Chapter 3
Although it came to him quite unexpectedly, Gomez Addams thoroughly enjoyed being a father. Granted, there were some days he enjoyed it more thoroughly than others, such as the time when Ivy decided to befriend his ex-lover's little sister or, quite recently, started pestering Morticia and Gomez to allow her to dye her hair pink, to which they both told her firm and adamant no, but that didn't stop the almost ten-year-old to pursue the subject relentlessly until Gomez thought that if he had to listen about pink hair one more time he might actually strangle her. There was also that time, two months ago, when Ivy threw quite a magnificent tantrum when she wasn't allowed to pierce her tongue just as her best friend Kelly had, except Kelly was thirteen and, according to Melanie, her mother was nevertheless absolutely furious, so Kelly had to remove the tongue jewellery anyway and the topic died its natural death.
Generally though, generally, Gomez Addams - a lifetime optimist and a shiftless dreamer - always focused on the wonderfully fun side of the parenting and everything about his daughter he found wonderful, she was extremely fun and full of mischief, despite the number of asinine ideas she and Kelly could come with on regular basis.
He smiled contentedly, leaning against the green Packard, casually smoking his cigar as he watched his daughter leave the school with two of the girls from her class, smiling and chatting when suddenly a blond boy with pomaded hair, combed to the back jogged towards them and after a short greeting the two girls and left Ivy alone with the boy. Gomez's expression instantly darkened. What was that human worm thinking talking to his little girl -
"Daddy!" Ivy exclaimed, finally noticing him and waved excitedly. Gomez waved back but made sure to bestow his most thunderous glare at the blond boy next to her but, to his dismay, the boy apparently decided to walk Ivy to the car.
"Paloma," he smiled when Ivy hugged him and he kissed the side of her head in greeting all the while trying to glare the hell out of the boy.
"Daddy, this is my friend Timmy Pomeroy, his family lives not far from us and Timmy loves snakes," Ivy introduced the boy."So we're friends now."
"Hello Mr Addams," he greeted politely extending his hands towards Gomez.
"Pomeroy?" he inquired, shaking the boy's hand. He was quite sure there was no family of that name living in their neighbourhood.
"Yes, sir," the boy nodded."We've moved in two weeks ago."
Gomez narrowed his eyes slightly when suddenly the realization came to him.
"The house with a white picket fence and the pink geraniums?" dear Lord, trust Ivy to befriend the most peculiar people in existence. He bet they had daisies in their backyard and the very thought was enough to make him ill.
"Yes, sir," Timmy confirmed with a smile before adding excitedly:"And you live in that awesome spooky mansion, my mother almost fainted when she first saw it!"
Gomez laughed jovially at his words, ah well, maybe the boy wasn't so bad after all.
"That's very kind of you to say so," he smiled.
"Anyway, it was nice to meet you, sir," he said before turning to Ivy."I'll see you tomorrow at school Ivy."
"Bye, Timmy," she waved at him as they both watched the Pomeroy boy jog back in the direction of the school."He's nice, isn't he daddy?"
"I suppose," Gomez muttered, opening the door for her.
"Why isn't Lurch picking me up today?" she asked as she climbed to the back seat, dropping her school bag next to her.
"I thought we could go to the pet store and buy that snake breeding equipment you wanted," he replied, smiling when he heard her breath hitch with excitement as he took the seat behind the wheel.
"Daddy you're the best," she jumped happily from her seat, wrapping her skinny arms around his neck, almost strangling him."Break the speed limits!"
"Obviously," he grinned at her."That's the only way to drive."
After twenty minutes drive to the store, that normally should take forty-five, Gomez was utterly disappointed not to receive a single speeding ticket. Worst luck that at the very rush hour there was not a single policeman in the vicinity. He was still grumbling about it when they left the pet store with all the equipment Ivy needed.
"You drive too slow, daddy," Ivy remarked, rolling her eyes at her father's dramatic complaints as they were leaving the store followed by the shop assistant carrying their packages.
"I most certainly do not," he replied in a vastly offended tone."Grandmama always says I drive like a maniac."
