Here it is people, chapter eight, enjoy!
Under The Weather
Gabriella sighed as she tried to cram her books into her bag.
"Having trouble there Gabs?"
Gabriella looked up from her cramming to find Chad and Taylor walking towards her.
"Yeah, I forgot to take some books home with me yesterday, so now I need to fit them in as well as today's, it's not going well."
"You want a hand? Taylor asked, as she unwrapped her arm from round Chad to give her friend a hand.
"Yeah, if you could hold my bag open, I reckon I could fit these last two in."
So, after a bit of heaving and hoeing the girls managed to fit all of Gabriella's books into her bag.
"I thought we were gonna be here for the rest of the day then." Taylor said, as she helped Gabriella shut her bag.
"Good job they've given us a half day then isn't it?" Chad said, as he shut Gabriella's locker for her. "Especially because one us of has a date to get ready for."
"Yeah, I think you may wanna rethink that one dearest because in case you haven't noticed, Troy wasn't in school today, is he alright Gabs?"
"I don't honestly know Tay, I phoned him at break and during free period but he didn't answer, I'm worried. If there was something wrong with Jasmine then he'd of phoned Mrs Bearn and gotten her to get his work and give it to me and he would've answered the phone, something isn't right."
"You should go round there and check on them, something can't be right, we can give you a lift if you want." Chad offered, as they made their way out of the school.
"Yeah, I was going to..." Gabriella was cut off by her phone ringing in her pocket.
"Hello?" She answered not bothering to check the caller id.
"Hey Gabriella, it's Julie, from the nursery, I was just wondering if you'd heard from Troy today? He didn't bring Jasmine in today and he isn't answering his mobile or their house phone, I'm worried."
"Me too Julie, he didn't come into school today either. I'm heading round there now, we've got a half day at school so our friends are gonna give me a lift, we're supposed to be going on a date tonight, but I don't think that's gonna happen, did you want me to call you once I know what's happening?"
"No, its fine sweetie you don't need to do that, I just wanted someone to check on them to make sure everything is okay."
"Okay, well thanks for calling Julie."
"No problem sweetie, just look after yourselves, okay?"
"We will Julie, bye."
"Bye sweetie."
"Gabs? What's happening? Julie runs Jasmine's nursery right?" Both Chad and Taylor had heard the entire call and Taylor was voicing concern for both of them.
"Yeah she does, she was just worried 'cause Troy didn't take Jasmine in today. I really want to get round there now, you still okay to give me a lift?"
"Yes or we wouldn't have offered, we can't stay though long though, we've got a party for two very special little people to go to." Chad said, as they all got into his car and started their journey towards the Bolton residence.
"Little people? What are you talking about Danthorth?"
Chad smiled. "About a month and a half ago my sister gave birth to twin girls, I didn't tell anyone other than Taylor because we were all scared of what happened to Abi happening to them. But, they're a month and a half old now and they're both incredibly healthy for babies of their age."
"Chad, that's amazing congratulations, tell Tina and Richard I say congratulations will ya?"
"Will do, just as long as you ring or text us to let us know what's going on with the Bolton's, deal?"
"Most definitely, just get us there, I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Don't worry Gabs, he'll be okay, they both will."
Gabriella knew that, she knew they'd both be okay, but there was something in the pit of her stomach, something that was telling her otherwise.
TGTGTGTG
Gabriella sighed as she rang the doorbell for the fifth time, no one answered. She could hear the telly on, which meant they were in, but she didn't know who was watching it, she had no way of telling.
She knelt down and pushed open the letter box, realising that from there she could see into the main part of the flat, but more importantly she could be heard.
"Troy? Jasmine? Are you in there?"
She didn't really expect a reply, but she knew it was worth a shot, she also knew she had to get in there, something was not right.
She was about to give up, get up and knock on next door asking, hoping that Mike or Jenni would be in and be able to let her in with a spare key, but just as she did, a little voice grabbed her attention.
"Gabwi?"
"Jazzy, hey, are you okay?" Gabriella needed to keep Jasmine's attention, so she kept the letter box pushed open with her fingers slightly pushed through to the other side, something Jasmine seemed to notice because she grasped into them, wrapping her small hand around Gabriella's fingers.
