"Michael?"
"Too average."
"Brian?"
"Not average enough."
"Duncan that doesn't even make sense, how can a name be not average enough?"
"Baby, you want a name to be unique, but not too unique for fear of your kid being ostracized."
"Ugh, fine whatever; let's go through some girls names. You start this time."
The couple was preparing the baby's room. Duncan had already removed the furniture in the guestroom, putting it in its new home, the basement. He had painted the room a sunny yellow, per Courtney's request for gender neutral, and had put up wallpaper of farm animals, the theme they had chosen for the room. Currently Duncan was trying to put together the crib as Courtney explained the instructions, filling in the gaps with conversation about baby names.
"Veronica? We can call her Roni for short."
"Um, how about not."
"Melissa? Shortened to Lissa."
"Are you serious? Why do all of your names have such annoying nicknames?"
"Maybe we should just cool it with the names for now," Duncan sighed. "Hand me the screwdriver."
"Here and no, we can't have our baby nameless."
"Well, we're gonna name the baby eventually, but we've got time Courtney and we obviously aren't gonna settle on name today."
Duncan stood up and began packing up the tools and gathering the packing material the crib had come in. Once finished, he moved the crib to one of the corners in the room where there was already a changing table setup. On the other side of the room was a small dresser, but the room still looked a bit bare.
"Oh it looks so good," Courtney gushed, handing Duncan a mobile with different farm animals on it. "Could you hang this up please?"
"Sure Princess."
Before Duncan was able to hang it a piercing ring interrupted him. Checking the screen on his cell phone he looked at Courtney apologetically.
"I've gotta take this, I'll be right back." He practically ran out of the room.
Several minutes later Duncan reappeared, fuming. He grabbed the mobile, not even acknowledging Courtney, and hung it up, turning the knob quickly to make sure it spun.
"So," Courtney began, "who was on the phone?"
"Mark Fay." His answer was efficient and to the point. He was definitely angry.
"Why was your boss calling you? You weren't supposed to go into work today were you?"
"No, but apparently they need me to go into tomorrow."
"But tomorrow's Sunday, you never work on Sunday's."
Duncan sighed and leaned against the wall, obnoxiously popping the bubble wrap he had swiped from the crib packaging.
"We've been having a problem with one of the boys under my counsel," he explained.
"What kind of problems?" Courtney questioned an eyebrow quirked.
"The behavioral kind," Duncan said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "This kid is absolutely unruly, the worst I've ever had to deal with."
"What's his name?"
"Billy Williams."
"His name is William Williams?" Courtney tried not to giggle.
"No it's just Billy and God help you if you call him William."
"Baby, he can't be that bad. He's just a teenager."
"No, he's a psycho. This is his fifth time in juvie and he's beaten up three of his roommates. I've never met a kid like this; I don't even know how to begin to help him."
"Awe, Duncan, is that why you have to go in tomorrow, because this Billy kid is so insane?"
"Yeah, all the counselors are meeting and we're gonna discuss what to do because if we don't figure something out we're gonna have to transfer him to another facility."
"Well sweetheart I'm sure you'll figure someth—oh, oh," Courtney stopped suddenly clutching her stomach.
"Princess?" Duncan was next to her in a heartbeat cautiously wrapping an arm around her. "You okay?"
Courtney hesitated a minute before responding.
"Yeah I'm fine. I think, I think the baby just kicked."
"Can I feel?"
Courtney took his hand and placed it on the spot where she had felt the kick. They both held their breath while they waited for the next one. Seconds, which felt like hours, passed before Duncan felt anything, but when he did his eyes lit up. He released Courtney briefly before pulling her into a kiss.
"That's amazing. God, I love you so much."
"I love you too."
"I have a surprise for you Princess."
Duncan left the room and Courtney heard a door open and footsteps going down into the basement. There were some crashes which prompted her to shout "Are you okay?" and "Do you need help?" only to be answered with "I'm fine!"
Courtney heard Duncan returning up the stairs dragging something behind him, or maybe pushing something in front of him, which sounded quite heavy.
"Close your eyes!"
Courtney did as she was told, smirking at the obvious problems she could hear Duncan was having with whatever it was he was dealing with. He set his surprise up on the side of the room that only had a dresser, evening out and effectively pulling the room together; he just hoped Courtney would like it.
"Okay, open them."
"Oh Duncan, it's beautiful."
The rocking chair was gorgeous. It was very large and made of oak. It must've cost him a fortune, but it was stunning. Duncan had known that Courtney wanted a rocking chair, but knew she would never buy one herself because it was "a waste of money" and she could "just sit on the couch." He had seen it marked off in one of her baby catalogs and was just excited he was able to get it for her without her figuring it out; it wasn't everyday he could pull one over on her.
Courtney walked over to it and picked up the stuffed cow that sat in it. She gently sat in the rocking chair, holding the stuffed animal and slowly began to rock back and forth methodically.
"Thank you honey."
Duncan pulled her into a sweet, chaste kiss.
"Nothing but the best for my Princess."
A/N: Short, I know, but I felt like the two needed some bonding time...and time to discuss work problems! Thanks to all of my reviewers so far, do you guys have any idea how awesome you are? :D