Shawn yawned sleepily and rubbed his eyes as he let his body sink into beloved sheets and burrow under the warm quilt. New York's winter was especially bad this year with a record fall of snow and a contented grin curved his lips as his shivering body finally registered some warmth.

The bathroom door opened and his wife stood in the doorway, fiddling with the buttons on her sweater. Shawn sat up concernedly as she switched off the light and checked on the windows before making her own way to bed. Shedding her slippers, she kept her sweater on and quickly settled herself underneath the covers.

'Oh' she sighed, luxuriating in the warmth. 'This feels great…if this weather continues, I may never want to leave this bed for the rest of the winter.'

Shawn smiled as he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. Reveling in the shared body heat, he stroked her shoulders and asked softly, 'You going to tell me why you've been under the weather, lately?'

Angela was quiet for a minute before she replied. 'I didn't think you'd noticed…things have been rather hectic at work for you.'

Shawn kissed her and then laced their fingers. 'I don't know whether to be fed up or insulted. How could you possibly think that I wouldn't notice when you're feeling down? Out with it, now…'

Angela was quiet again but Shawn registered the stiffening of her body and the quickened breath. 'Shawn' she began tremulously. 'I…I have big news, but I wanted to wait until the weekend, when we could go somewhere nice to eat and then tell you…'

Her husband immediately leaned over to switch on their nightlight and he stared down at her face, eyes wide. 'What is it? Are you ok? What's going on?'

Angela hastened to reassure him, 'Nothing's wrong, honey! I'm fine…I went to the doctor's on Monday and…'

She got no further as Shawn pounced on her words. 'Monday?!' he ejaculated in near hysterics. 'Angela, today is Thursday! Why on earth didn't you tell me sooner? And why did you go to the doctor – you said it was just some stress!'

'Honey! Calm down, ok?' Angela soothed patiently. She sat up as well and faced Shawn. Taking a deep breath, she started, 'I'm doing fine. It's just that a while back, I realized I was…I was late…'

'Late?' interrupted Shawn gently. 'When was it supposed to come?'

'By the tenth. Around the fifteenth, I got a bit worried, because well…you know me, I've always had a regular cycle.'

'True' Shawn nodded sagely but his wife didn't miss the naughty twinkle in his eyes. 'Its like clockwork…the days you hate me are always from the tenth to the fourteenth of any month.'

'Hush!' Angela swatted at him playfully. He caught her hand in his and pressed his lips to her knuckles affectionately. 'So' he continued, this time looking serious again, 'everything's ok, right?'

'Well, we were in Philly at the time for the Matthews' party, remember? So, I resolved that I would meet with a doctor the moment we came back and I did on Monday.'

'Which you didn't feel a need to tell me.' Shawn narrowed his eyes and his voice hardened.

Angela reached up and ran a hand through his hair lovingly. 'I appreciate your concern, but I didn't want to get your hopes up, love.'

'Hopes up for what?'

'Shawn' Angela's eyes were shining and a radiant glow adorned her face as her happiness increased. 'I'm…I'm pregnant.' Her eyes filled with tears and as they coursed down her cheeks, she spoke in a choked whisper, 'We're going to have a baby, sweetheart.'

Shawn simply stared back at her. Her words roared in his ears. He looked down to find his hands tightly gripping hers. A drop of water appeared on his knuckle and another dropped onto her thumb and drifted down her hand. It wasn't until Angela caressed his cheeks and wiped his tears away softly that Shawn realized he'd begun to cry.

'Really?' he whispered. 'A baby? Are you sure about this?'

Angela giggled tearfully. 'Of course! I asked the doctor to triple-check! We're definitely having a baby, honey.'

Shawn brought her hands to his lips and pressed kisses on them through his tears. He let his eyes roam her face for a few seconds and then smoothing a curl tenderly asked, 'How far along are you?'

Angela grasped his hand in hers and brought it to her abdomen. 'Just two weeks' she replied warmly. 'Baby's due in July.'

Shawn felt his lips stretch painfully and realized that a most ridiculous grin seemed to be permanently etched onto his face. A salty taste tingled his lips and Shawn laughed through his tears which had started to flow again. He looked at Angela only to see her laughing as well, but his eyes were immediately riveted to her left hand which was gently stroking her abdomen, almost reverently. She looked dazed and had a faraway look in her eyes.

'Angela?' he questioned softly, not wanting to startle her. 'Are you ok, love?'

She sighed dreamily and brought her other hand to rest as well on her non-existent bump. 'It's just so amazing…I can't believe it. There's a new person in here, Shawn.' She looked up at him and smiled lovingly. 'It's a little bit of you, and a little bit of me.'

Shawn moved forward and kissed her deeply. He wrapped his arms around her and as they rested their foreheads against each other's, his palm moved to splay itself against her stomach. 'It's what I've always wanted…a family to call my own and to belong to. And one which belongs to me.'

He looked back up to see Angela grinning tearfully. 'I'm not going to let anything bad happen to my family, Angela. I promised that I would take care of you on our wedding day.' He moved down so that his head was near her stomach and then whispered, 'And today, I promise you that I am always going to take care of you, little one. You and your mother are the most important things in my life.'

He pressed a sweet kiss through her sweater. Angela hugged him tightly and giggled as Shawn squeezed her in return and linked his hands around her waist. She rested her head against his chest and smiled as she realized how fast his heart was beating.

'I love you, Angela' came his whisper, murmured fervently against her hair.

'I know. I love you, too' she replied, placing a hand against his heart.