Lullaby

by bookworm812

Sweet nothings and late night conversations...

Lullaby and good night, with roses bedight

With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed

Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed

Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed

The strong but soft baritones wafted through the quiet apartment, even as the stars continued to merrily twinkle outside, as if cheering the singer on.

Down the hall, a gentle breeze teased the simple white curtains that merrily fluttered in response. The window had been opened to let in some much needed air on the increasingly warmer nights but now it made Angela Moore Hunter give a slight shiver and instinctively reach out next to her.

Her normally placid brow furrowed as questing hands failed to grasp at familiar skin and clutched fistfuls of the bedspread instead. She forced her eyes open and squinted in the moonlight as she looked around for her husband.

Lullaby and good night, thy mother's delight

Bright angels beside my darling abide

They will guard thee at rest, thou shalt wake on my breast

They will guard thee at rest, thou shalt wake on my breast

A tender smile nudged the corners of her mouth as beloved lyrics drifted to her ears. Reaching for her robe, she slipped it on and then slowly padded over, out of the room and to the other bedroom down the corridor.

The door was slightly ajar and the welcoming glow of a Winnie The Pooh nightlamp beckoned cheerily to her as she peeped in.

It didn't matter how many times Angela gazed at the sight before her, but it always brought slow tears to her eyes and a rush of emotion thudded through her entire body.

In the centre of the room stood her husband. He was cooing at a small bundle wrapped securely in his arms, and swathed in blankets. Angela smiled through her tears as he started singing again and swayed slightly to coax their child into slumber.

But a flail of fingers and a cranky moan told her that this wasn't going to be an easy job tonight.

'Go to sleep, darling' he whispered. 'We don't want to wake your poor, tired Mommy okay? She needs her rest badly.'

'It's a bit late for that, love.'

Shawn turned around and smiled resignedly as his wife walked towards him, returning his smile albeit with sleep still dancing on her eyelids. She reached up to kiss him and he carefully removed an arm from their daughter, wrapping it around Angela and returning her kiss deeply, with long-suppressed fervor.

Chills skittered down Angela's spine as his faint stubble nudged at her chin and as he demanded her surrender to his affection. She finally pulled away, a combination of sleep and lightheadedness threatening to send her to the floor.

'Wow!' she whispered. 'I should wake you up in the middle of the night more often.'

Shawn grinned cheekily, 'Seeing as this is all I've been getting for a while…' and then hugged his wife to him as she attempted to smack his shoulder in mock-indignant retaliation.

'And that's all you'll be getting for a while, so don't you forget it.'

'Don't remind me,' he groaned. 'This is becoming really difficult for me by the day.'

Angela eyed him speculatively and he raised an eyebrow at the mischevious glint in her eye, 'I don't know if I should be happy that you want me this much or if I should be offended that my recent ordeal doesn't seem to mean that much to you.'

Shawn chuckled and kissed the patch of skin behind her ear, delighting in the sharp inhale of breath and the sudden clutch at his shirt. 'I can never have enough of you, love,' he breathed and then pulled back to look at her with a serious expression. 'I know its been a hard time. I want you to get as much rest as possible, ok?'

'Mmmhmm' Angela murmured as she drowsily leaned against him. Another cranky moan drew her attention and looking at the still blanketed bundle, she saw a pair of blue-brown eyes piteously staring back at her. They filled with hazy mist and Angela reached over to stroke the soft, plump cheeks before it could coalesce into fat drops and roll down.

'She's incredible' spoke Shawn in a quiet voice, full of awe and reverence. 'It doesn't matter how many times I look at her, I still cant believe that she's actually ours and that I am a father.'

Angela looked up at him and studied the taut lines of his face. Life hadnt been particularly good to her husband and those scars manifested their effects in the way Shawn behaved and had behaved at various occassions in the past. He was notorious for pushing away those closest to him and she knew that his mixed feelings at his father rankled particuarly. Shawn was torn between love for his father at whatever he had done for him and anger for not understanding the needs of an insecure, growing boy. His mother had not been a constant fixture in his life either.

