Taylor sat staring sullenly around the apartment he shared with Isaac. He'd gone out for the moment and Taylor, of course, was basically grounded.
He had the phone in his hands, and Zac's number sitting right next to him.
Deja vu. He remembered a similar situation with Mouse.
Taking a deep breatah, he dialled Zac's number and waited for it to ring. When it got to three rings, he shook his head and hung up.
"What the hell am I doing?" he asked himself.
Zac
Zac picked up the phone just as it stopped ringing.
"Hello?" he asked, only to get a dial tone.
He scrowled and hung the phone up again. Some people!
Taylor
Taylor let his mind wander as he fiddled with the phone in his hands.
Zac had a right to know. After all, the child could have well and truly been his.
But Isaac had said that what he didn't know couldn't hurt him.
But he had a right to know...
He dialled Zac's number again, cursing slightly, before hanging up after the first ring.
Zac
Zac jumped as the ringing of the phone disturbed his train of thought... again! Somewhat miffed, he checked the caller ID, deciding whoever it was, was going to get a taste of his wrath.
"Taylor?" he frowned. "What does he want?"
Shrugging, he dialed Taylor's number and waited for him to pick up. At this rate he was never going to get his song finished.
Taylor
Taylor jumped as the phone rang.
Thinking it might have been Isaac, he answered straight away.
"Hello?"
Zac
"Y'know, Tay," Zac said pleasently. "If you're going to call me you could at least have the decency to stay on the freaking line."
He injected as much venom as possible into those last three words.
Taylor
Taylor rolled his eyes, trying not to make it obvious in his voice how unnerved Zac's tone made him.
"Yeah, and Isaac thinks you actually want to talk to me. Sure. If you're going to talk to me like that I'll wait another few months to try again."
He poised his finger over the button to end the call.
Zac
Zac sighed.
"Of course I want to talk to you, Tay. I'm just miffed because I was working on something, and the phone ringing broke my concentration - twice even. So you can see how I would be annoyed that I got no converstaion to go along with the phone ringing."
Taylor
"Why, did you think it might have been a girl?" Taylor's eyes narrowed.
"Anyway, I didn't call to argue you with you. You told me the truth when you f*cked Mouse, and so I'm calling to tell you something you should know about her."
Zac
Zac decided to let Taylor's first comment drop.
"What about Mouse?" he asked, making and effort to lower the tone of his voice.
Taylor
Taylor looked up at the door, hoping Isaac wouldn't walk in at any second.
"She didn't die alone," he said finally.
He leant forward and scratched his nose, trying to work out what to say next.
Zac
"Okay..." Zac replied slowly. "Anyone I know?"
Then he shook his head.
"No, couldn't be... Someone would have said something if two people I knew died. Who then?"
Taylor
Taylor shook his head, running his fingers through his hair.
Hesitating again for a second, he dropped his head and leant it on his hand - the respective elbow on his knee.
"She was pregnant."
Zac
It was almost as if in slow motion. The phone slipped out of Zac's hand.
"Pregnant?" he exclaimed in shock, his eyes wide.
The phone hit the floor with a thump.
Taylor
Taylor jumped when he heard the phone drop, but otherwise didn't move.
He bit his lip and waited to see what would happen, forcing himself to keep the tears at bay.
Zac
It took him a few second to shake off the shock enough to pick the phone up.
"Pre-pregnant?" he stammered. "Are... are you sure?"
Taylor
"I knew before it happened," Taylor breathed softly.
"Blakesley knew, Ashtoreth knew, the cats - they all knew. But they didn't know the one important thing."
He gulped.
"Who the father was."
Zac
"Crap," Zac replied.
If he wasn't sitting down already...
"So... so it... it could be... could have been... yours or... or mine?"
He was the most horrible person in the world. Ever.
Taylor
"Bingo," Taylor murmured, opening his eyes.
"I know we were two months apart, but no one even knows how far along she was. Zac... I hope you understand my stance on this."
Zac
"Tay, Tay I'm so, so, so, so sorry," Zac replied. "I'm a horrible, horrible person and I wish I could turn bakc the clock and change everything."
What kind of a person would sleep with his brother's fiancee? And maybe have gotten her pregnant too?
Taylor
"You're not a horrible person," Taylor shook his head.
"You just strayed from the beaaten path at the wrong time and now you've found yourself in the wrong town. But frankly I don't ever see you moving back."
Zac
Zac was quiet for a moment.
"I'm really sorry Tay," he said. "I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you - but there... there could never be anything, I know. I never meant for any of this to happen, I swear."
The rift between them seemed to get bigger and bigger, and it was all his fault.
Taylor
"I know already," Taylor insisted.
"So instead of just repeating ourselves, why don't we call it a day? I'll tell Ike to come over if you want when he gets back."
Zac
"No, its fine... I..." Zac shook his head. "I'm sorry Taylor. Talk to you later."
"I hope," he thought to himself as he prepared to hang up.
Taylor
"Bye."
Taylor hung up, then hesitated for a moment as he thought over the conversation.
Piecing together exactly what had happened, he slipped down onto his side and sprawled out on the couch where he was to just stare at the ceiling.
