Seeing Is Believing

"I'm so glad we're doin' this," I said as Zak and I drove though the western part of Arizona on I-40 East. We had only been on the road for an hour. We planned on stopping whenever the both of us were dead tired. Gracie was lying in the back seat and she looked absolutely adorable. We would have to stop periodically to let her go out, but that wouldn't be a problem, and she would have to sleep in the car tonight when we stopped to sleep, but that wouldn't be too much trouble either.

"Me too," he agreed, patting my knee. He was taking the first driving shift. I was kind of sad that Mason wasn't coming with us though. I was going to miss him, that much I was sure of. He and I had never been apart for so long...But I told him that I would be on the first plane back if anything went wrong.

"This is gonna be good fer us, y'know?"

"It will be. So what's all there?"

"'S jus' a house. The horse stalls are there...They ain't mine no more though."

"What do you mean?"

"In Grandma and Grandpa's will, they left me an' Mason the house, but, they left all their horses to an' ol' family friend that lives righ' next door. But we can ride 'em whenever we want. Do ya ride horses?"

"I can," he smiled. "But, it kinda hurts." I smirked a little.

"You'll be okay, we've got a huge trail behind the house an' we've got a pool with a nice big ol' wrap 'round porch."

"Mm...I'm gonna need 'bout a gallon of sun block," he laughed, as did I.

"We'll getcha some sun block. How is it yer a Vegas boy and ya ain't got a tan? Y'all prolly get more sun than we do."

"I spend most of my time indoors."

"Like a vampire, huh?"

"Exactly."

"Well, I'm gonna have to make ya sparkle..."

"I'm not that kind of vampire," he replied.

This was going to a great thing for us. I was very happy to be with him on this trip.

***

We stopped somewhere just over the border of New Mexico and Texas for the night. Zak and I walked into the hotel, pulling our important suit cases behind us. His SUV was loaded down with stuff that we thought we needed. He had locked up the car, knowing that if somebody broke into it, we would be screwed. Most of our worldly possessions were in there. We were at a Best Western, at a better part of town so I didn't think the car would be messed with.

"One room please," Zak said to the man at the counter.

"Smokin' or non smokin'?"

"Non smoking, please. And, if it's possible, could we get a room facing out towards the front?"

"I'll see what I can do."

It was nearly two in the morning and I was sure that guy wanted to be out of here.

"One king bed or two queens?" he asked.

"One king," Zak responded.

"407. Check out is at eleven and breakfast starts at seven."

"Thank you," he took the key card and we went to the elevator. Zak hit the button and up we went. I had never been to Texas before, or Arizona, or New Mexico for that matter. In fact, I hadn't even been to Nevada until I went to Vegas with Zak. I had been to very few places. I had gone to very few places. I'd flown to New York once to see Matt, I'd been to Georgia a few times and I went to Kentucky once. I was sure that by this point in Zak's job, he had been to nearly every state. I had dreamed of traveling when I was younger, but I kind of grew out of it, or so I thought. This trip had already been so awesome. I loved seeing these different places!

We made it up to our room and set our bags down. I let out a sigh of relief. I would need to check in with Mason whenever we left the hotel.

"What time'll we be leavin' in the mornin'?" I asked.

"I'd like to leave no later than nine," Zak said, walking into the bathroom. "That okay with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine." I had taken over driving and I had been the one to get us here, so I assumed that he would be driving the rest of the way, especially since once we got close to Savannah, I would know my way without a map.

I changed into a long, old T-shirt to sleep in and shimmied out of my jeans. I put all of my clothes back into my suit case and put against the wall. Zak came out of the bathroom a moment later in his glasses and his boxers. I crawled into my side of the bed and pulled my covers over me. I didn't like sleeping in silence, that was what bothered me most about hotels. I always wished I had a sound machine or something...I reached over to the bedside table-where I had set my new phone. The screen on my old one had shattered and Zak had been the one to go through the trouble of getting me a new one. When he had, he got me an upgrade too. I think it was his celebrity pull, but he said that he just asked very nicely.

"Good night, Sweetie," he said softly, crawling in beside me as I pulled up the app store on my phone. I found a noise machine app and clicked download.

"Night," I replied. "Ya don' mind if I turn on a sound machine thingy do ya?"

"What sound?"

"Dunno, 's gotta download." Once it did, I pulled it up. "How 'bout rain? I love the sound of rain..."

"Okay," he replied. I turned it on and slowly drifted to sleep.

***

We checked out of the hotel, picked up some lunch at Pizza Hut, and continued on our way. As we drove down the highway, Zak's phone began to ring as it sat in the cup holder between us. I handed it to him and he answered it.

