I started this a while back, and forgot until this past weekend that it took place around Thanksgiving, so I hurried to finish. That said, the editing is most definitely not perfect and it's very light on plot. Also, you'll want to read Fallen first if you haven't, or you'll be seriously lost reading this. There will be one more Fallen-universe one-shot after this one and it will have more plot. Thank you all for reading, and for reviewing whoever does, and have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, if you're celebrating!

"Is it supposed to look all goopy like that?" Dani asked, as she watched Nikki stir the mushroom soup and other ingredients in the casserole dish.

The girl frowned. "I don't think so."

The two looked at each other and then Dani picked up the recipe again. Her brow furrowed as she studied it, teeth nibbling on her lower lip.

"I think we should get Mama," Nikki said.

Dani shook her head. "She trusted us to be able to do this." Though Dani couldn't imagine why at the moment; neither of them knew the first thing about cooking.

There was a sharp swish as the door connecting Emily's apartment to Haven opened and footsteps followed before she appeared in the kitchen. She smiled at the girls and went fishing around a cupboard, before pulling out a metal tray. She looked about ready to leave, but stopped at the two silent girls staring at her. "What's wrong?"

"Uh..." Dani managed.

Nikki rolled her eyes at her companion and said, "We screwed up the green bean casserole."

Emily's eyebrows rose as she eyed them. "How?"

"It looks goopy," Dani said.

Emily set the metal tray down on the limited counter space and then walked closer to the girls, leaning over their shoulders to see inside the foil casserole dish. Then she chuckled. "You just need to stir it more."

"We've been stirring and it's still goopy," Nikki said.

Emily's eyes began to search the kitchen then until they landed on the sink. She reached in, plucked out a whisk, washed it, ran a dishtowel over it and handed it to Nikki. "Try using this."

Nikki handed the spoon they'd been using to Dani and then stirred with the whisk. "Oh...that works," she said, turning to Emily with a smile.

"You didn't screw anything up, trust me. And even if you do screw up, it's not the end of the world." She smirked. "It took me about five years to be able to cook everything correctly. And no one went hungry during those five years."

She grabbed her tray then and headed back to Haven. Dani sighed. "So, all we needed was a whisk?"

"Hey, at least we didn't actually mess it up."

Emily walked back into the kitchen in Haven and handed the metal try off to Melanie. She had adopted her daughter to a couple in Westchester ten months ago and had grown more quiet since. Emily had spoken to her at length and knew that while she didn't regret her decision, she regretted that she'd had to make such a decision. Being forced to grow-up was painful and she was dealing the best should could. Emily had managed to get Melanie and her parents on the phone together a couple of times in the last several months, but it had always been a stilted, uncomfortable conversation. As much as she longed for her home and her family, Melanie felt betrayed by the people who were supposed to love her unconditionally. Emily could certainly relate to that.

The kitchen was a hive of activity.

"How are the turkeys, Wendy?" She called over to her daughter.

"On schedule, fortunately." Somehow, every year the turkeys were never quite perfect. They were late getting done, or overdone or underdone or they forgot to pull the giblet bag out or the stuffing didn't cook through or whatever else that could go wrong. Emily was grateful that they only did turkey once a year.

"Great, so what are we missing?"

"Potatoes are being mashed, yams are being prepped for baking, green bean casserole is being made. Corn and peas are ready to be heated when the time comes, cranberry sauce is cooling, flour and butter are measured out already for the gravy, salad is washed and in bowls, two of the girls are finishing it as we speak. The tables are being set, rolls are in baskets, drinks are cooling, we've got the buffet set up and ready to go. Some of the side dishes others brought will need to be heated and we're determining the best order of heating now."

"Perfect. We may actually get through this holiday without a disaster, well, at least a food disaster."

"Mama," a voice called from the doorway, drawing her attention. Ella was at the door, her face set in a worryingly serious expression.

Emily walked over to her. "What's wrong?"

"I think Ruth is sick."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She just threw-up." Emily winced. "It's okay though, she made it to the trash can."

"Okay, let's go." She followed Ella to the stairs and down to the living room on the ground floor, where many of her girls, old and new, were gathered. They were watching the Macy's parade on the TV, though most of them had their eyes on Ruth. She was on the floor by the trash can, Amy beside her, rubbing her back.

"Hey Mama, Derek was on TV," Becca called out to her.

Emily crouched down by Ruth, but turned to Becca. "At the parade?" Wasn't he supposed to be at one of the big games?

