Summary: After returning from a night shift, Shaun discusses with Lea when they will start their family and what their long-term family plans are. This is set between "A Big Sign" and "Shrapnel".

It was 7:00 am when Shaun returned from his night call that started right after he held up all those tacky big signs a la Andrew Lincoln's creepy character in Love Actually.

Throughout his shift and his hours off while Lea was at work during the day, the thought of making compromises and settling disagreements during a marriage (inspired by his recently deceased patient, a well-renowned marriage counselor) made him chew over another important matter he and Lea needed to discuss - something more significant than a disagreement over laundry and dishes - having children.

Most of all, a chapter discussing parenting and children from Julianne's recently published book about marital compromise made Shaun want to bring the topic back up with Lea. When reading that section, Shaun noticed that she mentioned that she and her late husband ended up choosing the childfree path despite wanting a big family. After trying to conceive a child for two years with no luck, the couple went to a reproductive endocrinologist who discovered fertility issues in both of them. So they tried IVF with sperm and egg donors, which drained their bank account and emotional well-being, straining their marriage. Finally, after seeing a therapist, they decided it wasn't meant to be, so they decided to enjoy a long and happy life together without children.

Other than that anecdote in Julianne's book, a text from Lea regarding children also made Shaun want to discuss this again.

LEA: My mom just called. She asked when you and I are planning to have a baby or if we will even have children.

Although Shaun and Lea were both on the same page about someday wanting to start a family, they had yet to reach a solid conclusion on where they stood on specific subcategories of that topic, such as how many they would have overall and how they would raise them.

Once both of them were home for the night and after their third spaghetti dinner for the month, talking about Lea's stressful workday and Dr. Lim deciding to distance herself from Shaun, they sat down on the couch together to discuss the topic of children again.

"I honestly didn't expect my parents to start begging us for grandbabies this early into our marriage," Lea chuckled anxiously. "I wonder if they've been bugging Donnie and Raul about it, too."

"It is odd," nodded Shaun in accordance. "They were not happy when we told them you were pregnant."

Lea chortled, scooching closer to Shaun on the couch. "They weren't mad or disappointed. It's just that to them, this was too early in our relationship and they were shocked that you already had me knocked up when they only met you a month ago."

Now that Pam and Mike had warmed up to Shaun and he and Lea were married, a grandchild sounded more exciting. However, Lea did need to remind them that she and Shaun couldn't start conceiving until at least a year after the loss.

"Do you still want to have a baby?" Shaun asked, wondering if Lea had changed her mind at some point. Sometimes, the thought of the current political climate made them second-guess themselves about their desire to have a child.

There was also the possibility of the child being autistic, and the thought of the child getting picked on by their peers or not being understood by a teacher scared Shaun. Although the child would have supportive and understanding parents, a support group also needed to include their teachers.

Even if the child was neurotypical, Shaun sometimes feared that the child would be embarrassed by him. However, the child would still love him with all their heart.

And whether or not they were autistic or allistic, Shaun dreaded the moments that his childs would watch him meltdown or shutdown.

Even with more and more people accepting and understanding ASD and even with the rise in diagnoses, prejudice and discrimination still existed. Even when laws and policy change, prejudice doesn't go away.

However, the thought of the pitter-patter of little feet on the floor and childish laughter throughout the house always won over their fears.

"Of course, I still want a child and I do want to try again soon," answered Lea as she remembered her OB/GYN's orders regarding her choice to get pregnant again. "But Dr. Winkler said we had to wait a year. It still hasn't been a year."

"I know, but we need to talk about other issues regarding children."

"Like?"

"If Dr. Winkler finds scar tissue in your uterus or if my sperm count and motility is low or if one of us ends up being infertile," Shaun elaborated, remembering what he read about Julianne and her husband going through. "What are we going to do? Are we going to go through fertility treatments? If we do decide to go through fertility treatment, how many failed cycles does it need to take for us to give up? If we do give up, would we think about adoption or fostering or surrogacy. Our insurance does cover IVF, but..."

"Slow down, Shaun," warned Lea, holding her hand up in a 'please stop' gesture. "We're not even at that point yet, so let's not worry about that part. Instead, we need to think about when we want to start trying."

Shaun thought about the when for a moment.

Financially, they were ready for a child with him being an attending and Lea being the head of the IT department, but they still weren't given the clear about being medically ready given the possible physical results of the previous loss. First, it was possible that her uterus could be scarred from the fetoscopic laser ablation and the D&E. Second, because of the blood clots she endured during her pregnancy, she was prescribed blood thinners to treat any possible future clot she may have since she had another one in her leg two days after the D&E.

Most of all, they weren't sure if they were mentally ready since it hasn't quite been a year since they lost their daughter - who would have been either a Sophia, a Stella, a Scarlett, or a Sadie - the only S names they could both agree on.

"Do you want to start trying right when I'm finished with the anticoagulants and after Dr. Winkler gives us the go-ahead in a month or two? Or do you want to wait until after our first wedding anniversary?" Lea inquired.

"Hm," hummed Shaun, taking a moment to think about it. Even being in their very early thirties, a baby kind of felt a little too soon as they still wanted to enjoy some time as a married couple after being married. However, he also didn't want to wait until after they were 40. Most importantly, they both needed to be ready at the same time. "We'll wait until November and then see if we're both ready. You need to finish your anticoagulants first."

"That works well for me," nodded Lea with a chuckle before thinking about another question. "Also, how many do you want to have in all?"

"I don't know. Maybe," shrugged Shaun. "But I definitely don't want more than two."

"That...I can agree with," Lea nodded her head. There was kind of a truth to the three is crowd phrase when it came to children. "Also, if we end up having twins, one of us will need to get fixed or spayed."

"Okay," nodded Shaun. "I think we should start with one child and then see how that goes."

"Yes, that is a good idea," chuckled Lea.

The couple spent the rest of the night catching up on Schitt's Creek before settling down for the night.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed. Please review :)

Next Chapter Prompt:
Lea and Shaun pop in a movie to forget about Lim's hostility towards him.