2 Weeks later

Zac was exhausted. Looking after three young boisterous kids alone was hard work. This was the first time since he became a dad that he had looked after them by himself. Sure, he could have hired a nanny, Be like all other Celebrity parents. But that's not what Zac wanted to do. He had chosen with Vanessa to have kids so they were their responsibility. Not some random person that the children didn't know. They had Maddie and the twins because they wanted to be parents. Real parents, not someone who had kids but hardly looked after them leaving the job to Nannies. Even when Zac and Vanessa had to go away on business they would do their best to take the kids with them and if that simply was not possible they leave them with family, not strangers. People who loved them.

4am

"Daddy?"Little Alex Efron whispered into the darkness of his parent's bedroom. Hearing no reply from his dad's sleeping form, Alex climbed up onto the large king sized bed and poked Zac's cheek rougher than he had intended. Zac groaned and scrunched up his face before opening his eyes slowly to see his son's cute little face staring back at him.

"What's up, Buddy?" Zac asked, flipping onto his back and resting his weight on his bent elbows.

"I miss Mommy." The toddler whimpered before putting his tiny thumb into his mouth to suck soothingly.

Zac's heart dropped and he closed his eyes. He knew this moment would come soon enough. He didn't know which child it would be first though. He should have guessed it would have been Alex as he was a Mommy's boy and was always by her side wanting to cuddle. On the other hand, Maddie was a Daddy's girl, when she was a baby she would always want her father's attention and now she loved to give him hugs and kisses to retrieve them in return. And Lilly was in the middle. She seemed to like both parents equally because she thought that both had their uses. Vanessa was a great bedtime story reader and could always dress her up like a pretty princess when they were playing fancy dress while Zac was best at making her giggle by spinning her around and always spoiling her with cupcakes, chocolate and sweets.

Zac pulled Alex into a hug and cradled him against his toned chest. "I know you do and so do I but we're going to visit her today, aren't we?" Alex nodded, still sucking on his thumb. "And when we see Mommy you can give her the biggest hug and kiss ever and she'll be very happy to see you because a little birdie tells me that she's missing her little Alex a lot. In fact, she's missing us all a lot so when we see her we have to make her happy by giving her lots of kisses and cuddles, okay?"

Alex nodded again and snuggled further into Zac. He kissed Alex's forehead. "Do you want to go back to your bed?"

Alex shook his head. "No, stay with you, Daddy."

Zac couldn't say no. After all, his son was upset. "Okay, but just for tonight, okay? And then it's back to your own bed tomorrow night."

"Okay." Alex mumbled sleepily. "Night, Daddy." Shortly after that, the sound of soft snoring could be heard and Zac kissed Alex's forehead before falling to sleep himself.

Four hours later 4 year old Maddie's luscious long eyelashes fluttered open. She rolled over and snuggled deeper under her duvet and pulled her toy Elmo closer to her. She was about to lull back to sleep before she realised what day today was and her eyes opened again. She smiled at the thought of seeing her Mommy again before she fumbled out of bed and sleepily walked into her Dad's room to find Alex in the bed too. Maddie climbed up onto the bed and wiggled her fingers mischievously before dipping her hands towards Zac's armpits to tickle him. Zac wriggled and squirmed under Maddie's small hands, his eyes scrunching in confusion. His aqua coloured eyes shot open as he gently grabbed Maddie's tiny wrists in a bid to stop her actions.

"Maaaadie..."He groaned, half asleep.

"Daddy, come on! Wakey wakey! We're seeing Mommy today!"Maddie exclaimed, pulling on her dad's hands but her tiny frame was no match for his strong muscular one.

"I know we are, Princess, but Daddy's tired and we have a couple more hours until we leave."

"But Daddy, I'm hungry!"She wined, whipping the sheets off him before tugging back the curtains.

The small huddle beside Zac shifted under the sheets before a head of blonde curls popped out. Alex's blue eyes blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the bright light shining through the window. Zac shot him a sympathising look before sliding out of bed and picking Maddie up in his arms before tickling her. "You are one bossy little girl, Madelyn Efron."

Maddie mischievously giggled before clutching Zac's neck with her hands and giving him a big sloppy kiss on his nose.

"Gee, thanks, Princess, that was a lovely and wet kiss." He said playfully.

