Faith and Paige
Faith waved as Paige orbed out again, and looked around her house. Ah, home. She went up to her room and opened her bag, grabbing all of her dirty clothes and tossing them into the washing basket. She pulled her phone out and typed in a quick SMS to Zac.
"Hey Zac, I'm home now, if you wanted to catch up. Love ya."
Zac
Zac grinned as he read Faith's SMS, and wrote one back:
Will be right over!
"Hmm..." Zac said, looking at Saku. "I suppose I ought to take you with me. C'mon Saku, we're gonna go visit Faithy."
"Wanna play..." Saku said, looking wistfully at the brand new, giant scratching post.
Zac grinned.
"You can play with it more when we get back, okay? I'd liek to let you stay, but there won't be anyone to keep an eye on ya."
"Awwwww."
Not long later, Zac and Saku were at Faith's door.
Faith
Faith answered the door, her hair half wet from the shower she'd just had, and smiled as she saw Zac and Saku.
"Hey, come in," she said, stepping back from the door.
Zac
"Hi beautiful," Zac replied, stepping inside.
Saku wriggled in Zac's arms and he put him on the floor.
"Don't get up to any mischeif," Zac warned.
Saku gave an innocent mew and scampered off. Zac took Faith's hand.
"And how was New York?"
Faith
Faith kissed Zac's cheek.
"Eh, pretty good. How was your trip home?"
Zac
"Uneventful," Zac replied with a grin. "Which is just the way I like it these days."
He kissed Faith back.
"So... do you want to come to dinner tonight? And tell certain family members the good news?"
Faith
"And then run when your mom tries to kill me?"
Faith grinned and led Zac into the living room.
"I guess it's now or never, so yeah..."
Zac
"Hey, don't worry about Mom. She's just going to have to deal with it. Because there's isn't anything that's anyone can do to make me change my mind," Zac replied.
He traced her jawline softly.
"I love you too much."
Faith
"Awwww."
Faith smiled and leaned over to kiss Zac.
"I love you."
Zac
Zac put his arms around her waist.
"That's good to know. Y'know, considering we're getting married..." he grinned.
He kissed her gently.
Faith
"We're getting married?" Faith teased.
She kissed him back.
"So, what did you feel like doing?"
Zac
"Well," Zac considered. "We could... make wedding plans. Or we could have 'welcome back to Tulsa' sex. Or we could go out for lunch. Or we could... umm... y'know what? The possibilities are endless."
Faith
Faith raised an eyebrow.
"Considering your son is running around and we don't know where, it would be best not to have sex at this current time. Go out for lunch?"
Zac
"Rats," said Zac. "Okay. Lunch. Sounds good to me. Saku!"
He was quiet for a moment, listening for Saku.
"Okay, fun. We get to play hide and seek."
Faith
Faith grinned.
"Ok, you play, I'm gonna go change my pants."
She jogged up the stairs, grabbed a pair of jeans and put them on, then came downstairs again.
Zac
"Saku!" Zac called. "Saku! We're gonna get lunch!"
No answer. He wandered into the kitchen and:
"Saku!" he scolded. "Now really, you shouldn't be licking dirty plates in the sink."
He picked Saku up off the sink.
"How many time do I have to tell you huh?" he asked.
Saku turned human and pouted.
"Oh don't give me that," Zac said.
Faith
"I have dirty plates in the sink?" Faith asked. "Oh, that was probably when Phoebe was looking after this place for me."
She rolled her eyes.
"Nice of her to clean up."
Zac
"Ahh, we can thank her properly by not inviting her to the wedding," Zac grinned. "So, what do you want for lunch?"
"Chicken," Saku answered promptly.
"I was asking Faith."
Faith
Faith laughed.
"Anything, I'm not fussed."
She took Zac's hand as they left the house.
Zac
"Chicken!" Saku said.
"Okay, chicken it is," Zac replied, smiling as he put Saku into his bumper seat. "KFC alright with you Faith?"
Faith
"Sounds like a plan."
Faith hopped into the car.
"I've been eating school food for the last few weeks, anything has got to be better."
Zac
"True," Zac replied. "Not that I would know, considering I was home schooled, but whatever."
He started the drive to the local KFC.
Faith
They reached the KFC and went inside, and ordered, then found a table to sit at.
"So, scale of one to ten, what do you rate your mom's reaction to the news? One being good, and ten being very bad..."
Zac
"Umm... not sure," Zac said thoughtfully.
Saku bit down on his chicken piece.
"See now if we had made amends a few weeks ago, I would have said a ten. Now, I'm not sure."
Faith
Faith ate in silence for a few moments.
"Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Zac
"Yeah," Zac replied.
He was quiet for a moment.
"Faith? It really... Mom's just gonna have to get used to the idea okay? I'm not going to let her opinion of you get to me or anything. I hope she accepts you Faith, because if she makes me choose between you, I'm going to pick you."
Faith
Faith smiled.
"Zac, I don't want to make you pick between me and your family... I grew up without a real family, and I don't want you to have to do that as well."
She sighed.
Zac
Zac reached over and took her hand.
"I'm sure it's not going to come to that," he said. "I'd like nothing more than for you to be in my family though, Faith. That's what's important."
Faith
Faith rubbed his hand with her own.
"Yeah... worse case scenario is that I run away and move to Mexico, changing my name to... um Fiesta Faith."
Zac
Zac laughed.
"You can only run away if you take me with you," he informed her, kissing her cheek.
Faith
Faith grinned.
