Known Strangers Chapter 5

Known Strangers (Synacky) Chapter 5:
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Holy shit! I'm actually updating this! Just took me a year and a half.

Jimmy's Lab...

"It's about time you made it down here. I was about to send out a search party of elite, highly trained stallion ducks to find you and drag you down here," Jimmy sighed as he spun around on his chair.

"Has he thrown up from doing that yet?" Zacky asked with a smirk as Jimmy continued to spin around and around in circles.

Matt shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "Probably, but I'm not watching him when he does it, nor am I cleaning up after him," he answered dryly.

Suddenly, Jimmy stopped spinning, darted from his chair and embraced Zacky tightly, nearly squeezing the breath out of the stunned, shorter man, who just weakly patted his back in return.

"Let him go, jackass! He needs oxygen to breathe," Matt grumbled, slapping the back of Jimmy's head.

Jimmy released his hold on Zacky and then stepped back to get a good look at the man he hadn't seen in years. He narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and then punched Zacky in the shoulder. Hard. Hard enough to leave a bruise, and Jimmy hoped it was a deep, dark, painful one, too.

"Owwww!" Zacky howled, rubbing at his arm. "What did you hit me for?"

"For not calling me or emailing me in months. How hard is it to just type, 'I'm still alive.' and then click 'send'?"

"Sorry, I was busy with cases and transfer..." Zacky slowly came to a stop when Jimmy raised his fist to punch him for a second time.

"So, where are Seward and Haner? They need to hear about what I found, too. I really don't wanna have to repeat myself. Again," Jimmy sighed, rolling his eyes.

"We're here," Brian sighed, walking into the lab, a fresh set of stitches above his blackened, slightly swollen eye, Johnny right behind him.

Jimmy gasped, running up to Brian. "Oh my God, what happened to you?!?!"

Zacky swallowed hard and quickly looked away when Brian shot him a death glare. He knew he'd have the toughest of uphill battles to get Brian to even look at him in a civilized way and he was exhausted just thinking about it.

"I encountered a bitch in the middle of a tantrum," Brian answered nonchalantly. He knew how badly that stung his ex-boyfriend, but see if he gave a jack shit. Even though he would've loved to have knocked Zacky out, he never would have ever actually done it because he could never physically hurt the man he still loved so dearly.

"Brian," Johnny warned, hoping there'd be no more physical violence between two of his best friends.

"What did ya find that needed the whole team to be told all together?" Brian sighed, running a hand over his face, being careful of his stitches.

"Yes, please, get on with it, Jimmy," Ziah sighed, rubbing at her temples and hoping it would ease the incessant pounding in her head.

"Right." Jimmy headed over to his computer and pulled something up onto the large screen for everybody to see, as he sat down. "Same cause of death. Same manner of death."

"We know all of that already," Matt said impatiently.

"Well, I finally got a hit on the residue found on Angie Reynolds's eyelids. It's a very rare flower called the Corpse Flower."

"How rare are we talkin'?" Ziah asked, staring at the picture of a large red flower on the screen.

"Well, actually, it's one of the world's rarest, most endangered flower species. One of the largest, too..."

"We don't need the whole botany lesson, Jim," Johnny mumbled in frustration.

Jimmy ignored Johnny and continued on. "It's actually a parasite, releases a pungent rotten flesh smell to attract flies and carrion beetles and has an approximate lifespan of one week."

"Where can this...this Corpse Flower be gotten from?" Matt asked, scrunching his nose up at the picture.

"Mainly in low-lying tropical rainforests in Indonesia."

Ziah sighed, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, that shouldn't be too hard to track down. Johnny, Zacky, you two find out where our killer could acquire Corpse Flowers in this country or have delivered to this country. Matt, you and I will talk with Angie Reynolds's family and friends again, to see if she had any contact with the flower before she met up with her killer."

"Right, ba...Ziah," Matt replied, biting at his lip as he scribbled something down in his field notebook.

"And what do you want me to do?" Brian asked.

"Go home and spend the rest of the day with your favorite girl. You need a break."


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Approximately 6 hours later...

"What the fuck are you doing? This is only gonna end well," Zacky thought to himself with a deep sigh, staring at the house he'd pulled up in front of nearly half an hour earlier.

Finally fed up with trying to figure out what he had to say...needed to say to his ex-boyfriend, Zacky pushed himself from his car and strode up to the front door of Brian's house. He pressed the doorbell, smiling brightly when he heard barking that was unmistakably Pinkly's. His stomach did a wild flip-flop-twist when the locks rattled and then the door jerked open.

"Papa!" a voice squealed excitedly as a small body flung itself into Zacky's legs and squeezed tightly.

Zacky looked down and blinked in confusion at the adorable little girl grinning gooberishly up at him from where she was latched onto his leg.

"Emerson!" Brian ran up, panting. His eyes widened and his stomach plummeted upon seeing his ex-boyfriend standing on his doorstep with his daughter hugging onto him as if her life depended on it. He swallowed hard and then turned his attention fully to the little girl standing between them. "Emerson Ilyse Haner, what have I told you about opening the door on your own? You can't see out the peephole and you're too young to do it on your own."

"But, Daddy, it's Papa!" the raven-haired little girl sniffled, turning deep brown puppy dog eyes up at Brian.

Brian sighed and rolled his eyes. "I can see that, Emmie. Now, why don't you go help Freddie finish the cupcakes you wanted to make. Go on," he ordered, pointing in the direction of the kitchen.

