Washington

Year 2520

Leonard's green eyes were wide with shock and his trembling hands were gripping the desk and his datapad so tightly his knuckles were white. "...What? Are you sure?"

It was Allison on the screen of his datapad that he was talking to and she was so pissed off right now, she actually snarled, "Yes! I'm fucking sure, you goddamn moron! I've already had one kid! I'm pretty fucking certain I know what going into fucking labor feels like!"

Thiscouldn'tbehappening. Thiscouldn'tbehappening. Thiscouldn'tbehappening! "But the doctors said you weren't due for another month!" Leonard protested.

"Yeah? Well shit out of luck asshole, because this kid is coming now, so you better find a way to get your ass up here as fast as possible if you wanna see him!"

Ever since Allison had found out she was pregnant again, she had stubbornly insisted on referring to the new child as a boy, even though they had once again refused to find out until the baby was born. He'd given up trying to convince her otherwise.

Despite Leonard's increasing panic and unraveling state of mind, he was grounded enough to remember to ask, "What are you gonna do about Carolina? Is she okay?"

Some of the tension seemed to leave Allison at the mention of their red-haired, green-eyed (same as his) daughter and she said, "Carolina's fine. I asked some of the other army parents around the base here to watch over her while I'm in labor. They'll bring her to me once the baby's born." More of tension drained out of her face and Leonard's heart melted in his chest at the soft, plaintive look his wife was giving him through the screen. "I know Washington is rather far from Texas, and that you were hoping to use the time while I was gone keeping busy at training bases, to prepare for presenting your thesis on Cognitive Impression Modeling host segregation at the end of the week for your doctorate, but I really want you here. Please come as soon as you can. Carolina and I both miss you."

God, how he missed the both of them too. Leonard understood how important working in the military was to Allison, but that meant he hardly ever got to see her – hell, the longest durations of shore leave she'd ever had were because of her two pregnancies – and especially with the Insurrection's activities becoming more and more violent with each passing year, there was always the fear that one day, she might not come back home. Allison hadn't even finished her request for him to fly out to Washington to be with her, and he'd already decided what he would do.

"I'll be there, Tex," Leonard promised, "You and Carolina and Washington just sit tight for a little while longer until I can make it."

The plaintive look on Allison's face immediately disappeared and she erupted with outrage, "Oh, no you don't! We are not naming this one Washington, even on the impossible chance that it is a girl!"

Leonard smirked at her reaction and said, "Of course, dear. I'll see you again."

Allison gave him a totally undeserved scowl then stuck her tongue out at him and shut off her connection to his datapad, but not before she flashed him a quick, happy smile. As soon as the connection ended, Leonard knew he wouldn't be able to find any commercial transportation that could arrive in Washington quick enough for his wife, so he immediately started calling some of his own higher ranking contacts in the military. While he was unable to serve in the military the way his wife could on account of his asthma, he was quickly becoming one of the foremost experts in the field of AI and robotics and was developing quite a contact group among the spooks of ONI Section III. Perhaps he could call in a few favors to make this happen, especially since he knew some of the upper echelons were quite interested in his thesis presentation later in the week and they would want to see that happen on time. In this way, Leonard was not like his wife. His thesis was important, yes, but not as important to him as his wife and children. They would always come first.

()()()()()

Even with the favors he'd called in, he was just a minute too late to see his second child born. He'd met up with Carolina with one of the other army moms halfway to the birthing room, and as soon as his four-year-old little firecracker had noticed him, she tore away from the woman and came barreling down the hallway screaming 'Daddyyyyyyy!' at the top of her lungs before making an excellent and successful flying leap at his neck from which she hung like a giant, heavy necklace. He'd quickly reassured her that yes, they were going to see Mommy and her new sibling and he moved her from his neck to sitting on top of his shoulders as they continued their quick trek down the hallway.

When they reached the correct room number, Leonard knocked first, more because he didn't want to startle anyone or end up unexpectedly conked in the head, and the door opened to reveal either a doctor or a nurse staring up at him.

