Here's the next chapter for you guys, hope you enjoy it! I'm not sure how much further I can take this story, I think I've got enough ideas for this chapter and the next, but after that I'm not too sure where I'm going so...

I did intend for this to be longer than that, but I seriously don't know where to take it without making it rubbish. If you've got any ideas I'll happily hear them but I really think this story has run its course.

Sorry to those of you who like the story but it's not being liked as much as it could be and I feel starting a fresh would be a good idea. I'm not gonna stop writing it, I'll finish writing it and then start my new story, which will hopefully receive a good response, so keep a look out for that :)

I'm done rambling now so, enjoy chapter ten! (There's been a bit of a time jump here :))

Making It Through...Together

Today was the day so many young people all over the world looked forward to, the last day of school before the Christmas break.

Jasmine hadn't been at nursery all week, it closed on Wednesday for a major revamp and she'd been ill on the Monday and Tuesday, so her break had started early, although being sick isn't really a good thing.

Since they started dating Troy had picked Gabriella, they'd drop Jasmine off at nursery and then head on to school, so when Troy realised Jasmine was sick on Monday morning he needed to phone Gabriella. She'd responded by saying that her Mum had finished work for the Christmas break and had offered to look after Jasmine if Troy still wanted to go to school, she'd looked after a sick Gabriella and could easily do the same with Jasmine.

Troy had taken Maria up on her offer, not wanting to miss school unless he really had to, so Jasmine had stayed with Maria all day while he and Gabriella had gone to school. The same had happen for the rest of the week and as Jasmine got better, she and Maria had had a lot of fun, baking cakes and finishing some last minute Christmas shopping.

All in all things had been going pretty perfectly since Troy's birthday, but all good things had to come to an end. Yesterday, both Troy and Gabriella had had bad nights at their respective homes and neither had phoned the other like they'd wanted to; they'd just ignored the world and snuggled down in the bubble that was their bed.

That was a bad idea because upon arriving at school this morning the pair had ended up biting the other's head off and now they hadn't talked to each other all day. They never had a big argument like this before, they never really argued, and now neither one knew how to sort it out, although from the sounds of things Troy would be the one to make the first move.

"I know I was harsh to her this morning, but she's a tough girl, us arguing isn't going to make her cry."

"Yes I know that Troy, that's why I'm telling you she is currently sat in the library crying her eyes out. You know Gabi doesn't cry very much and you've been through some tough times together. Troy please, I know something is obviously going on for you as well at the moment, but I also know that if you sort things out with Gabi she'll help you get through whatever that is, so..."

"Okay I get the point Taylor; I'll go talk to her, thanks for keeping an eye on her all day. I was kinda out of order this morning."

Taylor shrugged. "Don't worry about it Troy, besides she gave back as good as she got. Look I've gotta go, Chad's waiting for me, you'll be okay, just tell her what's going on and hopefully she'll talk to you as well," Taylor summed up as she gave Troy a hug and then started on her way down the corridor. "Just text one of us, let us know you're both okay, we'll tell the others, alright?"

Troy gave Taylor a small nod as she shot him a quick smile and made her way towards the front of the school to meet Chad. Troy finished collecting his things from his locker and after taking a deep breath started making his way towards the library, constantly going through what he need to say to his very upset girlfriend.

TGTGTGTG

He knew exactly where in the library she'd be and didn't hesitate to make his way there, but he wasn't prepared for what he found.

Gabriella was curled up in the foetal position on one of the bean bags, her back was to Troy but it was obvious she was crying, her body was shaking violently.

Silently he made his way over to the bean bag in front of hers and settled himself into it, lying down so that he was at eye level with her. Her big brown eyes looked into his blue ones and his heart immediately broke, she was obviously scared and upset over something, and what had he done to help, shout at her, he had a lot of making up to do.

But before he got the chance to say anything, she spoke up first, breaking his heart even more, "I-I'm s-sorry."

"Baby, you have nothing to be sorry about, I should've realised you were upset this morning and I didn't, I'm sorry."

"But I s-shouted at y-you and I know t-there's something n-not right w-with you as w-well Troy."

"Yeah there is, and we need to talk about why we're both so upset, but first you need to stop crying, your shaking is scaring me honey."

"I'm s-sorry; I'm kinda c-cold as well." Troy smiled softly at Gabriella, as he sat up and took off his hoodie, only to gently help Gabriella sit up and slide it over her head, before pulling her onto his lap and simply allowing her to let out all of her emotions for whatever had made her this upset.

