"How's she doing?" Ginger asked on the phone that evening. Zac sighed. After Isaac left everything seemed to turn out just fine, although Jenny never did get back to sleep and was cranky for the rest of the day.
"Jenny's doing just great, Ging," Zac said. "Unfortunately with my family being as loud as they are, she didn't get a nap today. She was cranky until about eight o'clock when she just kind of crashed. She's been out since then."
"Well as long as she's out now," Ginger said. "How are you?"
"Ugh�"
"That doesn't sound good."
"Isaac came over today," Zac said. "And apparently he doesn't like me anymore. I had no idea but Taylor told me that he is really holding a grudge over this me leaving the band thing. It's like how I was with Taylor."
"Really? Is it that bad?"
"Yeah�hey, wait a minute!"
"Well come on, Zac, it was pretty bad with Taylor." Zac sighed. "How's the rest of the family, then?"
"Great. It was great seeing everybody. I can get over how much older everybody is. I mean it's only been a year and Mackenzie's gotten so huge I cannot believe it. He's a teenager now. Zo�'s six years old. I think the two of them have changed the most. Avery's turning into Taylor; she has a different boyfriend every week. Jess assures me she's still a virgin and she better damn well stay that way or I'm going to be kicking some ass."
"How old is Avery?"
"Fifteen. She's almost sixteen, though."
"Then she still should be a virgin."
"I don't know. Taylor was fifteen when he lost his. So was I, I think," Zac said.
"But you and Taylor have lived the lives of thirty-year-olds. You were so much older than Avery is at that age," Ginger said. "I'm sure you have absolutely nothing to worry about." She giggled. "This is so cute, Zac."
"What?"
"You're being so protective of your little sister. I love it."
"Whatever�" Zac said. "Wait a sec, weren't you fourteen?"
"When what happened?"
"When you lost your virginity."
"Yeah, I was, but that was a different story! I was hanging around with some really bad people. Avery isn't hanging out with drunken potheads, is she?" Zac thought about it. That was very easy for Avery to do. Zac fell into a group of drunken potheads without even knowing it and before he realized what he was doing he was a drunken pothead himself.
"I don't know," Zac said. "She very well could be. I was one."
"What? No way!"
"I never told you about that?" Zac asked.
"Uh, obviously not!" she said. "I knew you drank, but everybody drinks as a teenager. It's kind of hard not to. I had no idea you did drugs or any of that other stuff."
"Yeah," Zac said. "I was a drunken pothead myself. It was all of my friends out here. When I was dating Gwen the first time all of our friends discovered pot and before I even knew what was happening I was smoking up with the best of them. It's not anything I'm proud of, but I still did it. The only time I was with them was when I was at home for a few weeks, and I would just go out to Lindsay's house and stay there for three or four days, the whole time all of us would just be smoking out and getting drunk. I didn't have anybody tell me it was wrong because Lindsay's parents were never around, we never got caught, and we all liked it. Then I'd go to work and you'd see other rock stars so strung out it seemed almost like if you didn't do it, you weren't in the loop."
"You don't still do it, do you?" Ginger asked. Zac let his head fall against his open hand, stifling the urge to let out a "D'oh!" Ginger was such a ditz sometimes.
"No, Ginger, I don't still do it," he said, groaning.
"Shut up! I don't know!"
"Anyway�how are you and Kris holding up at the apartment all by yourself?"
"Well," Ginger said, "we had a party the other day and we broke a few priceless items, and someone threw up in the bed, but you know, whatever."
"You're joking, right?"
"Yes, Zac, I'm joking," Ginger said. "We're doing just fine. I miss my baby, though. I miss you too." Zac rolled his eyes. "How much longer are you going to be gone?"
"Geez, Ginger, I tell you every day. I'll be back January 12th." Ginger sighed. "I know it seems like a long time, but you're still busy with the movie. It won't seem as long."
"I know. Are you coming home for Christmas?"
"No, I'll be in New York at Christmas. I'm working Christmas Eve and I'm doing that stupid parade Christmas morning. I want to be home for Christmas, but unfortunately I wasn't the one who schedules the dates."
