A/N: I apologize this took forever. I've been caught up in my fiveshot, Friday Afternoons Aren't Meant for Detention. You guys might like it, it's Troyella with some side-couples. Anyway, here's the final bit of Wishful, thank you so much for all the support! -love- Desireé

The Epilogue

You are cordially invited to…

The May 14th wedding of April Laura Bolton and Peter Kevin Harper

"April!" shouted Jack Montez from the bottom of the house's staircase. He leaned toward the third step, grasping the banister for support. "Hurry up or you'll be late for the wedding! And then you'll miss your B-O-Y-F-R-I-E-N-D boyfriend, Matt!"

"He is not my boyfriend!" came the angry yell from upstairs. The bickering twins' mother smiled from afar, until Jack came to stand in front of her. Gabriella finger combed his hair for a moment before kneeling down and adjusting everything—his wrinkled sports jacket, his loose tie, his twisted belt.

The boy squirmed. "Mom," Jack complained, "Stop, I told you, I got everything under control." The woman threw her hands up in a surrender and a man appeared behind her.

Troy smiled. "Your mother is quite the perfectionist, Jack," he said, kissing Gabriella's neck quickly before the child could object. "You get used to it after a while."

"Thanks for the memo," the boy groaned as Gabriella fiddled with his tie again. "Mom! I said I've got it!"

"Fine, fine," the woman gave up, turning away to look through her purse and make sure she had everything; cell phone, wallet, keys, napkins, camera, Band-aids, pepper spray (in case of an emergency), and finally, crayons. The twins were already eleven years old, yet they seemed to still be 'drawn' to coloring. "April," their mother called out. "Please, honey, we're leaving now! We can't be late!"

A girl adorned in a poofy blue dress (coordinated with the other bridesmaids dresses) appeared in the kitchen, looking slightly annoyed. While her brother's hair was always straight, taking after their mother's genetics, April's hair was wild and unruly like Chad's. Smiling proudly at the girl for a moment, Gabriella turned to Troy. "Where's Cooper?"

They sat on the hood of the Range Rover, underneath the stars at their Spot—the hillside with the curving street and bushel of trees. It was calm and beautiful, just what she liked. "Hey," he said, turning to look at her. She met his glance. "What's up? You've been quiet all night. Something on your mind?" He never failed to read her thoughts.

"Okay, so you told me the night we got married what if we weren't meant to be together, right?" He looked slightly worried, and Gabriella smiled. "No, that's not what I meant. But that was your what if question, and now I have one." She paused, taking a breath before saying, "What if I told you I was pregnant?"

A smile broke out on Troy's face. "You're pregnant?" he exclaimed. "Gabriella, that's great!" He swooped her into his arms and laughed.

"I didn't say that," she said, and he stopped. "I asked what if."

"Well," he began, looking out into the black sky for a moment, pondering. "I'd be happy, of course. You know I've always been jealous of Chad—he is, after all, the father of your two children."

The honesty in his voice made her heart tingle. "All right," she finally sighed. "I'm pregnant." His eyes lit up and he kissed her, his strong arms securing her into the night.

That had been in early May, just a month before the twins' fifth birthday. A third child came, healthy and gorgeous and identical to her parents, with Gabriella's eyes and Troy's hair. Cooper Olivia was born the next January, and grew up to be quite a verbal young six year old. "Daddy!" she hollered from her shared bedroom with April. "Daddy, I don't like what I'm wearing!"

A small sigh escaped Troy's mouth, and Gabriella smirked. "Do you want me to get her?" she asked. He shook his head and trudged up the stairs, launching into a charade of oohs and ahs that would hopefully convince Cooper her outfit was fine. His wife turned to the two older children and said, "We need to be there for final two-minute practice, so please, you two, get into the car and don't fight."

Flattening out the skirt of her dress, April nodded calmly. Beside her, Jack grimaced, giving his mother a you-never-credit-me-enough look. Gabriella patted his cheek and handed the keys to her son, walking upstairs to tag team her husband in persuasion of their daughter. Cooper sat on the edge of her bed, looking at the Mary Janes her grandmother had bought her. "I don't want to wear them," she moaned, clacking her heels together as Troy sighed for what seemed like the tenth time.

Gabriella took over and sat on the other side of her daughter, smoothing her hair to one side with a gentle touch. "Honey, I understand you don't like them, but your grandma Sue bought them! Don't you want her to see them at April and Peter's wedding?"

This made the young girl think for a moment, before finally agreeing. "Okay," she said, hopping off the bed. Troy wearily watched her skip downstairs, before turning to look at his wife.

