Getting to Me

It only took Mandy fifteen minutes after she and Zacky had the discussion with McKenna to get her little sister out to the horse barn, and another fifteen minutes after that to get two of the horses saddled up. Because McKenna was shorter and younger, and Mandy didn't want her to fall off or get hurt, she saddled up one of the smaller horses for her sister, and then got her own horse saddled for herself before giving the ten-year-old a boost up into the saddle, smiling at her as McKenna buckled her riding helmet on her head, even though Mandy herself no longer wore one. McKenna insisted that it made her look like the dressage girls on the TV, and so she insisted on wearing her helmet whenever she rode. No one was complaining, because it was safer for her to wear it, and because she was accident prone and tended to get injured in the strangest of ways, they actually encouraged her to wear the helmet. Mandy simply pulled a knit cap over her head to keep her ears relatively warm before she hoisted herself up into her saddle, looking over at her sister with a toothy grin.

"You ready to get going, 'Kenna?" She asked her younger sister excitedly. She had to admit, she was glad that she was getting some time to spend with her youngest sibling. It wasn't that she'd exactly pushed her aside to start a relationship with Zacky, but she hadn't exactly spent enough time with her, either, and she did feel sorry for that. She wanted to make sure her sister realized that she was still there for her, even though she had a boyfriend. She didn't want to turn out like what Brian had always been like whenever he'd had a girlfriend and push his family to the side. Family was more important to Mandy than anything else, and she wanted to make sure her little sister knew that.

"I was ready a half hour ago!" The little girl said impatiently, in true Haner fashion. Mandy laughed at McKenna's squeal as they pushed their horses into a walk towards the opposite end of the barn than they'd entered, heading for one of the paths that Mandy knew her younger sister preferred over going to the dam. They buried all of the pets that died by the dam, and a good deal of them had been McKenna's stray cats or dogs that she'd claimed as hers. So instead of taking her to the 'pet cemetery,' as the family called it, she started leading her towards Section 18, one of the pastures their father kept cattle in, but also had good riding trails that was relatively safe for trailriding with a smaller child.

When they were about a mile away from the ranch, McKenna suddenly stopped her horse and turned to look at Zacky. "Is Zacky putting his weenie in you?" She asked her sister pointedly. Mandy's jaw fell open, and she gave her sister an embarassed look, unable to believe that those words had just come out of her ten-year-old sister's mouth.

"Where did you hear about that?" Mandy asked, ignoring the question. She wanted to know who'd told her youngest sibling about sex, and what exactly she knew about it. More importantly, she wanted to know why McKenna wanted to know if she and Zacky were doing those kinds of things.

"Brian, duh," McKenna rolled her eyes. "I asked him how he got Michelle pregnant, and he told me that he had to put his weenie inside of her and that it made a baby inside of her. Where did you think I heard it?"

"Uh...Well...You shouldn't know about that kind of stuff yet, 'Kenna. Just forget whatever Brian told you, alright? As far as you're concerned, babies are delivered by stork."

"That doesn't answer my question," McKenna insisted, watching as her sister started moving her horse. Mandy turned to give the little girl an incredulous look. She'd always known that McKenna was bright, but she hadn't figured that the youngest Haner sibling would know anything about sex before at least the age of thirteen, maybe twelve if they taught her about it in sex ed at school. But now...Well, she was too young to know about it, in Mandy's opinion. She made a mental note to slap her older brother upside the head the next time she saw him, and sighed, shaking her head.

"No, he's not putting his weenie inside me," she said, chuckling as she said those words. She'd never heard sex described that way, and even she had to admit that it was humorous. Still, it didnt' change the fact that she was slightly disturbed that the little girl knew about sex.

"Then why was he kissing you in the barn? Bri always said that kissing turned into fu--"

"McKenna! Don't say that word!" Mandy cut her little sister off before she could say the word. "Don't listen to anything Brian says ever again, alright? He doesn't know what he's talking about. Just because he's older than you doesn't mean you have to listen to him. He's a boy, which makes him stupider than you. Just...don't say that word, okay? And don't tell Mom or Dad about this, or they'll get angry with you and Brian both."

"But I just wanna know!" McKenna said in a frustrated tone, moving her horse to catch up to Mandy before turning to give her sister a look that confused her. Mandy thought she looked almost scared, and her eyes softened.

