"Five, six, seven, eight!" Mrs. Petrov counted them off in her heavy Russian accent.  Emma was back at the ABT studio later that week, pushing through her pain.  Her feet were covered in blisters, but she didn't dare complain or show weakness.  All the other girls probably had the same problem, and were also icing and wrapping their feet every night.  Most of the time, she was able to block out the pain, but she was getting particularly frustrated with this exercise that Mrs. Petrov was forcing them to run again and again.  This particular exercise involved several degages.

"No!" Mrs. Petrov snapped, causing the girls to stop.  "Emma, show us the first 8 counts," she instructed her student.

Emma made sure her posture was correct and began as Mrs. Petrov clapped the rhythm.  She could feel the eyes of her classmates on her, judging her.  Emma tried her best to keep her degages tight and crisp, but Mrs. Petrov stopped her before she could get to the end of 8 beats.

"No, no, no," she walked over to Emma.  "The movement must be exact!  Like this!"

She demonstrated and Emma watched, trying to take it all in.  Mrs. Petrov had her try it again.  Again, she stopped her and yelled corrections.

"Sophie, show Emma your degages," she instructed another student, one that happened to be laughing at her the previous day.  Emma sighed as the girl performed the 8 counts perfectly in Mrs. Petrov's eyes.  When she finished, Sophie smiled at Emma knowingly.

"Again!" Mrs. Petrov told Emma.  Emma took a deep breath and tried her best.  She still couldn't get it right.  Mrs. Petrov dismissed her and decided to move on to something else.  Emma felt on the edge of tears, but didn't dare let them fall.  Russian ballet instructors had no sympathy.

The rest of the day went similarly.  Mrs. Petrov yelled at the class all day long, and never seemed satisfied with their work.  They worked the same passages again and again.  By the time the day finished, Emma was frustrated beyond words.  She wordlessly packed up her things and darted out as quickly as she could, plugging in her earbuds.

She boarded the subway and put her head in her hands, trying to forget the day.  It was humiliating the way Mrs. Petrov had singled her out.  She'd been so excited to come to ABT, but she'd never felt less worthy.  It seemed she couldn't do anything right.

When Emma walked through the door, she went straight to her room, rushing past Lin in the living room, playing with Sebastian.  The door slammed behind her and Lin knew her well enough to realize she needed some space.  He'd go check on her in a while.

About half an hour later, he put on a PJ Masks show for Sebastian and wandered back to Emma's room.  He knocked and heard a faint invitation to come in.

Emma laid on her bed, her wrapped feet propped up on a pillow.  Her face was slightly red from crying.  Lin walked over and sat on her bed.

"Rough day?" He asked.

Emma nodded.  "Mrs. Petrov kept singling me out," she told him, feeling the tears coming again.  "It was so humiliating."

Lin just listened as she described her day, and how there were a couple of girls who seemed to have it out for her.

"Sounds like Mrs. Petrov is pretty hard," he observed.  "How are your feet?"

"Shredded," she said simply.

"Shall I prepare your ice tub, m'lady?" He asked.  Emma managed to smile as Lin stood up and she swung her legs over the bed.  She quickly changed out of her leo and tights, and into a simple t-shirt and short shorts.  Lin returned a minute later with a full ice bucket.  Emma carefully unwrapped her feet, wincing as they irritated her a bit, then gently eased them into the tub.  Lin took a look at her feet and felt nothing but sympathy.  It looked painful.

"Baby, are you sure this is normal?" He asked her.

She nodded as she relaxed a little more.

"I'll go find some anti-bacterial cream," he told her.  Emma didn't argue as she put her earbuds back in to zone out.  She couldn't help but drift off a little as she felt the pain recede.  She was awoken a few minutes later by Lin carefully taking her feet out of the tub and gently wrapping a towel around them.  Emma whimpered as she laid back down on her bed.  Lin gently patted her feet, being careful not to cause her pain.  He sat on her bed, propping her feet up in his lap.  Very carefully, he applied some of the anti-bacterial all over her feet.

"Okay, how do I wrap your feet up?" He asked as he began to unravel the roll of gauze. 

"Make it kind of loose," she told him.  "Just criss cross it."

Lin did as she asked, doing a pretty good job for his first time.  "Need anything else?"

She shook her head.  "I just wanna lay here," she told him.

Lin nodded and then leaned over to kiss her forehead.  "Just yell if you need me," he told her, then closed the door gently behind him.

