March 3

Justin sighed in frustration as he looked at yet another infuriating e-mail from his mother, who was oh-so-helpfully suggesting another name for the baby. This was actually becoming an irritatingly regular thing ever since that lunch they'd had at Deb's a little over a week ago; and his mother wasn't the only culprit. It seemed that whenever he saw his friends or family these days, they were full of naming conventions and suggestions and shared them until Justin wanted to scream.

Like this e-mail; his mother sent it to him as a 'reminder' of what they'd discussed at lunch yesterday when she and Molly dragged him out to go maternity clothing shopping (again) and bought him those ridiculous tights. Not that he was complaining about those much now as it had led to a rather fun, fast and furious fucking session with Brian, who'd gotten turned on by them.

And hadn't that been a surprise, considering that he knows that femininity isn't typically something that turns Brian on. He's well aware that, with his twink-like physique, he really didn't fit the mold of Brian's usual type. And Brian, still to this day, can't really pin down what exactly had made him stop when he'd seen Justin. Oh, he doesn't deny that Justin was then, and still is, a beautiful man, (his words); but Justin just seemed to be the complete opposite of what Brian usually looked for in a trick.

But he was getting off track; his mother seemed to be on a mission yesterday, talking up all of the family names and their meanings and how they'd been handed down through the generations and all that. And while Justin got it, that this kind of naming convention was tradition on his mother's side of the family, he just didn't want to be held to them. And while he loved that he was named after his grandfathers, he really wanted to give the baby a name that was unique to them.

Plus, he and Brian were quite capable of coming up with a name on their own, thank you very much. He didn't need them to 'help,' if you could call it that.

But that did lead to a problem; and one he hoped to solve today, so that people would leave him the fuck alone and he could focus on other more pressing matters. Pulling up his e-mail account, he hit the compose button and set immediately to work.

From: Justin Taylor-Kinney

To:Family All; The Gang

Cc: Brian Taylor-Kinney (work); Brian Taylor-Kinney (personal)

Subject: Baby Names

So, it's come to my attention, (and really how could I not notice with the way some of you have been bludgeoning me over the head with it; no names, you know who you are), that there is some interest in what we are naming the baby. As I have said before, we have been keeping our choices under wraps for several reasons; but the most important of those being that it would disclose the gender and that is so not going to happen no matter how hard any of you try to get us to slip up. Nice try guys.

Besides, if we were to disclose it, then Deb would have to stop the betting pool at the diner and we wouldn't want that. (Yes, Deb, we have always been fully aware that you were behind the pool; shame on you. ;))

So, to keep the lot of you from tracking me down, just to tell me of this really *insert adjective here* name you heard; and you just wanted us to know about it because was just so *insert adjective here*, I'm going to make a one time offer and then I never want to hear about it again, if you please.

Starting now, you have until the baby shower, March 22, to either e-mail me or physically hand me a list of name suggestions for Sunbeam. And we will take these suggestions into consideration when we come up with a names. Keep in mind that we prefer gender neutral names over ones that are obviously intended for a particular gender.

Please also note that any obvious name suggestions from popular movies, books, TV shows and/or comics will be completely disregarded and you risk the entire list getting tossed due to suspicions that you are trying to name our kid after a favorite character. (Looking at you Em; seriously, Katniss? I may not have read the books or watched the movies, but I do know who that is. I can't believe you thought you could sneak that by me.)

So, in recap – a list of names to me by March 22, and your silence there after, or I will not be held accountable for what I do. I have more important things to worry about than to have you all bombard me with names every time I see you.

~ Justin

Justin read the e-mail a couple of times; and then, satisfied with the message, he clicked the send button and just waited for the immanent Kinney queen out. Because he knew that in about five minutes he was going to be getting a call from Brian asking him what the hell he'd been thinking. Unless he was in a meeting. And then it would take him about five minutes after that to call him and ask him what the hell he'd been thinking.

Out of curiosity, and a little bit of boredom, Justin watched the clock, counting down the minutes; and sure enough, a little over four and a half minutes later, his cell phone lit up and peeled Brian's ring tone. Did he even realize how predictable that he was at times? Maybe he should tell him. On second thought, maybe he should keep that to himself for the time being as it made his life easier.

He picked up the phone and punched the accept button.

"Justin Taylor-Kinney speaking," He greeted, as if he didn't know just who was on the other side of the phone and why he was calling.

What fun was it if he let the cat out of the bag early?

"What the hell is this shit?" Brian demanded; that was it, no greeting, no 'hey honey, how is your day going?' Just a demand for information. He was so going to enjoy this.