"Ha, that's because she's your mom and doesn't want to hurt your feelings," she teased."Tish gets speeding tickets every single time, so does Lurch - now he drives like a maniac! You, know last week a policeman stopped us for speeding and told Tish that with such an irresponsible parenting style, she should have her parenting rights revoked permanently and threatened to take away her driving license - isn't that sweet of him to say that?"
"It is, indeed," he agreed and opened the back door to allow the shop assistant to deposit their shopping there."Thank you, my good man," he added, holding the man a fat roll of hundred dollar bills.
"Always a pleasure doing business with you, Mr Addams" the shop assistant grinned and immediately hid the money inside the pocket, shaking Gomez's extended hand.
"Daddy, can we go have ice-cream?" Ivy asked pointing at the cafe on the other side of the street.
"You can have ice-cream," he decided, closing the car door."I can have coffee."
Ivy Addams thought her father's face was turning a lovely shade of green as he watched her attacking a huge portion of vanilla ice-cream with fudge and double caramel as they both sat next to the window in the small cafe.
"You wanna try?" she asked, extending the spoon with ice cream towards him and grinned when he made a face.
"I would rather die and you know that," he replied eliciting a soft giggle from her."Anyway, I wanted to tell you something."
"Ok, tell me," she prompted with her mouth full of ice cream when he stayed silent.
"Yes, well, you've probably been wondering why Tish has been so sick lately," he started, folding his hands in front of him and watched Ivy's hand froze mid-air as she was about to put another spoonful into her mouth."In case you've been worrying about her - "
"I wasn't," she interjected."She's pregnant, I know."
"Oh...has she already told you?" he wondered out loud, even though the idea didn't make sense since they agreed that Gomez would tell her today.
"No."
"Grandmama told you then?" he guessed.
"No."
"Then how do you know she's pregnant?" he asked, leaning closer towards her with a confused frown on his face.
"Daddy, I have been asking for a baby sister for years," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world." I've been preparing for this very moment since forever, reading grandpa's medical journals about antenatal care, so I would know when Tish was expecting a baby. I know all the symptoms of pregnancy and stages of development of the fetus."
"That's just...horrifying," he remarked and then added as an afterthought: "And yet strangely endearing."
"Well, that... and I saw grandmama knitting baby clothes," she grinned and Gomez laughed heartily."It wasn't all that hard to put two and two together."
Indeed, since his mother found out about the baby two days ago, she's managed to knit two sets of baby clothes - the excitement obviously getting better of her.
"Is Tish feeling better today?" Ivy inquired, swirling her finger around the empty glass to scoop the last remnants of her ice cream.
"Somewhat, she was asleep when I left," he said. His mother's tea was helping considerably but whoever called it morning sickness was apparently way off because Morticia was sick practically all the time and constant nausea made her particularly tired and so she went back to bed practically the moment she finished her phone call to Aurora.
"So, when is the baby gonna to be born?" his daughter asked excitedly, interrupting his thoughts.
"Late October or early November," he replied and his lips seemed to involuntarily stretch into a happy smile at the mere prospect.
"Oh, maybe it will be a Halloween baby!"
"It could be," he grinned at her."Ready to go back home?"
She nodded and Gomez left a hundred dollar bill under his coffee cup since he didn't have the slightest idea how much his order was but he reckoned his deliciously bitter coffee and an extremely rude waitress was definitely worth hundred dollars at the very least.
Aurora Addams tried very hard not to smirk when her driver almost tripped over his own feet so eager was the young man to open the door of the red Packard. She absolutely adored how shit scared all of them were of her. There was something absolutely delightful about the fact that grown men were afraid of a hundred-and-nine-year-old, five foot two 'tall' witch. Of course, they had very good reasons to be scared of her and her reputation for reducing grown men to little squirming nothing was still very much stellar. Still, it never failed to amuse how her reputation always seemed to precede her.
Not unlike Morticia, who despite being one of the kindest people Aurora had ever met, also made people around her extremely nervous. Aurora found it hilarious that it took her new driver whole three months to stop stuttering and trip over his own feet whenever Morticia was around.
