Month 2 of pregnancy. Shawn and I are in London right now, meeting with a doctor for another ultrasound. The doctor moved the probe around my jelly-coated belly while I laid, sat up on the examiners bed.

"Let me just turn up the volume and listen to see if we can hear anything" The doctor turned a knob on a machine. A loud, constant beat started to play and encapsulated the entire room. "That's your baby"

I looked over at Shawn who was sitting on a stool next to me and he reached over and squeezed my hand.

The doctor took her pen and used it to point at the screen. "There it is. The baby is about the size of a raspberry and it's starting to develop more human looking parts. There's the head, arms, and legs"

"That's incredible" Shawn spoke.

We looked at the screen for a bit longer and the doctor got some of my blood to run some tests. After a little while, the doctor came back.

"Everything seems to be good. You and the baby are very healthy. There's just one thing I'm concerned about" She turned to Shawn. "You're on tour, right?"

"Yes" Shawn answered.

"I'm worried that the constant moving around will make Alana tired which will then have an effect on the baby. I'd advise that she gets lots of rest as she progresses into the next trimesters"

"Don't worry, Doctor" I spoke. "Tonight's Shawn's last show in Europe so we'll be going home tomorrow"

"Good! You can still go with him from time to time but normally, it's best to just stay back"

———————————-

I was sitting in the airport, waiting for Shawn and I's flight. Shawn was being a sweetheart and grabbing me some snacks, so I was just by myself, listening to music. I thought he had come back because I felt the presence of someone in front of me but when I looked up, it was a random guy with a camera pointed right at me.

"Alana Mendes. How are you today?"

My eyes widened. I didn't know what was going on. "Hi. I'm doing well. I'm sorry but who are you?"

"I work for TMZ. I'm just here to ask you a couple of questions"

"Did somebody call you?" I started feeling a little uncomfortable because the camera was all up in my face.

"That information's confidential. So you and your husband were seen at a beach in France about a couple of days ago, is that correct?"

I stood up and nodded my head, picking up my things. "That's correct. I have a question for you. Why are you asking me questions? I didn't think I was eligible for this" I began walking towards the food court to look for Shawn and the paparazzi followed.

"You're verified on social media and your song was number one for weeks, you're pretty famous in our books"

"I'm flattered. Thank you" I began to walk a bit faster, but the man followed. Why is the food court so far away?

"One last question and I'll leave you"

I stopped. "Sure"

"As I mentioned earlier, you were seen at the beach. People were quick to mention that your belly isn't as toned as it used to be. Any chance you and Shawn are expecting?"

For some reason, this really annoyed me and my fierceness began to jump out. I squinted my eyes a bit. "I think that's totally inappropriate. Just because I may have missed a workout or two doesn't give you the right to assume that someone's pregnant. Maybe I wanted to treat myself and go for that extra slice of pizza. Have you ever thought about that? Would you go to a random lady who may not be 'as toned as you like' and ask her if she's pregnant. No. I didn't think so. Thank you for your time" I walked away and looked for Shawn.

After walking for a bit, I found him at a little convenience stop in line with a bag of cheetos and fruits. "Hey honey" He smiled.

"Hey" I grinned back. "I might have done something that I'll regret later"

"Hmm?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"I had an encounter with the paparazzi"

"Oh really? How'd it go? Were they mean?"

"He asked if we were expecting because the pictures of us at the beach showed my chubby belly" I put my hand on my stomach. "And then I kinda went off on him"

"What'd you say?"

"I honestly can't even remember. We'll probably see it on Twitter or something"

And sure enough, we saw it on Twitter all right. Alana Mendes was number one trending worldwide. There were tweets upon tweets of me responding to the man's question. Some people were taking my side and saying how it wasn't right for the paparazzi to ask me that kind of question but there are also people who were speculating even more so. Someone tweeted, "Alana has always been the type of person to be kind to the paps and be pretty calm. The way she responded seemed very protective, like a motherly figure. Maybe she is pregnant!"

