A/N: Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Opening her eyes, Serena immediately recognizes that she's in a familiar setting, but she also immediately knows for a fact that it is most definitely not her bedroom in the apartment she shares with Kim. Her heart begins to pound a little harder as her eyes land on the clothing strewn about the room and her ears pick up on the faint sound of breathing coming from behind her.
With guilt immediately welling up in her chest, Serena manages to move herself into a sitting position stealthy enough to keep from waking the other woman. Casting a spare glance at Abbie to make sure she is still asleep, the blonde gently maneuvers herself out of Abbie's grasp and quietly begins gathering any article of clothing she can find.
"Shit…shit…shit…" she swears quietly when she realizes she can't exactly locate her underwear but as Abbie begins to shift, she realizes that she has absolutely no time to look. Shrugging into her jeans and shirt, Serena quietly creeps out of the bedroom and into the lounge where she grabs her purse and keys before she all but dashes out of the apartment with as much stealth as possible.
Once in her car, she drags a hand through her hair as her breathing begins to become erratic and shallow. "Oh god, what have I done." She whispers aloud as she immediately feels tears beginning to spring to her eyes once again.
When she had walked out yesterday, she had been angry and she may have possibly overreacted a little. In the very back of her mind she knew that Kim was just trying to do the right thing, but damnit, of all things, why lie about sending Amanda to find Angie? Why risk everything by looking for Angie at all? So many questions run through Serena's mind as she starts her car, one of those questions being, what is she going to say to Kim when she finally makes it back home.
Meanwhile, Kim takes the waffles off of the iron and carefully places them onto two plates before she sets them next to the pancakes she made on the dining table along with the rest of her breakfast. Finally, finish everything off, she places a single red carnation in the face sitting on the center of the table.
She thinks back to the argument she had had with Serena the day before and how she isn't exactly surprised the blonde had walked out on her and refused to answer of her phone calls. She hadn't wanted to lie to Serena and in a way she felt as if she was protecting her. But she knew for a fact that had she told Serena what she had planned to do, Serena would have tried everything within her power to talk her out of it and for some reason she feels like it's her responsibility to make sure that Angie gets the help she really needs.
Sighing, Kim is just about to pull out her phone to attempt to call her fiancée once again when she hears the front door open and close. Setting her phone on the counter, her heart skips a beat as she strides into the living room just in time to see Serena walk in. "Hey."
"Hi…" Serena responds, her voice just barely above a whisper.
Without another word, Kim quickly crosses the room before pulling Serena into a warm hug. "I'm so sorry I was an idiot yesterday and you have every right to be furious with me." she murmurs into the blonde's shoulder. "I kept trying to call but it kept going straight to voicemail. You have no idea how worried I was that I had lost you."
"I…my phone died…" Serena manages lamely. "What's that smell?"
"In my hopes that you would coming back, I made breakfast." Kim explains as she pulls away and takes Serena's hand before leading her to the kitchen where everything is set up. "I made all your favorites and I even made a few calls this morning and rebooked our wedding for a more suitable time once all this crap blows over."
Once again, Serena's mouth just continues to hang open as she watches Kim begin to open cabinets, possibly looking for glasses. Her heart is pounding out of her chest and her throat continues to constrict with guilt as images of her night of lust flash in her mind. It's almost as if she has become frozen stiff as she finds herself completely unable to move.
"Do you want just regular orange juice or something a little stronger?" Kim asks, as she pulls a second glass out of the top cabinet. "I'm sure we have some champagne around here somewhere."
"Abbie and I slept together." Serena blurts, immediately regretting it as soon as it comes out of her mouth. She jumps at the sound of shattered glass as the glass has slipped through Kim's grasp and fallen to the floor.
Kim is still hanging on the five words spoken from Serena's lips that she doesn't even register the glass she had dropped at her feet. It's as if her mind has gone blank and for the longest of times she struggles to find words or at least, coherent ones.
"What…what does that mean?" the brunette asks stoically, her brow furrowed in what looks like confusion.
"We…" Serena pauses before licking her lips to continue. "We had sex…last night."
"So you cheated on me…"
"Kim, I'm so sorry." Serena whispers, startled by the speed in which the other woman moves past her out of the kitchen. Feeling the onslaught of tears spring to her eyes, she quickly follows in suit, thankfully fast enough before the bedroom door could be slammed on her. Though she is surprised that in record speed, Kim already has a bag on the bed and is quickly shoving clothes into it. "Kim, please, stop for a second so we can talk about this." getting no response, she attempts to grab her hand, flinching when Kim snatches away as if she had been burned.
"Please move." Kim says robotically, not looking Serena in the eye as she blocks the doorway.
"No, not until we talk." Serena responds surprisingly firmly despite the tears pouring from her eyes. "I—I hadn't meant for it to happen but it did. I had been kidnapped and you wouldn't even talk about it! You were shutting me out and-and I didn't know where else to go! Abbie was there for me and one thing just lead to another and I swear that I never wanted to hurt you. I love you!"
"But you slept with your ex….right." Kim mutters in the same robotic voice before she manages to quickly move past Serena, not bothering to turn around as the blonde is practically screaming her name. As she makes her way down to her car, she sets her jaw as she begins to rebuild the fortress that defines her, the fortress she had before she let Serena into her heart.
