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"You really did great, baby," Freddie whispered, kissing his wife's cheek as she lay in her hospital bed, holding their newborn son. "Really great. He's perfect."
"I know," Sam smiled, looking down at the sleeping infant in her arms. "God, look at him! He's so little!"
"This is our fourth kid, Sam," Freddie chuckled. "Are you telling me you're still surprised by how little they are when they're first born?"
"Well they don't feel little when they're coming out," Sam pointed out. She gently placed a kiss on the child's forehead. "But he was definitely worth the pain."
"I still can't believe it," Freddie said. "We have four kids now, Sam. Isn't that crazy?"
"Insane," Sam agreed. "But we'll manage. It's just one more Benson for us to add to the crew. He'll be the last one, though."
"Oh yeah," Freddie agreed. "I don't think the world can take anymore of us."
Sam laughed. "Well, at least we finally have one who got your brown hair. This little guy is our first non-blonde. Jeez, he's gonna wind up looking just like you."
"Nah, he's got your eyes," Freddie pointed out. "The first of our kids to get your blue instead of my brown."
"He's gonna be the little oddball of the bunch, isn't he?" Sam grinned.
"Guess so," Freddie nodded. He reached down and softly stroked the top of his son's head. "He's also the first one I was right about."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"You were so sure Jason was gonna be a boy, and I was positive we were going to have a girl," Freddie replied. "And with Emma and Ashton, I thought we would be getting a boy and you thought we'd be getting a girl."
"To be fair, neither of us were completely right with Emma and Ashton," Sam said. "No one predicted twins. But yeah, I guess I was on a pretty good streak there."
"Until now," Freddie said triumphantly. "I've been saying since the first ultrasound that I felt like this one was gonna be another boy but you insisted we'd be having another girl. Look who was right this time."
"Yeah, yeah, don't get cocky," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You literally had a fifty-fifty shot there."
"Still feels good to be right once in awhile," Freddie said. "Although it would've been nice if you hadn't been so stubborn about thinking it was a girl. We could've had a name picked out."
"We had a name picked out for a girl," Sam defended. "Noelle…But, well, guess it's back to the drawing board."
"If you didn't insist on throwing out all the boy names I came up with, we'd be set," Freddie mumbled.
"Well quit moping and let's decide on one!" Sam said. "Before your mom gets here with the kids. You have any ideas?"
"What? Off the top of my head? No! I can't think under pressure!"
"Oh come on, it's not that hard, just say a name," Sam said.
"Sam, we're naming our son, not a hermit crab!" Freddie replied. "You can't just throw out a random name and stick with it. We have to think about this."
"Fine, fine," Sam conceded. "Well let's at least come up with some ideas. What about…Danny?"
"Nah, I don't really like that one," Freddie said. "How about…Phillip?"
"Gross," Sam cringed.
"What's wrong with Phillip?"
"What was wrong with Danny?"
"Fine, we won't use either," Freddie said. "Let just-"
Suddenly his phone buzzed, cutting him off.
"Who texted?" Sam asked.
"My mom," Freddie replied. "She just got to the hospital with Jason and the twins. Apparently they woke up an hour ago and when they heard that you had the baby, they got so excited to come see him that my mom couldn't hold them off anymore."
Sam had gone into labor at three that morning and, not wanting to wake the three children up, Freddie had called his mother to come over to stay with them.
"Eh, that's okay," Sam smiled. "I miss them anyway. And now this one can meet his siblings and know what he's getting himself into."
Sure enough, a moment later Sam's hospital door flew open and the Benson's three young children raced in, Marissa panting and catching her breath behind them.
"This is a hospital!" Marissa scolded. "We didn't even get to take proper sanitation procedures before they ran up here!"
"It's fine mom, we'll sanitize them later," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Let them meet their new brother now."
"It's a boy?" Ashton asked as her, Emma and Jason crowded around Sam's bed, staring at the new baby in her arms.
"Aw man!" Emma pouted. "We wanted a sister."
"Yeah, boys are icky," Ashton agreed.
"No we aren't!" eight-year old Jason argued. "And I can't believe I finally get a brother! This is the best day ever!"
"You girls don't really think your baby brother is icky," Sam said as Ashton put her finger in the child's hand. "Right?"
"No," Ashton said reluctantly. "He's still really cute. Even if he's a boy."
"Yeah, I like him," Emma nodded. "He looks like a little baby monkey."
"Can I teach him how to fence?" Jason asked excitedly. "And how to play videogames? And how to-"
"Sure, you can do all that," Freddie told him. "In a few years when he's old enough."
"I have to wait?" Jason frowned.
"You'll still have fun with him while he's a baby," Sam said, reaching over and squeezing his shoulder. "You thought Emma and Ashton would be boring when they were babies but you still enjoyed playing with them."
"Mommy? Can I take him to preschool for show and tell?" Ashton asked. "I want to show him to my class!"
"No, I want to show him to the class!" Emma retorted. "He likes me more anyway!"
"No he doesn't!"
"Does too!"
"Does-"
"Girls, girls, shhh!" Freddie said. "Or you're going to wake him-"
But it was too late. The infant's blue eyes flew open and a loud wait emitted from his mouth.
"Aw, sweetie, it's alright," Sam cooed, gently stroking her son's back to calm him down.
"We're sorry," Ashton said, her and Emma looking guilty.
"It's okay," Freddie told them. "But now you know you have to be quiet when your brother is sleeping."
"Can we hold him?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, can we?" Emma echoed eagerly.
Freddie looked down at Sam, who smiled and nodded.
"Okay," Freddie said as the three kids cheered. "But I think we will have to listen to grandma and have you guys go wash your hands first. Mom? You mind taking them? Then you all can hold him."
