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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 1, 2009 2:58:37 GMT -5
Zach exhaled and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Look... I made a mistake with you. Actually, I made a lot of mistakes. But the big one was that I should never have let Taylor intimidate me into leaving."
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Suzie... Baby or no baby, I want to be with you... but Taylor is an obstacle. I owe him a lot of money, and Thatcher will only help me pay it off if there's a baby and it's mine."
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 1, 2009 3:06:53 GMT -5
Suzie's eyes closed and she let out a long, slow breath. That was what she wanted to hear from him this whole time, and he still said it even without a baby.
She sighed, and looked at Zach when her eyes opened. "I have money, Zach. I just... I have to be careful how I get to it, or my father will know where I am. How much do you owe him?" She asked, not caring what the sum was. They would figure this out... together. For the first time since she got here, she finally believed it.
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 1, 2009 3:16:16 GMT -5
Zach frowned. "I don't want you to have to bail me out of my mess," he said. He didn't want to admit just how much he owed, and he really didn't want her to pay the debt against him. It felt wrong to make her pay when he was the one who had screwed up.
"We could just run away together... just hit the road and never look back. My family... they expect me to run. Everyone does. Come with me. It'll be like old times... Just you and me together..."
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 1, 2009 3:20:26 GMT -5
Suzie bit her lip, her jaw bouncing slightly as she worked her lip, thinking about it. Part of her really wanted to. What she wouldn't give to just leave everything behind and runaway with him, living a gypsy life with the man she knew she loved.
But she was pregnant, and there was still Taylor to deal with.
"If we do this, we're going to have to run for a long time. Taylor will be so angry."
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 1, 2009 3:31:29 GMT -5
"Let's just run forever," he said. "I have nothing holding me here, not really... We'll live by our wits. The hell with Taylor, with Thatcher and Tanya... Let's just leave it all behind. We'll figure out a way."
He couldn't think of any other way. All he knew was that things made more sense when they were together, and he was tired of so many people interfering in their lives. He just wanted to be with her, and let the rest of the world be damned.
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 1, 2009 3:39:42 GMT -5
Suzie fought the smile that threatened to pull at her lips.
"Yeah?" She asked. "Do you really mean, it Zach? I can get some money to hold us for a while, and it will give us time to figure out what to do when we run out of it. But you... you're sure?"
The smile she hid didn't matter anyway. Her eyes gave away how badly she wanted this for them. She would have a little time before she had to admit that she really was pregnant, too.
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 1, 2009 3:53:05 GMT -5
As an answer, Zach got up from where he was sitting and walked up to her, putting his hands on either side of her face as he kissed her deeply. "Yes, I'm sure. Let's just get the hell out of here."
It was reckless, it was crazy, it was stupid. He didn't care. Everyone expected him to run. Why not give them what they wanted?
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 1, 2009 13:26:19 GMT -5
Suzie let that smile take over finally. They could do this. It was reckless and stupid and they should probably sit down and think things out a lot. They needed a plan... what if something happened, how would they handle it?
"I need a little bit of time," she said softly. "I'll get us some money. And then... yes. Let's run away. You mean it?" She asked again, checking.
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 1, 2009 14:16:44 GMT -5
Zach nodded. "OK. I'll get you a hotel room for a couple of nights... I'll act like everything is normal with my brother... I'll just pretend I'm looking for you."
He kissed her again, closing his eyes and losing himself in her. It had been too long since he'd allowed himself to feel and to hope. Even though he knew this idea was dangerous and foolish, he couldn't bear the thought of letting her go again. Not now that she was back in his life. "Do what you need to do... but don't let Thatcher or Tanya see you. If I think we need an ally to help stall, I'll tell Justin what we're planning. We'll leave Friday night."
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Post by Derek Burke on Jan 1, 2009 19:27:17 GMT -5
When they began talking Derek had gone to the bar to give them privacy even though he could still hear them. If he wanted he could hear them in his room. The momentary possessiveness he carried for his place in general struck at him but he let that slide in favor of the lie Suzie had told. He knew she was pregnant, and if Zach didn't do the right thing Derek wasn't going to be liable for his actions.
When it came down to it Derek was still a man of great honor, and while he would despise a forced marriage or trickery, the innocent child deserved to have a father. By the sound of it Taylor wouldn't make the best one of those. Derek's mind spun, there was damage to control and it wasn't his to deal with but Zach and him were closer than brothers and therefore Derek would adopt the problem as his own. Luckily debt wasn't a problem with Derek, his investments were all sound and all making quite a nifty profit. Unlike Zach, Derek had nearly quadrupled his holdings in his "gambling" or investing and the properties all only seemed to be doing well and would prosper even more over time. Money, was the last thing Derek had to worry about.
Still he thought it would have been simpler to handle the man in a different manner. Zach didn't just owe the man money, he had taken the man's fiance and gotten her pregnant. That required a significant amount of damage control.
For a brief moment he could feel Thatcher's annoyance and hesitation. He would help Zach out of course, but would Zach just run again? Leaving Thatcher, Tanya, and Suzie to pick up his mess? Would he be able to stay the course? To fight for what he wanted?
Derek smiled a bit, for a woman like Suzie, maybe the man would stay around after all. Derek was different than Zach, he confronted his problems head on, and usually with enough force to make the problem cower in fear and then run away. Of course, he did this at times when diplomacy was a better option, but was usually good at juggling affairs.
