LUNA🌙

It’s sung to the tune of The Ants Go Marching One By One song!!!

Oh, my god. I’m already crying with asexuality included.

Now you’re telling me other groups feel the same way?

There’s legit tears down my face.

The drag queen is holding a BLM sign.

There’s a Hijabi on the all races float (and if you look closely at the flag, I think the owl is indigenous).

One of the babas is disabled.

They could have just stopped at including all the flags.

But no. They said “I don’t care if they’re animals. I’m going to make it very clear we’re including all races and disabled people.”

And it’s such small details, but they’re there.

And I consider myself pretty versed in queer identities, but even I don’t know what some of these flags are.

Which really shows that you’ve never had the opportunity to feel validated like this, and that makes me love it even more.

Pride, Progress Pride, BLM Progress Pride, Lesbian, Gay Man

Trans, Nonbinary — Dolphin wheelchair user, Top surgery beaver

Gender Queer, Genderfluid, Intersex Demigender, Demiboy, Demigirl, Bisexual, Pansexual, Asexual, Demisexual, Gray Asexual, Aromantic — Blind bird

Bigender, Genderflux, Omnisexual, Neutrois, Maverique, Pangender, Drag — llama(?) with prosthetic leg

and in a KIDS show, like that’s insane, people will finally grow up knowing it’s ok to exist

Today’s the day of my gender reveal for me and my boyfriend; Kyle Kuzma. We’ve been planning this moment ever since we found out I was pregnant; every flower, the cake, location. Was planned down to a tee. We decided to go with a basketball theme, where I would pass Kyle the ball and he would dunk, breaking the papier-mâché ball releasing either a blue or pink dust. We made sure to invite all of Kyle’s teammates and both of our families. Thankfully, we found place to rent that was big enough to hold everyone, so with that we sent out the invitations.

As the time approaches for the guest to come, my nerves go from bad to worse. Doubts such as “What if nobody comes?” and “What if it’s boring?”. Kyle somehow senses my doubts and comes behind me hugging me;

“Baby, everything’s going to be alright.”

“I know, just nervous mm.”

He begins to kiss my neck,

“Kyle… come on what if someone walks in?”

He hums in response.

“I hope we ain’t interrupting.”

Our heads turn to see Kyle’s mother, I blush and put my head down; nudging Kyle.

“Nah, welcome ma.”

He goes to hug her. Me following shortly behind.

Soon, the rest of his family arrives and mine as well. Friends show up a bit late but soon, the entire venue is filled to the brim. Everyone seems to be having a great time. Soon it’s time to reveal the baby’s gender, me and kyle do the routine and once he dunks the ball into the hoop. My heart feels like it’s going to explode, the color was blue. We’re having a boy! As my emotions overcome my power of thought, the only thing that can snap me out of this bliss is the people in the room gasping.

I turn around to reveal Kyle kneeling down with a big beautiful diamond ring.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N), falling in love with you was my first best choice. And now, my second one is asking you; Will you marry me?”

Tears begin to steam down my face. Words can’t seem to form out my mouth. I can only nod my head yes.

Kyle gets up and takes me into a strong powerful hug.

Everyone in the room cheers.

part 1 here

3 new voicemails: Unknown Number.

You sigh when you see the notification. You’d just sat down on the bus home from work when you’d finally looked at your phone.

It had been like this for days, voicemail after voicemail from Shawn begging you to call him back. You had absolutely no desire to do that. The very thought of having to talk to him again twisted your stomach into a tight knot.

Even so, the constant ringing was beginning to do your head in. So when your phone goes off again, buzzing insistently, you answer without another thought.

“For God’s sake Shawn, please stop calling me!” you exclaim.

“I just want to talk Y/n,” he replies immediately. “Please, can you meet me sometime so we can actually talk about this?”

“Talk about what? What is there to talk about?”

“Maybe that I have a two-year-old son that I never even knew existed?”

