Disclaimers in chapter 1
Bianca kept glancing over at Zach and Will as she wound her way through Pine Valley from the airport to their house. Zach hadn't taken his eyes off of Will since she handed him over in Greenlee's office. The cops at the scene, along with Martin, all stated for the record that Zach had acted in defense of Bianca and Will, so the DA let him leave town without much of a problem. Bianca could tell that Zach was getting tired – she was sure he didn't sleep much last night. When she offered to take Will on the plane, he merely just shook his head and stretched out on one of the couches with him. Zach held him while he ate and let him curl up on his lap to fall asleep.
The police waved Bianca through the barricade separating the press from the house and she could tell Zach was getting tense as they rounded the corner and the house came into view. As Bianca pulled into the driveway, Jackson threw open the front door and stood there, smiling at them. Bianca killed the ignition and pulled the key out. "You ready?" she asked. He nodded and opened the door with his free hand.
They were halfway up the front walk when Zach froze. Bianca took a few steps and realized she was walking alone. She looked back at him. "Zach?"
"I… I can't. Take Will into Kendall. I… I need to go."
Bianca walked back to him. "Zach…"
He closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, they were bright with fear and hurt. "Bianca, the last thing I want to do is let this little guy out of my arms but… I just need to go. Please."
She understood. She knew he was hurt – hearing Ryan reiterate what Kendall had said to him earlier hurt him more than she realized. She nodded and took Will from Zach. He turned to walk away when she called out for him. He turned back to see her holding the keys out to him. "Take my rental. I'll have Uncle Jack or Mom bring me to the casino tomorrow to get it." Zach nodded and grabbed the keys from her. She smiled and turned back to head into the house. Zach watched until she disappeared inside with Jackson before he headed back to the car. He opened the door, but slammed it back, cursing under his breath and leaned against the car, putting his head down on the roof in his arms.
"Look who's here" Bianca said, rounding the corner into the kitchen. Kendall shot out of her chair and grabbed Will from her sister.
"Oh my god. Will. Oh my god" she cried over and over again, hugging Will as tightly as she could. Will wrapped his arms around her neck. "Mom!" he cried loudly, laughing. Kendall pulled back and laughed through her tears at the goofy smile her son was giving her. "God, Binks… he's… he's fine."
Bianca just nodded. "Yeah, seems Ryan did take care of him for the most part. He was starving on the plane so me and Za… we fed him and he ate like a champ and then he promptly fell asleep."
Kendall smiled at her sister and walked out of the kitchen. "Zach?" she said, expecting him to be sitting in the living room, waiting for her. Her smile faded when he wasn't there. Bianca came out of the kitchen and leaned against the entryway of the living. Kendall whirled around and looked at her sister.
"Where's Zach?"
Bianca sighed. "Kendall, he… well, it's just that… he said he had to go, that he couldn't stay."
Her eyes filled with tears immediately. "Because of…"
Bianca nodded. "Yeah. It didn't help that Ryan used the same exact words this morning when Zach was trying to talk to Ryan, but…"
Kendall walked over to the window and looked out. There, she saw her husband, hurt and dejected and feeling alone, leaning against Bianca's rental car with his head down. "DA!" Will cried, pointing out the window. Kendall looked down at her son. He looked up at her and all she saw was Zach's son. The smirk that she was convinced Will had displayed on his face, the twinkle in his eye, the way he was cocking his head, looking out the window. This child in her arms was Zach's and suddenly, she felt sick.
She watched as he pushed himself up off of the car and sigh before opening the door to get in the car. "Da?" Will asked, looking up at her. "Yeah" she responded, running from the window. Bianca was waiting for Kendall to hand Will off to her, and that she did before throwing open the front door and sprinting down the steps.
Zach sighed and pushed himself off the car, willing himself to get in and drive back to the casino when he heard "ZACH" from across the yard. He looked up to see Kendall running toward him and he thought she looked beautiful. He rounded the car as Kendall launched herself at him.
She couldn't get close enough to him. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and sighed as he wrapped one arm around her waist and threaded one through her hair. He pressed a light kiss on her temple as she cried on his shoulder and held her as tightly as he could while her tears fell.
When her tears subsided, she pulled her head off his shoulder. He loosened his grip on her waist and pulled his hand out of her hair, running it over the top of her head before dropping it to her hip.
