AN: Sorry this one is late. Due to completely preventable situations (that may or may not have been edible-related), this one was not edited on time. Please blame Arwen for this one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

"Penny for your thoughts?" Emily said, gently elbowing Alex to draw her attention away from the TV screen. They lay together in bed, limbs tangled beneath the quilt, half-watching/half-dozing to the background noise of Home Alone.

"Hmm?" Alex hummed in question, deliberately avoiding Emily's gaze, having known that sooner or later Emily would figure out that she was unusually pensive following her conversation with Joseph...and absolutely dreading the conversation that would follow.

Emily could see through the act, though, given the way she was worrying her cuticles in a habit she'd picked up through proximity. She paused the TV, turning to more fully give Alex her attention...and, when that still didn't work, she reached over to squeeze her hands, stopping the relentless fidgeting. "Alex..." she said, gentle but commanding her attention.

She sighed and it was suddenly apparent to the both of them just how much tension she was holding in her body, based on the way she seemed to deflate under Emily's scrutiny. She suddenly felt like she'd gone ten rounds with a heavyweight boxer, based on the sudden feeling of exhaustion that washed over her after having been fighting so hard to keep her composure.

"We both know you've got something on your mind," Emily said, "Share it with me...please?" She tipped Alex's chin up gently so that she was forced to meet her gently concerned gaze.

"Are we making a huge mistake here?"

Emily's mouth hung open for several long moments as she tried to understand what had changed between that moment and earlier that day they'd been talking about whose last name to give Noelle. "A mistake?" she repeated dumbly, literally at a loss for words. "What did my father say to you?"

"I don't want to risk losing you a second time – trying to get over you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do and I don't know that I'd survive having to lose both you and Noelle if this adoption doesn't go through."

Emily didn't seem to know what emotion she was supposed to feel in that moment. "Are you suggesting that I'm only with you because of Noelle?" she asked, a note of hurt in her voice.

"No," she said quickly, "Well, I mean...maybe. A little bit." She winced, hating to be the one to make Emily's voice sound like that.

Emily let out a small laugh, though nothing was really all that funny. "Do you really think I would have flown all the way out here from London if I didn't think that you were going to be here too?" she asked.

Furrowing her brow in slight confusion, Alex asked, "Meaning what?"

"Meaning I had absolutely no intention of getting on an eight hour flight across the Atlantic until I spoke to my dad who told me that you were planning to show up too," she explained as if it should be obvious. Alex still seemed confused, so she put the dots really close together for her. "You know me, I'm kind of famously a Grinch...so the idea of spending a month in close proximity to my parents while doing the whole Christmas Thing was a headache I was planning on avoiding entirely. But the promise of getting to see you again, even if it was an awkward and uncomfortable ordeal, was more powerful than my desire to hibernate for the month."

A beat.

Then, in a meek voice, "Really?"

"Yeah," she said as if it should be obvious. "Alex, I am – and always have been – full-on crazy about you. Breaking up with you was the worst mistake I've ever made in my life. I should have fought for you, should have never let you get away."

"Okay, but..." she started to protest.

Emily shook her head firmly. "No buts, Alex," she said. "We were stupid to break up and I had every intention of pleading with you to take me back before Noelle ever came into the picture."

Once again, all she could see was a quiet, "Really?"

Emily nodded, then something suddenly seemed to occur to her and she climbed out of bed and moved to her suitcase where she proceeded to frantically dig around for several moments.

"Em?" Alex prompted. "Em, what are you..." she started to ask, only to trail off suddenly when Emily turned around, still on her knees, but this time with a ring box in her hand. "Em...?"

Emily smiled softly, sweetly. "Alex, I..."

"No!" Alex said urgently, cutting her off. "You are not allowed to propose to me right now."

Frowning in confusion, she stammered, "But... I thought..."

She shook her head. "Emily, I love you more than life itself and, yeah, I do want to marry you. One day. In the future. But if you propose to me right now, it will be because of Noelle. Because I had these doubts. And that's not the story I want for us."

Several emotions were playing out on Emily's face and it was breaking Alex's heart just a little that the main one seemed to be hurt...

"C'mere..." Alex said gently, patting the bed beside her. When Emily obliged and settled back into bed with her, she pulled her into her side, nuzzling the top of her head and pressing a soft kiss there. "How about we make a deal?" she suggested.

Emily raised a brow. "What kind of deal?" she asked slowly.

"I promise that when you ask me to marry you for real, I will say yes. If you promise me that you'll wait until we're more settled before you ask...okay?"

"Define settled," Emily said.

She smiled softly to herself, knowing that she was winning Emily over. "Living together, for one thing. Noelle's adoption finalized for another." She shrugged slightly. "I trust you. You'll know when the time is right."

Several moments of silence followed as Emily seemed to digest this turn of events. Then, quietly, "You promise you'll say yes?"

She nodded. "Of course I'll say yes," she murmured. "You're not the only one who knows we made a colossal mistake in breaking up."