Epilogue: One Year Later

Troy woke up with a start. He looked over at the clock that was two in the morning. Troy turned to the other side of the bed to see if he woke Gabriella up. All he saw was the spot where she should be. The sheets were cool from the night air showing she had been up for quite some time. Troy sat up in bed getting slightly worried about not knowing where is wife was.

"Gabby?" he called out. "Gabriella?"

When she didn't respond, Troy threw the blankets off of him and got out of bed. Once out in the hallway, he could hear his wife soft soothing voice come from another room. Troy walked into the room and saw Gabriella sitting in the rocking chair trying to comfort their three month old daughter, Isabella Jade Bolton. Isabella looked like both her parents. She shared her mother's exotic beauty and hair and shared her father's blue eyes and already Troy's personality. Troy smiled at the scene in front of him and remembered everything from the past year. Only two months after returning from Hawaii, Gabriella had told him she was pregnant. And then nine months to the day that they had gotten married, Isabella was born.

Flashback: Nine Months Ago

Gabriella and Troy were sound asleep in bed. Both were exhausted, Gabriella being pregnant and Troy having to make midnight runs for her midnight cravings. Suddenly, Gabriella sat up when she felt liquid come from her. She smiled happily as she immediately realized what was going on.

"Troy." Gabriella said shaking her husband.

"What flavor?" Troy asked groggily.

"No, flavor. This is it!"

"This is it?" Troy asked now fully awake.

"Yes!"

Troy quickly got dressed and then helped Gabriella get dressed and out to the car. Gabriella was breathing through a contraction as they left their house. Troy was trying to get a hold of Ms. Montez to inform her that they were on their way to the hospital. After he hung up, he called his parents to tell them that the baby was on the way.

Thirty minutes later, Gabriella was in her private room relaxing after she had her epidural to help her though the contractions. Troy was next to her holding her hand talking quietly about how they were going to be parents in a short while. Their parents came in and joined them. All three asked Gabriella how she was doing completely ignoring Troy. Gabriella laughed and rubbed her stomach gently telling them that she was hanging in there.

"Contractions bothering you?" Mrs. Bolton asked.

"Not anymore." Gabriella said smiling.

For five hours, the family waited as Gabriella inched closer to delivery. By now Gabriella had gotten a few hours of good sleeping in while everyone else was on the edge of their seats trying to make sure everything was going ok. And then finally at six AM, Gabriella was told she was at ten centimeters and ready for delivery. Coach and Mrs. Bolton, and Ms. Montez wished their children luck as Gabriella was wheeled into the delivery room with Troy walking beside her. The soon to be parents went into the delivery room to begin the process of welcoming their child. Gabriella was propped up in her bed doing her technique breathing she learned her Lamaze classes. Troy took her hand in his and kissed it to reassure her that he was going to be here for her until the end.

"Ok, Gabriella, I want you to push on the count of three." Dr. Roberts told her.

"Ok." Gabriella agreed.

Once the doctor reached three, Gabriella began to push. She cried out with each passing second. Troy let her squeeze her hand as tightly as she wanted to, knowing that it wouldn't even compare to the pain she was going through. He tried to comfort her in between pushes when she grew too tired to do anything. Finally, after almost ninety minutes, Gabriella gave birth to their first child, a baby girl. She collapsed back onto the bed and panted as she tried to catch her breath as Troy went to cut the umbilical cord.

"Congratulations, Mom." Dr. Roberts told Gabriella placing the baby onto her chest.

"She's perfect, Gabby." Troy told her leaning down to get a better look. "An angel just like her mother."

"She's so beautiful." Gabriella gasped trying to catch her breath as a nurse gently picked up her baby. "Where are you taking her?"

"Don't worry, Darlin'." the nurse told her. "I'm just getting her cleaned up, measured and weighed. I'll bring her back, I promise."

"Ok." Gabriella agreed as she watched her baby being carried over to the scales. "Bye-bye, Baby."

"I'm going to go tell the grandparents." Troy said as he kissed Gabriella on the forehead. "I'll be right back."

"Ok."

Twenty minutes later, Gabriella was back up in her room. Troy sat on the edge of her bed holding her hand and caressing it gently. Their parents were beaming from ear to ear as they all waited for their new family member to be brought into the room. A nurse wheeled the baby incubator carefully into the room. The baby was bundled up in a pink blanket showing everyone who saw her that she was a girl. The nurse picked her up and carefully placed her in Troy's arms.

"Mom, Dad, Maria, meet your granddaughter Isabella Jade Bolton." Troy introduced pulling the blanket back for everyone to see her face better.

"She looks so precious." Ms. Montez said happily. "She's going to have Gabriella's dark brown hair."

"And she has Troy's blue eyes." Mrs. Bolton pointed out.

"And the Bolton nose." Coach Bolton announced proudly.

For several hours guests were coming in and out to congratulate the new parents on their new daughter. Finally around six that evening, Troy refused to allow everyone else except their parents into the room to give Gabriella a break from everyone. He watched as Gabriella was being fascinated by Isabella. Troy sat down next to them on the bed.

"She's perfect Troy." Gabriella told her husband happily.

"That she is. I'm proud of you." Troy said kissing her. "We make great babies."

"That we do."

Flashback Ends

"Did I wake you up?" Gabriella asked Troy as she carried their sleeping daughter to her crib.

"No, I just woke up on my own." Troy assured her. "Was she just hungry?"

"Yeah." Gabriella agreed as she looked down at Isabella sleeping peacefully.

Troy bent down and kissed Isabella's forehead gently. Isabella cooed in her sleep causing her parents to smile proudly. They looked around the nursery that they had prepared themselves. The theme was Mother Goose and almost everything had nursery rhymes on them. Gabriella took great care in planning out how she wanted everything to be. Gabriella smiled when she felt her husband wrap his arm around her waist.

"Lets go back to bed." Troy told her. "We're going to need all the sleep we can get because you know how active Bella can get nowadays."

"She's just like her father." Gabriella added as they walked out into the hallway. "And I wouldn't want her to be like anyone else."

Gabriella couldn't even begin to imagine the fact that only a little over a year ago, she was fretting whether or not she would see the love of her life every again. Now, after he surprised her with a Hawaiian reunion and then their Hawaiian wedding only a year ago, they were the proud parents of their perfect little girl. Yes life was perfect for her and nothing could change that.

The End

AN: Thanks for all the great reviews. I hope you enjoyed this.