Maddie laughed and Zac couldn't help but notice how she looked like a mini version of Vanessa when she did so. He smiled and looked over at Alex who had curled back under the sheets and had fallen asleep sucking on his thumb. Zac decided to let him stay asleep and went into the twins bedroom to find Lilly rooting in her toy boxes.

"Good morning, Cutie pie. What are you looking for?" Zac asked, placing Maddie down on the ground.

"My cwayons."Lilly said not taking her head out from the box.

"Why?"Zac asked, walking over to the shelves and picking up the crayons from one of the higher shelves and handing them to Lilly who smiled.

"I want to make Mommy a picture." The blonde little girl said picking up a pile of multi coloured paper from the box.

"Oh, that's a lovely idea, why don't you do that too, Maddie?"

Madelyn nodded and sat down next to Lilly picking up a red crayon. "In fact why don't you all design t-shirts to wear to the concert?"

Lilly looked up and clapped her little hands at the idea. "Great idea, Daddy!"

"Okay, then we'll have to nip to the shops to get some t-shirts."

An hour and a half later all three of the kids were sat at the large dining table in the kitchen with an array of coloured glitter, fabric glue, sequins, fabric paint, marker pens and various pictures of Vanessa that could be ironed onto the t-shirts. The kids hands, clothes and faces were soon covered in glue, glitter and felt tip pen. Once the children were finished with their creations Zac took them upstairs to have a bath before eating some breakfast and getting dressed once their t-shirts were dry.

"Now don't spill anything down these t-shirts, okay? We still have like another 9 hours before we see Mommy." Zac said turning on the TV to occupy them while he got to work on some jobs around the house. Half an hour later Zac was interrupted from loading the dishwasher by a tap on his lower back. He turned around to find Lilly stood behind him. "Yes, Sweetie?"

"Can we watch Mr Bean's Holiday, pwease Daddy?" She asked in her sweetest voice.

"Of course you can." He picked Lilly up, taking her into the family room, placing her down on the couch next to Alex before placing the DVD,which had been watched numerous times, into the DVD player.

6pm.

Voices and bodies were buzzing around Vanessa as she sat waiting to see a certain four people. Her make up artist, Jade (Made Up) was stood up in front of her applying her clear lip gloss, chatting idly about her family, sharing stories of the most random things that happen in the household. Just as Jade was applying the last minute touches to Vanessa's make up the door slowly opened and in popped four heads with three pairs of familiar gorgeous blue eyes and one pair of deep chocolate brown eyes. Zac's eyes lit up as he spotted his wife in the make up chair and his lips stretched into a huge grin as Vanessa remained oblivious to his appearance due to her eyes being closed because eye-shadow was being applied. He put a finger to his lips and looked at the kids telling them to be quiet before he walked around the back of Vanessa and placed his hands gently, so he didn't mess up her make-up, over her closed eyes causing Vanessa's eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

"Guess who?"He whispered into her ear.

Vanessa jumped at his voice before squealing upon recognition of his voice. She grabbed his hands before standing up, turning around, stepping up on to the chair and jumping straight into the awaiting arms of her husband. Zac caught his wife's slim body with ease (AN: Ooft, those muscles ;]) and squeezed her closer to his body. The kids took that as their signal as they ran and hugged Vanessa's legs tightly.

Vanessa turned and crouched down, bringing Zac down with her, keeping his arms wrapped around her."Oh my gosh! I've missed you all so much!" Vanessa said while bringing the three in for a hug, kissing their faces happily.

"We've missed you too, Mommy!" Alex said quietly while nestling into his mom's embrace further. She smiled and kissed each of their foreheads. "I hope you've all been good for Daddy."

"We have, we all made him a cake on Tuesday and I brought him a cup of coffee every morning!" Lilly explained excitedly, proud of herself although their cake was made of Sand and stones and the coffee was just a mug of water.

"And I was a good girl and did all my reading for school." Maddie beamed.

"That's great!" Vanessa said before realising that her legs were starting to ache from crouching. "Come on, lets go to my tour bus where we can catch up properly." She said, standing up taking the twins' hands, while Zac held Maddie's hand before making their way towards the trailer. The kids let go of their parents hands and scrambled into the tour bus to explore while Zac and Vanessa waited at the door.

"I've been waiting to do this for two weeks." Zac whispered as he wrapped his arms around Vanessa's petite form and lowering his lips to hers. Their lips joined in a deep and loving kiss as they remembered just what they had both been missing the past fortnight.

