Zac slowly released his grip on Emma as her sobs began to subside.. His hands traveled over her body, and the amount of weight she'd lost frightened him. "Did you eat at all baby?" he asked softly, still stroking her hair. "Tried to.." she whispered, her voice raw and shaky from crying harder than she ever had in her life. "Whatever he...what ever that was.." she rasped, "it was too much, made me sick." she told him, snuggling down into his warm embrace and burying her face in the hollow between his neck and shoulder, completely exhausted. "Where in the hell have you been?" he asked, making her look at him. "I looked EVERYWHERE.." "Been everywhere.." she sighed and kissed his neck, softly. He kissed the top of her head lightly, and shifted a little underneath her. "Hey...let's get out of here, okay? We both need to sleep, then we HAVE to talk." he said gently. "Yeah..." she answered and yawned. "Let me go talk to Tay, so my parents don't freak and then we'll go." he said. "Kay." she answered again and let him slide out from underneath her. He closed the truck door, went up to Jen's apartment and knocked. Tay opened the door, his face still flushed and his eyes were slightly puffy. Zac stepped just inside the door and looked his brother in the eyes. "I'm taking her where she can sleep, and then I'm gonna stuff some food in her bony ass, don't let mom panic, okay?" he told Taylor. Tay nodded and swallowed hard. "Thank you, Tay." Zac said and started to leave. "What the hell for?" Tay asked, stunned. "For not being the asshole I thought you'd turned into and for being here now." he answered gruffly. Taylor gave his brother a crooked grin and gripped his shoulder. "Take the truck, Zac. Emma's car is probably as sandy as Jenny's bathroom floor." he offered and handed him the keys. "And YOU should sleep too."  "How are YOU gonna get home?" Zac asked. "Who says I have to go home? I can call mom and tell her we found Emma.." he smiled at his brother and took Jen's hand. "I'll hang out with Jen till you guys get back." he smiled more brightly. Zac shook his head, hugged Jen and thanked her, then headed back down the steps to Emma.

Emma slid as close as she could to Zac and laid her head on his shoulder as he drove. He did go out to the closest beach, just because it was less populated right now, but grinned down at her when she groaned and wiped her face. "Don't worry baby." he told her. "I'm not gonna make you go back out on the sand. I figured you went to Jen's cause you were tired of it." He smiled again when he heard her sigh of relief. "All you had to do was call me, Em." he said quietly. "I'm sorry.." she whispered back, and let him lace his fingers through hers. He pulled into a tiny, cheap, beachside motel, left her waiting in the car for just a few minutes while he checked them in, then quickly came back out to help her get her shaky body inside and to bed. He was completely exhausted himself, having only slept an average of a few hours a night for the last week. The rest of the time was spent in the studio (which damn near killed him), driving around checking all the beaches, or lying awake in his bed, silently willing her to call him, or show up. "Hungry yet?" he asked as he opened the door to the room. She shook her head no and followed him inside, letting him take the lead in everything. "Em..." he turned and pulled her against him, burying his face in her hair and breathing in her sweet scent. "I missed you...I was so worried.." he breathed as his body shuddered and he let out a sob. "Zac..oh god.." she moaned and held him as tightly as she could, while he sobbed his frustrations and relief out. She stroked the back of his head and his back, repeating over and over how sorry she was to make him feel like this. He crushed her thin body against his, and she bit her lip, so she wouldn't cry out. He took a deep breath and pulled back, quickly wiping his eyes. She reached up and wiped the remnants of his tears from his cheeks, then tucked his hair behind his ears. "I love you...so sorry, Zac." she whispered, wincing at the pain in her throat. "Em?" he took her face in his hands, "What's wrong?" he asked. "Throat's sore...dry.." she choked. "Shit." he muttered, realizing she must be close to dehydrating and went in to get her some water. "Drink it SLOW, Em." he ordered, "Or you'll get sick." She took the squat little glass and did as he told her, wincing when she had to swallow. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her down next to him, watching her carefully as she sipped the water slowly, until it was gone. He kicked off his shoes and she did the same, then he laid his head on the pillows, and drew her tightly to him. He wrapped both his arms around her and positioned himself so his head was right next to hers, snuggling his cheek into her soft curls and breathing deeply again, glad that she didn't have the stink of that bar all over her. he gave her a light squeeze and told her to sleep, drifting off himself when he heard her slow, even breathing pattern.

Zac woke suddenly, dazed and not knowing where he was since he had been sleeping so heavily. He felt Emma's small body snuggled up against his, her arms wrapped around his waist, her knee between his thighs and her cheek pressed up against his chest and remembered where they were. He smoothed her hair back and looked at her closely, noticing that she wasn't so pale under her tan anymore. Her eyes fluttered open, but it took her a minute to focus on him. When she did get her eyes to focus, she laid her hand on his cheek and gave him a weak smile. "Feel better?" he asked and she nodded. "What about your throat?" he asked. She swallowed once and managed to do it witout wincing, but she still felt dry. "Want some more water?" he asked, and she nodded again. He disentangled himself from her and went to get her another glass. She sat up and ran her hand through her hair, taking a deep breath. She remembered to drink slowly, then gave him another weak smile as she handed it back to him. "Thank you." she said softly, her voice sounding more normal after some deep uninterrupted sleep, a break from crying and the water he kept bringing her. "Feel well enough to talk now?" he asked and she nodded bracing herself for the worst. "Why then," he began, getting right into it. "Why didn't you tell me? Especially after Tay found out.." he asked, the pain of her omission all too evident in his expression. She felt her throat start to close again and she took another sip of water. "Because. I am a selfish stubborn bitch I guess. I kept thinking that I'd be out as soon as school was and you wouldn't HAVE to tell your parents you were dating some cheesy stripper, no better than a street walker...because I was already totally in love with you from the night I took you to Santa Monica and I was afraid you wouldn't want to see me anymore. I didn't want to see that fucking look on your face, the same one my mother would turn on me, women who got suckered into accompanying the assholes that were regulars in that place looked down on me with, and then still have to listen to Danny's  bullshit 'oh-baby-i-can-make-you-famous' lines that he used to play every other girl that ever worked for him with." she said, looking at her hands. When he didn't say anything she continued, "I always knew Danny was a slimy piece of crap, Zac, I grew up with him. But we were almost out on the street..I even had to sell my surfboard..and I needed money, fast. He let me tend bar that night and after we closed I had a couple more beers than I should have and started shooting off my big mouth, telling him that anyone could do that kind of dancing and make money, then proceeded to prove it. Once I finished that, he backed me into a corner and used something that happened while we were in school, to blackmail me into dancing.." she sighed, "and don't make me tell you what, I will never, ever talk about it again as long as I live. The money was so good that I kept on, mostly because there was no one left, except Jen, whose opinion of me mattered and Jen knew most everything anyway. But when Danny found out I was seeing you," she paused and swallowed another sip of water, "but that you didn't know.." she covered her face in her hands. "I'm sure Tay told you the rest." she ended. "Yeah.." he said and took her hand. "But I DO care what YOU think of me, Zac. And I couldn't make myself tell you, even though I tried so many times." she said her voice barely audible. Zac slipped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him, staying quiet for a long time. "You should have, Em. It's not like I don't get that sometimes you have to do stuff you don't like to be seen.." "UGH!" she exclaimed. "Taylor told you about that Jack what's-his-face, too?"

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