He sighed, pouring himself a drink he went to look out the window and wait for the couple to reemerge.
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 2, 2009 2:34:24 GMT -5
Suzie shook her head, and had to fight to keep the scowl off of her face. "Unless you've got a significant amount of power in this city, too, I'm not sure that there's a hotel that will take me, thanks to your friend out there." Sure, they had truced, but it was still a long day she had spent walking all over this place. She sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. Eventually, she would have to come clean and tell Zach that she was, in fact, pregnant.
"Zach... if we do this... you can't just leave me in some random country. I don't know if I can be that strong."
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 2, 2009 2:57:15 GMT -5
Zach smiled. "Susie, darling, no one in this town would dare deny a Scotts," he said confidently. "But what do you mean? What happened? Did you and Derek have some problems?"
His confidence slipped another notch when she said something about him leaving her in another country. Why was everyone so damn convinced that he was going to leave her? He had hoped that Susie, of all people, would have had more faith in him than that. She had been the only person who had ever really believed in him.
"I'm not going to leave you," he said, touching her cheek. "What do I have to do to convince you of this?"
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 2, 2009 3:11:45 GMT -5
Suzie glanced at the door, as if she was somehow glancing at Derek. "I just don't think Derek likes me very much, that's all. It's fine though, Zach. We... we made a truce."
Her attention was drawn back to him as he touched her cheek, and she ached for another of his kisses. "I don't know, Zach. You made promises in California too, and I just... I want to believe in you like I did then. I really do."
But she wasn't the only one that would depend on him now, and she just wanted assurances.
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 2, 2009 3:36:57 GMT -5
Zachary pulled her into his arms and held her close to him. "I didn't want to leave," he said. "I wouldn't have left, if not for the debt. I wanted to stay... I've never wanted to stay in one place, with one person, before. I always craved freedom... I didn't want to be held down. But you are the only one who ever made me want to stay. I'm not leaving you now. We're in this together, I promise."
{{OOC: I seriously almost typed "You jump, I jump...." lol}}
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 2, 2009 3:42:13 GMT -5
(( You know when he takes her aside in Titanic, and he tells her they're gonna kill that fire in her? I keep thinking about that, lol ))
Suzie nodded, letting herself be enveloped in Zach's arms. There were so many things to consider about what they were doing, but she couldn't think about any of them. All she could think about was him and being with him.
"Well, I want to run. I've never run from anything, and even when I came here, I knew I was going back to Taylor. I want to run... with you. I don't even care where we'll go. Just... do like you promised... and take me away from this."
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 3, 2009 3:31:38 GMT -5
Zachary continued to hold her, burying his face in her hair. She smelled of rosewater, sweet and intoxicating. The more he thought about it, the more he decided that running away was the right thing to do. Yes, it was crazy and reckless. But what had he ever done that was safe? The adventure, the excitement of it all... It felt incredibly right.
He could just imagine living the same kind of wandering nomadic life he'd always lived... but this time, he wouldn't be alone. He would have her with him, every step of the way. And as long as she was there, he would always be home. She was his home.
He pulled back and kissed her, then looked deep into her eyes. "I won't break my promise to you this time," he swore. "We're going to get away from all of this... we'll be free. It'll be an adventure."
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 4, 2009 3:45:24 GMT -5
Suzie felt tired and overwhelmed, like she was just caught in too many lies and webs of deceit, but when he kissed her, all of that disappeared. When Taylor kissed her, he only brought a hundred more worries to her mind. Zach just... made them all vanish. It was like taking your first breath of air.
She sighed, almost prettily, when the kiss ended. Godric help her, she believed him.
"You'll come to my hotel on Friday, when you're ready and when I'm ready?"
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Post by Zachary Scotts on Jan 4, 2009 17:17:03 GMT -5
Zachary pulled back and looked at her, just taking in the sight of her. At first, it had almost felt like an act of desperation, asking her to run away with him. Like he was just running away from his problems again. But as he looked at her, he realized that, for the first time ever, he wouldn't really be running away. He would be running to something. Not an escape. Not hiding, but heading to an exciting future with her.
"There is nothing in this world that could possibly keep me away," he promised her. "I'll see what money I can get as well... I have friends... like Derek, and my friend Edmund... who would be glad to lend me some money, no questions asked. Hell, I'll even get a job. We can do this."
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Post by Derek Burke on Jan 4, 2009 19:40:04 GMT -5
Oh if Derek knew what Zach was planning. But he was honorable and gave his friend space to talk with Suzie. He hated being honorable sometimes and could have easily spied on their conversation but he chose to remain with his brandy and let them have it. Part of him really hoped Suzie was ripping into his friend the other part, that owed his loyalty to Zach was shaking his head and trying to figure a way out of this mess.
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Post by Suzette Rousseau on Jan 8, 2009 3:49:47 GMT -5
Suzie didn't know if she believed him, which was precisely why she refused to think about what they were planning. She would realize how foolish it was if she did, and she'd say no.
She couldn't remind herself that he broke promises to her, or that he was good at running away. Even if they run away together, and they kept at it, what happened when he grew tired of her, or things got difficult? If they go difficult with her, what would stop him from running away without her?
She sighed. "Okay. We should go. We're invading on poor Derek."
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