Weak in the Knees Ch. 05

"I didn't manage to do nearly as much damage to him, did I?" Zach asked after a moment of silence.

Diego didn't even hesitate. "No, he barely looked like he had been in a fight. He could just as easily have tripped over his own feet and fallen against a wall or something, based on his injuries."

"The last time I hit him at least gave him a bloody nose and lip," Zach mused. "He deserved that one too, but it's weird what a few years can change. It's not like I've been in a ton of fights, but the ones I have been, I usually came out on top at least."

"Well, once your face stops looking like hamburger you can work on coming out on top of me, but until then you need to focus on healing," Diego said.

"And here I was kind of worried that me taking the first swing would make you think I was a walking red flag or something," Zack laughed weakly. "You must really like that tiny warrior princess or something."

Diego colored a little. "I couldn't love her more if I was her biological father," he said almost too quietly for Zach to hear.

Zach couldn't help but smile at that. "Well, that's probably good because I can't imagine how she'll react when she sees me. She might not leave your arms for a bit."

Diego frowned at Zach. "I doubt she will reject her daddy. She might look at you funny for a bit, but she finds so much comfort in you."

Zach ran his fingers gently along his lip, which was already swelling up a bit. "You might be right, but I don't imagine she'll react well to her daddy looking like this either. It's not like she saw it all happen, which I'm glad for."

Diego paled as he considered that, "Yeah, me too."

Zach frowned and got a far away look. "I don't think Daniel would have cared if she had been present for any of that. He doesn't care about anyone but himself."

Diego's expression said a great deal about his opinion of Daniel. Zach took Diego's hand, smiling a little as he took in that expression, thinking that Diego was smarter about Daniel than any of them. For all Zach had said about Zayne being too soft on the man, Zach had fallen into some nostalgia too. Daniel wasn't who he used to be though, and that was clear now.

"I'll trust your judgment on people," Zach said quietly. "You seem to be a good judge of character."

Diego smiled at the compliment, "I had to learn how to size people up pretty quickly, unfortunately."

"I guess my parents shielded me more than I thought," Zach admitted, and then the nurse came in and disrupted their conversation. She told them to use ice on his face to bring swelling down, and what to look out for as signs of infection or concussion and when to come back. Once she had Zach sign the paperwork, she let them go home.

Nadya was awake and sitting in Zayne's lap as he made spaghetti for dinner. She looked over with a big grin when they first walked in, but then she saw her dad's face and her face dropped. She started yelling out the word no over and over as Zayne turned to try and see what was wrong.

"Dada, no!" she cried.

"Shhh, daddy just got hurt but he's gonna be okay," Zayne murmured to her as she looked at her dad with a pout, holding onto Zayne tightly. "It's still daddy."

Zach knelt down in front of where she was sitting and looked at her with what felt like a smile though he was swollen so he couldn't be sure it translated well. "It's just me, Princess. Daddy just...had a bit of an accident. But it's still me under here."

Nadya slipped off her uncle's lap and carefully toddled over to where her dad was kneeling. She looked over his face with an expression that spoke to how unhappy she was with this development but then she started to pet Zach's shoulder to make sure he was okay. Her expression was one of worry as she said "dada" a few times like she was checking that he was fine.

"I'm okay, sweetie," Zach told her quietly and she brought her tiny hand up to rub his cheek gently. It hurt a little but he didn't want to react in case it scared her away. Once she seemed like she wouldn't startle, Zach scooped her up and went over to the couch to sit down with her where Diego could join them.

Diego sat gingerly next to Zach and Nadya immediately stepped into his lap and checked his face for damage. When he didn't seem to have any, she nodded to herself as if she had confirmed some suspicion she had and went back to her daddy. She eventually settled herself between them while one of her shows played on the TV. Zayne brought over an ice pack for Zach to put on his lip and eye with the hope the swelling would go down.

Within a week, there was news about Daniel being arrested for assault and Brielle filing for divorce. Worse than that, though, was an article that had reporters flooding to one of Zach's builds to try and catch him for commentary, as his Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis had been leaked. It made Zev force Zach to stay at home and hide for a bit so he could get the paparazzi away from the building site, but Zach was fuming over it, especially because he was still healing and his wounds had made Nadya more clingy.

