Wrapped Up In You

Out of Your Mind

"Are you pregnant?" Brian asked, his dark eyebrows crashing together. Doing the math didn't add up and it worried him...a lot. It had been almost 5 months since they had real sex.

"Damn, she's good," Zoey muttered  under her breath. She had to admire her a bit. Vix needed a clean getaway so she'd made that possible by bringing up the subjects she knew would stall them all in their tracks. "No Brian...seriously? I'm not pregnant. If I was you'd be the first to know. But I don't even know how you'd think that was possible."

"She just said there was a pregnancy test," he panicked.

"It was Lacey's...." Zoey explained soothingly. "She took it at the house today. She wanted to surprise Johnny tonight if it came back positive but it didn't. So I didn't think anything of it until just now when Vix just said something." Zoey paused...that's why Vix had been drinking all the beers in beer pong..she had thought Zoey was pregnant.

Brian released the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Thank God."

Zoey immediately felt annoyed at his relief. "So what if I was? Are you saying you wouldn't be happy if we were having another kid?"

"That's not what I said,"he said defensively.

"Brian, you just said thank God."

"But I didn't mean it...like that....." he said his own irritation becoming apparent. "I mean if you'd been pregnant that would have been great. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"That we aren't exactly in the best place to have another kid right now," he blurted.

Her eyebrows crashed together as an omen of the incoming storm. "Why the hell would you think that? I mean we have a huge house. We make a lot of money. We love each other. Sounds like a good place for kids to be," she pressed.

"Yeah you yelling at me out here in front of God and everyone..." he mumbled.

She reigned herself in. "I thought we were doing fine."

"We are... we've done a great job with Leelee... except we haven't had a chance for me to go back to work yet,"  he explained. "So far either you've been off of work with Elise or I have. Imagine what happens when I have to go back on the road. You were stressed for the small amount of dates we had after she was born. A full blown tour is going to wreak some havoc so we have to work that out."

"Are you suggesting I can't take care of Elise by myself?" she demanded.

"You sure had a shit fit over it the last time," he retorted.

"You were out of the country!"she yelled. "She wasn't even a month old yet."

"That's my fucking job! Occasionally I have to do that," he retorted "you acted like I didn't want to be there with you both. You acted like I think only my job is important and screw yours."

Her green eyes grew wide. "I did not."

"Yeah you did," he replied. "You thought I didn't take your responsibilities seriously. So I've been home taking care of the baby...and don't get me wrong, I've loved every fucking minute of it. But the reality is that I'm going back to work. Back to the studio...back on tour...and you're going to have to deal with it."

"Deal with it?" she said loudly. "what does it even mean?"

"It means if we want to even think of having another kid," he retorted "then we need to figure out how to make what we have work."

"You make it sound like we're broken...a mess," she mumbled.

"Aww fuck Zoey, I didn't mean that...but this is obviously causing us stress. I mean I can't be the only one who is dying cause we haven't had sex in months," he admitted.

"Well of course I've noticed," she felt her cheeks get hot "But I didn't think..I mean how could I have known that..."

"You should have known," he said "You should have asked. But you just went about your way...doing your job...doing your thing...." he trailed off and then just shrugged. Silence hung between them.

"I...I...don't know what to say," she said finally.

He frowned. "Well then I'd say we've got bigger problems."

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With Brian and Zoey arguing and Zacky presumably chasing Vix back toward the house, Matt steered his fiance closer to the driveway. Hopefully they'd have at least a little bit privacy.

"So do you want to tell me what all that was about?" he asked when they finally made it to the truck. "Because I'm trying to figure out why you'd tell Vix...someone you hardly know...just met...about the wedding. And not me...your fiance."

Lucy weighed her options internally. She could try to play it off and pretend like Vix was crazy. The evidence of Zacky looking miserable on the beach would support that. Or she could man up and tell the love of her life the truth.

"The idea of a big wedding scares the crap out of me," she said quickly before her courage failed her. "And you just keep saying that it doesn't matter because its still just you and me getting married and the wedding is for show..."

"It doesn't," he said in a cool voice.

"But it DOES," she replied "It matters to me. I don't want to have a huge event for everyone else. I want it to be for me...and you. I never wanted a fucking circus with people I don't know...and money I don't have to spend."

"Aww c'mon Luce...money isn't an object," he said.

She glared "Is that really all you heard in that sentence? Money...really Sanders?"

"No," he said quickly. "So what do you want me to do?"

This was her moment. "I want to marry you...but I don't want it to be in front of hundreds of people that I don't know. I have to share you every day with thousands of fans...and I don't mind. But I want my wedding to be private. Just us and the people closest to us. I don't think that's too much to ask."

No, he agreed internally. "It's not...I'm just...I mean....I don't understand why you just couldn't tell me..before my mom and your mom got involved."

She shook her head. "Because you weren't listening to me. You were too busy trying to convince me..."

"Geez..fuck...Lucy...I should have...I mean I knew there was something wrong but I didn't even stop to think...I'm so fucking sorry," he said hoarsely "I didn't listen...I just thought if we could just get to the day...get it over with...that you'd be okay with it."

She frowned slightly. "We shouldn't have to talk about our wedding day in terms of just getting it over with, Sanders."

He pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her waist, kissing her on the temple. "I'm sorry."

She held on tight, burying her face in his strong chest. "I'm sorry too...I should have told you sooner. I shouldn't have let it get this far."

He kissed the top of her head. "We'll fix it...I promise."

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Zacky took a deep breath as Vix walked away. He had offered her a piece of his world and she walked away. From the look and sound of it, she'd wreaked some havoc along the way.

He could follow after her or he could stand here, stare at the ocean and be miserable...again.

"Fuck it," he growled as he made his way back from the beach toward his home, past his sister and her husband and their argument. He picked up speed as he made it to the walkway of his home, past Matt and Lucy who were holding onto each other for dear life in his driveway.

He opened the door to his home fast enough to catch Vix carrying her stuff toward the door.

The determined look in his green eyes stopped her in her tracks.

"You've lost your fucking mind if you think I'm going to let you leave that easy."