Good news, everyone! Once I mentioned that I was stuck and didn't know how long it would take me to get out of my funck, something just sort of snapped within me and I was able to take off again. I've since finished the story. The bad news, there's only one chapter after this one. But don't worry... I've got others up my sleeve. It's just a matter of deciding which I'm going to do next and getting a good start on it. That being said, I hope you enjoy the rest of this one. Oh, yeah... I still don't own any of it!

Chapter 5

"Zac, can we talk?" Stella tentatively asked her soon to be brother-in-law.

Zac eyed Stella suspiciously, wondering what her hidden agenda was. He sneaked a look at Vanessa who was still standing behind her sister. When she gave him a slight nod letting him know that all was okay, he moved to the desk and pulled the chair out, sitting down in it backwards, draping his arms over the back. Stella went to sit across from him on the foot of the bed and lowered her eyes to study the comforter instead of looking directly at him. Vanessa moved to stand behind Zac, resting her hand on his back and slowly began running it up and down in encouragement. Noticing how strangely odd it felt and not understanding why, she then went to sit on the bed behind her sister. Not quite comfortable there, either, she made her way back over to the window seat and took residence there. The three sat in an uncomfortable silence until Zac finally spoke up first.

"You wanted to talk?"

"Um, yeah, I did. I mean, I do. I wanted to apologize about earlier and try to explain about why I did what I did," she said, as she began absentmindedly fingering the pattern on her comforter.

"Okay," Zac told her. "I'm listening."

"Well, I've been kind of jealous or something lately."

"Kind of?" he interrupted.

"Zac…" Vanessa warned.

"Sorry. Go on, Stellz."

"Well, like I said I've been kind of jealous. I love you so much. You're practically already my big brother and now- well, soon- you really will be. Please don't think that has anything to do with all this. Well, I mean, I guess it does, but-"

"Stella? Stella, calm down, it's just me. You don't have to be nervous talking to me. You know that."

"I know, but-"

"Why don't you just take a deep breath and try it again?" Zac encouraged her. Stella followed his advice and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before trying again.

"Okay. Zac, I love that you've been a part of my life. And I love that you're about to become an even bigger part of my life. I just started freaking out thinking about the future. I've heard stories from friends who have siblings that got married and they just keep talking about how everything has changed. They keep telling stories about stuff that they used to do with their older siblings and how they all of a sudden don't have time for any of the fun stuff that they used to do anymore because they're always with their new husband or wife. I guess I just got scared that that would happen." While listening to her sister open up to Zac, Vanessa felt her eyes begin to water once again.

"Stella, look at me," Zac gently encouraged the youngest Hudgens. When she slowly lifted her brown eyes to meet his blue, he saw true fear in them. "Stella, I won't lie. I've never really wanted a sister. Dylan's been enough to handle. And then one day, I met Van and she introduced me to the most adorable, sweetest, most non-irritating younger sibling that I have ever met. You are probably the coolest little sister ever, and I'm so incredibly happy to almost be able to call you my sister-in-law. I love you as if you were my own sister and I want you to know that I never want to come between you and Van. If you ever need sister time, just say the word and I'll make sure it happens." He paused when he heard Stella sniffle. "However-" he started again.

"Oh, boy, here it comes. I knew the feel good moment wouldn't last," Stella said, rolling her eyes.

"However," he continued, ignoring her remark "your attitude today sucked. I hate to say it, but yeah, it did. Stella, what were you thinking today?"

"I guess I was trying to get caught," she admitted sheepishly.

"Why?" he questioned.

"Because I thought maybe then Mom and Dad would notice me."

"Why would Greg and Gina not notice you? It's just the three of you living here and it has been for well over two years now."

"But then add in all the notebooks of party and wedding stuff that Mom totes around everywhere and Dad trying to keep her sane and I'm automatically taken out of the equation. They've been concentrating so hard on you two lately, that I've basically just blended to the wood work. I figured that the only way to get their attention was to get caught doing stuff."

"So you brought a boy in the house when they weren't home?" When he saw her lower her eyes to study the comforter once again, he instantly felt like she was still hiding something. "Stellz?" he continued. "What aren't you telling me?"