Lexi was still out with her friend Amber for the afternoon.  Lin and Vanessa were glad to hear that she had actually made a good friend.  They were planning to spend most of the afternoon at the skateboarding park.  Amber had brought a spare skateboard and helmet so she could start teaching Alexis.

Down at the skatepark, Lexi had gotten used to falling on her butt, and quite often.  As the days had gone by, she'd started to work up some more courage.  She was up to simply riding down the ramps and was working on her ollie.  The other kids she was meeting at the skatepark were her people.  They were of a similar mindset.  Lexi was taking to skateboarding quickly, since she was already pretty athletic.  It seemed she was starting to find her niche.

That night, she burst through the front door, excited after a full afternoon as skating.  Lin was busy making dinner when she arrived, skateboard in hand. 

"Lin, watch this!" She said proudly, then put the skateboard down and attempted to perform an ollie.  Her feet got a bit jumbled the first time, and she tried again and succeeded.

"Nice," he told her, rinsing off some green beans in the sink.  "But not in the house, please.  You're gonna scratch up the floor."

"Okay," she said as she picked up the board.  "Can I get my own board?"

"I don't see why not," he told her.  If she'd found something where she was making friends, he was all for it.  "We can go to the store this weekend and pick one out."

"Can Amber come?  She knows all the best brands."

"Sure," he said.  "I'd like to meet her."

Lexi didn't let him forget his promise, and so on Saturday they picked up Amber from her apartment and went to a local sporting goods store.  The girls were chatting away, watching Youtube videos of some famous female skateboarders on Amber's phone.  Of course Amber had a phone.

"So Amber, are you going into 7th grade too?" Lin asked her, looking into the rearview mirror.

"As long as I pass summer school," she commented.

"Do you have siblings?"

"No, I'm an only child," she told him.  "I mean, I'm pretty much perfect so my parents decided they should stop at one."

Lin chuckled.  "Is that right?"

Soon they arrived at the sporting goods store and Amber showed off her expertise.  She told Lexi to stay away from certain brands and models, and pointed out a few good starter boards.  About 15 minutes later, Lexi had picked out her first board.  They bought a new helmet and elbow and knee pads as well.  After Lin paid, the girls requested they go straight to the skate park.

Lin agreed, curious to see them in action.  He sat off to the side as he watched them skate around and do tricks.  Lexi seemed to be catching on quite quickly.  She took a couple of bad falls, but she brushed them off.  As a tomboy, she wasn't about to let a fall get to her.

The girls would have skated for hours, but Lin called them back for dinner time.  Reluctantly, they left and picked up pizza on the way home.  It was decided that Amber would spend the night and they'd skateboard again in the morning.

Vanessa and Lin poured themselves some wine that evening, the sounds of Amber and Alexis giggling in her bedroom.

"I'm so glad she's found someone she likes," Vanessa commented, taking a sip of wine.

"Me too," Lin said.  "She hasn't been this happy since she's been with us."

The girls burst in and out of the bedroom, messing around with hairstyles and ridiculous outfits.  Lexi found a fake mustache and applied it, dressed in jean shorts and a t-shirt.

She walked out to where Lin and Vanessa sat in the living room, doing a silly dance.

"Hi, I'm Lin-Manuel Miranda," she said, deepening her voice.  "I do ridiculous dances and sing on the subway!"

Lin furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms as she shook her butt around and snapped her fingers.  Amber came out with a Hamilton shirt on, her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"I think I'm the best rapper in the world.

I got shot by Aaron Burr.

I live in Washington Heights

And I think Donald Trump bites

You down for some periscoping?

If I ain't in t-shirts and jeans, I'm mopin'!

Oh, did I mention I'm from Washington Heights?
  Everywhere else in the country bites."

She crossed her arms over her body as Vanessa and Lin clapped, laughing.

"I am not that obsessed with Washington Heights," he argued and stood up.  And my silly dances are more like this.  Lin broke out in the most ridiculous dance he could muster up, cracking the girls up.  They joined in and Vanessa couldn't help but start to record it on her phone.  Lin then grabbed Lexi and started giving her a noogie on her head, causing her to scream in protest.

"How dare you mock, me child!" He pretended to offended.  The girls laughed, cheeks hurting, and ran back to Lexi's room.

Emma was at Alex's house, which was getting pretty typical on a Saturday night.  Vanessa had taken her to the doctor the previous week and gotten a prescription for birth control, which she didn't mention to Lin.  If he knew, he probably wouldn't let her out of the house.  It was past 11:00, and Emma still hadn't arrived home.  Lin sent her a reminder text.

