Emily sat on the couch with Noelle in her arms, feeding her a bottle, while she watched Sunday morning reruns of Disney movies because – deep down – she was still a child at heart. When she heard footsteps enter the room, she glanced up, thinking it was Alex...only to be disappointed. "Good morning, Mother," she said without any enthusiasm.

"Get dressed, Emily," her mother said without bothering to return the greeting. "We're going to be late for church."

Normally, she might have tried to stifle the scoff that followed, but Noelle had been fussy most of the night, so she was rather exhausted and therefore lacked her normal patience in dealing with her mother. "I'm not going to church, Mother."

Elizabeth fixed her with an expression one might wear upon hearing someone declare they think they Earth to be flat. "I wasn't asking, Emmeline," she said firmly.

"I'm a grown woman, Mother," she countered, "That might've worked when I was a child, but in case you missed it, I'm no longer obligated to listen to you."

"I would think that now that you're raising this child," she said, clearly choosing her words very deliberately, "You'd be more interested in preserving your immortal soul..."

Emily could no longer resist rolling her eyes at that. "If you're trying to guilt me into going to church, it isn't going to work. It didn't work when I was a teenager and it certainly isn't going to work now."

In that moment, Alex came down the stairs, yawning and combing her fingers through her sleep mussed hair. "Good morning," she mumbled, her gaze landing on Emily and Noelle which brought a tender smile to her lips.

"Morning," Emily replied, smile equally soft.

Alex leaned over the back of the couch to give Emily an upside down kiss. "How's the little snowflake?"

"A little gremlin," she said, though she said it fondly.

She laughed softly. She turned to Elizabeth with a courteous smile and wished her good morning as well. "All ready for church?" she asked. She may have had her own issues with religion, but she knew it was an important element of Elizabeth's life and therefore, in the interest of making nice with her, she maintained a polite interest.

"Would you like to join me?" Elizabeth asked, rather than directly answer the question.

"Oh, umm..." Alex stammered, caught off guard by the offer. She didn't want to hurt Elizabeth's feelings after she'd worked so hard to get in the woman's good graces, but she also really really didn't want to spend her morning sitting through Father Mahoney's endless droning sermon...

Elizabeth didn't wait for her to properly answer the question, apparently taking her hesitation to mean confirmation. "We'll leave in thirty minutes," she declared, then headed into the kitchen to prepare her morning coffee.

Alex turned to Emily with wide eyes, clearly uncertain as to what had just transpired and how she'd been roped into attending church service with her girlfriend's mother. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Emily, knowing this is the last thing Emily wanted, but also knowing there was no way she was going without her...


"I've been thinking..." Elizabeth said from the backseat as Emily drove them home from church.

"Well, that's never good," Emily muttered, just loud enough for Alex to hear her from the passenger seat.

Elizabeth continued on, her superhuman hearing having caught the glib remark, but choosing not to comment on it, "It's high time you got the baby baptized."

"Excuse me?" Emily said dangerously.

Alex, sensing the impending argument, attempted to head it off before it could fully erupt. "That's a lovely idea, Ambassador, but we're still technically fostering Noelle and baptism is something that should be left to her adoptive parents."

Silently, Emily shot her an appreciative smile, a wordless thank you for the valid excuse.

"There may be ways I can assist you with that..." Elizabeth said, voice dripping with implication.

"What?" Alex said, surprised.

"What?" Emily said in the same moment, tone making it clear she was wondering what strings would be attached to the offer.

And, sure enough...

"If," Elizabeth continued, "You promise me you'll get her baptized."

Alex shot Emily a look full of uncertainty. She didn't need to put voice to just how badly she wanted the adoption of Noelle to go ahead...but she also didn't need to put voice to the reservations she had about religion.

Emily audibly scoffed. "You know, Mother, some people do things simply out of a desire to help others..."

"Meaning what?" Elizabeth asked, though they all knew she knew exactly what Emily was implying.

"Meaning," Emily countered, "That if you can help make this adoption happen, I'd think you would want to do so purely out of altruism, rather than some ulterior motive to 'save' Noelle's soul or whatever bullshit morality police reason you've cooked up to justify ruining her life with religion."

Elizabeth raised a pointed brow, the expression audible in her tone as she said, "Enough with the histrionics, Emmeline... I'd think after all this time you'd have forgiven me for your ridiculous teenaged rebellion against God."

"You know what, Mother, we don't need your help," Emily ground out, biting down on her back teeth in an attempt to keep the plentiful barbs from falling, though she clearly had many many things she would have liked to say...mostly because she wasn't entirely certain that if she started, she wouldn't be able to stop screaming. (She wouldn't particularly have cared, but she didn't want to upset the baby.) "I refuse to make our daughter a bargaining chip."

"Emmeline, be reasonable..." Elizabeth started to say.

Emily didn't let her finish. "In fact, there won't be a baptism at all. I won't have Noelle growing up with the guilt and shame and the feelings of never ever being good enough the way I did. Religion never did anything for me, but make me feel inadequate and so long as there's life left in my body, I'll do everything in my power to shield her from that. You may have failed me, but the cycle ends here."