Chapter 15 – Girl's Weekend & Round 2

"Have a great weekend," I whispered, Troy smiled as he kissed me. "Are you sure you are going to be fine?"

"Troy, I am feeling great right now. I promise," I grinned as I put my pinkie out there, Troy smiled, "Alright, you girls have a good weekend, I'll call when we get there okay?" I nodded as Troy kissed me once more and slipped away from me.

I followed him out of the bedroom and I looked at Wes gathering his bags. "Wes!" he looked over to see Allison come running over to him, "I want to go!"

"You can't go Alli, you are having a girls weekend here." He said, "But I wanna go with you and daddy!"

Troy dropped his bag and grabbed Alli from behind tickling her, "You and mommy are going to have a lot of fun this weekend," Troy told her, "When we get back we can have some Alli, daddy time. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes!" Troy smiled as he kissed her cheek and put her down. Wes came over to give me a hug, "Be good this weekend okay?" he nodded as I kissed the top of his head. "I hope you have a lot of fun okay?"

"I will!" he gathered his stuff and then went running down to the car. I gave Liam a hug and told him the same thing as Troy said bye to the girls. When he broke away from them, I smiled as I kissed him softly once more. "Take care of my babies,"

"Always, I'll check in later. I love you."

"I love you too."

Troy disappeared down the stairs, as it was an early morning. I shut the door as I turned around to face the three girls; they were all staring at me as I laughed, "Are you three ready for a good weekend?"

"Yes!" they all said together, I smiled, "Come on, let's have some breakfast and then we are going to go to the store and get everything we need to not have to leave again."

We plopped the groceries on to the counter as we all began to put them away. "So I am thinking we are going to have a great day today," they all looked at me as I smiled, "Emma, you are leaving Monday for your camp," she gave me a sad smile as I grinned, "Which is all the more reason to have a great weekend." I stood up as went and began to grab thing out of the fridge and set them on the counter.

"We are going to bake a couple of things, doing some manicures, build a fort, and watch some movies before calling in Pizza for the day. A little craft in there too, does that sound good?"

Alli and Lo were all over it as I looked at Emma, "Yea, let's do it," A grin spread over her face as we all washed our hands together. I sat Lo on the counter, Emma pulled up a stool for Allison to stand on as she helped measure everything out with Alli, showing her the lines and helping her pour. Lo and I turned on the mixer, scrapped the bowl, and ate the dough with giggles.

"Can we make them into shapes?" Emma asked, I shrugged, I had Lauren push it to start the mixer again, it whirred around a few times as they gathered things to help shape the cookies. Allison was glowing with excitement as I smiled. We shut off the machine as I put Lo at the bar and handed her a thing of dough. "Don't eat this one, we are going to make them into cookies,"

"Okay! Can I make a L for Lo?"

"Yes! Can you help me make a M?"

She nodded with a giggle grin. Emma and Allison were going to do the same thing as we all began to stick them to the sheets. I began to just make regular cookies as I stuck them in the warm oven. "Can we make these?" Allison asked she showed me a box as I picked it up, brownies. A box of brownies.

"No way, we don't use boxed brownies," I said looking at them, "Aunt Sharpay bought them," I felt like gagging as I tossed the box into the trashcan. "No, we are going to have to make grandmas famous brownies,"

"Yes!" Emma said with a squeal, "Those are my favorite,"

"Mommy," Lo held up her sticky hands with cookie dough as I laughed, "Come here sweetie," I paused and then I shook my head, "Let's take a picture first," They posed in the messy kitchen as I laughed taking a picture, "You get in this one mom!"

I shrugged as I picked up my phone and I posed with the girls, we made silly faces and got cookie dough everywhere. I laughed as we all began to wash up as everything was becoming dirty. We washed our hands, faces, foreheads, and anything else that was a mess.

Washing the dishes, I had Emma begin getting everything out for the next round of baking. The brownies I could do from the back of my head, I didn't even have to pull out a recipe. Lo cried that she needed to go to the bathroom, "Can I take her?" Allison asked, I was hesitate to even let her go with her but I nodded, Emma looked at me and once they left the room I looked at her, "Will you just go be close by? Don't do anything unless it's totally necessary."

"Got it," she went up as I finished washing it; I turned on the radio as I danced around to one of the latest songs. I checked on the cookies and my eyes looked up at the clock. "Oh it's getting hot in here," Emma yelled, I laughed as we all began to dance around, Lo was beyond excited as I picked her up and danced her around. She giggled and laughed, we all laughed.

Giving a small look towards Alli, she gave me a big grin, "Can we do this all of the time?" she asked me, "We need to do it more often,"

We began to bake the brownies and I took the cookies out when they were done. Setting them on the stove, I looked at them as an M, E, A, and an L were all lined up together. I smiled as I turned to look at my three girls. They were all in shorts and a t-shirt, laughing with each other as they stirred the brownies. Emma took a little and smeared it across Lauren's face. She gave a wide-eyed look before laughing.

