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Title: First Halloween
December 2010 — Rockerfeller Center, New York
Laughing as he helped Gracie to her feet in the lower plaza of Rockerfeller Center, Zac said, “Whoa! Your lips are blue!”
Gracie giggled. “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you lose track of time ice-skating,” she replied and stuck out her tongue.
Zac grinned. “Why don’t you come back to the hotel with me and get some hot chocolate. My room has a really nice fireplace we can sit by,” he suggested.
Gracie nodded. “Yeah, okay,” she agreed. “That sounds… warm.” They both laughed again. It was, after all, Christmas in New York City.
The two made it off the ice without incident and changed from their skates to their boots. Then they caught a cab to Zac’s hotel as it was much too cold to be walking anywhere and they were already chilled to the bone. During the cab ride it started to snow and by the time they made it to the hotel it was an all-out blizzard. Visibility was bad and the pair had to hold on to each other just so they wouldn’t lose one another from the curb to the front door. They laughed and brushed snow off each other as they made their way to the bank of elevators on the other side of the lobby.
Halfway through the elevator ride, the lights flickered then went out, the elevator car stopped suddenly and the emergency lights came on. Gracie looked at Zac with raised brows. “What just happened?” she asked.
Zac sighed and said, “It must be the storm. Probably knocked the power out and these are run by the generator.”
“Shoulda known something like this would happen,” Gracie muttered. “I always have luck like this.”
Zac smirked at her. “Oh really? How many other rock stars have you gotten stuck in an elevator with?”
Gracie grinned. “Okay, so you’re the first.” She stuck her tongue out at him and there was a small pause in conversation. “I’m still cold,” she said. “I want that hot chocolate damn it.” She pouted and wrapped her arms around herself.
Zac tried to hide his smile and unzipped his coat. “Come here,” he told her. Gracie raised an eyebrow in question. “We’ll share body heat,” he explained. “Now come here. I’m cold too ya know.” Gracie rolled her eyes and stepped up to Zac, letting him pull her close and wrap the jacket he was still wearing around her as best as he could.
Gracie leaned into Zac, enjoying his strong arms wrapped around her. “This is nice,” she whispered after a few moments.
“Yeah, it is,” Zac agreed his voice soft with a hint of something that Gracie couldn’t put her finger on, but knew it sent a thrill through her. She leaned back a little to look up at him and he was staring down at her with big, soulful brown eyes.
“Zac?” she asked quietly, unsure. But then Zac was leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. Gracie moaned softly and reached up to wrap her arms around Zac’s neck. She fisted her hands in his hair as the kiss deepened, heat seeping into both bodies as their tongues danced. Zac’s hands made their way under Gracie’s coat and shirt, his palms skimmed over her soft skin making her shiver. “Zac,” she whispered, just a breath of a word.
“Gracie,” he replied, his voice an octave lower than before, deep with lust. Their eyes connected and just as they did the lift jolted and began to move, the emergency lights went out and the normal ones came on.
You’d think the moment would be over, but it wasn’t. It continued in Zac’s room. Clothes were shed and kisses were shared. They touched and loved and let the fire of passion warm their hearts, souls, their bodies. They let it take over and consume them, a fire so hot it burned away the chill in their bones from the frigid New York weather. And when it was over they laid together, both spent.
Zac kissed Gracie’s temple as he held her close. “This was the perfect end to a day that started out the complete opposite,” he murmured.
“Yeah,” Gracie replied quietly. But as she laid there the guilt began to eat away at her until it was too much. She sat up and clutched the sheets to her chest with one hand while the other ran through her damp locks. “Jesus, Zac, what have we done?”
“What do you mean?” Zac asked as he sat up beside her.
“You’re married!” she exclaimed as got off the bed and began to gather her clothes up and throw them back on. Gracie couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid.
“I know,” Zac said quietly. “But we’re going through a rough time. I don’t think we’re going to make it.”
Gracie threw a glare over her shoulder at him. “Doesn’t matter.” Her voice was almost a growl. “This shouldn’t have happened. You’re still married and you just cheated on your wife with me.”
“It takes two to tango,” Zac spit as he got up and pulled on his boxers.
Gracie’s shoulders slumped and she turned to the younger man. “Yeah, I know that. I’m not saying you’re completely at fault here,” she told him.
Zac’s expression softened when he saw the absolute guilt written on Gracie’s face. He strode over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, bent down to kiss her forehead. “You’re really upset,” he stated. Gracie could only nod as she looked down at her painted toe nails. “Why? It’s not like you even know Kate.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Gracie whispered. “My mom…” She sighed. “My dad cheated on my mom for years and… it’s been over twenty years since they got divorced and she’s still not over it. I can’t be the other woman, Zac.” She looked up into brown eyes, her blue ones dark and moist. “You can understand that, right?”
Zac nodded. “But I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I think I’m falling for you.”
There was a tense moment of silence. Then Gracie pushed Zac away, pulled her boots on and headed for the door, coat in hand. “Why?” she asked. “Why did you tell me that?”
“Because it’s true,” Zac answered taking a step towards her.
“I’m not going to be the other woman, no more than I have been already. If you’re ever single and you still feel the same… look me up.” With that, Gracie headed out the door and left Zac feeling alone and empty.
