His Fling, My Forever

•Chapter 17•

Elara Beck
"Do you think she's too hot? Do you think she needs anything? Should we play her some music or read to her?"
So. Many. Questions. Finn was stressing way more than I was. He asked me a new question every other minute. I felt surprisingly calm. Frances was causing me no problem. She barely cried or screamed. She just happily slept in mine or Finn's arms and was quite happy to stay there for hours.
Finn was now sleeping in my room and we would take it in turns to get up and soothe her in her bedside cot when she got restless.
Finn was amazing with her. I couldn't ask for someone better to help me through this. When I was studying he would look after her and he had even taken a book out of the local library about caring for a baby and had already read it twice.
I hadn't quite gotten over my anxieties around letting Agnes look after her yet. I loved Agnes, but didn't trust her to look after a baby when I wasn't there. Even when I was around she would jiggle Frances around to the point where I would have to bite my lip or just take her off of Agnes. Agnes just called me overprotective.

I watched from my desk as Finn sat shirtless on my bed, his blonde hair a mess, Frances in his arms. He was holding her in his lap and moving her arms and legs as he sang a song to her, as her mouth hung open and she stared up at him.
I laughed at the scene and took a video on my phone, and as he looked up, a smirk on his face, I snapped a photo and immediately set it as the lock screen on my phone.
"Frances." I said and smiled at her. She didn't look immediately and kept looking up at Finn, but as soon as I sat on the bed with them her little confused, chubby face turned to me. We would always say her name to her so that she would get used to responding to our voices. Finn would always play videos and music on his phone for her but she wasn't quite used to that yet.

"I think we should take her on a walk." Finn said and it made me giggle whenever he said it.
"Ok" I nodded.
We pulled on a little hat that had ears on, pulled on her baby socks and jumpsuit and wrapped her in her baby blanket before putting her into her pram.
I liked walking her around the university. People would always stop and ask how she was doing or comment on how pretty she was.
Then again no wonder people commented on how pretty she was. She was half Shawn Mendes. Her eyes shone brightly and she had the longest eyelashes I had ever seen on a baby.
We always visited the receptionist on our walks. She liked to attempt to make Frances laugh. But no one had had any luck with that yet. She hadn't even cracked a smile yet.

As we neared the reception, we took Frances out of her pram and put it to one side so that we wouldn't clog up the reception area.
I took her in my arms and Finn kissed her little nose making me smile.
"Oh my goodness there's my favourite baby!" The receptionist squealed from across the room as Finn and I began walking towards her. As we began walking Frances kept trying to put her tiny fingers into my hair and on my eyelashes and I wrestled with her to let go.
"You have to meet this little baby. Just born bless her." I heard the receptionist say and I looked up, only to be met with a familiar pair of eyes.

I stopped dead in my tracks and instinctively put a hand over the back of Frances' head and held her close to me, hiding her face away from him. My heart was racing and I felt my throat close up. I felt Finn put an arm around my waist but I wouldn't, couldn't, take my eyes off of Shawn, who was standing at the receptionists desk.
"What's he doing here?!" Finn whispered and I just shook my head.
I didn't know what he was doing here.
I didn't care what he was doing here.
But I guessed it was something to do with seeing that article about me having Frances.
But even though I had always wished he had been a part of the whole process of Frances coming into this world, now that he was here, I wasn't sure if I wanted to see him, or him to see Frances at all.