"Are you sure about this?" Emily asked as she stood in front of the mirror debating which dress she wanted to wear out that evening, a hanger in each hand as she swapped between the two in front of her silhouette.

"I'm certain," Alex replied pointedly. She wasn't looking at her, as she was busily wrapping Noelle in a swaddle. Besides, she'd spent the past twenty minutes watching Emily debate outfits.

Emily heaved a sigh, head and arms both dropping. "But..." she started to argue.

"I don't want to hear it, Em," Alex interrupted. "You're going to go out and have a great time with your friends; Noelle and I are going to be fine on our own for a few hours."

Emily didn't seem so certain...not that she said as much. She didn't have to, knew Alex could see her hesitation written on her face clear as day.

Alex sighed, patted the bed beside her in a silent gesture for Emily to join her. When she did, Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her into her side so she could drop a kiss on her temple. "This is the first time you've really been away from Noelle," she said knowingly. "I know it's hard, but she's going to be fine and so are you."

She pouted just a little. "I know, but..." She sighed, mumbled, "I don't want to leave her, even for a few hours."

"I get it," Alex insisted, "But you need time apart from her, you need to have an identity outside of being her mother and my partner, you need a life. And going out for drinks with your friends is an important part of that."

She knew Alex was right...but that didn't make it any easier to accept (if for no other reason than she was incredibly stubborn).


The bar was packed with people, in spite of the fact that it was nearing Christmas, which made having a conversation difficult...not that that had ever stopped Penelope Garcia. "I know!" she exclaimed, "Let's play a drinking game!"

"Isn't that a little juvenile?" Emily said dryly without looking up from her phone.

JJ and Garcia shared a pointed look.

"The game is: we all drink a shot every time Emily looks at her phone," Garcia continued.

Emily's head shot up from where she'd been looking at her phone wistfully. "Hey!" she whined.

JJ barked out a laugh. "Are you sure that's wise?" she joked, "We'd all have alcohol poisoning in twenty minutes flat."

Emily opened her mouth to bite out a smart aleck reply, but was cut off by her phone chiming and almost instantly, her attention was diverted. Her expression turned sour when she saw it wasn't from the person she'd hoped.

Garcia sighed dramatically as Emily quite effectively proved her point.

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Emily said without looking up. "Next round's on me, I just need to call home real quick." Before either woman could protest, Emily was heading towards the bar's exit, already dialing Alex's number from memory alone.

It took three whole rings before Alex picked up the phone and, before she could so much as utter a greeting, Emily demanded, "Why didn't you text me back!?"

Alex yawned widely, quite effectively answering the question.

Still, Emily persisted, "Is everything okay? Did something happen? Should I come home?"

"Em, calm down," Alex mumbled sleepily, "I just fell asleep. Must not have heard my phone..."

"Really?" A beat. "Maybe I should..."

She could practically hear the ensuing eye roll from Alex. "I'm fine, Noelle is fine. See?" She proceeded to hold the phone in front of Noelle's face so Emily could hear the baby's contented cooing.

The baby babbled for a few moments – thus soothing Emily's concerns – at least, until Noelle began coughing, at which point Alex moved the phone away, already knowing Emily would overreact.

Sure enough, right on schedule... "That sounded like coughing. Is she sick? Does she have a fever? Maybe I should come home and..."


When Emily arrived home from her abbreviated girl's night, she found Alex and Noelle both fast asleep. Alex was splayed out – starfish style – on top of the covers, with one arm reaching into the bassinet which had been pulled within arm's reach of the bed. Emily had to assume she'd been rocking the baby to sleep when she herself had fallen asleep as well.

Emily tiptoed through the room to check on the baby, reaching into the bassinet to feel her forehead for signs of a fever. She didn't feel particularly warm, which calmed her...at least a little. When she moved to pull her hand away, Noelle's eyes fluttered open and she immediately reached her little hand up to grab one of Emily's fingers.

"Hi, Snowflake," Emily whispered, involuntary smile crossing her lips. "Still awake, huh?"

Doing her best to avoid waking Alex, she lifted the baby from the bassinet and exited the room. She carried the baby downstairs to the living room where the tree shone glittering in the dark of night. "What do you think, sweetie?" she asked, stroking the baby's downy soft curls. "Are you glad Momily came home early?"

Noelle babbled a few moments, then blew a raspberry.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Emily said, tweaking her nose. "Momily really missed you tonight. I have no idea how I've lived this long without you in my life..."

"And here I was thinking I was enough for you..."

Emily whipped around sharply at the voice from behind them. "Alex? I thought you were sleeping..."

She just smiled enigmatically. Crossing the room, she proceeded to wrap an arm around Emily's waist, leaning her head against hers. "What are we talking about?" she asked.

"We were just debating the merits of artificial trees versus real trees," Emily said teasingly.

Alex rolled her eyes. "You know you didn't have to come home early, right?" she murmured, stroking the sliver of skin exposed by the cut-outs in her dress.

"I know," she replied. "I just... I missed my family."