Zac and Isaac
"Zac."
"Yeah Mom?"
"We need to talk."
Zac looked at her curiously.
"What about?"
"Faith."
Zac groaned.
"No, please, honey, hear me out. I... I really don't think she's a good influence on you -"
"Mom -"
"Look at all the things that have happened since you met. And look at the break ups you've had. These on off relationships aren't -"
"Mom -"
"Everytime it happens you lock yourself in your room! Zac, please, this isn't healthy. You often spend nights with her. I never know where you're going to be half the time."
"I'm often here. Practicing. With Tay and Ike. We're in a band, remember?"
"Zac, please. I just don't think -"
"No, that's right. You don't think. You don't care about how I feel."
"Zac, that's most assuredly not true."
"Yeah? Well if it was you'd know that I love Faith."
"Love or lust?"
"You should know. You're the empath. Oh I forgot," Zac said sarcasstically. "You're rather lacking in that department these days."
"Zac..." Diana was offically hurt.
"Look, it's obvious that you don't want to listen to me. So why should I have to listen to you? You lead by example, you know."
"Zac, please."
"No. I've had enough!" Zac started off towards his room. "If you're not going to trust me to make my own decisions, then I'm moving out."
"Moving out? Zac you don't need -"
"It would seem that I do."
Zac ran down the stairs and slammed his door on his way into his room.
"Zac!" Diana exclaimed, opening up the door again. "You can't do this."
"No?" Zac challenged, packing away his things. "You can't stop me."
"Look, honey, all I said was that I don't think that Faith is a good influence on you."
"You haven't even tried to get to know her. Hey, maybe I should try to kill myself too. You only gave Adam a chance after Jess -"
"Zac! That's not fair."
"No, you're not fair."
Diana's mind raced. She couldn't let him go. She stared to unpack his thing as he packed them. Suddenly, her hands heated up.
"Ahh!" she yelped.
"Try it again and next time I'll really hurt you," Zac replied.
"Zac that's, I can't believe you did that to me!"
"Yeah? Well, I can't believe you're doing this to me. I've tried, Mom, I really have. But you won't listen. You refuse to see that I love Faith with all my heart and soul, and she loves me. So I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm going. I'm tired of the arguing."
His bags full, he slung them over his shoulders.
"I'll be back - have to rehearse, y'know. I'll take the rest of my things later."
Zac headed back up the stairs.
"Hi Ike. Bye Ike."
"Where are you going?" Isaac asked.
"I'm moving out."
"Yeah?"
That's when Diana appeared. Isaac looked at her, then at Zac.
"Uh huh," he said. "I see."
He put a hand on Diana's shoulder as Zac left.
"Mom, I know you care. But trying to get Zac to stop seeing Faith is going too far," he said quietly.
"But he -"
"Please Mom, please listen," Isaac went on. "You haven't heard the things he's written since they've been together. You haven't heard the way he talks about her. He really loves her."
"Isaac, you don't understand. She's -"
"She's currently the centre of Zac's world, and that's an orbit only Zac can change."
He wrapped his arms around Diana as she cried.
Zac
Zac drove to Faith's house and pulled into the driveway. He got out, pulled out his bags, closed and locked the car, then walked over to the door. He rang the doorbell and waited.
It all seemed rather... incredible. The last few minutes a blur. The argument with Diana, packing his things, leaving. He could barely remember the drive here, it all happened so fast.
He hoped Faith wouldn't mind him moving in.
Faith
Faith padded out to the door, her hands in her hair, tying it up. She opened the door to see Zac.
With bags.
Hmmm...
"Hey you."
Zac
Surprisingly, Zac was nervous.
"Do you... do you mind if I move in?" he asked tentatively. "I just had a fight with Mom..."
Faith
Faith smiled at him and kissed his cheek.
"Yeah that's cool, come in."
She stepped back and closed the door once he was inside.
"What happened?"
Zac
Zac sighed as he followed Faith inside.
"She was trying to tell me that you were a bad influence, blah, blah, blah. You know, the usual. Frankly I've had enough. I don't even care that she does have that stupid disease any more. She hasn't even tried to get to know you. And she refuses to believe me when I say I love you."
Faith
Faith reached out and caressed Zac's cheek.
"Baby, if she doesn't want to believe it, then we can't make her. All I know is how I feel about you, and isn't that all that really matters?"
She kissed his nose softly.
"And she just cares about you... don't shut her out, I know you're having problems with her, but family is always important. And I've been spending too much time with Xander... I sound very Hallmarky."
Zac
Zac wrapped his arms around her.
"It might sound Hallmarky, but family is important, Faithy. I don't want to shut Mom out, ad I know she cares but I..." he sighed. "I just wish she would understand. You're both important to me."
Faith
Faith nodded and kissed him gently.
"Well, look, you can stay here as long as you want, coz I'm always gonna be here."
She took his hand and led him through to her room.
"You can just dump your stuff here."
Zac
"Thanks," Zac replied. "Thanks so much, Faithy."
He put down his bags.
"I will have to go home, y'know to practice once Tay gets back. I figure I'll bring back the rest of my stuff then. Unless, of course, me and Mom can finally sort things out by then. I hope so."
Faith
Faith smiled.
"Yeah, whatever works. You'll get it sorted out soon, and I don't want you to not go home again."
She looked around.
"So, what do we wanna do?"
Zac
"Umm, I dunno," Zac said. "I don't want to intrude or anything. We could watch TV or something. I dunno, whatever you want. It's your house."
