Watermelon

Blanket Fort

"Then what happened?"

"Well, then the elves had to remake all of the presents before Christmas Eve so Santa could get them out to everyone in time."

"Did they do it?"

"They did! And it was all thanks to the help from the magic Christmas flamingo."

Shawn couldn't help but chuckle as he overheard the conversation between Jace and Maggie. He was such a good big brother. Shawn climbed up the ladder that led to Jace's room in the attic. A wide smile spread across his face when he was met with the sight of both Jace and Maggie sitting cross-legged under a newly constructed blanket fort on the floor of his room. They even had snacks.

"Am I interrupting?"

"Daddy!" Maggie squealed in delight. "We made a fort!"

"I see that," he chuckled, climbing the rest of the way into the room and giving the little girl a hug.

"Tell him the big news, Mags."

Maggie thought about was 'big news' Jace could be referring to for a moment before lighting up with excitement.

"Jace is gonna be a daddy!"

Both of the guys laughed. "He already knew that part, dork. Tell him what else..."

"Oh, oh, oh!" She was jumping up and down with glee. "It's gonna be a little baby boy."

"It's a boy?" Shawn asked with a grin. Jace nodded. "Dude! Congrats, that's awesome! I totally forgot that appointment was today. Everything look good?"

"Yeah, really good! There's a new picture on my desk." Jace nodded in the direction of the desk where a newly printed sonogram laid. Shawn picked it up and admired it, his smile growing.

"Is Chloe excited? I know she was secretly hoping for a boy."

"She's thrilled. We're surprised — we both totally thought it was gonna be a girl. But I think it'll be fun to have a son. Though I gotta admit that imagining a tiny version of me running around sounds kinda terrifying," he nervously laughed under his breath. Shawn glanced up at him, giving him a reassuring look.

"You'll do great. And you have so many people in your support system ready to help you guys," he reminded Jace. "Including Camila and I."

"And me!" Maggie squeaked. Jace ruffled the curls on the top of her head with his hand.

"Thanks, stink. I'm gonna need a lot of help from you." He leaned down and picked the little girl up into his arms. "Do you know how to change a diaper?"

Maggie scrunched up her nose in disgust and shook her head vehemently. "No. That's yucky."

"It really is," Jace agreed. Suddenly, Maggie snapped her attention to Shawn.

"Is mommy home?"

"Not yet. She'll be home in about an hour."

"I have a present for her!" The little girl announced it proudly as she wiggled in Jace's arms. He set her back down on the floor and she bolted to leave the attic. Shawn grabbed her before she could attempt to go down the ladder by herself and carried her down. The moment they reached the main floor of the house, he set her down and she ran towards her room. When she came back out, she was holding a piece of paper that had been scribbled on with multicolored crayons and markers. She held it up proudly to Shawn so he could admire it.

"Wow — this is beautiful, Mags!"

"It's me and mommy playing in the snow!"

It wasn't — at least, not obviously. Maybe it was an abstract take on their bonding time. But as far as Shawn could tell, it was just a mess of colorful scribbles. He didn't mind, though — it was still the most beautiful piece of art he had ever seen.