Veto
A/N: This just kinda came to me while at the beach this past weekend. I don't know why! I thought it would be fun to take a break from the drama of my other fic, Fault Lines. So I hope you enjoy this little not-serious, fluffy bit!
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"You know, we really need to have this conversation, James."
James looked up from his book, glasses perched on the end of his nose. He was sitting on the couch with his socked feet propped up on the coffee table. He wrinkled his nose in distaste, instinctively knowing what she was talking about just by the look on her face.
"Do we gotta?" he moaned. "We still got a month left." His eyes flicked down to her swollen belly and she absentmindedly rubbed her hand over it.
"And I'm sure it's going to take us that long to come to an agreement," she countered. "Something tells me this isn't going to be easy."
She sat down next to him and he let out an annoyed, exaggerated groan. "It's too hard."
"Doesn't mean we can get out of doing it. We can't call him 'It' forever."
James shot her a look out of the corner of his eye as she leaned the side of her head against the wall behind the couch. "Sure we can. Give him a clown-themed birthday, it'll be spooky and fun."
Juliet laughed. "No. Definitely not. I could pick it myself though, if you don't want to help…"
He picked the book up off the coffee table and shoved it at her. "No way, Jose. Half mine, half yours. I get to help."
She took the book and laughed, genuinely and unrestrained. "I thought you just said you didn't want to!"
"I don't wanna argue with you. And besides, this ain't an easy decision. Best left avoided in my experience."
"What - so because something isn't easy, it's best to just not do it?" she challenged skeptically. "If that were the case, we wouldn't even be in this situation to begin with."
She flipped through the pages, eyes scanning the words, when James placed a large hand overtop of hers. His dimples were deep and his eyes were dark. "I do believe we're in this situation cuz a certain someone couldn't keep her hands to herself in the shower almost nine months ago."
Her face flamed. "I thought you would pull out. I know it's not very effective but I really thought it would be okay."
He laughed. "Too late now. And anyway, I ain't scared of raisin' the kid. I just don't wanna pick the wrong name, is all."
"How is picking a name scarier than raising a human being?"
He shrugged. "Dunno. Just - names have a lot of meaning and power." She knew he knew this from personal experience. "I just wanna make sure whatever we choose suits him, is all."
"Do you want to wait until he's born?" she asked tentatively, snaking an arm around his shoulders. He laid his head on hers, and scanned some of the names on the open page propped open on her belly.
"Nah. Best get it over with, I guess. But - what if whatever we pick, we get tired of?"
"I'm sure his father will come up with so many nicknames for him, he'll forget what his real name even is," she joked. He knocked his knee into the side of hers.
"Ha- ha. Very funny, wiseass. Let's just do this already… I wanna get back to my book."
Juliet pulled her arm back and flipped through the pages, quickly scanning the names before she found a few she liked.
"How about… Ezra?"
James screwed up his face in distaste. "I thought we were havin' a boy?"
"We are. It's a boy's name."
"Veto," he announced, and so began their dance.
"Isaac?"
"Veto."
"Matthew?"
"Veto."
This was going exactly how Juliet thought it would.
"Elijah?"
"Veto."
"David?"
"Jesus Christ, Juliet, what is with you and the religious names?" His eyebrows were raised so high she thought they might take flight.
"I'm not doing it on purpose!" she argued. "Some of them are just nice."
"Alright, keep goin'..."
"Noah?"
"I do," he said cryptically, with a smile.
"You like Noah?" she asked hopefully.
"No, but I do know a Ford. You."
She thought about it for a minute, hearing it in her head. "That's the stupidest thing you've ever said." She rolled her eyes and kept going.
"Just preppin' my Dad jokes!"
"They need work."
He pouted. "Yeah, yeah, I know."
"How about James Junior?"
He shot her a dangerous look. "Absolutely not."
"Ooookay then. Jackson?"
He scoffed so loudly she jumped. "You want me to name my kid Jack's son? You gotta be joking!"
