Bring Back My Baby ~ Chapter 11

Bring Back My Baby (Synacky/Matziah) ~ Chapter 11:
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Crash and Zayleigh scribbled across their place mats with crayons - purple for Crash and green for Zayleigh - as their parents finished their breakfast and chatted as if no time had passed between them.

"Ya know, I'm still trying to figure out when to tell my parents about Zayleigh. It seems way too impersonal to do any other way but in person, but I don't think it should wait for three months," Matt sighed, sipping his coffee.

"I'm gonna call my parents and tell them. I just have to find the right words," Zacky replied, smiling at his son and how he was concentrating on placing scribbles of purple in just the right spots.

"I'm still confused as to why everything Ziah and I sent you about Crash and Zayleigh never made it to you or your families. It just doesn't make any sense to me," Ziah sighed.

"I have an idea but I don't know how much good it'll do. I doubt that any of that still exists," Matt said, glancing down at his little girl and brushing the hair back from her face.

"What do you think happened, Matt?"

Matt sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, nibbling at his lip piercing as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "The only person I could ever imagine doing something like this is my ex. Val wouldn't have wanted me to know that I had a little girl and she'd include doing the same thing to Zack because she can't stand him."

"I can't stand her either," Zacky grumbled.

"Uhm....excuse me," Gena said as she stopped at the end of the table.

"What the hell do you want?" Zacky growled, narrowing his eyes up at the annoying blonde.

Gena swallowed back the hurt of being so totally rejected by Zacky for the three years since she'd met him and just set two battered shoeboxes on the table. "These.... uhm....these boxes belong to you. Val gave them to me about a year ago because she didn't want Matt to catch her with them. I didn't know what they were until last night. After I found out that you and Matt had kids that you didn't know about, I took a look. Everything you want....everything you need is inside."

"What are they?"

"Baby stuff. From Brian and Ziah. I just want to apologize....for everything," Gena replied before turning and walking away before anyone had the chance to say anything to her.

Zacky raised an eyebrow as he watched Gena leave. He pulled the top from the shoebox that had his name written on it and gasped, his eyes huge and blurring with tears almost instantly. He gingerly searched through the box, a single tear sliding down his cheek.

"What is it? Zack, what's wrong?" Matt asked, fingers drumming nervously on the lid of the other box.

"It's baby announcements and pictures of Crash," Zacky replied, sniffing back the tears.

Matt removed the lid from his box and fingered through it, his heart sinking as he realized how much of his daughter's life he'd actually missed. "Wow," he mumbled.

"Dat me, Daddy?" Zayleigh asked as she looked at the picture Matt had laid on the table.

Matt nodded his head. "Yeah, Zayleigh, that's you," he replied with a smile.

Zayleigh shrugged her shoulders in her own toddler way. "Here, Daddy! I made you a dawring," she announced proudly, waving the placemat in the air with a huge grin across her face.

Matt took the paper from Zayleigh and grinned. "This is awesome, sweetie. Can you tell Daddy what this is, please?"

"Dat's a didosore, Daddy," Zayleigh answered as if it should already be perfectly clear.

"Well, it's the coolest dinosaur ever. Thank you, Zayleigh."

"Welcome, Daddy," Zayleigh giggled as Matt kissed the top of her head.


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Across town.......


"You tell Matthew that I will get even with him for daring to leave me for that Haner whore and their little brat!" Val snarled, wrenching a rather imposing looking knife from the tire of the band's van, the three remaining members watching her ultra tantrum in wide-eyed confusion.

"What in the fuck happened after the show last night?" the drummer asked, staring at two of four flat tires and new dents added alongside the old ones that pocked the turd brown van the band used to tour around in.

"I have no idea, bro. Whatever it was, it was probably something really fuckin' stupid," the bassist replied, lighting up a cigarette.

"Ahhhh, Val's PMSing....still, I see," Elvira cracked, walking up to the three men standing together, Jimmy right behind her.

"And you are?" the guitarist asked, raising an eyebrow at the tall, lanky, wild-haired pair.