My heart warmed just looking at them, I smiled as I went to join them because I wanted to be apart of all of this fun.

Running the washcloth over the table one last time, I made sure everything was put away. The baking portion was done as I just took out the brownies. I turned the light off in the kitchen as I went upstairs where I heard their loud chatter.

They were looking at colors of nail polish that I had stored up over the years. "Anybody find one they liked?" I asked I sat down next to Emma as Lo came over and sat down in my lap. "I like this one!" she held up a light blue color as I nodded, "That would be a good one," I told her as I smoothed her hair away, "What about you Alli?" she tapped her chin as she thought about it for a minute. "I like this one!"

She held up a light pink and I smiled, "I really like that one too, Em?"

She held up a black bottle, "Are you sure?"

"I want to put a thing of glitter over it," she said, "Okay."

"Mommy will you do mine?" Lauren asked she tilted her head to look back at me, "Yes, Alli, do you want Em to do yours?"

"Yea!" Emma smiled as she set up a spot to do her nail. Lo giggled as I tickled her feet, I shook my head with a smile as I looked at Emma, "Do you guys have an idea of what movie you want to watch later?"

"Can we watch Hunger Games?" she asked, I looked at her and then at Emma, "No, not today." She puffed out a thing of air, as she knew I was going too. She just didn't want to admit it. "How about the Sandlot?" I asked, "Oh yes!" Emma cheered, "The what?" Lauren asked as I painted one of her nailed, "The Sandlot, it's about these boys who play baseball and the adventures they have. It's one of your dad's favorite movies. When he gets home you'll have to tell him all about it."

"Okay!"

Emma smiled softly as I focused on her nails some more. The house smelled of cookies and brownies, the room filled with nail polish as I quickly finished Lauren, as all of her nails were small. I picked out a nude pink color for my nails. I did my fairly quick as Emma was finishing Allison. Allison smiled as she looked at her nails. "Do you want me to do yours?" I asked, she nodded her head, "Please," I smiled as I picked up the black polish. I took her toes and did each on carefully as the little girls escaped into the bathroom.

"Mom, you are really pretty with that color on." I looked at it again, "Thank you," I spoke, I finished her right foot as she looked at her nails, an inspection. "Are you ready to go to camp?" she nodded with a smile, "I'm ready to see Courtney and Kelly."

"I'm glad,"

"You'll be okay right?"

"I'll be fine Emma,"

"Good," I finished her feet as I then went to do her hands. "Momma!" I turned over my head as I laughed; Lauren had lipstick smeared across her face. Emma giggled, as Allison was right behind her. "Lo, you are only supposed to put it on your lips." Emma went to take a picture. Lauren posed and Allison tried to get on it as well.

Emma laughed as I finished doing what I was doing; adding the glitter could wait, as I wanted to take pictures myself.

I then went to get everything for them to do even more damage. They squealed with excitement as I set the box down in front of them, they began to pull stuff out and dabbing it on each other. "Do you guys want to put stuff on Emma and I?" Emma looked at me with alarms going off in her head. "Just let it happen," I said, she finally nodded as I smiled gently. The girls went to town.

They used the red lipstick all over our faces, blush and mascara went where it wasn't supposed to and all we could do was laugh. They threw on some eye shadow and I could only assume I looked like a clown. Emma laughed when she saw me; Lauren threw her hands up announcing she was done. I laughed again as I stood up and I looked in the mirror.

I busted out laughing as Emma got up and we looked pretty much the same. We took a picture together and then another one with the girls. "Let's send this to daddy,"

"Put it on Facebook and Twitter!"

I nodded with a laugh as I sent it to Troy.

Troy's POV

Landing in Arizona, I turned my phone back on as we could have drove but we didn't have too. I stretched my legs out as Liam unplugged his headphones and Wes put his stuff away into his backpack.

My phone buzzed with a message as I looked at it. A loud laugh escaped my mouth as I covered my mouth. "What?" Liam asked, "Your mom and older sister got a makeover." I showed them the picture and they both laughed. "How come I have a feeling that they are really going to have a better time than us?"

"Because your mom knows how to have fun with whomever she is left with." I said as I put my other stuff in my bag. "She does," I sent a text back as it was a little after one in the afternoon. They were probably chilling right now or better yet still scrubbing off the amount of make-up that Lo and Alli must have put on.

I smiled just thinking about what they could possibly be doing.

What you don't like that look?

I laughed as everybody began to stand up.

Loved it. Very different.

We got off the plane as I pulled on my backpack. "Whoa, Troy Bolton," I looked down at Wes and Liam as they both shrugged, I snorted, "Let's go," I said as I pushed them. We all laughed together as I could do this more often.

After lunch, Lo and Alli went down for a short nap as I cleaned up the bathroom and relaxed myself. Emma went to hang out for a little bit in her room. I watched the TV and after a while Lo came crawling down the stairs and into my lap.