She giggled. She hadn't thought of it that way, but his annoyance was funny all the same. "Okay, no Jackson. How about naming him after someone we know?"
"Like who?"
"I don't know. My dad's name was Mark."
"Mark? You do know what I used to do for a living, right?"
"Oh yeah. So maybe not."
"You didn't really get along too well with your dad anyway, right?"
"No, not really. You're right. But do we know anyone else we could name him after?"
James considered. "We'd never hear the end of it if we named him Miles."
"Oh, yeah. Definitely not. Anyone else?"
"No… let's just keep goin'. In fact, give me that - maybe I can find some better ideas." He took the book from her hands and sifted through it, dog-earring some pages. "How 'bout Bartholomew?"
She cackled. "You're joking, right? You got on me about biblical names and now you wanna have a little Bart running around? I have seen the Simpsons, you know."
"Okay fine, no Bart. How about Calvin?"
"And Hobbes? No. Veto."
"Kenneth?"
"I've seen South Park, too." He wasn't going to ask how, or why.
"Luke?"
"So you can tell him you're his father? And I thought you said no biblical names."
He growled. This was turning out exactly how he thought it would be. "Henry?"
She doubled over, grasping her belly. For a moment, panic lanced through him. But then he saw she was laughing. "HENRY FORD? Are you serious, James?!"
He grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah. Didn't think about that. Okay, what about Merle?"
"Alright, now I know you're not being serious."
"I am too! He'd be named after a legend!"
"I'm not naming my son after a country music star! Over my dead body."
James groaned. Her hatred of country music frustrated him to no end. "Fine, how 'bout William?"
She booped him playfully on the nose. "So you can call him Willie? Or worse, Billy? I'm not stupid."
James grinned. He supposed she wouldn't like Nelson then, either. "You're crazy if you think I'll ever call my son Willie with a straight face, Blondie."
"Next," she demanded, rolling her eyes.
He sighed. "Martin?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Veto."
"Louis?"
"Veto."
"Edward?"
"Veto."
"George?"
"James?"
"Hmmm?"
"Am I giving birth to a retiree?"
He eyed her questioningly. "No?"
"Right. So stop giving me names that went out of style after World War 2."
She tied her hair back into a messy bun on her head and propped her feet up next to his. "Fine, fine, sheesh. Okay how 'bout this one… it's biblical like you like - "
"I don't care about biblical names!" she tried interjecting.
" - but it's also classy." He grinned wildly. "Jacob."
Juliet felt her eye twitch. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," she muttered.
"Ya just did, sunshine!" he crooned, and Juliet shook her head in dismay.
"Maybe you're right, James. Maybe this is too hard." She sighed and closed her eyes. She rubbed her temples and felt the stinging of tears behind her eyelids. "This is the third time we've tried doing this."
"I know, I know," James relented. He felt bad. He'd been trying to lighten the mood, but she was right. They hadn't even come close to agreeing on a name yet. "But you were right. It sucks, but we gotta come up with somethin'."
She covered her face with her hands, and James pulled her against him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and rubbing her upper arm. "I don't think we're ever going to find one," she groaned through her fingers.
"Course we will. Like ya said, we can't call him 'It' forever." He planted a kiss on the top of her head. She nuzzled into the crook of his neck and finally dropped her hands. He picked one up and laced his fingers through hers.
"I just didn't think it would be this hard."
"I did."
"Yes, James, I know. What do we do now?"
He grinned and let go of her hand so he could tilt her chin up. "I think we can afford to wait a day or two and try again. Maybe fourth times a charm." He placed a delicate kiss on her lips and stared into her deep blue eyes. They reminded him of the ocean.
Mesmerized, she leaned in again, pressing her lips more firmly against his. "I love you, you know," she whispered against his skin. The phrase never failed to breathe life into his veins.
He dragged his tongue across her bottom lip and she inhaled sharply. "I love you too, sunshine."
Despite not yet finding the perfect name, James felt certain that it didn't even matter what they called him. Just the fact that they were bringing another person into this world together was enough for him.