Curfew's 11:00

Emma read Lin's text and sighed.  They were on the couch at Alex's house, watching a movie with his parents.  Tonight, they hadn't been able to get any privacy.  They were hoping Alex's parents would go to bed soon so they could have some alone time.

Emma quickly thumbed out a response.

                Half an hour more?

                Okay but have Alex walk you home

Half an hour later, Alex's parents still hadn't gone to bed, so the two lovebirds decided they had to give up for the evening.  Alex told his parents he would walk Emma home.  They walked together, hand in hand, down the street, still buzzing with activity.  Alex walked his girlfriend up the stairs and they stopped at her front door.  Emma leaned back against the door and pulled Alex to her for a few kisses.  It was just starting to get good when the front door opened, causing Emma to fall backwards and onto the floor.  Lin stepped back, eyeing the couple.

"I thought I heard something," he observed as they laughed and pushed themselves up off the floor.  Alex avoided eye contact with Lin as he straightened out his clothing.

"Uh, well good night, Em.  Mr. Miranda," he waved and quickly ducked out.

"Bye," Lin shut the door and locked it behind him.

"Couldn't find a better place to make out?" He teased his daughter as he began shutting off the house lights.

"Ha ha," Emma deadpanned, heading straight for her room, embarrassed.  Lin took great pride in embarrassing his daughters.  It was part of his job.

___

On Monday, Emma was back at ABT again, trying to get on Mrs. Petrov's good side, but it didn't seem to be happening.  At least a couple of the other girls were on her warpath today as well.  For the first time, Emma felt herself not enjoying ballet, and she didn't like that one bit.  She kept watching the clock, looking forward to break time and lunch time.  It was only 10 minutes until noon, lunch time, and Emma was just hoping to make it through without being noticed.  No such luck.

"Emma, come to the center," Mrs. Petrov pointed to the middle of the room.

Emma gulped a little and made her way to the center as all eyes in the room shifted to her.

"Let's see your pirouettes," she said.  "Do five."

Five was a tall order.  She positioned herself in fifth positions, slipped into a demi-plie, and pulled her arms back to the left.  As hard as she tried, she could only get through three before her body could no longer continue with the spin.  She fell out, dropping her arms.

"Again," Mrs. Petrov said, clapping her hands.

Emma wanted nothing more than to crawl under the floor boards and hide.  Why was she getting all this negative attention?  Emma obeyed, again starting in 5th.  She made it to four rotations this time.  Thankfully, Mrs. Petrov let her stop.

"Okay, 60 minutes for lunch.  Not one minute late!" She said, clapping her hands.  She was obsessed with clapping.

Emma was so humiliated once again.  She picked up her bag and quickly threw her pointe shoes away.  Once she'd gotten on her track pants and shoes, she rushed out of the studio, not able to stay for another minute.  Biting back tears, she decided to head for home instead of joining the other girls at lunch.

Lin was surprised to hear the door open mid-day.  Emma walked in looking upset.

"I quit!" She declared, throwing her bag down on the floor.  Emma walked to the refrigerator and roughly began pulling out food for a sandwich.  Lin pushed himself up from the floor where he was with Sebastian and wandered over to the kitchen.

"What happened?" He asked, leaning on one of the bar stools.

"Mrs. Petrov hates me," she said, pulling open a drawer looking for a knife.  "Today she made me do 5 pirouettes.  Five!  And she didn't make anyone else do it.  She just wants to pick on me."

"Em, you worked so hard to get into this intensive," Lin pointed out.  "Are you sure you want to throw it away so easily just because of one tough teacher?"

Emma stopped and huffed out.  "Today, I realized I wasn't enjoying ballet for the first time in my life.  I don't want to feel that way."

Lin stroked his goatee, trying to figure out the right words to say.  She might not realize it at the moment because she was so upset, but he was pretty sure she would regret quitting.  "Have you tried talking to her?"

Emma shook her head and spread some mayonnaise on her bread.  "She's impossible."

Lin stood up and crossed his arms.  "So what happens if you just decide not to go back?  How will you feel about that next month?"

She shrugged, considering.  "I might be happier, not being humiliated every day in front of 14 other girls."

"Maybe," he agreed.  "But what if you stick it out?"

"I might be a better dancer," she admitted.  "And I might be all proud and stuff."

"Can you think how good it would feel to have gotten through this?  To face something so hard and come out on top?"

