Second chap of my Family stories! Sorry for the delay, but I'm working on (too) many projects at the same time. Anyhow, a little thing about Gus becoming a dad. A buddy-to-buddy talk everyone should have. Let me know if you want something like that for Lassie and Jules too.

Thanks for the support, as always.

Not (entirely) like a Cartoon

The first thing Shawn did when he became an uncle, was to buy a popsicle. Not for him but for the father, of course.

-There- he pushed the azure snack under Gus's nose. -To restore your strenght.-

-It's not me the one that did all the work, Shawn. And I'm fine. Perfectly fine.-

Shawn rolled his eyes. His best friend had stopped breathing by Jules's first scream, and was currently hugging his plastic chair like the world's destiny depended on it. With the shirt buttoned in the wrong order and the eyes bulging out, he seemed a mix between the Shining kid and a very miserable refugee. -Yeah, you're fresh as a lily. C'mon, take the popsicle.-

His best friend grabbed it greedily, and Shawn sat beside him. A large first grade-like smile blossomed on Gus's face. -Oh, it has sprinkle cute.-

-Of course man.-

They licked their snacks in silence, pretending that nothing had happened in the previous hour and that they really felt like grown people. The maternity ward was nice, a blur of creamy-colored walls, sturdy nurses in pink scrubs and blow-ups of due-eyed cartoon pups. Comforting, if not for the terrible screams resounding behind the doors.

-Where is Lassie?-

-Talking with the nurses again, or playing the Unflappable Guy in some other ways.-

They snorted, bumping fists without even looking.

Gus took a deep breath. -I can't believe it.-

-That the nurse who flirted with me looked like Gerald Butler? Very disturbing, considering she was a woman.-

-No.- Gus was too freaked out to appreciate his humor. -That we are here, like that. I mean, I'm going to have a baby, we got a loan, we are married.-

-Technically I'm not married, I have a life partner.-

-And technically you're an idiot. What I'm saying is, we are adults now. We are real persons. Not cartoons.-

Shawn stopped, his tongue mid-air to the popsicle.

-Yeah.- he said quietly. -Yeah.-

Gus began gesticulating. -And I was thinking, Am-am I ready to do it? I've prepared everything, really, I even called the most exclusive kindergarten of Santa Barbara to be ahead from the start, and stop looking at me like that, Shawn. But having kids means so much more: it means giving them advice about the girls, being loving but stern when they got their first punch, understanding when they're ready to get up and go on with their own legs. It means being the leader, the "Father". I'm a pharmaceutical rep that spends his days snooping around with his best friend and eats marshmellows at breakfast. Gosh, I cry watching Grey's Anatomy. How, how can I do it? How can I be the "Father"?-

Gus turned to him, and Shawn instantly knew how serious he was. After more than thirty years of shared life you might not grasp the other's soul by his meaningful gaze, but sure you learnt how to read his face. So he saw the worry, the fear, the crushing love for Jules and the squirming slimy demon she had just pushed out. The things he didn't say aloud.

Shawn gave him a smile too old and too real to be charming.

-First of all, Christina's farewell has been a terrible blow for us all, so crying for Grey's Anatomy is just human. And second, man- he offered. -you're more than ready; simply because it's what you do the best. You get worry for your friends and give them thorny advices and annoy them to no end, exactly like a good parent should do. Gus, you've been my dad for all this life and half of the precendent. You have listened to all my crap; you've kept me from falling two-thousand times, with the bike and without.-

He shrugged. -You've always been a Dad; and this is so much better than to be a Father.-

They let the words sink in. Another scream from the room twenty-one.

-Are you...are you serious? I'll do it good? - Gus stared at him tentatively, hope flickering in his eyes. - It won't be a crazy foolish rush like always?-

-Of course it would be, buddy; it would be the wackiest, dumbest, wildest adventure of our whole life.- He affectionately patted Gus's knee. -And as always, we won't regret a single moment.-

-Even if we're not cartoons?-

Shawn snickered. -C'mon, we'll always be cartoons.-

Gus nodded, finally letting go the poor chair. Someone was barking orders down the corridor, probably, by the " fallen comrade" reference, Lassie himself, but the ward was quiet. They didn't talk further; they didn't need to.

Until a question popped in his mind.

-Shawn, in a cartoon family, which character would we be?-

Shawn leaned back, thoughtfully crossing his ankles. -Well, that's easy: Jules the Super Mom with control issues; I the Strange but Super-Cool Uncle that cover up for your kids after the curfew...-