Zac bit his lip to prevent himself from breaking into tears again as he sat down in his first-class seat. "Okay, this sucks." he mumbled as he looked out the window. He could see the fans in the terminal waiting to see their plane take off. He gave a little wave, half thinking they couldn't see him anyway. He was wrong because all the girls started screaming loudly and waving like lunatics. He rolled his eyes and shut the blind so he wouldn't have to see them. Isaac smacked him on the arm.

"I would like to see outside please." he commented, sounding a little aggravated.

"Sorry, oh God Of The Window Seat." Zac mocked as he pulled the shade back up and frowned miserably.

"Zac, if you're that depressed about Nell, why don't you email her on my lap-top or something?" Isaac suggested.

"Good idea, and I would normally do that except she DOESN'T HAVE EMAIL!" Zac snapped at him.

"Okay, I'm moving. You can feel sorry for yourself all you want but you're doing it next to Jason." Isaac leaned over the isle and asked Jason *bodyguard to Hanson* to switch places with him. Jason gladly obliged, wanting to get as far away from Jessica (who happened to have the flu and was throwing-up every five minutes) as he possibly could. "Hi Jess. How are you feeling?" Isaac asked cheerily as he sat down next to his sister and buckled his seat belt.

"The word crap comes to mind..." Jessica mumbled as she squeezed her eyes shut to brace herself as another wave of nausea hit her. Isaac handed her a bag to throw-up in and looked away as she did so. Ten minutes later the plane began to move, causing Jessica to throw-up again. Isaac made sure to keep his eyes away from Jessica and in the isle at all times. This was going to be a long flight.

Taylor put on his head phones and pushed PLAY on his portable CD player. Jonny Lang's soulful guitar floated into his ears and he sat back to listen and maybe get some sleep. He was interrupted a minute later by a taping on his arm. He opened his eyes and pulled his head phones off. Avery had taken the place of Mackenzie and was smiling sweetly up at him. Uh-oh, she wanted something. "Yes, Avie?" Taylor asked sweetly, trying to hold in his annoyance.

"Tay, what are you listening to?"

"Jonny Lang, why?"

"Because I need your advice on something."

"What's up?" Taylor pushed STOP and gave Avery his full attention.

"Well, Mommy took me and Mac to the park on.... the other day. And there was this boy there that I think is... well, he's gross. And well, I was playing with Sara by the pond (we were playing house) and the boy came up behind me and kissed me!"

Taylor grinned, "Avie, that means he likes you."

"SHUT UP! You don't want the whole plane to hear you!" she hissed as she clamped a small hand on his mouth. He stifled a laugh and removed her hand.

"What? You don't like boys yet? I thought you did." he continued to grin at the idea of his sister already having a little �boyfriend'.

"No! They're gross!" she hissed.

"I'm gross? Zac's gross? Ike's gross? Mac's gross? Dad's gross? I'm hurt, Avery. I thought you loved me....." he feigned sadness and put his head in his hands, pretending to cry.

"No! You guys are my brothers! You aren't boys! You're brothers!" she stressed the word �brothers' as if it were common knowledge.

"Oh, well then." �I wish the fans thought like her' "So, what is this �gross' boy's name?"

"Peter."

"Really? So you don't like Peter?"

"No! I hate him! He's got cuddies!"

�Good Lord, she started that already?!' "He does? Then, give yourself a cuddies shot."

"A what?"

"A cuddies shot. You know, circle, circle, dot, dot, now I've got my cuddies shot." he demonstrated on his hand then instructed her to do the same. "There, now you can't get cuddies and Peter is okay." he smiled at her, still not believing that his sister had never heard of the cuddies shot.

"Okay, but I still think he's gross."

"Why do you think he's gross?"

"Because he's a boy! Duh!" she acted yet again as if this was common knowledge.

"Oh. Well, is there a reason you don't like boys? I mean, I like girls. Girls like me (I think)." he smiled down at Avery as she thought this over.

"Um..... because they're boys! I just don't!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"Well, that's dumb. If you don't like something, you should have a good reason not too. Like, �I don't like boys because they are mean.' or something."

"Shut up! I'm going to Ike for advice next time!" Avery pouted crossing her arms over her chest.

Taylor stifled another laugh, she just looked so cute! "Avery, what exactly do you want advice on?"

"I want to know what I should do about Peter!"

"I think that if you don't like this boy then, you should tell him to go away."

"What if he doesn't?"

"Tell him your big brother told him to go away."

"Okay! Thanks Tay!" she grinned and hugged him. He patted her back lightly and waved as she went back to her seat and Mackenzie came back to sit next to him.

"Hi Mac. What's up?"

"Nothing. Avery's weird." Mackenzie stated, buckling his seat belt again.

"I know, girls always are." Taylor smiled and went back to listening to Jonny Lang.

