with a burning sensation.

Twenty seconds had to pass before anyone on the court realized Troy wasn't going to get up. It was clearly evident that he was in real pain. The other players on West High's team backed off slightly as Derek stood with a smug look on his face. Coach Montez put down his clipboard and stood anxiously on the out of bounds line for the game; ready to go out onto the court with the schools medic.

Twenty-five seconds passed when Troy opened his eyes slightly and was met with Jason's face looking down at him. Jason crouched down next to Troy and was silently thankful that he was at least conscious.

"Troy, what's up man?"

Troy clenched his teeth before barely saying, "It's my arm."

Jason looked behind himself to see Coach Montez and a women who he knew to be the sports teams trainer come onto the court and start to make their way to Troy.

"Just hold on. Carlos is coming."

Jason got out of the way for Coach Montez and the trainer. His eyes drifted away from Troy, who seemed to have been hurt a lot more than what the blow to the shoulder actually looked like. Jason's eyes found Gabriella's as her brown eyes were wide with horror and shock. The brown orbs were already glossed over in worry and fright.

Jason was looking through the crowds of parents to see if he could spot Ms. Bolton, but she was no where to be seen. He was at least expecting her to be near the team bench where Troy was slowly walking now--being carefully followed by Coach Montez and the trainer. Troy's face was contorted into pain. His right arm was still clasped tightly with his left hand. Claps around the gym echoed thunderously as that was just what happened when kids got hurt and got up--parents liked to clap and East High liked to cheer on its athletes.

Jason trained his eyes on Derek who was slapping high fives with his other teammates who were out on the court. The basketball captains dark brown eyes narrowed dangerously as anger flew through his veins. Derek was smiling and laughing as he didn't even have remorse for what he did to Troy.

Jason took one more look in Gabriella's direction but saw that she was gone. He looked around curiously as he saw that Chad was now standing next to him with his dark eyes glaring at Derek. "Do you know where Gabi went?"

Chad nodded his head, "She's in her dad's office collecting her bag, and then your dad and her are taking Troy to the emergency room. His shoulder is pretty bad. He can't move it. I think he landed on it pretty hard as Derek colliding with him didn't help much either."

Chad stopped talking as he saw Jason start to walk towards the five Knights on the court. His eyes widened in alarm as he looked around to see that Zeke and Jake were still on the court too as the refs were talking to Coach Montez, the Knights Coach, and the schools medic.

"Cross!" He shouted out. "What are you--"

Jason's fist slammed into Derek's jaw with a crack.


Andrew Cross's hands tightened on the steering wheel as he was going fifteen over the speed limit through town. He had stopped bothering following the rules of the road as stopping at stop signs wasn't his concern at the moment.

He looked through the rear view mirror and tightened his hands once more. "Keep the ice on that shoulder."

Gabriella saw that Troy was struggling to stay sitting upright in his spot due to lack of seat belt and Mr. Cross's crazy driving. "Here," she placed her hand upon his on the loose bag of ice. The two teens shared a small smile as no matter how much pain Troy was in, he was thankful that at least Gabriella was in the car with him and Mr. Cross. "Let me."

"Thanks," he gritted out.

"Where's Lucille Troy?" Andrew asked as they were now at an intersection, stuck at a red light with no other cars around. Andrew looked both ways before blowing the red light.

Gabriella could tell Troy was in a lot of physical pain. So she took it upon herself to answer for him. "She's working late. She tends to work late on certain nights of the week."

If either teens were sitting up front then they would have heard Andrew mutter with sarcasm, "Perfect, just perfect."


Gabriella felt like she was going to be sick.

There was no other way to describe what she was feeling as her stomach was going around in circles. Her head was dizzy with worry, her hands were shaking with nerves, and her face was crinkled up with fright of the situation.

Gabriella looked up once she heard approaching footsteps; knowing it was Mr. Cross getting back from walking Troy back with the Doctor to get X-rays done.

She closed her eyes as she couldn't believe that she was back at the hospital waiting for news about someone that she cares about. She had been through this ritual plenty of times with her mother, and a couple of times with her grandparents, and now she was in the emergency room for Troy.

She couldn't wrap her mind around how hurt Troy looked. She couldn't seem to convince herself that everything would be okay; even though she knew that at least Troy was going to live. Her mind wouldn't let her grasp that concept that even though Troy was in the emergency room, he would still be okay.

