Vega knew she was supposed to have some grand epiphany about how precious life was. She was supposed to have some brilliant realization of just how much love she could hold in her heart. That was how the classic birth story went.
Instead, as she held her and Wylie's son close and tried not to wince as he figured out nursing, all she could think about was if the baby would still like her milk if she went and gorged herself on medianoche. And napping. She was also thinking about napping. And if it made her a bad mother that she wasn't experiencing the revelations that she always heard about. But she'd already had the life affirming moments, the realization that time was precious and not guaranteed, the understanding of just how much love one human could give. This baby wasn't the reason for that. This baby was the result of that.
Wylie was sitting next to her, a hand on the baby's back. Periodically, he kissed the side of her face. He had been great for the entire ordeal, holding her hand and rubbing her back and breathing with her. When her leg had cramped minutes after the birth, he'd turned away from watching her and the newborn's skin to skin contact to massage the muscle. And he'd taken forever to hold his son, saying that he'd love to, but that meant having to stop watching her hold him.
Of all the ways she was lucky, Vega thought that having Wylie in her life was the most fortunate thing to ever happen to her.
"We still have to name him, Michelle," he said, kissing her temple again.
"Did you have any ideas?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not really. We kept on just saying healthy baby, healthy baby…we can't name him Healthy Baby but that's how I've been thinking of him."
Vega wondered if part of the reason they hadn't ever seriously discussed names was that both of them were terrified something would go wrong. "I guess we still have a little bit of time…"
"I think I'd like you to pick," he said.
"Ah, classically acting like a sweetheart by giving me the option to hide the fact that you have no clue."
"Hush," Wylie said, a twinkle in his eye. "But no, seriously. I don't have any attachment to a name. If there's a name you want…"
There was. She hadn't discussed it with him, but there was a name she wanted to give to the little life in her arms. "Ernesto?" Vega asked. "After my father."
Wylie smiled. "I think your dad would love that. And we could call him Ernie, who as Cho points out, is the handsome and clever Muppet."
"Bert and Ernie weren't Muppets," Vega said.
"Weren't they?"
"No. The Muppets were, like specific Jim Henson creations. So like, the whole all Kleenex is tissue but not all tissue is Kleenex."
Wylie was scrolling with his thumb. "The internet says they're Muppets."
Vega rolled her eyes. "Not exactly the takeaway here, Jay."
"Says the person losing the argument."
"Just know that when I'm not holding this little guy, your shoulder is getting punched."
Wylie put his phone back in his pocket and smiled down at her. "Ernesto."
"Ernesto Jason."
"No." Wylie shook his head. "No, I told you, I don't want him named after me." He looked at her for a long moment, then spoke again. "Ernesto Kimball."
She blinked in surprise. "Kimball? Really?" She knew his jealousy over her closeness with Cho had long since passed, but she wouldn't have guessed he would even jokingly suggest naming their child after their boss.
He nodded. "You know. Both your fathers."
Vega smiled. "I love you so much."
He leaned down and kissed her. "I love you, too. And you, little Ernie." The baby had stopped nursing, and Wylie kissed him lightly on the head.
"Ernesto Kimball Wylie," Vega said. "It's not what I would have imagined. But I like it."
"Not what I would have imagined, but I like it," Wylie repeated. He smiled down at her affectionately. "Welcome to our lives."
And that brings the If I Can Leave Off Burying The White / Nature's First Green Is Gold series to a conclusion. It's been a long few years, and I know writing these fics have been a sort of therapy for me, to get over and get past how much the last few episodes of The Mentalist soured me. I hope this can be a true extension of canon for some of you, a world where there's a happily ever after for everyone. If not quite that, I hope at least you enjoyed reading these stories half as much as I enjoyed writing them.
