The Perfect Name

Callie lay in her hospital room just staring at her brand-new baby girl - trying to choose the perfect name.

(A one-shot where Callie has to pick a name for her daughter.)

Callie sat in her hospital room staring down at the tiny girl in her arms. She was a month early and Callie felt even more unprepared than she had already felt when she found out she was pregnant. But she was supposed to have had one more month to finish the nursery, the shopping, the planning and most importantly the reading. Callie had moved out of her moms' house a year ago when she turned twenty-one and within a few months she had already made her first mistake when she slept with a random boy that she had met at a college party. But her moms had been there for her through these last eight months, supporting and guiding her. But she also had to work and study for night school which gave her less time to prepare for this baby. But she was supposed to have had one more month.

But now she was here, all four pounds, fourteen ounces of her, all pink with very little hair and dark brown eyes. But it wasn't the lack of sufficient clothes or the lack of a car seat or bottles and diapers that bothered Callie. As she stared down at this little bundle in her arms waiting for her moms to arrive, she couldn't help but feel guilty that she didn't have a name yet. Callie had the hardest time choosing a name for nothing seemed to fit just right and she couldn't figure out why.

"Sweetheart?" Callie heard from the door. She looked up to find Stef poking her head around the door and she smiled, giving her mother permission to enter with Lena close behind.

"She's beautiful, baby." Stef said as she walked up to the bed and gave Callie a kiss on the head.

"What happened?" Lena asked of the early delivery, stroking the baby's tiny cheek, hopeful since the baby seemed to be doing okay.

"My water just broke and I called 911 and an ambulance rushed me here." Callie explained. "They took me into surgery immediately because the baby was breach."

"Is everything okay now?" Stef asked, still concerned that her granddaughter was here a month early.

"The doctor said she's fine and since her lungs are sufficiently developed, they don't need to keep her here for more than a day." Callie explained. "We can be discharged day after."

"You're coming home with us." Lena said firmly, not giving room for Callie to argue.

"I haven't gotten everything ready." Callie said. "I need a car seat and more clothes and blankets and diapers and everything." She began to panic slightly, wondering how she was going to handle everything from now on.

Lena quickly picked the sleeping baby out of her mother's arms while Stef climbed onto the bed to hold her daughter, shushing her as she stroked her hair.

"It's going to be okay sweetheart." Stef whispered to Callie. "You'll figure it all out and we're here to help you. You'll come home with us and we'll get you whatever you need, and we'll be there to show you what needs to be done."

Callie eyed the baby nervously. "She's so little." She said, in a tone that told Stef she was scared.

"She'll grow." Stef assured her. "And little or not, they are pretty tough."

"I've been too scared to do anything so far." Callie admitted. "So far, the nurses have washed her, changed her and carried her most of the time. I just fed her once and even that didn't work so well."

"It takes time." Stef assured her daughter. "It'll all come, just relax and let us help."

"I can't take her out of here without a car seat." Callie said. "And she needs a name too. But nothing seems to fit. I can't take her home without a name."

"We'll figure it out." Lena cooed softly as she rocked her granddaughter. "Suddenly the perfect name will just pop into your head."

"She was supposed to have everything." Callie said regretfully. "Whenever I imagined having a baby, I pictured a mom and a dad and a house and nursery full of things. But she doesn't have any of that."

"She has a mom." Stef reminded her as she gently combed her fingers through her hair. "And she has two grandmothers and two great grandparents and three uncles and an aunt that are going to spoil her rotten. She's healthy and she's safe and before you come home tomorrow, we will buy all the essentials. We've already got a few diapers that we were going to give you and you don't need bottles right now. We'll get her a car seat this evening so please don't worry okay."

Callie nodded as she let the movement of her mom's fingers calm her down. She was beginning to feel just a little bit better now that her moms were here. She didn't feel so lost and everything didn't seem so rushed anymore. She could do this. She knew she could because her moms would be right by her side.

The only thing that still remained was the name. Callie had hoped that by looking at the baby she'd know the right name, but the little girl wasn't born with a tag introducing them like many stuffed toys and baby dolls did. Callie had to figure this one out for herself and although everyone told her she had some time to think it through she still felt unprepared until that one question was answered.

"My turn." Stef said when Callie had calmed down sufficiently for her to let go.

Lena smiled and deposited the tiny bundle into her wife's arms and then moved over to their daughter so she could hold her for a while.

"You doin' okay baby?" Lena asked gently as Callie's eyes never left the little baby.

"Just tired." Callie admitted though she nodded as well.

"Close your eyes." Lena whispered as she pulled Callie closer so that the girl's head could rest on her shoulder. "We're here and we've got both of you."

Callie did as her mother suggested and rested her head on her shoulder. It had taken her almost three years to get this comfortable with her moms but now she didn't think twice. Her eyes opened and closed a few times as she watched Stef gently rocking the baby.

Just as Callie was going from being awake to asleep, she realized that her mother had been right - the perfect name would just pop into her head – and it did.

"Colleen." She whispered, just before drifting off completely, finally satisfied that the most important part had been decided.

Author's Note:

Everyone who's ever written about Callie having a baby has either named her Marie or Elizabeth, after Stef and Lena, but I think this would just fit perfectly. Why wouldn't she want to name the baby after her own mother, especially since she can't be there with them.

I've had this idea for months and now I'm just two weeks away from my first baby (a girl) myself so I wanted to post it. It's just a short one-shot but I hope you like it.