A/N: Thanks, DaniWilder and JperW, for taking a look at it and offering your help. This is just something more to tide you over before I get back into writing again. And we all know where the title comes from; I didn't buy it from the late Shakespeare. (Not to be confused with Koinekid's By Any Other Name – go read it.)
What's in a Name?
This isn't what he should be doing. It was even described with great detail in all of the numerous books sent by Jeannie that he should be in there. Or darn well have tried his best to get in there. Instead he was just outside, walking up and down the small room on auto-pilot. A nervous habit, but nonetheless necessary. Back and forth, his steps took him from one side of the room to the other. A scream of pain penetrated the thick sliding door and he let out a strangled cry of helplessness in return. Another one sounded and John stepped up to put his hands on Rodney's shoulders.
Rodney felt the pressure they brought with and sat down as they asked yet it did nothing to calm his thoughts. He should have tried harder to be in there. Damn him for respecting Jennifer's decision.
"Everything will be all right," Teyla's soft tones reassured him from her comfortable spot to his right. His pacing had been unnerving to her as well though it seemed only John and Ronon showed it. Ronon sat in complete silence on the far side of Teyla with annoyance littering his expression.
"I-I need to pace." With that, the physicist was back up and across the room. Seconds could have passed since the last yell floated past the steel door; minutes maybe, it could have been hours for all Rodney knew. The only solace he could find was not in the quiet comfort of sitting next to his friends but wearing a path into the floor beneath him.
An eternity later, the door swished open and Rodney's eyes momentarily widened as fear overtook him. What if the baby didn't make it? What if Jennifer didn't make it? What about complications that would harm either of them?
His stomach revolted as his feet carried him to the door and the nurse waiting just inside the doorway. It was one of Jennifer's friends. She couldn't possibly be bringing bad news.
"H-how are they?" Rodney swallowed past the lump in his throat to give sound to the words running through his head on repeat.
"They're both fine and waiting to see you, Doctor McKay," Sandy answered with a gracious smile, gesturing past her into the room now open to him.
Cautious steps were needed if he wanted to make it the entire fifteen or so feet to the bed. He wasn't sure how long it took him to get there, but once he did, a more breathtaking sight had never held his attention. Jennifer looked absolutely astounding with hair matted to her forehead, sweat beaded on her brows and a smile climbing her face after seeing him. Her eyes thankfully fluttered shut for a moment as Rodney brushed away the hair and heat and placed a single kiss on her temple.
The two weren't given much time to get reacquainted before the sight of a little pink bundle in Sandy's arms interrupted them.
Laying her in Jennifer's arms as Rodney slid his hand around his wife's shoulder and joined her at the side of the bed, Sandy asked, "Does this precious little one have a name yet?"
"Not yet. We wanted to wait to see what struck us when we finally saw her," Jennifer replied in a hushed tone with her eyes only on their daughter. The little girl in her arms was beautiful. The new mother couldn't wait for the eyes before her to even momentarily open; it meant the difference between a soft-hearted father or a lenient mother. In the next moment, she found it didn't really matter. The newborn in her arms had stolen her heart faster than the man beside her.
"She looks beautiful," Jennifer whispered, awe doing nothing to hold back wisps of tears.
"She looks like her mother," Rodney softly amended as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"Well, she's already one special kid. Besides having the two of you for parents of course. Not many children are born at exactly 3:14 around here," Sandy jumped in with another wide smile.
"Did you just say…" Rodney couldn't even finish his sentence as his mouth refused to close. There's just no way. The chances were astronomical.
"That's right, your little girl was born at the time equivalent to pi," she answered dutifully.
His eyes wide with amazement and lighting up with excitement, he looked over at his wife.
The glint was all she needed to say it. "No, Rodney, we're not naming her after some famous mathematician."
"That's not what I was going to say but if you think we should, we could pick a reversible name like Alex for Alexander Grothendieck or Taylor for Sir Brook Taylor who had his own theorem and found the solution to Kepler's second law of planetary motion or we could use Brook for that one as well or there's always…"
"What about Lorelei?" Jennifer interrupted, never taking her eyes from her daughter.
"Lorelei? As in Lorelei R. Brush, the relatively well-known author of Women of Mathematics: Balancing the Equation? We're heading in the right direction with that one but I think it should be more in-depth than an author. I don't know anyone else named Lorelei in mathematics, or the scientific community for that matter."
"No, as in our daughter Lorelei. You don't like the name?"
"Lorelei McKay, eh?" He let the name rest on his tongue and imagined using it to praise his new little girl. "Sounds pretty nice actually. What about a middle name?"
"I don't know, I haven't thought of one, have you?" Jennifer finally looked up to meet his eyes.
"No. Nothing seems perfect enough to suit her, does it?" His hand reached over to cautiously smooth down the corner of the pink blanket and instantly recoiled when bright blue eyes opened and sleepily focused on him.
"She has your eyes! I'm doomed," Jennifer cried out at the revelation.
"In all fairness to your beautiful, dominant brown eyes, hers will probably turn brown within a year," Rodney assured her, his hand now resting on her upper arm.
"So, Lorelei Elizabeth McKay, what do you say about letting daddy hold you?" she cooed to the blue-eyed girl before her.
"Oh, I don't, I can't…" Rodney tried to hide his pleasant surprise with her choice of a middle name and back away simultaneously.
"Of course you can, Rodney."
Lorelei was lifted up into his arms before he could mutter another syllable. Now that he could, nothing came out, not even his breath. How could he breathe at a time like this when his daughter was in his arms for the first time?
His mouth opened but it took a moment to form his thoughts under the intense gaze his daughter gave him. "I-I promise to be the best father possible, Lor," Rodney vowed to the little bundle in his arms. "I won't miss a single science fair or parent/teacher conference if I can help it."
"Science fair? What about a sport's game? She could be athletic," Jennifer pointed out next to the bonding father and daughter with a sudden yawn.
"She could also win a Nobel Prize before me, I promise to be there for that as well," Rodney returned, a proud smile already overtaking his lips. He wouldn't miss a moment of this precious little girl's life. Not a single moment.
"Are we interrupting anything?" John cavalierly called as he, Teyla, and Ronon followed Sandy back into the room.
Jennifer smiled their welcome and Rodney failed to respond as his eyes stayed resolutely on his daughter.
"She is beautiful, Jennifer. You have done well," Teyla complimented with a smile, no doubt remembering Torren's birth and days following it.
A different, grateful smile lifted Jennifer's lips as she thanked the Athosian for the comment.
Ronon still stood a bit behind Teyla as he had entered the room and gave an approving nod to the child. She did have a certain beauty, even if she shared half her genes with her father.
Rodney looked up and finally seemed to realize there were more people in the room. "Oh, when did you get here?"
"Hours ago, it was quite graphical," John answered suavely, eliciting a predictable growl from his friend.
"Only a moment ago, Rodney," Teyla amended.
His fun over, John asked, "Have you picked out a name yet?"
This was one question Rodney was proud to answer from the annoying Colonel. "Lorelei Elizabeth McKay."
Sheppard's eyebrows rose in time with his lips as he smiled slyly. The expression furrowed Rodney's own eyebrows until John replied with a twisted smirk, "Lorelei Elizabeth McKay. As in LEM…ON?"