Bucky likes Deedpool’s wife

Captain America seduces Peter Quill’s ex

Everett Ross and Doctor Strange are best friends

Tony Stark has relationship with aunt May in Rome

Spider-man and Thor goes to sea hunting whales

Pepper is dating Hulk

Old Spider-man tries to be part of  the Avengers

Vulture is a superhero (None other than Batman)

And Natasha and Steve are happy together

… but also hooking up with Ayesha

Anyone with a name that starts with a “Z”, ends with an “i”, and isn’t some kind of Italian pasta, IS SERIOUS

All Nighter- Prequel, when Shawn and y/n meet for the first time 

Falling - Shawn realizes that he’s falling for Y/n 

Meet the Parents - She meets his family for the first time.

Stressed - First ‘I love you’ 

Alone - Shawn leaves you for a second and all hell breaks loose.

Fight For Me - Promo Stunt <Lil Angsty>

Favors - You ask Shawn for a favor

Nap Date - Shawn comes over for a nap date, it takes an unexpected turn

Shopping - “Model for me”

First Night - Right after the Wedding

Honeymoon - beach!Shawn

Wifely Duties - “You sound so much like a Wife.”

Shattered - The China get’s broken <ANGST>

Nightmare - He flies you to see him on tour.

Cookies - Food Fight

Requested by anonymous: Hii!! Can you write an imagine where you and shawn are married and have a little daughter and like one day some fans and paparazzi harass her or something like that and you and shawn get super pissed..you can take it on from there. It would be great if you wrote this, thanks!! 

-

Your life with Shawn had been anything but a fairytale, but when two people loved each other as much as you loved him and he loved you, everything was just fine.

When you two got married, it was different obviously, then just being boyfriend and girlfriend. If you were only dating, it would be much easier to break up with someone if you had a major problem (you and Shawn never did), but this was something you thought about. Since you’re married, you can’t say that you want a divorce because one person didn’t do something that the other wanted.

When you got married, you were husband and wife and you were committed to each other; really, it was no different then when you two were dating, you were just a couple years older, husband and wife, and you now had the last name of Mendes. Not to mention, after you two had been married for a year, you found out you were pregnant and nine months later gave birth to a healthy baby girl: Eleanor Karen Mendes.

There were tiny complications along the way, but you were fine and so was she, and having celebrated her second birthday two days ago, you’d say you were doing very well.

Shawn had to go into the studio last minute, so you sat on the floor with your daughter, playing with her.

The time was currently seven o’clock and you were honestly starving. However, you didn’t know if Shawn would be home in time for dinner if you cooked it now, Well, you decided to just hold off for a bit, just in case Shawn did actually come home earlier than planned.

Your Elle had Shawn’s beautiful brown eyes, perfectly capturing him in her - and now you had two human beings to get lost in their eyes.

Elle took the block she was playing with and stood up, walking over to the kitchen and throwing it hard against a cabinet.

Unfortunately, for the both of you, the block ricocheted against the cabinet and into her face - smacking her so hard you winced.

She fell back, screaming as you rushed to her aid and picked her up.

“Shh you’re okay, Elle.” You say calmly as you rocked your screaming child in your arms, kissing her forehead.

As a teenager, you would watch babies get hurt and their parents would calmly tell them that everything was fine - and you thought that was the weirdest thing. If their child had hurt themselves, then why did they seem so nonchalant?

However, since you’ve had Elle, you were told by the doula that you had, that the parent wasn’t suposed to overreact if they fell and they looked like they were going ot cry because it was apparently scientifically proven that when the parent shows signs of distress, it freaks the child out even more.

You looked at Elle’s cheek and it seemed pretty red, of course it also seemed like the block had gotten her pretty good.

“You’re okay, love. Do you want some ice?” You ask, combing her dark brown hair out of her face as she sniffled.

You felt her small head nod against your shoulder as she balled a piece of your tank top into her small fist tightly. You walk over to the freezer and pull out a small ice pack shaped like a dog, handing it to her. She takes it from your hand and places it against her cheek, her big brown eyes filled with tears.

You place your lips on her forehead and kiss her a couple times, swaying her in your arms in the middle of the kitchen.

The front door opens and you hear some shuffling around the staircase before you watch Shawn walk through the living room and to where you are in the kitchen.

He’s carrying some milk and a few bags of groceries.

“There are my girls!” Shawn smiles brightly, but frowns once he sees the state of his daughter.

