Disclaimer: see chapter 1
A/N: Wow! Never really expected this story to bring out the kind of emotion that it has. It's kind of fun for me since I know where it's going. I swear, all will end up as it should. As for why Maria married Ryan when Jon killed Edmund - I'll be honest, I had forgotten about that. I also find that soap characters can change on a dime - remember, everyone is supposed to bow to Babe even though she kept Miranda for a year. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Bianca stood up and Zach immediately replaced her, wrapping his arms around Kendall, bringing her head to rest on his chest. He leaned back and let her sob into his shirt. Bianca picked the court order off of Kendall's legs and just read it over and over again, like she didn't really believe what he was seeing.
As Kendall's sobs started to subside, she looked up at him. "Why?"
Zach just shook his head. "I wish I knew, Kendall, I wish I knew."
Bianca whipped around. "He can't possibly think that he's going to win! I mean, it's him versus you and Kendall – two parents versus one. It's not…"
Zach shook his head. "Bianca, it's not… he's… he's got some help."
Bianca crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean he's got some help?"
Zach let out a deep breath and dropped a light kiss on Kendall's forehead. "I just ran into him at the nursery. I was going to go in and check on the baby, but he stopped me and informed me that… well, that he got married."
"MARRIED!" Bianca yelled at the top of her lungs. "Who the hell…"
"Maria." It was like the air got sucked out of the room. Bianca's eyes went wide and he felt Kendall go rigid in his arms. Kendall pushed herself up and looked at Zach.
"What?"
Zach ran his hand over her hair. "Apparently Ryan called Maria after he left the condo the other day and, well… it would seem that they decided to get married so that Ryan could get the baby."
"I AM GOING TO KICK HER ASS!" Bianca screamed, throwing the court order across the room.
"Get in line" Kendall growled back at her.
"Ok, ok, ok. Everyone needs to take a breath." Zach looked over at Bianca. "How long ago was the messenger here?"
Bianca scrubbed her hands on her face and sighed. "He left about 2 minutes before you got here. I swear, Zach, she's only been awake for about 20 minutes. He must have been watching through the window, waiting for her to wake up. He just walked in… I guess we just thought he was going to be a doctor or something. He asked which one of us was Kendall Hart Slater and when Kendall volunteered herself, he served her with the papers. Didn't even stick around for questions, just dropped this in our lap and left!"
Zach nodded and turned back to Kendall. "Are you alright?"
"Well, I'm a little sore and really pissed off now, but yeah, otherwise, I'm fine."
"Ok then."
Kendall grabbed his face. "Zach, what the hell are we going to do?"
With that, there was a knock on the door. Julia stuck her head in. "I heard you were awake, so I thought I would bring the baby down." Bianca pulled the door open and Julia wheeled in the baby, who was sleeping peacefully. They were all silent as Julia picked him up and handed him to Kendall. "I'll be back in a little bit to see how things are going." She quickly left the room.
Zach, Bianca and Kendall just stared at the baby in her arms. She looked up at Zach with tears in her eyes. "He's not getting this child" she said resolutely.
"You bet your ass he's not. This ends now. I'm going to go call Jackson, see what he can do. Bianca, will you stay with her till I get back?"
"Of course."
"OK, I'm going to get hospital security to stand guard until I can get some guys from the casino over here. I just want to make sure that Ryan and/or Maria don't try to sneak in here or something." He dropped a kiss on her head and on the baby's head. "I'll be back soon." Zach shot out of the room, determined to fix this.
Tears streamed down Kendall's face as she looked up at Bianca. "I want this baby, Binks. I want him so much. Why… why are they trying to take him from me now?" Bianca had no answers, nothing that would help make her sister feel better. She just shook her head and sat down in the visitor's chair, watching Kendall and her nephew, vowing silently to make sure that they were happy and together.
TBC…
