Author's Note: So it's been way too long since I last updated this story. Life has been hectic and I've had some writer's block major. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.
After Zack left his and Tanya's house, he stopped for coffee and then parked his car, pulling out his phone; he dialed a number he knew by heart, Kim's. "Come on pinkie, pick up the phone," he mumbled under his breath as he listened the rings. Gotta figure out a way to fix this, Kim and Aisha are probably the only two who can do this, he thought to himself.
"Zack! I haven't talked to you in forever," Kim said excitedly as she answered the phone, "what's going on?" she asked, and you could practically hear her bouncing on the other end.
Zack sighed, "We've got a problem, can you three-way Aisha, I need both of you for this one," he asked; then waited as Kim got Aisha on the other line. "You both there," he asked after a few minutes.
"Yah, we're here," they said in sync, causing Zack to laugh, despite everything that was going on. "What's going on Zack? You sound like something is seriously wrong," Kim noted, hearing the distress evident even in his laughter.
Zack quickly detailed what was going on, from the disagreement at the picnic, to Kat's withdrawal and decision to move, and Adam finding out what Tanya had said. "So, that's the situation." He sighed, you guys have never let us down before, don't start now, he thought worriedly.
"What?!? How, I mean… she's… they love each other!" Kim exclaimed after taking in everything that Zack had told her. "She can't leave; it'll break Adam and Anaya's heart, not to mention her own heart as well."
"How could Tanya say something like that to her? Out of all of us, she's been close with Kat the longest! Nobody called her out for dumping Adam for you, even thou we were pissed at her for hurting him," Aisha remarked, aggravation evident in her voice.
"This is kinda different Sha, you can't really compare the two situations," Zack replied, knowing that Aisha still had some anger towards Tanya on behalf of her best friend.
"Sure I can," Aisha started.
"No, you and Zack can work this shit out after we've fixed the current situation," Kim interrupted. "Now, we have to have two plans, one, to stop her from even leaving, which should be the most important plan. I'll call her tonight, and see if I can't get the story out of her and convince her she's making the biggest mistake of her life by leaving Adam and Anaya. But, we need a back-up," she replied, a thoughtful tone to her voice. She was definitely grinding her gears to think of something to save Adam and Kat's relationship.
"Okay, so back-up plan, it's not like we can go to England and drag her back here," Zack replied, sighing in frustration.
"No…" Aisha said suddenly, "but maybe we can stop her from getting to England," she pondered thoughtfully.
"Isn't that the first plan," Zack asked, a little confused at what Aisha was getting at.
"I get it!" Kim exclaimed. "She can't fly Cali to London non-stop. She'll have to have a layover, probably in New York, if she leaves Angel Grove, we still have a chance to stop her in New York, and get her to turn around and go home." She giggled, "Sha! That's brilliant!"
"You think it'll work, I mean, if she's already made up her mind to leave getting on that plane, why would she change it when she's halfway there?" Zack asked, clearly confused and thinking that the back-up plan didn't stand a chance at working.
"It might even work better than Kim's plan," Aisha countered. "She'll have that entire plane ride to think about what she's done, how much it's hurt, and if we're there to meet her in New York, I think it'll be easy to convince her to go back to Adam and Anaya. Even if she did change her mind, I think without some goading, she wouldn't be able to face going back after leaving. She'd probably think Adam hated her."
Kim sighed, "Yeah, even if she did realize she made a horrible mistake, she'd be too worried that Adam wouldn't forgive her to even try to go back," she agreed. "I think that's a great plan, why don't I book a flight up to your place, and after I talk to Kat, I can fly up there just in case it doesn't work."
Zack listened to the girls make their plans, "I'm really glad you guys worked things out, I didn't know what to do, which is why I called you two, you guys can do anything," he said with a chuckle, and a sigh of relief. "I'll let you guys go, I'm sure Adam's done ripping into Tanya by now."
"Wait! I think you and Sha have issues you two need to work out, work them out, I got to call our favorite kitty cat and have a chat, hopefully I won't have to bring out the claws," Kim said, quickly hanging up before they could argue.
"So…" Zack said, listening to the awkward silence between them.
"So…" Aisha said softly, trying to figure out how she wanted to say what had been on her mind for the last 6 years.
"Look Aisha…"
"How could you do that to Adam?" Aisha interrupted. "How could you just steal Tanya from him like that?" She exclaimed, it just popping out before she had time to rethink her wording.
"What?" Zack asked, shocked by her outburst. "Steal her?" He was confused, "I didn't do it to Adam, Aisha. I didn't even know that the Adam Tanya was talking about was our Adam. I didn't know Tanya was a ranger, she didn't know I was a ranger, and I didn't know that the Adam she was rethinking her thoughts on was somebody I considered a good friend," he said honestly. "I felt bad when I realized who he was; I almost broke things off with Tanya. I felt like I was betraying him."
"Oh," Aisha said quietly, that single syllable speaking volumes. "I didn't know that," she said softly.
"Is that why things have been awkward between you and me, and you and Tanya for so long?" Zack asked curiously.
"Yeah," Aisha admitted. "I mean, you both are great friends, and when Tanya broke it off with Adam, and for you, I didn't know what to think. I didn't say anything to Adam about it, because he just wasn't ready to hear it, and by the time he was, well he had Anaya, and it just didn't seem important anymore," Aisha replied.
"I'm glad you finally talked to me about it, because Tan and I both noticed it, and Tanya was wondering what was going on with you," Zack said honestly. "At least you know now we were both above board and it wasn't an intentional slight."
"Yeah," Aisha said, sounding quite relieved. "I'm gonna go, and wait for Kim's call to me. Tell Tanya I said hi, and I'll call her soon, and I'll probably come out for a visit again soon so I can see you guys."
"Alright, take care Aisha, talk to you later," he said getting ready to hang up, "oh! Let me know how it goes with Kat alright? Tan and I are both concerned," he said before saying his goodbyes and hanging up.
"Now," he said as he started up his car, "to head home and see if Adam left me anything of my girlfriend." Zack pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home, deep down thinking that things would work out okay, for all of them.