“Look, Elle, it’s daddy.” You say to her, tilting your head to look at her.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Shawn asks her, reaching to take her out of your arms. His eyes catch note of the ice pack and his frown becomes even deeper. “What happened to you?”

“She threw a block against the cabinet and it flew back and hit her.” You explain, adjusting your sports bra strap against your neck.

His lips go to her face, peppering it with kisses, making Elle burst into a fit of giggles. Man, her laugh was like the heavens were singing. Or better, Shawn’s singing.

Shawn holds her high above his head, pretending to drop her, and sending her back into the air - her laughs pierce your ears as they turn into laughing screams. Shawn’s also laughing, and you had no idea what the hell you did to be blessed with your family. He then puts her in front of his face.

“Can you give daddy a kiss?” Shawn puckers his lips, making Elle grab at both of his ears. “Kiss, Elle?”

She puts her open mouth on his, making you laugh as Shawn pulls her back and wipes her saliva off of his face. He puts her down as she scampers off to her activity mat in the living room.

“How is my lovely wife tonight?” Shawn asks, walking over to put his arms around you.

You peel your head back to look at him and he ducks down slightly to give you a kiss.

“Mm, you need to shave.” You joke, squeezing his chin as you fel the stubble appearing.

“I’m thinking of growing a mountain man beard.” Shawn laughs, lettting go of you.

You put a finger at him and raise an eyebrow, “do that and I’m divorcing you.”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Shawn says as he opens up the fridge to put the milk in. “You want to go somewhere for dinner? I’m craving a burrito.”

You squint at him, “are you pregnant?”

He laughs, shaking his head. “Just want a burrito.”

“Okay, then you get Elle ready and I’ll go put something on that makes me look like I’ve put effort into my outfit.” You say, earning a chuckle from Shawn as you walk up the stairs, Shawn following right behind you with Elle in his arms.

Elle currently sat in a highchair, messing around with some little banana puffs you had brought for her to eat, as well as some actual fruit that you packed before you three left. She watched her dad take a couple enormous bites of his burrito because it was apparently fascinating her for some reason.

“You want a bite, honey?” Shawn teased, leaning his burrito towards her.

You slapped his arm and cleared your throat.

“Don’t tease her, that’s mean.”

“Yum daddy!” Elle squealed suddenly, you shushing her as people gave you rude looks.

Jesus, people sometimes forget that they were a baby at one point as well.

You had shoved your plate away, having already finished your tacos You took a look outside, noticing paprazzi already gathering making you nervous. You would be fine if it was just you and Shawn, but it wasn’t. It was you, Shawn and Elle.

“Babe, we need to go.” You say, causing Shawn to look up from the bite he was taking and gives you a confused look.

You raise your fingers to make camera and Shawn looked out the window, his eyes immediately going to Elle. He took his last bite of the burrito and crumpled up the foil, depositing it on your plate; he rubs his hands together and stands up.

You pick Elle out of the highchair that was provided for her and kiss her cheek as she started to get a little fussy.

“Give me your jacket.” You say, adjusting her on your hip.

Shawn takes his jacket off, understanding what you were saying and putting it on top of Elle, hoping that it would shield her face.

You two didn’t have a problem of having the public know what she looks like, but having a bunch of cameras flash in her face might be extremely traumatic for her.

Shawn runs a hand through his hair, getting a little antsy as well as he was concerned for the safety of your daughter.

“Shawn,” you grab his hand. “Maybe tell them to turn the flash off?”

He nods, exiting the restaurant and a million flashes go off immediately.

“Hey guys, could you maybe turn your flashes off? I’m afraid that it’ll scare my daughter, please.” Shawn says calmly.

There are a couple responses like “yeah, Shawn, of course” and he nods at you to come out.

You fix his jacket around Elle and hold you hand against her head as you walk out, hearing click after click of the cameras.

Shawn puts an arm around your waist as you make your way to your car, the paps following.

A few ask how your meal was and Shawn responds with “their food is killer.”

That didn’t bother you, but what did, was when one of the men came extremely close to Elle’s face and took about ten pictures - the flash going off on every single one - and pushing into you as he tried to get closer.

You stumble forward slightly and guess the jacket slipped from Elle’s face slightly, but she started crying, pissing you off.

