Status: Completed

Growing Pains

Pillow Talk

"I'll come with you," Zack whispered into her ear. Aubrey held her finger up and shook her head. "Baby," he tried. Aubrey laughed softly as Zack laced his fingers with her own. She felt like a warm current had been immediately sent through her body just by a single touch.

"You should really stay, Zack." He wasn't taking no for an answer. Zack shook his head and took Aubrey's bag from her grasp. She did give up the fight, but she was however adamant that he should stay, and that her absence shouldn't in anyway influence him to not be here.

Valary watched as the two had a slight argument over whether or not Zack should really be accompanying Aubrey home. Neither spoke, their words were replaced with body language and their facial expressions; that's how their arguments had always been. No words were needed for them to share how they felt, period.

Matt approached his fiancé and wrapped an arm protectively over her shoulder. Although he had nothing to protect her from, he knew she liked the feeling of him enclosing her up in his strong arms. They both watched as Aubrey and Zack stayed silent for a minute, both deciding between themselves only, what was going to happen from this moment forward.

"I'll fucking drive you home," Jimmy mumbled, taking Aubrey's bag from Zack and pulling the keys out, knowing exactly where she kept them. Jimmy would always drive Aubrey when she wasn't able. He had looked after her so well since Zack had been a way, they all had. "Come on, sweetchecks," Jimmy hollered.

"Jimmy, you've been drinking..." Zack informed him, and the group. Aubrey looked up at Jimmy and rubbed his arm softly. "I think I should really take her home." Aubrey sighed and took her bag, and her keys from Jimmy. "I'll see you all tomorrow-"

"No," Aubrey breathed. "I can decide for myself, Zack. I can drive myself home, I'll be fine." Zack could judge for himself that Aubrey didn't want him to drive her home. She didn't want to be in his company anymore than what she had to be. He understood completely now; she was overwhelmed.

Six months was a long time to be without love.

- - - - - - - - - - - Image

Aubrey woke from the immediate shifting of the bed. Sleeping on her back was almost impossible this far into the pregnancy. Fearing she would become stuck or something along those lines, Aubrey had chosen to sleep on her side. Although the position was all but friendly, Aubrey learnt her way around.

Not being able to move all that well, Aubrey couldn't in anyway possible turn over to see the face of who she could almost call a stranger. She rubbed her hand over her stomach before she decided to be the first to make conversation.

"Glad you stayed?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Zack said. His words froze when they entered the air. Aubrey knew he was lying from the coldness to his voice. She sighed and used all the effort in her body to shift her weight over, so she could see the man she was talking to.

"Why are you lying to me?"

Zack had noticed that something had changed since he had been gone. Aubrey never held back asking a question, and she was very blunt about the questions she asked. Six months and already she had developed the ability to be very straight forward with everyone. Zack didn't know if it was the pregnancy or his absence in her life that had changed her personality, but there was something about it he didn't like.

"How's the baby been?" he asked, ignoring the question altogether. Aubrey had played this game before, answering each question with another question more so than an actual answer.

"What did you do for the last six hours?" Aubrey had focused her attention on the clock that was flashing 5AM. She felt Zack stiffen in the bed. His facial expression didn't change but his breathing was quite noticeably different. "Something you don't want to tell me, right?"

"Right," Zack agreed.

He didn't want to lie to Aubrey, it was the last thing he wanted to do. His last relationship had gone terribly wrong when he had lied. Gena didn't at all take any mercy on Zack after he had slept with Aubrey. Aubrey had felt in all honesty, horrible. She wasn't the girl to ruin relationships, and if she only knew Zack wasn't single, or a musician, then things might have been different.

Aubrey mightn't have been pregnant with a musician baby. Aubrey never had doubts, but over the past few months she began to really question what she was doing with her life. Despite loving every moment she spent with Zack, she wasn't all that sure if he was the one.

"You can tell me," Aubrey whispered.

Zack moved his hands over her stomach and smiled into the darkness of the room. "I never asked you," Zack mentioned. "What's the sex of the baby?"

Aubrey hummed for a moment, the feeling of someone closer than a friend touching her stomach in such an intimate way was more than enough to give her reassurance about her future. If Zack could make her feel this way, she knew he must have had something against her.

"Do you really want to know, or are you just avoiding my question?"

There they went again, the answering one another's questions with a question. Zack sighed heavily, "I want to know, Brie," he said warmly. "I want to know everything."

"Are you going to tell me what you did for the past six hours?"

"Are you going to be mad?" Aubrey searched for Zack's eyes in the darkness of the over sized bedroom. Although he was only inches away from her, she felt like he had drifted into the background of the picture she was currently looking at.

"It's a girl."

"Does that mean you won't be mad?"

"You have to tell me first, I'll tell you then if I'll be mad."

Zack knew he wasn't going to win this one. And there he was again, doing the same thing he'd done to Gena only years ago. He was lying to Aubrey. "I love you, Brie. I love our baby girl."