This is inspired by Brad Paisley's song He didn't have to be. If you haven't listened to it, it's a great song.

"So Princess, when are you going to let me take you out on a date?" Morgan asks one night as he and Emily walk toward the elevator.

"When hell freezes over." She smirks.

"I'm hurt." He holds his hand to his chest. "Come on, dinner and a movie. Please?" He begs.

"Not a chance." She gets into the elevator and presses the ground floor button.

"Why not?"
"For one, we could get fired." She states obviously. "And two I don't have time, Ethan is starting school in two weeks and we still have tons of stuff to get."
"Fine." He gives up, once Emily has made up her mind, there is no way of changing it.

"Ethan, I'm home." Emily calls as she opens the front door of her house. He usually comes running up to her, but not tonight. "Becky?" Becky is her babysitter for when she is gone on long cases. She walks into her living room, they aren't in there. "Becky?" She calls out a little louder as she goes down the hall toward Ethan's bedroom. She opens the door and sighs with relief, he's out like a light in his bed. She walks over to him and kisses his forehead. "I missed you." She whispers before wrapping the blankets around him. She walks out and into the guest bedroom. "Becky." She shakes the girls shoulders and she springs up in bed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine. What time is it?" She asks rubbing her eyes.

"8:30." Emily says after looking at her watch. "Did he wear you out?"
"Yeah, we had an eventful day."
"What did you do?" She asks.

"We went to the park after lunch, got some ice-cream, had a play-date, came home, ate dinner, played outside, played inside, and he fell asleep half way through The Lion King."

"Well we have the next few days off, so I shouldn't need a sitter. You're free."
"Awesome, I'll probably go to John's parents wedding anniversary."
"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Good timing."
"Tell me about it. Well I'm going to go." She says getting out of bed.

"Okay, see you."
"See you." She grabs her bag and leaves. Emily goes into the kitchen and heats up some leftover spaghetti that had made and sits down to eat. She is halfway through her meal when she hears the steps of her five-year old down the hall.

"Becky?" He calls out, but she doesn't answer. Emily waits until he gets to the kitchen and smiles when his face lights up. "MOMMY!" He squeals running the few steps into his mother's awaiting arms.

"Hey baby." She kisses his cheek. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too."

"I heard you had a busy day." She sits back in her seat and Ethan crawls up on the chair next to her.
"I did." He proceeds to describe his day, in detail to her.

The next day, Emily is getting Ethan ready when her doorbell rings. "Hand tight buddy." She says leaving his room and heading to the front door. She looks through the peephole before opening the door. "What are you doing here?" She asks.

"Is that anyway to greet a friend?" Morgan asks.

"What do you want Morgan?" She asks.

"I'm taking you on a date." He says.

"I told you I don't have time. We are about to leave."

"I'm coming with you." Emily groans. "Hey, it'll be fun."
"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, do you know how hard it is to take a five-year old anywhere?"
"No, but I'll find out."

"Well now I'm trying to get him dressed. Then I'm going to pack him a few snacks and some toys before I try to get him in the car."
"I can make his snacks, what does he eat?" He asks coming in and closing the door.

"Grapes, carrots, Cheerios, a juice box and a bottle of water."
"All that for a five-year old?" He asks.

"Yeah, we might be gone for a while."
"Okay, grapes, carrots, Cheerios, juice, and water." Emily nods. "See, I got this."
"We'll see." Emily mumbles and goes back to Ethan's room. "Guess who's coming with us." She says pulling out a shirt from his dresser.

"I don't know." He says, too engrossed in the cars he's playing with to care.
"Derek." She says kneeling next to him.

"Dewek!" He squeals and Emily nods. "Yay!" He cheers.

"Yeah, you have to put on fresh clothes before we go." She hands him the pants and shirt for him to dress himself. He quickly sheds his pajama top and replaces it with a clean black shirt. He pulls on the fresh pants and tries to fasten them.