Emma hated to admit he was right.

"Plus, it's only 3 more weeks.  It's not forever," he pointed out.  "Mrs. Petrov isn't your permanent dance teacher."

"True," she said as she finished putting her sandwich together.

"Come relax with me and the boys, then head back," Lin suggested.  "I think you can get through it."

Emma spent the next 45 minutes sitting on the couch or the floor, watching cartoons and playing superhero.  She got some baby cuddles in as well before deciding she would indeed go back to the studio.  She'd worked so hard to get in; it would be a shame to give it up.

As Emma reached ABT just before 1:00, she took a deep breath and reminded herself that she was here because she had earned it.  She was good.  So what if she wasn't perfect?  Emma walked into the studio, telling herself she was going to find the joy this afternoon.  As she laced up her pointe shoes, Mrs. Petrov approached her.

"Emma, come see me in the office," she told her, and Emma felt a pit in her stomach.  Was she going to kick her out of the program?  Tell her the judges had made a giant mistake in selecting her?  Emma felt a sense of dread as she followed Mrs. Petrov to the office.  The door was closed behind them.

"Emma, I need to talk with you," she began.  "You probably think I'm picking on you, don't you?"

Emma looked away and nodded a little bit.

"It's because you're the best," Mrs. Petrov said bluntly.  "I see a lot of promise in you, Emma, so I am trying to challenge you.  Do you think I would have asked the other girls to do 5 pirouettes?"

Emma thought for a moment and then responded, "No?"

"The other girls are not there," she said.  "And neither are you, but I knew you had several good ones in you.  So if I am picking on you in the next two weeks, know it's because I'm trying to challenge you.  Don't give up."

She couldn't help but smile at the compliment.  She'd been thinking all along that Mrs. Petrov hated her and thought she was a failure, but really she thought very highly of her.  Emma felt a renewed sense of purpose, and a weight lifted off her shoulders.  She walked back into the studio with her head high.

____

Meanwhile, across town, Amber and Alexis were spinning around on the subway poles, being ridiculous.  They'd decided to try out a new skateboard park across town and they were in high spirits.  Amber seemed to bring out Alexis's silly side – they were full of fun, constantly doing ridiculous dances, recording videos on Amber's iPhone, and doing impressions.  They'd quickly become best friends.

"There's a skateboard competition on Saturday," Amber told Lexi as they reached their stop.  "We should go.  It's professionals.  Their tricks are nuts."

Lexi readily agreed, wanting to learn as much as she could.  Soon, they reached the skateboarding park and jumped right in.  Things were going great until Lexi slammed head-on into another skateboarder; one that had at least a foot in height and 50 pounds in weight on her.  Lexi fell backwards, scratching up her forearm and scraping her chin.  She stayed down, feeling pain sear through her body.  Amber helped her up and found her a seat on a nearby bench.

"Girl, you tanked hard," Amber said proudly, patting her friend on the back.  "That was amazing."

"I don't feel so good," Lexi admitted, examining her arm, seeing it was bleeding.  Her chin stung.

"Yeah, let's get you home," Amber admitted.  She helped her friend to the subway and they rode it back to the Mirandas'.  When they reached the house, Amber announced her friend with a grand entrance.

"Behold!" She said, holding out her arm to her friend.  "Alexis Miranda, who tanked the most brilliantly today at Pier 62!"

Lin rolled his eyes and made his way over to the girls.  He was used to having Amber around quite often now.  The kid regularly stayed for dinner.

"Yikes, Lex," he commented.  "Let me go get the first aid kit."

Lin fetched the kit from the bathroom while Lexi began to rinse off her arm in the kitchen sink.  They sat down at the kitchen table and Lin helped Lexi clean her wounds and apply band-aids as Amber rambled on about the skate park near midtown.

"Midtown, huh?" Lin asked as he picked up all the wrappers.  "Did you have to take the subway to get there?"

"Yeah, we took the D and the A train," Amber said.

"I see," Lin said, throwing the trash away.  "Lexi knows she's not supposed to ride the subway alone," he gave Lexi a warning look.  "We talked about this last week."

"You don't let her ride the subway alone?!" Amber asked, exasperated.  "Jeez, you guys are strict."

Lexi felt a bit better hearing her friend defend her, but knew not to start to argue with Lin.

"Thank you for that, Amber," he told her.  "I think it's about time for you to head home."

Amber pushed herself up and sighed.  "Okay, Mr. M.," she said, giving him a salute.  "I'll see you soon!"

