Chance

Zak hadn't lied when he said that he would text her. It had made Maisie's week go by a lot faster. It was Tuesday night and she was trying to fight sleep, knowing Zak was finishing his lockdown and he said that he would call her as soon as he finished at around six in the morning—or three in the morning in Vegas. Conner was sleeping finally, Marco had to leave on business Monday and she had been on full time Conner duty ever since he left so her sleep schedule had already been thrown off.

Finally, her phone began to ring and she answered it sleepily. “Hello?”

“Hey Sweetie,” Zak didn't sound much better than she did.

“How was your lockdown?” she yawned.

“It was good, we got lots of evidence. We're headed back to the hotel now. Our plane leaves at noon.”

“Well you need to get some sleep then.”

“It sounds like you do too. Did I wake you?”

“No between watching Conner and waiting for your call, I haven't fallen asleep yet.”

“You didn't have to wait up for me to call you.”

“But I did.”

“When's your brother going to be back?”

“Tomorrow evening.”

“Perfect timing.”

“Yeah, I know, I can come over and cook dinner for you.”

“We can go out, you don't have to cook for me.”

“You're going to be so tired. I'll cook for you.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure. What do you want me to make?”

“Whatever you see as fit.”

“Okay,” she yawned again, feeling incredibly tired.

“Baby, I can hear you yawning,” Zak laughed. “Go on to sleep. I'm sure you're tired as hell.”

“Yeah but...”

“You'll see me tomorrow.”

“Only if you insist...” she sighed a little, wanting so badly to fall asleep.

“Good night.”

“Night Zak...” No sooner than the words left her lips was she asleep.

Zak hung up his phone and put it back in his pocket.

“That the girl Aaron was tellin' me you're crazy about?” Nick asked from the driver seat. “What was her name, Aaron?”

“Maisie.”

“Yeah that was her,” Zak replied.

“Got big plans when you get back?”

“She's insisting on making me dinner.”

“You think she's wife material?”

“C'mon man, I've only known her a few weeks.” Zak added it up and they would have known each other exactly a month from tomorrow, and their first date would be a month from Saturday.

“I knew with Veronique. When do I get to meet her?”

“Fly out to Vegas.”

“You could bring her to the Stanley Hotel with us,” Aaron suggested.

“You guys would be okay with that?” Zak was slightly surprised that Aaron was the one suggesting that.

“Clearly you like her,” Billy said. “And she's a big fan of the hotel.”

“I'll talk to her about it,” Zak decided. “I'll see if she has to work or not...”

XxX

Marco had gotten only an hour earlier and he was dead tired. He had gone up to his room for a nap, she planned on leaving for Zak's in another half hour, she just needed to get Conner to sleep first, she didn't want him waking Marco, especially since she was technically supposed to still be watching him, even though Marco had said it was okay, only with the promise to get to meet Zak really soon, She had said that Marco could meet Zak tomorrow.

Maisie decided to take an over night bag to Zak's house because he had been gone for a few days and she expected to be there all night.

Finally, she got Conner to sleep and she left for Zak's house. She pulled into his driveway about twenty minutes later. No sooner than she stepped out of her car was she attacked by paws on her legs and happy whimpering. Maisie bent down and smiled happily at Gracie and allowed the dog to lick her face. “Well apparently somebody missed me,” she giggled. “I missed you too, Grace.”

“What about me?” She hadn't even heard Zak walk up but she got to her feet as quickly as possible and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply.

“I definitely missed you.”

“I can tell,” he murmured, kissing her once again. His arms were firmly wrapped around her waist. He picked her up from the ground, and couldn't help but to be a cliché and spin her around. She giggled as he set her back down.

“What are you going to do when you have to leave pretty much every week?” she asked, still giggling.

“Well, I wanna talk to you 'bout that, c'mon,” he dropped one arm from her waist, but kept the other firmly wrapped around her. One of her arms stayed on his shoulder as well.

Once inside, Zak sat down at the kitchen counter and Maisie went to cooking right away, she had brought some ingredients with her and she began prepping.

“So what exactly did you want to talk to me about?” she locked eyes with him and he gave her a nervous, boyish, half smile.

“So Sunday we're leaving for Colorado,” she didn't look away from him. “I want you to come with us.”

“What? I don't want to intrude on your show. Besides, how would your friends feel about you bringing your girlfriend along? Nick's married, isn't he? He doesn't bring his wife along...”

“It was Aaron's idea and Nick and Billy are all for it. Nick wants to meet you.”

“Aaron came up with this idea?”

“Yeah, Sweetie. You've gotta give yourself more credit. Aaron likes you just fine.”

“If you say so...I don't want to feel like I'm in the way...”

“You won't be. You like history, right?”

“Yeah but—”

“I make it my personal mission to find out everything I can about a location. You can help me with that. Besides, it's our one month anniversary Saturday.”

She wanted to go, that was for sure, she just didn't know how she felt about the whole thing. “Okay, what am I going to do about Conner? What if Marco has to work the whole time we're gone?” she asked.

“Do you want to go? I want the honest to God truth.”

“Yes but—”

“Then we'll figure it out.”

After a few minutes of her prepping the food, she looked away from her task and up at him.

“So, do I get to see the lockdown footage at all?” she asked hopefully.

