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Gabriella woke up the next morning to the sun streaming through her windows of her bedroom. She groaned as she shut out the light by closing her eyes, experiencing a sudden flashback from yesterday as memories flooded her conscious mind.
After what seemed like hours of having constant medical attention as she was examined, cleaned up, her blood taken, an IV put into her arm, and some limited questioning, Gabriella had a few moments of peace as she leaned back in the hospital bed, now in her own private room. One of the guards came into the room, the one she recognized as the lead of the team, and looked on at her from a few feet away.
"I'm sorry we weren't there early enough to prevent this," apologized the man. "Paul must have hit the wrong button. We heard noises but spent some time trying to figure out what was going on so we lost minutes when we could have arrived there in time before your offender attacked you. There was a panic button that Paul could have hit, I don't understand how he didn't hit that one instead."
Gabriella shook her head at the man. "This isn't Paul's fault. He fought hard to try to keep me safe and whenever he hit that button that he managed to hit was in between a lot of intense fighting between him and Riley. What is your name sir?"
"Carl Michaels, miss," said the lead. "Well I am sorry that we did not make it there in time if that means anything to you."
"Thank you," whispered Gabriella before she realized that not only was Paul hurt but so was Troy. "How are the others?"
"Paul is recovering. He is conscious but will be out of duty for some time. The young man who was fighting your attacker is getting attended to but is sedated from what I have seen. He put up quite a fight against the larger boy, I have to hand it to him," stated Carl.
"Thank God they are both fine," thought Gabriella before she closed her eyes again, only to have them open as soon as she heard her mother's voice.
Carl silently made his exit while Annette came rushing in, tears escaping down her cheeks. "Gabriella, my dear sweet daughter. What did that monster do to you?"
Gabriella clung to her mother as Annette wrapped her daughter into her embrace, rocking her a little as she tried soothing a now sobbing Gabriella. "Mom, it was so terrible! Riley hurt Paul and Troy and he… he… he had his way with me…"
"Oh God," murmured Annette as she tried to block the images of what must have happened from her mind. "Shh, it's okay, Mommy is here now."
Gabriella remained like that for some time, safely tucked away from the world in her mother's arms, slowly stopping her crying as she managed to get a hold of her emotions. A nurse interrupted the moment when she came in with a tray that had a cup of water and a pill.
"What is that?" asked Annette, already having a suspicion of what the single pill was.
"It's Plan B, the first dose. I'll come back with the second dose in about twelve hours if Miss Montez is still here or we'll give it to you to administer but it is crucial she takes both for this to have the desired effect," answered the nurse.
"What's Plan B?" questioned Gabriella, eyeing the single pill on the tray.
"It's a preventative medicine to make sure you don't conceive from your…unfortunate experience earlier today," explained the nurse. "We have already done some blood tests but you will need to come back for some more in a week or two to make sure you haven't contracted anything else. The doctor will be in shortly as well to conduct some tests for STDs."
Gabriella looked back at the nurse confused as she wiped away the last of her tears. "I thought that was what was done earlier when I was examined…down there," returned Gabriella, unable to really verbalize anything more.
The nurse shook her head. "We were collecting evidence for the rape kit. You have a slight tear from the forced entry and the doctor had to stitch you up a little too. I really am so sorry miss," said the nurse, feeling her heart break as she saw the tears gather in the young girl's eyes again.
'Rape,' thought Gabriella, the single word echoing in her mind as flashes of what happened earlier in the day started to replay themselves in her mind. 'He actually raped me, he tore me in half, he took away what I promised I'd save until marriage. Rape…'
Annette took the cup and pill from the nurse, seeing Gabriella was in no shape to take it right at that moment, and put it on the side table. She sat on the edge of the bed and gathered Gabriella in her arms again, just holding her daughter and murmuring soothing things, wishing silently that there was something more that Annette could do to make this better for Gabriella, to take her place. Just like before, after some time, Gabriella calmed herself down and pulled away, wiping away at the tears that were on her face again.
"Can I have the pill?" asked Gabriella, knowing even in the state she was in how important that first of two doses was to taking care of any further "consequences" of Riley's attack on her.
