"Congratulations. You're having a little girl."
Sarah looked closely at the screen that was showing her unborn baby. She focused intently on it, trying to see what the doctor was seeing. She wasn't able to make heads or tails of the moving image that was being displayed on the monitor. She couldn't tell the head from the body, or an arm from a leg.
How did the doctor know that the little being growing inside her, making her stomach expand, was a girl? And why could she not tell? Guilt crept into her heart. A stranger knew her own baby better than she did. What kind of mother would she be if other people knew more about her child than she knew herself?
The doctor must have been able to read her expression because he said, "I look at these things all time time. Don't worry if you can't understand everything. I'll explain it."
Sarah's doctor touched the screen and began pointing various things out to her. By the time he finished explaining, Sarah could clearly see her baby and she also understood how the doctor had been able to determine that her child would be a girl.
Without warning, a smile grew on her face. She was looking at her baby. Her baby. She still couldn't believe that the tiny life was growing inside her. Even though she had watched as her stomach started growing and her clothes became tight and she had been experiencing other pregnancy symptoms as well, seeing her baby on the sonogram still took her by surprise every time.
Soon, Sarah's moment of bliss faded away and the smile fell from her face. She wished the father of her baby was here. She knew he would love to see his baby, his little girl. But Sarah knew that wasn't possible. She would give anything to change that, but it was no use. The baby's father would miss this little miracle.
After Sarah's appointment, she returned to an empty house. It was empty before leaving for the appointment as well, but now the emptiness felt more overwhelming. It overpowered her and she broke down and cried. She never expected she would be alone at a time like this.
When she found out she was pregnant she thought both herself and the soon-to-be father would be together throughout the whole process. But it was not to be and it devastated her. This was the first doctor visit that he had not been there for. Why did this have to happen? Why now?
When she saw his picture sitting on the mantle, additional tears were pulled from her eyes. Sarah knew that her pregnancy hormones were in part to blame for her crying, but she knew a larger part was due to the fact that she had not been able to share the experience of learning the gender of their baby with him.
The emptiness Sarah felt as the day progressed increased exponentially. She sat all alone at the table, while his chair stared at her, taunting its lack of occupant. Her dinner for one produced a lot of leftovers and made her feel so small in the big house. When she went to bed that night, the empty spot beside her made feel cold. She wanted him back. She needed him back.
Two days after her appointment with her doctor where she learned that she was having a girl, Sarah's mood had darkened so much that she hadn't even put her clothes on that morning. She was still in her pajamas. By mid-afternoon, Sarah had eaten neither breakfast nor lunch. She had done nothing but lie on the couch wallowing in her misery ever since waking up.
Sarah's couch wallowing was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. She didn't care. Whoever it was could just go away. She wasn't home. Whoever was ringing the doorbell seemed to share the same sentiments. Whoever was out there didn't care whether she was home or not. The doorbell just kept ringing and ringing. The ringing wasn't going to stop until she got up and answered the door.
When Sarah finally got up and opened the door the sight that greeted her was that of a tall man with curly brown hair and deep brown eyes.
When he spoke to her, there was a smile sitting on his face. "Hello."
"Hi," she answered back.
When the man at the door spoke again, his smile faded away and his tone became completely serious. "I believe I know you. And I think that you know me too. It is Sarah isn't it?"
He was right. She did know the man standing in front of her. It was him. The man in the picture sitting on the mantle. The father of her child. Her husband. Her Chuck.
Chuck could no longer keep up the act and his trademark goofy grin cracked his face. "I missed you."
Sarah didn't return his words. It had been a week since she had last seen him, seven whole days. Words were the last thing she wanted right now. Sarah launched herself at him, or more specifically she launched her lips toward his. Before her lips reached her mark however, Chuck put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away.
"I'm sorry dear. Ellie only let me come home today after I promised her that I wouldn't kiss you for at least thirty-six hours. She didn't want to risk me getting you sick while you're carrying her niece or nephew. You know how overprotective she can be when it comes to family. Speaking of which. You had an appointment with the doctor the other day. Did you find out what we were having?"
Sarah ignored Chuck's question and asked some of her own. "Why did you ring the doorbell? Why didn't you just come on in? This is where you live. You don't have to knock on your own door."
"Well, there's a simple explanation for that." Chuck's smile spread across his face once again. "I didn't have my keys with me when Ellie dragged me out the door the moment she learned I was sick."
"Now back to my question. Are you going to tell me what we're having?"
