It was days before the prison had cleared Chris for any visitors, and he was in such bad shape, Emily just couldn't find a way to tell him her news. She really wanted to, but every time that there was a chance for her to bring it up, she would just look at him, at the bandages and misery, and bow out. Before she knew it, the days had turned into weeks, and she was starting to show. Thankfully she had had an extensive sweater collection, but it was getting to point where even that wasn't enough to hide the weight gain. But so long as he didn't notice, it would be fine. Somehow...

Standing at his side, alone since it was becoming harder and harder for his mother to bear to see him like this, Emily had not missed a single opportunity to visit Chris. The bank account probably wished that she wasn't creating some of her own opportunities. "You know, I've been listening to a lot of this band lately, and they're actually pretty good-"

"Emily, just stop it with the bullshit already." For weeks now she had been visiting him, doing everything in her power to avoid talking about what had happened that day. "You weren't there when we took to the streets, owning Times Square. Where were you?"

Looking down guiltily, she thought of that guy she had met outside of the abortion clinic, of how with only so many words he had had convinced her to hold off on doing anything stupid before talking with her boyfriend. He would probably tell her right now to just confess everything. To be honest. But that was harder to do now, because she was starting to change her mind about wanting that abortion. Was it off the table? Not entirely, but it wasn't so easy to say that it was an option now.

Suddenly, it seemed as if the more she came to care about the little fetus growing inside of her, it became easier to lie to Chris, to protect someone other than him for the first time in her life. "I was... around."

He could feel the fear in her, radiating in her like some kind of anti-light, but he thought that it had another source. That despite his declarations, she was off fucking some other asshole. "'Around?'" He repeated incredulously, "What kind of a bullshit answer is that, you fucking cow?"

Cunt would have been better to hear in her mind, for so many reasons. "I was around. At our place, out at the base, wherever, just waiting for show time. I wanted to help, but after the thing with that Justice Forever twat, I was afraid that I would fuck something up. I had so much faith in your plan, I never would have imagined that it was going to end up like this... "

"If I could move right now, I'd be strangling you." He glared at her, and she completely believed his words. "After my warnings, you still betrayed me! You left me alone to have my ass almost killed!" Upset beyond the point of blind rage and unable to do anything about it in his condition, Chris broke down and started to cry. "Where were you when I was getting pushed off that roof? Sucking some faggot's cock?" His voice cracked. "And then you have the fucking balls to come to me as if nothing happened!"

Feeding off his own emotions and extra sensitive these last few days, Emily started to cry as well, "I didn't know how to act or what to say... You think I'm not haunted by the fact that I wasn't there for you?! Every morning I wake up, knowing that you're in here because of me, and every night I fall asleep, crying because I know that you're suffering, and it was my fault! This is killing us all, having you in this awful place!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't come back."

Out of every hurtful thing he had ever said to her, this was easily in the top three. "I don't care how much you hate me - I'm not leaving you here alone. I will never abandon you, not ever!" Standing up to leave, she knew that her time was almost up, and for once, she was glad to say goodbye. "I can't..."

Wondering what she meant by that, Chris didn't get the chance to ask, because she was already leaving. But he did still have the chance to be spiteful, shouting at her retreating figure. "Donuts can't replace me!"

Fucking bastard... At least he only thought that she was getting fat, as opposed to the truth...

[Later...]

Alone at their apartment, sitting curled up on the couch, Emily was watching the television, but she wasn't seeing what was playing on the screen, because she couldn't stop thinking about her last visit to the prison. He had said so many things to her out of anger in the past, but what if he had really meant it this time? What if he had just broken up with her for real? Alone, that would kill her, but she wasn't alone, not right now. What if she did keep the baby? She couldn't support it on her own... Herself, just barely, but a baby? There was just no way...

So alone, and more confused than ever before, Emily wished that there was someone out there she could go to for help, for guidance. Maybe she could ask Dave? Just look him up online and ask him what he thought? Jesus, how desperate was she? Going to some stranger she had met once!

The answer was very. She was extremely desperate. Fuck, she was so unsure about what to do, she probably would have considered asking Kick-Ass for help, if she thought for a moment that he was actually able to help her with something like this. But no, he was more into helping with stalkers and shit like that, not relationship issues. Pft, besides Night Bitch, he probably had zero experience when it came to this...

But still, she had to ask someone. Knight was back in LA now, and anyways, she didn't want to hear the smugness in his voice (or read it), and all of her family was dead now, so there was no one else she could possibly turn to. Getting their laptop out, ignoring all the porn her boyfriend didn't bother to hide (mostly it was just on there to fluster her), Emily went to all the major social networks, looking for Dave Lizewski. Once she was confident that she had tracked down the right guy, Emily began to type out a message, praying that he remembered her.

Hi, it's Emily Vela. I don't know if you remember me, but you gave me some advise a couple of weeks ago, outside the abortion clinic. I'm sorry to come to you like this, but I really don't know where to turn... My boyfriend was recently taken to prison, and I haven't been able to tell him yet - about the baby - and when I was just able to visit him last, we got into a huge fight. I have no clue what to do. I feel so lost... I don't know what I'm asking for, but please, I really need help.

There was no point in mentioning why her boyfriend was in prison, or even who he was. She had seen the shit that Angie had to endure just from being his mother, and she actually felt bad for the bitch. Emily could only imagine how severally people would react to knowing that she was willing connected to a "homicidal sociopath", and if anyone knew that she was actually carrying his child...? Something told her that she wouldn't have to worry about the dilemma of an abortion anymore.

Sending the message, all she could do now was wait for a reply...

[Meanwhile, Across the City...]

Working the team so hard - he had to if they were going to break Mindy out of prison - Dave had figured that he would give the guys the night off to rest up. He still went hard at it, but not quite as hard as he normally did. Ever since Mindy had been arrested for saving his ass by buying him the time he needed to escape, Dave had been training relentlessly to get ready. Together or not, he owed her everything, so there was no way that he couldn't put his all into her pre-prepared prison-break plans.

Like normal, he left his computer up while he worked-out so he was always ready to help anyone in need. Just as he was getting ready to take a break, Dave heard the little sound that indicated he had a message. Going to the computer, he opened up the message from Emily, reading it. At first, since it was addressed to Dave and not Kick-Ass, he was just going to wait to read it, but the subject caught his eye (it said 'HELP' in all-caps), so he hastily opened the message and read. Dave remembered Emily. Dimly, but he remembered her.

He sent a reply:

I remember you. Why don't we meet in person so we can discuss this. What time works for you?

There was almost no down time before her return came.

Is now too soon? Just whenever you can.

He scanned her letter, eyes lowering for a moment to look at the time on the bottommost part of the screen. It was 1:40 A.M. Wow, she really must have been panicked. Poor girl.

Now's fine. Where?

This time there was a short pause.

Does my place work?

For a second he had to think about that, since not all of the Toxic Mega Cunts had been rounded up, and even without them, there were still punks that had probably come up with the notion to trap and harm him. But then two things hit him - Emily had no idea that he was Kick-Ass, and being so late at night when she's panicked out of her mind, it was probably best for her not to travel.

Sure.

Getting his shoes on while he waited for her to type out the address, Dave left with it printed on the back of his hand. Hailing a cab, he took it to - irony of all ironies - Chris Genovese's apartment. Not that he knew who was renting the space. Not yet. Although from just the outside alone, he could tell that it was someone rich.

Kick-Ass is the property of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Emily Vela is mine. Knight, and all minors too.