After Kris and Taylor returned from their honeymoon in Sydney, Ginger and Zac were focused mostly on the upcoming Grammy awards. Neither of them mentioned their spontaneous marriage while Taylor and Kris were away, but now that it'd been a while, it was getting harder and harder to keep it secret.
The morning of the Grammy awards Zac was getting ready in his room with Taylor. Ginger and Kris were in the massive bathroom, the door closed so Zac didn't see Ginger's dress. It was almost as bad as Gwen had been, however Zac refused to mention anything about his experience at last year's awards. Jess was still in town, staying at the hotel that Taylor and Kris got married in. After the video shoot she rehearsed nearly every day with Zac in his music room, in front of small crowds in shut-down clubs, and made her first TV appearance when Zac brought her along to do the Jay Leno show.
"So have you and Ginger decided when you're going to get married?" Taylor asked, sitting on Zac's bed with Jenny in his lap as Zac put on his Roberto Cavalli dress shirt. He went with this designer because it was the only suit Zac liked, although it was the designer Gwen wore last year. Ginger was different and went with a Christian Dior dress made especially for her.
"Uh�no," Zac said. "Not yet."
"Geez, Zac, are the two of you ever going to get married? You've been engaged for four months."
"We're both busy, Taylor," Zac said. "We decided we weren't going to do anything until after the promotions for her movie."
"Her movie's not coming out for another six months, Zac," Taylor said. "What are you doing until then?"
"I go on tour the end of March," Zac said. "That's a month from now. A month isn't long enough to plan anything. As soon as I finish the tour Ginger starts promotions for the movie and that's the rest of our year. We'll worry about the wedding next year."
"Just don't get married around Kris and my anniversary. I know if it's too close, I'll end up switching the dates."
"All right," Zac said, turning away. He grabbed his coat off the back of a chair and put it on. After fixing his collar, he turned to Taylor.
"Snazzy," Taylor said. Zac smiled.
"Just what I was going for," he said. "Is Ginger ready yet? Seriously, she's been in there all fucking morning."
"Well, you know chicks," Taylor said. "They take forever to get ready."
"Honestly, have you gone in there?" Zac asked. "She's got her hair people, her makeup people, and Kris all up in there to prep her. She even had me sit in there with her and get my hair done."
"Yeah, I noticed that."
"I swear." The door opened and Zac was about to let out a sigh of relief that Ginger was finished when only Kris slipped out. "Is she ready yet?" Zac asked. Kris walked up to him and slapped him across the face. "Oh my God, what did I do?"
"You persuaded her into it, didn't you?"
"Into what? What are you talking about?"
"You two got married!" Kris yelled. Zac glanced at Taylor, who folded his arms, obviously appalled that Zac had been lying to him all this time. Jenny was now on the bed next to him, look up at her Uncle Taylor. "No, you couldn't let me and Taylor have any light, you had to go and get married yourselves the day after we did! And you didn't even tell us about it!"
"Kris, calm down. It's not like we had a big wedding like you did. We woke up the next morning and decided to just do it. We went down the courthouse and got married. Our witnesses were two lawyers that were having a meeting in the back of the room. We haven't told anyone about it! We don't want to tell anybody about it. We didn't want to tell you because we knew you would act like this."
"Then why the hell did you do it?"
"Kris, I love you. You're my sister now. I'm sorry if we keep doing this to you but there was nothing you could have done to stop us. We wanted to get married and we didn't want to make a big fuss over it, so we did it. It had absolutely nothing to do with you."
"You know, you're not making me feel any better."
"I'm not trying to make you feel better. I shouldn't have to. If you don't accept the fact that we're married, that's fine. If you don't like it, fine. Just don't talk to me." Kris clenched her fists; she was still fuming mad. "Now is she ready yet? We have to leave soon."
"I don't care." She stormed out of the room. Taylor followed without a word to Zac, Jenny in his arms as he left. Sighing, Zac pressed his forehead against the wall. This was not good. The bathroom door opened again and Ginger's makeup artist Andre looked to Zac.
"Mr. Hanson, she's asking for you." Zac stood up straight and walked into the bathroom. Ginger was sitting in a director's chair waving a tissue at her face. She was crying. She saw him in the mirror.
"What'd she say to you?" Ginger asked him. Part of her hair was still in curlers but otherwise she looked done. Her makeup was done and she was in her dress. Her hair stylist was working quickly on her hair.
"She slapped me, then she yelled at me, then she stormed out." Ginger took in a deep breath.
"I didn't mean to tell her, honey," Ginger said as Andre dabbed at her eye with a tissue. "It just slipped and she got so mad. She would have hit me too if Andre hadn't held her back."