I scrolled through Twitter as I laid on the couch, held in Shawn's arms. He was looking also. "I can't believe you really went off on him like that. I'm proud of you"

I turned off my phone and set it down, then covered my face with my hands. "Everyone's talking about it. I feel so bad because I actually am pregnant"

"Well you never said that you aren't. You were pretty much defending body positivity"

I brought my hands away from my face and hugged Shawn's torso, my head on his chest. "Yeah, I guess so. Now everyone thinks I'm pregnant"

"Which you are"

I moved my head so that my forehead was on top of his heart. "This sucks. I hate lying to people"

Shawn sat up which caused me to sit up as well. "Don't worry. We'll tell them in no time. In fact, I have an idea for the gender reveal"

The doctor in London informed us that we'll be able to find out the gender of the baby in around two months.

"Hit me" I was eager to hear about his idea.

"I'm playing at Roger's Stadium again in September which is in two months from now"

"Mhm"

"What if during In My Blood, when the confetti comes out, instead of the regular white confetti, it'll be either blue or pink"

My heart melted. "That sounds perfect"

"Yeah?" He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Yeah" I pinched his nose.

——————————-

I set the bowl of spaghetti and meatballs I made in the middle of the long, rectangular table. Each seat, six in total, had a table setting in front: white, porcelain plates and shiny silverware.

My parents are coming from California to visit our relatives and Shawn's parents are also coming over so we could all eat dinner. And to tell them the big news.

Shawn put the warm garlic bread next to the spaghetti and the salad. "This all looks so good. I'm jealous of your cooking skills"

He was about to reach for a slice of garlic bread before I lightly slapped his hand away. "Be patient"

He frowned and went back into the kitchen. I followed him and he grabbed six wine glasses. I grabbed the red wine from the fridge and we brought everything to the table.

On time, the doorbell rang and Shawn went to the door. Miraculously, our parents arrived at the same time. We all greeted each other and sat down to eat. Shawn stood up to put some wine in everyone's glasses until he got to mine. He was about to pour but stopped. "I'll go get you some apple cider" Shawn went back to the kitchen as our parents gave some questioning looks.

He brought the apple cider and sat in the seat beside me. Our dads were sat at the sides of the table and our moms were faced in front of us. We all dug into the food and engaged in small talk.

"So" I spoke up, catching our parents' attention. "Shawn and I brought you guys here for a reason"

Shawn squeezed my hand under the table. "Alana's pregnant"

The clink of forks hitting plates rung throughout the room and my dad stopped mid-drink. Tension filled up the room.

"Repeat that again?" My mom said.

"I have a baby growing inside of me" I awkwardly smiled.

"For how long?" Karen asked.

"Two months" Shawn answered.

"You guys" Manny spoke up. "We're barely in our late 40s. Now we're going to be grandparents?"

"You guys had us when you were about our age" Shawn responded. "I thought you guys were going to be excited"

I squeezed Shawn's hand harder. "We're married. It shouldn't be a problem"

"Can we talk about this privately?" My mom suggested.

Shawn and I got up and went out of the dining room, into the kitchen, while the adults discussed our situation.

I sat on the counter stool and Shawn stood next to me. I put my elbows on the counter and rested my head on my hands. "Is it just me or was that unexpected? It's not like we're teenagers who ran off to have sex and get pregnant"

"Very unexpected. I thought they'd be more happy about it" Shawn went behind me and began massaging my shoulders.

I squirmed. "Stop. That tickles" He stopped and left his hands on my shoulders.

I spun the seat so I was facing him and tilted my head so I could see his face. "Hi"

"Hi" He smiled, weakly. "It'll be okay, sweetheart. They're just in shock"

"I sure hope so"

"Here. This'll calm you" He tilted my chin and pressed his soft lips to mine. He pulled away. "Better?"

"Much better" I agreed.

"You guys can come back in!" Karen yelled from the dining room.

Shawn raised his eyebrows at me and I hopped off the stool following him back to the dining room. We sat back down at our seats and waited to be hit with parental criticism.

"We talked" Karen started.

"And we realized that we may have been a little harsh" My mom continued.

"It's just difficult to see our children grow up so fast. You're our youngest daughter, Alana" My dad spoke.

"And, Shawn, you're the first born. And you guys just got married. We weren't expecting babies yet" Manny finished.

Shawn and I stayed silent as they looked at us. I felt like a child being punished for stealing cookies out of the cookie jar.

"Are you guys even ready for a child? Shawn, you're always out all the time. How are you going to make time for that baby?" Karen pressed.

"The baby is due a week after tour ends. I'll be able to take some time at home and just focus on the baby and writing music"

"Do you even know how to raise a child?" My mom asked.

