I Ain't Leaving Here Without You

Zack and I were sat at the kitchen table talking about the next few months and what we needed to start doing. Lying between us was the sonogram picture of the 7 week old baby growing inside me. It took a few days, but we were finally starting to get used to the news that we had a baby on the way. We hadn't told anyone yet since we were still trying to come to grips with it ourselves, but we knew that we needed to tell our families and friends soon. Currently, we were trying to figure out what Zack was going to do with the upcoming album which meant an impending tour.

"You could just come with us," Z suggested. "We'd just have to get everything done around here before hand."

I knew this was an option I had to consider. Neither Zack nor I wanted him to miss out on any of the experience. Plus I knew I would need him around for his support. All I could think about though was how uncomfortable it would be to live on a tour bus with a stomach that ballooned out in front of me. I sighed resting my chin on the palm of my hand.

"I think that is what is going to have to happen babe. We'll need to talk to everyone about that. The doc, the guys, managers, all of 'em." I was going to make this work one way or another, I had to.

"Alright, we will. When do we want to start telling people?" Zack asked as he took a drink of his coffee.

"Has to be soon. You guys are in the studio and we can't just keep saying I'm sick on days that you can't go in." I explained.

"Should we just make dinner one night and invite everyone over?" He asked.

"I think that's a good idea. We should tell our parents first though." I commented.

"How do we want to tell them?" He questioned.

"Well, Christmas is next week, we could tell them then. I think it would make it a special Christmas." I explained with a slight smile coming to my face.

"That would be cool!" Zack exclaimed.

"We could go get another couple of sonograms and frame them for our parents; it would be like a Christmas gift. Do you think that'd be okay?" I asked nervously, chewing on my lip.

Zack gave me a big grin, "I love that Idea. I think that'd be really special for them. Should we invite them to spend Christmas Day with us?"

"Yeah," I responded with a smile, "We should call them so we can see if they can even come out with it being such late notice."

"I'm getting pretty excited, to be honest, babe." Zack admitted with a small grin, I could see the joy in his bright green eyes.

I just smiled at the man who had already made me so happy up until this point in my life and that's when it hit me, I knew everything was going to be okay because I knew Zack would be by my side through it all. I slid out of my chair and planted a kiss on his lips on my way out of the kitchen to go call my parents. I went to sit on the porch swing that hung out on the back patio that looked out onto the ocean. I bundled up with a blanket as I looked up my parent's home number in my phone's contacts and pressed call. I waited nervously while the phone rang.

"Hello?" My mother answered.

"Hey mom," I greeted. "What's up?"

"Oh not too much, just trying to keep up with your step-father and the dogs!" She laughed.

"How are you and Zack doing, hunny?"

"We're doing well! I was actually calling because we wanted to invite you and Anthony to have Christmas with us. I know its a little late notice, but you guys can bring the dogs and stay in the spare room." I explained with a smile tugging at my lips.

"That'd be fantastic! Thank you for inviting us sweetie!" My mother gushed, excitement evident in her voice.

We worked out the arrangements before saying our goodbyes and hanging up. I stayed curled up on the swing, watching the ocean's waves crashing into the shore. I smiled when Zack came out and sat with me on the swing. He wrapped his colorful arms around me and pressed cool kisses to my cheek before resting his head on my shoulder and watching the ocean with me.

Some time later we went back into the house. Z went to his music room to work on some material and I set to cleaning the house. I knew that if we were going to be having guests in the near future I didn't want to leave all the cleaning to the last minute. When it came time to vacuum, Ichabod ran to the safety of Zack while Majesty chased me, barking at the machine. It was nearing dinner time when I was feeling satisfied with what I had gotten accomplished. Most of the house was cleaned and I didn't need to do too much else. I dragged my tired feet up the stairs to see Zack in his music room. He was still strumming away on his guitar with headphones clasped tightly over his ears to block out all other noise. Majesty ran in past me and licked Zack's elbow which messed up his strumming. He set the guitar down and pulled his headphones off, enveloping Majesty in a squeeze as he gave her kisses on her head. I watched the two of them as Ichabod came trotting over to me, looking for some attention as well. I scooped him up and scratched behind his ears. Zack peaked over his shoulder after hearing his other pup whining for affection.

"Hey," he smiled.

I walked over, placed Ichabod on the ground and pulled Zacky to his feet. "Hey yourself."

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he tenderly placed a hand on my stomach.

"We're doin good." I replied, smiling up at him. "How are you doing? Getting hungry?"

Zack nodded his head in response, "I'm feelin some take out, how does that sound?"

"Chinese?" I questioned excitedly.

"Of course," he grinned.

"Chow mein and fried rice!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"The eggplant!" I continued with a broad smile, the man knew how to please.

Zack just laughed at me as he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of his music room and into our bedroom. He instructed me to get comfy on the bed as he was going to call in and we were going to watch some TV while we ate. While I went into the closet to put on some lounge pants and one of Zacky's shirts he called the local Chinese place and placed an order to deliver. I joined him back on the bed, curling up next to him. We turned on the TV to decide what we wanted to watch while we waited for our food to arrive. There was nothing playing or in the DVR that we wanted so we turned to Netflix for help. We looked in the queue and found Sons of Anarchy at the top of the list and decided to get all caught up before the current season came out. As soon as we had made our choice the doorbell rang and Zack jumped up to get the food. When he returned we dug into our food and watched as SOA played across the TV screen. The empty to-go containers littered the nightstands while the show continued to play.

"Where are we going to put the baby?" I asked softly.

"What do you mean?" Zack questioned, his attention being drawn away from the TV.