"Do you want me to call Ms. Bolton?" Gabriella asked quietly when Mr. Cross sat down.

He looked at Gabriella, and then down to her trembling hands that held a cell phone. "That's okay. I think I should do it."

Gabriella nodded her head, as she was too worried and nervous to protest as she handed over the cell phone. "It's Troy's cell phone. She's speed dial number two."

Andrew looked at Gabriella as she pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She rested her chin on top of her small knees and sighed. He felt bad for this girl in front of him. She had been through so much, and her boyfriend getting knocked out of an important game was something she did not need to witness.

He laid an unsuspecting hand on her cold forearm in comfort. She looked over at him with confusion.

"He's going to be okay."

"How do you know?" Gabriella questioned. "I've been here multiple times in the last two years, and nothing has turned out okay."

"I'm gonna make sure that he's okay. I promise you."

Andrew Cross had been labeled many things. He was an all year athlete. He was a player in high school. He had two great loves, as he lost one to the other. He had watched Jason grow up with the help of his son's best friend: Gabriella Montez. Gabriella was like a daughter to him.

He would just never admit that she was like a daughter to him as that wasn't who he was. He would admit to anyone that he was a hard ass. He rode his son about being perfect in basketball, until Jason would listen to him. He was competitive as he let nothing get in his way. But he still loved his sons, and if this girl was his one son's best friend, and his other son's girlfriend, then she must be special and important.

"I promise you Gabriella," he murmured before standing up and walking off to call Lucille.

"Ms. Montez?" A nurse called as she walked through one of the two swinging doors that led back to the different patient rooms of the E.R.

"That's me," Gabriella nearly jumped out of her seat as the young nurse smiled sympathetically at her.

"A Mr. Bolton is requesting to see you."

Gabriella's stomach clenched with too many emotions unaccounted for.

They had been waiting in the emergency room for twenty minutes before a doctor actually took a look at Troy's arm. Gabriella had been waiting for what seemed like a lifetime when Mr. Cross went back with Troy and the Doctor. And then another twenty minutes went by when he was in getting X-rays.

He was in his own room as it was almost like a little cubicle with a sliding curtain. Since it wasn't the official hospital, there were no big rooms or fancy beds as there was only cots and a sink in the room.

Gabriella didn't talk to the friendly nurse as she only heard what number room he was in, and then booked her way to him. But before stepping into view, she stopped herself to cool down. She took a silent deep breath to calm her nerves and worry so that she didn't upset him.

When she was okay to enter, she poked her head around before she saw his face light up a little before wincing at the small action. He tried sitting up more as he was half laying and half sitting with his back propped up a little by two pillows.

"Hey, don't move if it hurts." Gabriella rushed to his side and lightly pressed him back down; being careful not to touch his right side of the body whatsoever. She gave him a closed smile as that was all she could manage. Whatever it was…hospitals…emergency rooms…coroners office…they always gave her the creeps.

She wanted to kiss him until he was breathless, but knew that a nurse could come back at anytime. Plus, she still didn't know how he was feeling.

"How are you?" She leaned down before deciding to just kneel down at the edge of the cot on her knees so that she was at his level. She pressed a kiss to his slightly sweaty forehead.

"The Doctor gave me some pills to ease the pain. I think they're working as I'm not straining to talk. Plus I feel lightheaded."

He smiled up at her as she blinked down at him. Tears coming to her eyes as she couldn't stop them from arriving, but she could stop them from falling.

"What's wrong Pretty Girl?" Troy asked as he wasn't expecting her to be almost crying when she came back to see him.

Gabriella shut her eyes as Troy's good hand reached up and cupped the side of her face. She didn't want the attention to be on her as it was Troy's turn to be taken care of.

She somehow mustered up a good smile and blinked away her tears; although her eyes were still glossy, and spoke half a lie, "I'm just relieved is all. Don't worry about me Troy."

Before Troy could question her more, a clearing of the throat could be heard near the door. Both teens looked up to see Andrew standing awkwardly in the doorway. He had Troy's cell phone in hand as Gabriella could only guess that he had just gotten done with his conversation with Lucille.


Andrew pushed down the number two on the small cellular device. He paced around outside as he had multiple things going through this head. For starters, he had his first born son in the emergency room with what he thought to be a dislocated shoulder--although the doctor in the E.R saw it otherwise, Andrew just couldn't wait until they went to Albuquerque Memorial Hospital to get Troy's shoulder checked by a specialist as Andrew wasn't willing to bet a single penny on this Doctor.

