The brunette woman untied her hair from the bun it had been in for the majority of her work day, having to keep her neck from sweating in the sweltering kitchen and distracting her while she tried to make her food. It had been a long day, a wedding party coming in for their reservation that had been made months before Emily was the head chef, and thankfully they were all in love with the dishes she had prepared.

It was finally time to head home, almost one in the morning, and she needed to finish cleaning the kitchen before she was able to go out and hop into the car that Aaron had let her take for the day because he had the day off of work.

"I'll see you tomorrow, chef."

Turning at the sound of one of the waiters, Emily smiled wide. "I have the day off tomorrow, Tony. I'll see you on Sunday though, ok?"

The man in his early twenties nodded. "Spend a day with the family?" he smiled, having seen the pictures of her daughter and the man and his son that she as staying with.

"Exactly," she smiled, reaching into the tip jar and giving the amount that the younger man deserved to him before he left the kitchen. "Have a nice night, Tony."

"You too, chef."

Waiting until she knew she was alone in the restaurant, Emily went over to the phone that sat beside the fire door and quickly dialed the house phone.

After two rings, she heard the man she was falling for answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Aaron?" she smiled gently, her voice a whisper. "Hey, it's me."

The older man smiled at the sound of the younger woman on the other end of the phone. "Hi there, sweetheart. Are you on your way home? It's late."

Emily's fingers clutched the handle of the phone tightly in her hand. "We had a party that went on until maybe twenty minutes ago so I'm just finishing cleaning up. I'll probably be home in about a half an hour, ok?"

"I'll keep the bed warm for you, baby. I'll even have your favorite drink ready for you on the nightstand."

Biting down hard into her bottom lip, the mother of one smiled her widest, her cheeks burning a rosey pink when she heard the little timber in his voice. "Thank you. I'll be there as soon as I can, ok? You don't have to wait up for me."

Aaron frowned and shook his head, walking through the living room when he heard a knock on the front door. He had ordered flowers specially for his new girlfriend, and he made sure that they would be ordered right before she got home so they'd still be fresh for her. "That's like telling the sun not to rise in the morning. I'll be waiting for you, ok?"

"Ok," she grinned against the phone. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye sweetheart."

Emily nodded, reaching for the rag that was on the counter beside her. "Bye." She hung up the phone as quickly as she could and grabbed the new bottle of cleaner from the closet in the back of the kitchen. If she wanted to get home and get ready to spend the day with her new family, she was going to have to finish quickly so she could get a good night's sleep.

Amelia had helped Jack make her and her new boyfriend pancakes early that morning, knowing that she was going to have to go into work earlier than usual for all the plans and reservations that were going on that day. They had come in and woken up the pair that had been cuddled together in the middle of their shared bed, and the four of them got seated on the floor in the master bedroom and ate their breakfast together with Jack in Emily's lap and Mia sitting besie the man of the house.

They had been becoming a family, and Emily couldn't be happier.

Turning off all of the lights and locking the restaurant's doors before she got into her car, Emily smiled, staring up to the stars. She was finally starting to feel like herself again.

She closed the door lightly behind her, knowing that even if her daughter was asleep, she would wake up in an instant if there was a noise in the house. "Aaron?" She set her purse on the kitchen counter and hung up her coat by the front door. "Honey, are you still up? Or did you fall asleep?" she giggled, mostly to herself.

Rounding the corner, the brunette woman flickered on the living room light. "Aaron?"

"Emmy darling," came the familiar voice. "I knew you'd come back to me."

Emily's eyes shot open, flickering over to her ex-boyfriend who stood in the center of the living room with a crying Jack tight in his arms. "Johnny?" Her voice quivered, brown eyes immediately watering when she saw how red her boyfriend's son was growing.

He had found them.