The final crushing blow had been the letter from his mother regarding the true nature of his birth. Angela closed her eyes against the pain she still recalled oozing venomously from his own when he had pleaded with her not to leave. And then she fought the tears that stung at her eyelids as she recalled her agony at moving to Europe.

Yes, she had come back and not even after a year as originally planned but much earlier, and she'd never broken her promise but those had been some difficult moments for them. She felt as if she had betrayed Shawn somehow, in the back of her mind, when she had left, no matter however way she rationalised it. It was silly, she knew, to think this way when it wasn't really anyone's fault and she knew that she'd be back.

She hadn't even realised that she was crying until she felt Shawn's lips softly kissing the tear tracks down her cheeks.

'Hey' he said concern lacing his voice. 'What's wrong?'

She shook her head in an attempt to clear the sudden melancholy. 'Nothing.'

'Angela' he reproached and she knew that he wasn't about to let this go. 'We promised each other, no secrets remember?'

She rolled her eyes. 'Just had to play that card, didn't you? Do you remember evey thing we said that night?'

Shawn smirked rougishly and drew her to him, 'Baby, I remember everything about that night. Every. Wonderful. Beautiful. Thing.' Each word was punctuatued with a scintillating kiss.

Angela fought to remain on her feet as a cry pierced the nursery air for the third time. She opened her eyes and reached out, 'She's hungry, I think.'

'She's not the only one' he replied cockily and Angela sighed in exasperation.

'You men have one track minds.' She deftly cradled their daughter in her arms and made her way to the little bed in one corner.

When Shawn and Angela had thought about a nursery, they had also put in a rocking chair and a small bed so that they could spend time in the room with their unborn child. Angela was very keen that the family tie between the three of them remain strong and so both parents made it a point to be in the nursery for feedings, playtime and little baths in the adorably patterned duckie bathtub that Eric and Jack had gifted them.

It had apparently been Jack's when he was a baby. Angela had welcomed it with happy tears and treasured it as she and Shawn didn't have all that much of their childhood to pass on to their child.

She sat on the bed, fiddling with the buttons on her gown and Shawn got behind her to lend support. While their daughter was just completing two months, she had the grip of a five year old and the first few feedings for Angela had been painful and sore. He was happy that his holding her helped to soothe the pain a little and he immensely cherished being able to view this special bond between mother and child.

'Oh, this is ridiculous!' Angela muttered while trying to still wrestle with the buttons. The baby started to fuss and she instantly changed the tone. 'Its ok, dear. Just a few minutes; let Mummy try to get ready ok?'

'Here, let me.' And Shawn leaned Angela back against him. His hands reached around her and gently but steadily got the buttons open. Angela grinned slyly and pressed a kiss to his chin, 'Thanks, I think.'

She opened the gown further and brought their daughter up to her left side. Then, as if bracing herself, she nudged the head in the direction of her breast and winced as the baby latched on and began feeding strongly.

Shawn pressed his lips softly, repeatedly in a caress down the side of her face and slowly rubbed her back as he noted the few drops of tears that wet his shirt. Angela thankfully sighed as her daughter gave off a content moan and then braced herself again, this time shifting her around to the right side. A second wince and a few more tears, and their daughter let out an unbelievably mighty yawn for someone so young.

'Now, its my turn,' said Shawn. 'Come here, baby, and give Daddy a belch to be proud of.'

Angela rolled her eyes, 'She's a girl, Shawn and we don't belch. We aren't that ill-mannered.'

Shawn scoffed, 'Yeah, right! I'll have you know that you burp and snore as well' and then looking at his wife's appalled countenance, hastened to add, 'but they are very sweet sounds and I look forward to hearing them at all times.'

Angela simply humphed in reply and made to get up when a sharp stab of pain assaulted her lower abdomen and knocked the breath out of her body. She fell back on the bed, pale and trembling, barely registering Shawn's surprised cry.