In response, Sarah clamped her mouth shut.
Chuck knew his wife of two years and his sometimes real, sometimes cover girlfriend for years before that well. "You're not going to tell me are you? You're gonna make me wait until you get a kiss from me aren't you?"
The corners of Sarah's turned upward in a smirk and she stalked away, leaving Chuck standing outside the door.
"I'll take that as a yes." I guess I can wait thirty-six hours, Chuck thought.
Chuck soon learned that waiting wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would be. Not knowing was driving him crazy. He had to know. Waiting a day-and-a-half just was not possible. He couldn't even wait half-an-hour. He needed to know now. He was going to make Sarah tell him.
"Hello little it," Chuck said while rubbing Sarah's baby belly. He was going to try to annoy the information out of her. "How's Daddy's little it doing? Is little it happy?"
"Chuck," This was it. Sarah was tired of him referring to their baby as an it and she was going to reveal the gender they were going to have. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work. I've been trained to not divulge secrets. Or did you forget that?"
"Oh come on Sarah. Please?"
Sarah had to admit that Chuck's pleading puppy dog eyes were hard to resist. She had to call upon all of her training to not spill her secret knowledge. But she loved a challenge. Chuck wasn't going to get anything out of her until she got her kiss.
"You already know what has to happen before I'll tell you. Until then, you're not getting anything from me."
Chuck had spent the rest of the day trying to get what he wanted out of Sarah, but she refused to give it up. Now night had fallen and it was getting late. Chuck made one last attempt to break Sarah before going to sleep. When it too failed, Chuck surrendered. Sarah was too tough for him.
What Chuck didn't know was that Sarah had nearly cracked. If he were to ask her just one more time what they were having, the words would leap right out of her chest. It was only all the years they had spent together, when paired with the full force of her highly trained will power that gave her the strength to resist his unsurpassed charm.
The following day passed without Chuck making a single attempt to learn from Sarah the information she gathered the other day during her visit to the doctor. Sarah was relieved of that. She would be powerless to fight his adorableness another day. But if Chuck, due to his sister's prompting, was going to make her wait for a kiss, she was going to make him wait too.
That night, Sarah didn't sleep. She was waiting for something. She was keeping a close eye on the time.
When the clock displayed the numbers she wanted, Sarah smiled. Chuck had been sleeping peacefully for hours, but no more. He was about to get a wake up call from his wife.
"Chuck!"
"Wha..."
"Wake up, Chuck," Sarah said as she shook his shoulders.
"Sarah it's the middle of the night."
"I know."
"Well why are you waking me up? What is it?"
"It's been thirty-six hours."
"What?" Chuck responded still half asleep and confused.
"Thirty-six hours, Chuck. I want my kiss now."
Without waiting for a response, Sarah bent down to Chuck and pressed her lips to his. The touch of Sarah's soft, sensual lips on his, snapped Chuck fully awake. He freed his arms from the covers and wrapped them around his beautiful, pregnant wife.
When the kiss ended, Sarah knew it was time to divulge the information she had fought so hard to keep. She wanted to shout, "It's a girl!" But Sarah knew that blurting it out like that would not be the right way to tell Chuck. This was something special. This was their first child. Sarah wanted this moment to be just right.
Sarah considered her words carefully. They had to be perfect. And it looked like she had plenty of time to come up with them. Chuck was still feeling the effects of her kiss. He was in his own little world at the moment, leaving Sarah free to decide how to best reveal that the house would soon explode with lots of little pink things.
"Chuck, what are your feelings on the color pink?"
"Um... It's nice color... I guess."
"How would you feel if we decorated one rooms of the house with a lot of pink?"
"Why would we do that? Oh wait! Are you trying to tell me something? Are we having a girl?"
Sarah didn't answer Chuck with words. Instead, she flashed him a dazzling smile and pulled him into a deep kiss.
It was the very next morning when they went out shopping for cute little girly outfits, pink blankets and pink paint, along with other items the baby would need. Chuck and Sarah were in full on planning and preparation mode. What they had yet to make any plans for was what they would name their precious little girl.
When they finally sat down to talk about names, their coffee table was littered with a wide selection of baby name books. One of those books held the perfect name for their baby girl. They just had to find it.
Chuck sat on one end of the couch and Sarah sat on the other. Each chose one of the baby naming books from the coffee table and began looking through it. Any name they saw that appealed to them they wrote on a piece of paper.