She frowned slightly at the thought of her niece. She must admit that the morning phone call from Morticia left her quite worried for it was very unlike Morticia to take a sick day. It was an extremely rare occurrence for Morticia to take an unplanned day off at all, which told Aurora that the young woman must really be feeling quite dreadful indeed.
"Aunt Aurora," Salvador greeted her when he opened the door."What a surprise."
"Salvador, dear child, have you finally lost your mind?" Aurora inquired as he helped take off her coat."We've spoken over the phone not half an hour ago and I told you I was coming over."
"You have?" he asked bewildered and the grinned at her in, what Aurora thought, was deliberately obnoxious manner."I must have not been paying attention to what you're saying."
"I will never understand why the hell Eudora agreed to marry you," she muttered, glaring at her nephew.
"Well, I am extremely charming and undeniably handsome," he remarked casually, lighting his cigar.
"Are you? I haven't noticed," the older lady deadpanned, eliciting a jovial laugh out of him. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "My, my, you are in an awfully good mood today."
"I am indeed," he agreed happily as he led her to the parlour.
"Anything I can do to change that?" she quipped as she sat down in her favourite armchair near the fireplace.
"Not in a million years," he grinned."Brandy?"
"Do you have to ask?"
He smirked and went to pour her a glass of amber liquid.
"Manners are manners and you always complain I have none," he remarked, holding his cigar between his teeth.
"That's because you don't," she replied, accepting the drink. "Thank you," she took a small sip."Is Morticia feeling better?"
"Ah, yes and no," he answered, taking a seat in an armchair opposite hers and crossed his legs. "Eudora gave her something to help with the morning sickness but …-"he frowned when Aurora's eyes widened in surprise."Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Morning sickness?" she repeated, placing her glass on the small table next to her."You mean she's pregnant?"
"Well, of course, ...oh," he faltered and winced immediately after."Oh...oh hold on, I was not supposed to tell anyone yet."
"Salvador," his aunt regarded him in an exasperated manner but could hardly contain her smile at the news."You couldn't hold a secret to save your life, you doofus."
"Just promise to act surprised when Morticia tells you," he pleaded but he wasn't sure he cared for the mean look that crossed his elderly aunt face."She wanted to tell you in person."
"Oh, I promise," she drawled before her lips curled into a vicious smirk.
Morticia Addams was surprised to wake up to the feeling of no nausea for the first time in days. She nevertheless decided to proceed with extra prudence in case the non-nausea turned to be a temporary illusion. She raised slowly and swung her feet of the bed, testing her body's reaction, but the movement hasn't caused her stomach to churn at all. It seemed her mother-in-law's tea was indeed working, which was a relief because she was certainly getting tired of being constantly sick.
She pushed herself gently off the bed and looked at the bedside clock, four o'clock in the afternoon, which meant she slept for most of the day and yet she felt as if she didn't have any rest at all. She was so tired, but she figured it was because for the last four days she was surviving on tea and a piece of toast, she should probably try to eat something. Gomez should be back with Ivy soon so she decided to have a quick shower and then try to eat some burned toast with tea before they come back but as soon as the thought occurred to her she felt her stomach flip and she barely made it to the bathroom in time.
She barely made it out of the bathroom, wrapped securely in a bathrobe when the door opened with a soft click and her husband entered quietly, obviously mindful of the noise in case she was still sleeping and she smiled at his thoughtfulness.
"I thought you were still asleep," he said in a manner of greeting, balancing a porcelain saucer with a cup, in his left hand - no doubt containing freshly brewed tea for her. He placed the cup on her dresser and graced Morticia with a bright smile, making his way towards her. "Mama asked me to wake you up and force some food on you," he added and wrapped his arms around her, placing a soft kiss to her lips.
"I was going to force some food on myself as a matter of fact," she smiled back, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaned into him for another kiss."Have you spoken to Ivy?"
"I have but it turned out she already knew," he replied furtively.
"She knew?" she looked at him, raising her eyebrow in a bemused manner and watched her husband nod.