"I missed you." Vanessa pouted as they pulled away, still keeping their arms around each other.

"I missed you too, but I must mention that your butt looks amazing in these leather pants!" (AN:The ones Vanessa wore in her summer state fair tour)

Vanessa blushed and hid her head in her husband's shoulder. "I knew you would mention them."

"I have to, I'm your husband." He grinned, kissing the top of her head affectionately and squeezing his arms tighter around her shoulders.

"Come on, lets go and see what mayhem they're causing." Zac slid his hands down Vanessa's body until he reached under her butt and hoisted her into the air before he carried her into her tour bus. They were met with the sight of Lilly and Alex pretending the beds were a secret hideout and Maddie was flicking between the channels on the flat screen TV. Zac was relieved to find they weren't decorating the place with toilet paper or using the couches as a trampoline.

Zac carried Vanessa over to one of the two couches and sat down with his wife in his lap. Maddie immediately tried to sit on Vanessa's lap. "Mommy! Lift me up! I want a cuddle!"

Vanessa gladly met her daughters request causing Zac to grunt at the added weight. "Flatten poor Daddy into a pancake why don't yo-?" Zac's comment was interrupted by the twins piling on top of Vanessa too. Vanessa giggled at Zac's strained face while wrapping her arms around the trio the best she could. "Okay you can cuddle Mommy for one minute tops before Daddy deflates." Maddie, Lilly and Alex giggled before snuggling into Vanessa's body.

7:30pm

The sun was gradually setting as Zac and the kids took their seats in the V.I.P section. The kids took off their hoodies and cardigans to reveal their hand decorated t-shirts. They were all bouncing in excitement as the screen behind the stage started counting down from ten and the crowd erupted into cheers and screams. As the countdown hit one, two sparkling fireworks exploded on either side of the stage and Vanessa appeared holding her microphone. The crowds cries of excitement got louder and wilder and Vanessa's grin widened as she revelled in her fans love for her. "HELLO LOS ANGELES!" Vanessa called as the music to her first song began to play.

"Wooo! Go Mommy!"

"You rock,Mommy!"

"I love you,Mommy!"

"Whooo! Go baby!"

The rest of the concert went down a storm and the audience had not stood still throughout the concert. Around ten minutes after the concert had ended Zac and the children arrived at Vanessa's dressing room, enveloping her in a hug and congratulating her on her performances. Zac excused himself to go to the bathroom.

"Awe, I love your t-shirts! That's so sweet. Did you make them?" Vanessa asked, touched by their creations.

They all nodded, grinning because they were glad Vanessa liked their shirts. "We made them today! Daddy helped us!" Lilly told her. "Look, it's me and you, Mommy!" She beamed, pointing to her t-shirt.

"I know, it's one of my favourite pictures." She smiled, kissing the top of her blonde curls.

"Mines better than Lilly's! I drew a picture of you!" Alex claimed pushing to stand in front of his twin sister.

"Not it's not! Is it Mommy?" Lilly wailed looking at Vanessa with a pout.

"They are both awesome, and yours too Maddie. I love them all. I love you guys too." She bent down, pulling the three of them into a hug, tickling their sides playfully causing them to shriek and giggle. Zac then returned from the bathroom before Vanessa stood up and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You were so amazing, baby." Zac said as he placed tender kisses onto his wife's forehead, cheeks, chin and then finally her lips while wrapping his arms around her hips.

"Really? Was I? I almost fell during the last song though."

"So? You're human, all humans fall. You were still totally awesome. I'm so proud of you."He praised, kissing her again. "Are you feeling okay? No pains? Anything unusual?" He asked, placing his hand over her still flat stomach. Vanessa was now ten weeks pregnant.

Vanessa shook her head. "Nope. We're fine, babe." Vanessa ensured him. "Now where have my little tiddlywinks gone?" Vanessa asked in mock surprise as the three kids had disappeared but giggles could be heard.

"I don't know, I wonder where they are?" Zac joined in. "Are they in the cupboard?" He wondered, opening the tiny cupboard that was situated under the sink. "Nope not in there."

"Maybe they're in this suitcase?" Vanessa pondered, quickly opening the case to find nothing as the giggles increased in volume and the blanket on top of the sofa seemed to be hiding three wriggling lumps. "Not there either."