"Hey bro, what's up?" he asked. "Yeah, Macy and I thought we should get out of Vegas for a while...She's got a house just outside of Savannah...No, we're driving. We're in Texas now..." I assumed that he was talking to Nick, maybe? Aaron already knew what was going on... "We don't have a lockdown 'til after New Year's. I wanted you to get to spend some time with Roni and Annabelle." There was a longer moment of silence than there had been before. "Dude, I know. I don't want to have to redo it...but I think Travel's gonna want it. Trust me, if I never went back to that place again, it would be too soon. But, I do want some Goddamn answers. That was bullshit." If I wasn't mistaken, he was talking about Bobby Mackey's, the place they all despised. "Alright, man, I'll talk to ya later." Zak put his phone back in the middle.

"What was that about? Go back where?" I asked.

"I don't know if you wanna talk about it..."

"Zak, y'know that I don' believe that whatever happened was 'cause of that place...So go ahead..."

"We didn't get to finish our lockdown and we can't really make an episode out of what we got, so we're going to have to figure something out..."

"You an' the boys hate that place...Why not jus' say 'fuck it'?"

"We can't just say 'fuck it'...I wish we could, but we've already given Travel the episodes list and they'll expect it...But if it gets dangerous, we'll get out of there. I promise," he reached over and took my hand, kissing it.

***Zak's POV***

Macy's farm house certainly had a different feel to it than mine did in Vegas, and I knew that Gracie loved it. She zoomed all around the front yard before we even got inside. She hadn't had this much space back home. I couldn't really describe the feeling, but it felt calm and like I wasn't being watched. It was just a house, an empty house. But, it was so wonderful. It had the old timey, cozy feel. The furniture and appliances were newer, but the wood flooring was original and the fireplace looked lie something that had been there for decades, and it probably had.

"Shall I give ya the grand tour?" Macy asked. I nodded and she smiled, taking my hand. She led me though the kitchen, which was visible from where we were standing, the countertops were a granite looking blue, the fridge was stainless steel with double doors and a drawer for the freezer, the stove was black and looed new, and the microwave matched the stove as it sat above it. "This is the formal dining room," she said, leading me into another room. There was a table that could seat eight with a chandelier above it. "We usually jus' eat in there," she used her thumb to motion back into the kitchen area. There was smaller table that sat six in there. I followed her out of another doorway that led back into the living room and then she led me upstairs.

"This first door is the room we deemed the boys' room, for when I had kids or for when my brother had more..." she said. Inside, there were two bunk beds, a desk, and two dressers. "This is the girls' room," this room matched the first. "The study," this room had two desks and walls of books. "This is the bathroom for the upstairs-I forgot to show you the one downstairs." It was just a simple bedroom. "The guest room-it also has a bathroom attached to it," it didn't have any specific features that made it stand out. Blue bed, blue curtains, and pale blue walls. "And finally, the master bedroom." She led me to the other end of the hall into the final bedroom.

I walked in and marveled at the sight of it, I didn't know what it was, but this just felt like home. it didn't really even stand out much from the guest bedroom, but it felt like I could actually sleep here and not worry about nightmares or something trying to pull me out of my bed.

"This is amazing, Macy," I told her.

"I'm glad ya think so," she grinned, kissing my lips. "Here's the master bathroom." There was one of those spa tubs that had the jets on it, there was a shower with the frosted glass, his and hers sinks, and a separate room for the toilet. "This is my favorite part of the house, I did it myself."

"I love it," I kissed her. I was so happy to be out of Vegas and to be here instead.

"C'mon, I gotta show ya the pool."

***Macy's POV***

When we got out to the pool, I realized that we wouldn't be able to swim in it until we had somebody come out and treat it and do whatever they did to a pool. Crap. I was looking forward to swimming. I guessed that part would have to wait.

"Macy? Macy Holland?" I looked up from where I was standing with Zak by the empty pool. I knew that voice...I just wasn't sure who it was. A man in a brown cowboy hat and cowboy boots to match made his way over to me. He took off his hat to reveal shaggy blonde hair.

"Westly? 'S been such a long time!" I gave him a quick hug, Westly had been my best friend when I would come visit my grandma every summer. We used to get in all kinds of trouble. "How are you?"

"'M doin' good. Yourself?"

"I'm a lot better now that 'm here," I said. I felt relief when I walked into the farm house.

"Who's this? He wantin' to buy yer house?" West asked, motioning to Zak. I understand why he was asking that, Zak looked like a city boy, there wasn't any denying it with his spiked up hair and black everything.

"Actually, West, this is my boyfriend, Zak," I said, walking back over to him. I took his left hand in my right one. "Zak, this is Westly, my best friend from when I was little."

"Nice to meet you," Zak said, shaking his hand. But, I could feel that Zak had gotten a little tense since West showed up. I shoud've figured him for the jealous type.

"West owns the horse stalls, he trains 'em too," I told Zak, trying to get him to relax a bit.

"I can show 'em to ya if you like," West offered. I looked up at Zak, waiting for him to answer. I could always show them to him later, West wouldn't care as long as I didn't break anything.

"Maybe some other time..." Zak said, yawning.

"We just had a long drive in...We drove all of the way from Las Vegas...We stopped in Texas last night, but that was it," I explained.

"How long 're ya stayin'?" West asked curiously.