"Did you have a good nap?" she nodded as she rested her head on my chest. Post nap exhaustion. Emma came down with Allison as she was holding her blanket, "I have a fun activity if you guys want to do something or if you want to just chill."

"What activity?"

"A fairy jar," I said, "but first I think we should build a fort in the living room and sleep down here tonight with our fairy jars."

"Yes! I have always wanted to do a fort in the living room!"

We all separated and went running through the house, we pulled blankets, pillows, mattresses, any anything else to build it high. We lined up the mattresses that we drug up from the boys rooms. We laid them down and then put many blankets over top. I then began to hang the sheets with the help of Emma. We tacked them into the walls as we hung up a string of Christmas lights while we were at it.

The girls were giggling as they were placing pillows everywhere. "How often did you and dad do this?" Emma asked me as we tacked up the last of the sheet. We left the front open so we could watch the movie but we could easily let the sheet fall to lock us in.

As it grew darker outside, I moved everybody to the kitchen. I called in an order of pizza as I gave each of them two glow sticks and two mason jars. They were all excited as I told them how to do it, I helped the younger girls dump in the glow stick. Once that was done, I let them pour as much glitter as they wanted in. I laughed as glitter was going everywhere.

I told Troy long ago, that if we had girls, glitter would be found at every inch of the household besides maybe the boy's room but then again Emma frequented Liam's room. A smile spread of my lips as I locked the lids on tight and I let them both shake it and shake it.

The doorbell rang announcing the pizza is here. I got up from the table and went to hand the man his cash and took the pizza. I smiled as I took the two boxes of pizza back to the kitchen as I took the jars of sparkles. "We will get these out during the movie," I knew the glowing still needed to take effect so I took all six and went to put them away in my room. I smiled at them as we washed everything up for dinner.

After dinner was done and put away, we placed a call in to Troy before the start of the game in Arizona. We talked for about ten minutes as I blocked them out of the living room as I got everything ready. I popped the movie into the DVD player, I put everybody's blankets out, and the cookies we made with a thing of popcorn.

I plugged in the lights as the room glowed to life. I smiled as I went and grabbed the glow stick jars, as they looked so good. I placed them around the room, as it looked good in here. A beanbag was sitting in front of a mattress and I looked up to see the movie was turning on.

I took a picture of the living room and then I called the girls in. They walked in and they all grinned, "Whoa! This is so cool! The boys are going to be so jealous!"

They all took their seats as I sat down, Lo, quickly crawled into my lap as I pressed play on the DVD player. They were all grins through the movie, getting laughs, I smiled brightly, rubbing Lo's back, and she leaned back and smiled.

"I love you mommy,"

"I love you too,"

Kissing the top of her head, she turned to where she was resting in my arms like a baby. Emma was texting somebody but right now it was okay, I didn't need them to be all about me we spent so much time together today. I never wanted to let this day go.

During the end of the movie, Allison had fell asleep cuddling up with a blanket and Emma took a drink of her water. "I think there is some ice cream in the fridge," Emma smiled, "That sounds nice but how are you going to put her down?"

A smile towards Lo, I crawled further into the fort and laid her down. I got up as Emma and I went into the kitchen. "Did you have fun today? I'm sorry that it was very little kidish," she grinned, "No, mom, I had a lot of fun today. I kind of don't want to see it end."

"I know what you mean,"

I scooped a couple of things of ice cream out and handed the bowl to Emma. "Uncle Chad said I needed to have a talk with you but I don't want to ruin this day,"

"Is everything okay?"

Emma struggled with her emotions for a minute and she smiled, "If I ever lost you we wouldn't ever have these days again,"

"Good thing I am not going anywhere, Em, I know this cancer thing right now is like a major thing we have to deal with. Nobody should ever have to deal with but we have too. There are scary thoughts and even scarier with what just happened with Rayne's mom but I am fine. We have to stop thinking about how the cancer is going to be bad and let's just run with it. We are going to be okay and you can always address your fears with me Em," she looked at me with a hopeful look as I wrapped her in a hug.

"I'm going to be okay. We have nothing to worry about; I just need to go to all of my appointments and do what they tell me. I know it's going to be a rocky road but we need to do these things more often and not talk about the cancer as much. We have to let the cancer stop defining us."

"I like that," Emma said, I hugged her tight, "Do you want to watch Hunger Games now?"

"Please!"

The next morning, Lo crawled over me and I woke. She cuddled next to me, as the boys were due back until later tonight hitting up the afternoon game as well. I kissed the top of her head, "Can we have pancakes for breakfast?"

"How about waffles?"

She nodded into my side, "Do you want to help me make them for your sisters?" she nodded as we both quietly got out from out fort. My back was stiff as I picked up Lo so we could go potty and brush our teeth. She rubbed the top of m bare head, "Do you miss your hair mommy?" I nodded, "I very much do,"

"I like you without your hair." I smiled, "Good, it's going to stay like that for a while."

