Gabriella woke up, afraid everything had just been a dream, but as she turned, her naked body pressed up against the other naked body in the bed next to her. It wasn't Jules' body. She was finally back in Troy's arms where she belonged. They had made love and fallen asleep, and now she was waking up to a brand new life with him. Or at least, she hoped they would. They still hadn't discussed everything and she couldn't remember the night she left or why she left. She wanted things to go back to normal. Well, they had never had normal, but at least they could find a way to get there now.
She shifted, lifting her head off his chest and looked at him in the darkness. The rain had started out as a light sprinkle before they had gone to bed, but now thunder and lightning was threatening the very building they were in, the hut Jules and Gabriella had shared together. Troy hadn't wanted to stay in the room Jules and Gabriella had shared, and she didn't blame him. If he knew what Jules and she had done in there, he'd never forgive her. But she couldn't keep that from him. She had already kept enough from him, and that might be the final nail in their coffin, even if they had just reunited.
"Troy," she whispered, kissing his chin.
"I love you so much. I have missed you, even if I couldn't remember, I have missed you. But I remember now, and there's so much I need to apologize to you for. Things that happened before I left. Things that I've done since Julian came and got me from the hospital. Things that I know I can never be forgiven for, but I beg you. I beg you never to leave me. I will make up for everything I did. I swear to you, I will. I love you and I never want to lose you ever again. I love you so very much and I would never hurt you again. I swear it!"
She'd ask him if he would forgive her no matter what she told him, but she knew she couldn't ask that of him, considering all the horrible things she's done. Troy had been mostly asleep, listening to the rain and Gabriella's breathing. However, when he felt her stir and her lips press against his jaw, I smiled, pulling her tighter against the length of his body. He couldn't even say a word before she started rambling off about his eyes down to her, he raised an eyebrow.
"What? You have nothing to be sorry for." He meant that. He was the one who had so much to be sorry for, he was just scared to throw it out there. "Don't be sorry. None of this was your fault. Not a single second."
Troy rubbed her bare back, kissing her forehead beside her scar. Her hair and makeup had covered it up earlier, but Troy could see it now. It was a terrible reminder of that night, but he was going to do anything he could to fix things between them. He couldn't take back what he had done or the fact that Sharpay was pregnant, but he was going to do his best to convince her that they were meant to be together no matter what happened.
"This was all my fault," Troy continued. "Everything I've done brought us to this moment. I am the reason for every single thing that's happened since the news about Tori surfaced."
Troy honestly believed it was his fault for everything that happened and he wasn't going to believe any differently. Gabriella let her head drop to his chest, closing her eyes gently.
"No. If I would have never kept her from you, if I wouldn't have run away from you in the beginning, if I would have stayed and been strong, none of this would have happened. We would have been a family long time ago and I never would have gotten involved with Julian in the first place. He never would have come to the hospital to take me away from you, and I would have never slept with him." She bit her lip and swallowed hard, lifting my head to look at him. "I'm so sorry, Troy. I am so sorry. I know I can't ask you to forgive me, but I swear to you that I will never stop trying to make it up to you. Never in my life will I ever stop trying to make it up to you!"
Troy's eyes snapped open in rage. Not at Gabriella. At De Aquila. He was scum. Vermin! Hell he wasn't even that good. He was the damn shit that came out of the fucking rats! He was an evil bastard and Troy was going to tear his throat out.
"I... dead." That's all Troy could manage to get out as he shook in anger. "DEAD. DEAD."
Troy meant it. He was dead. He was a motherfucking dead man! He took advantage of her and Troy would make him pay. He would. Gabriella wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his naked chest.
"Troy, I'm sorry. I'm so terribly sorry. I love you, I do! and I will never do anything like that again! Never!"
"Stop being sorry! That bastard took advantage of you! He... he... he raped you! It's rape! He's dead! I mean it! I'll fucking kill him!" Troy hugged her tighter. "Don't be sorry. God, don't be sorry! This isn't your fault!"
Gabriella didn't care what happened to Julian, but she did care what happened to Troy. "You can't, T. I can't lose you. I need you! You say things aren't my fault, then don't do anything you know will take you from me." She hugged onto him tighter. "Please don't!"
"You can't ask me not to defend you! You can't ask that of me!" Troy sat up, looking down at her as the lightening crashed and made her brighter in the dark. "You can't seriously ask me to just let something like THIS go!"