There was talk about who leaked it, whether it could be someone violating HIPAA, but Zach was pretty sure that Daniel had done it, and they couldn't do much about it. It was a retaliation for going to the police and he had no avenues to make Daniel pay for that, though Brielle was furious.

"I will happily ruin him in the press," Brielle told Zach one night at dinner when they had everyone over. "The divorce is already filed so I can spin it like I'm the victim of his secret dickings."

Zach snorted. "Nah, it's fine. It would have likely come out eventually, I'm just angry he took away my choice in it."

"I'm angry he exists, at this point," Brinxton grumbled.

"Well now you don't ever have to call him your brother-in-law again," Zayne said with a gentle elbow to Brinxton's side.

"And we never have to hang out with him again," Zach added.

"Out with the old!" Elias said as he raised his glass and then glanced over at Diego before he said, "And in with the new!"

Diego looked apologetically mortified at Brielle and said, "Sorry honey, I don't swing that way. You'll have to find someone else for that position!"

Everyone laughed at that while Zach lightly slapped Elias on the arm in jest. Brielle gave an exaggerated pout but then laughed when she couldn't keep it up anymore. Then Brielle looked at Zach to take in his healing wounds and patted his cheek before looking over at Diego with a smile.

"Just take care of this one and it's all good," she replied.

"No promises. What if he likes it rough?" Diego asked exaggeratedly.

Brielle looked over Zach appraisingly and then shrugged. "As long as he's happy, I suppose. Though let those poor bruises and cuts heal first."

Zayne put his hands over Nadya's ears and said in a stage whisper, "Don't you listen to them now. You're too young to be corrupted like this."

It took a few weeks, but Daniel's attorney eventually reached out to Zach to settle out of court so they could have the charges dropped, and Brielle was included because she had made her own police report. Zach knew Diego was against it, but he decided to go and meet with them with his own lawyer so they could talk. In the end, they walked out of the meeting with an agreement between them that both could live with.

Daniel would move into a backseat at his company and let his brother Garrett take over as CEO, and Daniel would pay a fair amount of money for medical expenses and damages to Zach. He also would give Brielle a fair divorce that followed the letter of the prenup they had and was quick, and Zach and Brielle would drop the criminal charges.

When he got home from the meeting, he told Zayne, Brinxton, and Diego what they had agreed to and would be signing by the end of the week. Brinxton and Diego both seemed to be of the opinion that he had settled a little too easily, but they didn't offer comments.

"Oh, I didn't mention the best part," Zach said with a grin at the expressions on their faces. "He has to issue a public apology and stay away from me and Nadya or we can file later for a protection order from him."

Zayne chuckled at that. "Oh, he's got to be pissed about the public apology."

"His lips looked like a cat butt when I demanded it," Zach confirmed. "He has to apologize for leaking the MS diagnosis too."

"I can't imagine him finding a way to make that shitty, but I'm sure he will," Brinxton grumbled.

"Yeah, he might, but I can weaponize the press too," Zach acknowledged.

"I've got a weapon you can press..." Diego mumbled only loudly enough for Zach to hear right next to him.

Zach smirked and kissed Diego briefly but passionately because he whispered right into his ear. "I'll hold you to that."

Diego smiled but wasn't so easily distracted. "So he basically gets away with beating you up for the price of not being a complete shit-heel? Seems like he kinda won out on that one."

Zach let out a sigh and sat down. "The reality is that he wouldn't have gotten any jail or prison time anyway. His dad would have fixed it if Daniel couldn't himself. He would have paid a bunch of money and it would have gone away for them. At least with this, he has more punishment than just losing money. He loses his wife, his place as CEO, our entire friend group, and has to publicly embarrass himself to make it right."

"Still seems like a shitty deal, but if you're happy with it..." Brinxton said.

"As long as I never see his smug face again, it will do," Zach admitted. "I'm most worried about Nadya being safe, and having someone around who can say that about her mom and her is not safe."

