Chapter 2 Zak's Plan

November, 2008, Chris's House

Zak was getting ready for his mom to pick him up. He was tired of being shifted between one parent and the other parent! He wanted his mom and dad back together! He wanted his family back!

They weren't even talking to each other anymore. He knew his mom was very hurt and sad, but his dad felt the same. They were both miserable without each other. He had enlisted the help of some friends to find what exactly was happening with his parents.

Through the internet he had found out that supposed his dad had had sex with Suzy and his mom had found out about it and left his dad. However, he didn't believe that for a second. Suzy and Annie had moved in with them, but he knew that his dad and Suzy weren't sleeping together. His dad was always alone when he crawled into bed with him. Plus, Suzy and his dad didn't kiss or touch each other like his dad and mom had. So Zak decided to have a talk with his dad.

"Dad, are you having sex with Suzy?" Zak asks him calmly.

"What? How do you know what sex is?" Chris says stunned that his 10 year-old would know about that.

"Come on, Dad. Kids talk at school. I know enough to know that if you're having sex it should be with my mom. Is that why Mom took me and left you? Is that why you're getting a divorce?"

"Zak, Suzy and I didn't have sex nor are we doing that now. However, your mom doesn't think that's true."

"Why didn't you tell Mom?"

"She never gave me a chance to tell her", Chris says.

"Oh, I see..." Zak says as his mom arrives to pick him up.

"Zak, don't tell your Mom about this conversation. Okay, mate?"

"Sure, Dad", Zak says.

Isabella's House
Isabella takes Zak to her house and gets him settled in.

"Zak, do you want to play soccer with me?" Isabella asks him.

"Sure, Mom". Since the separation, his parents had been doing the stuff the other one had. It was as if they had switched bodies. His mom would play soccer with him and give him chocolate like his dad used to. His dad would make sure he had all his homework done and discipline him.

"Mom, are you having sex with Johnny or anyone else?" Zak asks her.

"What did you just say?" Zak repeats the question, Isabella is stunned. Zak laughs at her.

"Why are you laughing at me?"

"You have the same exact expression that Dad had when I asked about him and Suzy. Now, answer my question."

"The answer is no. What did your Dad say?"

"He gave me the same answer that you just gave me." Zak tells her.

Isabella is thinking how could Chris lie to Zak?

Zak's thinking that he's had enough of this crap and that his parents need a push to get them together. A plan begins to form in his mind. It's time that he arranged a little "Parent Trap" of his own. However, he needs reinforcements. Later that night, he calls Aunt Jean and tells her about his conversation with his dad and mom. She agrees to secretly fly to Switzerland and help him.

"Mom, dad can't pick me up tonight. Here's my friend's address..." Zak says as he leaves a message on his mom's cell phone.

"Dad, mom can't pick me up tonight. Here's my friend's address...", Zak says as he leaves a message on his dad's cell phone.

Both Isabella and Chris think they have to pick up Zak. They both think it's weird that his friend lives so far outside of Geneva.

At eight PM that night, Chris drives down the deserted road and finds a cabin in the woods. He enters the door, but no Zak. The cabin has one room with a bed, bathtub, couch, fireplace, kitchen, and a huge 42" flat screen TV on the wall. There's no electricity in the cabin, so Chris starts a fire and lights some lanterns.

"Zak, are you here?" He yells. No Zak so Chris tries to double-check his cell phone, but there's no signal out here. Just as he's about to leave, another car pulls up in the drive.

Isabella opens the door and finds Chris inside the cabin.

"What are you doing here?" She asks him.

"I was just about to ask you the same question."

"Where's Zak? He left me a message that I had to pick him up here"

"I have no idea. I have a feeling that we've been set-up", Chris says.

The TV turns on and Zak is on the screen.

"Alright, stubborn parents, now that I have your undivided attention, I've got a few things to stay to you. First, you're both too stubborn for your own good. I'm tired of this crap! You're both miserable. I've had to listen to both of you cry at night and I'm tired of it. Second, you're both acting like selfish children. It's time you started acting like adults and worked through the mess that you both have made of our family!"

"You, little brat, what's your plan? Lock us up in here until we reconcile?" Chris asks him.

"Yes, both of your cars are gone. You're not leaving here until you fix it. Mom, dad's not screwing Suzy. So the ball's in your court!" Zak says as the screen goes blank.

The screen shows a montage of pictures of Isabella and Chris - they're wedding day, pictures of trips, etc... Also, background music is playing; Zak starts with "Please Forgive Me".

"Ugh!! He must get that devious streak from you!" Chris says to her.

Isabella just stares at him and is stunned by the turn of the events. How sweet of Zak to arrange this and how heartbreaking!

Zak's next song is "Everything I Do - I do it for you".

"Mood music, where in the world did a 10 year old learn that from?" Chris shouts.

Isabella takes a long hard look at Chris. She can feel the anger coming off of him in waves and she senses that it's directed at her.

"I think we need to talk, Chris".

"You're the last person in the world that I want to talk to. Since he took our cars, do you think we should walk to the main road?"

"No, it's too cold out. We might freeze to death", Isabella says.

"You can have the cabin; I'll try to find another building to sleep in. The kid didn't leave enough firewood for the night. I'll take care of that, too."

"I'll come with you!" Isabella says.

"It would be bad for your health if you come near me when I have an axe in my hand!" He tells her. Isabella lets him go outside and look for firewood. Chris was never too handy with an axe. She hopes that he doesn't cut off anything valuable!

Chris comes back inside with fresh firewood.

"There's no where else to sleep. You can have the bed and I'll sleep on the couch" The couch isn't long enough to support a 6' tall man.