Gabriella sat up, kneeling in front of him and cupping his face with her hands. "I can't lose you. Do anything you want to him. Hurt him. Just don't do anything that would take you away from me." She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him again. "I can't lose you."
Troy hugged her back, burying his face in her dark curls, breathing them in. He had missed this smell, this feel of her. "Fine..." Troy sighed heavily. "Fine." He pulled back, inhaling deply. "There's something I should apologize for." He turned his head away from her. "Sharpay's pregnant."
Gabriealla fell back, her rear landing on my feet where she had been kneeling in front of him. Wrapping her arms around her breasts, she bit her lip, trying to keep the tears back. She could get upset with him, but she had known what he had done after he found out about Tori. And after all she'd done with Julian, she'd be a hypocrite.
"Jules and I didn't use protection, Troy..." Not that Troy and Gabriella ever had, but if she ended up getting pregnant with Julian's baby and not Troy's... "I'm never forgiving myself."
Troy closed his eyes tight, letting out another heavy sigh. "None of this... Jesus... how did everything get so fucked up?" he asked, ignoring the room shaking. "I can't believe how bad I fucked it all up."
Gabriella crawled over onto his lap and wrapped her legs and arms around him. "It takes two to tango, Troy. Neither of us are blameless, but that doesn't mean we can't come back from it. We came back to each other after ten years apart, and you forgave me for everything then. We can make this work."
"You're right... as long as we stay honest. Okay? As long as we are both completely honest." Gabriella nodded full-heartedly. He brought her hand to his lips and stopped when he saw the ring there. "This isn't needed," he mumbled, plucking it off and tossing it aside.
Gabriella giggled, the first time she could really remember giggling like she truly meant it, hugging him tighter. That finger should have always been reserved for Troy. She knew she had a ring he had given her, but she was sure he didn't have it with him. She had no idea where it was, but when he gave it back to her, that's where it would be, just like it should be. "I didn't like it anyway. So gaudy!" She giggled some more, kissing him deeply.
Troy laughed. "I guess he didn't know you as much as he'd like to believe." He kissed her lips and stopped when he felt the room rumble. "Damn, that storm out there is getting brutal." The clock near the bed flipped off. "I think the power went out."
Gabriella frowned. She really didn't want to pull herself from his arms, but she thought it would be good to go check on the others. "I am worried about Tempe, T. I haven't known her that long, and I don't know how she handles storms. We should go make sure everyone else is alright."
"You're right." Troy slid off the bed, helping Gabriella to her feet as well. However, when he went to step forward the room shook so hard that he fell right back on his butt on the floor and Gabriella came down on top of him. "Shit... Are you okay?"
Gabriella nodded, looking down at him. She was glad Tori wasn't here. Gabriella didn't know if she was afraid of storms either, but this was starting to even scare her and she loved storms.
"I'm alright. We need to get dressed. Are you alright?"
"I'm okay."
Troy stood, handing her her dress that was next to the bed before looking for his own clothes. He tugged my boxers on and stopped when he felt a gust of air whip through the room and literally shake the entire house, things crashing off the walls.
"Jesus..."
Gabriella closer to him, grabbing onto his arm. She hadn't even put her dress on yet. "Troy, this is bad. Its getting worse. Tell me we're going to be ok." Even if it wasn't, him telling her it was would make her feel better.
"I know. It's going to be okay. I swear it." Troy knew he shouldn't promise that, especially since it literally felt like the house was shaking so hard it was being torn apart. "Here, let me help you."
He helpped her slide her dress on over her head, grabbing his own pants and tugging them on only stopping when things got silent. It was pretty eerie.
"Down," Troy barely muttered, pushing her to the floor and laying over her. He felt the house shake so roughly that the roof whipped off and flew away, letting the rain drop on them and the evening light shine through. "No matter what you do," he screamed, "don't let me go!" He didn't even have a chance to worry about the others, he just prayed to God above they'd be okay.
Gabriella shook underneath Troy, only now getting really scared. She knew Troy was trying to make her feel safe, and he was, but she knew they were in serious danger. She pulled his arm around me, holding it there.
"I'm never letting go!" She felt like Rose and Jack right now and suddenly got even more scared. "Troy, don't you dare ever let me go. Never. Never never!"
Troy was just about to promise he wouldn't when water engulfed the bedroom and slammed them both forward and then dragged them back. He tried his hardest to keep his hold on her, but it was so strong. The grip on him tugged so hard that he was forced to let go, especially when he was thrown into something and pain ripped through his side.
