Almost Easy

Zack's POV

Jimmy hadn't spoke to Liz yet and hours had passed, the kids had arrived, everyone else that was showing up was here, and Liddy had nearly fainted when she was Liz. She'd been glued to her cousins side ever since, not leaving Colt a minute to breath between all of his new cousins. I'm not sure he actually understood the term the way the rest of the kids did, since he really hadn't had a big family before, but a part of me was hoping it meant something at least to him. Liz had stayed relatively quiet aside from answering questions from Jacky and Lacey the whole night.

Danny was abducted by Johnny and Michelle as she continued her nine thousand questions round with him. My eyes were more tuned on to how uncomfortable Jimmy had become in the last hour or so. I was fed up with it, if anything he had talked to most shit about wanting her to come back, he was the most upset at Matt and myself for her leaving that this behavior was unreal.

"Fuck." I stood up and grabbed his arm.

"Dude, what-"

"Come with me." I yanked his sleeve and he followed me in the house. I slammed the door shut, causing an obvious break in harmony outside but it didn't last long, their voices continued as I paced the floor, "What is your deal?"

"With what?" He crossed his arms, "Do you want to be a hero or some shit now for bringing her home?"

"Is that what this bullshit is? You're mad for me having her come visit?" I asked, "You're fucking mad now because the kids can get along?"

"Yeah for what? Two weeks? then Tom never sees a cousin again and she drops off the face of the Earth again?" He asked, "I don't think you really thought this through Zack."

"Well you don't have to be here then-"

"Well we already are! You fucking hid it from us, this isn't the type of bullshit you surprise people with Zack." He shook his head, "Especially on home turf, the beach house for god sake." Jimmy was visibly annoyed and it was a look I hadn't seen much, if ever, on him, "If we had known, maybe I would have come by myself or got a sitter. Because I don't know how this is all going to pan out, what if Matt had actually come?"

"How did you know he was invited?" I stepped back, "What did he say?"

"He said it was odd." Jimmy shrugged, "That we all decided to take space from each other and then this? A sudden, random barbecue at the beach house? Conveniently after Liz appears again? He knew."

"So he knew and he didn't come?" I was pissed that Liz had been right.

"He asked me what to do." Jimmy mumbled, "I hate that I said it but I did. I said if you aren't ready to be a dad, then don't show up. That's the endgame, right? Liz is going to tell Colton? Drop a bomb on his life and Matt's?"

"You told him that?" I asked, "Are you nuts?"

"Are you actually mad?" Jimmy laughed, "Did you want to put Liz through that? If he wasn't ready and she told Colt? Don't you want his honesty here? For this at minimum? If he doesn't want to be a dad then he shouldn't put false hope in the kids future. Liz should honestly be sitting down with Matt first about this, they should have a conversation without all of us around to influence it. There's so fucking much for them to hash out, so much to go over, they both need to speak their truth about this and if he doesn't want to they need to decide that before involving Colt any further."

I crossed my arms, he had a solid and annoyingly valid point, one I doubt Liz had thought through but a part of me thought she must have, "So why don't you tell her that yourself instead of fucking shunning her like someone with the plague?"

"I guess I may as well," He looked at the time on his watch, "It's time to get Tom home for bed any ways."

"You're being a real fuck tonight and I hope you know I say that with the most love I possibly can." I shook my head and walked away, back to the yard where the kids were now playing a game of what looked like tag but Penny was literally tackling Ethan. I shook my head and sat down beside Jacky.

"Uh Liz, can we talk inside?" Jimmy approached her, she looked up and nodded, following him silently inside as Danny looked over at me in confusion.

"Welcome to the shit show." Brian raised his glass up in Danny's direction, "It'll only get worse before it gets better, if it ever does."

Danny looked more concerned now than relieved and I decided to go over and try to comfort him that Jimmy wasn't going to cut off his wife's head.