"Are you Mr. Church?" the woman asked and Leonard nodded. The woman stepped back into the room as Leonard lifted Carolina over his head and set her back down on the floor. Carolina wasted no time in slipping through the tiny opening and heading off to the left where presumably her mother lay on a bed. "Congratulations sir," the doctor – Leonard decided – said as he entered the room. "You just missed the delivery, but your wife is fine and you have a healthy baby boy."

Leonard barely heard the woman's words as his eyes instantly fell upon Allison. She was sitting up and nursing their son – holy shit, Allison was actually right the whole time – while Carolina watched her new baby brother with avid fascination from her mother's right side. Allison looked a little less tired this time around than when she had Carolina, but she looked up and that same soft smile that never existed before Carolina's birth, the one he'd come to identify as her maternal smile, actually deepened and she stretched her hand out to him. Leonard made his way over to Allison's left side, opposite his daughter, and he placed a chaste kiss on the back of her hand as soon as he caught it.

"I came as soon as I could," he explained apologetically. "I'm just sorry I couldn't be here any sooner."

Allison gave a small laugh and shook her head gently. "No, you did good, sweetheart. You did good. But-!" her maternal smile quickly transformed into a mischievous grin and Leonard couldn't help but feel this sense of déjà vu at her next words, "I was right. The baby's a boy."

Allison was so damn smug and proud of herself that despite her ribbing him by throwing his own words back at him from four years ago, Leonard couldn't help but smile back, because despite their continued rivalry over the sex of the baby, he really wanted her to name this one, to see what name his beloved Allison would pick. The fact the baby was a boy as per their original agreement just made this moment even more of a triumph for her, especially since she'd been crowing for a son ever since she tested pregnancy positive.

Leonard sidled over right up next to her to finally get a good look at their son. Even with his head still being damp, Leonard could definitely see that the little hair he had was much fairer than his sister's had been, and he would probably be a fair blond like Allison's once it dried completely. Unlike his sister, the boy also kept turning away from his mother's full breast to look around at things – things he probably couldn't even see as anything more coherent than a big fuzzy blur – before returning to the milk (their newborn son seemed at least a touch more curious than Carolina had been at literally the same age), and his eyes were the normal baby blue, but slightly more grayish where Carolina's had been bright, electric blue before they'd turned green. Leonard suddenly desperately hoped that their son's eyes would become more blue-gray like Allison's. He already seemed to take after her quite strongly, and Leonard didn't mind that at all.

Despite his own happiness for Allison that she could have this moment, Leonard still had a role to play as the gracious loser, so he gave a big dramatic sigh and said, "Well, it looks like you have the right to name him, Tex. I'd try and threaten you like you did me with Carolina if you give him a stupid name, but that wouldn't end well for me in any way, so choose away."

This time, Allison gave a full-out laugh and an enthusiastic 'damn right!' that startled their son momentarily. She quickly calmed down and spoke soothing nonsense words that didn't mean anything yet and Leonard found it absolutely adorable when hyper, rambunctious Carolina very slowly reached over with one hand and tried to gently pet her baby brother's head with a kind of awed reverence.

With the newborn settled back to nursing, Allison gave a happy sigh, casually glanced up at him, and said, "I want to name him David."

Leonard tried really hard not to frown at all, even with skepticism, and he felt he succeeded pretty well when he asked, "Why that name?"

Allison turned her head away to stare up at the ceiling. "It's a name that I'm fond of. On top of the fact that it's short and sweet and normal with no weird spelling variations, I knew a David once. When I was still... back at the orphanage..."

Leonard squeezed her hand reassuringly; he knew how hard it was for her to think about that place.

"There was one adult there that was huge and broad, but very gentle and sweet like a big teddy bear that would always look out for us and his name was David. He made sure we didn't starve, that we behaved, and would even settle arguments and differences before things got ugly. He was like everyone's father, uncle, or big brother and he hardly ever raised his voice and never doled out any physical punishment."