He'd never seen her cry for this long before and it was starting to scare him, but the tears were slowing down and hear shaking wasn't quite as violent.

"Okay pretty girl, talk to me, what's gotten you so shaken up?"

Gabriella buried her face further into the crook of Troy's neck, tightened her grip on him and took a deep breath before speaking. "My Dad came round last night...and things...things got really out of hand."

"Okay, what happened?" Troy knew this was more than just seeing her Dad again, and so kept his soothing hand running up and down her back, reassuring and relaxing her.

"He started shouting at Mum because she filed for divorce, something he's obviously not too happy about. I didn't like listening to him speak to Mum like that so I went in and told him to leave us both alone and that he'd brought this on himself. Then he turned to look at me, I thought he was just gonna shout at me, but he...he...he hit me Troy."

"Oh Babe, why didn't you phone me? I would've left work and you know it."

"Yeah I know, but I wouldn't even let Mum near me afterwards, I just ran up to my room and locked the door, I just fell onto my bed and cried I don't know how long for, but after a while I got changed and cuddled down in bed. I wanted so badly to call you, but I couldn't get my head round it, let alone tell you."

"What happened to your Dad?"

"I don't know, I think Mum must've kicked him out, I vaguely heard shouting when I was in my room, I wasn't really listening though, I don't want anything to do with him anymore. All I know is that he left and I hope he never comes back." The tears had started falling again and Troy tightened his grip round her even more, slowly rocking them from side to side, hating the fact that she'd gotten into this state.

"Where did he hit you sweetie?"

Gabriella didn't answer verbally, but leaned forward to grab a mini packet of tissues out of her bag. She took one out before putting the rest away and then ran it down the left side of her face, effectively removing the makeup she put over the injury to stop questions being asked.

Troy watched as Gabriella winced and continued to remove the makeup from her face. Her Dad had hit her just under her eye and there was a clear bruise already formed, but there was also a small cut, Greg must've been wearing a ring.

"Brie sweetie, that's a really bad cut you've got there, have you put anything on it, to try and make it go down, it's really swollen."

Gabriella shook her head and crumpled the tissue in her hand. "I didn't know what to do about it, Mum hasn't seen it so I couldn't ask her, I didn't want to show her 'cause I knew it would just make her feel bad. I cleaned the cut last night 'cause it bled a little and then this morning I just put some makeup over it, I didn't want people asking questions, least of all you, I needed to find a way of telling you myself, I didn't want it to be like this though."

"Me either sweetie, but things don't always turn out the way we like them to. When we get back to yours we need to put some ice on it, okay? Hopefully it'll go down a little then, I think you'll probably want some painkillers as well, I bet your heads hurting."

"It is, I managed to grab some this morning when Mum came to let you in, but there was only two left in the pack and I didn't want Mum to realise there was none left, so I just took one, my head really hurts Troy, and the crying has just made everything worse."

"I know honey, I know." Troy pulled Gabriella back against him and that's how they sat for the next few minutes, in their little heaven, both thinking about what to say next.

"Troy? Why are you so upset?" Troy knew the question was going to come, he just didn't know what to do, so he did the only thing he'd wanted to do since last night, he broke down crying.

"Troy? Babe, what's going on? Talk to me, please."

When Troy showed no sign of wanting to answer her, Gabriella lifted her head from his shoulder and cupped his face in her hands.

"Babe, please, you've just helped me talk about what happened with Dad, now I wanna help you, so talk to me Troy, please honey."

"She's dead Brie, she's gone, never coming back and he couldn't even be bothered to find me and tell me, he didn't even tell me at all."

"Troy, who's dead? Jasmine's okay isn't she?" Gabriella moved Troy's head so that they were looking each other straight in the eye, chocolate brown on electric blue.

"Jasmine's fine, my Mum, she's dead, and my Dad the heartless...he didn't even try to tell me, it was my old neighbours who sent me a letter. They didn't even know for sure I was actually at that address for sure Brie, but they still sent the letter, just on the off chance, they thought I had the right to know, I do don't I Brie? I have the right to know my Mum has died, don't I?

"Yeah sweetie you do, you so do, come here honey, come on," Gabriella pulled Troy into her open arms and simply allowed him to cry out all of his emotions, just like he had with her.

"I think we should be heading home, Mum and Jazzy will be wondering where we've gotten to." Gabriella said, as Troy pulled back from her hold and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.

