The door swung open and Emily was immediately wrapped in a tight embrace as the person on the other side flung themselves at her with the full force of their weight. Emily felt all the air knocked from her lungs and it was several moments before she caught her breath and was able to offer a greeting.

"Hey, Odie," Emily greeted her, pulling back so she could properly fix her daughter with a fond smile. She stroked a stray lock of hair behind the girl's ear.

"Hi, Momily," she echoed, smiling brightly. "I didn't know you were in town..." She stood back to let her mother into the cramped little apartment and briefly wished she'd had a little bit of a head's up so she could have picked up the dirty clothes strewn through the apartment. (She'd always tended towards Emily's inability to pick up her laundry...)

Emily, of course, noticed the laundry, but didn't comment as she didn't have much of a leg to stand on on the matter. "The team just wrapped a case," she said by way of explanation. "We fly back in the morning. I was hoping I could take my favourite daughter out for dinner..."

"I'm your only daughter," Odette countered.

"That's why you're the favourite."

She rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "I suppose I could make the time for my second favourite mother," she replied cheekily.

"Hey!" Emily whined. "Why am I second?" (She could hardly blame her daughter for picking Alex as her favourite, of course, but that didn't mean she couldn't give her grief about it...)

Odette shrugged, grinned mischievously.


"So, how's the ballerina life treating you?" Emily asked once they'd been seated in the restaurant.

"It's good," Odette replied vaguely, making a point of scanning the menu so she wouldn't have to meet Emily's gaze, in spite of the fact that she ate there at least twice a month and already knew exactly what she planned to order.

Emily raised a brow at the curious behaviour. "Just good?" she said. "I thought it was your dream to dance..."

"It is," she insisted, but remained tight-lipped.

Of course, they couldn't have known when she was born and they'd chosen her name that she'd grow up to dance... In fact, they'd tried to steer her away from the obvious pastime and encouraged her to try out other extracurricular activities. But ballet remained a steadfast favourite and eventually they'd stopped trying to direct her away from it and let her pursue it as a career.

At the age of eighteen, she'd auditioned for several dance companies – her mothers had been hoping she'd stay local or, at the very least, get accepted to Kansas City Ballet so she could be near family. The Company she'd ended up choosing, though, was the St. Louis Ballet.

Emily plucked the menu from her daughter's hands so she was forced to stop hiding. "Tell me, Odie," she commanded sternly.

Odette sighed heavily in defeat. "Okay..." she said slowly, "Just...don't tell Mom."

That had Emily's interest piqued. Odette and Alex had always been extremely close and they told each other just about everything. Alex was the one she'd called when she'd gotten her first period at school. Alex was the one she asked to pick her up when she'd gotten drunk at a party in high school. Alex was the one she texted for advice about boys and school and life in general. So, if she was about to share something that Alex didn't know, Emily was intrigued...

"I've met someone," Odette admitted in a mumble.

"Okay?" Emily said, confused as to why this was a big secret.

She nodded solemnly. "He's..." She paused, scraped her teeth along her bottom lip as she debated how to phrase the next part.

At this point, Emily was expecting her to say something like 'he's married' or 'he believes the Earth is flat' or 'he's an ex-con'.

What she said, though, was, "He's a Blues fan."

For several moments, Emily just blinked in surprise that that was the big secret. "Blues like the hockey team?" she asked.

"Yeah," she said, cheeks pinking with embarrassment. "I know you and Mom raised me better than that, but... He's so handsome, Momily. And I really think you'll like him."

It took a few moments for understanding to dawn on Emily. Damon's words from all those years ago echoed in her mind – Well, as long as you're not a Blues fan... – and she knew then that Odette had a hard row to hoe ahead of her. She sighed. "I'm not going to lie, you're going to break your Mom's heart," she admitted.

"I know," she whined. "That's why I haven't told you guys about him."

Emily frowned. "Wait... How long have you two been dating exactly?"

"Oh, umm...ten months," she confessed with a little wince.

"Ten!?" Emily repeated incredulously. She too winced as several nearby patrons turned to stare at them. "Ten months?" she repeated quieter. "Odie, you could have told us sooner..."

She offered an apologetic expression. "I know," she said, "I just didn't want Mom to blow a fuse when she found out. I don't want to disappoint her..."

Emily reached across the table to clasp Odette's hands in hers. "You could never ever disappoint her. Or me. You're our little Dot."

Odette groaned at the pet name she loved to hate. "Please, just don't tell her?" she begged.

"I won't," she confirmed. "But I really think you should tell her soon. She'll learn to live with a Blues fan if he's that important to you."

She scoffed. "Yeah, but will Papa?" she countered.

Emily couldn't contain the bark of laughter. "That may be a harder sell," she admitted. If there was anyone in the world who lived and died by the blade (the blade in this instance being that of an ice skate), it was Damon Miller. "Let's deal with your mom first and then we'll work on your sales pitch for your grandpa..."