---___---___---

Liz's POV

I followed Jimmy in to the house and we stopped just short of the living room, "What's going on, Jim? You've been avoiding me all night and it's killing me, I'm so sorry for everything-"

"Stop." He held his hand up and shook his head, "I've been mad for the past five years, mad at Matt for pushing you away from us, mad at Zack for not chasing you harder, mad at you for leaving in the first place and not being an adult and facing the life before you. But you're obviously happy now and I can't fault that." He nodded and I felt a tear in my eye at how serious my once insanely riotous best friend was now, "We saw you in Indy and I told myself that was what I needed to see, closure, that you were finally happy. I saw it, I saw how content you were with Danny and how he literally had your back and defended you against someone who had been in your life twenty times as long as he had and someone you had such a bond as a child with."

"What are you mad about then?" I asked, "How can I make this ok? I'm here for two weeks and I want this to be a great time.. This isn't so far."

"I left Indy happy, Liz. I wasn't mad any more, I honestly feel like Matt and I had become closer after that because he came to me after we left and cried. Liz he cried for an entire day until I had to physically slap him out of it. He hadn't shown emotion about you in ages, and we both just had this hours long conversation that you were finally happy. Now you're here? We all had closure and... I think I'm more upset at Zack for not telling us, for ambushing Matt in to this-"

"In to what?" I asked, taking a small step back, "In to seeing his son?"

"In to you introducing Colt to his dad, Liz. Listen, band-aids suck and I'm ripping this fucker off now because I'm done babying people today. Matt knew you were here tonight, he called me and said he had this wrenching gut feeling after all that was going on with the band lately and suddenly... This." He gestured around, my stomach knotted, "He asked me what he should do, since he knew it already. I told him to make the decision. If he didn't want to be a dad, stay home. But if he wanted it to happen to show up." Jimmy bit his lips together and shrugged, "I don't think he's ready for you to take a piece of his heart again-"

"His heart? He doesn't even know Colt!" I shouted, "How dare you even say that!"

"Listen to me, Liz." Jimmy got close to me and narrowed his ice cold eyes, "After Leana had Tom we got in to a huge rut, we were both tired, exhausted, bitchy even. It was tough but the thought of her leaving, the thought of not having my child with me every second of every day, truly ripped my heart from my chest and I swallowed my bullshit and stayed. I got up at night with Tom and let her sleep, I took him in the day so she could sleep and pump and relax. I did what dad's should be doing without having their relationship fail first. When she would take him to visit her parents or even just out for a while, I would sleep like a bear. But the thought of him being gone... I don't know how Matt hasn't losts his mind. I would have flipped at Leana if she took him before I could even meet him, I wouldn't have been as passive with her as he was with you in Indy."

I felt heat radiate from Jimmy's body and nodded, "I get it."

"No you don't, no one's taken a piece of you before, Liz. No ones forced you to be apart for your own child before-"

I bit the inside of my cheek and slapped him, "You fucking don't ever speak to me like that. You know as well as Matt does what I went through, you know how I spent every night in high school. You're ignorant for thinking that. I know what it feels like and it's his own fucking fault he couldn't be a part of it."

His eyes stayed hard but his face softened, "All I'm saying, you need to sit down with him before you put Colt in to the situation. You need to sit down with Matt, without us all there to input bullshit, and hash out with him what's going to happen if he even wants you to tell Colt. Because that's not your call."

I stared at him as he wiped at his eyes, "Got ya." I nodded and took a breath, "Well, good luck putting Tom to bed tonight. I'm pretty sure Brian gave all the kids about nine pieces of candy a piece while you and Zack were having your fit earlier."

"Yeah, that's normal. I hope you guys have a great rest of your night. Tell Leana I'll be in the car."

I watched him walk out of the house and close the door behind him, my heart sank once again. The last person I had expected to butt heads with tonight had been Jimmy, but it happened. I walked outside and caught Leana's eye, "He's waiting in the car." I nodded and sat down at a seat relatively separate from everyone else. She nodded and stood up, collecting her things and telling Tom it was time to go. I slumped down in the seat and closed my eyes, I had been pushing down the exhaustion from the flight and the wine weighing on my eyelids wasn't helping. I felt something next to me and looked up at Danny.

"Zack told me."

I nodded as he took my hand and squeezed it carefully, "I'm sorry for dragging you in to this fucking war zone."

"Dragging?" He laughed and kissed my cheek, "Babe I'll be walking in front of you don't you worry."

I smiled slightly and sighed, the guilty feeling of Jimmy's pain still lingering but my heart lifted at the thought of finally having someone solidly on my side for once.