Kim led Skyler to the small waiting room where she had left her handbag. She didn't pick it up.

Kim closed the door, leant on it and sighed. "I know this is not what you're thinking about now, but you are doing incredibly well. Everything he said, you had an answer for. At this point, a not guilty verdict is a real possibility. I don't wanna get your hopes up, I'm not saying it's definite, but it is possible. You are doing really well, and at this point you definitely look more like a victim than a criminal, so. Although 'victim' is not a good word to use, the word is 'survivor.'" She smiled.

Skyler turned to face her. "Can you get the judge to make sure they don't publish that?"

Kim grimaced. "I know the court likes to say it's impartial, but actually public opinion does have an impact. The members of the jury aren't allowed to talk to their families about it, but their families are talking to them. It's on the news almost every night. So something that could drum up a bit of public sympathy would be really good for you. And I know you didn't-"

"Please go and tell the judge to order the media not to publish it - she can do that, right?"

"I know you didn't want it to get out, but it is out, I'm sorry. A gag order won't change that."

"If it's not in the media my son doesn't have to know. I'll make sure Marie doesn't tell him. He cannot know!"

"I'm really sorry that -"

"You go and tell the judge now to make sure the media don't publish it! It's not like I said anything more about it anyway, it's not like they know what happened. They don't know what happened! And it wasn't that bad anyway, it wasn't like… It wasn't like he held me down or anything, it wasn't…" Skyler's eyes snapped shut, and she swallowed. "I don't want Flynn picturing that. And I don't want to have to explain it to him because…" She choked, and her voice became a whisper. "Because I can't. I can't handle that."

Kim nodded.

"Please. Go and speak to the judge now."

"I just told Marie I wouldn't leave your side."

"I'm fine."

Kim nodded. "Don't try and explain it away. Don't try and talk yourself down, or make yourself think that you deserved it or it wasn't that bad. It happens in lots of different ways but it's always bad, it's always a breach of your body and your rights, and you didn't deserve that."

Kim held Skyler's eyes briefly, then opened the door and slipped through it.

...

"Why on earth did you say that?" said DEA prosecutor Viney, reeling back in his desk chair.

"Because I thought she'd say no!" said Prosecutor Martin. "Did he hit you? No. Did he tie you down and force you to run the car wash? No! Prove that she was doing it of her own volition and not because she was being forced!"

"And the rape thing just entered your head as a good way of proving that?"

"I've used it before and it's worked! Ask the defendant specific questions about what was and wasn't done to force them!"

Viney put his face into his hands.

"Why didn't you guys ever ask her that? Why wasn't it on the record?"

"That sort of direct question is not something a DEA agent will usually ask. For many reasons, one: they are studying drugs, not rape!"

"APD, then!"

"Why would you ask a such a direct question? She should have volunteered that information as part of her defence!"

"Apparently she didn't wanna talk about it."

"Fantastic, then no-one ever had to know about it if you hadn't put your foot in your mouth! She'll get public sympathy over this!"

"That's why I thought I'd better tell you."

"Jesus, Greg, why would you ask such a specific question?"

"It's a proven tactic, I've used it before!"

"Well now it's failed. Good job."

"There was nothing on the record about this! Not even a whisper! How was I supposed to know?"

"Alright, alright. Can we spin it around to prove that she's hiding things?"

"It does prove that, but no. That would make us the bad guys!"

"What if she's lying?"

"I don't think so, she refused to answer any further questions about it. She only said it at all because she's under oath and I asked her directly - then she went all shaky again and Stephens adjourned out of concern for her welfare! There's no way we can accuse her of lying, we would be crucified."

"Oh my God. You idiot!"

"I am not an idiot, it is a proven tactic! Your people missed it!"

"We're the DEA! We investigate drugs!"

"Oh, because drug-related rape, that never happens."

"That's small time! That's APD!"

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't acknowledge that it's there."

"I had no idea it was there! I thought she was helping him of her own free will! Oh god, Ramey is gonna kill me - he's got two dead agents riding on this court case! Which opened with one of them's wife saying she doesn't blame the defendant, thanks to you!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you're prosecuting the wrong person!"

"We don't have anyone else!"

"So don't send it to trial! Make a deal!"

"We did! Plead guilty and she won't get more than six years - we said that to her!"

Greg rolled his eyes. "A deal she'll agree to!"

"That's not possible, Greg. The defence always wanted a trial because they knew this would happen! And we couldn't offer any better deals than that because she didn't have any information, she didn't have anything to trade!"

"Oh, tit-for-tat, of course. Do you think she was lying about that?"

