The Wild Ride

A few days later, Peyton and Zack were at Matt and Val’s house, helping the new parents settle in with their son. Peyton and Val were in her bedroom, while Matt and Zack were outside playing with Lincoln. “So,” Val started, looking at the sleeping baby in her best friend’s arms, “I heard about what happened at the carnival. Want to talk about it?” Peyton looked at her friend and sighed. “Gena knows the right things to say that will set me off. I let my temper get the best of me, but I don’t regret it. She’s not going to keep thinking it’s okay to threaten me like that. Especially when it comes to Lincoln. She made me crash my car. I could have died, Lincoln could have died. And she just got away with it.” She said, voice cracking at the end. “I refuse to let something like that happen again, Val. After the accident and the shit with Jason, I don’t trust anyone anymore.” Val smiled sadly and placed her hand on Peyton’s knee, “Pey, I get it. I don’t trust the bitch either. But you can’t just haul off and hit her when she pisses you off. That’s how we go to jail and get assault charges.” She said, making Peyton laugh. “If she speaks to you in public, ignore her. If she says some kind of shit like that to you again in private where nobody is going to know you kicked her ass, then by all means. Beat the shit out of her. She fucking deserves it. I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll do whatever it takes to protect Lincoln. You’ve done it before.” Peyton nodded and smiled sadly down at baby River, “You know, it still haunts me. I’ll go in the garage and I’ll start shaking. My palms get all sweaty and I have to mentally calm myself down. I killed someone, Val. I watched him bleed out on my garage floor.” “Peyton. If you wouldn’t have shot him, he would have killed you and Lincoln. And that would have killed Zack. And me. And the rest of the guys. We can live without Jason in the world, but we absolutely cannot live without you in the world. If we had lost you right after we lost Jimmy, I don’t think any of us would have ever recovered.” Val said, eyes filling with tears. “You did what you had to do to protect yourself and your son. No one will ever think bad of you because of that. Jason was a volatile person. He beat you because you wanted to see your family. He deserved everything he got from you.” Peyton pulled her best friend into a one armed hug, “Thank you for always having my back, Val. You always know exactly what I need to hear.” “I do what I can.” Val said, making her best friend laugh. “Now come on, let’s go downstairs so I can see my godson.”


A little while later, Peyton and Zack had brought their son home for a nap, and Peyton decided to go out for a quick shopping trip while the boys were napping. She went to a few stores, picking up some new clothes for herself and Lincoln, before stopping by the grocery store to grab some stuff for dinner. When she got back home, Lincoln was awake and playing in the living room, while Zack was on the phone. “Mama!” The toddler shouted, seeing his mom walk in from the garage. “Hey sweet baby.” Peyton said, putting down her purchases and picking up her son. “Did you have a good nap?” Lincoln nodded and wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck. Zack finished his phone call and walked over to his wife and son. “He slept for like an hour and a half. Did you have a good shopping trip?” He asked, giving her a quick kiss. “I did. I got a few things for myself. I also picked up something for dinner.” She replied, putting her son down and turning around to look through the bags. “Oh, and I bought this for Linc.” She said, placing a folded up t shirt in her husband’s hands. She watched Zack carefully as he unfolded the shirt and studied it for a moment. His eyes went from the t shirt to Peyton and back to the t shirt before finally landing on his wife. “Seriously?” He asked, turning around the shirt, which had the words “big brothers rock” on the front, with a guitar on the side. “Yep. I found out yesterday morning. I just wanted to find the right way to tell you.” Peyton said cautiously. Zack’s face lit up and he tossed the shirt on the counter before grabbing his wife and spinning her in circles. “Finally! I can’t believe it!” He shouted over her giggles. “Linc monster, you’re going to be a big bro!” He said, looking down at his son. “Mama is having a baby!” “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!” Lincoln cheered, jumping up and down. “Do you think he really knows what that means or he’s just excited because we are?” Zack asked with a laugh. “Oh he has no fucking idea.” Peyton giggled.

Peyton and Zack spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their son, and after his bath Zack volunteered to get him to bed while Peyton relaxed on the couch. “Okay, he’s knocked out.” He sighed, walking down the stairs. Once he reached the couch, he lifted his wife’s legs so he could sit down, and laid her legs in his lap. “So, when do you want to tell everyone? You can’t hide it much, you won’t be drinking. Johnny will figure it out in no time.” Zack chuckled. “We can tell them this weekend, but you have to keep it quiet at the studio.” Peyton said, looking at her husband accusingly. “What? I don’t blab.” Zack defended. “Zack, who was the one that told the guys about us trying for another one? Brian asked me the day after Linc’s party if I had a bun in the oven yet.” Peyton chuckled. “Okay, Okay. It was me. I promise I won’t blab. We’ll tell them this weekend.” He said with a smile. “This also means we’re going to need a new house.” “Babe we do not need a new house. We have plenty of room. We can just turn the babe cave into a bedroom.” Peyton argued. “No, that isn’t fair. If I have a special room you get one too. We'll just buy a new house. Besides, I’ve been wanting to move for a while now. We need a fresh start. And a bigger backyard.” Zack replied. Peyton thought about what her husband was saying and she knew he was right. They needed to get away from the everyday reminder of what happened with Jason in their garage. “Okay,” she sighed, placing her hand in Zack’s “You’re right. Let’s get a new house.”

Notes