"How do you do it?" he asked with a slight hint of jealousy.

"I'm a mother," she said, leaning in for a kiss. "It's my job."

On the way to the wedding, it appears the twins have some ideas.

As Troy pulled onto the freeway, April leaned forward, her head poking between her mother and stepfather's seats. "Mom," she began, "Can I dye my hair blue, like Aunt April? Troy said I could."

"Oh, really?" Gabriella looked at a panicked husband next to her, a smirk teasing her lips. He focused on the road for a moment, before finally giving into her stare and answering:

"I told her to ask you."

April leaned forward even further. "Yeah, but I asked what you thought, and you said I could." Beside her, Cooper joined the conversation.

"Can I dye my hair blue, too?" she asked. "Or purple. What do you think, Daddy?"

Twisting her body so she faced her daughters, Gabriella smiled softly. "I think you guys should maybe the drop the subject. When you're eighteen, you know, you can do whatever you want," she said.

"Really?" Cooper tugged on her hair. "Maybe I can get rainbow when I'm eighteen. Do you guys know the color song? Ms. Johnson taught us it yesterday. It goes, 'Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple! Those are the colors of the rain-bow!' We sung it all through lunch." She hummed the tune to herself, staring out the window and watching the blurry scenes fly by.

Another question was directed at the adults sitting in front, this time from Jack. "Can we get a dog?" he asked, taking a moment to pause his Nintendo game.

"No," was the answer.

"A cat?"

"No."

"How about a hamster?"

"No."

"What about a pig?"

"No." Gabriella saw Troy smile out of the corner of her eye. It didn't matter if they were twenty-nine years old with a daughter and two step children, he was still a boy at heart.

Jack grumbled, "Why not?"

"You wouldn't—"

"Red, orange, yellow…"

—take care of it."

"I would!" he said indignantly. "Of course I would!"

"Jack, the only pet you ever had was three goldfish from a carnival, and they died in two days. In fact, less than that. It was barely an hour when we got home that they started floating up and down." April snickered, and Jack looked at her.

"Well, what can I do to prove to you we can have?"

"Nothing," Gabriella replied. "I've seen all that I need to, and really, Jack, there's no point in asking me anymore."

At a slight traffic jam, Troy turned around and mouthed, We'll go to the pet store tomorrow. Gabriella raised an eyebrow at him, and he looked back at her innocently. "What?" he asked.

"You act like I didn't see you just totally sneak that deal with Jack," she told him. He guiltily turned back to the road and shot Jack a sympathetic glance through the rear view mirror.

More questions.

"Can we have a pet rock?"

"Sure."

"If I take good care of that—"

"Green, blue purple!"

"—can we get a real pet?"

"I'm not even going to answer that."

April jumped in. "Where are we going on vacation this summer? I thought maybe Hawaii or Paris."

"Paris? Cough up the money and then get back to me."

"Emma Wrigley is going in July."

"Well you, April Montez, shall be somewhere else." April slumped back in her seat, just as they arrived at the country club where the wedding was being held. Gabriella turned to face her three children: April was a bridesmaid, Cooper was the flower girl, and Jack was the ring bearer.

With a firm I-mean-it tone of voice, Gabriella pep-talked them. "You are here on your best behavior, do you understand me? I don't want any tears tonight, and, if you guys can handle it, no blood, okay? Jack, don't hit either of your sisters, April, watch where you're going, and Cooper, please stay with either your brother or your sister, all right?" The children all shook their heads solemnly as Troy watched, a smile on his face. The family got out the car, the three youngest scrambling inside, excited for the practice run.

"You know, our wedding anniversary is next month. June 30th," Troy whispered in her hear, his arm around her waist. She watched the ground on which they walked, trying very hard to balance in her heels. If anything, she would skip tripping for today.

"Yes," she replied, "Twenty-four days after the twins' birthday, I remember. Six years. Wow. We're old."

He laughed. "I guess. Compared to everyone else, we kind of are." Chad and Taylor had only gotten married two years earlier, after a steady nine year relationship of simple dating. Sharpay, who had only begun going out with Zeke in college, was just now pregnant with her first child. As for Kelsi and Jason, they were still taking things slow. Ryan was still having fun being single and free of couples' stress. Only Gabriella and Troy had a full-fledged family.

Inside, the wedding planner, Sharon, was running around to adjust last minute details. She saw the final bridesmaid (Gabriella) and the final groomsman (Troy) and nearly had a heart attack. "Thank goodness you're here!" she said with relief, rushing over to them. "I had spasm just trying to get the rest of the wedding party together."

