It had been five days since CPS had taken Emily's daughter from her. Five days since she'd seen or even spoken to her. In all the years since Jayde had been born, Emily had never even spent a day apart from her...

There were a lot of things about Emily's life that she'd never anticipated happening... She'd never thought she'd be pregnant at seventeen. Never thought her mother would kick her out of the house. Never thought she'd have a deadbeat for her baby's father. Never thought she'd be relying on government assistance to pay for, well, everything.

She'd spent the first six months of her pregnancy quite certain that she was going to put her baby up for adoption...but then some kind of switch in her brain had flipped and the only thing she could think about was holding her daughter in her arms for the rest of her life. Maybe it was selfish decision, but she knew it was the right one.

"Push, Emily!" the doctor shouted at her from between her legs.

With a deep breath, she pulled herself to a semi-sitting position, gripping her thighs for leverage, and pushed down with all the strength she had left after twenty-seven hours of labour.

The nurse beside her helping hold her leg, counted to ten.

JJ was on her other side, shouting encouragements. It wasn't the most helpful form of assistance, but Emily was glad for her presence nonetheless.

When the nurse got to ten, Emily collapsed back, panting. "I can't do this!" she insisted. "I just fucking can't!"

"You can and you will," JJ said firmly. "Because once she's out, you won't be able to imagine a world without her in it."

Emily let out a shaky little sob, but didn't have a chance to protest further because the doctor was once again instructing her to push.

This time, as she pushed, JJ cheered. "You're doing it, Em! She's coming!"

She couldn't have said what possessed her to do it, but she reached between her legs and felt the baby's head emerge. She choked on a sob as the rest of her daughter's body slipped from her womb and almost immediately a tiny wail filled the room.

The nurse set the squirming slimy little body on her chest and Emily felt like she couldn't breathe... This was her daughter. She was here, she was real. Tears spilled down her face as she stroked one finger down the baby's cheek. "Hi, Jayde," she whispered. "Welcome to the world. I will never let anything bad happen to you."

(She was trying not to be angry and bitter about the whole situation – afterall, they were just doing their job – but it felt an awful lot like she was being persecuted because of her job...)

She'd spent the past five days campaigning for her daughter's return to her custody, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears. They had, however, allowed for a supervised visit at the visitation centre.

She wasn't thrilled that she was forced to see her daughter in some kind of government-sanctioned baby prison, but she was willing to take what she could get. Jayde, at least, was resilient and probably wouldn't even notice her surroundings, so long as she could see her mother. (At least, that was Emily's hope...)

Sitting in the passenger seat of Derek's car, she was frantically picking at her nails, ripping what remained of them after five hellacious days to shreds. She wasn't entirely certain why Derek had insisted on driving her, other than the fact that he felt somehow responsible for the situation, given that it was his idea to have Fran take in Jayde, but she was grateful nonetheless...afterall, she was trembling so hard she could barely see straight.

As they pulled up to a red light, Derek reached across the centre console and squeezed her hand, stopping the frantic nail picking. He didn't say a word, but she took his silence to mean that she should relax – at least enough that she didn't pass out from hyperventilating.

He offered her a faint smile when she looked up at him and, though she tried to return it, she just couldn't seem to muster even a false one.

"You know she's not mad at you, right?" he said gently. "As far as she knows, she's just having a fun sleepover at Grandma Fran's house." Emily may have been forbidden from contacting Jayde, but there was no rule that said Derek couldn't contact her on Emily's behalf...

"I know," she insisted, though she didn't quite believe it. At least, not until she'd heard it for herself.

Emily had barely made it through the door of the visitation centre when Jayde catapulted herself into Emily's arms. "Mommy!" she hollered in Emily's ear.

Emily clutched her daughter to her chest for dear life, gently rocking her back and forth the way she used to do when she'd have a nightmare and need to be soothed back to sleep. She sniffled softly, struggling to keep the tears at bay, lest Jayde see them and be frightened.

"Mommy," Jayde whined when her mother's affections got to be too much.

Emily reluctantly released her. "Sorry, Green Bean, Mommy is just so happy to see you again." She plastered on a smile. "Have you been having fun with Grandma Fran?"

She nodded eagerly. "She's the bestest Gramma in the whole world!" she declared. "She maked me pamcakes with chocolate chips!"

Emily laughed softly. "Wow! You're lucky!"

With a shrug, she added, "Yeah, but I miss you, Mommy... I wanna haves pamcakes with you."

"I know," Emily agreed with a shaky breath. "We just have to hold on, okay? Just for a little while longer. Then, we can go to iHOP and get the cinnamon roll pancakes you like..."

With a sigh that almost broke Emily's heart, she nodded, bottom lip jutting out in a sad little pout. But her sadness only lasted for a moment before her eyes lit up again. "Can Gramma Fran and Derek come to iHOP?"