Two days before the court date was scheduled to happen- Linzee turned one.

It's a birthday neither of the four people who love her the most want her to forget, so they go all out. They buy her presents, someone finds a cake, and they take what feels like a million pictures. And it all started with Zacky hearing Adrienne sneak out of his house at 3am and Brian crashing out in the guest bedroom and Matt on the couch, instead of the other way around.

"So I'm guessing Brian got lucky last night? Thank God I decided to put Linzee in our room last night rather than their's" Zacky said sleepily as Matt followed him into the kitchen, looking like a zombie in search of a coffee pot rather than brains. Zacky grinned at his friend and ran a hand through his dark hair. All he could think about was the upcoming court date- and how hard he was going to have to fight to make sure Linzee stayed in his possession.

Before anyone could say anything, Brian's voice suddenly cried out from the top of the landing, yelling at the two of them to move into the hall. As they did, Zacky saw Brian holding Linzee's hands as he carried her, a crazy birthday cake hat on top of her head and her favourite purple Avenged Sevenfold babygro on. She looked like the happiest one year old in the world.

"Ladies, please welcome the newly one year old, Linzee!" Brian announced dramatically as he carried her down the stairs, a huge smile plastered across his face. Zacky had never seen his best friend so happy, not since before Jimmy had passed, and it was nice to see that familiar smile make a sudden reappearance.
He'd missed it, that's for sure.

"If I was a woman I'd still be sleeping right now, but no. I'm here watching you love my daughter way too much for your own good" Zacky admitted as he took Linzee from Brian and kissed her cheek, smiling down at her.

"Happy birthday, babygirl! You're probably not even gonna remember this is in seven or eight years, but I will. And I'll have so many pictures, you'll be begging me to put them away!" Zacky told his little girl, who laughed and smiled at him, even though she probably didn't know what he was talking about.

"Da-da!" she shrieked, and suddenly something flashed in front of the two of them. Once he'd recovered from the sudden shock of the flash, he looked over at Matt, who was holding a camera with a sheepish grin on his face, those dimples making an appearance for the first time that morning.
"I couldn't help myself- I'm sorry! You said so yourself, you wanted lots of pictures" Matt protested, holding up his hands in mock surrender as Zacky rolled his eyes.

"Where's the birthday baby? Or did I sleep through the birthday celebrations?" Keira's voice suddenly rang out from the top of the landing. She was wearing one of Zacky's hoodies and a pair of his basketball shorts, but she looked perfect. As she slipped down the stairs, she kissed Zacky softly and then kissed Linzee happily. The flash from the camera went off again, and Keira held her hands up in front of her face.

"Please, no pictures! I'm not make up ready!" she smiled, and wandered into the kitchen, probably to imitate Matt's coffee zombie. Matt followed, already looking down at the surprising photos he'd taken of the little family (that man would make an excellent paparazzi one day), but Brian and Zacky were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.
"I'll get it- it's probably just the mail" Zacky said, handing Linzee over to Brian and walking over to the door.

And, just like it had been when he'd first found his little girl, there was no one there.

Curiously, Zacky checked behind him to find the hallway empty too, and then looked down. If he'd learnt anything from the last time this had happened, it was that if you looked down- you'd probably find the reason why your doorbell had been rung.

It was a set of papers in a very official looking brown envelope- a fluorescent yellow post it note stuck on the top.

Picking up the envelope, Zacky tore of the note and looked down at the slanty scrawl, one that could only belong to one person- Val.
"Love her for me" was all it read, but with a little spark of hope, Zacky wondered if the papers were really what he thought they were. Opening the envelope carefully, he found it full of documents- the top one being the file for custody of Linzee.

And marked on it, with a big red stamp, was the word 'WITHDRAWN'.

She didn't want Linzee back. She's was Zacky's. Sure Val still wanted a divorce from Matt, which Zacky was sure he wouldn't mind granting her, but now...Linzee was his daughter.
He felt like jumping. Screaming, crying, laughing- anything that would get across just how damn happy he was.
His daughter was really his.

Closing the door lightly, and feeling like he was walking on a cloud with no ending, he walked back into the kitchen, where four pairs of curious eyes were watching him.
"Who was at the door?" Brian asked, flipping pancakes in one of the frying pans while Keira held Linzee on her lap, pretending to blow out the candles on her hat.
Without having to say anything, Zacky dumped the papers onto the counter, so everyone could see the big red word splashed across the tiny text.

"FUCK YEAH!" Brian suddenly yelled, bounding over to his friend and pulling him into a hug. Zacky couldn't even be bothered to tell him not to swear, because right now, he didn't care. Linzee was his daughter- he could teach her any curse word he damn well pleased. Once Brian had finally let him go and pulled Linzee off of Keira's lap, swinging her around in the air with a huge smile on his face, Keira attacked Zacky, pressing her lips up against his.

"You know what this means right?" she said suddenly, and Zacky shook his head, wondering what the woman in his arms was really thinking, now that he had full custody of Linzee.
"We're gonna be a family" she whispered, and he felt his heartbeat go up yet again. So she wanted in on this to? Well, Zacky thought, I could let her in just this once...
"You really want to join my messed up family, baby?" he asked, but she shushed him- because that answer was already written in stone.

"Shut up and kiss me, Baker. You know exactly what I want"

And that's exactly what he did.