Chapter 50

January 8, 2004 – Pine Valley, Pennsylvania

Kendall walked into Zach's apartment. There was a hospital bed set up in his living room. A rolling table was next to him, containing his laptop computer and his cell phone. There were also various other items within reach – the Wall Street Journal, a few books. Right now he was in the middle of his physical therapy session. His therapist made sure he got enough movement in his limbs to keep the blood flowing, but not too much to aggravate his injuries. "Hey, Bonnie! How's the patient doing?"

Bonnie, who looked like she belonged on the German wrestling team, gave Zach a stern look. "When I came in, I caught him out of bed retrieving a pen from the floor. His assistant was just in the other room – he could have easily called for her."

Zach was exasperated. "I wasn't going to drag her in here just to fetch a pen for me."

Kendall tapped her finger on the table. "Fine, then we'll make sure you have multiple pens."

Bonnie nodded and gave Kendall a speculative look. "I found out that you've been sleeping in Mr. Slater's bed at night. I don't think that is a good idea."

Kendall's jaw dropped. "That's none of your business."

Bonnie folded her arms. "I am his physical therapist. Any physical activity he does is my responsibility."

Kendall also folded her arms. "All we're doing is sleeping."

Bonnie snorted. "Mr. Slater is a virile man. So far he has obeyed doctor's orders, but the longer he is forced to refrain from sexual activity, the more tempted he will be to break the rules. Especially when you are lying in bed next to him, most likely snuggled up against him in a thin, skimpy nightgown."

"Bonnie!" Kendall was mortified, as it was completely true. Zach burst into laughter, and tried to cover it up by coughing.

Bonnie shrugged. "I am a plain-speaking woman, Ms. Hart. I have to be in my profession. All it would take is one round of vigorous lovemaking to give him a severe setback."

"Okay! Okay! Would you stop! I give in!" Kendall's face was flaming.

Zach folded his arms. "I'm not giving in. Kendall sleeps with me. I'm perfectly capable of handling any…temptation. Her presence at night is one of the few things keeping me from going stir crazy in this bed."

Kendall beamed. Bonnie looked unconvinced. Kendall waved her hands. "How about I promise to wear wool granny gowns from now on?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I will be back tomorrow."

As she left, Zach chuckled. "She always reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger when she says that." He narrowed his eyes at Kendall. "Were you careful coming into my apartment? No one saw you?"

Kendall shook her head. "Nope. And if someone sees me come in the building, I always have the excuse that I'm coming to see Jackson or Greenlee."

She came over and gave him a chaste peck on the cheek. Zach wasn't going to let her get away with that, and slipped his hand behind her neck, pulling her head down for a deep, wet, plundering kiss. When he finally let go of her, she glanced down at his track pants. "You're going to get me in trouble with Bonnie."

Zach grinned. "Yes, I want to see Bonnie punish you."

Kendall shook her head. "You're sick. You have too much idle time."

"Well, look what my idle time has produced." He tapped a few keys on his laptop, then pointed at the screen. "Write this down. I didn't want to e-mail it to you and leave a paper trail. She's a DNA specialist that has agreed to work with us in rigging the baby's DNA test."

Kendall stared at him. "I was just about to tell you that Alan Singer spoke to me today. He's demanding that a DNA test be done. How did you know?"

Zach shrugged. "After Ryan demanded one, I knew it was only a matter of time before Singer would want one, too. It's easy to blow off Ryan, but not a special prosecutor."

Kendall copied down the information. "Done. I'll be sure to swallow this piece of paper once I've memorized it." She smirked. "Now what are you going to do about the fact that this info is on your hard drive?"

Zach smiled wickedly. "The laptop is well-encrypted. It also has a fail-safe device. If the wrong person tries to get access to the files, a virus is released that erases everything and corrupts the hard drive. The data is regularly backed up to a remote server, so I'm not worried about losing anything."

Kendall raised an eyebrow. "Very sneaky. Oh, did you know that Jackson and Erica have been served as witnesses for the prosecution?"

Zach nodded. "So have I. I'm guessing Bianca, too."

Kendall's eyes widened. "Oh god! What if she remembers on the stand?"

Zach shook his head. "Unfortunately we have no control over that. There are drugs out there that can keep memories suppressed, but that is clearly not an option in this case."

Kendall shuddered. "So what else have you been up to today?"

Zach shrugged. "Ryan came over and we discussed a major purchase he wants to make that would require my approval."

