Franky woke up with Emily snuggled in firmly between Bridget and herself. As much as she had loved being away with her wife for those few days of their honeymoon, she was glad to have them all back under one roof.

Before the brunette could even open her eyes, Bridget's alarm sounded. She heard the blonde groan, and hit the clock with her hand, silencing it.

"Can I come to the restaurant with you today?" The young girl's eyes weren't even open yet.

"No, bub. You have to go to school." Franky tucked a strand of Emily's hair behind her ear.

"School is boring." The young girl scrunched up her face, and buried it in the pillow.

"I thought you liked school. You get to learn about dinosaurs, and space, and read fun books." The brunette was a bit surprised by Emily's comment. She'd never complained before about finding it boring.

"I like learning." The young girl blinked her eyes open to look at Franky, then closed them again.

"Then you have to go to school," Bridget said softly, as she rubbed her niece's back. "Tell you what, why don't we all stay in bed for a few extra minutes and have a cuddle before you go to school?" The blonde thought that maybe Emily's resistance to school was just because she had missed them while they were away.

The young girl didn't say anything, but moved in a bit closer to her aunt. Bridget had a feeling though that the acceptance of the cuddle part of her offer didn't necessarily mean that Emily had agreed to go to school.

Franky and Bridget each stood at one of the sinks in the bathroom, brushing their teeth, when the blonde noticed the younger woman rubbing her lower stomach.

"You alright?" She asked as she glanced over at the brunette.

"Yeah, just a little cramp." Franky spit her toothpaste into the sink. "I have a good feeling about this time, you know."

"Baby." The blonde placed her toothbrush back in the holder. "I love that you're optimistic, but let's not get too excited just yet." She saw the slight frown on her wife's face, and reached out to rub her back. "I just don't want you to be disappointed if it's not meant to be this time."

"I read that slight cramping can happen a few days after the procedure if the embryo is implanting." The brunette desperately just wanted Bridget to agree with her so they could start picking out names, and deciding how they were going to decorate the nursery.

"And it would be wonderful if that's what's going on. It could be a lot of other things too; a pulled muscle, gas, the obscene amount of rich food we ate over the past four days, or maybe you just need to poop." The blonde let out a small laugh at the look that appeared on Franky's face. "Do you want me to leave so you can try?"

"What? No! I don't have to...no." The brunette shook her head as she left the bathroom, leaving Bridget giggling behind her.

Franky had just pulled on her t-shirt when she felt the blonde wrap her arms around her from behind, and rest her head against her back. She reached down and ran her hand along the older woman's forearm, then linked their fingers together.

"I love you," Bridget said as she felt the brunette sigh. She felt like maybe Franky hadn't appreciated her attempt at humour in the bathroom earlier, and she wanted to make sure her wife knew that she was taking this seriously as well.

"I know," Franky replied, softly. "I love you, too."

They didn't need to say any more. Their 'I love yous' had come to hold much more meaning than they had in the past. It wasn't simply a declaration of their love, but also a way to say 'I've got you', 'I'm here', 'We're in this together'.

To Bridget's surprise, Emily had gone to school without much more fuss that morning. She'd met with Lana as her first appointment, and it seemed like the inmate had coped well while she was away. There were a few times when the young woman had casually brought up the blonde's absence from work, hoping to get out of the psychologist where exactly she'd been, and with whom. Bridget was used to those tactics however, and was careful to deflect the conversation away from herself and back to the subject of the session. She was on her way now to Vera's office for the lunch date her friend had requested.

"So did you guys have fun on your trip?" The governor asked as they sat down at the table in her office.

"We did. We had a lot of...food." Bridget smiled as she opened up her lunch container. She reasoned that it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth either. "How about you? I hope Em behaved for you."

"Oh, yeah, she did. She's always good when she's with me. Sorry if she got too many treats. They just came back from the store with so much stuff, and I didn't have the heart to tell her she couldn't have it." Vera glanced up, trying to gauge the blonde's reaction. "It's okay that I let them go to the store together, right? Maybe I shouldn't have done that."

