It was four in the morning.
Troy watched closely at Gabriella, who slept soundly beside him. He ran a finger through her dark hair and wondered how many miracles he had left to use.
He loved his kids so dearly, and he always would, but he had Gabriella...
And now, he had four loves of his life.
How could a man not be happy with that?
He gently kissed her nose and smiled to himself, knowing she was dreaming beautiful dreams and that she was...
Alive.
She was alive.
Her eyes fluttered open. She squinted at him and rolled over the opposite way.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" She said tiredly.
He rolled on his back, set his hands on his stomach, and stared at the ceiling. "I can't sleep."
"Why not?"
"Just thinking about you."
"Oh." Gabriella pulled the blankets above her shoulder.
Silence fell upon the room.
It seemed like an eternity before Troy spoke.
"Do you know who killed you?"
She was silent.
He sighed and swallowed a little, then touched her arm. "Do you know?"
She turned toward him. "Does it matter?"
"Yes, it matters very much to me."
"Well, just forget it." She scooted towards the edge of the bed. "Can you go to sleep? Please?"
Troy pushed the blankets off. "I'm not going to sleep until you tell me if you know who kill you or not."
"Fine, stay up. I could care less."
Silence.
"Okay, I know who killed me. Why does it matter? I'm alive and well."
"It matters because when Aubrey was born, I got a note saying that if I didn't take care of Aubrey, Talon and Lyle would be killed."
Gabriella sat up. "I'm going to the bathroom."
"Please don't ignore me- "
She walked towards the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
A scream came from Aubrey's room.
Troy sighed and stood up.
He would have to fight to get it out of her.
As he entered Aubrey's room, he noticed Gabriella's sobs coming from the bathroom.
He lifted Aubrey out of her crib and sat in the rocking chair with her.
The rocking chair creaked back and forth as he rocked Aubrey back to sleep. She was reluctant after the door slammed, but she slowly drifted back to sleep. He continued to rock, thinking about how someone could ever threaten to kill his kids. Who wants to kill innocent children, and who would want to kill Gabriella?
He ran his finger through Aubrey's hair and kissed her forehead.
A dark figure stood in the doorway of Aubrey's room.
He looked up, still rocking.
"It was Ally."