Chapter 3

Ming was one of Rosto's best rogues. The twenty year old from the Yamani Islands was the best fighter, thief, and right hand man that Rosto had ever seen, apart from himself of course. The expert at naginata, shukusen (even though he wasn't a woman), and sword...Was babysitting?

"Rosto! Why am I doing this? I thought Beka said you had to take the baby with you, not leave her with me!"

Ming was speaking quietly so he didn't wake the sleeping baby in his arms. Rosto chuckled at his friend.

"Taking care of her for a few hours will hardly hurt you. Besides, girls love it when they see a cove holding a baby. You'll get even more than normal."

Ming had to remind himself he was holding a baby in order to keep from punching Rosto.

"Seriously though Your Majesty, Beka will kill you if she finds out you didn't take care of the baby yourself. By the way, have you two decided on a name for her?"

Rosto sighed. "We're working on it."

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"No, no, absolutely not! We are not naming her Ariadne!"

Beka was exasperated beyond all belief. They had been trying to come up with a name for the baby for an hour and a half. The only problem was that they couldn't agree on anything.

"What if we name her Wilma?"

Beka was hoping Rosto would finally take her suggestions.

"Never." Stated Rosto simply. "I would never name my child that. Now it's a fine name, just not for her. How about Melanie?"

Now Beka was starting to get tired of repeating names, so she said

"That is the third time you've suggested that name. Maybe we need to make a list."

Rosto smiled as she made, as far as he was concerned, the best decision of the day.

"That sounds like a great idea. We can keep track of all the names we say no to."

"That's what I was thinking. We can make sure we don't keep repeating names."

She looked pointedly at him. He knew she was catching on to his ploy. He would say a name, make a big fuss when she said no, and then say it at least three more times.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Rosto grinned, again. Beka walked over to the bed, sat down next to him, and kissed him. She loved being able to do that whenever she wanted to.

"This is not as easy as we thought it would be."

She knew that was the understatement of the year, but she had to say it anyway.

"Can this really work? All of this, us, the baby? Do you really think this was a good idea?" She loved him so much. She didn't know what she would do if he said she was right, that this was all wrong. She needed him, and she hoped he needed her.

"Come here Beka."

Rosto put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head on his.

"I think this is a wonderful idea, and we'll make this work. I love you Beka Cooper."

"I love you too Rosto Piper."

She smiled as she said his name. He never used his real surname; he just went by 'Rosto Piper'. She was so glad she had him. Beka lifted her head and Rosto kissed her. She smiled through the kiss and relaxed into Rosto's arm. The baby started whimpering and brought them back to the real world.

"Let's get back to naming the baby." said Beka.

"Amanda. Amanda Elizabeth." Rosto stated.

Beka opened her mouth to give some reason they couldn't possibly name the baby that, and then she stopped. There really was no reason to reject the name. It was pretty, but not too flashy. It was delicate, yet strong.

"I like that. It's perfect."

Rosto started to defend the name. "It's a perfectly fine name. I don't see why you have to….Wait what? Did you say okay?" Rosto looked slightly bewildered. He was such a man.

"Yes Rosto, I said okay. I like that name."

Beka laughed to herself at the look of such utter confusion of Rosto's face. He looked so adorable when he was like that. Rosto picked up the baby and reached out to touch one of her tiny hands.

"Okay little girl, I guess you have a new name. How do you like Amanda Elizabeth? Is that a good name? A beautiful name for my beautiful girl."

Beka had never seen Rosto this gentle before. They had only had Amanda a few days, and Beka hadn't seen them together before. She did have to fix one thing though.

"You can't do that."

Rosto looked at her.

"Do what? Talk to her?"

Rosto was confused again.

'Honestly' she thought, exasperated, 'did it really take that much brain power to follow her?'

"You can't just call her beautiful." Beka stated.

"Why not? She is."

Rosto couldn't figure out why Beka would say such a thing.

"If you are going to call her beautiful, which she is, you can't just say that. You have to add brilliant. If she grows up being told only that she is beautiful she will depend on her looks as she gets older. But if you tell her she is beautiful and brilliant she will be both."

Beka said this as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Surprisingly though, it made sense to Rosto.

"Where did you come up with that?"

Rosto wanted to know.

"It's something my mother used to say to us. One day I asked her why she always said beautiful and brilliant to her daughters. She told me the same thing I told you."

Beka went to take the baby from Rosto. He looked sad as she took Amanda away from him.

"Do you want to feed her?" she asked gently.

"Can I? That would be, you know, okay?" Rosto looked like a puppy dog with his hopeful expression and eager brown eyes.

"I can't think of any reason it wouldn't be. Here's her milk."

She handed him the milk and a cloth to wipe Amanda's mouth. He held the baby tenderly, almost like she would break if he held her too tightly.

"Is this right?" Rosto asked hesitantly

"I told you that you were doing fine. I wouldn't lie." Beka reassured him.

As he fed Amanda she made little slurping and gurgling sounds. Rosto smiled down at her like he was in his own little world, which in fact he was. He stroked her face as she drank the milk. Across one eyebrow, the other eyebrow, then down her nose, and repeat. Beka watched him with a smile on her face. She could tell that Rosto loved Amanda with all his heart. She was worried that he would change how he felt though, when she told him. Well, that could wait until later. He didn't need to know right away, did he?

Beka sighed. Becoming pregnant was not part of their plan after adopting Amanda. She hadn't thought that forgetting to wear the pendant for one night would make that big of a difference. Apparently it did. What were they going to do? She and Rosto had wanted children for a while, but they both agreed that she couldn't be off work for the five of six months she wouldn't be able to work. Now she was pregnant.

She didn't think Rosto would be angry, but she did worry that he wouldn't pay as much attention to Amanda if he had his own child. She was pretty sure he would love them both equally, but the hormones were making her slightly irrational. She looked at Rosto and took a deep breath.

"Rosto, I'm pregnant." Beka said softly.

"What was that love? You'll need to speak up."

"I said, I am pregnant." Beka couldn't look Rosto in the eye.

Rosto looked quickly up at her.

"This is a poor time for a joke Beka. You had better not be messing with me."

Beka looked hurt that he would suspect that of her, so she started to cry.

"I thought you would be happy for us. I didn't think you would suspect me of teasing you when I tell you I'm pregnant. Apparently I overestimated you."

She was sobbing and angry. Rosto didn't know what to do.

"Come here."

Rosto pulled her on his lap after he put Amanda in her cradle.

"Shh, shh, everything is going to be alright. Do you hear me? Everything is fine."

He rocked her back and forth and rubbed her back. She needed him right now. She didn't need his good looks, she didn't need his wit, and she didn't need his smart aleck remarks. According to her, he had make a mistake and messed up. So his job was to make it better not worse. He had forgotten how emotional pregnant women got. Were Kora or Aniki ever this bad when they were pregnant? He couldn't remember. Aniki had been pregnant when he had met her. She was leaving because the King of Thieves in Scanra was the father of her baby, and she hadn't exactly been willing to have that happen. After she'd had the baby she gave it to a family along the road they were taking.

Kora had been betrayed by her lover after he had found out she was pregnant, so Rosto had helped her after that. Her baby had died soon after childbirth. Ah, now he remembered. A pregnant woman was emotional, self-conscious, craved really weird foods, and then got nauseous. Even the most level headed woman could become an emotional tornado when she was pregnant.

He had never dealt with a woman through her whole term before though. Both Kora and Aniki had been pretty far along when he met up with them. Well, how bad could it really be?