"Emily do you have any idea what time it is?" Tara growled into the phone.

From somewhere beside her, Emily could hear Rebecca answer, "It's after office hours..."

"I'm really sorry," Emily effused, "But this is very urgent."

Tara heaved a sigh, but prompted, "Go on."

Emily heaved a sigh as well, attempted to marshal her thoughts before she was finally able to say, "I...umm... I think Alex might have something really serious going on. She... She thinks someone is trying to poison Lindy."

Tara sat bolt upright. "Poisoning Lindy specifically?" she asked. "Who?"

"I don't know. I don't think even she knows," she said, "But she's quite adamant that our formula has been tampered with."

"Okay," Tara said slowly, "I think you should take her to the ER and I'll meet you there."

"Al?" Emily prompted gently, sitting on the edge of the bed where she was lying awake, staring into the wall vacantly, yet intensely. "Al, I just talked to Tara..." When Alex didn't turn to look at her, she continued, "She thinks it would be best if we went to the emergency room."

"The emergency room?" Alex repeated, looking up sharply, eyes wide and alarmed. "But...I'm not sick! I'm fine!"

Emily attempted a smile, but knew it was hollow. "Alex, I know you aren't trying to hurt yourself or Lindy, but I'm worried that you might accidentally..."

Sitting bolt upright, Alex demanded, "Say it, Emily! Say you think I'm crazy!"

"Alex, no one is saying that," she attempted to assure her. "We just want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine!" she insisted vehemently, verging on fury. "I want everyone to stop acting like I'm losing my goddamn mind!"

Doing her best to remain calm, Emily once again attempted to reassure her, "Alex, this is just a precaution. If you're fine, they'll just confirm that and send you home."

"Lindy is the one they should be worried about," Alex maintained, attempting to change the subject.

Emily plastered on a smile. "How about we make a deal? You talk to Tara and I'll have Lindy examined, okay?" A beat. "Please, just do this for me."

Alex gave an exasperated huff, but conceded, "Fine."

Emily didn't need to know her wife as well as she did to know Alex was furious with her. But she also knew that underneath that anger was quite a lot of vulnerability and even fear: Alex, more than anything, was afraid of her own mind. And this fear was at the root of why she'd been so reluctant to come to the hospital.

It was probably also why she'd refused to let Emily join her in the room she'd been allocated to during the wait for Tara. Emily knew this was a very vulnerable moment for her, especially with the indignity of having been stripped of anything with which she might harm herself and then monitored by a guard.

Knocking on the open door, Emily stepped further into the room with a tight smile. "How are you doing?" she asked meekly.

Alex shot her a frosty glare. "How do you think I'm doing?" she snapped.

Emily knew much better than to say anything in response to that. And she was saved the trouble anyway by Lindy squalling in her carseat. She gently eased the baby out of the carseat and passed her to Alex, knowing her wife would soothe Lindy faster and easier than she could. "The ER doctor gave her a clean bill of health, by the way," she added.

And, though Alex would very much have liked to question her further, Tara's arrival cut the conversation short. With a scathing glance at Emily, Alex said to Tara, "I'm sorry Emily dragged you out of bed at this hour..."

"You don't need to apologize," Tara insisted with a reassuring smile. "Emily was just concerned – you can hardly blame her for that."

Alex seemed to beg to differ, though she didn't say as much. "Well, hopefully this won't take long and you can go back to bed soon enough."

Tara nodded encouragingly, though if what Emily told her was accurate, then she wasn't so certain that would be the outcome... "Would you mind giving us some privacy?" she asked Emily.

"Of course," Emily said with a tight smile. She was obviously concerned and very much would have liked to be a part of the conversation, but she also knew that Alex would be much more inclined to be completely transparent if she weren't present, so she reluctantly headed down to the hospital cafeteria with Lindy to give them some much needed space.

Emily was standing in line at the cafeteria waiting to pay for her burnt coffee and questionable looking yogurt parfait while Lindy snoozed in her stroller when she felt a tapping on her shoulder. Emily whirled around to see who she could possibly have crossed paths with at nearly two AM...and was surprised to find that it was someone she actually knew.

"Kate!" she greeted, wrapping her in a one-armed embrace. "Or do you prefer Dr. Callahan now?"

Kate chuckled. "I think anyone who knew me in university and has seen me vomit copious amounts of green beer after a particularly memorable St. Patrick's Day – that I can't for the life of me remember – can call me Kate."

Emily couldn't help but laugh as well at the memory (which was a little fuzzy for her as well).

"And who's this little Sleeping Beauty?" Kate asked, nodding towards the stroller.

Glancing at the baby, Emily smiled softly. "This is Adalinde."

Kate noticed the hospital bracelet around the baby's ankle and looked to Emily, question and concern in her gaze.

"She's fine," Emily was quick to assure. "It was just a precautionary visit." A beat passed, during which Emily's face fell. "It's, umm... It's my wife I'm concerned about..."

"Oh," Kate said softly. "Well, do you want me to see what I can find out? My specialty is neonatal, but I'm sure I could..."

Emily tried to smile politely at the offer, but said softly, "It's not that kind of concern."