Chad coughed, spitting water out of his mouth as he shot up right, coughing it out even more. He looked around, unable see anyone. Taylor wasn't with him. He was... who knows where on the side of the beach. The water was calm now. It was barely sunrise. The yellow glare of the sun barely coming up over the edge of the ocean water, glaring over it, made him lift my hand to shield his eyes.
He gripped my arm, wincing, looking down at it. It was broken. He could see the bone pushing against his skin. It hadn't broken the skin, but Chad could tell it was a clean break. He pulled off his shirt, ripped and still mostly wet, and fashioned the best sling he could. Standing up, he started to look around for everyone. He had to find Taylor and make sure she was alright. He promised she would be, and now, he didn't even know where the hell she was.
Troy's side burned worse than anything on his body, making the minor aches and pains a distant memory. "Gabriella!" he called, swearing he heard her voice. He swore he had. "Gabriella!"
He sat up, grunting as he grabbed his side and regretted the tiny act of speaking because it made him cough like a smoker would. He needed to find Gabriella. She was his first task and then he'd search for the others. He shoved himself to my feet and went off in search of the voice he swore he heard.
Chad heard Troy calling out for Pepper. He wasn't as loud as Chad would assume he would be in a situation like this, which meant that he had to be injured too. Chad came around the bend of rocks, finding him.
"Batman!" Chad ran over to his side, stopping just short of him. "Shit, man. You look terrible!" Looking around, he shook his head. "We need to find the others and get to the hospital. There's got to be one on this island, right? A clinic at least." Chad knew the way they were driving out here yesterday, none of them paid much attention to anything on the island, just getting here or to the hut, where ever the hell it was right now.
"It's not as bad as it looks. It's just a papercut, Superman," Troy mumbled, trying to breathe through the pain. "I'm sure there's some place. I'm sure Lily knows where it's at. She's been up here a while. We just need to find her." Troy looked Chad over, his eyes opening widely. "You're worried about me and your arm looks like you played slinky with it!"
"Pshhhh! I'm fine. It's nothing. But I think we need to find the others. If this has happened to us, think about everyone else." Chad swallowed hard. "Come on. We've got to find them."
Gabriella coughed out the sand in her mouth and throat. Coughing more, she spit all the sand out of her mouth she could, but it was still there no matter how much she coughed. "Tr-" she coughed more, barely able to speak. "Tr-" Coughing some more, she lifted her head up off the sand, looking around. She didn't have any idea where she was. The beach was empty for as far as she could see.
She knelt up, looking around, crying out, even with her scratchy voice from intaking so much sand and water, "Troy!" Looking around more, she cried out again. "Temperance! Taylor" And then again. "Chad? Nicky?" She slowly stood, her head spinning. "Troyyyyy!"
Every inch of Taylor's body ached, but nothing as bad as her lungs, well, her chest. It felt like she had swallowed billions of gallons of water. She felt water logged, like she had too much water in her system. She wanted to get up and search for others but at the moment she was just too tired. She felt like going back to sleep. Rolling her head to the side, she tried to see if sh could see anyone.
"Chad?" she coughed, spitting up more water. "G? Troy? Dominick? Tempe?" she called, trying her hardest to stay awake.
Gabriella heard Tay and she started to run, even with her head spinning. She had to get to her best friend. Narrowing her eyes, she saw her there on the sand ahead of me. "Taylor!" Running over to her, she dropped down on the sand by her. "Tay! Are you alright?"
Tears starting to burn her eyes. She was worried. She didn't want Taylor to be hurt. She didn't want anyone to be hurt... or worse. But she had to focus on Taylor right now. She was right here in front of me, and Taylor needed her. They could find the others after Gabriella knew Taylor was alright.
"G," T groaned, sitting up and brushing my bloody hair back. I guess that explained why I was so tired... "I'm fine." Taylor took her into a hug, even though every inch of her ached. "I'm so glad you're ok."
When Tay moved her hair back, Gabi noticed the big gash on her head. Biting her lip, she tried to stay calm. "I'm so sorry for leaving like I did, Tay."
Gabriella had appologized to Troy, and he'd told her over and over not to apologize, but she still had to apologize to everyone else, especially Tori when they got home. But first things first, they had to find the others and get to the island clinic.
"All that matters is we've got you back, G." Taylor was serious. She had missed her best friend so much, she wasn't about to be upset with her for leaving. Besides, Julian had filled her head with so many lies, it hadn't been her fault in the first place. "Let's just find the others and go home."