Who: Anna and Z
What: Old friends reunite
When: Monday March 21st -evening
Where: Anna's house
Rating: Pg-13 -just in cases
Status: In progress



Landon didn't know where Anna would be, but his first thought was to wander and see if anything came of it. Since the last time he saw her, he hadn't been able to get her out of his head by any means (not that he was actually trying to.) He turned on her street, figuring she wouldn't probably be home right now, but it was worth a chance, right?

Anna was relaxing on the couch after a long day of being barked at by a cranky Brandon. Sometimes she thought maybe he was the one who had the pregnancy hormones instead of Grace she had a lot more ups and downs than he did. She sighed and flipped through the channels, glad she had changed into her pajamas, a nice quiet evening at home was what she needed right now.

Making his way down the street, he stopped in front of her house, debating whether to knock or not. Still standing there for a good two minutes, he set everything aside and went up to knock on the door, unknowing what to say if he saw her blonde locks, or her slender face.

She heard the knock and sighed knowing if it wasn't cranky pants Brandon it was probably needy Grace and as much as she loved her sister in law she really did but was it too much to ask to have one night to herself? Then again, it could be Vonnie too looking to get into some mischief, that was enough to get her off her ass and over to the door. She opened it and nearly fell over when she saw who was standing there "You are...definitely not Vonnie or my pregnant sister in law..."

He waited for her to answer the door and he definitely not expecting that greeting. "Hello darling, I'm not sure who exactly Vonnie is, but I am for sure not your pregnant sister in law." he had keep himself from laughing at the next part, "why? do I look it?" He was hoping he'd help brighten her already stressful day, as it seemed.

"She's a...a friend of mine." Anna replied, feeling like a loser when she heard the stammer. It had been a while since she had seen him and even though she had never told him what he had done to her when he went off with Ava, there had been a lot of time and a hell of a lot more heartbreak between then and now so why did he still have this effect on her. "ou here visiting Faith?"

He shook his head, " Not really. Just took a plane, a taxi and walked here from alan's." he cleared his throat and shook his head again "Change of plans, Colorado's my home now." His accent was still strong as ever, "I broke up with Ava."

"Ah, back again are we? England get too boring for you?" She didn't blink when he mentioned leaving Ava but her heart skipped a beat. Z was single and standing at her doorstep....maybe she was reading into things, jumping to conclusions was what she was best at, and it was what got her heart broken the last time. "I'm sorry.." she said softly

"England could never compare to the people here, not my dad, or Ava. I just picked up and left." he thought for a moment about what he was going to say next until Anna said she was sorry, then he shrugged it off with a short but small laugh, "What's done, shall remain done and never be undone. I was a complete idiot."

Anna cocked her head to the side and regarded him with a careful frown. "You up and left her?...does she know she's broken up with?" She was being rude and, well aware of that fact with that comment and by making no move to invite him in. She just wasn't sure if she could trust him, or herself around him."

"Well of course I told her, I'm not heartless Anna.. How could I be with someone while.." he paused for a moment to regain a little composure and probably confidence as well, "London's my past now, I'm not going back to that." He really did want to finish his first sentence but he didn't know how he could.

She took a breath and decided she was being too hard on him. It wasn't his fault he fell for Ava, she never had any sort of claim on him so she had no right to treat him like a leper. She plastered on a fake smile and moved from the doorway "Did you want to come in or, did you enjoy having a conversation via my doorstep?"

He hoped that she knew what he had been trying to say, it's not easy to be engaged to one woman, while thinking about another. Nor was it fair to Ava that he kept doing so. Anna had kept haunting his mind for days, weeks, an before he knew it, she was all he could think about. "Sure, if it's really okay with you. It is great to see you by the way." he gave a small smirk to agree with what he said.

She motioned with her head for him to enter and stepped inside the -way too large for one person but she didn't want to insult her brother who was worried about her and wanted to keep her close- house. "You too." she replied, with a genuine smile this time, hating herself for being so easy. "Uhm, do you want a drink or something?"