"Yeah, she noticed mama knitting baby clothes," he explained before adding:"Did you know she was reading your father's medical journals and now she knows all there is about symptoms of pregnancy and development of a fetus?"
Morticia blinked and looked at him in confusion, silently processing his words.
"No," she finally replied."I did not know that and I'm not sure whether to be incredibly touched or incredibly frightened."
"My thoughts exactly," he grinned."She's very excited about the baby...although she's convinced it's a girl."
Morticia laughed softly and took off the towel off her hair, dumping it on the chair.
"Lucky her, she's going to be so disappointed," she said, placing one more kiss on his lips before moving into the direction of her dresser. She barely had time to sit and reach for the hairbrush before she felt his soft lips on the back of her neck and smiled contentedly, caressing his cheek in a tender manner.
"Let me do it," he murmured, taking the hairbrush from her, smoothing it through her raven tresses and watch a playful, wilful smile grace her ruby lips.
He knew his wife found in utterly amusing how obsessed he was with her hair but he absolutely adored it. He loved how long and silky soft they were and their musky, earthy scent drove him wild. He was happy to notice that the black tresses were again reaching almost to Morticia's hips. He still remembered when over a year ago she came back home from her visit to the beauty parlour with her mother and sister and he found, to his utter horror, that her hair was reaching just below her shoulder blades and he almost cried. Morticia initially found the whole situation hilarious, until two weeks later her husband was still sulking about the new haircut, even though it was only a few inches, and he cheered up only after she promised not to cut them so short again.
"Aurora is here, by the way," he remarked casually, totally immersed in the task of brushing her hair."She was worried about you," he explained when he caught her look in the mirror.
"Have you told her?" she asked over the rim of her teacup.
"No," he shook his head gently."She said father spilt the beans three minutes after she arrived," he grinned.
"That tattletale," Morticia remarked, clicking her tongue in mock disapproval but smiled affectionately nevertheless. Her father-in-law was walking on a cloud nine ever since finding out about the baby.
"She's very happy," he said, working gently on a particularly stubborn knot before catching her look in the mirror."She hugged me."
"She didn't," she countered immediately and her lips curled into a bemused smile at the very thought. She's never seen Aurora hug Gomez, never even on their wedding day.
"I swear she did," he insisted, grinning at her."You can ask father, he almost choked on his brandy," he added, eliciting a gentle laugh from her. He kneeled beside her and put the hairbrush on the dressing table."All done."
"Thank you, darling," she smiled and placed a loving kiss on his lips.
She felt his hand rest gently on her stomach and her heart constricted at this new kind of tenderness reflected in his touch and the way he looked at her. Of course, they always looked at each other lovingly, she couldn't think of any other way to look at this mad Castilian she adored so much, but there was something new in the way he looked at her since she told him she was expecting a baby. She couldn't exactly describe what it was but it never failed to make her breath hitch whenever she caught him gazing at her like that - this tenderness, that was always there but then it was completely new, he looked at her with such a tremendous amount of love and gratitude as if she was the world's greatest treasure and, she thought, for him she probably was, because that's how madly and completely they loved each other.
"I shall tell mama to prepare some food for you," he said, still caressing her stomach in a gentle manner.
"Can you ask Lurch to serve it in the parlour?" she asked."I don't want Aurora to walk all those stairs to the kitchen, I think her leg has been bothering her lately more than usual."
He nodded gently and smiled, not for the first time amazed by how mindful and benevolent she was, Morticia was incredibly observant and always noticed all those little smallest details other people would probably never even paid the slightest attention to. It was a quality that was simultaneously incredibly precious, when bestowed upon her family and those whom she loved, and absolutely lethal if one stepped on her toes.
"I love you, Tish," he whispered, slipping his hand into her damp hair and pulling her closer to himself.
She rested her forehead against his and touched the sharp curves of his jaw.
"Forever."
"Auntie," Morticia greeted the older lady the moment she entered the parlour."I'm so sorry I had you waiting," she apologised, placing two customary kisses on her aunt's cheeks.
"Oh nonsense," Aurora huffed gently in a dismissive manner before enclosing Morticia's hand in hers and regarding the younger woman tenderly."Congratulations, my dear, I'm so happy for you."
