Chapter 51: Surprise!

POV: Zac

Word Count: 3136

October 22, 2009

I really wasn’t looking forward to today. I know Tay and Ike along with the crew had plans for my birthday, I’d overheard them talking about getting cake and I was positive they were planning to cake me tonight. Not that I expected anything less, but what sucked was not being able to see Gabby today. To add to my issues, I wasn’t even going to be able to call her or talk to her because Nicole and Stella were taking her somewhere in the boondocks of Oklahoma and she wouldn’t have reception.

I woke up to no message from her, no voicemail, and no e-mail. I couldn’t really say that didn’t feel bad. But, I couldn’t dwell on this because we had a few radio interviews this morning and then the walk, sound check, and show. I showered and got dressed and then met the guys in the lobby.

“Really Zac? You brought the ‘man behind the belly’ shirt with you?” Isaac asked.

“I did. I mean I only get 9 months to wear it dude. But, I have a button up to put over it for the interviews.”

“Na, wear it as is. You are right. Any word from her today?”

“No. From what Nicole said, they are out of signal until they’re back closer to town. So, I doubt I’ll hear from her at all today.”

“Man that sucks. But Happy Birthday little brother.” Taylor said.

“Thank you.”

Ike said the same thing and I thanked him also, we then headed to the interview. The first two focused solely on music, they didn’t ask a single personal question. So, we got to give a lot of information on the upcoming album and plans. The third one was a more friendly place and we did talk about the music.

“Everyone is now married right?” He asked.

“Yes. I was the last one and my wife and I got married the first Saturday in September.” Taylor said.

“I tied the knot in May.” Ike said.

“I’ve been married since 2007.” I said.

“Wow, 2007? That’s almost two years.” He said.

“We celebrate two years in November, the thirteenth.”

“You’re wife traveled with you right? Is she traveling with you this year?”

“Uh..No. She’s um pregnant right now so it was better for her to remain at home.”

“Pregnant?”

“Yes. We’re expecting our first child in December.”

“Well congratulations to you both.”

“Thank you. We’re both excited and scared to be having our first.”

“Do you know the gender of the baby?” He asked.

“The doctor’s say a girl, I say a boy. I’m pretty sure they might be right.”

“Most likely. Any baby plans for either of you?”

“Not at the present moment.” Taylor said.

“We have talked and would like to really be more settled. Zac seems to be far ahead of us.”

“Yes, he does. That totally explains that shirt too, I was wondering.”

He announced what the shirt said and even promised a picture for the website. Ike and Tay giggled but I was fine, we’d announced it anyway so it was fine. We were there another thirty minutes and he did ask some personal questions, mostly if we planned for more, but nothing sexual. We then headed back to the venue where I expected some large party, but it was business as usual. This was weird.

“Did you get Gabby anything?” Ike asked.

“I did yeah, but not really for her. But, I won’t get to give it to her until we get home. She has something for me she bought last week, just sent me a corner of a sheet of paper. She likes to tease me apparently.”

“Clearly. Well, we’ll be home soon.”

We were doing the walk earlier, which meant there plans were probably for a early dinner or something somewhere. Isaac was talking to someone right before the walk, he seemed disappointed. Maybe the place he wanted was too busy? Who knew. We headed out for the walk about five after two. Nearly everyone that approached me told me Happy Birthday, a few handed me items which I didn’t open here. Some even commented on the shirt, mostly the guys. I just wanted to call Gabby.

Taylor’s speech seemed longer than usual to me, but the walk back seemed shorter. He did a closing speech and after we were done we headed inside, but I heard it the moment I was cleared of the lobby. Someone was playing the drums, could be the sound check for the opening band. But then the familiar sounds of Stricken began to play. I swear Taylor and Isaac both giggled when I took off.

It couldn’t be who I thought but the moment I broke through the doors to the arena I could tell it was. My wife was sitting at my drums and Nicole was standing nearby with Stella. I was sure neither of them expected that I could get on the stage without much bounce, but I did.

“Geez, I wish Taylor and Isaac would do that for us.” Stella said.

“No shit.” Nicole said.

I ignored them and she was still sitting but facing me when I made it to her.

“Happy Birthday Zachary. I think mission accomplished, you my dear look super shocked.”

“How…why…I mean…”

Fuck, I wanted to touch her and that meant helping her up so I could. I was shocked that she had changed so much in just 22 days. She really looked pregnant now and she didn’t stop me from touching her either.

“You’ve missed that haven’t you?”

“I really have. Happy Birthday Gabriella.”

Isaac and Taylor came down, getting up on stage too.

“Clearly mission accomplished.” Nicole said.

“Wait..why are you here? I thought you were going to some spa or something in the middle of nowhere?”

