Fan Fiction ❯ The Night The Lights Went Out ❯ Pt 2 ( Chapter 2 )

I decided I wanted to deal with Erica too!! So I extend my one shot to a two shot to get Erica!! So I may extend it again if anyone else pisses me off as well lol.

 

 

 

 

 

Erica could only stare at Ryan. She was shocked by what he told her about Zach to think of anything to say. “Oh…” She finally managed.

 

“And I went to Kendall and she flat out refused to believe anything I had to say on the matter.” Ryan complained stuffing the tape recorder back in his pocket.

 

“Really?!?” Erica said, flipping her hair, her look far away and thoughtful.

 

“Zach admitted to causing the blackout but she said she is not going to blame him for the choices she made herself and that Zach didn't cause the blackout to hurt her or Greenlee or even me. She was defending him when he had nothing to say for himself.”

 

“Zach's always been a man of few words. And even I will have to admit that it sounds odd for Zach to cause a city wide blackout simply to stop a pregnancy.” Erica said, rubbing her left temple, trying to sort out her thoughts.

 

“You sound like Kendall, Erica, and I thought you were more rational than that. Zach is crazy, he's cursed. He admits it himself and he didn't want my `curse' to be spread through his wife so…. He stopped her. Even he admitted to doing anything to stop Kendall from going through with it and she's gone through with it.”

 

“Yes, she has, Ryan.” Erica said stepping closer to him. “And she is very fragile, she's hormonal, and now may not have been the best time for you to accuse the man she's in love with. My God, Ryan, Zach is still in the hospital from me stabbing him! Couldn't you have waited until after he was discharged?”

 

“You're not going soft on him just because he said he wasn't going to press charges against you and has been saying the charges against you should be dropped? Erica, he's not to be trusted. Sure, he did the right thing when he realized that something was going on with you, and it's been proven that you were drugged, but that doesn't mean you can let your guard down. And why should I wait any longer to tell Kendall the truth about `the man she loves'? He's the man she loves now, it won't last forever like she says, and everyone knows it.”

 

“Ryan!” Erica said shocked by his opinion on Kendall's capacity to love.

 

“Whose side are you on?” Ryan asked.

 

“I'm on my daughter's side!” Erica said putting her hand over her heart, leaning towards him. “I want my daughter's life to be stress-free, not only for herself, but for her son. Your son. You need to think of what's best for him.”

 

Ryan licked his lips and put his hands on his hips. “I am thinking about what's best for him and what's best is to get Zach out of the picture. Kendall's life will then be stress-free.”

 

“I think…” Erica started her confusion and conflict obvious.

 

“I think you should trust me on this one, Erica.” Ryan said placing his hand on Erica's arm. He smiled softly. “Just trust me.”

 

And he was gone.

 

Erica simply stood in front of Zach's door. She wished her head would stop pounding so she could make since of what was going on. Zach caused the blackout? To rid the world of another Lavery? Pine Valley is falling apart, Erica finally decided. We've all lost our minds and doing the most absurd things.

 

Erica flung her hair out of her face and adjusted her dress before she squared her shoulders and entered Zach's room dramatically. She saw her daughter kissing Zach and caressing his cheek. At the sound of the door they both looked up. Kendall laughed softly to herself, shaking her head, she bent down and planted a quick kiss on Zach's lips and whispered loudly. “I think Mom knows!”

 

“Think Mom ran into Ryan in the hall?” Zach whispered back just as loudly, he cast Erica an appraising glance.

 

“I'm not your Mom.” Erica told Zach hotly, moving aside to let the door close behind her. She looked at Kendall. “What are you doing, sweetheart?”

 

Kendall's mouth fell open as she looked at Zach then her Mother. “I was making out with Zach but now I'm talking to you.” Kendall said getting off Zach's bed and making herself comfortable on her recliner. “What are you doing?” She asked sweetly. Zach simply looked at Erica, his expression unreadable.

 

“What I'm doing is trying to wrap my brain around the fact that you would still want to be with the man that has caused you so much heartache in the past few months.” Erica made her famous `it boggles my mind' hand gesture before continuing. “Why are you doing this to yourself? You don't have to prove anything to anyone, you know?”

 

Kendall looked at Zach surprised. “I'm glad to hear it.” She looked back at Erica. “I wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone anyway.”

