Take Me to Your Paradise

Chapter 2: Baby, There's No Other Superstar

Social media.

It was like the worst curse word to him; Stefani had been well aware of that from pretty much the first days of knowing him. Bradley had never seen the need to be on it, to put himself out there like she did and while they had so far managed to mostly agree on the extent with which they shared things about their life together, she had known from the moment of falling pregnant that putting up photos of the baby was something they would probably disagree over. After Francesca's birth Stefani had announced her safe arrival and gender by posting a simple heart in pink, but had shared nothing since; she felt like anything that had to do with their daughter and the media needed to definitely be a joint decision by her and Bradley. At the same time she knew her fans were getting impatient, wanted to offer them a little something but even the thought of it was clearly making him very uncomfortable.

"Stef, I'm just not very happy with this. I don't want our one-month-old daughter's face all over social media and every single news outlet there is."

Stefani shook her head, sighed. "B, I never said anything about posting a picture of her face. Her hand, or her foot maybe, or her... ear; not all of her."

Bradley still looked worried, rubbing the back of his head and she sighed, really not surprised by his reaction at all; she knew he wanted to keep Francesca protected from the media as long as possible, already annoyed to the maximum every time Lea's face appeared on the online gossip sites and magazines, and her offhand suggestion of sharing the first photo of their daughter on her Instagram had turned his defence mechanisms on full alert.

"B," she said quietly, looking at him from the floor where she was laying on her back, Francesca on top of her, having her daily tummy time which she loathed, always looking terribly annoyed every time they placed her into the position. "I know you want to be as private as possible, and I understand that, I really, really do. But you have to give me some leeway and we need to find a compromise about this; I want to share a little bit of her. Just a little bit."

"Yeah, I heard you: sharing her ear?" He laughed, stood and made his way over, settling next to them onto the comfortable soft blanket. "I'm not sure your Little Monsters would be entirely satisfied with that."

She smiled, rubbing the baby's back gently; Francesca was looking focused, making very adorable little noises as she practiced lifting her head. "I just want to introduce her, reveal her name. She's four weeks now, she had her check-up yesterday and... I think it's time; I think we should give a little more than just her completely covered in the carrier. Trust me, I'm not looking forward to the paps getting a shot of her any more than you are, but we probably can't avoid that forever either, B, unfortunately; right now we can still control what we show of her."

"I know," he sighed; Francesca turned her head, stared at her father with huge blue eyes and Bradley caressed her soft hair tenderly, gave a small nod. "Okay then. Are you ready for your social media debut, princess? Well, the debut of your hand or your foot... or ear."

Stefani chuckled, sat up carefully, setting the baby onto her back between them; the little girl released an annoyed shriek at losing sight of her father's face, tears appearing in her eyes. "Daddy's right here, sweetie. Your sister and auntie Natali should be back from their outing soon; I can't wait to see how much stuff she has bought for you this time. I swear, every single baby-related store in New York will be empty soon because we will own it all."

He grinned, moved back into the baby's vision, blowing a kiss onto her belly to calm her. "I think she's trying to smile, look."

"Yeah?" She wiggled her eyebrows at the baby, making funny faces; Francesca stared at her, silent and very serious, looking like she was frowning at her silly mother more than smiling. "Nah. Nothing."