"Vera, stop, it's fine." Bridget gave the other woman a reassuring smile. "I trust him. If I didn't, I wouldn't be letting him stay with us."

"You did say that you didn't ask him to look after her." Vera couldn't believe that she'd made that mistake.

"When I said that he'd just moved in, and now, I'd probably leave her with him for a few hours. He'd be fine with that. Having her wake up in the night scared and wanting cuddles? No." The blonde shook her head. "So things are still going well with you two?" She was eager to change the subject.

"Yeah." Vera couldn't help but smile. "That's actually why I asked you to have lunch today. We had sex Thursday night."

"Vera, that's great!" Bridget really wasn't sure what the proper form of congratulations was for this situation, but she was happy that her friend was happy. "So how was it?" The blonde asked with a cheeky grin.

"It was good." A memory of that night flashed through the governor's mind, and she could feel a blush creep into her cheeks. "It was really good. He handled everything perfectly. He went slow, he made sure I was okay."

"Good." Bridget liked what she was hearing so far. "I guess Franky won't have to follow through on her threat."

"Uh, no, I'd rather she didn't." Vera cleared her throat. She had some questions she wanted to ask, but she was feeling very awkward. "You've slept with men, right?"

"Yeah, a long time ago. I doubt much has changed though." The blonde laughed at her own joke, hoping that it would put her friend a bit more at ease. She was glad to see a smile appear on the other woman's face. "Ask anything you want. I'll do my best."

"Okay. So, I didn't sleep with Jake, but we messed around a bit, and uh, he was…" Vera held up her hands a few inches apart. "But Shayne is…" she widened the gap another couple of inches. "And I'm just not sure...which is normal?"

"From my experience, uh, Jake is about average, and Shayne is definitely above. So congrats on that." Bridget let out a small laugh. "What's more important though is the experience."

"It was really good." The governor knew she'd said that already, but it was true. She'd been nervous, not about being with Shayne, but about sex in general. It was something that until now she worried she would never enjoy on the same level as others seemed to. Now however, she understood what all the fuss was about. "The first time didn't uh, last as long as I thought it would, but after that it was okay."

"The first time with a partner is sometimes like that." The blonde went back to eating her lunch, hoping that if she treated the topic with the casualness of their normal conversations, then Vera would feel more at ease. "And did he return the favor this time?" She wanted to make sure that her friend wasn't letting him off easy.

"Yeah...it was..." Vera could feel her cheeks burning. "I pulled a sickie on Friday. We just stayed in bed until I had to go pick up Em."

"Vera!" Bridget was genuinely surprised. Ever since they'd met, her friend's work had always been one of her top priorities, and she'd never known her to just skip out on a day for no reason. "I'm really happy for you."

"I'm really happy, too." The governor smiled, and gave a small nod as she went back to eating her lunch.

"Alright, so the plan for this week is to finalize the menu so we can get them printed." Franky sat down with Shayne at one of the booths, and handed him some paper and a pen.

"Just out of curiosity, does this place have a name yet? Cause I'd think that's pretty important to have before we open." Shayne scribbled something on the paper in front of him.

"I know," the brunette sighed. "I can't decide. I want it to be something that has meaning to me but isn't obvious to everyone."

"Hm." The young man nodded. "I assume then that you want it to have something to do with Em and Bridget?"

"And Liz." Franky was hoping that at some point, Liz would join them at the restaurant. She knew the other woman loved working at the Centre, but the brunette knew she could offer her better hours, and more flexibility.

"What about just 'family', but in a different language? Something that sounds nice." Shayne knew it was simple, but he thought it would say everything that Franky wanted it to.

"That's not a bad idea. Let me think about it." In actuality, the brunette loved the idea, but she always liked to let things sit in her mind for a while before she jumped at any decisions. Her phone rang, and she pulled it from her pocket. She recognized the number. "Hello?"

"Ms. Westfall? It's Ms. Johns, from Emily's school."

