Three
Needless to say you're the one that I need
The most
- Vanessa Carlton
"Mother, I know you want us to come to the Embassy Ball but we don't have a babysitter and we can't just leave Lizi in a foreign country with a stranger." Emily sighed, she'd been trying to make her mother see reason as to why they couldn't go to the ball. "Besides what if the person isn't good with kids?"
"I don't see the problem, John Cooley is your emergency contact for her." Her mother said.
Emily had to admit she made a very good point about that. Really the only reason John was the only person other than her or Derek that was authorized to pick her up from daycare was because everyone else they knew and trusted worked the same job as they did.
"John is a trustworthy man." Emily snapped.
"Well you don't need a baby sitter just bring her along, I always brought you." Her mother pressed her lips together in a tight line, like she did when Emily annoyed her.
"Why? So I can show her off like you did with me? She's not a trophy she's a child, a child who needs to be in bed by seven fifteen." She protested.
"Oh she'll be fine for one night." Her mother dismissed. "You always were."
"I don't care, I am not showing my child off like she's some prize and I am not leaving her with a stranger." She shook her head. What she didn't say was that she was always okay because her mother would punish her for acting differently. Even at three she understood that she had to be on her best behavior at all times.
The next evening Emily should've known it was hopeless as she tried to keep a handle on Lizi and still manage to greet all the various people who had met her at some point in her life. She didn't remember most of them and she didn't care. Her feet hurt, she was exhausted and she felt like something was trying to attack her insides.
"I hate this." Emily whispered to Derek as the small family finally broke free of the crowd for a moment, she rubbed her stomach and silently pleaded for the kicking to stop.
"Your mother seriously used to bring you to these things every year?" Derek asked.
"Yeah, the year we were here she convinced John and Matthew's parents to bring them along as well and I don't know what was worse, the fact that I had to come to the ball or the fact that I didn't have an excuse not to dance." Emily shuddered a bit at the memory, Lizi reached for her from her place in Derek's arms. "Baby I can't."
"Mama…" Lizi whimpered again.
Emily sighed, she couldn't hold her daughter to the fact that the pregnancy was no longer allowing an room for Lizi to rest against her. It was bad enough she'd had to drag her daughter along but now she couldn't comfort her. "Baby girl you know why Mama can't hold you."
Emily rubbed her stomach over the dress, her mother had planned ahead and found a ball gown in a maternity size. Which meant that excuse had gone out the window as well, she could've used her exhaustion and the constant ache in her swollen ankles as an excuse but she knew what her mother would've said to that, she would've told her that she went into labor at one of these and to put up with it.
"Derek we really need to get her home." Emily whispered. "Look at her its past nine o'clock and she's exhausted we just can't keep doing this to her."
"I know but we can't just leave either." He sighed.
"I'll be right back, I'm going to tell my mother the three of us are going back to the house." She muttered and walked off in search of her mother.
Derek knew Emily was uncomfortable just sitting down, but he knew walking and having to be on her feet all night was exhausting for her. Though she wouldn't admit it, it was becoming clear her energy had gone way down. Recently Rossi, Reid, and himself had been slipping work from her desk to try and ease the mental load a bit, but this Ball was something he couldn't take off her shoulders.
Between Emily being pregnant and stressed, and Lizi being fussy and tired it was obvious that this trip was going to be a long one. When Emily returned a few minutes later she didn't say anything until the three of them were back at the house and getting ready for bed.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Wh-while I was talking to my mother one of the people who worked for my mom when I was a kid came up, he – he wanted to know if I'd married Matthew." She said.
Derek wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about that so he merely looked at her and said "Why?"
"I don't know but it just made me, uncomfortable. Matthew was like my brother, the only person I could count on for a long time, sure he was a sweet boy but our relationship was never like that." She looked close to tears, something Derek hadn't seen in a long time.
"I know, but other people don't." He said. "I think you just need to relax, you're stressed about the baby and its not healthy."
"Stressed about the baby?" she said.
"Emily, come on its pretty obvious. You haven't been the same since Reid told you the chance of having a miscarriage or early labor during this pregnancy were 45%. You've been more stressed out than usual and you've been working harder than usual, you've been more and more distant from everyone." He said kissing her forehead.
"I-I know but I'm so worried and I need to forget it." She said.
"Well pouring yourself into your work is only going to make it worse, okay?" He whispered. "Come on you need some sleep."