"So�" Zac said, leaning against the wall, "do you want to start telling people now that Kris and Taylor know? They're going to press it at every interview today."
"Okay. We can start telling people now. If Kris thinks this is stealing her thunder, I'll show her what I can really do."
"Now, Ging, you don't want to do this out of spite. You're just going to regret it."
"She deserves it. If she can't be happy for us then she doesn't matter."
"She's your best friend, Ging."
"I don't care. How much time until we have to leave?" Zac looked at his watch.
"Fifteen minutes."
"Douglas, can you finish my hair in fifteen minutes?"
"I can have it done in ten," Douglas said. There were four people in the room, and they were all men. Zac felt slightly uncomfortable upon walking in there earlier to find his wife surrounded by four men until Ginger told him they were all gay. "I'd be more worried if you were getting dressed in here," Ginger had said. Apparently that was true.
"Baby, can you go see if they're still here? Maybe you can talk to Taylor."
"I don't know�"
"Please?"
"Fine�" Zac left the bathroom and walked out of the bedroom. He found that Kris and Jenny were gone but Taylor was still there. "Hi," Zac said.
"Don't even talk to me."
"Come on, Taylor. Ginger didn't want me to say anything. We didn't want to take away from you and Kris."
"What part of 'don't even talk to me' do you not understand?" Taylor asked.
"Taylor�"
"God, Zac," Taylor said, shaking his head. "I know you and Ginger wanted to get married, but did you have to sneak around like that? I wouldn't have been so mad if you would have told me right away."
"Taylor, it was a spontaneous thing. You and Kris were already gone and we just sort of did it. Neither of us planned it."
"And of course," Taylor said, continuing as if Zac hadn't said a word, "being the good brother that I am, I took your side and now Kris won't even talk to me. She took Jenny and she took the car so now I'm stuck here. Thanks, bro."
"Whatever, Taylor. Ging and I are going in a limo, so take my car and go after her. Don't try to take my side. We'll do what we can to get her to come around."
"What could you do to get her to come around?" Zac thought about it.
"If I win tonight, the first thing I'll do in my acceptance speech is to apologize to Kris," Zac said. "What's better than an apology in front of millions of people?" Taylor looked skeptical. "And if not, well, I'll think of something else."
"All right." Taylor got up and followed Zac into the kitchen. Zac grabbed his keys and threw them to Taylor. "I'll see you later." Taylor left as Ginger walked out of the bedroom with her entourage. This was very different from last year. Since this was such a big deal, Ginger's makeup artist and hair stylist would be coming along with them in the limo to do last minute touchups before Ginger got onto the red carpet. None of them really cared about Zac, although Ginger had made a point for them to try to care.
"Ohh man, you look gorgeous," Zac said, giving Ginger a smile.
"I know. Thank my awesome entourage here."
"Thanks guys, she looks absolutely gorgeous," Zac said to the four men around Ginger. Zac's cell phone rang and he quickly answered it. "Hello?"
"Mr. Hanson, your limo is here."
"Thanks." He put the phone back in his pocket. "The limo's here. Is everybody ready?" Ginger nodded and stepped forward, taking Zac's arm. He took her downstairs, her entourage following, to the limo. Andre and Douglas got in first, followed by Ginger and Zac.
"Did you catch either of them?" Ginger asked.
"Taylor was still here. Apparently he took our side and Kris got mad and sped off with the car. I let him take mine home so he could talk to her. He seems to be okay with it, it's just her now. I don't know what to do about her."
"I'll talk to her. She can't be mad for long."
"No, I guess not." He leaned to kiss her but Andre intervened.
"No, no," Andre said. "We don't want to mess anything up. You can kiss her all you want after pictures."
"You know, this was so much easier last year," Zac said, leaning back. Ginger crossed her arms and glared at him. "I mean�um�I love you?"
"Nice one," Andre mumbled.
"You shut up. I was just saying that last year I didn't have to deal with you two staring at me. I'm not going to mess up her hair or her makeup, don't worry!" His explanation was just digging him into a deeper hole.
"I'm sorry but your date last year looked terrible," Douglas said.
"Thank you," Ginger said. Zac, however, didn't say anything. Ginger shut up and most of the rest of the ride was quiet. The traffic approaching the arena where the awards were being held was terrible. Zac and Ginger waited in the limo for twenty minutes until they were let out. The first thing that happened, before either Zac or Ginger could move, Andre and Douglas fixed anything that could have gone wrong with Ginger's makeup and hair in the limo, then allowed the two of them to go. Zac took Ginger's hand and they waved to the snapping cameras aimed in their direction. Zac was the hottest music star of the moment, and Ginger was just as popular in the movie world so the two of them together was the event to see. Any appearance where the two of them were together was always a high security event.