"No, they have football on in the game room. The Steelers are playing the Jets." Emily nodded at that and turned her attention back to Ruth. While she may have liked a glimpse of Derek, watching him get tackled by a half a dozen men made her stomach turn violently. And she had more important things to do now anyway.

"Ruth, honey?" Emily rested the back of her hand against the girl's forehead, the heat hitting her skin almost immediately.

"I don't feel so good, Mama." The 13 year-old leaned into her and Emily wrapped an arm around her. She'd only started calling her Mama about a month ago, and Emily tried her best to do right by that sign of trust.

"Yeah, I can tell. Do you think you can stand?" When she nodded, her head almost lolling around on her neck with her weakness, Emily held her tightly and stood them both up. She looked up at the other girls. "Does anyone else feel sick?"

She was met by a roomful of headshakes and let out a breath of relief. "Okay, I need one of you down here and one of you to go upstairs, and spread the word. Anyone who feels sick needs to come see me immediately, the only way to keep everyone from getting sick is to start quarantining at the first signs, okay?"

When they all nodded, Emily began maneuvering Ruth out the door. They ran into Tyler coming out of the game room; he was a handsome kid, dark-skinned, tall and strong muscled from basketball games with neighborhood friends. He was only 25, but happily engaged to Angie and already proving to be a good father to her seven year-old daughter. He stopped when he saw them and smiled, but it fell when he saw Ruth clinging to her. "Hey Emily, is she okay?"

"Uh, not really, she's sick. I'm going to take her up and tuck her in bed."

"Do you want some help? I can carry her up?"

Though the offer was made with the best of intentions, Ruth's body instantly tensed in her arms. After her experiences with her uncle, she kept her distance from all men, even Cooper, who most of the girls viewed as totally harmless. It was probably fortunate that Derek was busy with football and therefore visited only sporadically.

"It's alright, Tyler, I've got it. Thanks though."

He nodded. "Feel better," he said to Ruth and went off to wherever he was headed.

Emily continued to move Ruth toward the stairs that led directly to her apartment. The whole building was filled with her current charges, her former charges and their kids and significant others, and friends and their families, though men we restricted to the first floor, as usual. The building was always full at Thanksgiving, one of the few times a year that Emily actually closed the clubs, so she could let her girls enjoy the holiday and feeling of family surrounding them. She had never had the traditional holiday celebrations herself, not until after Danni was born anyway, and those celebrations had been sort of pathetic, her being strapped for cash and all.

Once inside her apartment, Emily led Ruth to the couch and tucked her under a quilt, handed her the remote to the TV and placed a garbage can near her head. Then she headed into the kitchen for saltines and ginger ale, and found Danni there by herself, mixing the sauce for the second tray of green bean casserole. "Where's Nikki?"

"She went to see if you needed any help in Haven's kitchen."

Emily reached up into one of the higher cabinets for the saltines and said, "Wendy's got everything under control for the moment."

"Are you sick?" Danni gestured to the box with her chin.

"No, Ruth is." She grabbed a glass and poured in some ginger ale. "What about you, are you feeling okay?"

Danni nodded. "I'm okay."

"Okay, let me know if that changes. I'm trying to prevent one sick girl from turning into twenty girls pushing each other out of the way to get to the toilet before they blow."

The younger woman cringed. "Aw jeez, thanks for the visual."

Emily grinned. "Sorry, I didn't know you were squeamish."

"I'm not squeamish," Danni insisted, her tongue flicking over her top lip.

Emily held up her hands one with a sleeve of saltines, the other holding a glass of ginger ale. "Either way, you may want to steer clear of the living room."

Thirty minutes later, Danni carefully held open the oven as she checked on the first casserole, her top row of teeth sunk into her bottom lip. She was fairly confident she'd made it correctly, or at least so it was edible, which was really what counted. She switched out the casseroles, covering the finished one with a towel and putting the uncooked one into the still hot oven. Then Emily breezed back into kitchen, the embodiment of a sort of confidence that Danni had never been able to achieve. To her surprise the other woman seemed to almost fall into a chair at kitchen table; she looked beat.

"How's Ruth?" She asked. Danni had heard the door to Haven open and close a few times as Emily rushed back and forth, opening for the last time about five minutes ago.

"No worse, though she's a little warm. She hasn't touched the saltines or ginger ale." Her brow was furrowed and her eyes were dark with worry, and Danni wondered how Emily didn't look twice her age with all the worrying she did over the Haven girls.

