AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is rated M...but just barely.

All American Game

ALL AMERICAN GAME: part 1

Monday

Addison did not want to wake up. She was having the most amazing dream. Zed trailing kisses over her stomach...nipping and licking across her skin...his fingers parting her fully as his tongue finds her clit...circling...flicking...sucking it between his lips. She tried to squeeze her legs together to relieve some of the tension her dream was causing, only to feel hands run up the sides of her inner thighs and hold them still. Her eyes shot open.

"Morning," Zed breathed against her sensitive flesh.

Addison smiled sleepily and ran her hands through his hair. "I thought it was a dream."

Zed pushed two fingers inside her and twisted them forward hitting her G-spot, moving them in and out as he continued to use his tongue. Her legs started to shake and tremble. She grabbed onto his hair and screamed out his name as her orgasm hit.

As she tried to get her breathing to return to normal, Zed began to kiss his way back up her body. "Sorry I woke you up. But you looked too delicious, and I couldn't leave without having the taste of you on my tongue."

Addison opened her eyes again. She sighed when she realized that he was already dressed. "You're already leaving me?" she asked in a whisper, pulling him down to kiss him softly.

"You know I don't want to. But I've got to get to the airport. Pop's is picking me up in...less than ten minutes now." He said checking his watch.

"What time is it?"

"Almost six. Get some more sleep. I'll text you when I land in Florida."

Addison threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down on top of her. "I love you, Zed. I know you're going to be amazing. I'll be cheering for you."

"I love you too," he said kissing her almost desperately. "I can't wait until Friday so I can do that again..." he kissed her softly and rested his head on her forehead. "I really have to go…I'm going to miss you, Gorgeous."

"I'm going to miss you too. But, you need to go be Zom Brady," she giggled as she pushed him back up. "I'll see you Friday, handsome."

"Video chat?"

"Definitely," she said smiling, sitting up to kiss him. "Now get going before you miss your flight."

Zed hopped up from the bed and grabbed his duffle bag. "Try to get some more sleep...I love you."

"I love you, too, Zed."

He blew her a kiss and walked out the door. Addison laid back down and stared at the ceiling, the tears that she had been trying to hold off finally falling. Four days, four hours, four minutes...It didn't matter how long they would be apart. She always felt incomplete without him. A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. With a large smile on her face, she wrapped the sheet around herself and ran to open the door for Zed.

"Missed me already?" She teased as she unlocked the door and opened it. "Gloria?!"

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Zed hated flying. He didn't know that fun fact when he had woken up that morning, but as the time in the air drug on, he knew it for certain.

"How are you holding up, Zed?" Coach asked glancing over at him.

His knuckles were white from the death grip he had on the armrests and he was looking a little greener than normal. He tried to make a joke before quickly closing his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up.

"We're almost there. We should be landing in the next twenty minutes. Then we'll head directly to the stadium to check in and get you into practice. I'll get us checked into the hotel after."

"Thanks, Coach," Zed rushed out, closing his eyes as the plain hit another patch of turbulence.

Forty long minutes later, Zed ran out the automatic doors of Tampa International Airport and dropped down to his knees, kissing the pavement. "Ground! I'm never taking you for granite again!"

Coach laughed and pulled him up by the hood of his sweatshirt. "Did you just say 'granite'"?

"Yeah...because it's a rock...concrete...yeah, it was a cheesy joke."

"Let's just go get a cab… 'granite,'...That's a good one."

It was a short drive to the stadium. Zed sent Addison a text, letting her know that he had landed and apologized in advance if he threw up on her on the flight to Hawaii. When they were dropped off at the security gate to check in, he still had not heard back from her.

"Someone should be right down to bring you to the office," a security guard stated as he handed them temporary passes. They both thanked him and walked into the main gates of the stadium to wait. Zed had just pulled his phone back out to see if Addison had responded when he heard his name being called.

"Zed Necrodopolus?"

Zed turned to his left to see a short middle-aged women approach them. "That's me," he said holding out his hand to shake hers.

"Caroline. I'm with the AAG offices," she said "It's nice to meet you both. If you'll follow me, we'll get all of your paperwork filled out and then give you a quick tour before we get you geared up and on the field."