"Well, I'll have to now, you know what I'm gonna change my name to."
Zac
"Yay!" Zac grinned. "And I'll be... umm... umm... umm... Zany Zac."
He took a bite of out his burger.
Faith
"That's not very Mexican," Faith pointed out. "At least mine had fiesta in it."
Zac
"Ehh oo..." Zac began.
Then swallowed.
"Hey you try to come up with an adjective that starts with 'Z' on the spot like that and see how far you get," Zac said. "How's the chicken, Saku."
"Nummy," Saku replied before going back to tearing into it.
Faith
They finished eating and left KFC.
"So... where to?" Faith asked.
Zac
"Ummm -" Zac started.
"Park!" Saku shouted.
"He likes to chase the insects," Zac explained.
Faith
"Yeah, cool."
Faith grinned and followed Zac and Saku to the car.
Zac
A few minutes later, they arrived at the park. Saku changed into a cat in the car and then ran out excitedly, and started a hunt for insects to pounce on. Zac grinned, holding Faith's hand.
"He's such a cutie," he said.
Faith
Faith nodded.
"Probably gets that from his mother," she teased.
Zac
"Absolutely," Zac agreed. "If any of my kids turn out ugly, they'll know who to blame."
He walked with her over to a park bench.
Faith
Faith sat down and leaned her head on Zac's shoulder.
"Yup, all you..."
Zac
"Exactly," Zac grinned.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I love you," he said, with a contended sigh.
Faith
"Well that's good to hear."
Faith grinned and kissed him softly.
"I love you too."
Zac
Zac smiled, reached over and took her other hand in his. He played with her ring a little.
"I'm so looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you."
Faith
"Because I'm so hot?" Faith joked.
She kissed him again.
"Well I can't wait either..."
Zac
"Wanna elope and get married tomorrow?" Zac said, half joking, half serious.
Faith
"Don't tempt me."
Faith smiled and touched his face lightly.
"It does sound like a good idea."
Zac
"Yeah..." Zac said wistfully. "But I think we'd both be in the bad book with Mom if we did that. I suppose we'd have to wait until next year..."
Faith
"Yup, probably."
Faith shrugged.
"We've waited this long, I guess... what's a few more months?"
Zac
"Mmm... suppose," Zac replied.
Saku sat back on his haunches, eyed the grasshopper, and as soon as it jumped, he pounced on it. Aww, miss... pounce again!
Faith
Faith leaned against Zac, closing her eyes for a second.
"We can do it... we'll survive. Besides, it's not like we won't be seeing each other from now until when we get married."
Zac
"Well, I suppose that's true," Zac answered.
He rested his head on hers.
Faith
Faith entwined their fingers, rubbing his hand gently.
"So, what do we wanna do after this?"
Zac
Zac considered for a moment.
"Y'know... Saku will chase insects until he wears himself out, then he'll sleep for hours. We could... go back to your place and..." he trailed off with a cheeky glint in his eye.
Faith
Faith fixed an innocent expression on her face.
"Go back to my place and do what?"
Zac
Zac chuckled.
"The possibilities are endless... we could always wait and see what pops 'up'."
Faith
Faith grinned.
"You're... I don't even think there's a word for you."
Zac
Zac grinned back.
"How about... zany?" he suggested.
Faith
"How about idiot?" Faith asked dryly, raising an eyebrow. "You're insane, and I don't know why I love you. You might have to remind me."
She grinned cheekily.
Zac
Zac snapped his fingers.
"That's it! When we go back to your place I can remind you why you love me so much. Brilliant!"
He grinned broadly.
Faith
"I'm getting the feeling you want to go back to my place."
Faith shook her head.
"Well, as soon as Saku's done, let's go."
Zac
Zac paused and watched Saku.
"Actually... that could be awhile... and then we need to be ready for dinner... hmm..."
Faith
"Yeah, I need to book my ticket to Mexico."
Faith squeezed Zac's hand lightly.
Zac
Zac chuckled and kissed her lips softly.
"Two tickets, remember?"
Faith
Faith kissed him back.
"Well until you come up with a better name, you're staying in Tulsa."
Zac
Zac laughed.
"Siesta Zac?" he suggested. "Naw, that's more like an oxymoron..."
Faith
Faith giggled.
"Oh dear... you're never gonna get a name, so just come with me anyway. Everything's legal in Mexico."
Zac
"Yay!" Zac grinned. "Hmm... 'everything's legal huh? Cool. What trouble can we cause?"
Faith
"Or is everything legal in Texas?" Faith mused. "I know everything's legal in Boston. Ok, no it's not, but where I grew up, we did what we wanted and no one wanted to punish us..."
Zac
Zac laughed.
"There was a reason for that," he grinned.
Saku padded over to Zac and jumped up on his lap.
"You done now?"
Saku yawned and started to curl up.
Faith
"Hey, I didn't start getting to be really bad until I moved to Sunnydale."
Faith nodded.
"Mmmhmmm. We going?"
Zac
"Yeah, okay," Zac replied.
He carefully picked up Saku and stood up.
"Tired little mite."
Faith
They got back into the car and went to Faith's house.
"So, I'll see you later?"
Zac
Zac gave Faith a long kiss.
"Yeah," he said. "Love you."
Faith
Faith kissed him back.
"Love you too."
She hopped out of the car and waved.
Zac
Zac waved back and drove home. When he got back, he put Saku to bed, and then informed Diana they were going to be having company for dinner.
He hoped she would accept their engagement.