Faith
Faith hugged him then kissed his forehead.
"Hmm..."
Faith glanced at her clock.
"Well... all I know is that Piper's asked me to work tonight, so I'm gonna have to go to P3 later... you can come or stay here, I don't mind. But... we still have a couple of hours before that..."
Zac
"Okay," Zac replied, giving her a coy smile. "Did you have something in particular you wanted to do? Or someone?"
Faith
Faith looked up as though she was thinking.
"Well... there was this one guy... he looked... kinda like you in fact. Do you know where I can find him and when I find him, is he going to be interested in me?"
Zac
"Hmm," Zac replied thoughtfully. "Well, if he isn't interested in you, he must be gay."
Then he grinned, rested his hands on her hips, leant in and kissed her.
"I don't know where he is. Will I do instead?"
Faith
Faith grinned cheekily.
"You're going to have to do, aren't you?"
She leaned in and kissed him.
Zac
Then Zac and Faith... okay we all know what they did already. Mutliple times no less. Boring!
Faith
Once they were done, Faith rolled over and looked at the clock.
Damn, she had to get ready in a sec.
She kissed Zac's head lightly and got out of the bed, grabbing some clothes and making her way to the shower. She had a shower and dressed in red fishnet stockings, a short black skirt, and a black halter neck top. She went back into the bedroom looking for her boots and smiled at Zac's form still lying on her bed.
Zac
"Well, aren't you a sexy thing..." Zac smiled. "What time do you think you'll be back?"
Faith
Faith went over to the bed and kissed Zac again.
"Um..." She trailed off when she spotted her boots and sat on her bed, putting them on. With a final zip, she turned back to Zac. "Not sure... Piper only wants me there till about 9:30, but then I gotta patrol. 10:30 at the latest."
She smiled and went over again to kiss him. She pulled away, grabbed her denim jacket and headed for the door.
"Love you, be good. See you!"
Zac
"Okay," Zac replied. "Just make sure you come back hungry and sober. Love you too."
Faith
A few hours later, Faith was on the way home. She was annoyed because she was limping along, due to fighting a few vampires that night in a skirt, and then to top it off, the heel of her shoe broke. Then she remembered Zac was at her house and she brightened again.
Opening her front door, she took her jacket off and draped it over a chair, then tossed her weapons onto the table.
"Zac?"
Zac
"I'm in the dining room," Zac replied.
He felt it was rather good timing. He was just lighting the canles when Faith arrived home.
Faith
Faith pulled her shoes off and frowned at the stupid broken one. She shook her head and went into the dining room, and the sight alone was enough to make her cry.
"Oh Zac..."
Zac
Zac smiled.
"Isaac isn't the only one who can cook," he said softly. "I really wanted to do something for you. It's been awhile since we last went out."
Faith
Faith went to the seat opposite his and sat down. She smiled across at him, watching as the candle flickered and the shadows danced over his face.
"Thank you... so is this what you did while I was out?"
Zac
"Yep," Zac smiled. "Okay, first dish..."
He popped into the kitchen and soon came out with a couple of bowls.
"Fettichini," he smiled. "And mushroom sause."
Faith
Faith smiled at Zac again and waited for him to sit down.
"You're amazing... I figured you'd just sit around all night. And I kinda love you, you know?"
Zac
Zac grinned back.
"I'm a lot of things, Faithy, but a lazy slob isn't one of them. I'm gonna do my fair share around the house, I promise. I love you too," he paused and chewed his lip. "What do you think?"
He pointed to the pasta with his fork.
Faith
Faith chewed thoughtfully. She swallowed.
"Nice... you're not just a pretty face. You're actually pretty handy. Seeing as my cooking skill amounts to zero."
She took a sip of her water and leaned back in her chair. "My feet are sore... my stupid shoe broke."
Zac
"I'd offer a massage later, but I've been informed I suck at them," Zac laughed. "Did you ever see that episode of 'Friends' where Monica's massaging skills - or lack there of - come up? That's me."
He grinned and started eating his pasta.
Faith
Faith giggled.
"Nah, it's alright. I think I really need a shower later though... I'm telling you, rolling around on the ground with a vampire is not the way I wanted to spend my evening."
She ate some more pasta, sneaking little glances at Zac.
Zac
"Aww, poor Faithy," Zac sympathised.
He soon finished his pasta and waited patiently for Faith to finish hers.
Faith
Faith finished her pasta and smiled contentedly at Zac. She adjusted the strap of her shirt and pulled her hair away from her face.
Zac
"Okay, I hope you have room for more, 'cause there's the main course yet. And dessert," Zac grinned.
He stood, took their bowls and headed out to the kitchen. When he came back he was holding two plates of fried rice with some slices of cooked chicken mixed in.
"I admit, I cheated," he grinned. "This is takeaway. No, actually, it's home delivery, but anyway."
Faith
Faith grinned.
"Ah, home delivery. Very familiar with that."
They both ate their main course with some idle chatter.
Zac
"And finally... I noticed you had some caramello ice cream in the freezer," Zac grinned. "Hope you don't mind..."
Zac put down the bowls on the table.
Faith
Faith grinned again at Zac.
"You're just... too good to be true, you know that?"
She had a mouthful of ice-cream and let it sit on the tongue for a few seconds before swallowing it.
Zac
Zac shrugged.
"Well, y'know, I try," he replied.
He stared eating his own ice cream.
Faith
They finished eating in silence and then both washed up together in true lovebird fashion, then watched some tv together and finally, going to bed.