He walked inside, seeing how spacious it was. "wow, nice place." he said nervously. He did feel kind of awkward, but only because he hadn't told Anna about anything really too important. "Water's fine. I think my Liver's on protest." he rolled his eyes at that, "jack and i had too many one night stands on dad's boat." And he meant that too. It was so he could think, but like Jack made anything clear.

Anna shrugged "Brando never does anything half assed." She moved into the kitchen area which was a foot or so away from the door thanks to open concept living. "Never thought I'd hear you say that..." she replied with a laugh, grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge and handing one to him "I seem to recall you and Jack being best buds..."

He nodded, still trying to remember what went on half the time, "We were, until the night he brought Jim and Jose with him, then it was a frat party, on a boat, a little ways into the Atlantic." he took a sip of his already opened water, "that's also the night they all convince me that Ava wasn't the one.. and that someone else is."

"Ah yeah I guess that's enough to scare anyone away. Though, I remember a few nights where you handled a lot more than that with no problems.." she replied with a laugh and took a sip of her own water, raising an eyebrow when he spoke of this 'someone else' "Ah well, congratulations..."

He ran a hand through his hair, "Congrats? I don't even know who she is yet." he calmed himself down "Anna, I'm sorry for leaving. It doesn't change the fact, no, but.." he really didn't know what else he could say with out digging a hole. "I can still remember what happened at comicon,like it was yesterday."

"Oh I thought you meant you had ...sorry..." she mumbled and looked down with a sigh, hurray she real stepped in it...as usual. She sighed and shook her head at his apology "You don't need to apologize to me Z, I had no claim to you, we weren't anything....we fooled around at a convention it's not like we were married..." She drank more of her water, biting back a comment about Stephen.

"Kind of, but she doesn't know it yet and I intend to keep it that way.. or at least confess to her how much of an ass I was." he sighed when she said he didn't need apologize, "I do need to, because two months after I left, I realized that Faith wasn't the only woman who cared about me, that I left behind.. the only one left behind should have been her, here, when I left for London." He put his hands in his pockets, hoping that was a little more you there with some information.

Suddenly she realized who he was talking about her breath caught in her throat and she swallowed hard, still trying to keep her cool and figure out how the hell she was supposed to react to that."Maybe you should just tell her...never got anywhere by beating around the bush..." she said, leaning forward on the counter in front of her, deciding to be sure before she made an ass of herself.

He smiled, "You should have been the one in London with me, she should never even showed up.. how easily i got roped in" he was next to her at the counter now, "but traveling blind is not a life one wants, and I should have took control.. instead of gave her a stupid ring." he set his chin on his arms, "I'm still waiting for you to yell at me, because I know it's coming."

Anna shook her head, trying not to get too invested in his words, the last time she fell for the words of a boy she was crushing on she ended up married and divorced within a month there was no way she was going to do that again. "I'm not going to yell at you Z because honestly, you don't deserve it."

He nodded, "Well, I pretty much already got an ear full from my sister, but okay, I don't deserve one. Do I at least deserve to be called something? That I know you probably have thought about. Ass, douche, prick.. anything?" He knew she didn't deserve what he had done, but the least he could do was try to make her feel better at any cost, and that even meant verbal punching bag. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Maybe you deserved it from her but, I've got no claims against you." She retorted, finishing her water secretly wishing it was Jack instead. She snorted when he asked what had happened in his absence "You got a few hours?" she asked with a shake of her head

"that much?" he asked curiously. He was disappointed to know now that something happened that he wasn't able to protect her from. "That's why I'm sorry. Oh, did you have your baby?" he asked as well because last time he knew she'd been pregnant.