"In the People v. Casey Novak, how does the defendant plead…"
"Not guilty, Your Honor." Casey speaks up before her eyes fall to the floor once again. This is so different and not the good kind of different. She had never once thought that she would ever be standing on the defense side of the court room, let alone be on the defense side of the courtroom as the defendant.
"I'm sure I'm about to voice what everyone in this courtroom is thinking," Judge Lena Petrovsky states before removing her glasses and glaring over the bench. "Mr. Cutter, what the hell are you doing?"
Slightly taken off guard by the judges glare, Cutter clears his throat and subconsciously adjusts his tie. "Your Honor, I am simply doing by job by trying to bring a criminal to justice." He speaks up with as much confidence as he can muster. "Miss Novak committed a heinous crime and it is only right that she is brought to justice and shown the consequences for her actions. Which why I request remand."
At being called a criminal in open court, Casey's fist tightens and she has to tightly set her jaw to keep from speaking out loud. If she's struggling this much to keep her mouth shut, she can only imagine that her wife is just about ready to jump to barricade and strangle Cutter until he takes his last breath.
"Your Honor, my client is anything but a flight risk. She is a well decorated Assistant District Attorney who wants nothing more than to have her name cleared of preposterous accusations and misguided assumptions." Morgan states firmly, sending Cutter a startling glare to boot.
"Your Honor, you can't seriously believe that. She shot a man!"
"In self defense."
"So she says."
"Enough!" Petrovsky exclaims as she bangs her gavel on the desk. "Mr. Cutter I can assure you right now that no jury will follow you. It is clearly a case of self defense and you will be wasting everyone's time if you were to take this to trial. Everything you have presented is exaggerated, hyperbolic, and dare I say out right stupid. I am dismissing this case on grounds of your stupidity."
Casey lets out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. With how far things had gotten, she was completely unsure of what her fate was when she had stepped into the courtroom. She feels her father pull her into his arms as she starts sobbing against his shoulder.
"Daddy…thank you…" she whispers as she feels as if a gigantic weight has been lifted from her shoulders.
"Sweetheart, you never have to thank me. I do this because I love you and you're my baby girl." Morgan responds before giving his daughter a nudge. "Now go find that wife of yours. I'm sure she's missed you at home."
Nodding, Casey exits the courtroom and finds Alex waiting for her. She is immediately pulled into a tight hug in which she begins sobbing. "It's over, Al…I can come home."
"I know…" Alex whispers as she holds her wife close. "After everything Case, I swear that I won't let anything happen to you or our baby. I've taken the next few weeks off so I can stay home and pamper you."
"Alex, you didn't have to do that." Casey states, knowing just how much her wife hates taken time off.
"Yes, I do, for you." Alex responds as she brings Casey's hand to her lips. "Let's go home."
On the way home, Casey keeps her hand intertwined with Alex's as she stares out the passenger side window. The silence is smooth and comfortable before she decides to break it with her curiosity. "What's gonna happen to Cutter?"
"Liz is gonna take care of him." Alex responds, choosing her words carefully. "Before this morning, when we talked she said that she had a few tricks up her sleeve. Something tells me it has to do with the case falling in Petrovsky's lap."
"You think so?"
"Maybe. Donnelly's a pretty scary woman…"
"Yeah, but Petrvosky's scarier…"
Chuckling Alex nods her head. "Touche."
Later that evening, the couple finds themselves curled up on the sofa with soft music playing in the background. Alex holds Casey close while she draws absent patterns on her stomach, smiling when she can feel the baby kick every now and then.
"The little one is active this evening." She states, calmly breaking their comfortable silence.
"It is…" Casey murmurs, sucking in a deep breath as she feels the baby's foot connect with her bladder. "Very…very active."
"Much like it's Momma." Alex smirks, earning her a swat to the shoulder.
"Which reminds me, in the midst of all of the crazy shit that has happened, I've been strongly considering that we sign up for parenting classes."
"Parenting classes?" Alex exclaims before groaning. "But Case…! Isn't that supposed to be the joy of parenting? Figuring it out as you go?"
Casey quirks an eyebrow at this before rolling her eyes. "Alex, with both of our schedules we are most definitely going to need parenting classes." She deadpans before grinning. "Besides, I think it'll be fun. It'll be a good way for us to bond and take our minds off of all this crap."
Groaning once more, Alex shakes her head. "I dunno Case…"
"Please?" Casey responds, clasping her hands together as she gives Alex her best puppy dog pout."
"…Fine." Alex relents, sighing heavily when Casey squeals in delight. She knows for a fact that her wife knows that the puppy dog pout is her weakness and Casey continues to use such a thing as an advantage. "But first, I'm going to run you a nice warm bath, and then give you a massage before I show you just how much you mean to me."
This time, Casey is the one who groans in pleasure at her wife's seductive voice before she finds herself pulled into a deep, loving kiss. "Only if you promise me pickles and ice cream for after."
"Ew Case!" Alex exclaims, making a face of disgust at her wife's pregnancy cravings. What a way to ruin the mood.
So…is HistoryPrincess becoming an actual ship…? Because I got PM'd by someone who apparently ships it….anyhow, leave your thoughts!