The Naming of the Two

The title comes from the Shakespeare production "The Taming of the Shrew", not that I have seen it. I like this chapter, even though I'm primarily writing it in the middle of my uni lectures…

This is only a short one, but it's sweet.

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM

March 2029

"Okay, whose bonehead idea was it to give me such a long name?" sixteen year old PJ Hotchner screamed from the kitchen table. Her and Kitty were sitting there filling in multiple applications for their drivers' licences, passports, registration and insurance, just to name a few, and so far PJ had had to completely write out her name close to a dozen times.

"What?" Emily asked, walking into the kitchen.

"My name?" PJ screamed. "It takes so long every time, and I'm kinda OVER IT!"

Aaron sighed as he walked into the kitchen for a coffee refill and sat down between the twins. "Blame your aunts for that one," he said. "Your uncles were given a chance to name your sister."

"What was that chance?" PJ huffed.

"I offered them a choice of Katherine Grace, Catherine Grace, or Kathryn Grace," Jack Hotchner said as he walked in. His girlfriend, Sam, walked in behind him.

Emily shook her head as she leaned against the kitchen bench.

"Funny," PJ huffed again, and Emily had to try not to laugh into her coffee cup. She failed.

"It was her idea," Jack said, pointing to his step mother but still looking at his sisters. "She was the one who gave Aunt Pen and Aunt Jen free reign with your name."

"So I can blame you?" PJ sneered at her mother.

"Sure, you can blame me," Emily shrugged. "There's the door, don't let it hit you on the way out if that's how you feel."

Once again huffing, PJ returned to the form she was filling out.

The kitchen was silent for a few moments, everyone either sipping their coffee or scribbling their details on a sheet of paper, until the silence was once again broken.

"How the hell did Aunt Pen and Aunt Jen come up with my name anyway?" PJ threw into the room.

Aaron sighed. "PJ, just shut up and sign your name."

Emily grinned as her youngest daughter poked her tongue out at her father. Hearing a vague "I saw that," from her husband, she pulled up an empty chair from the table and set her cup down. "Do you really want to know?" she asked the twins.

Both stopped what they were doing and looked up expectantly. Emily turned slightly to see everyone else was listening too, even though both Jack and Aaron knew most of the story.

"Well, it all started the night before Jen and Dave's wedding…"

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM

March 2013

"Her name will be PJ," Emily said, showing the ultrasound photo to her best friends. "What it stands for is up to you, just make sure it's not too outrageous please." Emily was six months pregnant, and the twins had just made their genders known to their parents on the latest ultrasound.

Garcia smiled. "Em, you're naming her after us?"

Emily nodded. "It cannot be Penelope Jennifer, though. The twins are fraternal girls, and the boys get to name the other twin Katherine Grace, they just don't know it yet. We're letting Jack drop the bomb."

Jen laughed. "Darling, you're evil. I guess this means Amelia will be with you for another eighteen years then?"

"Don't be silly, fifteen year olds can look after themselves," Penelope argued. "Amelia only has fifteen years left. Besides, by then, our lovely Hotchner's should be close to retirement."

"Hey, are you calling my soon-to-be-husband old?" Jen bit back. "Dave's that old now, and he's still working!"

"Jen, darling, you only have Henry," Emily interrupted. "Aaron and I will have Jack, Audrey, PJ and Kitty, and by that time, Jack will probably have a family of his own!"

"And what makes you think Henry won't?"

"The twins will be fifteen, Audrey seventeen and Henry will be twenty-one. Hopefully he'll still be in college partying too hard every weekend to be worrying about a family."

"And keeping out of Audrey's pants," Penelope giggled.

"What?" JJ and Emily shrieked.

Penelope shrugged. "You guys haven't noticed it? Henry loves Audrey. She's all he talks about around me; how he's going to marry her one day and they'll be a mommy and daddy and have their own family."

Emily sighed heavily. "Pen, Audrey's just turned two, and Henry's six. How can you possibly know or believe anything they're talking about?"

Penelope shrugged again. "Em, they're my god-kids, I listen to everything they say, and I don't question it. You two just have to deal with it."

JJ sighed. Some bachelorette party she was having. She was supposed to be spending her last night as a single woman having fun, not discussing her six year old's nonexistent love life or Emily's unborn twins.

"What about Persephone?" Penelope burst out.

Emily shook her head. "Aw, hell no. We are not naming her after any Greek gods or goddesses. Not only will Aaron brutally murder you, she will spend the rest of her life hating all of us!"

Jennifer laughed. "You know what I just realised?"

"What?"

"You can't call me JJ anymore. Tomorrow I will be Jennifer Augustine Rossi, and I will be changing my name."

Emily and Penelope sat in silence for a minute, apparently deep in thought, before Emily jumped in her seat suddenly.

"What?" the other two asked.

Emily smiled. "One of them just kicked," she said excitedly, placing a hand to the side of her six-month gone bump. "Put your hand here," she directed their hands to where hers was, and they waited for it to happen again.

"Come on Kitty," Emily encouraged quietly, but nothing happened. "PJ?" she tried, and they all shrieked as the baby kicked.

"I think PJ likes her name," Penelope said as the baby kicked again.

"I think so too," Emily replied quietly, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "I love you guys."

CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM

April 2013

"I figured it out!" Penelope exclaimed, running into Emily's office one afternoon, a few days after Jennifer and Dave's return from their honeymoon.

"What have you got, Penelope?" Emily asked, sighing heavily. She was happy for the distraction; not only were the twins happily playing a game of soccer, she had to take care of the section's acquisition paperwork that day as well.

"PJ! I figured it out!"

Emily looked at her best friend, her eyebrows doing the talking, and Penelope smiled. "Okay, so maybe me and Gumdrop figured it out together, but I thought I'd tell you now, so you actually know what to put on her birth certificate, not that they'll be making their appearance anytime soon, right girls. Anyway, we were…"

"Penelope!"

The TA looked at Emily and smiled sheepishly.

"Are you gonna tell me, or do you want me to kick you out again?"

"Priscilla-Jacqueline Annabeth Hotchner, ma'am."

Emily sat back in her comfortable chair and placed her hands on her very swollen abdomen. "Hmmm, Priscilla-Jacqueline Annabeth Hotchner, what do you think?" she smiled as the baby kicked, and looked up at her best friend. "Why the middle name?"

Penelope shrugged. "Derek and I were watching Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief the other day, and the heroine's name was Annabeth, which I thought was pretty, and even though you didn't ask for a middle name, I thought it also went well with Priscilla-Jacqueline, whom by the way were my great aunt and Gumdrop's great-grandmother respectively, so we put it all together and viola!"

Emily smiled and shook her head. "Penelope, exactly how much caffeine have you had today?"

The woman stood dumbstruck in the middle of the spacious office, silent for the first time since barging in, and Emily sighed.

"That's what I thought. Now, go do some work before I have your boss chase you back into your lair."

Without replying, Penelope turned on her heel and ran out of the door, her proverbial tail between her legs.

Emily sat back in her chair and giggled. Yeah, she still had the touch.