"Yeah, what's going on?" Franky hoped the young girl wasn't in trouble again.

"Emily says she's not feeling well, and she'd like to go home," the principal explained.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes." The brunette ended the call. "I have to go pick up Em, she's not feeling well," she told Shayne as she slid out of the booth. "We may have to move this to the house depending on what's going on." They didn't technically need to be at the restaurant to talk about the menu, but she always found that she was less distracted, and more in the zone when they were there.

"Righto." Shayne gave her a wave of acknowledgement as he wrote something else on the paper.

Franky walked into the main office at the school, and saw Emily sitting on the couch where she had been the last time she'd had to come pick her up.

"You can go right in," the secretary told her.

"Thanks," the brunette said, as she passed by the desk.

Franky hesitated for a second at the doorway, until the principal acknowledged her, and waved her in. She remembered the last time she'd been there, they'd gotten into a bit of a heated discussion about Emily's punishment for hitting a boy who'd been trying to hug her.

"Hey, bub." She walked the rest of the way over to the couch, and sat down beside the young girl. "You're not feeling well?"

"My head hurts," Emily said quietly.

"Okay." Franky rubbed her back. "Do you have all your things here?"

"I forgot my lunch bag." She sighed.

"Run back and get it, then we can leave." The brunette tilted her head towards the door indicating for Emily to go. "I'll wait here."

Franky watched as she disappeared around the corner.

"I did try to call Bridget on her mobile, but she was unavailable." Ms. Johns explained.

"It's fine." The brunette shook her head. "I'm easier to get a hold of, and I really don't mind. If you ever need Bridget though, it's best to call her work number."

"I'll make a note of that in her file." The principal glanced out the door before she continued. "I saw you on TV the other night. Apparently my husband loves that show. You won, didn't you? Emily mentioned a restaurant."

"Can't say." Franky shrugged, and gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"Ah, well, alright then." Ms. Johns believed that her assumption was correct, but Emily had reappeared with her lunch bag, so she let the matter drop. "I hope you're feeling better tomorrow," she told the young girl as the pair left the office.

"Are we going to the restaurant?" Emily asked as she walked with Franky to the car.

"If you're not feeling well, we should go home so you can rest." The brunette opened the car door so that the young girl could get in.

"I can rest there." She looked up at Franky with the puppy dog eyes she'd perfected.

"Let me think about it. Either way we need to go to the house first." The brunette closed the door, and walked around to the driver's side.

Franky knew that it was true that the young girl could rest at the restaurant, but the question was would she do so.

"Do you want some medicine to help your headache?" the brunette asked as she unlocked the front door, and held it open so that Emily could go inside.

"No. Can we go to the restaurant now? And get food from the same place as we did the day I got in trouble?" The young girl looked up at her again.

"Are you really not feeling well?" Franky was beginning to question whether she'd been had.

"My head hurts." Emily pouted, and reached up for a hug.

"Okay." The brunette crouched down, and wrapped her arms around the young girl. "I'd like you to take some medicine then so that you feel better." She felt Emily nod. "I want you to change into something nice and comfy, so you can lie down and have a sleep."

"Are we going?" The young girl asked.

"If you promise that you will rest, then we can go." In the end, Franky reasoned that as long as she could get Emily to take some medication, and rest, then it didn't matter where they were.

"I promise." She gave the brunette a smile as she turned and headed to her room.

Franky went to the bathroom and retrieved the paracetamol and the thermometer from the medicine cabinet. She remembered that the last time Emily got sick, it had started with a headache, so she wanted to make sure that the young girl didn't have a fever before she gave her anything that would mask it later on.

She went back out to the living room, sitting the medicine and thermometer on the island as she passed. She took the large blanket from the couch, and folded it neatly. There was a small L-shaped couch in one of the corners of the restaurant, intended for a small group that was just having coffee, or drinks. It had a few small throw pillows on it, but she'd need to bring a blanket from the house.

