What's in a name?

Nathan was drunk as a skunk when Cassie's full name was decided upon.

It was New Year's Eve and they had been sitting out upon the porch of Nathan and Elena's New Orleans's house, counting down the time to midnight and looking up at the stars. Elena and Sully were having a good natured debate over possible middle names for the then newest and still unborn Drake, while Nate sat contently against Elena's legs, happily wasted and being absolutely no help with the discussion of deciding a middle name for his unborn daughter.

"I-I picked her name and she's getting m'last name. So… you-you pick 'Lena." Was the last thing Nate had said on the matter, half an hour or so ago, before falling silent as he tilted his head against her leg, his eyes turn skywards with Elena's hand gently running over his hair.

"Emily?"

"Emily?" Elena pulled her fond gaze away from her happily intoxicated husband to shoot Sully a thoroughly exasperated look. "Cassandra Emily Drake?"

"Well… when you say it like that sweetheart." Sully laughed, cigar in hand.

For another half hour the two of them continued suggesting and ultimately shooting down several more candidates for possible middle names, with the "list" Elena had started earlier that evening still only bearing three possible middle names and as it was, Elena wasn't particularly sold on any of them. They had only made the list because they just happen to pair nicely with the name "Cassandra".

But were they right for hers and Nate's Cassandra? That was the real question.

Elena sighed heavily and wondered if maybe she should simply settle with Cassandra Rose Drake as baby Cassie's full name. It sounded… nice enough, just not quite right still.

"Nothing wrong with forgo-ing a middle name, darlin'. Or waiting til she's born to decide." Sully said as Elena ran a hand over her swollen belly.

"I know. I just… never thought naming a baby would be so hard. Thank god Nate sorted out her first name pretty much right from the get go." She smiled softly down at Nate who seemed to have dropped off to sleep against her legs.

"I'm glad though." She added quietly just for Sully's ears only. "He tried so hard to hide just how freaked out he was when I told him I was pregnant. But I saw it; I saw how scared he was. How scared he still is."

"Worried he might have done a runner on you?" Sully asked gently, though they both knew Nate would do no such thing. No matter how scared he might be about becoming a father, he wasn't going anywhere.

"No," Elena shook her head, stroking Nate's hair again, "I wasn't worried about that. Never was. And certainly not after he told me about his Dad… and his Mom." She looked over a Sully who nodded his gaze soft and sad as he looked at her and Nate.

"He's so afraid that he won't be a good Dad." Elena continued softly, "even though I can already tell he will be. He talks to her, when he thinks I'm asleep." She shot Sully a fond, amused grin, which he returned with a soft chuckle, "He tells her all about his adventures, about history and his theories when he can't sleep. It's adorable."

Sully let out another chuckle.

"He'll be fine. You both will. The littlest Drake is lucky to have you both. Middle name or no." Sully added with a cheeky grin that had Elena lightly thumping him in the arm.

Sully let out a bark of laughter.

"Sam." The two stopped their good natured squabbling to look down as Nate who was looking up at them with drunken bleary eyes, "… Samath… Samantha."

"Huh?" Elena said, brushing some hair from Nate's eyes as his head rolled against her lap. She did not catch the surprised twisted with pain look Sully was giving Nate.

"Cass-Cassandra Samantha Drake?" Nate said slowly rubbing his eyes.

"Oh." Elena rolled the name over in her head. She rather liked it. Though she was curious about where Samantha had come from. It wasn't a name she had ever heard come out of Nathan's mouth before. Though to be fair, he never mentioned his mother's name either, not before finding out they were having a baby girl, so…

She opened her mouth to ask Nate, only for him to appear to have dropped off to sleep again.

"Cassandra Samantha Drake." She said looking at Sully with a smile that quickly dissolved into a frown she when saw the almost worried look Sully was giving Nate. "Sully?"

"Huh? Oh sorry darlin', just thinking."

"About?"

"Ah… it's nothing, really."

