Status: Finished

Navigate Me Through Your Body

Surprise.

Zack smiled as Harlow stood on her tip toes fixing his bow tie, which was crooked. He glanced down, taking her appearance. She was wearing a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, the fact that she could wear them at all baffled him, I mean...she had worn them long before she had ever gotten pregnant, her shirt plunged deep into her cleavage, and flared just after her breasts, almost completely hiding her baby bump. He smiled as he caught her fixing the buttons on his black dress shirt. "What?" she asked innocently as he leaned down placing a kiss on her plump pink lips.

They stood outside Val and Matt's house, the street lights were all that lit the pitch black night. They had been invited to some sort of dinner, for Matt's sister or...whatever, they really hadn't been too specific.

"I love you so much..." he mumbled, laying on hand in the curve of her back as she smiled, "and you look perfect," he took his free hand, taking her hand into his as he glanced down at the shining ring had had given her just a few days ago.

"I love you too," she mumbled, "and you look pretty damn handsome yourself," he leaned down, kissing her again. She laughed, pulling away slowly.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"we should get inside, before my hormones get the best of me and we just go home-" Zack reached down kissing her one last time.

"Alright," he sighed, running a quick hand through his hair, "lets go inside," he kept a hold of her hand while making it a point to walk a step or two behind her, in case she happened to fall. After all, she had insisted on wearing heels, the fact that she wore four and a half inch heels at all just made his head spin, they were practically fucking stilts but the fact that she was wearing wearing the goddamned things while she was carrying his child, well that just managed to keep him a nervous mess.

He had plead with her not to wear them, for fear of hurting herself or the baby but she refused. 'They're Louboutin's' she insisted, she had been wearing them since she was fifteen. And she had made a point to tell him that her doctor had told her it was fine, since she was still so small.

Walking up the driveway the two came to the oak door. Harlow reached for the doorbell but Zack stopped her, "Matt said go on in, the party's out back," Harlow just shrugged turning the knob pushing the door open.

But the two were shocked when dozens of their close family and friends stood around screaming 'surprise!'

Smiles over took Zack and Harlow's shocked faces. A banner reading 'Congratulations!' hung from a wall, while balloons streamers and confetti seemed to litter the elegantly decorated house while a three tiered cake sat on a table in the corner. "You guys!" Harlow chimed looking around as Val ran up, excitedly taking her into a hug, "What is this?" Val smiled, taking Zack into a quick hug as Matt placed a kiss on Harlow's cheek.

"It's your engagement party," Matt's powerful voice boomed through the room as all their friends cheered at Matt's use of the word 'engagement'.

"We've been waiting years to be able to throw this!" Michelle screamed excitedly handing Zack a beer and Harlow a glass of what looked like club soda. Harlow spotted her parents in the corner chatting to Zack's parents, they all looked so happy.

"Well I hate to steal her away," Michelle cooed looping her arm through Harlow's, "but the ladies need to chat, she’s got a ring to show off," Michelle flashed a quick smile as Zack pressed a soft kiss to Harlow's waiting lips.

"Bring her back?" Val and Michelle nodded in unison.

"Promise!" and with that they drug Harlow off to the large group of waiting women.

Zack was approached by a large group of men, more specifically his band mates, and their manager Larry. "Man," Larry started, holding up his beer bottle, letting Zack clink his before they both took a swig, "it's about time," Larry said, shoving one hand into the pockets of his jeans, Zack let out a soft laugh shaking his head in agreement, "I saw the ring by the way, very nice," Zack nodded.

"Thank you," he took a quick drink before glancing over to look at Harlow, who was holding up her hand as all the girls examined the gleaming diamond with gross envy, "and the damn thing only cost me what I made on City of Evil," Larry's eyes went wide.

"You're kidding?" Zack shook his head no.

"4.5 carats," Zack said an undeniable smile that said he was very proud of his purchase, "I figured I made her wait long enough. I needed to make up for it with the ring," Larry laughed, patting him on the back.

"He’s also going to be eating Ramen for the next six years if we don't get a new album out soon," Jimmy teased, earning laughs from all the men.

But suddenly the smile on Johnny's face disappeared. His eyebrow arching, all the men stared at him as he mumbled, "What the fuck is he doing here?" all the men turned around, angry looks on their faces. Zack turned around, and he felt his stomach drop.

It was Harlow's ex, Aaron.

