Author's Note: Written before 1x08, so things are bound to be wrong once the episode airs. This is all just speculation obviously, written to amuse myself because there is an utter lack of this pairing. I wrote this pretty fast, so any mistakes are mine. I don't own anything, of course.
Lila Stangard should be the kind of girl Rebecca despises. The first time Rebecca lays eyes on Lila Stangard, she knows she falls into a category. People adore her because she's nice – or at least, she pretends to be. To everyone. They throw themselves at her feet, and Rebecca hates it. She hates the idiots that follow Lila Stangard everywhere she goes and she hates Lila Stangard.
Well, before she has anything to do with Lila Stangard.
The first time Rebecca talks to Lila Stangard, she knows she's screwed. Rebecca convinces herself that Lila Stangard is just really good at manipulating people. That's why she feels…Rebecca can't pin down one word exactly. Nervous? Flustered? Lila Stangard makes it incredibly hard for Rebecca to come up with her usual sarcastic remarks. She seems so genuinely nice, it's hard not to be nice back.
Their first conversation is about something stupid, of course. Lila Stangard sits at the bar, and she smiles and laughs with her friends while Rebecca works. Listening to them blab on about such unimportant shit makes Rebecca want to beat her head against the bar. Rebecca watches Lila Stangard interact with her friends, and she's so damn perfect, it's impossible. Lila Stangard absolutely befuddles Rebecca.
But nobody's truly perfect. Lila Stangard gets a little overenthusiastic and flings her arms out, knocking a full bottle of beer over. The glass shatters, and the beer runs off the bar in both directions. Rebecca sighs and grabs a towel, because of course she gets to clean up Lila Stangard's mess.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," Lila Stangard cries. Her friends laugh and poke fun at her, but she appears to be genuinely concerned about the mess she's made. "I'm such a klutz," Lila Stangard continues, as if she thinks Rebecca actually cares. "You shouldn't have to clean up my mess."
She's right. Rebecca shouldn't have to clean up the mess she didn't make, but she mutters, "It's fine," anyway and wipes up the beer. She runs the towel down the bar in front of Lila Stangard, and to Rebecca's surprise, Lila Stangard's hand shoots out and latches onto her wrist, halting her movement.
"Seriously. Let me clean it up," Lila Stangard says with a small, apologetic smile. Rebecca forces herself to drop the cloth and yanks her hand back as if she'd been burned. Lila Stangard doesn't seem to notice. She finishes Rebecca's job and gives the towel back. "I'm Lila, by the way," she says. "Lila Stangard."
I know who you are Rebecca thinks. Everyone does. "Rebecca," she replies. "Rebecca Sutter."
Lila smiles. "It's nice to meet you," she says, and Rebecca almost believes her. Lila, predictably, turns back to her friends, and Rebecca snatches the beer dampened towel off the bar and gets the hell away from Lila.
X
For whatever reason, Lila seeks Rebecca out. It's like she can't sense that Rebecca wants nothing to do with her. She shows up at the bar more often. Typically she'll bring someone with her, but her eyes usually follow Rebecca around. It sets Rebecca on edge (not that she'd ever admit it to anyone) and she does her best to avoid meeting Lila's eyes. Lila rarely speaks to Rebecca – just to order drinks – but the fifth time she shows up after the beer spilling incident (yes, Rebecca counts for some unfathomable reason) Lila's alone.
"Hey. Rebecca, right?" Lila says.
"Yeah. Why?"
Lila shrugs. "I mean, I kinda spilled beer on you."
"Don't worry about it. Not a big deal. What do you want?"
"To talk to you," Lila says, folding her hands together on the bar.
"No, what do you want to drink?" Rebecca revises, rolling her eyes at the girl.
Lila ignores her. "I think we could be friends."
Rebecca's taken aback by the girl's bluntness. Her eyes narrow. "What'd I ever do to you?" Rebecca blurts. Lila laughs and reaches out to take hold of Rebecca's hand. Rebecca's heart hammers in her throat and she hates it. She hates Lila.
But she doesn't. She knows she's lying to herself. So when Lila says she wants to deal – and she knows Rebecca's a drug dealer, so no point in lying – Rebecca lets her.
X
Lila Stangard, against all odds, manages to drag Rebecca Sutter into her life. First by dealing drugs, yeah, but Lila's also too nice and too happy and too warm –
Rebecca shouldn't know that last thing. But there they are, lying in bed together with Lila curled up at Rebecca's side. She's going on about the married man she's been sleeping with, as if being this close to Lila wasn't torture enough. (Not that Lila's aware of how Rebecca's feeling. She's way too oblivious and wrapped up with her problems with her celibate boyfriend and "Mr. Darcy" as she's dubbed Mr. Married Man.)
But Rebecca listens. She plays the role of the friend that Lila so desperately needs because all of her other friends are fake. Fake, just like Rebecca assumed Lila was. Rebecca was wrong – another thing she won't admit. In fact, the list of things Rebecca can admit is much shorter than the list of things she can't.
Things Rebecca Sutter Can Admit:
Lila Stangard is not the most moral person she's ever met, and Rebecca doesn't care.
Lila Stangard could ask Rebecca to murder someone and she'd do it, no questions asked.
Rebecca Sutter has fallen for the girl she knows she should despise.
X
Lila can only hide her fling with "Mr. Darcy" from Griffin for so long. The second he finds out, Lila flees to the only person she trusts. That person happens to be Rebecca Sutter.
