Shawn didn't know if it was the rain that woke him or the weirdness of the dream he'd been having. He stayed in bed for a moment, listening to Juliet's steady breaths and the irregular rhythm of the rain against the bedroom window before the mugginess in the room drew him from the covers.

He moved slowly off the bed to avoid waking Jules and felt his way across the dark room. Walking into the hallway he shivered. His t-shirt and boxers were damp with humidity and sweat and made him cold now that he was out from under the blankets. Wishing he'd thought to grab a sweatshirt before leaving the bedroom, he continued into the small living room of their apartment, wrapping his arms around his ribs.

A flash of lightning lit up the window behind their couch and was quickly followed by a large clap of thunder. Shawn shivered again as a gust of wind increased the spatter of raindrops against the window.

He sank down into the corner of the couch and pulled Juliet's blanket off the armrest and around himself with a sigh. His right hand moved automatically to his wedding band, twisting it on his finger. Ha, he thought, and I thought that would be the biggest event of my life.

And now . . . Now they were having a baby. The dream that woke him hadn't been the first scary “Jules is pregnant” dream he'd had since she'd told him, but it was possibly the weirdest.

He had been at the Psych office with Jules, and he was talking to her about the merits of eating Smarties two at a time verses one at a time and then her stomach had started growing. She had looked at him and said, “It's time,” and then somehow they were at the station and the Chief was yelling at them that Jules couldn't have the baby there, and then he was on his motorcycle with Jules and Lassie going to his dad's house. His dad had come out of the house with his fishing hat on and his scaling knife in hand. “The backyard, hurry!” he had said. Then they were all sitting on the grass and Juliet's stomach was still growing, and then Gus had appeared wearing the silver suit from Iron Man 2. “Jackal mode!” he had shouted, and suddenly there were explosions all around them, and Shawn had tried to shield Juliet but his dad had yelled that he wasn't enough, and Lassie screamed that it was all his fault, and Juliet had looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes. “We can do it, Shawn,” she had said. Then he had woken up.

Shawn rubbed a hand across his face and reached for the remote on the cushion next to him, eager to replace the frightening images from his mind with some late-night TV. Before his thumb could hit the power button though, he heard the bedroom door open.

“Shawn?”

The hallway light came on, chasing away some of the darkness, and Jules came down the hall. She squinted at him across the dim room. “What are you doing, babe?”

He lifted the blanket in a silent invitation, noticing the goosebumps on her arms. “Thunder woke me up,” he lied, just as there was another boom outside.

Juliet crossed the room to him and snuggled up against his shoulder, pulling the blanket around herself. “You're telling me you can sleep through Gus calling you over thirty times in one morning, but a little thunderstorm wakes you up in the middle of the night?”

He chuckled and wrapped both arms around her, the fear for her safety he'd felt in the dream still lingering. “My unconscious mind is very finely-tuned, Jules. It's immune to phone calls before ten AM.”

She laughed sleepily and draped her arm across his stomach, shifting her head from his shoulder to his chest, her hair tickling his neck. “Uh-huh. You had another dream, didn't you?”

He dropped his cheek to the top of her head. “Maybe.”

She hugged him tighter. “Tell me about it.”

“I don't think you want to know. Do you think me and you and Lassie could all fit on my bike, though?”

She was quiet for a long moment and he thought that she'd fallen back asleep. Then, suddenly, she sat up and looked him in the eyes. “Are you okay?”

He opened his mouth to tell her that of course he was fine, and did she want to watch late-night TV with him? Because there was this Japanese game show he'd been dying to see the conclusion to, but she touched his lip with her fingers. “Shawn, it's three in the morning and I asked that question because you're obviously not okay, so I don't want any jokes.” The sternness in her face softened at his slightly crest-fallen look. “Usually, I love your jokes. I promise.” She smiled.

She watched him expectantly and he avoided her gaze, one hand absently reaching up to twirl a strand of her hair in his finger. “I guess I'm just freaked out,” he muttered, admitting to himself that Jules was not letting him out of this.

“About the baby?” she asked quietly.

He shifted uneasily and started fiddling with the remote, digging out remains of the chocolate ice cream he'd spilled on it one time from around the buttons with his thumbnail. “Yeah, sort of. I just . . .” he sighed and fell silent. It was really too late to be telling Jules he had doubts about being a good father.

There was another long silence and Shawn noticed that the rain seemed to be dying down. Juliet moved beside him, resting her head on his shoulder again and pulling the blanket tighter around both of them. “Me too,” she said.

She sounded about as freaked out as he felt and his chest tightened. He put the remote down and turned so he could wrap both arms around her again. “I thought you were excited.”

“I am!” she said, and he felt her body tense with sincerity. “But I'm scared too. I mean, there are just so many things that could go wrong! And I still have another seven months of being pregnant – if everything goes well, and then I have to actually give birth and I don't even want to think about that, and then after the baby comes, what if we do something wrong? Or the baby gets hurt? Or-”

“Jules,” Shawn pleaded. He hated it when she was scared, or sad, or even a little disgruntled. “I'll help you, okay? Just . . . How about you be excited and I'll take care of the worried part.”

She lifted her head and looked at him in surprise. “You'll take on the worrying?”

He fiddled with her hair again, looking everywhere but her eyes. “Well, if it means you won't have to . . . I mean, I can take one for the team. Maybe even two or three.”

She laughed, lightening the weight that seemed to have settled in his chest. “I love you.”

He smiled at her. “I know. It's my worrying skills isn't it? I'm sure my hair plays a factor too.”

She rolled her eyes and ruffled said hair. “How about we both be excited and let Gus take care of the worrying?”

Shawn chuckled. “He is well-practiced.”

“I'm glad we could get that settled,” Juliet said, leaning away from him and peeling back the blanket. “I need to get up in about four hours, so do you think we can go back to bed now?” She stood and took his hand, pulling him up.

He let her. “I guess so. Are you sure you don't want to stay up and watch Japanese game shows with me?”

She just shook her head and smiled at him, tugging him toward the bedroom. They walked back down the hall, Juliet flipping off the light as they went. Shawn walked across their room, sat on the edge of the bed, and watched as Juliet got back under the covers and settled down into her pillow with a sigh.

“Hey, Jules?”

“Mmhm?” she murmured, almost asleep already.

“I really am excited. Just scared too. Is that allowed?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him, her eyes shining in the almost pitch-black room. “Yeah, Shawn. I think we can both be excited and scared.”

He climbed into bed next to her, propping his head up with one hand. “In my dream, you told me we could do this.”

Her eyes were drifting closed again, but smiling, she reached out and found his hand, lacing their fingers together. “We can, Shawn. We can do anything.”

He grinned and leaned in to kiss her forehead before settling down on his own pillow. “I think you're right, Jules,” he whispered.