Six Months Later

"Uncle Shawn!" Josh cheered, running into his Uncle's arms at full speed.

Shawn had barely gotten in the door before being attacked by his nephew. "Joshie!" Shawn greeted, dropping his carry-on and picking the two-year-old up. "How's my favorite nephew?"

"Good," Josh smiled.

"I'm sorry, I missed your birthday buddy," Shawn apologized. Due to him being in Europe for the past six months, he missed big events - like birthdays and holidays. "But I got you a present. It's in one of my bags."

Josh's face lit up at the mention of a present. He clapped his hands together and smiled, looking down at the bag on the ground.

Cory stumbled into his apartment carrying Shawn's luggage. He had picked Shawn up from the airport and somehow got himself stuck carrying all of Shawn's bags. Six months ago, Shawn only left New York with two suitcases and a carry-on. Now Cory was struggling with four bags which didn't include the carry-on.

Shawn and Josh watched as Cory struggled entering the apartment with the luggage, neither bothered to help. "I pick you up from the airport, drive you home, and I am stuck with the suitcases. I walk up five flights of stairs for you and this is the thanks I get," Cory huffed as he was about to collapse onto the floor with Shawn's bags.

"Well, Cor, you seemed pretty enthusiastic about getting me back, so I thought you would be more than willing to carry my bags," Shawn stated.

"You better not be leaving for a long time," Cory said, sitting down in the nearby armchair. He was not in the right kind of shape to ever be doing this again.

"Shawn!" Topanga greeted, coming down the stairs with her arms wide open for a hug. Shawn placed Josh on Cory's lap causing his friend to "oof." He met Topanga halfway and hugged her. "It's so good to see you. How was Europe?"

"Europe was great. I'll have to show you guys the pictures I took some time," Shawn led. "Cory, you will not believe the girls in France. They are just as pretty as people say, but let me tell you one thing about those French girls, they can really-"

"I don't think Josh should hear this," Topanga intervened. She had a hunch as to where Shawn was going with his speech and personally did not want him to finish. Josh was the perfect censor for her.

"Anyway, tell me about your guys' life. I haven't seen my best friends in six months. What's new?" Shawn implored.

"Should we tell him?" Topanga asked Cory, smiling. Cory nodded. He held Josh in his arms as he went to stand by Topanga. She waited for Cory to be at her side before saying anything. "We're having another baby!"

Well that was unexpected, Shawn thought as his jaw dropped to the floor. He embraced the trio and congratulated them. "Congratulations! How far along are you?" He asked.

"Three months," Topanga answered lightly tapping her tummy, which had already started to develop a bump. During her first pregnancy with Josh, she didn't pop until the fourth month, but with baby number two she popped towards the end of her second.

"Was this something you guys planned?" Shawn questioned. He was thrilled for his friends. They were great parents to Josh, he knew that they would be fantastic with another baby. The only thing that seemed out of place was that he didn't remember either Cory or Topanga mentioning they wanted another one so soon.

Topanga glared in Cory's direction. "Not necessarily," she admitted. Like Josh, their second child had been unplanned. Cory was just about to enter his last year in college and Topanga still had a couple more to go for her law degree. Now was not ideal timing for another baby, but it was welcomed and loved despite the bad timing.

"Wow," Shawn breathed. He couldn't believe it. In six months he had traveled through over half of Europe and his friends were expecting their second baby. "Who all knows?"

"We just told our families last week," Cory answered. They had taken a special trip down to Philly to tell his parents and Topanga's their news. Both sets of grandparents were apprehensive, but more excited and relaxed than when Cory and Topanga told them they were pregnant the first time around.

"Here, let me take you guys out. Anywhere you like," Shawn said. He wanted to congratulate his friends and waste money on them. With the Europe job, he had more money than he knew what to do with. He was used to having little money and a tight budget, that was how he grew up. Shawn finally understood how the rich felt with so much extra cash.

"But you just got back, we were going to take you out for dinner," Topanga said. "I had already made reservations at that one restaurant you like."

"Then why don't I just take you guys out beforehand, something light to eat?" Shawn suggested.

"Svorski's!" Josh interjected.

"That's a great idea, Josh," Shawn commended. The bakery was a perfect middle ground. A quick trip to a bakery hours before a dinner reservation was not going to spoil their meal later. "Why don't we go right now?"

Topanga knew there was no use in arguing. They were still taking Shawn out for dinner, that was all that mattered, plus it helped that she was craving one of Mrs. Svorski's eclairs. With the amount of sugar she'd been eating Topanga started to think she was having a girl.

When they arrived at the bakery, Topanga ordered enough food to feed the table. She wanted three eclairs, two donuts, and an apple fritter. That was just for herself. Shawn and Cory each had a slice of apple pie and a coffee while Josh got two chocolate chip cookies.

"So Josh are you excited to be a big brother?" Shawn asked his nephew. Josh nodded his head, too busy to actually speak since the cookie took up most of his time. The cookies at Svorski's were as huge as saucers and Josh got two of them. He was only halfway through his first when he finished his milk. "Do you want me to get you some more milk?" Josh nodded.

Shawn stood up from the table and went to the counter to get a refill for Josh.