“It's not edited at all yet, the guys are coming over tomorrow to start that, but I can show you a couple of things. Some of our best evidence.”

“I can't wait,” she smiled.

“So, uh, what was it that got you into this stuff?” Zak felt nervous asking, he wasn't sure why, but he felt like it may be a touchy subject.

“Well my mom and dad died when Marco and I were five—we hadn't even started Kindergarten yet—and anyway, I was really broken up by it, as is expected. But, on the day of the funeral—my crazy Aunt Marta, who was our closest relative at the time wouldn't let Marco or I go, so I sat at home—I got to stay in my house but Marta moved in with her husband Phil and their five kids and took over—but anyway, my room had this bench by the bay window that I always sat on with my mother when she would read to me. I was trying to remember the words to one of her favorite poems because I wasn't fully able to read yet and all of a sudden the words were spoken to me.

“I could hear my mother's voice in my ear, whispering the words to me as she would on any rainy Sunday. I began crying and I thought it was my imagination, but then I smelled my father's cologne and I swore I felt his thumb wipe away my tears. I...I don't know...Marco tried to tell me that I was just upset—he always acted like he was much older than he was, but I think that they were really there with me...” Zak reached over the counter and took her hand, giving her a caring smile.

“They were, Sweetie, they were. Your parents clearly loved you very much and I think that if they could be there, they would.”

“I'd like to think so,” she batted her eye lashes to keep from crying. “I've gotta finish dinner,” she decided.

Sensing she needed a moment, Zak told her that he was going to go hook things up to the TV so that they could watch some of the evidence that he and the group caught.

Maisie finished prepping the lasagna and joined Zak in the living room.

“Okay, I want you just listen and tell me what you think this says,” he had first pulled out the digital recorder that he had been using at the Jenny Wade house. There was his voice and then the EVP played. Maisie was listening and once it ended she looked up at him.

“Can I hear it one more time?”

“Yep.” he rewound it and played it again.

“It says, clear as day, 'I'm pregnant'. That's amazing!” she exclaimed. “Just hearing that...oh my God, it gives me chills...That's so sad...How did she die?”

“She was at her sister's house in Gettysburg and she had gotten up to make breakfast and one of the bullets from a confederate soldier came through the door and it her, she died instantly.”

“Oh my God...that's terrible.”

“I know,” Zak agreed. After giving it a moment, Zak decided to show her the next thing. “Don't you dare laugh at this.”

“Am I going to bruise your ego if I do?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Oh no,” she smirked, elbowing him playfully.

It started playing on the television and there Zak was, on a bed, with another form.

“Uh, what's going on there?”

“It's a doll—mannequin—whatever the hell you would call it.”

“Do you have a certain fetish I should know about? I'm I going to have to dress up like Raggedy Ann for role playing or something, because I don't think I could do it.”

“First of all, dolls creep the hell out of me and second, Raggedy Ann, really?”

“First thought that I had,” she shrugged. “And you're really creeped out by dolls?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “Snakes and heights too.”

“Clowns, snakes, spiders, and heights,” Maisie smiled. She thought it was cute that even such a tough guy was afraid of something.

Maisie continued to watch the TV and the next thing she heard made her laugh and audibly snort. “Something just grabbed my ass, bro,” Zak on the television said.

“You got ass grabbed by a ghost.” she laughed, ignoring how unattractive her snort was.

“Why are you being so mean today?” Zak feigned sadness. “I thought you'd be nice since I just got back.”

“Aw, you're right,” she gave him a smirk and kissed him deeply and after a moment they pulled away. “Does that make you feel better?”

“I think I could live with a little more,” he pouted. She rolled her eyes playfully before kissing him again, this time pulling herself up on the couch. Catching on to what she was doing, Zak wrapped his arms around her back, one landing on her ass, and assisted her to sit on his lap as they kissed. The hand on her behind squeezed a little. “Now you've been ass grabbed by me,” he mumbled before continuing to kiss her.

XxX

Zak and Maisie woke up only a few moments before Aaron showed up to the house. They were already downstairs, just talking when he walked in.

“Hey,” Aaron greeted them.

“What's up man?” Zak asked.

“Just y'know, dreading being stuck here all day,” he said, playfully. “Especially because of you,” he pointed to Maisie. Zak had mentioned to Aaron that Maisie had a fear of being disliked by Zak's friends. Aaron could understand that, Maisie was more afraid that if Zak's friends didn't like her—because Zak was around his friends more than anyone else—they would not work together.

“I made lasagna and the left overs are in the fridge...if that makes things better...” Maisie tried, she was still tired, she hadn't slept much the night before.

“I think that'll help,” Aaron smiled.

“How are you so awake?” she asked.

“I've been up for hours—my sleep schedule is just all over the place—then there's Starbucks,” he held up his cup.

“I actually don't think that I've ever had Starbucks,” Maisie admitted.

“What?” Aaron gasped. “Zak, you can't date her anymore! This girl hasn't had Starbucks!”

“I didn't say that I hate it,” Maisie pointed out.

“Aaron,” Zak said in a dismissing tone, waning him not to annoy her any further.

“You will be trying Starbucks if I have any part in it,” Aaron warned her.

Maisie giggled a little. “Okay, Aaron.” She hoped that this was a step in the right direction. She knew that she shouldn't spend all of her time worrying about whether or not Zak's friends liked her, but she knew that it was important to him.