I feel like it's been forever since I updated but I have mega writer's block at the minute that's making writing anything a struggle, so if you have any ideas, either for this fic or for a Shelby/Rachel oneshot or whatever, anything that might get me writing again, feel free to let me know!
I hope this is okay.
They walked the long way to the cafe in the park, fingers entwined, happy smiles on their faces as they strolled around the large lake.
"What are you having?" Shelby asked as they walked inside, Will holding open the door for her.
"I'll get it" Will took out his wallet when he saw Shelby take her card from her pocket.
Shelby shook her head, "if you're getting lunch I'm paying now" she told him.
Will laughed and put his wallet away, holding up his hands in mock surrender, "a flat white please" he smiled.
"Do you want anything to eat?" Shelby asked, gently rubbing Rachel's back when she felt her stir slightly.
"No, I'm good thanks" he smiled, waiting until Shelby had placed the order and paid before telling her, "go sit down, I'll wait for these."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive" Will nodded.
Shelby smiled and stood on tiptoes to gently kiss his cheek, "thank you."
Will carried the drinks over once they were ready, choosing to sit on the small couch beside Shelby and not in one of the two chairs opposite her, "okay?" he asked.
Shelby smiled and nodded, shuffling closer to Will, hoping he'd get the hint. "yeah, I'm fine".
Will did take the hint, stretching his arm along the back of the couch, letting Shelby tuck herself into his side before he draped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her hair, "comfy."
Shelby nodded, "is this okay?" she asked, me sitting like this?"
"I wouldn't have let you do it if it wasn't" Will reassured her.
Comfortable silence fell between them, and as much as she tried to fight it, Shelby found herself struggling to keep her eyes open. Rachel had had a bit of a rough night, waking a couple of times to protest at the fact she was cutting a new tooth, and then she'd been up and ready to start her day at 5.30, happy and cheerful like she hadn't spent half the night whining and chewing on Shelby's fingers. Shelby tried to stay awake, knew the coffee shop at the park wasn't the ideal place to take a nap but Will was so warm and she felt so comfortable with her head on his chest, so, safe in his arms and with the quiet thud of his heartbeat echoing in his ear, Shelby slowly drifted to sleep.
"I remember those days" an elderly lady smiled softly as she saw the two of them cuddled together on the couch, "taking the chance to sleep when the little one does no matter where you are."
Will frowned as the woman walked away before glancing down at Shelby, smiling when he realised she was fast asleep. He didn't want to but he knew he had to, that she'd be more comfortable sleeping at home, "Shelby" he whispered, gently stroking her arm, not wanting to startle her and wake Rachel, "Shelby, it's time to wake up."
"Mmm, wha…" Shelby's eyes fluttered open and she quickly sat up, cheeks flushing red as she realised she'd fallen asleep in the coffee shop, "on God, I'm so sorry Will, Rachel's teething and she didn't sleep well, and she's always up early and I…"
"Shelby" Will put his hand on her cheek to stop her, "it's okay" he reassured her, "let's get you home yeah?" he stood and gently pulled her to her feet, "you and Rachel can nap for a while before lunch."
"I…"
"You're a Mom" Will said softly, tucking a strand of Shelby's hair behind her ear, "you're a Mom and you're tired, so let's get you home. You can lay on the couch or you can go to bed, and if you'll let me, I'll keep an eye on Rachel so you can nap for an hour or two and then I'll take you out for lunch."
Shelby kissed Will's cheek, "you're too good to me" she told him.
Will shook his head, "you deserve to be taken care of Shelby, I know you'll always put Rachel first and I am absolutely okay with that, it won't stop me putting you first" he said as he gently took her hand and led her from the coffee shop.
They walked back to Shelby's in silence, Rachel still sleeping against her Momma's chest, Shelby's fingers linked with Will's until she had to let go so she could unlock her front door. "If you want to go…" Shelby said quietly feeling like she'd messed up by falling asleep in the coffee shop.
Will pushed his hands into his pockets awkwardly, not sure if that was Shelby's way of hinting that she wanted him to leave, "okay" he nodded, "I erm, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I, I'm sorry" she whispered, "and if you want to… if you don't want to do this anymore" she gestured between the two of them, "then I'll understand."
"You…" Will frowned, "you don't want to do this anymore?"
