Who: Zoey and Ellis and Bill and Jimmy-Keith What: Zoey tells Ellis and Bill about the baby and sees into the future When: Today Where: The garage at the prison and the cafeteria Warnings: None
Zoey was nervous. It was getting ridiculous. In the last couple of weeks she had to entirely change her wardrobe. Now instead of her usual red zip up hoodie, cuffed jeans and black Converse sneakers she was wearing baby doll dresses and stretch pants with long flowing tops. Thankfully Ellis wasn’t the type of guy to really notice her clothing but he would notice what was underneath the clothing which meant no sex at all. She was running out of excuses and headaches.
She knew she would have to tell him the truth eventually. Ellis may not be the brightest of the species but he wasn’t a complete idiot either. He would probably notice her giving birth at some point. Hell, he may even notice her stomach slowly widening into a beach ball. That was the kind of thing a guy might notice, even a perennially distracted one like her husband. The secret was eating away at her, especially after Elle’s death and Dimitri’s absence. Elle had been the only one to know for so long because she had gone with Zoey that first day she had found out about the pregnancy. Then Connor killed her and she didn’t really know anything at all anymore or maybe she did but she was too busy somewhere else to share it here. Dimitri had left so suddenly that Zoey realized that all of her friends and family were finite. They would not exist forever, they were bound to die or leave or go to outer freaking space. Connor proved that even the vampires weren’t as immortal as they claimed. Any day could be their last, at any second Ellis could die or Alcide could run away with Caroline and Tyler or Elena could fly to outer space with her intergalactic girlfriend. The world was full of possibility.
That was all well and good but bringing a baby into this world was still a scary idea. She had just outlined all the reasons why it was a scary idea. On top of that she had no idea what kind of a mother she would be. Zoey recalled her own mother fondly. Sure, she didn’t always like how her mother had treated her father but divorces usually weren’t pleasant. Her mother was a kind giving person who had spent so much of her time worrying about Zoey, nagging her about school and going to the dentist and paying her cellphone bill and not using high powered firearms at the range with her father. It bugged the shit out of Zoey back then but now she knew it was just a sign of how much she loved her. Zoey was going to nag this kid to death but before she could get that far she had to tell her husband that they were expecting a baby.
She found him where he spent a good majority of his free time, at the garage messing around with some car. The Jimmy Gibbs Jr. in all of it’s racecar glory sat parked in the corner of the garage shining like somebody had just washed and waxed it. If Ellis took half of the amount of care he applied to that stupid car and put it towards their baby? This kid was going to be the most loved kid in the world. Because nobody loved anyone the way that Ellis did and that was part of the reason why Zoey fell for him. She couldn’t even help herself. He was just that good.
She approached him slowly and made sure that he saw her before she startled him. He could really get into the zone when he was working in the garage and bump his head on something or fuck up the car if she spooked him.
“Hey. Can I talk to you for a minute? It’s important.”
Ellis stopped tinkering with the engine of his truck, and lifted his head. The word ‘important’ must have got his attention. “Sure, babe.” He dragged his hands over his coveralls, and shut the hood of the truck, turning his shockingly undivided attention towards his wife.
“I’m pregnant.” She blurted out.
He didn’t react. Not at first. He just kept staring at Zoey as if he didn’t hear her, or maybe he didn’t hear her right. “You’re.. say that again, you’re wha?”
Okay, so maybe that hadn’t been the best way to go about it. She flushed angrily because after keeping it a secret for so long to just blurt it out like that seemed incredibly stupid. “We’re having a baby.” She took his hand and put it to her stomach. She had the barest of bumps but it was there.
Ellis’s eyes followed his hand, and again, at first, he just stared as all the pieces eventually fell into place in his brain. His eyes popped open wide and his jaw dropped. “Oh my G-.. we’re-?! Really?!?! Oh my God that’s why you’ve been wearin’ those cute little shirts! Zo, that’s AMAZIN’,” he blurted out and pulled his hand away from Zoey so he could wrap his arms around her tight and pepper the side of her face with overly enthusiastic little kisses. “Oh my GOD, we’re gonna be parents! This-this is perfect! Is it a boy or a girl?!”