"Sounds great," Zed said, unable to hide his smile.

They followed Caroline through the endless maze of hallways until they reached the office that the All American Game Organization was operating out of for the week. They walked through the heavy glass doors and towards a large conference table.

"Please have a seat, gentlemen," Caroline said as she motioned towards the chairs. "We have all your release forms ready for you. Take your time reading through them and let me know if you have any questions."

"Thank you, Caroline," Zed said as he took a seat and began to flip through the mountain of papers in front of him.

"Caroline! Any word on the new player?" a voice yelled from outside the conference room.

Caroline cringed slightly. "Excuse me, gentlemen, that's our producer Vivienne. I'll be right back," she said as she quickly ran out of the room. A few moments later a tall raven haired women in a power suit waltzed into the room.

"You are one gorgeous Zombie."

Zed gave her a questioning look before looking over to Coach who just shrugged.

"Forgive me," she smiled. "I'm Vivienne and I'm a producer for the game. You are extraordinarily easy on the eyes."

Zed again gave her a questioning look.

"Let me ask you a question..." she asked searching for his name.

"Zed," Caroline whispered from behind her.

"Let me ask you a question, Zed. Have you committed to a program yet?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Publicly?"

"No, ma'am. We were going to have a press conference on signing day," he said.

Vivienne let out a short laugh. "Well, that would certainly be a waste of that handsome face. Press conferences are great and all, but how would you like to make your commitment announcement on national television during the game?

Zed stared at her for a moment. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. We hand pick a few players each year to announce on air, and you...well, you're definitely the type of player we love around here."

"I'd have to ask the university if that's okay," Zed said as he looked over to Coach for confirmation.

"What school are you committing to?" Vivienne asked, pulling out her phone.

"Shoreline University, ma'am."

"Go Stingrays," she said with a smile. "I'll put a call into Coach Roberts."

"Thank you," Zed said appreciatively, reaching out and shaking her hand.

"Thank you. In the meantime, I'm going to set up a time for you to do publicity shots and promos for the game. We'll be in touch," she said as she punched a note into her phone. "Caroline! Get on that."

Zed turned and looked at Coach. "Could this be more surreal?"

"Zed, my boy, nothing surprises me when it comes to you anymore."

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"God is it good to see you, Gorgeous," Zed said with a sleepy smile as Addison's face filled the screen of his phone.

"Long day?"

"You have no idea," he said, yawning loudly. "Today has been the most exciting/exhausting day ever."

"I bet! I can't believe you're going to commit live on air!"

"I know, right?!" Zed let out another loud yawn.

"Z, you're exhausted. Go get some sleep."

"I'm fine, Addie," he said yawning again. "besides, you said we needed to talk about something."

Addison let out a soft laugh. "We do, but it can definitely wait. Go get some sleep so you can be all awesome and stuff tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Zed said in between another yawn.

"I'm sure. Go get some sleep and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"If you insist. Good night, Gorgeous. I love you."

"I love you too, Z. Good night."

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Tuesday

***Knock, knock, knock…
Knock, knock, knock…
Knock, knock, knock...***

Zed opened his eyes and glanced at the clock next to the bed. 7:15. He still had an hour before he needed to wake up. He pulled the spare pillow over his head and tried to fall back asleep.

***Knock, knock, knock…

Zed threw the pillow off and sat up, wiping the sleep away from his eyes. He grabbed a pair of grey sweatpants and put them on as he walked to the door to answer it.

"Mr. Winters?" Zed said sleepily. "What are you doing here?"

"Good morning, Zed. And please, call me Stanley. Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all," Zed opened the door wider and motioned for him to come in.

"So," Stanley said as he walked in. "I hear there's a change in announcement plans?"

"Only, if that's okay with you and Coach Roberts," Zed rushed out.

Stanley smiled and placed a hand on Zed's shoulder. "It's more than okay, with us. Oh, and Coach Roberts sends his best. He would be here too if he weren't battling a cold."

"Please tell him I hope he feels better soon."

"I will. What time do you need to be down to the stadium for practice today?"

"Not until after lunch. But, I have to do a bunch of publicity stuff today. I'm not even sure what exactly that means," he said with a slight shrug.