I sat her on the counter again as we began to whip together everything to make waffles. I let her stir for a while and she tried to eat the batter but the bitter taste of them made her cringe. I giggled as we poured them into the waffle maker and pressed it down to make them. She looked at me with a giggle, I kissed her forehead and she leaned against me. "I love you Lo girl,"

"I love you too mommy," I rubbed her arm gently and when the timer buzzed, we took the waffle out and started the next one until we had a pile high with all of them buttered. I heated up the syrup as Lo took the charge to wake the other two girls up.

Going into the living room, Emma was trying to shoe Lauren away. "Breakfast!" I cheered, I smiled as Emma looked back at me and I grinned. Allison sat up and rubbed her eyes exhausted. She looked at me with a look and then she got up pushing off of the floor. She came running over and I picked her up in a hug. "Good morning mommy,"

"Good morning baby girl, do you want some waffles?"

"Please, please!"

"Let's go, last one in doesn't get any,"

Lo squealed and buzzed away from Emma, "Hey! I want some!"

"Better beat us!" I yelled over my shoulder, we all giggled as we made it into the kitchen, Emma came sliding in after us. She then dashed to the plate of waffles and piled to on. I laughed as I put Lauren into her seat strapping her in and cut up a waffle for her. She poured syrup across the top of it, a lot of syrup as the other two girls joined them on the table. "Did you guys have fun yesterday?" I asked, "Yes!" they all said together.

"I'm glad," I said quietly, I picked up my food as I sat down, sitting down next to Emma I gave a small smile. She leaned into me as she ate her food. I kissed the top of her head, "What was your favorite part?" I asked, "The fairies!" Lo exclaimed, I smiled, "Allison, what about you?"

"Just getting to spend happy time with you," I felt my stomach twist with a fear of disappointing them. "Emma?" I asked, "Baking and building the fort. I thought that was so cool, and of course my mommy and girl time." I squeezed her leg gently as she looked at me with a big grin, "Let's go outside and play basketball after breakfast."

"Please mommy!"

"Don't you want to do that with daddy?" I asked, "No, let's play with you and later we can play as a family or something."

"That is fun," I said with a smile, "Alright, we can play some basketball after breakfast has settled and then we can chill, do that sound okay?"

"Yes!"

Troy's POV

Liam and Wes were talking about something in the back of the car. It was a little after six as we pulled into the driveway at the house. It was a nice summer day as I opened the garage door.

Gabi's car was here and the boys began to move in the back seat. I shut the car off, as I was exhausted from the days travel. I chewed on my lip and opened the door, Wes jumped out as he went running up the stairs, Liam close behind. Following them, I made a quick stop as they were both completely stopped into the doorway. I looked over their shoulders as my eyes went wide.

The living room was trashed, well, sort of. It resembled a fort with lights hung and some jar of something. "Wow, they did have more fun than us." I shook my head as I stepped into the house. I looked around, as it was very quiet. I dropped my bags onto the floor as I went upstairs and then up to my room as I cracked the door open only for a smile to cross my face.

All four of my girls were lying in bed, sleeping. Gabi was in the middle with Lo curled next to her and Allison resting on the other side. Emma was lying next to Lo with her hand touching Gabi as they were all passed out.

"Looks like they had way to much fun this weekend," Liam said coming up behind me. I laughed as I shut the door. "Come on, let's clean up the mess in the living room and make dinner before we wake them up." I said, "What?" he said looking at me, "We have to clean up their mess?"

"Yes, we have to clean up their mess. Is that going to be an issue?" I raised my eyebrow and Liam sighed, "No, I just, why us?"

"Because, that's what good males do. Even when they don't make the mess they can still clean it. The women do not have to do it all."

Liam rolled his eyes and I laughed, I pushed him down the stairs as we began cleaning the living room. We folded the sheets, put the thing of goo on the counter because I wasn't sure what the hell it was and I didn't want to find out really.

"They used our mattresses!"

I laughed, "Come on, I'll help." We dragged them downstairs and put all of the pillows back into place. We threw the sheets into the washer because who knew. I strangled the Christmas lights around my arm and put them into the bucket. I looked at the living room as it slowly started looking like a living room again. I wondered what the hell to cook for dinner when going out as a family sounded great.

Once we finished cleaning everything up, I looked around the room as I nodded, "Take a break, I'll finish this. Then I'll wake up the girls and go get some dinner together okay?"

"Sounds good,"

I picked up the final things around the living room, sippy cups, blankets, and the movies they must have watched. I smiled softly just thinking of the things they might have done. Gabi was such a great mom, I couldn't have ever imagined. I loved her beyond words could describe.

I chewed on my lower lip as I went upstairs, I looked in at the room again as I took a picture of all of them and then posted it to my Twitter page.