"I'll see you in a little bit," Gabriella whispered to her husband. "Tell Peter he's one lucky guy, okay?"

"And tell my sister she's one lucky girl," Troy replied, before waving and heading off in the opposite direction. Gabriella searched the room for her children before seeing them standing around the minister, who was speaking softly to them.

"They're in good hands," the mother decided before joining the bride and her clan of girls.

At the wedding reception, the room screams with energy and life.

"Mommy, it's loud in here!" Cooper shouted through the music. She was hopping up and down in her stockings, barefoot. At some point during the ceremony she had taken off her Mary Janes, which amused the audience and the wedding couple alike. Troy had glanced at the crowd, expecting to see his mother searing, but was thankful to as Sue was smiling, too. No family drama today.

"It'll quiet down soon, I promise. Look, here's Auntie April and her daddy now," Gabriella replied, pointing to her sister-in-law and her son's namesake. Jack smiled at his daughter as the music began and the room silenced. It was a sad but meaningful Corinne Bailey Rae tune, and Gabriella smiled over at her parents, a few tables away, as Cooper climbed onto her lap.

Once the song was over, the minister spoke into the microphone, "I'd like to welcome any fathers and daughters on the dance floor right now to join April and Jack for the next few songs." Troy walked over and picked his daughter up into his arms, and Gabriella saw Chad find April, who looked happy to be dancing with him. Christian walked over and held out his hand.

"One more dance? Before my back goes out for good?" he asked with a smile. Gabriella accepted and stood up, slowly walking out between the crowd. She swayed in her father's arms, looking over at her husband and Cooper. The girl stood on her father's shoes, hanging on his hands and smiling, watching his feet move to the rhythm. Troy looked over and grinned at his wife, mouthing something she didn't understand. He said it again: You look beautiful with your dad. Before she could so happily respond, Gabriella's father groaned slightly as the music changed. "Oh, honey, that's about it for me. Would you hate me for stopping?"

She shook her head and kissed his cheek. "No, Dad, of course not. Go sit down with Mom, I'll have to find Jack anyway." Her son was sitting at their table, watching the dancers around him. "What's wrong, J?"

"I don't get to dance."

"Do you want to dance?"

He shrugged. "I want to be able to dance."

"Well, as soon as they let mothers and sons out on the dance floor when Peter and Mrs. Harper have their number, we'll go out, okay?"

This seemed to brighten him up a little bit. "All right. I'm going to go get something to drink." He dove through the crowd, disappearing from Gabriella's sight as finally the last song ended and the fathers and daughters dispersed. Cooper spotted her brother and ran after him, while Troy struggled to keep with her. April sauntered toward her chair as Taylor replaced her spot as Chad's dance partner; the young fifth-grader plopped down beside her mother.

"I wish I could dance with Matt." This particular boy was the son of April's Maid of Honor, Wendy, and the younger April's current crush.

"Why don't you ask him?"

Exasperation spread across April's face. "Mom," she whined, smacking Gabriella's arm. "I can't just go up to him and ask. I mean, I know you and Troy are the dream couple and all, but other less fortunate people have relationship problems."

Gabriella smiled. Whether it was Taylor, or April (Bolton), or Sharpay, someone was always telling the twins something about their mother, their father, or stepfather. A recent and somewhat notorious story explained their roles in 'Twinkle Towne' and the rivalry between the Evans siblings. This was the younger April's favorite.

"Honey, just go ask him," the mother encouraged. "What's the worst thing that could happen?"

"He could say no."

"But at least you'll know now. Instead of moping around, wishing you could dance with him, you know to save your breath for some other guy. The one guy that makes you hold your breath whenever you see him, the one that makes your heart flutter." She watched Troy swinging Cooper in his arms, and beamed. "You have to just take a chance."

Tapping the plate in front of her, April shrugged. "Yeah, but it would just be so much easier if he came up to me and asked. Wishful thinking, I guess."

Out of the corner of her eye, Gabriella saw the young boy Matt glance at them. She half-smiled and ran a hand through her hair. "No," she corrected gently, and April looked up. "Thoughtful wishing."

A/N: Oh my gosh, I rewrote that a thousand times! I hope you guys liked this story. Please, please, please review! Maybe throw in a favorite chapter or some dialogue you liked. I am so grateful for all the reviews, and I want you all to know your positive words mean a lot! Look out for the revised Poster Child, coming out in the next week, and have a beautiful day! -love- Desireé