Family Name
Author's note: This silly little fic is a strange combination of OOC-ness and puppy eyes that I just couldn't get out of my mind :) I know I should be continuing Believing, but I think this might help me get over the slight writer's block I'm experiencing at the moment. Oh!...and it's a Carby. Like I'd write anything else :)
Carter and Abby are married and it's from Abby's POV.
WARNING: Extreme sillyness!!!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't know anything you recognize from ER. I can wish though.
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When I woke up this morning, I inmediatly felt this terrible, almost childish sense of excitement at what we would be finding out during the day.
The doctor's appointment had been set for eleven o' clock, but I somehow found myself sitting on the waiting's room couch at nine thirty. John, who had had one of those terrible graveyard shifts we are trying to avoid so much these days, was already there. He greeted me with a sheepish smile and a soft kiss and I smiled. He was just as excited as I was.
Our first baby.
And today, we would be finding out if we were having a boy or a girl.
Not that we cared, we would love this baby no matter what. But still, I just couldn't wait to be at the mall buying all these cute outfits for the baby, to decorate the nursery accordingly, to start thinking about names.
After what seemed like an eternity but were really about five minutes the doctor finally stopped looking at the ultrasound and turned to us.
"You're having a boy", she said, smiling at us and I felt a big, goofy smile take over my face. I turned to look at John who was looking at the ultrasound in awe.
"A boy" he muttered, almost in a daze. He turned to me, with a disbelieving look on his face
"We're having a boy" he muttered for the second time. I nodded, the smile never leaving my face.
He snapped out of it and smiled back, a smile just as big, as proud and as happy as mine. And then we hugged...and kissed.
And it was pure bliss.
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But you see, what I didn't know then was that having a boy would create one little tiny disagreement between the two of us. One that I would realize as soon as we got in the car and headed back home after the appointment. John was driving and I was lost in thoughts about this new baby...this little boy. Obviously my train of thought went quite quickly to this little thing called the baby's name.
A name for a boy. Lots of names quickly entered my mind. I liked quite a few....Andrew, Julian, Jacob, Blake, Daniel were some of the ones that crossed my mind. I turned to John and asked the question that started the whole thing.
"What are we going to name him?"
He looked at me, with a really peculiar expression on his face. He shook his head and cleared his throat.
"John Truman Carter IV, obviously" he told me, almost as if I was crazy to think otherwise.
"Really?" I asked, wrinkling my nose.
"Of course" he said confidently, "it's the family name".
I laughed nervously.
"I thought you weren't into those proper Carter family traditions."
"I'm not" he said, "but the name's different." I must have grimaced because he looked at me with a disbelieving expression on his face.
"You don't like it!" he said loudly.
"I do, I do!" I told him, "I just think it's kinda long."
"Long?" he laughed "Family names are like that." I decided to change tactics.
"It's just that I really like the name Julian" I said, picking the fisrt name I liked I could think of, "and I wanted to name our son that."
It didn't work
"We can name our second son that. Our first son has to be John Truman." he said, using his best persuading tone.
"But the the two of you will be named John, it will get confusing." I tried again
"We'll find another nickname, Truman or something"
"Truman?" I asked again, grimacing more obviously.
He looked at me, frowning. By now we were already parked at the front of our apartment building.
"Abbeeeee..." he pleaded, and my heart jumped, he was giving me the whole sad puppy dog look he knows I can't resist. Ugh! He's such a dirty player! "Pleeeeeaase!"
I turned and looked somewhere else. I had to fight those irresistible eyes. I couldn't look at them. I knew that if I did I'd surrender.
"Abby!" he called for my attention.
"Don't look at me like that!" I told him my eyes shut tightly.
"Like what?" he asked in bewilderment. Well, his voice sounded bewildered so I assume he looked it as well.
"Stop... the....puppy...eyes." I said forcefully. He started laughing.
"What puppy eyes?" he asked in mock ignorance. I opened my eyes and slowly turned to look at him.
"Those!" I told him pointing and closing my eyes again quickly. He continued laughing and I just opened the door and got out of the car, running for my life and for the name of our baby.
I could hear his laughter and his footsteps following me to our apartment.
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It's almost six now and I've spent the afternoon avoiding the eyes and the subject. He's spent it practicing the whole puppy look like never before, even messing his hair in the way he knows I adore.
He's so cruel that at one point in the afternoon he left the apartment mysteriously coming back with two small blue teddy bears, one of them with the name John printed on it's belly, the other with the name Truman in the same way. He's been playing with them and the small bump that is our son for some time now. I'm pretending to be asleep but he knows otherwise. His puppy eyes are still there. The last time I squinted I saw them.
The phone starts ringing and I can't help but sigh in relief as he stands up to answer it.
"Gamma!" he says happily when he answers it.
"Yes, we found out today" he tells her, "I'm not telling you over the phone!"
The next thing I hear makes chills go down my spine
"Dinner tonight?" he smiles "that'd be great"
He hangs up with a "we'll be there by seven" and I can't help but think of this dinner as the ultimate ambush. Carters are mean.
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Four pairs of eyes are looking at me. John's puppy's eyes, Gamma's persuading stare, and John's parents' dissaproving glare.
I feel completely trapped and can't help but think of ways to make John pay for this. Never cooking him a meal seems like a good idea. Him being assigned the couch as his new sleeping place seems like another good one.
I can't believe he's accusing me of denying our child the great Carter name. It's true, but he shouldn't accuse me.
What do I say? What do I say? What do I say!!?
"I just thought we could look for some other options" I finally tell them.
"Other options? John Truman is the perfect name for the first Carter grandchild" Eleanor Carter says condescendingly.
"I think so too" John syas smiling at his mother and then at me.
"Well that's settled then, isn't it?" John's dad tells us, "the baby will be John Truman, like me and like my father before me."
"And me" John says sullenly.
"Alright, Alright!" I say, my voice raising in indignation, "if you all want to pick the name for the child I'M carrying with no consideration for the name I like, then fine go ahead!" I realize I'm almost shouting by now.
"I'm going for a walk" I continue, more calm now, and a bit embarrased.
And as I walk outside I put my hand on the small bump in my belly.
"John Truman" I say soflty, "guess that's your name now."
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"Abby!" John shouts and I stop walking, allowing him to catch up to me.
"I'm sorry" he says, looking at the floor. " I guess I got a bit carried away" he looks up at me now "You can pick the name, just...don't get mad, ok?
I look at him and sigh. The puppy eyes are making me quite forgiving.
"Alright" I say, "I pick John Truman."
"You do?" he asks smiling softly.
"Yes" I say as I look at my amazing husband before me. "It's perfect."
"Thanks" he says and then he kisses me softly. "I love you"
"Me too"
And as we walk back to the mansion I can't help but hope that baby Truman gets the same puppy eyes as his daddy so I can teach him to use them on John often so he gets a taste of what it's like for me everyday of my perfect life.
FIN
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Silly? I warned you!
Hehe, dunno what came over me though.
Hope you liked it and that you review!
Ariana