2109, 6 August, USA
"Mr. and Mrs. Shannon, you have yourself a son."
A deep laugh filled with delight bursts out in response to the news. "You hear that, honey?"
"Brian." Comes the frail reply. "Brian, he's beautiful." Within a few minutes the couple has their son in their arms. The labor had been difficult due to the baby being slightly late, but the pain and worry didn't matter one iota to the couple.
"Yeah," Brian says as he taps his son's nose and kisses his wife's forehead. "I could do with a few more of these."
Madeline huffs softly. "Give me a minute to breathe, would you?"
Her husband chuckles and kisses her forehead again. "Just hinting."
"Last minute confirmation: he's not a Brian? You're sure?"
"Nah," the new father says. "We'll keep him as James. It'd get too confusing...you yelling at the both of us and neither of us knowing who you're angry at."
There's a soft slap to his arm dealt by his wife and Brian is chuckling again. The newly-named James wrinkles his wee red nose up in protest, weakly flailing a pink fist out from his blanket-cocoon as if already choosing sides. "See that? Did you see that?!" Brian jokingly exclaims, his arm around his wife's shoulder, his free hand supporting his son's head.
He keeps his voice quiet but the excitement and pride in his voice bubbles through. "Already out for justice in the world!"
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A nice short one for you here. Not every chapter is a recent post-birth scene, so don't jump off the train just yet if that's not your thing.
The chapter title comes from the Hebrew name Jacob from which James is derived.
Feel free to point out even the slightest of grammatical errors.
I hope you enjoyed reading. Chapter 3 is complete and will be posted soon.
God bless you.