Summary: Shaun and Lea meet their nephew for the first time.

Julian Roderick Suarez-Dilallo, Shaun and Lea's nephew, was born on December 12th, 2025. His middle name was after Lea and Donnie's Grandpa Rod.

On December 21st, Shaun, Lea, and Steve flew to Hershey to spend Christmas (this Christmas happened to be a snowy Christmas) there with Lea's parents, where they stayed with Pam and Mike in their 86-year-old house. They were also going to use that opportunity to go nearby to Harrisburg to visit Donnie, Raul, and Julian. They would fly back to San Jose on the 27th.

On the 23rd, Pam and Mike spent time with Steve and Julian while Shaun and Lea went out on a date night at a nice Italian restaurant...and also so Donnie and Raul could take a well-deserved nap.

The Murphys spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Pam and Mike, although Donnie and his family stayed home together since he and Raul wanted Julian's first Christmas to be just him and them.

Now, on the day of December 26th, the Murphys were at Donnie and Raul's apartment in Harrisburg, seeing little Julian for the first time as they all sat on the couch in the living room; the order being Raul, Shaun with Steve in his lap, Donnie with Julian in his arms, and then Lea as she cooed over her nephew.

"Baby," Steve, who was sitting in Shaun's lap, observed, amazed at the tiny human being swaddled up in his uncle's arms. He reached his arm out toward Julian, pointing excitedly.

"Yes," bubbled Shaun, allowing his son to feel Julian's soft skin. "This is Julian, your cousin. You need to be gentle with him."

"Be careful, Peanut," warned Lea. "Use gentle hands with Julian."

Obeying his parents' orders to use his gentle hands, Steve ran his tiny hand across his cousin's cheek, marveling at the extreme softness of it.

"His skin is soft isn't it?" Raul chuckled, smiling at his nephew.

"Baby play?" Steve asked in his high-pitched toddler voice, wondering if his cousin was in the mood to play with him.

"No, he's too little, peanut," laughed Lea, knowing that Steve didn't understand that babies weren't the best playmates for children. "Maybe when he's bigger."

Steve continued to gently touch and stroke Julian's face, staring at him with intense curiosity. Then, the toddler leaned down and kissed the baby on the forehead.

"Aw," the adults said in unison.

"Steve, that was very sweet of you," praised Shaun, running a hand through his son's hair.

"He will definitely make a great big brother someday," Donnie whispered to Lea as he passed Julian over to her. At the same time, he let Steve crawl over into his lap as Shaun got up to sit next to Lea while Raul scooted closer toward Donnie.

"Hi, Julian," beamed Lea, looking into the baby's hazel eyes. "I'm your Aunt Lea." She then looked over at Shaun. "This is your Uncle Shaun. You just met your cousin Steve."

"Hello, I'm Dr. Shaun Murphy, I'm your uncle," greeted Shaun, reaching his hands out to touch the baby in a similar way he did to Steve when he was first born.

As Lea gently passed Julian over to Shaun, the infant fussed a little and started crying. When Shaun gently shifted Julian to hold him in an upright position against his chest to comfort him, the baby spat up on Shaun's shoulder.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Shaun! I'll get, I'll get a burp cloth," Raul apologized profusely, embarrassed, springing off the couch to run and get a cloth from Julian's nursery so his brother-in-law could wipe his shirt. He and Donnie were aware of Shaun's sensory issues and the fact that he wouldn't change Steve's diaper or burp him without a surgical smock.

"Baby sick," Steve pointed out as Donnie lifted the toddler out of his lap and then placed him on the floor.

"Don't worry, Julian isn't sick," reassured Donnie, ruffling his nephew's hair. "He just spit up. Babies do that a lot."

"Steve, why don't you go play with your toys," offered Lea as she handed Steve his toddler-size backpack (which had Bluey and Bingo on it) that contained his entertainment sources - his stuffed elephant, a Peppa Pig coloring book, crayons, a writing/drawing tablet, his shape sorter, his toy animal figurines, a few Montessori toys, a few toy cars, a doll, and a few board books.

"Okay," obeyed Steve, taking his Bluey backpack and then unloading it, immediately pulling out an Olivia board book, and flipping through it.

"It's okay," reassured Shaun monotonously as he handed Julian to Donnie. "It has happened to me before. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to."

Shaun looked at Lea and smiled as he unbuttoned his black and white button-down to where he was only wearing an undershirt.

Even though it took a year of getting used to, Shaun wasn't that bothered by the disgusting parts of parenting. Not only had he been peed on, pooped on, and barfed on more than once (often without wearing any surgical smocks), but he also once sucked the snot out of his child's nose with his own mouth.

In fact, the worst incident that ever happened to Shaun was when Steve had the stomach flu and Shaun was the one who volunteered to stay home to take care of him and Lea had to work late that night because of a board meeting. When Shaun - exhausted and sleep-deprived - was holding Steve, the toddler vomited down his shirt while also blowing out of his diaper and getting diarrhea on Shaun's shirt and hands. When Shaun tried to get them both cleaned up in the shower, Steve vomited again.

"You get used to that stuff," reassured Lea, who endured an equal amount of the most disgusting parts of parenting as much as Shaun.

They both mutually reminisced back to when Stevie was a tiny baby. Honestly, they missed swaddling him and holding him and although they loved watching him grow, they sometimes wished he would stay little forever.

Still, they both kind of wanted another baby.

In fact, yesterday morning, Steve asked his parents if he was getting a baby brother or sister again. Shaun and Lea suspected that Steve was starting to get jealous of Eden and the rest of his friends at daycare since he was one of the few who was an only child.

"Mommy, baby?" Steve asked, climbing onto Lea on the couch and pointing at her stomach as they opened presents.

Before Pam or Mike could be enthusiastic and congratulate them, Lea corrected her son.

"Sorry, peanut," chuckled Lea. "Mommy does not have a baby in her tummy."

"I think he probably senses that you might be thinking about it," joked Pam.

"Charlotte's mommy baby in tummy," mentioned Steve as he fiddled with his brand new name puzzle.

"Yes, Charlotte's mom is pregnant, but she should be having the baby soon," confirmed Shaun.

"Katherine's mommy and Hazel's mommy and Elliott's mommy," added Steve.

"Yes, them, too," agreed Shaun.

"Mommy baby?" Steve asked once again.

"No. We already told you no," confirmed Shaun firmly.

"But, we're thinking of making that happen," Lea whispered to Shaun. "Right?"

"Yes," Shaun smiled back, wondering if they were ready to start trying again.

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