I paced the room anxiously, biting my nails as I usually do when I’m nervous. How is he going to react? Will he take it well? Will he yell? Will he just walk out on me and never talk to me again? God! Would he get here already?! I’m going to go and ware a hole in the ground if he’s not here soon! I groaned as I glanced at my watch again. It was official, he was one hour late.

As I passed Katie’s carrier, I gently rocked it a few times, smiling fondly at how sweet she looked when she slept.

“Hey.” I spun around and then, there he was. He was a little taller than I remembered. His hair was freshly cut, just at mid-chest length. I could see a bit of razor stubble on his chin. He stood, hands buried deep in his pant’s pockets, head down as he nervously shuffled from foot to foot.

“Hi.” I smiled a little at how different he looked from the last time I had seen him. Of course, a year and a half can change people.

“Sorry I was so late. Tay was being a perfectionist about our sound for tonight.” he muttered in an uneasy tone.

“That’s okay.”

“Cool...” he smiled a little and watched his feet. He looked very uncomfortable with this situation. “So, what did you want to tell me?”

“Um, I just kind of wanted you to meet someone.” Zac’s head shot up in confusion.

“Huh? You made it sound like this was really important.”

“Zac, she is important.” I gave him a serious look.

“Who is it that’s so important?”

“Katie.... your.... daughter.” I mumbled the last part, avoiding his eyes and hoping he would take it well.

“Hi.”

“Zac? I haven’t seen you in like forever! Where have you been?” I exclaimed, throwing my arms around him in a hug.

“We just finished another tour. Sorry I haven’t called you in forever. It was Tay’s fault. He kept on either taking up the phone to call our friends or making us rehurse. Ike was the only one that even found any time to call home. Of course, Em would kill him if he didn’t.” Zac smiled at me as he leaned back to look me over. I did the same to him. He was the same old Zac, long hair, ruffled clothes.

“Did you have fun?” I asked after my observation of his looks.

“It was okay. I missed Tulsa, though.”

“You always miss Tulsa silly.” I ruffled his hair and laughed.

“Yeah and I missed you.” his face grew serious. This made me uneasy. Zac had been persisting me to go out with him for over four years now. I still wasn’t sure about it though because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.

“Zac...” I said, uneasy.

“I know, I know, you don’t want to go out with me but just hear me out. I love you and I’m serious about this. I’m old enough to know what love is now. I mean, twenty-one is old enough to know.” he brushed a hair out of my face and smiled his little smile.

“I know but still....” I avoided his eyes, deciding to examine my sneakers and letting him go.

“Please? I mean, why not? You’ve admited you love me back. Why can’t you just go out with me?” he whispered in my ear.

“I don’t know, Zac...”

“Just one date? Please? That’s all I ask. One date.” I looked into his eyes and stuck a piece of fallen hair behind my ear. I watched his face for a minute before giving in.

“Fine. Just one date.” I looked back down at my shoes. He happily picked me up and spun around in a circle, me in his arms. I squeeled in fear and clung to his neck.

“It’s okay, I got you. I’ll never let you fall.” he whispered in my ear.

“That was a great date. I had a lot of fun. Thanks.” I said quickly, hoping to avoid a good night kiss which I knew was coming very soon.

“Thank you for going with me. I appretiated it. And you have to admit that you liked going out with me.” he grinned at me.

“Yeah, I did...” I smiled back up at him. He leaned down for the dreaded good night kiss that I had been trying to avoid. I sighed and allowed him to kiss me. With in seconds, my arms were wrapped around his neck and I was standing on tip-toe to return the kiss. His lips were mesmerizing, sucking me in with no hope of escape. He lifted me up gently. The kiss lasted a lot longer than I had intended but he had an affect on me that I just couldn’t control. “Hey, you want to come up with me?” I whispered, surprising myself and Zac.

“Sure!” he exclaimed, letting me go. We walked inside the apartment building and up to my apartment, I opened the front door and flipped the light switch. He looked around at my simple apartment and smiled. “I like your apartment."

“Thanks. It’s not much but I can’t afford very much so it suits me.” I smiled at him and went into the adjacent kitchen. “Do you want anything to drink?” I asked, looking over the counter at him. He walked around to where I was standing and pulled me into his arms.

“Nope. How about you give me a tour?” he whispered and I could tell what he wanted to do.

“Zac... I really don’t want to do anything with you tonight..”

“It’s just a tour. It’s not like anything is going to happen.” he smiled innocently at me.

“Fine. Come on.” I took his hand and led him to the living room. “The living room.” Then, I led him into the hallway that led to the bathroom and into my bedroom. “This is my room. Crapy huh?” I smiled.

“I like it.” he smiled and pulled me into his arms again. Before I could protest, his lips were smoothering mine in a steamy kiss. This soon led to other things and before I knew what was happening, we were on the bed almost completely naked. Zac was just about to go inside me when I pushed at his chest with my left hand.

“Zac... I’m a virgin...” I whispered.

“So?” he shruged his shoulders. “I am too. We need this.” he whispered in my ear.

