„Sheldon! Sheldon, come here!" he was just sitting behind his computer, when he heard Amy´s voice. Without further thinking, he grabbed a large bag placed underneath the table. Pressing number two on his mobile phone, it automatically started dialing Leonard´s number. His best friend and Penny still lived across the hall from them, but this was the fastest way of communication.
Sheldon ran to his bedroom and entered the door like a hurricane. Breathing heavily because of the sudden panic, he noticed his wife peacefully lying on the left side of their bed with a thick book in her hands. The book was supported by her large belly and Amy was happily smiling.
"Well, you finally came." She put the book away and picked up a journal from a nightstand´s drawer.
"Yes, I am here, are you ready to go?" he blinked few times, still not realizing what just happened. He obviously thought his wife is going into labor and that is why she called for him.
"Where would I be going? I am perfectly comfortable under this blanket."
"To the hospital. I thought your water broke or you experienced some painful cramps." He stepped closer to the bed – door still open, his hand still firmly holding the bag handle.
"Obviously I am not. Otherwise, I would have used our special code, remember?" she raised her eyebrows.
"Of course I do. But I thought maybe you are suffering a shock, people do make mistakes when they panic."
"Stop thinking about it, please. Me and the baby are fine. But this situation looks like you are the one who made a mistake and panicked."
"Well, you can call it that…" his voice was higher and quite pitchy, as always when he was losing an argument "…or you can tell I was concerned about my family´s well-being."
"Alright, doctor Cooper, point for you." She grinned ironically and patted on the empty side of their bed. "Care to join me?"
"No, thank you, I have work to do." He made an excuse, because he knew exactly what Amy wants to discuss with him – the thing they were avoiding for a long time. For unknown reasons, Sheldon did not wanted to go through baby names with Amy.
"Yes you do, but not with the computer. You promised Sheldon. Baby can be here anytime and we haven´t decided how we going to call him – or her. I refuse to call our offspring ´it´ for a couple months, before you finally collect enough courage to discuss names with me. Would you please reveal me why is it such a problem for you?" Amy was pissed and Sheldon was smart enough to not argue anymore with a female rocked by hormones. He learned his lesson during last nine months couple times.
"Amy…" he took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed "…I think it would be better if you choose. I trust your judgment. Picking names is just too hippie-dippy thing for me. Besides, why does the name matter so much? We will love our baby still the same." Even sentimental confession did not erase the scary look on Amy Farrah Cooper´s face.
"Sheldon, get into bed." The coldness of the command scared him. Not hesitating a second, he kicked his shoes off and climbed under her warm blanket.
"Yes ma´am."
"Oh my God! Sheldon! Where are you?" they heard a loud noise in the living room as the main door flew open. Accorded to loud breathing of a man who just ran few miles, they certainly knew who just broke into their apartment.
"We are over here." Sheldon yelled back and within seconds, the exhausted theoretical physicist in his tiny glory stood in front of them.
"Gosh, Amy, is everything alright? Are you ready to go to the hospital?" his glasses were blurred and face red like a tomato. In his left hand, he squeezed car keys and in the other one he shook a little asthma inhalator.
"No, we are okay. Would you please stop blaspheming so much in front of our unborn child? It was just an emergency drill. Next time, try to get here faster. It took you ten minutes and fifty-eight seconds." Sheldon gave Leonard one of his ´strict´ looks. "Now leave."
"And close the door, please. Sorry for your troubles, Leonard, enjoy the rest of your day! " Added Amy with a grateful smile. She knew very well how mean Sheldon can be to people that are helping him, but he does not realize it.
"I ran here from work as fast as I could! Try to live with asthma, Sheldon! The next time you call me, it better not be another emergency drill or you are taking your wife to hospital on a bike."
"I can call an ambulance. And for your information, I do not ride on a bike. I think it´s scary." Amy rolled her eyes and tried to calm down the arguing men once more.
"We are grateful for your help. Please send my greetings to Penny. Bye!" and with a frown, Leonard finally left his old apartment so the couple of weirdos can have some alone time.
"So, how do we start?" Sheldon asked, resting his hand on his wife´s belly and gently stroking it. He found fascinating the fact sometimes baby moved and created a strange sensation vibrating through his whole body.
"Simple. Tell me some of your favorite names. Girlish and boyish." She put out a pen and a small rainbow-dotted journal.
"Let´s see… I like Spock, Flash, Hulk, Batman…" he could name some more, but he heard the slap of Amy´s facepalm. She held the hand on her forehead a little and then she took a deep breath.
