Escape With Me (Suzie)

[Zachary Scotts]

It took a while for Zachary to get his things together and sneak out of Thatcher's house. It seemed everyone was home, and everytime he tried to make his way to the door, he ran into another family member. The recent news of Tanya's death had affected each of them differently, and they were all quite relieved to see that he was alive and well.

And to think, he really hadn't believed that he meant much to them at all. He'd been absent for most of their lives; even Alicia was practically a stranger to him. But he was apparently something of a mythical figure in the family, and they all wanted to know more about him. And they cared about what happened to him. Even Thatcher, who had pretty much been the very reason he was always running away, actually cared about him.

This realization, along with the news of Tanya's death, had Zachary feeling a little bit guilty. Little did they know, but he was planning on leaving again... and never coming back. And they would all shake their heads in disappointment and sadness, because while they probably expected him to leave again, they didn't really want him to.

But he was leaving to be with Suzie. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he couldn't let her go. He couldn't let her marry Taylor.

But if there was one thing he had learned from the news of Tanya's death, it was that life was short. He had found the one person that could make him happy, and he had make sure she knew just how much she meant to him.

So it was that he headed back to Pennywhistle's Boarding House a little late, with a new plan in his mind. He took a breath before he knocked on the door of her room, half afraid that she had already given up on him and left.

[Suzette Rousseau]

But Suzie was there. She didn't know what she was still doing there... it felt like she had no direction, no plan, no idea what she was doing. They both already decided that they were going to run away together, to be madly in love and ready to just be on the run. It wasn't exactly the lifestyle Suzette had grown up with, or what her father probably wanted for her, but it sounded romantic to her, anyway.

She was sitting by the window, looking out over the garden in the fading light of the sunset. She knew that if she did this with Zach, she may never be able to have something like this... a home, a garden. She didn't know how strongly Taylor would pursue her, but she knew her father would, at least for a little while. And maybe it was wrong to want to bring a child into the mix that way, but for once, just once in her life, Suzie wanted to do something for her.

Getting to her feet, she opened the door a crack, then wider when she saw who it was. "Zach... come in. You don't look well."

[Zachary Scotts]

Zach stepped into the room and wrapped his arms around Suzie. It felt good just to hold her close, to smell her familiar scent and feel her warm breath against his cheek. "Something happened," he said. "Apparently, there was some violent attack in a nearby town. My sister... Tanya... she was killed."

He sighed, knowing that she probably felt very little sorrow over Tanya's death. Tanya had been horrible to her. He'd been angry with his sister, too... furious, in fact. But he didn't want her to die. She was still his sister, and in spite of everything, he loved her.

"I wish you could have known her... when I was younger. We used to be so close, back before... well, before I started to run."

[Suzette Rousseau]

Suzie may have outright hated Tanya, and really, no one could fault her for that. But she loved Zack whole heartedly, and if he was hurting, then Suzie ached to make it better for him. She wished she could, but she couldn't offer him anything.

Anything. Except a life on the run. And in telling her that Tanya had died, was he saying he needed time here to get things in order? Maybe there was an order to things, and them being together was just not part of the plan.

"I'm so sorry," she told Zack, pushing her thoughts away. Whatever happened, he needed her right now. "Can I do anything?"

[Zachary Scotts]

No, he hadn't changed his mind about running away with her. If anything, learning of Tanya's death made him more convinced than ever that this was the right decision. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and he wanted the rest of his life to start right away.

Life was short, and you had to grab any chance at happiness when you could. He'd wasted so much time, wasted his life on foolish games and empty love affairs. Now he had the real thing, and he didn't intend to let it get away.

There was also the shocking information he had learned from Thatcher. Apparently there was a war going on in England. Somehow he had missed it, but he didn't want to be involved anymore than he already was. He was not a fighter, he was a lover.

The only bit of guilt he felt over leaving was that his nieces and nephews would never know him. Apparently, even Thatcher would miss him, had always missed him when he was gone. But he could not allow Thatcher to make decisions for him or to take care of him. He needed to make his own way, along with the woman he loved.

"It's OK," he said with a sigh. "It's... The Tanya I knew was already gone, anyway. I barely recognized what she became. I know you didn't like her much... hell, I wasn't crazy about her, either. I'm almost relieved she's gone. But when we were younger.... we were close. I can't believe how much she changed. Or maybe I never really knew her the way I thought I did."

[Suzette Rousseau]

Suzie nodded, sympathetic, but selfishly worried, too. Above all, though, Zachary had just lost his sister. No matter what had changed between them, that was still hard to take for any person, and she found herself getting up and going to him, putting her arms around him. "I'm so sorry," she said again.

What else could she say or do? She finally asked the question on her mind, though it served both selfish and selfless purposes. "Do you need to take care of things here? I can... I'll do whatever I can to help, all right?"

[Zachary Scotts]

Zachary sighed. Yes, he probably should stay for the funeral, to pay his respects. He had missed out on a lot of Tanya's life by being on the run so much. He'd never had the chance to say to her what she meant to him. Maybe if he'd been here, he could have influenced her somehow, maybe she wouldn't have been the cold-hearted witch she had become. He didn't know, and he couldn't let himself dwell on it. He had a choice to make now.

If he stayed to go to the funeral, surely something Thatcher would find a way to stop him from doing what he wanted to do. He'd made it clear that he didn't like Suzie, and didn't want Zach involved with a woman who was supposed to marry someone else. And it didn't even matter whether she was pregnant or not... Thatcher didn't approve, and if Zach stuck around, he'd find a way to separate them.

Leaving, on the other hand, was what Zach was best at. He'd never been good at staying in one place for very long, and home was the hardest place to stay. Here he had to deal with Thatcher's rules, and all the complicated emotions that came from having the world's most perfect older brother. Zach loved his brother, even though for years he'd told himself that he hated him. It wasn't true, he knew that now. If he left this time... there would be no coming back. He'd never make peace with his brother; he'd never make Thatcher proud of him. He'd never get to know his nieces and nephews. Instead, he'd just be a name and a forgotten picture in a photo album.

But if he left... he'd have Suzie. Maybe it would be a life on the road, but how was that different from what he'd had before? It was better, because he wouldn't be alone anymore. If he stayed, he'd have his family, but he'd still be alone.

There didn't seem to be much of a choice for him.

"No. No, I don't need to stay. My sister... it doesn't matter anymore. She's gone, and going to her funeral won't make any difference now. If I stay, Thatcher will just find a way to separate us, and I'm not going to let him."

But he still felt unsettled... like there was something he needed to do. No, it had nothing to do with Tanya, or Thatcher... it was something else.

He pulled away and began to pace the room. "Suzie... I was thinking. I think we.... I mean... I think we should..."

He stopped abruptly, then dropped down on one knee. "Will you marry me?"

[Suzette Rousseau]

She wished she knew how to help him. She didn't like seeing him distraught, or so upset. Merlin, she shouldn't have come back at all. She could have dealt with the consequences of having a child that obviously wasn't Taylor's, and her life still would have gone on as it should have, and Zachary would have been free to live his life. Having to go on the run shouldn't have been a choice for either of them to make.

But when he stopped abruptly and dropped to one knee, she stood up just as quickly, unsure for an instant what to make of this. He was obviously upset, and she was worried that this would be a rash, too quick decision that he was making. The fact that he didn't have a ring, while unimportant to her, was proof that this had not been planned out.

But it was everything she wanted.

"Zachary, I... you can't be sure."