She smiled up at him. "You saved our son." Zach closed his eyes when she said that. "Come inside. Myrtle is making food and Simone is mixing…"
"I can't" he said, opening his eyes and looking at her.
Her heart broke, but she knew it was her fault. "Zach, about the other night. I was such a fool. You have to know that I didn't mean anything I said. I needed to vent and you were there. They were just words and…"
"They weren't just words, Kendall, not to me."
"Zach, please. I'm so sorry."
"I know you are. I know you are being genuine now and I'm sure you didn't mean what you said, but the fact is that you said those words and broke my heart in the process." The tears started falling down her face again and he wiped them away.
"You don't love me anymore?" she whispered to him.
"I love you and that little guy inside more than anything else in this world. I would give up my life for the two of you. Don't ever question that, Kendall, ever. But… I just… I need some time."
Kendall nodded, knowing she needed to respect him. He kissed her forehead and wiped her tears away before letting her go. Kendall stayed frozen to her spot as Zach rounded the car. He opened the door and looked back up at her.
"I love you Mr. Slater" she yelled to him.
He smiled sadly at her. "I love you too, Mrs. Slater. You call me if you need anything – diapers, food, someone to talk to – I don't care what time it is." She nodded and the tears came faster as he got back in the car. He pulled out of the driveway and looked back at her one more time before driving off into the night.
Kendall felt a presence next to her and looked over to see Bianca and Will next to her. She took Will from Bianca and looked back to where Zach had been. "You want your daddy back, Will?" Kendall asked her son. "Daddy back!" he yelled. "Ok, then. Well, I've got some work to do." Bianca smiled at her sister and put her arm around her shoulder as they walked back into the house.
Zach was staring at the ceiling, laying in bed in the dark. He finally made himself try to sleep at 2 am, but he had laid here for 45 minutes, staring at the ceiling. He flipped over on his stomach to try to get comfortable when his cell phone buzzed. He grabbed it off the side table and flipped it open. "Slater."
"He's sleeping like nothing happened."
He propped his head up on his hand, staring out the window. "Kendall, it's late. What are you doing up?"
"Well, I had put him down in his room but… I just… so I moved him to our room about an hour ago and I've just been watching him sleep."
Zach sighed. "I did that on the plane. I wouldn't let him out of my arms the whole time."
"But he's fine, right?"
"Kendall, he's perfect. Now, you really need…" He could hear her quiet sobs on the other end of the line. "Kendall, please, don't…"
"Zach, I just wanted to say…"
"Kendall, not tonight. It's late and we are both exhausted. You really need to get some sleep since I'd imagine everyone in town is going to stop by to see him tomorrow."
"Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Going to stop by to see him tomorrow."
"I don't know – I've got some stuff to catch up on here and…"
"I could bring him to you and we could…"
"Not tomorrow, Kendall."
Kendall wiped her eyes and sighed. "Ok. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed. I just… I guess I just wanted to hear your voice before I fell asleep."
He flipped on his back and threw his arm over his eyes. "Get some sleep, Kendall and give Will a kiss for me. I'll talk to you soon."
"Ok, Zach, I… just… ok, good night."
"Night." He flipped the phone shut and dropped it back on the table. He flipped over on his side, away from the window and willed himself to fall asleep.
It had been four of the longest days of Zach's life – four days since he had left Will and Kendall at the house. Five days since she spit those words out at him. He knew he was driving everyone at the casino crazy, but he knew he had to throw himself into work to keep from running right over there, but he couldn't forget what she had said. He didn't want to leave his family, but he was hurt, so he knew he needed to stay away.
Beverly had brought Will by yesterday and the day before for lunch and he was waiting for them again when Tad showed up in his door.
"Well, as much as I hate to admit this, it appears that Ryan Lavery was completely off his rocker" Tad said, dropping into one of Zach's visitor chairs and holding out a file for him. Zach grabbed it and started to read.
"Hit the highlight for me, Tad."
"Well, I guess after he found out Greenlee was dating this Martin Edwards, he lost it. Started stalking her, calling her at all hours – at home, at the office, on her cell when she was out with Martin. He was living two blocks from her apartment – my source told me they found every news clipping about you and Kendall and Will and when Greenlee started her job, her first public appearance with the up and coming ADA, etc, etc, etc. He had been planning this for some time. I talked with a girl in North Carolina who knew him from before he went to Savannah and then after he took Will. She said it was like night and day – before he was just a sad man but after, she said that he seemed like a man possessed – that all he talked about was his "family" and "regaining what was rightfully his"."