Annette handed Gabriella the glass of water and then the pill, watching as Gabriella eyed it for a moment before she threw it in her mouth and swallowed it, drinking the rest of the water with it. Gabriella's mother stayed with her from that moment on, holding her hand as the doctor came in and performed the additional tests as needed as well as checked on the stitches she had placed earlier in that area. The doctor then checked Gabriella's other injuries and nodded her head in approval when everything looked clean and on its way to healing properly with no sign of infection.
It wasn't until there was a soft knock on the doorway's frame that Annette left Gabriella's side, seeing Troy sitting in a wheelchair there, an anxious look on his face. Annette kissed Gabriella's forehead before she eased her hand out of her daughter's grasp and left the room but not before giving Troy an encouraging smile.
The nurse wheeled Troy next to Gabriella's bed and left, leaving the two teenagers to look at each other from where they were. Neither said anything for a few minutes, both just taking the time to absorb the fact that both of them were fine, well at least alive, and they were able to stare into each other's eyes again. Troy eventually slowly eased himself out of the wheelchair and sat on the side of Gabriella's bed, wincing in the process as he stretched his side a little more than he should have with the fresh stitches that were holding his wound together. Gabriella's face instantly clouded with concern as she saw this, not disappearing even after Troy shook his head to let her know it was okay.
When Troy reached out to touch Gabriella's left cheek, careful to not apply too much pressure because of her bruise, his heart broke as she quickly flinched away from his touch, confusion in her eyes before it cleared. "I'm sorry," apologized Gabriella.
Troy blinked a few times, trying to hide the fact that the single act that just happened spoke more than words could as to how deeply Gabriella had been affected. "No, I'm sorry Gabriella. I should have been there earlier, I could have saved you. I failed you Brie," said Troy, meaning every word. Troy had spent much of his time being restricted to his hospital bed thinking those same thoughts, that he failed Gabriella when it was the most important time to protect her.
Gabriella shook her head, seeing the agony of self-torture that Troy was putting himself through. "It's not your fault Troy, it's mine. I should have protected myself better, I should have been smarter, I should have made it even clearer that I didn't have any interest in Riley, it's all my fault! I don't blame you if you don't ever want to talk to or touch me again," confessed Gabriella. "Now I'm forever dirty, tainted by his actions. I'll always be known as Riley's dirty slut!"
"Stop it! Brie, none of that is true and deep in your heart you know I'm right. None of this was your fault Gabriella, that's why they call it rape. He took away your will in this matter and you are in no way to blame for this Gabriella, not one bit," stated Troy, his anger at the other boy evident in his voice. "Please Gabriella, don't let Riley win any more than he already has. You cannot beat yourself over something he did to you, not with you. He hurt you in one of the worst ways I could ever imagine and I could murder him for hurting you this way. Brie, don't you see? I love you, no matter what happened earlier today, nothing is going to change that."
She looked away from Troy, unable to look into those loving blue eyes of his. "But today's events, they are only a few reasons why you shouldn't love me. Not only am I dirt now, there's this whole other side of me you don't even know about, there are things that I don't even know if you would accept," admitted Gabriella.
"Like why there are armed men outside your door right now? Why they were so quick to respond instead of police this afternoon? I have all those questions in my mind Gabriella but I don't need the answers now. All I want now is for you to get better, for you to realize that you are more than worthy of the love I am offering you, that I don't see you any different after this incident than I did before," returned Troy, gently turning her face back towards him. "Brie, please, don't do this to yourself, it's not fair to you. You can blame Paul, you can blame me, and you should definitely be blaming Riley, but you should not be blaming yourself for this, really."
Tears began to cascade down Gabriella's cheeks as she searched those gorgeous blue eyes of Troy's, finding only genuine care, love, and compassion for her reflected back from those blue orbs. She allowed him to finally gather her into his arms, Troy fighting his own tears back as the love of his young life sobbed her heart out into his neck, sending rivers of tears down his neck and chest. They sat there in silence, Troy letting Gabriella get out all of her emotions as he held her, providing her the sense of safety Gabriella so desperately needed to feel at that very moment. With each sob Troy felt Gabriella's body convulse with, his anger grew towards Riley Sutton and what that jerk did to his Brie, his sweet Brie. 'If he wasn't in custody already I'd hurt that bastard,' thought Troy as he gently ran his right hand up and down Gabriella's spine, hoping she'd make it out of this incident with as few complications as possible.
