I'm flying down the interstate so fast, it's a miracle that I haven't managed to get pulled over. The speedometer says I'm going 88 MPH, yet I still feel like I'm not going fast enough. 'Alright, calm down,' I think to myself. 'If it were a major emergency, wouldn't you be meeting her at the hospital instead of the house?' Logic aside, I'm still freaking out. My wife is not one to call something an "emergency" unless it actually is. I reach a red light and pull out my phone to review the text.

From: Carly Bear

911! MAJOR EMERGENCY!
GET HOME QUICK!

Aug 21, 3:06 pm

The fact that she didn't pick up the phone when I called just before leaving work early worried me further.

After managing to get home in a matter of 20 minutes (mind you, this is typically a 35-minute trip), I burst through the door, greeted by a silent house.

"CARLY?" I yell.

I hear an unintelligible response from the only lit room at the end of the hallway to the left. I barrel down the hallway and swing the door open, where I was met with quite a sight.

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bare room is my wife, sobbing heavily. She doesn't appear to be injured, which gives me major relief. She is, however, surrounded by strips of colored paper, which look like paint samples from the local hardware store. All of the strips seems to be varying shades of yellow. Both of her hands are propped on her swollen belly, loosely holding some of the strips. She looks up at me with her wet brown eyes, trying to reign in her sobs long enough to speak.

"Th-the idiot p-painters used the w-wrong c-c-colorrrr!" she choked out, breaking into renewed sobs. I let out the breath that I've been holding since I received the text. She's done an amazing job keeping her hormonal mood swings in check, but occasionally there are moments like this, where the smallest thing bring her to tears. I hate to see her so upset, but I can't help but regard this scene, a sobbing Carly with watery puppy dog eyes while surrounded by squares of yellow paper in an otherwise empty room, as a mixture of funny, pitiable, and extremely adorable. I know better than to laugh, though, as this is obviously important to her. I take a step forward and kneel down in front of her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as I wipe the tears off her cheeks.

"Baby, the room looks amazing! What do you mean?" I ask in the softest voice possible.

"No, Freddie, it's c-crap!" Carly insists. She holds up the color sample in her right hand. "They were supposed to paint the room this color here. See? 'Sunnyside Lane.'" Carly's thumb is on the square of the intended room color. "Instead, the painters used this," she says, waiving her left hand, with her thumb on what I assume is the offensive hue. "Babouche! Our baby is supposed to have a room with Sunnyside Lane walls! BABOUCHE? I can barely pronounce it!" Carly throws the samples on the floor with the others and crosses her arms over her belly. I look at the two colors closely. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the difference. At all. The Sunny Lane whatever color may be a little brighter than the other one, but it's too close to tell. How do I approach this without getting my head ripped off?

"Umm, sweetie? Help me out here. Is there a major difference between the two?" I ask. Carly looks at me as if I'm a monster.

"Sunnyside Lane is so much brighter than Babouche!" she says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Remember what the article in the baby magazine said? Bright colors are better for the baby's brain development! This," she spat, with her flailing arms indicating the newly painted walls, "is not bright enough! Our baby is going to have the wrong-colored walls and his brain isn't going to develop well enough and he'll grow up to be dumb and fail most of his classes and get mixed up with the wrong crowd and never know how to do math properly and join a gang and everyone's going to call me a bad moootheeerrrr!" Carly vents her worries in one breath and finishes strong with a fresh round of sobs. I wrap her in my arms as she buries her head in my chest, her cries causing hiccups. I attempt to calm her down by stroking her hair. I can't get over how insanely adorable she is.

"Carls, you have absolute nothi-" I'm stopped by a sudden realization.

She said that he'll grow up to be dumb and fail most of his classes.

He'll. His.

"Carly," I say slowly, "what did you say about him failing his classes?"

She lift her face to make eye contact with me, awarding me with a watery smile.

"A boy, Freddie."

This lovely, extraordinary, incredible gift of a woman is going to give me a boy. I'm going to have a son.

If not for my son growing inside her I would squeeze and kiss her until she begged for mercy. I settle for placing a firm searing kiss on her lips, instead. When I pull back, she is beaming, the walls seemingly forgotten.

"I love you," I breath out, "so, so much. You're already being an incredible mother to our son and no amount of paint is going to change that!" I'm fighting back my own tears as I look at my wife. She's so amazing and I can't help but feel incredibly fortunate to be the one to spend the rest of my life thanking her for everything she's giving me, has already given me, and plans to give me in the future. I place my hands on her stomach, amazed that I'll be meeting my son in less than three weeks. My eye catches the paint sample strewn about the floor.

"Sweetheart, the room seriously looks great," I begin with caution, "but if you want, I can stay home tomorrow and paint the room whatever color you'd like. I just want you to be happy."

Carly leans up and softly kisses me. It's amazing how she's still able to bring me to my knees with a simple kiss. It's a good thing I'm sitting on the ground. She pulls back with her trademarked dazzling smile.

"You know what, babe? The color doesn't seem all that bad anymore."

A/N: As always, thank you so much for reading. I wanted to send a quick shout out to RemDiamond for being so supportive of this project, as well as some of my other work! I appreciate it!

Also, aside from the pending pink and gray chapters, I believe I am out of colors! Are there any suggestions for some simple colors I may be overlooking? I don't really want to do arbitrary colors (i.e. cerulean or forest green), but if there is a basic or simple color that I'm missing, I'd appreciate it if someone would let me know!

Thanks for your time and continued reviews!

Hollaatchyagirl,

Phunky