Stella lifted her eyes and looked at Vanessa, who raised her eyebrows in warning. "Stella, if you don't tell him, I will."

Sighing, Stella spoke up again. "Zac, I um, I took something that belongs to you from Nessa's house."

"What are you talking about?" he questioned.

Stella stood from the bed and walked to her dresser. Picking up the bottle of rum that Vanessa had set there earlier, she slowly turned back around to face Zac once again. When she lifted the bottle slowly, he stood from his place at the desk and walked over to her, taking the bottle from her hands as she lowered her head in shame.

"When did you take this?" he asked, after studying the label.

"About three weeks ago. When we had that movie night at Nessa's. I went to the kitchen to get something to drink and saw it."

"Why did you take it?"

"I think you just answered that yourself. I did it to get noticed. You didn't even know it was gone, did you?" Sighing, Zac set the bottle down for the moment.

"Stella, I'm sorry you've felt neglected lately. If you ever feel like that again, let us know. Van and I love you and we promise to never intentionally let things get to that point again. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I understand. I love you, Zac. I'm sorry I was being all moody and stuff today." She threw her arms around his waist with such force that he stumbled back a bit. After regaining his balance, he wrapped his own arms around her tiny body, squeezing her tight.

"I love you, too. Oh, and uh, you're allowed to be moody, but it can only happen one time a month."

"Ew!" Stella shrieked as she reached up and smacked him on the chest. "Zac, that's gross!"

Vanessa rolled her eyes and Zac laughed as he rubbed his chest. She stood up as her fiancé pulled her sister in for another tight hug and held her close, rubbing his arms up and down her back. She crossed the room to stand next to them and spoke up.

"Um, guys, I hate to break the moment, but Stella, don't you think you should talk to Mom and Dad?"

Pulling out of the hug, Stella looked at Vanessa with her lower lip between her teeth. "I know I should, but I'm kind of scared to."

"How about we go with you?" Vanessa suggested. "Will that make you feel better?"

When Stella nodded, Zac interrupted. "Just one second, Stellz. We'll go and sit with you while you talk to Greg and Gina, but you need to understand that you need to be the one doing the talking. If you don't tell them about that boy today-"

"Jacob," she interrupted.

"Fine, Jacob," he corrected himself with a roll of his eyes. "If you don't tell them about today with Jacob, then we will. If you don't tell them about the bottle of my rum that you took, then we will. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," she told them. "That sounds fair, I guess."

"Okay, then let's go," Vanessa said.

As the trio made their way downstairs, they weren't surprised to find that the other five people in the house were still in exactly the same spot as fifteen minutes earlier. Dylan, David, and Greg were still on the edge of their seats watching the final three innings of the game while Starla and Gina were still in the dining room, surrounded by their notebooks and calendars. Vanessa noticed that there was a new sheet of paper sitting in front of them and got enough of a glance to see that it was a "To Do" list. She also noticed something written on top of the list that was circled. Taking a closer look, she could tell that it was a date. She was brought out of her daze when she heard Stella's voice.

"Um, Mom? Dad? Can I borrow you guys for a few minutes?"

"Stella, we have company," Gina told her, waving her hand in her youngest daughter's direction dismissively. "It can wait for a bit."

"Um, actually Mom, it really can't. That's part of the reason she wants to talk to you guys. I think you'd better come in here and let's all sit down and talk," Vanessa said, coming to her sister's defense.

"Gina, it's okay. We'll go to Zac's and wait and then we can all meet back for dinner tonight. I think we've got a good start for right now on the party stuff. Something tells me this may be important," Starla spoke up.

Zac handed his mom the keys to his house and leaned over to softly tell her, "Mom, I'm going to hang around here for a bit. I think Stella needs the support. Here are the keys. You guys just go on in, tell Dylan to help himself to any of my games and the fridge is stocked. Van made sure of that yesterday."

"Well, Zac, it's good that you're staying. You're practically a part of this family and Stella's brother, so…"

"We'll see you later, Son," David told him, giving him a manly hug.

Zac then turned to Dylan and, noticing the joking look on his brother's face, gave him a warning look. "Dude, don't even say it."