"No. Jesus Christ. Why didn't I see this?"

"Well, too late now. We are on this train and it is steaming into the station."

...

When Kim returned to the waiting room, she saw that Skyler had dried her eyes and re-applied her makeup. She was now so composed she looked like a different person.

"You're so stoical in front of your family, aren't you?" Kim said.

Skyler nodded. "Is it sorted?"

"Yep."

"No-one can say anything?"

"Well there's no way of gagging a public gallery, or the press as individuals, but no media outlets will be permitted to publish or broadcast it. Either online or elsewhere."

"Thank you."

Kim nodded. "Come on. Marie's waiting in the lobby."

Skyler was the picture of calm as she walked along the corridor to the lobby, where she approached her sister, who was the opposite. The look on Marie's face threatened to break Skyler's cool exterior, and she attempted to defeat it by raising her hands and saying, "Don't worry, it's fine. I'm fine. As long as you don't tell Flynn."

Marie stepped forward and reached out, falling just short of touching her. She tried to speak but couldn't. Fat tears began to fall down her face.

"It's alright. It's ok." Skyler hugged her, comforted her.

Kim stepped forward. "Are you two gonna be ok?"

"Yeah." Skyler nodded. "Thank you, Kim."

Kim put a hand on Skyler's shoulder and squeezed it. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah."

Kim walked through the doors and out into the Albuquerque sun. Skyler watched her through the window as she held her sister, who was sobbing in the dark. She rubbed her back.

"It's not ok," Marie gulped. "How can it possibly be ok?"

"Because I'm still here and I'm ok."

Marie shook her head, pulling back to look her sister in the eyes. "You're not ok. You pretend you are but you're not."

Skyler sighed. "This is not the reason that I'm not."

"I just...I…"

"Please don't tell Flynn."

"I…"

"Marie? Please."

"Of course not. He'd probably blame himself even more than I am."

"What? No, wh-why on earth would it be your fault?"

"Because I left you with him! I knew you weren't right, and I just talked to him and trusted him and left you with him!" Marie's high heels teetered as she yelled and flailed.

"Shh shh. Come and sit down."

"I left you there!"

"You did not. You had no idea, and whose fault was that - that was my fault." Skyler lead Marie to a small couch and pulled her into it. "Don't worry about that, please."

"Like the time when you were yelling 'shut up!' at the car wash, I just left you with him! I took you home, and I talked to him and he gave me some bullshit about fucking Ted Beneke, and I just believed him and left! Why would I believe him?"

"Because he wasn't a bad guy all of the time! There were two sides to him - the other side was perfectly normal and reasonable and-"

"Oh my god, you are not defending him now. You-you are not, you're not! I… I'm gonna find his decomposing body, wherever the fuck it is, and I am going to smash it up with nunchucks and rip off whatever remains of his disgusting balls and stomp them into the dirt!"

In spite of everything, Skyler laughed.

"I'm serious."

"He was cremated."

"Then I will take his ashes and I will defecate on them. No, I'll pour them into a sewer!"

"You'd have to get past his mom for that." Skyler laughed again. "Thanks, Marie. I appreciate the laugh."

Skyler's laughter faded as she saw the utter anguish in her sister's eyes. "Don't worry, please. It was all over a long time ago, and it definitely wasn't your fault."

"When did…When…was it?"

"I-I don't…"

"After Gus Fring."

"Marie, I really don't wanna talk about it."

"Was it after you jumped in the pool and we took the kids and left you alone with him?"

"Marie, it…. It's my business and I really-"

"Yes."

"Why do you always do that? I don't answer something and you just pick an answer for me!"

"I just…" Marie closed her eyes. "I was so worried about you and I just left you there."

"Because you didn't think Walt was the problem! Why would you? Right? Well look, it wasn't just Walt who was the problem, it was both of us who were the problem. Now listen, it's time to pick up Holly, so are you ok to drive?"

"Y-you're not… blaming yourself for it, are you?"

"I blame myself for a lot of things."

"I know, and you need to give yourself a break, but you're not...y-you're not blaming yourself for being…raped?"

"Marie, I really don't wanna talk about it. Please, for the rest of our lives, please never mention this again."

"How can you blame yourself for that?"

"Oh, you did it again."

"I will get you a therapist and they will say that it was not your fault."

"Do you wanna help me with this? Do you?"

"Yes."

"Then you will please stop talking about it and don't talk about it ever again. With me or with anyone else. Apart from your therapist; you can talk about it with him, I'll give you permission for that. But nobody else ever."