Lin smiled and rolled his eyes a bit, patting the girl on the shoulder as she headed towards the door.  Lexi carefully pushed herself up from her chair, knowing she was probably in trouble, trying to escape to her room.  Lin flopped a kitchen towel over his shoulder as he started to get dinner started.

"Uh, uh," he saw Lexi trying to make a run for it.  "Park it."

Lexi sunk back into her chair and rested her head on one of her hands.  "I'm sorry!" she quickly apologized.

"Sorry's not good enough this time," he told her.  "We talked about this last week, and you were reminded that you weren't allowed to ride the subway alone.  And yet, you did it again.  Why's that?"

"Because Amber wanted to go to Pier 62!" Lexi replied.

"And do you have to do everything Amber says?" He asked as he got a few things out of the refrigerator.

"Noooo..." she said with a bit of attitude.

"So sounds like this time you need a consequence," he decided.  "What do you think sounds fair?"

"A cell phone?"

Lin was not amused.  "Try again."

"No skateboarding for a day?"

"For the rest of the week and the weekend," he decided.  "And hand over your Metro card."

"But what if I need it for an emergency?!"

"Well, all you'll be doing for the next few days is going to school down the block and coming home, which is less than one subway stop, so I'm not too worried.  Hand it over."

Lexi reluctantly stood up and dug around in her pocket, pulling out a slightly mangled Metro Card.  Lin pocketed it in his jeans. 

"Thank you," he told her.  "You can stay in your room until dinner."

Lexi made a dramatic show of walking back to her bedroom.  Lin shook his head and smirked a little.  She was really a pretty good kid, but every once in a while she messed up, like most kids did.  When she rejoined the family for dinner, she was still in good spirits, taking everything in stride.

___

The next day in the late afternoon, Lin arrived home with the boys after an afternoon of errands and appointments.  He set Sebastian loose with his toys in the living room and set Francisco down for a nap.  The laundry had been piling up so he decided to do a couple loads.  When he opened the washer and dryer, he found a dry load from the previous day had been forgotten.  He put it on fluff and then took the clothes out a few minutes later, folding them neatly.  It was mostly the girls' stuff, so he packed them up in a laundry basket and made his way down the hallway to drop the clothes off in their bedrooms. 

He came to Lexi's room first.  Predictably, her room was an absolute mess, as usual.  He tried not to look around too much and made a mental note to have her pick up later.  Then, he walked a few steps down to Emma's room and pushed the door open, thinking she wasn't home.  What he found was not what he expected.

Emma and Alex were on her bed, partially unclothed, in a very compromising position.  The two teenagers gasped and immediately began to cover up as Lin quickly closed the door.  Lin let the clothes drop to the floor and froze for a moment.  That was something he could have lived without seeing.  He marched back to the living room, away from the situation.  Lin knew Emma was a teenager with raging hormones, but he didn't want to believe she would already be sexually active.

He took a seat on the couch, expecting that soon Alex would be making his exit.  About five minutes later, the bedroom door quietly opened and Alex began to walk as quietly as he could towards the door.  He felt he owed Lin an apology.

"Uhhh...sorry about that Mr. Miranda," he meekly apologized, not looking at him.

"Bye, Alex," he told him simply, not really wanting to have a conversation.  Lin knew both he and Emma needed some space.  Emma was probably absolutely mortified.

About half an hour later, the teenager timidly made her entrance.  She knew she couldn't just go on like nothing had happened.  It was way too big of an elephant in the room to be ignored.  Emma grabbed herself a glass of water and sat on one of the other couches.

"Sorry, Lin," she told him meekly, her face still feeling flushed with embarrassment. 

Lin nodded.  "I've told you before I don't want you alone with Alex in this house," he told her.  "I can't believe you'd betray my trust like that again.  And you're way too young to be doing that."

Emma sighed in frustration.  "I'm sorry.  It's hard to find privacy.  And I'm 16.  Did you really think Alex and I weren't doing anything after dating for three months?"

"I'm just disappointed," he told her.  "I thought you were more responsible than that."

"I am responsible!" she argued, raising her voice.  "I'm sorry you don't like that I'm sexually active, but it's a normal thing for a teenager to do.  I'm in a committed relationship and we're being safe."

Lin rubbed his forehead, not really wanting to have this conversation.   "Well, at least there's that," he commented dismissively.  "I think you need to take a break with Alex."

Emma looked confused.  "Why?"

"You're getting way too serious," he told her.

