Stephanie's Choice

Tanner Unnamed

The weekend following her decision to stay with DJ and Kimmy, Stephanie decided to put Max's mind at ease with the help of a little apology breakfast. The moment she got up at approximately 8:15am, Stephanie began making breakfast for the family; which consisted of a cheese and tomato omelette, banana/chocolate chop pancakes and slices of fresh fruit. However, on Max's pancake in chocolate syrup Stephanie wrote the message: I'm not going anywhere! hoping that it was enough for him to forgive her for breaking his heart (twice).

Once breakfast was made, the rest of the household ran down the stairs in anticipation to start the day. However upon entering the dining room, Max still refused to make eye contact with Stephanie. But she knew that her fluffy pancake apology could solve the problem they had been having.

"Max, I made this one just for you. I've missed you, buddy" Stephanie sighed as she shoved the plate closer to Max and he looked down at his plate.

"Are you serious?!" Max exclaimed giddily upon reading the message inscribed in fudge sauce.

"More serious than I hand ever been about anything in my life. You know that's not often" Stephanie chuckled.

"I love you, Aunt Stephanie. We're friends again" Max responded with a contended sigh as he rose out of his hair and gave Stephanie a hug around her hip.

" I love you too, Mighty Max" Stephanie sighed as she returned his hug and kissed his head of chestnut brown hair.
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Shortly after breakfast was finished and Stephanie had loaded the dishwasher, Max came to her with a question that had her thinking for the rest of the day.

So, do you know what you're naming the baby yet?" He asked as he looked up his his aunt with great, chocolate dipped brown eyes of excitement.

"Hmm... I actually haven't had time to think about that yet" Stephanie said as she placed a thoughtful hand on her chin began to think of names. Surely she could brainstorm a few without knowing the gender; that way provided limitless possibilities.

"If you don't have any ideas, I think I might have a few. For a girl, Addelyn and for a boy, Charlie" Max said matter of factly.

Stephanie thought about the names for a while and attempted to mentally register each one with her last name. After approximately 2 minutes of not responding to Max, Stephanie realized that they both flowed well with Tanner family name. However, the name Charlie instantly triggered the memory of a boy she knew in middle school who was abused by his father. As tragic as the memory was, Stephanie thought it would be a good name for her future son to honour the boy's memory.

"I think those are really sweet names, Max. How did you find them?" Stephanie asked, a look of intense curiosity graced her face.

"I heard them at school on the playground" Max said casually with a shrug.

"I'll add them to my list" Stephanie responded decisively as age broke out a brand new pink and white chevron notebook and started her list of potential baby names.

Throughout the day Stephanie scoured every single baby name website and book within her disposal, asked her family for advice and even went so far as to asking Mia and Tristan for their input. But the teen parents decided not to make any suggestions in fear that they may get too attached. Stephanie assumed that finding a name would be the easiest part of the journey. But it proved easier said than done as Stephanie thought long and hard about all there was to consider. Her child would have the name for the rest of their life and it would shape their personality. What if she used a name within the family? Would the others be offended or jealous?

At approximately 12:30pm that day, Stephanie looked over her growing list of names and it had essentially looked like this:

Baby names
Boy.        Girl
Daniel     Pamela
Jesse        Claire
Joseph     Wendy
Nicholas    Irene
Charlie       Rebecca 
Oliver           Addelyn
Gideon        Emerson
Sebastian      Hope
Gabriel           Belle

For the remainder of the afternoon and as she took care of Tommy, Stephanie constantly thought back to the choices on her list. As she folded the boys' laundry on the couch whilst Tommy was napping, Stephanie had narrowed it down to two possible names for each gender: Addelyn Pamela or Emerson Claire, Sebastian Jesse or Charlie Joseph.

Stephanie was pretty confident about her choices for the girls' side until she and Tommy headed out to pick up Max, Jackson and Ramona from school. As Stephanie got Tommy buckled in and got the car started, she turned on the radio and the station's host had just announced that Elvis' song 'The Wonder of You' had just finished playing. Up next was a song by Kiss that Stephanie had never heard before called 'Beth'.

As the song continued to play and Stephanie carefully analyzed the lyrics, she had an epiphany; one that caused her to stop and think. A name combination that had not come from her list had just entered the competition. This name reflected her love for music and she was sure that Uncle Jesse would approve; and perhaps entitle Stephanie as his favourite niece for doing so. Now Stephanie had three names for a girl in the running. The question was: which name would reign victorious above the rest?

Stephanie had been so preoccupied with the name debate that she hadn't even heard the kids getting into the car.

"Hey, Aunt Steph. Are you okay?" Jackson asked.

"What? Oh my gosh. I didn't even hear you guys get in. How rude!" Stephanie exclaimed as she jolted in the driver's seat before proceeding to return home with all four kids in tow.
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Later on that night, Stephanie was still racking her brain about what the baby's name should be. She had no idea why she was so focused on; Tristan and Mia didn't even know the gender yet as far as Stephanie was concerned. She settled into bed and told herself that the name would come to her eventually. Just as she was about to close her eyes and drift off to sleep, Stephanie's phone began to vibrate due to a text message from Mia that read:

Sorry for the late text. I guess it just slipped my mind. But I went to the dr and... It's a girl! (Maybe that'll help you figure out a name) :)

Stephanie smiled the widest smile that she was able to at 11:05 that night. She was going to have a daughter like she had always dreamed. It certainly made things easier in the sense that she could now eliminate the boys' names from her list. But the question still remained as to which of the girls' names would best suit her daughter. Stephanie hoped that if she couldn't figure it out today, she would know when she officially met her daughter for the first time.

~X~

The next morning as Stephanie excitedly ran down the stairs to share the good news with Kimmy and DJ, she stopped in her tracks and thought about a certain dream she had the previous night; which involved her decorating her daughter's nursery and the song by Kiss began to play. Then as she looked at the ceiling, lavender wooden letters began to place themselves above the eggshell white crib and spelled out Beth. As Stephanie watched in awe, her dream took a comical turn as Uncle Jesse (dressed as Elvis) began to sing 'Hound Dog'.

"Morning, Stephanie" DJ said as she poured coffee into each of their personalized mugs and Kimmy stood at the stove preparing an omelette.

"What's got you smiling so wide? It looks like you slept with a hanger in your mouth" Kimmy asked as she looked at Stephanie with the all too classic Kimmy Gibbler stare of confusion.

"Well, I was going to wait until we got the whole family together again but I guess there's no harm in keeping it she-wolf confidential for now. It's a girl!" Stephanie announced, attempting to contain her joy.

A she-wolf group hug began to ensue among the women of the household as the revelled in the joy of Stephanie's news. Somewhere within the group hug Stephanie revealed that she had found the perfect name but did not want to tell anyone until the baby was born.