Taylor looked an unusual cross between nervous, uncomfortable and excited as he and Kirk teleported back into Zac's livingroom.
"I'll see you later, ok?" Kirk said to him, "are you ok?"
Taylor nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah, sure. See you."
Kirk went back to the teleporter and they soon disappeared.
Taylor ran his fingers through his hair, before going to find Zac.
Zac and Tad
Zac was busy cooking in the kitchen. Saku was in cat form, sitting on the floor and looking up at Zac pitifully as he prepared the chicken dish.
"Saku," Zac said patiently. "You're going to get some later. Meaning I am not going to drop any on the floor for you."
"Taylor! Where the hell have you been!" Zac heard Tad shout.
Zac nearly dropped his knife in fright, and to Saku's delight a piece of chicken did drop of the floor.
Taylor
"For now that's none of your business," Taylor retorted with a smirk, before pushing past to find Zac in the kitchen.
"Guess what?" he attempted to hide a smile, but his eyes lit up anyway as he leant on the counter near him.
Tad, Zac and Isaac
"Saku," Zac frowned, then looked back up at Taylor, "It went well?"
Tad came storming in.
"None of my business?" Tad yelled. "Listen here Taylor Hanson, it is my job to keep an eye on you. I can't do that if you go galavanting off goodness knows where without telling me. What happens if that alterego of yours comes out again, huh? Has that ever occured to you?"
"Careful Tad," Isaac said softly, entering as well, "You'll give yourself a heart attack. Mmm, dinner smells good, Zac. Hi Tay, how'd it go?"
"And of course you and your housemates were all in on it," Tad snarled.
"Objection," Zac said. "Not all of us were in on it."
Saku hissed at Tad in response to the look he gave Zac.
Taylor
Taylor gave Tad the bird as he replied.
"It went very, very well. Christian's at the meeting place now and... that's it. It's over!"
The look on his face was osmething no one had seen in a long time.
Tad, Isaac and Zac
"Don't ignore me!" Tad shouted, his face going red in anger. "You should know better than to disregard your responsibilities!"
"Tad, calm down," Isaac said. "Stop yelling. Seriously, you couldn't find him for a day, and he's back safe and sound."
"That's not the point!"
Saku scratched Tad's leg. Tad yelped and pointed at Zac.
"Make your kid stop doing that!"
He scowled at the lot of them.
"Tad you're ruining this moment," Zac frowned. "Go away or I'll let Saku find out if your power can stop one of his fireballs. They're magic, y'know, not a Dathrian power."
Tad looked down at Saku, who was giving his best "Try me" cat look.
Taylor
Taylor simply raised an eyebrow and looked to the ceiling with his back still to Tad as he waited for him to leave so he could continue.
Tad and Zac
Tad scowled at them. Then he pointed a finger at Taylor.
"There are was of dealing with the irresponsible. I hope your little holiday is going to be worth the aftermath."
And on that, Tad turned on his heel and left. Saku hissed again at him as he departed their sight, then he walked over to his uncle and nuzzled Taylor's leg.
"Okay, now that's he's gone," Zac said, "How'd it go?"
Taylor
"It was worth everything I've got," Taylor began to look excited again.
"Christian had this little bug thing that let us know what was going on, but I mean we didn't even need to do anything. He did it all. He is just... I am so far in his debt. For real. I mean it took all night obviously but he called up Tanya and left a message for her to send some agents to this place and he took him there and I guess that's all there is to it," he fired off.
Isaac and Zac
Isaac and Zac looked at Taylor, then at each other.
"You want to give us the slow version?" Isaac joked. "You rattled that off pretty quick. What exactly happened?"
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, then took a deep breath.
"Christian kicked ass?" he suggested.
"And Mas- ah, Blakesley is still alive, but unconscious for now, and he's gone to drop him off where he told Tanya to send agents. Was that okay?" he looked hopeful.
Zac and Isaac
Zac chuckled at the expression on Taylor's face.
"That was cool," he said. "What was your starring roll? Did you get to kick him?"
"Zac," Isaac shook his head. "Hey, Tay, we're glad everything's worked out. And that you got back here safe and sound."
Taylor
"Thanks... And I was only there just in case something went wrong. I didn't really... see him, until after," Taylor fidgetted with his fingers a little.
"I guess this might take a little getting used to, huh?"
Zac and Isaac
"Yeah, but you know what it means?" Isaac said, a huge smile on his face. "You don't have to deal with that guy any more. He can't hurt you any longer."
" 'Cause you're free, to do what you want, any old ti-ime!" Zac felt obligated to sing.
"And Zac is still an idiot."
Taylor
Taylor actually laughed.
"Very, very true. Umm... I'm guessing we'll hear from Tanya what's happening because I don't know what'll happenw ith a trial or anything."
Zac and Isaac
Did Taylor just laugh?
"Well, that's cool..." Zac said, staring.
"Hey, Tay, that must have been good therapy," Isaac said. "I haven't heard you laugh in... heck I don't even remember the last time I heard you laugh."
Taylor
Taylor blushed.
"Well it's a big turn around," he shrugged.
"A huge turning point. I mean we've been waiting for this over a year now."
Isaac and Zac
"Yeah," Isaac smiled. "That's true."
"Well, I say this is cause for celebration," Zac said, now finishing the cooking of the dinner. "Saku, can you get some plates out please?"
Saku shifted to human and scampered over to the cupboard.
"Indeed," Isaac agreed. "How do you propose we celebrate?"
Taylor
"I have no idea," Taylor smiled.
"Anything, anything would be great. We barely even need to."
Zac
Saku "helped" Zac serve dinner.
"I think I have a special dessert in the freezer," Zac said. "We could have that."
Taylor
"Interesting..."
Taylor went to open the freezer, and smiled when he saw it.
"Better not take it out until after though," he insisted, closing the door again.
Zac and Isaac
"Sounds like a plan," Zac said.
"I'll go tell everyone dinner's ready," Isaac said.
"Okay, thanks," Zac paused and looked at Saku. "And be quick - I don't think Saku's going to last much longer."
Isaac chuckled and left.
Saku climbed into his seat, fork in one hand, knife in the other and started chanting "Chicken! Chicken!"