The brunette took the food she'd packed out of Emily's lunch bag, and placed it back in the fridge. It would still be okay for her to take to school tomorrow. She replaced the food with a couple small snacks, an extra juice box, and the young girl's water bottle. Finally, she texted Shayne to ask him what he wanted from the small nearby café for lunch, and instead he volunteered to go pick up the food so she wouldn't have to make extra stops with Emily.

"Here, I want to check your temperature." Franky held out the thermometer to the young girl who'd reappeared wearing one of her dinosaur t-shirts and a pair of trackies.

"Why?" Emily looked at the thermometer, not making any move to comply.

"Because I want to know if you have a fever before I give you the medicine." Franky held the thermometer a bit closer to the young girl's mouth.

Emily stepped forward and opened her mouth, allowing the brunette to place it under her tongue. It only took a few seconds before a beep sounded, indicating it was done taking the reading.

"Thirty-six point eight. Good." Franky put it back in it's case, and measured out the paracetamol in the small medicine cup. "Here, drink this."

The young girl drank the purple liquid, and handed the cup back to the brunette.

"I don't like it. It reminds me of when I was sick." Emily watched as Franky put the bottle into her bag.

"I know, bub. We'll try to get a different flavor when this one is gone." The brunette completely understood. There were still a couple of foods she avoided ever since her younger drinking days. "Let's go, Shayne is picking up lunch for us."

When Franky and Emily arrived back at the restaurant, Shayne was plating the food he'd gotten for them.

"Ooo, you're making it look fancy," the brunette said as she sat her bag on the end of the counter.

"I thought it might cheer someone up." He put the finishing touches on the plates, and carried them over to one of the tables.

"Aw, well thank you. It does cheer me up." Franky sat down, and rotated her plate so that the side was on the right, and the sandwich on the left. It was something she'd always done, and Bridget hadn't picked up on it yet.

"Not you." Shayne gave her a mock glare as he sat down on the opposite bench.

"Thank you, Shayne," Emily said, as she looked at her nicely arranged meal.

"You're welcome, kid." He gave her a smile. "I heard you weren't feeling well."

"My head hurt, but Franky gave me medicine and it's better now." She glanced over at the brunette.

"Already? That was less than a half hour ago." Franky glanced at her phone to make sure she had the time right.

Emily simply shrugged, and went back to eating her food.

When they had finished their meal, the brunette spread out the blanket she'd brought on the couch so that half of it would be under the young girl, and she could cover her with the other half.

"Come lay down, bub." Franky waited while Emily made her way over. "Take your shoes off."

"I want to lay in the corner," she explained as she removed her sneakers, "and I want you to sit there, and I want Shayne to sit there." She pointed to spots on each side of where she'd be laying, effectively putting herself between them.

The brunette smiled. She realized this meant that Emily had come to trust Shayne, at least enough to protect her feet. She laughed to herself at her own lame joke.

Franky moved the blanket, and pillow to the corner, and waited for the young girl to get comfortable.

"We'll be over in a minute," the brunette said, as she tucked the blanket in around her, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Franky tells me this is my spot." Shayne sat down a few inches from Emily's feet. Franky had filled him in on the young girl's request, so he'd grabbed his paper and pen from the table, and relocated.

"I want you to work on drinking this." The brunette sat Emily's water bottle on the large coffee table. "Sit up when you drink though."

"Okay, so are we doing breakfast?" The young man waited for Franky's input. He assumed he had become the designated note taker since Emily had snuggled up to the brunette, making her unable to move her right arm.

"Yes, but nothing over the top. I'm thinking omelettes, eggs on toast, waffles, yogurt and granola, cereals, fresh fruit, that kind of stuff." Franky wanted to keep things simple. She wanted her food to sell based on quality, not how fancy or complicated it was.

"You should have chocolate waffles, too." Emily interjected from her spot on the couch.

"Yeah, those would be a nice addition, and I haven't seen them on menus around here. Surprisingly." Shayne had eaten his fair share of take out over the years, so he was familiar with most of the places in the area.

"Sure." Franky was up for trying anything. "I'd like to include some stuff from the menu we came up with for the finale. You know, so people can come and actually try some of the dishes they'll see on there."