Morticia couldn't help but grin. She wasn't exactly sure why but she didn't expect Aurora to be so enthusiastic about her pregnancy. Perhaps it was because Aurora didn't particularly like children and was always very open and unapologetic about it. Although, Morticia wouldn't as far to describe Aurora's feelings towards children a dislike, but she certainly had very limited patience when it came to dealing with the level of noise and excitement, Addams children, in particular, could produce. Yet, to Aurora's utter dismay, all the Addams children seemed to adore her, the more she glared at them and threatened to turn them into lizards of various kinds the more they seemed to love her.
"Thank you, auntie," she said softly as she sat at the sofa next to Aurora's chair and curled her legs under her, resting her chin on the pillow of her hand."I'm sorry I worried you, though, but I wanted to tell you in person instead of over the phone, yet I hear my dear father-in-law took care of that," she remarked teasingly and watch Aurora's lips curl into a mean smirk.
"You should know better than trust that tattletale to keep a secret," she commented, taking a sip of her tea."You look awful, though," she added with obvious concern."Ivy said the baby is trying to make you vomit your guts."
Morticia laughed softly at the description.
"Well, this flowery description is more or less close to the truth," she admitted."This baby is striving very hard for attention," she added affectionately, placing her hand over her stomach.
"Well, surely you expected nothing else," Aurora remarked, sipping her tea slowly."Like a father, like a son."
"How true," she laughed at the teasing remark."I'm grateful, though, for a while I thought it may never happen," she confessed and watched the older lady nod understandingly before replacing her empty teacup onto the saucer.
"I worried too," she admitted."I'm glad all is well, but you must take all the time you need to rest, I don't want you to push yourself."
"I won't, I promise," she replied tenderly at her aunt's concern."Although I still want to complete training my group for the exams before the Ēostre Festival."
"If you feel up to it, I don't see why not," Aurora agreed gently."But I may finish their training and conduct their exams if needs be."
"You?" she asked incredulously.
"Why not?"
"Last time you've called them the biggest bunch of idiots you've seen in a decade," she pointed out.
"I have?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as if searching her memory of such event and watched Morticia nod her head with amusement."Oh well, they've been under your capable care for almost six months, I expect they've graduated to the level of at least half-witted morons."
"I'm honoured you think so highly of my teaching skills," Morticia grinned, shaking her head in amusement.
There was a soft grunt and they both turned in the direction of the door where Lurch entered, carrying a silver tray with Morticia's tea and neatly cut into small triangles, black-burned toasts. He places the tray on the table and pushed it closer to Morticia.
"Thank you, Lurch," she smiled at him and the butler grunted politely and stared at her for few seconds before finally producing the purple cushion and handed it to her tentatively. Morticia frowned gently, slightly confused, the cushion seemed surprisingly heavy."For me?"
The butler nodded.
"To make sitting more comfortable later," he said, drawing his words in his usual manner."Later, when the baby grows," he explained, noticing her confused expression."I put stones inside, to make it more comfortable."
"Oh, how sweet of you," Morticia smiled at him gratefully, deeply touched by his concern, hugging the pillow closely to herself."Thank you so much, I love it."
The butler blushed and grunted before slowly retreating from the parlour, never one to be comfortable with such a conglomeration of human emotions.
Morticia turned to Aurora with a warm smile on her face, poking the stone-stuffed cushion.
"Isn't he precious?" she almost cooed, so utterly touched at the butler's gift.
"Ah, there's a reason he's been the butler here ever since my great-grandfather Sigmund Addams hired him during the Civil War," Aurora reminisced fondly."Lurch is irreplaceable."
"How very true," Morticia agreed and reached for a piece of a burned toast. She took a small bite to test if her stomach was up for food but to her relief, it didn't even churn.
"Have you told you father yet?" Aurora inquired.
"Not yet," Morticia shook her head gently."I think Gomez is rather trepidatious about telling papa."
Aurora almost rolled her eyes.
"Why, in seven hells, your father will be delighted," she assured."You've been married for five years, there's nothing to be trepidatious about."