"I'm Jimmy and this is Elvira. We're friends of Matt and Zacky. You're the rest of the band, right?"

The guitarist nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm Ben. I play guitar. That's Alex and Andy, drummer and bassist, respectively.

"Jimmy and....Elvira....Sullivan?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, that's us," Jimmy replied.

"Gotta problem with that?" Elvira grumbled, clenching her fists at her sides.

Ben shook his head. "No, no problem. I'm just remembering the time you bitch slapped Val in front of the whole cafeteria on Valentine's Day senior year."

Elvira smirked wickedly with a shrug as Jimmy cackled.

"My sister is so kick ass!" he announced, rubbing the hair on top of Elvira's head.

"Jimmy, knock it the fuck off! I am not a dog!" Elvira growled, shoving her brother's hand away from her. She cleared her throat and fixed her hair. "Anyways, Matt and Zacky wanted us to come and let you know they're at the Holiday Inn with their....family and....uhm....there's a room there for you guys."

"Sounds cool. But how the hell are we supposed to go anywhere with four flat tires?"

"No worries, it'll all be taken care of," Jimmy answered, pulling his cellphone from his jeans pocket and walking a few feet away as he placed a call. He walked back over to the guys just over a minute later, sliding his phone back into his pocket. "The tow truck will be here with four new tires in about forty-five minutes to an hour. There's a Pizza Hut right across the street. Let's go have lunch while we wait."


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Matt carefully eased the sandals from Zayleigh's little feet, tugged the green and black blanket up over her and placed a soft kiss to her forehead, wincing when his daughter stirred in her sleep.

"Matt, don't worry, you won't wake Zayleigh or Crash up. You can't. Not even a marching band would wake them up right now," Brian laughed, putting a cd on low as Ziah made sure the curtains were closed all the way. She jerked her head in the direction of the adjoining room and walked into it.

When Matt, Zacky and Brian walked into the room, Ziah was leaned against the small dresser that the tv sat on, twisting one of her snakebites with her tongue as she typed out a text on her cellphone.

"What's wrong, sissy?" Brian asked, pushing the door half shut.

"Elle texted me. Evidently, Val went on a rampage and slit all four of the van's tires and said something about Matt regretting dumping her for 'that Haner whore and their little brat'. I guess she was referring to me and Zayleigh," Ziah sighed, rolling her eyes.

Matt walked up to Ziah and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, don't let what Val says get to you, Ziah. She's counting on you losing your shit and coming after her so she gets an opportunity to get you into trouble. I....Our little girl needs you too much for that. Okay?"

Ziah looked up into Matt's eyes and nodded her head with half a smile. "'Kay."

"What are we gonna do about the van? We can't afford four new tires, let alone one," Zacky groaned, running a hand through his hair.

"No worries, Jimmy called our roadside service and they're bringing the tires. It's gonna be about an hour or so until they can get there, though," Ziah replied, looking back down at her phone to keep from blushing that Matt was still holding onto her shoulders.

Brian could see how weird Ziah was starting to feel with Matt being so close to her again, so he stretched his arms above his head with a deep sigh. "Ziah, I think we should take a nap of our own so we're as energized as we can be when the hellions wake up," he said with a grin.

Ziah let out a deep sigh of her own and nodded her head. "Matt, you and Zacky really should get a nap in yourselves. You're not used to Zayleigh and Crash and their intense energy spike after naptime."

"Sounds good to me. I'm gonna need all the energy I can get to tell my parents about Crash. Uhm....you can....uhm....share my bed....uhm....I mean, the bed with me, Brian. There's....uhm....plenty of room. Unless....Unless you're gonna go back in the other room," Zacky rambled nervously, biting at his right lip piercing.

Brian smirked, shy Zacky still one of his favorite sides to his son's father. "I don't mind sharing with you. Just try not to hog all the covers," he answered, toeing his shoes from his feet and then climbing onto the bed with Zacky.

"Hey! I do not hog the covers, Haner! You do!" Zacky squeaked incredulously.

"I do not," Brian replied, sticking his tongue out.