Jasmine nodded. "Daddy in bed."
"Daddy's in bed still, is he okay?"
Jasmine shrugged." Me scared and hungwy."
"Okay cutie, it's gonna be okay. Jasmine I need you to be a big girl for me, do you think you can do that?"
Jasmine nodded and tightened her grasp around Gabriella's fingers.
"Okay good girl, do you know where your Daddy keeps his keys?"
Jasmine nodded. "Over there, on tawble." Jasmine said, as she pointed to somewhere behind a wall, just out of Gabriella's sight.
"Okay, do you think you can grab them for me and bring them back over here?"
Jasmine nodded and let go of Gabriella's fingers, before disappearing behind the wall for a few seconds. She came back with a smile on her face and the keys in her hand, happy she'd done as Gabriella had asked.
"That's great Jazzy well done, can you pass them to me through the letter box and then I can let myself in and I can check on Daddy, okay?"
Jasmine nodded and pushed the keys through the letter box to Gabriella, before standing back far enough to let Gabriella open the door.
No sooner had she done that, then Gabriella had unlocked the door and was in and Jasmine was straight into her arms.
"Hey cutie, I've got you now, you're okay, let's get you some food."
Gabriella put her bag down by the front door and carried Jasmine into the kitchen to find her a snack.
"Okay, you've got your cheesy crisps and your apple juice, I'm gonna go and see how your Daddy is, you gonna be okay by yourself for a bit?"
Jasmine nodded and kept her eyes fixed on the telly which was playing her favourite show. Now that she was happy Gabriella got up from her spot on the floor next to Jasmine and made her way down the corridor that led to Troy's room.
The closer she got, the louder Troy's coughing became, it soon became clear to her that Troy was rather under the weather.
TGTGTGTG
Troy wasn't really sure what time it was, or what was going on around him.
He knew he was at home and that he should be at school, he also knew Jasmine was in the flat and should be at nursery.
He'd tried to get out of bed, so many times, but every time he tried he just fell back to the bed in the middle of a horrible coughing fit.
He knew Jasmine had been in, his bedroom door was opened further than he usually left it, but he must have been asleep when she did.
He'd tried calling her, trying to get her to come to him, just to make sure she was okay, if not anything else, but he couldn't.
Every time he tried his voice gave up on him or he fell into another coughing fit, he just couldn't find the voice to get her attention and that scared him.
She was two, sure she could do things for herself, but a lot of the things she needed were out of her reach for her own safety.
He could hear the telly playing as he fell in and out of sleep and only a couple of minutes ago he'd heard a noise that sounded something like their doorbell, he knew Jasmine was too small to unlock the door, so he figured the person would just go away.
Right now, he laid in bed as yet another coughing fit ran through his body. He tried to sit up, knowing it would be better for him, but he just couldn't, he couldn't find the strength to push himself up.
As the fit came to an end and he struggled to breath, he realised he and Jasmine were no longer alone in the flat.
"You're alive then." Gabriella stated, as she made her way into the room.
"Brie?"
"That's me, you don't need to know how I or why I'm here, just know I care and a lot of people were worried about you, both of you, we need to sit you up."
Troy nodded. "Jasmine?" He was still struggling to catch his breath and single words at a time were all he could manage.
"She's fine, she was scared and hungry, but she's okay now, so we just need to worry about you, come on I'll help you sit up."
Troy pushed himself up onto his elbows, allowing Gabriella to hook her arms under his and between them, they managed to get him leaning back against his pillows, which Gabriella had arranged against his headboard.
"Better?" Gabriella asked, as she sat down on the edge of the bed and took Troy's hand into hers, gently running her thumb back and forth over the top of it.
Troy nodded. "Thanks."
"It's okay, I'm gonna go and raid your cupboards for some kind of medicine, which I'm sure you haven't got, you mister no moving, everything is under control, you hear me?"
Troy nodded and closed his eyes, as he rested back against his pillows, having Gabriella here, already made him feel a whole lot better.
TGTGTGTG
"Mawia!" Jasmine exclaimed, as Gabriella opened the flat door to let her Mum in.
