Boys and Girls

It was the middle of the night. Blanche and Buck were asleep and probably had been for a while. Bonnie couldn't sleep: the baby kept her awake most of the night. She was so tired but she couldn't get any sleep. "Clyde, don't you think it's about time we start discussing baby names?" Bonnie asked.

Clyde was still pretty groggy. "Can't we discuss this is the morning, baby?"

Bonnie shook her head. "How much longer do you think we can put this off?" True, Bonnie's due date was in March and it wasn't that far away now that it was December. Just three months, and Bonnie realized they didn't have much planned at all. Clyde rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Bonnie sighed. "You're right, you probably need your rest. I'll just be thinking until your son or daughter calms down enough to let me sleep too." She knew how to get Clyde to have this conversation. All she had to do was passively point fingers at him.

"Alright, now's as good a time as ever." He rolled back towards her and pushed up the pillows so he was sitting up. Bonnie cuddled up beside him. "Don't really know any good names for a girl. But I got some ideas for our son." Bonnie raised her eyebrows and he smirked. "Billy maybe, or Al; nice strong names; names no kid'll be dumb enough to mess with."

Bonnie chuckled. "Al Capone and Billy the Kid? Are those good role—" She remembered what the two did for a living and she backed down. "—I like Billy. Short for William so that he would have a real legal name, correct? William 'Billy' Parker."

"Barrow… Billy Barrow." Clyde interrupted. "If I had my way, sugar, you'd both have my last name. At least our kid can be a Barrow."

Clyde and Billy and Bonnie Barrow, thought the redhead fondly. The three of them would have interesting adventures she was sure, but she was certain they would have adventures whether their child was named Billy or not. But Billy Barrow had a nice ring to it, and it was a tough name. Barrow was a tough name; as was Parker now.

Clyde continued. "Well, Bonnie, do you have any ideas? If not, we should try to get some rest."

Bonnie knew she wasn't going to sleep. She had only thought of one name for the baby, and in hindsight she should've thought of more. "Clara." After Clara Bow, of course, Bonnie's idol growing up. It was almost funny that the two of them picked out very different names for the same reason. "But I'm sure in the morning if you ask your brother and I ask Blanche they'll have some great ideas on names too." They both knew that Blanche would pick out some super Christian names that made the child sound like it was born to be a nun or a preacher. Buck wouldn't really have any names in his mind, but he would agree with anything the other three said and wouldn't be much help. Bonnie yawned. "Well, I guess that's three names more than we had this morning. I won't keep you up any longer, baby." She lied back down on her side and he slid back down under the covers as well. With his arms wrapped around her and his hands on her belly, the two drifted off into their separate dreamlands and fast asleep.

…the next morning, Clyde and Buck go to their parents' house…

Buck and Clyde headed out early in hopes that no one would see them sneaking over. Of course it didn't matter that Buck was heading over there, but his brother didn't want to spend Christmas in prison (or worse). They had a plan—Buck did all the work behind it, really, but it was Clyde's idea—and it had to be set up at the Barrow's place. If it was at Blanche's it would have been too obvious to everyone at the house.

Mr. Barrow opened the front door. "Merry Christmas, boys." He said while they walked in. He locked the door behind his sons. "What can I get for you?"

"Bonnie's present… Buck gave it to ma so that Blanche wouldn't tell 'er." Honestly, Clyde was amazed by his brother's creativity and ability to lie to his wife. Buck seemed to tell Blanche everything, but not this, and Clyde wasn't completely sure why he didn't want Blanche to know. Mr. Barrow nodded and went into the kitchen to find the gift.

He came back in with a box and opened it to show it to his two sons. "This is what you wanted, ain't it?" He asked. The Barrow brothers looked at the gift in amazement. It was exactly what Clyde had wanted to get, and Buck made his own refinements to Clyde's request. "And your ma made somethin', too." Mr. Barrow showed another piece of the gift: two gray knit blankets, one big and one little. Clyde was at a complete loss of words. It was a sweet, meaningful gift that would also be functional. What could he say to his folks to express his gratitude for everything that they had done: more than the gift, but also continuing to be there for him when he left West Dallas, became an outlaw, and they were really helping him and Bonnie more than they knew. How could he say all that?

