Emma sat nervously at the kitchen table waiting for Will to appear. When he finally got to the doorway he saw her picking at her nail and every few seconds looking up at the large white envelope in front of her. Will approached her from behind and placed his hands on her shoulders, feeling how tense she was. Leaning down he kissed her cheek and slipped into the seat next to her. "You open it babe…and don't worry everything's going to be fine." He said reassuringly as she reached out for the envelope which held all the answers.

She ripped the seal slowly and carefully and then pulled the letter out and unfolded it. Her eyes scanned the page for a few minutes and then a few tears trickled down her cheeks. Looking up at him she smiled. "We…we've got full custody of her…they want us to adopt as well, not just foster." Emma whispered, the tears still slipping happily down her cheeks.

"Oh babe that's fantastic!" Will exclaimed scooping her up off the chair and twirling her round and round the kitchen. When they stopped spinning Emma leant into him and rested her head on his chest.

"She's mine now…my little baby." Emma mumbled stroking the side of Will's face with her thumb. "I can't believe she's really ours now."

"Yeah I know it's fantastic isn't it sweetheart. We should go and read this letter properly though shouldn't we?" He asked, leading her through to the living room, picking the letter up as he passed it. They sat down on one of the armchairs and Emma curled up in his lap still grinning widely and they began to read. There had to attend an interview in the social work offices in a week's time and they would be inspected every few months for the first year but their adoption of Ruby had been fast-tracked due to the urgent need of care for the little girl. All they had to do was sign the papers and then she would be a part of their family…permanently.

At half nine Will shifted Emma from his knees and blew her a kiss as he went to wake Ruby. Emma smiled, he was going to make a perfect Dad to Ruby even if he was a little nervous about it. Will sat down next to Ruby's bed and stroked her hair thoughtfully until she woke up. "Hello." She mumbled turning to face him.

"Hey baby, Emma's a little tired so I'm going to help you get changed today instead." He said quietly as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Holding out her arms for him Ruby smiled and nodded. Will picked her up and kissed her forehead. Walking across to the wardrobe he opened the doors and picked out some clothes for her to wear.

Ten minutes later Ruby walked through into the living room and tugged on Emma's jumper. She opened her eyes slowly and then giggled at the little girl's appearance. Will had tried his hardest; bless him but choosing an outfit for a little girl wasn't exactly a job he was used to doing! Ruby was standing in a little football shirt with a denim skirt on and white tights with pink trainers. Her hair was pulled into two little pigtails set at different angles which gave her an even more comical appearance. Will sidled sheepishly into the room and stood with his hands in his pockets looking at Emma.

"Come on toots, let's get you something prettier to wear." Emma said still smiling down at Ruby. As she passed Will she kissed him softly. "Nice try honey but I think you should leave this job to me in future!" She mumbled as she released his hands from her waist.

When she got to Ruby's room she had already taken off the outfit that Will had put her in and was standing in front of the wardrobe again. "How about this sweetheart?" Emma asked pulling out a tiny pair of jeans and a pink long sleeved t-shirt with Minnie Mouse on the front of it. Ruby nodded and Emma pulled the t-shirt down over the top of her head and struggled to get her into the jeans. When she was sitting on the end of the bed Emma put her Doodles on her feet and retied her hair so the pigtails were sitting evenly.

That afternoon they spent some time with Ruby and explained to her about the adoption and how they would become "new parents" as such but she didn't have to worry because they weren't trying to replace her real Mum and Dad, they just wanted to do what was best for her and try and be the substitute parents that they longed to be.

Three months later Emma and Will were sitting in the kitchen flicking through a photo album of the past few months with Ruby. They marvelled at how much she'd grown, how happy she looked and how they looked like a proper family now. Emma looked up as she heard a crash outside and then the faint sound of crying.

Rushing up to the back door Emma peered out and saw Ruby lying sprawled across the path with her bike on top of her. "I…I fell off." She said sounding pretty disappointed. Emma pulled the bike up off her and picked Ruby up, kissing her as she did so. Emma took her inside and sat her down on the kitchen table before turning to get the first aid kit. "It hurts Mummy…Daddy didn't tell me it would hurt." Ruby continued, her tears drying quickly.

Emma whipped round to check that it was really her that Ruby was talking to. As she cleaned up the cut on Ruby's knee she let a few tears of her own fall. Ruby lifted Emma's chin with her little hand. "Why are you crying Mummy?" She asked worriedly.

"It's nothing sweetie, I'm just happy that you called me Mummy." Emma whispered scooping her little girl into her arms. Will wandered in and pulled Emma gently to her feet, engulfing the two of them in a hug.

"Daddy…make Mummy stop crying." Ruby giggled as Will kissed her nose.

Will wiped away Emma's tears and whispered softly in her ear. "Mummy's got to stop crying, princess's orders!" He said before beginning to tickle Ruby.

That night as Emma and Will tucked Ruby up in bed she mumbled softly. "Love you Mummy…Daddy." Before turning over and falling fast asleep. Emma smiled and ruffled her hair.

"She's ours, she always will be." Will said quietly as he shut the door behind him and turned to Emma. "Nothing can take her place, not even number two. It's like every other family, the parents love all the children equally but there's just something special about the first one. That's what Ruby is to us…our special little girl." He added as he placed a hand on Emma's stomach.

This innocence is brilliant
I hope that it will stay
This moment is perfect
Please don't go away

And that people...is that. Another fic completed another idea already popping into my head for something bigger and better. I hope you lot appreciate how much time, effort and pain was put into the writing of this because I have three bandaged fingers which makes it impossible to type with more than my index fingers and as a seasoned touch typer it's driving me nuts. This is for everybody who was kind enough to review yep that's Emz, Beth, Mandi and Danielle... I quite enjoyed writing this fic in the beginning but it became a little bit like a chore towards the ending as I just wanted to be rid of it. Hopefully this won't come across in the writing but hey...review please xxxxpip