"No, I do, I really do like you Will" Shelby glanced down at Rachel, "but you walked in on Rachel having a meltdown and me about to join her on Friday, and I fell asleep on you, in public, today, if this is too much, if you… I wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to walk away. If you wanted to be with someone easier than me, then I'd understand."
"Shelby" he took her chin, gently lifting it so she had no choice but to meet his gaze, "do you want this? Do you want me to take you for lunch later? Do you want to have dinner with me on Friday?" Shelby nodded and Will swiped his thumb under her eyes to catch her tears, "then let me show you I'm not going anywhere, let me watch Rachel, you go get some rest and when you wake we'll go get lunch. Together."
"Thank you" Shelby whispered before carefully lifting Rachel from the sling, kissing her head before handing her over to Will.
"It's not a problem" he said, beginning to rock Rachel when she stirred a little, Shelby's heart swelling with love when Will remembered without her reminding him that Rachel preferred being rocked forwards and backwards, not side to side. "Okay?" he asked when he saw her stood watching him with Rachel.
Shelby nodded even though she was reluctant to leave Rachel with Will, it wasn't that she didn't trust him, she did, but she still struggled to shake off the feeling that Rachel was her daughter so she shouldn't burden anyone else with her. She knew however, that if her relationship with Will was going to become serious, and she hoped it would, that she needed to let go a little, "she might be hungry when she wakes up" she told him as she watched him hold Rachel against his chest, gently stroking her back as she slept. "If she is, you can just give her a banana or something, break a little bit off and she'll feed herself, she won't eat all of it though and she might just play with it. And if she's cranky there's some teething gel in the cabinet in the downstairs bathroom, just put a little on your finger and rub it on her gums, or wake me if you'd rather I did it."
"Okay" Will nodded, "I can do all of that" he saw the look on Shelby's face, "we'll be fine Shelby, and on the off chance we aren't. Then you'll only be upstairs, I promise to come and wake you up if I have any problems at all, now…" he stepped closer, shifting Rachel against his chest to hold her with one hand, cupping Shelby's cheek with the other, "go get some rest" he pecked her lips, "and when you wake, I'll take you both out for lunch."
Shelby nodded, Will's hand still on her cheek, "I really appreciate this Will, thank you" she kissed him again.
"I know you do" Will smiled before gently pushing Shelby in the direction of the stairs, "now go nap, we'll be just fine."
Shelby took a couple of steps towards the stairs before gently reaching for Will's hand, "is it too soon to ask you to lay with me for a while?" she asked nervously, "just until I fall asleep."
"Sure" Will nodded, he had to admit, knowing that Shelby felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in his arms in the coffee shop was a nice feeling. "But just til you fall asleep, then I'll bring Rachel back down here so she doesn't disturb you when she wakes."
Shelby nodded and linked her fingers with Will's, "thank you" she said softly as she led him up the stairs to her bedroom.
Shelby stepped into the bathroom once they were upstairs to change from her jeans, pulling on her pyjama bottoms so she would be comfortable, "come on" Will used the hand he wasn't using to hold Rachel to pull back the covers, "in you get."
Shelby slipped under the duvet, smiling when Will joined her, "are you sure you're going to be okay with her?" she asked, rolling onto her side and gently stroking Rachel's back.
Will kissed Shelby's forehead, "we'll be just fine, and if for whatever reason we aren't, I'll come and wake you, but for me to wake you, you need to go to sleep, so close your eyes and take a nap."
"Yes sir" Shelby chuckled, shuffling closer to Will and tucking herself into his side as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.
Will didn't mean to fall asleep, he'd planned to stay with Shelby until she'd fallen asleep and then he was going to take Rachel downstairs, but he was so comfortable with Shelby laid against his side and Rachel on his chest that he couldn't stop himself dozing off too. He didn't sleep for long though, waking less than an hour later when Rachel began to stir and he kissed Shelby's temple before standing from the bed, grabbing a blanket from the crib to wrap around Rachel as he took her downstairs, settling on the couch with her in his arms, letting her wake in her own time.
"Hello" he gently tapped her nose when she yawned and tipped her head back to look up at him, "have you had a nice nap? Mommy's still napping, you've worn her out." Rachel babbled up at him, "yeah, she's asleep so you're stuck with me until she wakes up, but that's okay isn't it?" Rachel gurgled and yawned again, "you didn't cry" he chuckled, "so I'm going to take it that you agree, we'll be just fine until Mommy wakes up."
