Seize the Day

"Merry Christmas, baby," Matt murmured as he draped an arm over me. The entire band had made it very well-known to management that we were to have a break from touring to be home at least a couple of days around Christmas.

I yawned and giggled. "Merry Christmas to you too." I snuggled back into him, too warm and content to move. "What time are we going again?" As was to be expected, everyone was gathering at Vengeance Manor for Christmas festivities this afternoon, giving each family time to do their own thing first.

"Zack told everyone else to be there about 3 to help cook," he said softly. "Jess said dinner's at 6, and you aren't helping with anything. You, of course, know how she is." I felt him smiling on back of my neck.

"Jesus, people," I sighed. "I'm pregnant, not fucking broken!" Since I'd told everyone my news, I had pretty much been forbidden to do anything that wasn't sitting on my ass. I rolled over onto my back. "I'll just fix something here and take it over there. She'll never know."

He laughed at me. "She said you'd try that, and made me promise not to let you."

"Ugh!" I grunted. "Fine. But I do need to finish wrapping stuff, so we should probably get up sometime."

His hands went to my stomach, which was as of yet just barely bigger than it was six weeks ago, before I knew there was another person in there. He turned around on the bed so that he was laying cross-ways, his head resting lightly on my belly. "Good morning," he said, pulling my tank top up to expose my skin. His lips directly on my tummy had tickled at first, but since this had become our morning routine, it didn't bother me anymore.

Every morning since the night Matt proposed and I told him I was pregnant, whether we were in the bunk on the tour bus, in a hotel room, or here at home, he'd done this, and it never failed to completely melt my heart. "You are so loved already, little one. We cannot wait to meet you, and for you to be a part of our family." Then he would sing. It was something different almost everyday. You Are My Sunshine was first and most often, sometimes it was Seize the Day or even Phoenix, sometimes it was just Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, anything to let our little Sea Monkey know his voice.

Since we obviously didn't know if it was a boy or a girl in there, and for right now it wasn't bigger than a shrimp, Brian had off-handedly called it our Sea Monkey, and that sort of stuck. "You know, that's kinda cute, in a weird way," I had said. "I like it." And so it was.

"Alright," I said, my hands on top of his on my stomach as he finished singing, "let's get up and get going." We got showered, dressed, and headed downstairs. It was only about 8am, since neither of us were big on sleeping in. I headed for the kitchen to get started on some breakfast. "Waffles or pancakes?" I called toward the living room.

"Waffles!" he yelled back. "But with blueberries!"

"Got it," I said as I gathered what I needed and heated up the waffle maker. I heard him rustling around in the living room, but didn't pay any attention to him. Once the waffles were ready, I called him back into the kitchen. He trotted in, holding an envelope that had a ridiculously large shiny purple bow on it.

"That better not be a gift," I said. "Gifts are to wait until Jess and Zack's later with everyone."

"Not this one," he grinned. "This is for you, and for now."
I took the envelope from him, removed the bow and placed it on top of my head, and sighed. "I've already got you and our Sea Monkey, what the hell else do I need?"

"Just open it, okay?" he huffed, getting impatient.

"Fine!" I sat on one of the counterstools as Matt took over putting the waffles on plates. I opened the envelope, and gasped as the slips of paper fell out. "Matt!" I squealed. "Disneyland? Thank you so much!" I put the tickets back in the envelope and ran over to him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," I gushed, hugging him as tightly as I could.

"You're welcome, welcome, welcome," he laughed. "I figure, what better way to celebrate getting married and having a baby by going and being kids again ourselves."

"Well, I think that's a great idea," I said, taking my seat at the counter again. He set a plate of waffles in front of me, then sat next to me with his.

We ate and talked about preliminary plans for the baby's nursery, about the upcoming trip to Disney, which was going to be a group outing, and about the awesome food we were going to be eating soon at Zack and Jess's house.

"I think she's making lasagna," Matt said.

My eyes rolled back into my head. "Oh god," I said. "There's no wonder Zee loves her so much. Her lasagna is the best on the planet."

He laughed at me as he cleaned up our breakfast mess. "Ok, now to finish wrapping those presents."

After we had everything wrapped up in shiny paper with ribbons and bows, Matt went ahead and loaded everything into the car, so we wouldn't have to deal with it later. We then flopped onto the couch to watch A Christmas Story for like the seventh time.

Even though I hadn't had any morning sickness (yet, anyway), I had already noticed I was tired a lot. I snoozed, draped over Matt's lap, as he absent-mindedly played his fingers through my hair.

At about 4, we decided to head over to Zack's place, regardless of my forbidden status in their kitchen. Jess opened the door, wearing a VU shirt, and an adorable Mickey Mouse apron, which was currently covered in flour.

"Oh, Mattycakes, thank Jesus you're here." She hugged Matt breathlessly. "Go out back and help Zack with the fucking grill, please? He's about 30 seconds from blowing us all up." He chuckled, kissed me and scurried through the house, following the sound of Zacky's obscenities. Jess swatted at his ass as he passed her.

"Look, bitch," I giggled. "Hands off the goods, mkay?"

She laughed and threw her arms around my neck. "How is my favorite Shads family?" she asked, looking down to my midsection.

"Tired," I answered, kissing her cheek. "I didn't think I'd be this tired so early! 10 weeks isn't that far into anything.”

She narrowed her eyes to slits. “And that is exactly why I will not have you doing any cooking or anything today.” She shooed me into the living room where Zack's dogs Majesty and Icky were lounging on the large sofa. “Sit. And I don't mean the dogs.”

“Seriously, Jess,” I said. “I'm totally capable of helping you. I'm not damaged or broken. It just so happens that there's another person inside me right now. No big deal.”

“Yes, big deal,” I heard Jessica yell from the kitchen. She rounded the corner, wiping her hands on a dish towel. Once she was satisfied that she was sufficiently dry, she reached for a hug, which I obliged her.

“The boys are all out back, watching Zack try to burn the place down,” she laughed. “I'm sure that will be far more interesting to watch than us in here.”

I sighed and wandered through the kitchen. “Will that be ok with you, Mama J?” I asked sarcastically, hugging a hello to Michelle and Jamie as well.

“Yes, smartass,” she laughed. “Get out of here.”

I sauntered out into the yard, where the guys seemed to be talking and drinking beer more than doing anything with the grill. As I approached Matt, holding a bottle of Bud Light, I sighed heavily again. “God, I wish I'd have been able to have just one more beer, knowing it would be my last for awhile.”

“Shit, I'm sorry,” he said, trying to hide the bottle.

“Sorry for what?” I asked, laughing. “Knocking me up? Yeah, you should be.” I slugged his arm.

Johnny laughed. “Dude, that's gotta suck, not being able to drink for nine months.”

“Longer than that,” I replied, smirking. I'd already found out through several small conversations that anything remotely involving any sort of pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding talk gave most of the guys the willies. “Can't drink while breastfeeding, either. It secretes directly into the milk.”

I saw both Johnny and Brian shudder. “Ew, gross,” Gates shivered. “Stop talking about that shit. We're trying to fix food.” Matt just laughed.

“Better get used to it,” he told them. “One of these days, we'll need Uncle Brian and Aunt Michelle or Uncle Short Shit and Aunt Jamie to babysit. What do you think you'll be feeding the kid?”

Zack's expression changed suddenly. “Oh, nasty,” he said. “I hadn't thought about that part. I will not be touching your, um, milk.” A shudder ran through all three of them now.

I rolled my eyes. “Don't you have some burgers and steaks to cook?” Being the totally non-traditional “family” that we were, we decided that Christmas was going to be just another shindig for us. Burgers, steaks, the usual, and then Jess's famous lasagna. And of course, Jessica's world-renowned deviled eggs. I kissed Matt's cheek. “I'm gonna go back inside. Maybe I can trick Jess into letting me help with something.”

“Good luck with that,” he grinned.

“God, Jess,” I whined when I got into the kitchen. “Isn't there anything I can do? You're killin' me, Smalls.”

“Nope, nothing.” She glared at me. “Sit down, and keep your hands to yourself.”

“Fine,” I huffed. Deciding I needed to at least talk, I asked Jessica about Arin. “So, what's the what there, Virgil?”

She did something I didn't know she was capable – she blushed. “Well, he's pretty much super adorable, and crazy sweet, too. I think we've kind of hit it off, I guess. I think.”

“He brought you here, right?” I asked. “That's gotta say something.” She grinned at me. “I think you're gonna be just fine.”

“He's a good one,” Jess added. “Sweet as they come.”

“Yeah, I'd say you're pretty much the lucky one,” Chelle said. “The rest of us got the buttheads of the group.” We all laughed and nodded.

“She's got a point,” Jessica laughed. “But yeah. I think we're gonna see what happens.”

“So, did you get yours this morning too?” Jamie asked me excitedly.

“Did I get my what?” I had no idea what they'd been talking about earlier.

“Well, Jessica and Jamie were telling me that they both got tickets to Disney this morning,” Jess answered. “Me and Chelle got some too. The boys got them as a group trip. I'm assuming you got yours, too.”

I dropped my jaw. “I most certainly did not!” I shrieked. “What the fuck, man?” Matt just happened to be coming through the patio door.

He looked totally taken aback. “What the fuck what?” he asked, voice shrill.

“Care to explain why you didn't give her the Disney tickets?” Jess demanded. Matt looked from her to me, mouth agape for just a second, before he rolled his eyes and laughed.

“What's so funny?” Michelle asked, as she'd been just as pissed as Jess.

“Gotcha.” I stuck my tongue out at the girls, who all glared at me. “Yes, I got them too. I still don't know why they had to do them this morning, instead of waiting until we were all here. Goofballs.” I winked at Matt who had come to stand next to me, arm around my waist.

“God, I hate you sometimes,” Jessica scoffed, going back to her eggs.

“You don't.” I blew a loud kiss at her. “You love me and you know it.”

“I'd love you more if you weren't such an asshole,” she answered, grinning.

“Baby, are you gonna let them talk to me, the mother of your child, like that?” I cooed at Matt.

“Yeah.” He just patted the top of my head. “As long as you keep being an asshole, I'll let them call you one.”

Jess shook her head and took her lasagna out of the oven. “Shads, how much longer are y'all gonna be out at the grill?”
“Zack's got everything on right now,” he said. “Maybe fifteen minutes?”

“Good.” She grabbed plates, forks, and glasses. “Chelle, Jamie, you two set the table?”

Thirty minutes later, we were all seated around Zacky's huge dining room table, with an impressive feast set before us. The food was all amazing, as I'd known it would be, and the conversation was interesting, if not proper for a formal dinner table. But leave it to us. Not one of us would be considered proper, in any setting.

After we finished eating, dessert included, we retired to the living room where the guys had stacked all the gifts we'd all brought for each other. Each of them trying to out-do the others, the pile of presents was nothing to sneeze at. There had to have been at least fifty packages of different sizes and shapes.

Zack was our Santa, complete with a VU Santa hat. He spent about 20 minutes doling out the gifts, making sure everything was accounted for and passed to its owner before anyone opened anything. I wouldn't have cared if I didn't have one single gift under that enormous tree, just being in the same room as all of these smiling, laughing, cursing faces was enough for me. A literal dream come true.

The wrapping paper mess following the gift-opening was extensive. I managed to sneak into the kitchen for a garbage bag and start cleaning up before Jess realized what was going on. She glared at me, but was far too involved with the settings on the brand-new Schecter Zacky V custom he'd had made just for her to actually do anything. It was decked out with an original design starring a zombie Minnie Mouse. Not knowing she was getting the guitar, she'd bought him a new Bugera amp. They now had quite the matching set.

Other gifts bestowed upon the group were too numerous to recount, but let it be known that we all made out nicely. Among other things, Michelle had received a huge amount of money in the form of various gift cards; Jessica was presented with an open-ended plane ticket back and forth to Chicago. Jamie ended up with a gorgeous necklace and earrings set that had skulls with tanzanite set in as the eyes, being it was her birthstone. I got lots of baby stuff, including what had to have been the first maternity top Vengeance University created. It was pretty adorable, touting that there was a “Future Zomby” growing in my tummy, with an infantized version of the company's famous Zomby head.

The guys looted out pretty well too, with Matt scoring a new set of golf clubs (obviously illiciting an eye-roll or two from me), Johnny took home a huge collection of rare and foreign horror movies, and Arin got an enormous print of one of Cam Rackam's designs. I think it was agreed that Brian managed to win the “best gift of the year” with a new motorcycle – everyone had gone in together for that one.

We finally got all the ribbon and paper bits picked up and thrown away and decided to all stick around and watch some movies. Again, being the total non-traditionalists we are, we decided to go through Zack's nearly infinite collection of horror and zombie flicks for material. Finally, after much debate, the Night of the Living Dead franchise won out. We made it through three of them before we started to fall off. It was almost midnight before we began saying our goodbyes. No one wanted to mess with any of the food, so we all promised to come back in the next couple of days to help Zack and Jess with leftovers, not that there was much left. It never ceased to amaze me how much food those boys can put away.

“Ugh,” I sighed, finally crawling into bed. “I think that was the best Christmas ever.”

Matt chuckled, curling up behind me. “Agreed,” he said. “Mostly because you were here and part of it.” He kissed the back of my neck.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I chided. “I know what that means. And I am far too tired for those shenanigans tonight.” I rolled over to face him. “Thanks for everything, sweets. I believe you've officially made me the happiest woman on the planet.”

“Least I can do, you know, since you make me the happiest man,” he said.

“Ok, enough with the cheese,” I huffed. “I need some sleep. Maybe try that back of the neck thing again in the morning, kay?”

“Oh, I'd already planned on it.” He locked his arms around me, and we were asleep.