Think Pink
Now that everyone knew Olivia was having a girl, her parents and Abby had lost their minds. Her room was filled with boxes and bags of pink dresses, pink onesies, pink pants, and itty bitty pink socks. And it wasn't just clothing. There were fuzzy towels, tiny hair bows, and even blankets, and teddy bears.
There was pink everywhere!
After looking over everything that had been purchased for her daughter, Olivia wondered if she would need a few new outfits of her own to keep up with her little one's adorable stuff.
And it wasn't just her parents who had done the buying. Fitz had bought a stroller. One of those nice ones with all the bells and whistles that converted into a sofa for the baby, or something equally ridiculous. He had done his research on the product and told Liv that they would need it to take her on walks along the beach.
Olivia couldn't argue with that reasoning. Besides, he had already bought it. Instead, she told everyone that enough was enough and for them to stop buying so much stuff for the baby.
Her father had given her a look, patted her on the head, and informed her that she was not in charge of him. Olivia smiled to herself now as she thought back to that conversation with her father that had taken place just two days ago. He was already the cutest grandfather in the world, and he hadn't even met his granddaughter yet.
Max wasn't any better. He had brought over a small mountain of pink baby items. He asked Olivia to sit on the sofa while he pulled each item from the large store bag and showed them to her with the biggest grin on his face. His excitement was contagious, and Olivia found herself grinning too as she watched him describe when the baby could wear each item as he pulled an endless supply of clothing from within the bag.
"What are you lost in thought about over there?" Fitz asked from beside her at the table.
She shook her head back and forth, with the grin still in place. "Just thinking about our fathers."
"If there are any pink baby clothes left in stores within a thirty mile radius, I'll be surprised." Fitz said with a laugh.
"They kinda went overboard, didn't they?"
"Yea, but I think that's the prerogative of being a first time grandfather." Fitz guessed.
"My mother isn't any better. I don't think she tells my father when she buys stuff for the baby."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because she comes over here with him, and while my father is showing me what he's bought for her mom sneaks out to the car and puts a bag of stuff in my room without a word. Later though, she calls me and asks my opinion on what she's bought."
"That's so cute."
"This baby already has more clothes than I do." Olivia lamented.
"You know why everyone keeps buying her stuff don't you?" Fitz asked.
"Boredom?" she guessed.
He laughed again. "No, so she can keep up with her beautiful mommy."
"That's kinda sweet." Olivia said, and scooted closer to him.
"It is isn't it?" He asked with a grin as he pulled her chair even closer. "Something sweet like that deserves a prize of some kind."
Olivia was grinning back at him. "You think so?"
"MmmHmm."
"What did you have in mind?" Olivia asked quietly.
Their faces were inches apart, and Fitz was about to rectify the space issue right now. "How about a..." He never got the chance to say the last word because Olivia lunged at him.
Their mouths connected in a way that felt magical, just like it always did. When their lips parted, Fitz said, "thank you, but I was gonna suggest an ice cream cone."
"You are not a very good liar." Olivia told him with a grin.
"Are we gonna work on the names for a while today? I'd like to be able to call her by her name soon instead of the bean you're so fond of."
"I guess I've put it off long enough." Olivia told him with a strangled sound. Changing the subject, she said, "Remember when I told everyone that we would have a paint party here after the ultrasound?"
"Yea."
"Trying to figure out when seven people all have the same day free is proving to be difficult. We might have to paint it ourselves."
"Be patient. It'll happen soon, I'm sure." Fitz assured her. "Now, back to this list."
"I don't know why we are bothering to come up with a name for her, we're never gonna see her."
"Of course we will. When the diapers are stinky, we'll see plenty of her." Fitz chuckled.
Olivia giggled at the truth of that statement. "At least she'll be loved by lots of people."
"She definitely will." Fitz agreed, nuzzling in her neck.
"Alright, where were we?" she asked, looking down at her phone.
"Uhhh..." He looked over his short list of names. "We were on the letter D. But we should read over the list of names we already came up with using the first three letters of the alphabet."
"At this rate, we are going to be here all day long. You know, if you wouldn't call out ridiculous names, this would go so much quicker." Olivia told him.
"Ava, Avery," Fitz read, ignoring her. He continued calling them out one by one. "Bella and Brinley. Our longest name so far...Charlotte, and we finish the big ole list with Cassidy."
"You're a funny guy, Fitz." Olivia told him with an eye roll. "Let's get this done today so you aren't cranky about it anymore."
He sighed and looked down at his phone as he began to scroll. "How about Daisey?"
"That's cute, I guess."
"Darci..."
Olivia made a noncommittal sound as she scrolled through baby girl's names on her own phone.
"Destinee...Denise...Delores..."
Olivia looked over at him from under her lashes. "Did you really just suggest Delores, Fitz?"
He chuckled. "Yea. Why not?"
"It sounds like...Well..."
"It's an old ladies name" Abby said as she walked through the kitchen. "Don't let him name your kid, Liv."
"I'm guessing Drusilla is out too then?" Fitz asked with a playful grin.