"Don't be ridiculous, you can sleep on the bed with me." Isabella says. Chris looks at her like that's the most revolting thing that she's ever said to him.

"No thanks, I'll sleep on the couch".

Isabella looks at the bed and notices something on it. A very white, transparent teddy is lying on the bed.

"Oh, my. I can't believe this! A 10-year old looking for lingerie for his mother!" She says, Chris turns around and looks at her.

"Zak bought that for you? I'm going to have 'the talk' with him" Chris says.

Chris hops on the couch and turns his back on her. Isabella decides to put the teddy on and crawls into bed.

Zak's last song of the night is "You're Still the One". Isabella thinks that maybe Chris didn't cheat on her and that it was a huge misunderstanding. How is she going to fix it?

Cottage - Next Morning

Chris wakes up the next morning - his neck and back are killing him. Needless to say, he's not in a good mood. Isabella fixes them breakfast. He doesn't say a word to her.

"What do you think Zak has in store for us today?" she asks.

"I have no idea".

"What went wrong between us?"

"Don't you think it's a little too late to be asking that question? You should have asked me in May!" Chris shouts at her. Isabella approaches Chris and they're standing face to face.

"Before this goes any farther, you need to know something. The first time Zak left, I had a one-night-stand with a guy in Buffalo. He was really supportive and really friendly. I now understand how easy something could have happened with you and Suzy. If you hadn't had Suzy move in with you, I was going to ask you for another start." Isabella tells him.

"Did you sleep with Suzy?" Isabella asks him.

"You should have asked me that before instead of accusing me!" He tells her.

"You asked for a divorce!" She yells at him.

"Only after you convicted me and threw your wedding ring at me! My exact words were 'I don't want to be married to a woman that doesn't trust me'!

"So, did you have sex with her?"

"No."

"Why is she living with you?"

"To hurt you", Chris says.

"Zak's right. We're both acting like children", Isabella says.

Isabella can tell that Chris's still furious with her. She comes closer to him.

"Do you know what hell is?" Chris asks her.

"Yes, I've been living in hell since March", Isabella says.

"Hell is having the woman that you love more than anything in the world not trust you. It's knowing that you have so little faith in my love, that you have condemned us both to a lifetime of agony. To something worse than death". Chris says.

"Don't come any closer to me. I'm so mad at you, I can't be responsible for my actions" Chris tells her. Even though she can feel the rage and sense the violence coming from Chris, she comes closer and kisses him.

Chris kisses her with all the passion, love, anger, and hate that has built up inside of him for the last 8 months as they fall to the bed.

The cottage - 12 hours later

Zak had the cabin rigged for sound, so Jean had been listening to what had happened between Isabella and Chris. She decides that she'll listen bit more before deciding whether to pick up Isabella and Chris.

Chris was the first to awaken. He is sitting by the fire. He hears Isabella stirring.

"Are you alright?" he asks her.

"I'm fine. Just a little sore and hungry" She says as she comes over to him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I've never been that rough with a woman before. I promise that what happened here in this cabin will never happen again." Chris says.

"I'm going to drop the petition for the divorce," Isabella says.

"There's no reason to do that," Chris says.

"Didn't we just make up?" Isabella asks.

"A few hours of sex will not fix this - you don't trust me. It's shame that a love like ours must end this way, but it's over. What happened here was goodbye," Chris says.

"No, I don't want a divorce!" She tells him.

"I do. You don't trust me and I'd never be able to forgive you for your one-night-stand. It's over" Chris tells her.

Jean has heard the whole thing and arranges to have Isabella and Chris picked up.

Isabella's House - That night

"So, you and Zak planned this whole thing?"

"Yes, he told me about his conversation with you and his father. So, I decided to help him get you back together."

"He's really disappointed. He thought that you guys would be back together."

"I'm disappointed, too. Maybe I shouldn't have told Chris what happened in Buffalo."

"You can't start over based upon lies. Now you both know where you stand. I told Zak that he now has you on his side, which is more than what he had a week ago" Jean tells her.

"Yes, but his dad hates me and Chris can be so stubborn! How did you know when to pick us up?" Isabella asks.

"I listened" Jean tells her.

"You didn't listen to our lovemaking?"

"No, I was just glad that I left plenty of condoms for you guys!" Jean tells her.

"Oh, no!" Isabella says as her face turns white.

December 23, 2008 - Private Jet En route to Buffalo

Isabella, Chris, and Zak are on a private plane. Isabella and Zak are going to spend the Christmas Holiday and New Year's in Buffalo. Chris is gong to fly into the US.

"Dad, can't you come with us to the cottage? I want to spend Christmas with both you and mom."

"Zak, how many times have I told you? Your mom and I are getting a divorce. This is the first of many holidays that we won't spend as a family. Get used to it" Chris says.

"Where are you going?" Zak asks him.

"Las Vegas" Chris says.

Zak goes to another section of the plane.

"You shouldn't be so hard with him. He's just a little boy", Isabella tells him.

"It's time he faced the truth."

"What are you going to do in Las Vegas?"

"Take care of some unfinished business"

They say that there's only one way to get over a woman, get another one under you. Chris's in bad need of a woman and not just any woman. He needed a woman to purge Isabella Smith out of his system.

There was only one woman that could do that - Lucky Santangelo. The black-haired, olive skinned beauty that he met over 15 years ago. They had meant in Vegas - she'd just lost her father. He helped her get through it - they had a week of marvelous sex and then he left to work on a movie. Next, he met Isabella and knew that she was the one for him. Lucky had called him, but he told her that he was in love with Isabella. Over the years, they had kept in touch. He had called her to let her know that he was on his way to Vegas...