"Knock, knock!" says Emily brightly, entering Joyce's room at the hospital.
"Emily! You look beautiful, Sweetheart! Turn around and let me see the back." exclaims Joyce happily, putting down her magazine as Emily does a slow turn just inside the door.
"Hot date tonight?" Joyce asks teasingly as Emily finishes her fashion show and comes over to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Totally hot" says Emily conspiratorially to Joyce. "Do you mind if I wait for him here?"
"Not at all" says Joyce companionably. "I'd like to meet this guy. Make sure he's good enough for you."
"Oh he's good enough." Emily proclaims confidently before dropping her voice to a secretive whisper. "And you know what's even better? I really like his mom."
Joyce smiles lovingly and reaches for Emily's hand, giving it a squeeze. "She really likes you too, honey."
"So how are you feeling?" Emily asks Joyce gently, still holding her hand. She can tell the older woman is trying to hide some amount of discomfort.
"Tired and still nauseous" admits Joyce honestly, letting her guard down for a minute. "This last round of drugs has been really hard. But please don't tell Micah. He's so positive about this clinical trial, and he will just worry. I hate seeing him worry."
Emily squeezes Joyce's hand. "Me too" she says truthfully.
Joyce hesitates for a moment before speaking again. "Emily, I want to ask you something, but I'm not sure I should."
Emily looks at her questioningly
"I….I was wondering if you would promise me you'll look after Micah when I'm gone?"
"Joyce…"
"I worry about my children, Emily. Liz will always have Micah. He may not always be happy with her choices, but he's a good brother. But Micah…" Joyce's voice trembles a little. "My Micah Mouse is going to need someone to look after him too. Losing me is going to be hard on him…and….I just thought…"
"Joyce," interrupts Emily, squeezing the older woman's hand. "Of course I will."
A knowing smile appears on Joyce's face. "He loves you, Emily. I've never seen him as happy as he is with you. And you love him too, don't you?"
Emily can't seem to control her blushing grin as she nods her head in agreement.
"You two are going to have such cute babies!" Joyce exclaims suddenly. As Emily's face turns a deep shade of red, the older woman's hand flies to her mouth as she realizes what she's just said. They both begin to laugh.
It's at this moment that Micah enters the room.
"Oh good, you're here...Wait a minute. What's so funny?"
"Nothing." says Joyce guiltily as both women turn their attention to Micah and try to compose themselves.
"What's up?" asks Emily.
"We're going to have to take a rain check on dinner." says Micah, the confusion on his face quickly turning to a look of regret.
"Surgery?" asks Emily, trying to mask her disappointment as Joyce clucks reprovingly.
"Yeah. Room 524. Turns out it can't wait until morning. They're prepping now."
"Need help?" Emily asks hopefully. She doesn't get to work with Micah very often anymore, and the idea of scrubbing in with him is appealing.
Micah sighs and shakes his head. "Sorry, we've got Tyra and Will on this one."
"Okay" says Emily, completely disheartened.
"Micah!" scolds Joyce, interrupting. "Aren't you at least going to tell Emily how nice she looks before you stand her up?"
Micah and Emily grin at each other. "You look REALLY nice" says Micah sincerely to Emily. "I was really looking forward to tonight."
"Yeah, me too" says Emily.
Micah suddenly looks embarrassed. He shoots a quick glance at Joyce, clearly assessing the risk, before he addresses Emily again. "Come and kiss me goodbye?" he asks Emily sheepishly, his voice quiet as though he hopes his mother can't hear him.
Emily looks at him through narrowed eyes as if considering the request. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Joyce grinning widely. After another moment of letting Micah squirm, she finally puts on her haughty face and stalks over to him, reaching up to give him a chaste kiss only to have him pull her in tight.
"Thank you" he says huskily with a grin when he finally releases her. The inside joke between them makes her laugh. "You headed home?"
"Actually," says Emily, stepping away from his arms with a glance back at the delighted Joyce, "I think I'll stay here for a while."
As she moves back over to the hospital bed, Micah looks at the pair quizzically before shaking his head. "Why does the idea of the two of you spending time together always make me nervous?"
"Why Micah!" scolds Joyce teasingly as she makes room for Emily to lounge on the bed beside her. "What a thing to say!"
Micah's unease is palpable as he looks at the two most important women in his life settling into the pillows on the hospital bed. He seems about to say something more when his pager goes off.
"They're probably waiting for you." Emily points out from her perch next to Joyce.
Micah starts suddenly, glancing at his pager and giving them a quick nod as he turns to go. As an afterthought, he returns to the doorway, eyes narrowed. "Stay out of trouble" he warns finally before hurrying on his way.
He tries to ignore the peals of laughter that follow him down the hall.