Zac's eyes snapped open as he felt something move next to him. He groaned when he saw Jason getting up and lifting his carry-on bag out of the overhead compartment as were the rest of the passengers. When had they landed? He yawned, stood up, and began to stretch. "Good, I thought I was going to have to wake you up." Jason shuttered at the thought, knowing that Zac tended to be nasty when woken up pre-maturely. Zac gave him a weak smile and elbowed his way down the isle behind him, finally getting off the plane a minute later.

The usual screams of fans could be heard before any Hanson had even reached their view. Jason was the first off, now in his don't-mess-with-me-or-any-of-the-Hansons-or-I'll-kill-you mode. Zac was next. He had to plug his ears as the noise magnified at the fans' view of him. Taylor followed, then Mackenzie and Avery, then Isaac and Jessica, then Diana, Walker, and Zoe. with every new Hanson family member, the screams grew louder and more ear-piercing, causing everyone within a mile's radius to plug their ears. The three boys waved as they hurried to get to the waiting van.

Their luggage was already at the hotel. Zac searched through one of his suitcases for a t-shirt and went to the bathroom to change to go to bed. He was still a little drowsy from the plane ride (the Dramamine he had taken to ward off air-sickness still hadn't worn off). He was ready for bed in five minutes, not even bothering to brush his teeth or wash his face. He dropped onto the first bed he saw and was asleep within seconds.

Taylor watched Zac drop into bed and fall asleep and felt a twinge of guilt. Zac looked so miserable, maybe it was the Dramamine, but he seriously doubted it. Nell's voice flashed in his mind, "I don't want Zac. I want you." He turned away from Zac and stood up, deciding he needed to get out of the room. He grabbed the room key and the elevator key (just in case he decided to leave the floor) and told his parents he was going for a walk. They told him not to leave the floor. He assured them he wouldn't and began to wander aimlessly around the halls.

After about five minutes of this he found himself back at his room. He took the phone off the night stand and pulled it outside the room with him, thanking God that the cord was long enough. He sat down on the floor in the hall and dialed Nell's number, hoping she was still awake.

"Hello?" said a voice that sounded like Bev.

"Hi, Bev. Is Nell home?"

"Hi Taylor, why do you want to talk to Nell? You know she won't say anything back."

"I know. I just have something to tell her."

"Okay....." the sound of Bev moving around could be heard. Then, the phone was picked up by someone new and there was silence for a minute. Taylor could hear the sound of feet moving and a door opened and closed.

"Taylor?" Nell whispered.

"Yeah, hi."

"What's up?"

"Um.... I was a minute ago.." he laughed a little before remembering why he was calling her. "Um... Nell? Could you do me a huge favor?"

"What?"

"Tell me it's Zac you want and not me."

"Why?"

"Because the guilt is getting to me and Zac has been a miserable little hermit wanna-be for the past forty-eight hours and it's getting to me. So, please just tell me you want Zac because I can't handle knowing that it's my fault that my brother is so miserable." Taylor was near tears just thinking about it.

"I can't, Tay. I don't want Zac. I told you why. It's not your fault he's miserable. It's his own. He shouldn't have bugged me about talking."

"But, now you're doing it so why can't you just do this one thing for me please? Even if it's not true. I just need to hear you say it, to clear my conscience. Please."

"Fine Tay. For you. I don't want you. I want Zac." Taylor heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much better I feel. I have to go to bed now before Ike comes out here and kills me for trying to choke him with the phone cord. Good night."

"What? Why are you trying to choke him with the phone cord?"

"It's over his bed and I kind of have it a little tight because I'm outside the room. It's probably killing the circulation in his legs. So, I have to go. Good night."

"Good night. Sweet dreams."

"Same to you. Night." He hung up the phone and snuck back into the room. Sure enough, Isaac was sitting straight up in bed, glaring at the phone cord that had been tightly draped over his legs. He looked up when Taylor snuck in and glared at him.

"That cord was cutting off my circulation. May I ask why you were out in the hall on the phone at......." he glanced at the clock on the night stand, "12:23 at night?" he whispered.

"It's only 9:02 in Tulsa and I was calling.... Frank."

"Oh, how's Frankly?" Isaac cracked a smile (he had never liked Frank and always made fun of him).

"Shut up Ike." Taylor gave him an evil look as he placed the phone back on the night stand and went to get ready for bed. Then, he slipped into the same bed that Isaac had fallen back asleep in (two of the three had to share a bed and Taylor was not about to sleep in the same bed as Zac).

"Hey Tay?" Taylor looked up nervously at the sound of Zac's voice. He had been avoiding Zac as much as possible for the past few weeks. The nightmares of Zac trying to kill him were becoming nightly affairs. After every one, he made it a point to call Nell for comfort and she seemed to calm his nerves, always there with an �I love Zac, not you,' to ease his troubled mind.

"Yeah?"

