As soon as they stepped off the jet, Victoria knew she should have been prepared for the onslaught of paparazzi and press, but she wasn't. Homelander was carrying Evelyn. His daughter had hardly wanted to leave his side ever since he'd come back. She was still too young to understand what had really happened or why they had even left their home. She had asked about Alex, but Homelander had simply said that he had to go away for a little while. He had felt Victoria glare at him as he'd said it.

If only she knew the truth.

If only she knew whose blood had been on his hands when he'd returned back to the hotel the night before.

The clicking of the cameras and the shouts of their names rang loudly in Victoria's ears. After weeks of peace in a secluded location, she'd gotten used to silence. And now she was back in New York. She was back amongst the constant noise and the hustle and the bustle. Victoria stood one step behind Homelander as he kept himself stood in the door of the jet, waving to the cameras with a wide smile on his face.

"Smile, sweetheart," Homelander urged from his wife, moving so that he could juggle Evelyn in one arm and use his other arm to wrap around his wife's shoulders. Victoria forced herself to smile, but she suspected everyone knew it was fake. She didn't wave. She just stood there feeling useless and pathetic. "That's a good girl," Homelander said, looking to her. She could see the malice behind his glare. The smile on his face was more convincing than her own.

"Why are they here?" Victoria asked, trying not to move her lips so that no one could pick up on what they were saying.

"We're still the golden couple, Vicky," he said to her. "So just smile and take my hand."

He moved his arm from her shoulders and held his hand out expectantly. Victoria looked to it, wondering what it might feel like just to ignore him and run down the steps. She could tell everyone who he really was. She could get away from him. But then she looked to Evelyn. She saw her wide eyes and her curly hair, the inquisitive scrunch of her nose as she wondered what was going on. She wasn't going to risk her daughter. There was no chance that was ever going to happen.

And so she took his hand. She felt his gloved fingers engulf hers. He walked down the steps with her, thumb running over the back of her knuckles almost like he was trying to soothe her. She guessed it was a habit for him. Coming to the bottom step, she lifted her free hand up and tucked her hair behind her ear as she listened to the questions being fired in her direction, the words becoming coherent to her as opposed to a jumbled mess.

"Victoria, why did you run away?"

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Does it have anything to do with the trauma you've been through?"

Victoria looked around, the sea of faces merging. She saw Ashley stood at the front of the press pack that were kept behind a rope. A car was just off to the side of the jet. Victoria hoped that they were just going to get into it and go. But Homelander clearly had other ideas. He wanted this press conference. He wanted people to think that he was a loving husband and father. Victoria felt sick as he stood before them and Ashley looked to them, holding onto her tablet and looking as manic as usual.

"You still want to make the speech?" she asked from Homelander and Victoria realised that he'd set this up. She had no idea when he'd set it up.

"I've got this," Homelander said and Ashley moved to the side, curtailing to him.

Victoria caught the CEO's eye and Ashley almost looked at her with pity. Victoria glanced to her daughter, making sure that Evelyn was okay. She wasn't used to the publicity. They had kept her sheltered from all of it. They had done everything in their power to ensure that she was hidden, despite Homelander protesting that he wanted her in the public eye. Victoria never had done. She had wanted their daughter to be just for them. She didn't want to share her with the rest of the world.

"Hello, good afternoon!" Homelander called out, his grip on Victoria's hand increasing, almost like he was scared she might run away. "Thank you all for coming today. I understand that you have a lot of questions, but I'm afraid we won't be taking any of them today. However, what I do want to say is that I am relieved and overwhelmed to have my beautiful wife and daughter back by my side."

He emphasised that with a look to Evelyn, kissing her on the side of the head before his eyes shifted over to Victoria and she met his gaze back as he winked once.

"These last few weeks…months…have been difficult for the both of us and our marriage has…things have been complicated," Homelander confessed. "What no one knows is that giving birth to Evelyn almost cost Victoria her life."

Victoria's smile faltered. She didn't want her daughter hearing any of this. Evelyn had burrowed her face into her father's shoulder, however. She was clinging tightly to him. Homelander could sense that she was nervous, but he was doing what he could to keep her calm, letting her hold onto him and giving her a reassuring squeeze. His wife on the other hand was livid. He could smell it on her. It wasn't as if she was going to do anything though. She wouldn't dare.

"It took its toll on her giving birth to a supe and I think we can all understand that and then…well…when we discovered she was expecting another baby…she was nervous and anxious. She wasn't thinking straight and she left the country. She understands what she has put our family through and she is truly sorry. The pressures of being in the public eye, a mum and trying to juggle a career got too much for her…but she came back. She came back because we are a family. We love each other and we are going to work on our issues. I'm going to be by her side every step of the way, no matter what."

The last sentence was intended to be a threat, no matter how endearing it sounded. Picking her hand up, he kissed the back of it softly. Victoria wanted to rip her hand away from him and tell him where to stick his speech. She kept her eyes on him as he indicated that he would be saying nothing further and Victoria was in no place to make a speech. They headed to the car, Homelander strapping Evelyn into her car seat before urging Victoria into the car and taking his seat next to her, all of them crammed together in the back.

