Note: Why does everyone think I gave up on this fic? Really, it would be absolutely horrible of me to leave you hanging after twenty chapters. I'm not that cruel. Anyway, you should all be happy because this is a really long chapter...but I'm still not altogether pleased with it. The reason chapter twenty was so long in coming before was because of the difficulty of writing its content. (YOU try writing that scene, people! Not easy.) But yes, I'm still active on this site. And I shall finish this fic if it kills me.

Chapter Twenty-One: What's In A Name?

White walls. The smell of rotting Tylenol. Itchy blankets. Gina squealing about something in the background.

I closed my eyes and opened them again with a sigh.

I wasn't home. I was in the Clinic. Wait just a fishing moment, the Clinic?!

Sitting up in alarm, I suddenly remembered what had gone on during the past dozen or so hours. Which was basically giving birth. Letting it all soak in, I let out a laugh of relief. I had done it. I had survived pregnancy and delivery! And I'd done it in pigtails, too! Whoo!

But the question was, where was my baby? I glanced about frantically, but there was no little boy to be found.

Instead, I noticed that I was surrounded by all sorts of cards and gifts. Bizarrely enough, some people in Flower Bud actually cared about my successful delivery. Funny, I'd thought they all had gone PETA on me by now.

"Good morning, sunshine."

I jumped, startled. I turned to see Ray sitting beside me. He was grinning from ear to ear, and I couldn't help but smile back. After all, we were parents! Parents!

"Did you get to see our baby yet?" I insisted eagerly. "Is he absolutely adorable?!"

"Oh, he's perfect," Ray sighed. "You know, he's got a fuzz of dark brown hair and his little hands are just so—so—"

"Little?"

"Yeah!" he nodded, beaming. "You really haven't seen him?"

"Nope, and it's entirely unfair," I pouted, crossing my arms. "I'm the one who carried him around all these months, who went through thirteen hours of delivery—"

"Actually, it was more like twelve," Ray corrected me.

"…You mean I proved the doctors wrong?" I gasped.

"Not exactly, thirteen was just a rough estimate—"

"Take that, Alex and Martha and Gina!" I cackled. "You're wrong! Something is right in this world after all! Hahahaha!"

Ray gave me a very disturbed look.

"Er…moving on…" I cleared my throat. "Where is our baby boy? Can I go see him?"

"He's right here!" We turned to see Gina holding my son in her arms, bouncing into the room excitedly. I practically melted as she placed him in my arms. I'd never felt such skin against my hands—such smooth, pale skin. He yawned a little bit, opening his mouth wide and stretching his chubby round hands. Then he relaxed and closed his eyes once again as he settled into my arms.

"He's our baby," I whispered, stroking the dark hair upon his head. "Ray…he's our little baby. I'm a mommy now…Do you hear that, little one? I'm your mommy."

The baby blinked his big blue eyes at me in response.

"He looks just like you," Ray murmured, putting his arm around me. I shook my head with a laugh.

"No, he's too cute to look like me," I grinned. "I think he resembles you more, Ray."

"Agree to disagree?"

"Fine."

I let out a sigh as I looked up towards Ray with a pained smile. "We're going to have to agree on a name, you know."

"I still stand by Char or Dace," Ray shrugged. "But…I don't know, maybe we could think of a better name, like--?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick Alex!" Gina exclaimed, intruding in on the conversation excitedly. "Alex is my favorite name!"

This was met with a blank stare from Ray and I.

"But Alex…is the doctor's name," I said slowly.

"So?" Gina replied. "It's still the bestest name ever!"

"…Bestest isn't a word, is it?" Ray inquired.

"Okay, then….why not name the baby Martha!" Gina squealed.

It took every ounce of willpower for me to refrain from strangling the girl.

"The baby is a boy," Ray tried to explain. "Martha is a girl's name."

"Are you being sexist?" Gina gasped.

"Er…" He turned to me helplessly, unable to respond.

I held my baby protectively.

"No son of mine is being named Martha. End of discussion," I growled.

