A/N: Hope you enjoy chapter 2! Please read and review! Also, full disclosure: I did do research while writing this chapter, but any medical errors I've made are completely mine.

Chapter 2: Boy Names or Girl Names? (March 2008)

Donna and Josh were in the doctor's office, waiting anxiously on the ultrasound that would tell them whether or not they were carrying twin girls or twin boys. Their ultrasound at 11 weeks, where the preliminary case for twins made by the White House doctor had been confirmed, had revealed that the twins shared a placenta, and would therefore be identical.

Thankfully, the past month of the pregnancy had been mainly uneventful for Donna. The nausea that had gripped her endlessly in the first trimester had slowly dwindled down, and she now had more energy. The doctor was pleased with her progress, saying that everything was moving along as a textbook pregnancy. Well, as textbook as it could get for twins.

There were slight worries, too. The dangers of an identical-twin pregnancy had been thoroughly explained to them, particularly since Donna, at 33, was slightly older for experiencing her first pregnancy. Words like "twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome" and "monochorionic" were thrown about. But they had been repeatedly reassured by Donna's obstetrician, Dr. Corwin, that everything was moving along normally, and that it didn't appear either one of the babies was at risk. Yet. There was still a higher risk for later in the pregnancy, but today was not a day to dwell on that.

Today was a day to celebrate the news of whether or not they would be welcoming two sons-or two daughters.

Donna lay on the examining table, waiting for the doctor. Josh sat next to her, absentmindedly rubbing her hand with his thumb.

She looked over and smiled at him. "Are you excited? To find out what we're having?"

"You bet I am." Josh said happily, kissing the hand still entwined with his. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yeah, I do." Donna replied. "I personally think we've had enough surprises. Let's at least know one thing for sure."

Just then, there was a knock, and Dr. Corwin entered. "Hi Donna, Josh. I hear we may want to find out the genders today?"

"That's the plan." Donna said, caressing her stomach, which the pregnancy books she had been reading said would be around the size of a normal seven-month pregnancy. "Assuming these little ones are in a good position."

"And how have you been feeling?"

"Really good, actually. I thought I would be more tired."

"Pregnancy looks different in every individual, even twin pregnancies." Dr. Corwin said as she readied the ultrasound. "It's normal to have more energy during the second trimester, and you're relatively young and healthy, so that helps. Do you have any questions for me? Noticing anything unusual or concerning?"

Donna shook her head.

"All right, then, I think we're ready to start the ultrasound."

The first ten minutes or so, everything was relatively quiet as the doctor took various measurements. The only sound in the room was the whooshing of their babies' heartbeats, which Donna found comforting.

"All right," Dr. Corwin said, turning the screen towards them for the first time that day, "there are your babies. That's a good profile shot of baby A right there."

"Oh, my God." Donna whispered gently. She had a feeling-a good one-that this would never get old. She looked up at Josh, who had a similar grin on his face watching the baby move its arms.

"There's the head, and the spine, and the arms." Dr. Corwin pointed out each feature of the first baby as she moved the wand further down Donna's abdomen.

"Look at the little fingers." Donna practically squealed.

"And there are the legs and the feet, and-oh, I can see the baby starting to stretch a little. You'll be feeling them move before long."

"I can't wait." Josh said. He had been waiting with anticipation for the day he could feel his babies move.

"All right-last minute predictions. What are you thinking? And remember, they're identical, so there's really only one gender to pick up."

"Well," Donna replied. "I'm thinking girls, but I would be happy with either." She turned to Josh. "Honey, what about you?"

"Personally, I think they're boys, but deep down, I'm hoping for girls." Josh said.

"All right, well, let's see which one of you is right!" With that, Dr. Corwin manipulated the wand to try and get a clear picture.

"There. I have a pretty clear picture, and it looks like this one is...a girl!"

"Really?" Donna said, already crying. "A girl?"

"Yeah." Dr. Corwin said, smiling.

"Josh, we're having a baby girl!" Josh leaned in and kissed her, grinning widely.

"So, does that mean they're both girls?" Donna asked, regaining her composure.

"Probably, since we've already determined they're identical due to the shared placenta, but let's take a quick look just to be sure." She moved the wand over slightly to the other side of the stomach, where Baby B was moving around a little.

She did a similar scan with the second baby, before moving the wand down to reveal that, yes, Baby B would also be a girl!

The ultrasound finished, Dr. Corwin reassured them both that their babies (their daughters, Donna thought happily) were right on track for growth and that she would see them next month for their 21 week ultrasound with appointments every other week for the remainder of the second trimester, handed them a printout of the sonogram, and left the room with a cheerful "Congratulations!"

"Wow!" Josh said after Donna had dressed and they were walking out, "I guess we're going to have to get serious about girl names!"

