At the concert Ginger reverted back to her twelve-year-old self, wearing her short jean shorts, black wife beater, maroon lipstick and heavy eyeliner. The tattoo on her arm was as prominent as ever, and if she leaned over the top of the tattoo on her breast was visible. She went out and bought a tongue stud for this very occasion, taking out her golden heart for the first time in a decade. She stored it in a safe place, almost afraid to leave it there, and was constantly playing with the silver ball in her mouth.
"Ginger, stop it," Zac said as they were waiting for the babysitter to walk over. She'd just called and said she'd be there in about five minutes. Ginger was still playing with the ball on her tongue and it was started to annoy Zac.
"I'm sorry!" she said. "It's weird!"
"I know. You shouldn't have changed it. You look very punk right now. Congratulations." She'd ratted her hair out a bit so it looked messy and, frankly, she looked like a teenager. Jenny knew it was her mother, but was having some problems with her new look. Ginger assured her daughter it was just a costume and she wasn't always going to dress like this, and Jenny felt better.
The doorbell rang and Zac got up to get it. The babysitter, a sixteen-year-old brunette with black-framed glasses walked in the door. "Hey Lisa," Ginger said from the living room.
"Wow, Rose," Lisa said, looking at Ginger, "You look totally different."
"I know," Ginger said. "I felt like being cool today. Do I look cool?"
"Yes you do," Lisa said. "Very cool."
"See, Zac," Ginger said, hitting Zac in the arm. "I am cool."
"No you're not," Zac assured her. She gave him a look.
"What, when you hit twenty-two you're no longer cool? I don't understand it! You're almost twenty-two, Zac. Your coolness is almost up!"
"My coolness will never be up," Zac said. "Anyway, Lisa, all the numbers are by the phone in the kitchen. I put my cell phone on there, call me if you need anything. There's food in the fridge, if you want to order a pizza, go right ahead, I left money on the counter. Um�Jenny's dinner is in the fridge, just throw it in the microwave for two minutes and give it to her. We'll be back late. If you want to stay the night, that's fine with us, there's a million extra bedrooms upstairs you can sleep in. If not, we'll see you when we get back." Lisa nodded.
"Okay."
"Great."
"Are you going to be good for Lisa, honey?" Ginger asked, kneeling down in front of Jenny. She nodded. "Good. I love you and I'll see you in the morning. No more funny costume." Jenny nodded again. "Give me a hug." Jenny gave her mother a hug, gave her father a hug, and then the two left for the concert. Ginger was very antsy. She hadn't left Jenny alone with a babysitter before. They only people Jenny had ever been with without Ginger around were Kris and Lily, and they knew her for weeks before Ginger left them alone together.
"She'll be fine, Ging," Zac said. Ginger nodded.
"I know."
"Just making sure you know," Zac said. "And you're not going to be calling her every five minutes, either."
"I wasn't going to call every five minutes!" Ginger said. They were walking down the sidewalk to Mark's house. "Every hour, maybe."
"Don't. She'll be fine. Lisa has my cell phone number if anything happens. Her parents are right next door, and it's not like she hasn't done this before," Zac explained. "I would tell you that you look very beautiful, but frankly Ginger, you look like a weird ass punk and I'm slightly afraid of you." Ginger giggled.
"I know. I'm such a punk."
"Just like when I first met you."
"Yup."
They walked up to Mark's house and rang the doorbell. A moment later he opened it and his eyes fell immediately on Ginger. "Oh my God," he said. "You are a punk." She shrugged.
"Hey, what can I say?" she said, smiling. "Let's go." Mark followed them back to the driveway, where Ginger sat in the back seat and Mark sat up front with Zac. Ginger rested her head against the window. She had a monster headache but she didn't want to say anything about it. She knew Zac was looking for a reason to have her stay at home and a headache, especially her headaches, would be a good reason to leave her behind.