"Say what?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know but you were going to make some smart ass comment, so just for once, keep it to yourself," he told his brother.

"I wasn't going to say-" he stopped when he caught the other six Efron eyes on him. "Okay, yeah I was," he admitted. "I was going to make some crack about Nessa being pregnant and that's why you need to talk to Greg, but… Yeah, not as comical as I originally thought," Dylan confessed.

"Man, just get out of here," Zac said, pushing his brother out the door with a chuckle. "We'll see you guys in a bit," Zac told his family as they walked out the door. As he closed the door and turned back around to face his future in-laws, he saw that they were all seated in the living room, waiting on him. Greg was sitting in his trademark recliner, Gina on the arm of it beside him. Stella was sitting on the couch, with Vanessa next to her, holding her hand offering her encouragement. Zac sat on the other side of her. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Greg spoke up first.

"Stella, what's going on?"

"Um, well, I um- I-" Stella paused and took a deep breath. "I don't really know where to start."

"Just start at the beginning, Sweetie. It's okay. Whatever it is, your Daddy and I still love you, no matter what," Gina told her.

Feeling Vanessa give her hand a soft squeeze, she continued.

"Um, well, I've kind of been acting out a bit lately. Out of jealousy."

"Define acting out," Greg asked.

"Um, do you remember when I was late getting home from school last week?"

"You mean the day you were working on your English paper?" Gina asked.

"I wasn't working on my paper," Stella confessed quietly, looking down at her lap.

"What were you doing?" Greg asked.

"I was in detention."

"Stella, you never get detention!" Gina exclaimed, shocked. "Doesn't the school send home a form that needs to be signed?"

"What happened to the form, Stella?" Greg spoke up again.

"It's in my room," she told her parents. "But there's more."

"Go on," Gina said.

After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves once again, she continued. "I took something from Nessa's house a few weeks ago. Something that I never would have taken, but I did. I never did anything with it. I just kept it in the back of my closet."

"What did you take?" Gina asked her. Stella stood up and walked across the room to where Vanessa's purse was sitting. Reaching in, she pulled out the bottle that had been hidden in it and walked back to where her parents were sitting, handing the bottle to her mom. Gina looked at the label, took in a deep breath, and handed it to Greg for him to see. He put the bottle on the floor next to his chair before speaking again. Noticing the emotionless look on her father's face, Stella took a shaky breath before continuing.

"Daddy?" she asked with a trembling voice. When he turned his eyes to look at his youngest, she saw the anger that he was struggling to hold inside. "Daddy, say something, please?"

"Who's is this?" he asked Stella, while struggling to keep his voice calm.

"Zac's," she answered her dad while getting settled back on the couch. "I took it the night we were all over at Nessa's for that movie night a few weeks ago."

"Do you have more to tell us, or are you ready to explain why you've done these things?" he continued.

"There's one more thing to tell you about before I tell you why," she said, as she felt the lump get bigger in her throat. "I'm scared to tell you about this one."

"Stella," Vanessa began.

"I know, Nessa. Either me or you," she said as her lower lip trembled. "Um, Mom? Daddy? I did something today that will make you disappointed in me."

"Stella, your mom told you a minute ago that we will still love you. Yes, we may be disappointed in you and we'll talk about that in a bit. However, it would serve you well to be truthful right now," Greg told her with a hint of sternness in his voice.

There was another moment of silence, except for Stella's sniffling. She leaned her head on Vanessa's shoulder, her tears soaking her sister's shirt, and relaxed when she felt Vanessa begin running her hand through her hair.

"Stella, do you want me to tell them?" Vanessa whispered in her sister's ear. Feeling Stella give a small nod, she placed a gentle kiss on Stella's head and leaned her over toward Zac, who took her in his arms and began running his hand up and down her back comfortingly as Vanessa began to address her parents.

"Um, Mom, Dad, when Zac and I got here today, we walked in on Stella and a boy-"

"WHAT?!" Greg interrupted.

"Dad, let me finish," Vanessa was quick to rush on. "Not like that. They were on the couch and they were only kissing. That's all." It fell silent in the Hudgens' living room once again, as Greg and Gina processed what had just been revealed to them. Hoping to break the tension, Zac spoke up for the first time since they had all been sitting there.