"Yeah." Donna agreed. "How about Emily?"

Josh shrugged. "It's pretty, but it's not jumping out at me. Victoria."

Now it was Donna's turn to shrug. "I'm not a huge fan, but if you like it.."

"There, now we're getting somewhere!" Josh said cheekily.

…

Donna showed up for work the next day to find Helen anxiously waiting outside her office. Donna had told her that they were having the gender reveal ultrasound done the previous afternoon.

"Well?" Helen asked as Donna was picking up her messages at Ryan's desk.

"Let's go into my office." Donna said, and led the way.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Donna let out, "They're girls!"

Helen shrieked. "Oh, I knew it! That's so exciting!" She threw her arms around Donna, being careful of Donna's expanding belly.

Meanwhile, Josh walked into the West Wing knowing that there were three people he wanted to tell about the genders right away, and the rest could wait until Senior Staff.

He tapped on Sam's door first. Sam looked up. "Hey, Josh. How'd the ultrasound go yesterday?"

Josh smiled. "Everything went fine, everyone looks healthy, Donna and our daughters are all healthy.", he said, emphasizing the word he wanted Sam to hear.

"Two girls? That's great!" Sam said, coming around his desk to hug Josh. "Ainsley's gonna be so excited to have little girls to shop for!"

"You guys better get busy if you want our girls to have playmates close to their own age!" Josh said jovially. Sam and Ainsley had been married in a typical Southern church wedding the previous October, the fabrication of Ainsley's mother. The couple had readily admitted to the fact that they had tolerated the pomp and circumstance more than relished in it, and Josh and CJ had both thanked their lucky stars for the beautiful simplicity of their own weddings.

Now, though, Sam's mood temporarily simmered. "We're getting there." he said simply.

Josh was surprised at the offhandedness of Sam's comment and made a mental note to ask him about it later when office hours were over.

For now, though, he bid goodbye to Sam and headed to his office, where he was almost immediately accosted by Margaret. "Well?" she said impatiently.

Josh had to laugh. What was it about women wanting to know every detail about babies?

"Two girls!" he said.

Margaret grinned. "Congrats, boss. You know, I can picture you with girls."

"Thanks, Margaret." he said, grinning. "The President in the Oval?"

"Far as I know." she said as Josh turned to the dividing door. "Any names yet?"

"We're working on it." Josh called back as he walked into the Oval.

"I hear congratulations are in order, abu el banat." Matt said, his eyes sparkling.

Josh stopped in his tracks. The phrase sounded familiar-he had heard President Bartlet talk about it once. "Pardon me, sir?"

"It's Arabic. Means "father of daughters". Helen called me with the news." Matt explained as the look on Josh's face changed from confusion to understanding. "She said you might be a little annoyed at her for spilling the news before you could tell me, but she apparently couldn't resist."

Josh grinned. "Well, thank you, Mr. President. We're pretty happy about it ourselves."

"You know, I could see you with a girl." Matt continued.

"Yeah, that's what Margaret said. I guess in the back of my mind, I've always been partial to girls." He thought back to the night way back in their third year in office, when Ellie had come to visit, and they were all in the White House movie theater. And President Bartlet had said to him after his battle with Ellie and resolve to make up with her, "Josh, if you ever have a daughter, I think you'll find there are worse reasons to do something." And ever since that night, whenever Josh had pictured having children, he pictured not a son that would carry on his name, that would look and act exactly like him; but a daughter, a girl with his intelligence and charm. That in his fantasies his future daughter also happened to have Donna's looks and quick wit was a conclusion he never really focused on until his feelings for her finally surfaced.

"Josh? Earth to Josh." he heard Matt say.

"I apologize, Mr. President." Josh said quickly. "I guess my mind was wandering."

"I think, unless I'm reading my watch wrong, that Senior Staff will be descending on you in less than 5 minutes."

Josh checked his own watch. "Yes, you're right. Thank you, sir." He turned to go.

"Hey." Josh turned back around as Matt called him.

"Sir?"

"What did you tell Margaret you and Donna were working on?"

"Oh, that. Baby names."

"You know, Miranda's a great name."

"You don't think that'll get confusing?"

Matt nodded and laughed a little. "Fair point."

Josh shook his head a little in disbelief as he headed to his office for Senior Staff.

…

A couple of nights later:

"Isabelle." Donna read out. They had just finished dinner after getting home from the office, and she was sitting on the couch with one of the baby-name books they had ordered.

"Too common. Reagan." Josh countered, settling down next to her with a book of his own and a pad of paper.

"As in the former President? Pass. And Isabelle's a perfectly lovely name."

"Unless you want her to be one of five Isabelles in her grade?"

"Alright, that's fair. Gabrielle."

"Maybe. Brooklyn."

