"It looks good on you."

JJ hurried home as fast as she could. She'd had to stay late again and her usual babysitter had cancelled on her last minute. She had been relieved when Emily offered to pick Henry up from preschool, but the later it got, the more she worried. She hadn't heard from Emily since the other woman text her to say that they had made it home in one piece and while JJ trusted Emily with everything she had, she couldn't stop the intrusive thoughts that something terrible had happened, the feeling growing and gnawing at her when JJ got no response to the text she had sent that said she was on her way home.

It was with extreme trepidation that JJ entered her house, senses on high alert for anything amiss. When she heard Henry's delighted squeal followed by peals of laughter from her son and her girlfriend, all the tension uncoiled in JJ and she followed the sounds to the kitchen, smiling at the sight.

Henry was standing on a chair at the newspaper covered kitchen table wearing only a Spider-Man pull-up and at least five different colours of paint splotched all over him. Emily was wearing her typical sleepwear, but she too, was covered in paint. The two of them were taking turns dabbing each other with wet paintbrushes and laughing at the result, the various painted on pieces of paper that were still on the table left abandoned. JJ stood in the entryway to the kitchen for a moment, just watching the two of them interact, her heart swelling. Emily noticed her first.

"Look who's home, buddy!" She said brightly, pointing at JJ.

"Mommy!" Henry shouted joyfully when he turned around. "We're painding!"

JJ laughed and crossed the room to drop a kiss on a clean spot on Henry's forehead. "I see that!" she replied, leaning across him to give Emily a kiss too and in the process planting her hand directly onto a paper plate with green paint pooled onto it.

"Uh-oh." Henry intoned, recognizing that JJ's clothes were not play clothes and she shouldn't get paint on them. "Gotta wipe it off!"

JJ nodded her agreement and stepped around the end of the table to reach Emily better. "Gotta wipe it off!" JJ echoed, smearing her hand down the front of Emily's tank top, leaving a green, hand-shaped streak and causing Henry to laugh loudly.

"Oooo, you're in big trouble!" Emily threatened, though she was trying not to laugh.

JJ moved past Emily to the kitchen sink to rinse off the remainder of the paint on her hand. "It looks good on you!"