tayababy, you should recognize the convo centrepiece in this one :)

It had been a fantastic night of nothing but love for the newest parents of the Twelfth Precinct family - food and blessings, tears of joy and laughter, and of course so much love for the brand new Petra Jasmine Adi Weaver that Alexis had to wonder if she was going to simply keel over from an overdose of cute.

'I couldn't have asked for a better night,' she told Shane as he unlocked the door to their apartment; immediately the scents of baby hit them - milk and powder and Johnson's Baby Bubbles. 'Is that how a lot of those things go?'

'Usually,' he replied, setting down the baby bag on the armchair in the living room before taking the baby carrier and setting it on the kitchen table to unbuckle the girl of the night. He tugged off her little coat before lifting Petra out to cuddle her close. 'Who's Papa's little princess? You are, yes you are.'

Petra creaked as she snuggled sleepily against her father's chest as they headed for the living room where Shane carefully sat down with his little girl. God what a treasure she was; he got it now, that cliche phrase that his friends with kids had always told him - it was different with his own child. Breathing deep he inhaled the scent of her - milk and powder and...perfection, he thought on a little laugh.

'You getting tired, my little gem?' Shane looked down at Petra when he felt her little jaw press against his shirt. One glance told him she was indeed tuckered out; not caring one bit he'd just sat down he rose and headed for the nursery off the living room. He moved towards the crib, then felt Petra cling to him, as if in pint-sized protest. 'Oh, not bedtime yet? How about we read a story then?'

Changing course, Shane went to the overstuffed armchair with a quick stop at the book-shelf for one of the many picture-books given to Petra by her myriad of admirers. 'How about The Snail and the Whale? That one was from Nate because he is the littlest one of your friends. Well Zane is smaller but he is only a little bigger than you so we're sticking with what I said about Nate. Let's start, shall we?'

They made it nearly entirely through the book before Petra began to splutter for her supper, which had Alexis appearing in the doorway. 'Our little princess is hungry, huh?' she asked.

'Yep, she sure is,' Shane agreed.

Alexis crossed to them, retrieving her nursing pillow on the way, and settled herself in the rocking chair to wait for Shane to pass the baby to her. She'd already changed from party clothes into her pyjamas, which had Petra turning towards her breast and nuzzling her already. 'Okay, okay easy there little tiger,' she laughed, adjusting her tank top before Petra latched on and began to feed. It was such a funny little feeling, the tiny little tongue poking at her before she started eating but she was used to it now which had her minded wandering a little.

She felt the press of the pillow against her belly, the tape there holding the gauze over her stitches. She was due to get them out soon, which was somehow the scariest thing on her mind right now. What if she had to gas really badly and the effort from her intestines pushed against her stitches, making them split and having her insides be on the outside? Seriously, that could happen; when she'd been in medical school, she'd seen a woman with anorexia sneeze too hard and dislocate her rib from the effort. It would be perfectly easy to split some tiny little threads from her bowels doing their natural thing, wouldn't it? Nothing at all illogical about that fear.

'Lex?'

'Huh?'

'Here.' Shane grinned, passed her the Icy-Tumbler full of water with slices of lemon. 'You have to drink lots while you breastfeed.'

'Oh, thanks.' Alexis took a short pull from the straw, made an 'mmm' noise, then set the cup on the side-table. 'When am I supposed to see Bishop to get my stitches out?'

'Not for another few days, right before the Princeton homecoming game.' Shane couldn't wait for that one, to see his little girl in her orange and black stripes. 'She is gonna look so cute, but that's not the root of your question.'

'I've got gass-o-phobia.'

'You...huh?'

Alexis laughed a little, brushed her hand gently over Petra's little head; she'd finally learned to close her eyes while eating. 'I'm scared to fart, I'm- what if I push too hard on the toilet and my stitches rip open?'

'You wouldn't have been let out of the hospital if they'd thought you'd have any issues.'

'But-'

'Alexis, finish feeding the baby then go potty,' Shane told her in the same tone he'd use on Jojo. He expected nothing less when her response was to stick her tongue out at him which only served to make his grin widen. 'Seriously. You're a doctor.'

'A psychiatrist, I specialize in feelings,' she reminded him. 'You are a pathologist, it's your job to take out the insides of the dead and examine them. Neither of us is an OBGYN.'

'Exactly, and I bet if you called Bishop up he'd use that same patient tone like when you asked him about whether or not unrefrigerated butter was okay to have on your sandwiches during the summer.'

'Bugger.' Alexis looked down at Petra, who was ready to switch sides. 'Seriously, doesn't Papa have a snack to make for Mumum? Like some chicken salad on toast with chips and fruit? And making sure you have your late-night bottle ready in the fridge?'

'Petra, tell your mumum she is a clever girl for phrasing it just like that,' Shane replied; he brushed lips over Alexis first, then Petra, and wandered off to keep both his girls happy snackers.