"Mommy help." he says lifting his shirt so she can button them. She kneels down and fastens the button and zips them up before pulling his shirt back down. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She kisses his cheek. "Shoes." She says standing up to grabs a pair of socks. He puts them on and ties them.

"Look, I tied them by myself!" He exclaims proudly.

"Good job!" Emily holds out her hand and he high-fives it. "Come on." She takes his hand and leads him to the kitchen.

"Dewek!" He yells when he sees him in the kitchen. He runs and wraps his arms around his knees.

"Hey!" Morgan picks up the small boy and tickles his sides causing him to erupt with laughter, this causes Emily to smile. Anytime Morgan is around Ethan always has the biggest smile on his face and Emily loved seeing them together. "I hear you're starting school in two weeks." He nods. "Wow, how cool. What grade are you going to be in?"
"Kindergarten."
"I remember kindergarten, you're going to love it."
"Okay you two, we got to get going. I don't want to be out all day." Emily says grabbing the baggies of snacks and shoving them in her purse.

"Let's go then." Morgan says leading the way to the car. Emily rolls her eyes. 'What have I gotten myself into?' She asks herself as she closes her front door. Emily pulls into a parking space and looks at Morgan.

"Watch." Emily shuts off the car.

"I have to go potty." Ethan says and Emily's mouths the words with him causing Morgan to smile.

"Every time we go somewhere, the moment I shut the car off he magically has to use the bathroom." She explains. She get out of the car and unbuckles Ethan from his booster seat. They get inside and Emily finds the nearest restroom.

"I'll take him." Morgan says.

"Okay." She waits outside of the bathroom while they two boys goes inside. They come out a few minutes later and they head in the direction of the school supplies. Emily grabs the list out of her purse and starts checking things off as she puts them in her cart. "He's only going to be in kindergarten, why does he need all this stuff?" She asks throwing a box of tissues into the pile of crayons, paper, markers, etc.

"I don't know. You're lucky you only have one." He says.

"Yeah, I know." She throws a pack of colored pencils into the basket. "That's the last of the supplies." She looks at her son. "Ready to get some clothes?" She asks and he nods. "Let's go." She takes the basket to the cashier and she rings up everything and Emily pays. "I'm going to put this in the car. Can you watch him?" She asks as they leave the little shop.

"Sure." Morgan says taking a seat on a near by bench.

"Ethan, you stay with Derek, I'm going to go put these in the car."

"Okay." He crawls up on the bench next to Morgan. They watch as Emily walks off. "Where's mommy?" Ethan asks after a few minutes.

"She's coming, she's putting your school stuff in the car."
"I want mommy." Tears start pooling in his eyes.

"Don't cry, she'll be back." That doesn't help, the first tear slips out of his eyes and them more follow. Derek scoops him and holds him close to his chest. "Shhhh." He whispers rocking him back and forth. "It's okay."

"What happened?" Emily asks worriedly as she comes up to them.

"Mommy!" Ethan exclaims, the tears quickly dry up when he sees his mom.

"He was fine for a few minutes then he just started crying." Morgan explains.

"He does that sometimes. Sorry, I should have told you."

"It's fine." Emily takes Ethan's hand and they walk to the little kid clothing store. They pick out a few outfits before checking out. "I'm getting kind of hungry." Morgan says after they exit the shop.

"I've got cheerios." Emily jokes.

"Very funny, let's go find something to eat. It's on me."

"Are you hungry?" Emily asks her son and he nods. They walk to the food court. Ethan gets McDonalds while Derek and Emily get Subway.

"Does this qualify as a date?" Morgan asks.

"No."

"Come on, we're at a mall, I bought you lunch. If we were in high-school, you'd be my girlfriend."
"Well we're grown ups now."
"So I need to take you to dinner?" He asks.

"It's not that simple. Not anymore." She turns her attention to Ethan. "Is that burger good?" He nods. "I can tell." She grabs a napkin from the stack in the middle of the table and wipes the ketchup from his face. Emily turns back to Morgan who has a massive grin on his face. "What?" She asks.

