Emily smiled as Seth pulled a stuffed tiger out of his bag. He always had some new toy or book for Callie. She should probably tell him it was unnecessary, before Callie ended up spoiled, but for now it felt harmless and she loved hearing the often absurd rationale for why Seth was buying something like Lord of the Rings for a not even two month old. At least a stuffed animal was more age appropriate, although it was about two or three times bigger than Callie.

"So what's the backstory this time?"

"A tiger for Cal." He replied looking at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?" Seth had christened her daughter with an even shorter nickname, which according to him was his right as her uncle. She didn't really mind it from Seth, but it bugged her now that it seemed like it was catching on with other people. Even Aaron had called her Cal the other night.

"Cal, like Calvin. So a stuffed tiger for Calvin."

"Still not getting it." She said, shaking her head at him. She really couldn't follow Seth's train of thought from Caroline to Calvin and what a tiger had to do with it.

"Calvin and Hobbes. It's only the greatest comic of all time. It's like you grew up under a rock." Now he was the one shaking his head at her.

"I am familiar with the comic. Bill Watterson is from Ohio."

"That's your takeaway about Bill Watterson? That he's from Ohio? You really don't appreciate art."

She just rolled her eyes at that. She wasn't sure she would count a comic strip as art, but she knew telling Seth that would only result in a lecture. And she should probably be more careful about keeping her admittedly sometimes judgy opinions to herself now that she was some kind of quasi public figure. "What do you think, Callie? Do you like Uncle Seth's crazy tiger?" Callie was getting to be so much more responsive, it was exciting watching her start to interact with the world around her. But she didn't seem too interested in the stuffed animal.

"Can I hold her?"

"Sure." Emily passed Callie into Seth's arms, and tried not to grab her back when Callie used her little fist to try grab at the neckline of her shirt. She really did need to get used to handing Callie off to other people. Right now Emily and sometimes Aaron were still the only two people she generally seemed content with. Or maybe that was just something that Emily told herself, seeing as she seemed perfectly happy with Seth right now.

Sitting down in the chair across from his desk, Emily smiled again as Seth described everything on his desk to Callie. If nothing else she was going to grow up with an intimate understanding of politics. The other day she had walked in on Aaron describing to Callie, at great length, a new immigration proposal.

"So, having fun wedding planning?"

"Ugh, no. And it's not wedding planning. It's planning some kind of political networking orgy that I will just happen to be exchanging vows at."

"And here I was thinking that having Rebecca heading up the planning would make it the most romantic event of the year."

She scoffed. "You should hear the wedding planner lady she found us. 'Do you think America will be okay with her wearing white? She's clearly not a virgin.' I don't know what is worst, the unnecessary commentary on my sex life, or them talking about me like I'm not even there." She'd thought she prepared herself for all the comments and judgement she would get about her life, but it turned out it was worse than she'd anticipated. Little things that she never would have imagined anyone caring about managed to capture the interests of people, especially online. People in comments sections could write pages about old 'unearthed' photos from her spring break trips or college parties. She had never thought of her sex life as particularly interesting or scandalous, really it was just a string of failed relationships and the occasional one night stand, but the way some people talked about it you would think she was some kind of scarlet woman to borrow the phrase her Aunt had used on the phone last week.

"Yikes."

"And today it was all 'Why can't you agree to having Kirkman walk you down the aisle?' as if that wouldn't be the weirdest thing of all time. Like for starters I don't need everyone staring at me like I'm poor little orphan Annie and the closest thing in my life to a parent figure is my former boss. And I can't even imagine asking him, that would be the weirdest conversation of all time. And honestly it's all besides the point, I don't need anyone giving me away. It's a stupid tradition to begin with. And then after that wreck of a conversation we needed to talk about the menu. Even though I made it perfectly clear I couldn't care less what they are feeding people. But apparently I need to hear all about making sure there is regional food from every swing state as if someone is going to vote for Aaron for President two years from now all because we served fried cheese curds at our wedding. And note that no one is asking Aaron his opinion on this stuff. I'm not the one running for office one day, I wouldn't even end up getting paid for all the stupid Second Lady stuff they want me to do, but apparently I have to sit through endless discussions about if we should risk serving pork and possibly pissing off Jewish people in Florida, or if it is worth it for some votes in North Carolina." She let out a long breath and leaned as far back in the chair as she could covering her face with her hands. "Sorry about… all that." She felt embarrassed dumping all that on Seth. She was trying to embrace the role of politician's wife, or soon to be wife, but she was finding herself incredibly frustrated with it all.