"Boys, boys, now is not the time to flirt. It's time to nap and re-energize. Matt, you don't mind if I share with you, do you?" Ziah asked, crawling onto the room's other bed.

"N-No, I d-don't mind at all," Matt answered before taking the other side of the bed.

Within five minutes, Ziah and Zacky were both sound asleep, leaving only Brian and Matt awake. Both pondered the change of direction their lives had undergone the night before.

"Brian, you still awake, man?" Matt asked softly.

"Mmmm....yeah. What's up, bro?"

"I know it's still early yet, but...."

"But what?"

"Do you think Ziah would be willing to give me a chance to be Zayleigh's daddy all the time....and be with her again as...."

"As her boyfriend?" Brian finished.

Matt nibbled at his top lip for a moment and then let it go with a sigh. "Yeah."

"Matt, I don't know. I mean, you're Zayleigh's daddy all the time already, so that's no issue. As far as something more with my sister, I don't really know what'll happen there. You've gotta start out as friends again and rebuild from there."

"Yeah....yeah, you're right. It was stupid of me to think about anything romantic."

"It's not stupid, bro. Just rushing it a bit. I will tell you that my sister still loves you, Matt. That never stopped."

"Just like you've never stopped loving Zack?"

Brian glanced at the peacefully sleeping face of Zacky and swallowed hard. "Yeah, just like," he whispered, looking up at the ceiling and biting at the inside of his cheek.


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A couple of hours later.......


"Shhhh!" Zayleigh whispered, putting her finger up to her lips as she and Crash toddled into the other room, freshly woken from their naps.

Zayleigh helped push her cousin up onto the bed his Daddy and Poppy were sleeping on before working her way up the side of the other bed where her parents, too, slept. They both settled between their parents and laid quietly.

Zacky was the first to wake up, gasping mid-yawn when he found his son staring at him, thumb firmly in his mouth. He lifted his head, looking over to the other bed and then back to Crash. "Crash, buddy, when did you and Zayleigh wake up?"

Crash shrugged his shoulders the best he could. After another brief moment, he pulled his thumb from his mouth with a sigh. "Hungry, Poppy."

"We've gotta get our shoes on first, bud," Brian mumbled, his eyes blinking open.

Zacky jumped a little, startled that Brian was awake and looking right at him. "Should we wake Ziah and Matt up or just take Zayleigh and Crash with us? If you think we can handle both kids on our own, that is.

Brian laughed through his nose and rolled his eyes. "Trust me, even though they can be hellions, I'm sure we can manage just fine, Zack. I mean, Ziah and I switch out sometimes to give each other little breaks. Unless Crash and Zayleigh are cranky or missed naptime, they're actually pretty chill and easy to handle."

Brian pushed himself out of bed, took a good stretch and then scooped Crash up into his arms. "You leave a note for Matt and Ziah and I'll get the kids ready to go," he said, walking over to the other bed and picking his niece up, balancing a toddler on each hip and then heading into the adjoining room.

Zacky pulled his shoes on, scribbled a quick note on the little complimentary pad by the room's phone, leaned the pad up against the phone where it would be impossible for Matt and/or Ziah to miss and then headed into the next room where Brian was just slipping his wallet into a back pocket. Zacky couldn't help but stare at how the blue jeans shifted and stretched across Brian's ass as he bent down to lift his niece up from the floor.

Brian turned around, smirking when Zacky quickly averted his eyes, a light pink coloring his cheeks. Brian knew the green-eyed man had been staring at his ass but he wouldn't call him out on it. Yet.

"So Crash wants his Poppy to carry him. Is that all right with you?" Brian asked, slinging the strap of the one diaper bag his son and niece would be sharing over his shoulder before situating the little girl onto his opposite hip.

"Of course, it's all right with me," Zacky answered, scooping his little boy into his arms, holding him on his right hip.

Brian pulled the door open, let Zacky and Crash step out first and then let the door close on its own after he and Zayleigh exited into the hallway. They'd decided not to go too far, settling on the McDonald's right across the parking lot so they wouldn't end up giving Matt and Ziah major heart attacks when they woke up and found their little girl was gone.