"Worried about Nathan naming our daughter after past girlfriends' he's never gotten around to telling me about?" She asked, half teasing but mostly hoping to get more information from her husband's oldest friend.

"Eh, something like that." Sully replied with a grin that didn't quite meet his eyes.

"Uh huh." She let the name sit between them in silence for a moment or two, but gently trying again.

"So who was she? Samantha? She must have be someone special if he wants to name our daughter after her." She prodded and watched intently as Sully shifted uncomfortable in his deck chair. "Was she a relative? Is Nate wanting to name her after someone, like his Mom? Oh…" and she can't help but winced a little as she continued in a hushed tone, "Please tell me Nate doesn't have a long lost sister that he's never told me about, that he wants to name Cassie after?"

"Ah no, no Nate-Nate doesn't have a sister." Sully replied carefully before he took a huge swig of his beer.

Now, there were a number of reasons why Elena did not ask any number of follow up questions to what Sully had just said, as they were words that set off alarm bells in her inquisitive reporter head.

However, as fate would have it, at the same moment that Sully had spoken several things happen at once.

First, because of their on-going conversation regarding possible baby names, the two of them had quite lost track of time, so they all jumped when the neighbourhood erupted into cheers of 'Happy New Year!' and being set off fireworks that resulted in Nate waking with a loud cry and causing him to knock over several empty beer bottles that he and Sully had drunk over the course of the evening, one of which shattered upon the porch.

And of course because Nate was Nate, he of course put his hand straight on top of the broken shared, letting out another cry, quieter this time but still loud enough to stir Sully and Elena into action to stop Nate from trying to pull broken shards of glass out his hand by his drunken self.

Hurriedly, they hustled a very confused and disoriented Nate inside, sitting him down at the kitchen table and proceeded to spend the next ten or so minutes pulling tiny slivers of glass out of his bloody hand before bandaging it.

"Not necessarily the best start to the new year." Sully snorted as he packed away the first aid kit while Elena handed Nate a glass of water and aspirin before packing him off to bed.

"But it is a typical Drake start of the year." She replied with wide grin that had Sully chuckling and Nate grumbling.

"Make-making fun of me… while I'm hurt." Nate shot her one of his best kicked puppy dog looks. She kissed his cheek fondly which seemed to sooth his wounded pride, with his arm slung around her shoulders as he loudly shouted to them both 'Happy New Year' as he wobbled upon his feet.

"Alright, bed with you." Elena chuckled, trying to keep her own balance as Nate swayed beside her. Sully was quick to catch Nate's other arm and together they got him upstairs and into bed. Or rather they let him simply collapse on top of the covers, his face buried into his pillow with a huge sigh.

They stared at him fondly for a moment, before wishing each other good night.

"Happy New Year sweetheart. This year… well, it's going to be a great one, for all of us." He nodded significantly to her swollen belly. She touched it lightly with a small smile.

"Thanks Sully. Only a month left."

"It'll fly."

"Oh, don't I know it." She laughed and with that Sully was making his way to their spare bedroom with Elena closing the door of hers and Nate's bedroom behind him.

"Happy New Year little one." She whispered down to her belly. "Your Dad, Grandpa Sully and I can't wait to meet you. You are so wanted and so loved already." She smiled as she felt the baby within her roll and give the slightest of kicks.

"Yeah, I love you too, my little Cassandra Samantha Drake."

Fighting back a yawn, Elena clambered into bed beside Nate, though she wiggled beneath the covers, before snuggling close to Nathan's side. Even as dead to the world as he was, his arm still lifted enough to wrap around her and hold her close.

14/11/2020 Author's Note: I wrote this back in July, but due to complication with a corrupted thumb driver, so I only really finished it off this afternoon, as I sit watching the Goodbye video of Unus Annus (as stupid as it sounds, I'm feeling bit of a mess of emotions over this youtube channel being deleted, lol. Memento Mori )

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little bit of fluff.