Love coming home from a boy's weekend to all of my favorite girls. :) – T

I sent the picture as I pushed off the doorway and I went to sit in front of the bed. I reached forward and I rubbed Emma's ankle. She twisted and looked over as she sat up smiling, "Daddy!"

She came over as I wrapped her in a hug. "How was your weekend?" I asked, "We had so much fun! Mom just knows how to have fun," I smiled, "One of the many reasons I married her."

"Is Liam home? I have so many things to tell him."

"Yea, downstairs."

"Thanks!"

"We are going to get dinner once everybody is up," I said with a look towards the sleeping bed. "Okay," she left the room as Lo was rubbing her eyes. I pulled her little foot and she looked up with her big wide eyes that I had no idea where she got them from, she sat up with a big grin and wrapped her arms around me. "Hey sweet girl,"

"You're home!"

"I am, did you miss me?"

"I did!" I kissed the top of her head as Allison got up slowly too. She giggled as I hugged her too. "Did you guys have fun?"

"Yea! We made fairies!" I looked at her for a moment and then knew she was talking about the jars with colors. "Did you?"

"Yea and this morning we played basketball and played some other games before we all got tired,"

"I see,"

"Can we all play basketball later, as a family?"

"Sure thing," I smiled. They both slid off of my lap as they went for the door, probably in search of their brothers. A sigh fell out of my mouth as I looked at Gabi she was sleeping peacefully, totally undisturbed from the things going on around her.

I fell onto the bed as she shifted; I leaned forward as I kissed her forehead gently. "Mmm…already home?" I laughed quietly as I wrapped her up in my arms, "I am, did you miss me?" she snuggled her head into my chest, "I always miss you."

I kissed the top of her baldhead as she looked up at me; I smiled softly, "I love you."

"I love you too," she kissed me as I leaned my forehead to hers, "Sounds like you had a hell of a weekend,"

She laughed, "Yea, it was something like that, the girls all had fun. I ruled in basketball,"

"Only because I taught you everything," I teased, she gave me a look and I laughed, "What, I did! You barely knew what basketball was when we started dating." She laughed, "Okay, maybe, but still, some thing are just talent." I laughed and I winked at her, "Something like that baby girl,"

I tickled her stomach and she laughed moving away from me, "What are you doing?"

"I missed you," I proclaimed, Gabi smiled as I tickled her again as she yelped with laughter. I straddled her as she tried to squirm away from me, she laughed louder as I could only tickler her to keep the sound there.

"Troy," she paused laughing, "I can't breath," I let up and she looked at me with a lazy grin, "God, I love you," she whispered, a smile fluttered over my lips as she pulled me down into a kiss. "I love you too,"

"Momma!" Gabi flinched away but I kept her under my power, I laughed, as she didn't like the kids seeing us like this. "Troy!" she whined, I laughed again, "I'm sorry, I like seeing you squirm."

I rolled over onto my back, as Allison looked at us, "Yea baby girl?"

"Where did the fairies go?" her voice held a panic, I sat up, "They are in the kitchen. I didn't want them to break so I placed them in there, do you want me to take it to your room?" I asked, she grinned, "Please daddy!"

I looked back at Gabi as she smiled, "Wanna go get dinner with the kids afterwards?"

"Zekes?"

"Sounds good."

Gabi's POV

Getting ready for bed, I applied lotion to my legs as Troy was moving to change out of his shirt from dinner and the mass of bath time with Lo. "What's on your mind?" I looked over at Troy, "We need to have a talk about something."

"Oh those words have always scared me." I smiled, "I want a divorce right now Troy Bolton," he let a lazy smirk cross his face as he crawled onto the bed, "What if I said no?" I smiled, my arms crossing over his shoulders. "Fine, I guess I'll live."

He chuckled, as he then looked at me, "What pretty girl?" I sighed as I sat up, "We need to refocus our thoughts on what's important here,"

"Your health," Troy quickly countered, "Yes, it is very important." I noted I turned to face him on the bed. "Our kids and our happiness, that is what is important." Troy looked at me, "I don't understand,"

"We are living everyday following cancers rules, everyday we are denying how we live because the cancer might interfere, how about we just stop and live our lives like we normally would. I want to go back to that day when I found out and pretend like nothing happened. To see what would have happened from there and to make sure everybody was happy. That we still had our family time, we still had our regular date night that I still got out and did what I do. Attend PTA meetings and go to all of my kids sporting events. We can't keep letting the cancer define us."

Troy looked at me with a long eye, "Brie, you still have cancer,"

"I know I do Troy," I reached for his hand, "But I don't want the cancer to rule us anymore. It has been since the very first day and I understand it's scary. I'm still scared and I know I lie to you about how I feel sometimes but I just; I don't want you to hurt. I don't want the kids to hurt." Troy slid forward, "Where oh where has my Brie gone?"

"What do you mean?"

