'Hey, I'm so sorry, but I won't be able to make it this afternoon.'

He frowned at his text. They'd been trying to meet up for the past week with no luck. He knew they were both busy, and she had a full time job with Kai, but they hadn't even found time to have a phone conversation these past few days.

He called her. "Baby, are you okay? I haven't seen you all week. Is everything alright? Do you need anything?"

There was a long pause before she replied. "No, I'm okay, I swear. I just haven't had a minute to myself. I was looking forward to seeing you today, but I can't go anywhere. I can't even get to work—my babysitter canceled." He heard a cry in the background. "Shhh, baby, I'm coming. Please stop crying. I gotta go."

"Okay, baby, call me whenever you can."

"I'll try," she promised weakly as she hung up.

He knew they hadn't discussed meeting Kai yet, but he wanted to help her. He hated seeing her so overwhelmed.

'Don't miss your meeting. I can watch Kai.' He texted.

He didn't want her to feel obliged to say no, so he followed up with, 'It doesn't have to be me formally meeting him. I can just be a friend or another babysitter, okay? I'm great with kids. Ask my sibs!' He added a picture of himself with Olivia and Henry.

A minute later, his phone rang.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, positive!" He confirmed.

"This…. really isn't how I wanted you guys to meet, especially when he's cranky and hasn't taken his nap."

He could hear the tiredness in her voice. "That's okay! We'll figure it out. Baby, I just want to help you out and don't want you to stress yourself out. And you've been wanting to meet with this retailer for Cali Water for ages..."

"I know, I have, and I hate that Oli has to do everything alone these days."

"Yeah, so go. Kai and I will be fine."

"You're sure?"

"Babe, I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't sure. Besides, I wrangle Olivia and Henry all the time. That's two of them."

"Okay, as long as it's okay with him. Thank you, baby. That means so much to me."

"Anything for you." He replied earnestly.

Twenty minutes later he was at her door. She opened the door carrying Kai who had wrapped his arms around her neck.

"Hi!" She smiled at Zac, resisting the urge to kiss him. Zac understood her reservations as she looked at the baby boy in her arms.

"Baby, can you say hi to my friend, Zac?"

"Hi," Kai said shyly, burying his head on his mum's shoulder.

"Hey, buddy," Zac replied.

"Hey, buddy," Kai mimicked back.

"Okay, I'm gonna set you down here," said Vanessa as she led Zac into the living room and lowered Kai into his play pen. Colorful building blocks and stuffed toys littered the floor.

"Alright, come with me," she motioned to Zac as she went to the kitchen. "Snacks are here. He usually takes a fruit in an hour and then maybe some chips or crackers a little later. He's not allergic to anything, but I prefer not to give him too much sugar after 5pm, otherwise, he gets super hyper and won't go to sleep…so maybe give him some juice with the crackers to ease his sweet tooth. Emergency contacts are on the fridge. You obviously have my number but in the worst case, call Stella or Mama G."

"We'll be fine, I promise. Go."

"I know, I know. Ummm, am I forgetting anything?" She was so focused on being in mom mode he smiled to herself noticing she had changed the top half of her clothes but was still in her pajama bottoms.

"Yes," he smiled amusedly. "Just two things…"

He pointed to her butterfly pajama pants.

She glanced down. "Oh crap… yeah. I'll just change. Wait - what was the second thing?"

He reached out his hand as he cupped her neck and brought her in closer. "Hi," he whispered before crashing his lips onto hers. She melted in his arms.

"Hi, indeed," she whispered breathlessly a few moments after they reluctantly pulled apart.

Vanessa emerged half an hour later, fully changed and equipped to tackle her meeting.

"Okay I'm heading off now. I love you, baby."

She gave Kai a kiss and a hug.

"Thank you…. So much."

"It's nothing, really. Now, go! You'll be late."

"You sure you'll be fine? I can cancel."

"No. Now if you don't go, Kai and I will head out to the meeting instead," he joked.

"Fine, fine. I'm going! Bye." She waved to the boys before heading out.

"Okay, buddy, what do you want to do?" Zac turned his attention to the little boy.

"Car," he pointed to his cars.

"Okay, let's play."

They played for a while, as Kai warmed up to Zac. He was an extremely gentle, careful and calm little boy which made it even easier to connect with him.

After some time, Kai brought Zac a book from his collection and snuggled up next to him.

"You want me to read this to you?" He asked as Kai nodded his head.

"Okay. Sure, buddy. Let's do it. Daisy the Duck went to the shop. Looks promising."

Zac made all the voices of the characters, and Kai laughed out loud throughout in the sweetest baby voice. By the time he was done, Kai was resting, snuggled up to Zac.

He was touched by the little boy. He stared at him and saw so much of Vanessa in him. As he admired the little guy, the door opened. He instinctively covered Kai's ears so he wouldn't wake up.

Vanesa spotted them on the couch as Zac motioned her over with a finger on his lips. "Shhh."

She came by softly as she gave Zac a quick kiss, and affectionately ruffled Kai's hair.

"How was he?" she whispered as she sank down on the couch next to him.

"Perfect. How was the meeting?"

"Really good. Thank you. I wouldn't have been able to go if it weren't for you." She took off her heels and settled in. Kai stirred in his sleep and instinctively flipped over and shuffled into his mother's arms.

"Do you want anything to eat, baby? We have crackers." Zac offered.

"Haha. Nah, that's okay thank you. We grabbed some food on the way back. I'm just so tired, honestly. I can't wait to lie down." She sunk further into the couch and closed her eyes.

They all sat comfortably in silence for some time before Zac decided to make a move.

He started to get up. "I should go. You have a long day tomorrow as well. You need to get your rest. Come on, I'll get you to bed."

"No….stay," she whispered with her eyes closed as she reached out to interlace their fingers together.

They hadn't identified any rules for staying over at her house when Kai was with her but it felt like an outspoken rule considering she always made it a point to come over to his house on days Kai was with her. He was grateful that he had had a good day together with Kai but he didn't want to assume anything else had changed.

"I don't want to confuse him or anything," Zac voiced his concerns.

"You won't, I promise. We'll figure it out. But stay. Please. I've missed you… I was so looking forward to today, but there was so much going on. So now that I have you, please don't go."

"Okay," he complied as he sunk into the sofa next to her and kissed the back of her hand. A lazy and content smile graced her lips.

"But… we do need to get you both to bed. So, come on… get up before you fall asleep here." He gently helped her up as she held Kai.

After tucking in Kai, Vanessa sleepily made her way to take off her makeup and change. Zac made himself comfortable in her room.

As she emerged from the bathroom, she looked at him fondly. "I could get used to this…" She proudly ogled his bare chest.

"Come here," he motioned her over as wrapped her up in his arms and kissed the top of her head.

"Good night, baby."

"Night," she yawned as she dozed off into a peaceful slumber.