"Why do you want to know? You won't be doing those things for a long, long, long time, McKenna. At least, if me or the boys have anything to do about it," she muttered in a quieter voice so that McKenna wouldn't hear that part. The little girl appeared to be in thought for several minutes until she finally answered.

"Because if he is doing that with you, then you're gonna have a baby. And if you have a baby, then you're gonna have to move somewhere with Zacky just the two of you, like Bri and Michelle did. And then you're going to love the baby more than me, just like Bri, and all I'll be stuck with is stupid Brent."

Mandy chuckled at her sister's words, realizing that her sister was jealous of Zacky rather than angry or curious about sex. She turned to fully face her youngest sibling, and shook her head. "No one's ever gonna replace you, 'Kenna. You're my sister; that's a forever thing. And Brian doesn't love the baby he's having with Michelle any more than you, he loves you both the same. And he'll come back to see you, just like he always has before. Just because Brian has Michelle and a baby on the way, and I'm dating Zacky doesn't mean that we both don't love you like we always have."

"Yes it does," McKenna told her sister in a watery tone of voice that told Mandy she was nearly ready to cry. "I don't wanna see you and Zacky together, because he's gonna take you away, just like Bri got taken away."

"McKenna, listen to me," Mandy said in a softer tone of voice. "I promise you, Zacky's not taking me away from you. I don't make promises I don't keep now, do I?" She asked her sister, giving her a knowing look. McKenna thought about it for a minute and then slowly shook her head, and Mandy reached over to ruffle her helmet, a smile on her face now that she'd convinced her sister not to burst into tears.

"Can we keep riding now?" McKenna asked her after a few minutes, a smile returned to her face and her reins in her hand. Mandy nodded, clicking her tongue and pushing her horse into a fast trot, watching McKenna carefully as she did the same, trotting right along side Mandy. She smiled at the little girl. She really was an amazing little sister, for someone who could be so annoying. But that was just what siblings were. She wouldn't rather be stuck with any other little sister though, and she was glad of the fact that she was getting to spend time with her today, even if she couldn't wait to get back to the ranch and spend some time with Zacky upstairs before dinner.

-x-

The trail ride went relatively quickly for the two of them, and once Mandy got back to the house, she saw Zacky sitting on the couch playing some video game with Brent, who didn't look too happy. McKenna rolled her eyes when she saw the boys and ran up the stairs to change into some different clothes, while Mandy walked into the living room and sat down next to Zacky on the couch, watching his expressions as he played the game. He was so concentrated on the game; so focused, and she thought it was really hot for some reason. She'd never been one for video games, and she'd never understood what drew guys to them, but when a guy was that focused on something, it was sexy.

Zacky chuckled when he saw her watching him, and Brent gave up the game when he realized that he'd lost the game. Zacky turned the game system off and put the controllers away before sitting back down on the couch with Mandy, pulling her closer to his chest and kissing her forehead discreetly in case McKenna, Brent, or her parents were watching.

"How'd the trail ride go?" He asked her, smiling as he looked down at her face. She blushed when she remembered the conversation she'd had with McKenna, and wasn't sure whether or not she should tell Zacky about it, but she decided that it couldn't possibly hurt to tell him about her little sister's hilarious ideas about sex.

"Well, it appears that Brian attempted to teach her about the birds and the bees, because that's the first thing she asked me about when we got away from the ranch. Apparently, she thinks we're going at it, and that I'm going to forget about her and leave her all alone for you."

Zacky let out a hearty laugh as Mandy told him that, but his laugh was cut short by a small kick to his shin, causing him to look in front of him with a confused look, a small smile forming in its place when he saw McKenna standing there, arms crossed over her chest and an angry pout on her face that looked so similar to Mandy's. "I don't want a puppy anymore," she told him, the pout never leaving her face. "You can't date Mandy. You can't be her boyfriend. I won't let you. I'll be her boyfriend, and then she'll spend all her time with me."

Mandy couldn't help but laugh at her smaller sister's words, shaking her head as she gave her an amused look. "'Kenna, sweetie, it doesn't happen like that. When two people like each other a lot, they date each other. And me and Zacky like each other a lot, so we're going to date each other. I thought you realized that I wasn't going to forget about you, 'Kenna."