"What the hell is what shit?" Justin asked, playing dumb just because he could. Plus it annoyed Brian; and as he's said before, an annoyed, worked up Brian is a fun Brian.

"The e-mail, Justin," Brian clarified, although his exasperated tone told Justin that Brain was well aware of the game he was playing. "Why are you giving our friends and family the option of helping us name OUR kid? Need I remind you of the Abraham and the Jenny Rebecca debacles?"

"I figured we could use some more kindling for the fire?" Justin asked, completely throwing Brian for a loop with that one.

"What?" Brian asked; and this time he sounded genuinely confused by the answer. It was good that he couldn't always predict Justin's reasoning; he had more fun this way.

"Look, I'm not actually going to take any of their suggestions seriously," Justin said, and then paused because that came out wrong to his ears; so, he explained further. "I'm planning to look them over; and if they have some nice suggestions that fit with the naming convention that we've decided on, then I'll add them to the list. But it's not something I'm expecting to change our minds one way or the other."

"Then why are you doing this?" Brian asked; and Justin didn't blame him for being confused, but he did have a very good reason for doing it – namely keeping his sanity.

"Self-preservation," Justin said, rolling his eyes when an e-mail arrived from his mother; seriously, he got that she was excited about the birth of her first blood-related grandchild, but didn't she have a job and other things to do other than to annoy him?

"Self-preservation?" Brian stated slowly; and Justin could just picture him, sitting at his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose as he prayed for patience.

Like he said, predictable.

"I am sick of people prying into our business, wanting to find out what names we've decided on," Justin explained, his annoyance bleeding through as he clicked on the email his mother had sent him; this time it was something to do with birth classes. "Or worse, every time I see them – and this is especially true with Lindsay – they have all these helpful suggestions for a name. If I do it this way, they will feel like they are contributing, but they will then, hopefully, leave me in peace."

Brian just laughed at that; and really, he would, as he wasn't the one dealing with this bullshit as their friends and family tended to stay away from Brian when it came to all things baby. He really wanted to know why they thought that he was the nicer, more sympathetic one as he'd thought he'd demonstrated time and again that it wasn't the case.

"My little genius," Brian said fondly, obviously finally seeing reason to Justin's grand plan; as he should. "Just promise me that you won't let them badger you into any of those names no matter the reasons behind it."

"Please," Justin snorted, clicking on an e-mail from Lucille Brown and chuckling at her quip of, 'I've always been partial to the name Lucille; it's very dignified, don't you think?' Justin shook his head and clicked on the email to respond. "If I haven't allowed them to guilt me yet; even when I've been a hormonal mess due to this pregnancy, I doubt it's going to happen now."

"You say that now," Brian warned; and Justin could just see him rolling his eyes at those words. "But you haven't heard the epic sob story that Deb can build up over her favorite cousin, or aunt, or dog, or whatever the fuck it was, Matilda. And that is a whole world of no, Sunshine; just no."

"Yeah, that is so not happening," Justin said, rolling his eyes when a message from Lindsay popped up; he couldn't wait to see that one. He was certain that she would tell him the perfect way to choose a name based on the projected birth sign, season and the phase of the moon or some other Earth Mother bullshit. Because it couldn't possibly just be that they liked the name or some mundane reason like that. "Don't worry, you will hold ultimate veto power."

"Great," Brian grumbled, making Justin laugh. "Make me the bad guy. I can just hear Deb now. 'I had Sunshine all convinced that Matilda was a beautiful name and then that asshole came along and ruined it for me.' Thanks a lot, Sunshine."

"Anytime, snookems," Justin snickered, ignoring Lindsay's latest book on how to raise a child in favor of snarking back and forth with Lucille. "At least it isn't Adelbert."

"Jesus Fucking Christ, Sunshine," Brian huffed, making Justin cackle with laughter once again. "I'm getting off the phone before you tell me that you finally drank the Kool-Aid and bought into Lindsay's Earth Mother crap about constellations and moon phases."

Huh, guess he got that email too.

"She is the fount of all baby knowledge," Justin stated solemnly, drawing a chuckle from Brian. "Yeah, I have to go and actually do some work in the studio now that I don't have everyone calling me for ridiculous shit. Later."

"Later," Brian replied, and then hung up the phone.

Justin sighed and looked at his computer and his phone, and then typed a quick message to Brian, letting him know that he was going to be incommunicado; and that if he absolutely needed him, to call the house phone and have Anna come pry him out of the studio. And then he shut down the computer and turned off his cell; he was so done dealing with this shit today.'