Chuck and Sarah each made their own lists and did not share or discuss any names. They were kept entirely secret. They agreed only to show each other their lists once they had gone though all the books choosing their favorites.
Two weeks later, the couple had finished compiling their lists and gathered together on the couch that night after dinner.
Before Chuck and Sarah made the exchange, they folded their lists in half.
"Okay," Chuck said. "We open them on the count of three."
Their voices were perfectly synchronized as they counted together. "One, two, three!"
Chuck and Sarah hurriedly opened the pages they had been given, anxious to see what the other had written.
The names found on Chuck's list included, Sarah, Jennifer/Jenny, Nicole, Eleanor, Amber, Kaylee, Casey, Felicia, Alexis, Samantha, Mikaila and Tammy.
The names on Sarah's list were as follow. Allison, Abigail, Karen, Yvonne, Cecily, Irene, Holly, Anastasia, Chloe, Niki, Jeannie, Krista, Deborah, Caroline and Celine.
As well matched they were as a couple, there was not a single name that appeared on both of their lists. The closest they came to matching was the Nicole from Chuck's list and the Niki from Sarah's.
Both members of the once anxious and excited couple deflated after reading the list their partner in life had just handed over.
"Not one single match! Not one!" Chuck exclaimed flabbergasted.
"Now our choice of possible names is twice as long. This didn't help at all," Sarah cried in frustration. "Our baby is never going to have a name."
"She will Sarah. We still have time to make a decision. You're only at twenty-two weeks. We have plenty of time to pick out a name."
Chuck tossed Sarah's list over onto the coffee table and wrapped Sarah in an embrace in attempt to soothe her. When she continued to obsess over the list in her hand, despite being held in his arms, Chuck wrestled it away from her and tossed it to the coffee table where the other already lay.
Eventually the warmth of Chuck's arms went into effect and Sarah relaxed. "You know, Casey will kill you if he ever finds out you wanted to name our daughter after him."
"What?" Chuck said with a knowing smirk. "Casey can be a girl's name too."
Chuck knew what he was doing. He knew how Casey would react. And from his tone, Sarah suspected he planned on letting this information slip in front of Casey, just to see the reaction he knew would result.
Chuck would count on her to prevent the angry, growling man from hurting him. He knew she would never let any harm come to him. As she thought about it, Sarah couldn't help but think that it might actually be funny to see. Chuck was definitely rubbing off on her.
Sarah was right. It was the very next morning that Chuck made Casey aware of his name being in consideration for the name of little baby girl Bartowski. Sarah could hear her former partner's unmistakable growl and a slew of empty threats coming from the phone, even though she wasn't in possession of a phone herself.
When Chuck ended the call, neither of the two Bartowskis could contain their laughter.
"You're so awful," Sarah said teasingly.
"I don't think Casey wants us to name our daughter after him, does he?
Sarah shook her head and smiled. She loved her husband's sense of humor. "No, I don't. So we'd better come up with a real name."
As the days and weeks progressed, Chuck and Sarah continued to discuss possible baby names, but they had gotten no closer to making a decision. There were so many different names to choose from and whatever choice they made, would not only affect the rest of their lives but the life of someone else as well. Whatever name they chose, it had to be perfect for their child.
A couple months later, Chuck burst into the bedroom where Sarah was resting. "Sarah! Sarah! I've got it!"
"Got what Chuck?"
"The perfect name for our daughter."
Chuck's words caused Sarah to sit up and made her eyes shine with anticipation. "What is it Chuck?! What name is perfect for out little girl?!"
The brief second it took for Chuck to speak felt longer than the duration of her pregnancy. She couldn't wait to hear what name Chuck had deemed perfect for their soon-to-be-arriving little one. What Chuck said didn't fill her with elation, but rather disarray. "Serenity!"
"So what do you think of it?" Chuck asked after a couple minutes had passed in silence.
"Chuck, where did you get that name?" Sarah asked in a tone that said, I know exactly where that name came from.
Now it was Chuck's turn to bring silence into the room as he thought up something to say. "Oh... I got it from.... from one of those baby books downstairs."
"Oh you did did you?" Sarah scrambled to get up from the bed with all the extra weight of her protruding stomach. "Let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"Downstairs. You're going to show me exactly where you found the name you decided was perfect for our child."
Chuck was panicking now as his wife dragged him down to the living room. He hadn't been looking through any of those books when he came up with the idea of naming their daughter Serenity. He had been looking at his DVD collection.
