Emily gave a cry of exhaustion as she picked her child up for the fift time in two minutes, and she quickly set him to her chest to rock him once again. "Come on baby, what's the matter?"
"He's sick, Em. He's gonna get cranky."
The brunette turned and glared at the boy who had fathered her child. "You could help me, you know," she growled.
Aaron threw his hands up in defense, following his girlfriend out of their shared bedroom and into the kitchen to get a new bottle for their son. "I've tried to take him from you but you don't like it when he's out of your arms. What do you want me to do?"
"Help me!"
The older brunette felt his heart break at the tears that quickly started streaming down his girlfriend's drained face, and he took her and their baby boy into a hug. "Alright, calm down," he cooed, taking their son from her arms and pressing a long kiss to Emily's lips. "Go and sit down and let me handle this, ok? Everything is going to be fine."
Emily ran her hands down her face and fell onto the couch, the blankets and clothing she hadn't finished folding sitting around her as she was too tired to finish at the moment.
Noah had been sick for a good week and a half with his ear ache, and now he had had diarrhea for a little over three days, and he just couldn't stop crying for his parents.
Barely getting comfortable on the couch, the new mother felt the pounding in her head grow stronger when the doorbell sounded. "Did your mom forget her keys again?" she groaned, pulling her sleeves up to cover her hands before she covered her face with them.
"I don't know baby but can you get the door? I need to go and change Noah's diaper."
Emily wiped her tears with the ends of her sleeves before getting up from the couch. "Come here," she cooed, kissing her son on his barely hairy head before letting her boyfriend take him back to their bedroom. "Remeber the powder!"
"I've got it!" the older brunette called back.
She pulled the front door open, her tired eyes widening at the sight of the judge who had been determining their custody of Noah for the past couple of months. "Judge Harper," the teen whispered frightenedly, quickly trying to fix her hair that she knew was messy so it looked a least a little normal. "Hi."
"Hello Emily," the judge smiled warmly. "May I come in?"
The ambassador's daughter hastily nodded his head before stepping aside, closing the door behind the older woman and leading her into the living room. "I'm so sorry about the mess." Her eyes were glued to the dirtied room before her. "We were doing laundry and Noah has been sick for a few days now and we couldn't get to folding."
Judge Harper looked to the teen at her side. "Is Noah alright?"
"Oh he's ok. We took him to the doctor and called again yesterday just to have him make sure that we knew the signs of him getting better." Emily gulped, afraid the judge was already making her opinion about her parenting with Aaron from the few things she was seeing and hearing.
"Well may I see his room?"
Emily nodded, leading the woman who was deciding her son's fate down the hall and to the room she and her boyfriend were sharing with their son. "It's a little small," she started off, opening the door to show her the room. "But we all fit very well, and we have another room down the hall for when he isn't in his bassinet any more."
Aaron looked up from the boy on the changing table and smiled. "Oh Judge Harper, hi."
"Hi there Aaron," she smiled, watching as the teenage boy finished settling the diaper on the fussing baby before lifting him up from the changing table. "How is Noah feeling? Emily's told me that he hasn't been feeling well?"
"He's getting better but it'll take a while for him to get fully better."
The judge nodded, wringing her hands in front of her. "Well if you two can sit down, I'd like to speak with you."
Emily could feel her eyes stinging as she prepared herself for the news about to hit her. She sat herself down beside her boyfriend, taking her son back into her arms to calm herself down.
"Now you two know that I've had to pick apart your lives as well as the Prentiss' lives to see which household Noah would live best in. And with everything I've come to understand, I have been leaning toward you two being the parents for this young boy."
Aaron grasped the brunette's hand beside him.
"But I have to tell you, I received a call before I came here to speak with you," she nodded. "Emily, your parents have backed out of the custody battle."
Emily's jaw dropped, her tears spilling over her eyes at the news. "What?"
Judge Harper gently nodded her head. "Your parents have decided that it would be best to not raise Noah as theirs, and that you two should be the parents. But the catch is that Elizabeth and Charles do not wish to associate themselves with you any longer."
"They don't want to be my parents anymore?"
"I'm so sorry."
Emily let her boyfriend kiss her head before she shook it, standing with her son on her hip. "They weren't my parents to begin with. All that matters is my son," she smiled, pressing a kiss to her baby boy's head as she felt Aaron hug her from behind. "What matters is my family, and that's these two."
The judge smiled at the teens bouncing their baby lightly, and she could feel her heart warm at the smile Emily had sent her.
If she didn't choose Emily and Aaron as the parents, she wouldn't have done her job.
They were his parents.