Their daughter, it seemed had a very acute sense of perception. She promptly scrunched up her face and Angela motioned frantically to Shawn to soothe her and put her back in her bassinet, before she worked herself up again.

Shawn did so, all the while glancing worriedly at his wife who was clutching the area in question and taking deep breaths to work through the pain. With their daughter calmed and fed, he rushed over to Angela who was trying to get back on her feet for the second time.

'Honey!' he exclaimed, while trying to keep his voice down. 'Are you alright? What happened?'

Angela melted into his embrace, relieved that the bout of pain was lessening. Feeling her husband's heart still beating madly under her cheek, she pulled back and shook her head, 'I'm fine. Just a real sharp pain – guess I tried to stand up too quickly.'

Shawn hugged her tightly to him and then leaned back to stroke her belly gently, 'Is it still hurting? Should we call the doctor?"

Angela kissed his cheek, grateful for his concern, 'No love, we don't need to. Don't get worried, its just a pain. You know Dr Johnson said this might happen. We did get forewarned.'

Shawn shook off the feeling of dread that had coursed through him at seeing her, and clutched her tightly again. 'Doesn't make it easier to see it, though' he whispered into her hair.

Angela laughed softly, 'However did you stay through labour?'

'By praying to every and all possible divine power out there that I wanted my family safe and ok.' Shawn's expression was very serious and Angela knew that the process had been nerve-wracking for him as the labour had been long and taken its toll.

She simply caressed his cheek in response and smiled when he covered her hand in his. Moving over to the bassinet, she leaned down to kiss their daughter's forehead. 'Is that why you named her Faith?'

Shawn nodded, gazing at the small bundle that was a precious combination of him, of her, of them. 'Yeah' he answered, stroking her hair. 'I…I didn't ever think I'd have any of this, but somehow through some miracle, you both came into my life. You're my angel and she's given me faith.'

He looked up to see Angela smiling tearily at him, 'You're such a sap.'

He shrugged in response but grinned back and then taking Angela's hand, led her out of the nursery and into their own room. Noticing her shiver, he went over and closed the window. She was still hugging herself, rubbing her arms and he asked concernedly, 'Should I get a sweater? I don't want you coming down with something just as you are recovering.'

Angela had meanwhile climbed under the covers. 'No, that's alright. Wouldn't mind you warming me, though.' She flashed him a naughty grin and he groaned in mock-agony. 'Woman, stop doing that or you'll be the death of me.'

They moved together under the bedspread, settling themselves comfortably in their usual position – Shawn slightly leaned up against the headboard and Angela cosily tucked under his chin, her head resting on his chest. Her arm automatically came up over his waist and she hummed in pleasure and contentment as she felt his hands stroking her – his left on the arm that was over him and his right on her back.

She wasn't able to pinpoint it but at some point in their relationship at college, she'd realised that Shawn's hands had always had a tendency to stroke. Whether around her shoulders, resting on her arms or just holding her hands, his fingers had always moved in slow rhythms. She remembered questioning Shawn teasingly about it one time and he'd shyly responded that he hadn't been aware of it but perhaps was doing it out of a need to make sure that she was there.

Now, she was grateful for that habit of his as it helped to wash away the coils of pain that still curled in her belly. Pregnancy in itself was hard, but she'd never expected after effects on such a level.

'Are we still on for the weekend ?' His soft question broke her from her train of thought and she looked up into his face.

'Yeah…why?' She knew that Shawn was worried about taking Faith out of the house with her only two months old, but she also knew that it was time Faith was out and seeing the world around her. 'Are you still caught up about taking Faith, love?'

Shawn squeezed her affectionately and smiled, 'No, you goose. I was thinking of you, actually. Will you be ok? We can always call and meet up another time.'

Angela laughed, 'And have Topanga march over here to kill me? No, thank you. She's been planning this party for a while and I promised I'd help her with their housewarming. There's going to be quite a few people, I think.'