“Hey man, what the hell did I say?” Shawn yells at the pap, his face turning serious and his demeanor coming off angry. “There’s a reason why I asked you to not use your flash and you did and now you’ve upset my daughter - exactly what I didn’t want from you. Not to mention you pushed my wife, what the hell was that?”

You arrived at your car, trying to cradle Elle as that must’ve really scared her as she started screaming now.

“Shh, angel.” You say, rocking her.

You continue to listen to Shawn go off on the guy, definitely not helping the situation, but you obviously weren’t going to stop him. What that guy did was not okay and scared the living crap out of your child, not to mention you.

“Seriously, man, what the fuck?” Shawn says, his forehead crease extremely prominent as he held his arms out in question. “That was not okay what you just did - I would probably even call that harrassment.” Shawn raised his voice. “Don’t fucking touch my girls ever again.”

He begins to make his way back to you, as the pap begins to talk to him.

“Man, it’s just my job.”

“Your job is to take pictures.” Shawn yells. “Not to harrass my family, asshole.”

Elle had finally stopped crying as you gave her a bottle of water and once she was done, you capped it back up, strapping her into her seat. You shut the door to Shawn’s jeep, coming up behind him.

“Like I said man, it’s just my job.”

“Like Shawn said,” you spoke angrily, “your job is to not scare the shit out of my two year old daughter.”

“Like I said,” the man repeated. “It’s my job.”

“Yeah, a job you’re going to lose.” Shawn spits, opening the driver’s door and getting into the car, telling you to get in as well.

Nothing was said in the car after you left the restaurant, except for Shawn asking if you were okay.

When you arrived back home, you carried Elle into the house, switching on the living room light - causing her to start crying again.

“Elle, shh, it’s okay.” You try to calm her, getting nowhere and getting frustrated because the pap did this to her.

Her brown eyes had now become red as she had cried about four times today, making you feel sad.

“Do you need anything, babe?” Shawn asks.

You look back at him, shaking your head.

“I’m just going to rock her until she calms down and I’ll put her to sleep, it’s okay.”

Shawn just nods, giving his girl a kiss on the forehead. “Goodnight princess, daddy loves you.”

“Say goodnight daddy.” You say softly, rocking her a little more softly as you think she might be settling down.

Shawn heads upstairs to your bedroom as you stay down in the living room.

It takes about fifteen more minutes of straight crying until she stops and her eyes seem heavy. You carefully carry her upstairs and head into her room, setting her in her crib.

“Goodnight, Elle. Mommy loves you.” You say quietly as you turn off the light and shut the door.

You sigh deply, rubbing the back of your head as you enter your bedroom - Shawn in his proper night attire which consists of his boxer briefs and nothing else, is sat up in bed on his laptop.

You sit on the edge of the bed, taking your shoes and pants off, not really saying much.

“Shawn Mendes goes off on paprazzi after taking photos of his daughter Eleanor.” Shawn says, grumbling.

You stand up to look at him, turning around.

“Shawn, honey, what that man did was not right. You asked them very nicely to not use flash, yet that man got very close to her face and used his flash and pushed me to do it. He was in the wrong, not you.”

“I know, but it pisses me off so much because he did all the shit that I didn’t want them to do and he even pushed you, Y/N. When the hell is that okay?” Shawn asks, getting visibly frustrated and distraught.

You put a small tank on, getting into bed with him.

“It wasn’t, Shawn. Trust me, what you did wasn’t the best but you had a reason to do it.” You tell him, kissing his bare shoulder.

Shawn closes his eyes and rests his temple against your forehead, taking a deep breath.

“You know,” You say after a couple minutes of silence. “You’re really sexy when you’re angry.”

Shawn laughs, leaning over to capture your lips in a hot kiss.

“You are okay, though, right?” He asks, breaking the kiss.

“I’m fine.” You nod.

“Good, I honestly don’t know what I would do if he had actually hurt you in some way.”

“Well, let’s not think about that, because he didn’t.” You reason.

“I love you.” He says softly.

“I love you too.” You respond, kissing him.

-

This wasn’t requested, but I got the idea for it watching a video from the Q&A where he calls the little girl ‘little princess’. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! And remember, feedback is always appreciated!