"No, no. I'm enjoying it. Just promise me one thing."

She looked up at him. "What?"

"You won't have a dry wedding."

"Ha. Don't worry, open bar. I don't think there would be a quicker way to get Aaron impeached than to force a bunch of politicians to be sober for a night."

"Good to know. I'm surprised that as an ex-boyfriend I'm Rebecca approved to be Best Man."

"Well, that might have been one of the things we refused to compromise on." She was still trying to block out the scolding she had gotten on that one, because of course even though he was Aaron's best man, she was the one stuck hearing the criticism of it. In her best imitation of Rebecca's failed attempt at a conciliatory tone she recited, "Don't you think that two reminders of your rather 'adventurous' sex life up on the alter with you might be too many. And of course we all want to see your lovely daughter up there with you."

Seth just looked so amused. "Do you think it would help if I let Rebecca know that our sex life really wasn't that adventurous? Pretty mundane actually when I really think about it, mostly missionary and-"

She could feel her face burning. "Seth! For starters you are holding my daughter right now. And I would literally kill you."

"Well I am happy to bow out if it makes you more palatable to middle America."

"You're not going anywhere. You and Marie were the two fights I had."

"What's the issue with Marie?"

"Tattoos."

"I'm assuming Rebecca hasn't been informed about your butterfly. Or did you end up getting it removed?"

"Still there. Broke that one to her a while ago. I am under strict orders to never reveal it."

"You're probably the first tattooed Second Lady. That's one for the history books."

"Great." She muttered. "Being the slutty tattooed Second Lady is going to be my legacy."

"Well if nothing else you have brought renewed interest into the position of Second Lady."

"Wonderful." She sighed.

"You know this wedding is starting to sound like it is going to be a blast; cheese curds, open bar, tattooed maid of honor."

She laughed; Seth always seemed to know how to lighten the mood. "If you're interested I can get you Marie's number." She'd thought that Seth and her cousin might have hit it off one of the times he'd come by to see Callie, although Aaron thought she was crazy.

"Don't you think me dating your cousin would just be adding a new level of dysfunction for Rebecca to disapprove of?"

She shrugged. "Whatever."

And then she noticed that Seth looked a little embarrassed. "I actually think I am seeing Allison again."

"You think? Shouldn't you know if you're seeing someone or not?"

"Okay, I guess we are. We ran into each other at a party a few weeks ago, and got to talking again."

"Nice." And then noticing he sounded like he was feeling down she added, "This is a good thing right?"

"Yeah, yeah for sure." He replied, his tone was not entirely convincing. She noticed he was staring contemplatively at Callie, and wondered for a second if Allison might be pregnant. Although she honestly thought Seth would be excited or maybe terrified by that, but not morose or whatever this was.

"Something you want to talk about?"

"She can't have kids."

"What? Oh. I'm sorry."

"She had cancer as a kid. She's fine, in remission almost twenty years, but no kids."

"That sucks."

"Yep."

"So… are you?…" She didn't really know what she was asking, so she just trailed off.

"She wants to adopt one day. She actually has it all planned out, which I guess makes sense, she's had a lot of time to think about it. She's planning on adopting older kids, maybe a sibling group."

"Oh." Emily couldn't imagine suddenly becoming a parent to an older child. She felt like she was having a hard enough time figuring out how to be a mother to Callie, but the thought of starting with a teenager terrified her. "That's great. I know there are lots of older kids in foster care who need a family."

"Mmm. I don't know if I can do it."

"Why not?" She didn't like the judgmental undertone to her voice. But it seemed no matter how hard she worked to get rid of it, things that she meant as an innocent question came out sounding harsh and judgmental.

Seth though didn't seem phased by her tone at all, or maybe he was just used to it at this point. "I'm adopted. The only biological relative of mine I've ever met is Stephanie. I guess I just always imagined if I did have kids one day, I would have that connection. It's why Allison ended things between us, the way I was talking about Stephanie she thought I would need that biological connection."