'But I don't want you straining yourself.' He whispered quietly but she realised the strength in every word. 'And Jack and Eric will be coming over, they can help too.'

Angela agreed. 'It'll be good to see those two again. I'm sorry that they didn't enjoy New York all that much, but then they wouldn't be together if it hadnt been for that place.'

'Part of me is still amazed, though. I mean, Jack and Eric! Who would've thought? I lived with them for so long and I still didn't know. And then, Eric and I even shared a place in New York – still had no idea, even then.'

'Well, I knew quite a while back that those two wouldn't be happy with anyone but each other. You know, time apart has done good for all of us.'

Shawn frowned, 'What's that supposed to mean?' He pulled her closer and spoke, 'I didn't like it when you were in Europe. I mean, I supported it and in hindsight I'm glad you had that time with your Dad but I really felt like I was going to die when you left.'

Angela looked up at the waver in his voice and kissed him gently, 'It wasn't easy for me either, Shawn. And I thought about you every second of every day. Its just that it was the one chance I had to spend with Dad and…'

He interrupted her with a kiss of his own, 'I know, love, I know. And it gave me some time to decide on how to propose' he finished with a smirk.

'Well, I'm sorry I ruined your efforts' Angela said wryly. 'But what I did must also give you an indication of how much I might have missed you and wanted to be with you.'

'Baby' he whispered in his wife's ears, 'I'll forever love you for what you did that day. Yes, I wanted to propose to you and I had this long poem written but that day ranks right up there with our wedding day and Faith's birthday.'

Angela snuggled closer, 'I still got to listen to that poem though. It was a beautiful touch to our wedding. And it meant more to me than any wedding vow you could have written because it was so uniquely…you.'

Shawn kissed her forehead and chuckled, 'I didn't know whether to be mad or happy that night. There you were, having just bluntly asked me to marry you and there I was, ring burning a hole in my pocket, thinking ahead to the preparations I had so painstakingly made.'

'So the events that followed didn't do anything to make up for stealing your thunder?' she smiled teasingly.

Shawn wore a devilish smirk in response and closed his eyes in rememberance, 'Ah yes. Our first night of passion together.'

'Mmmhmm' she murmured. 'The first of many.'

'And lets not forget, the night we conceived Faith.'

'God, so much has happened in such a short while. I cant believe that in the past year, we've been engaged, married, had a baby and moved to Philadelphia all in quick succession.'

'I think we did the right thing. New York is no city to raise a young girl in. I want her to have all the things I couldn't, Angela. And I know that she has a better chance of that in Philadelphia.'

'Luckily, you've been assigned to only the States – I'm certainly happy about that.'

'Angela' Shawn tilted her chin and made her look up at him, 'I wasn't going to leave you to deal with the pregnancy by yourself. And besides, I wanted to finish college too. When the four of us left for New York, Cory and I decided to do summer school there so we could finish our degrees sooner.'

'I thought you'd all be in New York for a while, though.'

Shawn lazily laced their fingers together, 'Well, that's what we all thought. But Topanga and Cory got pretty homesick for Philly after her internship and Eric and I, well we stuck it out for another semester because I got the chance to take a few specialised photography and English courses and also because I wanted to meet Jack's stepdad.'

Angela looked at her husband questioningly, 'You aren't still mad at Jack, are you?'

Shawn sighed and ran a tired hand over his face. 'No, I'm not but I wanted to start paying his step-dad back as soon as I could, you know? Anyway, he offered me a job with his outfit in Philly and I jumped at it because it gave me the chance to get started on the repayment and get together my act for the future as well.'

He tilted her chin up again and placed a searing kiss on Angela's lips, 'And just in time too, because in a little while, there you were standing soaking wet, home early.'

Angela moaned unwittingly as the kiss curled the very tips of her fingers and toes. 'And then there I was asking you to marry me.'