And then he had his second born son start a fight in the gym. Andrew had Troy out in the gym lobby before Troy could see what Jason had done, but when Andrew rushed back inside the gym to retrieve Troy's gym bag from the locker room and ran into Gabriella who was retrieving her things from her father's office, they both walked out to see the start of Jason slam his fist into Derek's jaw.

Andrew didn't care what Jason did at that point in the evening as the game was almost over, and he tended to see the negatives in the situation. The Wildcats were barely winning, and now they were missing Troy, one of the main scorers of the season. So he continued to leave the gym with Gabriella on his trail in hopes that Cassie would be okay and stay with Jason until things died down at the school. Hopefully the refs and coaches would be able to handle a little fight.

"Troy, honey, how did the game go?" Lucille's voice floated through the phone as she didn't give Andrew time to deny that he wasn't her son. "I know I've said this a thousand times, but I'm sorry I couldn't come. How about I meet you home with a pizza?"

"Actually…this is Andrew Cross." He heard her breathe in sharply and he could imagine her eyes narrowing. He still remembered the last time he talked to Lucille. It was right after Summer Break and they were both at the mall, in the food court. It had been terrible as neither had nice things to say about the other.

Andrew opened his mouth to say something, but Lucille beat him to it. "What the hell are you doing on my son's phone?"

"I need you to calm down Lucille," Andrew spoke to her as if she was a five year old getting scolded.

"Don't tell me what to do. Where is my son!?" She said as there was a little static, and Mr. Cross could only assume that she was driving home now.

"He's okay," he spoke slowly as he was just reaching the sliding doors that led to the outside. He nearly had to jump out of the way as two stretchers were being hurried inside. Nearly all the nurses that were working the night time shift were wheeling them through; blood covered the used-to-be-white covers.

Andrew quickly made it outside to get away from all the commotion. There was no changing of his mind as he knew for sure that when he was done with talking to Lucille, he was taking Troy to the 'real' hospital for a thorough check-up. No son of his was going to have to wait at the E.R where there were bodies being brought in left and right.

"Andrew! Andrew!"

The calling of Lucille brought him out of his trance as he tore his eyes away from the ambulance that was shining red lights all around.

"How far out of town are you?"

Without hesitation Lucille answered, "Thirty minutes. Please, just tell me where Troy is."

Andrew sighed, "Like I said, he's okay. I'm just going to be taking him to Albuquerque Memorial Hospital. Something happened at the game."

Lucille was quiet before her voice hitched on the phone, and Andrew could tell she was doing everything in her power not to overreact.

"Is he with you right now? Can I talk to him?"

"He's in an emergency room right now, but--"

"Emergency room?! I thought you said he was okay?"

"Things are kind of hectic down here. He's going to be fine. Let me just take him over to the hospital, and I'll call you if anything else happens."

There was a pause as neither parent realized this was their first civilized conversation since high school.

"Okay."


"Did we at least win?" Troy questioned as he was now sitting on a hospital bed.

He was confused at first when Andrew came into the E.R room and announcing that all three of them were leaving. Troy didn't know what Andrew got out of helping him, but he was at least a little thankful that he was there or else he wouldn't have gone to the hospital since his mom wasn't around.

He had to wait another thirty minutes and then he had to take new X-rays, it was as if the doctors were expecting something to change, but nothing changed as Troy knew that. The only thing that was the least bit different was the pain in his shoulder had started to get worse, no matter what kind of pill the E.R doctor gave him.

But after the X-rays, he was then taken to a single room, and he didn't know if it was because of Andrews doings, or if it was protocol, but it seemed kind of odd if it was just a shoulder problem that he would get his own room.

Gabriella soon came into his room after the X-rays were done, informing him that his mom was yet to show as she probably got stuck in traffic. She was about to sit down in one of the uncomfortable red squishy chairs, but Troy moved over in bed and patted the space next to him.

"Come on, get in," he urged with a smile.

Gabriella looked hesitant before smiling at him and snuggling into his left side perfectly.

She looked up at him with a sad face, "I don't know if we won. Jase um…he kind of…a fight broke out Troy."

"What?" He was genuinely shocked. "I was there! How did a fight break out?"