"Well I'm off for Christmas. I'm going to come out there. It's Jenny's first Christmas and we should be together as a family."
"All right," Zac said. "I'd like that. I miss you."
"I miss you too, honey." Zac heard a whimper over the baby monitor.
"Uh oh, Jenny's awake."
"You go take care of her," Ginger said. "Give her a kiss from me, tell I miss her and I love her."
"I will," he said. "I love you."
"I love you too." Zac hung up the phone and ran up the stairs. He ran into his bedroom where he found Jenny awake. He walked over and picked her up as she began to cry.
"Oh, honey, it's okay," he said. He walked over to the chair and sat down with Jenny in his arms, rocking her back and forth in his arms. Out of habit he began to lightly sing to her, still rocking her until she fell back asleep. Taylor appeared at the doorway. Zac looked up.
"I heard you singing, I figured she woke up," Taylor whispered. Zac nodded.
"She's back asleep now," Zac said. "I just want to sit here with her for a while before I put her back down."
"Zac, you're exhausted, you should go to sleep too." Zac nodded again. "Did you call Ginger?"
"Yeah."
"How are they doing?" Zac smiled.
"Just fine," he said. "They're just fine." Taylor smiled.
"Go to sleep." Taylor walked back down the hall.
The next morning Zac woke up very tired. Jenny didn't sleep for more than a half an hour at a time the entire night and both Zac and Taylor were up constantly to take care of her. She usually slept a good portion of the night without waking up. Jenny was the one who woke him up, tugging on his ear at seven o'clock. He woke up quickly and looked over at her.
"Oh, you're up already?" Zac asked. "Why am I not surprised?" He sat up and surprisingly Taylor was still asleep. It was probably because Jenny kept him up all night. Zac wiped his eyes and got off the bed, scooping up Jenny as he stood up. "Ahh, Jenny, what's in store for us today?" As soon as he walked out the door, he knew the answer to his question. Isaac was leaving a room down the hall. Zac groaned and walked to the bathroom. Isaac left without saying a word and Zac put Jenny on the floor as he washed his face and brushed his teeth. He'd take a shower once Taylor woke up and he could leave Jenny with her.
He headed down the stairs with Jenny and went immediately into the kitchen. After setting Jenny down in a high chair, he opened the refrigerator and took out a small jar of baby food. "Look at you, you're starving!" Zac said, sitting down next to Jenny. He opened the jar and began feeding her, complete with airplane noises and spoon tricks that made her giggle.
"Good morning, Zac," Diana said, walking into the kitchen. "Good morning, Jenny."
"Hi Grandma," Zac said, waving at Diana with Jenny's hand. It made Diana smile. "I saw Isaac here earlier."
"Yeah, Zo� left one of her stuffed animals in his car yesterday and he brought it over before he had to go to work."
"He works?" Zac asked.
"Of course he works," Diana said, starting to fix the coffee. "He's not a lump like Taylor, you know. He went out and got a job after you left. Taylor just sat around for a while until he moved in with Kristina." Zac shrugged. "He's producing some local bands. He has quite a lot of work cut out for him."
"That's good," Zac said. "I was hoping I wouldn't run to him, but unfortunately I did. Twice."
"Yes, he mentioned the little incident at the front door on the phone yesterday while you were out doing that radio interview," Diana said. Zac sighed. Jenny began to fuss and refused to eat any more, although Zac hadn't been able to get more than three spoonfuls in her mouth, so Zac sat back and let her calm down.
"Did he mention he called Jenny a bastard child?"
"No, he didn't."
"Well he did. I lost my temper. It wasn't anything serious and I didn't hurt him, but you just don't talk about a child like that. Especially not your own niece," Zac said. He turned to Jenny. "Are you ready to eat yet?"
"What's wrong?" Diana asked.
"She's being fussy," Zac said. "She just misses her Mommy. I miss Mommy too, darlin', but you can't just not eat when it's not her feeding you."