As they walked through the various interviews, Zac was surprised that nobody had mentioned the engagement yet. The interviews lasted about an average of three questions, and most of it concerned Zac's performance and how he felt about being nominated for four awards.
"So, Zac, On the Balcony is the highest selling album in the history of Columbia Records, how do you plan to top that on the next album?" an interviewer Zac was very familiar with from MTV asked.
"Well we won't start making the next album until the end of this year, but I plan on having some great talents working with me," Zac answered.
"How do you feel about performing with your sister tonight?"
"There's nothing better. Jess and I have been singing together for years, I'm glad she finally got over being shy and she agreed to do it."
"Have you seen her yet?"
"No," Zac said. "Not yet."
"So you and Ginger have been engaged for a few months now," he asked, glancing at Ginger who still had a beaming smile on her face. "Do you have a date for the wedding yet?"
"Oh," Zac said, glancing back at Ginger, "We're already married." There was a pause from the interviewer.
"Really? When?"
"The sixteenth of this month," Ginger answered.
"Well, congratulations," he said. Zac and Ginger thanked him and walked down the line for the rest of the interviews. Ginger squeezed his hand and he gave her a smile. He knew if Kris was watching she would be fuming, and he knew that his parents were at home dialing the phone to call Taylor right about now.
Once inside, Zac and Ginger sat down together in the audience and relaxed. The red carpet was the most hectic thing about being a celebrity; the paparazzi was all over the place, doing anything possible to get his and Ginger's attention. The problem with being the two biggest stars at the moment was that everybody wanted to talk to them. It was amusing for a while, but halfway there he got so exhausted he just wanted to crash, and the award show hadn't even started yet.
He was the third performance, so during the first commercial break he would have to leave his seat to get ready. He wasn't sure when his awards were, but he was told he wouldn't be missing any of his awards while he was backstage preparing for his performance.
"Are you nervous?" Ginger asked. He nodded. "I'm sure you'll do fine, baby. You're up for four awards."
"I know, but I've been up for three before and lost all three times," Zac said.
"That was different," she told him. "This album is something completely different."
"True." She took his hand and gave him a reassuring smile. The show started and Zac was less than enthused as the show went on. At the first commercial break, Zac gave Ginger a kiss and went backstage. When he arrived he found Jess already there in her dress. "Look at you!" Zac said. "Who thought you could look this nice?"
"Shut up," Jess said. "And go to your room, I have to get changed."
"I just wanted to see your dress before I went."
"There was some guy looking for you too," Jess said. "One of the backstage people. I told him to wait in your room. It was like four seconds ago."
"Okay, I'm going." Zac went to the next room over, which was his dressing room. There was a man with a headset and clipboard waiting for him. "Hi."
"Hello Mr. Hanson, I just came to inform you that you won an award."
"Already?" Zac asked. "When?"
"There are over a hundred awards, Mr. Hanson, and we can't give them all out during the ceremony. The bulk of the awards are given out before the show starts. You won for�" He looked at his clipboard, "Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for your work on the Feeling Left Out album."
"Oh, score!" Zac said. "That makes me feel so much better."
"I'm glad I could help," he said. "Good luck on your performance and the rest of your nominations."
"Thanks." The man left and Zac smiled. The door opened and Andre and Douglas walked in. "What are you doing here?"
"Ginger sent us in here to make sure you look good during your performance. Apparently Jessica already has people."
"So that's why there were so many people in there," Zac said. "Well I doubt I need it. I'm supposed to look rugged."
"There's a difference between rugged and unkempt, Mr. Hanson," Andre said. "One is Hollywood. The other is homeless."
"Whatever." Zac got changed into his classic Zac style�jeans and a vintage T-shirt of an old band. Andre and Douglas took care of everything else until Jess walked into the room, wearing low-rise jeans and a white fitted spaghetti strap tank top and heels.
"See, that is rugged Hollywood," Douglas said.
"Hey, Jess, guess what," Zac said.
"What?" She sat down next to him.
"I already won an award."
"You did? Oh my God, that's wonderful! What'd you win?"
"Producer of the Year for the Feeling Left Out album." Her mouth dropped. "I know! Of all of my nominations, that's the one I really didn't expect to win." Jess gave him a big hug. "Did you tune your guitar?"
"No," Jess said.
"Well go get it and bring it in here," Zac said. "I have to tune mine as well. We can go through the song." Jess ran to her room to get her guitar and Zac got his out of the case that was leaning against the wall. When he sat back down Jess came running back in the room with her guitar. After tuning and a quick run-through of the song, another stagehand walked into the room.