"No, Sheldon. I mean real names. I refuse to name our first child Hulk or Batman."
"So you are okay with Spock?"
"No!"
"So sort out your priorities, woman! I told you this is going to be a disaster. Just pick names by yourself." He knew this is not going to work, because naming people was nothing of his concern.
"I just want you to think about the names of real people, not fictional characters. Tell me who you like." Amy suddenly had patience and prepared her pen for taking notes.
"Alright. I like Amy. That´s you." He stroked her belly one more time and looked at her face. She seemed pleased about his comment.
"You´re being cute, cuddles. But I do not want to call my kid Junior – especially if it´s a girl."
"My brother George was being called Junior all the time. And you are right, it sounds ridiculous." Sheldon admitted.
"What about naming a girl after your mother?" Amy offered him an idea. She liked his mother, even their first meeting was not fairy-tale like, but after some time they chatted again and Mary told her she was grateful her Shelly finally found love.
"No, not another Mary Cooper. I refuse to think about my mother every time I think about our female offspring."
"But I like the name Mary. It is harmless. And it means beloved."
"What do you mean by harmless?" Sheldon asked as she handed him a book she´s been reading.
"Well, I predict our child will be a prodigy and name can be used for bullying at school. Me and you should know the best." Yes, they knew very well. Childhood bruises, elementary school nightmares. They should do their best to avoid this in theirs child´s life.
"You are right. And it is a religious name, so maybe that will repel bullies."
"Certainly. I propose girl name Marie."
"Like the famous female scientist Marie Curie! Amy, you´re brilliant!" he snapped his fingers and smiled happily at his wife.
"So I´ve been told."
"Okay, so we agree on Marie Cooper."
"What about the second name? My mom clearly gave that special attention, according to my unusual ´Farrah´ middle." Amy wrote down the first name both of them felt attached to. "Do we know some other female scientist worth considering?"
"Albert Einstein´s firs wife Mileva Marić, Loiuse Dolan – theoretical physicist working on the superstring theory or, if we investigate to your field of studies, Linda Buck or Rita Levi-Montalcini – both of them holding a Nobel price."
"Interesting. But I do not like the name Mileva. It sounds Russian. Louise sounds boyish. Linda is okay. Let´s check on the meaning." She took the book from him and browsed it to the letter L. "Beautiful in Spanish or, the Germanic meaning is – soft, tender."
"I am sure for woman folk this etymology is appealing, but I do not wish my child to be named as one of the stupid Spanish telenovela characters."
"You are right. Let´s look up Rita." And so they did. The book said it is a short form of Italian name Margherita, a word for ´daisy flower´.
"I refuse to name my child after a pizza! Also the full name, Marie Rita Cooper sounds ridiculous!" Sheldon got fully into the name-selecting, and Amy was glad. That he cared about their little offspring more than she could ever imagine.
"Agreed."
"I have an idea!" said Amy after a long pause filled with silence, both of them were furiously working. Amy held the book, Sheldon was looking things up on his notebook.
"Proceed." He turned his look to her.
"My favorite writer is Jane Austin. Her books led me through my sad teenage years and this would be the best way to show my gratitude."
"Amy, Jane Austin is dead for two centuries. I hardly doubt she is going to appreciate your effort."
"Think about it, Sheldon! Marie Jane Cooper. Sounds lovely, doesn´t it?" she blinked romantically few times and turned eyes to her husband.
"Yes, very touching, but it is like from an old novel you used to read! Don´t you think this will also be a bait for bullying?"
"Do you have better idea?" she snapped on him and he knew he was trapped in the hormones net again. He needs to find a solution.
"Diana. The real name of the Wonder Woman. Or Susan. The real name of Invisible Woman." She felt his excitement and how his eyes sparkled when he was talking about the comic books.
"I don´t know. It would sound silly too, don´t you think? Diana neither Susan are ´sidekick´ names. Second names are usually short."
"Yours is not." He pulled out argument.
"Well, and you know how silly it sounded. Amy Farrah Fowler. And how the other kids took advantage of the F letter and Gorilla-Fingers Fowler was born. Or the Fuzzy Fingers Fowler, even worse." She winced at her high school memories. He placed his hand on her cheek to comfort her and tried to avoid his own teenage memories. The best way how to provide her from crying was a simple kiss on the cheek.
"Don´t make me repeat myself. I like your name. I loved saying it all together, but do not forget, you are Amy Farrah Cooper now." Out of Amy´s eyes popped little sparkling salty drops and fell on the book. The ink melted a little, but it did not matter to them.
