Zac opened the door to the house and peered inside. The familiar sound of the television and the ruckus of his family were quite soothing as he slipped into the house. "Hello?" he called out, taking a step in. "Anybody home?"
"Zac!"
Zac felt a large smile on his lips as his littlest sister ran into the room but froze when she reached the doorway. "What?" he asked, "You don't even recognize your own big brother?" She took another step towards him, eyeing him a bit before she realized it really was him and she ran up to him, throwing her arms around his waist.
"You're home! MOM!! Zac's home!!" Zac laughed. Diana came through the hallway and did the same thing Zo� did�she stopped dead in her tracks. "He cut his hair!"
"Oh my dear God what did you do to your hair?" she asked, walking up to him. "I mean I'd heard rumors to the effect but I never thought you'd actually done it! Look at you! You look years older!" He smiled. She walked up and gave him a big hug. "Oh, honey, I missed you so much. You were gone way too long. Why are you here?"
"What? Do I need a reason? I just wanted to see my family!" He gave his mother a kiss and walked deeper into the house. "Where's Dad?"
"He's out. I sent him to the store with Jess and Avery. Mackenzie is around somewhere. Sit down in the kitchen and talk to me, you haven't called home in ages!"
"I haven't had any time!" He tried to move but Zo� held him tight around the waist. "Come on, Zo." He picked her up with a groan. "Geez, you're getting heavy. You're getting bigger and bigger every day." Zo� giggled and ran her tiny hand over the back of his head, feeling how different short hair felt on her big brother. Zac followed his mother into the kitchen and sat at the table with Zo� in his lap.
"What have you been doing?" Diana asked.
"Well, all I've been doing is touring and publicity. I don't have much time to do anything else. I have a heck of a lot more time on my hands now than I did before; I'm not as tired, but I still don't have very much time." Zac looked down at Zo�, who wasn't listening but looked overjoyed to be with her big brother again.
"Did you talk to your brothers at all?" she asked, getting up and opening the fridge. "Are you hungry?"
"No, thanks. I talked to Taylor; I just got a letter from him yesterday. He was the one who got me to come back home. I had a packed weekend but I cleared it out. I know it's hard for you with all of us gone. At least I can come home."
"Have you heard from Ike?"
"No, but Taylor said he was fine. He might be stationed somewhere where he can't send out letters or maybe he's just too busy. He's fine."
"I hope so. I worry about him so much. I don't know where he is, I don't know what he's doing, and I can't talk to him!"
"Mom, stop. Ike is twenty-one-years old. He knows how to take care of himself."
"Well let's not think about it, all right? So you haven't done anything since you've been gone? No more protests? You haven't gotten arrested again, have you?" Zac shook his head, smiling.
"No, I haven't gotten arrested. As for the protests, yeah, that's just a part of every day life," he said, lightly laughing. He had to love his mother.
"Okay, whatever you say, son. So you haven't done anything else? Been nothing but business?"
"Well�"
"Well what?" she asked, noticing the large smile on her son's face. "I think I know that smile. You met a girl, didn't you?
"Well�yeah. Yeah I did. Her name is Madison and I met her backstage at one of my concerts."
"So she's a fan?" Zac nodded. "Where is she from?"
"Cleveland. We didn't meet there; we met somewhere else. I talk to her often but I haven't seen her since I went through Cleveland doing a show. That was about a week ago. She'd been following my shows around for a while and I finally brought her along with me. She just caught my eye. I brought her along when I met Bob Dylan. She's awesome."
"Will I get to meet her?" Zac nodded.
"Yeah, well, I didn't run this by you because I didn't want to tell you I was coming home, but I invited her down for Christmas. She'll be here tomorrow." Diana raised an eyebrow. "If that's okay."
"Yeah, it's fine." She stood and Zac stood as well, carrying his now sleeping sister in his arms. "Dad will be so happy to see you're back. He misses being your manager and touring with you guys. He's just been moping around the place with nothing to do�" Zac smiled. They went up the stairs to Zo�'s room.
"Drake is doing a good job. I'm doing fine. I'm busy but I'm not so busy that I'm exhausted like I was with Ron. I just really don't like being away for so long. I know I have so much to do because Ron set me so far behind, scheduling two month's worth of extra dates without as much as asking me first."
"You never did like being away from home."