Allison gave a pained laugh, "We loved him so much that all he had to do was stare at you and shake his head in disappointment and you would feel like such a worthless failure for the rest of the day. I don't know what his role was, but he was only allowed to stay on for five years and we were all so damn upset when he had to leave, we were all a crying, blubbering mess. Honestly though, I'd still probably be an aggressive, bitchy little shit if it weren't for him setting me straight and making me feel like I could make something of myself. Believe it or not, you helped a lot with that too, Leonard."

Leonard was too damn embarrassed and blushing full on red to be able to make a coherent response to her praise – gratitude was so rare to hear from her, it was like rain in a parched desert. He managed to regain enough of his composure to say, "So you want to name our son, David, in honor of him?"

Allison nodded with a smile. "Um-hm. It's one of the few names I cherish and remember fondly. It'll suit our little David Church well enough."

Leonard nodded and looked over at little Carolina who was still staring bug-eyed at her brother. "Carolina," he said softly and his little girl perked up with a jolt like she'd been electrocuted. He gestured toward the blanket-wrapped newborn and said, "Carolina, this is your baby brother, David. He won't be able to do a lot by himself for a long time, but will you help your mother and I with taking care of him? We have to make sure that he's warm and safe and doesn't get hurt; can you help with that?"

Carolina instantly bobbed her head up and down and said eagerly, "Yes, Daddy! I'm a big girl! I'll help as much as I can!"

Leonard smiled and reached over to ruffle his daughter's hair. "There's a good girl." As he was returning to his original position, he noticed that David had fallen asleep and he turned to his wife. "May I...?"

He didn't even have to complete his question. He'd done the exact same thing when Carolina had fallen asleep the first time too. Allison expertly guided her son into his father's arms without waking him up and Leonard promptly sat on the edge of the bed staring down at his sleeping son with wonder and fascination at how much like his mother David already looked and how different yet similar he looked from Carolina who had moved around to the other side of the bed to watch her brother and was now sitting on the edge of it right next to him.

He knew life would continue on and there would be many long days and sleepless nights ahead of them, but right now, the world was calm and quiet, and just sitting there on the bed, with his daughter leaning on one arm and impatiently waiting for her chance to hold her baby brother, his son sleeping soundly curled up in his arms, and his wife reclining on the bed from his other side looking so proud and tired and content, Leonard could not think of many days before when he'd felt so happy.

Maybe it was because of all that that Leonard dipped his head low over his son and half-whispered to him, "Welcome to the world, David. Today is your birthday."

"Soo, Leonard, did we think of a middle name for this one this time?" Allison asked in a teasing tone.

Leonard drew himself up proudly, turned to look her straight in the eyes, and said, "Yes, in fact, I have."

Allison quirked an eyebrow at him. "Oh? And what might that be?"

"Washingt-"

"Fuck no!"

I seem to have this fascination with this couple and wanting to be adorable, but also want to rip hearts up by reminding people of what happens MUCH later. It's a very conflicting feeling and I like it.

PS: I'm totally making up the years because I have no idea how old they are, but this particular year would put David older than the start of the Covenant War which is the year 2525, so the Insurrection is still going strong and occupying a good portion of the UNSC's time.

Not sure if I conveyed it very well, but Allison strikes me as the kind of woman that would be bored as hell if she couldn't be active while pregnant, even far along (heck, my mom was still pretty darn active at 32 when she had my youngest brother), and so to prevent herself from distracting her husband while he's trying to prepare his presentation on his thesis (this is his actual thesis as of season 10, episode 6), she goes all over the country to training bases and helps train recruits (and Carolina comes because she both wants to spend more time with her mom and she takes after her in being a very active child, so she enjoys the trips, and it would be very distracting to Leonard at that particular time if his daughter was hanging around while he did academic stuff.

Speaking of Leonard; we have no idea what prevented him from being able to serve in the military, so I just picked asthma because that I know would be something severely debilitating on the battlefield.

So that's all I've got for this fic. I totally made up that adult person at the orphanage, but my goal with that was to basically provide a character that had a very important and influential impact on Allison, hence why she would be fond enough of the name David (besides just liking it because it is a nice name) to want to use it for her son's name as well.