"Yes mom. We do. We've taken care of Layla plenty of times and I always had to babysit her when she was a baby" I replied. "You guys don't have to worry. We're perfectly capable and it's too late to go back now"

Awkward silence filled the room until Shawn broke it. "Do you want to see the baby?"

The parents all looked at one another. "Sure" My dad answered for everyone.

Shawn stood up to get the pictures from the ultrasound. My mom spoke. "Don't worry. This is how is was with Elena. Is your belly forming yet?"

I nodded. "Kinda. It's a little chubby now. It looks like I ate too many hamburgers" I stood up and lifted my red and white stripes shirt to show them then sat back down. Shawn came in with the pictures and handed it to our moms. Our dads gathered around them to look.

"That's a real baby" Karen said, astonished.

"It's so tiny" Manny said.

"Wow" My dad breathed.

My mom looked up at us, softness in her eyes. "We're sorry for overreacting. This is beautiful, guys. You should've just shown us this in the first place"

"Well that was kinda hard considering that we weren't expecting you guys to attack us" I said and everyone laughed.

———————-

"Names go" I pressured Shawn, notepad and pen in hand, sitting on the bed with him next to me.

"Skyler, Tyler, Shawn?" He raised his eyebrows.

I gave him a sour face but wrote them down anyways. "Your names are so basic. We need unique names"

"Hey. I actually like Skyler"

"Well I don't" I shrugged my shoulders. "This child is as much mine as it is yours" I paused. "It should be a little more mine since I'm carrying it. Anyways, we need a name that we can both agree on"

Shawn nodded his head. "Agreed. How are we going to do that. I don't think these name games of yours are going to work"

"Rule number one, no lame names. Two, you have to be completely honest at all times. If you don't like the name, I won't get offended. We'll just think of other ones"

"This is so much pressure" Shawn scratched his head. "This baby is going to have a name that we choose for the rest of its life"

"Exactly. That's why the names can't be basic. Like Shawn. Never in a million years are we naming our baby Shawn Jr."

"That's cute though. Any being with my name would be blessed to have it"

"How about Leilani?"

"Pretty. But sounds like the name of a girl at school who acts like your friend but is totally fake"

I nodded my head. "Good to know. You know, we also have to find a middle name. Are we going to go the regular route and have another name as the middle or go the Filipino route and have my maiden name as the middle name?"

"That's a thing?"

"Mhm. Layla's middle name is Sinclair. It's kinda odd actually. My family did the same with Elena but didn't with me"

"Maybe you're adopted"

I looked at him with a solemn expression and tears started to fill my eyes.

His eyes got wide and he panicked. He threw himself on my and hugged my waist. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just joking"

"I know" I said in a regular and calm voice.

He let go of my waist and sat up again. He brought his thumb to my cheek and wiped off my tears. "Real tears. You aren't sad though?"

"It's weird. I can easily cry at anything but not feel sad. Its like my tear ducts are going ballistic. Now would be a great time to become an actor"

"Indeed it would be" Shawn looked at the clock that hung next to the bathroom door and saw the time. "It's getting late. I think it's time"

I laid down on my back and lifted my shirt so my stomach was exposed. Every night before we go to bed, Shawn spends five to ten minutes with the baby. He said it's mandatory so that he can grow a strong connection with it.

He laid on his stomach, propped his elbows on the bed, and positioned himself near the baby. "Hi little one in there" He placed his hand on top of my belly. "Today was a great day. Your grandparents found out about you and they weren't as excited as we are about you. Then they saw your pictures and instantly changed their minds. It's kinda psychotic actually but what can you do. I love you so much already even though we haven't met yet. Although you know your mom more than you know me, that's not stopping me from trying to be your favorite parent" He placed a kiss on the top of my belly and pulled down my shirt again.

He sat up, as did I, and I flicked his nose.

"Hey what was that for?!" He rubbed his nose.

"I want to be the favorite parent" I jokingly pouted.

"It's going to be me and there's no point in trying Alana" He shrugged. "But hey! You're my favorite wife"

"That's cause I'm your only wife"

"Exactly" He smirked and I lightly pushed him.

[Please read]

We're already 50 chapters into the story. How crazy is that?! I never imagined that it would go this far and I still have so many more ideas for the future. Anyways, in honor of fifty chapters, I thought it would be fun to do a Q&A. A little mini chapter where I answer all your questions! If you do want to ask a question, just ask here and I'll answer it in the next one!