Disclaimer: I don't own ABC or AMC. If I did, do you think the show would be in the state that it is? Plus, it would be Zendall 24/7!
Title: The Dance That We Do
Author: Jayta
Rating: PG13
Show: All My Children
A/N: The beginning. Here it is. Hopefully I'll be able to find the end. Stupid creative muse! Shoutout to all at the Zach and Kendall Message board. You guys stoked my love of Zendall to this point...damn you! But big huge shoutout to Gidget and her Zendall video clips! I dedicate this fic to you!
Prologue
Her alabaster skin, smooth and soft to the touch, glowed under the harsh hospital lights. He avoided her waking presence, afraid of what kind of future it would bring for them. In his heart, he feared it was an ending.
Everything about them was a contradiction. This woman whom he had thought arrogant, shallow and airy, had transformed before his eyes into a deep, strong-willed, courageous beauty. Or perhaps, she had always been that way. He was distant and in control, yet somehow he had deeply lost control. He had known what life he had chosen; but in reality he had not known at all.
Kendall Hart was a woman he had unknowingly fallen in love with.
--&--
"Kendall, you can't be serious?" Greenlee exclaimed incredulously. "You're not going to Haiti with him!"
Kendall buttoned up her shirt and grabbed her purse, which was sitting on the hospital bed. "Uh, yes, I am." She could not wait. She would be free - free from this man who had made her fall in love with him. "So stop thinking that you can convince me otherwise," she argued irritably. "Because this is the only way to get him out of ours."
"What do you mean?"
"I gave Zach a ticket to Haiti the day before the fire," she sighed. "And he gave excuse after excuse about why he couldn't do it. Now at least he's willing to consider it."
"But only if you go with him!" Greenlee's voice became shrill, as if to exaggerate the insanity of the point.
"So?" Kendall shrugged uncomfortably. "It's not like he's going there to sweep me off my feet and tell me he can't live without me," she said lost in thought. Then with a plastic smile she clasped her hands together. "So no worries."
She dwelt on that unthinkable fantasy for a moment; and it made her heart skip a beat. What if it did happen? Would you still divorce him? It never would. She sighed. Shaking herself from her reverie, Kendall was met with narrow eyes, that seemed to be searching for a way to reason with her. Greenlee will never learn.
"Fine," huffed the petite dirty-blonde. "I'm coming along with you for the ride."
"Are you kidding?" Kendall raised a skeptical brow. "I think I'm old enough to fly on my own, mother," she scoffed, shaking her head at the wild woman before her. If she hadn't known any better, Kendall would have believed Greenlee was the one pregnant.
"Hey," Greenlee growled, pointing her index finger into her chest. "That's my baby you're carrying."
"And I'm going to be gone for what?" she pretended to calculate in her head, "a whole day? At the most two?"
"He's tricky, that Zach Slater," Greenlee blurted out. "I'm sure he's hatching some plan to get you to reconsider."
Sometimes she didn't know what to do with her best friend. As much as Greenlee prided herself on her intelligence, the girl wasn't too observant. "Woman, chill. The man doesn't care about me," Kendall sighed. "All he wanted from me was revenge and a business partner. Get that through your thick skull! He honors his business deals, so we can trust when he says that we're going to get a divorce - we're going to get a divorce."
"Honorable?" Greenlee looked like she was about to choke on the word. "This is the man who lied to both of us when he told us Ryan was DEAD!"
"This is different," she protested uneasily. Kendall hated what Zach had done to Greenlee...and to her. But she knew that Zach wasn't about to reneg on this deal. Even though part of her wished, for this one time, it was a lie. "W-we don't have attachments to each other. It's just a termination of a contract."
"Well you'd think differently if you saw him..." Greenlee's voice trailed off.
"Saw him what?" Kendall furrowed her brow, unable to decipher what her friend was talking about. She paused at the door, her hand resting on the doorhandle, waiting for an answer. "Saw him what?" she repeated the question.
She thought she saw something flash in Greenlee's eyes, before she hid them behind her thick lashes. "Nothing," she mumbled, moving towards the door. "Let's just go."
"Ooooh no," Kendall said suspiciously. It was the way Greens was acting that caused her to wonder what was going on. It was like she was hiding something from her. "You're not going to get away with that casual 'nothing' thing."
"It was nothing," Greenlee protested, looking her in the eyes. "You already know what a scumbag I think he is. I was just thinking that you, for some demented Kendall-psycho reason, see something decent in him. And that isn't who he is.
"He's caused nothing but pain."
Kendall bit her tongue. She knew that everything Greenlee had been through seemed to fall on Zach's one lie. Ryan had left, but Zach had kept him dead. "Look," she said slowly. "I want him out of my life as badly as you do."
"Which I totally support."
"Then you have to let me go."
"We can get a divorce without you having to go to Haiti with Zach Slater," Greenlee exclaimed in exasperation. "Like it is some kind of vacation! Next thing you know, he'll have you liquored up and married again!"
"Well you know that won't happen," she said, pointing to her still-flat belly. "Because I'm with child you know." She grinned, which after a tense moment Greenlee chuckled.
"And you wouldn't harm this baby," Greenlee said protectively, seemingly to give a little. "You promise to take care of it? You'll sleep on the plane and at the hotel as well?"
"Like a good incubation unit would," Kendall nodded, while saluting Greenlee.
"You're not..."
"I'm joking!" she said, rolling her eyes and giving Greenlee a little push.
The mother-to-be still remained hesitant at the whole idea.
"I still don't know about this Kendall," she hedged. "I would feel better if you let Jackson help get your divorce over and done with."
"As if it wouldn't take forever to get through all of the red-tape!" Kendall shook her head. "No, this will be quicker and simpler."
"Fine," Greenlee sighed, finally giving in. "But if he even thinks of trying anything..."
"Yeah," Kendall laughed half-heartedly. "That'll be the day."
"Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret this?"
"Don't you trust me?" she smirked."
"No."
"Well too bad. I'm going," Kendall laughed, holding open the hospital door. "Now let's get a move on, I have a plane to catch."
--&--
He had no idea what had compelled him to give in. He should have remained firm about the divorce. How could he protect Kendall and care for her if he was no longer her husband?
But Zach Slater was a practical man. Kendall had made it so very clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. She had put in place people who would take 'better' care of her than he ever could. Since when did I give a damn what people wanted?
However,he didn't have a masochistic side. It would be torture to be near to her and not want to touch her, hold her, kiss her. He had a certain amount of self control, but not that much. "It's the only way," he said out loud to himself, as he closed door behind him, with his suitcase in hand. It wasn't too late. If he got this over with quickly, maybe he could snap out of this haze he thought was love. Zach let out a loud sigh. "The only way."
Now if he could only get himself to believe that.