Emerson's eyes lit up, she gave Zacky's leg another squeeze and then took off running towards the kitchen. "Love you, Daddy. Love you, Papa," she giggled over her shoulder, waving. "Freddie!"

Brian watched after the high-energy little girl and waited for her to disappear into the kitchen before he turned back to Zacky and arched a brow at him. "So, what are you doin' here, Baker? Interested in giving me another set of stitches above my other eye to have a matching set?"

"No, Brian..." Zacky swallowed hard, ran his fingers through his hair and then sighed. "Brian, I wanted to apologize."

Brian's eyes widened in surprise. "Apologize? For what exactly?"

"For...for everything."

"Why? Why now?"

Zacky took a deep breath and then exhaled a huff of air. "Because I realize that I was wrong...about everything. I ran away from the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Brian stared at Zacky, eyes becoming even wider and his mouth dropping open a little. "I..."

"I understand that you've moved on, and I'm not trying to break up your family in any way. I just wanna let ya know that if I could take it all back, I would. I would in a heart beat, and I love you just as much as I ever have. More, actually." Zacky swallowed back the tears and sighed shakily. "I'll keep things on a totally professional level from here on out. Cute little girl, by the wa..."

Brian grabbed Zacky, yanked him into his arms and slammed their lips together. Zacky clutched onto Brian and gasped in surprise, giving Brian the opportunity to mesh their tongues together, jolts of electricity sparking off throughout them. They broke away from each other, laughing breathlessly when Pinkly started barking, whining and pawing at each of their legs.

"Hey, Pinkly," Zacky greeted cheerfully, smiling down at the small white dog as he still held onto Brian.

"Daddy!" Emerson called from the kitchen. "Freddie says it's time to decorate the cupcakes!"

Zacky bit at one of his snakebites and felt his heart sink. How could he waltz right back into Brian's life and expect him to have been as miserable and unable to move on as he had been. "M-Maybe I sh-should g-go," he murmured, avoiding Brian's eyes as his filled with tears.

"Since when have you said no to cupcakes?"

Zacky looked at Brian with a scowl. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Brian laughed, pressing a kiss to Zacky's lips. He shoved the front door shut, took Zacky's hand into his and started to pull him towards the kitchen. "C'mon, Emmie will never forgive you for skipping out on this."

"B-But what about Freddie? W-Won't he have a problem with your ex-boyfriend sticking around?"

Brian laughed again. "Just come on. Freddie won't mind in the least bit."

"Brian," Zacky tried to plead once again.

"Zacky, just go with this. Everything will be okay. I promise," Brian smiled, tugging the other man into the kitchen, where the delicious smell of fresh-baked cupcakes and cookies enveloped them.

Zacky's eyes widened, his heart beat started a wild rhythm in his chest and he felt quite stupid when he saw that Freddie wasn't someone Brian would have moved on with. Freddie was a woman, and he knew without any doubt, Brian wasn't into women. He could see Brian smirking from the corner of his eye and wanted to sock him one in the stomach to wipe it from his face, but he chose to ignore it.

"Hi, Daddy!"

"Hey, Emmie." Brian smiled, leaning down to press a kiss to the soft hair on top of his daughter's head, not releasing Zacky's hand.

"Hi, Papa!" Emerson giggled, waving her frosting-covered hand.

Zacky bit at his bottom lip and glanced up at Brian nervously. He smiled when Brian nodded his head, a warm smile of his own across his face. Zacky looked back at Emerson and smiled brightly. "Hi, sweetheart," he replied softly.

Frederica "Freddie" Kathan looked up from the cupcake she was decorating, doing a double-take at Brian, her eyes widening. "Mr. Haner, what happened to your eye?"

"Uhm...I had an accident at work. It looks worse than it is. I want you to meet Zacky Baker, my..."

"Papa!" Emerson cheered.

Brian snorted and then laughed. "No, Emmie, he's your Papa, not Daddy's Papa."

"Yeah, that would be really weird," Zacky grinned.

Brian rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Anyways, Freddie, this is Zacky Baker...my boyfriend." He smiled when he heard a gasp come from the man beside him. "Zacky, this is Freddie Kathan, Emmie's nanny...and my sanity."

"Ahhhh, nice to finally meet the man that I've heard so much about and have only seen in pictures," Freddie greeted sweetly in her light German accent, a warm smile across her face and an equally warm sparkle in her eyes.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Zacky replied with a smile of his own.


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Ziah sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen. She had been trying to find a link between Corpse Flowers and any potential suspect. Zacky and Johnny had spent many hours looking for a retailer or distributor but had had no such luck in finding anything. She jumped when she felt two strong hands start to massage her aching, tense shoulders.

"Baby, let's go home. You need sleep," Matt whispered, leaning down and kissing her temple.

"Matt, I can't. We have our first big clue and..."

"And we'll all work onit together...after we get some sleep. Now, c'mon." Matt pulled Ziah's chair back from her desk, took her hands into his, pulled her to her feet and into his arms. "Please, baby, come on, let's go home."

Ziah sighed, leaned into Matt's chest, wrapped her arms around his waist and closed her eyes. "Am I coming back to your place?"

Matt smiled, tightening  his arms around Ziah and kissing the top of her head. "Yeah, ya kinda have to. Chaos and Mischief are there."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."

"No biggie." Matt tilted Ziah's chin up, leaned down and kissed her, smiling when she sighed and kissed back. He pulled away and winked at her. "C'mon, we'll get some take-out and have a lazy night in."

"Sounds great."