A Moment Of Breathe

It was Christmas Eve, and Noël kept hoping her daddy would come home for Christmas.

"Mommy you think Santa will bring daddy home?"

"I don't know baby"

"Haven't Noël been a good girl this year? Maybe that's why daddy's not home, because I'm a bad girl"

"Of course you're not a bad girl sweetie, and if Santa doesn't bring your daddy doesn't mean you have been bad"

"It doesn't?" she looked at Gabriella with tearful eyes.

"No sweetie of course not. You're the best daughter someone could ever have, and Santa knows that"

"Does daddy too?"

"Of course daddy knows that, he wouldn't change you for anything"

"He wouldn't" Noël asked looking Gabriella in the eyes.

"Of course not you're his little princess and you mean the world to him. Well you have to go to bed now, else Santa can't bring you any presents if you aren't asleep"

"Will you read a fairytale for me first?"

"Of course. Which one?"

"Beauty and the beast"

"Okay then" Noël crawled up in her bed and Gabriella started reading. "Once upon a time there was this girl called Belle…."

Gabriella's POV

After only a minute Noël was asleep so I turned off the light and walked out of her room. Both of the children were asleep. Tomorrow was Christmas day and I really wanted Troy to be there. If he didn't come home, it would be the first Christmas since Noël got born that we hadn't spent together.

I walked downstairs and looked to the photo album. There were pictures from when we graduated together, from Noël's birth, our wedding, holidays, birthdays. Everything we had ever done together. And for every page I cried harder, especially of the picture where Troy was holding Noël for the first time. I had never in my entire life seen him so happy. He had even tears in his eyes. God I missed him, and I think things were hurting Noël more than it did me.

It was only about 9pm but since Troy had been gone, I couldn't find a reason for staying up late.

I woke up around 7am there was a noise in the kitchen. I was hoping it was just Noël that had woken up early because she had been too excited. So I walked in to Alex's room and picked him up. "Hey buddy. I'm sorry mommy's waking you" and then I walked to Noël's room just to check if it was her who were downstairs. But she was still in the room. "Noël sweetie wake up"

"It's early" she said slowly opening her sleepy eyes.

"I now hun but it's Christmas" that made her wake completely, but I had to stop her from running downstairs afraid of who might be there. I took her hand and we walked downstairs slowly. I started smelling waffles and did not understand any of this. "Hello who's this?" I asked slowly afraid of who it could be. The noise came from the kitchen and I got a big shock when I saw the person, but Noël ran over to the person faster than I could say Christmas.

"DADDY!" She screamed running over to Troy and he lifted her and swung her around. He kissed her all over and Noël hugged him tight. "I missed you daddy" she said crying. "I love you daddy"

"I missed you too princess" I saw tears forming in Noël's eyes and I started crying. Troy wiped away Noël's tears. "I love you princess" She cuddled on to his chest. I just stood there with Alex in my arms like a statue. Troy slowly walked over to me with Noël in his arms. "You know tears don't look too good on you" he said smiling at me.

"Never ever scare me like that again!" I said as a demand between my tears.

"I won't" he said smiling and leant in kissing me passionately and it felt amazing. And then Noël started kissing our cheeks which made both of us smile. Troy looked down at Alex and an even bigger smile was placed on his face. "Is this really…"

"Yes Troy this is your son Alex Troy Bolton. You know we never talked about naming him, so I just thought I would give him your names" I said handing him to Troy. "It's perfect Bella. Hey buddy I'm your daddy" he kissed his cheek and I saw a tear run down his cheek. And I began crying again.

"Brie don't cry"

"I can't help it, what happened to you?"

"Well I guess you know about the plane, I think I was the only one who survived. It took a few days before I came to a city and then I couldn't find anyone who could help me get a plane back here. They kept saying I had to get to another city, but I had no idea how to get there. After a month or maybe longer I don't remember I found a man who drove me to the other city. But then getting a plane wasn't that easy and I had only a few dollars on me and I couldn't pay with that. But after a long time I found a man from America and he helped me get back here. And as you can see I'm here now"

I was crying so badly. "Why didn't you call? You know we have been out of ourselves for months"

"I'm sorry babe, but my phone disappeared and none of the phone boxes was able to call here. I'm really sorry for the way you must have been feeling without me"

"It's okay I'm just glad you're here now. But everybody thinks you're dead"

"You didn't?"

"No and I tried to convince everybody else but they wouldn't listen"

"At least my family believed in me" he said smiling.

"Yeah but Noël the most, there wasn't a single day when she didn't ask me when you were coming home. And every time I had to look in to her eyes and disappoint her. Not knowing if you were ever coming back"

"Hey look at me, right at me" he lifted my chin. "I'm not gonna leave you ever again, this is where I'm supposed to be and there's nowhere else that I would rather be, than with my beautiful wife and our amazing children."

"Daddy" Noël said. "You may not leave me again, I missed you daddy" Noël was still crying.

He hugged her tight, with his protective arms. "I won't buddy. I'm not letting you go! I promise you that!" he assured her and he was going to keep his promise.

I just looked at them. I was paralyzed. I had missed these moments between them. Troy gave her a kiss and then he looked at me.

He leaned in and we kissed passionately. "This is the best Christmas ever" Noël said and we both smiled at her.

The End