'And then there we were making love and making Faith, although we didn't know it at the time.'

'And then there we were getting married and then bringing her into the world.'

Shawn grinned, 'Yup those were good times.'

Angela lightly smacked his chest, 'So did you and Eric have moping parties?'

Her husband exhaled in exasperation, 'Are you kidding? We had grand misery parties where we excelled in making the other feel sorry. Now that I look back, it was sort of weird – I'd whine about you to Eric and he'd whine to me about Jack and I never thought of even connecting the dots!'

Angela giggled, 'I was going crazy trying to figure out who was where. You guys were just moving too fast.'

'Yeah, but everyone's pretty much settled here now in Philly and it was nice of Jack to come over here for Eric. Man, he really hated New York but Jack was brought up there.'

Angela nodded, 'Same with Topanga – she was quite surprised that she didn't like New York. Just waiting to come home again after the internship. But then, the law firm has an office here as well so she's not too affected.'

'Yeah. Although I never thought we'd be the first.'

Angela looked at him questioningly.

'Well' replied Shawn thoughtfully, 'I'd always assumed that the perfect family life wasn't for me. And at any rate, when Cory and I used to think about our futures, it was always he and Topanga doing the whole kids, dog and white picket fence routine. I wasn't sure where my life was going half the time and where I was going to end up.'

Angela was quiet for so long that Shawn made her look at him. She had her eyes tightly closed but even in the little moonlight Shawn saw the tears streaming down her face.

'Angela, what….'

'Are you regretting all that happened? Wishing you and Cory had switched places? They still don't have kids and are not as exactly settled as we are…'

Shawn exclaimed, shocked, 'No! Absolutely not.' Seeing Angela still crying, he pulled her tightly to him and kissed her cheeks, sipping at the salty tear tracks. 'Angela, I didn't mean that I never wanted this to happen. You and Faith are the best things that ever came into my life. And I don't regret the events in our lives. Yes, we've had to make adjustments and we've had to plan things sooner but I've never for a minute wished that they hadnt happened, ok?' Cupping her face in his hands, he gazed into her eyes. 'You believe me, don't you?'

Angela nodded but Shawn could see that she wasn't entirely convinced. When she spoke, it was with a tremor that rocked him to the core, 'I never wanted to feel like you were pressured into settling down and I…I wanted to make sure that I always gave you your…your…sp..space…'

And with that, Angela broke down.

Shawn simply stared ahead blankly, while unconciously wrapping his arms even more firmly around his wife. Angela was normally placid and uflappable, and Shawn could count the number of times he'd really seen her let go and cry.

And he felt like someone had ripped out his throat and stepped on it, when he knew that Angela was hurting because of him.

After a few minutes but what seemed to Shawn like hours, her sobs subsided. Shawn kissed her forehead and held her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. 'Right, I've let you have your cry. What just happened here, Ange?'

Angela sniffled and lowered her eyes. 'Nothing, you know us new mothers, always spouting all over the place.'

Shawn rolled his eyes and grasped her shoulders firmly, 'I'm not letting this go. I want to know why you broke down just now' and gently taking her chin in his right hand, he said, 'And I need to know why you arent a 100 convinced that I was telling the truth.'

With that, he touched his lips to hers. He moved them over hers, softly, slowly but with insistence. 'I love you' he mumbled between kisses to her cheeks, her eyelids, the tip of her nose and her forehead.

Angela smiled through her tears, feeling her doubts melt away in the face of his love and trembling, replied, 'I just want to know that you're happy, Shawn. I wouldn't be able to bear it if you thought that I had ruined your life.'

Shawn gaped. 'Ruined my life! What on earth are you talking about? I've always loved you and wanted to be with you, ever since I saw you for the first time!'

Angela pulled away and clasped her hands in her lap, 'You haven't always felt like that, Shawn.'

And then Shawn knew what it was. He could have kicked himself for not realising that his actions would have had a lasting effect on her as well.