"She'll feel better when she's pukes everything up, that's what Grandma always told me." Then she winced. Elizabeth Prentiss wasn't a topic they discussed often, and knowing the bad blood between them, Danni was careful not to mention either of them to the other.

Emily laughed through her nose. "You know, I actually remember her saying that. I think that was how she figured out that I was pregnant, the morning sickness."

"It was bad?"

"Not at first. Around week eight was when it got really bad and stayed that way until around week fourteen."

"Sorry about that," she said.

Emily looked at her, surprise on her face, then she smiled. "The result is well worth a couple months of vomiting."

Danni began to gnaw on her bottom lip again and slid into the chair across from her mother. "Emily?"

"Yes?"

"What was my dad's name?"

The older woman's mouth opened and she physically shifted back in her seat, so Danni quickly continued. "I just...I hadn't thought much about him since I was a kid, and then Wendy's mom showed up, and I guess I was just wondering. Grandma always said she didn't know, but you must, right?"

Emily let out a breath. "His name was Johnny. Johnathon Cooley. We went to a boarding school in Rome together when we were sophomores."

"St. Andrews."

"Yes, actually. How did you know?"

"Grandma had a picture of you in your uniform; I found it when I was a kid and hung onto it."

Emily nodded. "I remember...they were taken in late October, I'd only been at the school for a couple of months, I started that September. Before that we'd been in...god, I don't even remember anymore, maybe Jordan?" She shook her head. "Anyway, Johnny, our friend Mathew and I were all really close already, that day we talked about skipping the stupid pictures. We were sneaking off when a teacher caught us and dragged us back."

"I like that picture, so I'm glad you sucked at sneaking off." Danni smiled. That had been the only remotely recent photo she'd had of her mother.

Emily grinned and it was full of mischief. "Well, we got much better at sneaking off. About a month after that, Johnny and I successfully snuck off and you were conceived."

That information, though not unexpected, struck her with the force of a bus.

"Danni?" Emily asked, brow furrowed again. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just, you looked so young in that photo."

"I was so young." Then she shrugged. "You never feel that young when you are that young."

Danni barely heard her mother speak, her eyes were fixed on the table as her head swam. She knew Emily was not even 16 when Danni was born and barely 21 when she dropped her at Elizabeth's, but that information had never really sunk in before now. For most of Danni's life Emily had been the irresponsible girl who'd gotten pregnant too young and dumped her unwanted child at her mother's house, so Danni had tried to think about her as little as possible. When Danni had finally met her again, she'd been the confident and collected matriarch of this world, no trace of that young girl left. It hadn't occurred to Danni that Emily had once been a terrified child who made a horrible mistake with far too real consequences, and it had never dawned on her that Emily had once been a brilliant young woman with her whole future ahead of her. Until now.

Danni felt her eyes grow wet and could hear her own voice shake as she spoke. "God, I really destroyed your life, didn't I?"

"What?" Emily gaped at her. "Of course not!"

"Grandma always said you were so smart, that I'd gotten my brains and looks from you...if not for me, you'd have been like a lawyer or a doctor or CEO or something, wouldn't you?"

Emily let out a long, tired breath. "Your wrong, Danni. I was miserable, I hated the life I had with your grandmother almost as much I as hated the life she had planned out for me. I wanted to get as far from her world as I could, so no, I never would have been anything like that."

"Maybe not, but you would never have had to live on the streets or prostitute yourself for money. You wouldn't have had to struggle so hard."

"Danni, Honey, nothing I've done in my life is your fault. You did not ask to be conceived or born or to be raised by an ill-prepared teenage hooker instead of the probably very nice couple that your grandmother picked out. Those were all my decisions, you cannot blame yourself for any of them."

"Well, you didn't choose for me to be born either, remember? Grandma did that." While hearing that Emily had planned on aborting her had been a bit painful that first time they talked, that pain hadn't lingered. She had been only fifteen after all.

"In that case, feel free to blame your grandmother. Though, if you ever hear me thank her for anything, it's going to be not allowing me to have that abortion."

"But if she had, your life would be so much better."

Emily frowned. "Does my life seem that bad to you?"

"What?! No, of course not!" She quickly said. "It's just..."

"It's okay, I get it. Without you my life would have been very different, but to be honest, I don't want to even think about a life where I never got to hold you in my arms. And that's also a life where I don't have Wendy or Ruth, where all my girls are dead or lost on the streets and where their kids are dead or lost in the system." Emily took her hand then. "That is not a life that I ever want to see."

