Spark in the Dark

Chapter 136

Juice and Shawn left the store with a few Harley patent prints Shawn figured she could frame and hang in the baby's room eventually. Juice suggested they get dinner to go and find somewhere to sit in the park to eat. They were sitting at a picnic table, almost finished, when Juice put some of his veggies into Shawn's styrofoam container of food.

"No!" Shawn protested. "Seriously, I am so full already. I'm not even going to finish what I have."

"You may be full, but my baby is not," Juice pointed out.

"Your baby is, like, less than an inch big."

"If he is anything like me, he's starving."

"Then eat your own food, you dork! Besides, she is full whenever her Mama is full."

"What are we going to call him?" Juice asked with a laugh, until Shawn gave him a pointed look. "Or her?"

"I don't know. I haven't even thought about it. What goes with Ortiz?"

"You sure you want Ortiz?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You're a Trager. Or we could always hyphenate," Juice suggested.

"Trager-Ortiz?" Shawn said just to hear it out loud. "Okay, it's not that bad, but still no."

"Just Ortiz then?" He asked and Shawn nodded. "Well, nothing really Hispanic sounding. You have any idea how hard it was growing up with the name Juan Carlos?"

"That was in Queens. We're in California now. There's lots of people with Hispanic names here."

"Nope. Drawing the line. No Hispanic name."

"So, Juan Carlos Jr. is out?"

"Oh, yeah. Not happening."

"What about just Carlos?"

"Absolutely not," Juice said as he collected their trash to throw away. "Want to go for a walk?"

"Sure," Shawn said and stood. "How about Juanita for a girl?"

"Okay, now I know you're just messing with me," Juice told her, making her laugh.

He lead the way to a path where other people were walking. Eventually, the path diverted two ways and Juice headed left where there were less people. After walking for awhile, it seemed like they were pretty alone.

"This sort of reminds me of that path we were on the first time we ever came here," Shawn told him.

"I was just thinking that. That tree sort of looks like the one I made out with you against."

"Juice? All these trees look exactly the same."

"Nah, I'd remember that tree anywhere," Juice joked as he grabbed her by the hips and backed her up to it.

Shawn smiled broadly and raised her arms to wrap around his neck. As her back hit the tree, his lips covered her's. This kiss was slower and much more gentle than they had been back at the hotel. Juice wanted her to feel like she could pull away at any moment, but Shawn didn't. Juice ended the kiss after a few moments and rested his forehead against her's.

"I love you," Shawn told him.

"I know. I love you, too," he replied. "You're sure you want the baby to have my last name?"

"Yes, of course I am."

"Maybe we should all have the same last name?"

Shawn smiled. "Maybe we should. I guess you'll have to ask Tig soon then, huh?"