"It's great, pa." Buck said to his father when Clyde said nothing. Every now and then when they were young he would end up speaking when Clyde ran out of things to say: that was his job as his older brother. Clyde was more charismatic, yes, and much better at talking to strangers. But when Clyde was talking to their folks he struggled to find the right things to say. Lucky for Buck, he didn't have that trouble. "Well, can we do anything for you, pa? Clyde mentioned the windows need repair…"

Mr. Barrow smiled at his younger son but didn't address him with his next sentence. Clyde knew that it was partially aimed at him, but Buck took it instead. "Um, yeah. I got some boards out back to patch 'em up." The boys went out behind the house and were ready to get some real work done.

…Bonnie and Blanche go to Blanche's salon…

"I can fix you up nicely, style your hair right, and I know a really good diner up the street." Blanche told her as they walked across the dirt road to the salon. Bonnie messed with the sleeves of the dress Blanche gave her. It was an ugly thing and the fabric wasn't comfortable by any means. Bonnie had grown to accustom to the luxuries that Clyde got for her. "With the right look you'll be almost unrecognizable and you'll be able to be out and about in this community if you want, and you and Buck and I'll go to church tomorrow. And that dress'll keep you from lookin' like a millionaire and bein' a target in this town…"

Blanche never stopped talking. Bonnie knew that was going to cause a problem between the two women because the brunette never knew when to shut her mouth. Blanche's optimism was appreciated, but it did no good to Bonnie. "Someone's gonna recognize me, Blanche. The preacher man, the sheriff, Ted, my mama…"

Blanche whipped around in the doorway of the salon. "You underestimate how much you already don't look like the Bonnie Parker this town remembers. Didn't you say you visited your mama at night, in the dark? How could she have seen that you were pregnant in that lighting, especially if you were wearing that big coat you wore to our place? No, she didn't notice; and no one at that church will either. And once I'm done with you you'll be absolutely unrecognizable, I promise that—" Blanche walked into the salon and Bonnie followed. The redhead sat down and Blanche was getting ready to get to work. "Lock the door, will you honey?" Bonnie did as she was instructed and locked the door, making sure that the sign still said that the salon was closed. The last thing Bonnie wanted was for any of those salon women that Blanche usually associated with to come in and start asking questions.

"What is it exactly you're doing with my hair?" Bonnie loved her statement red hair. People called her the 'ravishing redhead', and she loved that. It was a staple of hers. She didn't want Blanche to cut it—if it was too short she wouldn't be able to do anything with it (not that she really did anything with it now, but if she wanted to she wanted to have the freedom to do so). Bonnie didn't want to get her hair fixed, but there was no other way to get Blanche to take the money.

"Don't worry, it won't be anything too much. I'm gonna darken it, I think, go for a nice brown. Or do you prefer blonde? With that face shape I suppose you really could go either way… I don't wanna cut it though, so you'll still have the style just in a new color. I think it'll look nice brown…" Bonnie didn't want to argue or cut off the woman. It irritated her that Blanche wouldn't listen, but who else did Bonnie really have to talk to in this town? There were the Barrows but she didn't want to be a burden on either of them, Buck would probably be either with Blanche or Clyde, and she always had Clyde with her. Blanche mixed up the dye and started to slather it onto her head. "By the time I'm done you'll be a whole new lady. You'll look like a star!"

Bonnie was amazed that she actually had to be the practical one in the room. "And why'll I be comin' to church with you on Christmas? Clyde's not goin'. He can't. Why would I go to church with you when you don't care 'bout me, I know you don't care 'bout me." There. Everything that Bonnie had been thinking while Blanche had been blabbering was out in the open.