It's two a.m. and Rebecca fell asleep literally five minutes ago, but someone's pounding relentlessly on her door. Rebecca abandons the warmth of her bed and flicks the light on, nearly blinding herself. She fumbles with the locks on the door, and the second she pulls the door open, a girl flings herself at Rebecca.
Not a girl.
Lila Stangard.
Rebecca knows immediately just by the scent of the perfume she's wearing. So now Rebecca's holding a sobbing mess of a girl at two a.m. and she just wanted to get some damn sleep for once. She has no idea what happened, but she strokes Lila's hair and murmurs, "It'll be okay," anyway.
Lila sobs into Rebecca's neck for a good five minutes before she pulls it together. Her tears soak into Rebecca's shirt, and Rebecca is mildly mortified with the whole situation. So Rebecca doesn't interrogate Lila. She doesn't ask any question pertaining to what might have happened. Rebecca asks Lila Stangard two questions that night.
"Are you okay?"
Lila swallows and lifts her head from Rebecca's shoulder. Her eyes still swim in tears, and her cheeks are tearstained, but she whispers, "Yes." They both know she's lying, but for some reason, Rebecca doesn't push her.
"Do you want to stay here?" Rebecca asks, and she bites the inside of her cheek. She prepares for disappointment; she's certain Lila's about to say no and go running to Griffin or Mr. Darcy.
"Yes," Lila says, and she swipes the tears away before Rebecca has the chance to even consider doing so.
Rebecca doesn't miss the way Lila locks the door. Carefully, as if she makes a mistake it'll cost her. Lila shuts the light off, kicks her shoes to the side, and slides out of her jacket. Rebecca settles back into bed, ready to drift off and dream of everything that will never happen between her and Lila Stangard.
Lila disappears into the bathroom, and she doesn't come out for a good ten minutes. When she finally emerges, she tosses something else on top of her jacket. Rebecca lifts her head in confusion, unable to see much of anything in the dark, and Lila slips into the bed beside Rebecca. Lila had ditched her jeans (understandable – jeans aren't the most comfortable article of clothing to sleep in) which Rebecca finds when Lila's bare legs mold against her own.
Rebecca wants to ask what the hell Lila thinks she's doing. Wants to but never gets to. She can't make her mouth form words. She can just lie there with her heart pounding painfully in her chest as Lila's arm secures itself across Rebecca's stomach.
Rebecca doesn't sleep anymore that night.
X
She wants to strangle Griffin O'Reilly. Rebecca wants to wrap her hands around Griffin O'Reilly's thick neck and kill him with her bare hands.
"She's gone!" Rebecca screams, slapping him so hard he stumbles backward into Rebecca's dresser and sees stars. "She's gone you absolute fucking monster!" Rebecca spits, and she gets her hands around his neck, but he's the quarterback of the football team and is at least twice as strong as Rebecca. He pries her hands off, holding her at a distance as the side of his face stings, a hand shaped mark left behind.
"You think I caused this?" Griffin shouts. "I loved her!"
Rebecca bites her tongue, otherwise it's all going to come spilling out to Lila's boyfriend. The boyfriend she's been cheating on after making a goddamn virginity pact with him. The boyfriend she'd been planning to dump if she ever got Mr. Fucking Darcy to leave his wife for her. So Rebecca holds in the well, she didn't love you and the I loved her too, okay?
Instead, Rebecca says, "They're gonna think one of us did it."
"What? Who?"
"The police, you idiot! She's a missing person! They're gonna think we had something to do with it. You're her boyfriend and I'm her –"
"Her what?" Griffin interrupts.
"Friend," Rebecca hisses. "We're both associated with her."
"So you're her friend. Big deal. I'm her boyfriend. They're gonna think I caused this!"
Rebecca remembers the time she punched Billy Hooper in eighth grade and broke her hand, so she refrains from punching Griffin no matter how much she'd like to. "We can't do anything about it now anyway," Rebecca says. "So get the hell out of my apartment and don't come back."
X
"Hey, Rebecca," Lila had said late one night, weeks before her disappearance.
"What?" Rebecca grumbled, rolling onto her back and turning her head towards Lila.
Lila paused, her eyes searching Rebecca's face. "I think I love him."
Not the words Rebecca wanted to hear. "Who?" she asked flatly.
Lila elbowed Rebecca in the ribs – lightly, playfully – and said, "Mr. Darcy, of course."
"He's married."
Lila sighed happily, staring up at the ceiling and hooking her leg around Rebecca's. "Hopefully not for much longer."
X
The last night Rebecca saw Lila Stangard – the last night she spent with her – Lila clung to Rebecca the whole night. Rebecca didn't know for sure if Lila was awake or asleep, but she could feel the rise and fall of Lila's chest against her back. She could feel and hear Lila inhale and exhale. She could imagine what it'd feel like for this to happen every night from then on.
She just couldn't make it happen.
X
Just before sunrise, Lila had woken up, and the crying had started again. Rebecca didn't do crying. She didn't cry and she didn't like people that cried. But she liked Lila. So, fully intending on asking what's wrong now? Rebecca opened her mouth to speak, and Lila answered the question she hadn't yet asked.
"I'm pregnant."
It was dead silent. Rebecca seethed, unable to form any coherent thoughts let alone words, and when she did speak, she surprised herself. "We'll figure something out."
"I never slept with Griffin. It can't be his," Lila whispered.
Rebecca could only repeat, "We'll figure something out."
X
It looks like the only thing Rebecca has to figure out now is how not to get thrown in jail for a crime she didn't – would never, could never – commit.
And Mr. Darcy's wife is going to help her.
I have a few more ideas, so I might make this a two-shot.