Taylor and Natalie had snuggled up on the couch earlier that evening to watch a movie. Penny had started watching with them, but then got bored with it and went to her room to do some drawing and listen to music. While the other kids were playing video games, Christopher had been in Taylor's dark room developing some pictures he had taken recently. It was something he had asked Taylor to teach him, as he was looking for a new hobby. He was really enjoying doing something different for a change. His cell phone rang, and he missed the call so he could finish what he was doing. Then he left the room to see who had called. He saw he had a voicemail from Zac, and took a listen to it. " Christopher, I really need to talk to you and Arielle. I tried calling her, but she didn't answer. This is very important. Please give me a call."
He dialed Zac's number, who picked up after a couple of rings. " Where is your sister, Christopher? Do you have any idea?" Zac sounded desperate, almost scared.
" Nikki took her over to our mom's house. She thought Arielle needed to talk to her after all this time, to try patching things up." Christopher got a bad feeling in his stomach, like he could tell something was wrong. " What's wrong, Zac? Did something happen?"
" Rachel was attacked tonight, buddy. She's okay. She really is. More than anything, I think she is just kind of shaken up. But this involves you and your sister, including your mother." He sighed. " I know me and Taylor are kind of in the middle of a fight right now, but do you think you could ask him to bring you over to your mom's? We really need to talk."
" Sure. I'll call you back and let you know what he says." They hung up, and he went into the living room. He saw that Taylor and Natalie had fallen asleep watching their movie. A part of him didn't want to wake them, but Zac had made it sound so important that they talk. He tapped Taylor on the shoulder, who slowly opened his eyes. " Hey, I hate to wake you up. But it seems as though some emergency has come up."
Taylor sat straight up when he heard the word emergency, which woke Natalie up. " What's going on?" She asked, looking into Taylor's eyes. She saw the worry, and panicked. " Who got hurt? Is it one of the kids?"
Christopher explained Zac's phone call to him, and if it hadn't been for the fact that Arielle's best friend had been involved, he got the feeling they wouldn't have bothered with it. But since it was, and since it somehow involved Christopher and Arielle, Taylor couldn't say no to going over there.
Natalie asked Ezra to take care of everyone else by making sure they got to bed in time and keeping them safe, and they left for Ashley's. Zac was already there, and they could hear screaming coming through the open windows. They rushed inside to see what was going on.
Before Zac had shown up, Arielle had decided to help her mom get comfortable on the couch. Now in pajama's that showed something of a baby bump, Zac had been shocked to see her the moment he walked in the door. He had gone from a look of shock on his face to screaming at her in a matter of seconds.
" Ashley, that is such a pathetic excuse! I had every right to know before anyone else did!" Zac continued screaming at her, throwing his hands up in the air. " Me and you may not have any sort of relationship together, but I deserve to be a part of this baby's life!"
Taylor froze at the door when the words came out of Zac's mouth. " A baby? I thought we were here about Rachel." He looked over at Ashley, who's face had gone white. Then he looked at Natalie. " Let's get out of here." He grabbed her hand to leave, but Arielle grabbed his other hand.
" Dad, this wasn't supposed to be about the baby about mom is carrying. Zac has something to tell us, and it sounds really important." Arielle looked from her dad to Zac. " I think we need to focus on what happened to Rachel. You haven't told us anything, and I get it's because you were distracted." She then looked over at her best friend. " My best friend is shaken up obviously, and I would like to know why."
Everyone sat around the living room, Christopher sitting in between his mom and sister. He listened as Zac told them what happened. Rachel sat next to Natalie, who wrapped her arms around her to give her comfort. The moment they heard that Brian was out of prison, and that he had attacked Rachel, everyone panicked. They thought he was officially out of the picture, and now he was on the loose again. Arielle put an arm around her brother, kissing him on the cheek. " Hey, he can't hurt you again. I am not going to let him."
Taylor felt frustrated. Just when he thought things were starting to look up, now it turned out that not only was his ex-wife pregnant with his brother's baby, but Brian was back in town. He could feel the anger rushing through him, and without a single thought about it, he stood up and punched a hole in the wall. " Damn it!" He screamed, scaring the crap out of everyone.
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In the following days that passed, Zac was over at Ashley's more than he wanted to be. He hadn't seen or heard from Kate recently, so he hadn't had a chance to tell her about his baby with Ashley. He rarely called her himself, and would wait for her to call him. He always hoped she would come around if he just gave her space. But she seemed unwilling to give him even a second of hope.
It didn't matter that he hadn't called to tell her, Natalie was over there at this moment so she could tell her best friend all about it. Kate had tears running down her face, and it took everything in her to not call and give him a piece of her mind. She was hurt and pissed off at the same time.
" Kate, I am so sorry. I had really hoped Zac would get his act together and tell you himself." With a look of sadness in her eyes, Natalie gave her a best friend a big hug. " I wish there was something I could do to help you through this."
" You have been here for me way more than Zac has, Natalie." Tears streamed down her cheeks as she hugged Natalie back. " You really are the best. He's just... a big coward."
Natalie nodded, and as she pulled out of the hug, wiped away the tears rolling down Kate's cheeks. " Your right. He is a coward. And he has lost the best thing in life. His family with you."
" I just... I wish Ashley would never have rolled into town in the first place. Things were better when she wasn't around." Kate sat down in a kitchen chair, and tried to pull herself together.
" Me and you both. She destroyed everything me and Taylor ever had." Sitting down across from Kate, she took a deep breath to calm herself. " I realize things have gotten better between me and him, but now she has messed with my best friend. She may not have asked for that pregnancy, but it wouldn't have happened if things had been different."