"Lin, that's ridiculous," she told him flat out.  "You're just mad because we're having sex."

"You're too young," he said again.

Emma stood up, frustrated by the situation.  "I'm still seeing Alex and you can't stop me," she told him as she stormed off to her room.

___

Later that night after dinner Lin and Vanessa cleared up the dinner dishes together.  Vanessa had gotten home just before dinner and wasn't aware of what had gone down earlier.  She could feel some tension between Lin and Emma, but wasn't sure what it was about.  It seemed they could often be at odds with each other.

"Is something up with Emma?" She asked as she loaded a plate in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, I walked in on her and Alex having sex in her bedroom," he told her.

Vanessa sighed, disappointed to hear they'd been having sex in the house.  "I told her she couldn't be doing that here."

Lin looked at his wife in confusion.  "You knew about it?"

Vanessa realized Lin might be upset with her about this.  "Yes," she replied calmly.  "She came to me a few weeks ago wanting to go on birth control.  I took her to the doctor."

Lin let out an exasperated breath.  "You took her to get birth control?  So, you're actually encouraging her to be sexually active?  At sixteen?"

"Lin, I'm trying to make sure they're being safe," she corrected him.  "It's perfectly normal for teenagers to have sex in a committed relationship.  They'd been using condoms but Emma wanted some extra protection."

"That makes me feel so much better," he retorted.  "I cannot believe you kept this from me."

Vanessa sighed.  "I'm sorry, but I didn't think you'd want to know about it."

"I'd rather have heard about it from you rather than walking in on them," he said.

"She asked me not to tell you," Vanessa explained.

"Yeah, because she knew I'd say no," Lin said, feeling himself getting angrier.  He and his wife didn't fight often, but he couldn't stand being kept in the dark on things.

"Lin, you're being unreasonable," Vanessa told him, putting her hands on her hips.

"Am I?" He asked, raising his voice.  "It's unreasonable for me to think my 16 year old daughter shouldn't be alone in our house having sex?"

Vanessa was at her wit's end.  She put one last plate in the dishwasher, dried her hands, then walked away, picking up Francisco on the way out.

Lin and Vanessa avoided each other for the rest of the night, only speaking to each other when necessary.  Emma had overheard their argument and felt terrible.  When it was time for bed, Vanessa stopped by Emma's bedroom to reassure her.

"Hi, Em," she commented, closing the door.

"Hey," Emma said.  "I'm so sorry I made you and Lin fight."

"It's not your fault," Vanessa said as she sat on her bed.  "I think he's just more shocked than anything.  He'll come around."

"He told me I needed to take a break from Alex," Emma went on.  "I'm not going to do that."

"I'll talk to him," Vanessa reassured her.  "But I am disappointed that you were in the house alone.  I told you before I didn't want anything going on in this house."

Emma sighed and nodded.  "Sorry," she said meekly.  "It won't happen again."

"Good," Vanessa said.  "Get a good night sleep."

Vanessa joined her husband in bed a few minutes later.  He continued reading his book, not greeting or acknowledging her in any way.

"How long are you going to give me the cold shoulder," she asked him.

Lin sighed and put his book down, touching his fingers to the bridge of his nose.  "I don't like the idea of Emma being sexually active.  She's still just a kid."

"I know," she said.  "But it was going to happen eventually and the important thing is that they're being safe.  I think it was incredibly responsible of her to come to me and ask for birth control."

Lin let out a long breath, knowing his wife was right.  He'd known Emma since she was a baby and she still seemed like a little girl to him.  She did ballet; she shouldn't be old enough to be making those kinds of decisions.

"I know it was embarrassing and shocking," she acknowledged.  "But Emma did nothing wrong except bringing him to the house alone.  I've already talked to her about that and she promised not to let that happen again."

Lin just laid there, not knowing what to say.

"She's still your daughter," Vanessa said.  "And she still needs you.  Don't let this get in the way of that."

Vanessa rolled over and turned off the lights, ending the conversation.  Lin laid there for a few more minutes, pondering the situation.  It might be weird for a few days, but he needed to give Emma the space and respect she needed.  She was growing into a young woman, and he had to acknowledge that.  Not that he liked it.

Finally, Lin turned over and scooched his body closer to his wife's and wrapped an arm around her.  He planted a sweet kiss below her ear, and she gently rubbed his hand resting on her belly.  They were okay.

A/N: I live for stars, stars, stars...I live for the staa-ars... (and the comments!)

Thanks for reading!