"Okay Chuck. Show me which book that name came from."
"Um... I... I don't remember," Chuck said as he nervously picked up book after book from the coffee table, his eyes darting everywhere. In the meantime, his brain was working overtime trying to come up with any explanation he could give to Sarah.
"Chuck..."
"I can't remember which book it was Sarah."
"Chuck, do you really expect me to believe you got that name from one of these books? You make me watch that movie every year on your birthday."
"Oh yeah," Chuck muttered as his cheeks became reddened by the knowledge that he had been caught. "Well even if I did get it from the movie, what's wrong with the name?"
"Chuck, you want to name our daughter after a spaceship. A spaceship!"
"But a really cool one," Chuck protested.
"Cool or not, doesn't change the fact that it's still a spaceship."
"Aha! So you do admit that Serenity is a cool ship?"
"Yes. But that doesn't mean that it's a good name for our daughter."
"Oh come on Sarah. Serenity would be an awesome name."
"Chuck, you've spent too much time hanging around your sister's husband latey. You've started stealing his word."
When Chuck's face turned to one of confusion, Sarah leaned in to give her adorable husband a quick peck on the cheek. That ended all talk of baby names, for now anyway. Chuck couldn't think of anything else when Sarah kissed him. It was like his brain melted away from the heat of her kiss.
But Sarah couldn't kiss Chuck forever and they did still need to choose a name for their daughter. The size of Sarah's belly signaled that time was running out. When the kissing and loving embraces ended and Chuck's brain finally regained functionality, the conversation picked right back up as if it had never been interrupted.
"Sarah, why don't you think Serenity would be a good name for our daughter?"
Sarah spun Chuck's inquiry around and directed it back to him. "Why do you think that Serenity would be a good name for our daughter?"
"Because the movie is awesome, just like the ship and our daughter will be awesome too."
"There you go using Devon's word again. You've definitely been spending too much time with him lately. I'm going to cancel my girl's day out with Ellie this weekend and spend the time with you instead."
"I think I'd like that," Chuck said pulling Sarah into his lap. "Now about the name Serenity..."
"Well..."
"What?"
"You were going to tell me why Serenity was a good name."
"But I already did." Chuck answered, obviously not understanding his wife's words.
"'Because it's an awesome movie' is not a reason."
Chuck deflated. He obviously didn't have anything else to support his argument. Sarah was going to win if he didn't think of something.
"Wait! Sarah, I didn't get to be there when you learned whether we would be having a girl or a boy because I was sick." Chuck hoped that this argument would get him somewhere. "Ellie wouldn't let me get out of bed. I was stuck in that room for a week, using tissue after tissue. I spent the week under the constant watch of sister doctor Ellie, who is a lot worse in the over-protection department than either of the two sides separately. Shouldn't I get something for my suffering?"
"I suffered during that time too Chuck. I was alone. I didn't have you. You weren't there with me at the doctor's. I didn't have anyone to share the moment with." The hope fell from Chuck's pleading brown eyes. "But you know what?" Chuck's eyes perked back up. "You can chose her middle name, but I would have to approve it first."
Well it wasn't what he was hoping for, but at least it was something. But he hadn't given up hope for giving their daughter the name Serenity. He would continue to try to wear his wife down until she surrendered.
"I found it!"
"What did you find Chuck?"
"I found Serenity in this baby name book. Right here. See. It's a real name."
"Look right here," Sarah said pointing to one of the names below Serenity in the book. "Shadow is a 'real name' too. That doesn't mean we should chose it."
Well, that attempt failed. He would have to come up with something else.
Chuck had been spending so much time trying to convince Sarah to give their daughter the name Serenity, that he hadn't taken the time to think of other possibilities. Nor had he thought about a middle name, which Sarah had given him somewhat freewill to choose.
Throughout the rest of Sarah's pregnancy, Chuck was coming up with reasons for Sarah to go with his choice of name for their daughter.
"Serenity means peacefulness."
"Serenity sounds pretty."
"Serenity looks pretty."
"Serenity would be a pretty name."
"There won't be five other girls in her class that have the same name."
"Serenity doesn't rhyme with much. It would make teasing difficult."
Chuck gave reason after reason. Toward the end of Sarah's pregnancy, he became desperate. "Serenity starts with an S. Just like Sarah."
"Chuck, that doesn't even make sense."
