Money Power Beauty
Chapter Fourteen

You say that you want to go to a land that's far away. How are we supposed to get there with the way that we're living today?

You know the feeling when time feels like it had stood still? It always seems to happen when you are doing something you hate and all you want is for time to pass quickly. On the other hand, time seems to fly by when you are doing something you enjoy or spending it with someone you love. Troy felt like he's been sat on the same uncomfortable hospital chair for days, but in reality it's only been two hours.

Step one, you say, "We need to talk."
He walks, you say, "Sit down, it's just a talk."
He smiles politely back at you, you stare politely right on through.
Some sort of window to your right, as he goes left and you stay right.
Between the lines of fear and blame, you begin to wonder why you came.

The brain is a strange but beautiful concept. It performs an incredible number of task, ranging from controlling your body temperature, absorbing information about your surrounding environment from your senses, handling your physical movement, and most importantly, letting you dream, reason and experience emotions. This is the part where Troy wished his brain would just shut off, he couldn't deal with any of the emotions he's feeling, he couldn't begin to imagine his life without Sharpay and he could most definitely not relive what had happened only a couple of hours ago.

When people are unconscious, do their brain still perform its tasks? Do their senses work? Do their inner-voice still talk? Do they dream? Do they reason with themselves? Do they experience inner emotions? Troy closed his eyes, trying to imagine what Sharpay would be thinking right at this minute. Is her inner-voice telling her to give up this flight? Is she still experiencing the pain? Is she trying to reason with herself? Trying to convince what she did was right?

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness,
and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I know how to save a life.

Troy knew it was morning when the night shift nurses left the hospital one by one and new ones came in for another day of work. He would hate to work at the hospital, it was just so depressing all the time. Yeah you feel great when you saved someone life but then how do you tell someone that they are dying? Or tell their family that the one they love had died? Or watch someone with so much potential die in front of you. Troy's grandfather was a doctor and he remembered how he said being a doctor is not just about intelligence but also having inner strength to live through situations like that. How he would love to have some inner strength right now.

The doctor that was in Sharpay's room finally came out for the first time. Troy stood up straight away, stepping towards the man. "Is she ok?"

The man who looked like he's in his 50s looked at Troy, narrowing his eyes, "Are you family?"

He swallowed hard, "No – No I am not, but she means a lot to me."

"I am sorry Sir, I can't give out information about the patient to anyone but family." The doctor was about to step away when Troy grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving.

"Please, I bought her here. I love her very much, I have been waiting here for hours. I just need to know if she's going to be ok." Troy stared at the doctor, his blue eyes piercing.

"Sir I want to tell you but it's hospital policy, all I can tell you that Mrs Harris is on life support at the moment, that is all I can tell you."

"Is-Is she awake? Can I see her?"

"She's not awake at the moment. I can't let you see her until I have permission from either Mrs Harris herself or her family. I am sorry Sir, maybe you should go home and rest. It had been a long night for you too." The doctor nodded at Troy before leaving.

Let him know that you know best, cause after all you do know best.
Try to slip past his defence, without granting innocence.
Lay down a list of what is wrong, the things you've told him all along.
Pray to God, he hears you, and I pray to God, he hears you.

Troy never left the hospital, jumping up from his seat every time a nurse or doctor came to Sharpay's room. He wasn't able to get any further information from before but decided not to leave, just in case she woke up. He sometimes would hear from the nurses about her condition and how there are lots of papparazzis outside.

Troy finally decided to go home for a few hours one day, he didn't know what day it was anymore, or how long Sharpay's been in hospital for. He felt like everyday blended together, it could have been weeks for all he knew. He decided to go home to freshen up and it was probably going to be a good idea just to clear his head a little bit.

Troy took the quickest shower of his life and rushed over to the hospital, he was scared that Sharpay would wake up and see that he wasn't there or what if her conditions change? Upon entering, he noticed there were larger amounts of paparazzis outside then before. He frowned at them, starting to worry about Sharpay. He ran as fast as he could towards the ICU wing of the hospital and came to a stop when he saw two man dressed in black suits standing in front of Sharpay's room.

A hard feeling hit Troy's gut and he swallowed hard, he saw that the door was opened, hopeful that he would get to see a sight of Sharpay, he approached the two men stood outside. They stopped him immediately just before Troy could reach the room, but he managed to see inside the room.

And where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness,
and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I know how to save a life.

Troy studied Sharpay, his heart broke when he saw her, he wanted to run towards her, holding her in his arms, ripping off all the pipes running from her nose and hand. He wanted this all to be a bad nightmare and that he was going to wake up any minute. Her naturally curly hair framed her face, the light blonde colour contrasting to her pale white skin. Her eyes were shut, and he could see her chest rising slightly along with her breathing. Tubes attached to machines ran around her, from her nose to the IV line in her hand. He swallowed hard again, imagining how much pain she could be in.