"Yes you will," McKenna stomped her foot. "You will, and it's all his fault. I hate him!"

She kicked Zacky's shin again, causing Mandy to wince when he actually groaned in pain that time as the feisty ten-year-old stormed away and stalked up the stairs to her bedroom. "Well, that went well. So much for puppies," he muttered, giving Mandy an amused smile. She smiled at him, and leaned to peck his lips softly.

"She's just sad that Brian's moving to Fargo, and I think she's scared that I'm going to do the same thing," she said softly to him, figuring that that was why her little sister had changed her opinion of Zacky so suddenly. She understood that the little girl was scared of losing her older sister, but she'd have to talk to her about kicking him. She knew she wasn't allowed to be violent like that, and even if she was frustrated and scared, it wasn't acceptable behavior.

"Maybe if she spent some time with me, and I explained to her how I feel about you...Maybe she wouldn't be so upset about us being together then?" Zacky suggested, putting his fingers on the edge of his chin as he thought about it for a moment. He could understand why McKenna was scared. If Mandy left the house, she'd be the only female there besides her mother, and when she'd grown up spending all of her time with Mandy, it would be a very drastic change that, chances were, she probably wouldn't be ready to make just yet. She was only ten, after all, and she was used to having Mandy around whenever she wasn't working or doing her college classes. Mandy shrugged, thinking about it for a minute.

"It's worth a try, if you want to risk it. I wouldn't go up there right now, though," she sighed, pushing her hand back through her hair as she thought about it. "She's really pissed off right now, and it's going to take her awhile to cool down. She has the infamous Haner temper, just about as bad as Brian's can get. They're a lot more alike than either of them thinks they are," she chuckled, thinking about her eldest sibling and her youngest.

"I can definitely understand what you mean," Zacky chuckled as he pressed his lips softly to hers again. It wasn't a sexual kiss, not like the one in the loft of the barn had been. It was a sweet kiss, one in which he was trying to convey to her how much she meant to him, and how much he hoped that he meant to her. She responded by wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling herself closer to him as she sat down on his lap, smirking up at him as he sucked her bottom lip in between his and nibbled on it gently before releasing it, pecking her lips several more times before hugging her, burying his face in the side of her neck. He was so damn tempted to tell her right then and there that he loved her, but he was too chickenshit to do it. He didn't want to risk her rejection, and he knew that, chances were, Mandy didn't love him yet; and even if she was in love with him, she probably wasn't ready to admit it or hear him tell her those powerful words. They hadn't even known each other for a full month, and yet the feelings between them were so powerful that it was almost animalistic in a sort of way that he couldn't begin to explain.

"Excuse the slobberfest," Brian Sr.'s voice said from the dining room table as he looked over at them, causing Zacky to immediately lift his head and give her father a sheepish grin. He cut Zacky off before he could apologize. "I said excuse it, Zack, not that you couldn't. You're both adults, and you're both capable of making decisions. I just don't want any drool or weird sticky stuff ending up on the couch cushions, so if you're going to continue past that, take it upstairs to one of the bedrooms, preferably not my oldest son's, because he'll get pissed, or the loft," he chuckled, shaking his head as he walked away.

"Wow, Dad," Mandy muttered under her breath, a giggle escaping her throat as Zacky kissed her jaw several times. "Way to kill the mood, huh?"

Zacky didn't reply, but instead took her hands in his as he looked down at her eyes. He felt as if he could stare into those chocolate orbs forever. They were so deep and so emotional, with so many different feelings swirling through them, like a coffee mixed with several different types of creamers. He knew it was a lame comparison, but it was the only thing he could think of. He wasn't poetic by any stretch of the imagination, though he did write a few songs here and there and play the guitar fairly well, but that didn't mean he could come up with amazing analogies to compare his girlfriend to. Instead, he just continued smilling at her, getting lost in her eyes. A man could drown in those depths, and it wouldn't be a bad way to die.

"Uh, I have an idea," he smirked at her, lacing their fingers together on his thighs, his green eyes dancing happily.

"Oh, yeah? Did you hurt yourself trying to think of it?" She asked him in a teasing tone before brushing her lips across his softly. "I'm joking, baby. What's your idea?"