“I didn’t want you to call or anything while we were driving.” She said.

“I didn’t expect you to come out at all.” I said.

“I wasn’t planning too but Shawn said you were so adamant on coming home and then Isaac told Nicole that you were down a bit. So, we decided that you needed to see me to know I was okay and not just have some photo or call. We left late last night and they drove. We’d have been here before the walk but your baby decided my bladder was the perfect place to rest on.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t like not seeing you either.”

I just hugged her. I really wanted to just have my hands all over her, but I know she didn’t like that at least not in public. She really didn’t have too but seeing that she was okay was far better than just hearing it over the phone.

“You’re drums are set up, you should do sound check.”

“Plan on it, we have dinner reservations soon.” Ike said.

“Wait…did you know they were coming out?” I asked.

He smiled. “Of course I did Zac, Taylor knew also. But, we just failed to tell you. The look on your face when you ran from the front was priceless.”

“So evil!” I said.

We did do the sound check, Gabby and the girls sat to the side and waited. Gabby had her maternity pants on and as if she knew, she wore a shirt that said Daddy did it. I didn’t even mind and being able to just look over and see her there was great for me. We did have dinner about 5, little earlier for us but it was customary.

“Are you going to cake me later too?” I asked.

“Maybe.” Ike said.

“Yes. Even if I have to walk it on stage myself.”

“I’ll be sure to wear a different shirt.”

“The grey striped one. I’ll take pictures.”

I smiled. My brothers, their wives, the crew, and the opening bands mostly got me odds and ends. Some good long sleeves shirts, stress balls, and some gift cards. Gabby just smiled when she handed me the gift bag. Her teasers had been the corner of a sheet of paper, a random set of numbers that made no sense to me, and something that had a reflective glass.

“Any guesses?”

“I have nothing, I can’t figure out your little clues.”

“Then open it.”

I did and inside was a new phone, one that I was really wanting to get but hadn’t had time to invest in whether it was worth it or not.

“How did you even know what I was looking at?”

She pointed to Taylor. “He told me what phones you two talked about and since that one had a better memory, larger storage capacity, and a great phone camera. I figured you needed one, since it’s been forever.”

“It really has been.”

Most of what she’d gotten had come from my brothers and their wives, because no one else knew she’d be here. They had gotten gift cards mostly but Nicole and Stella did her a spa one to use before the baby arrived. I waited until last to hand her the bag.

“Guesses?”

“You either got me another phone or something I could use for the baby.”

Damn, she was good. I watched her open the bag and reveal her new camera. I’d gone expensive because it would last, digital because it would be better for both business and personal use.

“You knew I was looking?”

“I figured you would be and it’ll be perfect for being a shutterbug to the baby. Not that Uncle Taylor isn’t going to try to blind her before she’s a day old.”

He simply smiled but Gabby looked at me and smiled, I didn’t even understand why really. We finished up with dinner and went back to the venue.

“When are you leaving?”

“Three days.”

“Three…Days?” I asked.

“We’re joining you on tour for a few days. We just rented a car to drive out, took a cab here after dropping it off. We’ll do the same for the drive home. Besides you have a hotel stay Saturday night.”

The fact her hand traveled to my rear end gave me a good hunch on why she planned to stay that long. But, I wasn’t going to complain about getting her for three days. They moved around and found a good seat and she was already playing with the new camera, planning to use it tonight.

The show itself went really well, no hiccups or problems and of course I did the last song and could see her in the front with Nicole and Stella. Taylor brought out a regular cake, just the right icing and after nearly dropping it he handed it to me and I put my own face in it, much to the crowd’s pleasure. I hadn’t gone insane with it but then Taylor did! Smearing it all over my chest and back!

Although, Gabby seemed to enjoy it and when we came off stage she was there to taste the icing still on my face and neck.

“So evil.”

“Evil? No, you need a shower.”

“It’s where I’m going.”

She just smiled. “Yeah, I know. It’s where I’m going too. I already have clean clothes for us both.”

I hadn’t expected that! But, I wasn’t going to deny it’s what I wanted! So I followed her through the building to the bathroom. It was a very nice shower because I could then feel our baby move and she didn’t mind here because no one else was around.

“I’m shocked you made no efforts to attack me.” I said.

She giggled as she got dried off. “That shower isn’t big enough, besides I’m sure a bed would be more comfortable for me. Hopefully anyway.”

I pulled her against me and kissed her neck. “I’m sure I can find something that is workable and comfortable.”

“I have all the faith, but in here not so much.”

“You didn’t bring underwear inside.”

“I didn’t bring any, nothing is comfortable, so I’ve not bothered.”

I groaned into her shoulder and tried to erase those images as I assisted in helping her get dressed before I got dressed too.

