I was able to hide the belly under Lilly's clothes for kind of 3 weeks and then it was all over. Everyone knew when I walked in the room. I could take the congratulations and the cheesy "When are you due?" question, but I was going to kill the next woman who thought she had a right to touch my stomach.

When I walked onto the scene Woody was there. "Hey Jordan."

Woody's new rookie partner tried to be courteous and Give me a hand.

Woody pulled him back like there was no tomorrow. "If you want to keep your hand you better back away from her!"

The kid froze scared and confused.

I shook his hand. "Dr. Jordan Hoyt, what's your name?"

I knew what Woody had nicknamed him, but not his actual name. "Mitchell Caravell." He realized who I was. "You said, Dr…?"

"Hoyt, that's right, I'm Woody's wife."

The kid looked even more afraid.

I slowly knelt down to observe the body. I tried not to notice how much time it took me to kneel down.

"The victim appears to have been struck from behind by a blunt object." The wound was shallow and out of place. "All the other injuries appear to have been from a sharp weapon, a little larger than a knife. They're jagged so it might not be a real blade, but something more like a shank." I paused to take a closer look at the gash across his stomach. "This was the wound that drew the most blood, this isn't where he died."

Woody got annoyed. "How come?"

"He bled out slowly while he was alive. Do you see that much blood around here? I don't."

Woody was upset that this got complicated.

Mitchell was eager to learn and was grinning from ear to ear. "She rocks." Woody turned on him and gave him a dirty look.

"Sorry, sir."

I smiled.

When I got back to the morgue Lilly had Madeleine in her office. I stopped by to see her. "You know she can't be here right?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Don't get on my bad side Jordan. You're going to have a baby soon and you don't want me telling on you do you?"

I didn't plan on having the baby in the morgue ever. The kid wouldn't make it past the daycare. It had been a mistake to bring Emily up here even that once.

Lilly had given birth to Maddie in the morgue. That was even crazier. "See you Lilly."

She started to play peek-a-boo with Maddie and she didn't say good-bye.

I walked into the autopsy room to start further analysis when the phone rang on the wall. I picked it up. "Dr. Hoyt, I have a call for you from St. Mary Elementary."

"Put them on."

There was a click, "Hi this is Carol Ortega from St. Mary's nurse's office. Is this Emily's mother Mrs. Hoyt?"

"Yes." I didn't bother correcting the doctor thing. "What can I do for you?"

Just the mention of the nurse sent my mind spinning. Was Emily okay?

"I called to let you know that your daughter threw up today during recess and she has a fever according to the nurse. We need you to come and pick her up as soon as possible and keep her home until she's been fever free for 24 hours."

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye."

"Good bye Mrs. Hoyt."

I showed up at the nurse's office. She led me into the room where she was lying down on the bed. At first I was worried about her and then about me getting sick and then I saw her. She held out her hand. I went and wrapped my arms around her with no concern for all of that.

I placed my hand on her forehead. "Let's get you home."

"Mommy, I threw up."

"I know sweetheart."

I felt terrible for what I was about to say. "Emily, mommy can't carry you to the car so I'm going to need you to walk for me, okay?"

"Okay?" She said weakly.

I signed her out and took her home.

After I gave her some medicine I got her into her pajamas. I set her up on the couch watching a Disney movie. After Emily showed up in our lives Woody went and bought tons of stuff for her. Now I had no idea what to get her for Christmas.

There was a knock at the door. I got up thinking it was a solicitor or something. I was shocked at who I saw and then unsure of what to say. "Dad?"

At first he didn't notice. "Jordan, I've been calling you for a week." He looked down at my belly. For even greater affect my left hand with the wedding ring on it was rested on my stomach.

"What's going on here? Jordan?"

I put my hand up against the doorjamb hoping that he wouldn't come in.

"Jordan, who's the father?"

"Woody. Dad I'm kind of busy."

"Are you going to work?"

"Not exactly."

"You better be engaged at the very least?" His Irish Catholic ideals were clearly the only thing on his mind right now.

"We're married."

"You're what?" His voice was loud enough that it reached Emily.

"Mom! Who is it?" I could hear how sick she was in her voice, but it was loud enough for Max to hear.

"Mom?" The sarcasm in his voice was mocking.

I tried to close the door on him. "Good bye Dad."

He stopped it and came in.

He starred at Emily and she starred at him.

"Hi." She said weakly. "Mom, who is this?"

I took a deep breath. I went over to Emily. I softened my voice. "Emmie, this is your Grandfather Max."

He looked over at me. "Who are you?"

"Dad, go in the kitchen. I'll be there in a minute."

I knelt down in front of Emily. "I'll be right in there if you need me okay?" I kissed her on the forehead.

I walked into the kitchen. "What are you doing here?"

"Like I said, I've been trying to reach you for a week. I wanted to make plans to see you over Christmas and now I see there's even more reason to be around for the holidays."

I didn't say anything.

"I never thought you'd get married."

"Thanks Dad."

"Jordan, you know what I mean."

I sighed. "After the plane crash Woody asked me if I planned on leaving and I said no. He proposed, only Lilly and Bug were at the wedding and we didn't make it a big deal. We only told people two months later because we kind of had to because of work."

"Plane crash?" He asked looking really worried.

I had forgotten that I hadn't told him. Mostly, we had all been okay.

"Everyone is fine. We were just shaken up. It's been forgotten."

He pointed towards the living room with a look that seemed to question Emily's very existence.

"About two months ago I got called to a crime scene. It was natural causes: Suzan Tenor." I started to whisper. "James and her had Emily. Her mom found out about the cancer when Emily was two. She told Emily from that day on that her aunt Jordan would be her mom when she was gone. Emily had seen pictures of me so she knew me when she saw me. Woody and I adopted her."

He started to stare at my stomach again. "I never thought you'd be convinced to have kids, Jordan?"

I didn't know how to respond to that. "It wasn't exactly my idea."

He nodded, "I'm stunned, just stunned." I wasn't sure what he was thinking. "Congratulations, when...?"

I finished for him, "When am I due, right?"

He nodded.

"April."

He took in the fact. "That's just great Jordan. Back to why I came, what are you doing for Christmas? It's only three weeks away."

"No plans, we're staying here to give Emily a normal Christmas."

He smiled. "I want to have you over, all of you for Christmas Eve dinner."

"Lilly, Bug, and Madeleine, and Nigel too, Macey and maybe Abby. They're family."

"Everyone Jordan."

"I have to get back to Emily."

He headed into the living room and knelt down in front of Emily. "Get better sweetheart. I'll be seeing you soon, okay? Your mom's going to take good care of you."

He left. I lifted up Emily's head and lowered her back down on my lap. I stroked her hair until she fell asleep. Then I was stuck there; didn't think this one through.

I was asleep like this when Woody walked in.

"Jordan?" He prodded me. "Wake up."

I lifted up my head starting to feel the stiffness of my neck. I picked up my hand off of Emily and rubbed my neck. "Hi."

He laughed to himself. "You guys are so cute."

"I am not cute Woody!"

This only made him smile more.

He picked up Emily and let her head rest on his shoulder. She was already too big for this. He tucked her in and wiped the sweat from her forehead. He kissed his fingers and placed them on her forehead. "I think her fever may be going down."

"Good." I sighed.