"You really don't regret any of it?"

Emily snorted. "I regret plenty, Danni. At the very top of that list is that I missed out on so much of your life. But giving you life? That I will never regret."

Danni squeezed her hand and was silent as she thought about that. She believed for so long that Emily had not wanted her, had deeply regretted having her, and though she'd known for more than a year now that that wasn't true, she had still never before today thought about her existence from the perspective of the terrified teenagers who'd created her. She swallowed. "Does he know I exist?"

"Who?" Emily asked, her whole face twisted in confusion. "Johnny?"

"Yeah, my father."

The other woman's mouth opened and then closed. "You know, I don't really know. He knew I was pregnant, and I always assumed he and Matthew put two and two together and figured out that that was why your grandmother pulled me out of school. But I suppose he might have spent the last twenty-odd years assuming I had an abortion."

"You haven't spoken to him since you left school?"

"I had no reason to contact him."

"Me?"

Emily bit her lip. "Johnny made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me or you when I told him I was pregnant, so I never saw contacting him as an option."

"Oh." Her gaze fell toward the table as she tried not to be hurt by that. Her father wanted nothing to do with her.

"Sweetie, he was 15 and scared to death, don't take that personally."

She looked back up at her mother. "Do you think Penelope could find him?"

"Uh, well I think she could find anyone, except maybe Jimmy Hoffa."

"Could you ask her?"

"You want to meet him?"

Danni nodded, her heart beating faster with excitement. "Yeah, you said yourself that he was only 15 back then."

Emily inhaled slowly. "Okay, I'll talk to Penelope and see if I can get in contact with him, but Danni, I don't want you getting your hopes up. Hearing from your long lost kid is likely to be quite a shock and not one that many people would welcome."

"You did."

"Yes, but I never wanted to be separated from you in the first place. And Johnny...either he thinks you don't exist or he thinks you do and has never bothered to seek you out, so just keep that in mind, okay?"

"You think he won't want to meet me?"

"I don't know, Honey. I hope he does, but it's been a long time."

Wendy studied the turkey until satisfied that it was done, and then looked around the kitchen and spotted Dani with the last green bean casserole. "Hey Dani, can you help me here?"

Her sister nodded and set the casserole on the counter, before grabbing a towel and helping Wendy lift the massive bird from the oven. "Jesus, this has got to be 20 pounds!"

"23.5," Wendy said with a smile. "Lots of people to feed, in case you missed the crowd downstairs."

"Are you kidding? There's a million people down there, impossible to miss!"

"Gets bigger every year too." She heaved the bird onto a large cutting board and began carving as Dani grabbed an aluminum foil tray. Thanksgiving was so big at home that they'd long ago given up on platters and casserole dishes and now everything was made in big aluminum foil trays that fit into the buffet sets ups with Sterno burning beneath them to keep it all warm.

"I was talking to Mom earlier," Dani suddenly said.

Wendy took her eyes off the steaming poultry for a minute to eye the other girl, sensing something in her tone. "Did you finally ask her about your dad?"

Dani nodded. "His name was Johnny Cooley, and he knew he got her pregnant, but didn't care. He told her to screw off."

"Well, you had to figure it was something like that, right? I mean, he's not around and never has been."

The younger woman shrugged. "I guess. Emily's going to ask Garcia to try to find him though, see if he wants to meet me."

Wendy didn't blink at Dani's interchangable use of Mom and Emily; she knew she was still getting used to the idea of Emily, and even after a year, had not quite shaken off the years of feeling abandoned and betrayed. Mom had never complained, at least not to Wendy, so Wendy didn't question Dani about it. "You really want to meet him?"

"Yeah, I do. Even if he doesn't want me, I feel like I should at least be able to say I met him."

Turning the bird for a better angle, Wendy nodded. "Just remember that parents have a way of disappointing you, especially absent parents. They're usually absent for a good reason."

"Emily didn't disappoint me."

"Emily is special."

"That's certainly true," JJ appeared in the kitchen with a bag in her hands. "Where are we keeping desserts?"

"If it doesn't need to be refrigerated then anywhere you can find counter space is fine."

"You bake, Detective Jareau?" Dani asked.

"Better than I cook. But it's nothing fancy, just some pies." She set the bag on the counter. "Where's your mom at?"

Wendy chuckled. "Everywhere. I don't think she's stopped moving since seven this morning."

