Disclaimer: see chapter 1
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Zach caught up to her outside the Valley Inn. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, letting her cry her heart out. He seethed with anger that Erica had the audacity to invite Ryan to dinner without thinking, without asking Bianca or Jackson. She was holding on to him like he was the only thing anchoring her to the ground and it broke his heart. All she wanted was her family to accept her for who she is, but that didn't seem to be in the cards for her and he hated that.

"I want to go home" she sobbed into his ear. He held onto her tightly with one arm as he dug the valet slip out of his pocket. He nodded the young man over and handed him the slip. His car was quickly returned and Zach swept Kendall up in his arms and carried her to the car. He strapped her in and started around the car, glancing through the glass doors one last time. He saw Erica running toward them and the anger and hate he felt toward that woman right now as almost too much for him to bear. He jogged around the car and slammed his door as Erica screamed Kendall's name. He peeled out of the parking lot before Erica had a chance to get to the car.

Zach was washing dishes when he heard a knock on the door. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Bianca through the window. He dried his hands on a dish towel and opened the door. Bianca smiled sadly at him and walked in, collapsing onto his couch.

"I tried Kendall's first but…"

"Yeah, the phone was ringing when we opened the door and… well, she couldn't take it and neither could I, so we came over here."

They hadn't even bothered to answer the constantly ringing phone that evening. He took one look at her and knew staying at her condo was not an option, not right now. He pushed her into her bedroom and told her to grab some clothes and stuff for a bath and they could come back over later in the night to get anything else she wanted, once the phone stopped ringing. He closed all the blinds in her windows as she packed. He pulled the door closed behind them and entered his condo. Kendall went to take a shower while Zach ordered food. He then called Edie and asked her to send someone to the store for supplies since he had nothing in his condo. He went to check on Kendall and found her curled up on top of the covers, asleep. He smiled down at her and pulled the covers up around her. He dropped a light kiss on her forehead and pulled the door closed.

"You want something to drink?" he asked Bianca, pulling a bottle of water of the fridge for himself. Bianca shook her head and he sat down in the chair, leaning his head back, finally trying to relax.

"Is Kendall asleep?"

Zach opened his eyes and looked at Bianca and saw the concern on her face. "Yeah, she crashed when we got back here. She took a shower and immediately fell asleep. She hasn't even eaten tonight."

"How is she?"

"Upset, understandably. Hurt, angry, having a desire to kill Lavery with her bare hands and I'm about to give into her on that one."

Bianca sat straight up and looked him square in the eye. "Zach, you have to believe that neither Uncle Jack nor I knew that mom had invited Ryan tonight. We never would have…"

"Bianca, I know and more importantly, Kendall knows. She's not mad at you and she's not mad at Jackson. Your mother…"

"Zach, mom didn't know… I mean, she didn't know about that afternoon after the hearing. I had to tell her tonight, after you two ran out. She started questioning everyone about Kendall's line about Ryan trying to hit her again. I thought Uncle Jack was going to take him out right there when he heard about Ryan raising his hand to Kendall. Ryan kept trying to back peddle, kept trying to convince us that it was all a misunderstanding, but it wasn't. Mom really wanted to believe him, I could tell, but I told her that everything I saw that afternoon. Zach, she laid into Ryan right there in the middle of the Valley Inn. I don't know if he will be able to show his face around town much for the next few days. But, Zach, she didn't know and now that she does..."

"She wants to make amends?" Bianca and Zach's heads shot up at the sound of Kendall's voice. She was leaning against the wall and Zach was next to her in an instant.

"Are you alright?" he asked, cradling her face in his hands. She smiled up at him and nodded. "I'm fine, I just got hungry." He let out the breath he had been holding and kissed her lightly on the lips. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her over to the couch. She sat down and headed into the kitchen.

"What would you like? There's the Chinese I ordered for you earlier or I could make you a turkey sandwich or bake some chicken or…" He looked over and laughed at the looks that the Kane sisters were giving him.

"What? I called Edie earlier and she went to the store for me since I had little food…"

"You mean no food" Kendall retorted.

Zach just waved his hand at her. "Whatever. Anyway, the point is that now, there is food, so tell me what you want."

"I want the Chinese" Kendall said.

