Chapter Nineteen: Fight For Her Right

Zack walked into the street side restaurant and looked around. He didn't have to look long before he saw Ian sitting at a nearby table, arms folded as he turned his head, looking out the window. Zack took in a deep breath, puffing up his chest as he did so, working to steady himself. His hands shook and hadn't stopped shaking since he'd left The Manning household. Riley insisted that he didn't stay for the police questioning.

"If they want to talk to you, they'll find you anyway," she said with a wave of her hand. "I don't want you to sit through all of it. It's boring." She then shrugged and added, "It's not like they'll believe me anyway."

Zack pressed his lips together but agreed to leave. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before leaving the house. For a little while he didn't know where he was going. Just wandered around aimlessly, trying to figure things out. Trying to figure out what to do…if there was anything else for him to do. Riley said she'd tell the police the truth and he trusted her but…

He couldn't just sit back and wait for things to happen, could he? Zack lowered his chin, eyes squinting when an image of her had appeared in his head. Of the swelling that'd started to appear around her eye. That'd slowly started to change colors the longer he'd talked with her.

It sent a lightning bolt of rage through his stomach. Making him clench his hands together so hard that his fingernails pierced the skin of his palm. He'd already felt nothing short of disgust when he found out what'd been happening with Robert, when he was still around. No, he hadn't quite understood it then. He didn't get why anyone who was a parent could hurt their child so much.

Sure, there were things he ended up resenting abut his own mother and his life. Moving so much, not being able to have any close friends, not able to have any of the things that other kids his age had. Being left with his grandparents for so long…all things that he understood now, but there were still things that, if he stopped to think about it long enough, continued to make him angry.

But he would've never thought his mother would have smacked him and Cody around. Would've yelled and yelled at them, blame everything that went wrong on them. Hurt them in ways that he could never imagine. His life was good, happy.

Riley's life was good and happy since Robert had left. Things were getting better, and now that Ian was back in her life…

Zack took in another deep breath, ignored the hostess ask him, again, if he had a reservation or if he was waiting to come in, and walked directly toward Ian's table. He dropped into the seat across from the young man and glared. Ian didn't look at him, staring directly out the window, but his eyebrows twitched upwards.

"You know I've been watching out this whole time, yeah?" Ian remarked. He nodded toward the window. "If you were trying to surprise me, you need to do a better job at it." He leaned back, finally looking at Zack. "You know how windows work, don't you?"

"I don't know how you managed to see me, considering your reflection is probably a lot more interesting," Zack remarked.

Ian chuckled. "Are you sure you're into girls?"

Zack rolled his eyes. "I meant it's probably more interesting to you. All you care about is what happens to you, not to anyone else."

"How d'you figure that, mate?"

Ian reached over and grabbed the glass of water that sat on the corner of the table. Nonchalantly, he took a long sip as Zack blurted out what he'd wanted to ask, demand, the second he saw Ian. "You hit her?"

Ian lifted an eyebrow, looking at Zack from the rim of his glass. He took his time putting the glass down, licking his lips after he swallowed. Then spoke with a completely deadpan, "I what?"

"You hit her," Zack replied. He clenched his hands tightly in his lap, working to keep himself from striking him so soon. He wasn't afraid of the consequences of that, how many times had he been brought back to his mom with a pinch to the ear, saying he'd been bullying people? Enough that he was embarrassed by that part of his past if he thought about it too long. "She told me."

"And does she tell you she loves you, too?" Ian shot back. He snorted. "You know she lies, right?"

"So do I," Zack replied with massive amounts of 'duh'. "I can't remember any time in the last three years that I haven't lied about something." He scratched at the back of his head. "Oh, I got a doozy about a lie that I'm pretty sure Mr. Moseby hasn't found out yet." He grinned to himself for a moment, then turned a glare back to Ian. "I lie about a lot of things, and I know she lies about some stuff, but not about this." Zack shook his head. "Not about something this important. She wouldn't lie."

"Right, she was completely honest about that boofhead who was smacking them all around." Ian rested his chin in his hand, watching Zack as if were bored. "Talk about an open secret."

"If everyone knew, then why didn't anyone help them?"

"Because no one cared?" Ian phrased it as a question. He locked eyes with Zack and shook his head. "I hate to break it to you, but people like to mind their own business." His face darkened. "Just like you should do."

"You hit her!" Zack repeated thought clenched teeth.

Ian shrugged; raised and lowered his right shoulder in a way that Zack knew was meant to be mocking a move that seemed to be hers and her family's staple. "It's not like she hasn't been hit before."

At once, Zack's eyebrows rose. A smirk came to his face. It couldn't have been that easy for him to get a confession. "So, you admit it?"

"I didn't admit anything. I just made a point, it's not like she hasn't been hit before. She can handle herself." Ian leaned toward Zack. "Look, I get it, you want to protect her. You love her, blah, blah, blah. But you're not going to be the one to do it." Ian waved his hand. "Because you're a loser. And there's nothing you can do."

Zack's entire face twitched. It wasn't that he hadn't heard it before. Cody called him a loser a few times. Max called him a loser a lot of times, especially when they were continuously fighting with each other and couldn't let the other win. Competitiveness was something that'd easily brought them together and kept them together in working to find something to do. There were even some girls that he'd dated that'd called him a loser, when they found out that he may not have been quite on the up and up with how many girls he was seeing at once.

But this was different; Ian's calling him a loser meant a lot of things. Mostly being that he knew he was going to get the upper hand, no matter what. That he knew something Zack didn't. And it was that realization that allowed Zack to finally unleash the frustration he'd been feeling since Ian had arrived.

Reaching out, Zack grabbed Ian by the collar of his shirt and hefted him over the table. Ian reached up his hands and grabbed onto Zack's wrists, in equal measure. He pressed his thumbs into the area between the base of his thumb and the bone of his wrist.

Pain shot through Zack's hands and, for a second, his grasp on Ian's shirt slackened. He leaned back and twisted at the same time, trying to bring himself back from Zack's grasp. The sudden change in weight distribution knocked the two out of the booth and onto the hard floor, with Zack landing on top of Ian. He brought back his fist, aiming a punch to his face, but Ian flicked his head to the side and Zack punched the ground below him.

He cried out in pain, feeling his knuckles all jam at once, the pain radiating up his arm. All at once, he felt a pair of hands under his arms and dragged him backwards off Ian, who was hefted to his feet as well from a nearby customer. Once he was on his feet, Zack shook back and forth, ripping himself away from the hands hat were holding him up.

Ian brushed off the hands that tried to help him, brushing his hair back from his face. "Stay away from her," Zack growled, moving closer to him, only to be pulled back by the elbow.

Ian held up his hands defensively. "Whatever you say, Zack."

Roughly, Zack pulled himself from the grasp behind him and pushed his way through the crowd that'd gathered and left the restaurant. He walked back to the Tipton, already knowing his mom would probably be getting a call. Knowing it was going to spread through school like all the other rumors that'd been said about him. That he was probably going to receive an angry phone call from, not just Riley (for trying to go after Ian himself) but also from Rhuben (from fighting in her place of work).

Nevertheless, he went to the Tipton, guilt-free.

But, it wasn't until much later that Zack realized that Ian hadn't tried very hard to not be found.

A/N: The thing I dislike the most that I did with this story is how much I sidelined so many other characters. Now, it's a double-edged sword, if I had everyone in it like I originally intended, it would've been very hard to keep everyone in at a large capacity and have the story continuously move forward at a fast pace. But, on the other hand, it keeps me from showing their reactions to everything in the way I'd like. *Sigh* Such is the life of a writer.

Hope you enjoyed!

Cheers,

-Riles