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Character Profiles > Zac Willis Jay Callahan

Shannon Zachary 'Zac' Willis 1994
Lived: 28 Ramsay Street
Born: 1994
Parents: Jack Flynn and Gaby Willis
Family Tree: Willis and Flynn

The first Willis grandchild was born out of a rocky, and rather brief relationship between businesswoman Gaby Willis and her smooth-talking flying instructor, Jack Flynn. Jack had admitted to Gaby that he was a virgin and Gaby offered to be his first sexual partner, resulting in a grateful Jack whisking her off to Tasmania for the occasion. When they returned, Gaby was blissfully happy after helping Jack lose his virginity and had fallen helplessly in love with him. But she was devastated when an old student of Jack's contacted her to inform her that Jack had used the same line on her in an attempt to get her into bed years before. Gaby confronted Jack about the accusations but he managed to assure her it was just sour grapes because he had refused to sleep with the student. However, after Jack hit on Lauren Carpenter and Gaby's younger sister, Cody, Gaby dumped him, despite Jack's protestations that he was making up for lost time.

A short time later, Gaby was working in Milan when she discovered she was pregnant and she decided to return to her family in Erinsborough. Gaby insisted she didn't want Jack to know but her father Doug felt it was Jack's responsibility to support Gaby and stormed over to the airfield to tell him so. Gaby was furious with Doug for going to see Jack and refused to entertain the idea of having Jack involved in the child's upbringing. But an agreement was reached when Jack told Gaby that he understood why she didn't want him to be part of the baby's life since he knew he would be a lousy father but he insisted that she let him support her financially and Gaby agreed.

Gaby was rushed to hospital when she started bleeding while on a weekend retreat in the country with Doug and mum Pam. Convinced she was losing the baby, she was relieved when the doctors confirmed that she hadn't miscarried. The bleeding had come from the placenta and Gaby was told to rest in order for the placenta to heal. But Pam and Doug were less than impressed when Gaby began sending faxes and phoning business associates from her sick bed.

Thinking she would never give birth, Gaby was relieved when she finally started having contractions while at home one afternoon. However, Doug was delayed getting home and Pam and Cody had to rush to the birthing centre on Pam's new motorbike, with Gaby in the sidecar. A difficult labour followed for Gaby at the centre, but Pam and Cody gave her support throughout and shortly after Doug arrived, Gaby gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who she named Shannon. But after neighbour Cheryl Stark gave birth to her daughter on the same day and also called her Shannon, Doug took matters into his own hands when registering the birth and used Zachary, his grandfather's name. Gaby was not impressed but quickly came around when she realised how fond of the shortened version, Zac, she was.

Gaby's happiness was short-lived when Jack showed up at the Willis house days later announcing he now wanted to be part of his son's life. At first Gaby would not even let Jack see Zac, but after he took Zac off with him one afternoon when Doug left the child unattended for a moment, Gaby realised how much Jack wanted to be a father to his son and agreed to let him see him whenever he liked. The stress, meanwhile, of juggling motherhood and running Lassiter's was beginning to take its toll on Gaby, so when Rosemary Daniels offered her the less stressful job of managing the new Lassiter's branch in Darwin and its affiliated Outback Artists Tours business, Gaby accepted and made plans for her and Zac to leave. When Jack learnt of Gaby's decision, he decided to make the move up north too, and Gaby - who had started to become closer to Jack again - was secretly quite pleased by Jack's decision and even organised a job for him as pilot for the Outback Artists Tours. After a naming ceremony in the Willis garden where Gaby planted a tree in Zac's honour, Gaby, Jack and Zac left for Darwin. Doug and Pam sold up and followed them soon after and Cody made a point of ensuring the new owner of the Willis house, Dr Karl Kennedy, didn't dare dig up the tree that had been planted for Zac.

Tenure
2201-2230, 2261

Biography by Moe

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