Emily was a grown woman who made grown woman decisions every day. She made her own money, she took care of herself. And Derek too was a grown man capable of standing on his own two feet, and handling the challenges that the world threw at him, like all other adults did.
But at the same time, when it came to experiences in the world. The two of them, especially when compared to their mothers, were impossibly young. It was not a fact that Emily liked to acknowledge, but just because she did not like acknowledging it, that did not make it any less true.
In fact, it made it even more so when Cassandra Haven had finally set the record straight. Admitting that Emily's father had not died of cancer, and that Derek's father had not died of an accidental overdose. That the two of them had instead been involved in an accident that was highly suspicious.