A\N: Thank you so much for all of the positive feedback and reviews the first chapter got. This chapter was partially inspired my a conversation I read on Twitter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Spoilers: Slight spoilers for "Signed, Sealed Delivered: The Road Less Traveled"

Warnings: None

Chapter 2

Two Months Later

As Shane watched Oliver put together Hope's crib, she thought about how much had changed in the last two months. For the first week after agreeing to take Hope Shane and Oliver had stayed in D.C. as they tried to figure everything out. It had taken a lot of talking things through to decide on the best decisions for everyone.

Shane was currently in the process of selling her house. She and Hope were going to spilt their time between her mother's new apartment and Oliver's house. They were going to spend nights at her mother's apartment. The plan was for Catherine to watch Hope during the day while Shane and Oliver worked. Shane however wasn't sure how ready she was to go back to work.

Another decision that had to be made had been very hard on Shane. She and Oliver had decided to officially adopt Hope and Shane had struggled at first with the idea of referring to herself as "Mommy" and Oliver as "Daddy" around Hope. She wanted to give Hope the best possible future, but she didn't; want the girl to not know about Alex. It took Shane awhile to understand it would be best to tell Hope about Alex when she was old enough to fully understand everything.

Breaking Shane out of her thoughts was Hope starting to cry as she woke up from her morning nap. "Good morning," Shane lifted the baby out of her car seat She held the baby close to her and softly began talking her her.

As soon as she was in Shane's arms Hope turned her head to look at Oliver setting up the crib. She moved her hands around as she listned to the sounds. "Did Daddy wake you up? Do you like your new crib?" Shane walked over to where the crib was half built. Hope reached out to touch the pine only to cry when she couldn't reach it.

"You want to play?" Shane looked for a toy in the mess of what would eventually become her bedroom, "Where did I put your toys?" She scanned the room for one of the many toys Hope had gotten as a present. "Oh, here's your teddy bear," Shane found a toy, she laid Hope down on the floor and then sat down beside her. She started moving the teddy bear in close to Hope and then further away from her. "Mommy…" Shane started to cry a bit, "One day Hope I'll tell you about your biological Mommy. " She was…well she was one of a kind and I loved her." Shane picked Hope up and held her as she continued to cry.

Oliver stopped working on the crib and came to sit down beside Shane, he gently pulled her into his arms, "I know it is hard Shane, but we are doing the right thing."

"I know," Shane said as she looked down at Hope who was chewing on her hair. "Mommy's hair is not for chewing," Shane began looking around for a soother, "Oliver, have you seen any of Hope's soothers?"

"I took the liberty of washing and sanitizing them last night. They're drying in the kitchen. I can go get one if you'd like."

"No, I can go and get one," Shane walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. As she walked through the house, she began more stressed out as she remembered all of the baby proofing, they still needed to do. Parents usually had nine months to get ready for a baby she and Oliver hadn't even had a week. Everything just seemed so chaotic.

Shane finally found the soothers in the kitchen and offered one to Hope. She took it and began sucking on it happily, "You know I haven't told anyone about this, but do you think I should only work part-time?" She carried Hope into the family room and sat down on the couch with her, "That would give me more time to spend with you and more time to plan the wedding. If there's even going to be a wedding," She looked at the baby and sighed. She really did love her, but she wished Alex had lived. She wished the only thing she needed to be worried about was planning a wedding. "Let's go outside for a while," She carried Hope out onto the front porch and sat on the porch swing. The porch swing was one of the first thing's moved from her house to Oliver's.

Hope began to stir in Shane's arms, first she moved her hands and then she started moving her legs. Pretty soon she had spit out her soother and was crying.

"I looked at the time and saw that Hope would need a bottle soon. It's heated up already," Oliver stepped onto the front porch.

Hope tried to turn her head to the recognized voice. As soon as Oliver came close enough so she could see the bottle she kept following it as Oliver sat down next to Shane.

"I would like a chance to feed her, if that is alright with you," Oliver knew why Shane had been mostly looking after Hope on her own but he could see how it was affecting her. He wanted her to know she should have to do everything by herself. "I have been watching you feed her so I am quite positive I can do it," He said in a reassuring tone.

"Alright," Shane handed Hope over to Oliver. She wasn't at all surprised at what an amazing father he was, even if Hope wasn't biologically his. He had almost memorized her usual sleeping and feeding schedule and was always quite happy to hold her.

"Before Hope spends any real amount of time here I need to install all of the necessary baby safety locks and gates. I am thinking somethings may need to be moved around so she doesn't hurt herself by accidently bumping into something when she learns how to crawl. My father has offered to come by and help out tomorrow after church. I was thinking tonight night also be a good time for us to have a nice meal out together prior to you stating back to work on Monday.

