I'm Not Your Protege, Just Your Kid

Zack's P.O.V

I woke up a few hours later with images of what happened earlier still playing in my head and I groaned in frustration. I rolled onto my back and rubbed my face. I rolled out of Devon's bed and walked over to the door and opened it. I was getting ready to walk down the stairs until I heard voices so I decided to listen.

"You should have seen him. I thought he was going to murder her!" I heard Jayden say.

"Yeah, especially when he found out that Jayden caught an eyeful of that guy's dick," Devon laughed.

"Shut up! That was very traumatizing," I could just imagine Jayden pouting and crossing her arms.

Who were the kids talking to though? Was it one of the guys?

"I just wish I would've beaten the shit out of her though. I can't believe I just let her ass walk away without a scratch," Jayden sighed.

"That wouldn't have been a very wise choice," someone said.

Who the hell was that? It was obviously a girl, but who the hell is it?

"Yes it would've!" Jayden exclaimed. "She fucked Zack over again," she emphasized the word 'again' to get her point across. "I wanted to make her regret hurting Zack,"

A smile made its way on my face as I heard Jayden revealing to whoever it was that she wanted to protect me from emotional hurt.

"Wow, Jayden, it sounds like you care a lot about Zack," the person teased.

"No I don't! I just wanted to fight someone and Gena was the perfect candidate,"

"Sure,"

I laughed to myself and decided to go downstairs and see who my guest was. I felt like such a teenage boy when I got down to the last step. My heart thudded in my chest when I caught sight of Gabby standing next to the Christmas tree with a string of Christmas lights in her hands. Her dark blue eyes lit up brighter than the lights in her hand once she saw me standing there. I copied the smile on her face and slowly started walking towards her.

"Hey Zack!" she grinned and pulled me into a hug. I inhaled her perfume and thought I was in heaven for a second.

"Hey Gabby. What are you doing here?" My eyes glanced over at Jayden and Devon who were both putting lights on the tree and trying not to listen to our conversation.

"Well, Jayden and Devon called me a few hours ago and said that you guys were back in town and that they needed help putting up the Christmas tree. They said they wanted to surprise you with it or something,"

"Yeah, but that obviously didn't work," Jayden piped up from behind the tree.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because she got into a fight with the tree," Devon snickered.

"Shut up! I did not!" she shoved him.

"Yes you did! You were practically wrestling with it just so it could get down from the attic,"

"Yeah, and you were no help at all,"

"Because it was so damn funny. I had to record your fight which is why I didn't help,"

"You better erase that video,"

"After those battle scars of yours go away," Devon snickered once more.

"Battle scars?" I asked.

I looked at Gabby who just chuckled and nodded her head. I turned back and saw that Jayden came out from behind the tree. On her face were a few scratches and there was a tiny bruise on her right forearm. I gave her a quizzical look and she lifted her shirt to show a bigger bruise on her rib cage.

"I'm not even going to ask," I shook my head.

"Please don't," she sighed.

"Well, it was nice of you two to go through all this trouble for me," I wrapped my arms around Jayden and Devon.

"Yeah, yeah," Jayden brushed me off and went back to lighting the tree with Devon.

"So, how've you been?" I asked Gabby as I watched her loop the string through the branches.

"Pretty good, just busy with some other cases,"

"That sucks. Are you off for Christmas?"

"Yeah, thanks goodness. I need a break from work," she said and grabbed the big bin that held the decorations and brought it over since they were done putting the lights on the tree.

"Are you going to visit your family?" I asked and helped put on decorations.

"No, it's too last minute, and I'm pretty sure all the flights are booked up,"

"Well, I'm going over to my parents house for Christmas dinner. You can come along if you want," I offered, hoping she'd say yes.

"I don't want to impose. It's your family dinner after all,"

"No, it's okay. I'm sure my parents will be happy to see you again," I grinned.

"I hope so. I loved your mom, her cooking was awesome," she chuckled.

"It still is,"

"Should I bring anything?" she asked.

Wow, this girl is amazing. Gena never offered to bring a dish when we were invited to dinner.

"If you want, but you don't have to," I shrugged.

"Okay, it'll be a surprise," she smirked.

Devon walked over to the sound system and turned up the volume so the Christmas songs could be heard better. Him and Jayden were humming to themselves and doing a funny dance to the song, making Gabby and I laugh at them. They stuck their tongues out at us and I shook my head at their childish behavior.

A good feeling swelled up inside of me as I watched my kids light up what was probably their first Christmas tree in years. I noticed too that for once Jayden's face didn't hold any tension in it like it usually does. She didn't look mad at all, she actually looked quite peaceful. That's a bit of a surprise since just a few minutes ago she was talking about beating the shit out of Gena.