"Are you avoiding me or am I just imagining things?" Zac furrowed his brow in a confused look.

"You're just imagining things."

"Oh okay..." he turned around and went over to his drum set. Taylor sighed in relief and went back to hitting keys on his keyboard.

Isaac watched him do so, trying to figure out what was going on with him. He was so confused about his brothers. He felt like he didn't even know them anymore. Taylor was on the phone late every night with �Frank', it was obvious to even Diana that he was trying to avoid Zac, and he seemed a little depressed. Zac was even worse. He was in a total state of depression that no one could break. He hadn't eaten in two days. He refused to leave the hotel room unless he had to do something involving the band. All he did was sit around and mope and watch old re-runs of Dawson's Creek. He decided that they all needed to have a long talk after this concert. Maybe they could break down some walls and start acting a little more normal, at least normal for them.

He sighed and finished tuning his last guitar. Then, they began to practice for the show.

Taylor sat down at the phone, deciding who to call. He knew Nell wasn't home and besides, Zac was sprawled out on the bed he was currently sitting on, staring at the phone. An idea popped into his head. �Grandpa!' He smiled and pulled the phone into the bathroom, the room he had found a little easier to go to then outside the room. He dialed his grandfather's phone number in Florida and waited.

"Hello?" his grandfather, Bob, said as he picked up the phone.

"Gramps! Hey, it's Taylor!" Taylor broke into a grin at the sound of his grandfather's voice.

"Hello Taylor. How are you? How's touring?"

"Not good, Gamps. I have a big problem."

"Shoot."

"Okay. This girl moved in across the street..." he preceded to tell Bob about Nell and Zac, "And so now I... I'm uncomfortable around Zac to the point that I'm sort of avoiding him. The bad thing is that Zac made her mad like right before we left and now he's depressed about it. All he does is sit around and watch Dawson's Creek. And I feel like it's my fault and I don't know what to do. And the really bad thing is that he figured out that I'm avoiding him because he asked me if I was avoiding him today at sound check. So, now I'm in deep and I don't know what to do and I'm just so confused..." he scowled, tears starting to weld up in his eyes.

"Taylor, it's okay. First of all, I think you need to have a chat with this girl and tell her that she's getting in-between you and Zac. You need to let her know what's going on. Then, you need to tell Zac what's going on. He needs to know. I know he can come on a little strong sometimes when he's mad but you still have to tell him."

"I talk to Nell every night at like twelve and she knows about what's going on. She knows Zac's all depressed and how I'm avoiding him... I told her. She's kind of like my support through this. But it's not helping because I still feel like a scumbag for doing this to Zac. I mean, he's my little brother, I shouldn't be going behind his back with the girl he likes. It's not right...."

"Then why don't you break it off with this girl?"

"I can't, it might make her permanently mute. She might never talk again. And she needs to talk again. She has such great opinions and she's so intelligent... and there's just something about her that won't let me let her go, no matter how much it hurts Zac. Gramps, this is bad."

"I know it's bad. Well, the first thing you need to do is you need to get out of that bathroom that I know you're in and you need to tell Zac all about this girl. Every detail. He needs to know. Or he'll never stop being depressed."

"Then, he won't talk to me. I know he won't."

"Then, he doesn't talk to you for a week. No big deal, he needs to be more quiet anyway."

"Wait a minute! How'd you know I was in the bathroom?!"

"You always try to find a private place when seeking advice and the bathroom would be the only place in a hotel."

"Oh. Well, I still can't tell Zac. I'd crush him. He's just starting to not be the most depressing kid on Earth. I don't want to ruin his progress."

"He'll get over it. Tell him, Taylor, or you'll regret it. I have to go. I've got a poker game a few houses down. Tell your mom I love her and miss her and tell her to call me and tell all your brothers and sisters that I love and miss them too. I love you, Taylor."

"Love you, Gramps. Have fun, bye." he hung up after his grandfather said goodbye and then set the phone down. He sat there for a minute, contemplating his next move. A knock on the door made him jump.

"Tay, I gotta pee. What are you doing in there?" Zac's voice was urgent.

"I... um... nothing, hold on." he got up and took the phone with him as he left the bathroom and Zac hurried in. He sighed and set the phone down on the night stand and sprawled out on the bed he and Isaac were sleeping in. Isaac was reading a book while laying on the bed also.

"Hey, Tay?" Isaac put the book down.

"Yeah?"

"What in the hell is going on with you?"

"What are you talking about?" Taylor looked up at the ceiling guiltily.

"You're acting so weird. You're on the phone with someone every night immediately after Zac goes to sleep. And I know it's not Frank �cause you guys aren't good enough of friend's to talk every night. Who is it? And why are you avoiding Zac? You say you're not but it's obvious that you are. What's up with you? Does this have something to do with Nell?" Just then, the bathroom door opened and Zac came out. He stopped when he heard Isaac say �Nell' and looked over at Taylor.