Gabriella was feeling guilty along with worried and nervous. She had tried calling and texting Jason every five minutes that she wasn't with Troy, but he wouldn't answer his cell phone. She had seen the fight begin. It wasn't just the hit she witnessed Jason giving out. She saw Derek retaliate with his own harmful punch.

All the other Wildcat basketball players were near the bench or on the other side of the court as the Knights and Jason. It was easily seen that Derek had four other boys right at his side, and Jason just went over to him. If the world was fair, then it would have been just Derek and Jason, but instead, it was five against one. Gabriella just hoped that at least Chad did something since he was the closest Wildcat on the court watching.

"It seems as if you weren't the only one upset with Derek. Jason was ready for a fight with him anyways, so don't think it was just about you. I don't want you worrying about it."

"Hey, I'm not worrying," he reassured her. "Tell me what happened."

"Derek and him got into some words before the game, that's why Jason was late getting to the locker room and changing. And um…I guess seeing Derek ram into you, it just uh…kind of set him off even more." Gabriella looked down at the stiff blanket she was sitting on as Troy was under the covers. "I only saw the start of the fight, but uh…my guess would be that Chad also got roped into the fight as he was closest to Jason when he started it."

Gabriella took a steady breath before continuing, "I saw Derek hit Jason before I left the gym to follow you guys. I feel like I just left him there."

Gabriella looked up at Troy and he was shocked to see just how upset she was. She had glossy eyes and her hands were shaking again as she drew invisible circles on his knee cap that was covered by two blankets.

"You didn't just leave him there. He has his team to back him up, not to mention half the school."

"Didn't I? At least I knew that you were going to the hospital with your father. And who does Jason have? What if something happened to him, and that's why he's not returning my calls." Gabriella suggested frantically.

"Clam down Brie, and come here." Troy looked at Gabriella to see if she would listen to him, but she didn't budge. "Come here Brie."

He did his best to pull her to him in a hug as Gabriella finally gave in and was at least careful to not knock him on his right side of the torso.

He kissed the top of her head. "You didn't just leave him there with no one. You left him with your dad who wouldn't for the life of him let anything happen to him. And Mrs. Cross is there if anything gets bad.

"You're right." Gabriella agreed quietly before looking up at him and smiling. "I'm sorry. Here you are, sitting here with a bad shoulder and we don't know what's wrong, and then I'm complaining. How fucked is that?"

"Actually," a voice broke them out of this moment as both teens turned their heads to see Andrew Cross standing in the doorway once again. Troy wanted to groan out loud at seeing him as this would now be the second time that he interrupted him and Gabriella talking. "I have a clue on what's wrong with your shoulder."

"Did the Doctor say anything?" Gabriella asked as she awkwardly got out of the bed and Troy's tight grip to sit in the chair next to the bed. There was just something weird when Troy's father walked into the room, as it was like he was actually Troy's parent and it just made the situation weirder.

"No." Andrew walked into the room more. He rolled his eyes annoyingly, "Even though I keep telling them what's wrong, but they have to go through 'protocol', or so they say. But I'm almost one hundred percent sure that you have dislocated your shoulder. I've done it one or two times back in my high school sports career. Nothing to worry about but the Doc moving it back into place and a couple weeks of physical therapy. And hey, it'll be better right before playoffs happen and even more scouts come to the game."

There was something about Andrew's tone that was almost cheery as he walked further into the room.

Troy looked at him with no emotion as he spoke, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Andrew didn't answer as he looked at Gabriella and Troy. Gabriella who looked uncomfortable as she could probably feel the tension building between father and son. Andrew directed himself to Gabriella and spoke, "Gabriella, why don't you go call Jason. He left a message on my phone."

Gabriella looked at Troy before he nodded softly as if she needed permission from him. Troy watched Gabriella's backside before she disappeared behind the door. His first instincts were to look at Andrew who was standing uncomfortably near the foot of the bed, but instead Troy focused his eyes on the wooden door to the hospital room.

"So how's your shoulder?" Andrew asked stiffly as this was a new feeling for him. He had never been put into this situation before, as for once in a long time, he felt powerless.

Troy's eyes narrowed on the older man. He had grown up resenting his biological father. It wasn't because his mom made comments every once in a while about Andrew Cross and her bitterness for him came to life. It also wasn't because Andrew seemed to have preferred Jason over him. It was just the way that he grew up.