 

“Then come home with me.” Erica gestured towards the door.

 

“What is it you think I'm doing to myself?” Kendall asked as if Erica hadn't spoken.

 

“Where do I begin?” Erica put her hand to her forward a moment before dropping it away. “How about you are committing yourself to a man who has played a major role in ruining your friendship with Greenlee? A man who is still so full of secrets? Secrets that could rip your heart out and stomp on it? Ryan comes in here with evidence that Zach caused the blackout and you turn a blind eye to it? Love has blinded you, darling. I thought that things were looking up for you when you decided to give Ryan back his rights to his son, but this? I know that you want this… relationship that you have going on with Zach to be everything all your other relationships haven't but I fear that you're going to be worse off than you've ever been.” Erica finished with her most sympathetic look.

 

Kendall put her hands to her heart and sat forward in her chair, a loving look on her face. “That has to be the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Why don't you tell me these sweet things all the time?”

 

“I think she does.” Zach offered softly. Kendall smiled at Zach and nodded her agreement.

 

“Ryan did a lot of digging…”

 

“Why is Ryan in almost every other sentence that you utter to me? If you love him so much maybe you should marry him.” Kendall offered.

 

“Ryan asked you to marry him?” Erica asked shocked.

 

“Yes.” Kendall said openly. Then she quickly looked at Zach. “I didn't tell you because.. well.. because I didn't think it was worth mentioning.” Kendall turned to her mother. “And it sure as hell wasn't romantic. In fact, Zach's proposal for an in name marriage only was more romantic and more flattering than Ryan's `I don't and won't trust you with my child' marriage proposal.”

 

“Ryan told you that?” Erica said holding her hand up to interrupt her, she took a step closer to Zach's bed.

 

“Yes, he did and he said other things that aren't worth repeating.” Kendall stood up and walked around to stand in front of her mother, she took her mother's hand in hers. “I want you to hear ME and hear me well.” Kendall smiled sweetly at her. “I shall never be with Ryan again.” She pulled Erica to the stiff seat in the corner of Zach's room and gestured for her to sit down. Kendall sat on the window seal. “Ryan came in here with proof that Zach caused the blackout, yes. Zach admitted to it, but Ryan made it all about him and it wasn't. What Zach did wasn't all about me or about Greenlee. Zach has said more than once that Ryan and Greenlee aren't worth his time, so why would he do such a thing to hurt them? I know that Ryan is your friend, and your friends can do no wrong, but if you want to blame someone for the chain of events that have taken place the past several months than you should consider letting Ryan take his share of the blame. Because I honestly believe that if Ryan hadn't `died' than I would never have offered to be a surrogate when Greenlee miscarried.”

 

“But the blackout?” Erica questioned, sitting forward in her seat.

 

“What did Ryan tell you about the blackout? That Zach did it for one reason, and one reason only? Because Zach hates him so much?”

 

Erica could only nod.

 

“He needs to get over himself. He's not that special.” Zach said.

 

“Both you and Ryan are making it seem like I'm not affected by this at all.” Kendall said to pull Erica's angry attention from Zach. “I am affected. I feel sad, I feel disappointed, and I feel a little hurt that Zach didn't tell me from the beginning. But turning on him and running to Ryan is not going to take away all the horrible things Greenlee said to me before she turned her back on me. It isn't going to take away the fact that Ryan didn't believe me either until he heard it from Dr. Madden. And it won't change the fact that you can't force me and Ryan together.”

 

“I'm not trying to force you together.” Erica cried. Zach laughed softly to himself.

 

“No, you just keep forcing the subject.” Kendall told her.

 

“You knew before I told Zach that I was in love with him, why can't you believe in that? Why can't you believe that maybe, just maybe, he loves me too and that we can be good for one another?”

 

“Oh honey.” Erica said with tears in her eyes. “Because I don't think that he'll put you before everything else.”

 

Kendall bowed her head and then turned to look at Zach. He simply smiled at her. “You remember when I pulled that gun on you at the Pine Valley Inn? Ryan and Chris were there?”

 

“How could I forget?” Erica said looking nervous.

 

“I've been wanting to ask about that but wasn't sure how to bring it up.” Zach offered, looking very intrigued by the turn of the conversation. Kendall laughed while Erica gave him another evil glare.