Kendall narrowed her eyes. "Is it really a good idea to let him be in charge? You can do work from here. Not that I want you to bury yourself in work, but I guess I just don't trust Ryan."

Zach chuckled. "Why should I care what he does with the company? I never wanted it, still don't want it. If Ryan gets greedy and tries to find a way to usurp me, I'll be cheering him on."

"He is trying to usurp you by focusing on the grandchild codicil. He thinks he could control me and the baby."

Zach smirked. "Yeah, well, you're going to conveniently miscarry when the trial is over, so the whole thing is moot."

Kendall lifted her chin. "Hmmph. I just hate that he might be trying to lord it over you while you're on bedrest."

Zach laughed. "He does needle me whenever he comes over. But I simply remind him of why I'm here. He can't stand it that I saved Edmund and Maria's life."

There was a knock on the door. Their dinner had arrived. Kendall moved his laptop to a side table and unpacked their meal. Then she got in bed next to him and they ate. "I set up an appointment for Livia to come over and meet you."

Zach chewed thoughtfully. "Why?"

She pointed a fork at him. "Because you keep harassing me about the fact that I hired Derek Frye's sister to represent me. I figured if you met her and talked to her, it would set your mind at ease. It was either that or slap you silly the next time you brought it up."

Zach grinned wickedly. "The second option sounds good, depending on where it was that you slapped me."

Kendall gave him a stern look. "Get that idea out of your head. You want Bonnie to come in here? She probably has radar or something."

Zach asked her about Fusion, and she talked about her day. "I'm a little concerned about Greenlee. She seems increasingly cold to me. More than usual, anyway."

Zach shared with her the conversation he had with Greenlee at the lodge, and his concerns about what she's capable of. Kendall sighed. "What a brat. She needs to concentrate on her own life. Now that Juan Pablo is out of the picture, she and Ryan can go ride off into the sunset."

"From her point of view, she's only got his divided attention. You and the baby and your trial are also occupying his mind."

Kendall scoffed. "Okay, I know it's not realistic that he'll back off the baby thing – he's obsessed with Alexander's last wish. But is it too much to ask that he lay off about the trial? Aidan, too. They're driving me nuts. Boyd is really pissed off that Aidan is looking for Fred Lomax."

Zach cocked his head. "Wouldn't the preacher's testimony help your case?"

Kendall shook her head. "If he were a reliable witness, yes. But he isn't. The man is a can of Cheese Whiz in search of a cracker. Singer could probably pick him apart on the stand. I think Aidan's more concerned with finding Lomax before anyone else, and making sure he stays hidden from the cops."

Zach raised an eyebrow. "And you trust Aidan?"

She nodded. "Now that his auntie is no longer chief of police. Plus, like most of the rest of Pine Valley, he doesn't want me going to jail for doing the world a favor."

Kendall cleared up the remains of dinner. There was another knock on the door, and a gorgeous young woman came in. "Hi, Mr. Slater. I'm back from my dinner break." She noticed Kendall and smiled. "Hi. My name is Kelly. I'm Mr. Slater's nurse."

Kendall stared at her, then looked at Zach. "What happened to Victor? When did he turn into Victoria?"

Zach cocked his head. "Victor went to another assignment. He was specifically requested by another patient."

Kendall folded her arms. "Well, I'm going to specifically request him to come back." She turned to Kelly. "Thank you so much for coming down, but we're going to get Victor back. He was Zach's nurse for almost a week, and Zach needs consistency. I'm sure you understand." She escorted a bewildered Kelly to the door.

Turning to Zach, Kendall jerked her thumb behind her. "Where did they get that girl? Hefner's mansion? There's no way that chick was going to be giving you sponge baths."

Zach grinned his delight as Kendall got the number to the visiting nurse agency from his PDA. She dialed the number and asked to get Victor back. They refused, saying that his specialized skills were needed for another patient. "Well, then, if you're going to send over another nurse, I want another male. None available? Do you have any nurses named Bertha, with 12 grandchildren? Hello? Goddamn it, they hung up on me! We're getting another agency, that was completely unprofessional."

Kendall went into his office to get the telephone book. When she came out she asked, "What are all those boxes in there? Did you decide to have some work sent over after all?"

Zach cleared his throat. "Those are my father's personal files from the Cambias mansion. I had them sent over so I could look through them. I figured this was the perfect time, when I've got nothing else better to do." Zach didn't think it was worth telling her that his dream from a week ago had left him uneasy. He wasn't sure if there was anything to be found, but he knew he had to make sure.