"Yes, come along, everybody," Marissa said, taking one last look at the baby. "Oh…he looks just like you did when you were a baby, Freddie."
"Daddy was a baby?" Ashton gasped, amazed.
"Considering how he acts when he sees a spider, I'd say he still is," Sam smirked.
"Ha, ha," Freddie said dryly as his mother and the children headed out of the room. Once the door closed behind them he sat down on the chair next to Sam's bed and Sam carefully passed the infant to him.
"Hey little guy," Freddie whispered, staring down into his blue eyes. "Welcome to the family. Believe it or not, that was them on a calm day."
He kissed the top of his son's head. "You really do need a name, though."
"We'll come up with one," Sam said. "How hard can it be?"
….
"Sam, this is insane!" Freddie said two days later as Sam sat at the foot of her bed. "We're taking him home today and he still doesn't have a name! I don't think they'll even let us leave the hospital until we give him one!"
"Well it's harder than I thought, okay?" Sam snapped, looking down at their son, who was laying in his small plastic crib next to her bed. "What about…Benjamin?"
"No, I knew a Benjamin in the third grade," Freddie sighed. "He called me Fredilina Ballerina. You know, because my mom forced me into ballet for that year."
"Yeah, I made the connection," Sam said. "What about…Hayden?"
"No way," Freddie said. "There was this guy named Hayden who was a part of the staff at this computer store who tried to sell me a faulty hard drive."
"See, it's all your fault this poor kid doesn't have a name!" Sam said. "You have issues with so many people!"
"Well you're being difficult too!" Freddie retorted. "You said no to all of the names I came up with! I suggested Darren, Lewis, Victor, Larry-"
"It's like you're trying to have the kid stuffed into a trashcan when he goes to school," Sam said. "Maybe if you stop coming up with such dorky names I'd stop rejecting them and we could-"
"Mommy!" Emma said suddenly, running into the room with Ashton and Jason, Marissa right behind them. "Mommy, you get to come home today!"
Sam smiled as the three children crowded around the crib, saying hello to their new brother.
"Yeah, about time too," Sam chuckled. "Mommy's real sick of this hospital food."
"And my brother comes home too!" Jason said. "Guess what, mom? I found my old stuffed dinosaurs and put them in his room!"
"Well, maybe your brother will be coming home," Freddie said. "We still haven't come up with a name yet."
"Still?" Marissa said. "How could you not have picked a name yet? I've given you both countless suggestions! You could name him Winston, Donald, Winifred-"
"Wow, and I thought Fredward was a nubbish name," Sam mumbled to her husband. "Looks like you actually got lucky."
"You have to name him!" Ashton said. "All babies need a name!"
"Yeah," Jason nodded. "How can you not give my brother a name?"
"I named my fish really quick," Emma pointed out. "You guys are taking forever."
"Hey…" Sam said slowly, looking at Freddie. "You know what? I think I have an idea."
"What is it, mom?" Jason asked.
"Well, you guys are right, clearly your dad and I lost out touch with this whole naming process," Sam said.
"Yeah, we have," Freddie grinned, catching on to what his wife was doing. "So maybe it would be a good idea for you guys to name your brother."
"Really?" Ashton gasped.
"No way! You guys are joking," Jason said in disbelief.
"We can actually name him?" Emma asked, her mouth open in awe.
"I don't see why not," Freddie said, pulling out the book of baby names from the bag on Sam's bedside table that the couple had been going through all day and handing it to Jason. "Why don't you guys go through this and find something you all three think would be suitable for your little brother."
"How come Jason gets the book?" Ashton pouted.
"Because you can't read, genius," Jason said, rolling his eyes.
"Mom, why don't you take these three out to the waiting room so they can pick a name out," Freddie said.
"Yeah, come on, grandma," Emma said, taking Marissa's hand and dragging her out of the room. "I want to pick a name so we can take the baby home. I want to show him the picture of the zombie chasing the werewolf I drew last night."
"Emma, sweetheart, young ladies shouldn't be drawing such things," Marissa cringed. She turned to Sam. "Do you see what you've done? How many times have I told you these girls should start taking etiquette classes and-"
"Alright mom, we'll see you later," Freddie said before Sam could reply.
Once Marissa and the three children left, he sat down next to the crib and smiled down at the sleeping child.
"Hope this doesn't turn out to be a bad idea," Sam sighed.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Freddie said.
…..
It was almost three hours before the Benson children returned to the hospital room. By that point Sam was changed out of her hospital gown and was sitting in a rocking chair in the corner, feeding the baby.
"Hey," Freddie smiled, setting down the baby blankets he was folding. "So did you guys have any luck?"
"Yup," Jason said proudly, handing his father back the name book. "We all found the best name ever."
"You mean you three actually agreed on one name?" Freddie chuckled.
"Yeah, because it's a really good name," Ashton nodded.
"We did a good job," Emma said.
"Well don't keep us in suspense," Sam said. "What name did you pick?"
"We picked out," Jason said. "Tyler."
"Tyler…" Freddie repeated slowly. "Tyler. Tyler Benson. Huh. You know, that has a nice ring to it."
"Tyler," Sam said, looking down at the infant in her arms. "Hey, I like that. He seems like he'd be a good Tyler."
"Isn't it a nice name?" Ashton asked.
"Well I like it," Freddie said. "What about you, baby?"
"Works for me," Sam grinned. "Looks like three kids were better at this than we were, Fredwad."
"What about you, little guy?" Freddie said, taking his son from Sam. "You think you can pull of the name Tyler?"
The child emitted a few soft coos as he grabbed his father's finger.
"I'll take that as a yes," Freddie laughed.
"So that's his name?" Jason asked. "Tyler?"
"Yup," Sam nodded. "We officially have a Tyler Benson in the family."