Abby was headed to her bedroom but stopped in her tracks, turned around, and took a seat at the table. She got out her own phone and after a minute or two said, "Okay, we can skip E through I because those are mostly old lady names too."
"So, Edwina and Ethyl are out?" Fitz asked laughing and got up to get something to drink.
"No wonder it's taking the two of you so long. Half of the time is spent wishing Fitz was a kid so you could send him to time out."
Olivia gave Abby a high five as the two of them giggled over that truth.
"So, we're on the letter J?" Olivia asked.
"How about James? I know it's typically a male name, but I knew a woman named James and she got so many compliments on her name. It's really pretty, I think." Abby told her.
"We can't use old lady names, but boy's names are up for discussion?" Fitz asked with an exasperated look.
"It's different, and I like it." Olivia said and wrote it down. "Jasmine is nice too."
"Jordan is pretty too."
"We're just doing two names per letter of the alphabet." Fitz informed Abby.
"But we need to make up for the old lady letters we aren't using at all. Add Jordan." Abby insisted, pointing to the paper.
Fitz handed Liv a bottle of water and took his seat to look for more names. "Let me scroll down to catch up. What are we on, K?"
"Yup" Liv answered and kept looking. "Is Kennedy too presidential?"
"I like it, so it can stay." Abby said, still looking at her phone.
"What about Kiera?" Fitz asked. "It sounds so feminine and pretty."
Olivia lifted her head and sent him a smile. "Come 'ere." Grabbing a fistful of his shirt, she pulled him close and kissed his grinning mouth. When their tongues got in on the action, Abby got to her feet.
"Ohhhh kayyyy. I can't sit here and help you with names if you're just gonna stick your tongues down each other's throats."
Fitz and Olivia waved to her with their mouths still fused to each other. She stormed out of the room in a huff.
"What was that for?" Fitz asked.
"Because it's sweet enough that you're helping me pick names for a list, but when you start commenting on them by using words like feminine and pretty, it kinda melts my heart."
Looking her in the eye he told her, "you're feminine and pretty."
"Someone is working on bonus points."
He pulled her onto his lap and pulled the top of her shirt towards him so he could peek down the front of it. "What kind of bonus points would I get if I carried you into your bedroom and had my way with you right now?"
"Mmmm, so many points. But we have to at least get through the alphabet for baby names first."
He got into her neck and gently kissed the skin there before whispering, "but you're so pretty...and feminine."
Olivia raised her shoulder, forcing his face out of her neck and muttered, "and you're so ridiculous." Hoping off his lap she opened the freezer and stuck her head inside. He might be ridiculous, but he knew how to get her worked up in no time. They needed to stay focused and get a list made. Then she'd let him, encourage him even, take her into her bedroom for as long as he wanted.
After unlocking his phone, he was reminded where they left off. "The letter L?"
When she didn't answer, he glanced over at where she was and smirked. Somebody was a little on the warm side. He wanted to go over there and see how much warmer he could get her, but Fitz knew this list of names was the only thing she hoped to accomplish today, so he stayed put. It physically pained him because he knew how easy it would be to have her begging for more, but he put those thoughts aside. "Liv?"
"Hmmm?" she replied on auto pilot.
"Are we skipping the letter L or not?"
Right! They were working on baby names. Olivia slammed the freezer door and nonverbally agreed with him. She was thinking of annnnny girl's name that began with an L but was coming up blank.
She was so entertaining to watch. He couldn't help the smile that covered his face. Clearing his throat, he decided to help her out. "How about Lila?"
"I really love that. It seems the shorter the name the prettier it sounds. Moving on to the next letter, I like Mia too."
"Mila is sweet. Although Madeline is a really pretty name too. Not short, but still pretty."
"Neveah has a romantic sound to it." she stated and wrote it down. "Skipping O for obvious reasons, how about Penelope?"
"I like that one too. Riley is super adorable. Like, top five adorable." he told her with raised eyebrows.
"I'll...take it under advisement." Olivia told him with a look of her own.
"Put a star near that one. If I get one vote, that one is..."
"Of course you get a vote. But as the mother, I have final say."
"Naturally."
"I've always liked the name Savannah. It...I dunno, sounds like a little girl with attitude or something."
"And that's what we want?" Fitz asked with that lopsided grin.
"Weeee want a strong, loving, independent daughter who isn't afraid to stand up for herself when necessary." Olivia said with a curt nod. "But not a spoiled brat."
"Have you been inside your bedroom lately to see all the pink stuff?" he couldn't help the smile.
"I didn't do that spoiling!" she said shaking her head back and forth. "Come on. We're almost done. Can you think of a decent T name?"
Fitz thought about it, but nothing came to him. "I can't. That's so strange."
"That should finish the list then!" Olivia announced.
"Here's what we do. Put the list in the middle of the table, and on separate pieces of paper, each of us write our favorite five names. Then we see if we have any of the same names on our lists."
"Then we take those few same names and choose a winner from there."
He chuckled at her. "We're not choosing a winner we're trying to choose a baby name."
"You know what I meant. I'll go get the paper." She came back to the table with two pieces of notebook paper and put one in front of Fitz. "You ready?"