"But—"

"When you are in labor for over ten hours, then you can name your baby whatever the fish you want! But I refuse to name him Martha! Or Alex!" I declared.

Ray put his hand on my shoulder tentatively. "Harley, calm down. You're over-reacting."

Letting out a long sigh, I leaned back onto my pillow and cuddled my son closer. "Ugh, I'm too tired to argue anymore. Any other ideas?"

Gina raised her hand. "Oooh, what about--?"

"No!" Ray and I shouted in unison.

The nurse crossed her arms in frustration.

"Okay, so I still like Jack, and you want Char or Dace…" I pondered aloud. "Maybe we could combine our own names and come up with something?"

"Rarley?" Ray suggested dubiously. "Hay? Harlay?"

"…That's even worse than Martha," I groaned.

"But Martha is a wonderful name," Gina insisted. Ray and I both shot her looks of annoyance.

"I think I hear Alex calling you," I spoke, looking towards the door. "It sounds important."

"I didn't hear anything," the nurse replied.

"What was it he said? It's something…personal?" I answered, looking at Ray imploringly. He blinked for a moment before catching onto my lie and nodding emphatically to a doubting Gina.

"Oh, well, I can't keep Alex waiting!" she chirped, starting towards the door. "I'll see you two later--!"

BAM. The door opened and crashed into an unsuspecting Gina's nose, no doubt breaking it.

"Owww!" she complained, her hands going to her face. "Someone broke my nose!"

"A lot of that has been going on lately," Ray remarked, giving me a disapproving look as I laughed.

"I can't let it stop me, though," Gina decided. "I'm coming, Alex!" And the nurse ran out once again.

The visitor whose entrance caused Gina's nose to break paused before approaching me. He adjusted his fedora and walked over to the bed and stood there uncertainly, unsure of what to do or say.

"Jamie?" I exclaimed. "What…are you doing here?"

"He's been here the whole time," Ray muttered. "He refused to leave until he knew you were okay."

"You make me sound like some sort of saint," Jamie remarked dryly. "I was just curious to see if you'd last childbirth—and if your child would look anything like you at all." His blue eyes rested on my baby for moment before flickering up to look at me again. "Well, you're lucky. He doesn't look anything like you."

"Why, you--!" I started before I was cut off by a stern look from Ray.

Jamie sat beside me and smirked a bit. "I suppose he's cute…in an annoying kind of way. A bit chubby like his mother, but it can't be helped. He'll thin out over time. Still, I don't think he was worth all this fuss."

"Fuss?" I repeated.

The farmer gestured to the numerous cards and gifts in the room.

"You already had a baby shower, so I don't understand why all these idiots are fawning over you like this," Jamie complained. "You'd think they'd never seen a baby before."

"Have you read any of the cards yet?" Ray asked me.

"I just woke up, you idiot," I laughed as I laid my now-sleeping baby beside me. "No, of course I haven't."

Jamie picked up an envelope and smirked as he read the heading.

"To Mrs. Ray, from your friends at Callaway Café," he read aloud as he doubled over laughing. "Your friends? That's rich!"

I snatched it from him hurriedly and opened it. "There's two letters inside," I remarked.

"Can I read one?" Ray asked.

"Sure," I smiled. He took one from me eagerly.

"This is Katie's," Ray exclaimed, mildly surprised.

Jamie grinned. "Excellent. Read it aloud," he ordered.

Ray did so.

"Harley. Congratulations, I guess. Apparently even a complete idiot can give birth."

Jamie continued laughing as I sat up indignantly.

"At least I'll be seeing less of you around the café. You'll be wanting to lose the weight you've gained from your delivery. Ha!"

"Oh no she didn't!" I gasped. "She did not just call me fat!"

"Of course you're not fat, Harley," Ray insisted, looking up from the stationary. "You're beautiful."

"It's a rule of marriage that husbands have to lie, I suppose," Jamie muttered aloud. In response we both shot him dirty looks.

"Anyway, I guess I should be nice to you or something, so Carl made me bake you some brownies. You'd better like them. Or else."

"Or else what?" I challenged. "What a brat."