It was all the little things that built up over his childhood that effected Troy's resentment towards his father. Like when all his other friends had two parents and he only had one, how his mom was the one who had to move away and not Andrew too, or how Andrew continued to ignore him until the last possible second that he could pull off before things got really bad.

Troy couldn't help the annoyance that leaked out of his mouth, no matter how painful his shoulder was. "It hurts like hell. Where's my mom?"

From just being around Troy within the night, Andrew could already tell that he gave both of his sons his temper. He chuckled at the thought of his first born son being like him, although that was good in some aspects, and in others not.

"She just called and said she's stuck in traffic. She'll be here soon, I promise."

Troy snorted at that, "Coming from you? Doesn't really mean much."

"Fair enough Troy. I'm willing to let that one slide as almost every person in Albuquerque knows it, but I won't tolerate your attitude much longer. The past's the past," Andrew spoke casually. "How's your mom by the way? She sounded like she was doing okay."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. You are unbelievable, you know that right? I thought my mom and me made it clear to you: we hate you. And just when I thought you could do something nice and actually take me to the hospital as I was perfectly capable of just having Gabriella do it, you have to go and ruin it by bringing up the past."

If Andrew was taken aback by Troy's outburst, he didn't show it as he sighed tiredly. "I'm not bringing up the past. You think I'm stupid like that? Because I'm not."

"If you didn't want to bring up the past, then you wouldn't have brought up my mom. She doesn't need you checking up on her as she has managed to do just fine without you for almost eighteen years now." Troy declared as talking to Andrew was getting to be almost hard as all he wanted to do was lie back against the soft pillows and not move a muscle.


"You were where?!" Gabriella exclaimed in shock as she paced back and forth in front of the entrance to the hospital.

"Calm down Gabi. I was only in the cell for like thirty minutes tops." Jason's smooth voice floated through the phone lines as there was a little static and Gabriella stopped her pacing to listen more closely. "But the ink on my fingers is gonna be a bitch to get off."

"You just got arrested and your only concern is black ink on your finger?" Gabriella asked in a motherly tone. She could almost picture Jason rolling his eyes with a small smile dancing on his lips.

"Actually it's blue, but that's besides the point. Where are you now?"

Gabriella sighed before answering, "Still at the hospital. Your dad thinks it's a dislocated shoulder while the doctor is just collecting the X-rays and checking up on another patient real quick."

Jason and Gabriella had grown up together. They played in the same play pen. They learned how to tie shoes together. They learned their ABC's at the same time. They stuck with each other no matter how rough times were. So when they were miles apart in a city, Jason was still able to detect that something was wrong with Gabriella, and it was pretty simple when it came to this situation.

"Hey Gabs?"

"Yeah?"

"Troy's gonna be okay. He's…a strong guy, and he's gonna be just fine."

Gabriella knew Troy would be fine as maybe he wouldn't be fine the next day or week, but in the long run, Troy would be as good as new. But hearing Jason saying those words, brought happy tears to her eyes.

She sniffled real quick before replying, "Thank-you."

Her 'thank-you' meant various things. Thank-you for being there for me. Thank-you for starting a fight with Derek and knocking out two of his teeth. But most importantly, thank-you for giving me comforting words and actually sounding genuine.


"I can't believe this happened. A dislocated shoulder playing basketball?" Lucille questioned for what felt like the twentieth time. She was sitting at Troy's side with one hand laying on his bed, and her other was swiping gently at his bangs sliding into his eyes.

The doctor had confirmed minutes prior that it was indeed a dislocated shoulder, and it was easy to take care of as all Doctor Breen had to do was give Troy pain killers, and then move the shoulder back into place. Troy wouldn't have to be put to sleep, and the outcome of putting his shoulder back into place would be a sling for a couple of days and a lot of rest. Of course, there would be other things, but they couldn't start physical therapy for at least another three to six weeks.

"I'm gonna be fine mom." Troy rolled his eyes slightly when he looked away from Lucille so she didn't see. "The Doc said that a closed reduction procedure isn't even counted as surgery. So it sounds a lot more normal now."

"I can assure you that I'll be having a very long discussion with this other kid's parents. What was his name? Dustin or Daren or something or other?" Lucille ranted as her parental instincts kicked in.

"Mom," Troy groaned in annoyance. "Please don't do that…and his name's Derek. But, please don't do that. It's bad enough that East High forfeited after Jason's outburst, but having you interfere with my problems is almost worse."

