i

"We should give it some meaning," said Kai, his breath fogging the air as he talked.

There was only the sound of crunching snow beneath them for a moment. "I agree, but your idea of "giving it meaning" is a bit over the top," Cinder said. Her hands were shoved in the pockets of her green snow jacket to keep them warm against the chilling winds.

Kai gave her a look. "I only suggested the name Wire Cutters," he said. Cinder sighed.

" Kai. . . We are not naming our child after a tool," Cinder said gently.

"It's a special tool in our relationship, Cinder, and it brought us close!" Kai said. He looked down at her and stopped walking to put his arms around her waist and pull her against him. "Like this baby will," he murmured.

Cinder refused to take notice of her speeding heart beat whenever he did this. Put his arms around her. Pulled her close. Whispered things so close she could feel the words against her face. No, she would not fall for his go-to method of winning their arguments. He had started doing this in the middle of arguments after realizing just how much of an effect he had on her.

She put her hands on his chest to gain purchase. She pushed herself off of him, but stayed close to him and stared into his eyes. "I think we bring ourselves together just fine," she whispered.

Kai sighed, but agreed with Cinder. He hugged her, and then, holding her hand, continued to walk with her to their apartment. Cinder thought she was saved from having to curse her future child with the name Wire Cutters. The thought of Kai, her husband of three years, actually naming a child Wire Cutters because it had sympathetic meaning made her core a little warm because of just how adorable his dorkiness was to her. She remembered back when she had first met him in the beginning of ninth grade, when he was a popular and handsome sophomore of her school while she was just a little girl who knew how to fix a car engine. How he had liked her was unknown to her mind, but whenever she asked him he would always remind her that she was perfect to him, grease-stained forehead and all.

"Do I really have a grease stain on my forehead?" She had asked, furrowing her brow and rubbing at spots on her forehead. Kai had laughed and gently took her wrists, guiding her hands back down to his neck. "All the time," he murmured and kissed the spot between her eyebrows. "But it's weirdly attractive."

However, she wasn't about to name her first child Wire Cutters.

Cinder opened the apartment building door after she kicked the snow off of her boots and onto the ground outside. She walked inside, a few steps before Kai, and went across the lobby to get in line for an elevator.

He caught up with her and they got into the elevator. "So, anything you're excited to go through with in this pregnancy?" he asked her, smiling down at her. Although he didn't tower over her, he was still three inches taller than her.

She hummed in thought. "Well, since it's our first time being pregnant, I'm kind of scared. Scarlet told me everything about her pregnancy, and it sounds like it really sucks," She frowned. "She also made actually having the child with her and raising it suck as well, though, so I really don't know what to expect."

"Yeah," Kai shrugged,"But she had Z's baby, while you're having mine. Their baby took after their parents in becoming a wild kid. Imagine how docile ours will be."

Cinder laughed and hugged his side again before pulling him down so she could kiss his cheek.

"Kai, you know that you can be a hand full, too, right?" She grinned. He hummed and hugged her. She tucked her head beneath his chin and put her arms around his waist.

As said before, she thought she had been saved from the conversation of having Wire Cutters Linh-Kaneko. But as they stayed in their embrace for a few minutes, she heard Kai mutter into her hair, "You're only a few weeks along. You'll come around to Wire Cutters."

She groaned and smacked his side.

ii

"Hey, Kai?" Cinder turned her head toward her sleeping husband lying beside her in their bed. Her laptop illuminated her face and the top half of her white nightshirt. She poked his back in an attempt to get his attention, while usually worked, since every time she woke him up in the middle of the night he thought the baby was coming, but this time he just gave way to a breathy sound and scooted over to his side more. Cinder sighed and set her laptop onto the ground next to her side of the bed, then crawled more under the covers to cuddle onto his back. Well, as much as her stomach would let her. She was six months along now.

"Ka-ai," she sang into his ear quietly. "Wake up, Hoshi," She kissed the shell of his ear.

Kai moaned and rolled over to face her, his eyes still shut in protest of waking up fully. "What is it?" He asked in a sleepy voice. "Are you hurt?"

"No," she whispered, easing him to sit up. She quickly put the laptop back on the bed and got behind him, massaging his back. "I just found something I thought you might like," she murmured. She placed her head on his shoulder to be able to see the screen as well.

Kai squinted against the light from the screen. Cinder had pulled up a list of names, in which she had circled two of them. "Hikaru, and. . . Mitchiko? Cinder, what is this about?"

"I found two names," she started,"with meaning. One for a girl, and one for a boy. I thought you might like them."

Kai read more. "Hikaru, meaning "light,"or "radiance". Mitchiko, meaning "beautiful," "intelligent," and "bright.""

Cinder beamed at the screen, her head still on Kai's shoulder. "Do you like them?" She asked.

