I fear I might be slightly insane to do a daily update Christmas story for the second year in a row, but hey, insane is fine, right?

So this is 21 Days of Christmas, a fic that will be updated daily from the 5th of December (today for me) til the 25th of December. Thanks a million times to Corii for helping me get this baby started, and to Kait for reading through the start and encouraging me to go ahead with it!

21 days.

21 chapters.

21 gifts.

I hope you enjoy :)

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

As Troy Bolton stepped through the front door of the house he shared with his fiancé, Gabriella Montez, he froze on the spot, hearing what sounded like a footstep upstairs.

"Brie? Are you home, baby?" He called out wearily, looking around for a spot that he could hide the cardboard box that was currently in his muscular arms.

When no response came from upstairs Troy decided it must just be the old house creaking in the cold weather and he continued into the house, heading straight for the newly decorated kitchen and setting the box on the counter, a small squeak was audible through the air holes and Troy couldn't help the smile that settled on his face.

From the first moment Troy heard the festive Christmas songs at the mall a few weeks earlier, he knew what he wanted to plan for Gabriella that year for her Christmas surprise, an adaptation of the 12 days of Christmas where he gave his fiancé a gift for every day from the 5th to the 25th of December, effectively making it the 21 days of Christmas, Troy Bolton style.

This meant that on the first day, the 5th of December, Troy was hurrying home from work to set up his first surprise, something that Gabriella had been hinting about for months, something he knew she was going to love to pieces. Gently lifting the lid off the box Troy was greeted by the hurried mewls of the small, fluffy bundle inside.

"Come here, little girl," Troy cooed, reaching inside to pick up the fuzzy, grey ball, settling the semi-startled kitten against his chest and supporting it with one hand as he started to load the items he had purchased into the box he had just taken the kitten out of. Into the box went cans of kitten food, a few cartons of specially designed kitten milk, a pink flea collar, a fuzzy pink blanket, a litter box and settled down the side, a badly drawn map of the lower floor of their house, showing where the last part of the gift was located.

Hearing his fiancé's car pull into the driveway, Troy quickly rushed through the house to put the kitten and Gabriella's first message into a guest bedroom, the kitten letting out a yawn and curling up to sleep on the pile of blankets Troy had settled her down on.

"Troy?" Gabriella's sweet voice came through the house, widening the grin that was already on Troy's face.

"Coming, baby," Troy called back, shutting the door firmly behind him and heading back to the kitchen where he had heard Gabriella's voice coming from.

Slipping behind her, Troy dropped his hands to her hips, kissing the top of her head as she squealed slightly at his unexpected contact.

"Have a nice day?" Troy asked as Gabriella leaned into him, her sigh of frustration telling him that she was having yet another stressful day.

"No, that flu epidemic that's going around?" Gabriella asked more out of habit than of informing Troy for he was a doctor at the local hospital. "At least half of the kids were out of school today, and almost all of the kids that were at school, were sick. Why can't parents keep sick, miserable kids at home?" The slight whine in her voice only made Troy drape his arms around her waist, hugging her and dropping another kiss on her head in sympathy.

"I have something to cheer you up," Troy announced, turning their bodies so that the box on the counter was in clear view.

"For me?" Gabriella giggled, spinning around in Troy's arms, the thoughts of her stressful day gone, she loved receiving gifts for seemingly no reason.

"For you," Troy laughed. "Go on, open it."

As Gabriella took the lid back off the box, Troy hoisted himself up to sit on the counter next to her, watching the confusion flash across her pretty face as she took in all the necessary items to look after a kitten, something she wanted, but didn't have.

"Troy, why have you given me all of this?" Gabriella pouted when she thought the box was empty. "You know how badly I want a kitten! Now you're just taunting me."

"There's one last thing in there," Troy pointed out, referring to the note which Gabriella had overlooked.

Peering back in the box, Gabriella saw that Troy was correct and she pulled the small note out, stifling a giggle at her fiancé's terrible drawing but knowing what he was trying to portray.

"I know it's badly drawn, but surely you can follow it," Troy teased as he watched Gabriella who was trying to work out whether her fiancé had really bought her a kitten and had hidden it in one of their guest bedrooms.

Scowling at the teasing, Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand in her own and tugged him off the counter, leading him through the house to the bedroom that was indicated on the map. Just as Gabriella was about to open the door Troy started to hum the tune to 12 Days of Christmas and Gabriella looked at him curiously for a second before her impatience won over and she opened up the door.

Her chocolate brown eyes darted around the room, her stomach dropping as she couldn't see any kitten waiting for her and she feared Troy was playing a horrible joke on her.

Taking a tentative step inside, Gabriella finally spotted the small, grey kitten asleep on the blankets and she let out a loud "aww" before rushing over to it's side, scooping it up gently in her hands.

"A kitten?" She exclaimed, rushing back over to Troy and planting an excited kiss on his lips before looking over the now awake kitten. "It's so adorable, Troy!"

Realising that she had once again looked over his note, Troy plucked the piece of paper up off the floor and held it out to her.

"Read this," he smiled as Gabriella took it from him, shifting the kitten into one arm and quickly reading the note, as a look of understanding and excitement for the next 20 days crossed her face, Troy wrapped an arm around her waist, leading her and the new addition to their family out of the room.

One fluffy kitten