Diego clearly agreed with that sentiment and so did everyone else present. They all simultaneously voiced their support for ejecting Daniel from the circle. Zayne still looked like he was contemplating what the hell had gone wrong with Daniel, but Brinxton's reminder that he couldn't save everyone helped.

A few weeks after that, when most of the swelling and bruising had gone down, Zach came down the stairs wearing what he normally wore to work sites, Diego had realized. They were always his more casual pairs of jeans, t-shirts, work boots, and sometimes a flannel overshirt if it was cold outside.

Diego smiled broadly, reaching into the fridge to grab a few things and put them into a lunch cooler. Zach kissed Diego and accepted the lunch cooler. "Play nice with the other construction workers and be careful! There are a lot of things that can hurt you out there!" Diego said sweetly as he escorted Zach to the door.

Zach chuckled. "Yes, dear. I'll play nicely with the other kids and stay away from the pointy objects when not working with them."

Diego patted him on the head and said, "There's a good boy," before gently smacking him on the ass on his way out the door.

Zach gave him a grin and then headed to the car. They were still working on finishing up the last of the structural work of the theater before they moved on to creating the inside so there were still open beams with no walls. Zach helped with giving direction and carrying materials to where they needed them.

Zev was still acting CEO, though Zach was meant to take over soon, so Zev still came to the construction sites as well. He was there overlooking everything, making sure everything was up to his high standard. Zach greeted him before being asked to help up on one of the beams.

Zach went up to join the guys up there, helping them lay down what would eventually be built up into the floor later when he felt dizzy and everything around him began to spin around. He stumbled back and grabbed onto one of the beams.

"Dude, you okay?" one of the workers asked, and Zach could really only manage to shake his head before he slid down the beam and everything started going black.

The worker jumped forward and grabbed Zach to try and keep him on the beam, holding him in a sitting position. Everyone who could see them knew something was wrong, and it didn't take Zev long to call an ambulance while two workers made sure Zach didn't fall off of the beam while he went in and out of consciousness.

The times that Zach was conscious, he realized how dangerous this was, but there was nothing he could do about it. The other workers got Zach into a harness once the EMTs got there and they used ropes to get Zach down to the ground where the EMTs could get him onto a stretcher and check him out.

Zayne was working with his laptop in the living room where Nadya was toddling around playing with toys when his phone rang. "Hey dad, what's up?" Zayne listened for a moment and then looked at Diego with alarm on his face. "Is he okay? Yeah, what hospital? Are you going with him? Okay, thanks."

Diego's face went from terror to a cold blank stare over the course of the conversation and he stood and limped out of the room without a word while Zayne finished the phone call. When he came back in, Diego was carrying a backpack and a baby carrier sized for Nadya.

"Is she going with me or...?" Diego asked kindly but sort of mechanically.

Zayne looked at the clock and then shook his head. "No, I can watch her. Brinxton should be home soon anyway. Just go to Zach. He's okay but he passed out at work."

Diego dropped the carrier on the couch as he nodded. He asked, "Which hospital?" as he put on his shoes and grabbed the keys to his motorcycle.

"Denver Health," Zayne replied. "They're probably taking him straight to the ER. He'll be taken there by ambulance."

Diego nodded and held up his cellphone so Zayne could see it as he left the house, pulling his backpack over his shoulders and grabbing his helmet. He arrived at the hospital before the ambulance got there and waited in the ER lobby for the gurney to be wheeled in.

Zach was still not completely conscious when they wheeled him in. Diego tried to follow him back to the triage room, but without any proof that he was with Zach, the nurses refused to allow him back. He anxiously checked in with the visitor desk and they informed him that he would be called when Zach was given a room.

As soon as they got him into a room they started an IV, and he was briefly conscious long enough to let them know that Diego was his boyfriend before he was out again. A nurse came out to get Diego and bring him back to Zach's room, where Diego got his first good look at him. His skin was paler than normal, and even in the brief moments he was awake, he was out of it. His eyes didn't focus well so he barely was able to acknowledge that Diego was there and he seemed weak.

