For the first few moments upon waking, Emily was almost at peace. Her bed was soft and comfortable, there were no little feet kicking her in the shins, and the sun shining in the window fell across her face with a pleasant warmth.
The momentary bliss didn't last very long, though, before a heavy sense of uneasiness settled in her chest, making it hard to breathe. For a few moments, she couldn't quite place the feeling, though God knew she had enough reasons to be uneasy in her life. Then, like the surging tide, memories of the day before all came rushing back.
Feeling decidedly haggard and not caring even a little, she stumbled from the guest room where she'd spent the night and made it halfway down the stairs before the scent of eggs and bacon frying hit her, accompanied by a pair of voices, one of which definitely belonged to Derek and the other she suspected was his mother. (The idea of him having shared the shameful truth of her daughter being taken from her, even with someone like Fran, already had her blood boiling...)
"Morning," she greeted in a grumble, refusing to add good before it, as it decidedly wasn't.
"Good morning, Princess," Derek returned the greeting. His good mood was already starting to get on her nerves. "Did you sleep well?"
She shot him a pointed look. "What do you think?" she shot back.
He shrugged sheepishly. "Fair enough." He paused, cleared his throat. "Do you want something to eat?" he offered. "Mama's been cooking all morning – it helps her think – even though I told her you're only one person."
"I'm not hungry, thanks," she said, with just enough politeness to come off as genuine, if not heartfelt.
"Derek, give the poor girl some room to breathe," Fran gently scolded. "Poor thing is probably too anxious to think about anything other than that precious baby girl of hers..."
She nodded her agreement, even if she still wasn't thrilled about Derek telling everyone her personal business. "Look," she said, attempting courtesy, "I appreciate you letting me spend the night, but right now I really need to go down to CPS and get this whole clusterfuck of a situation sorted out before..."
"Already taken care of," Derek interrupted.
Several emotions crossed Emily's face one after the other before ultimately settling on distrust. "What do you mean taken care of?" she demanded.
He grinned, entirely too proud of himself, then with a dramatic flourish, gestured at his mother.
At Emily's continued dubious stare, Fran explained, "I'm registered as a foster parent – I've had the background check and done the parenting classes and passed the home inspection. I'm going to ask them to release your daughter into my custody."
For several moments, Emily's jaw hung open slightly in disbelief. "Are... Are you sure?" she stammered, "I mean... Really? You're really going to do this for me?"
"I'm going to do it for her," Fran corrected.
"Right," Emily said. "Of course." She nodded once, twice, let out a shuddering breath. Then, before anyone knew she was going to do it, she flung herself at Fran, wrapping her arms around her neck and holding on for dear life. In spite of her best attempts to maintain self-control, a sob escaped past her lips.
Fran seemed to understand, gently rubbing a hand up and down her back, quietly shushing her sobs.
When she'd caught her breath again, Emily whispered, "How can I ever thank you?"
"Sweetheart, I'm not the one you should thank," Fran said, "It's Derek who came up with this solution..."
Emily turned on him and surprised him by engulfing him in a tight embrace was well. "Why?" she whispered in his ear, lest Fran overhear.
"Because you're my friend," he whispered back. "And I care about you."
Sniffling, she whispered her thanks.
"Always," was his simple, but genuine, response.
"Mommy!" Henry cried, flinging himself into JJ's arms and hugging her like his life depended on it.
"Hey, Buddy," JJ murmured, kissing the top of his head. "How was your sleepover at Daddy's?"
He pulled back from her hug when the overt affection from his mother became embarrassing. "So fun!" he declared exuberantly. "We maked popcorn and watched movies and stayed up late!" He flashed her a wide grin which is when she noticed that he was missing a tooth.
JJ gasped. "Did you lose a tooth last night?"
He nodded eagerly. "Daddy sayed the Tooth Fairy gonna come!"
Tears pooled in JJ's eyes. "That's very exciting," she assured him, struggling to hide her emotions.
Will, however, missed nothing. "Hey, Buddy, why don't you go play with the toys – we'll be right there, okay?" he prompted Henry. Then, as soon as he scampered off, Will turned to JJ and wrapped her in an embrace. "It's okay, Cher," he assured her, stroking her hair tenderly. "Everything is going to be okay."
"No, it's not!" she insisted, words muffled by his chest. "None of this is okay! God...why is this happening?"
"The CPS worker told me it's just temporary while they investigate," Will said, even though that wasn't all that reassuring a thought.
JJ pulled back from his arms, anger glinting in her eyes. "This is all Emily's fault," she hissed.
Will raised a brow. "What exactly happened?"
She shook her head, heaved a sigh. "Jayde broke her wrist playing tag with Henry yesterday and, since she'd been in the ER the week before, they must have suspected abuse because they took Jayde away and, since Henry lives under the same roof as Emily, apparently I'm unfit as well."
"Well," Will said slowly, trying to look on the bright side. "At least Henry can stay with me instead of going into foster care."
She nodded, but didn't seem all that reassured. "They're still making me have supervised visitation with my own son," she said darkly.
Will sighed, reached over to squeeze her hand. "It's only temporary. They'll realize they've made a mistake and everything will go back to normal soon," he promised.