Girls: *in a different room* No, get away, you savage beasts! *sound of running feet* *rush into room and slam door shut, lock it**both sigh in relief*

Prin: *sighs* Yup, a new story.

Iris: *smiles* A great new story!

Prin: A depressing one!

Iris: well, yeah, but it's a new story…

Prin: Hhmph…Um, this is about Zach! Yup, you read right, Zach, except he's a kid and all that….

Iris: *groans* you would make a horrible salesperson. *turns to audience* Hope you enjoy!

With a few more finishing touches, it was complete. The Doberman's eyes glowed red as he stood erect, without twitching a muscle. Zach smiled.

"Yes," he celebrated quietly, picking up a remote. He grinned as he set the dog to his aggressive state, and the dog correspondingly growled at the bed. Flip another switch, and the dog was playful. Another switch, and he was begging.

"I did it!" the thirteen year old grinned. He played with his new "toy", trying to ignore the gap his mother had left a month ago.

Sure, Liana was distant, and hardly ever spent any time with her son at all, but he had loved her. She had always been gentle with him, never yelling, and seemed to have an unending pool of patience when it came to Zach. Maybe because she was so nice to him that was why it hurt so much when she had to ignore him.

"Sweetie, I need to work on my fashion line, or I'll go out of business. Go play with your pets, okay?"

Always that. The company, the fashion line, the job, everything seemed to get in the way of their time with him.

Until about four months ago.

Liana was expecting. Zach wasn't sure what had happened, but one night his mom had gone to bed with a stomach ache, and the next he was dragged to the hospital to see her.

There he overheard words like, "placenta previa" and "high-blood pressure", but he refused to look up the meanings. He refused to think that there was anything wrong with his mom.

A week or so later, she was sent back home, but she was going to be bedridden for the rest of the pregnancy. Zach was elated. Finally, she was going to be home with him!

At first, she slept on and off throughout the day, too weak to do much, but after a few weeks she called him in. The maid had set up a custom made bed-desk and Liana had all sorts of papers pinned on there. She smiled as he came up, pulled him on the bed next to her and planted a kiss on his head. They spent the rest of the day there, Liana finally catching up on her son's life, and Zach finally being able to bask in undivided attention. They spent the next four months like that, Zach running off on errands for her, and coming home from school, only to run to his mom's room and (if he hadn't been pushed into a mud puddle on the way to school, or back home) plop down on the bed next to her to tell her all about his day, about how Christine Kratt in his class had called him a mean, ugly animal abuser, how that cute girl had completely ignored him when he had talked to her, how Martin would have walked by Zach being picked on by the school bully if it hadn't been for Susan Kratt pointing him out, how Howard had taken almost all his books and poured black ink on them, but Zach wasn't worried, they had money to spare, but it still felt bad.

Liana would listen patiently, and gently console him. Christine probably didn't know the whole story; maybe the cute girl wasn't the right person to socialize with, Martin probably was preoccupied and didn't notice until she mentioned it, and no, there was no need to worry about the books, she'd have them all replaced by tomorrow and she'd have a talk with Howard's mom tomorrow, and now get in the shower, and make sure to wash your hair.

Then suddenly, it happened. He woke up early and ran to his mom's room, certain that his dad was already working at the company. He opened the door, and nearly stopped breathing. Blood had soaked the sheets next to his mom's legs, and she was pale…too pale. He ran to the phone, and quickly dialed for the doctor.

A couple hours later, he was called into the room his mom was in at the hospital. She was laying on the blankets, paler than he had ever seen anyone in his life. It didn't help that she was fair skinned in the first place.

"M-mom?"

She had smiled at him weakly, reaching out to him. He quickly grabbed her hand and kneel-ed on the floor next to the bed.

"Did they tell you, honey?"

"Tell me what, Ma?"

"That...Well...I'm not gonna last much longer."

It took a moment for the meaning of what she said to sink in.

"What? No, mom you'll be perfectly fine!"

She shook her head, "Just promise me you won't blame her…"

There was an odd bubbling sound she made every time she took a breath, and the weakness in her voice contrasted violently with her alert face. Zach bit his lip as tears began to fall.

"Who's her?"

"Your sister, Hannah…"

Her gray eyes glazed over slightly, and Zach brushed back a strand of her bright red hair.

"Mom?"

"Y-yeah?"

"I…I love you."

"I love you too. Tell Hannah I love her too…"

He nodded, barely able to keep from bursting into sobs right then and there. She smiled at him, before closing her eyes, squeezing his hand affectionately.

"I just...I'm going to rest for a while," she whispered, as if trying to convince herself, a certain kind of fear crossing her features for a moment.

He couldn't stay there anymore. He barely noticed as he ran past his father, who was rushing into Liana's room, tears slowly making their way down both of their faces.

About an hour later, Zach found himself in front of the nursery. Several nurses were scurrying around, changing diapers and caring for the babies that were crying. Zach lent against the glass, wondering which one was Hannah. What did she look like? Was she going to be a fussy baby like he had been, or a calmer one? Was she going to be smart, or thickheaded?

A nurse stopped behind him.

"Looking for a relative?"

"My sister," he murmured, the areas under his eyes feeling heavy and sticky from his crying.

"What's your name?"

"Zach Varmitech."

"Varmitech? I'm sorry about your mother," he patted the black haired boy's head, before heading into the nursery.

It was all Zach could do to not burst into tears.

Suddenly, the nurse stood in front of him, on the other side of the glass. He smiled gently at Zach and bent down to be more at Zach's level.

Zach was left breathless.

The nurse held a small, no, tiny baby in his arms, who seemed to have an elongated head and a wrinkled forehead. The baby slowly opened her eyes, and somehow, despite the fact that all she could see were shadowy figures, managed to lock her gray-blue eyes with Zach's pastel green ones.

All Zach could think as tears threatened to spill over again and his small mouth slowly turned upwards for the first time in forever was,She's perfect.

So….review? Please? You'll get a virtual bowl of tuna meal! *waves bowls in front of readers* And if you don't like tuna meal- *runs off, comes back with a handful of fluffy reddish-yellow baby chicks* They just hatched today! Aren't they adorable! Who wants one? You can get a virtual one IF you review!