Chapter 29: Gender Reveal

Summary: At Missy's insistence, Zed and Addison decide to have a gender reveal party. However, the couple has something else up their sleeves as part of the surprise.

Word Count: 1970

Like most people, Zed and Addison were beyond excited when they found out Addison was pregnant. So many things about what biologically made zombies, humans, and werewolves different were still unknown, and they hadn't been sure if having kids was even in the cards for them. To discover that it was, was amazing. The happy couple made no delay in sharing their exciting news with their families, and with their friends who had become family.

While everyone was excited, some seemed more excited than others, or they showed their excitement in different ways. Missy was one of those who seemed to be overly excited; every time she saw Addison, she tried to convince her that she and Zed should have a gender reveal party. "Mom, aren't those a little cliché and past their prime?" Addison asked as she heard Zed laugh from the other side of the room while they were at her parents' house for Sunday dinner.

"There are still videos of people doing them," Missy insisted.

"They've been problematic in the past," Addison added. "People have been irresponsible about them."

"But we wouldn't be," Missy reasoned. "We could get a cake with colored icing or a box with colored balloons. Something that's not dangerous and liable to cause problems."

Addison hummed as she and her mom returned to the living room where Zed and her dad were. "What if Zed and I don't want to know? What if we want to be surprised?"

"I want to know," Zed voiced.

"Not helping," Addison replied, placing a hand on Zed's shoulder. "Or what if the doctor can't tell. Plus, if balloons get away, they can be dangerous for animals."

"It could be inside. And here," Dale suggested.

"Is everyone against me on this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Missy spoke. "If you really don't want to, we won't."

"What do you think, Ads?" Zed asked, turning to Addison and placing his hand on her thigh, gently rubbing his thumb back and forth in a relaxing manner.

A silence fell between the four for a few moments. "I guess I don't totally hate the idea of balloons in a box opened inside," Addison admitted. Even though she wasn't fully on board with it, she could see how much it would mean to her mom.

"Perfect!" Missy exclaimed. "Since we'll host, I'll arrange all the food and everything."

"All right, Mom," Addison agreed. "We'll talk with my doctor to figure the other things out. They should be able to tell if the baby is a boy or girl when I go in this week."

"Excellent," Missy replied, too wrapped up in her own excitement to notice the eye roll Addison gave her.

CHCHCH

Later that week, Addison and Zed sat waiting to talk with the doctor, Dr. Collins, about what he and the technician had seen in the sonogram. Zed and Addison had decided that they would know before the party and plan that part of things themselves rather than having someone else know and get things ready.

"Good afternoon," Dr. Collins greeted as he entered the room after the technician had talked with them and looked some things over.

"Kara said she saw something but wouldn't say anything more," Zed spoke. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

"Let's just have a look and see," Dr. Collins replied. "Kara said everything looks fine, she just said she saw something . . . interesting," he explained. "Well, I'll be darned," Dr. Collins spoke a few minutes later after carefully examining everything on the screen.

"What?" Zed and Addison asked together.

"Well," Dr. Collins began slowly. "As I mentioned, Kara thought she saw something interesting," he began, pausing for a brief moment. "It appears you're having twins."

"Twins?" Zed and Addison again spoke together.

Dr. Collins nodded. "Sometimes it happens where one twin will hide behind the other. We looked when you mentioned your morning sickness lasting longer than we'd usually expect, but one of them was very good at hiding. It also looks like you're having a boy and a girl," he added with a smile.

"Wow," Addison spoke, looking to meet Zed's eyes.

"Yeah, wow," he agreed. They spent a few more minutes talking some things over with Dr. Collins before getting ready to leave.

"Twins," Addison said as they made it out to their car a little while later. She still hadn't fully wrapped her mind around everything.

"Are you okay?" Zed asked before starting the car.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Because we just found out that we're having twins."

"I'm fine. Are you?" Addison countered, a slight teasing tone slipping into her voice.

Zed nodded. "I guess we need to tell everyone we're having twins and get two things ready for the gender reveal party since your mom insisted on having one," he spoke as he put the key into the ignition and started the car. As he got ready to back out of the parking spot, his eyes landed on Addison and the smirk that was forming on her lips. "What are you thinking?"

"What if we just surprise everyone when we do the gender reveal?"

"Explain," Zed said as he began backing out of the spot now that it was clear.

"We don't say anything to anyone about finding out that we're having twins and just put both pink and blue balloons in the box. Mom wanted to have a gender reveal party and I want to have fun with it," Addison suggested.

"I like it," Zed briefly turned to Addison to offer her a smile before turning his attention back to the road. Since they'd expected to find out if they were having a boy or girl that week, Missy had planned the gender reveal party for the following weekend. They'd hardly have any time where they needed to keep having twins a secret.

CHCHCH

Soon, the Saturday of the gender reveal party arrived. Zed and Addison arrived to Dale and Missy's house approximately a half hour before everyone else was meant to arrive. They carefully maneuvered the large box into the living room where space had been cleared for opening it.

"Are you excited?" Missy asked as she, Dale, Addison, and Zed got the food out and ready for the party.

"Yes, but not nearly as excited as you are, Mom," Addison replied. "We're happy that the baby's healthy and that's all that really matters.

