Boy Next Door

I Dare You

"Babe...what are you doing?" Camila chuckled as she walked into the living room to see Shawn propping Quinn up on the couch.

"I feel like she's gonna start sitting up soon! I'm just assisting her until she gets it down."

"It's a little early...it'll probably be a couple more months before she's sitting," Camila giggled.

"I know, I know...never too early to try, though! Who knows, maybe we have a baby genius on our hands."

"I mean that would make our job easier." Camila plopped down on the couch next to where Shawn had Quinn "seated". She pulled out her cell phone and opened up Instagram, immediately seeing something that made her eyes widen in fear and panic.

"What's that look for?" Shawn asked, his voice laced with concern. She swallowed hard and handed her phone to him. The first post on her feed was from Zachary, announcing that he was finally "free".

"I'm gonna block him," Camila said as she took her phone back. "I don't want him to know anything about us."

"I can't believe he's out already," the tall Canadian said in disbelief. "I mean, I know that sentences for domestic abuse aren't typically long but still...I feel like that flew by." Camila sat in silence staring at her phone. "You okay?"

"It's just...I don't know. I can't imagine he'll try to do anything but I felt a lot better when I knew that he was locked in a jail cell."

"That's fair," Shawn sighed. "I'll keep my girls safe, I promise."

"I know you will." Camila leaned forward and gave a small peck to his lips.

"The first way I will keep you safe is by not peeing on you," Shawn joked as he stood up and made his way into the bathroom. Camila laughed and shook her head as she picked up their daughter into her arms and cuddled her against her chest. Quinn was entering a phase where she was becoming very vocal. Sure, she couldn't say any actual words - but she was starting to realize that she could make a wide variety of noises and she was very much enjoying showing those skills off. Camila's favorite thing in the world was when she'd overhear Shawn pretending to have a conversation with her.

"You're a talkative little lady today, aren't you?" Camila cooed as Quinn continued to babble to herself.

"Um, babe...?" Shawn asked as he walked out of the bathroom. Camila looked up at him and sighed when she saw what he was holding. "You took a pregnancy test? When?"

"This morning...but it's negative. It's fine."

"You didn't tell me that you thought you were pregnant..."

"I'm sorry. My period is a couple days late so I took it just to rule out the possibility of me being pregnant. I didn't have any major symptoms other than that..."

"Okay, but can you just tell me next time? Even if you think it's going to be negative, I'd like to be there with you when you take the test." Camila smiled softly and nodded. When she had found out that she was pregnant with Quinn, she was alone in a public bathroom and dreading having to tell her significant other. While she was in that bathroom, she couldn't help but think about how she had always imagined the moment she would find out that she was pregnant. In her head, it would always happen with a man that loved her and supported her by her side; when the two lines would appear, it would be one of the happiest moments of her life - not a devastating one. Now that she had Shawn, she knew that when the day came she'd have that experience she'd always dreamed of. Shawn walked over to her and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"I'm not him," he said quietly. "You can talk to me."

"I know," she replied. "I love you."

"I love you more."