“I’m going to wait for you to go to the bus, you will have to help.”

“Okay.”

I went ahead and took my stuff to the bus with hers and got it settled and then went back to get her. I’d go visit fans after she was on the bus. I totally understood why she didn’t feel that touring would be good for her, I’d figured most of her claims were just guesses but she had a lot of trouble getting on the bus, I couldn’t imagine her doing that multiple times per day. I got her settled in the back before I went and greeted fans and signed items.

Once we were all on the bus everyone got settled, three extra people didn’t help but I found that some of the others were just driving, clearly Isaac had known about this and planned well because the entire lounge was kind of dedicated to the girls. For a while everyone was back here but eventually they went to bed. I’d like to see Ike and Taylor make it sleeping with their wives but I wasn’t going to complain, it means that I got her all alone.

Gabby had found a comfortable spot in the corner and had pillows behind her and I got the other bag that I had, one I didn’t intend for anyone else to see but her. I sat the solid white bag with white tissue paper on her belly, which earned me a raised eyebrow look.

“What’s this?”

“Why don’t you open it and find out?”

She adjusted a little bit and began to open it, pulling out the pink and white gown with the white trim and roses around the bottom. The suit had a damask design running down the whole thing and included a hat with a single rose. I’d even included white pants and pink socks because while she would be in the car, she still needed something else to be outside.

“You bought something pink.”

“I bought a bring home suit, which is why no one else has seen it.”

She blinked at me. “You referred to the baby as a she earlier during dinner. Does this mean you’re finally accepting that we’re having a girl?”

I got the other two suits that I’d bought then too, one had a white long sleeve top with a grey and white bottom that had damask design, it had a pink bow at the waist and pink ribbon around the bottom and the other one had a light pink long sleeve top with a little design around the neck and a pink and white damask bottom.

“I think when they did that sonogram at the hospital I really couldn’t deny it anymore. I guessed what I saw was maybe the umbilical cord or something. But, really any of these can be the suit she comes home in but I liked this one the best.”

“We’ll use this one then. But you know…she has no name.”

“We’ll call her princess.”

She giggled. “Zac.”

“Fine. I have my list did you bring yours?”

“Yep, it’s in my bag.”

I found them and sat down beside her, getting as close as I can without squishing her.

“Miss me much?”

“Maybe, just a little bit. I guess I got use to you being on the bus all the time. It’s been different without you here.”

“I figured. Not that I am complaining, the riding seems to help keep her calm.”

I put my arm around her and let her hold the list, we really hadn’t narrowed much since the last time. Random text about a name that usually got shot down pretty quick. But names like Hailey, Rain and even September weren’t something we wanted.

“What about Melissa?”

“I have a family member with that name.”

“Greenlee? Really Zac?”

“I told you the guys just tossed them out.”

“Did you actually do this list yourself or did you have them?”

“Most of them are mine.”

“Which ones?”

“Well, Honey wasn’t one and neither was Katana.”

“Cross off the names that you didn’t come up with.”

I was afraid of that because I was thinking boys names and not girls. So, most of my list was from them and she quickly realized that when I started crossing off most of them.

“Zac.”

“Come on I was thinking we wouldn’t need it anyway. I can redo my list.”

She just looked at me. “You saw the sonogram pictures. Why so determined we were having a boy? What is the big deal about her being a girl?”

“I wanted a son, someone I can play ball with and teach them how to play. I also see you and Shawn and he’s like your protector. I wanted that.”

She laid her head over a bit. “Baby, you can do that with a girl too. She can play ball, play the drums, she can be a protector too. But you can’t just ignore that she’s a she.”

“I know. I guess I really didn’t want to believe it but I do now.”

She got her phone and we spent the next hour going through names like Marsha, Chelsea, Trinity, Hayley, Kristen, even Taylor. Rebecca was promising and so was Mary but neither of us felt confident in them fitting with Skye. It wasn’t until she had fallen asleep that I think I found the perfect name. I’d have to see if she agreed obviously and it didn’t seem to go so well with Skye, but it was a name that stuck to me so I made sure to write it down. I eventually just got comfortable right here with her and it’s where I decided I was going to sleep.

The three days she was with us made me realize she was right, her decision to stay home was the correct one. It was harder for her to get off the bus than on, and twice she nearly fell out. I could see why she didn’t believe that she’d last the whole 40 days. Added, sleeping in the lounge wasn’t ideal for her either.

The plus side is she loved the name I found, so our baby girl had a name, one that we agreed not to tell anyone about just yet. In the off chance that one or both of us found a different name. Saturday night had been fantastic but saying goodbye on Sunday was harder, but least I had reasons to justify why she couldn’t just stay. It wasn’t much longer before we were home anyway. I’d just have to keep calling her!

Take home Suit