[Some Time Ago...]
Being inside of John Genovese's office was certainly different than being in his home, and ironically they were located within the same penthouse apartment. Being his son, coming and going so long as John wasn't in the middle of business (which included his alone time with the powder), Chris wasn't as fazed by the change in atmosphere, but his demeanor was different, and she didn't have to know his every movement to see that. But that was really a two-way street, because he could feel Emily's eyes moving around as she searched for every possible exit, although out of everyone - short of himself - she was probably the safest person in that room at any given point in time. Even after all of these years, John was still rather fond of her, always pressing them to further the relationship, especially now that they were getting older and closer to moving on with their lives. But that wasn't why they were inside John Genovese's office...
Discussing the plan to capture Kick-Ass (which was ultimately bungled, but led to the identification and capture of the real culprits anyways), the trio - and Joe and a handful of other goons, including Emily's father - sat around the desk as they ironed out all of the details. Chris' plan was ingenious, and pretty perfect in that there really wasn't a lot that anyone else contributed to the main idea, but Emily knew him better than anyone else in that room, and she knew that there was more up his sleeve than what he was telling the others. But it was because she knew him so well that she had the good graces to keep her mouth shut. At least in front of the others.
"If this works, this will be one of the craziest things I've ever done for the family." Mr. Vela didn't even bother looking in his daughter's direction anymore, because she had made it rather clear where she stood, and had that not been with the son of the man that signed his paychecks, she would have been dead to him, as opposed to the living dead. "No one will dare fuck with the Genovese family again, if all goes according to plan."
"Of course it will! Chris knows what he's talking about when it comes to all this superhero shit." Joe had his back. Javier too, but he was off somewhere with his mother, acting as her personal bodyguard. Javier and John seemed to be the only two adults that had any kind of faith in either Chris or Emily...
John nodded, already rather proud of his son just for the scheme he had put together on his own, "He's his father's son."
Again, where it not for the employer/employee relationship, and the fact that the Genovese family was the most powerful mob family in the city, Mr. Vela so would have shared his mind as to what he thought that meant, as well as how he viewed Chris, and the corruption of his sweet daughter... But, as it was, he had to suffer that breathing wound in festering silence, only wishing that he could have a moment to speak to Emily in private, to ask her once more to return home... But in his heart of hearts, he knew that it would never happen, that she was lost for good...
After the meeting was adjourned, everyone filing out on their own paths and going about their business, Chris had pulled Emily aside, leading her down the hallway to his room. On the way, the couple brushed by her father, the girl hanging her head as she past him, but Chris glared him down, wrapping his arm around her neck as he lead her on, hand cupping her chest. The old man merely looked away, taking the elevator to parts unknown.
Once they were sequestered in his room once more, Emily looked passed Chris, gazing at the door, "He didn't even look at me..."
Having daddy issues of his own, he understood her pain, "He saw you." Old goat was probably just all pissy because he was there, at least one hand always on her, claiming her for his own. "He just wasn't expecting to."
As if that made it any easier for her...
"Not everyone is as understanding about premarital relations as my parents." He shrugged, looking through her bag for her sketchbook (her bag had been thrown into that demonic, unused armchair). "Now, I want you to draw my costume for me. Take your mind off things for a bit."
But she wasn't listening, caught up in the memories of so many years ago, "Your mother threw a bible at my head. I would hardly call that understanding."
Heh, that still made him laugh to this day. Sure, it wasn't funny, but if it had been anyone else, it would have been openly hilarious! "You know that my dad took the phone book so she couldn't do any serious damage."
Emily rolled her eyes, "You wanna tell that to the concussion I got?"
"The bible didn't cause the concussion - that was the lamp she broke over your head." That lamp was a fucking ugly one too, so he didn't miss it at all. And he still questioned as to why his mother even had a bible in the first place.
His concern for her was just radiating from the slouching position he took as he went through the contents of her bag, lip-gloss by Sharpie (or piece by piece, in the common vernacular). As if she was stupid enough to keep any more incriminating evidence in her book bag after what happened! "Yeah, drunk and angry don't really mix all that well, do they?"
He snorted, flipping through her used-up sketchpad, pausing on one really sensual picture of himself, "Hey, she wasn't the stupid cunt that forgot to throw away her pregnancy test at the cheapy shack she bought it from. That was all you babe."
Yeah, and she was never going to wake up from that nightmare, was she? "God, I can only imagine what everyone would have done if you actually had knocked me up. And it was Knight's fault for sneaking it into my bag! I did throw it away, but he kept insisting that you had to know about the false alarm-"
"What, you weren't going to ever tell me? What if I had knocked you up? How long would you have tried to keep it from me?" As if Chris would care - he just didn't like it when she tried to have a life of her own. As if she wanted one that didn't involve him!
She took the book from his hands, replacing it with her own body, arms wrapping around his neck as she spoke, "You know that I worry about you more than anything else - I just didn't want you to have to worry until I knew for certain. Was it really so wrong of me to try to protect the man I love?" Emily kissed his check, "Here, the next time I even think I might miss my next period, you'll be the first to know, even before my calendar. I'll even call you at three in the morning, when I have to go pee one extra time, just in case."
"You don't have to be a smart-ass about it. I know everyone else as made you pay already, and I'm not about to join that 'make Emily suffer for as long as we possibly can' bandwagon. I have a better way to punish you, and as luck would have it, you'll only have to suffer once." It was true that Chris had been really cool about the whole thing, so she knew that was only a matter of time before he had found some way to really stick it to her... She just didn't think she'd have to wait so long...
[In The Present...]
Not only did Emily have to know ahead of time what he was planning, but Chris had also made it so Emily would have to listen to the entire thing, and even worse, she was there for every second he planned out every possible scenario to kill two birds with one stone. Sure, part of her enjoyed being able to actually be of some use to Chris, but most of her hurt, cut so dangerously deep by the fact that she was actually helping him to cheat on her, wounded further by the fact that she couldn't complain once about the entire thing, because as he pointed out, she had done this to herself. Why did he always have to be right?!
Listening was so much harder to bare than she had anticipated, believing in her heart that every scripted word of their staged fights had been a small shard of glass that wedged itself deeper and deeper, killing her so slowly... He was right that she would only have to suffer once, because while everything else had caused immense agony, this one thing really did kill her on the inside...
You had to hand it to Chris though, making a preemptive strike that would only sting after everything had come to light, and by that point, Kick-Ass would be as good as dead anyways, so he wouldn't have to suffer. But Emily? She would have to live with this for the rest of her life...
That he is, that is... I wonder if they realize how much though, what with the singing... "He's goin' in the ally"/ "She's going upstairs". God, I love those parts so much... Maybe a little too much... Anywho! See, I toldja that the end of 'Chris and Emily' would come to light!
Remember, reviews are always welcome, no matter how nit-picky or simple! So review! Pretty please?
Kick-Ass is the property of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Emily Vela is mine. Knight too.