Morticia nodded in agreement, chewing on her toast before replying with a clear amusement in her tone:
"You know papa," she smiled."I'm his precious baby after all and Gomez took me away - that's unforgivable offence," she winked.
"Oh, and now lo and behold, Gomez knocked his precious daughter up," she nodded understandingly before grinning viciously.
"Colloquially speaking, yes," Morticia replied."I want to invite them for lunch on Sunday here, I don't think I can handle a car ride to my parents' house...you're welcome to join us to see my dear papa glaring the hell out of my beloved husband," she added willfully, making Aurora laugh.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Mortimer J. Frump - a renowned surgeon, a great fencing enthusiast and die-hard Gilligan's Island fan - knew something was up the moment his daughter called to invite them all for a Sunday lunch over to the Addams mansion instead of their traditional Sunday lunches at the Frump household. When he asked his daughter for a reason, she just said they didn't have lunch together as a whole family for a while and she fancied a little family get together.
The request wasn't anything out of ordinary, because Morticia enjoyed getting the whole family together. Indeed, Salvador and Eudora often joined them for Sunday lunches, but that was nevertheless still at Frump household, so unless they were throwing a party at the mansion, there was certainly something bigger behind this invitation.
He tried to interrogate his wife and oldest daughter as to what the reason for that might be, but they seemed to be as clueless as him.
He decided to phone his sister, Mabel, in Paris, but she insisted she had no idea and he was sure she lied through her teeth and whatever it was, Morticia already informed her aunt.
Subsequently, he tried investigating the matter through Ivy, who usually spilt the beans within fifteen seconds but first she told him it was a formal lunch to celebrate Aurora's retirement - which was an acceptable reason but then few days later she told him it was to show them her new snake breeding equipment and then on Friday she decided the lunch was to inform everyone that Morticia was Gomez were divorcing and her and Ivy were moving to Los Angeles to live a life of stardom and glamour - hence, ultimately, he decided to stop asking and patiently wait for the Sunday lunch.
His second indication that something was indeed up was the fact that his son-in-law looked like he wanted to crawl under the nearest rock the moment he opened the door and Mortimer glared at him in a manner of friendly greeting. Gomez was also unwittingly touching the back of his head, the way he always did when Mortimer used to slap the brains out of him for mauling his precious daughter - so that was mighty suspicious, because Mortimer, to his utter disappointment, didn't have an opportunity to slap his daughter's husband in years.
"Hello, papa," his daughter greeted him warmly, kissing his cheeks in her usual fashion.
"Hello, darling," he replied, smiling at her affectionately. He thought she looked rather paler and tired, but then that wasn't all that unusual at all."Smells delicious," he commented at the aroma of Eudora's cooking coming from the kitchen.
"Ah, it is, it's mama's spécialité de la maison," his daughter declared with a smile and Mortimer mentally groaned, preparing himself what inevitably followed every time his daughter spoke french, but to his surprise Gomez didn't even seem no notice she said anything at all, his attention focused entirely on helping Hester take off her coat and that - that was not merely suspicious, that was unthinkable.
What the hell has his son-in-law done to make him look so damn scared?
Mortimer's mind instantly filled with suspicions, but before those suspicions could be fully formed Lurch rang the bell for lunch and the conversation flowed so smoothly that Mortimer all but forgot about his suspicions.
"Daddy is mean because he won't allow me to invite a friend for a playdate," Ivy complained when Mortimer noticed her glaring at Gomez throughout the entire meal and casually asked whatever the matter was.
Gomez, however, let out an outraged huff and pointed his fork at his daughter.
"You may invite any friend you want, as long as it's a girl," he declared and next to him Morticia smirked, clearly amused by his vehement stance on the matter.
"Oh, you didn't tell me you have a boyfriend, Ivy," Ophelia exclaimed excitedly.
"She doesn't - ," Gomez hissed through his teeth.
"His name is Timmy Pomeroy," Ivy announced, turning to her aunt."He loves spiders and snakes. I want him to come over to see my snakes, but daddy won't let me."
