Disclaimer: I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's not mine.

A/n: I've changed the timeline a little comparative to the actual finale. I just don't buy that Lynette would have been home and perfectly well in time to see Susan off just one day after having the baby. So for my own sake of realism, I'm bumping back those final scenes a couple of days.

Thanks again to those of you who are reviewing! You really are fantastic for taking the time to do that.

Sacrifices of a Nightingale

A story by Ryeloza

Chapter Four

Tom ended up staying the entire night with her in the hospital, leaving only briefly to make a phone call to the kids before returning to her side. Whenever she woke up, he was up too, and by the next morning she wondered if he had slept at all. Judging by his haggard eyes, he hadn't. Finally, after she and the baby had both been fed, she managed to convince Tom to go home for awhile. When he returned just after lunch, he looked wholly refreshed and Lynette was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Hi," she greeted him warmly. She slowly sat up in the bed and brushed her hair behind her ears, glancing curiously at the book in Tom's hand.

"You're not going to believe this," he said, crossing the room to give her a welcome kiss, "but they actually expect us to name the baby." He gently nudged her over on the bed and climbed in next to her, crossing his legs at the ankles. "So guess what I brought us?"

Lynette snatched the book from him and gawked at the faded yellow cover with a picture of a chubby baby on the front. "Where did you find this?" she asked as she overturned the book and ran her hand over the cracked, worn back cover. The book, What Shall We Name the Baby?, had been a gift from Tom's mother that she'd gotten the first time she was pregnant, but she hadn't seen it since she'd been expecting Penny. Eagerly she flipped it open to the "S" section while Tom groaned. "There it is!" She pointed to the name Skip, which had a big star next to it, and glanced at Tom with twinkling eyes. "Skip Scavo."

"Give me that." Tom pulled the book out of her hand and snapped it shut, but Lynette was already thoroughly amused. Her greatest pleasure upon receiving the baby name book—which her mother-in-law had also used while pregnant—was discovering Tom's would-be name if his father hadn't interfered. Teasing Tom about this had been a source of unending entertainment for Lynette and in the intervening years since her last pregnancy she'd unfortunately forgotten about it.

"Little Skippy," she laughed, reaching up to tweak Tom's cheek. "So cute."

"You would think that would stop being funny eventually," Tom grumbled as he aimlessly flipped through the pages.

"Aww." Lynette pecked him on the cheek. "Sweetie, that will never stop being funny. But I promise I'll never tell the kids."

Tom gaped at her as though he'd never even considered this possibility and Lynette took advantage of his surprise to take back the book. "Thank you."

"Sure," she murmured as she turned to the Ps. When she reached the name Polly she let out a triumphant, "Ha!"

"What?" Tom took hold of the side of the book nearest to him and pulled it back a little so he could see the page without his reading glasses. Lynette tapped the name with her finger which, admittedly, was a little obnoxious, but she liked being right too much to care. "That star of approval was all you. You liked Polly, remember?"

"Things change. For instance, you didn't like it. Remember?"

Lynette rolled her eyes. "I liked Penny more. That's all. And it's still better than Patricia."

Tom sighed. "We never could agree on girls' names."

"That's true."

"I didn't want Penny."

Lynette looked at Tom cautiously. She had a feeling she knew what point he was reaching, and she felt reluctant to help him get there. "No," she agreed again.

"So maybe I should get to pick this name," Tom said, but Lynette shook her head before he even completed his sentence. He frowned at her. "Why not?"

"Because…" Lynette trailed off, unable to come up with a better argument than that she wanted to make the decision. It wasn't exactly a fair or reasoned response.

Tom raised an eyebrow, clearly able to deduce what she was thinking. "That's what I thought."

"Can't we just pick something together?"

"Fine." Tom turned to the previous page in the book, though Lynette didn't relinquish her hold on the other side of the cover. "What else did we like back in 2004?"

"You liked Pansy," Lynette said mockingly.

"Yeah, well you liked Pearl." He pointed at the name which bore a neat little red star next to it. "You know, I'm beginning to think that part of the problem was that we just don't like girls' names that start with P."

Lynette frowned. Their penchant for P names had never been intentional; they'd happened to choose Porter and Preston as names on their own merit, agreeing that the alliteration had appeal without being too cutesy for twins. Parker had been a particular favorite of Lynette's even when she'd been pregnant with the twins, so by the time she was pregnant for the third time it almost seemed expected that they'd pick another P. Still, as much as they didn't mean for it to be a tradition, it had certainly become one. "What are you thinking?" she asked carefully.

"You liked Polly because it was your aunt's name. So what if we pick a family name?"

The idea was appealing, much as Lynette didn't want to stray away from their usual fare. "Like what?" She shook her head and added jokingly, "We're not naming her after my mother."

"I wasn't exactly leaning toward Stella. But what about after your grandmother?"

Lynette shrugged. "I wanted to use Elizabeth as a middle name. Or some version of it, depending on what we settle on. Beth, I think."

For a second, Tom looked like he wanted to argue the merit of using Beth as a first name, and Lynette was glad when he changed direction. "Well what about one of my grandmothers?"

"Rose isn't right," said Lynette without offering further explanation. Rose Scavo had, on more than one occasion, lambasted Lynette and she wasn't in any particular hurry to bequeath her name. "What was your maternal grandmother's name?"

"Margaret. And don't pretend that I don't know why 'Rose isn't right.' Gran might have been a little crazy…And yeah, that incident with the wishbone was horrifying, but…" Tom trailed off and stared at her for a second. "You're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?"

In fact, Lynette wasn't, but she was unapologetic about the matter. The mention of the name Margaret had sparked an idea, and she looked up at Tom with warm, excited eyes. "I know the perfect name."