diff --git a/core/server/api/endpoints/comments-comments.js b/core/server/api/endpoints/comments-comments.js
index adb3497042..443a061de1 100644
--- a/core/server/api/endpoints/comments-comments.js
+++ b/core/server/api/endpoints/comments-comments.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const Promise = require('bluebird');
 const tpl = require('@tryghost/tpl');
 const errors = require('@tryghost/errors');
 const models = require('../../models');
-const ALLOWED_INCLUDES = ['post', 'member'];
+const ALLOWED_INCLUDES = ['post', 'member', 'likes'];
 const UNSAFE_ATTRS = ['status'];
 
 const messages = {
diff --git a/core/server/api/endpoints/utils/serializers/output/mappers/comments.js b/core/server/api/endpoints/utils/serializers/output/mappers/comments.js
index b971058a4a..3d859f1e4e 100644
--- a/core/server/api/endpoints/utils/serializers/output/mappers/comments.js
+++ b/core/server/api/endpoints/utils/serializers/output/mappers/comments.js
@@ -26,5 +26,14 @@ module.exports = (model, frame) => {
         response.member = null;
     }
 
+    if (jsonModel.likes) {
+        response.likes_count = jsonModel.likes.length;
+    } else {
+        response.likes_count = 0;
+    }
+
+    // todo
+    response.liked = false;
+
     return response;
 };
diff --git a/core/server/models/comment.js b/core/server/models/comment.js
index 69a07cabab..338209c76b 100644
--- a/core/server/models/comment.js
+++ b/core/server/models/comment.js
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ const Comment = ghostBookshelf.Model.extend({
         return this.belongsTo('Comment', 'parent_id');
     },
 
+    likes() {
+        return this.hasMany('CommentLike', 'comment_id');
+    },
+
     emitChange: function emitChange(event, options) {
         const eventToTrigger = 'comment' + '.' + event;
         ghostBookshelf.Model.prototype.emitChange.bind(this)(this, eventToTrigger, options);
@@ -100,6 +104,21 @@ const Comment = ghostBookshelf.Model.extend({
         }
 
         return hasMemberPermission;
+    },
+
+    /**
+     * We have to ensure consistency. If you listen on model events (e.g. `member.added`), you can expect that you always
+     * receive all fields including relations. Otherwise you can't rely on a consistent flow. And we want to avoid
+     * that event listeners have to re-fetch a resource. This function is used in the context of inserting
+     * and updating resources. We won't return the relations by default for now.
+     */
+    defaultRelations: function defaultRelations(methodName, options) {
+        // @todo: the default relations are not working for 'add' when we add it below
+        if (['findAll', 'findPage', 'edit'].indexOf(methodName) !== -1) {
+            options.withRelated = _.union(['member', 'likes'], options.withRelated || []);
+        }
+
+        return options;
     }
 });
 
diff --git a/test/e2e-api/members-comments/__snapshots__/comments.test.js.snap b/test/e2e-api/members-comments/__snapshots__/comments.test.js.snap
index c931c36fbb..0a5b72ab78 100644
--- a/test/e2e-api/members-comments/__snapshots__/comments.test.js.snap
+++ b/test/e2e-api/members-comments/__snapshots__/comments.test.js.snap
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Object {
       "edited_at": null,
       "html": "<p>First.</p>",
       "id": StringMatching /\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{24\\}/,
+      "liked": Any<Boolean>,
+      "likes_count": Any<Number>,
       "member": Object {
         "avatar_image": null,
         "bio": null,
@@ -21,6 +23,8 @@ Object {
       "edited_at": null,
       "html": "<p>Really original</p>",
       "id": StringMatching /\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{24\\}/,
+      "liked": Any<Boolean>,
+      "likes_count": Any<Number>,
       "member": Object {
         "avatar_image": null,
         "bio": null,
@@ -34,6 +38,8 @@ Object {
       "edited_at": null,
       "html": "This is a message",
       "id": StringMatching /\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{24\\}/,
+      "liked": Any<Boolean>,
+      "likes_count": Any<Number>,
       "member": Object {
         "avatar_image": null,
         "bio": null,
@@ -60,7 +66,7 @@ exports[`Comments API when authenticated Can browse all comments of a post 2: [h
 Object {
   "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
   "cache-control": "no-cache, private, no-store, must-revalidate, max-stale=0, post-check=0, pre-check=0",
-  "content-length": "782",
+  "content-length": "872",
   "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
   "etag": StringMatching /\\(\\?:W\\\\/\\)\\?"\\(\\?:\\[ !#-\\\\x7E\\\\x80-\\\\xFF\\]\\*\\|\\\\r\\\\n\\[\\\\t \\]\\|\\\\\\\\\\.\\)\\*"/,
   "vary": "Accept-Encoding",
@@ -76,6 +82,8 @@ Object {
       "edited_at": null,
       "html": "This is a message",
       "id": StringMatching /\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{24\\}/,
+      "liked": false,
+      "likes_count": 0,
       "member": null,
       "status": "published",
     },
@@ -87,7 +95,7 @@ exports[`Comments API when authenticated Can comment on a post 2: [headers] 1`]
 Object {
   "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
   "cache-control": "no-cache, private, no-store, must-revalidate, max-stale=0, post-check=0, pre-check=0",
-  "content-length": "167",
+  "content-length": "197",
   "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
   "etag": StringMatching /\\(\\?:W\\\\/\\)\\?"\\(\\?:\\[ !#-\\\\x7E\\\\x80-\\\\xFF\\]\\*\\|\\\\r\\\\n\\[\\\\t \\]\\|\\\\\\\\\\.\\)\\*"/,
   "location": StringMatching /https\\?:\\\\/\\\\/\\.\\*\\?\\\\/comments\\\\/\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{24\\}\\\\//,
diff --git a/test/e2e-api/members-comments/comments.test.js b/test/e2e-api/members-comments/comments.test.js
index 45477f951c..cd465fc9a8 100644
--- a/test/e2e-api/members-comments/comments.test.js
+++ b/test/e2e-api/members-comments/comments.test.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const {agentProvider, mockManager, fixtureManager, matchers} = require('../../utils/e2e-framework');
-const {anyEtag, anyObjectId, anyLocationFor, anyISODateTime, anyUuid} = matchers;
+const {anyEtag, anyObjectId, anyLocationFor, anyISODateTime, anyUuid, anyNumber, anyBoolean} = matchers;
 
 let membersAgent, membersService, postId, commentId;
 
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ const commentMatcherWithMember = {
     created_at: anyISODateTime,
     member: {
         id: anyObjectId
-    }
+    },
+    likes_count: anyNumber,
+    liked: anyBoolean
 };
 
 describe('Comments API', function () {
@@ -58,8 +60,8 @@ describe('Comments API', function () {
         });
 
         it('Can browse all comments of a post', async function () {
-            await membersAgent
-                .get(`/api/comments/?filter=post_id:${postId}&include=member`)
+            const {body} = await membersAgent
+                .get(`/api/comments/?filter=post_id:${postId}`)
                 .expectStatus(200)
                 .matchHeaderSnapshot({
                     etag: anyEtag
diff --git a/test/utils/e2e-framework.js b/test/utils/e2e-framework.js
index a023b1e05c..5231ccae4f 100644
--- a/test/utils/e2e-framework.js
+++ b/test/utils/e2e-framework.js
@@ -313,6 +313,7 @@ module.exports = {
         }
     },
     matchers: {
+        anyBoolean: any(Boolean),
         anyString: any(String),
         anyArray: any(Array),
         anyNumber: any(Number),