Giving birth was hard. Not that Allison had thought it would be easy; she didn't think there was a human in the world that believed that, with the possible exception of a few particularly obtuse male politicians. Still, expected or not, ow. And whatever the exhausted equivalent of ow was.

Despite the exhaustion, though, Allison had just enough energy left to be annoyed. Not really that her kid wasn't (at the moment) with her; the birth had been a few weeks early, and the nurses had explained that they were just doing routine tests on Allison's son to make sure nothing was wrong and then he'd be right back with her. That made sense, that was fine, even if Allison wasn't entirely sure what she thought of having a son.

The annoying part was the nurses. They just would not shut up. And they weren't saying anything, anymore; just chattering and chattering away, in what was probably intended to be a distracting, cheerful manner, but was only succeeding in grating on Allison's nerves. Which, typically being insulated by patience and patience requiring energy, were rather susceptible to being grated. Allison's neutral expression (because a smile was just not an option any more) was feeling extremely strained.

And the nurses weren't saying anything. That was the worst part. If there had been a point to what they were saying, Allison could have tolerated it much more easily, but--

"Now, if you'd just tell us the father's name so we can finish filling out the birth certificate, there's a good girl...."

...Okay, if there had been a point other than that. Allison wasn't sure if it was a nurse thing or just these two in particular, but they absolutely refused to let it go. Allison had already told them she wouldn't be telling them any father's name twice, and they'd persisted. This time she settled for closing her eyes and ignoring them.

It took a few more minutes of withstanding the chatter before the doctor returned, and Allison decided that she did in fact have enough energy to sit up. She then decided this was utterly terrifying.

It wasn’t that she didn’t already halfway adore him; she did. Knowing all the chemicals and processes and evolutionary benefits behind the response didn’t really keep it from happening, especially when Allison had no intention of preventing it. But that was the problem, really; how was she supposed to… do everything? Protect him, and teach him, and… well, those were probably the big things since the food and shelter type of basics were covered, but there were probably other things she hadn’t thought of yet. And what about Aura? She certainly wasn’t going to keep the two apart, but what if something happened to Aura? If she died, or was arrested, or even just had to leave for months for a mission, Allison could understand that. Not be happy, but understand. A baby couldn’t. She couldn’t do that to her baby, but she couldn’t keep them apart, and--

“What’s his name?”

...Perhaps Allison could forgive the nurse for chattering this time, since it interrupted her train of thought and put her onto a far more pleasant one. She still didn’t bother to respond beyond letting her expression drift into something thoughtful while she considered. “Alex.”

“And his middle name?”

Good. Whether Allison’s deliberate interpretation had been what she meant or not, the nurse was going with it. The middle name took a few more minutes’ consideration, partly because Alex moved his hand and Allison found herself staring in fascination. That part of her fascination was with her baby and part was wondering how his mind worked and what he thought he was doing probably indicated something, but she didn’t particularly care. “Narcissus.”

“And his last name?”

That did not require a thought. Instead it required a frown edging into a glare at the woman. “Mine.”

“That’s an odd last--”

“No, his last name is my last name. Because he is my son.” The degree of force behind that statement probably wasn’t necessary, strictly speaking, but Allison didn’t feel like holding it back. She was already holding back enough irritated indications already.

“Okay, then if you can just tell me the father’s name for--”

Allison didn’t bother holding back, and growled at the nurse. It wasn’t nearly the growl that plenty of Sanctuary’s residents were able to make, but it was enough to make the nurse cut herself off midsentence. And to make Alex cry. Allison glared, snapped a sarcastic “Megan!” in the nurse’s direction, then focused on Alex and tried to figure out how to calm him down.

Nancy had been a nurse for nearly twenty years, and as such was used to most weirdness that could occur. Stubborn mothers were on that list, so instead of confusion she rolled her eyes--once the woman couldn't see--and retreated.

"But Megan is a girl's name!" Mike had not been a nurse for nearly as long, and apparently was not quite so used to the bizarrity of humans. Or mutants, as the situation called for. He did succeed in keeping his voice down, so it didn't matter. "Why would she say Megan?"

Nancy sighed, and began to list. "Could be a foreign name. Could be a transgender person. Could be a celebrity's son." And, since the situation might call for it, she added, "could be a mutant."

Mike looked somewhat less confused. "What would a mutation have to do with a girl's name?"

"I've seen at least one sex-shifting mutant." Nancy considered, and casually eyed the woman again. That would be about the right age, wouldn't it? "Didn't you say you knew her?"

"Knew a--oh, yeah. Why?" Mike hadn't babbled too much when he found out the woman's name, but he had enough for Nancy to realize he was a fan. She had no idea who the woman was, but whatever Mike knew could be useful.

"Do you know if she has any kind of relationship that's known?"

"Um...." Mike thought for a moment. "It's kind of confusing. Everyone thought she was dating her costar, but now they're denying it, and he has a boyfriend and she's being evasive. I could see keeping a relationship with a sex changer out of the media's hands...."

Nancy liked that about Mike; he was able to follow basic logical leaps. Far too many weren't able to. "We can't be sure, but...."

"I could go ask the doctor?"

That was another thing Nancy liked; Mike was also able to figure out himself how to be useful. "Yeah, do that."

The doctor, fortunately, was in the room, looking awkward and vaguely overwhelmed, and talking to the woman, who looked surprised and vaguely relieved. Mike edged over, and returned a few minutes later, having acquired his own confused expression. "Uh, apparently the baby also is a sex changer."

Well, that answered that. Nancy sighed. "I'll go look up the mutant's name, I think we still have it." Really, couldn't the woman have just answered?

~~~

Two days later, Allison finally got around to looking at the birth certificate she'd been given before leaving the hospital, and blinked in confusion. She then immediately shrugged it off; it must be some sort of medical sarcasm about her refusing to give a name for Alex's father. Because really, who would ever have named their son Gawain of all things?