"Mr. Hanson, Miss Hanson, it's time for you to go on stage." Zac and Jess stood up and followed the stagehand to the stage. The performance was going to be just a simple acoustic song, which was the reason the both of them were dressed down.
Alicia Keys introduced them, the person Zac presented an award with the previous year. It was the first time Zac had performed in front of that many people since his last show with Hanson, and he loved it. Jess was eating it up as well, improvising a bit as she sang with him in front of music's best. Zac's eyes scanned the crowd as he sang and he spotted Ginger, singing along. It made him smile and when she locked eyes with him, he winked at her. He held her gaze through the rest of the song, only breaking it occasionally to smile at his sister who was singing the best he'd ever heard in his life. She loved this and he could tell. The smile on her face was unmistakable. He got it the first time he performed in front of this many people.
When the song was over, and everyone began to clap, Zac kissed Jess's cheek. "You were great," he told her. As the camera clicked to wide shot, he and Jess waved and left the stage. Two stagehands took their guitars and a third held the two of them in place.
"Stay here," he told them. "You're nominated for the next award."
"Okay," Zac said. The stagehand walked off after briefly giving instructions, just in case Zac won. Zac turned to Jess. "Hey, let's see if I win."
"You know, I think you will," Jess said. "I've watched a lot of Grammy awards, and whenever somebody just performed, they usually win the next award."
"Really?" Zac asked.
"Yeah," she said. "Not to get your hopes up or anything�" Norah Jones passed by, giving Zac and Jess a smile, and went out on the stage after her name was announced to do the award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Zac watched on a nearby monitor as she walked up to a microphone.
"The male voice in music has had a variety of forms, from scratchy to smooth, from alto to tenor, and everything in between. The use of the male voice in music has the ability to make a woman laugh, cry, and even weak in the knees. Here are the nominees for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance." The camera clicked to the five nominees, including Zac, as Norah walked to another podium where the trophy woman was standing with the Grammy and the envelope. When the camera clicked back to Norah, she opened the envelope with a smile on her face. "And the Grammy goes to�Zac Hanson."
Jess hugged Zac and he gave her a kiss before walking out, a smile on his face. He met up with Norah and gave her a kiss as well before taking the trophy and step up to the microphone. "Wow, I wasn't exactly expecting this," he said, connecting eyes with Ginger immediately. She laughed. "Okay, okay, I was. I'm going to make this short but I have to say something first. This morning I got into a huge fight with my sister Kris this morning and I just have to say Kris, I'm sorry. Anyway, um, thank you so much. I have a couple of people I want to thank�my sister Jess for working with me, Columbia records for giving me such a great deal, Peter Denepir, my producers, everyone who worked on the album and�" He took a breath and big smile crossed his face. "To my wife, Ginger, this album is about you�it's for you. Thank you." Zac turned and walked off the stage.
When he returned to his seat Ginger kissed him. "Oh, honey, I'm so proud of you! That was such a good performance and you remembered to thank me."
"I found out I won before the show too," he said.
"For what?"
"Producer of the Year."
"Oh my God!"
"I know! I have two now!" Ginger kissed him again and Zac sat back to watch the rest of the show. He was disappointed with Song of the Year went to someone else, but when it came time for his final nomination, he couldn't help but fidget.
"Calm down," Ginger whispered. His knee was bouncing and Ginger put her hand on it to stop it. "Calm down." He sighed.
"This year's nominees for Best Album is the most diverse we've seen. We have a Jazz singer whose career spans decades, a Latin artist giving us a new brand of 'shake your ass' music, the father of pop in the twenty-first century�" Ginger gave Zac's hand a squeeze. "�a controversial rap artist, and a woman who, to this day, continues to reinvent herself. And the nominees are�" Zac sighed again. He wasn't going to win. He was up against legends and he had every single album that was nominated, and they were all better than his. However, he gave the camera a smile when it got in his face as his name was announced. "And the Grammy goes to Zac Hanson, On the Balcony." Zac kissed Ginger and stood up. He walked to the stage, up the stairs, and to the podium.
"Wow," Zac said into the microphone. "This I really didn't expect. Thank you so much. I worked really hard on this album and this is the first thing I've ever done by myself. I want to thank my brothers for getting me here. They're the reason I got into the business to begin with. Thanks guys. And to everybody else who worked on the album, I named you before and I'm sure I'm forgetting so many people, but they know who they are. Thank you so much." Zac turned and walked backstage, a smile on his face and his prize in his hands.