"You have to put your gourmet grilled cheese on there." The young man had often made it for himself after he'd tried it the day of the competition. "I bet it'll be a bestseller at lunchtime."

"Will there be stuff for kids?" Emily sat up now, and looked at each of the adults.

"Yeah, for sure." The brunette wanted this to be a family place as well as a place for the downtown workers to grab a quick lunch. "You need to lay down though. You're supposed to be resting."

The young girl reluctantly laid back down, and Franky covered her again with the blanket.

"I've made up a list of local suppliers, and what they can offer depending on the season. I'd like to get as much from them as possible." The brunette took out her phone, and pulled up the list she'd made. "I figure we can make the bread, pastries, and pasta. I've got suppliers I can use for fruits, vegetables, and meats. One of them is supposed to have the best wagyu beef."

"Oo, that's pricey." Shayne wasn't fully up on all the meat prices, but he knew that was one on the menu he could never afford. "What are you thinking, steak or burger?"

"Burger. They had the most amazing burgers at the hotel." Franky's mouth watered just thinking about it.

"Ah, so you did take breaks." The young man gave a small laugh when the brunette shot him a look.

"You should have mac and cheese. I like yours. And the ice cream sandwiches. I know how to make the cookies." Emily was sitting up again beside Franky.

"I know you do, bub, and yeah, mac and cheese is always popular. We can play around with the cheeses, maybe add some bacon, or locally-made sausage. Lay back down," the brunette reminded her for the second time, and covered her with the blanket again. "I'll see if maybe one of the ice cream shops here who make their own stuff would be willing to supply us with some. We probably wouldn't need a lot." She made a note on her phone.

"You can make unicorn ones too," the young girl said, excitedly. "With lots of different colors in the cookie."

"We could make it with a sugar cookie base." Shayne chewed on the end of his pen while he thought. "Separate the batch into four parts, and add food coloring. They're pastel colors for that, right?" He continued without waiting for an answer. "Blue, purple, yellow, and pink. If you folded them together just enough for them to stick to each other, you should still get the marbled effect. Isn't there an ice cream that's like that?" He looked over at Franky, and Emily.

"I didn't realize you were such a unicorn cookie expert," Franky teased.

"Oh, I'm full of surprises." Shayne winked at her, then wrote something on his paper.

"I'll check with the shop about the ice cream." The brunette made another note.

"I can make the cookies. I know how. So that can be my job." Emily looked at Franky with a big smile on her face.

"Em, you can't work here. We talked about this, remember?" The brunette sighed.

"But you said I could hang out here, and make stuff." The smile dropped from the young girl's face.

"I said you could come here whenever you weren't in school, and I was here, and that if you wanted to make something for us, for fun, in the kitchen, then you could. You can't make anything that gets served to the customers." Franky was trying to be firm, and clear without sounding too harsh.

"Why not? I worked with you on the show." She looked over at Shayne. "You said I did good there."

"You did, but this is Franky's call. You gotta listen to her." The young man knew that Franky was aware of his opinion on Emily's cooking skills. She'd made it clear though that he wasn't to voice it in front of the young girl, so he left it at that.

"Look," Franky put her arm around Emily and pulled her close, "I know you think you want to be a chef someday, but there's a process to get there. You're too young to work anywhere right now. If I let you work here, I'd get in trouble, and we don't want that, right?"

"I don't want you to go away again." The young girl remembered her aunt had told her that people had to visit where she worked when they got in trouble.

"I don't want that either." The brunette took a deep breath. "So you have to wait a few years. Don't be in such a hurry to grow up." She gave Emily a kiss on the forehead. "Now lay back down for me, yeah?"

The young girl laid down, but this time she snuggled in close against Franky.

When they arrived home, Franky was surprised to see that Bridget was already there. They usually got there before her, and had time to start cooking supper.

"Hey, babe, you're home early." The brunette gave her a quick kiss.