"Hey sweetie." Maria greeted her daughter, as she put down her bags to catch Jasmine who was running in her direction.
"Mawia, you're here!" Jasmine pointed out, as Maria picked her up and rested her on her right hip.
"That I am sweetie and do you know why?"
"Nuh uh." Jasmine answered shaking her head vigorously.
"It's because your Daddy doesn't have any medicine to make him better, he only has medicine for you, when you're ill, so Gabi phoned me and asked me to bring some over from our house."
"Okay, what's that bag fwor?" Jasmine asked pointing to a bag that looked much like the one Gabriella had used when she'd stayed over.
"That bag has Gabi's stuff in it so that she can stay here and looked after you and your Daddy while he's ill, is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, yeah yeah! Gabwi is Daddy betwer yet?"
"No sweetie, he's really ill, he's not going to be better for a while so I'm gonna have to stay with you because he needs to stay in bed and get better, but maybe later you can go and see him, okay?"
Jasmine nodded and wiggled her way out of Maria's arms to get back to playing with her dollies.
"How bad is he then?" Maria asked, as she and Gabriella made their way through to the kitchen to talk away from little ears.
"His nose is so blocked that he can't breathe through it and he's coughing like there's no tomorrow, it's horrible to watch. He has these coughing fits and once he's finished he's really struggling to catch his breath, it can't be nice for him, he was still in bed when I got here earlier, Jasmine passed me the keys through the letter box so I could get in. He had a fever as well, but I think that's now breaking, he'll have to get changed when it does because of all the sweat, but I'll deal with that later, thanks for coming over Mum."
"It's no problem honey, it sounds like Troy needs that medicine and you here to help him look after Jasmine if not anything else, you two have been through a lot together in the short time you've known each other."
"You're telling me, it doesn't look like we're gonna get our date tonight though."
"I'm sorry sweetie I know you were looking forward to that, but I think you just being here means the world to Troy right now."
"Yeah I know, could you maybe play with Jasmine for a bit while I wake Troy up and give him some of this medicine?" Gabriella asked, as she took the medicine out of the bag Maria had brought it in.
"Yeah 'course I can, you go see how Troy is, go on, we'll be fine."
"Thanks Mum." Gabriella gave Maria a quick hug before grabbing the bottle of medicine and a spoon and making her back through the flat towards Troy's bedroom.
TGTGTGTG
The first thing Gabriella noticed as she silently made her way back into Troy's bedroom was that his fever had now fully broken because his hair was sticking to his forehead from the sweat.
Another thing she noticed as she gently shut the door behind her was that he wasn't exactly sleeping peacefully. Troy was tossing and turning in his sleep, murmuring incoherent things as he did, making Gabriella worry even more about him than she already was.
Placing the bottle of medicine and spoon down on Troy's bedside table, she took a seat on the edge of the bed and tried to figure out the best way to wake him up.
"Troy honey you need to wake up, come on sweetie we need to get some medicine in your system." Gabriella gently shook Troy as she spoke, in the hope that the movement or her voice would wake him up.
Grunting Troy rolled in Gabriella's direction and did eventually, after a bit more persuasion, open his eyes.
"Hey," Gabriella smiled down at Troy as she brushed some hair out of his eyes.
Troy smiled up at Gabriella and was about to greet her, like she had him, when a coughing fit took hold and left him gasping for breath.
Gabriella immediately took action and sat him up, leaning him against her shoulder as she arranged his pillows against the headboard, before leaning him back against them.
"Is Jasmine okay?" Troy may've been recovering from the coughing fit, but nothing was going to stop him asking after his daughter.
"She's fine; Mum's playing with her because I asked her to bring over some medicine seeing as you only have stuff for Jazzy, here get this in you." Gabriella answered him, as she took the lid off of the bottle of medicine and poured some onto the spoon for Troy to take.
Pulling a face as he swallowed the medicine, Troy allowed Gabriella to give him another spoonful before settling himself back amongst the pillows. "What am I gonna do Brie? I've never been so ill that I couldn't get out of bed before, how am I going to look after Jasmine and I have to work tomorrow."
"Stop worrying, I got Mum to bring over some of my stuff, so I'll stay and look after Jasmine, and you, while you do everything you can to get yourself better, okay?