Isaac and Zac
Zac hung up as well.
Meanwhilst, Isaac had arrived back home. He let himself in, and spotted Taylor on the couch.
"Hi Tay. Miss me?" he teased.
Taylor
"Deliriously," Taylor murmured, before biting his lip.
He leant over to put the phone on the coffee table before returning to his last position.
Isaac
"Call someone recently?" he asked, plonking down on another lounge.
He picked up the TV guide and starting flipping through it.
Taylor
"I told him," Taylor blurted.
He covered his face with his hands as if trying to hide from the reality of the situation.
Isaac
Isaac had to stop and think for a second. Told who what?
Oh.
He put down the TV guide and looked at Taylor.
"Oh. How'd it go?"
Taylor
Taylor glanced across at him before returning his gaze to the ceiling.
"We argued. I told him. He dropped the phone. He apologised. And that's pretty much it."
Isaac
Isaac nodded slowly.
"I see. So, now what?"
He wasn't sure he he what to do. He hated it so much that Taylor and Zac were moving so far apart. They - all three of them - used to be so close.
Taylor
"So nothing," Taylor shrugged.
"Back to where we started. Not talking, not seeing each other*"
He hesitated, taking a deep breath.
"Not working together."
He gulped and closed his eyes.
Isaac
Isaac looked at Taylor in alarm.
"Not working together?" he repeated.
Why did he not see this one coming? Was he blind not to see this is how far things were going?
Taylor
Taylor shook his head, before sitting up on the couch and leaning forward.
After a moment, he shook his head again and ran his fingers through his fringe.
"I just want the old Zac back, Ike," he almost chuckled, "this* this has just become insane. I don't know him anymore."
Isaac
Isaac nodded thoughtfully.
"Zac could apply the same to you," he answered with a sigh. "And I want things to go back to how they were. But... but time passes, and nothing can ever go back to how it was."
His mind was reeling. They... they were always going to be the band.
"Are... are you sure? Giving... giving up..." the words couldn't even form in his mouth.
Taylor
Taylor shook his head, looking towards the window.
"It's not something I want to happen," he insisted, rubbing his hands together.
"But I don't see how we can work through this in the near future. Maybe... Perhaps eventually I'll work out some way to forgive him. But at the moment, I can't. I just can't."
He shrugged.
"And I know it wasn't even his fault."
Isaac
"Well I... I'll be honest. I don't want Hanson to... to break up. But if... if it comes to that, I'm going to be here for you - and for Zac - always okay? You're my brothers and no one will want more than me for you guys to make amends okay?" Isaac said firmly.
This was too much. No more concerts, no more records, no more jam sessions with his brothers?
Taylor
"I don't want this to happen any more than you do," Taylor insisted, "but I have my back against the wall. And I know I said I'd never hurt a member of this family, but with Zac I just don't know anymore."
He hesitated again, staring at the floor.
"It won't be indefinite if I can help it," he went on, "but I don't know how long it'll last. I mean there's no possible way I could stop making music. Making music with you even. And I know there's no way either of you could stop either. But I just can't work with him knowing... Just knowing."
Isaac
Isaac nodded.
"Yeah... I understand. I'd feel the same way if Myra had lived and she had..." he trailed off, not liking the idea of anything of the sort happening.
Which was kind of the point.
Taylor
Taylor watched his body language for a moment, before raising his eyebrows.
"You'll find someone Ike," he said.
"No one will ever replace Myra, but there'll be a whole new attraction to the next one that you probably never even knew existed."
He smiled softly to himself.
"I guess we'll all find someone eventually. Heck, all our first rounds are gone."
Isaac
Isaac shook his head a little, then felt tears pricking at his eyes. Damn it, it had been two years now. Two whole years and he was going to... going to cry again for Myra?
"Life shouldn't be like that."
Taylor
Taylor shrugged.
"Unfortunately there's no rule book as to what life should actually be like," he said.
He stood from where he was sitting and slipped over to the couch Isaac was on before sitting beside him.
"Two years from now I'll probably be in your position," he raised his eyebrows.
"Mourning isn't something that's quick and easy."
Isaac
Isaac nodded, and sighed, resting his hands on the bridge of his nose.
"No. But sometimes you still have to face facts and get on with your life," he said.
Taylor
"But you still need to take your own time to sort it out," Taylor insisted.
He put his arm around Isaac's shoulders and squeezed him a little.
"We'll figure it out. But hey, put it this way... if you didn't have the music to express yourself you'd be even worse."
Isaac
"This is true," Isaac nodded.
And even though Taylor had decided he and Zac could work together, Isaac could still write with them. Maybe not both at the same time but it was something.
With any luck, maybe he could get them to be friends again. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to stand having his two closest friends at odds with each other.
Taylor
"Don't worry about me and Zac," Taylor insisted, giving his brother a hug.
He stood and took an empty coffee cup from the coffee table.
"For now we'll just each do our own thing. It'll work out in the end."
He paused for thought for a moment, before heading for the kitchen.
Isaac
"Okay," Isaac said.
"But how can I not worry?" he thought to himself.
He turned on the TV and started flipping channels. He needed to watching something... brain numbing.