"A few months ago you would have been in tears before this conversation and now you are just, you want the change to happen and I understand. I know you lie to me…I wish you didn't but I just nod and go on because I ask because I care." He stroked my cheek gently, "Emma is so scared of what might happen, a simple what if and we are letting her be scared into that because we are acting like this is the end of the world."

"So what do we need to do?"

"We just need to be us. I know the second round of chemo is Tuesday but the first week will be hell because I will actually be sick but after that…we have got to be a family. We have got to do our family things. We are going to be us again. Maybe that one week will be miserable but those next two are all us."

Troy pressed his hand against my cheek as he brought me in for a kiss. "I get it, let's change a few things."

"Let's," I whispered, I brought him into a kiss, my arms wrapping around his neck. "You are such a good mother Brie," I rested my head on his shoulder, "Will you hold me?"

"When don't I?"

"Have a good time okay? And don't get into too much trouble." Emma grinned as I hugged her tight, "Please, please be smart."

"I will, don't worry. Kick cancers ass okay?"

"I will, I love you Em,"

"I love you too mom,"

I looked at Troy who said goodbye to her too as we were leaving her at the airport. It was a short flight over to the camp airport where a camp attendant would be meeting her. She was beyond excited to see all of her friends from California. I watched her tackle security on her own, my gut twisted and Troy rested his hands on my shoulders. "Relax, she is going to be fine."

"I know, I know, I'm just nervous."

"You always are." Troy kissed the top of my head as we began to walk out of the airport. "Did Liam decide to go to that basketball camp?"

"I think so…" I said slowly, "I mean, it's Liam and he freaks out at the smallest things."

"He just loves his momma," I smiled, Troy rubbed my hand as he looked at me, "So tomorrow is Chemo day…"

"Yea, what about it?" I asked looking at him, "Where is your head at?"

"Let's do it and live above and beyond." Troy laughed, "You are witty today,"

"I'm feeling good today,"

Troy smiled, "Then let's celebrate."

"What?"

"Let's go out and do something,"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, when was the last time we just did something spontaneous?" Troy questioned, I raise my eyebrows, and "Can we just go for a drive?"

Troy grinned, "We just have to be back tomorrow morning by nine thirty in the morning."

"Troy, we can not leave our kids like that,"

"What! There are only four of them. Liam is taking care of Lauren. Allison and Wes are with my mom!" I looked at Troy, "Troy, we are adults."

"Exactly," Troy said, "We are adults."

"With young kids,"

"Brie, they are with a responsible adult,"

I looked at him with a long look, "Where would we go?"

"Who the hell cares? We will just be together…"

Lucille POV

"Wow, our 39 year children, parents of these children are taking off for the night," Jack looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"They are going to go and drive somewhere for the night and be together. I don't know this isn't the first time." I stirred my coffee, "Those two are beyond crazy. Yet, I think it's adorable that they go out together like that though."

"Why did we never do that?"

"Guilt of being with our kids?" I offered, "Nah, we loved ditching them at your moms house." I laughed quietly, "I don't know, I think they are doing good getting away. Chemo day is tomorrow."

"Wow, does that mean we have the kids for most of the week?"

"Surprisingly…no." Jack looked at me over the brim of his paper again. "Really? What are with those two this week?"

"I don't know, I think they are changing things and I think it is for the better. Really." Jack slowly nodded his head, "Was Troy okay when you talked to him?"

"Sounded happy."

"Hmm…those two. I could never figure them out."

"You never will Jack."

"Apparently so."

Troy laughed loudly at my, would you Rather. "Beany Boop or Fredrick Gilly?" he snorted again as I laughed with laughter. "Yes," I giggled again and Troy looked along the highway as the miles passed by with ease. We didn't think twice about our choice as the only place we needed to be was at the hospital tomorrow morning.

"Yea, which one?" Troy snorted, "Fredrick Gilly." He said with a semi-straight face. I laughed again and Troy busted out laughing, "Okay, okay, my turn."

"A afternoon with hyper Allison or a night with pissed off Lo?" I glared at Troy, "Troy, using the worst of our children…" he laughed, "Sorry, it's a really good one."

"Ugh, fine…a night with pissed off Lo."

He laughed, "Same. Hyper Allison, whoa. I'm still trying to think of who gave that trait to her."

"You," Troy snorted, "Whatever."

"You are such a liar Troy. I am never hyper,"

"Only when I give you too much coffee," I laughed again, "Okay, maybe."

"But that is with coffee!"

"Yea, yea,"

"I wish you still had your truck." Troy looked over at me, "What? You hated that thing."

"As much as I hated that thing, I loved when we drove and I could slid over and lay my head on your shoulder." Troy smiled as he glanced over at me, "And the memories from that car were fantastic," I said with a small smirk, Troy laughed, "I'm pretty sure we have ruined just about every car."

Troy grinned, "With pleasure of course."

"It was sometimes the safest place to have sex with five kids running around…"

"Wasn't it Lo that was?" Troy let the sentence drag on as I laughed, "Yea."