"Thanks Brie."
"Don't worry about it okay? You stay here and rest, get yourself better, I'm gonna go and tell Mum she can go and then make Jasmine something for dinner, alright?"
Troy nodded, as his eyelids drooped and he was soon fast asleep. Gabriella rearranged the pillows under his head so that he didn't hurt his neck, before pulling the covers up over him further and quietly leaving the room.
TGTGTGTG
"Gabwi?"
"Yes my little one."
"What does under the weather mean?"
"Where did you hear that?" Gabriella asked, as she finished dishing up their fish fingers and chips and walked over to the table with two plates, placing one down for her and one in front of Jasmine.
"Mawia said it; she said Daddy was under the weather." Jasmine answered, as she picked up one of her fish fingers.
"It means that he's ill, that's all. You, you little trouble maker use a knife and fork, or your fork at least; you'll make your fingers all messy. Before I sit down you need a drink, what would you like?"
"Water pwease."
"Coming right up."
Jasmine watched Gabriella's every move as she got a plastic cup for her and a glass one for herself down out of the cupboard, filled them both with water and then made her way back to the table, placing the right one down in front of her before sitting down and taking a sip out of her own.
"I'll make you a deal Jazzy, I've got some homework to do so I need you to play by yourself for a bit while I do okay?" Jasmine nodded and waited for Gabriella to continue.
"When I've done that I'll go and see how your Daddy's doing and if he's awake you can go and see him for a bit before your bath and bed, does that sound like a good deal?"
"Yeah, that sounds gweat, I'll play quietly Gabwi, I pwomise."
"Alright, keep your wig on! You need to finish your dinner first before we even think about stuff like that."
"Sowy Gabwi, but I wanna see Daddy." Jasmine said not making eye contact with Gabriella, thinking she'd done wrong.
"I'm not angry with you sweetie, I know you wanna see your Daddy and you will just as long as he's up to it okay, you don't wanna get sick as well do you?"
Jasmine shook her head still not making eye contact with Gabriella, so Gabriella got up and sat on the seat next to Jasmine's, pulling her onto her lap as she did.
"Jazzy look at me, Daddy's gonna be okay, he just needs some rest alright? But I'm staying here so I can keep an eye on him and play with you as well, he'll get better soon, I promise."
Jasmine simply nodded and cuddled closer to Gabriella, making no move to get off of her lap. So that's where she stayed for the rest of dinner, cuddled close to the person she'd come to love almost as much as she did Troy.
TGTGTGTG
"Okay, Jasmine's asleep, everything is turned off, the door is locked, so where are your clean bed sheets?"
"Huh?" Troy was awake and a lot more alert because of the medicine he'd taken, but he was still very weak and hadn't even attempted to move from his bed.
"In case you hadn't noticed you had a fever, which broke, meaning you and your bed are all sweaty and horrible, so you're gonna take a shower and change into some fresh clothes while I change your bed, so where are the sheets?"
"In the cupboard in the hall." Gabriella smiled at Troy on her way out of the room and reappeared moments later with fresh bed clothes.
"I'm not sure about me showering, I'm not exactly gonna be stable on my feet."
"I know, but you'll feel better afterwards, I promise. I'll help you there and back, I can't help you shower, but I'll help you as much as I can, so what do you wanna change into?"
"Just grab t-shirt and some bottoms out of the bottom draw of the please." Troy answered, pointing to the chest of draws situated against the wall opposite his bed.
Gabriella grabbed Troy some fresh clothes and then between them they sat him up, got him out of bed, into the bathroom and by then Troy had managed to get himself slightly stable on his feet.
"Okay, if you bring your clothes and towel out when you're done, I'll put them in the washing machine with the bed stuff, anything else you want to go in?"
"No that'll do thanks, the detergent is under the sink, thanks for this Brie, I really appreciate it."
"It's not a problem, honestly, you get in the shower, and if you need me shout, okay?"
Troy nodded silently and shut the door of his en suite, annoyed with himself for being ill today, when he could've been on date with Gabriella, a date he was sure would've made them something more than friends.
TGTGTGTG
He never thought he could sleep through a whole day, but apparently he could and he did.
