Chapter 11: Red

It wasn't a busy day for Gene and Charlie so they decided to do things around the house during their downtime. Gene decided to go through all of the baby stuff that he kept from when Rachel was a baby. The doctor grabbed all of the baby stuff out of the spare bedroom so that he and Charlie could go through it. This was one of those times where he was grateful that his wife insisted on keeping all of the baby clothes and necessities.

"Is this all from when Mom was a baby?" Charlie asked her grandfather as she pulled an outfit out of the box that was in front of her. She noticed that there were more blue dresses than any other color. She also noticed that there were a lot of red boy outfits as well.

"Most of it is your mother's." The doctor replied. He noticed that she was looking at the boy outfits and decided to tell her. "The rest were for our little boy." He added. This confused Charlie, her mother never mentioned anything about a brother.

"Mom never mentioned that I had an uncle." She replied. The older man shook his head.

"That's because she wasn't around at the time." Gene explained. It had been many years since he spoke of the son he lost. Rachel knew she had an older brother, and that he died shortly after, if not before, he was born.

Charlie now understood why her grandfather was so protective of her and her mother. Like Rachel, he too had lost a child and didn't want to lose another one. The doctor was also grateful for Miles since he was the one who brought them back together. He was glad to have Rachel back in his life and that they were on good terms again.

"Grandpa, why are most of Mom's dresses blue? I thought blue was more for boys." Charlie asked confused as to why the dresses were blue and the boy outfits were a lighter red. The doctor picked up one of Rachel's dresses and reminisced on when she was a baby.

"One reason is blue was your mother's color. It still is her color." Gene began. Charlie was waiting for him to finish. "The other reason was more your grandmother's doing." The doctor laughed remembering that his wife was more of the history buff.

"Why is that?" Charlie asked still hoping to get an explanation for the red outfits.

"Long ago in the 19th and early 20th century the colors used to be reversed. Babies were dressed in lighter versions of what the adults wore. Red symbolized masculinity and blue was more feminine." The doctor began reciting what he remembered his wife explaining to him years ago.

"So boys were dressed in pink and girls were dressed in blue?" She repeated to make sure she heard that correctly. The older man nodded. "So why red for the boy outfits and not pink?" She asked.

"Your grandmother wanted to dress the boys in pink and the girls in blue. I agreed to the blue, but no son of mine would wear pink!" The doctor exclaimed as he paused to cool down for a bit.

"So, let me guess the lighter red was a compromise?" Gene laughed and nodded. They pulled more outfits out of the box and separated them.

"That's exactly what that was." The doctor chuckled as he grabbed another outfit and placed it into one of the piles. "I told your grandmother this was no longer the 19th century and that we would have to make some compromises." The doctor finished.

"Now all of that doesn't really matter." She replied thinking about how times have changed. Charlie was sure her mother wouldn't really care what color the baby outfits were. All that would matter is that the baby would have clothes since those were hard to come by now. Thankfully they had a selection for both since they wouldn't find out what the baby would be until the big day.

"I didn't think I would ever be pulling these out of the back room." The doctor admitted thinking that he wasn't going to have anymore grandchildren after Danny.

"I'm glad we did this today." Charlie went on about how she liked looking at stuff from when her mother was younger. Charlie still looked up to her mother, but Rachel thought otherwise. Everyone but Rachel seems to notice this. "We also have the stuff organized for when we will need it." She added as she grabbed another box of outfits.

"I think we are good on baby clothes." Gene chuckled as he put another outfit into a pile. He grabbed another dress, but he put that one off to the side. "This one is special." He told Charlie that this was the dress that Rachel wore when he and her grandmother took her home from the hospital.

"So Grandpa, which team are you on? Team red or team blue?" Charlie asked wondering what her grandfather's answer would be. He shrugged because all he wanted was a healthy grandchild. "Me and Miles think it's a girl, so I'm for team blue." She added and also stated that she would love her sibling regardless. Charlie looked up at the doctor waiting for him to answer the question.

"Your Mom and I think this one is a boy, so I'm for team red." Gene admitted hoping that some of the boy outfits would be put to use. He was happy regardless because he would get to watch this grandchild grow up and be part of his or her life. He felt like he missed out on that with Charlie and Danny since they didn't live close. "I'll be happy regardless. It will be nice to have a little one running around again." He added as he grabbed another box and opened it.

"What is in this box?" She asked gesturing to the box that he just opened. The doctor grabbed a teddy bear out of the box and held it up for her to see.

"More things from when your mother was a child." He said remembering exactly when he had given Rachel that bear. Charlie started looking through the contents in the box as well and put some things aside.

"Do you mind if I bring some of these to Mom?" She asked thinking that Rachel would appreciate it. The doctor shook his head and told her to go for it.

"I think she would love that." He replied as he pulled a doll out of the box and added it to the pile that Charlie had started.