"What happened to the baby?" the reporters cried and Victoria ignored them. She wasn't going to answer that. How could she? She closed her eyes and leant her head back. Homelander moved a hand to her thigh.

"I think that went well," he declared as they left the airport, Ashley following in the car behind.

"For you, perhaps."

"People will be sympathetic to you in the end," Homelander said dismissively. "I mean," he dropped his voice so that Evelyn couldn't hear as Victoria stroked her daughter's hair softly. "Imagine if I told them that my wife was a two-timing whore. I doubt that would have gone down as well."

"Or what if I told them that my husband was a murdering sociopathic asshole?" Victoria questioned, not thinking rationally, anger inside of her building up. How dare he say those things about her? How dare he subject Evelyn to those comments.

Grabbing hold of her chin, Homelander forced her to meet his eye. He squeezed tightly, causing her to squirm in his grip as Evelyn looked over to her mother and father, eyes wide and head tilted. She couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but it didn't look right.

"Then what a pair we make, baby," he whispered to her.

"You had no right to say that in front of Evie," Victoria retorted, moving a hand to his wrist and trying to pull him off of her but failing miserably. He remained with his fingers around her, but his grip did slacken slightly.

"What?"

"About what happened when I gave birth to her…she might be young, but kids pick up on this kind of stuff, John."

"She won't remember it."

"You still shouldn't have said it."

"And you shouldn't have done a lot of what you did," Homelander sniped back. "But we are where we are and you should be a bit more grateful."

Victoria scoffed and turned her glare to him, eyes narrowing even more in his direction. He looked back to her, his own baby blue eyes wide. But there was a menace behind them. How had she not noticed that before? It could have saved her a lot of heartache in the long run, but here she was.

"Grateful?" she choked the word back to him. "Tell me what I have to be grateful for?"

He bent down, moving the back of his hand to brush her hair from her face. His lips pressed close to her ear and she shuddered as he moved his knuckles down her neck, the motion slow and gentle, almost tauntingly so.

"That I didn't snap your neck as soon as I found you…that I still think you have some value to me…and that's why you're still here. I might love you…you might still be the only woman I ever want, but that doesn't mean that you're going to get your way from now on."

She felt the hairs on her arms stand up and she did her best not to let his words impact her, but he could sense the spike in her heartrate and the racing of her pulse. He sat back in his chair and moved his arm so that it dangled over her shoulders, legs spread. He looked like a man who had no care in the world. Victoria tried to ignore the weight of his arm as she turned her attention back to her daughter, stroking her hair gently and keeping her calm in the car seat next to her. Homelander peered down onto the pair of them and his lips curved up maliciously. He had everything he wanted and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

…

Victoria felt a sense of apprehension as she looked around Ashley's office. Ever since Stan Edgar had left Homelander had been even more out of control and she suspected he was going to get even worse as time went on. Ashley could do nothing about it. There were still auditions behind held to get the Seven back up to the number it was supposed to be consider Supersonic and Starlight were no longer members. Victoria had tried not to let her mind wander to Alex when Homelander was around her. She knew that he would have no time for her tears and it wasn't as if he would care about them in the slightest.

Shifting in the seat in the office, Victoria waited patiently for Ashley to join her. She had been summoned by the CEO to attend a meeting. She had no idea what it was about, but she had been instructed to come as soon as possible. Homelander was off doing the media rounds and praising Victoria for coming back to him and telling everyone how difficult it was for her as a new mother. Victoria wasn't with him. It had been decided that it would be good for her to stay out of the limelight for a while. It wasn't as if she was America's sweetheart at that moment in time after what she'd done. There were talk shows discussing her behaviour, saying that no matter how badly she was struggling, she shouldn't have taken their daughter and ran away. If only they knew the truth.

"Victoria," Ashely's voice entered the room and she blustered in, dressed in a bright orange suit with a white blouse, black heels sinking into the carpeted floor. "Can I get you anything? A coffee? A tea?"

"I'm good," Victoria replied and folded one leg over the other. She kept her hands clinging onto the arm of the chair, almost like she was too scared to let go of it. She bit down on her tongue and cocked her head to the side. "What do you need, Ashley?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

Ashley went to sit behind her desk, sitting up straight and lacing her fingers together on the surface. "You saw that video online I take it? The one of Homelander and that man?"

"The one where he decapitated someone who disagreed with him?" Victoria asked, not bothering to sugar coat her words. Ashley visible winced and then straightened herself out, tugging on her jacket and cocking her head to the side.

"We believe it was in self-defence," Ashley said.

Victoria scoffed, almost wondering if she had stepped into the twilight zone with how surreal this was. "So not doctored? Wasn't that the first thing you said?"

"We…we had reason to believe that the video could have been altered because of Starlight's fans and-"

"-Ashley, please," Victoria begged her, leaning forwards and looking the woman directly in the eye. "Don't bullshit me. You helped me escape that time. You let me go. I know he has a hold over you and I get it, okay? But I don't for one second believe that him decapitating someone was in self-defence because we both know what he's capable of. He did this and he has shown no remorse for it."