Their break up and time apart in college had been hard on the both of them. Shawn knew why he'd done what he considered the stupidest move in his life, it was due to his deep rooted fear of commitment stemming from his father, but he'd neglected to see the effect on Angela and her trust in him.

And yet, she'd laid her heart on the line again. That Christmas, she'd told him that she still loved him again and like an idiot, he'd blubbered about not being ready for a relationship rather than coming clean with her regarding his fears. Shawn winced even now as he recalled that day and the hurt in Angela's eyes. He knew what must have gone through her mind – it seemed as if he'd been toying with her since high school.

They had ultimately gotten together, even surviving her stint in Europe but some scars ran deep. And it tore him apart to know that Angela was fearful at any point of his leaving.

He wanted to set the record straight, once and for all. Right now.

'Angela' he took a deep breath to steady his voice and cupped her face, not allowing her to look anywhere else. 'I am going to tell you something that I want you to remember for the rest of our lives, ok?'

She closed her eyes and nodded and gave a small laugh as he kissed her eyelids again.

Shawn felt lighter. Her laugh and smiles always had the power to brighten his day and give him that boost of confidence to make it through his life. He stared into the dark orbs that had captivated him one fine day at John Adams High.

'Angela, when you walked into my life, I had no idea that it was going to be for the better. There was an instant attraction I felt and believe me, in spite of my bone headed two week rule, I didn't want to break up with you. Then I fell in love with your things and chased you all over because I knew that the best thing to ever happen to me was about to walk out of my life.'

Angela reached up to wipe some tears away, but found her husband's fingers already engaged in the very same task. She gave an encouraging nod for him to continue, feeling a lot more peace at his words.

Shawn concentrated on the serene rhythms of her breath, willing himself to draw strength from them and continued, 'When we did get together, it was all that I could have wished for and more. You were the one person who understood me and who I felt really knew me, even better than Cory.'

Angela chuckled mirthlessly and when she spoke, Shawn detected the slight undercurrent of resentment in her voice, 'So what happened when we went to college?'

He closed his eyes in frustration, not wanting to hurt her all over again but knowing that this issue needed to be resolved before certain wounds lingered and festered into ugly sores.

'I was very scared when I saw that we were going in a long-term direction. Darling, when we were in school I knew that I was in love with you, but when we went to college, it hit me that I began seeing you as the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with! That really scared me, because I had no idea of commitment, how to committ or even if I'd ever be worthy of supporting you and us in the future.'

Angela sat up and sighed, 'Couldn't you have just told me all that? Do you ever have any idea what that decision was like for me, Shawn? I accepted it because I could see you were all of a sudden feeling trapped but you had no idea how it made me feel.'

Shawn lowered his gaze in pain, 'Angela…'

She continued, feeling that the words once brought out just wouldn't be suppressed, 'I…I thought that maybe it was my fault. That perhaps I had done something that made you want to break up. Maybe I just wasn't pretty or interesting enough for you…'

Shawn's head snapped up and he shook her shoulders vehemently, 'Enough! I have never, ever in all our time since I've known you thought that you were boring or not pretty, alright? Damn it, I was scared to ask you out the very first time because I was afraid that I was going to blurt I wanted your children!'

A low laugh mixed with a sob came from her lips.

Shawn willed her to look at him again and taking both her hands in his, pressed soft kisses to her knuckles, 'I'm sorry, so very sorry that I made you feel that way. As cliched as it sounds, when I made that idiotic decision to break up with you, it was completely due to me and because of nothing you did. I thank God everyday that you bothered to put up with me all this time. I…I'd be lost without you, Angela, I really would. You are my constant, my best friend, my everything really.'

Angela brought their joined hands to her lips and placed a kiss of her own on his fingers. 'Shawn' she began with a quiver in her voice that made him feel like a heel, 'you'll never leave me, right?'