"So enjoy motherhood, blah, blah, blah and all that jazz. From, Katie. PS: I almost forgot. JOE IS MINE, BACK-OFF YOU SLUT!!"

Ray folded up the letter and cleared his throat nervously. "Well," he began, "that was…certainly…"

"Wonderful," Jamie finished for him, smiling. "Absolutely wonderful."

Gritting my teeth, I picked up the next letter and mumbled, "If Carl's card is anything like Katie's, then I don't want congratulatory letters ever again."

"Just read," Jamie barked.

"Hey, Harley! Wow, you have a baby! That's so super wonderful! I hope you give him plenty of sweets!"

"He wants your child to be obese?" Jamie asked, eyebrows raised.

"And plenty of love, too! Yay for babies! They're sooooo cute!"

"Carl's a guy, right?" Ray interrupted. "I don't know why, but I felt like someone should reestablish that."

"But I made you some cheesecake because I'm sure all that childbirth has made you hungry! Happy parenting! Love, Carl!"

"Did anyone else notice that every sentence ended in an exclamation point?" Jamie remarked.

"Wait, there's more," I insisted.

"PS: Don't eat Katie's brownies if you value your life! Haha!"

"…I don't know what's so funny about the fact that she wants to poison me," I said at length. "Jamie, could you throw out the brownies for me?"

"I'm not your servant," Jamie scoffed. "Ray, you married her. Throw the brownies away."

"But--!"

"Do it!" Jamie snapped. And Ray did so.

"Do we really want to read the rest of them?" I begged. "These aren't very promising…"

"Well, some people gave you gifts," Ray shrugged. "Lyla sent you some jam."

"Aw, how sweet of her!" I smiled. "Where is it?"

"Why, it's right—here?" Ray picked up the jar in confusion. "I could have sworn I put it on that other counter…and it's empty now, too!"

"Huh, weird," Jamie muttered, wiping some traces of jam from his mouth hurriedly. "Wonder how that happened."

"…This is becoming a complete and total bust," I complained. "Is there anything decent here?"

"Ann sent you a coffee-maker she made herself—"

"Throw it out."

"There's some corn with a bow tied around it from—"

"Joe, I know," I interrupted. "Dump that, too."

"Apparently some Mia person sent you a rubber chicken?"

"Er…what am I supposed to do with that?" I asked, perplexed. "Throw it out."

"Isn't there anything you don't want us to throw away?" Ray protested.

"The cheesecake," I decided. "Everything else—toss it."

"You don't even know what they are—"

"Trash it all!"

"But Harley, you're being unreasonable—"

Jamie picked up an armful of junk sitting on the counter and threw it all into the trashcan impatiently.

"If she wants it tossed, toss it!" he growled. "I don't have enough time to hear you two argue all day."

"There's still one letter left," Ray noticed, picking up a slightly beaten envelope.

"I don't want to hear it," I spoke defiantly.

"It's from Dia, though," he pouted. "Come on, just one more letter?"

After being subjected to a few minutes of Ray's puppy-face, I groaned and agreed.

"Harley. I am pleased your birth was successful. However, you must act quickly before it's too late. Enclosed in this letter is a lockpick. After you read this, eat this note. I wish you luck. Dia."

"Did she really send me a lockpick?" I replied incredulously.

"Actually, yes," Ray exclaimed as he brought it out. "…Wow."

"Well, I don't know about you two idiots, but I refuse to eat that note," Jamie informed us.

"Agreed," Ray and I responded.

At that moment, my baby boy stirred in his sleep and moaned softly. I let out a little "aw!" as I patted his head fondly.

"Isn't he so cute?" I gushed.

"What's his name?" Jamie inquired. "You two must have thought of one by now."

"Er…funny story," I chuckled uncertainly. "You see, Ray and I were unsure of what to name him, and—"

"We just decided now," Ray finished.

"We did?" I exclaimed, blinking in surprise.

"Yeah," Ray nodded with a smile. "His name is Jack. It's a good farming name, don't you think?"

And as I stared at him in disbelief, I found that I could only whisper, "Thank you."