"As in the city?"

"As in a derivative of Brooke."

"I like Brooke, why don't we just use that?"

"Okay, I'll put it on the list." Josh conceded. "Gianna."

"Not a huge fan. Pass."

"Alexandra."

"Kennedy."

"Morgan."

"Josh, you know how I feel about unisex names. Do you want people to be confused?" Donna said, sounding more exasperated by the minute.

"I thought you liked the name." Josh said, sounding slightly wounded.

Now Donna could tell his feelings were hurt. The truth was, she did like the name, but this whole baby-naming business was becoming a headache.

"I'm sorry, honey, I didn't mean to snap."

Josh let out a wry laugh. "How can this be so hard? We already know what our son's name is going to be." Donna gave him a look. "When we have a son."

"I guess it was easier when we thought we would have a boy." Donna said. She thought about the boys' name list that her husband had so carefully constructed from men that had touched their lives.

Suddenly, an idea came to her.

"Josh?" He looked up at her.

"You know how your list of boys' names is made up of men that we admire and want our kids to look up to?"

"Yeah?"

"Why can't we do the same for girls?"

There was a pause, then Josh said, "Donna?"

"What?"

"How come you didn't think about this before?" Josh exclaimed.

"I don't know." Donna said, smiling at him.

"Well, let's get to work!" Josh said, pulling out a pen. "Who are some women in our lives that we look up to?"

"Our mothers." Donna said. "But I don't think I would use either of their names-not for a first name, anyway."

"Yeah." Josh agreed. "I love my mother dearly, but...one Rachel Lyman in this world is enough."

Donna laughed. "Okay, who's next?"

"Abbey Bartlet." Josh suggested.

"Abigail." Donna said, trying it out. "Let's put that on the list, I really like that."

"And you know what would work well with Abigail?"

"What?"

"Helen."

Donna sat back in thought. Over the past fourteen months, Helen had been much more than her boss. They had spent a lot of time together in and out of the office. She had even been Donna's matron of honor at her wedding, a special gesture that Donna would not soon forget. Annabeth and CJ aside, Donna could honestly say that Helen Santos was the closest thing to a sister that she had ever had, in spite of their professional relationship.

"Yeah. Abigail Helen. I like that. It rolls right off the tongue."

Josh smiled. "So we're in agreement with the first name?"

Donna nodded, then grinned. "Abigail Helen Lyman. Yeah, I think we are."

"Great, that's one down." Josh said, writing it down. "Let's keep going. What about CJ?"

"I don't really like Claudia." Donna admitted. "I personally wouldn't use it. But Jean...Jean's pretty, that has possibilities."

"Maybe a middle name?" Josh asked.

"Maybe." Donna said.

"Who else would you put on that list?"

"Maybe Zoey?"

"I thought I already vetoed Zoey?"

"You did. I just wanted to see if you had changed your mind." She said with a grin.

"Okay. Annabeth."

"Now that's nice."

"Really? You'd name our daughter after Annabeth?"

"Why not? I'd want our daughter to look up to her the same way I'd want them to look up to the First Lady." Donna said. "And besides, she's been a really good friend to me."

"Okay, Annabeth's good. We'll put it on the list."

Donna hesitated. "You know, there's one name that's not on there."

Josh turned to face her and nodded for her to continue.

"Joan." She could see Josh's shoulders sag at the mention of his sister. She knew she might be pushing a button, but thought they were wrong to not at least consider it.

"I did think about it." Josh said, slowly, quietly. "I just think it would be too painful. For my mom, you know?"

Donna nodded. "I understand. You know, if we use Jean for a middle name, that's kind of similar, but it's not quite as on-point."

Josh looked at her. He was touched that Donna wanted to honor his sister. And she was right: in a way, they would be naming her after Joanie if they used the name Jean.

"Then Annabeth Jean it is." he said, smiling softly.

Donna's smile matched his. "Did we just name our babies?"

"I think we did."

Donna leaned in to kiss him, before her head jerked up with a start, breaking the kiss. Her hand flew to her stomach.

"You OK? Donna?" Josh said, automatically concerned when she didn't say anything.

"Yeah." Donna said, reassuring Josh immediately with a small smile. She reached for his hand and placed it where hers had been.

A minute passed, and suddenly Josh reacted. "Was that a.."

"They're kicking." Donna confirmed.

"You waking up there, girls?" Josh said, rubbing her belly where he had felt them kick, and was rewarded with several more small kicks in quick succession.

Donna leaned into him as they sat on the couch for several minutes with both their hands on her stomach, feeling their daughters stretch their arms and legs for the first time.

"Abigail Helen and Annabeth Jean," Josh murmured. "We can't wait to meet you both."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter we'll get reactions to the names they picked, as well as the birth of the twins!