Title: "Legacies"
Author: Brenna tkeefer6@home.com
Disclaimer: The West Wing and its characters are the property of Aaron Sorkin,
Warner Brothers, and NBC. No Copyright Infringement is intended. Mortgage...car
payment...you'll have better luck getting blood from a turnip than money from
me.
Spoilers: nothing really.
Description: The extended Bartlet 'family' in the future.
Rating: G
Archive: Just tell me where so I can come visit.
Author's Notes: The idea for
this fic came from the recent discussion on the JoshDonnaFF list about baby
naming traditions. I have no real idea where this fic will eventually
lead. So you've been warned.
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From what seemed like far away she listened to them argue. She knew she should open her eyes and break it up before someone said something that couldn't be forgiven, but her eyelids refused to cooperate. So instead she lay listening to the beeping of the monitors and the voices arguing at her bedside with closed eyes.
"No, Mom. His name isn't going to be Matthew Gaerte III," she heard her husband whisper fiercely.
"I don't know why not. It's a good strong name. It's a family name."
"Jodi is Jewish, Mom."
"What's that got to do with anything?" Nora Gaerte demanded in a loud harsh voice. She had never approved of her son's choice of a wife. Jodi had never cared though because Nora didn't approve of much of anything her son did. She didn't like his choice of careers or the fact that he lived in Washington so why should his choice in women be any different.
"Nora..." Matt Gaerte Sr. admonished. Unlike his wife he genuinely liked Jodi and approved of her as his daughter-in-law. His objections to his son's career choice had more to do with the fact that his job kept him in DC and far away from his parents. Not that the elder Gaerte man couldn't see the appeal in being so far away from his wife's meddling.
"It's a very strongly held taboo, Mom. You don't name a baby after someone still living...Dad and I are both still alive. So we will NOT be naming the baby Matthew."
Jodi was saved from having to wake up to referee the argument by the arrival of someone at the door to her room. So she let herself continue to drift half asleep.
"Matt! We got here as soon as we could," Jodi heard her father tell her husband as his footsteps echoed closer to her bed. Within seconds she felt his hand sweeping the hair back from her forehead. Lighter footsteps approached the bed, and Jodi knew her mother was there as well. She felt someone lean over her opposite her father's position. A kiss was pressed to her cheek and someone took her hand. Jodi heard her mother's voice whisper in her ear, "I know you're faking it. Don't worry I'll play referee for you." Jodi squeezed the hand holding hers in gratitude.
"We were just discussing the baby's name. Matt says they aren't naming the baby Matthew because of some Jewish taboo. Surely it isn't that important," Nora Gaerte demanded. Jodi forced herself not to flinch visibly.
"Yes, it is that important," Jodi's mother told the other woman. "Jodi was raised to respect both her father's and my religions. I know she celebrates Christian holidays with you, but that doesn't mean she doesn't still respect her father's beliefs."
Nora seeing that she had no allies in this fight decided to concede the field of battle for now though Jodi was sure that no matter what they named the baby her mother-in-law would continue to use the matter of her grandson's name like a bludgeon in future family squabbles. "So what is his name going to be?" she demanded of her own son.
"We haven't decided yet," Matt told her.
"You haven't decided yet? He needs a name Matthew!"
"Yeah, I know he does, Mom, but we weren't exactly expecting Jodi to develop complications and go into labor a month early."
"We hadn't picked out Jodi's name before she was born either, Matt" her father told her husband.
"When they brought her to me to nurse that first time...that's when I knew what her name would be."
"And you didn't have any say in naming your own child?" Nora demanded of her father.
Jodi could almost see her dad shrug before replying, "It just seemed right. Jodi and Matt will decide what to name their son, Nora. Stop pestering them."
"Pestering?" Jodi's mom questioned in a bemused voice.
Further arguments were stopped by the sound of the door opening again. "It's time for Mom to wake up. This little man wants his dinner." Jodi heard her son's whimpers from the vicinity of the doorway and slowly opened her eyes.
"Matt..." she croaked.
"I'm here, sweetheart," he whispered bending close and pressing a swift kiss to her lips. "Have a nice nap?" he asked the twinkle in his eyes revealing that her mother wasn't the only one to realize she had been feigning sleep.
"Yeah..." Jodi managed to croak. Her mother worked the controls of the bed to bring her to a close approximation of a sitting position, and her father handed her a cup of water which she greedily drank from.
"Everybody but Daddy, out!" ordered the nurse as she brought the baby to his mother. Their parents filed quickly from the room, and Matt and Jodi were left alone with their son and the nurse.
The nurse gave instructions as she helped the new mother get the baby boy to nurse for the first time. Matt watched the process in awe as this tiny scrap of humanity that they had created suckled hungrily at his wife's breast. Jodi's entire focus was on their son. As she watched the tiny mouth draw nourishment from her breast, she stroked her son's small fist with her finger. Looking at him images flooded through her so quickly she could hardly take them all in. She recognized some of the images from her childhood, others from television, and photos her mother kept in albums in their home, but she suddenly knew what his name had to be.
"Matt..." she asked.
"Yeah," he whispered in reply never taking his eyes off their son.
"Josiah..."
"Yeah?" he asked reluctantly tearing his eyes from the baby.
"Yeah....Josiah Leopold Gaerte," Jodi told him looking into his eyes before returning her gaze to her son. "I look at him, and I see his future. I can see it, Matt! He's not related to either of them by blood, but I can see their spirit in him."
"What do you see?" Matt asked her as his gaze too returned to their son.
"I see stubbornness and honor. I see eloquence and intelligence, loyalty and a fierce will. A will to survive the worst life can throw at you. A will to make things better. To fight the good fight."
"He gets that will from your parents," Matt told her.
"Yeah, but they had good examples to follow, and so will he," she reminded him.
"That's quite a legacy to live up to," he worried.
"You think he won't? You worry we'll push him too hard?" Jodi asked. The worry now clearly evident in her own voice.
"No," Matt assured her. Gazing at his greedily sucking son, he saw what Jodi did. "I think you're right. I didn't know them like you did, but from all the stories I've heard from you and your parents and their friends....I think you're right. Josiah Leopold Gaerte it is."
"Welcome to the world,
Little Jed," Joan Delores Lyman Gaerte told her son.