Author: Amanda W.
Prompt: Hocus Pocus
Pairing: Zac / OFC [Gracie]
Rating: PG
Author's Note: Not very Halloween-y, not sure how this happened!
Warning: adultery
Word Count: 2,091
Halloween 2011
“If you’re ever single and you still feel the same… look me up.”
Those words rang through Zac’s head as he pushed the doorbell at fifty-eight Palace Lane. The divorce had been finalized just a month previously and he was hoping that Gracie had been serious when she’d told him that ten months ago.
After a moment of nothing, Zac raised his hand the ring the bell again when he heard a muffled voice from the other side of the door call out. “Coming!” Then the door was swung open and standing there was Gracie dressed as a witch and in her arms was a tiny infant that looked no more than a few weeks old in a black cat costume. “Zac,” Gracie stated eyes wide.
As Zac stared at the baby, the gears in his head started to whir and he was sure, he was more than sure, but he wanted to hear her say it. “Is that… am I the father?” he asked.
Gracie worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Maybe you should come in.” Zac nodded and let her show him inside. Gracie turned off the porch light so trick-or-treaters wouldn’t come looking for candy and led Zac from the foyer to the living room. Zac sat down on the couch and Gracie sat across from him on the coffee table with the small baby in her arms. “Do you want to hold him?” she asked.
“I need you to answer my question first,” Zac told her.
Gracie nodded slowly. “Yeah, you’re his father.” Once she had said that, Zac held out his arms for the little boy and Gracie handed him over, her eyes filling with tears as she took off her witch’s hat.
Zac made a face when he noticed the tears. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Gracie answered, swiping her fingers under her eyes. “It’s just… I’ve waited for what seems like forever for this day to come.”
Zac looked down at the baby in his arms who stared up at him with bright blue eyes. “What’s his name?”
“Charles Anthony Hanson,” Gracie said. “But we call him Charlie.”
“We?” Zac raised an eyebrow in question.
“Me, my friends, my mom, the rest of my family.”
Zac nodded and looked back down at his son. His son. “How… how old?”
“Four weeks.”
Zac nodded again. “When were you going to tell me?” There was a hint of an edge to his voice as he spoke through gritted teeth.
“I was hoping you’d come back,” Gracie whispered softly. “I wanted you to come back because you wanted to, not because you felt you had to.” Zac opened his mouth to protest but Gracie stopped him. “Yes, you would have, Zac. I know you, even if we only spent one day together, I know you. Once you found out about Charlie you would have done the ‘honorable’ thing.” She took a breath and wiped sweaty hands on the skirt of her witch’s costume. “But you came back on your own… tell me why.”
Zac looked down at Charlie and then back up at Gracie. There were tears running down her face and all Zac wanted to do was pull her close and dry her eyes. “Where can I put him down?” he asked. Gracie looked surprised. “I need to put him down so I can do something I’ve been waiting ten months to do,” he told her.
Gracie wiped at her face. “Um, you can put him in his swing.” She pointed to a nearby infant swing. Zac carefully got up and walked over to the swing. He gently set Charlie in the seat and strapped him in, then turned the swing on so it swayed gently back and forth.
Zac made sure Charlie was happy and settled before going back over to Gracie. He took her gently by the hand and pulled her to her feet. Then he wrapped his arms around her tightly and sighed. “It’s been a long ten months,” he murmured against her ear.
Gracie pressed her face into Zac’s shirt, inhaled deeply and nodded. “Too long,” she replied, her voice muffled by the cotton fabric. Then, “Tell me why you came back.”
Zac took Gracie by the hand and sat on the couch with her, never letting go of her hand, his thumb rubbing circles over her knuckles. “I came back because I couldn’t stop thinking about you; I couldn’t stop wanting you. The divorce took forever,” he explained. “And when I tried to get joint custody of the kids Kate said she didn’t even know if they were mine. I had paternity tests done and…” Zac stopped to take a breath, tears welling his eyes. It still hurt so damn much.
“Oh god, Zac,” Gracie murmured. “Are either of them…?” Zac could only shake his head no. Gracie didn’t know what to say, so she just pulled Zac close and let him cry into her shoulder.
When Zac had cried his fill, he pulled back with a slight chuckle. “I thought our reunion would be emotional, but not like this,” he joked.
Gracie gave him a sympathetic smile. “You okay?” she asked.
“I um…” Zac cleared his throat. “A month ago, I lost both my kids and now…” He looked over at Charlie in his swing and said softly, “Now I’ve got a new one.” He turned back to Gracie. “And I’ve got you. I mean, if you still want me?”
Gracie’s eyes had moistened listening to Zac, but now she smiled at him. “I’ve wanted you since the moment we met, Zac,” she told him. “I just didn’t think I could have you.” She shrugged.
“I’m here now,” Zac said. “I’m here and I’m all yours. You can keep me for as long as you want me.”
“How’s forever?” Gracie asked.
Zac grinned. “I think I could be okay with that.” Then he leaned in and kissed Gracie softly. The pair spent the rest of the night handing out candy and documenting their baby’s first Halloween with pictures and videos; their first Halloween as a family.