When the familiar nausea hit her (along with bigger breasts, random cravings, and a missed period), Peggy knew immediately what was going on but tried hard to cling to denial anyway. It didn't last very long, however, something she figured would happen but hoped it wouldn't. Lawrence squinted his eyes at his mother, thankful his younger brothers were all doing their own thing. "Why are you acting like this?"
"I'm not acting like anything," Peggy shot back as she prepared to start making dinner, hoping he'd leave it.
Sitting at the table, Mike suddenly lifted his head and stared at his wife and son in dawning comprehension but it was Lawrence who got there first. "You're acting like you do when you're … pregnant," he trailed off. He threw his hands up in the air and sighed. "Again? We're barely getting by now as it is."
Peggy froze for a second. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Peggy, he's right. Are we having another one?" Mike asked, a pit starting to form in his stomach. He'd welcome another child - as frustrating and chaotic as it was with eight of them around, he loved all of them - but Lawrence was right that they were barely scraping by as it was.
Peggy sniffled and wiped some tears off her cheeks. "Maybe! Probably. And I'm going to love this kid too, whoever he is, but the baby is only ten months old. What are we going to do, Mike?"
Mike stood up and made his way over to her, kissing her forehead. "We're going to love and raise another one of these idiots, that's what we're going to do."
She chuckled and swatted at him. "Be serious."
"I'll help out however I can," volunteered Lawrence.
"Much appreciated. Get a job," Mike ordered as his hand found its way to Peggy's stomach. He smiled at her and she grinned back at him.
The rest of the boys were informed after Peggy came back from the doctor the next afternoon and predictably, weren't exactly happy about another sibling. They shut up and learned to deal with it, however.
By the time Peggy went into labor, everyone was truly on board and ready for another brother. Except then the Clearys were all thrown for a loop when she delivered a girl instead. "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Cleary, you have a daughter," her beaming doctor told them.
Mike stiffened while blood rushed to Peggy's ears. "Did you just say daughter?" she choked out.
The doctor nodded and handed the baby over. "It's a girl!" And then after making sure both were fine, left the three of them alone.
"Didn't see that coming," a stunned Mike murmured about a minute later.
A crying Peggy checked every inch of her daughter and couldn't stop kissing her. "Eight boys and one girl. Who would have thought?"
"We have no girl names," he reminded her with a laugh.
"That's okay - you can stay nameless for a little while while we figure something out. Oh, you're so beautiful. And I'm sorry that you're getting stuck with your brothers' hand-me-downs but we'll figure something out soon. I promise, baby girl."
"I'll get the kids." Mike couldn't wait to shock the shit out of them and let his sons assume they had another brother until they got to Peggy's room.
"What's our new brother's name?" a curious Timmy immediately asked.
"Yeah, I want to know!" Lawrence couldn't believe how invested he was in this.
Peggy glanced at her husband and smirked at her kids. "Your little isister/i is currently nameless, boys."
One by one, the boys' mouths dropped open. "What?" Timmy stared in shock at the bundle currently in his mother's arms.
"A sister? But you always have boys." Pat couldn't wrap his head around this massive shock.
"Not this time." Peggy fussed with the blanket, making sure her little girl was warm and comfortable, before returning her attention to her sons.
Eddie and Frank were the first to recover from the surprise and asked to hold their little sister. The boys took turns until she started to cry a little, clearly upset, and was then returned to Peggy.
Several days later, when both Peggy and baby were released from the hospital, she and Mike still didn't have a name picked out. "This shouldn't be so hard. We picked out the boys' names within hours of their births," she complained. In Lawrence's case, they had his name picked out before he was even born. For the others, they waited until they got to meet the baby and know them a bit.
"You could name her Patricia," suggested a somewhat serious Pat as he walked past on his way to the bedroom.
"Nice try!" Mike yelled back at him (but not loud enough to wake the baby, fortunately).
"Sorry you look so ridiculous in your brothers' clothes," Peggy whispered, adjusting the sleeping baby.
Timmy sat down next to them on the couch. "You could name her Peggy," he joked before standing up and heading back outside.
Peggy's eyes widened and she looked at Mike, who fortunately happened to be on the same wavelength as his wife. "That's it. Mike, we can name her after me! What do you think about Margaret?"
Mike glanced at the baby again. "She looks like a Margaret. We can call her Maggie."
Peggy beamed. "That's perfect. Margaret Eve Cleary. You like your name, Maggie?" she asked the still sleeping newborn.
With the name finally settled, the whole family took some time to adjust to Maggie's presence.
By the time Maggie was three weeks old, the entire Cleary family had quickly figured out what to do with her. When she woke up around midnight, Peggy got up to feed the baby. "I hope you realize how lucky you are to have eight older brothers who would die to protect you, Margaret Eve." Maggie's hand shot out of her blanket, and Peggy chuckled. "You do know, huh? Well, you're the last baby I'm ever going to have - hopefully - and I'm so glad we get to have this time before you grow up and leave me like the boys will at some point." Maggie cooed at her mother in response. "Yeah, you enjoy this." Peggy yawned and once the baby had her fill, she laid her down in the bassinet that had served their family well so far.
"I love watching you two," Mike murmured to Peggy as he turned to face her once she got back in bed.
"Watching you with her is also pretty amazing," she replied.
Nine kids were a lot to deal with and strained their finances but Peggy and Mike regretted none of it (okay, they regretted a miniscule amount). They adored each and every one of their kids and their various personalities, and intended to support them however they could.