"I'll take a turkey sandwich" Bianca said. Zach just smiled at the women and started to make food, giving them a chance to talk.

Bianca turned back toward her sister and grabbed her hands. "Kendall, you have to believe that Uncle Jack and I had no idea that mom called Ryan and told him to come tonight."

Kendall smiled warmly at her sister. "Bianca, I know. I never thought for a moment that you would have…" Kendall couldn't even get the words out, but Bianca knew what she meant. She pulled Kendall in for a hug.

After a moment, they separated, tears in both of their eyes. "Kendall, mom…"

Kendall held up her hand. "Bianca, I need to say my peace in reference to our mother. She may not have known the can of worms she was opening early by putting me and Ryan together, but she still did it, even though I have tried and tried and tried to get through to her. Yeah, so she didn't know about Ryan. So she's going to stop pushing us together for now, but that doesn't mean that she's going to automatically warm to Zach. She's never going to do that, not even for me or for you, no matter how many times we ask. If she can't do that, Binks, then I can't be around her, I just can't. Zach is the most important thing in my life right now and if she can't accept him, me and us, then I can't be a part of her life. You understand that, right, Binks?"

Bianca just nodded, understanding where her sister was coming from. Their mother was less than supportive, to say the least, when they did things she completely disapproved of and were with people that she felt were beneath them. "I do, Kendall. It just hurts knowing that the family is falling apart because of the legendary Erica Kane stubbornness."

Kendall wiped the tears off her face. "I wish you were still here, Binks. It's hard with you half a world away. I want you back."

Bianca smiled through her tears. "Well, I may just have to come back. It's getting expensive flying back and forth, and that's saying a lot considering I've got half the Cambias fortune at my disposal."

That made Kendall laugh out loud and smiled brightly. Bianca hugged her sister again. "But I'm here for you Kendall. I'll be here if you need me to be. You can call me anytime and I'll answer. I'm not going to leave you, even if I'm not in town." The two sisters shared a hug and lots of tears. Zach watched the scene from across the room and felt the strings on his heart pull. He gave them a moment before clearing his throat, making his way back over to the two of them with a tray full of food and drinks.

Life went on for Zach and Kendall and the rest of Pine Valley. Fusion's new line was a hit and sent the company into a brand new stratosphere. Kendall, Babe and Simone were the new it girls across the country and Fusion products were in high demand. The casino flourished and quickly became the place to see and be seen for everyone on the east coast.

The week after the blow out at the Valley Inn, Zach sicced his lawyers on Ryan and the parental rights form Livia had prepared. After Ryan's attack on Kendall that fateful afternoon and with Zach and Bianca's testimony, the agreement was struck down, leaving Kendall with sole rights to the unborn baby. Knowing that Ryan had no rights to this child set both their minds at ease. Ryan did his best to fight his way through in court, but even with the best of the Cambias lawyers behind him, the testimony from Bianca and Zach had severely damaged his credibility and the judge felt that he could be a danger to this child and immediately severed his rights.

It was a night like any other. It was a warm night at the end of May and both were sleeping soundly until Kendall moaned and shot up in bed, awaking quickly. She looked down at her large belly and smiled. She reached over and shook Zach.

"Sorry, I don't have time right now" he mumbled in his sleep.

"Zach, wake up" she yelled at him. His eyes shot open and he looked up at her. He pushed himself up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

"Kendall? What's going on? Are you alright?"

"Well, I'm fine right now, but I'd imagine I'm going to be in some hellish pain in about 3 hours or so." Zach just stared at her. "Zach, my water broke." Again, he just stared. "Zach, water broke, baby coming, any of this…" His eyes went wide and he shot out of bed, looking around.

"Kendall, are you sure? I mean…"

Kendall got out of bed and walked around to him, putting her hand on his arm. "Zach, I'm sure, but please, don't freak out, not yet anyway. Just get changed and grab my bag out of the closet. We need to head to PVH now."

Zach just marveled at how calm Kendall was being as she moved around the room, changing her clothes. "How are you so calm?"

She just smiled at him. "Yeah, remember you asked me that when I'm screaming cuss words at you in delivery."