"Hey, on the bright side, at least they were fully clothed and Van and I saw all four hands!"

Three of the other four occupants of the room were fighting off the laughter, but Gina was the first to break, followed by Vanessa, and finally Stella, who had finally managed to somewhat control her sobs. Zac was quick to notice that the only one who had yet to find the humor in his joke was the most intimidating man in his life at the present time. Noticing her dad's quietness, Stella sat up from the comfort of Zac's arms and looked across the room at Greg. Noticing the anger in his eyes that she and Vanessa had become accustomed to in the past years, she looked back at Zac and noticed the- fear? discomfort?- in his own eyes. She made a quick decision to come to his rescue, repaying the favor that he had extended to her in the past.

"Daddy, even though I was in the wrong and broke your rule about no one being allowed in the house when you're not home, and I'm sorry for that, Zac was actually acting on your behalf when he got here."

"Really?" Greg questioned with a sllight edge to his voice. "How so?"

"He's actually the one who kicked Jacob out before you guys got back home."

Zac, Vanessa, and Gina all watched as Greg silently processed this new information. Realizing that Zac was indeed acting as his daughter's protector, he finally stood up and crossed the room to the couch where Zac was sitting with Vanessa and Stella. Zac stood up and met him halfway, taking Greg's outstretched hand in his own. The two men shared a firm handshake, before speaking up again.

"Well, I guess that's a good thing," Greg said. "Thank you, Zac."

"Greg, you know I love both your daughters and would do anything to look out for and protect them."

"I know. Now, I assume you two were here for support?" Greg asked Zac and Vanessa. Upon getting an affirmative answer, he continued. "Well, I thank you for being here. I know it made it easier for Stella knowing you were here for her. But now it's time for you two to go on to Zac's and meet up with his family. Gina and I need to talk to Stella and we'll be there ourselves soon."

The couple nodded, gave Stella another hug each, and then crossed to the other side of the room to do the same with Greg and Gina.

"We'll see you in a little bit," Vanessa told them after giving them each a kiss on the cheek.

"Uh, Greg, may I-" Zac started, pointing at the bottle of rum that was still sitting beside his future father-in-law's chair. When Greg leaned down and picked it up for him, Vanessa took it from her father and put it in her purse, giving Zac a look.

"I'll hold on to that until later," she said, taking his hand and pulling him toward the door. "Bye, guys," she called out to her family, shutting the door behind them, leaving her sister to face her fate from their parents on her own. Once they were outside and in the car, Vanessa looked at Zac with admiration written all over her face. Feeling her brown eyes on him, he turned his head to study her.

"What?" he asked with a smile on his face.

"What?"

"What's that look for?" He watched as she reached her hand up and felt as she started to run her fingers through his hair. He allowed his eyes to close momentarily at the mesmerizing feel.

"I think I just fell in love with you more, watching you with Stella and listening to you talking to her."

"Yeah, well, she's a cool kid."

"That she is, but if she ever hears you call her a 'kid', I won't protect you."

He let out a chuckle before continuing. "Van, I meant what I told her. Ever since you've been in my life, and therefore your family, she's been my sister. I love her as if she were my own sister. I'd do anything for her and would do anything to protect her."

"I know you would. And I can't tell you how happy that makes me, knowing you've always fit in with my family the way you do. I love you."

"I love you, too," he said as he leaned in to give her a gentle, loving kiss. She let herself get lost in the feel of his lips on hers, before she allowed herself to break the kiss before it got too sensual there in the driveway of her parents' house.

"We'd better go. I don't want to get grounded for making out in Dad's driveway."

"Yeah, okay. It took a long time to get Greg to like me. I can't lose that now, I'm almost in."

"In?" she questioned, confusion etched on her face.

"In the club. The Hudgens Man Club," he clarified, puffing his chest out in mock arrogance.

"Whatever," she said, laughing. "Just drive, Man Club Member."

With that, Zac put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway, going in the direction of his house where his own family was waiting, leaving the second most important Hudgens in his life to meet her fate with her parents.