A/N: Thank you so much to everyone reviewed so far! I was so worried that no one would read this, so it's reassuring to know there are people out there who are enjoying. It would mean so much to me if you reviewed again this chapter, and you know updates are much faster when people tell me what they think!

Disclaimer: Still do not own.


I guess space, and time,

takes violent things, angry things

And makes them kind


The first few days are the hardest.

They'd made a deal with the DA to make things a little easier for her – they promise to send her to a minimum security correctional facility on Manhattan and the max she will serve is fifteen years, with an opportunity for parole after she serves her minimum sentence. It's better than twenty-five to life, even if she might very well be in her forties when she gets out. If this is what she has to do to own up to her actions, then she'll do it. And so Margaux LeMarchal pleads guilty to the manslaughter of Officer Benjamin Hunter.

The other inmates like to whisper about her. There's a TV in the rec room and they'd seen her on some entertainment news program, apparently. The rich bitch, they call her. "That Frenchie?" One says. "She didn't even have the balls to murder that cop herself. She had to wave her money in someone's face to get them to do it." It's difficult, but she tries to hold her head high – she will endure, like she has before.

On her third day some women corner her in the yard, taunting her. She tries to talk them down, secretly scared they'll get violent, when someone else surprisingly steps in and defends her. A burly blonde woman shoos them away, and her tormentors quickly scatter. The blonde introduces her to her two other friends – a skinny African-American woman with a lip ring, and a short girl with a lot of tattoos. "You're rolling with us now," The blonde says. "No one will mess with you."

With people in her corner, prison becomes a little more bearable. But that doesn't make it good or fun – absolutely not. It's incredibly demeaning, and in her cell she relives every horrible memory over and over again in her head. Nolan showing her those pictures of Ben. Her confession, and subsequently being carted off in a squad car. Reporters asking her why she did it. Having to look Ben's father and brother in the eye in the court room as she admitted to every horrifying thing she had done. She actually starts to pray after one of her friends suggests it, because if there really is a supreme being she hopes this is enough to earn his (or her) forgiveness.

She's been in jail for a couple weeks when she's told she has a visitor. She has no idea who it could be – everyone who'd ever cared about her is long dead. Everyone else surely hates her for what she has done, and she can't blame them. She ruined many more lives than Ben's on her quest for vengeance.

She is escorted to day room and sits down, being told to wait. A few moments later she sees him step through the door and her chest tightens. Jack is the last person she'd been expecting to see. Well, perhaps with the exception of –

She joins his side a moment later. Her lips are pressed into a line and her eyes scan the room until they finally land on her. Margaux shakes her head to herself, in disbelief, as the duo sits across from her, the plastic chairs scraping across the floor. "Emily," She says, before correcting herself. "Amanda. Did you come here to gloat?" It should've could off as snarky, sassy perhaps, but instead her voice is flat – prison will do that to you.

Slowly, Amanda shakes her head. "No. Nolan…Nolan told us that you turned yourself in willingly. And we know that you helped take down White Gold."

"We just wanted to see how you were holding up." Jack adds. "You didn't have to do this to yourself, Margaux."

Margaux laughs to herself bitterly and looks down, averting her eyes. "We all know this is what I deserve. I…I killed a man."

"No, you didn't." Amanda insists, her voice soft. "We all know you never wanted this to happen."

Tears start to pool in the corners of her eyes, but she holds them back. She glances around the day room – only a few other inmates are present, talking to their families, and a few corrections officers watching them like hawks. She doesn't want them to see her cry – she won't let them think they might've possibly broken her. She glances back at her visitors again, trying to get a hold of herself, and she notices something she hasn't before – under the table, they're holding hands.

They don't exchange many pleasantries – the three of them weren't exactly friends before this happened, and they probably never will be. So they just look at each other for a moment, all of them unspeaking.

Amanda breaks the silence. "We just wanted you to know that…that we forgive you." She smiles slightly. "I know – me forgiving people who have wronged me. Crazy."

Margaux actually laughs – the first time she's laughed since she's been here – and she sees Amanda and Jack glance at each other. She can tell that Jack plays a large part in this new forgiving spirit. "Thank you." She says honestly. "That means a lot to me."

The couple gets up to leave, the officer informing them their time is up. Margaux watches them walk out for a moment before she calls after them. "Amanda?" The other woman pauses and turns around, Jack having already been escorted into the hallway and the officer giving them a look that says they have to keep it brief. "Please, take care of Jack. I know I caused him a lot of pain but…he deserves something good in his life. Someone good."

Amanda smiles. "I promise." And Margaux knows that she means it – she may have dated Jack herself, but she knows for certain that the two of them never looked at each other like he and Amanda had just now. They never looked at each other like they were in love.

There was only one man she ever looked at like that, and it wasn't Jack.

Afterwards she is escorted back to her cell. As she walks someone yells a profanity at her, typical stuff. Margaux pauses only for a moment, looking at the other inmate with a pointed gaze of LeMarchal ferocity so strong it silences her immediately. And as she continues on her way, she smiles to herself. It is time she stops wallowing in self-hatred, but work on regaining her old self. The person she was before this whole mess – only better, stronger, kinder. Margaux 2.0, if you will.

Perhaps she is finally becoming someone Daniel and her child can be proud of.