He completely forgot what he was thinking of when he heard that word fall off of her lips. Baby. She'd called him baby. He had wanted to say it to her first, but once again, he'd been scared that she'd reject a petname so intimate after they'd only just gotten together that afternoon. He drug himself out of his thoughts long enough to remind himself of what he'd come up with, and smirked again at her as he cleared his throat before continuing.

"I think that, since in an hour it'll be our...five hour anniversary," he chuckled, looking at the watch on his wrist before meeting her gaze. "That you and me should take McKenna to a restaurant. That way we'll have dinner together, and she won't feel left out. And maybe I'll take her by the petshop. I know she said she didn't want a puppy, but...I think she does," he chuckled, looking at Mandy and waiting for her reaction. A grin lit up her face, and she nodded.

"A date night sounds great. I think it's just what she needs. It might get you out of the doghouse with her, and maybe if we get out of the restaurant soon enough, we can pick up a movie and bring it back here to watch with her."

"I like your ideas," Zacky smirked at her, pecking her lips softly as he stood up, pulling her onto her feet with him. They walked hand in hand up to McKenna's bedroom and Mandy couldn't help but feel a sympathetic smile start forming on her lips when she cracked the little girl's door open to see her pouting on her bed, laying on her side and listening to what sounded like one of Mandy's old Backstreet Boys CDs. She groaned. If her sister was listening to that music, she was definitely depressed.

"What'd you come in here for?" McKenna asked in a saddened tone, not even bothering to look up from the pillow. Zacky looked at Mandy, and she nodded as he walked over to the bed and kneeled beside her.

"Well, I was thinking that it'll be boring taking just Mandy to dinner tonight. I mean, she's so old and stuff, right?" He teased McKenna, causing her to look up with an inquisitive look on her face, though there was a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "So I thought to myself, who's the only other girl in this house that I'd like to take to dinner with us? And I thought of you," he chuckled, tickling her sides, causing her to swat his hands away.

"If I come to dinner, you better get me a chocolate ice cream," she said, sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest. "And I want to sit by Mandy. And we listen to what I want on the radio. Otherwise, I'm not going. And that means I'll still be mad at you."

Zacky nodded, offering his hand for her to shake. "I think it's a deal," he told her with a small smirk, shaking her extended hand. McKenna's face broke out in a huge smile, and she stood up off of the bed before slipping her snow boots onto her feet, reaching for her parka off of the hanger on the back of her door. Unlike everyone else, she always kept her winter stuff in her bedroom. No one knew why, and no one asked her why. They just accepted that it was what she wanted to do, and let her roll with it. She was, after all, the baby of the family.

"Where are we going?" McKenna asked as she reached up. "And I want you to carry me. You made me mad earlier. If you can hold Mandy, you can carry me, too."

"Such a demanding little thing, aren't you?" He teased her as he hoisted the ten-year-old off of the ground. She was a little heavier than he'd been expecting, but not what he'd call overweight for her age. He simply wasn't used to carrying little kids around. They walked down the stairs, Zacky moving slowly so that he wouldn't fall and get McKenna hurt, and then Mandy told her father that she and Zacky were taking McKenna out for dinnner and to look at some Christmas gifts even though it wasn't Christmas just yet.

"You didn't answer my question, Zachary," McKenna frowned as she sat in the front seat, scooting to the middle section so that Mandy would have room to sit in the front passenger seat of the Suburban. Zacky looked over at her, making sure that the ten-year-old had her seatbelt fastened before he turned the car on, grinning as he started driving.

"Well, it's early enough in the evening to go to Dickinson," he told her, meeting her gaze. "And since I don't know anything about that place, I was thinking that you can pick where we eat. It's on my tab," he chuckled, watching the road ahead of him so that he wouldn't hit a coyote or a deer on the snow-slickened scoria rock road.

"We're eating at Perkins," McKenna said in a authoriative voice. "And I want pancakes."

"Perkins with pancakes it is," Zacky nodded, causing Mandy to laugh.

-x-

Zacky had never thought that a one hour drive could take so long. McKenna had chosen to listen to what had to be the most annoying music on the planet all the way there--Aaron Carter. It wasn't that he couldn't stand listening to pop music, because his older sister had a little girl just a little younger than McKenna who listened to the same kind of music. But listening to "I Want Candy," on practical repeat for sixty minutes in the darkness with her singing along at the top of her lungs....It was more than he thought he'd be able to handle. Mandy had been laughing the entire time at his state of distress, and had even held his hand over McKenna's lap, the little girl being completely oblivious to the fact that they were doing so literally right in front of her eyes.