"Well I don't know then, Van. I suppose we'll have to eat all this ice cream all by ourselves then." Zac sighed playfully opening the freezer and pulling out a tub of mint choc chip ice-cream.

"No!" The blanket was thrown away as three small heads popped up and scrambled over to Zac. "We're here! We can have ice cream too!!" Alex said excitedly.

"Yeah, Ice cream, ice cream!!" Lilly giggled, jumping up and down.

Zac looked between the tub and his kids and pursed his lips in thought. "Well I was kinda looking forward to only sharing it with your Mom." He said jokingly.

"Please daddy! Pleeeaaaaasssseeee!" Madelyn begged, tugging on Zac's check shirt.

Zac rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine." He gave in causing Vanessa to giggle at his childish antics.

So Zac got out five bowls and placed a a couple of scoops in each before drizzling them in chocolate sauce and shaking some rainbow sprinkles on top. Lilly, Alex and Maddie stood around Zac patiently waiting for their treat, checking that their Dad wasn't eating any of theirs.

Ten minutes later Alex, Zac and Vanessa had devoured their ice cream and because Vanessa's pregnancy was making her so hungry she was on her second helping already. Maddie and Lilly were still slowly eating theirs.

"Mommy?"

Vanessa looked to her left to see Alex looking at her. She smiled. "What is it, sweetie?"

"Do you want to see the magic trick daddy taught me?" he asked.

"Sure, I'd love to." Vanessa smiled as Alex got down from the table and rooted through his sponge bob backpack.

"I'm going to make this ball disappear!"Alex exclaimed referring to the red ball which sat on top of a little egg cup looking thing. He placed the lid on top of the ball before pulling it off to reveal the ball gone. He placed the lid on the table.

"Wow! How did you do that, Alex?" Vanessa asked in amazement even though she knew where the ball was because Zac had taut her the exact same trick.

"It's magic!" He told Vanessa.

"Found it!" Lilly shouted, holding up the red ball which was hidden inside the lid.

"Lilly! You ruined it!" Alex shouted annoyed.

"Hey hey, Alex she didn't mean to." Zac told his son.

"Look, Maddie I found the ball!" Lilly showed her older sister the ball.

Maddie giggled. "I think you wasn't supposed to find the ball, Lilly." She said.

"Oh." Lilly looked at her brother who had sat back against his chair and crossed his arms across his chest while pouting. "I'm sorry, Alex."

Alex grunted and looked away.

"Good girl for apologising, Lilly. Alex forgive her, she didn't mean to ruin your trick." Vanessa said leaning into Zac's side who wrapped his arm around her waist, resting his hand on her thigh.

Alex's blue eyes drifted back to his sister who was sat beside him. Lilly flung her arms around her brother. "I'm sorry! Please don't be mad at me! I love you, Awex."

Alex gave in and wrapped his arms around his sister. "Fine. But you have to give me one of your sweeties!"

"I will." Lilly smiled.

Five days later Zac and the kids were back in LA and he and Ashley had taken Alyssa, Alex, Maddie and lilly to an indoor play area. He and Ashley were sat with all the other parents while

the kids were off having fun on the slides, climbing frames and in the plastic ball pool.

An over cheerful lady walked into the middle of where all the multi coloured mats were placed onto the floor and spoke into her microphone. "Okay, it's dance time everybody! Come on over and we'll have a boogie together!" She chimed.

Nearly every single child scrambled over to the mats excitedly, including Zac and Ashley's children.

The music which began to play was certainly recognised by Zac and Ashley. Maddie ran over to the pair and tugged on their hands.

"Come and dance with us! It's High School Musical!"She pleaded. They hesitated. "Please?"

The pair gave in and stood with all the little kids. Luckily a few other parents had joined in so they didn't look too much like idiots. The pair danced along with their children as 'All for one' played. Truthfully, they were embarrassed, mainly because they were the stars of the movie but they decided to put that a side once they saw the smiles on their kids' faces. A few minutes later Zac's phone began to ring so Zac excused himself to answer it. He smiled once he saw it was his wife.

"Hey, Van. You'll never guess what Maddie has roped me and Ashley into dancing to..."Zac spoke before he was interrupted with his tearful wife's voice saying the six words he was hoping never to hear her say while she was away.

"Zac, I need you. Please come."