"That sounds about right," JJ said. Wendy had heard the detective mention her family more than once, but for whatever reason, she did not go home for the holidays. Or for anything, so far as Wendy could tell. But like all the rest of them, Emily had accepted her into the fold with wide open arms. "Do you girls need any help?"

"Nope, I think everything is about ready, just finishing up carving this bird."

"Okay, in that case, I'm going to wander around and see if I can find your mother."

"Can you tell her dinner's about ready, if you do find her?" Wendy asked.

JJ nodded.

"You might try her apartment," Dani offered. "Ruth's sick."

Then the cop disappeared, leaving them alone again. "Wendy?" Dani asked. "What if he doesn't even want to meet me?"

Wendy carefully detached the second leg and set it in the pan. "Then he isn't worth your tears."

"Jesus Emily, there's got to be over 100 people here." JJ breathed out at the mass of people gathering in Mother Night, where the buffet had been set up.

"You've been here for Thanksgiving already, and Christmas, and two Easters, how does this still shock you?"

"I don't know, it just does. Normal people don't have families this big."

Emily smirked at her. "Whatever gave you the idea that this place was anything even remotely close to normal?"

JJ smirked back. "I don't know, a mom determined to make sure her kids were fed and happy at the holidays, that sounds pretty normal to me."

"I suppose...now, do you want to tell me, why you aren't experiencing a New Orleans Thanksgiving right now?"

"Cajun food doesn't agree with me," she answered, averting her eyes from her friend's knowing gaze.

"I have seen you down a chili dog slathered in hot sauce after three margaritas. Nothing disagrees with your cast iron stomach." Emily gave her a look as she handed JJ a paper plate.

"Are there sweet potatoes? I love sweet potatoes."

"It's Thanksgiving, of course there's sweet potatoes. Now, you not in New Orleans, why?"

JJ did not look at her as she mimicked her tone. "You avoiding every TV in the building, why?"

Emily scowled at her, but kept her mouth closed as they moved through the buffet line. Once they'd found a spot to eat, parked on the floor in the corner to the left of the inside entrance to Mother Night, because their table space was rather limited, she immediately picked up the conversation. "Is this going to be a you show me yours, I show you mine sort of thing?"

"Of course not," JJ said, then grinned. "Too many kids around."

Emily started laughing then and nearly choked on the spoonful of mashed potatoes she'd shoved in her mouth.

"You alright?" JJ asked, trying not to laugh at her friend.

"Yeah, jesus," Emily muttered around one last cough. Then she turned a serious look on JJ. "I'll go first. I haven't been able to watch one of his games in three weeks. The last time I saw him take a bad hit, I threw up, and since then, my stomach starts to violently twist-up at just the thought of watching one of his games."

"I was going to go to New Orleans, I made the decision, but that night I kept waking up from these nightmares, covered in sweat and shaking so much, I couldn't even hold a cup of water without sloshing it all over me."

"Oh, what a pair are we."

JJ was silent for a moment, before turning to Emily. "You know, even with all the crap I've been through, I am really glad I met you."

Emily took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Me too." Then she smiled. "It's nice to be able to talk to someone that doesn't call me Mama."

JJ snorted. "I bet." It was just nice for her to have someone who knew all about the hell she went through with Brent and who was still on her side. Who was always on her side.

But Emily started getting pulled away even before they finished dinner, so JJ chatted with some of the girls for a bit, and then made her excuses to leave. She knew that was likely all she'd see of her friend that day; in fact, JJ was surprised she'd gotten that much time with her. Emily really was like the Flash during holidays at Haven. But then, there were about 70 girls and women there that thought of her as Mama, so she got pulled in a lot of directions.

JJ had promised Cooper she'd stop by for dessert anyway, so it was about time she left anyway. And after Cooper's, she could call Will; she missed his voice.

Emily yawned as she carefully picked her way through Mother Night, avoiding the air mattresses and sleeping bags laid out by the girls and their families, all sleeping already or close to it. Six years ago, she'd pushed the furniture to the walls and let some of the girls who'd come from out of town bunk on the floor of the club. The following year, some of the girls from in town had joined them and they'd all stayed for breakfast the next morning. By now it had become a tradition, and Emily had girls and their families camped out on every inch of available floor space. They all seemed to enjoy the low-key morning that followed Thanksgiving, as opposed to the far less low-key Christmas and Easter mornings.

