Here's the last chapter unless readers decide they want more. Leave me a review and let me know! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Troy had finally gone back to work, and Gabriella had started taking Elizabeth back to the child care facility she had used before. Gabriella had picked her up after work, knowing Troy was working a little later tonight than normal before coming to pick Elizabeth up for his weekend with her.

Gabriella heard the knock on the door, knowing it was Troy, and told Elizabeth to go grab her bag while she answered the door. She still got nervous every time she was around Troy, old feelings still surfacing just when she looked at him. She wasn't completely sure how to act around him anymore.

She opened the door and all her nerves were very much present as she invited him into the apartment. Troy stepped in and looked around, noticing it was still the same as it had been a couple weeks ago when he had been there before.

"Hi," Troy said, finally deciding to be the first to speak up. He hated all the silence that surrounded them when they were finally together. It felt like they had reverted back to their old ways before they had officially started dating and every little thing screwed up their relationship. Over the past couple weeks, he had been trying more and more to get Gabriella to hear him out over the whole reason the woman had been there, but each time he brought it up, she cut him off telling him she didn't want to hear it. He just wanted to voice all his thoughts and emotions once before the divorce was finalized.

He felt it was almost a lost cause, though.

Elizabeth walked back into the room carrying her bag for the weekend. "You ready to go, baby girl?" Troy asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "Mommy, why can't we live with Daddy anymore?" she asked quietly, looking up at Gabriella.

Gabriella tensed up at her question, not sure exactly how to answer it. Troy spoke up for her. "Because, baby girl, Mommy isn't very happy with Daddy right now and Daddy knows that the only way to make Mommy happy is for you guys to live here."

Elizabeth's eyes became glossy with tears. "But I thought you loved Mommy."

Troy let out a sigh as he knelt down in front of Elizabeth, bringing her into an embrace, struggling with words as his own emotions took over. "I do, sweetheart, so much. But sometimes when you love someone as much as I love your mommy, you have to let them go do things that will make them happier, even if it makes you sad." Troy looked up at Gabriella to notice that she too had tears in her eyes.

Troy stood up, grabbing Elizabeth's bag in one hand as Elizabeth nodded and reached for the door. "Bye Mommy."

"Bye, Sweetie," Gabriella said, still struggling with her tears.

Elizabeth opened the door and ran over to the elevator. Troy chanced another look at Gabriella. "Bye Gabriella. I'll bring her back on Sunday." He walked out the door, but just before he shut it, he looked back at her once more and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Gabriella broke down in sobs as they left. She kept to herself the entire weekend, not moving far from her bed, which is where she had planted herself the moment Elizabeth and Troy had left on Friday.

On Sunday evening, Troy returned with Elizabeth, saying he would see her again in a couple of weeks.

Over the next few weeks, Troy ran into Gabriella a few times outside of picking Elizabeth up. It seemed she was becoming more open to talking to him. She felt it was important they were sociable for Elizabeth's sake, though she refused to talk about anything personal, especially if it had to do with their relationship.

As Troy was finally able to get back on Gabriella's good side, he felt that he might still hold a chance.

The night before Gabriella's final meeting with her lawyer, she went to drop Elizabeth off at Troy's. Troy was supposed to have the papers signed for her so she could give them to her lawyer at the meeting.

What she didn't expect when she walked up to Troy's house, was for the same woman she had seen leave there a few months ago to open the door as she was preparing to ring the doorbell. The woman smiled at Gabriella as Troy walked up behind her holding the door open.

The woman turned around and looked at Troy one last time. "I'll see you on Saturday, right?"

"Yeah, Saturday would be great. Bye, Cindy." Troy looked over and noticed Gabriella and Elizabeth standing there. "Hey, guys!" Troy reached down and picked Elizabeth up, squeezing her and tickling her sides as he brought her inside.

Gabriella followed with Elizabeth's bag, tense and feeling awkward after seeing another woman leave Troy's, knowing they had plans to meet up again. She sat the bag down as Troy put Elizabeth back on the floor.

"Elizabeth, come here, sweetie. I need a hug before I go." Elizabeth walked over to Gabriella. "I love you, sweetie. Be good for Daddy and I'll see you on Sunday, okay?"

Elizabeth nodded. "I love you too, Mommy."

Gabriella stood up and looked at Troy. "Do you have the papers, Troy? I told you I need them tomorrow."

He looked at her, pain clearly seen in his eyes. "Gabi…" he whispered. She hadn't heard him call her that in several months. She closed her eyes. "Gabi, can we please talk?" She heard Troy whisper to Elizabeth to take her bag to her room and play with her toys for a while so he and Mommy could talk. "Gabi, I really need to talk to you."

"Troy, I don't think there's anything to talk about. You've moved on and you're happy now with someone else. Why can't you let me move on?"

"Because I haven't moved on, Gabi. I love you so much, and I've never stopped."

Gabriella shook her head. "Stop telling me lies, Troy. I can't stand to listen to your lies any more. Just get me the papers and I'll be out of here."

