What's in a Name?
"Charles!" Charles groaned as he awoke to a finger persistently poking his cheek. He batted the offending digit away before rolling back over and trying to go back to sleep.
"Charles!" A voice hissed angrily in his ear, as he received a hard shove against his shoulder. He jerked awake, his bleary eyes darting around the room until they rested on a frantic looking Molly who was leaning over him gazing anxiously into his eyes. Her expression triggered something in his sleep addled brain and he sat up with a start.
"Molly? What is it? Is it time? Shit it's early!" Charles sprang out of bed, frantically reaching for the jeans and t-shirt he had discarded in a heap on the floor the night before. When he noticed Molly had yet to move from her position on the bed, he stopped his jerky movements and stood over her in concern.
"Molls? You feeling ok?"
Molly's gaze, which had been previously trailed on the carpet, shot up to meet his own confused eyes. "We don't have a name." Molly muttered as she watched him. "Wait you did not just call our unborn daughter an IT Charles James." Charles, who had been trying to wrestle his legs into his jeans stopped and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, looked at her in confusion. "What?"
"We don't have a name for HER." Molly repeated slowly in the same tone she used when she was explaining something to Sam. She jumped up and started pacing across the carpet, wringing her hands anxiously as she moved. "Our baby is due any day an' we still don't 'av a name. What sorta parents are we? We've looked through this bloody book hundreds of times. How is it we can't agree on a name? It's hopeless! We can't keep calling her Baby Girl James. It's mental!" Molly, who had picked up a copy of The Baby Name Book during her rant, threw the book onto the bed in agitation. The spine cracking as it landed face down on a page, scattering post it notes across the carpet. Charles scratched his head as he looked form the book to his girlfriend who was slowly unravelling before his eyes.
"You want to pick out baby names now?" Charles asked. Molly nodded at him.
"Yes!"
"You woke me up at 3.00am to pick out baby names?" Charles asked in clarification, looked at Molly as though she was mad.
"Yes you bloody Cockwomble!" Molly's patience finally snapped as she glared at her partner. Charles, knowing he had gone too far, held his hands up in mock surrender. "Ok, Ok, we'll look at baby names. With a sigh he continued, "I think I might gunna need a shot of coffee for this. Come on Dawesy up you get." With that he reached down and pulled Molly to her feet, picking up the book as he did so as he focused on supporting her as they moved slowly downstairs into the kitchen.
"Ok how about Dorothy?" Molly's nose scrunched up in distaste as Charles stared down at the list in front of him.
"Nah, don't like it." Charles nodded as he crossed it off the list. "What about Gertrude?"
Charles' face blanched. "No way, reminds me of my great aunt, all fuzzy chins and crazy cardigans, she smelt like moth balls. God rest her soul." Molly giggled as he continued to rattle off names.
"Polly? Marge? Wendy? Doreen?"
"Seriously? It's 2014 not 1914 Charles. Honestly! We're getting nowhere." Molly replied with a role of her eyes as she continued to flick half-heartedly through the baby book. "What about Elsa? Anna?"
"Hum nice, but I reckon hundreds of other girls are going to be named after Disney characters after that film. Plus I've only just got those songs out of my head thank you very much." Charles shuddered. Molly burst out laughing, "Oh so is that why I found the soundtrack in the car radio the other day then?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as he started shifting nervously on the spot, caught out. "It's Sam's CD, not mine. He loves it!" Charles protested as he busied himself with the Nespresso machine humming something that sounded suspiciously like the chorus to In Summer. Molly shook her head. Sam's favourite indeed! Suddenly struck with an idea, Charles reached across the counter and took one of her hands, uncurling her fingers one by one as he placed a coffee capsule in her palm.
"You know we could always name her Roasabaya." Molly looked up with a raised eyebrow to see Charles staring down at her with a wicked smirk on his face. Molly glanced thoughtfully down at the capsule in her hand as she rolled it back and forth between her fingers. "You want to name our daughter after a brand of coffee?" Molly asked uncertainly.
"Why not? It certainly beats Apple or Pear or whatever other fruits all these celebrities are coming up with as names these days. At least it's meaningful to us."
"Humm true." Molly still didn't sound convinced. Charles shook his head with a laugh as he opened the book at another random page. Molly glanced over his shoulder and gave a shout of surprise making Charles Jump. She pointed to a name with her finger. "Hay what about Peyton?"
"Peyton. Peyton James." Charles grinned as he tested out the name aloud. "I like it. In fact I really like it. What do you think?" Molly beamed.
"I kinda love it Boss."
"Yeah? Me too. So that's it. We have a name?" He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. Molly grinned in excitement as she leant against him. "We have a name." Charles placed a kiss on her temple as they sat in contented silence. Molly shifted so she could get a better view of Charles' face. "Boss?" Charles raised an eyebrow in question. "Boss. I've been thinking." Charles grinned cheekily as he mocked her. "Oh dear Dawes, that does sound dangerous." Molly slapped his chest as he laughed. "Seriously! What about a middle name?" Charles' smile dropped as he groaned. "Aww here we go again." With a sigh he picked up the pad in front of him and turned to a new page. "Ok hit me, what have you got?" Molly laughed and threw a coffee capsule at him.
"Maybe you were onto something earlier Boss." Charles furrowed his brow as she held up a capsule.
"You want our daughter's middle name to be Rosabaya?"
"Not necessarily you muppet. What about Rosa? It means Rose."
"Peyton Rosa James. It has a nice ring to it. I love it."
Molly grinned in relief as Charles pulled her into a hug, a gentle finger running along her arm tracing the place where he had once written that one word that had started it all. "I only wrote that so you had something to remember me by when you were on R&R." He spoke softly as his fingers traced idle patterns up and down her arm. Molly reached out and took his hand, locking her fingers around his, squeezing tight. "I know. That was the moment I realised I had feelings for you I think. It took everything I had to leave that bloody compound. To leave you." Charles kissed her gently. "Look how far we've come ay Dawes." Molly laughed.
"Looks like you were right Boss. Lady Luck sure was shining on us."
"Indeed." Charles bent down and caressed her bump gently before placing his head close and whispering gently, "We can't wait to welcome you into the world Peyton Rosa James."