"My Mom's still in D.C. getting her apartment cleaned and packed up so maybe we could just eat in,"

"Shane, my father is more than qualified to watch Hope for an evening," Oliver told her as he placed the empty bottle Hope had just finished on the table by the porch swing. He then gently placed Hope's head on his shoulder and rubbed and patted her back. Hope gurgled and then spit up.

Oliver looked startled at first and then turned to Shane who was trying not to laugh, "I assume by your reaction that this is normal. Why has she not done this when you've fed her?"

"I don't know Oliver," Shane took Hope, "Maybe she knew I needed something to laugh about. I'll clean her up and you and go ger a new shirt on."

Shane took Hope into the kitchen and got a facecloth a little wet and began washing her face off. "Why did you spit up all over Daddy? Are you a silly girl?" She joked. Hope looked at Shane and smiled.

"You're smiling!" Shane exclaimed happily as she hugged the baby. "Oh, you have no idea how happy that makes me. Let's go see if Daddy had found an appropriate shirt to wear. You know he only wears certain shirts on Saturday's," Shane explained to the baby as she carried her up the stairs. "You know what we should do, we should start organizing all of your clothes. Daddy got special hangers to separate all of the clothes by month. Shane carried Hope into her bedroom she placed her gently down on the floor near the closet as she began to get to work. She started by putting all of the clothes into piles based on age. With the hangers having every month labeled until she was 18 months, it would make hanging clothes a lot easier.

"Shane!" Oliver exclaimed as he walked into the room and saw Hope kicking her feet and trying to roll, "She cannot roll over yet correct?"

Shane turned around to see Hope kicking her feet out in frustration, "No, not for a few more months. Somehow I don't think that's going to stop her from trying," Shane stood up and retrieved a play mobile from the other end of the room, she placed it so the toys were within Hope's reach and pushed a few to make them move, "Maybe this will keep you entertained. I think you've upset Daddy enough for one day no more trying to roll over,"

"I am not upset," Oliver told Shane as he sat down beside Hope, "I was startled. I think in the future we should use burping cloths. I believe we have those in the kitchen.

"She's never spit up that much before. So, I've never felt I needed one," Shane explained, "While I was cleaning Hope up she smiled."

"You did?" Oliver looked down at Hope who looked back up at him, "I have a hunch you were smiling because you wrecked my shirt. I am not surprised you are just like your Mommy," Oliver kissed Hope's forehead.

Shane picked up a folded dress and showed it off, "What do you think Hope? You want to wear this when we go and hear Daddy sing at church tomorrow?"

"Shane-"Oliver tried to think of the right words to say. Agreeing to have Hope baptized at his church wasn't something Shane easily agreed too. There was always a little voice inside of her head telling her that Alex wouldn't have wanted that. Still though knowing how important it was to Oliver she agreed.

"I've been thinking about a lot of things since last weekend. I know the next few months won't be easy; and I know I'll always be thinking of what Alex would have wanted but I think she'd be okay with this. Faith was what led me to call her and if I hadn't gotten one last chance to talk to her. I wish she knew I was trying to forgive her."

"I think she knew Shane" Oliver comforted her, "We are going to give Hope the best life we can. She'll have so many people who will love her and God already loves her. I do not know why Alex died but sometimes we do not know God does something. We just have to have faith things will work out," Oliver gently wiped the tears away from her face.

Shane smiled a little as she picked up a yellow onsie that said 'pack my diapers I'm going fishing with Grandpa' "What do you think Hope? You want to change into this for Grandpa tonight? I'm going to text him right now."

"Shane," Oliver gently took her hand, "If you are not ready to leave Hope with my father then we can wait. I do not want to cause you any more stress."

Shane leaned in to kiss Oliver pulling back she said, "You've been amazing these past two months I honestly don't know what I would have done I you hadn't been able to keep track of everything. I know I've been a little overprotective of Hope. It's not because I know you don't love her…I just kept wondering what Alex would have wanted. I'll never forger about Alex and someday I'll tell Hope all about her; However Hope is our daughter now and I want to state making decisions that reflect that. If I'm ever going to get through this I need to relay on family and friends."

Hope interrupted her parents talking by crying "I will change her," Oliver picked up the onsise and then Hope and carried her over to the change table.

Shane texted Joe asking if he could watch Hope for a few hours and then continued to sort through all of Hope's clothes.

TBC

A\N: Please review :)

Up Next: Shane and Oliver's date and Joe babysitting Hope