"I think you're right, I was gonna call you last night Brie but I couldn't. I didn't want Jazzy to see me like this so I just put some rubbish on the telly and laid down in bed watching it, I must've fallen asleep soon after that, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, neither of us do, we need to stop thinking about everyone else and look after ourselves for a bit, have you gotta work tonight?"

Troy nodded. "Yeah, I really don't want to though, it's just me and Tim tonight, I know as soon as we sit down he'll start asking questions about Jazzy and life in general, I just know I won't be able to take it."

"Okay listen, this is what we're gonna do; we're gonna head back to mine and try to greet Jazzy like we normally do, once she's off doing something else we'll ask Mum if we can speak to her in the other room, we just have to tell her what's happening, she'll understand. She'll phone Tim for you and explain, I'm sure he'll understand what's happening. We'll get through this together Troy, I promise."

"I know we will, I love you Brie, so much."

"I love you too honey, and don't you forget it." The pair shared a quick kiss, before getting up and straightening themselves out and making their way out to Troy's truck to head back to the sanctuary of Gabriella's home.

TGTGTGTG

Troy had seen Maria in caring Mum mode a couple of times over the past couple of months, with Gabriella, Jazzy and even himself, but today he saw her in serious Mum mode, something he's only witnessed when Gabriella and Jasmine had both been ill.

As soon as they'd walked through the front door Maria had known there was something up with both of them and because Jasmine had fallen asleep, she'd dragged them straight through to the kitchen and sat them both down for a serious 'Mum talk.'

Maria had sat in silence and listened to what the pair had to tell her, she was in shock to say the least. She knew Greg had hurt Gabriella badly when she wouldn't let her near her face to take a look at it. She knew at some point Gabriella would break down and she knew the arms of the person she broke down in would most probably be Troy's. What she hadn't expected was the young couple to argue and spend the day even more upset before that happened.

When they'd told her why Troy was so upset, she'd immediately stood from her place at the table and taken the broken young man into her arms, giving him the motherly comfort he was so desperately searching for.

As Troy's tears stopped and he started to pull himself together, Maria pulled Gabriella into the hug and whispered some encouraging words into their ears, as they held each other in the comfort of her arms.

"It's gonna be okay sweethearts, it may not seem that way right now, but it will. It's not gonna be easy, you need to understand that, but we'll make it through this together, all of us together, I can promise you that."

"Daddy? Why you and Gabwi cwying?" Jasmine's tired voice caused the young couple to pull away from Maria and wipe at their eyes, willing the tears to stop falling.

Gabriella wasn't as bad as Troy and so walked over to Jasmine and picked her up, holding her tightly as she walked back over to Troy. Handing a now crying Jasmine over to her Dad, Gabriella slipped his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Maria.

"Can you phone Tim on his mobile and tell him Troy won't be in tonight? He'll understand Mum, but he'll be worried, he thinks of Troy as the son he never had. But Troy can't go to work tonight Mum, Tim will ask him too many questions and it'll be too much for him."

"Sweetie, it's okay, I'll call Tim, stop worrying, you know he'll understand. Just go and help Troy calm down and talk to Jasmine. Explain to her as best you can, she just needs reassurance at her age, she's only crying because you two are. When she's calmed down, bring her to me and then you and Troy need to head over to theirs and collect their things. They're gonna stay here for a bit, it's up to him how long for, but at least a couple of days, you understand?"

Gabriella nodded and gave her Mum a hug, before making her way through to the living room where Troy had taken Jasmine in an attempt to try and explain things to her in a place that was comfortable for them both.

TGTGTGTG

"Okay, so after stating about twenty times that she wasn't tired and that she loves the bed because it's so bouncy she finally fell asleep, even though she was practically asleep through the whole thing anyway," Troy stated, as he made his way back down the stairs and plopped down on the couch next to Gabriella.

"Yeah well you shouldn't have wound her up so much then should ya?" Gabriella asked, as she laid down and rested her head in Troy's lap, his hands immediately starting to run through her hair that was spread out behind her on the couch.

"Yeah well, she needed cheering up."

"Troy, you made her chase you around the entire bottom half of the house, I wouldn't call that cheering up, I'd call that winding her up."

"Hey, she was laughing wasn't she?"

"Yeah, to the extent that she was struggling to breathe," Maria added into the conversation after she came back in from washing up and joined the young couple on the couch.

"Okay, remind me never to cheer up my daughter when I'm around you two, or at least not to that scale anyway."

Maria laughed. "Troy, you cheered her up and that's what matters, just next time, make sure you give her the chance to catch up on her breathing every now and them."

