Emily woke up around two AM when the mattress jostled as Alex climbed out of bed. With a yawn, she pushed herself to sit up, combing the hair out of her face as she did so. "Where are you going?" she asked, squinting against the light of the TV screen in the darkened bedroom. She'd always been a light sleeper, but ever since Lindy was born, she'd been waking at the slightest movement or noise.

Alex made no efforts to hide the way she rolled her eyes at Emily's insistence on watching her every move. "I need my laptop," she said on an exasperated sigh. "Is that okay with you?" She couldn't sleep. She rarely slept anymore. She needed to be vigilant, though she couldn't entirely articulate why without sounding – she knew – like she was completely out to lunch...

"Alex..." she said, sounding weary down to her very soul.

(For a split second, Alex felt a surge of guilt well in her chest, knowing she was responsible for Emily's exhaustion...but it only lasted a brief moment before the anger and bitterness was once again at the forefront of her mind.)

She didn't let Emily get very far into whatever it was she might've had to say. "I'm not a child, Emily, and I'd really appreciate if you stopped treating me as if I were. For fuck's sake, Lindy has more freedom than I do!" It wasn't necessarily true, but it really drove her point home.

"Alex," Emily tried again, "You know I'm not trying to curtail your freedom, I'm only trying to..."

"I don't care," she said dismissively. "Go back to sleep."

And, though she tried her best not to dwell on the words, Emily couldn't help but feel her wife's carelessness cut her to the quick... She just had to keep telling herself that this wasn't the real Alex. This was her postpartum psychosis talking. And she just had to ride this rough period out and she'd get her loving, gentle, sweet wife back. She just had to remember that.

"Good morning, Mrs. Miller," JJ chirped when she arrived that morning. "Sleep well?" She moved through the house, collecting the assortment of discarded burp cloths and onesies that had never made it to a laundry basket. It wasn't technically part of her job, but she took on the task without being asked – afterall, she could see just how much the two women were struggling and she couldn't help but want to make things as easy as possible for them.

Alex made an indecisive noise without breaking diverting her gaze from her laptop screen where she was studiously scrolling through (from the brief glance JJ caught) what appeared to be a rabbit hole of medical journals. In front of her, the TV screen flashed from a commercial to a title screen declaring her to be watching Monsters Inside Me.

JJ frowned at the first few lines the narrator spoke. She would have liked to ask whether this was truly something she wanted to be watching...but before she could get the words out (or pause to consider whether it was wise to speak them), an actor recreated a scene in which a live snail emerged from a young boy's knee wound.

Emily came down the stairs with Lindy in her arms, then, and Alex was quick to change the channel, which JJ found to be odd, but it wasn't her place to comment on it.

"Text me as soon as you're done, okay?" Emily said as she pulled up to the curb outside the library. She didn't trust Alex to drive on her own and she knew Alex hated being treated with kid gloves like this, but she wasn't about to take the risk, certainly not with Lindy in the backseat...

Alex rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mother," she said sarcastically. For a split second, she could see the hurt flash in Emily's eyes, but just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone again.

"Just have fun," Emily said gently. She reached across the centre console to squeeze Alex's hand, offering her a soft smile that Alex failed to return.

Without another word, Alex climbed out of the car and began the ordeal of unfolding the stroller and fitting the carseat into it.

Alex had been quite insistent that morning that she wanted to attend a Baby and Me group held at the local library. And, given the way Alex had seemed so utterly checked out from interacting in any way with the baby, Emily had agreed that it was a good idea. Afterall, the library would be filled with plenty of witnesses, so it was unlikely that Alex would attempt anything dangerous or unwise.

At first, she'd tried to sell Alex on the idea of them attending as a family, but Alex had maintained that it was important she spend time bonding with Lindy on her own, so Emily had eventually relented.

When she entered the library, Alex took a sharp left, in spite of the sign declaring the Baby and Me group being to the right... She headed straight to the non-fiction section – more specifically 595.44 – where she found the person she'd secretly arranged to meet.

"Alex?" the young man whispered, glancing about nervously.

She nodded. "Dr. Reid, it's good to see you again. I didn't realize your expertise extended to..."

He cut her off, asking, "You said you had some questions about spiders?"

"It's urgent..." she said, also keeping her voice to a whisper, in case of eavesdroppers.

He hummed a thoughtful note at that. "You could have put the questions in the email and..."

She shook her head then. "They're reading my emails," she maintained, gaze darting about frenetically. "They can't know I'm on to them..." Reid looked like he would have liked to delve into that matter further, but he didn't get the chance to speak before Alex was once again asking questions. "I need to know if spider eggs could survive in formula."

"In baby formula?" he clarified.

"I know they're poisoning her with something," she maintained, "I just have to figure out what it is before they figure out I'm on to them."