He gave Rachel time to wake up, the baby happy to snuggle with him for a while but eventually she began to get restless and wanted to play. It was then that Will took her into the kitchen, quickly learning that Rachel didn't like being sat in her high chair, so he sat at the table, holding Rachel on his knee as she spent more time smushing banana between her fingers than she did actually eating the fruit.
"I think we need to clean you up a bit don't we?" he chuckled once she began getting restless again, spotting a packet of baby wipes on the side and cleaning her face and hands free of mushed banana, "go on then" he put her on the floor when she began to squirm, "off you go."
Rachel giggled happily as she crawled through to the living room and she sat back on her heels when she reached the bookcase, fingers curling around the spine of a picture book as she pulled it from the bottom shelf, the shelf Shelby used solely for Rachel's books. She clutched at the book and babbled up at Will, "Okay" he lowered himself to sit on the floor, "seeing as you asked so nicely" he chuckled as Rachel climbed onto his lap, making herself comfortable so Will could read to her.
Shelby slept for almost two hours before waking with a jump. She rubbed sleepily at her eyes as she tried to work out why she was in bed without Rachel, the baby usually sleeping right beside her, but then it hit her, she'd fallen asleep at the coffee shop and Will had all but forced her to take a nap while he watched Rachel.
She used the bathroom and changed back into her jeans before making her way downstairs, her steps quickening as she heard Rachel shriek, but she froze at the bottom of the stairs, just watching when she realised Rachel wasn't in danger. She was crawling round on the living room floor, that wasn't unusual, but this time, Will was crawling behind her and every now and again, Rachel would stop, glance over her shoulder and shriek with laughter before crawling off again when she saw Will was still behind her.
"I'm not sure which of you is having more fun here" she finally made her presence known.
"Oh, Rachel's definitely just playing along for my sake" Will laughed as he scooped Rachel up into his arms, swung her into the air and blew a raspberry on her stomach before passing her to Shelby. "She's napped, she's had some banana, she's had some gel rubbed on her gums, I've changed her diaper and now she's full of giggles" he smiled as he reached out to tickle her stomach, "see" he smiled as Rachel laughed and batted at his hand
"Thank you" Shelby smiled, you really didn't have to change her diaper though, you should have woken me."
"The whole point of me watching her was so you could take a nap, she was only wet, I didn't mind."
"Thank you" Shelby kissed Will's cheek.
"Any time, how was your nap? Did you sleep well?"
"I did, I feel a lot better now, thank you."
"Good, I'm glad, do you want to go out for lunch now or…?"
Shelby's stomach rumbled, "I think that's probably a good idea" she chuckled.
"Okay" Will smiled as he reached for his jacket, "let's go."
Rachel was once again settled against Shelby's chest as they walked, hand in hand, to the deli where Will wanted to get lunch. Once she'd chosen what she wanted, Will sent Shelby to sit down, Shelby managing to convince Rachel to sit in a highchair at the table, keeping her entertained with some toys she kept in her bag."I got veggie sticks with hummus and some apple slices for Rachel, "I didn't know if you wanted to get her anything so…" Will wasn't sure if he'd overstepped a line or not by ordering food for the baby.
Shelby smiled, "I was just going to give her some of my sandwich, but she'll love that, thank you."
"Are you sure? If you'd rather not give them to her then I won't be offended" he said as he sat down.
"No, it's fine honestly, she likes having a choice of things to pick at" Shelby said, tearing off a little of her sandwich and placing it on the tray of the highchair, opening the veggie sticks and laying them out too alongside the pot of hummus, "this is going to get messy isn't it?" Shelby raised an eyebrow when Rachel's fingers reached straight for the dip.
"It looks that way" Will chuckled as Rachel sucked at her fingers, frowning slightly at the new taste.
"Luckily I'm prepared for everything" Shelby said as she pulled a wide toweling bib from her bag and pulled it over Rachel's head, "there we go kid, do your worst."
Will laughed as Rachel giggled, "I think she's going to take that as a challenge."
"Yeah" Shelby rolled her eyes as Rachel began taking the sandwich apart as if she was inspecting the contents, "I think she probably is."