"Nothing, I just like seeing you like this. So what's it going to take to get a real date?" Emily shakes her head. "What?"
"You're not going to give up are you?"
"Not a chance."

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE

Emily is laying on her couch, Ethan next to her, watching The Lion King, Ethan's favorite movie, when the doorbell rings. "I'll be right back." Emily says getting off the couch.

"Okay." Ethan says, not really paying attention.

Emily walks to the front door and opens the door after looking through the peephole. "It's 7:30 Morgan."
"I know." He pulls a bouquet of flowers, movie, and a bag from behind his back. "Since you won't go on a date with me, I brought the date to you." He hands her the flowers.

"Thank you." She takes them and smells them. She lets him in before closing the door. "Um, Ethan's watching a movie right now. You can go in there. I'm going to put these in water."
"Okay." He goes into the living room with the bag and the movie while Emily goes into the kitchen.

"Dewek!" Ethan exclaims getting up from the couch.

"Hey buddy." He hugs the boy and then hands him the bag. "I bought you something."
"A present, but it's not my birthday."
"I know, but I bought your mommy something and I couldn't forget about you." He watches as he takes out the tissue paper and pulls out two toy cars.

"Wow, thank you!" He hugs Morgan. "Mommy, look!" He holds up the cars and Morgan turns around.

"Awesome!" She says coming over and sitting next to Ethan.

"Where's your present?"
"It's in the kitchen."
"What is it?"
"Flowers."

"Why did you get Mommy a present?" He asks turning to Morgan.

"Well, I..." He pauses, 'What should I tell him?' He asks himself. "I just thought your Mom needed a present."

"Oh. Do you want to watch Lion King?" He asks.

"Of course, it's only like my favorite movie ever!"
"Mine, too!"
"No way!" He nods. "That's awesome." The three turn their attention to the screen and finish the movie. The credits start rolling and Emily stands up.

"Pajama time." Emily says.

"Night Dewek." He gives Morgan one final hug before bolting down the hall to his room.

Emily chuckles. "I'll be back."
"I'll be waiting." Morgan says.
Emily walks down the hall and into Ethan's room. She pulls out a pair of car pajamas and hands them to the young boy. He quickly changes. "Let's brush your teeth." She follows him out and into the bathroom where he brushes his teeth. They go back into his room and Emily tucks him in she reads him Peter Rabbit before kissing his forehead. "Goodnight buddy."
"Night Mommy. I love you."
"I love you, too." She turns on his nightlight before turning off his bedroom light and going back to the living room. "Thanks for doing that Morgan." Emily says sitting next to him. "You really made him happy."

"It was nothing."
"It was something. I've dated before, none of them cared about Ethan the way you do, and we aren't even dating. Most of them left the moment they found out about him and if they didn't they never really cared about him. You include him and I just want to thank you for that."

"I grew up with a single mom, I know how hard it can be to not have a dad. I just want Ethan to know that he can always count on me, even if we never date, I'll still always be here."

Emily smiles at him and he smiles back. She leans in a few inches and Morgan copies her. She continues moving forward until she is an inch from his face. He closes the gap between them and her eyes flutter closed. She wraps her arms around his neck and he wraps his around her waist pulling her closer.

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDE

Ethan is standing outside of the nursery window, his newborn baby girl right in the center. He smiles as her little hand escapers from the blanket and sticks up out of the bassinet. A hand touches his shoulder and he turns his face toward his dad. "I'm proud of you." The old man whispers pulling the boy in for a hug.

"Thanks Dad." He says tears threating to escape his eyes. "I hope I'm as good of as a Dad as you are."

"You will be, trust me."

"I never thanked you. You didn't have to except me into your life, but you did, and I'm so proud to call you my Dad. I hope you know that." Morgan nods.

"I'm proud to call you my son." He punches his son's arm playfully. "We better get back to our wives before they send the militia."
"Yeah." He takes one last look at his baby girl. He's glad that Morgan chose to except him as his son, because without him he wouldn't be half the man he is now.

I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry if you didn't. If you want to see something written, leave a review and I will try my best to write it.