She nodded "I did...earlier than expected he was sick at first but he's a lot better now...Faith and Nick have him..." she looked down and sighed, this was all too much for her right now, him talking about feelings, asking about Parker, all there was left was for him to talk about Stephen and Chy and he would hit all of her least favorite topics. "I don't ...see him a lot."

He nodded, "I'm sorry it had to be that way. And I feel like I over stepped my bounds.. It's my own fault.. Ask me some things for a change." he did figure though that he'd look for some sign she still wanted him around but this was an intense conversation.

She shrugged "It's fine, was my choice he's better off with them...I'm surprised Faith didn't tell you that you had a nephew....niece too if I recall correctly.." she shrugged again, hardly thinking that her kids would be something Faith would forget about mentioning to her own brother which made her think he was up to something. "What is going on here really Z? Why did you really come here?"

He nodded, "I know of them, yes.L and then she asked the question that he thought she would. "I came back home, to set things right. I hurt you, Alan, and Faith way before I left. The entire time I was with Ava was a blur, but Evergreen is my new home, this is where I'm supposed to be. And I actually liked you from the start." he finished off his water.

She scoffed "So what? You think you can just show up here and sweep me off my feet like a little schoolgirl? Hate to say it Z but it's a little more complicated than that and, not just because of Ava and then you leaving..."

He threw up his hands on the defensive, "I'll go then. I was only trying to talk to you and let you know that you were important. That was all, I'll be going then." He turned around and started to walk away and then turned back, "I wont just come out and ask you why.. you know that."

She bit her lip and watched as he turned to go, there she went pushing away the people who cared about her as always...she had done it with her family forever ago, then Chy, Nick, Faith, Stephen and now Z for the second time...she was getting far too good at it, it had to stop. "Zavier wait.." She moved away from the counter and went to him, grabbing his arm just as he turned back and spoke again. "It's....a long story which starts and ends with me being my often moronic self. I...got married...technically I am still married until the papers go through..." she looked down and dropped his arm "He left. Just like...Chy and you and Landon and I just..." she looked up at him again "I can't go through that again not right now I am barely staying afloat as it is..."

He listened to her as she talked and was rather shocked to find out she'd been married. "Married? Uh.. wow. Though.. papers.. I'm sorry to hear that ending." he brushed a piece of hair out of her face and thought about what she said, "Not moronic. Absolutely never moronic, you're just misunderstood, and there's always a way to make life better. There is a way to take back your life." Of course he wasn't just preaching any mambo jumbo, but experience from himself. He let things get so out of hand that he was no longer the happy one.

She sighed and stared at the floor, unable to look back up at him for the life of her, she just couldn't bear to look in his eyes and see pity or disgust there. "It was completely moronic, I am well aware of this...I knew him for a month and a half we had only been together a few weeks...." she shook her head and sighed "There's no saving me now Z, I am long past taking anything back. I exist, that's all I can really claim..."

He couldn't believe what she was saying. The girl he knew with so much spirit to fight anything, "I call bullshit on that. You are the most stubborn person I know, other than my sister. You can kick everyone in the ass and start worrying about you." He pondered for a minute about the only knowing her ex a few weeks, "People do crazy things, I myself only knew Ava for a month or two, and the I asked her to marry me? I couldn't tell you what I was thinking... you don't take something like that back, all you do is break it and leave it.. it's a learning experience."

"Wish I could say I was still that girl..." she replied with a shake of her head "I've got no fight left, one too many 'learning experiences' for my liking. She moved away from him, shuffling into the living room, part of her wishing she had let him go, he was better off without her adding her drama to his life but something just wouldn't let her let him walk away.

He shook his head, "You never stop learning." naturally, he followed her to the living room, "You may feel like it's the bottom of everything, but it's a new road. You get back up, you dust yourself back off, and you go ahead and tell everyone they're wrong." He was kind of figuring that she wouldn't budge so easily but he wanted her to understand.