Lucille narrowed her eyes as she spoke with an edge in her voice. "I'm sorry, but when I get a call from Andrew Cross saying that my ONLY son is in the hospital, I think I have the right to be upset."

Troy looked at his mother. His mind was slowly putting things together as his mom had nearly been in tears when she entered the room to find him sitting in bed with Gabriella on his one side, luckily in the chair so that he wouldn't have to undergo a specific 'talk' with his mother on a better day. But there was just something about the way his mom spoke and how she brought up his biological father, when really, they weren't talking about him before.

"I think you're just mad that you had to talk to Andrew. You're mad because for once he had to step up and be someone in my life when you couldn't be since you were at work," Troy spoke quietly; nearly in a mumble as he knew that his mother wasn't going to react nicely.

Lucille gasped a little before collecting herself within a second and pulling her body away from Troy as far as possible. Her son's words stung her. "I think you've seemed to forget who's the parent here. You're hurt, you're here in a hospital bed, and that doesn't register in your mind as 'dangerous'?"

Troy didn't answer as every word his mother spoke seemed to get louder. His shoulder was beginning to go numb and he was tired as he turned his face away from her.

"Tell me if I'm overstepping my boundary here as a parent and working so that we have a nice house, food in the fridge, and clothes on our backs." Still there was no answer as Troy found it best if he just waited until her hysteric rant was over. "I didn't see you seventeen years ago attending college, working, and bearing a kid. So when my son, who I'm willing to do anything for, has to go through some procedure and physical therapy is laying in a hospital bed with pain killers, excuse me for being worried and a little angry."

Troy finally got enough courage to look at his mother. It was on very rare occasions that they fought. For the longest of time it was just the two of them on their own. In his early life, he had lived with and near his grandparents, but when Lucille managed to have a steady job for so long, it was just the two of them, as her promotion at work seemed to amplify her salary by quite a few figures.

Troy knew that his mother was right on some level, but he also believed the he was right too. He doesn't even have a memory of Andrew and his mom every conversing together, so it was perfectly natural for her to be upset that this was the first time that she had to talk to Andrew, and it was over the phone too.

"I know all of this mom. Yes, he abandoned you. Yes, he started a new life and made you work by yourself through all of it. And yes, I know that you're still a little pissed off, but on some level in your mind, you have to admit that you're a little angry because you got a phone call from Andrew. It's not because I'm here in the hospital, and it's not because Derek messed up my shoulder. It's because you HAD to talk to Andrew, and he was here to help, and not you."

Before Lucille could continue there was a knock on the door. Doctor Breen popped his head into the room and smiled warmly at the two people. It was time for Troy to receive just a little bit more pain medicine to put him into a state where he definitely wouldn't feel like talking to his mother, and then hopefully everything would be okay.


"There's ink on your hand," Gabriella whispered as her eyes flickered open and shut. She was trying so desperately hard to stay awake so that when the doctor was done with Troy she would be able to see him, but that was proving to be harder than what she thought.

Jason nodded his head as he felt his best friend push into him harder. They were both sitting on one of the three squishy benches outside in the waiting room. He was sitting on the very end so that his one side was leaning against the wall for support, and then Gabriella was sitting on his other side, molding herself into his waist so that he could support her as her head laid upon his shoulder.

"I know. It wouldn't come off all the way. I think the police did that on purpose, so that everyone knows that I was taken in."

Gabriella's hand continued to play with his fingers as she wasn't concentrating on what Jason was saying, rather she was thinking about Troy and whether or not he was still in pain.

"Uh-huh," she sighed as her eyes once again fluttered closed.

Jason turned his head a little once he felt Gabriella's hand go limp. He smiled a little as after his mom got him out of the jail cell, and talked to Derek's parents about how they weren't going to charge him with anything, Jason booked it over to the hospital.

He smiled contentedly as he gently let his head lay on top of hers and his hand wrap around the top of her shoulders to bring her closer to his body for warmth. It was a simple picture they were creating as his eyes closed tightly.

They were best friends.

He was there for her when her mom went through surgery after surgery. He was there for her at the Coroner's Office. And he would be there for her when her boyfriend was injured.

It was as simple as two best friends doing everything together.

Just like when they were little.

"He's gonna be okay Gabi," Jason promised quietly.


Author's Note--A HUGE thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I know that these chapters have been coming to you very slowly, but I've been very busy. I hope you liked this chapter, and I promise that the next chapter is going to have Troyella time in it.