This was the third headache in a week. At first she thought it was nothing, maybe she was getting her period, but something in her mind told her that wasn't it. She had a strong feeling she was getting sick again but she didn't to believe that. She didn't want to go through that ever again. It'd been three and a half years since she was put in remission and she had another year and a half to go. This wasn't going to mess anything up again.
The concert was about a half an hour away and when they got there, there weren't a lot of people there. Zac, being gifted in the art of getting tickets, also scored the three of them backstage passes to meet the band. Ginger was happy but, having not heard a single note from this band, was apprehensive of spending the rest of the night hanging around the backstage area.
"You okay?" Zac asked Ginger, handing her the backstage pass to stick on her clothing. "You seem out of it."
"No," she said, giving him a big smile. "I'm just fine."
"All right. You know if you want to go home I'll let you," he said, a grin on his face.
"Shut up."
He smiled at her, happy with his teasing today, but put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "I'm glad you came," he said sincerely. "It means a lot to me." She smiled and they walked backstage.
Halfway through the concert Ginger's head was pounding and she was having a hard time keeping coherent. She'd lost feeling in two of her fingers for about ten minutes and that was her warning sign. She knew exactly was happening and it was too much for her. Zac had disappeared about five minutes before, saying something about "business to attend to" so she was left alone with Mark.
The band was awesome. Ginger was enjoying it until the song they were playing at the moment, which sounded vaguely familiar. She thought about it, not moving around like she had been before. Mark turned to her. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm just thinking�" The band started the chorus and her eyes lit up. "I know this song! I know this band!" She smiled, jumping up and down excitedly now that she had figured it out. "No wonder they sounded so familiar!" She started singing along with the song and Mark laughed at her. Ginger used the rest of her energy to jump around for the rest of the song with Mark and once it was over, she was feeling a big woozy.
"Right now we'd like to introduce our very good friend and the producer of our first major label album, Zac Hanson," the lead singer said the crowd and Zac walked out on the stage. "We owe a lot to Zac. This guy here�this guy is the best producer in the world." Zac shook his head, feeling quite embarrassed. "Zac has something to do today and we owed him a favor, actually a number of favors, so let's hand over the stage for a minute or two to Zac." The lead singer stepped back, giving Zac the microphone. The band played a low mellow song in the background as Zac began to speak.
"Thanks, guys," he said. "I have something very important to do today and it'll only take a minute before I'll let the concert start again. If you're bored you can go to the bathroom or something while I'm talking. Anyway, I want to bring someone out on stage. Ginger? Where are you?"
Ginger was very confused and didn't want to go out on stage but Mark pushed her out there. She walked out onto the stage and stood next to Zac, who put his arm around her. "This is my girlfriend Ginger. Isn't she pretty?" The reaction Ginger got surprised her; everyone started screaming and agreeing with Zac. She blushed. "She's slightly shy, so you'll have to deal with her. Anyway, The Ataris have been a very big part of our relationship, although I'm sure Ginger doesn't remember any of it�" She shot him a look. "Eek. So I saw it fit that I do this now." Ginger was still confused until Zac let go of her and got down on his knees in front of her. She gasped. "Ginger, will you marry me?" He put the microphone up to her.
"Of course!" she said, and threw her arms around him. The crowd erupted into a great deal of screams and applause, and in a moment the band had started playing again, and Zac and Ginger were off the stage. She was hitting him, tears in her eyes. "You suck! Don't you ever do that again! I don't like being in front of that many people."
"Oh, you loved it and you know it." She buried her face in his shirt, her face red from embarrassment. "You're too much sometimes, Ginger."
"Where's my ring?" she asked, stepping away from him and wiping at her eyes with the hand that wasn't feeling numb. Zac went through is pockets and eventually found the little box her ring was in. She took the ring out, gave the box back to him, and put it on her finger, admiring it again.
"Holy shit that is a big ring," Mark said, looking at Ginger's hand.
"I know," she said, smiling. "Isn't it?" Ginger giggled.