She couldn’t help but grin. Leave it to Ellis to make her feel better about this whole thing. She should have told him sooner.
“I don’t know yet. I think that takes awhile or maybe it will just be a surprise.” She pulled away from him slightly. “Are you sure? Because this world is so screwed up and we’ve spent the last couple of years murdering zombies. What kind of life is our kid going to have?”
“You kiddin’ me?” Ellis asked, taking both of her hands into his. “Our kid is going to have the best friggin’ life ever, because he’s gonna have kick-ass parents, and kick-ass aunts and uncles. We’ve done and handled damn near everything there is, Zo. If anyone can raise a baby here, it’s us. ‘Course I’m sure.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I promise. And if shit gets too weird to handle, we’ll retire from being badass zombie killing machines and move to Canada or somethin’.”
She arched an eyebrow in his direction. “What are the chances of that?” She couldn’t picture her or Ellis giving up their zombie killing ways. Besides, the world was safer with less of them in it anyway. They were making the world safer for their kid during their massacres, they just hadn’t known it then. “The best friggin’ life ever, huh?” She grinned at him again, suddenly feeling a little of his excitement and exuberance infecting her.
“Best friggin’ life ever,” he confirmed with a sound nod and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “Man.. I almost can’t believe it.. you thinkin’ of names yet? I mean, I know I woulda. Damn, there was this one time? Keith’s sister thought she was pregnant, and she didn’t know who the daddy was. Turns out she wasn’t, though. It was just gas or something gross, but Keith had like… a hundred some odd friggin’ names picked out. He went out and bought one of them baby books, and oh my God, the weird shit people name their kids! I mean, I feel sorry for them! Who names their babies after fruit, anyway? That’s just damn bizarre.”
“Ellis,” she said patiently waiting for his eyes to focus on hers. “Shut up and kiss me.” She smiled at him and he kissed her just like she knew he would. Ellis could sometimes get going and go on and on about that crazy Keith and Zoey had to reign him back in. She finally pulled away after a moment. “I haven’t looked at any names but we can start making a list. Do you want to tell our friends?”
“Hell yeah, I do!” Ellis was practically beaming at the thought of sharing the good news. Lord knows the prison could use some good things happening for once. “Think maybe you should tell Bill first? I dunno, maybe feel him out some? Try and figure if he’s gon’ come at me with a semi-automatic or something batshit scary-terrifying?”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s not that scary,” she promised him. ‘But yeah, I’ll go tell him right now and then you can tell everyone else.” She leaned in and kissed him again. “Start thinking of names.”
Oh God, their kid was going to be named Jimmy Gibbs she could already feel it in her bones. Maybe she would get lucky and it would be a girl. She should start thinking of girl names. She was preoccupied with names as she left Ellis smiling goofily in the garage and went to go track down her pseudo father figure. While Ellis might be a little afraid of Bill, Zoey wasn’t. The two of them got close on their journey from Pennsylvania to Georgia. He had reminded her of her own father in a lot of ways and she felt that Bill kept the group centered since Louis and Francis were such extreme opposites. She thought Bill would be happy for her, she really did which was why she wasn’t afraid to tell him.
“Hey,” she said as she appeared across the table from him in the cafeteria where he was eating lunch. “Do you have a minute?”
Bill was practically glaring at his rice and spam, but his entire demeanor changed when he looked up and saw Zoey. He still looked like his usual crab ass self, but his expression softened up some. “Sure do,” he motioned to the seat across from him, nudging it out for her with his foot. He must have felt his knee creak, because he let out a swear under his breath. “Just enjoying lunch.. if that’s the word for it.” He paused after he picked up his fork, like he was mulling over words and wondering if he should keep them to himself. “Haven’t seen much of you around lately. How have you been? Everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I didn’t mean to go MIA. I’ve just been preoccupied. There’s something I have to tell you and I have no idea how you’re going to react to it.” She could expect Bill to be a lot more pragmatic about the entire thing than Ellis was. Ellis was the clouds in their relationship and Zoey was the ground underneath. They were perfectly matched that way.