"I love you." She said out loud, because he was already used to it. And she knew his response. He loved to quote.
"I know."
"So, how are we going to decide?"
"Actually, I don´t know. Would it be wrong for our daughter to have only one name? What about Leia!" he hoped for the best during her weak moment.
"No nerd stuff Sheldon. Bullying, remember?"
"C´mon, I´m sure other kids will think it is cool! And Howard named his son Vader."
"Yes, but it is Noah´s fourth name! I do not want to get too fancy about this. What about some flower names? I like Ivy or Rose." She checked the meanings already, pretty flowers are the safest.
"I agree with Ivy but refuse Rose. Do not tell me sentimental romantic movie about silly romance and a huge ship going down is not a target for laughs." He crossed hands on the chest and looked around theirs room. Half the wall was painted blue while the other was occupied by posters of superheroes. And then it hit him.
"So should I confirm Marie Ivy Cooper?" she clicked the pen again in order to write it down.
"Hold on. I reconsidered all previous options and I decided to give my blessing to name Marie Jane."
"What made you change your mind?"
"The Spider Man poster."
"Oh right! Mary Jane was Peter´s girlfriend! I see why you are okay with this name. But on all documents her name shall be Marie. Can we both agree on this statement?" living with a men obsessed with comic books and nerd movies, she was almost expert herself.
"Agreed." He nodded and looked at her hand carefully writing the name on paper next to female gender symbol.
"Remember the beautiful quote you told me years ago on our second anniversary?" after writing, she grabbed his hand and felt his fingers interlock with hers.
"Of course I do, I have an eidetic memory."
"Now, for the boys!" she stroked her belly. They did not know the gender yet, because of Amy´s wish. But Sheldon would have preferred to know and have time to get ready for a boy or a girl.
"That should be easier. Mankind is more successful in science, I´m sure it will offer us the best choices." When he finished, he found Amy staring at him with blank look. Was she angry again? "What?" she had to take a deep breath.
"I am going to overlook your sexist comment. Since you are a man, what do you propose?"
"Stephen! Or Albert! Or Werner! Clark! Robert?" now, when it came to boy´s names, Sheldon would suddenly love his son to have at least five names.
"I expected you to mention Hawking and Einstein. But I like Stephen – a. k. Steve – more than old fashioned Albert."
"Okay, it can be a second name. Great, that went fast, write it down! Stephen Albert Spock Cooper." She glared at him again "Just Stephen Spock?" she pinched him a little on the soft flesh on his arm. "Ouch! Alright, no Star Trek characters. Stephen Albert, are we done?"
"No, we most certainly are not. I want my part in boy´s name too."
"No, please, you are not going to name him Fitzwilliam? That sounds horrible, I would be more okay with Darcy if you insist on that. An again, Jack is unacceptable. I just hated that movie."
"Again, you are sexist. I was also thinking about scientists, in the field of neuroscience." He looked at her side of the room. Wall was not hidden under posters, but few paintings were hanging here. One of them was a drawing of a brain cell.
"Santiago Ramón y Cajal? Really, Amy? Do you want to destroy our son´s social life before he was born?"
"You just can´t let me finish, can you? I was thinking about Joseph Babinski."
"Stephen Joseph Cooper. Sounds really fancy to me." Amy paid no attention to her husband´s mocking and searched for the name under J letter.
"It means ´he will add´. I do not know what to picture behind this, but maybe he will archive great accomplishment in his life and add something special to humanity."
"I should hope so. The combination of brilliant minds like ours must be gift to human kind itself." She loved it when he was talking about their DNA materials so proudly, but there was also a concern their children will not be as genius as Sheldon´s expectations. Amy hoped this will never occur any issues between her husband and children. She hoped Sheldon will not be ambitious. "What about the Stephen meaning?" he interrupted her thinking. Amy looked it up.
"Crown. Ancient Greek word for crown. I have to agree with you, fancy."
"But so is our girl´s name. Marie Jane and Stephen Joseph. I think we are finished. Now, it is up to baby which name to carry, according to its genitalia." He smiled upon her and then she gladly accepted a small peck on the lips, even it felt little awkward after his commend on baby´s gender proofs. Amy wrote down the second name, but then she dropped the pen on the ground and winced in pain.
"What´s wrong?" his wife was now leaning to the front, hand on her belly. Labored breathing spoke for itself. He was scared. Does it really have to be right now?
"Sheldon, Code Koala. Call Leonard, hurry!" she screamed at him and her blanked suddenly become a little wet.
"Oh dear Lord…"