She shut the door and crossed the hall to Firefly, moving inside as quietly as she could. Silently, she picked her way through the sea of sleeping people, checking each face for signs of distress or fever. When she got to Andie, she stopped, her eyes zeroing in on the ash tone of her skin and the dots of sweat on her forehead. Andie's parents had been killed in a car accident when she was a child, and with no other family to speak of, she'd been shuttled to a series of foster homes some fine and some nightmarish, before deciding the streets were a passable alternative. She'd been sexed into a local gang when she was 15, and if that wasn't enough trauma, only months later she'd tried to leave and was nearly beaten to death by the girls in her own gang. One of the responding officers had contacted Emily after taking Andie to the hospital.

Emily crouched down and laid the back of her hand against the girl's forehead. She was warm, but not fever warm. The brunette gently shook her awake, and when Andie opened her eyes they were full of terror. "Shh, it's alright, Honey, you're safe here."

Andie let out a whimper and grabbed Emily's hand. The older woman used her other to brush Andie's hair from her face and continued to run her hand over her head until she began to calm down from her nightmare. After a minute, she looked up and said, "Mama?"

Emily nodded. "I'm here. Go back to sleep now." And she continued her ministrations until the young woman fell back sleep.

After finishing in Firefly, she passed through the game room and TV room, stopping briefly to watch Wendy and Danni sleep, their sleeping bags beside each other. They had embraced being sisters better than Emily ever would have hoped, a clear sign that they'd both badly needed a sibling. She'd been concerned of jealousy or rivalry, and while they had their disagreements, they seemed to accept each other's roles in her life. She was exceedingly thankful for that.

Emily left her daughters to sleep and headed up the stairs that led to her apartment. She'd already passed through Haven and done her headcount, satisfied that all her girls were in their beds, and all their little ones were asleep in their cribs and bassinets. So, all that was left was to check on Ruth, and then the very busy day would finally be over.

It had been an exceedingly long and stressful day, not just because of the usual holiday bustle, but because for the first time ever Emily had been keeping one ear on one of the big Thanksgiving Day football games. The Steelers had won their game and, to Emily's great relief, Derek had escaped without any serious injuries. She had no idea watching football could do such a number to her stomach, but Emily had admitted, if only to herself and Derek, that was she was totally smitten with the football player. She loved him. That on it's on was terrifying for her.

She shook those thoughts away and walked into her living room, where Ruth was laying curled on the sofa, blanket half fallen off her and her face flushed. Emily rested the back of her hand on the girl's forehead and concluded that her fever was no better than earlier. She went to the bathroom and kitchen for water and Tylenol and returned to her youngest charge, nudging her gently awake. "Ruth honey, I need you to wake up."

The girl grumbled as her eyes fluttered. "Mama?"

"Yeah, I just need you to take these, okay? You've still got a fever."

"I'll just throw them up," she said.

"Possibly, but I'd still like to try." Ruth was silent. "I can get some of the kid's liquid stuff if you'd rather try that, there should be some in Haven."

Ruth shook her head and pushed herself up, taking the pills and glass of water from Emily. "Small sips, do one pill at a time."

After she managed to get both down, looking only slightly queasy, Emily deposited the glass on the coffee table and pulled the blanket up over Ruth. With one hand running circles over Ruth's back, Emily spoke soft words, lulling her to sleep in the way that had worked for nearly every girl that rested her head inside these walls over the years.

Once satisfied Ruth was asleep, Emily moved over to the easy chair across from the sofa, pulled a throw over herself and made herself comfortable. A glance at her watch told her that she wouldn't hear from Derek for a couple hours at least, as he engaged in the expected celebrations and revelry. That left her only with her thoughts, and those left her brain spinning. She had to track down Johnny, the kid who had completely changed her life without even intending too.

Emily hadn't spoken to Johnny since she told him she was pregnant with his child, and outright begged him to tell her what to do. Since the moment he'd told her that it wasn't his problem. She hadn't even thought of him in years, and now, she had no idea how she felt about talking to him, or even seeing him. She hadn't planned on ever seeing him again. But Danni has asked, and she was entitled to at least ask for a meeting from the man. Truth be told, Emily had no idea what kind of man Johnny had grown up to be, and she was feeling more than a little protective of Danni. She'd meet with him first, before letting Danni anywhere near him. But, she couldn't even begin to do that until tomorrow.

Tonight, her girls were all safe and happy, and Derek was one more game closer to being done with football forever. Only little Ruth had had a lousy Thanksgiving. So, with her youngest charge safe in front of her, Emily finally let the exhaustion from the day pull her into the land of nod.