Status: Complete
I'll Give My Heart Away Twice
Just Another Reason Why I Could Never Forget You
Just Another Reason Why I Could Never Forget You
Zack Merrick loved a girl named Brinley Shae Harper. She was all he ever dreamed about apart from his music. He couldn’t keep her off of his mind. God, he loved her so much it hurt. It was killing him inside that he couldn’t have her anymore. She has been his everything since the second grade when he first laid eyes on her. Still to this day he wonders what happened. What he could have done that was so wrong to make her just up and leave without a trace. No note or anything. She just left. He thought she had loved him too, as much as he had loved her, as much as he still does. Zack has been devastated ever since. It’s been two years since she’s been gone. Two years of Zack being alone, except for his best friends and band mates. They are the glue that’s holding him together. They look out for him always. Rian has always been Zack’s ‘go to’ person if he needs someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. Alex and Jack are the two goofballs that keep a smile on Zack’s face, and they always cheer him up, even in the toughest of times. Zack doesn’t resent Brinley for leaving even though he didn’t understand why she did. He just figured she had run off with someone better than himself.
Little did he know, Brinley had her reasons for leaving. She thought that leaving was the right thing to do, at the time. She had left for Zack’s sake because she was scared to death of ruining Zack’s life, his career, and most of all, his dreams. Brinley didn’t want to put a burden on Zack’s shoulders. So she left, regretting every second of it.
Zack and Brinley each went on with their lives separately, hoping and waiting for the day that they would run into each other. That is until one day Zack had gotten a call on his cell phone, just after his band had played an acoustic show at a Hot Topic store in Annapolis, Maryland. Zack hadn’t recognized the number, but had answered anyways with a polite ‘Hello.’ The person on the line had introduced himself as Dr. Richards from Honey Well Hospital, and broke the news to Zack that his beloved Brinley had been in a car accident and was brought into the hospital in critical condition. Zack gasped, he was speechless. He gained his composure and asked a common question. “Is she going to be ok?” Dr. Richards assured Zack that they were going to do the best that they possibly could to help the girl. He then told Zack that they would need him to come down to the hospital to fill out papers since he was the only person listed to contact in case of an emergency. Zack agreed without hesitation and arrived at the hospital with his 3 best friends at his side within ten minutes. Zack went up to the receptionist lady and asked to speak to Dr. Richards about Brinley. The receptionist smiled and told Zack to have a seat as she informed the doctor of his arrival. The boys waited for what seemed like forever until Dr. Richards came out and asked which one was Zack Merrick. Zack jumped up quickly, he was worried sick and wanted to know Brinley’s condition. The doctor looked down with a sigh and told Zack that he might want to sit down while he was told the news. Zack complied with him. Dr. Richards looked to the floor then back up at Zack and told him that they had done the best that they could for her, but that Brinley was just too weak to recover and had passed away. He told Zack that he was deeply sorry for his loss.
It took Zack a second for it all to sink in. Just when he thought the doctor was finished speaking, Dr. Richards continued. He told Zack that the car that had collided into Brinley’s car had impacted the front of the car, so there wasn’t much damage to the rear. Zack was wondering how the hell that the rear of the car had anything to do with Brinley’s death, until the doctor interrupted his thoughts by saying that the child had survived and had only suffered from a few scrapes and bruises, but other than that he was perfectly fine, heath wise. Although the poor child was all shook up and terrified from the accident.
Zack’s eyes went wide. He looked at the doctor and asked, “What child?” The doctor simply replied with, “Yours and Ms. Harper’s.” and then told Zack that the child’s birth certificate and last name stated that he was a ‘Merrick’ and that a Zackary Merrick was the father. “I have a child” Zack said more to himself than anyone else. The 3 boys behind him stared with their mouths hung open in complete shock. Dr. Richards took in the expressions of all four boys then looked at Zack bewildered before saying, “You didn’t know about the child?” Zack kept silent and just shook his head no.
After a few seconds, Zack told the doctor how Brinley had just up and left two years ago without a word. The doctor just nodded. He also asked the doctor questions about the child, like how old was he? What’s his birthday, and so on. The doctor informed him that the hospital records showed that his child was born January 16th, 2007 and he was almost two years old. His name is Kennedy Reagan Merrick. Zack smiled at the name because he knew that Brinley had loved unique names, and also that the name Kennedy had always been Zack’s favorite. Zack then had brewed up enough courage and asked Dr. Richards if he could see his son.
The doctor told him that he could and that he would have to sign a few release papers so that he could take the child home. “I can t-t-take him home with me?” Zack stuttered unsure if he had heard correctly. “You are the child’s father, and the only person in connection with the child, so it’s the only option, unless you want to sign the boy over to child services to be placed into foster care, and then into adoption from there.” The doctor said.