Troy shook his head and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the stairs. "Not until I show you something first." His eyes pleaded with her until she gave in, pulling her hand from his, but still following him up the stairs.

Memories came crashing down on her as she walked through the house, a house the couple had made so many memories in together during the time they had been together. Troy led Gabriella to the spare bedroom she had used during that first week they split up. What surprised her, though, was that it no longer looked like a bedroom at all.

Instead, it was an art studio, set up with most of the necessary supplies.

Gabriella laid in bed, her arm slung over Troy, as their breaths regulated back to normal. Troy had been gone a lot lately and she had missed him terribly. But his homecoming was always her favorite time, knowing what kind of responses each would have by the time Elizabeth was put to bed.

"Troy, I've been thinking…" Troy shifted so he could see her better as she looked up at his face. "Since you're away so much, I've been thinking about finding me a place that I can start up painting again. I miss doing that, and it would give me something to do while you're away."

Troy leaned down and kissed her. "I think that's a great idea."

"I wish I had an art studio…or somewhere here at home that was set aside for me to paint sometimes."

"We'll figure something out…" Little did Gabriella know that Troy was already in the process of putting together a plan…

"What…? How did you….? When did you…?" Gabriella couldn't seem to get a full sentence formed. She finally looked up at Troy who was studying her reaction the entire time she looked around the room. "Why did you do this?" she finally asked.

"Because I love you," he said, his voice showing nothing but sincerity.

"But…but I don't live here."

Troy nodded. "But you did when I started it."

Gabriella snapped her gaze back to him, studying him. "When did you start this?" she asked quietly, almost afraid of the answer she would receive.

"A few months ago when you went to Albuquerque to see Kelsi."

"What?" Gabriella whispered.

Troy took a deep breath, moving so he was standing directly in front of Gabriella and taking both her hands in his. "You remember that horrible day when you came back from Albuquerque and found a woman…Cindy…walking out of the house?" She nodded and he saw the pain in her eyes at Cindy being mentioned. "Well, she was here that day starting this project. I had her come in and look at the place, hoping that she would be able to do it secretly without you knowing. Hoping that with the time off I was going to have, I could have her come in for a while during the day while you were at work and she could get it done…as an anniversary gift."

Gabriella had tears running down her face. "So…this woman…was only here to work on this? For me?"

Troy nodded his head sadly. "She was here again today to try to finish it up, but I told her I knew that Elizabeth was coming and we wouldn't be able to finish it up tonight. That's why she's coming back Saturday…to finish it…for you."

Gabriella broke down in sobs. "I can't believe you went through with this project. Why did you finish it? Why would you do something like this with the way I treated you? I was horrible to you and all you did was love me."

Troy smiled sadly at her before bringing her into his arms, a smile coming to his face at how good it felt to have her back near him again, to be able to touch her again. "You didn't know…"

"But why didn't you tell me sooner? Why did you let me think the worst of you?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't believe me. Believe me, there were so many times that I tried, but you didn't want to talk." Gabriella looked up at Troy, knowing the words were true. She wouldn't have believed him, not at that point. "I'm sorry I caused you to lose your trust in me. Can I ever earn it back?"

Gabriella let out a sigh, bringing her hand up to Troy's face. "You already have. I love you so much, Troy." Troy leaned down to press his lips against Gabriella's as she melted into his embrace, loving being back in his arms after so long. It was the only place she belonged. "I'm sorry I didn't have any more trust in you than that. I just wish that we hadn't let it go this far."

"Well, let's just be glad it didn't go any further," he said, thinking about the unsigned divorce papers that were downstairs. He couldn't even pick up the pen to sign them. He felt her nod against him. "So I guess you have an appointment that you need to cancel?" Troy asked, still feeling a little nervous that she would walk out on him again at any moment.

She took a deep breath, looking at the floor as she stepped away from Troy a little. "Well one of them I do, but the other one I still need to keep."

Troy looked at her, worry, nervousness, and confusion in his eyes. "What…uh…what appointment do you have to keep?" He reached up to scratch the back of his neck, nervously waiting for her reply.

Gabriella smiled and stepped back towards him. "Well, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think I have an appointment with my husband to make things up to him…preferably in the bedroom…"

Troy finally made eye contact with her as he realized what she said. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and smiled, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him. "You would be absolutely correct." He leaned down and kissed her again. "Now…about this other appointment…"

Gabriella let out a content sigh as she leaned against Troy's chest. "I'll go call my lawyer right now," she said, stepping back to go downstairs where her cell phone was.

Later that night, Gabriella laid in bed with Troy. She had left long enough that day to go get a few of her clothes so she could stay the night with Troy. She had the next day off of work, so she and Troy spent a little extra time in bed that morning until Elizabeth came to wake them up. Gabriella noticed a brighter smile on her face that she hadn't seen there in several months - one that hadn't been there since before Troy's last tour when he and Gabriella had truly been together.