He had never been so happy to see city lights as he was when they got off the second off ramp and turned down the street to go towards the Perkins restaurant. Mandy helped him to find it, and by the time they got there, McKenna was still singing along at full blast to the annoying singer's song. If he never had to hear the words, "I want candy," again, Zacky would die a happy man.

When they got in the restaurant, both Zacky and Mandy got strange looks from several people, especially when they saw McKenna crawl up onto Mandy's lap and sit there until the waitress came to get their order. Zacky realized that they must think the three of them were a family of his own, and if he weren't so amused by how stupid that thought was, he'd be a little upset about it. Mandy didn't look old enough to have a ten year old kid, and the little girl didn't look anything like him at all, considering they weren't blood related.

"I want pancakes!" McKenna said in a demanding, but still somehow elusively charming, tone of voice as the waitress asked what they wanted. The older woman smiled as she wrote the order down on a pad of paper, writing beside it that she wanted blueberry syrup with it as well as chocolate ice cream afterwards. Mandy and Zacky both got burgers, also telling the waitress that they'd get some chocolate ice cream as their dessert. Once the waitress had gone away, leaving the three of them at the table by themselves, McKenna crawled off of Mandy's lap and sat against the window, smushing her face up against the cold glace, making strange shapes of steam on it as she breathed on the glass with her nose and mouth at the same time. Zacky chuckled at her antics, while Mandy did as well. She knew it wasn't how McKenna should act in a restaurant, but given the circumstances of the day, she felt that her sister deserved a small break. She'd been really upset earlier on, and Mandy hated seeing her little sister upset. She'd let her get away with messing around a little in the restaurant, so long as it wasn't really goofing off and acting obnoxious.

"So, you said you have a sister?" Mandy asked as McKenna busied herself drawing on a pad of paper that the waitress had brought out to her with some crayons. She realized that she didn't know a lot about Zacky, and that he didn't know much about her besides the basics. If they were going to make a relationship work, she wanted to at least get them to the point that they knew each other on a deeper level. He nodded at her, taking a drink out of his soda before he answered.

"Yeah, her name is Zina," he told her, grabbing hold of her hand over the table as he continued speaking after that. "I also have a brother. His name's Matt, and he's younger than me."

"How much older is Zina than you?" Mandy asked him. "I mean, you already know how much older Bri is than me, so it only makes sense that I ask," she smirked at him, sticking her tongue out at him. He laughed at her before he nodded, licking over his bottom lip as he continued.

"She's about six years older than me," he told her. "She has a little girl, Gianna, and then there's Gavin, her brother."

"Ah, so you're already an uncle," she teased him, taking a sip out of her soda through the straw that the waitress had provided them with when she'd brought their drinks out. Zacky didn't think he'd ever seen something so hot as that, and in spite of their place in the family-style restaurant, he felt his pants tighten just enough to make him slightly uncomfortable in them.

"Yeah, yeah," he rolled his eyes, though it was in a humorous way. "They're both awesome kids. I think 'Kenna would really get along well with them if they ever met," he told her. Mandy nodded. It wasn't a bad idea to get McKenna to hang out with other kids her age. She didn't have many friends in Golden County, and the ones she did have weren't friends that were always going to be around, and someday in life, Mandy knew her little sister would need real friends to back her. Meeting Gianna and Gavin could be a good thing for that.

"Well, you already know Brian's gonna have a kid, so that makes me an aunt. Don't feel old just yet," she teased him, squeezing his hand softly over the table. He chuckled, and their eyes connected over the table, and suddenly, it was as if they were the only two in the restaurant. They both temporarily forgot about McKenna, and the food, and the fact that they were in a restaurant. They didn't know where they were, or what they were doing. All they saw was one another, and they could both feel it.

They both felt like they were connected. Like they were in love. And they were both left wondering if the other felt the same thing, despite the fact that they'd both been caught off guard by the sudden realization.