Troy had just woken up, and according to the note Gabriella had left him today was Sunday, not Saturday as he'd first thought. The note told him that Maria had picked them up to take them back to hers because Jasmine was very bored. So once he'd showered, got dressed and eaten he should call her and she'd come to collect him.
So, now he was stood outside his apartment block waiting for Gabriella to come and get him and it looked like he wasn't going to have to wait much longer because she was here.
"You never told me you had a car." Troy said as he got into the car.
"I don't, this is Mum's you did see it the other day, but I'm insured to drive it as well so don't worry, I haven't stolen it or anything."
"I never thought you would, I can't believe you let me sleep all day yesterday."
"Yeah well you needed the rest and Jasmine and I were fine together so it was no problem. I did wake you a couple of times to give you medicine and so that you could go to the toilet, but you never really woke up properly."
"Oh, I thought I was dreaming all that stuff, I remember it happening, but it seemed to blurry in my mind for it to actually have happened."
"Yeah, I thought you were actually going to fall on me at one point, but we made it and no one was injured so it was all good."
Troy laughed but soon realised that was a bad idea when a coughing fit took hold and didn't leave again until Gabriella pulled into her driveway.
"You are not going to move from the couch once we get in there, you shouldn't have left the house really, but Mum said the change of scenery would do you good, seeing as you actually woke up today."
Troy smiled. "Could I maybe see my daughter before I'm trapped to the couch, I haven't seen her since Friday evening; we've never been apart that long before, ever, even though we were in the same flat."
Gabriella smiled and nodded just as the front door opened and Jasmine and Maria appeared in the doorway, Jasmine waving madly.
"I think she misses you just as much as you've missed her, come on lets go inside, you can sit down and rest some more, even though that's all you did yesterday."
TGTGTGTG
"Daddy?"
"Hello?" Troy answered, making Jasmine giggle from her spot on the floor.
"Do you like Gabwi?"
"Of course." Troy answered without any hesitation.
"Gabwi?"
"Yes cutie?"
"Do you like Daddy?"
"Of course." Gabriella repeated Troy's answer from earlier, no hesitation coming from her either.
"So, why aren't you together?"
"Because," Troy started, pulling Jasmine up onto his sofa, so that she was sitting sideways on his lap, her legs in Gabriella's. "Because I was too ill to go on our date the other day and I didn't get the chance to ask her."
"So ask her now." Jasmine said, her left arm over Troy's shoulder playing with his hair.
"Okay," Troy turned to Gabriella and took a deep breath. "This wasn't exactly how I planned on doing this. I was going to ask you on Friday evening, but because I decided to be ill I didn't get the chance so, Gabriella Montez, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Pwease say yes Gabwi." Jasmine spoke up causing the young pair to laugh.
Gabriella stopped pretty quickly though, remembering the seriousness of the conversation.
"Yes," she said, making Troy stop tickling Jasmine to look at her. "Yes, I'd love to be your girlfriend."
Troy smiled, as he leaned over Jasmine and pulled Gabriella into a hug.
"Thank you, you've played such a big part in our lives recently, I couldn't let you go, you've come to mean way too much for me to do that."
Gabriella smiled, as she leaned her forehead against Troy's. "You should know I'm a beginner at this, you're my first boyfriend, so can we take things slowly?"
Troy nodded slightly, as he kissed Gabriella straight on the lips, not caring about the fact that his daughter was sitting on his lap or that her Mum was in the other room, he was too happy to care about things like that.
He was wrong about the latter though, Maria wasn't in the other room, she was in the doorway of this one, and she'd seen the entire thing, right from Jasmine asking the pair if they asked each other, to Troy and Gabriella sealing it with a kiss.
Maria had wanted something or someone good to come into Gabriella's life for a long time now; she just hadn't expected it to be a seventeen year old boy and his two year old daughter.
TGTGTGTG
There it is guys, hope you liked it!
I hate doing this, but girls I've got some serious boy issues and I need your help. Boys, if you wanna help you can, but I figured this was kinda a girls thing, although a boy's perspective wouldn't go a miss! If you're mad enough to help me let me know in your review, thank you :)
Anyway as always guys:
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!