"Born ready. But these will be in no particular order. Okay?"
"Fine."
Both of them numbered their papers from one to five and proceeded to silently look over the list of names they had called out. Fitz wrote down names he really liked as he came to them and ended up with nine names. He then left the master list with Liv and worked on whittling his nine names down to five. It took him quite a while and he wrestled with his choices.
Olivia looked over the entire list and thought about them all for a while before she began to write anything. They had come up with so many great names, but it would be nice to get the list cut in half and then go from there. Focusing on the task at hand, she looked over the entire list one more time and then made her choices. She ended up with six names and hoped Fitz wouldn't notice.
"Let's see what you came up with" Fitz said. He moved the master list out of the way and pushed the piece of paper with his choices on it towards Olivia. She handed him her list without comment and the moment his eyes fell on it he spotted the sixth name. His eyes shifted towards her, but Liv was doing her best to ignore him. She was a sneaky so and so.
"It looks like we have only one name in common. That's interesting."
Fitz didn't know what was so interesting about it, but he kept quiet and looked over her list of names. She had chosen some cute names. "I see that Edwina didn't make the short list."
"It didn't make the long list either."
"Let's see if we can get these eleven names, not ten, down to five."
Olivia never looked over at him but stuck her tongue out.
Grabbing the master list, he flipped it over and numbered the page one through five. "The one name we both wrote down goes at the top of the list. Let's pick the other four."
It took them some time, caused a mini argument, but an hour later the short list was completed. Fitz put it on the fridge and stuck a magnet for a pizza place over the bottom half. He and Liv stood there, hand in hand, looking at the names.
Abby came out of her room for something cold to drink. She saw the two of them staring at the fridge and went to stand beside them. "What are we doing? Is the fridge broken?"
"No, there are the five final baby names. One of the names on that piece of paper will be her name."
"Oh yea? Let's see what the two of you came up with." Abby pulled the paper off the fridge, knocking the magnet to the floor. "Brinley, Kiera, Riley, Savannah, and Mia. That's a solid list. I don't see Jordan, but I'm just the aunt I guess."
"She's sly with the guilt." Fitz told Olivia, jerking a thumb in Abby's direction.
"Oh yea, I picked up on that too." Olivia chuckled. "Sorry Abs. I added Jordan as a sixth name, but it didn't make it to the final round.
"If I get a vote, I pick this one. Since Jordan is out." Abby pointed at a name and handed Olivia the list before grabbing a bottle of water from inside the fridge and leaving them alone once again.
Olivia and Fitz went back to the table, where he pulled her onto his lap. Besides the faint noises coming from Abby's television in her bedroom, it was quiet. They sat there for a while before Olivia said, "let's go make a baby registry for the bigger items she is going to need."
"In a minute. Let me hold onto you first."
She laid her head down on his shoulder and enjoyed the quiet along with the feel of his arms. "It won't be too long, and we won't have all this peace and quiet."
"I plan to have you making all kinds of noises within an hour." he told her, smiling.
"Not that! I meant the baby!"
"Oh! The baby. Of course." he teased.
"It's gonna be different." Liv said shyly.
"A good kind of different though."
"According to your father, daughters are the best kind of kids to have." Fitz said, holding her close.
"Well, he would know."
"My father is beyond anxious to find out if girls are easier than boys. Not that I was a difficult son. I'm sure your daughter will be an angel."
Olivia put her arms around his neck and said, "According to Harrison, she's your daughter too."
"I'm sorry that he jumped to that concl..."
She put her index finger on his lips to silence him. "Don't be. I'm not."
Fitz wondered if she knew what she was doing to his heart. His eyebrows dropped and he asked, "you're not?"
Olivia shook her head back and forth. "I know we haven't been dating long and that the situation was less than ideal when we started, but it feels like we have known each other for so much longer than we actually have. And you have been patient and proved yourself to be trustworthy to me. I figured since you're planning to stick around and I plan on making sure she never knows who her father is, you might want to be..."
She wiped her eyes and chuckled. "These hormones are the worst. They make me cry at the craziest times."
He was looking intently into her eyes but couldn't bring himself to move or speak for fear that he would end up in tears too.
"I thought...you might want to be...her dad?" She let out a nervous breath and then finished her thought in a rush before the tears came in like a flood. "I know that this little girl will love you just as much as I do. And just like me, she'll be lucky to have you."
It was too late. The tears were running freely down Fitz's cheeks. He had no idea that Olivia wanted him to be that big of a part of her daughter's life. Sure, he planned to marry her one day, and naturally, people would assume that she was their child when the three of them were out together, but he never thought she would voice the words in a request to him. He knew that she didn't trust easily, and that she must have given a lot of thought about this request before she brought it to him. He was deeply touched.
However, he wiped his eyes and asked, "why can't you be a more patient woman, Livvie?"
That was not the answer Olivia was expecting, and she hoped the expression on her face made that clear to him. "I don't understand. What does my patience have to do with what I just asked you?"
Fitz put his hands on her hips and pushed her off of his lap. In a bored voice he told her, "come on. Let's go."