"Well, if it isn't Troy Bolton." That all too familiar voice spoke behind him, Troy turned his attention to the man behind him.

"Marcus." He hissed.

"Is fucking my wife behind my back not enough for you? You had to have seconds didn't you?" Marcus smirked, "She is a beautiful woman though isn't she, I should know."

"What do you want?" Troy tried to control his anger, but all he wanted to do was punch that stupid smirk off his face.

"She is my wife Troy, maybe you have forgotten."

"You certainly don't treat her like one."

"You should at least have a little respect for me Troy Bolton, just because you made some money from an app." Marcus walked closer to Troy, closing the space between them.

"I would have had respect for you if you didn't treat Sharpay the way you did."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. For all I know, you fucked my wife more than once behind my back when you were still working for me." Marcus studied Troy's expression, "I thought I got rid of you, like all her other men, I gave you a chance to get away."

"Yes that was wrong of us, but you didn't treat her like you should. You slept around too! Did you know how that makes her feel?"

"Don't bullshit me Troy, you have no idea what kind of woman she is. You are just another one of her many other guys, you mean nothing to her." Marcus paused, "At the end of the day, she is just going to come running back to me." That smirk appeared on his face once again.

"I love Sharpay and she loves me too, I know what you did to her Marcus." Troy narrowed his eyes, "I read the news, I am sure you don't want any of this spreading."

"Love?" Marcus laughed, "Are you trying to blackmail me?"

"Do you not know domestic violence is illegal? I am sure that will go very well along with all your tax fraud charges Mr Harris." Troy rolled his eyes, shaking his head at Marcus.

Marcus' frustration got the better of him and he pushed Troy up against a wall, holding onto the collar of his shirt. "You have no proof."

Troy stared Marcus dead in the eye, not even showing a slight bit of worry. "I actually do."

"Bullshit, you are lying."

"You can risk it if you want Marcus."

Marcus seemed to be running the idea through his head and he released Troy by shoving him once again. He shook his head, "What do you want?"

"I don't want anything from you, I just want you to leave Sharpay alone. I know she tried to get a divorce but you just gave her some shit excuse. When she wakes up, which she will, and she finally divorces you, I want you to sign them papers without any complications."

"Do you promise you wouldn't press charges against me?" Marcus was vulnerable now, Troy knew he's won this fight. Sharpay was finally free.

"I promise I wouldn't, but I don't know what Sharpay will think."

Marcus shook his head, "Sharpay wouldn't do such a thing to me."

"Well you better hope so, or you will be seeing a lot of time in prison along with your tax fraud charges." Troy straightened up his shirt and looked at Marcus one last time. "Also one more thing, before you go, give the doctor permission for me to see Sharpay and know how she's doing."

As he begins to raise his voice, you lower yours and grant him one last choice.
Drive until you lose the road, or break with the ones you've followed.
He will do one of two things, he will admit to everything.
Or he'll say he's just not the same, and you'll begin to wonder why you came.

Troy sat down slowly in the chair next to Sharpay's bed, it was more comfortable than the ones in the waiting room but he didn't want to be there. He wanted her to be ok so they could leave the hospital and for them to start living their lives together. He reached over to her, but came to a halting stop, he was scared to touch her. She looked so fragile lying there, like a single touch could break her.

A tear rolled down his cheek as Troy took Sharpay's cold, bony hand into his. He bit his bottom lip, trying to control his emotions, but the image of Sharpay on that hotel bed keeps flashing into his mind. Troy rubbed small circles on her hand with his thumb as he tried to reorganise his thoughts, what was he suppose to say to her.

Troy repositioned himself to sit on the side of her bed, just next to her. He moved a piece of hair out of her face and gently stroked her cheek, she was still so perfect to him, but he knew she felt nowhere close to that. The doctor told him how she suffered damage to her blood vessels of her brain, therefore she is still in a state of unconsciousness. He told him how she was lucky to still be alive, as she had suffered a heart attack from the high blood pressure caused by the drugs. If Troy didn't take her to the hospital in time, she would not even have a change of living.

The drugs were slowly damaging her liver and lungs, if she carried on any further, it would have eventually drove her closer and closer to death. It also caused her to have excessive weight loss. It all makes sense now, he remembered how skinny she looked at the wedding, or how fragile she felt in his arms that night. Even if she wakes up and physically feels better, she would still face so many health problems in the future. Most importantly she was battling through severe depression, a fight she wasn't going to win by herself.

