Prin: ...
Iris: *pokes her* O_o Sis?
Prin: ...I can't think of anything to say.
Iris: Well, that's a first. XD Hey, guys, you might have heard, our computer decided to "corrupt" some Windows file and the two of us messed something up in the BIOs, so that now, we can't open our computer any further than the black boot-up screen, can't use internet with it, can't write or do anything period, so, we're not going to be on. The only reason we have been on is because we've been staying at our grandma's with the kids while our parents clean out the very last of our stuff from the old house-
Prin: And, thank Almighty, GRANDMA HAS A COMPUTER AND INTERNET! 8D
Iris: o.o I see you have your voice back. But I think this is the last load, so we'll be gone for a while.
Prin: We thought we might update something real quick, and I know WKSF1 will be happy with this!
Iris: So, please review, and we'll see you next time we get a computer with internet under our hands!
She looked prettiest outside.
Her green-hazel eyes glittered against the sky like the jewels his mother wore, and the sun shone on her hair, making it light up like copper and gold. For some reason, though he hated not to wear shoes, he loved to see her dainty feet running across the green grass. Her laughter mixed with the sound of the soft breeze...
Maybe he could like the outdoors.
Zach stared at his workshop, as McKenzie called it, full of half-finished inventions and prototype upgraded robots collecting dust and groaned, frustrated. He wasn't being able to do anything, not necessarily because of McKenzie, but because he had lost...he had stopped...
He sat down at his desk, pulling out his old plans and digitalized drawings. Staring at them.
"I can't even understand them anymore," he sighed, putting them back, feeling an old feeling that he had become familiar with since childhood, a deep, dark, oppressive feeling. He suddenly felt old, with little or no reason and his shoulders slumped.
"Zach?"
His head jerked up, finding McKenzie in his doorway, and some of the feeling left, as it had when he first met her.
She looked worried as she walked over to him, her hair loose and tousled over her shoulders. She knelt in front of him, resting her hands on his knees with a loving smile.
"You look depressed. Are you okay?"
Depressed?
Zach looked across the room to a mirror, and with a slight shudder, found his old self in there. The sulky, angry, dark self he had been all his life. He slowly turned back to her, looking into her eyes, searching for something as he place his hands on her shoulders, pulling her up towards him. And he found it. That everlasting trust and love she had for him, that he knew had somehow saved him. He smiled, the dark feeling vanishing and nodded.
"I'm perfectly fine," he whispered, pulling her close, kissing her, claiming her lips as his. She gave him a surprised look, but smiled and hugged him closely.
"I love you," Zach pulled her closer, tightly, possessively as the dark feeling flickered in his eyes for a second and she felt a sudden pang of fear, although she couldn't explain it, and it made her blood run cold. The warmth of his lips on hers warmed her again, and she ignored the feeling, smiling brightly.
"I love you too."
McKenzie watched as their first year together drew to a close, and felt a bitter-sweetness in her heart. Sweet because she was with the man she loved, that loved her unconditionally, and bitter because she was noticing something in him that worried her. Not for herself, but for him. He seemed alternatively overflowing with joy and love and teeming with anger and moodiness. Zach was always kind to her, but she saw that there was something slowly growing in his eyes as she watched him when he tried to invent or fix the robots by hand.
.
They both worked, although Zach had pronounced it unnecessary. He worked as the CEO of Varmitech Interprises, and she volunteered at a nearby daycare.
"You pick up a lot of colds there," Zach handed her a bowl of warm soup and adjusted McKenzie's thermometer, "You sure you want to keep volunteering there?"
McKenzie rolled her eyes at him, playfully whacking his arm for asking her that controversial question while the thermometer was in her mouth and she couldn't answer.
"Let me guess, you like the whiny, snotty, stinky little kids. Don't tell me I was one of them once, I know and I remember and I don't ever want to be one again. I don't see why people don't train their kids to use the bathroom as soon as they can walk. I know it's possible, I did it w..." he caught himself and looked away for a moment. McKenzie raised an eyebrow, pulling out the thermometer.
"You potty trained as soon as you could walk?" she smiled amusedly, her voice grated, on account of her sore throat, "No offence, but I doubt you could do that honey."
Zach smiled, although a little unassuredly, "Okay, fine, I'm not the best at physical stuff...Who's to say I couldn't do that though?"
She grinned, and looked at the thermometer, "Oh, it's pretty high."
All playfulness left her expression. He frowned and looked at the thermometer, "It's not that high. You've gotten higher."
She stood up, rubbing her forehead, "No, it's just that...I...you don't understand...Give me a second, I'll be right back."
With that, she spun on her heel and ran up the nearby flight of stairs, leaving a very confused Zach behind.
"...McKenzie?" he stood up, walking up the stairs slowly after her, peering into the library, a warmly lit room with a high ceiling and enough books to furnish a regular library. McKenzie was leafing quickly through a thick book.
"McKenzie, if you're worried, I'll take you to the hospital." she jerked at the sound of his voice and slammed the book shut, hiding it under the blanket draped over her shoulders, her green eyes wide in shock.
"Z-Zach, I asked you to wait for me," her voice wavered, frightened. Zach stood in the doorway, and she could see something fighting behind his unwavering pastel green eyes boring into hers, "Zach?"
"What are you hiding?"
Her heart was jumping in all sorts of erratic directions. Not yet, please.
"McKenzie," his voice was harsh and chilling as he walked up to her, "What is that?"
His own heart was jumping too, not so much at what he thought she might be hiding, but that fact that she was hiding something from him. It scared him intensely and he wasn't sure why.
"It's...nothing..." He was right in front of her, moving closer and she backed away, "It's for our anniversary...Zach, I-"
The last thing she expected was for him to kiss her. Gently, yet it sent lighting straight through her, burning into the ground it seemed and he pulled away, leaving her breathless.
"Great," she forced out, "Now you'll get sick."
"I got it," he grinned, flashing the book in front of her face, giving her one last peck before running off.
She gasped, "You just...Zach!"
McKenzie dropped the blanket and chased after him, wishing her vocal cords were in better condition to give him a "tongue-lashing" as her father called it.
She found him lying on top of a bookshelf lazily, grinning down at her as he dangled the book just out of her reach.
"How'd you get up there?"
"Zachbot," he pointed to one hovering behind her, "Anyway, let's see what you got me. What to expect..."
His grin fell, shock covering his face and she sighed as he sat up, skimming through the book at a pace that would have had most speed-readers ashamed.
"McKenzie?"
"Come down, please."
Instead of calling his Zachbot, he obediently climbed down, using the bookshelf as a ladder. He turned to her, his eyes wide with an emotion she couldn't place. He looked a like a child caught with his had in the cookie-jar.
"What...?"
She blushed lightly and smiled at him uncertainly, "Remember last month?"
He nodded slowly, and somehow, he knew already.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded quietly. He sighed, staring at her steadily, trying to pull any emotion out of himself. But he couldn't. There was an absolute blank sitting there.
"Then we better get you to the hospital."
"Huh?"
"It's in the book," he smiled and handed it to her, finally getting something. Fear and...anticipation. She looked into his eyes, trying to read him, but he was blocked.
"So...I hope it's a girl," he smiled, sweet memories overruling his fear. McKenzie saw the change in his eyes and smiled. Happily.
"Me too."