Zack swallowed hard. He was not about to let his only remaining connection to Brinley be placed into foster care. Zack looked at the doctor and told him that Kennedy had already lost his mother and that he wasn’t going to lose his father as well, even though they never met, yet. “I want to take my boy home.” Zack spoke. The doctor smiled and handed Zack the papers to sign while he went to retrieve the child.
As Zack signed the papers, his 3 best friends hugged him all at once and assured him that everything would be alright. Rian had even told Zack that he had done the right thing by keeping his son. Zack smiled. He really did have the best of friends a guy could ever have. Dr. Richards came back out to the waiting room with a small toddler in his arms. The boy was asleep so Zack couldn’t see his face, just his small body and a mess of brown wavy curls adorning the child’s head. Zack stood up and advanced towards the doc at a sluggish pace. The doctor slowly and smoothly placed the child into Zack’s open arms. Zack breathed finally after holding his breath for a few moments then cradled the child into his chest and placing a small kiss upon his still sleeping son’s head.
The four boys said their goodbyes to Dr. Richards as they left the hospital with their newest member of the All Time Low crew. On the way back to their tour bus, Rian drove because Zack was holding his son, Jack was too hyper about Zack’s son so he couldn’t drive, and there was no way in hell Rian was going to let ‘Outrage Alex’ drive because he would be driving like a maniac and yelling at other drivers and it would cause an accident or for the small boy to wake up. Besides, Rian is a good responsible driver. They arrived to the tour bus safely. Zack immediately took his son to his bunk and laid him in it close to the wall and piled pillows and clothes on the outer side so that the boy wouldn’t roll out of the bunk. He kissed his son on the forehead then went to the back lounge to play video games with his best friends.
Not long after, the bus began moving, taking them to their last stop of the tour, HOME! All of the guys, minus Zack, went to sleep in their bunks. Zack went to the front lounge to sleep on the big comfy couch. A few hours after he fell asleep, he was woken up to something touching his face and weird sounds. He opened his eyes to find his son smacking his face and giggling. Zack sat up with a smile on his face as he picked up his son and set him on his lap, playing with him for a while until the boy fell asleep. Zack loved the way his baby’s face lit up and the sounds of his laughter when Zack would tickle him.
The next morning, Rian, Alex, and Jack woke up to find a picture perfect moment. Zack was sitting on the couch sleeping with his head tilted down buried into a mess of hair of little Kennedy who was curled up asleep against Zack’s chest. The 3 boys scurried off to grab their cameras and cellphones and took tons of pictures of the father-son duo.
Zack Merrick loved a girl named Brinley Shae Harper. She was all he ever dreamed about apart from his music. He couldn’t keep her off of his mind. God, he loved her so much it hurt. It was killing him inside that he couldn’t have her anymore. She has been his everything since the second grade when he first laid eyes on her. Still to this day he wonders what happened. What he could have done that was so wrong to make her just up and leave without a trace. No note or anything. She just left. He thought she had loved him too, as much as he had loved her, as much as he still does. Zack has been devastated ever since. It’s been two years since she’s been gone. Two years of Zack being alone, except for his best friends and band mates. They are the glue that’s holding him together. They look out for him always. Rian has always been Zack’s ‘go to’ person if he needs someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. Alex and Jack are the two goofballs that keep a smile on Zack’s face, and they always cheer him up, even in the toughest of times. Zack doesn’t resent Brinley for leaving even though he didn’t understand why she did. He just figured she had run off with someone better than himself.
Little did he know, Brinley had her reasons for leaving. She thought that leaving was the right thing to do, at the time. She had left for Zack’s sake because she was scared to death of ruining Zack’s life, his career, and most of all, his dreams. Brinley didn’t want to put a burden on Zack’s shoulders. So she left, regretting every second of it.
Zack and Brinley each went on with their lives separately, hoping and waiting for the day that they would run into each other. That is until one day Zack had gotten a call on his cell phone, just after his band had played an acoustic show at a Hot Topic store in Annapolis, Maryland. Zack hadn’t recognized the number, but had answered anyways with a polite ‘Hello.’ The person on the line had introduced himself as Dr. Richards from Honey Well Hospital, and broke the news to Zack that his beloved Brinley had been in a car accident and was brought into the hospital in critical condition. Zack gasped, he was speechless. He gained his composure and asked a common question. “Is she going to be ok?” Dr. Richards assured Zack that they were going to do the best that they possibly could to help the girl. He then told Zack that they would need him to come down to the hospital to fill out papers since he was the only person listed to contact in case of an emergency. Zack agreed without hesitation and arrived at the hospital with his 3 best friends at his side within ten minutes. Zack went up to the receptionist lady and asked to speak to Dr. Richards about Brinley. The receptionist smiled and told Zack to have a seat as she informed the doctor of his arrival. The boys waited for what seemed like forever until Dr. Richards came out and asked which one was Zack Merrick. Zack jumped up quickly, he was worried sick and wanted to know Brinley’s condition. The doctor looked down with a sigh and told Zack that he might want to sit down while he was told the news. Zack complied with him. Dr. Richards looked to the floor then back up at Zack and told him that they had done the best that they could for her, but that Brinley was just too weak to recover and had passed away. He told Zack that he was deeply sorry for his loss.