She flopped onto the couch and closed her eyes, trying really hard not to cry. She swallowed hard and forced herself to look back up at him again "They aren't wrong Z, I am wrong, I am...everything they say I am and I always have been. The only difference is, now I don't have the energy to pretend like they aren't."

He sat down next to her, "I don't believe it, but then again I wasn't here. I can tell you though that I did figure it rude to be engaged to someone but constantly thinking about someone who wasn't going to be your future wife. And then dial a number and hang up before it even rang.. You have to get back up.."

He shook his head, "I don't believe that, then again, I wasn't here. but I can tell you that it's rude to be engaged to someone and thinking about someone else constantly. It's also rude to keep dialing numbers and not waiting for it to ring before hanging up. Anna, you

She sighed, knowing he was referring to her being the someone else and where most girls would be flattered and swoony over it, the negative nelly in her couldn't help but see it as another relationship ruined thanks to her and her home wrecking ways. "And if I don't want to be up?" she asked, giving him the stare down

He was going to tell her straight out. "Then you'll be stuck where you are, never moving forward, never knowing what to do. Pushing people away that want to help you, and losing the friends you've got.."He couldn't believe that he'd said all of that outright, but it was the truth and he was willing to tell her the truth no matter the cost.

"I've been doing that my whole life, safe to say I am used to it." she spit back, not meaning for it to come out as nasty as it had. "I bounce around, never in one place doing one thing for too long, never keep friends or relationships because apparently I won't let myself have them, I always gotta push them away and I am sick and tired of fighting that urge and loosing."

"I've been doing that my whole life, safe to say I am used to it." she spit back, not meaning for it to come out as nasty as it had. "I bounce around, never in one place doing one thing for too long, never keep friends or relationships because apparently I won't let myself have them, I always gotta push them away and I am sick and tired of fighting that urge and loosing."

He did admit it sounded harsh, but he really wanted to hear what she had to say. "exactly, but you have to pick up the piece of your old self and rebuild a new one.. you're a great person and shouldn't deserve to fall father than this.. you shouldn't have fallen in the first place." he sat back against the couch more, "and I didn't exactly come here to woo you.. but it's kind of looking like it. I'm sorry."

She listened to him speak, she tried to shrug it off, tried to act like it didn't matter, like his words meant nothing, like he meant nothing but she wasn't sure what was driving her at that moment, emotions had been all over the place for a while now she really had no idea what she was/should be feeling. She leaned over and kissed him softly, not sure why but, she had given up on stopping herself from doing this shit now.

He sure was taken back by the kiss and didn't move for the first 10 seconds after it to try and comprehend what just happened. Once he caught on that she kissed him, he though it was safe enough to giver a kiss back as well. The kiss didn't feel anymore different than it did before he left, none that it didn't have a feeling, because it did. But to him, the feeling of kissing her still made him smile.

She leaned in closer when he returned her kiss, cupping his cheek, practically pulling his face into hers. She knew this was wrong, and that a random hookup with...whatever Z was to her wouldn't heal her broken heart or her shattered self esteem but the loneliness working with all the nostalgia of their brief time together was working it's magic and making her forget all about the other factors.

It sort of felt like he never left, but he knew better. As she cupped his face and brought him a little closer to her in some ways, he let one of his hands tangle in her hair. His other hand went to rest on the small of her back and he was slowly pulling her closer to him. He didn't want to get lost in this moment, but he just couldn't help it right now.

She went with his small pull, moving to sit in his lap, lips leaving his only for the occasional breath of air she unfortunately still needed. She flashed back to the hotel room in San Diego, she probably would have slept with him that day had Faith not come back from the convention early. She had ended up hiding in the bathroom for an hour until Faith and Z went for dinner. For some reason, her brain was not letting her think of anything but that amazing trip.

He will admit that he smiled when she got onto his lap, almost like nothing ever happened during his time gone, or her and Stephen. It was clearly obvious now that they still had an attraction to one another, but he still wondered if that's what it would always be and nothing else. He pushed the thought from his mind for right now not wanting to ruin the moment with anything.