"That's why I'm here," Stanley said with a wink. "Let's go grab some breakfast and we'll

go through your media schedule."

"I could definitely eat," Zed laughed. "Let me just grab a shirt."

Zed and Stanley made their way to the diner across the street from the hotel. They sat in a booth towards the back of the restaurant and placed their orders. As they waited for their food, Stanley pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text. Almost immediately it dinged a response that brought a large smile to his face.

"So….how's Hannah?" Zed said with a knowing smile.

Stanley chuckled and set his phone on the table. "Miserable, but keeping her sense of humor. She just sent me a message saying that she regrets to inform me that she will not be having the baby anytime soon, despite her wishes."

"When is she due?"

"Not for another week," he dropped his voice and whispered, "I can't wait."

"Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?"

"No, my wife said she's seen too many patients who were told what they were having only to be shocked during delivery to learn that the ultrasound was wrong. So, we have gone completely general neutral for the nursery and clothes, and we have two names ready to go," he said with a large smile across his face as the food was set down on the table.

After they finished eating, Stanley pulled Zed's schedule up on his phone.

"So, Vivienne emailed me yesterday afternoon with your media schedule. Looks like you'll be doing promotional pictures and video first, followed by an interview. I will warn you, they will ask about your family, and what it was like growing up, and they're basically going to be trying to get some emotional story they can use on air."

Zed rolled his eyes. "Let's see...I'm a Zombie, my mom died when I was a kid, I started playing football because of her, I had to hack my Z-Band to play in an all human league...nope...don't see anything to get emotional about," he said sarcastically.

Stanley laughed. "That's the spirit. But seriously, you'll do great. Just be prepared."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, I also want to let you know that you're most likely going to be approached by a lot of other schools in the next couple days. I'm talking major programs."

"Mr. Win...Sorry, Stanley, I'm not going anywhere else. I'll be polite and listen to what they have to say, but I will be attending Shoreline University and playing ball for the Stingrays."

Stanley let out a relieved sigh. "I'm happy to hear that. Thank you."

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Zed stood in front of a green screen decked out in his black and red All American Game uniform striking various poses as they were called out to him.

"You look great, Zed," Stanley said from behind the photographer. "Not as great as you'll look in a Stingray uniform, but still..." he laughed.

"Thanks, Stanley," Zed smiled as he caught another football and looked back towards the camera.

"Ok, now if we can get a set of pictures with this," Stanley said pulling an SLU Stingrays hat out of his bag and handing it to the photography assistant.

Zed pulled off his helmet and took the hat, placing it on his head.

"You were born to wear that hat," Stanley said as he snapped a picture on his cell phone.

"Can you send me that? Addie will love it," Zed said as the assistant positioned him for the next round of photos.

"You got it. Oh!" Stanley's phone started to ring. "Excuse me," he said as he walked out of the room to answer it. A few minutes later he ran back into the room. "Five-minute break!"

"Is everything okay?" Zed asked as he walked over to where Stanley stood rapidly tapping a text across his phone.

Stanley looked up, a look of sheer panic across his face. "Hannah's in labor."

"What!?"

"Yeah, she went in for a routine appointment this morning and everything was fine. But her water just broke and they're admitting her now. I'm sorry, Zed. I've got to get back home."

"Do not apologize!" Zed said, hugging him. "Go be with Hannah. Can you get a flight back?"

"Luckily I took the school's plane. I just sent a message to the pilot. They're getting it refueled now...I can't believe this," he said quietly. "I'm going to be a Dad."

Zed hugged him again. "You'll be great."

Stanley laughed and hugged him back. "I'm emailing you and Coach your schedule for tomorrow. If you need anything, call me."

"Not a chance," Zed said with a laugh. "I'll be fine. Now go!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Surprise early update (on a Tuesday as requested by Meme567)! I unexpectedly have a few extra days off due to weather, so I'm going to try and update again later this week. Fingers crossed. If you're in the gulf coast area, good luck with this storm!

Totally Unrelated...who's super excited that Meg & Milo will be reunited on an episode of American Housewife this season?!

As always, your reviews make my day/week!