— word count: 1,566 — warnings: none

You stand in the hallway, your daughter next to you with her arms wrapped around your legs. You and your daughter haven’t been able to see Shawn in quite a while since he is on tour, but it’s her birthday and Shawn’s is coming up soon, so you decided to fly out to see him and spend the next week and a half with him since he couldn’t schedule around their birthdays.

As you stand there, waiting for the last person to walk into the Q&A, Matt walks towards you a smile full of admiration on his face as he looks at your daughter. He gives her a small wave as he finally reaches your side.

“Hey, (Y/n). The last few people are about to meet with Shawn and then you can head on in.”

“All right. Cool.” You reply, running your fingers through your daughter’s wavy brown locks.

“How have you guys been? It’s been a while since you’ve been able to make it out to a show.” He asks.

“Yeah…” You frown, “We’ve been good, we just haven’t been able to work it out where we can make it, but with their birthdays, I made sure we could.” You smile down at your daughter.

“It’s crazy their birthdays are so close together. Four days is all that separates them, right?”

You nod, “Yup. That’s all.”

“Crazy.”

“It really is. It’s hectic.” You sigh.

“I bet.” Matt says as he leans against the wall.

“Hey, Matt! Is everyone settled in the Q&A room?” You hear Shawn shout as he makes his way down the hall.

You exchange worried glances before Matt gently pushes you into the room after you pick up your daughter. You quickly make your way to the back, trying to get everyone to stay silent as you do so.

“Hi guys. How are you?” You ask quietly as you make your way through the sea of people.

You get settled just in time for Shawn to walk in. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice you all the way in the back corner. As soon as your little girl sees Shawn she starts reaching toward him.

“Shh…not yet, baby.” You whisper into her hair.

She eventually settles down and rests her head on your shoulder as she looks ahead at Shawn. Shawn gets asked a couple of questions about you and your daughter. Like always, his answers make your heart flutter and a smile find it’s way onto your lips. You sit quietly as you listen to the questions and Shawn’s answers, rubbing your daughter’s back gently.

“What was your daughter’s first word?” You heard a fan ask.

“I’d like to say it was ‘dada’.” He starts.

“But, you know you’d be lying because it was actually ‘mama’.” You say as you stand up with your daughter.

Shawn looks at you with a huge smile on his face and he moves through the crowd to get to you. Your daughter immediately reaches for him and Shawn takes her, placing a kiss on the top of her head before giving you a quick kiss as the fans in the room ‘awe’ all around you. He takes your hand and leads you to the front of the room, sitting back in his original place before pulling you to sit next to him.

“Oh my god. Wow…I can’t believe you’re here.” He whispers as he pulls you close.

You laugh and lean against him.

“We had to make it out for your birthdays.” You say as you wrap an arm around him.

He places your daughter in his lap, an arm still around you and his fingertips gently trailing up and down your sides. You look out at all the fans and they’re all staring at your daughter, giving her smiles and waves.

“Okay, little princess, do you want to pick someone for daddy?” He asks looking down at her.

She nods and looks out at all of the people before looking back at Shawn.

“Pick someone.” He points out to the crowd as he looks at her.

She points to someone up front and they immediately get excited.

“Hi honey, what your question?” Shawn asks.

“What’s the best and worst thing about your career? Also, I have a letter for you and your daughter is adorable!” They respond.

You and Shawn both give a laugh before he thanks them. You get up and go get the letter from the fan before taking it back to Shawn. He now has both arms around your daughter’s tiny torso and he absentmindedly rocks her.

“Well, I think that the best part is getting to meet you guys and talk to you, the whole show experience actually. It’s such a personal and intimate experience between us and it’s always so beautiful. The energy is always amazing. The worst part would be having to be away from (Y/n) and Amelia, or little princess as I call her, for such long periods at a time while I’m touring. It’s very hard having to watch your own child grow up through a screen or pictures, ya know?” He answers.

Once Shawn answers the last question, you stop him before it’s time to leave.

“Wait, Amelia wants to show them what she learned.” You say and take your daughter, “What’s your name and how old are you today?” You ask, looking down at her.

A huge grin takes place on her face before she answers you excitedly, “Amewia! I’m four!”