Diego was worried, but stoically kept himself stone-faced while working internally to keep his mind focused on what he could do so he didn't succumb to the depression spiraling just on the edge of his mental vision. He answered what questions he could from the doctors and brought up the emergency medical information screen from Zach's phone, grateful that they had both updated their information after the kidnapping.

One of the nurses came in to take blood from Zach, as well as a urine test, which they used a catheter to get. Then she started giving Zach saline to help with dehydration they found based on his skin and the color of his urine.

"Dehydration and stress can make autoimmune issues worse," the nurse explained to Diego.

The doctor also ordered steroids, as he was sure this was an MS flare up. Between the fluids and the steroids, Zach finally came out of it and was able to stay awake. The doctor had Zach tell him what happened from his perspective, asked questions about his diet, his stress levels, and how much water he took in daily, before asking Zach about his MS medications and treatment plan.

The doctor prescribed a longer round of steroids that Zach would start at home, and he told him to up his water intake before he left the two of them in the room alone while he worked on Zach's discharge.

Zach let out a sigh and leaned back in the bed while he shifted his eyes over to Diego, taking in the neutral expression and tension in his body. "Are you okay?"

Diego shook his head, the expression on his face making it clear that he didn't want to talk about it right then. "Let's focus on you. What do you think all of this means? And why in the hell were you up on a beam when your balance has been so bad and your legs have been giving out randomly?"

Zach winced at the last questions because Diego was right, and Zev would likely read Zach the riot act later over this. "I don't know. I'd been feeling better recently, and we hadn't seen any recent issues with the legs. Getting into the work is part of the business, and I wanted to get back to things being more normal again when they hadn't been in a while. It just...it feels so unfair to lose my independence and ability to work for my living. It feels like everything has been spiraling out of control for a while now, and I can't do anything to fix it. The only bright spots are you and Nadya."

Diego nodded as if he understood that, "I get that, but you have to take care of yourself so you don't end up leaving Nadya and me without you to brighten our days."

"I know," Zach agreed and looked down at his hands, which he was fiddling with anxiously. It took another forty minutes before they let them leave, and they stopped by the site to get Zach's car afterward and drove home.

Zev was already at the house when they pulled up, parked on the street, and Zach looked nervous as he parked the car and they went into the living room. Zev looked a lot like his children, though his hair was a dark blond as opposed to the auburn hair his children sported. He was taller than his sons and imposing, and Zach kind of slunk by him to go and sit down on the couch where Nadya crawled over to him from Brinxton's lap and snuggled into his side like she had been waiting for that.

"I can't believe you," Zev said once everyone was settled, all of his attention on his oldest. "You were a liability to the company and to our workers! On top of that, you could have gotten yourself killed! And all for what, your god damned ego?! That was not the decision making of a CEO in training, so if you can't do this job, then you tell me now and we can bring someone better in who can!"

"Dad," Zayne chided gently. He knew his dad was angry but he wasn't sure Zach deserved all of that.

Zach bit his lower lip, his eyes trained on the ground as he blinked away tears. "I'm sorry," he finally said in a small voice, one Diego had never heard come from Zach before. "I'm sorry."

Diego's suppressed anger at Zach surged forward, redirected in his defense. He stood up, berating Zev in a mixture of English and Spanish. "Ease up off your son, cabrón! He's never had MS before and he's asustado ahora! You should be more understanding and compasivo as his father!"

Before he could go much farther, Brinxton interceded by stepping in between them, facing Diego with his hands raised to eye level, palms outward in a calming gesture. "Easy, Diego, I think he gets the point."

The level of Zev's anger seemed to have gone down between Zach's and Diego's responses, but before Zev could say anything, Zach shook his head and said, "No, he's right. I was a liability in more ways than one because I didn't want to accept that things have to change. I put myself and the company at risk, and everyone here has reason to be angry."

"Disability is hard," Zayne interjected. "Really hard. It changes everything about your life and the way you view it, and it changes the way the world sees you. I had to get my crash course in it all at once, but at least we had a pretty good idea once we did the original surgeries of what we could expect for my mobility. You're having to figure that all out a bit at a time. Your body is changing, your ability to react to the world as an able-bodied man is changing, and you're freaking out and not sure how to do it.