"Gaaaa!" Shawn grunted, knocking over a box in the guest room of his dad's apartment where all his stuff from his childhood bedroom had been collected. Out spilled a box of old action figures and box cars that his dad had given him while he was growing up.

He remembered being much younger, maybe around Lily's age, playing with the cars with his dad. He would run them around the living room, driving them off the side of the couches and tables, making the noise of the guns with his mouth.

"Now Shawn," his dad would say, perched on his knees to meet his son eye-to-eye. "That car is actually a prisoner transport vehicle. It wouldn't be driving so fast because they have to be careful to get the prisoners to jail without tipping over."

"No!" Shawn said, running away with his car, "This car shoots the bad guys, just like you, Dad!"

He rolled the car on the side of the guest bed with pretty flower sheets he was convinced his mom had picked out for his dad. Because in no universe did Henry Spencer pick those out on his own.

"Shawn?" Juliet said quietly, knocking on the door as she opened it. Shawn put the car back into the box and flopped backwards across the bed. "Shawn, are you okay?"

He felt the weight of the bed shift as she sat down next to him and placed her hand on his leg. "Tell me what happened."

"Gaaa!" Shawn let out an exasperated yell. "He makes me so mad! Who the hell does he think he is, telling me that I can't do this?" His fists pounded firmly into the bed.

"He said that to you?" Jules asked, readjusting so she could lay across from him. He could feel the weight of her eyes, watching him carefully. He flipped over to his side so he could look right at her.

"I guess not…" Shawn said, his voice trailing off. He reached out his hand to touch her belly, his fingertip tracing her side. The baby wasn't kicking, but just having his hand there- knowing their baby was in there, he felt calmer. He closed his eyes for a moment, replaying the conversation in his head. How had it escalated so quickly?

"I just want to be better than him." He thought about how inadequate he had felt as a kid, so imperfect. He knew what he was supposed to be. Thanks to his father, there was a clear image of what 'perfect' was, and it had been laid out for him time and again when he was growing up. He had the goal, but he could never reach it. According to his father, he would always fall short. And over time he began to resent his father for the version of himself that he could never live up to- even if it was a version of himself he didn't even want to become in the first place.

"Jules," he said softly, rubbing his fingers down her arms and reaching out for her hand. "I just don't want to screw up this baby."

"Shawn Spencer," Juliet said, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. "Are you kidding me?" She watched him look down at her hands, grasping firmly on his, wringing all the anxiety out of his palms. "You are not your father- thank the lord for that. He may have been trying his best, but you are going to be so much better than him. You are kind and compassionate and funny. You will do anything for the ones you love. You have taken care of me since the second we met, and now I know that you are going to take care of our baby too."

"But what if-" Shawn started to say.

"Shawn, you are going to be the greatest dad ever, because of your dad. You get to take all the crap that you put up with all this time and you get to be better than him. You know what he did, and you are going to fix it. We both will. We are not our parents."

"Well, just for the record, you are going to be the best mom on the planet," Shawn said, leaning forward to kiss his wife. "Like gold medal. If there were an Olympics for being a mom, you would win it every time- no competition.

Juliet gave him a sideways smile "You know I would."

The two lay quietly on the bed, Shawn looking at Jules who was looking at her stomach, tracing circles on the back of his hands. He closed his eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer, thanking the heavens and universe for not taking this woman from him. He thought about how close we had been to losing her. The colorful tattoo that danced across her chest and poked out of the top of her shift was a constant reminder to her of her strength- everything she had overcome to be there today. But for Shawn, the tattoos were a reminder of how fragile his wife's life was. How she could be taken from him at any moment. And how close he had been to losing her forever.

"Hey, Shawn?" Jules said, breaking the silence, "You want to go tell Gus?"

Shawn didn't even have to answer. A wave of relief and excitement rushed over him and he jumped up, feeling like a little kid. "Are you sure?" he asked, already bouncing on his toes to leave.

"Let's go," Jules said, smiling back at him. But he was already in the hallway, shouting a hasty "Bye, Dad" before bounding out the door.

"Shouldn't we give Gus a heads up that we are here?" Juliet asked, laying with her head in Shawn's lap.

Shawn had his feet up on the coffee table and was stroking the baby hairs that lined her forehead. In the frustration, he had forgotten that it was still Thanksgiving, and that Gus was probably still at his parent's house for dinner.

"Nah," Shawn said, looping a chunk of her hair around his finger.

"We probably could have stayed for dinner," Juliet sighed, closing her eyes.

"Nah," he said again, "I didn't need to spend any more time in that hippy-dippy house my dad found himself for his eighth-century crisis."

"You realize that would make him eight hundred years old, right?" Juliet asked, pursing her lips together.

"You're eight hundred years old."

Juliet rolled her eyes and turned to her side.

They heard the garage door open and Shawn instantly started bouncing again.

"Shawn!" Juliet said, quickly sitting up, "Nauseous!"

"Sorry!" Shawn said, watching the door intensely.

The door handle turned painstakingly slow before the door swung open.

"AHHHH!" Gus yelled, barging through waving a pool noodle in front of his face.

"Nice buddy," Shawn said, smiling from the couch. "A pool noodle. That should do the trick."

Juliet snorted from the couch as Gus tilted his head into the lamp light over their shoulder.

"Shawn?" Gus said, Selene following closely behind.

"OMG hi Jules!" She exclaimed, running over to hug her friend. Juliet opened her eyes wide towards Shawn from over Selene's shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" Gus asked, knocking Shawn's feet off the coffee table before sitting down on the chair. "Aren't you supposed to be at your dad's house for dinner?"

Shawn looked over towards Juliet who nodded and smiled softly.

He took a quick breath and said, "Well we left early because my dad kind of freaked when we told him that Jules is pregnant." He smiled, waiting for his best friend to register his words.

"OMG! You're pregnant!" Selene exclaimed, jumping to give Juliet another hug. "Cause I thought that you were gaining weight but I didn't want to say anything because every time I say something I'm wrong but I really thought that you were but I didn't tell Gus or tell anyone but I thought you might be and that is so exciting! Gus! My best friend is pregnant!"

Shawn looked over and saw his friend's face begin to contort.

"Buddy?" He asked, snapping in front of Gus's nose. "You okay?"

Loud cries began spilling out of Gus, almost involuntarily. "You're having a baby?" He asked, finally.

"Uh, yeah."

"You're having a baby!" He jumped up and gave Shawn a big hug before leaning down to give Juliet a hug too.

"There's gonna be a little Shules baby running around!" He cried again into Juliet's shoulder.

Shawn smiled at Juliet who was smiling back at him, only slightly suffocated by his friend's embrace. He gave her the thumbs up and smiled confidently. This was the reaction he was looking for. This was the reaction that told him it would be okay. This baby would be okay. It had to be.