It took Zack a second for it all to sink in. Just when he thought the doctor was finished speaking, Dr. Richards continued. He told Zack that the car that had collided into Brinley’s car had impacted the front of the car, so there wasn’t much damage to the rear. Zack was wondering how the hell that the rear of the car had anything to do with Brinley’s death, until the doctor interrupted his thoughts by saying that the child had survived and had only suffered from a few scrapes and bruises, but other than that he was perfectly fine, heath wise. Although the poor child was all shook up and terrified from the accident.
Zack’s eyes went wide. He looked at the doctor and asked, “What child?” The doctor simply replied with, “Yours and Ms. Harper’s.” and then told Zack that the child’s birth certificate and last name stated that he was a ‘Merrick’ and that a Zackary Merrick was the father. “I have a child” Zack said more to himself than anyone else. The 3 boys behind him stared with their mouths hung open in complete shock. Dr. Richards took in the expressions of all four boys then looked at Zack bewildered before saying, “You didn’t know about the child?” Zack kept silent and just shook his head no.
After a few seconds, Zack told the doctor how Brinley had just up and left two years ago without a word. The doctor just nodded. He also asked the doctor questions about the child, like how old was he? What’s his birthday, and so on. The doctor informed him that the hospital records showed that his child was born January 16th, 2007 and he was almost two years old. His name is Kennedy Reagan Merrick. Zack smiled at the name because he knew that Brinley had loved unique names, and also that the name Kennedy had always been Zack’s favorite. Zack then had brewed up enough courage and asked Dr. Richards if he could see his son.
The doctor told him that he could and that he would have to sign a few release papers so that he could take the child home. “I can t-t-take him home with me?” Zack stuttered unsure if he had heard correctly. “You are the child’s father, and the only person in connection with the child, so it’s the only option, unless you want to sign the boy over to child services to be placed into foster care, and then into adoption from there.” The doctor said.
Zack swallowed hard. He was not about to let his only remaining connection to Brinley be placed into foster care. Zack looked at the doctor and told him that Kennedy had already lost his mother and that he wasn’t going to lose his father as well, even though they never met, yet. “I want to take my boy home.” Zack spoke. The doctor smiled and handed Zack the papers to sign while he went to retrieve the child.
As Zack signed the papers, his 3 best friends hugged him all at once and assured him that everything would be alright. Rian had even told Zack that he had done the right thing by keeping his son. Zack smiled. He really did have the best of friends a guy could ever have. Dr. Richards came back out to the waiting room with a small toddler in his arms. The boy was asleep so Zack couldn’t see his face, just his small body and a mess of brown wavy curls adorning the child’s head. Zack stood up and advanced towards the doc at a sluggish pace. The doctor slowly and smoothly placed the child into Zack’s open arms. Zack breathed finally after holding his breath for a few moments then cradled the child into his chest and placing a small kiss upon his still sleeping son’s head.
The four boys said their goodbyes to Dr. Richards as they left the hospital with their newest member of the All Time Low crew. On the way back to their tour bus, Rian drove because Zack was holding his son, Jack was too hyper about Zack’s son so he couldn’t drive, and there was no way in hell Rian was going to let ‘Outrage Alex’ drive because he would be driving like a maniac and yelling at other drivers and it would cause an accident or for the small boy to wake up. Besides, Rian is a good responsible driver. They arrived to the tour bus safely. Zack immediately took his son to his bunk and laid him in it close to the wall and piled pillows and clothes on the outer side so that the boy wouldn’t roll out of the bunk. He kissed his son on the forehead then went to the back lounge to play video games with his best friends.
Not long after, the bus began moving, taking them to their last stop of the tour, HOME! All of the guys, minus Zack, went to sleep in their bunks. Zack went to the front lounge to sleep on the big comfy couch. A few hours after he fell asleep, he was woken up to something touching his face and weird sounds. He opened his eyes to find his son smacking his face and giggling. Zack sat up with a smile on his face as he picked up his son and set him on his lap, playing with him for a while until the boy fell asleep. Zack loved the way his baby’s face lit up and the sounds of his laughter when Zack would tickle him.
The next morning, Rian, Alex, and Jack woke up to find a picture perfect moment. Zack was sitting on the couch sleeping with his head tilted down buried into a mess of hair of little Kennedy who was curled up asleep against Zack’s chest. The 3 boys scurried off to grab their cameras and cellphones and took tons of pictures of the father-son duo.
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