"Huh."

"Isn't this the part where you tell me I'm a terrible person if I'm not on board with it?"

"You're not a terrible person."

"Seriously, what do you think?"

"You'd make a great Dad. But I'm not adopted, I don't think I can really understand that whole side of it. It sounds like something you need to work out for yourself."

"Yeah I guess so. What do you think, Callie? You want some cousins?"

"I don't think she's going to be that helpful. You could talk to Aaron, he's planning on adopting Callie. I know it's not the same, but maybe he had some thoughts." She shrugged.

"The last time I asked Aaron Shore for advice about my personal life, it was about dating you and his advice was not all that helpful. Although, I am starting to think he might have had an ulterior motives."

She laughed, "Well I don't think you need to worry about that this time."

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It was easy to tell Aaron was in a bad mood tonight. Emily could practically feel the anger radiating off him. He'd turned down dinner, leaving her to eat alone, shied away from even the lightest touch, and had basically just grunted when she asked him if everything was okay. So continuing to try and engage him in conversation was probably a bad idea. But it was like she was a runaway train that even she could not control. She would make a comment or ask him a question and basically get nothing in return. So she would decide to just leave him alone, but she just could not keep her mouth shut for more than a few minutes, no matter how clear it was Aaron did not want to talk to her. She had the clearest vision in her head of herself as a yappy puppy jumping at his heels, but even that visual couldn't keep her from compulsively trying to engage him.

He did seem to soften a little when he'd picked Callie up out of her swing. He wasn't talking or babbling at her like he usually did, but she did see him crack a smile and he was gently rocking her. But then he turned on the TV and flicked through the channels until he found some coverage of a congressman from Texas calling Mexicans thugs and calling for them all to be deported, it's like he had some kind of radar to find the most vile things being aired.

"Can we not?" She sighed.

"Can we not have this argument again?"

She didn't think that was fair. She'd kept her mouth shut about his viewing habits for a long time. "Fine Aaron, watch whatever you want. I'll go get Callie ready for bed."

"Do you mind if I hold her a little longer? I don't get to see her at all during the day."

She was about to say it was fine when the thought occurred to her that she didn't want Callie around this stuff, no matter how young she was. "I don't think that's the best idea. Do you really want her watching this?"

"She's a baby, it's not like she can tell what's on."

"Still, I don't think it's a good idea." She replied, more firmly this time.

"She's not even two months old." She could tell he was exasperated with her.

"I don't care. I am not having this crap get in my daughter's head."

He turned to look at her, the TV seemingly forgotten. "Oh, so she's your daughter now." His voice was angry now, almost shaking.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." He just glared at her, clearly not buying it. "Seriously, Aaron, she's our daughter."

"Sure, when it's time to change her diapers or stay up all night with her, but not when there's any real decisions to be made."

Her heart started racing, she thought she was doing everything she could to make Aaron feel like an equal partner in this, and didn't see where this was coming from. "Really? What decisions have I made without you? What is it that I could be doing differently?" She could feel tears coming to her eyes and tried to blink them back.

"You don't listen to me."

"Oh, I don't listen to you? That's rich considering you never talk to me."

"Whatever Emily." He grumbled and turned back to look at the TV.

Her heart was still racing, and she could feel the flush in her face, and she was seconds away from really crying. She knew should leave this for later, when she had calmed down and Aaron was in a better mood, but she couldn't stop herself. "No, if you want to talk, let's talk. Why don't you start by telling me why you think it's a good idea for our daughter to be exposed to this racist crap?"

"Look around, this racist crap is the world. What do you want, her to grow up in a bubble?"

"No, but I am also not going to have her grow up to be like you." The second it came out of her mouth she realized how it sounded. "I don't mean-"

"No Emily, you've made it pretty clear. Here you take her. It's not like you trust me with her anyway." He handed Callie over to her.

"Aaron, I'm sorry. I-" She tried to grab his arm but he pulled away.

"I really don't want to be talking to you right now." And with that he turned the TV off and basically stormed out of the room, stopping just short of slamming the door. Callie who previously had not seemed phased at all by their argument started crying, and Emily felt the tears starting to fall down her face as well.