Kai turned his head slightly to look at her. "They're very nice, Hotaru," he said with a hand cupping her chin. "I'm guessing Wire Cutters is definitely out of the picture, then?"

Cinder grinned. "Definitely."

Kai chuckled lightly and kissed her.

iii

Cinder woke up in pain one night, instantly knowing what this was about. The baby.

She carefully got out of the bed, not waking Kai, and walked to the bathroom. She stared into the full-length mirror they had to one side of the room, lifting her nightshirt up. Her abdomen hurt more than it ever had in the last eight months.

She smoothed a hand over her belly, whispering. "Come on, not now," she stared down. " This really isn't a good time, in the middle of the night. Your daddy has been working late and didn't get much-" she hissed as another contraction hit her full-blow. "Alright, then. I guess you take after me in your determination and stubbornness," she scowled even as a smile etched onto her lips.

She would finally get to meet her baby.

She padded to Kai's side of the bed, gently rustling his body under the sheets. "Kai," she whispered. "Kai, wake up. I need help."

Kai turned his head over, opening his eyes halfway. His voice was groggy, but he was definitely awake. "What is it?" he asked.

"The baby's coming."

Kai's eyes drifted down, then shot open entirely. He sat up in bed. "What? Are you kidding?"

Cinder took one of his hands in both of hers. "I've been having contractions for a while now."

"Are you sure that it's now? It could just be-"

Cinder squeezed his hand as another contraction came and he let out a pained yelp.

"Okay, okay," Kai said. He got up and fisted the car keys on the bedside table. "Let's go."

iv

"Oh, oh!" Iko squealed, looking at the baby in Cress's arms. "I want to hold it after Cress! Please, Cinder?"

Cinder laughed weakly. "Yes, Iko," she said. She turned to Kai, sitting in a chair so close to the hospital bed he was practically on it himself, although he dared not to sit on the bed in fear of accidentally hurting Cinder. He held her hand tightly in his, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. They smiled at each other. You did it, Kai mouthed to her.

Their friends crowded the room a few hours after Cinder had had her child. Kai hadn't told the news an hour before that, having been wrapped up in his family. Iko and Kinney had driven Peony. Soon after, Scarlet, her husband and son, Thorne and Cress, and Winter and Jacin had arrived together. Torin and Rikan, Kai's father, had come as well, despite Rikan having been very ill with his cancer.

The hospital room was packed with friends and balloons and presents and cards. All the seats available in the room had been taken, so some stood, some sat on the ground. Kai hadn't left Cinder's side since bringing her into the hospital. He had actually been there to help her through delivery, in which it was a miracle Cinder didn't crush his hand. After a long time in labor, Cinder gave birth to their daughter.

Their daughter.

She was wrapped up in a light pink baby blanket that had a pattern of alphabet blocks on it. She had medium dark-brown hair, olive skin, and copper eyes.

"So, what have you thought of naming it?" Scarlet asked Cinder. All eyes turned to the baby Iko was currently cooing to in her arms, but she didn't seem to notice. "Ze'ev had no idea how to name ours, but he was ecstatic when I suggested naming him Ran."

"Kai wanted to name her Wire Cutters for the whole pregnancy," Cinder said, and everyone in the room laughed. "It has meaning!" Kai defended.

Cinder chuckled again. "Yeah, but I changed his mind. I'm sure that we'll have to name a pet Wire Cutters soon, though, so don't think you've seen the last of it!"

There was another collective laugh around the room.

Cinder exhaled and looked from each person in the room, meeting each person's eyes in turn. "But never mind that," she said. "We named her Mitchiko."

"Mitchiko," Kai said reverently as Iko passed her to his arms. A few awes came when Kai set her in Cinder's arms and sidled up closer to them. "I like it," he said. "I love her."

Author's Note: Okay, so some explanations for a few things! First of all, Hoshi is Prince in Japanese. Hotaru is firefly in Japanese. I made those Cinder and Kai's pet names for each other.

This is a modern AU, where no one is a cyborg or android or a political figure. Iko is a real person, whether transgender or amputee or whatever else in this story or not, because that detail isn't needed for the story. And yes, Kinney is her husband, so Kiko shippers can go crazy.

Peony and Rikan are still alive, but Rikan has stage three terminal cancer and I don't know about Peony. Before you flip out on me for having the Wolflet child be named Ran, my unmentioned backstory for this was that Ran was Wolf's brother, but he was still-born so Wolf never got to meet him.

Also, this is an after-college story, where Cinder and. Kai have been married for about three years, so Cinder would be around twenty-six or twenty-seven years old with how Id place it, and Kai would be a year older. Before any corrections come, yes, I placed them a year apart, and I know they are really two years, but this is my fanfiction.

From Scribbleosity, thanks for reading! -Charlotte