by Crist, J. D.
"I wondered if I could ask you one thing in return."
"What were you thinking?" Emily asked, feeling that she already knew the answer.
"Don't give me the drink tonight?"
"What?" Emily asked, confused.
"I've been sober for a while now, and I know if I have that drink, I won't be able to stop," Derick explained. "I want you to keep the law in place to protect me from myself if I slip."
"Consider it done," Emily smiled at him.
Derick nodded and left the office without another word.
"I just got this office, and I'm already working," Emily spoke to Hope.
Hope smiled at her and looked around the room. Emily sat Hope on the ground and held her hand as they walked out of the office. Emily closed the door as soon as Marley followed them out. Emily walked outside and could see that everyone was starting to gather in front of her house. Emily walked with Hope and Marley up the street.
Jessica was already putting everyone in position for the picture. Jessica led Emily to her place next to Shawn. Once everyone was in position, Jessica took the picture. As soon as Jessica announced they were done, everyone began to scatter. Emily knew that they were off to start setting up for the party.
"I would like to get a few of just you guys," Jessica said to Emily. "To mark Hope's birthday."
"That would be great," Emily replied.
Jessica worked for the next little bit, taking various pictures of Hope. Hope had no problems with all of the extra attention. By the time they were finished, the rest of the town had most of the party set up for that night.
"I better get the guest of honor to bed," Emily said as she picked up Hope.
"I'll give you a hand," Shawn replied as he followed them inside.
Hope put up a little bit of a fight, and it took quite a while for Emily to get her to lay down for her nap. Hope eventually gave up and fell asleep. Emily and Shawn made their way back downstairs, leaving Marley to nap with Hope.
"Can you believe she's one already?" Emily asked as she and Shawn sat on the couch.
"No," Shawn laughed.
Emily laughed as she leaned back against the couch.
"I wanted to talk to you," Shawn said, turning towards her.
"You should never start a conversation with a woman like that," Emily said as she turned towards him. "Are we breaking up already?"
"What!? No, of course not!" Shawn exclaimed. "I just wanted to let you know that I think it's best if I start staying at my apartment again."
"Do I snore or something?" Emily asked.
"No," Shawn laughed. "I know that you wanted to take it slow, and me moving in right now is not taking it slow."
"I don't think you've quite moved in," Emily said, trying to think of an argument but knew she didn't have one.
"Really?" Shawn asked, looking at her with a half-smile.
"No," Emily said, ashamed. "I guess we don't want Hope growing up thinking you move in with a guy as soon as you start dating."
"Exactly," Shawn agreed. "Not to say we can't have sleepovers now and then."
Emily knew that Shawn was teasing and winked at him.
"I better get going," Shawn said as he stood.
"I was roped into helping with the lights."
"You have fun with that," Emily grinned as she stood to walk Shawn to the door.
Once Shawn was gone, Emily went upstairs to wrap Hope's birthday present. Emily pulled the book from the top of her closet and sat down on the bed with the wrapping paper. Emily opened the book and began to flip through the pages. Emily had worked with Jessica to make Hope a storybook about her family. The story read like a fairy tale and started with pictures of Emily when she was a kid. Emily had pulled the photos from the album she had brought with her. Emily even included a few pages about Chad but had to be very careful in choosing the words for that part of the story. The end of the book was about their family in Sanctuary. Emily had made sure to add to the book as Hope grew to make the story more about Hope's life.
Emily closed the book and carefully wrapped it with the pink paper. Just as she finished, Hope began to announce over the monitor that she was done with her nap. Emily left the present on her bed as she made her way to Hope's room and got her ready for the party. Once Hope was changed and dressed, Emily grabbed the present from the bed and headed outside with Hope and Marley.
Emily gasped as she looked at the street where the party would take place. Shawn had gotten the lights set up but so much more had gotten done. Jacob had brought up some farm animals, and a petting zoo was set up for the kids. Buttercup was there with a saddle on, ready to give the kids rides up and down the street. The amount of pink that covered the street almost made Emily dizzy.
"I think we could have done more," June said as Emily walked down the steps.
"Probably, but I don't think getting the circus here is an option," Emily laughed.
"We have a chair set up for you two over there," June said, pointing. "We are ready to start if you are."
"Is there a way to postpone this?" Emily replied, looking down at Hope.
"She's going to grow up if you are ready or not," June laughed.
"Well, might as well let her have fun then," Emily sighed as she walked towards the chairs that June had pointed to.
Soon, everyone in Sanctuary who was not on wall duty was gathered, and the music was turned on. Emily allowed Hope to walk around and smiled, watching her interact with everyone.
"Is it okay if we let Hope ride Buttercup?" Jacob asked as he walked towards Emily holding Hope's hand.
"Is she big enough?" Emily asked, feeling concerned.
"She is," Jacob smiled. "If you would prefer, we could have an adult ride with her."
"I'll do it," Emily said as she quickly stood up.
Emily followed Jacob and Hope over to Buttercup and climbed up into the saddle. Jacob handed Hope to Emily, and Emily sat Hope on the saddle in front of her. Emily signaled Buttercup to walk and smiled at Hope's excitement. Hope squealed and clapped as Emily lead Buttercup up the street. Emily led Buttercup to the gate and then turned her around to head back to Jacob. Jacob helped Hope down, and Emily climbed down after.
"I think she had fun," Jacob said as he set Hope on the ground.
"She did," Emily smiled back.
"You may want to make your way to the cake. Julia seemed eager to get it started since presents are going to take a while."