The concert was almost over and Ginger found herself to sit with Zac, her head bringing the entire mood of the day down. She was sick again and as much as she thought she could deny it, she knew if she did that there would be less and less of a chance to get this thing and get it quickly. She didn't want to tell Zac. This was his day as well and she didn't want spoil it.
"How are you doing?" Zac asked Ginger, looking at her with a smile.
"I'm all right."
"Just all right?" She sighed.
"I have a headache," she admitted. He looked at her suspiciously, trying to determine how loaded that statement was, if it was loaded at all.
"Now do you have a headache or do you have a headache?" he asked. She bit her lip.
"I think I'm sick again," she whispered.
"First thing tomorrow I'm sending you to the doctor."
"Zac, no, I�"
"Ginger, if we don't check this out now you know it's only going to get worse." She sighed. "You never know."
"No," she said, looking at him. "I know. I know it's back. I can feel it." He nodded. "Perfect timing, eh?"
"Yeah�"
After the concert Ginger was so tired she fell asleep on the way home and in the car Zac explained to Mark what was going on. "She had it about three and a half years ago," he explained, glancing back at Ginger who was still asleep, her head resting lightly against the window. "And she went into remission, but now she's saying it's back again. She would know better than anybody. It's her body it's latched on to."
"That's terrible," Mark said. "How old is she?"
"Twenty-two."
"Man, that's even worse. She's so young."
"I know! This is her second round and she's barely in her twenties. I'm sending her to the doctor tomorrow. I want to go with her but I don't want to bring Jenny along and I don't have anybody to watch her during the day."
"I'll do it," Mark offered. "I don't have anything else to do tomorrow."
"You will?" Zac asked, looking over at him. "Thanks, I really appreciate that."
"No problem. If you and her were going out to dinner I wouldn't be offering, I'm not going to be your babysitter." Zac smiled. "But with something like this I won't mind watching her at all."
"We shouldn't be gone too long, I've been through this with her before," Zac said.
"Don't worry about it, Zac. Jenny's a cute kid, me and her will get along. We'll find common interests." Zac laughed.
"Your extended love for PBS Kids?" Zac asked, smiling. "Because that's pretty much all she does."
"No, man, we'll break out the coloring books and color all day," Mark said. "Nothing wrong with a thirty-seven year old coloring with half-eaten wax crayons." Zac shook his head.
"Jenny doesn't eat crayons," he said. "She's a good kid."
"Not when I'm done with her."
"Maybe I shouldn't leave you with her�" Mark laughed.
They got home and Zac woke Ginger up. She went into the house while Zac walked with Mark to his house, talking more about their babysitting plans for the next day. Ginger found Lisa was still awake and reading a magazine in the living room. "Hey Lisa," Ginger said. She looked up.
"Oh, you're home," Lisa said. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah," Ginger said. "You're going to have to wait for Zac to get here, he's just down at Mark's house talking about something or another�he's got all the money." Lisa nodded. "So, how was Jenny? Did she behave?"
"Yeah," Lisa said. "She's a perfect little angel. I put her to sleep at eight-thirty and she's been asleep since then. I didn't have any problems with her."
"Jenny's a good kid," Ginger said. "She'll be fine with just about anyone." Zac walked in the front door. "There you are. Pay your babysitter." Ginger left the room and went up the stairs. Zac paid Lisa, who then left, and then followed Ginger. He found her in their bedroom just climbing into the bed.
"Mark said he'll watch Jenny tomorrow while you and I go to the doctor," Zac said. "I explained everything to him."
"All right," she sleepily said, pulling up the covers. Zac climbed onto the bed next to her and she looked up at him. "I'm scared."
"I know you are," he said. "I'm scared too."
"What's going to happen if it is back?" she asked.
"You know what's going to happen. You're going to have to go through treatment again." She sighed. "I'm going to be here the whole time with you, Ginger. It's not going to be like last time. We're early this time."
"I know."
"Go to sleep. We'll deal with it in the morning." He kissed her and then allowed her to go sleep.