"Liam was in a dorm, Emma," Troy didn't stop the grin from slipping onto his face, "My birthday," I laughed quietly, "Wes, some random hotel…in Florida?" he looked over at me as I nodded, "Yea,"

"Allison…Taylor's house." I laughed out loud, "I forgot that."

"I can't believe we remember these things."

"Important moments in our life." I said with a grin, "I love our kids Troy,"

"I love them too,"

"Do you ever wonder what our life would be like with just Emma and Liam?"

"Never," Troy said, "I can't imagine my life without any of our kids…even with my crazy Allison."

"You love your Alli,"

"I do, I do. I just wish she wasn't so whiny."

"Troy, she is six."

He leaned back against the headrest, "I don't remember Emma being like that at all."

"She was," I reminded him, "But something about you and Emma,"

"Lo and I have that same bond."

"Allison was really close to me when she was younger,"

"I guess,"

"Allison adores you Troy,"

"I adore her. I love being with her."

"I love being with you," Troy smiled as I leaned up and I pressed my lips to his cheek. The faintness of stumble against my lips, "Why can't I be more like you Gabs? You seem to just click with all of them,"

"I sure hope so, I carried them for nine months." Troy smiled, "You are such a wonderful mom Gabs,"

"You are a awesome dad,"

"I was gone a lot."

"And somehow you are still purely amazing."

Troy gave off a tiny smile as I reached for his hand, "Next one,"

"I have a conversation,"

"Oh really?"

"Yea, do you have anymore dreams?" Troy looked at me for a second, "Yea, I mean, I guess I do."

"What are they?"

"I want to keep traveling the world with you,"

"We have already started that,"

"I said to keep,"

"Yea, anything else?"

"To keep having hot random sex with you." I laughed, "Anything else?"

"To keep raising our wonderful kids and to just keep being with you,"

"Anything?"

"Brie, are you trying to dig something from you?" I laughed, "No, I just. Those have always been your dreams. I didn't know if you had a new one."

"I wanted to be a basketball player and I achieved that. I didn't know I had to think beyond that."

I shrugged, "I was just wondering."

"What about you?" Troy asked, "I guess my dream is to," I paused as I reflected on what I wanted. "I'm not sure," I said quietly, "I never had a dream really. I mean, marry you, have kids, and I have done those things but,"

"You never have had a solid dream?"

"No, I mean," I shook my head quietly, "Can I get back to you on that?"

"Yea,"

I yawned as Troy drove deeper into wherever the hell he was. I smiled softly as I leaned closer to Troy; he wrapped his hand around my hand. "My biggest dream though Gabriella," I felt my back expand, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you and only you."

Troy's POV

Taking a sip of the coffee I had, I set it down as I parked the car in the hospital parking lot.

We didn't go very far from home, five hours maybe. We stopped a couple of times and did stupid things. I don't know but she was passed out next to me. I smiled as I tucked a strand of hair away from her face. My lips leaning over as I kissed her on the temple softly. She stirred and looked back up at me, "Are we home already?"

"More like the hospital,"

She sat up and rubbed her head, "Hopefully I can sleep through chemo,"

"You don't care if I nap do you?" she gave me a smile, "You can always nap, will you hold me again?"

"Duh,"

We both began to get out of the car as she changed into fresh clothes. I sat outside of the car keeping watch out as I took a sip of the coffee I had. We drove for a couple of hours laughing and talking. We stopped in a city for dinner at some random diner and then drove to a random spot and had hot glorious sex.

I smiled just thinking back, we lay around a while before we began to return home. Stopping for a 5 am snack and a cup of coffee thirty minutes ago. We talked to the kids at one point and they were all amused by our get up and get away.

The door pushed open as I turned as she was in a pair of jeans with a long sleeve shirt. I smiled softly as I wrapped her up in my arms, kissing the side of her head that was hidden underneath of a Lakers hat. I folded my hand within hers and we walked to the front of the hospital.

We made our way through the security and up to the fifth floor for chemo. When we walked in we were given paperwork and we settled to fill it in. Just another day.

Gabi's POV

Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes as Troy was sitting next to me playing on his phone. I pressed on the back of my teeth and shifted as he glazed over at me. "Hey sleeping beauty," I smiled, as I felt okay, they gave me some different anti nausea meds.

"Hey," I said, my voice was hoarse, "What happened to napping?"

"Too worried about you,"

I raised an eyebrow and he smiled, "I'll just nap later."

"Oh fabulous," Troy winked and he set his phone down, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Uh," I thought about it for a minute, "I'm feeling okay."

Troy nodded slowly as a nurse came over, "I have never seen somebody sleep so much during chemo," I laughed, "We were out late last night and I'm just tired."

"Five kids can do that to you," she said with a smile, Jenni was working today but wasn't my nurse. Troy smoothed his thumb over the edge of my hand. He went back to doing something on his phone and I looked at the wall. My eyes gazed over it, inspiring words to keep every cancer patient going. Cancer patient.