"Sure it does. Sarah starts with the letter S. Serenity starts with the letter S. It's the same letter."
Sarah just chuckled at her husband's desperate attempt to win at the name game and gave him a quick kiss. "That's one of the many reasons I love you. You make me laugh."
"And I love making you laugh, but why can't we name our daughter Serenity?"
The next afternoon on September 29, Sarah went into labor and was rushed to the hospital. Chuck had failed to convince Sarah to give their soon-to-enter-the-world daughter the name he had chosen. Their little girl still had no name.
"Sarah, we have to choose a name."
"Shut up Chuck!" Sarah seethed.
The moment Chuck had chosen to speak was also the moment a painful contraction decided to visit Sarah and she wasn't too thrilled to hear her husband's voice in that moment.
Seeing the pain that was expressed on her face, Chuck dropped the subject for the time being. He immediately switched over to loving, caring, supportive husband mode. He held her hand. He stroked her forehead. All the while, Sarah screamed and glared daggers at him.
When the contraction ended and Sarah's face returned to its normal, but sweaty look, Chuck made another attempt to start what he considered to be a crucial conversation with his wife.
"Sarah we need to talk about names."
Sarah obviously didn't agree with her husband's assessment of the conversation's importance. "Chuck, do we have to talk about this now?"
"Yes, we do Sarah. Our daughter doesn't have a name yet and she's going to be born soon."
"Chuck, I'm really not in the mood for this now. If you haven't noticed I'm kind of in the middle of something right now."
Another contraction attacked and the conversation died again.
Chuck was persistent in his attempt to engage his wife in a discussion about baby names. It was important to him that his daughter had a name when she was born. He didn't want his little girl to be nameless. In Sarah's mind however, the subject of names was the very last thing she wanted to hear or think about.
"Sarah please. Our daughter needs a name. We really need to discuss this."
"Chuck," Sarah responded in a clipped tone. "If you mention names one more time... it will be the last breath you ever take. There are quite a few things in this room I could use to kill you with. I don't even have to get up from this bed for some of them. Now shut up!"
Sarah's icy glare was enough to stop Chuck's heart cold. He had to turn away in order to start breathing again. When his heart started pumping blood through his system once more, Chuck chanced a glance at his wife lying just a couple feet away from him in the hospital bed. The deadly glare was gone from her eyes. To prevent seeing it a second time, he never spoke of names again.
From that point on, Chuck was in loving, caring, supportive husband mode full time. He finally saw that taking care of his wife at this time was of the utmost importance and that everything else was trivial. The talk about names could wait until the baby was born and Sarah wasn't in so much pain and focused on other matters, namely that of labor and delivery.
Afternoon turned to evening, and evening turned to night. Chuck and Sarah's unnamed baby was taking her sweet time to make her entrance into the world. Chuck was growing tired and Sarah was exhausted. They were both ready for this to be over, and not just due to their tired nature. They were also nervous, anxious, excited and a whole array of other emotions regarding meeting their daughter for the first time.
The as of yet unnamed baby of the Bartowski family didn't care. She didn't care that her parents were tired. She didn't care that they wanted to meet her. This birth was going to happen on her terms, not theirs, or those of anyone else, and she wasn't ready to be born yet.
The night passed with Sarah lying in that hospital bed, her screaming becoming more frequent as the hours went by. Chuck spent the night doting on his wife and trying to not let her screams or the threats she directed at him phase him. He did okay ignoring the screams, but the threats were another matter. Chuck couldn't help being a little frightened of Sarah.
Sunrise came and the time was coming near. It wouldn't be long now. Their baby would soon be here. That time came just under an hour after the sun began casting its light on the day.
While people were groaning about getting started with work, Chuck and Sarah were rejoicing and celebrating the birth of their daughter. She was so beautiful and they already loved her so much. She just needed a name.
Their daughter had chosen to make the morning of September 30 her birthday. The irony of the day wasn't lost on Sarah. Chuck had hammered that date into her head quite often during their years together. Chuck however, had been far too nervous from the moment Sarah went into labor to take note of the date.
Well, if her baby was going to come a week-and-a-half early just to be born on this specific date, Sarah had no doubt in her mind what her name should be. She just needed a middle name now.
True to her word, she let Chuck pick out their daughter's middle name, providing she liked it. It didn't take Chuck much time at all to decide on a middle name for their little girl. When he told Sarah of his choice, she couldn't help but smile.
The birth certificate read, Serenity Jayne Bartowski.