"Gomez, really," Ophelia interjected, rolling her eyes on him."She's ten years old, don't get paranoid."
"She's nine," he stressed."And I'm her father I can be as paranoid as I wish."
"If you're so stressed now, imagine what it would be like when she'll enter her teenage years," Eudora muttered meanly, grinning at her son.
"I'm going to invite Timmy after school on Wednesday," Ivy decided.
"No, you will not invite Timmy," Gomez glared at her over his wine glass and tried to ignore his father and father-in-law who were having entirely too much fun with the whole exchange."Boys have only one thing on their mind."
"You would know now, would you," Mortimer quipped.
Ivy grunted unhappily and took out the bag of fudge Hester brought and started munching on in moodily, still glaring at her father.
Mortimer watched as Morticia tried very hard not to laugh at the two of them, apparently, this was an ongoing latest father-daughter argument, Gomez and Ivy indulged in periodically to the utter amusement of the rest of the family members.
"Relax, darling, perhaps he's a nice boy, why don't you give him a chance?" she teased before, seemingly unwittingly, reaching into Ivy's bag and popping one of the vanilla cube-shaped fudge candies into her mouth.
The silence in the room was suddenly deafening as every pair of eyes in the room turned to young Mrs Addams as she casually chewed on the gooey candy.
"What?" she asked finally when everybody just stared at her as if they were frozen, including Ivy whose mouth was practically hanging open.
"Fudge, Tish?" he father finally spoke in a tone that was somewhere between amusement and utter bewilderment. "What are you? Pregnant?" he added offhandedly and next to him Gomez almost choked on his wine.
"Oh my God!" Hester exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes already brimming with happy tears and Morticia mentally prepared herself for a full-blown meltdown."Oh my God...my baby...is...going to have a baby…," she choked out, her words muffled behind her hands. She got up from the table so abruptly she almost knocked the cutlery off the table if Ophelia and Aurora didn't catch it."Oh, I'm going to cry," she announced, despite the fact that she already was crying and went over to Morticia, embracing her into a firm hug.
"Mama, don't cry," she placated, patting her mother comfortingly as Hester happily sobbed into her shoulder.
"I can't believe you're having a baby," she mumbled."I'm so happy," she said, kissing the side of Morticia's head."I just...I just can't wait to rub it into the face of that Glicker woman - "
"And Matilda," Eudora supplied with a mean smile."I can't wait to see the look on that old crone's face."
"Oooh, definitely," Hester agreed before she embraced Morticia in another hug.
"Gods, you two," Morticia rolled her eye."It's not a competition."
"Oh, my darling," her mother cooed, smoothing her daughter's raven hair."How you know nothing at all…"
Aurora Addams smiled contentedly but her eye didn't leave Mortimer as she patiently waited…
"You've got my little girl pregnant?" Mortimer Frump, never one to disappoint, hissed at Gomez who, to his credit, squirmed in his chair only slightly.
"Little...she's twenty-six," he defended firmly."We've been married for five years, for God's sake."
Mortimer doubled the glare for a good measure but his gaze softened immediately when it rested upon his daughter, who was being practically strangled in her mother's loving embrace.
"Ah, damn Tish, you can't be that old," he practically hoarsely, blinking rapidly."It seems it's just yesterday we were buying you your first vulture."
"Awww, daddy, don't cry," Ophelia placated with a happy grin, obviously delighted at the news, embracing her father who was very clearly falling apart.
"I'm certainly not crying," he denied in a pitiful voice."When…," he sniffed."When is it due?"
"Late October," Morticia announced when Hester finally released her and went to hug Gomez, who looked immediately like he wanted to run from the room but dutifully accepted the hug.
Before Mortimer could say anything Ivy sighed happily.
"When I'm gonna marry Timmy," Ivy announced confidently eliciting an outraged choke from her father."We're going to have ten children!"
"You will certainly not marry any bloody Timmy," Gomez hissed from behind his mother-in-law's embrace, ignoring a self-satisfying smirk that was currently forming on his father-in-law's face."Or anyone with a pansy name like that."
A/N: Thank you for reading!