"What room are we going to put the baby in? If we have to get everything ready before tour, we should get started on the room pretty quick." I explained.

"I'll just clear out the music room and move everything to the den, there's plenty of room. Plus, it'll put the baby right next to our room when we have to get up in the middle of the night." He responded giving me a kiss on the top of my head.

Immediately a flash of that baby dream I'd had months ago popped into my head but I mentally batted it away and reminded myself that it was just a dream, nothing more.

"Sounds good," I replied to Zack with a slight smile. "What colors do we want to do in the room?"

"Do you want to wait and see what we're having first? Or do you even want to find out?" Zack inquired as he realized we hadn't even had that discussion yet. We had just been so caught up in accepting that we were going to be having a baby that we didn't even think about if we wanted to know the gender.

SOA continued to play on the TV in front of us, long forgotten.

"I think I want to let it be a surprise since this was already a surprise," I joked as I rubbed my tummy. It was slightly pouchy but only from all the chinese food I'd eaten, I knew our little one wouldn't begin to show for hopefully another month or so.

Zee smiled at me, "I like that idea. Let's go with grey colors then, keep it neutral."

I nodded in approval then snuggled into Zack. He hung his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.

"What about names?" I mumbled, remaining content in my position.

"We have to start thinking about that too, huh?" Zack asked letting out a sigh.

"Yeah and we need boy and girl names if we want it to be a surprise." I commented as I thought that this was going to probably end up making more work for ourselves.

"Why are we doing this again?" Zack laughed and I could hear the rumbling in his chest over the sound of his heart beat.

"Because we had sex and I ended up pregnant Mr. Can't Keep it in His Pants?" I replied sarcastically. Zack just continued to laugh and the sound was just music to my ears, I loved hearing his laugh.

"Come on though, really. We need to start thinking of names." I stated as I poked at his side.

His laughter finally died down and he let out a contented sigh. "We could use family names."

"As long as you have something better than Beatrix or Anson. As much as I love my grandparents, I don't really want to wish either of those names on our child." I giggled.
Zack thought for a moment before replying. "Well, the name James has been in my family for as far back as I can think. Ya know, there's me, my dad, and it just keeps goin. For girls, honestly, I always really loved my great-grandma's name, Gabriella."

I finally lifted my head to look Zack in the face, "I like those. Let's go with those!"

I got a smile in return before he leaned forward and placed his lips to mine. I placed my hands on either side of his face as he kissed me a few more times and then rested our foreheads together.

"I don't really know how it is that we've gotten to this point, but all that matters to me is that I love you, Bailey Baker. You're all I need and, soon, this little one too" Zack murmured as he placed a hand over my stomach and I nodded in agreement.

"I love you too, Zachary Baker."

We remained in that moment a little while longer before Zee lifted his head and placed a kiss to my forehead. He could tell I was sleepy so he turned the TV off and instructed me to get some rest. I nodded as he pulled me to him after we both lay down. I turned over and placed my head on his chest and let the sound of his heartbeat and rhythmic breathing lull me to sleep.

When I woke up I rubbed my eyes and rolled over, peaking one eye open to find my phone that I had been ignoring for the last couple of days besides calls to coordinate with my mom about the holidays.

9 missed calls and 12 text messages. I knew they were from the girls and I knew that if I didn't get back to them soon we'd start having knocks on our door. It wasn't that I didn't want to see my best friends or anything, but I was still processing what my life was going to turn into. Having a baby with a father who would be spending a lot of time on the road all over the world, possibly even having birth while going with the guys, it was a lot to work through. I sighed as I turned my attention back to my phone.

A lot of the calls and texts were from Angel. I smiled knowing how much my best friend cared about me. I peaked to the other side of the bed only to realize Zack wasn't there. I shrugged as I hit the call button, happy that I at least wouldn't disturb a sleeping Zack.

After just two short rings Angel picked up. "Thank god you aren't dead! I was seriously about ready to come kick your door down with the police at my back."

I giggled before responding. "Sorry Angel. I just haven't been feeling very well so my phones gone unnoticed since I had my man here with me."

"Bitch, no excuses. Concerned best friend here," Angel joked and I could hear the laughter and concern in her voice.

"I know, I know. It's no excuse. Can you ever forgive me?" I jokingly pleaded. "I'll take you out to breakfast one day!"

"Now you're bribing me with food?" She whined, "I can't say no to free food."

I smiled knowing that everything was okay between us. "After Christmas we'll hit the Sugar Shack. How's that sound?"

"Not soon enough! I miss my best friend!" She continued whining.

"I'm sorry I can't do it sooner, our parents are coming out for Christmas in a few days and they'll be here for a couple days. But Zee and I already talked about doing dinner for every one soon." I replied.

I heard Angel gasp. "Yay! Dinner party! Okay, I guess you totally make up for it. Anyhow, how are you feeling now?"

"Still not that great but I have to get okay since the folks are coming in. I actually have to get the house ready and go get groceries. Damn!" I exclaimed, realizing that I had a lot to get done in the next couple days.

"Well hopefully you'll feel better pretty quick. Whatever bug you got should be just about over." She offered, if only she knew.

"How're you doing Angel Face?" I questioned.

"Tired, just trying to keep up with Ryley. It can be utterly exhausting, honestly!" She admitted.

"Awww. I miss the little guy! Well, I'll let you go so that little monster doesn't have too much time to get himself into too much trouble and I have to go get my house ready for guests!

We'll do breakfast sometime next week and catch up okay?" I smiled.

"Alright, love to you and Zee," She laughed.

"Love to you guys as well!"