"Yes ma'am," Troy said, as he saluted Maria and then grabbed the blanket off of the back of the couch to place over Gabriella, who had since rolled over and had buried her face into his stomach.

"You tired babe?" Troy asked, as he moved his hand back to Gabriella's hair to continue its soothing motion.

"Yeah, but I don't wanna go to bed yet, can we just stay here for a bit? I'm all ready for bed, it's not like I need to change, you just need to carry me up there."

"Alright, we'll stay here and if you fall asleep I'll take you upstairs, but no moaning if you happen to wake up, okay?" Troy asked, with a poke to Gabriella's stomach.

She simply nodded and snuggled herself further against Troy in the hope he'd just drop the conversation. She knew he'd picked up on her being down, but she didn't want to talk about, not now in front of her Mum. She just wanted to stay where she was, content and comfy against Troy.

TGTGTGTG

The wind felt nice as it blew against her, it made the pain she was feeling go away. The pain of her parents getting a divorce, the pain of her boyfriend being completely broken because his Mum died and his Dad couldn't tell him and the pain that was pounding in her head from her injury and she suspected, from all her crying.

"Brie? What are you doing? It's half two in the morning, why are you out here? It's freezing."

Gabriella turned to look at Troy who was trying to wake up as he stood in the doorway leading out onto her balcony.

"I, I can't sleep, I just can't, everything hurts Troy, it hurts so much and I don't know how to make it go away." The tears that were already falling were now coming out at full speed, as Gabriella fell to her balcony floor and started hitting it, crying hysterically, pain obvious in her face.

Troy stood there in shock, unable to move and stop Gabriella from causing herself even more harm. He knew she was hurting, but he didn't know it was affecting her this much.

Troy managed to come to his senses at the same as Maria entered the room, she heard the banging and the voices and immediately knew she was needed.

She walked past Troy, gently squeezing his arm as she did and then settled herself on the floor in front of her daughter. She quickly grabbed Gabriella hands to stop her causing herself more pain, and then gently pulled her daughter towards her. Holding Gabriella against her chest sideways, Maria began to rock her from side to side, whispering soothing words in her ear, needing to calm her down, and fast.

"It h-hurts Mum, e-everything h-hurts."

"I know honey, I know, but we need to go inside to sort that out, okay? So how about we get you back inside and into bed with Troy while I go and find you some painkillers, alright?

Gabriella nodded and then seemed to properly process what her Mum had said. "Troy?"

"He's here honey, he's right here, look he's just there, in the doorway," Gabriella looked up and indeed there stood Troy, worry written all over his face.

It was then that Gabriella realised that Troy needed her right now as much as she needed him and so held her arms up to him, like Jasmine so often did when she wanted to be held. Troy stepped forward and picked her up, just like he would Jasmine.

With her arms and legs securely wrapped around him, Troy tightened his grip on her, turned and took her back into her bedroom and into bed. Knowing Maria was here to help, Troy didn't worry about hearing his daughter's cries from down the hall, he knew she'd take care of Jasmine, while he focused his attention on Gabriella.

Five minutes later Maria came back, painkillers and water in one hand and Jasmine being held up by the other.

As Troy took Jasmine from Maria and cuddled her against him, Maria walked round to Gabriella's side of the bed and managed to get her to sit up for long enough for her to take the painkillers.

She placed the water on the bed side table and then turned her attention to Troy. "Are you okay with them both? I can take Jazzy with me if you like."

Troy shook his head, "Its fine thanks Maria, they're both pretty much asleep now anyway and I doubt we'll be getting up until the afternoon anyway."

"Okay Troy, well if you need me, you know where I am."

"Yeah, thanks Maria."

Maria smiled softly and then turned to leave the room, stopping in the doorway to turn and watch Troy settle himself in between his girls, wrapping an arm around each of them and holding them close as if his life depended on it.

Maria smiled, they all looked so peaceful, cuddled up in Gabriella's bed, Troy protecting his girls. They may've hit a hard patch, but Maria knew one thing, her daughter's life had changed when Troy and Jasmine moved to town, and she was pretty sure theirs had as well.

TGTGTGTG

There it is guys, chapter ten, hope you liked it!

It's quarter to one in the morning, I'm tired and I'm off to bed, so if they're any mistakes, I'm sorry.

This chapter isn't great, but like I've already said, I'm having trouble with ideas for this story, and this is all my mind could come up with, sorry if it isn't up to standard:(

Next chapter: Christmas!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, REVIEW! THANK YOU!