The simple question so unassuming in itself but so powerful in impact sent his mind reeling. Shawn felt his heart jump into this throat and hated himself at that moment more than he ever did for making his wife this vulnerable. He was aware that all new mothers were prone to anxiety and depression – Angela had teased him on more than one occasion that he knew more about pregnancy than she did – but he recognised her question as something more deep-rooted.

'Angela' he responded, willing himself to be calm, 'I love you. I love you so much, I could never leave you. I let you go to Europe but even then I was determined that it wouldn't make a difference to us. And I wanted to ask you to marry me even before you left. I know I've been stupid to let you go two times but I've been trying to make up for it as much as I can. You know that, right?'

She laughed tearfully and Shawn smiled with her, relieved at seeing genuine warmth in her face. She stroked his stubble and the corners of his mouth and he lost his train of thought for a second, relishing her touch. 'I wish I could be as strong as you, Ange. And I know that you've done so much more for me than I ever could. Loving a trailer park kid who doesn't even know who his mother is, whose mother was a stripper for God's sake…'

And then it was Shawn's turn to choke and Angela drew him into her arms, reversing their positions with him resting his head on her chest now.

'Don't you dare, Shawn. We're a family now and we belong to each other. I've always wanted you to know that I was there for you and that you could come to me, rather than turning to a bottle like you did at the time.'

'I know' came Shawn's voice muffled from the folds of her gown. 'And I'm sorry I was drunk that time but Angela, you don't know how scared I was. There we were finally together and happy but to find out that I had no idea about my background – I was scared that your Dad wouldn't want you to be with me anymore.'

Angela ran her fingers through his hair and kissed the lock that stubbornly persisted in curling over his forehead. 'He knew that I had lost my heart to you the moment he met you, silly. And your background never made a difference to me, Shawn. You could come from the ends of the earth and to me, you'd still be Shawn Patrick Hunter, the incredible man who overcame the odds, who I fell in love with and who is now my gorgeous and handsome husband.'

Shawn grinned warmly and dried his eyes. 'Thanks, Mrs Hunter. And I promise I'm not going anywhere, ok? And for the record, you are quite gorgeous yourself.'

She flashed him a suitably smug grin in return, 'Why, thank you, I…oh…I mean, its…Shawn, wait…I…'

'Hmmm?' came her husband's murmur even as his lips were lightly sucking on her collarbone. He softly bit the skin there and then smiled against her skin as he felt her breath hitch under him. Moving back up, he saw her eyes were glazed over and chuckled, 'Makes a man feel good to know he can still have that effect on his girl.'

'Oh Shawn' responded Angela dreamily. 'You've always made me feel so special. And you've been wonderful this past year. How is it that you can make me go from feeling like a pasty, fat, insipid cow to the most beauitful and adored woman in the world?'

Shawn smirked dryly. 'Through endless praise and flattery.' As Angela tried to smack him, he caught her hands and pinned them down on either side. Leaning in, he whispered hotly, 'And its not too difficult to come up with that when she's as sexy as you.'

They kissed for a long while effectively cutting off any further talk until Shawn moved to drizzle his lips down his wife's neck leaving Angela free to pull away with a choked gasp, 'Haven't felt all that sexy lately, what with carrying someone around inside me for nine months.'

'Are you kidding?' Shawn was surprised. 'I've told you time and again, that you were unbelievably attractive when you were pregnant.' Then he stopped as if in thought and a glint appeared in his eyes as he resumed his earlier activity, 'Perhaps because my woman was carrying my child, it's a very caveman thing, I think.'

Angela rolled her eyes at the ceiling but was eventually forced to close them as Shawn's attention became even more focused and intense. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head up to her.

'I love you, Shawn Hunter. I love you so much.'

He gazed at her and then moved to completely cover her body with his. Pressing down lightly, he pulled her in closer and whispered, 'And I love you Angela Moore Hunter. I always have.' He kissed her and then stroked her cheeks, 'Get some sleep. Faith will be up again soon.'

Nodding, Angela snuggled into his embrace and allowed herself to fall asleep.