Gabriella opened her brown eyes again and blinked back the tears that threatened to fall at the memory of just being held by Troy, remembering the intense amount of love and care with safety mixed in with all the emotions the two shared with no words at all. 'What did I ever do to deserve him?' she wondered, turning her head to see the teddy bear Troy had given her on Valentine's Day was tucked into the bed next to her.
"Hey Sleeping Beauty, I see you are finally awake," greeted a smiling Tessa with Taylor and Annette behind her. "Can we come in and disturb you or do you still need your rest?"
"No, come on in," replied Gabriella, trying to sit up in her bed but finding it too painful to move. "I'm sorry. I'd sit up but, well…"
Taylor shook her head. "Don't even apologize for being in pain Gabriella, it's okay," answered Taylor, knowing what Gabriella was going to say. "How are you feeling? Wait, don't answer that, stupid question."
Gabriella gave the other girl a small smile. "No it isn't, God knows everyone else has been asking," replied Gabriella. "I'm not okay but hopefully one day I will be?"
"Your mom here said you've been having nightmares all night and morning. Do you want my mom to drop by with some sleeping pills or something?" offered Tessa, knowing that drugs would help but wouldn't cure the problem that was plaguing her best friend.
After some thinking, Gabriella shook her head. "No, if I'm going to get over this, I'm going to have to do this on my own. I need to bite the bullet and master these thoughts and nightmares, I need to be strong," insisted Gabriella. "I can't let him win."
Tessa shot Annette and Taylor a concerned look before looking back at her best friend. "Gabriella, it's okay to hurt and to be confused right now, honest. You don't need to push yourself so hard and so fast to get over this. This wasn't something small like Riley bruising your wrist."
"How would you know?" snapped Gabriella, finally showing some anger over the whole situation. "You weren't there! You didn't have his breath breathing on your neck as he ripped you in half! You didn't feel his rough hands skim your naked skin, you didn't have him rip off your clothes before he violated you in the worst way possible besides killing you! Do you know what? I wanted him to kill me Tessa! I wanted Riley to put me out of my misery! I still do…"
Tears filled Annette's eyes as she saw the true depth of what Gabriella was really feeling now, the full picture of Gabriella's thoughts and emotions, not just the sadness that Gabriella had shown since Annette had arrived at the hospital. Slowly, Annette made the move to sit next to Gabriella as Tessa and Taylor stood behind Gabriella's mother, both unsure of what to do at that very moment.
"Gabriella," started Annette.
"No, I don't want to hear it Mom. All yesterday and last night, all I heard was how I needed to not blame myself, how it was Riley's fault, how I needed to be strong. Well I'm sorry but I can't be that person. This is eating me up, don't you understand? I'm afraid of letting myself not think and go to sleep because I know I'll just relive those horrible moments that changed my life forever," confessed Gabriella, finally looking back at her mother. "God Mom, I'm so sorry, you too Tessa. I didn't mean to snap like that, I don't know what's wrong with me."
Annette pulled her daughter into her arms and held her, for what felt like the hundredth time in the past twenty-four hours but Annette didn't mind. 'As long as this is really what she needs, I'll hold her until the end of time,' thought Gabriella's mother, new worries about Gabriella's well-being cropping up in her mind. After some time, she pulled away to let Tessa and Taylor have their own talk and hugs with Gabriella, knowing the two best friends were there to support Gabriella in ways that Gabriella needed the most right then.
With some help from Tessa, Gabriella got herself out of her bed and moved around the room a little, not wanting to be confined to her bed any longer. She took baby steps to try to accommodate her injuries but Gabriella found herself wanting to run all of a sudden, from what she didn't know. Before Taylor or Tessa realized what she was doing, Gabriella walked out of her bedroom and started to walk down the stairs, taking it one step at a time and leaning against the rail.
Tessa ran down the stairs and quickly stopped Gabriella mid-way. "What do you need down here Gabriella? I can get it for you, you should be in bed," stated Tessa, desperately hoping Gabriella would give up and go back to her room.
Gabriella gave her best friend a weird look. "What's the matter with you Tessa? I just want to go downstairs, get a glass of water, maybe watch some television and see if I can get my mind off things," explained Gabriella. "Can't I do that?"
