Auld Lang Syne
"I'm so sorry about this." Helga Shortman was laying on the couch with a blanket wrapped tightly around her, "You can still go to Phoebe and Gerald's New Year's Eve Party. You don't need to worry about me. I'll probably be in bed by nine anyway."
"I'm not going to leave my pregnant wife at while I go out and party." Arnold handed her a bottle of 7up and a package of saltines. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh yes, because you are such a big party animal." She took a sip of 7up and started to nibble on a saltine cracker. "Like crap. I always thought this whole morning sickness thing was supposed to be in the morning, hence the name, not all freaking day."
Arnold sat down next to her on the couch and his fingers began to tunnel through her hair. He offered her a sympathetic smile, "It will be all worth it in the end though, won't it?" Helga scooted forward so Arnold could lay on his side behind her.
"Yeah, of course it will." Helga smiled thinking of the week prier when they heard their baby's heartbeat for the very first time. It was a wonderful, perfect moment. They both had been had been on cloud nine ever since. "But that doesn't mean I don't get to whine about it while its happening."
Arnold hugged her close against his body. "Complain away. I'll be with you through it all, including all the midnight cravings I know you'll have."
"So, you'll make a Taco Bell run at one in the morning with no complaints?" She grinned as he nodded, "Oh, I'm so going to take advantage of that."
"Its not going to work when our baby is five, you know that, right?" Arnold asked, still smiling. "Unless you're pregnant again."
Helga laughed, "Let's get this one out of the way first before we talk about anymore pregnancies." She felt her heart flutter when Arnold lovingly caressed her stomach. "So since you refuse to go out without me tonight, what do you want to do?"
He kissed her neck, "I can think of a few things I want to do..." He wiggled his eyebrows.
Helga winced as her stomach turned, "I'm so not up to that...Sorry."
"I know." Arnold kissed the back of her head, "I was just teasing. We could talk about baby names." They had briefly talked about what baby names they liked in the past, but it had been awhile and they hadn't talked about it since they found about the pregnancy. Even though he had only known for a week he had been piratically bursting with excitement for this talk.
Helga turned her head, "You've been wanting to have this talk since I told you, haven't you? Football Head?"
Arnold shrugged, "Maybe..."
She giggled, "Okay, what do you want to talk about first? Boy or girl names?"
"Mmmm...Let's start with boy names. Do you want to go first or shall I?"
"You can. I get to go first with the girl names."
"Well, for boy names I would really like it if we could use Phillip for the middle name. I think Grandpa would really like that..."
"I think he would like that too. I know I like that. So what about the first name?"
"I think my top three names would have to be Max." Helga nodded in approval, "Henry." Again, Helga nodded in approval, "And Edward."
Helga shook her head, "I going to have to nix that one. That was the name of that creepy guy that kept hitting on my when I first started going to NYU. Every time I hear the name Edward that who I think of. We cannot name our son that."
"Fair enough." Arnold knew all to well what it was like to associate names with certain people. He was a fourth grade teacher and of course, he liked all of his students...Just some more that others and there was just some names he would never name child because of a certain student or two. "What boy names do you like?"
"I've always liked the names Alex, Chris, and Sam."
"Sam Shortman." Arnold tested the name out loud. "Sam Phillip Shortman. That does have a nice ring to it. I think we just named our son. Now, if we have a daughter..."
"Top three are Elizabeth, Holly, and Madeline. Any objections?" Helga asked.
"As long as we don't call Elizabeth Eliza for short. There was an Eliza in the first class I ever student taught...I wasn't a fan of hers"
Helga laughed, "Now I can't help but wonder how many teachers I've had swore off the name Helga because of me. Though, I can't imagine anyone wanting to name their child Helga regardless. It's kind of ridiculous and pretty old fashioned."
"I like your name. It suits you."
She laughed, "So you think I'm ridiculous and old fashioned? Okay, Football Head, what are your girl names?"
"Well...I really only have one name in mind...It's something to do with what I've been feeling since the second you told me you were pregnant..."
"We are not naming our baby girl Happy. And while we are on the subject I'm nixing the rest seven dwarfs right now."
Arnold rolled his eyes, "I wasn't suggesting we name her Happy. I was thinking we could name her Joy."
"Joy." Helga smiled. "That's very sweet. I actually really love that."
"Joy Geraldine Shortman. I like the way that sounds."
"Ugh!" Helga groaned dramatically, "You have got to be kidding me? You want give her my middle name? Do you not remember how long it took me to tell you what my middle name was?"
"Come on, it grew on you. Would you rather her middle name be Christmas Angel?"
"You are so ridiculous."
"Yeah, maybe, but you still love me."
"Yes, I do. Some days more than others, but I do love you."
"I love you too." He snuggled up against her. "Are you feeling any better?"
She shrugged, "A little I guess." She yawned. "I'm just tired."
"Should we watch a movie and go to bed?" Helga nodded, "Evil Twin 2? They just added it on NetFlix." Again Helga nodded. Without another word Arnold turned on Evil Twin 2. Helga fell asleep before the evil twin made his first kill. Arnold tuned the volume down before kissing Helga on top of the head, "Happy New Year, Helga."
I decided this is going to be a series of holiday one shots, so what that means is on certain holidays I will be updating this. (Woohoo! I'm a day early on this one!) There will be time jumps, and vary in length, but each one shot/part is connected. Next up will probably be Valentine's Day.
Have a Happy New Year, be safe, and review!