"Cake!" Hope yelled as she took Emily by the hand and started leading her towards where Julia was waiting.
Emily sat Hope in the highchair and Julia set the small cake in front of her. Emily joined the rest of Sanctuary as they sang happy birthday to Hope. Hope smiled and blushed at the song. Once they finished, Emily helped Hope blow out the candle on top. Julia quickly removed the candle as Hope dove into the cake with her hands. Emily tried to help Julia distribute the cake to everyone else, but Julia insisted that Emily relax and enjoy watching Hope.
Once the cake was finished, and Hope was cleaned up, Bobby and Terra began to bring Hope her presents one at a time. Emily sat with Hope, reading each of the cards and helping her to open her gifts. Most of them were homemade, but Emily just felt that it made each of them more memorable. After the first couple, Hope seemed to realize the Emily said "thank you" and began to say it herself. Hope took nearly an hour to open all of the presents, and Emily felt like it would take her that long to carry everything inside after the party.
Emily placed Hope on the ground and allowed her to run around with the other children when she was done with the presents. Emily prayed that all of this running would help Hope lay down easier for bed than she had for a nap.
"You know, she may be old enough to convert her crib to a toddler bed," Julia said as she sat down beside Emily.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Emily asked.
"I remember feeling like that," Julia smiled.
"I thought I would offer some mom advice."
"I appreciate i
t," Emily smiled. "It's just hard for me to accept she's growing up already."
"I wish I could tell you it gets easier," Julia smiled.
"I know it would be a lie," Emily laughed.
The sun was starting to set, and Emily could see that Hope was beginning to wear down. Hope kept sitting down and rubbing her eyes. Emily picked up Hope and decided to put the princess to bed before she turned into a demon. Emily returned to the party after Hope and Marley were tucked in with the baby monitor.
The other parents seemed to have taken her lead and took the other children to bed. Cole was handing out glasses of a clear liquid that she knew was moonshine. Emily quickly made her way over to inform Cole that Derick did not get his drink that night. Cole seemed confused but accepted what she said. Emily declined the glass Cole offered her, deciding that she wasn't in the mood that night.
"Rumor has it that Derick is being denied his promised drink," Shawn said as he walked up beside her and wrapped his arm
around her.
"It's by his request," Emily smiled up at him.
"He said he couldn't handle it."
"Well, that does it," Shawn laughed. "The world is officially over."
"My thoughts exactly," Emily smiled.
Emily stuck close with Shawn for the remainder of the party. Once everyone was celebrated out, Shawn walked Emily back to her house but stopped at the front door.
"So, I may be regretting what I said now," Shawn said as he pulled her into a hug.
"Why don't you come over for breakfast?" Emily offered as he finally let her go.
"I'll see you bright and early," Shawn replied as he headed down the stairs.
Emily and Shawn fell into a routine of meeting for breakfast each morning over the next couple of weeks. Shawn helped Emily convert Hope's crib into a toddler bed, and Hope seemed thrilled with the situation. Emily, one of the new arrivals from Jeff's camp, was a preschool teacher.
After much discussion, it was decided that while Hope was younger than a typical preschool student, it was best for her to join the class. Hope continued to show signs of advanced mental and physical development, and Emily had finally conceded to let her attend. There was only one other student in the preschool class, and Emily thought it best for Hope to have more interaction with a child close to her age.
Emily had just finished dropping Hope off at school and headed towards the wall for her morning check-in. Hope had no problems heading into school, and it turned out that Emily was the only one crying.
"Emily, report to the COM building,"
"Everything alright?" Emily replied into her walkie.
"New group," Sarah replied.
Emily returned the walkie to her waist and made her way up the main street. She met up with Shawn and Sam, who had heard the radio as she reached the building.
"How many do we have?" Emily asked as she walked in.
"Eleven," Margaret answered. "Four of them are children."
"How far out are they?" Shawn asked before Emily could.
"They are on foot and just passed the SUV," Margaret answered as she turned back to the radio.
"Let me know when you see the wall, Charles. Our leader will open it once you are closer."
Emily felt all color drain from her face, and all of the oxygen left the room.
"Did you say, Charles?" Emily finally asked.
"Yes," Margaret replied. "It's Charles and his family, children and grandchildren."
"Wasn't your dad's name Charlie?" Shawn asked, realizing what she was thinking.
"Everyone called him Charlie," Emily said
as she turned to head out of the COM building.
Emily ran up the wall stairs two at a time. Emily looked into the distance just as a group walked into view. They were still too far away for Emily to see clearly, but she couldn't help but pray it was them. Emily made her way to the control room and entered the code to open the outer gate.
Emily made her way back to the wall to see that Shawn and Marley were waiting for her. Emily walked up beside them and looked back at the group that was drawing closer. Emily strained her eyes, trying to make out their faces.
Joe walked with J.R. down the road in front of the rest of their family.
"Uncle Joe, when can we go home?" J.R. asked.
Joe looked down at J.R. and could tell that he was exhausted.
"We have to find somewhere safe, and we will make that our home," Joe responded as he tussled J.R.'s hair.
"Maybe Sanctuary is safe," J.R. said, looking ahead.
"What's Sanctuary?" Joe asked as he followed J.R.'s gaze.
Joe could see a weathered wooden sign ahead. The sign read "Sanctuary – A Place to Live Among the Living."
"Dad!" Joe called back to Charlie, who ran up to join him and J.R. "What do you think?" Joe asked.
"It's worth a try," Charlie replied as he patted Joe on the back and walked towards the sign.
