First You Fall

Toni's P.O.V.

I've been in here too long.

I sighed to myself as I lifted my hand out of the water and inspected it. I wasn't sure how long I had been laying in the tub of warm water but I figured it was time to get out. Sighing again, I climbed out of the tub and wrapped a soft towel around my body. I walked back into Zacky's room and sat down on the bed beside Val.

"You're going to be fine you know." Val said nudging my shoulder.

"Really, and how is that? Last time I checked being knocked out and finding pictures of yourself with a bullet ready to hit you never meant guaranteed safety." I said, standing up again and grabbing a long t-shirt from Zack's closet. I pulled the shirt over my head and returned to the bed.

"I know all of this has to be scaring the shit out of you but you have to know that Zacky loves you way to much to let anything really bad happen to you."

"Oh so those things don't count as really bad? What should I be expecting now?" I asked, throwing my hands in the air.

"You should be expecting Zacky and the guys to go overboard to keep you safe. Now that we know there's a threat there is absolutely no fucking way anyone is going to get to you."

"You're right I guess." I said softly. "But what if they can't protect me all the time? Every moment, everywhere I go. I don't want to stay in this house forever, hiding out from some creeper."

"Then don't." Val said. "You don't need to change your entire life just because one fucker is trying to mess with you. Don't let this get to you more than it already has. Give Zacky and them a bit of time and they'll find the asshole and deal with him. All you have to do is relax, there's no doubt enough tension going around right now. Everyone would feel a bit better if you were okay."

"I'll be fine." I said, still thinking to myself.

"No long term damage? No trauma?" Val asked, nudging my shoulder again.

"The whole shock will wear off. I hope."

"Good then you should just get some sleep. It'll help." Val said, standing up and leaving the room.

Val shut the door behind her and I sat there in thought. I knew she was right. Zacky would do almost anything to protect me. But the problem was I wanted to be able to protect myself. I want to be able to walk down the street alone and know that if someone tried to attack me, I could take care of myself. If someone had tried to take Val she would have kicked their ass. I wanted to be able to do that, or at the very least get a good punch in and run. I knew if I asked Zacky to teach me how to fight he'd object. He can barely stand it when I play fight with the guys so learning to really fight would be out of the question. If he had his way I would just live the rest of my life under his protection. As I crawled under the blankets I decided that I would do things my way this time. Zacky just doesn't have to know.

I had just closed my eyes when the door opened and light flooded the room. I sat up in the bed and watched Zacky walk in. He stripped down to his boxers before crawling into the bed with me. I rolled over and moved closer to him as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Nothing's going to happen to you." He whispered in my ear.

"I know."
-----------------------------------------------
The next morning I opened my eyes and saw Zacky laying there, watching me.

"You can blink, I won't disappear." I said, sitting up.

"I see you're doing just fine now." Zacky said with a small smile on his face.

"Uh huh." I yawned as I stood up and stretched.

"The guys went to your apartment to get your stuff." Zacky said, sitting up.

"What do you mean?"

"You're moving in today." He said almost indifferently.

"What?" I asked, straddling his lap. "What happened to waiting until we're both ready?"

"Yeah well I was ready the minute someone started threatening your life." Zacky said, stroking my hips lightly.

"Hey I don't want to take this next step just because some creeper is stalking me. I want you to want this for other reasons too." I said.

"I've never been so fucking pissed in my life as I was the moment I saw those pictures. This whole thing has made me realize how much you mean to me, Toni. You are the most important fucking thing in my life and I want you here with me all the time. I want to wake up next to you and watch you prance around in my clothes. I want to come home and know that you're here waiting for me. " Zacky said, pulling me closer to him and running his hands through my hair.

I didn't know what to say so I settled for pressing my lips to his in a heated kiss. He had just pulled me down onto the bed when the door burst open.

"Woah, sorry to break it up but we need you downstairs man." Brian said.

"I'll see you later." Zacky said to me as he stood up. It was then that I realized he was already dressed, so he must have gotten up way earlier than I had.

Zacky gave me another quick kiss before leaving with Brian. The minute those two walked out, Johnny walked in.

"Morning." I said, falling back onto the bed.

"Afternoon actually. We moved most of your stuff this morning. Well at least the things we thought were worth moving."

"Which would be...?" I asked, looking over at Johnny.

"We got all your pictures and then your clothes. We thought about moving your dishes and stuff but Jimmy broke the majority of them so we figured it didn't matter anymore."

"Wow thanks." I said with a short laugh.

"Oh and I cleared out all the small things in your dressers." Johnny said as he walked out of the room and returned with a small box. "Didn't know what had sentimental value and all that shit."

"Thanks." I replied taking the box and dropping it in the corner. "I guess I should go talk to my landlord then."

"Sure we can go now if you want."

"We?" I asked. "Shouldn't you be going with the guys on whatever it is you need to take care of?"

"Nope, I'm free for the day." Johnny said, avoiding looking me in the eyes.

"And by free for the day you mean Zacky asked you to follow me all day and make sure nothing happens right?"

"That's exactly what it means." Johnny said, finally looking up at me. "We all care about you and none of us want to see you get hurt."

"It's fine." I said. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

"What's up?" Johnny asked, sitting down next to me.

"Teach me to fight." I said, having decided that just spitting it out would be the best way to go.

"What?" Johnny asked after a couple of seconds.

"I want to learn how to protect myself."

"You're vicious enough without knowing how to fight." Johnny said jokingly.

"I'm serious." I said, punching his arm.

"So am I." He rubbed his arm where I hit him. "Why don't you ask Zacky?"

"Because we both know he'd say no in a heartbeat."

"Then I can't." Johnny said.

"So you would rather see me hurt or dead?" I said, switching tactics.

"We won't let that happen."

"So you intend to follow me everywhere for the rest of my life? Johnny you can't be with me every fucking second. If you just taught me how to defend myself then I'd feel safer."

"If Zacky found out he'd-"

"Get over it." I said, cutting Johnny off.

"Or try to kill me." Johnny replied.

"Please, Johnny. I just need this."

Johnny looked at me and stood up.

"I'll think about it." He said after a minute of silence.

Good enough for now.