Everyone in the room claps and encourages her, Shawn moving in to smile at her.

“Good job, honey.” He says proudly with a huge smile, “You’re so smart.”

You lean your forehead against Amelia’s as you rest her on your hip, “That’s right! You’re Amelia and you’re how old?” You ask.

“Four!” She says again, holding up three fingers before Shawn brings up another one of her fingers.

“Yeah!” You say gently rubbing your nose against hers.

Shawn begins waving and saying goodbye to the crowd. You begin waving and get Amelia to copy your movements as you walk out, Shawn following close behind, a hand on your back. You place a kiss on your daughter’s forehead and talk to her quietly.

“God, I missed you guys so much.” Shawn says pulling you in for a big hug as soon as your each the hallway.

“We missed you too. And this one said she wanted to see her daddy perform for her birthday.” You and Shawn both smile down at her.

Shawn leans down and begins peppering kisses all over her face as she giggles. You move Amelia up on your higher on your hip as you look at her.

“Do you want to show daddy what else you learned?” You ask her and she nods.

“What else did you learn, little princess? Show daddy.” Shawn says, running his fingers through her hair.

You point to Shawn’s shirt, “What color is Daddy’s shirt?”

She looks at it for a moment before answering, “White!”

You and Shawn praise her before you ask her the color of your shirt.

“Blue!”

“Very good, Amelia!” You say with a smile.

You point to her shirt, asking her the color.

“Purple!” She answers, praise from you and Shawn following.

You point to your stomach, “What’s in here?”

“Food?” She asks.

You shake your head and glance at Shawn. He has his brows furrowed and you can tell he’s about to catch.

“What’s in here, Amelia? What’s in mommy’s tummy?” You ask again.

“Baby!” She answers after watching you make the ‘b’ sound with your mouth.

“What?” You hear Shawn ask.

You look at him and see he has a smile on his face as he looks at you.

“Are you really?” He asks, his eyes starting to water.

“Yeah, I am.” You smile.

Shawn pulls you close, giving you a kiss before leaning his forehead against yours, continuing to leave kisses on your nose and lips.

“Amelia, you’re going to be a big sister.” Shawn says, his smile never faltering.

“I think it’s funny how I got pregnant so close to you leaving. I’m ten weeks and we haven’t seen you in two months.” You say, running your fingers through Shawn’s hair.

“Well, we had plenty of chances while I was still home.” He grins.

You shake your head, a small laugh escaping your lips, “Shawn!”

“So, you’re ten weeks, eh?” Shawn asks, running a hand over your stomach.

“Yup. I found out about three weeks ago. I felt bad for not telling you, but I wanted to tell you in person.”

“I don’t even care that you waited so long. I’m just excited to have another baby.” He grinned.

“I can tell.” You smile.

“This is everything I’ve ever wanted. A solid music career, a beautiful, funny, caring, amazing wife, and kids. My own little family. I’m so grateful and lucky that you’re the one giving it to me.” He smiled, kissing you.

“I love you, Shawn.”

“I love you, too. And I also love you,” he pauses to give Amelia a kiss, “and you.” He bends down to kiss your unnoticeable bump.

Shawn Mendes x Reader

Domestic!Shawn / Daddy!Shawn.

Sugar sweet fluff was in order.

Love swirls like a whirlwind in the pit of Shawn’s stomach as he pulls up to the home they’ve created together. The silver beams of his headlights reflect off of the exterior and the voice on the radio croons lowly in a way that makes him ache to curl under the blankets beside his wife and whisper sweet nothings in her ear until all he knows about the world is the way she kisses him.

It’s a big city and somewhere out there is the life people expect him to lead but the sticky fingers that mark his interior and the keys that jangle with a photo of his daughter are more than enough to satisfy Shawn. The house itself is no more lavish than the ones he played in as a child and the pictures that decorate the walls range from a sold out stadium to Emma’s latest school play and their wedding day; memories he adores frozen in time and filled with happiness. The drawing beneath the lamp welcomes him home with a five year-olds take on his career somehow involving a pink dinosaur that he knows will signify a change in her passion project and consequently the family’s latest hobby.