Troy cupped her cheek and kissed her hand, sending chills through his body. "I am here Shar, it's me Troy. Everything is going to be ok now, I promise you. Please wake up, it kills me seeing you like this, I love you so unbelievably much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Tears began falling from his eyes, "Please… We can get through this together… I am going to help you every step of the way… Please just wake up…" He paused, taking in her beauty, "I love you, please… I just want to hear your voice…" He begged and waited for a reaction, but he got nothing. The hospital room was filled with the quiet humming of the machines around her and the beeping of her heartbeat on the monitor.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness,
and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I know how to save a life.

It has been exactly a week since the accident and Sharpay still has not woken up. The doctor informed Troy that in times like this, it really depends on the patient. Whether they want to continue this fight, or sometimes, the patient themselves do not want to wake up.

Troy had to go back to work after he took a few days off for personal reasons. He hated leaving her there, what if she woke up and found that he wasn't there? He hated going to work and pretending everything is fine, or that he couldn't talk to anyone at work about Sharpay. Troy just got through the day quickly and would go back to the hospital to spend time with her. He would usually just talk to her about his day at work, or read articles from her favourite fashion magazines to her. He even bought along his IPod and a dock to play her favourite music to her. The doctor said all of these things would hopefully trigger brain activities.

Today was no different, he left the office as soon as he could and drove to the hospital straight away. He had spent many nights there now, sleeping on the chair just next to Sharpay. As soon as the elevator door opened to the ICU department, Sharpay's doctor ran towards him. "Mr Bolton!" He called out.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend, somewhere along in the bitterness,
and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I know how to save a life.

Troy's heart raced, scared that something had happened to Sharpay. "What happened? What's wrong?" He panicked, thinking of the worst.

"She woke up a few hours ago."

"What?!" Troy raced towards Sharpay's room but the doctor stopped him before he could open the door to see her. "Can I not see her?" He asked.

"Yes you can see her, but I want to talk to you first before you go in." The doctor motioned for him to sit down on the chairs outside of her room, the ones Troy have been sat on for days before he could see her. "Sharpay woke up a few hours ago, but like anyone waking up from a coma, she's a bit confused with her surroundings. She's slowly responding to what's going on now, but don't push her too hard, it will take time for her to start feeling better."

Troy nodded, a feeling of happiness finally filling him, "I will never push her."

"And Mr Bolton, there is one more thing."

Troy looked at him and his sudden serious tone of voice. "What is it?"

"I want her to receive some psychotherapy, since this was a suicide attempt, we are worried for her. She is dealing with severe depression, and I am sure the last thing anyone wants is for her to go back to the way she was." He paused and took a leaflet out of his file, "Here are some rehab treatment and recovery options, it's not going to be an easy road but I highly recommend you talk to her about it. The first step to recovery is knowing you have a problem and wanting to fix it, we can force her into treatments but I don't think this will be the best option for her. Maybe you can give that a read and talk to me about it another time? Then we can see what is best?"

Troy nodded and looked down at the leaflet, an emptiness feeling hitting him once again. She might be awake now but that doesn't mean she suddenly got better, she is still the same person she was that night. He remembered how much pain she was in when she was suffering from the aftermath, he remembered what she told him in the letter. In a fairy-tale, she would magically get better and they could go home tomorrow as if nothing had happened. But that will be far from the truth, he knows she needs help, but persuading her into receiving help is a different story.

He thanked the doctor and took a deep breath before slowly opening the door to Sharpay's room, he stood at the doorway for a second, staring at the blonde who was lying on the bed. She was facing away from him, looking towards the window into the evening sky of New York. He swallowed hard and quietly closed the door behind him, she didn't move or acknowledge his existence, but kept on looking at the window.

Troy cleared his throat and loosened the knot of his tie, letting him breathe easier. He moved towards her and sat down on the side of the bed, but she didn't move a muscle. He paused for a minute and placed his hand softly on her arm, it was cold like before and it sent chills through his warm body. "Sharpay…" He spoke quietly, "Please look at me."

How to save a life.

I am sorry for the slow update of this chapter, I was being very indecisive about how I wanted it written and I just lost motivation half way. But it's done now, and I hope you like it. Never realised how hard it is to write a chapter when one of the main characters isn't around, but I hope I did ok. I am sure you know what the song is (How To Save A Life by The Fray), I spent literally two days trying to decide between this or something else, that was how much I was struggling. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always, reviews are very much appreciated.

Before I forget, I am actually going to update some of the previous chapters so it's written in the same format as these recent ones. So if you see any updates and that, it's probably just that. I will try and get them done today so it doesn't get confusing.