"Excuse me, sir, could I get past you for a moment?" A voice behind him asked. Shawn obliged, not even noticing the owner of said voice. He moved out of the way for the stranger behind him and to his luck, it was Katy. "Shawn? You're back?"

Shawn was frozen. He felt as if he had just gotten all the wind knocked out of him. For one of the very few times in his life, Shawn was speechless. Seeing Katy would have left him speechless no matter the situation, but the fact that she seemed to be heavily pregnant threw him.

"And you're pregnant," Shawn observed.

"Yeah," Katy smiled, keeping one hand on her protruding stomach. "Do you think we could talk outside for a minute?"

Like a fool, Shawn nodded vigorously. "I'll meet you out there, I just need to talk to Cory and Topanga quick," Shawn agreed.

He took Josh's, now full, milk glass back to the table and excused himself as he quietly gestured towards Katy. Cory and Topanga understood, but that did not mean he was off the hook just yet. They definitely had something to talk about during dinner that night.

Shawn waited outside at an empty table for Katy. She found Shawn alone at the corner table and sat down with her cinnamon roll and water. "I know you probably have a lot of questions," Katy began. "I'm six months pregnant."

"Is it mine?" Shawn questioned.

The moment his eyes landed on her stomach, he could not help but think that her baby could be his. Though he had only been with Katy once before he left, he really didn't believe he was as stupid as Cory and Topanga to forget something that important.

"I don't know," Katy admitted, pushing a loose strand of hair out of her face. "Kermit came back the day after we..." Katy couldn't even finish her sentence. She was embarrassed by her impulsive actions and felt guilty about cheating on her husband, but recent revelations made her feel less towards the latter. "Anyway, we made up. Two months later I find out I'm pregnant. And a month later Kermit left me again. He said that he couldn't handle the pressure of being a father. I haven't seen him since."

"Do you know where he's at? Maybe we could do a paternity test," Shawn suggested. The paternity was the only thing on his mind. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. He had just come back from Europe and was still living with Cory and Topanga. He was in no means prepared to be a father, but if the test confirmed so, then he had to make himself ready

"I wish I knew, he's probably out with some girl as we speak," Katy frowned taking a large bite of her cinnamon roll. Shawn cocked his head. He was already furious at Kermit for leaving Katy twice, he didn't need another reason to find the guy and give him the ass-kicking of the century. "He cheated on me before, during, and after he left the first time. Kind of makes me feel less guilty about our one time."

"I'm sorry." Shawn knew this must have been hard for her. She was going through the pregnancy all by herself. No one deserved that.

"There's no need for you to be sorry. I kind of did this to myself."

"How so? Because from where I'm standing you did nothing wrong." Shawn couldn't stand for Katy blaming herself. As far as Shawn was concerned, their one-time blip did not cause her husband to repeatedly cheat on her. He had been cheating well before they slept together.

"I married him after only dating for seven months. Plus, I'm not completely innocence either. I mean I did cheat on him too."

Shawn paused, calculating his next move. "Does he know that there's a possibility the baby isn't his?"

"He didn't stay long enough for me to get that far." Katy wanted to tell Kermit the truth, but she was scared he would leave her. It didn't matter if he knew the truth, he already left her. "But it doesn't matter. He doesn't get to be the dad if he's going to keep leaving like this."

"So what are we going to do?"

"When she's born, we can do a paternity test. If it comes back negative, then you have nothing to worry about. If it comes back positive-"

"I'm a dad."

"Yeah." Katy reached her hand over to touch Shawn's. His body language showed how stressed he was. This was not how she wanted to tell him, especially on his first day back from Europe. "I understand if you aren't ready for this, truth be told neither am I, but I want this baby. I just want to know that when the time comes, if she is yours, you'll be there for us."

"She? It's a girl?" Shawn had picked up on that much. He heard Katy refer to the baby earlier as a she, but now he had confirmation as Katy nodded. "Do you have a named picked out yet?"

"I do."

"What is it?"

"I've been tossing around the name Maya for a while. Whenever I say it she kicks, so I think she likes it, but she tends to kick a lot." Katy winced as her daughter thought it was a great time to kick her in the stomach. "Like right now. Would you like to feel?"

Shawn was apprehensive. Did he really want to feel? After all, there was a chance that the baby could potentially not be his. That didn't stop him from placing his hand on the middle of her stomach as Katy indicated and felt the baby kick. In the past, Shawn had felt Josh kick in Topanga's stomach, but this was an entire new sensation.

He had a connection to this baby.

"She's strong," Shawn commented.

"And feisty. I have a feeling she's going to be a little troublemaker."

Shawn couldn't help but imagine himself holding that baby girl. He knew the chances were slim that the baby was his, but he still wanted to be there for her, especially if Kermit wasn't going to be. He further contemplated what that meant for the mother-daughter duo.

If Kermit was the father, there was no doubt that he would be an absentee one. That would make the little girl grow up with only one parent who could provide love and protection for her. It also meant that time spent with that singular parent would be diminished because Katy would be working overtime to make ends meet to provide for her family.

So what if Shawn didn't end up being the father, that little girl deserved one more than anything in the world. Every child deserves to have two parents who will love and support them unconditionally and always be there for them when they need it.

"Maya Hunter," Shawn proposed. "Kind of has a nice ring to it. Don't you think?"