He felt his stomach leap into his throat as his heart sped up.

The guys all watched as Aaron hugged Harlow tightly, before grabbing her hand, leading her to the front door, "What the fuck are they doing?" Brian asked as Matt pushed up the sleeves on his dress shirt.

"I'll get rid of him." Matt marched over, grabbing Aaron by the back of his shirt, Aaron turned around, and he just rolled his eyes at the sight of Matt.

"I'm not here for confrontation," Aaron said simply, Harlow grabbed Matt's hand, removing it.

"Matt, please," she plead, "he’s not here to cause trouble, okay? We're just going to talk." Matt shot Harlow a warning glance before she rolled her eyes and everyone watched as Harlow walked out the front door with her ex-boyfriend.

XXX

"Thanks for taking care of him back there," Aaron said, running his hands over his buzzed scalp, scratching through the peach fuzz he called hair. They had walked down to the sidewalk, Aaron was leaning up against his black Ford Raptor, one foot propped up against the tire. She had always loved that truck.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Harlow said sweetly, crossing her arms over her chest, "he had no right to act like that, you're a friend, you're my friend." Aaron smiled.

"You look beautiful," Aaron said simply.

"Thank you..." Harlow tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear as she dug her heel at the ground; she watched it awkwardly, trying to avoid eye contact.

"How’s the baby?" he asked, awkwardly shoving his hands in his pockets. She glanced up, smiling.

"growing," she mumbled, biting at her bottom lip, "can you keep a secret?" she asked as he nodded quickly, "I'm terrified..."

"Of what?" he asked, letting out a surprised chuckle.

"being a bad mother. Having to do this alone..." Aaron looked up at her, clearly surprised at her answer.

"Okay, one," Aaron spoke confidently, taking Harlow's hand, "you're going to be an amazing mother," she glanced up at him, he could see her eyes clouding over, he pulled her closer, before pulling her into a tight hug, "and two, doing it alone?" She just nodded her head 'yes'.

"he’s going to be on the road so much and...I'm just scared," she admitted. Aaron rested his chin on her head, running his hands softly over her back. But Aaron cleared his throat, pulling away.

"That's uh..." he mumbled, nervously running his hand over the back of his neck, "that's kind of why I came here..." Harlow crossed her arms over her chest.

"what?" she nearly spat, arching her brow. She watched as Aaron reached into the pocket on the inside of his blazer. He pulled out a few sheets of paper, which he had sloppily folded into thirds.

"I'm not willing to take any chances," he said simply, handing her the papers, she unfolded them, the print across the top was in bold black letters, and it read Petition For Paternity Testing, "I need to know before I let you go that there is no chance that is my baby,"

"How could you?" she spat, tears welling in her deep blue eyes.

"I need to know Har," he said simply, shrugging his shoulders, "I got involved at my own discretion, but I ended up getting attached, and I want to know for sure that that bastard is her father, because if I am, I'll fight for her...I want him nowhere near my baby."

Harlow was at a loss for words, instead she watched as Aaron pulled his keys from his pocket, he reached over managing to press a small kiss to Harlow's forehead, "I'll be in touch." he mumbled before walking around, hoisting his self into the driver’s seat of the lifted truck, the engine fired and she watched what had become blurry through her tears as his tail lights disappeared into the distance.

Harlow folded her arms over her chest, clutching at the papers.

She walked into the door, and before she could say a word she shared her teary glance with Zack, and in an instant her friends were surrounding her. "Baby," Zack's voice called, caring, "what happened?" Harlow sniffed before holding out the papers.

"He doesn't believe the baby's y-yours," she managed to sob out, "he...he wants to take her from us."

It was then Zack glanced at the papers before taking her into his strong arms, closing his eyes as he rested his head against hers, which was lying against his chest. The room was dead silent, everyone was watching...

"shhh...shhhh," he cooed, only holding her tighter, "everything's going to be alright." he lovingly assured, but he glanced up at the ceiling taking a deep breath as the tears formed in his eyes. The problem was, he wasn't sure if that was the truth.

Because at the very moment everything seemed to finally be falling together, it all managed to fall apart again.
♠ ♠ ♠
Alright guys, I am so sorry it has been so long.
Unfortunately between school, work and my internship I am so busy.
However, I hope to get back into this.

So comment? If you do, I'll try my very best to have another update out by the end of the week.
&&Thanks for reading(: