Death Valley and an Engagement Ring

Disclaimer: I don't own The Addams Family.

I've been reading Addams Family fanfiction for about two months now. I've even given a couple of reviews. But this is the first time I've written something for this fandom myself. I think it's safe to say I'll always be more involved in the Once Upon a Time fandom than in this one, but I wanted to give writing this scene for the Addams Family a shot.

If you could give me a review, I'd really appreciate it. Especially about characterization, as I believe that's one of the most important aspects of writing fanfiction. Since I've never written for Addams Family, I'm a bit nervous about getting their characters right. (Although I can analyze the characters to death. That's me.)

This takes place in the TV Addams Family universe.

Morticia and Gomez spent about a month on their honeymoon in Death Valley. It was a wonderful place to spend a honeymoon, although they got a lot of sand on their bodies. After all, the sun was much too bright during the day. So they quickly solved the problem by burying themselves underground until night fall. All in all, it was a perfect arraignment. During the day, they had a cozy little hole to spend time in. It was even better than the cave on the Addams' Family estate, because they barely had any room to move an inch. Morticia and Gomez were more than happy to spend all of their time on top of each other. At night, they came out from their hole and enjoyed the moonlight and snacked on some of the animals. Lizards were the tastiest, although they weren't very filling. So sometimes they ate jackrabbits, too. Once they got lucky enough to find a rattlesnake. That was wonderful, as battling it was just as much fun as eating it. Besides, the poison was a perfect spice. To top it off, the place was just as gloomy as it sounded.

In fact, Morticia and Gomez could have easily stayed in Death Valley longer, if it wasn't for Morticia worrying about Cleopatra. "I know your Mama promised to look after her, but I'm still concerned," she told her husband. "I'd like to make sure she's okay."

Gomez sighed, but he nodded. "If that's what you want, Querida," he agreed, kissing her again.

"I'd like to see our family again, too," Morticia added. "Dear Uncle Fester was such a help to us when you were engaged to Ophelia. And I'm sure Mama would like to see us, too."

"Yes, of course. You're right, Tish." And he kissed her again. Seriously Morticia loved his kisses. They were the perfect combination of passion and tenderness. All love.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Gomez eventually convinced the charter flight they hired to pick them up again. It was somewhat confusing that commercial airliners didn't go to Death Valley, but it didn't really matter. Actually there were a lot of benefits to taking a personal plane ride home, anyway. Before they left, they collected a few more lizards to enjoy on the way. They also gathered some sand to take home with them, thinking pouring sand over each other would be a great addition to their cave for special occasions.

They also made sure to wash all the sand off their bodies. As much fun as the sand had been, Morticia firmly believed in looking presentable in front of strangers. So they cut open cacti to wash themselves. (The cacti were another thing that was wonderful about Death Valley. They were an excellent source of water and so wonderfully prickly.) And then they washed themselves again after getting…distracted and ending up in the sand again.

Finally they picked up their things and boarded the plane. Their pilot became quite irritated at them after Morticia accidently spoke French. It was easy for her to do, after all. She'd spent so much of her childhood studying the language; sometimes speaking it was more natural than her native tongue. It didn't help that Morticia had spoken quite a bit of French in the last month, because Gomez liked it so much.

Anyway that was the problem in this case. She said something in French without thinking of the effect it had on her new husband. Gomez immediately began covering her body with kisses. Morticia knew such behavior wasn't…good manners in front of company, especially in front of strangers. But it was hard to care when his lips were on her skin. "Mmmmm" she mumbled in delight.

"Ahem." Their pilot protested. "I realize your newlyweds, but…still…enough!" The man grumbled.

"Seriously, a man should learn to control himself better!" The driver sounded like he'd lost respect for Gomez. It irritated Morticia beyond belief that her husband would be treated that way, despite the fact that a part of her understood his point. Therefore, she gently told Gomez they would continue this later. She also decided she would tell him "later," from now on when this happened. (Morticia was positive it would happen again, considering her tendency to speak French without thinking, and the effect the language had on Gomez.) After all, she believed good manners were important. Besides, Morticia didn't want anyone treating her husband with disrespect. He was the best man in the world and deserved more respect than anyone she'd ever met. She'd see to it that everyone treated with the respect he was worthy of.

OOOOOOOOO

They finally arrived home, after convincing the pilot to land in the backyard of the Addams family for an extra fee. He screamed that he didn't want anything to do with them before flying away again. Morticia wondered if he was joking. He was a nice man, considering he'd provided them with a ride, but he'd showed her husband disrespect, too.

It was no matter. They gathered their things and walked into the house, holding hands.

Lurch greeted them at the door, in his delightful grunt.

Mama came running in from the kitchen. "Oh, you guys are back! I was afraid you were thinking of staying there permanently." She gave them each a hug.

"We thought about it," Gomez told his mother. "But Morticia was worried about Cleopatra and wanted to see the rest of the family."

Morticia nodded. "Yes how is Cleopatra?"

Mama shrugged. "She seems alright to me. By the way, Gomez, there's a package that came for you."

Morticia went to check on Cleopatra while Gomez opened his package.

"Querida!" Gomez called as she finished feeding and cuddling Cleopatra. "Come see this!"

Morticia shrugged and went to see him. She wondered what he received that he was so excited about. A new box of Cuban cigars? Some new trains? No… that box was too small for trains. "What is it, darling?" she asked him, curiously.

He took her hand and looked into her eyes. "Before we left for Death Valley, I made some calls about getting you an engagement ring. I had to talk to quite a few people because I wanted to get you the perfect ring. One worthy of your immeasurable beauty….Or close to it anyway, Cara Mia."

Morticia nodded, confused. "Gomez, darling I appreciate you want to get me a perfect ring. But isn't it a little unnecessary? Engagement rings are for women who are engaged. As in, not yet married. They're a way for letting people know the couple will be married eventually. We're already married." She caressed his cheek to show him how much she loved that concept. "And we have a marriage license to prove it. So why do I need an engagement ring?"

Gomez shook his head. "No Querida, that's not all an engagement ring is for. It's, as some people say, to 'show which woman keeps a man's heart.' You don't just 'keep my heart,' you keep my hot blood flowing into it. Even if my heart stopped beating, you'd still keep my heart. I could take my heart out and give it to you in a box, if you'd like. But I think you'd rather have this."

He opened the box and pulled out a beautiful black diamond ring. "I had to work pretty hard to find one like that. I had men in every corner of the world looking for me. For some reason, most people don't like black diamonds, so it was hard to find. But it was worth it when I did." With that, he slipped the ring on her finger.

Morticia decided she would wear the ring always. Even after she died, the ring would still be on her finger.

My idea for this story originally came because I was wondering when Gomez gave Morticia the black diamond ring we always see her wear in the series. I would assume it's an engagement ring, but he certainly didn't give it to her before they were married (considering the time they were actually "engaged" in the TV show was about one minute). So I came up with this conversation to explain it.

What did you think of my explanation? How about my reason why Morticia is always telling Gomez "later" when he gets amorous in front of people? Part of me thinks it works, and the other have doesn't, because the Addams have never cared what other people thought of them, anyway.

Anyway, again, I'd love some reviews for this story. And please, be honest. I want to know what you think, not what you think I want to hear. Don't worry that this the first Addams Family fanficion I've published; I can take it.