"You think I don't care 'bout you?" Blanche continued to brush the dye through Bonnie's hair. The red was slowly turning browner before Blanche's eyes. "I know Clyde's not comin' to church with us, but Buck is and mom and dad are." Blanche always referred to Buck's parents as mom and dad. Her parents were ma and pa, and Buck was daddy. The series of Blanche's nicknames for people made Bonnie's head spin. "You're my cousin Nellie, visitin' from Arkansas. Your husband had a farm out there, before he died. So you're stayin' with me until the end of the holidays and then you'll go visit family up north."

Bonnie was almost amazed by Blanche's story. "And how long've you been sittin' on that story?"

Blanche put down the bowl and the brush and let the dye sit on Bonnie's hair. "See, I want you to be safe when you're here. Bonnie, we're family now, and family looks after each other. I think of you…" For once, Blanche didn't have any words. "You are family, Bonnie." She put her hand on Bonnie's arm.

"Of course we're family, technically we're sisters-in-law." Bonnie commented, sharp as a tack. She took her arm away from Blanche's grip and folded her hands on her belly.

Sisters, thought Blanche, that was essentially what she and Bonnie were. She was warming up to the redhead slowly but surely. "I never had a sister before." She mused, but then turned away from the sentimentality. "Maybe that's why I'm tryin' to protect you. You're like my little sister; I wanna see good things happen to you an' I wanna see you an' Clyde an' that baby at my house for many more Christmases to come."

"Speakin' of the baby, me an' Clyde were discussin' names last night." Bonnie mentioned. She was hoping to change the subject before Blanche mentioned something she didn't want to talk about: staying in West Dallas, seeing her mother, actually becoming a real member of the family, baptism, dinner parties, prison sentences… Baby names were safe enough to discuss. "We only came up with three: William, Al, and Clara. What do you think? I mean… if you picked the name, what would it be?"

Blanche thought for a moment. How long had she been coming up with baby names for her own unborn children that unfortunately were just figments of her imagination? She had a stockpile of names, but would she let Bonnie raid it? "Well, it's more than just a name, Bonnie, you gotta think of how it sounds as a whole. William Parker sounds nice, so does Clara Parker, but Al Parker just doesn't sound as nice."

"The baby's gonna be a Barrow." Bonnie said quickly.

Blanche stuck her finger in the hair dye to see if it was done. A few more minutes, she told herself. "Well then any of those three names work, I suppose." But Bonnie didn't ask what she thought of the names already there, she wanted additions to the list. "I'd name a boy Daniel or Joseph or Christian…" She saw Bonnie make a sour face at Christian. "…but of a girl I'd have to go with Gwen or Marian." They weren't exactly names Bonnie would've chosen, but the names for the girls weren't terrible. Before Bonnie could reply, Blanche was ready to finish up her hair. "Now we just have to rinse out this color an' we can go to the diner for lunch. Sound nice?"

Bonnie nodded. It did sound nice: she got her hair done, gained a few baby names, and Blanche was offering to take her to the diner she used to work at to actually buy lunch instead of serve it. Maybe, thought Bonnie while Blanche soaked her hair in the sink, it wasn't so bad to have a sister.

Author's note: voila! This chapter is complete (and rather long)! Thank you to KnightNight7203 for recommending a baby name. I figured Blanche would come up with stuck-up "I-have-everything-monogrammed" kind of names if this child were modern, and what did you think of Bonnie's alter ego made from "Blanche's Imagination"? Well, no, not really, she's really a character I borrowed from South Pacific…and another note, in all the Bonnie and Clyde publicity photos she's got brown hair, not red. Therefore for her disguise she's a brunette. Simple stuff: little useless easter eggs I scatter…
Oh well. What did Clyde and Buck get for Bonnie for Christmas? Will Bonnie be able to go to church or will they see through "Nellie"? I guess we'll find out in the next chapter! Please oh please review this story, I love hearing everyone's feedback!