“I’m having a baby,” she finally said. It was time to rip that band-aid off and let her family know what was going on.
In mid chew, Bill started to choke on a bite of his spam that he took while patiently waiting for Zoey to go ahead and spill the beans. Now that they were thoroughly spilled, he quickly covered his mouth and coughed until his airwaves were clear. Even when he could breathe again, his eyes were still wide and he’d would never for as long as he lived admit it, but they were a little misty. He gave Zoey a very level look as he went back to mulling over his own words. The second his eyes seemed to gain a little more shine, he looked away and cleared his throat. “That it? Jesus Christ, I thought you found out something horrible. Like that husband of yours is the missing link or something equally predictable.” He rolled his eyes and ducked his head down to adjust the beret on his head, then pointing a fork at Zoey. “Oh, and don’t you think your kid’s gonna be calling me grandpa. Or paw-paw, or grampy, or any other downright sad variation, you hear?”
Zoey smiled. “How about Poppy? No?” She laughed a little and shook her head. Her expression turned serious. He didn’t really think she hadn’t noticed the tears in his eyes, right? “I want you to be involved in her or his life. You’re going to end up being grandpa one way or another and you know it. But I feel better knowing that my kid is going to have you watching her back.” Because Zoey was afraid of the names Ellis would pick out for a boy.
“Lord help you if that kid turns out to be a boy, Zoey. Mark my words,” he tried to dodge the more serious note Zoey was taking, but after another quiet moment, he just nodded and took another bite of his food. “You know I will. That goes without saying, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I do.” She smiled.
She chit chatted with Bill and made small talk for awhile before she left the cafeteria. He had a sentry shift to get back to anyway. Zoey would have to start thinking about that. She probably wouldn’t be able to do sentry for awhile since she was pregnant and everything. She tried to picture herself doing housekeeping or kitchen work for a couple of months but it was difficult. She wasn’t that kind of a girl. She was a bad-ass just like Ellis had said. With Dimitri and Connor gone and Peter dead and rumors of Allison leaving, she had hoped that maybe she might be put in charge of sentry. She had the experience from being head of security for Katherine. But that life wasn’t in the cards right now. Right now Zoey had to accept that she was about to become a mother and that it would change her life forever. Nothing would ever be about her ever again. Every breath she took would be about her child.
She wandered back down to the garage and after assuring Ellis repeatedly that Bill wouldn’t be coming after him with a shotgun or any Navy SEALs special secret ninja moves, she sat down in a lawn chair near the door and just watched her husband work on the car. She thought about the past and where she had started, flunking out of college and a disappointment to her lower middle class blue collar parents. She thought about the trials and tribulations of being on the run in a zombie infested world. She thought about Louis and Francis and then Shannon and Luke. She thought about the mistakes she had made out there and how she didn’t want to repeat them here in this semi doomed town full of misfits and freaks. She thought about the future.
Zoey could see into the future as she sat in that same lawn chair. She was older, wiser, a little saggier but nothing in life was perfect. Smiling, she watched a hyperactive little brown haired boy running from one end of the garage to the next with never ending energy. The only time little Jimmy-Keith ever calmed down was when his father was talking to him or when Bill was reading him a story. The rest of the time was spent keeping his mother in shape by forcing her to run after him.
“Hey, Jimmy-Keith!” Ellis called his son over and began explaining the different parts of the engine to him. Jimmy-Keith looked under the hood with excitement. He loved it when his father let him help with the cars.
The world was a dangerous place and Zoey and Ellis lead dangerous lives but Jimmy-Keith was the most looked after person in Everett between his parents, his grandfather and his many aunts and uncles. He would grow up into a man that might change the world one day, that would certainly help it carry on. Zoey could see into the future and she smiled because the future was bright.