Over the past month their nightly routine has shifted from aquariums to space with the wooden decking their rocket ship as they use her books to explore the stars above them. Emma takes on the task of reading the names of the constellations as she lays against her dad’s lap while her parents compete to guess their locations, making up stories that personify each one until they feel like old friends dancing amongst the planets. The little family laugh together until they feel guilty for being so loud and eventually Emma’s eyelids become so heavy that Shawn has to carry her up to bed. He isn’t sure how he feels about dinosaurs just yet (the most he knows about them is from Ross in Friends), but he knows he’ll study and adapt just like he has to any other topic that has captured her imagination.

Dinner with his agent had left Shawn feeling blessed but nowhere near the level that her ‘I love you daddy’ note seems to achieve along with the realisation of how blessed he is just to have a wife that works so hard to ensure that his family gets to share such small moments. After all it was clear that she had intentionally left the drawing where he could see it knowing how much he hates missing the bedtime ritual they worked so hard to create following those first few months of sleepless nights when they battled just to get her into bed. Emma had never been a huge fan of sleep in the same way that her father hadn’t as a child, always believing she was missing out on another adventure whenever they got her into the darkness of her room. It used to take the three of them lying together beneath the canopy of her bed just to keep her there most nights with the stair gate blocking off her room easily defeated by the little spider monkey who would always manage to climb over.

Truth be told Shawn wasn’t sure his wife would ever forgive him for the red wine stain that had marked their sofa when the three year-old first appeared in the living room an hour after being put down.

For once the house is quiet as he double checks the doors, lost to his memories of Emma’s formative years and the various places she’s crossed milestones as he tours the bottom floor. It was the living room where she took her first steps, reaching out to him as her mum shimmied after her with camera in hand, and the study where they were forced to make their first trip to A&E after she pulled one of his album plaques off of the desk and onto the crown of her head. Shawn laughs now at the panic that he felt as his wife drove them towards the hospital, more tears coming from him than the baby who was sniffling solely at being forced into the car seat, and the look of confusion the nurse had given him as he yelled about a platinum record knocking Emma over. At the time he had been such an anxious wreck that if it wasn’t for the doctor insisting that he sit down before he was given a sedative, he would have probably forgotten to breathe. In the end she was fine though, sucking on a lollipop in the back of the car while he told his wife about plans to safety lock the whole house the moment they got in. Those safety locks had been the death of him…

By the time he has reached the landing, Shawn has forgotten about his worst moments as a parent and is instead lost in the glee of it all as his daughter’s nightlight paints the hallway. Music pours softly from the radio that they play as white noise, the melodic voices coaxing her into a prehistoric dream world as her father pushes the door open. The princess canopy that she sleeps under dips beneath the weight of the luminous stars that they have fastened to the fabric and glitter sparkles in the soft lighting to reveal the soft curves of her face. Emma breathes deeply as her father laughs at the harsh noise, her body shifting until he sees the eyes of her penguin plush peer out beneath the duvet. Lines crease her forehead and he strokes the soft locks that cling to her forehead until she falls silent again. Shawn kneels beside the bed for a while longer just to be close to her after a day apart and he can’t help himself from comparing the length of her fingers to how small her hands had been as a newborn.

The best moment of his life had happened in that nursery, counting the fingers and toes of his baby girl like a child inspecting a Christmas present. Up until that moment he had been so scared of becoming a father that he had somehow convinced himself that it wasn’t actually happening despite the newly decorated room and the months he had spent showering his pregnant wife with love and attention. It all felt like he was playing house, a dream too good to wake up from, but now standing alone with his little girl for the first time in the middle of the night – that’s when it all suddenly clicked in.

That’s when he woke up.

That’s when he knew he would give anything for his girls.

“Baby, are you coming to bed?” his wife’s sleepy voice wavers indicating that she is rubbing her eyes with one hand, the other palm massaging his shoulder lovingly.

Shawn doesn’t speak as he pulls her into his side tight enough that she can feel his heavy breathing and heartbeat, the soft tears leaking from his eyes.

“I can’t believe I ever got this lucky,” his lips find her skin so sweetly through her pyjama top that she feels the tenderness of his words like it’s the first time he’s said it. “I want to do it again.”

Her hands stop in his hair, falling stationary until Shawn is looking up at her.

“I want another baby.”