I do not own Legally Blonde, any of the characters, or song lyrics. I only own this story :)

"Elle? Elle! I'm coming in there! Elle!" A muffled voice wakes me. I feel stiff and I ache all over, and my hair is scratching my neck. I probe the nape of my neck with a finger and discover that my hair is all tangled. What happened?

And then I see the purplish bruise on my forearm. From where Callahan pinned my arm down. I sit up slowly, shaking like a leaf, and draw the sheet away from my naked body. I stare at the field of bruises all over my skin, including in places that shouldn't have been touched. And then I vomit.

"ELLE?"

I only then remember the voice coming from outside my door. It sounds positively panicked.

WHAM

The door thumps open, dangling slightly off of its hinges, and Emmett comes barreling in, face red and eyes wide with fear.

He stops dead in his tracks when he sees me sitting up in the bed. His first reaction is to turn bright red and turn around. But then his brain registers the rest of the scene- how my hair was tangled atop my head, how I was bruised all over, and how I was sitting in a puddle of vomit.

"Wha... Elle... Could you... Put the blanket... On?" Emmett stutters breathlessly.

I draw the sheet up slowly, trembling. How will I explain?

"Are you... are you good?"

I nod my head until I remember he can't see me, and then emit a small 'uh-huh'.

He props the door back up and closes it. He turns around slowly, and his eyes widen as he takes in the picture again.

Without any further thought, Emmett rushes towards me and pushes my hair back, stroking my back gently. "Oh my god, Elle, are you okay? Elle, Elle, are you okay?" Emmett's voice is choked.

I don't respond.

Emmett moves to cleaning up the bed, removing the soiled blanket. His fingers stop at the edge of my sheet- the only thing keeping me covered. But it's starting to smell and I'm too emotionally wrecked to care.

"It's okay," I whisper, and pull back the sheet so he can take it.

Emmett looks away as he piles the dirty sheet in his arms, but he sees between my legs through the corner of his eye. I'm bruised there, too. Emmett's jaw get's hard and a muscle jumps in the taught skin. His eyes turn to solid stone and I can see unadulterated rage beneath their black surface.

Emmett's eyes rest on a bruise on my arm. His hands are balled into tight fists under the fabric.

"How-. Who did this to you?" he says through gritted teeth. "Tell me who and I'll kill them, I swear I will, I swear I'll make them pay."

My heart flutters anxiously, and a tear squeezes out of my eye. "No one. Just a drunk. Just a mistake. Just a stranger," I whisper.

Emmett's eyes gleam and he whirls on me, tightly holding my shoulders. He leans his face in, not even caring about my nudity for once.

"Listen to me Elle. You can be safe. Just tell me who, just show me where I can find them and I swear I'll never let them hurt you again. I'll never let anyone hurt you Elle, don't you see?"

He speaks to me with such intensity that I stop breathing.

"Elle!" Emmett pleads, squeezing my shoulders tighter.

Suddenly it's not Emmett who's holding me, it's Callahan, and his fingers are groping my body again. I squeeze my eyes tight and cry out, flinching back from him.

The pressure on my shoulders disappears.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry Elle. Please, please forgive me. Please trust me."

Callahan never apologized, never stopped when I cried out in pain. I open my eyes. It's just Emmett, looking desperately guilty.

"No, I do," I choke out. "I..." I can't do it. I break down and start to sob, and no amount of back rubbing and gentle encouragement from Emmett can get me to stop.

After a while Emmett's shame gets to him again.

"Can you... Do you want to get dressed?"

I shake my head. "You really want me to?" I ask him, sniffling.

"No," he says quickly, then blushes beet red. "I mean, well, if you could, I just... I just didn't want to, you know, make you feel uncomfortable. Because I'm uncomfortable being... Or, sort of... Taking advantage of... But not that I would, you know. I just... I'm uncomfortable with your... With your... Body... " Emmett trails off desperately. His eyes widen. "Not that it's not amazing!" he adds quickly. Emmett snacks himself in the forehead. "Oh god."

I smile faintly at him, and, for his benefit, drape the only clean piece of linen left around me.

Emmett walks over to my bureau and extracts a pink hairbrush. He holds it awkwardly for a few moments but then walks over to me and gently sits down behind me on the bed. His movement is slow and cautious.

He runs the brush through my hair. I let out a sigh. It feels nice. We stay silent, sitting close to each other, closer than we ever have, violating that unspoken boundary we always had. That feels nice too.

I manage to make it all the way through the brushing without any more flashbacks. I run my hands through my silky hair obsessively.

"Thank you," I say.

Emmett shrugs. "You didn't show up at the courthouse. Callahan was already pissed when he got there, so I tried to cover for you, but he wouldn't hear any of it. It was a disaster. We lost the case."

"No!" I feel panic welling up in my chest. "I was supposed to help her!"

Emmett rubs my back again until I calm down. "It's not your fault. It's gonna be okay."

"Not for her."

"I called you twenty times. I thought something horrible had happened to you." He gulps.

"Right."

Emmett's phone rings. "Damn," he mutters as he flips it open. "No, I'm not. Cancel it. I'm sorry, I have another engagement. An urgent personal matter, okay? I know," Emmett runs his hands through his hair, "I know. I'm sorry. There will be other interviews. Just... It's not working out."

I look at him inquisitively. He smiles at me.

"Thank you for the opportunity, anyways. Bye."

"What...?"

"I got an pre-grad interview with Reed Smith. Callahan set it up for me."

"Oh my god, Emmett, that's amazing!" I hug him tightly, feeling a little bit my bubbly self.

Emmett grins. "Yeah. I don't actually think they're interested, though. Just answering old favors."

I stare at Emmett's knee. "Yeah. Professor Callahan can call in a lot of favors, can't he?" enough to put someone in jail. Enough to keep two people apart.

Emmett nods.

Then it finally dawns on me. "Wait... You didn't take the interview, did you?"

"Of course not. I'm staying here with you."

I stare at him. "But, Emmett, it's Reed Smith! You can't just-"

"Yes I can. You're worth more than some stupid law firm."

I can't help it, but I'm crying. "But what about the chip on your shoulder? What about being driven as hell? You can't give up on this opportunity, you can't give up just because of me!"

Emmett's eyes are downcast and he wrings his hands nervously.

"What is it?" I ask him.

"Well I... I never told you before, but... Elle, you're the chip on my shoulder. I mean, you're the thing that keeps me going, you're the thing I work for, because if I do well here then maybe you'll want... Maybe you'll want to be with me."

"What?"

"Umm... I love you."