They went into Zo�'s room and Zac put his sister down. "Once I finish up the tour�I'm almost done, actually�I'll go in the studio and make an album. I want to get that done quickly and since I've been on tour with the songs, I know what everyone likes. I would have done it sooner but with setbacks with Ron we never got to offer me to record companies and everyone was jumping down our throats, I'm surprised Ron didn't sign me for the first offer that came down."
"You're doing very well, you know," Diana said as they left Zo�'s room. "I had no idea you'd become so popular. Everyone loves what you're doing."
"I know. I didn't expect any of this." They left the room. Zac went down the hall to his room. "So is my room still in tact or has Jess taken over it?" He opened the door. "A-ha! Pink! Jess was in here."
"Yeah, she has been taking your bed so she could have her own room. She does this every time you boys are gone, it's just usually she has time to clean up before you get home," Diana explained.
"Well, she can keep her crap in here, I'll only be here a few days." He kicked away her pink mess of clothes and make-up kits to get to his bed. "Ahh! My sheets are pink!"
"Well you boys are gone so often she really takes over. I'll change the sheets before you go to bed." Zac shrugged. "If you would have told me you were coming, I would have fixed up before you got here."
"It doesn't matter, it's just a few days. She might get upset that her stinky older brother slept on her sheets, though." He sat down on the bed. "Oh well." The sound of the garage door opening came from down the stairs.
"It looks like your father's home. Let's go." They got up and left the room, going down the stairs.
"D? Where are you?"
"Over here!" Walker appeared by the kitchen. "Guess who's home." Zac stood on the stairs, still having half of them left before he reached the first level. Walker looked up at Zac.
"Zac?" he asked. "Where's your hair?" Zac rolled his eyes.
"Hello to you too, Dad."
"Hey baby!" Zac said as Madison ran up to him and threw her arms around him. She deeply kissed him; he didn't worry about it because he still wasn't getting recognized when he went out. However, he'd completely forgotten that he'd brought his mother with him and after a moment he heard a throat clearing behind him. He let go and turned around. "Oh, sorry. Mom, this is Madison Ashton. Mad, this is my mother."
"Hi," Madison said, a blush in her cheeks as she shook hands with Diana. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"You too," Diana said, smiling. "Where are your shoes?" Madison burst out laughing.
"She doesn't wear shoes," Zac explained. "She never wears shoes."
"Okay�well, let's get your things. Baggage claim is this way." Diana turned and Zac took Madison's hand as they went through the airport that Zac knew better than the back of his own hand.
"I'm nervous," Madison whispered to Zac. He gave her hand a squeeze.
"Don't worry, they'll all love you. They have to. I love you." She smiled, a bit more assured of herself now. Diana walked slightly ahead as if she didn't hear a word they said. When they arrived at baggage claim, Madison announced that she had two bags to pick up. "Two bags?" Zac asked her, giving her a look. "You're only going to be here for four days."
"Well I had to bring presents along, you know," she said, returning the look he gave her in a mocking manner. "I wasn't going to come here for Christmas and not give everyone a present."
"Oh, that was so nice of you!" Diana said. "You didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to," Madison said, smiling. "It's not much but it's the least I could do. There's one!" She pointed to a dark green suitcase coming down the conveyer belt. Zac picked it up and placed it on the floor by their feet. Madison stood it upright and pointed to another, smaller, suitcase of the same color a few feet down. Zac waited for it and picked it up as well.
"Is that it?" Diana asked. Madison nodded. "Okay, let's go!" They left the airport and went to the parking lot where Diana led them to the black Mercedes Zac had brought home with him. Madison looked at the car and then back at Zac. He gave her a smile and put her suitcases in the trunk. Diana drove while Zac sat in the back seat with Madison, his arm around her.
"How are you doing, babe?" Zac asked.
"You would not believe the day I had, Zac," she said, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "The incompetence of the people who work that ticket counter�I swear. I already had my ticket, I told you that, and I go up to the counter to check in my bags. I get this little foreign girl, she sounded Russian, and she had no fricken clue what she was doing. She says she can't find me on the computer, I don't have a seat on the flight and I have to buy another ticket. I didn't have any money with me! I told her, repeatedly, that I had my ticket, I even got it out and showed it to her, but she said it didn't matter and she left! I sat there for twenty minutes, luckily I'd gotten there early, and nobody would talk to me. There were other people working there but they wouldn't listen to me. So I had to wait until she came back and when she did I shoved the ticket in her face and told her 'Listen, lady, this is my ticket. It has everything written on it, it's right here for you to look at it, take it and check my fucking bags in or I won't rest until you're fired.' She looked at it and two minutes later my bags were checked in and I was ready to go."
