"Mama!" Derek hollered from the foyer as he slammed the door shut behind him. "Your favourite child is home!" No matter how old he got, he'd never quite outgrown the 'coming home for Sunday dinner' phase. (Partly because he'd never eat a home-cooked meal otherwise, partly because he was still a Mama's boy. In this instance, though...it was mostly to check on Jayde for Emily. Not that he was going to tell Fran that.)

Before Fran could reply, he was greeted by the pitter-patter of little feet across the floor as Jayde dashed from the kitchen to greet him with an embrace – in the process, transferring a great deal of flour onto his jeans.

"Hello, Little Monkey!" he greeted brightly, lifting her high in the air and making her squeal with glee. He was trying very hard not to imagine what it might be like to come home to this – to Jayde and, of course, Emily – every night... "Did you miss me?"

She shrugged: part mischief, part honesty. "When you come, you bring me somefing from Mommy..." she informed him.

Derek chuckled at her candour. "You certainly don't pull any punches, do you? Just like your Mama..." He only laughed harder when Jayde stared up at him with a raised brow, a carbon copy of an expression Emily wore quite frequently in his presence. "Here you go, Monkey," he said, passing her the gift bag he'd been trying to hide behind his back.

Immediately, making short work of the tissue paper surrounding the gift, Jayde pulled out a new ballet outfit and a stuffed rabbit wearing a matching tutu. She once again squealed her excitement, then ran into the kitchen to show Fran.

Fran smiled indulgently at the girl, then shooed her up to her room to play with her gift. As soon as the girl was out of earshot, Fran turned to Derek with a raised brow that signified he was in for an interrogation. "And how are things going with Emily?" she inquired, innocently enough, if it weren't for the expression on her face.

He shrugged. "Everything's fine," he said evasively, turning to collect dishes from the cupboard so he could set the table and – more importantly – avoid eye contact. "It's normal. Totally normal."

Fran's gaze remained steadfastly on him. "And why does that answer not fill me with confidence?"

He heaved a sigh. "Things are...complicated," he admitted with more honesty. He certainly wasn't going to confess to his mother that he'd slept with Emily one time and, while he very much would have liked to make it a regular occurrence, Emily didn't seem to share in that desire.

Clicking her tongue and shaking her head, Fran said, "Well, don't you screw this up because now that I've met that little girl, I'm not about to lose her from my life..."

Derek raised a brow. "You know, Mama, at this rate I'm starting to wonder if I'm still your favourite..."

With a smirk, Fran just patted his cheek indulgently and whispered teasingly, "Who's to say you ever were in the first place?"

"Mama!"

When Jayde joined them at the table for dinner, it was with several sheets of paper smeared with crayon. "These are for Mommy," she announced, passing them to Derek. She pointed to the first drawing. "That's the bunny she gived me."

"A masterpiece!" Derek declared firmly, taking the drawing in his hands and examining it with the intensity of an art critic. "You're a real artist, Monkey."

Smiling brightly, she gestured to the next piece of paper. "That's you and me and Mommy at the zoo." Then the next page she described as being, "And this is you and Mommy getting married!"

Derek began coughing and sputtering as he choked on his sip of water. "E-excuse me?" he stammered.

Jayde fixed him with a quizzical look. "'Cause you's Mommy's boyfriend, right?"

Clearing his throat once, twice, he asked, "What... What makes you say that?"

Rolling her eyes in a manner only a young child would, Jayde replied, "'Cause you loves her and she loves you. Duh!"

During this exchange, Fran was quite obviously doing her best to hide her laughter behind her hand, knowing that the girl had picked up quite easily on what Derek and Emily both clearly refused to admit to themselves or anyone else.

Derek glanced over at his mother and, based on her expression, quickly realized she wasn't going to be of much help in convincing Jayde otherwise. He heaved a weary sigh, then fixed Jayde with an apologetic smile. "I don't know that your mom and I are going to get married," he said, "We're just friends, but that doesn't mean..."

"But you loves her!" Jayde insisted firmly, staring at him with an intensity burning in her warm brown eyes. "Right?"

He shrugged.

"You gotsta tell the truf!" she maintained. She turned to Fran for confirmation. "Right?"

Fran nodded. "That's right, Derek. It's not polite to tell a lie. Especially not to your mother."

Derek's expression was nothing short of pleading for Fran to let him off the hook, but she simply wasn't having it. When that quickly became clear, he sighed again. "Maybe I like your mom as more than just friends," he relented. "But I don't think..."

"Good! 'Cause she likes you too," Jayde said merrily.

Derek looked very much like he would have loved to know where exactly Jayde was getting her information from, considering that she seemed so very confident. But he just shook his head, smiled indulgently. "If you say so."

Jayde nodded once, as if the matter were officially settled. "When you gets married, I gonna be the flower girl, right?"

With a little laugh, Derek said, "Well, who else would it be?" He reached over to tweak her nose, making her giggle. And, if a little part of him couldn't help but hope that maybe the things she said came to pass, well...that was a secret that stayed with him. (Or, between him, his mother, and Jayde, apparently...)