The word seemed foreign after the last week I had. Why would I be a cancer patient? I wasn't just a cancer patient. I was a mom. I was a wife. I was everything more than a cancer patient. The cancer patient was the last thing I ever wanted to be known for.

"What are you thinking about over there? You seem really focused."

"I don't want to be known as a cancer patient."

"Good,"

"I want to be known as a damn good mom, a hell of a wife, and a strong person." Troy let a slow smile roll over his face, "Do you think it is frowned upon to have a hot make-out session?" Troy asked, I laughed; I then looked over at the older couple playing a card game. "I don't know, maybe it would get them going over there."

Troy snorted, he leaned over to kiss me softly, his lips pulling only slightly away as he kissed me again. "What has changed?"

I pressed my palm against his face, as I looked him into those deep blue eyes, "Those kids of mine have a way of making me see life differently. How I can still do this fucked up shit and be a fantastic mom to forget about this sometimes."

"I knew I loved our kids,"

"I knew I loved you."

Troy grinned again, his lips kissing me once more. I leaned back as the nurse came back. They began my last phase of chemo, pushing the red stuff into the cath. I yawned deeply and Troy laughed, "How can one be so exhausted?"

"You wear me out Troy Bolton."

"Oh do I?" he glanced up at me, away from his phone and I nodded with a laugh. "Yea, you do." Troy smiled softly as he stretched out. He looked pretty tired as I gestured for him to come closer to me. "Hm?"

I swiped my finger under his eye, "Promise me you'll sleep tonight,"

Troy gave me a look as I pressed my fingers to his lips, "Please, you look exhausted. I don't need a babysitter, I need a husband to take care of my beautiful babies." Troy sighed, "I am making no promises."

"But you'll try right?"

"Yes Brie, I'll try and get some sleep tonight."

"Good."

Troy rolled his eyes, "You are lucky I love you."

"I'm lucky?" I asked, "Amy, are these two bugging you?"

I laughed at Jenni, "No, I wish my husband and I acted like this."

"They are pretty adorable huh?"

"I wouldn't say adorable," Troy said quickly, "More like sexy and hot,"

Amy laughed, "Feeling alright gabs?"

"Fabulous."

Lo cuddled close to me as I kissed the top of her head. She snuggled closer as Troy was taking Allison and Wes to practice and dance. I rubbed my eyebrow as today I was feeling nausea and was pretty sore but I was doing okay.

In and out of sleep for most of the day was okay, the rare feeling of puke kept coming and I leaned against it. I pulled away from Lo as I had been thinking, I needed to tell Troy what my dream was and I went through a whole list of things and I think I had finally decided something I really wanted.

Pressing my lips against each other, I rolled out of the bed as I went into the bathroom. A headache was pressing against my forehead and dizziness wavered over me. "Brie," hearing Troy's voice, I turned around and he gave me a soft look, "How are you feeling?"

"Sick," I replied, Troy leaned forward to press his lips to my forehead. "I love you,"

"I need to tell you something,"

"Shoot,"

"I know what my dream is,"

"And what is that?" Troy asked, "To change somebody's life. To completely help them." Troy raised an eyebrow, "And to start, I want to write a book."

"You want to write a book?"

"I did get my degree in English…" I told him, Troy smiled, and "I think that's a good dream,"

I rested my head against his chest as I felt my body rock, "Will you hold me?"

"Yes,"

My thoughts began to drift as Troy took me back into the bedroom. Everything was going to be okay. Even if it wasn't, I knew it was all going to be okay…somehow.

Wow. I am so so so sorry about the late update. So sorry. My life just has been…crazy. I am so sorry. Christmas, being in a therapy program for my weird pain and I am just not home right now and writing has taken to a back burner. I wish I had more time and I hate disappointing you guys. Some of my reviews lately have been true about the story being boring and you guys are right. It is. My mind has not been on this story and I am sorry. You guys deserve so much more. I hope I can make it better in the future and to make you proud.

Also – I am not going to skip the cancer. We can't skip cancer in real life. It's not fun or cool. It's sad and heartbreaking to watch families have to go through that. That is why this story is being told. So no. I am not going to skip the cancer and make everything better again. That's not how life works.

Lastly. You have asked about the short stories. I have failed trying to write those. THEY WILL be written. One day THEY WILL happen. Just right now, I am finishing The Show, working on a new story, and trying to write this one and new ideas swirling in my head. They will come out. Will it be a couple of months? Probably. I want the best for you guys so bare with me on those. They are coming and will be out one day so yes.

Again, I am so sorry for how late this update is. I never wanted to wait this long. I love you all for hanging in there with me. You guys are awesome. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are enjoying the story. It's not my best and I never thought this one would be. I just hope to end the series well.

Hope everybody has a fabulous holiday! Make the most of it and make some memories.

I love you all. – Jo

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