"Okay.." He leaned down again and entered me. I dug my nails in his back to help bare with the pain that surged through me as he came completely inside me. I could hear his raged breathing next to my ear as he came in and out of me. I moaned lightly as the pain was replaced by a wave of pleasure. I moaned his name softly in his ear. He kissed my neck, moving his lips slowly up my neck and connectiong them with mine. I climaxed almost instantly and I could tell from the loud groan he let out that he had too. He pulled out and laid limply on top of me. We both panted and faught for breath.

“Oh my god. That was awesome...” Zac mumbled in my ear as he began to roll off of me. I nodded weakly and looked over at him. His skin glistened and his face was red. His hair stuck to his face. I smiled and brushed some of the hair away. “I told you we needed that.” he grinned and kissed me.

“What?!” he exclaimed in shock.

“Shh! She’s sleeping!” I hissed, moving to place a hand over his mouth. He eyed my hand and took a step back.

“We have a baby? A baby! And you didn’t tell me?!” he asked, confused and angry, but he had lowered his voice.

“I tried to tell you. I must have called you about thirty times while I was pregnant. You just never called me back.” I whispered so as not to wake up my daughter. I turned away from him and walked over to Katie’s carrier again, giving her another rocking. Zac came up behind me and looked down at her.

“What’s her name again?” he whispered as if he were in complete awe of her.

“Olivia Kathlene. Olivia was Mom’s idea. I call her Katie.” I smiled fondly at Katie’s sweet face.

“Olivia Kathlene... pretty.” A small smile crossed his lips as he brushed his fingertips across her cheek gently. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah. You should see her when she’s awake. Her eyes are so blue. Funniest thing, her eyes remind me of Taylor’s.”

“We do have the same genes...” he smiled at the thought and began to lift her gently out of the carrier. I was going to protest, not wanting to wake her up, but Zac was so gentle with her that she didn’t even move. He smiled and rocked her softly. I smiled and watched him, not wanting to ruin his moment with her. He whispered things to her like I remember he had when he held Isaac’s first child.

“Come on you two. You have to meet my son! He’s so beautiful! Come on!” Isaac hurried us along down the hallway of the hospital. We tried to keep up with him as best we could but he was setting a pretty fast pace. We finally made it to Emily’s room and found her craddling an infant. “Meet Jacob Clarke Hanson, the newest addition to the Hanson family.” Isaac said proudly, motioning towards Emily and the baby. I smiled at how funny he was acting. He never got this excited.

“He’s adorable!” I gushed, walking over to Emily.

“Thanks. I think he is, too.”

“Could I possibly hold him?” Zac asked as he walked up behind me. Emily gently placed Jacob in Zac’s arms and watched as his face lit up in happiness. His eyes held a warm glow in them that startled me. He looked so loving of his nephew. I watched him rock Jacob in his arms softly, whispering little things to him that were too soft for us to hear. I smiled at the sight and sat down in a near-by chair to act as spectator.

This action of him showing love for her made me so happy. I sighed in relief. At least now I knew he would be there for us. I was perfectly capable of taking care of Katie on my own, but I didn’t want to if I didn’t have to. He looked at me when he heard me sigh. I smiled at him and touched Katie’s small face. He grinned back and leaned over to me, giving me a small kiss on the cheek.

“She’s so beautiful. She looks like you.” he whispered, still gently rocking her in his arms.

“No, she looks like you. She has your nose and your lips.”

“Yeah, but she has your chin and your bone structure and your hair and your eyebrows and...”

“Shut up. She’s waking up.” I whispered as I saw her eyes begin to flutter open. Zac’s smile widened as he looked down at her. Her little face scrunched up, looking at him curiously. She didn’t recognize him but she did well with strangers so I wasn't worried.

“Hi. I’m your Daddy.” he whispered to her, lowering his face to hers. A few strands of his hair fell out from behind his ear and fell in Katie’s face. She laughed as it tickled her and grabbed a hold of it. He tried to pull his hair out of her tiny grip but soon found out that she was strong. “Baby-doll, let go of my hair please,” he whispered. I laughed and took Katie from him. She let go of his hair and grabbed onto my shirt.

“Hey, Sweetie. I know you don’t know him but he’s your Daddy.” Katie looked up at me with those trusting blue eyes. I smiled down at her and set her back into Zac’s arms. He gladly took her, kissing her forehead.

“Yeah, you better get used to me because you’re going to see me a lot.” he stopped cooing at her for a minute and looked questioningly at me. “Okay, since I’m an idiot and I don’t feel like calculating in my head, how old is she?” I laughed a little.

“She’s six months. She was early.”

“Early? Wait... she’s been out of there,” he pointed to my stomach with a strained finger. “for six months and I didn’t know about it? Damnit! I will never leave my messages alone for that long again.” he stated, a scowl on his face. Katie yanked on his hair, making him cringe. “Ow, Sweetie! That hurts Daddy. Let go please...” he said, lightly pulling her hand away from his hair. I laughed a little and sat in a chair near by, watching him intently.

“Zac, if Katie is going to see you a lot, does that mean you’re going to stick around?” I asked hopefully, picking at a hole in the armrest. Zac looked up at me in surprise.

“Of course! Who could ignore this beautiful face?” he said, rubbing noses with Katie. She giggled and pulled on his hair again. “Ow.. Let go please.”