"Geez�I don't think that's ever happened to me before," Zac said, "and I've been on hundreds of flights."
"It just thoroughly pissed me off," she said, putting her head in her hands. "And then the flight was delayed and I ended up sitting there at my gate for two hours. I didn't have anything to do, I didn't know anybody there, so I just looked out the window for two hours."
"Well what did you do on the plane?"
"I slept on the plane, I was so exhausted. First I have to wake up inhumanly early to make my flight and it gets delayed and I had so much trouble to go through�I am exhausted."
"When we get home you can take a nap�if you can block out the distractions of my family. We're rather loud." Madison shrugged and put her head against Zac's shoulder. Zac kissed her forehead and she smiled.
"You have no hair!" she said, looking up at him. "You're a bald freak!"
"Shut up, Mad."
"Hey, don't tell me to shut up. At least I have hair."
"You've got enough for the both of us," he said, running his fingers through her long ponytail. "I don't need hair anymore. I kind of like not having to mess with it when I wake up in the morning. Just shake my head out and I'm ready for the day." Madison laughed and rolled her eyes. "Well that other hair was high maintenance. I didn't want to deal with that crap anymore!"
"That reminds me," Diana said from the front seat, "you can swear all you want, but watch your mouth around the kids, okay? That goes double for you, Zac, I know you have a hard time controlling what comes out of your mouth."
"I do not!"
"You do! Just this morning you swore while Zo� was running around. You're seventeen now, you should be old enough to control your mouth when there are children present." Zac rolled his eyes. "All right, we're home." Zac got out of the car immediately and went to the trunk to get Madison's suitcases. He followed them into the house. "Okay, Madison, you'll be upstairs in Zo�'s room. Her room's always a mess so if you can't get through, just kick stuff out of the way. Zac will show you the way and he'll give you the grand tour of the house."
"All right," Madison said, turning to Zac. "Come, Igor, upstairs with the bags." She clapped her hands and began up the stairs. Zac put his shirt on his head and hunched over like the character in the movies.
"Yes, master," he said in his best Igor voice, and waddled to the stairs with both suitcases in his hands. Madison turned around and began to laugh hysterically as he caught up with her. "Master, you're blocking the way."
"Go ahead," she said, moving out of the way and still laughing. He went up the stairs and when he reached the top he nodded towards the hall where Zo�'s room was. Madison followed, taking her time due to her laughter, and followed him into Zo�'s room. He put the suitcases down and closed the door, quickly standing up straight and putting his shirt on right.
"I'm sorry I had to bring my mother along," he said, "but she insisted she wanted to meet you right away. I don't think I gave you the greeting I wanted." Madison had calmed down by now but was still smiling, her cheeks red and her eyes watery from laughing so hard.
"Well you better do it while the door is closed." He put his hands on the sides of her face and kissed her. She jumped slightly by his force but eased into his kiss quickly, responding with the same kind of force he'd shown her. She took over and slid her hands from his hair to his back and finally, to his pants. When she began to fiddle with them he stopped.
"No, no, not here," he said, giving her a smile.
"Why not?" She looked completely innocent, as if she'd just asked for ice cream. "Because I have three little sisters and a snot-nosed nosy brother running around and that door doesn't lock. Plus my parents are suspicious already about us so I don't think they'll leave us alone for long enough to accomplish anything." She pouted.
"Really? Not even a quickie?"
"No. Trust me, if there was a way, we would have done it, but there isn't a way. Not now, at least. Wait until tonight."
"Does her bed creak?" she asked, grinning mischievously.
"Yes, but mine doesn't," he said, returning her grin. "And I don't have the guts to do it in my little sister's bed." Madison gave him a look and smiled.
"You're too much," she said, then slipped by him and went to the door and opened it up. She stepped into the hallway. "So, you were going to give me a tour?" Zac nodded and walked out into the hallway next to his girlfriend.