"N-n-n-o-o-o... what are you talking about?" Taylor stuttered as he stared at the ceiling.

"Taylor, you're lying to me. What happened? Tell me or I'm not gonna stop bugging you." Isaac sat up and made Taylor look him in the eye. Zac sat down on the edge of the bed curiously.

"No, I'm not. Leave me alone."

"Damnit Tay! What's wrong? What happened between you two? Stop lying to me! You never lie to me. We don't keep secrets in this family."

"I'm not lying. Nothing's wrong! Stop bugging me!" Taylor exclaimed, aggravated.

"Taylor, who were you just talking to?" Zac asked suspiciously.

"Gramps."

"Something's definitely wrong. You only call him when you need advice."

"Not true. I missed him and I felt like calling him."

"If you don't tell us, I'm gonna call him and ask him myself." Isaac stated as he moved to reach for the phone.

"He's at a poker game."

"Answering machine."

"Screw you, Ike. I'm fine. Go away." Taylor got off the bed and went to sit on the couch angrily.

"No! I'm gonna nag you until you tell me."

"Then, I'll leave." he stood up and left the room in a huff. He started walking down the hall. A minute later, a door opened behind him and he heard footsteps walking towards him. They were lighter than Isaac's. He turned around to find Zac walking up to him.

"Tay, there is something going on. I mean, I know I've been being a little shithead for the past couple of weeks but I have an excuse. What's your excuse? And if it involves Nell then I have a right to know." Zac said as he put a determined hand on Taylor's shoulder.

"Zac..." Taylor looked down at the thin red carpet that covered the floor of the hallway. "I can't tell you. You'll kill me."

"Tay, I'm not gonna kill you. Just tell me. Please?"

Taylor looked up at him and detected desperation in his brother's eyes. "I... Zac, something happened between me and Nell. We... kissed. And Nell, well, she.. she talked to me, Zac. She's the one I've been on the phone with after you go to bed every night. I didn't want you to find out because I was afraid you'd never talk to me again. That's why I've been avoiding you. I didn't want to give it away or slip and tell you or something so I figured, I'd stay away from you so it wouldn't happen. I'm sorry, Zac."

Zac's eyes clouded over with tears and he took a step back, falling back against the wall and gently sliding down to the floor. He put his head in his hands and began to cry. Taylor sat down besides him and tried to comfort him. Zac pushed him away violently and ran down the hall. Taylor ran after him. He finally stopped when he didn't have the strength or control to run anymore. He collapsed against a wall and once again slid to the floor, still crying uncontrollably. Taylor caught up with him and this time, didn't touch him. But he did sit down. He watched Zac, near tears himself.

"Zac, I am so sorry. I didn't want to do this to you. I swear I didn't. It was Nell, she started it. I tried to convince her that she really liked you but God damnit! She's incredibly stubborn! But she did give me some information that can help you win her back. Zac, I'm on your side. I like Nell and all but you like her a lot more than I do. If you'll give me a chance, I think I can help you get her to forgive you." Zac wiped at his eyes and looked up at Taylor, sniffling a little.

"Why?" was all he could say.

"Why what? Why is she being so stubborn? Why am I telling you? Why is she mad at you? Why what?"

"Why you?"

"Uh... I can answer that. I'll tell you what she told me because I asked her the exact same question. She said it was because I never asked her why she didn't talk. I never even brought it up to her. She said she was mad at you because you kept on pushing for her to talk and she hates that. But now I think she's getting mad at me too because I keep on bugging her to forgive you."

"Why? Why not just let her be mad at me and have her all to yourself?"

"Because I don't like her as much as you do. And my conscience is killing me. I can't handle knowing that this depression thing you're in is because of me. It's too much stress for me. I know that at least if she forgives you that you'll be a little happier, maybe actually, I don't know... smile once and a while... I miss you being happy-go-lucky Zac."

"Well, you know this just totally extended my getting-over-her time. I can't believe you, Tay! I mean, you went out with her behind my back! You kissed her behind my back! She talked to you and you didn't tell me! I may not talk to you for a couple days. I'm not sure yet..." Zac got rid of the rest of his tears and stood up. He began to walk back to the room, not even bothering to wait for Taylor. Taylor hurried to follow him.

"Zac, I'm sorry. I am so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. If you could hear the conversations Nell and I have, you'd know how sorry I am. I don't know if words could describe how sincerely sorry I am about this. Could you possibly find it in your heart to ever forgive me for this?" Taylor followed Zac into the room. Zac turned around and looked up at him.

"I'm not sure, Tay. Let me think about it for a couple days before I let you know."

"I think I can live with that. I'm gonna go get a snack, want something?"

"No thanks, I'm still not hungry."

"Okay, see you back in the room."

"See you."

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