He just laughed and they gather their things and quickly headed out. It was late morning before Jeremy William Slater made his appearance in the world. It seemed that all of Pine Valley turned out to visit the newest member of the Slater family. Bianca had been Zach's first call as they drove to the hospital and she was the first one to greet the baby. She called everyone she could think of when Greg Madden came to let her know that the baby had been born and everything had gone fine. Soon, half the town was waiting to visit the new parents. Most brought flowers and balloons and a courier delivered a large blue teddy bear, no name attached. Zach and Jackson shared a look, knowing that the bear had come from the one person who knew she had to stay away.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon three months later. It was the first down weekend Kendall and Zach had since the baby was born. Marian found them the perfect house not too long after Jeremy was born and they spent all their free time making sure it was decorated and finished to their specifications before they moved him. Marian quickly found buyers for both condos and soon they were moved into their new home.

Zach came into the bedroom with the baby in his arms as Kendall came out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel.

"So, Jeremy and I were talking…"

"Were you now?" she said, laughing at the idea.

"Yes, we were, and Jeremy feels that we should get out and enjoy the afternoon. His request was to go to the pumpkin festival outside of town, but I said we should just go to the zoo, so we decided to let you decide." Kendall looked over at her two men, waiting for her to make a decision. She couldn't help but smile. Zach took to fatherhood like he had been doing this forever. He spent a lot of time talking to Jeremy about everything from the Red Wings to the third quarter casino profits.

"Well, since I'm still kind of creeped out by your obsession with the zoo…"

"HEY!" he yelled from across the room.

"… and the pumpkin festival is going to be over in a few weeks, I think I'll have to side with Jeremy on this one."

"Figures" he said to the baby. "You know, kiddo, there was a time when your mother used to side with me. Ah, the good ol' days!" Kendall laughed and threw her towel at him as he headed out of the bedroom.

They were currently showing Jeremy the animals in the petting zoo when they heard "Kendall" from behind them. Kendall immediately stiffened and turned to see her mother and Jackson standing behind her. She looked over at Zach, who was adjusting Jeremy in his arms and staring at Erica. He looked over at Kendall and shrugged. Kendall closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to decide what to do. Zach nudged her shoulder and she took a couple of steps toward Erica.

"Jackson, Erica. How are you?"

Jackson gave Kendall a kiss on the cheek. "You look good, Kendall. You don't even look like you just had a baby." He walked over to Zach and looked at Jeremy, giving Erica and Kendall some space.

"How are you mother?" she asked curtly.

"I'm doing fine. How are you?"

"We're fine, mother, doing great." They just stood there, staring at each other. Zach and Jackson shared a quick look, trying to assess the situation.

Erica took another step toward her daughter. "Kendall, I just wanted to let you know that I feel absolutely horrible about what happened all those months ago. If I had known, I would have never, ever…"

"I know, mother. And it's fine. Everything is good now, so…"

"I just…" Erica stopped and looked down, trying to gather her thoughts. "Kendall, you have to know that all I want is for you to be happy. It's all I've ever wanted."

"Well, mother, I am happy. I've got a great life these days. I've got a loving and doting husband, a beautiful son, a successful business and a loving marriage. I'm happy."

"Then I'm satisfied." Kendall eyed her mother, trying to figure out if she was being sincere or not."

"Kendall, I was thinking that… well, that maybe I could come over and visit sometime, see the new house, get to know my grandson. Would that be alright?"

"So, you want to come to my house, the house I share with Zach Slater, and visit?" Kendall was still skeptical, unsure if her mother meant the words coming out of her mouth.

"Kendall, I would be honored." Kendall could see the regret and hope mixed together on her face and she knew that her mother was finally going to really try to let her live her life.

Kendall sighed and smiled at Erica. "That would be great, mother. Anytime."

"Good" Erica said. She started to turn on her heel and walk away when Kendall reached out and stopped her. "But, if you and Jackson want, we were about to go get some food and Jeremy needs to eat, so if you two want to join us for lunch."

"That would be nice" Erica said, smiling from behind her tears. They looked over at Jackson and Zach, who both nodded. As they headed toward the cars, Zach caught his wife's eye. Jackson took the stroller from her and pushed it along. Zach grabbed his wife's hand and pulled her into him, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He could feel that the ice was beginning to thaw between Kendall and Erica. Kendall may never fully trust her mother again, but at least they were going to try, and that's all that really mattered.

THE END