Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All of it belongs to Sarah J. Maas

A.N. Thanks so much to everyone who tossed their hat into the naming ring. I went with Viktoriya which is the Russian, Bulgarian, and Ukrainian spelling of Victoria. Just so you all know, the selection was unbiased. I put all of the recommended names on a list with the names I was already toying with and chose which one sounded best in the story. I did use Illyria, which was an idea from Flora Silverthrush, as Feyre and Rhys' surname, so thanks for that. I appreciate you all so much and I will let you know if I need help with anything similar in the future.

Near Death Experience

I stare at my nineteen month year old. I'm trying really hard to get my "tough mom" look down. The entire goal of the look is to get her to eat the damn banana in front of her.

"Eat it." I say in a dark voice. She just stares at me with those big purple eyes she got from her dad. "Viktoriya" I threaten again. She burps, then erupts into a fit of giggles. I let an angry groan.

"What is it now?" Rhys asks, almost entirely dressed for work. He's got his crisp white shirt and nice black slacks on. His black blazer is draped over his arm and he sets it down on the back of one of our dining chairs. His crimson tie dangles around his neck.

"She won't eat her banana." I say walking over to him. I grab the ends of his tie and start pulling it around. "Are you ever going to learn how to do this?" I secure the tie and tighten it around his neck. After pulling his collar down I brush off his shoulders and repeat the process down his arms.

"I know how to do it. The tie just didn't want to like me this morning." He pulls his blazer on.

"The tie never likes you." I walk over and fix him a cup of coffee.

He smiles as I hand it to him. "But it always likes you."

"Well good, at least something likes me." I say while glaring at Viktoriya I pour myself a bowl of cereal and stick some Eggo waffles in the toaster for Rhys.

"Aww, she likes you to." He says sitting down in the chair that I had pulled in front of Viktoriya's high chair. He pushes some of her golden hair out of her face and picks up the spoon that I abandoned. "Alright Vik here comes the airplane. Whoosh." He shoves the spoon into her mouth. I scoff.

"Well isn't someone a daddy's girl?"

"I can't tell if that's an insult or not." He says, continuing to feed Viktoriya.

As I stand there and watch them I can't help but think of how good my life is. I'm so happy now, it's definitely an improvement to then. I shiver as I think about it.

I don't have time to think about anything as my head is smashed into the tile. I grunt and try to push the massive women off of my back. I have no luck. She grabs my hair, pulls my head back and smashes my face back into the ground.

"This is my f*cking shower you c**t." She screeches at me. I grind my teeth together.

"Where's your name? Last time I checked this could be anyone's shower." She's still got me by the hair and some part of me registers that baiting her probably isn't the wisest decision I've ever made. I mean, she is a hulk of a woman, she could probably kill me if she wanted to.

She's pulling my head back again when suddenly she's yanked off of my back. Despite this new distance she's still got me by the hair.

"Alright, break it up. Come on ladies, get off each other." One of the guards gets me on my feet. I can barely see his face through the blood dripping into my eyes. I've got my head at a weird angle because the other woman still has her hand buried and twisted into my golden hair.

"I'm not on her." I say through gritted teeth.

"Don't you f*cking touch me! Asshole." I think they're trying to get her to let go of my hair. The next thing I know, she's been pushed down and has pulled me onto the ground. My face hits a sink on the way down and everything fades to black.

"Babe you okay?" Rhys's voice shakes me out of the memory. I smile at him.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just zoned out for a sec." He walks over to me and kisses my cheek.

"Okay, just checking." He moves past me and puts the now empty bowl in the sink. He looks back at me. "What were you thinking about?"

"Just remembering the first time we met." He scoffs.

"Oh, I remember that."

"You do?" I sound more surprised than I probably should.

"Yeah. How could I forget? You were just so perfect in your party dress."

"Wait, when are you talking about?"

"Fourth of July pub crawl. Why? What are you thinking about?" I blush a little.

"Washington Corrections Center for Women. I had my face nearly kicked in."

"Oh yeah. I guess we were officially introduced that day, huh."

"Yep." He laughs. "What?"

"It's just, that time at the prison I was pretty sure that you were the toughest girl I had ever met."

"I wasn't a girl." I say, pouting at him. He reaches around me for his briefcase and kisses my face again.

"You were 19 babe, you were a girl."

"So what, you were already a man?" He gives me his patented "duh" look.

"I was 26, so yeah. I'm gonna say that I was a man." I scoff.

My eyes feel heavier than usual. As I slowly blink I see that I'm in a hospital. I try to lurch up but find my arms handcuffed to the bed. I let out a very loud groan. And thump my head back into the pillows. I flinch, it hurts more than I expected. That's when a man walks through the open door.

He looks familiar, but I can't place him. He's tall, with black hair that's slicked back, and he's sharply dressed in a freshly pressed black suit. He's got a manila folder in one hand and a black leather briefcase dangling from the other. He's somehow balancing the folder open in his hand and reading something. I cough and he looks at me. His eyes are piercing, they're a deep violet and I suck in a breath. I've never seen anything like them. He snaps the folder closed and drops both it and his briefcase in the chair opposite the bed. He puts his hands on his hips and gives me a lazy expression. It looks to me that he's bored.

"So. You got yourself into quite a scrape huh?" His voice is low. It throws me how casual he is about this whole thing.

"I didn't start it." I snap. He holds up his hands in mock surrender.

"I never said you did princess." I snarl at the pet name.

"Why are you here?"

"Well I'm here to spend time with you. Especially since your personality is so lovely." His sarcasm makes me angrier. I snarl again. He lets out a chuckle and shakes his head. "Actually darling, I'm your attorney." Now it's my turn to scoff.

"What, pretty boy need a big case so he can establish his place in the pack?" His eyebrows rise but he still looks amused.

"More like pretty boy wants to help out the poor girl." I scoff again. He puts his hands on the footboard of the bed and leans into it. "No actually, it's like pretty boy who's drowning in student debt just needs to get paid."

"Are you private or state?" He raises his eyebrows at my question.

"State." I grit my teeth. So Tamlin couldn't even be bothered to get me a good attorney.

"Do you suck?" He shakes his head.

"No, I'm actually pretty good." I nod slightly. He rights himself and grabs the file again. "So you're a shoplifter huh?" I grind my teeth together again and pain shoots through my jaw. He looks up at me, smiles and shakes his head. "Well your case looks pretty easy. The only tricky part is this bit where you've been living with the guy who arrested you." At the mention of Tam I pull at my handcuffs again. His eyes meet mine. "This guy your boyfriend?"

"Yes." Amusement flashes in his eyes and he grins at me but says nothing. I groan. "Can I see him?"

"No. You can't."

"Why not?" I snap. I am completely done with this guy's shit.

"Because right now, the DA is making him her bitch."

"And you're just going to let her?"

"I kind of have to."

"Why?"

He drops his smile and looks at me dead serious. "Because I'm her bitch too."

I narrow my eyes at him. "What's your name?"

"Rhysand Illyria. And don't bother, I already know yours, Feyre Archeron." My hands curl into fists. I remember Lucien making a comment about him, but nothing else.

"Have I ever met you before?" He sighs.

"Yes and this isn't important. Rest up a bit, then we'll talk strategy." He doesn't wait for my response, just picks up his briefcase and leaves. I decide that I am going to hate him.

A.N. No questions today, just hope that you enjoyed the chapter!