Gael looked over at the adult trio sitting at his kitchen table. Ace the feisty blonde legacy with his husband of three months on one arm while his other gently rocked their six month old son to his nap. The boy still had bits of pink and blue frosting on his face. With them sat his fiance, rubbing her stomach that was just starting to get round with child.

He finished the dishes, before going over to rub her shoulders gently. Ebony put her hand on his and kissed him sweetly. Then she whispered in his ear, "I'm so excited."

Gael smiled, kissing her nose lightly, "Me too."

Eb stood and headed to the fridge, but not before glancing at the counter to make sure it was snake free. Ever since that incident she'd been paranoid about finding more snakes. When she got to the fridge to get an apple she looked at Gael. He smiled at her sweetly.

She took her seat again and took a bite of her apple, "So...Anyone want to suggest names?"

"We don't know if its a boy or a girl yet..." Gael pointed out.

"So? It doesn't hurt to think about names." She looked Ace, knowing her sassy, gay BFF would have some crazy names.

The blonde thought for a minute, before asking, "What about Drusilla or Buffy for a girl?"

"Okay. I'm not naming my daughter after a vampire hunter." She couldn't hide the laughter in her voice.

"Drusilla was a vampire." Ace argued, "Although, you wouldn't want your daughter to be modeled after her either. She was kind of crazy."

Leo laughed at his husband, "Okay...How about Erin for a girl and James for a boy?"

Ebony thought for a moment, "I like James as a middle name." She looked at Gael, "What about you?"

"James is nice." He looked down, not wanting to meet their eyes, "For a girl...I was thinking Malory."

His fiance looked at him for a moment, "Malory? That's like a stripper name."

Gael rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Yeah, well...it was just a thought..."

Ebony looked at Gael for a moment and realized he looked kind of hurt, "...Gael?"

"Naw, it's...cliche anyway." He wouldn't meet their gazes.

Ebony walked over to Gael's seat and sat in his lap. She lifted his head so she could look in his eyes, "What's wrong, baby?" She kissed him gently.

"...Malory was my mom's name." He answered, emotionless.

"Gael...I-I'm sorry."

Gael looked down again. He willingly put up with a lot of crap during this pregnancy, but his mom was a sore subject that they'd never talked about before. She didn't know why the name was important to him, but that she'd joke about something like that during the serious conversation about their child's name was something he hadn't expected. The jab hit hard right in his chest.

Ebony wasn't sure how to respond to Gael's shut down. She didn't know how much it would hurt him, "...Gael."

Ace looked between them before standing, and pulling Leo with him out of the room, whispering, "Lets go put Duke down."

The son of Morpheus kept his eyes on the floor, trying to keep control of himself. He didn't want to make a fight out of such a thing, but still anger raged through his chest.

Ebony stood, "Look, Gael, we never talked about your mother or mine. How was I supposed to know that that was her name? I'm sorry though, I shouldn't have said that."

"Did it really matter whose name it was?" He muttered, "It was clearly important to me."

"I don't know how many times I can apologize for this." She stood to throw away the core of her apple. She was starting to doubt them, maybe they won't work out afterall.

"I just want to name her after the woman who gave up her life so I could have mine." His voice was still emotionless, and he didn't move, "And you made fun of it. A sorry isn't going to help much."

"I didn't know. You have never told me a single thing about your mother." Her voice was anything but angry. It was soft, quiet, and apologetic.

Gael stood slowly, "Know what...forget it. Do whatever you want." He headed for the door, grabbing his denim jacket on his way out into the cold. He wasn't really thinking about what he was doing as he left the valley, and made his way to the San Francisco airport, getting on a plane to Long Island just before it took off.