"Are you ready?" Their fingers tighten firmly around each other on reflex as he rests his hand on her chest.
"Yes," Rachel answers, nodding her head vigorously before she turns to him and lets out a breathless giggle. He kisses her forehead, his right foot bouncing nervously against the linoleum as he tries to control his excitement. "We're ready."
"Alright then. See here?" Finn looks at the small screen on the monitor in front of him. All he sees is a blob, to be honest. But that blob is his kid. His and Rachel's. And from the first moment he saw that blob, when it was still just an inch in size, he had fallen irrevocably in love with it. Dr. Zanki smiles kindly at them, and there's something like amusement that laces his words. He points towards something on that screen, something that Finn can't see, but he nods his head anyway because Rachel's squealing in excitement and he figures she could she just show it to him later.
"It's a girl," the doctor announces happily and Rachel's squeals get even louder and she's calling his name and holy shit, it's a girl?
"It's a girl?" he repeats stupidly.
"It's a girl!" Rachel exclaims and let go of his hand to throw her arms around his neck.
It's a girl.
Xxx
"I don't know," she answers vaguely.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"It's just, she's special Finn. She's ours. Her name should be special. Amanda sounds... common."
You mean like Rachel?, was at the tip of his tongue. He refrains though because the hormonal effect that would trigger will so not be worth those five seconds of satisfaction. Finn sighs in frustration. This is the third baby book they've gone through.
"Fine."
"We'll find it," she assures him, smiling and he can't get mad at her. Not really. He doesn't really like Amanda all that much anyway. So he leans forward on the counter top and kisses her mouth and he leaves for work. He makes a mental note to pick up another name book on his way home.
Xxx
"No way."
"But Finn-"
"Rachel. We are not naming our kid Maria."
"Why not?" she whines, trailing the last word like a child. He rolls his eyes, ignoring the bat of her eyelashes as he makes his way to the bathroom, his wife hot on his trail.
"Because I am not naming my kid after some tragic character from a musical." Rachel huffs and crosses her arms across her chest as she leans back against the sink while he brushes his teeth. He's tired and all he wants is to just cuddle her close and go to sleep. But he's pretty sure that's not happening tonight because Rachel has been talking his ear off the minute he stepped through their doorway four hours ago. She started in on the baby names after dinner, and they went through three before he realized that they all came from Broadway.
"Maria is an iconic character and a strong role model for women," she begins once he's done.
"Baby, she's a teenage girl from the ghetto with raging hormones and a boyfriend who got killed in a gang fight." She's sputtering incredulously next to him and he hides his grin as he pulls off his wifebeater and snatches up his pajama top from the bed.
"That is the most disgraceful interpretation of-"
"And we're not Puerto Rican," he says, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling her down next to him.
"Finn! That is racist! And not to mention-"
"Rachel!" She turns to look at him mid rant, her expression livid.
"We'll find it," he says as he wraps an arm around her shoulder to pull her closer into him. He sees her deflating.
"When? I'm seven months along Finn. At this rate, she's going to come out and be named Baby Girl Hudson," she finishes sarcastically.
"Baby Girl Hudson's cool. It's special. Nobody else will have that name."
"Stop teasing me," she grumbles. He pulls her along as he lay back on the bed and she sighs in compliance. Peaceful silence fills the air for almost fifteen minutes and he turns to his side, his palm on her belly, trying to find the beating of his daughter's heart. He's almost asleep when she starts again.
"Don't you think Maria is a-"
"Nope."
"But it's such a beautiful-"
"Nope." She releases a grunt of frustration as he nonchalantly buries his head further into the nape of her neck, trying to find a comfortable position.
"You would think the nine months of pain I'm going through in carrying her might be taken into consideration in this decision."
"That stopped working after the baby crib honey."
"Finn!"
"Rachel!"
"What?"
"Go to sleep."
Xxx
He finds her in front of the television, the sound of her a dead giveaway the moment he entered the house. The first thing he sees is the bowl of popcorn on the large bulge of her belly and her tiny feet sticking out from the edge of the chair she's lounging on. She's singing along to a diaper commercial, her head bobbing in time with the music and he refrains himself from snorting. Quietly, he tiptoes over to her until he's standing right behind her. She still hasn't noticed him and he vaguely notes that he needs to install a tighter security because a robber could have broken in and she probably won't notice at this rate. He leans down, holding his breath.
"I've got it," he whispers. The shriek she lets out almost bursts his ear drums as she jumps, the bowl of popcorn sliding down to the floor, its contents spilling out on to the carpet.
"Don't do that!" she yells angrily as she sits up and punches him hard on the chest. "You scared me!"
"Sorry Rach," he says, not sounding the least bit sorry. She scoots over to the left to give him some room, still glaring at him. He sees her take a deep breath and he just knows she's about to get into the myriad of reasons why he should regret ever thinking that startling her was ever a good idea in the first place.
"I've got it," he says again quickly, before a single sound could come out of her.
"Got what?" she asks, her expression sour. A slow grin starts to spread over his face and he guesses that it might be infectious or something, because he sees her lips pull up slightly too, albeit in confusion.
"Her name."
"Baby Girl Hudson?" she asks, pointing to her stomach. He nods his head confidently. It's perfect. He knew it the moment he passed the florist and his eye caught them. "Well what is it?" she asks in anticipation.
"Lily."
"Lily?"
"Yeah. Like a Stargazer." He sees a kind of softness enter her eyes and he knows she's reliving the same memories he is, thinking of the same things he is, and how perfect this is because of it.
"Lily," she repeats, her voice soft. He knows they've found it. Just something in the way the name rolls off both their tongues and the beautiful way it sounds when she says it makes it right.
"Lily."
"It's perfect."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Xxx
"Hey," he whispers against Rachel's abdomen, near the place where her tiny foot had protruded just seconds ago. "We found your name. Hey Lily."
She kicks again, a tiny movement right next to his ear. Rachel giggles and he feels her mirth reverberate against him. Finn slides back up their bed, right up to his wife who's still giggling like a beautiful little girl, her cheeks rosy and warm.
"I think she likes it," she tells him as he leans his forehead against hers. Rachel's smiling up at him, one of her hands finding its way around his neck, her fingers playing idly with his hair.
"She loves it," he says, grinning. "It's her name."
"She's kicking again," Rachel whispers, leaning up to kiss him softly on the lips. He looks down at her stomach and looks back up to grin at her.
"Lily."
"There she goes." He scooches back down to the middle of the bed, ignoring his wife's laughter.
"Lily," he says again excitedly, right next to her belly. He sees the kick and feels another wave of happiness wash over him. He wonders how it's possible to be this happy.
"Don't encourage her," Rachel says wryly, amusement lacing her words.
"She knows her name," he says looking up at his wife, slightly awestruck.
"Of course she does."
"Lily."
"Finn." Rachel whines as his palm feels another kick come in.
"One more time," he pleads, holding up a finger. She's rolling her eyes, but the grin on her face is huge.
"Fine."
"Lily." He thinks his little girl's kicking up a storm in there, like she can't wait to get the hell out of her mommy's belly and meet the world. He can't wait to meet her either. One more month feels like a whole new lifetime.
"I love you," Rachel tells him softly and he tears his fixated gaze away from her stomach to catch her gaze. She's perfect. They're perfect.
"I love you too."
Xxx
Lily Eva Hudson. Best baby name, ever.