 

“You should have just asked.” She told him before turning back to Erica. “You told me that you would never pick me over Bianca. That I would have to either accept it or get it over with and kill you for it. That the only reason I was so angry with you was because you made a fool of me before I could do it to you.” Kendall looked down at her hands, her expression one of pain. “You'll never understand how much those words hurt me because they were true.”

 

“Kendall..” Erica wiped away a tear from her face.

 

“Things are SO different for us now. We aren't the same people that we were that night.”

 

“I know that.” Erica said softly petting Kendall's hand.

 

“And Ryan isn't the same man who picked me up and put me back together again that night. I've accepted that we will never have what we once did. I want to move on from that. To let that hurt go. That blinding pain that caused me to act out so foolishly that even Zach thought I was a ditz. But I proved him wrong, I changed his mind and I wasn't even trying to. I was just being myself and he fell in love with me for it. What's so horrible about that? Zach hasn't asked me to change one thing about myself since before we were married. If nothing else, he's made it possible for me to have the upper hand a few times. Just because you don't like how it happened doesn't mean he hasn't dusted me off and set me straight as well.” Kendall looked over at Zach. “I fell in love with him because he doesn't ask me to be anything other than I am.” She looked back at her mom. “He lets me make my own choices. He listens to me rant and rave patient until I'm finished or if I don't finish he stops me when he needs to. I fell in love with him because I can be myself with him. He once told me he was my best friend and I would need him during this pregnancy and he was right! He is my best friend and I do need him.”

 

Erica was silent as she looked at her daughter proudly.

 

“You can't take him away from me.” Kendall couldn't help the laughter as she again looked at Zach. “You can stab him as many times as you want but you can't take him away from me. And I think we should be more worried about who drugged you, which caused you to stab Zach, and why. You need to trust in me and let me be.” Kendall winked at Zach before she stood from the window seal and guided her mother to the door.

 

“Thank you for stopping by, Mom.” Zach called out to her as Kendall opened the door and stepped out into the hallway with Erica in tow. Erica cringed at the words mom.

 

“You also promised to try, Mother.” Kendall reminded her when the door shut behind her. “I think that you need to stop jumping to the wrong conclusions when it comes to Ryan and Zach. And if you are going to continue to be the Captain on the ship St. Ryan than we shall have to limit the amount of time we are all together.” Kendall told her with warning.

 

“I am on your side, Kendall.” Erica said pulling Kendall into a tight hug. “I love you. I want to be the Captain on the ship St. Kendall.”

“There is no ship St. Kendall.” She whispered in her ear. “There's just the woman and she's her own Captain.”

 

Erica pulled back and rubbed her hands up and down Kendall's arms. “Zach's supposed to be discharged tomorrow?” She asked.

 

“Yes, hopefully.” Kendall said with a huge smile.

 

“Good. Call me when you get him settled at home. Okay?” Erica hugged her daughter one last time before she walked down the hallway.

 

“I will.” Kendall called after her.

 

It was several minutes before Kendall went back into Zach's room. It was amazing at how tired she felt after her `chats' with Ryan and her mother. She smiled sleepily at Zach when she saw him.

 

“You look beat.” He said tilting his head to the side, he pulled back half of his covers and gestured for her to join him.

 

“I'm tired not beat. There's a difference.” She told him as she slipped off her shoes.

 

“Yes, you're right dear and I'm sorry, I forgot.” Zach said with a smile as he covered her up when she laid down next to him.

 

“I'll forgive you this time” She said as she snuggled up with him. Zach turned off the light.

 

“So you really pulled a gun on your mother in front of Ryan and his father?” Zach asked with a chuckle.

 

Kendall laughed with him. “It wasn't loaded.”

 

“Oh, well, see? Now why did you have to go and ruin a perfectly fantastic fantasy of you with a gun by leaving out the bullets? I'm upset.” Zach said laying his head on hers.

 

“You'll get over it.” Kendall said yawning, closing her eyes. “If not, will just have to get you a new fantasy, maybe some black leather boots and a whip.”

 

“Don't tease me.” Zach said.

 

“I love you.” Kendall told him holding him tighter.

 

“I love you.” Zach said and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

 

Fen