Every fiber of her being was telling her to strip him down and take him right then and there on the couch however, she was still a little gun shy when sex was involved, she hadn't actually had any kind of sex since before she found out she was pregnant -a fact she hadn't shared with anyone, including Vonnie- So, for now she settled on one hand remaining on his cheek and the other gripping the front of his shirt tightly.

He let the hand that was sitting at the small of her back start brushing along her spine. He didn't know how far any of this would go, but he didn't think about i either. His mind was going through flashes of when he saw her last, and mainly stayed on the thought of her in the costume for the convention. He remembered the note that was attached to his costume which he had left for him. As much as he disliked that he would have to break the kiss, he needed to breath, but only for a moment before connecting their lips again.

The combination of his touch and his lips was sending little tingles of electricity through her entire body she didn't want to stop, she wanted to stay in his arms for as long as possible only problem was, negative nelly was starting to kick in again. She pulled away slowly "Wait...no...we can't..." she shook her head "I'm sorry...." She wanted to run, to get up and retreat to her room, hide under her warm blankets and never come out again but she found herself unable to move.

He nodded his head agreeing with her, "Okay." he said taking a deep breath. He really did wonder why she wasn't moving, not that there was any problem of her sitting on him like that. He swallowed hard before speaking, "I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have done that."

She shook her head, for once she wasn't going to blame this on him or anyone else, this was all her. "No Z it's...not you I'm just..." She sighed and closed her eyes "An idiot..." she mumbled "You...deserve better than me.." Her legs decided to co-operate finally, which made her slowly begin to crawl out of his lap.

"Okay, It's not me.. It's you, yes." he said nodding his head along. "Anna, me liking you isn't about what anybody deserves.. neither of us is a damn prize in some contest..deserve? I like you even without any extra stuff that might be thrown in.. deserve" he repeated again as she was climbing of his legs, "What?"

"It's not just about us Zavier...or how we feel..." she was a litle angry now, managing to get off his lap and back to her feet. "I am...not good right now like at all I pretend for my family and my friends but I am so far from okay...and what about Faith? I highly doubt she is going to be happy, she never wanted us to be together before now she actually has a valid reason to hate me....and you, you just got out of an engagement to another girl, how do you know this isn't some rebound for you? Go back to the girl you almost had until your heart heals and then you go after the next waitress or bartender.." she shook her head and continued to rant "Or worse, I pull a me and chase you away, fuck you up so bad that you wish you had never met me...it's too much I just...I can't..."

He sat there for a minute processing all of that, "Us? As far as I know right now there isn't an us, the hasn't been.. Yes, I like you, probably more than I'm willing to admit right now. Thank you for making it very clear that I just got out of a relationship, because gee, I didn't know that. Faith is happy with who she is, and who she's with.. And you.." he almost had the nerve to say something against her but he wasn't here to fight with her "you..." He just couldn't get it out. He stood up and straightened his jacket a bit, "and walked toward the door, "I have nothing against you."

She stood there and listened to him, wishing they were enough to convince her brain otherwise but right now her fears and insecurities were what was driving her. She let him talk, let him get up and walk away, just like she had let everyone else do, just what she deserved. "Not yet, but eventually you will." she replied softly, turning away from him, unable to stop the cascade of tears from flowing freely. Everyone leaves, that was just how it was she knew she was going to have to come to terms with it eventually but right now, all she wanted to do was sleep.

Zavier turned around and saw Anna spin around. He walk over to her and put his arm around her, "you know it's your call. Do you want me to leave, or do you want me to stay? I'm not going to disappear from your life."

She sighed and leaned into his arms, part of her wanted him to just go, to leave her in her misery like she deserved but the lonely pining side of her who was still flashing back to all the good times they had wasn't letting go just yet. "I just don't want to hurt you..." she whispered



TO BE CONTINUED......