the finishing touch

Kyle had talked her into it.

"You know a bikini cut is not gonna be the worst thing in the world." He was so matter of fact. It was as if she were about to have a litter of kittens. She was kind of in a daze when she was talking with him on the phone, but she'd been in labor a good 12 hours, counting those at home that had started early on that she kept ignoring.

Well, she wasn't having kittens. She was having a baby boy. And for a while there when they whisked her down the hall, she thought she saw herself laying there while she floated  up above watching the whole procedure. But she didn't want to watch. She came back soon enough to feel as if they'd slowly ripped her guts out, along with the baby. Somebody promised it was only the afterbirth. And Eric was there all wrapped up and sterilized, just to hold the baby first. She couldn't tell if that was a smile or a grimace on his face. He got to help clean the baby up and to witness all the tests it had to go through before it was even tagged. Evidently.

But she soon slept. What felt to be a block of cement. She was still in recovery, when she had Kyle with Rosie and Elliot along with Eric and the baby. "We know you need  more rest." Kyle told her as Rosie tried her best to lay there next to her, but Kyle wouldn't let her.

"Just wanted you  to know, everything is OK." Elliot nodded taking her hand.

"Yeah, and we all decided on a name." Eric smiled and Amanda thought she was dreaming.

"You didn't name him after a cartoon, did you?" She looked at all of them. Just her luck it was Conan or Mickey. Maybe even Freddie Mercury.

"We kind of like Evan." Eric looked at Elliot who looked at Kyle.

"Rosie likes it too." Kyle nodded.

"Evan." Amanda did her best to smile, but she felt as if she were stuck in time. She guessed everything evened out, after all.