The lights from the tree reflected against her face, making her look angelic, and her piercings shined brightly against her face. Her hair was wavy instead of straight and it fell down her back, framing her pale face in the process. Her green eyes that she and Devon inherited from me looked even brighter against the lights. She had on a striped, long sleeved, hooded shirt with some jeans and her slippers. Even though her shirt was somewhat baggy on her, you can still tell that she had a nice shape underneath, which would be a problem for me. I'd have to fight off boys once they caught sight of her body whenever she decided to start wearing revealing clothes.

I gulped at the thought, but shook the worries from my head. She had that Aiden boy who seemed decent enough. I gave one last look at her and finally realized something. Jayden wasn't that same young teenager who first came to my doorstep with a scowl on her face. She was maturing even more then she already was as each day passed and was starting to become a a beautiful young woman.

"She's gorgeous isn't she?" Gabby whispered from next to me.

"Huh?" I snapped out of my daze.

"Jayden is turning into a gorgeous young woman. You should be proud Zack," she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I am, just scared though,"

"Why?"

"Because I'm starting to get too old and I still have to scare away her future boyfriends,"

Gabby laughed and playfully shoved me. I grinned at her and looked at Jayden once more before going back to decorating the tree.

"Who wants eggnog?!" Devon shouted, walking back into the room with four glasses of eggnog in his hands.

"Geez, Devon. Were you asking the whole neighborhood or just us?" Jayden asked and grabbed a cup for herself.

"Oh shut your yap," he said and handed Gabby and I a cup.

For the next half hour, we continued decorating the tree and taking small breaks to drink our eggnog. All we needed to do now was put the star on top, which Devon was going to do because he didn't need a chair to reach the top. I still don't know where he and Jayden got their height from. It amazes me because he's only 16 and taller then Jimmy whose about 6'3.

"All done!" Devon cheered.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Jayden snorted.

Devon stuck up his middle finger at her and stood back to watch the tree. Some of the multi-colored lights blinked while others didn't. In between the colors were strings of plain white lights and the decorations seemed to be placed perfectly on the branches.

"Well, that's it for tonight. We don't really have anything else to put up, and there's no possible way we can put the outside lights on," Jayden pointed out.

"Alright, well, you guys go to bed and I'll see you in the morning," I said.

They said goodnight and shuffled up the stairs. I took a seat on the couch after shutting off the kitchen light and Gabby sat next to me.

"That was so nice of them," she said as she stared at the tree that was giving off the only source of light in the house.

"It was. They do a lot of things for me that are nice, they just don't realize it,"

"Yeah, I know Jayden hates to admit it, but I know she's very protective of you," she pointed.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup, Devon too, but he's more of the rational one of the two. But don't let him fool you, he can mess with your head, while Jayden messes with your face,"

I chuckled at Gabby's observation of my kids who were sound asleep upstairs.

"Jayden told me what happened and said for me to come over because she knew that would cheer you up," Gabby said after a few minutes of silence.

I made a mental note to thank Jayden for doing that. "Yeah, I caught Gena with some other dude. I thought I would come home early to surprise her, but I guess not," I shrugged.

"You deserve a whole lot better Zack. Don't let someone like Gena get you down in the dumps. If anything, you should be happy because now you can start over and spend even more time with your kids,"

"That's true,"

"And I know you were standing at the top of the stairs listening earlier, so I know you heard Jayden talking about Gena,"

A small blush crept onto my cheeks when she revealed to me that she knew I was listening in on her conversation with the kids.

"Yeah, I heard," I replayed what Jayden said in my head and chuckled to myself.

"That daughter of yours is very caring, even if she doesn't want to admit it,"

"I hope she breaks out of that soon,"

"She will and so will Devon, but you have to understand that they never had a stable home after they were dropped off at the orphanage,"

I decided not to say anything. I felt Gabby place her head on my shoulder and I wrapped an arm around her. I ran my fingers through her hair and took sips of my eggnog with the other hand.

"Oh damn, it's getting late Zack. I have to go now," Gabby stood up.

"Okay, are we still on for coffee tomorrow?"

"Yup," she smiled and put her shoes back on.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," I walked her outside to her car.

"Bye Zack," she smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Bye Gabby," I grinned.

I stood in the driveway and watched her back out onto the street and drive away. I waved at her one last time and went back inside. I yawned as I locked up and shut off the lights on the tree. I started heading to the bedroom, but then I remembered I didn't wash the sheets. I sighed and decided to sleep on the couch. I grabbed a spare blanket and pillow from the linen closet and made a bed on the couch. I kicked off my shoes, took off my jeans and dug myself inside the comforter and fell asleep instantly.