What pet names do you have for your partner? Babe would be my most frequent followed by lover...

I used to call my late wife Sarah (not her real name). It started when I called her an S.A. in front of young son, and he asked what that stood for. Not wanting to say Smart Ass, I said the first thing I could think of for each letter and it came out Sarah Aardvark. And she became Sarah. (Actually she had several names depending upon her mood or the situation: Esmerelda when she was dressed to the nines for going out, Emily when she was sort of down, but mostly Sarah, covering her quirky, fun side.)

Once I was under the house on my back working on something and needed a tool. I called her several times by her real name to fetch the tool and save me having to scramble out and back again. She finally came and apologized for the delay "but I didn't know who the hell you were calling for".