"Here's your pancakes, sweetie," the waitress's voice brought them out of their thoughts, placing the plate of pancakes in front of a very hungry McKenna. She placed the burgers that Mandy and Zacky had ordered in front of them, and told them she'd return shortly with condiments for the French fries, before she left the three of them alone again.

"Will you stop watching each other like you're about to pounce across the table and kiss each other?" McKenna asked through a forkful of her blueberry-slathered panckaes, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she watched the way her older sister and her boyfriend were looking at one another.

Mandy laughed at her little sister's complaint, but lowered her gaze to her plate to concentrate on eating rather than watching Zacky. He did the same, and they both found it a lot easier to concentrate on eating when not looking at each other than they had just a few minutes before. When they'd finished, they ate their ice cream quickly so they could get McKenna to the pet shop to look around for the pets, since Christmas was just around the corner. McKenna agreed to let them listen to something besides Aaron Carter, and she also agreed to sit in the back seat, leaving the two of them alone in the front seat.

-x-

Once they got to the pet shop, McKenna bounded in ahead of either of them, excited at the chance to see so many animals in once spot. In reality, the shop wasn't very big; just a regular sized shop with a lot of different animals on the inside, but she had never been inside here before. They'd always gotten their pets either from neighbors who'd had a litter of kittens or puppies that needed to be gotten rid of, or strays that had wandered on to the farm that McKenna had fed.

"Mandy! Mandy! I found what I want!" McKenna's excited voice called out, moving from behind a row of long glass boxes that contained everything from parakeets to fluffy white chinchillas. Mandy looked at Zacky with a smile on her face, expecting her sister to have picked out a puppy, or maybe a kitten. She stopped in her tracks when she saw her sister pointing at a tarantula cage.

"No," Mandy said immediately, shaking her head. "You are not taking a tarantula home. Mom would kill you. You know how terrified she is of spiders, McKenna."

"But it's so pretty! Look at it! It's got yellow on it!" She said excitedly. In reality, Mandy herself was terrified of tarantulas. She could handle smaller spiders, and she could handle barn spiders. But tarantulas were just something she couldn't stomach the idea of. They were freaks of nature in her opinion. No spider should be that big, and she found it slightly disturbing that anyone would want to take one of them home as a pet.

"You can dye the puppy you want to get yellow, if you want. No tarantula," she shook her head, staying firm with her decision. Zacky chuckled, finding the situation amusing, but didn't say anything as he wrapped his arms around her waist as McKenna sighed and walked away from the cage. Zacky and Mandy followed her, and found her stopped in front of a small glass box with a little black and white puppy inside of it.

"It's the only one left, Mandy," McKenna said, looking up at her sister. "And he's all alone in there. Look at him! He's sad!"

Mandy looked at the puppy, and she also saw that it did indeed appear to be somewhat sad. Its tail wasn't wagging like most puppy's tails were, and its nose was pressed against the glass where McKenna held her palm to the front of the box. Mandy looked at Zacky, who looked at McKenna, nodding. He didn't care what breed the dog was, or how much it was going to cost. It obviously bothered the little girl that the little black and white puppy was all alone in there, and he didn't want to make her leave him behind.

"Alright," he said, causing a grin to break out on McKennas' face. "But you have to tell your Mom and Dad that it's my Christmas gift. And you need to promise that you're going to feed him and water him, and bathe him. I'll help with the bathing if you want, but the other stuff is your responsibility. It's a lot of hard work, taking care of a pet all by yourself. It's kind of like having a baby."

"I can do it!" McKenna said excitedly. Zacky nodded and looked over at the pet shop attendant, nodding at her. She put a warm smile on her face as she walked into the room in the middle of the glass boxes, opening the door and pulling the puppy out of the box before handing him to McKenna.

"He's a mix," she told Zacky, as though she thought it would make a difference. "But he's a real loveable little thing, once he warms up to you."

"How much?" Zacky asked her as they walked to the front till. The woman shrugged.

"He's the last one, and it's the holidays. Twenty will cover it," she smiled at him. He pulled a twenty out of his wallet and handed it to her, before looking over at McKenna, who was already snuggling with the little puppy.

He didn't know if her parents were going to be thrilled that he'd gotten her the puppy, but when he saw how happy he'd made his girlfriend's little sister, and as a result made Mandy happy, he decided that it was worth it.