"He did this alone?"
"Seems like it. I talked to Erin two days ago and she said that neither she nor Jonathan had heard from Ryan since he left Pine Valley."
Zach closed the file and set it down on his desk. "Well, I guess that's it then."
"What?" Zach and Tad both turned their attention to Kendall, standing in the door with Will on her hip. Tad turned back to Zach and waited for him to answer.
"Tad was looking into Ryan for me, just to make sure that… well, it seems he did this by himself and that he didn't tell anyone what he was planning."
"Oh." She looked at Tad. "Thanks. That puts my mind at ease."
"My pleasure" Tad said, pushing himself out of his chair and walking over to Kendall. "Glad to see his picture perfect" he said, rubbing the top of Will's head. He shot a glance back over to Zach. "If you need anything else, just call."
"I will" Zach responded, looking down at his desk, at Tad, out the window, anywhere but at Kendall. Tad smiled at Kendall and quickly made his exit.
"Can I…"
"Oh, yeah, sorry. Come on in" Zach said, coming around his desk to help Kendall. He took her bag and set it down on the couch. He ran his hand through his hair and turned back toward her. "What are… I mean, I was expecting Beverly to…"
"Oh, yeah. She needed to run to campus for something, so I said that I would bring him and she is going to pick him up when she's done. Is this… I mean… God, this is awkward, isn't it?" she said, laughing nervously.
He sighed and smiled at her. "Sit." She returned his smile and sat on the couch and he pulled a chair up next to the couch.
"DAD!" Will screamed, holding his arms out to Zach. Zach took him from Kendall and Will made himself comfortable in Zach's lap. "Hungry" Will said, making both of them laugh.
"I assume you want chicken fingers and fries."
"YEAH!" he said, smiling widely. Zach smiled back and Kendall just watched, noticing how their smiles resembled each other. Zach got out of the chair and walked over to the phone before looking back at her. "Do you want to join us?"
Kendall shot up off the couch and smoothed her dress out. "Oh, no, I really need to…"
"Oh, ok then." She could see the disappointment in his eyes as he turned away from her and ordered their lunch. She started to head out. She reached the door and whirled back around just as Zach hung up the phone.
"Kendall, are you sure that you don't want…"
"Will you come over for dinner tonight?" She said it really fast, fearing she would lose her nerve if she didn't. She watched him as the question washed over him and a wisp of a smile appeared on his face.
"What?"
She sighed and leaned against the door. "You're going to make me repeat it, aren't you?"
Zach just smirked and nodded. "Fine. I was thinking that you could come over for dinner tonight – just me and you and Will and we could…"
"I would love to" he said, quickly, loving the smile that instantly appeared on her face.
"Well, ok then. So, like 6 or so?"
"I'll be there." They stood there, smiling at each other like they were teenagers that had just arranged for their first date. It was the buzzing of Kendall's cell phone that snapped them both out of their trance. She grabbed it out of her purse. Zach just stood there, watching her lips moved while she talked, the way she gently held the phone to her ear, the way she shifted her weight from one leg to the other – he found her completely irresistible and unbelievably sexy in that moment and for the first time in almost a week, he felt like his heart was starting to mend itself.
"Zach?"
"Oh what… yeah… what?"
Kendall just smirked at him. "I said Beverly will be here in about an hour. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, it's fine. He's got some new toys to try out anyway."
"TOYS!" Will exclaimed as he started to look around the room.
"Well, I better…" Kendall quickly moved as their lunch was being pushed into the room. "OK, well… bye Will. Have fun!"
"Bye mom!" he said, waving at her as Zach pulled out the high chair to put him in. She watched as Zach put him in the chair, noticing the ease and grace he had moving around the room with a child on his hip and she knew she had to fix this tonight. "I'll see you at 6?" she asked again.
He looked at her from across the room and smiled. "On the dot." She smiled on last time and headed for the elevator. As she stepped into the elevator, she smiled to herself. She was starting to feel whole again for the first time in almost a week.
TBC….