Taylor Ever After?

Where are you?

++"It's been three months since that conversation pops. I don't know what to do anymore. I have been trying and trying to get her the help she needs. She keeps firing her therapist, she barely interacts with Zane, and she cries all the time. She cursed Phoenix out so bad, that she stopped coming over. I don't know what else to do. I am drowning. I hired a nanny to help me with Zane but Fatima fired her too. I had to open an in-office daycare center because I don't trust her to be alone with him. I don't think she will hurt him. I just don't think she is capable right now. If I'm being honest, I don't really like leaving her by herself either. I'm glad Andi was able to convince her to come back to work part-time as her paralegal." Zac told Mr. Wilson over a beer. Fatima's father and Zac had become closer over the last few months.

"Son, I know you've been trying. You don't have to prove it to me. I see you working your ass off to take care of them both. I want to try one more thing but I don't know how well it will go over with Fatima. I think she needs to talk to Veronica."

Zac is already shaking his head no. "Just hear me out. Veronica knows exactly what it is like to not have a relationship with your child. Not a good one at least. I think she will be able to get through to Fatima son." Charles defended his plea.

"Every time those two get to talking to one another it always turns into something more and I'm left walking on eggs shells around my wife because I do not know when its all going to come crashing out of her. I don't know how much more of this I can take" Zac said in frustration. Neither of them knew that as they were sitting back on the balcony having man talk Fatima had returned from work earlier than expected. She usually returned around 5. It was barely 2pm. She heard Zac's words and immediately felt worse. She did not want to lose her husband, but she couldn't help but feel like she no longer deserved him. He was right. She hadn't been doing any of the things a wife and mother are supposed to be doing. Fatima crept back out the house without being noticed. She sat in her driveway and cried for a moment. She collected herself just enough to pull off but before she did she texted Zac. ~leaving work early. Going to the gym. SYL~ she was pulling out the garage before the phone said delivered.

Zac looked down at his phone as it vibrated on the table beside him. He saw the message from his wife and replied. ~OK. Be safe I love you. See you when you get home.~ He was grateful for the message. Fatima took up swimming once she was finally cleared by the doctor to work out. She usually went swimming on her good days and that meant she would be in a good mood when she came home.

It was around 7pm and Fatima had yet to return home. Zac tried calling her, but it went to voicemail. By 9, he had called everyone he knew asking if they'd seen her. Zac called Phoenix and asked that she come sit with Zane while he and her father drove around looking for her. Of course, she agreed. And thirty minutes later they were gone. Zac drove to the gym, and the attendant recognized her photo but informed Zac that she had not been there. Zac went to popular after-work spots near her office, her favorite park, he tried calling her dozens more times. Andi had begun calling hospitals all over town looking for anyone who may have seen her or someone brought in matching her description. When that didn't work, Phoenix called the county jail. No luck. Zac pulled into a gas station to fill his tank when he spotted his wife's car. She was pulling out of the station on the other side and he just happened to catch a glance of her. He hopped back into his car and followed her, noticing that she was heading in the opposite direction of their home. Twenty minutes of driving later he pulls into the parking lot of Fatima's old apartment building. He'd forgotten all about that apartment. He was under the impression that it was being rented. Or at least that's what he remembered her telling him a while back.

Zac walked up to the door and knocked. He thought about using his key but he didn't want to scare her. Her dad sat in the car waiting for Zac to talk to her alone.

Fatima heard the knock at the door and was confused as to who it could be. She grabbed her gun out her purse and walked to the door. Once she peeked through the peephole and cursed silently, she opened the door and faced her husband. She stepped back so he could enter. Neither of them spoke for a long time. She took a seat on the couch and he sat across from her.

"Zac. I need to tell you something." He stopped her. Taking a look around the apartment.

"All of your furniture is here."

She hesitated before speaking. "Yes. I had it brought back out of storage."

"When?" he asked and she responded. "last month."

He repeated her. "Last month." It felt as though someone was sitting on his chest.

"You have had me and your father driving around Georgia for hours looking all over for you. Your friends have been calling hospitals, morgues, and police stations searching for you. You have a son at home! You have a husband at home that you clearly don't care enough about to shoot me a text just to let me know you're alive!" Zac lost it. "I have been trying my fucking hardest Fatima. I give you the space and the resources you need. I am trying to be supportive and understanding because I know these last few months have been hell for you. They've been hell for me too. But this is too fucking far! You go missing for hours and I find you here! Nestled safely in an apartment that you told me you were renting! What is it, Fatima? What can I do for you to get you to accept that there is a problem to be fixed and actually fix it? if you're not going to do it for yourself. Do it for Zane. He needs his mother. You of all people know how it feels to grow up without the love of your mother. Hell we both do! Wo what is it going to take? What do you need?

"I need a divorce!" Fatima shouted as she shot up from her seat and ran off into the bedroom leaving Zac in the living room alone to process what just happened. He screamed into the nearest pillow and cried. He knew she could hear him on the other side of the door but it never opened. Zac got up and left the apartment silently. He filled his father-in-law as best as he could without breaking down into tears. Maybe he pushed her too far. Maybe he should have waited more patiently for her to come around. He couldn't help but try to see where he went wrong. He thought all that he was doing was to help her and in her best interest.

Zac dropped Mr. Wilson off at his home and headed back his own home. When he got home phoenix was knocked out beside Zane in her unofficial bedroom. It was their guestroom but Phoenix is the only one to have ever slept in it. He decided not to wake them and closed the door behind him and headed to the garage for a drink and smoke. It had been a while since Zac smoked weed. He and Fatima stopped smoking when they found out that she was pregnant and neither of them had picked the habit back up. That was until tonight when he came across one of his old vape pens he got from Danni. Zac smoked and drank for over an hour sitting in his garage listening to Old episodes of Breakfast club. Zac had enough and stumbled into the house running into Phoenix.

"Hey. Didn't hear you come back. Did you find her?" Phoenix notices Zac is wasted.

"Yea we found her. She's home." He says slurring

Phee looks around. "Well, where is she?"

"I said she's home" he slurred again. Zac attempted to sit on the bar stool at the kitchen island but leaned back too far and came crashing down onto the ground. "She's at her apartment. She told me she wants a divorce" he cried

"Phoenix shook her head and tried to help Zac off the kitchen floor. He was heavier than she expected and him being drunk made it almost impossible to lift him but she tried anyway. She was making progress until he suddenly came crashing down on her trapping her underneath him. Just then the door opened. It was Fatima. She looked down and saw Phoenix laying underneath Zac. She laughed a menacing laugh and turned back around and left right back through the door. Phoenix called out for her but was ignored. She struggled under his weight and grew too tired to lift him. He was passed out cold.

"ALEXA. Call jake!"

Jake answered his phone on the second ring. Yo man you good? It's late.

Phoenix responded. "Jake, can you get over here quick, Zac is passed out drunk on top of me and I'm stuck.

"Excuse me?" Jake said in disbelief

"Not like that! Can you just come and get him off me please? He's heavy and he stinks!

"I'm on my way and as soon as I get there, someone better tell me what the hell is going on."