"Absolutely," Dale agreed.

Missy nodded. It didn't really matter if the baby was her grandson or granddaughter, she would love them no matter what. She was simply excited at the thought of becoming a grandma, and having a grandbaby on the way. "You're right," she agreed.

~o~

It wasn't much longer before everyone else began to arrive. Zevon and Zoey were the first guests to arrive, sharing their guesses on whether the balloons in the box would be pink or blue. As Zed and Addison's friends began to arrive and everyone spent a while hanging out in the backyard, more guesses and 'bets' were made on whether the baby was a boy or girl.

"They baby's a boy for sure," Wyatt spoke. "He'll probably want to follow in Zed's footsteps and play football. I'll help teach him defense and Zed will cover offence."

"No, the baby's a girl," Bucky insisted. "Look how Addison's carrying the baby. And even if the baby is a boy, I'm sure he'll be into cheer."

"I'm going to teach her cheer routines too," Zoey piped in.

Eliza groaned and rolled her eyes as she listened in on the conversation. "Boy, girl, doesn't matter. That kid is for sure going to be into sports, so I'll make sure they're an intellectual."

"Who says Addy and mine's kids wouldn't be intellectual," Zed spoke.

"Have you met you two?" Eliza questioned.

"I'm sure Addison and Zed's kid will be both smart and athletic," Bree spoke as she, Bonzo, and Addison joined the conversation. "But Addy, we're all dying to know."

Willa nodded her agreement. "We can put all this nonsense about them arguing over whether or not you're having a boy or a girl to rest," she said.

Missy approached the group and placed a hand on Addison's shoulder. "Are the two of you ready?" she asked, having overheard the conversation.

Addison turned to face Zed to see if he was ready to head inside to reveal their surprise to everyone. He gave a nod as a smile played at his lips. "Yeah," Addison answered.

Excitedly, everyone began making their way inside, and Zed and Addison headed to the box they'd prepared. "So how is this supposed to go?" Zed questioned rhetorically. He'd said the question to the whole group, but mostly Missy since the whole thing was her idea.

"Let me get my phone out to record," Dale said. "Your mother was hoping to have a video to watch over in the future and she recruited me to record," he noted as he took his phone from his pocket. "Okay," he spoke when he was ready.

"Let's see," Missy said, motioning towards Addison and Zed since everyone had now gathered in the living room and adjacent kitchen.

"Okay," Addison nodded. "Three," she began.

"Two," everyone joined in. "One," they finished as Zed and Addison opened the box. Half a dozen pink and blue balloons rose out of the box—three pink and three blue.

"Well this is confusing," Missy spoke.

"Why are there pink and blue balloons?" Wynter questioned. "There's only supposed to be one or the other."

Addison cleared her throat as a way to get everyone's attention. "There's something written on the balloons if *someone* wants to see what they say," she suggested.

Willa, who was one of the closest to where Addison and Zed were could make out the words enough to know what they said. She let out a small laugh and met the couple's eyes, acknowledging that she knew what was going on, but was waiting for someone else to share the news.

Although she was confused and unsure what to make of everything, Missy stepped forward to read the balloons and share whatever was written on them with everyone else. "They say Baby A on the pink ones, and Baby B on the blue . . . ones," Missy spoke, slowing down as she realized what it meant.

"Twins!" Bree exclaimed, beating Missy to it.

"Twins," Addison and Zed confirmed together.

As everyone began to offer their congratulations, and turned to each other to say they were right since Addison and Zed were having a girl and a boy, Missy remained rooted to her spot, dumbfounded and still processing everything. "Mom, you okay?" Addison asked.

"Sorry, yes," Missy replied. "Congratulations," she spoke, giving a hug to Addison then Zed as Dale approached to do the same.

"How long have you known you were having twins?" Wyatt questioned.

"Just since the last doctor's appointment," Zed answered. "One of them's a little cheeky and decided to hide."

"You never saw both of them before last week?" Eliza questioned.

Addison shook her head in reply. "Like Zed said, they were cheeky in keeping one of them a secret. We figured we'd have some fun and wait to share the news of them being twins until now so we could just tell everyone together."

"It's quite a surprise," Bucky spoke, putting an arm around Addison's shoulder. "But I'm happy for you both and I'd love to teach them cheer," he offered his charismatic smile.

"They're going to decide if they want to be involved in sports at all," Zed voiced. "Also, Zoey had first dibs on that after Addison," he joked.

"A niece and a nephew," Zoey spoke happily as she and everyone else continued to offer their congratulations. "I can't wait to meet them."

"Neither can we, Zo," Zed smiled. "Neither can we."

A/N: If you've read my thing titled 'Someday' [and, yes, I know that is a super cheesy title] the idea of Zeddison having twins may sound familiar. This was something I kind of wanted to include in that, but if I did, I felt it would need to become something more than I wanted that piece to be, so I wrote a separate thing and it became this.

This may be kind of old news, but Z3 has been confirmed and I'm super excited. I just hope they finally give us real answers on why Addison's hair is what it is.

That's pretty much all I have to add, so thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. If you feel inclined, I'd love to know what you thought, or how I can improve as long as it's done constructively. Constructive criticism helps me do better with future one-shots. Until next time,

-CrazyHayniac