Angie had crossed her arms over her chest - the lighting pronouncing her laugh lines as the older woman grimaced - looking grimmer than a gargoyle. Although, Emily thought distantly to herself as she sat across from the woman that had given birth to her soul mate, the gargoyle was probably the prettier option than Angie at this juncture. Not that it was entirely her fault this time...

"Erica," Angie had pulled Emily aside before she was allowed to visit with Chris, accosting her the minute that she had stepped foot into the prison. They were standing just outside of his room, the guard suddenly very interested in a 'suspicious crack' in the wall several feet away. Must have been nice to be able to afford such privacy. "I know that you're keeping something from my son." The aged matriarch pointed at the young adult accusingly. "I know that you're carrying his spawn." Her eyes narrowed dangerously, as if she were challenging Emily to dare bring up the cold disposition she had recently come to develop for her own child...

But that was hardly the issue here. "What?! How do you know that?!"

Was this girl really so dense to think that she could hide something so obvious? Maybe her son really did deserve this hood-rat after all. "You used to tramp it up in all your tight little clothes, mocking me with your perky little breasts that you had no problem pointing at my family, but lately, you've been wearing a lot of sweaters and baggy trash bags." Angie poked at her excess chub Emily was carrying, wasting absolutely no time in getting to the root of the problem. Hell, even with all the money being thrown at the prison, she could still only afford so much time to waste. "You can't even hide it anymore, fatty."

So, they had finally come to the dreaded point in time when Emily had to break down and beg before Chris' mother. Funny, because for as long as she been preparing herself for this very moment, Emily never once considered that it would have been like this. She had envisioned herself broken-hearted, but never pregnant, and certainly never fresh from an affair...

There was no falsehood in her words as she begged, reaching out at stone, "You can't tell him!"

"And why not?" Angie demanded sharply, quite fond of her new position over the girl. "He should know what it feels like have a child that is loathed by the world. That even its own mother can't accept."

Something snapped inside Emily at that point. Maybe it was just the years of hearing that hypocritical maternal instinct that only seemed to surface when it was convenient finally wearing itself out, but more likely, she took offense to the insinuation that she didn't care for her child, when in fact she was making herself sick with worry. Well, when she wasn't basking in sin or drowning in guilt... Either way, there was just no way to hold this next part back...

"Like you feel about your own son? It's pathetic that you call me out for some jitters when you abandon your son when he needs you the most! Is it really so important what other people say?" The mother-to-be shook her head, "Chris fucked up, yes, and I know I'm far from perfect, but I am not ashamed of Chris, and it should go without saying that you aren't either! I also know that together we'll be better parents than you ever were, because we will love our child, no matter what! I can only imagine what John would say if he could see you now, turning against your own son, threatening the woman carrying his child!"

There was no warning as Angie's hand collided with Emily's face. "Don't you dare talk to me about my husband and what a shitty person I am! At least I knew from the very beginning that I was going to keep my baby! So don't you go acting all high and mighty, you fucking wetback!"

As everything she did with Dave was slowly beginning to creep up on her, Emily was actually kind of glad that Angie had put her in her place, but at the same time, she also wanted to throttle the bitch for choosing the wrong mistakes to target. Well, it was probably better this way. "Fuck off! I'm going in there, and I'm going to make this right!"

Throwing the door open as she turned her back on the bitter husk of a woman, all of the fire inside instantly evaporated the minute her eyes fell on Chris. It wasn't that he looked any different than any of the other times she had seen him in here, but she was. She could feel it. How did she have the nerve to face him? Especially now, not even thirty minutes after sleeping with the guy that had driven him to this point... Feeling worse than the scum of the earth, Emily mused that it should have been her in that bed, if only because she had betrayed him, and at the worst possible time no less! With the worst possible person...

Looking over at her as the door feel closed, Chris smiled - it had been a while since they had last seen each other - and everything she had been feeling weighed down all the more, crushing her instantly. More than almost anything else, Emily wanted to just be swallowed up by the floor so she didn't have to look at Chris. "I was wondering when you would be back. Emily?"

Why did breaking his heart seem so inevitable?

"Chris, we have to talk..." Walking over to the side of his bed with legs full of lead, Emily could only try to force a smile as she put her hands over his, "Baby, something happened..."

"What?" For the first time in a long time, she heard something in his voice that she hadn't for what felt like ages - she heard concern. For a moment, it seemed as if all humanity had left his body when he became the Mother Fucker, but it was back, at least in part...

So why did she have to be the one to snuff that growing ember of hope?

"I..." Cheated. Want to die for hurting you. Don't deserve you. Take your pick. "I really got into it with your mother..." She wanted to confess, but she just couldn't find the words... "I think she's really pissed. Like I'm out-of-the-will mad, and I'm not even in your will."

And now, she never would be...

"About that..." Oh, shit. "I've been thinking..." Oh, fuck! "And I wanted to ask you..." No... No, not this. Anything but this! "You've been by my side this entire time," He moved his hand over hers, which obviously cost him a great deal, "And my dad always told me that you don't find that kind of loyalty every day." It was true - John had said that a lot. "If it comes down to it, I want to know that everything will be looked after, so if I have to plead insanity, I want to put you in charge of my affairs. I already had the paperwork drawn."

The sigh of relief expelled was impossible to miss. But the exact origin was lost to Chris, so he took it another way, fixing his girlfriend with a funny look. "What, you weren't expecting me to propose, where you? Looking like you just rolled out of bed in a cake shop?" And there was the Chris she knew!

Again, the racial slurs are on the fictional characters saying them, not on me! I hate racism! And homophobia too, but that's not really the issue here... Anyways, yeah, Angie really is a bitch in this. Well, I think she is in general, because I just feel that under no conditions should you treat your child the way you see her treat Chris, regardless of medium.

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