"How long has it been since you've seen Ginger?" Diana asked. Zac knew it must have been painstaking to say Ginger's name, but Zac could already tell now that she had a granddaughter, Diana was loosening up on Ginger.
"Almost a month now," Zac said. "She'll be coming out for Christmas, but we won't see her until then. She's busy working on her movie and I have to work nearly every day until Christmas, even on Christmas, so I won't be able to fly back out to see her. Jenny's really starting to miss her and when Jenny's unhappy, everybody's unhappy."
Taylor walked into the room. "Good morning all," he said. He passed by Jenny and kissed the top of her head, then walked towards the coffeepot that was still percolating. "Dammit, no coffee yet." He sat down next to Zac at the counter. Taylor didn't function in the morning until he had his cup of coffee.
"So what's in store for you today, Zac?" Diana asked. She opened a cabinet and got out a few coffee mugs.
"Absolutely nothing," Zac said, smiling. "It's a great feeling."
"Really? Maybe I should ask you to mow the lawn then."
"Mow the lawn?" Zac asked. "It's my day off and you want me to mow the lawn? Pfft�yeah right." Diana smiled. The front door opened and a young woman, looking to be in her early twenties, ran in that didn't know. She was tall with dark brown hair and brown eyes, slightly similar to Gwen but she was obviously completely different from Gwen. She was dressed in black dance pants rolled up a few times, hanging loosely on her hips, a black leotard, and a small gray zip-up sweatshirt. She had her hair up in a bun.
"Hey Di," she said. "Are the girls up yet?"
"I have no idea," Diana said. "But I seriously doubt it. They'll sleep all day if you let them."
"I'll go yell at them," she said. "Oh, is this Jenny?" Zac was confused. She obviously knew the family and knew them well enough to have heard about Jenny, but Zac had no clue who she was.
"Um, who are you?" Zac asked.
"I'm sorry!" she said, smiling. She held out her hand. "I'm Roni, Isaac's wife." Zac glanced at Taylor, who was gratefully accepting the cup of coffee Diana was holding out for him. He wasn't looking at Zac for a reason.
"Oh," Zac said, reluctantly shaking her hand. "I didn't know he was married."
"Really? He didn't say anything? We've been married for�geez almost eight months now." Zac raised an eyebrow.
"Well I haven't exactly spoken to him in a while," Zac said. She shrugged.
"Anyway," she said, "I'm the dance instructor at Marisela's, where Jess and Avery dance. That's actually how I met Isaac. I'm supposed to give them a ride in today but it looks like neither of them are up yet." Zac was still obviously perturbed by this. "Um�I should go wake them up. Your daughter is beautiful."
"Thank you."
"I'll see you guys later." She turned around and ran up the stairs. Zac turned around and looked at Taylor and Diana. Neither of them were looking at him.
"When was somebody going to tell me they were married?" Zac asked. "Why wasn't I invited to the wedding?"
"None of us were," Diana said, pushing a cup of coffee to Zac. "They eloped."
"Well it still would have been nice to know I had a sister-in-law," Zac said, taking a sip of his coffee. "I know I shut myself away from the family but that's the kind of thing I'd like to be contacted for. I wasn't on another planet, you know." Zac sighed and picked up the spoon he was using to feed Jenny. She was finally hungry now and accepted his spoonful of baby food gratefully.
Roni came back down the stairs with Avery and Jessica, who both looked very tired, but looked like blonde clones of Roni. They stepped into the kitchen. Jessica lit up at the sight of Jenny. "Coffee please," she said to Diana, giving a big smile to Jenny. Jenny smiled in return. Diana poured both Jessica and Avery a cup of coffee to go.
"Roni, do you want some coffee too?" Diana asked.
"No, I had some at home already," Roni said. "We better get going before I get in trouble for being late again. Nice to finally meet you, Zac."
"Nice to finally hear about you," Zac said, putting on a cynical grin. Roni was a bit offended as she turned around and left with Zac's sisters. Zac turned back to his child. "We just can't wait to get out of here, now can we?" he asked her. She just smiled in return.