Micah can't remember the last time he saw Emily this nervous.
Over the past four years, the self conscious and awkward young Intern he once coaxed out of a stairwell has blossomed into one of Denver Memorial's most confident and competent surgical residents. Until today, that is. Today, Micah has been watching her drop tools, reread charts, and second guess every decision.
Now that they are waiting at Arrivals in the Denver Airport, Emily's distraction seems to have reached a fever pitch. As she begins to chew on a thumbnail, Micah finally reaches for her hand, startling her out of her reverie.
"Should I be worried, too?" he asks, only half joking, as she looks at him blankly.
Emily's eyes finally focus on his face. "What? No! Of course not," she says, giving him a weak smile. She's never been a very good liar.
He opens his mouth to say as much when a wave of people begins coming towards them, and he spots their guest.
There is no doubt that this woman is Emily's mother. The two share the same facial features and general mannerisms. However, there is an immediately noticeable difference in the way each woman conducts herself. While even a confident Emily Owens is generally quiet and thoughtful, it is clear her mother is more comfortable being the center of attention, a fact punctuated by her unnaturally red hair.
Ms. Owens finishes up an animated conversation she is having with another passenger before turning to look for her daughter. When she sees them, she squeals in delight and rushes over to throw her arms around Emily as she cries, "Here's my baby girl! Let me see the ring!"
Emily turns red and glances around, trying to determine how many people are watching as her mother gropes for her left hand and begins commenting about the size and set of the diamond. "Hi Mom!" she says with as much enthusiasm as she can muster. "This is Micah."
Micah flushes slightly as Emily's mother stops to look him up and down. "He's cute." She says to Emily in appraisal.
In the next moment, she has thrown her arms around Micah, and is squeezing him tightly as she says, "I was so sorry to hear about your mom, sweetie. I know I can't replace her, but I hope you'll think of me as your mother now too."
"Thank you" chokes out Micah, trying to breathe as her hug cuts off his air supply.
Twenty minutes later, they are settled in the car on their way to the house. Micah just listens as the women talk, although it sounds more like Emily's mother is conducting an interrogation. None of the questions are malicious, but they are exceptionally detailed and apparently endless. Sometimes Emily hardly even gets an answer out before her mother is on to the next question.
At one point Emily catches Micah's eye and sends him an apologetic look. Really, he feels he is the one who should be apologizing. This visit is his fault. After their engagement, he had insisted it was finally time for him to meet her mother.
Emily's face had taken on a pained look. "I don't know." She had hedged. "We can't possibly both get the time off work right now to go out there, and if we invite her here, she'll want us to entertain her…"
"Emily." Micah had interrupted her, simultaneously amused and puzzled by her hesitancy. "We're getting married. I want to meet your mother. Everything will be fine! Don't over think it."
"I'm definitely going to owe Emily an 'I told you so' when this is all over," Micah now thinks as he carries the bags to the guest room. "At least she's only staying a few days."
It turns out to be the longest five days of his life as he and Emily try to balance their grueling work schedules at the hospital with the seemingly boundless energy of Emily's mother.
The first day, Emily's mom assures them she will be fine while they are at work. However, half way through the day, Emily gets paged to the nurses' station. Her mother has shown up to surprise them with lunch for three. She wants to meet all their work friends and tour the hospital. It turns out sending her home is not an option. When they try, Ms. Owens takes it personally and begins to cry. While Emily finally convinces her to wait for them in the cafeteria where she can people watch, both Emily and Micah have a hard time concentrating on work the rest of the day as they wonder whether or not their guest will decide to wander the hospital again.
The second day, they try to plan ahead, leaving Emily's car and a list of things to do and see in Denver so Emily's mom can do some sightseeing. When they arrive home after another 12 hour shift, they find she has not only rearranged the furniture in their house to be "more inviting" but also reorganized the cupboards and drawers in their kitchen "for better efficiency." When they ask why she didn't go out, she explains that sightseeing alone is no fun. From the tone she uses, the speech is clearly meant to be a guilt trip.
The third day, Emily decides to take the day off, despite the complications this will cause at the hospital. Micah does his best to cover her cases in addition to his own workload. When he gets home, he decides Emily looks even more tired than he feels. She is attempting to make dinner while her mother happily plans details for the wedding.
"White is so boring. You should pick a happier color for your dress." says Ms. Owens. "What about a hot pink or a lemon yellow?"
"Mom," laughs Emily nervously, "I look horrible in yellow."
Her mother studies her for a moment. "It might work if you dyed your hair red. What do you think Micah? Don't you think Emmy would make a sexy redhead?" She winks at him before gasping in delight. "Then we could be twins, Em!"
Micah nearly chokes on his drink, but Emily doesn't even look up. She is still opening kitchen drawers, trying to find the spoons.
The fourth day, both Emily and Micah are supposed to have the day off, but Micah offers to entertain their guest alone so Emily can catch up at the hospital. He shows Ms. Owens around the city while she asks him a constant stream of questions about his life and family. He tries to deflect the more personally painful topics, but he is beginning to discover his future mother-in-law isn't always attuned to social cues. As they head back to the house, she sighs contentedly and says, "This is nice. I'll have to come back when skiing is in season." Micah bites his tongue and forces himself to smile companionably.
On the fifth and final day, they take Emily's mother, luggage and all, to Denver Memorial again. More prepared this time, they manage to keep her occupied until it is time to go to the airport.
As her mother finally disappears beyond the first security check point, Emily turns to smile tiredly at Micah. "You were amazing. She really likes you."
Micah returns the smile and puts an arm around her as they both stare off again in the direction their guest has gone.
"How do you feel about elopement?" he asks.