"When do y'all start filming 'gain?" I asked Zak, knowing that was probably going to be the cut off.

"January 5, I think," he replied. "So we'll leave sometime before then...I guess."

"Sometime after the first," I told West. I was excited to stay here for that long! I loved this place!

***

Zak and I fell into a routine. Whoever woke up first would cook breakfast-I loved that part, we would go horseback riding for a while-even though he said it was painful, and then we would just find something to do with the rest of our day-some times it was swimming or playing with Gracie, others it was just doing nothing. I loved the warmth in Georgia, it wasn't like Nevada where the air was hot and dry.

Usually, one of us would leave the other one in bed to sleep, but not today. I woke up and he woke up right after me. I looked up at him, I was sleeping on his chest, and he gave me a soft smile. "I'm happy we're here," he said.

"Me too," I agreed. Honestly, I didn't want to go back to Vegas. Ever. I didn't really like it there anymore...I understood the darkness that Zak referred to. I hadn't felt it until we had left it behind. His hand was resting on the small of my back and he kissed my forehead.

"I love you sweetie," he said softly. I couldn't help but smile a little.

"I love ya, too," I replied, kissing where his chest and his neck met because that happened to be where my head was laying.

"I haven't had a single nightmare since we've been
here...Which is very, very odd. Usually I have at least one a week..."

"That's a good thing, ain't it?" I asked.

"Mm hmm. But it hasn't been like that since I started this job in 2004."

"This house is somethin' special, Zak. 'S why I wanted to come here."

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to walk into the house in Vegas again, even Gracie loves it here."

"She likes havin' the horses to chase," he laughed a little at the memory of his dog running after one of the new fouls, it didn't know what to do. But, the older mares didn't even pay attention to her. They just swatted at her with their tails. I let out a sigh of contentment and repositioned myself so that I could press a kiss to his lips. His hand reached up and cupped my jaw, pulling me closer to him. "I've gotta go make breakfast," I said.

"Macy..." he said. "How long are you going to punish both of us?" I asked. I looked away and frowned.

"I'm not punishing anybody, Zak. I jus'...'m not in the mood." My tone betrayed me, I knew that. He wouldn't believe that in a million years, but I just couldn't. Not now. I wasn't ready...

"Macy..."

"What do ya want for breakfast?"

***

"Mason's going to be flying in soon, isn't he?" Zak asked as we ate the breakfast that I cooked.

"Yeah, tomorrow, I think," I replied. It was like Mason's ears were burning, my phone began to ring and his picture showed up. It was only seven back there. "Hello?"

"Hey uh...There's some people at Zak's house and um...I don't know how to explain this," he said, sounding nervous. I wondered why he was at Zak's house to begin with, he was supposed to be at Aaron's.

"What 're ya doin' at Zak's house?" I asked.

"I came by to get some stuff," he replied. "Can I just talk to Zak? He wasn't answering his phone." I wordlessly held the phone out to him.

"Yeah?" He paused as Mason explained something-or so I assumed. "What the hell? Let me talk to one of them, then..." I knitted my brow and looked over at him nervously. "This is he...No sir. I had no idea that I...What? Oh my God...I didn't know about him...I uh...I'll fly back into Vegas today, thank you." He set my phone down and had this shocked expression on his face.

"What is it, hun?" I asked him.

"I um...I have-I have a son..."

"What?" I questioned, looking at him dumbfounded.

"Yeah...apparently one of my exes, had a kid and yeah..." he said, he seemed just as shocked as I was.

"What do we need to do then?"

"Uh, go back to Vegas? Just to pick him up and...You can stay here...if you want."

"No, there's no reason for you to do this alone...But why do you need to pick him up?"

"His mother's dead. She doesn't have any other family..."

"How do they know he's yours?"

"I-I didn't ask, okay, Macy? I don't know any of this...I'm..." he trailed off. "I'm sorry for snapping at you," he buried his face in his hands and ran his fingers though his hair. He hadn't been doing anything to it because he didn't really see a point.

"Honey, go upstairs and pack a bag. I'll call the airport," I said gently. He didn't argue, he left the kitchen and went to do as I asked him.

***

"Where's Gracie?" Zak asked as we landed in Vegas. We got the last two seats on the plane from Atlanta to Vegas. We were lucky.

"She's still at the house, but West will be coming over to take her out." He had a worried look on his face. "She'll be fine, hon," I promised. He nodded, readjusted his hat and sun glasses and we walked outside. Aaron was waiting for us there.

By the time we got to Zak's house, there was a singular police officer still there, Mason, and a little boy that I had never seen before. I realized that this must be Zak's son...the one that neither of us had ever heard of.

"Mr. Bagans, this is Even Parker Bagans," the officer from LVDP said.

"Hey there, I'm Zak-uh but-you can call me dad...or Zak...whatever you want..." he sounded so nervous! I stood back and let him talk to his kid, that was until he called me over. "Evan, this is Macy."

"Hi there," I said, offering my hand to him. He looked at his feet. I felt so bad for the poor kid. I hoped that things would get easier for him...