"Yeah, I got a voicemail from Em's principal saying she wasn't feeling well, then I saw the text that said you'd picked her up, so I left a bit early today. I figured you guys would be here." The blonde knew that Franky hadn't specifically said that she'd brought Emily home, but to Bridget, that was the logical assumption.

"Auntie Bridge!" The young girl held out her arms, and the blonde picked her up.

"How are you feeling, love?" Bridget asked, as she gave her niece a tight hug.

"Good! I got to help make the menu at the restaurant!" Emily said with a big smile.

"You did? I thought you were sick?" The blonde glanced over at her wife.

"I had a headache, but it went away, and then I got to help." The young girl was oblivious to the fact that her aunt was suspicious of her story.

"Alright, go get washed up, and play in your room for a few minutes. I want to talk with Franky." Bridget sat Emily down on the floor, and watched as she walked down the hallway. "So what happened?" she asked after the bathroom door closed.

"The principal called, and said she had a headache. So I picked her up. She wanted to go to the restaurant, so I said okay, but she'd have to rest. I gave her some paracetamol, and we went. I brought a blanket and everything so she could lay on the couch, but she wanted me, and Shayne to sit with her. She kept throwing out suggestions, some were really good, actually." She looked over at Shayne, who nodded in agreement. "She said she felt better pretty quickly, but I figured it was just the meds kicking in. I even checked her temp before I gave them to her to make sure she didn't have a fever like last time."

"You did good, baby." The blonde placed her hand against Franky's cheek. "Just be aware that by having you pick her up, and take her back to the restaurant, she got exactly what she was asking for this morning."

"You think she was faking it?" The brunette had to admit that the possibility did cross her mind, but she wanted to trust Emily.

"I don't know. A headache is hard to prove, and if they call, we have to go get her. I think we should keep an eye on it, and if it becomes a habit we'll have to talk to her about it. Just let it go for today, and we'll see how it plays out from here." She gave Franky a slow kiss. "I missed you today."

"I missed you, too." The brunette lowered her head, and kissed her wife again.

"Get a room." Shayne teased them. He had gone to his room to change, and had returned just in time to see their exchange of affection. He dropped onto the couch, and turned on the TV.

"We have a room. You're in it." Franky heard a small chuckle from the young man. "Not going to Vera's tonight?" The brunette knew he usually headed over there right after they were done for the day. Sometimes he came back to sleep, and sometimes not.

"Nah, she said she had to stay late today to make up for Friday. She went in early this morning, too. I'll go tomorrow if she's all caught up." He flipped through the channels, looking for something to watch.

Franky was just about to ask what had happened on Friday when she caught Bridget's look, and the small shake of her head.

"Alright." Instead, the brunette set about making their supper.

"So what happened on Friday?" Franky asked as she crawled into bed beside the blonde.

"Franky," Bridget sighed.

"Come on, I need to know if I have to make good on my threat." The brunette pulled her close, and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Tell me."

"God, you're worse than an old woman wanting to know gossip." The blonde laughed, and shook her head. "I can't tell you. I promised Vera all the details would stay between her and I."

"Ugh." Franky flopped onto her back, then turned to look at the older woman beside her. "I don't need details." She let out a small laugh, then turned serious. "I just need to know she's okay."

"She's fine, baby. More than fine, actually. I promise." Bridget snuggled in against the brunette's side.

"She said that? Like she specifically said she's okay?" Franky's mind wouldn't let it rest.

The blonde propped herself up on her elbow.

"She said he was a very generous, skilled, and gifted lover, with a huge dick." She tried to keep a straight face, but failed after seeing the look of surprise on the younger woman's face.

"See, now I don't even know whether you're telling the truth or not, 'cause you're laughing." The brunette let out a long breath.

"Go to sleep, baby." Bridget placed a kiss on Franky's lips before she settled in next to her again. She rested her hand against the brunette's stomach.

Franky smiled, as she felt the blonde's hand on her. Bridget had cautioned her this morning, not to get too excited until they knew something for sure, but these little actions told her that the older woman was just as hopeful as she was.