"Umm, yeah, but why don't we watch TV in your room? I'll get the water," volunteered Tessa.
"Sweet of you but I don't get cable in my room," replied Gabriella. "Please, let me do this for myself. I need to do this for myself."
Tessa shot Taylor a worried look who just returned it, neither girl not knowing how else to convince Gabriella to not go downstairs without seeming too pushy or bodily carrying Gabriella back upstairs.
Just then, the front door opened and Gabriella heard a familiar voice call out. "Daddy?" asked Gabriella, hope brightening her face.
Stephen quickly closed the door and locked it behind him before he moved to the stairs where he saw his daughter standing with her two best friends in front and behind her. "Gabriella, my God I've been so worried. I came home on the first flight I could catch," stated Stephen before he ran up the stairs and scooped Gabriella into his arms, relieved to be able to hold his baby girl in his arms after the whole ordeal was explained to him over the phone by Annette and Carl, the lead of the security team. "God I'm so sorry this happened, so sorry."
Gabriella shook her head, steeling herself against the wave of tears that threatened to fall again. Stephen eventually realized they were still standing on the stairs of their house, Tessa and Taylor now standing behind Gabriella. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting you from going down or up the stairs?"
"I was just going to get some water and watch some TV downstairs," explained Gabriella.
Stephen saw the furious shaking of the heads of his daughter's best friends but didn't understand their meaning. "Well come on, don't let me stop you. Where's your mom?"
Gabriella thought for a moment before she shrugged. "I don't know. She left my room some time ago after Tay and Tessa and I started talking."
"Never mind, you go do what you were doing but I do want to talk to you later okay? God, I'm just so happy you are okay after all that, I was imagining the worst ever since your mom called," confessed Stephen.
She gave her father a small smile. "I'm all right, really," promised Gabriella before she went down the stairs.
'That's not what she said earlier,' thought Tessa, worried again about Gabriella making it down the stairs.
This time, Taylor managed to get in front of Gabriella before she could make it all the way down the stairs. "What is it now?" asked a frustrated Gabriella. "I just want to go downstairs. Why are you and Tessa making such a big deal out of this?"
Taylor looked to Tessa for help before she looked back to Gabriella and said, "Well, you may not be ready for what's down here," expressed Taylor. "It's still a, err, crime scene."
Gabriella paled at these words, forgetting that there would still be a mess that couldn't be cleaned up until all the investigation was done. "A crime scene," muttered Gabriella. 'Is that the terminology for what happened to me yesterday? Rape, crime scene? My God…'
Taylor panicked as Gabriella crumpled onto the step above where she was standing on, sobbing uncontrollably. Taylor quickly gathered Gabriella into her arms, rocking her back and forth, while Tessa ran to answer the door after the doorbell rang at the same time. She peeked through the peephole and was relieved to see Troy and Chad on the other side.
"Thank God Troy, she needs you," greeted Tessa, grabbing Troy's right arm and dragging him inside to the bottom of the stairs, not even acknowledging Chad.
Troy immediately rushed over to sit on the other side of Gabriella on the step, carefully taking her sobbing body from Taylor, who also looked relieved to see the teenaged boy. "Shh, it's going to be all right Brie, I'm right here," soothed Troy, closing his eyes against the emotions that surfaced again, the same ones he felt every time he had held her like this yesterday at the hospital. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you again, I promise, I promise on my life."
"Troy, I'm so scared," confessed Gabriella, crying more into Troy's neck, not caring she was letting her emotions win again. "I'm so, so scared."
Chad, Taylor, and Tessa watched the couple from the bottom of the stairs while Stephen and Annette watched from the top, all five realizing how much Gabriella truly was really damaged and torn apart by what happened in this very house less than twenty-four hours ago, despite Gabriella's protests otherwise. What was clear to them too was how Troy was the soothing balm that Gabriella needed the most at this time, the way that he could comfort her and make her feel safe again on a completely different level than anyone else could, even Annette, who had always been able to be there for Gabriella before.
Before Gabriella began to fall asleep some time after her last tears were spilled, still wrapped in Troy's arms on the stairs, she heard the four words she needed to hear to have the first almost peaceful sleep she had in the past day: "I love you Brie."