October, 2004

Author Note: This takes place shortly after Zach and Kendall's confrontation about her paying Ethan's bail.

Zach sat in his darkened condo, contemplating the dregs of his third – fourth?- Scotch.

He'd lost track. Not like him at all.

"Oh, and from one sad person to another -- next time you feel lonely, don't go scouring the jails. Give me a call. I'll make you feel like a woman."

It was simple. Well, it had been simple.

He wanted Kendall away from Ethan.

He hadn't analyzed why it was so important to him because it was so obvious why. Ethan had to be protected from the Cambias legacy. Once Ethan believed he wasn't a Cambias, he would have no reason to stay in Pine Valley, and he would be safe. Mission accomplished.

Kendall was a complication he didn't need or expect. She gave Ethan something Zach couldn't dismiss – a reason to stay. A slender, mercurial, gorgeous reason, who was scarily volatile, but still the sexiest woman Zach had run across in years.

Ethan evidently thought so, too. And that made her dangerous to Ethan and Zach's plans for his future. So Ethan and Kendall's… whatever it was… had to end.

That, as they say, was that. Ipso facto, ergo sum, forever and ever. Amen.

Since his reasons were so logical, he'd been able to ignore his irritation at seeing Kendall with Ethan.

He sipped more scotch and admitted that irritation was probably too mild a word.

Hate was a better word. Pure, visceral hate. He hated that Kendall was with his son.

He had fooled himself into believing it was because he didn't like Kendall. She was bad news. Sure, he believed now that she hadn't killed Michael. Bianca's passionate defense of Kendall and his own observation convinced him that, whatever Kendall's faults, she loved her sister, would kill for her sister, and had risked her freedom and her life in a desperate bid to save Bianca. Admirable. Unfortunately, her capacity for love and sacrifice were only part of the picture – she was also selfish, needy, and still hung up on Ryan Lavery. She was a mess, and the boy deserved better.

Or so he told himself.

"Give me a call. I'll make you feel like a woman."

She'd stood there, facing him down, defending Ethan and her involvement with him. He threw every thing he could think of at her to get her to back off, and she didn't break. No; she raised her chin, flashed those fabulous eyes at him, and told him to jump in a lake. Asked him why the hell it was any of his business. Started wondering out loud why he cared so much.

Damn her.

Damn him.

And damn Ethan, as well.

"I'll make you feel like a woman."

He drained his glass and refilled it. What the hell had possessed him to say something so stupid? He knew better. Zach knew that words had power. He'd learned that lesson at his father's knee. That's why he always used them so carefully.

One ill-considered parting shot (and several scotches) later, he was tormenting himself with visions of Kendall. Memories of Kendall trying to pump him for information, or smiling at him when he found her earring. Kendall begging him to help her get even with Ryan.

Now the memories were replaced with visions of Kendall wrapped in his arms. Kendall screaming his name while she came. He was wondering what she tasted like, what she felt like – what she would look like as he took them both over the edge.

He wanted to go across the thing, rip her out of Ethan's arms, carry her back to his place and find out exactly how close his fantasies were to the reality.

Now that this particular Pandora's box was open, Zach was honest enough with himself to admit that he had wanted her since they'd first met. He loved his dream of Maureen, but something in Kendall called to him. And it wasn't solely her looks. He'd met women more beautiful; he'd slept with several, and employed a lot more.

What caught him was her passion- the fire and reckless abandon she showed those she loved. Kendall didn't count cost, and that was a quality Zach understood and respected.

Who was he kidding? He craved it.

He even understood her need for revenge against Ryan and Greenlee. God knows his fantasies about Hayward were dark. As a young man, he hadn't just run away from his father, he'd made him bleed. Even at eighteen he'd known the best way to inflict pain. Kendall's attempts at payback were paltry by comparison to his. She always ended up hurting herself more than her intended victim.

He remembered the time Paul Kramer showed up and Kendall wanted to rip him in two. Ethan stopped her and pulled her back from what Kendall called her 'scary place'. Even at the time, Zach had been disappointed. He wanted to watch her tear Kramer apart. Hell, he wanted to help. Or kill the guy himself while Kendall watched.

"I hope that didn't upset you too much."
"No. No, not at all. Actually, now I have a concept of what it looks like when I go psycho. Only you go very quiet, and scary, and lethal."

She hadn't been afraid of him. She'd been thrilled. Then Ethan got her to leave. What would have happened if Ethan hadn't been there? What would he and Kendall have done to Kramer that day in Bianca and Miranda's names?

He wondered if there was some sort of genetic call from Cambias to Kane. Michael, Ethan and he - all drawn to Erica and her daughters: Michael to destroy, Ethan to bond with, and he to - what? Protect? Make restitution for Michael's sins? Three Cambias men, three Kane women, and three powerful and fundamentally different reactions. A cosmic case study in nature vs. nurture.

For the Kanes as well, he mused. Erica wanted to fight them, Bianca wanted to forgive them, and Kendall evidently wanted to screw them.

Well, not him, but certainly Michael and Ethan.

Although the more he thought about that day in his office, the more he wondered what might have happened if Ethan hadn't been there. What he and Kendall would have done to each other once they were done with Kramer.

Or even, God help him, what would have happened earlier today if it hadn't been so obvious that she had just climbed out of his son's arms.

It was one thing to deny the boy his Cambias heritage. Zach could easily justify that. But stealing his woman because he wanted her himself? That was an act worthy of Michael or the old man. Zach was better than that.

Well, he wanted to be better than that.

More than he wanted her.

Or so he wanted to believe.

But what he really wanted, most of all, was another drink.

Zach picked up the empty decanter and wanted.