Ashley gulped and closed her eyes for a second. She let out a deep breath, palms flat on her desk before she spoke. "He is being branded a murderer," Ashley said to Victoria and her eyes widened in response to that. "The District Attorney wants to prosecute him."

Victoria looked shocked at that. They wanted to prosecute him. They wanted him to be charged for what he had done. Victoria continued to keep quiet, her mind whirling as to what this could mean. She thought about her daughter upstairs. She thought about Ryan. If he was indicted then there was a small chance he could be held accountable for his crimes. She might be able to get them away from him. But then she thought realistically about it. There would be no chance that he would go quietly. Did she honestly believe that he would be locked up in some cell? He was invincible. He'd rather burn the world down than face consequences for his actions.

"He's going to go on trial?"

"In another few months," Ashley said with a nod of her head. "They're gathering the evidence against him."

"And he doesn't know?"

"That was why I asked you down here," Ashley said. "I was hoping that you might be able to tell him."

Victoria instantly shook her head. "Fuck no," she said. "It's a miracle I'm still alive after he found me. I'm not doing anything that would risk pissing him off further. He's going to be furious when he finds out."

"But he loves you."

"You think that's enough?" Victoria questioned. "Having him love me is toxic…it's suffocating…you think if I didn't have Evie that I'd still be here? He might not have cast me out, but I'd have found a way out…no matter what."

Ashley considered her words then, seeing that the Victoria in front of her was a different one to the one she had met so many months ago. The first time she had met her she had been sweet but with a silent determination inside of her. She had been snappy and volatile when she wanted to be, not afraid to give anyone a piece of her mind. But the woman in front of her looked tired. She looked like she had no fight left to give, like she'd just quit. And that was how Victoria felt. Any energy she had left inside of her to fight Homelander and escape him had gone. It was a pointless exercise and anyone who got close to her and tried to help would just end up dead like Alex. She wasn't going to risk anyone else.

"He's going to be so angry," Ashley just said.

"That's not my problem, I'm afraid," Victoria said and she moved to her feet. "I'm not telling him. You're going to have to do it on your own."

"Tell him what?"

Victoria was just standing up, letting her pleated green skirt fall down to her ankles as the door opened and Homelander stood there. Victoria wondered just how long he'd been listening in. He had his hands on his hips, lips arched almost in amusement as his blue eyes flittered between his wife and his so-called boss. Ashley remained seated, tucking her hair behind her ears as she nervously stammered.

"It's nothing, sir, we're working on a marketing strategy to cope-"

"-To cope with what?" Homelander asked, his voice turning slightly more menacing.

All eyes in the room turned to Ashley, but the CEO was looking pleadingly at Victoria who sighed and started to toy with the cuff of her white blouse. Moving her gaze to her husband, Victoria prepared to tell him, sensing that Ashley was too anxious.

"The District Attorney is going to prosecute you for what you did to that man outside of Vought Tower," Victoria declared, voice deadpan with no emotion. She watched as Homelander blinked profusely and then gasped back a chuckle, hands going behind his back.

"I'm sorry, what?" he questioned.

"You're going to have to go on trial for what you did to that man," Victoria said, almost embarrassed she didn't know his name. How many people had Homelander killed who he saw as faceless figures simply standing in his way? "We're not sure when, but it's coming up."

"But we have measures in place," Ashley assured Homelander, rising to her feet and picking up her tablet, pressing buttons. "We have a hashtag that we intend to get trending as soon as possible with HomeFree. Cameron Coleman is also surely going to be on your side too as he's been so supportive so we can get him backing you…plus you're doing well with your audience. They'll definitely be happy to support you. We can get testimonies from people who were there and saw you defending your son."

It seemed as though Homelander wasn't entirely listening to her. His face was unreadable to her, but Victoria knew that look. He was thinking. He was stewing over what he'd been told. And then the outburst would come. She was half-expecting it. She let out a shaky breath and folded her arms over her chest, prepared for whatever he was going to say.

"They're prosecuting me?" Homelander double-checked. "I did what I had to do. That man threw something at my son. You think I was going to let anyone get away with hurting my boy? Absolutely not. This is America. I have the right to defend anyone who wants to hurt my child."

Victoria kept silent, biting down on her tongue. But Ashley was doing enough talking for both of them.

"Absolutely," she confirmed to him, cradling her tablet against her chest. "And we are going to fight these accusations with everything we have. People will see that what you did was a necessity. It wasn't out of malice. It was to protect your child. Anyone would have done the same thing. The DA just wants to look tough on supes. It's never going to go anywhere."

"I'm constantly being persecuted for trying to keep my loved ones safe," Homelander complained and Victoria swore she was drawing blood from how hard she was chewing on her tongue. "How is any of this fair? How have you let it come this far, Ashley?" he accused her, pointing in her direction and she looked like a deer in headlights. Victoria let her eyes roll into the back of her head at hearing him. "You should have told me earlier and I could have handled it."

"We just got news today," Ashley defended herself against him. "We had no idea that this was what they had been planning."

"You should have known," Homelander sniped back. "I won't stand for it. I won't let them do this to me."

"Nothing is going to happen," Ashley said and Victoria wondered if she could even make that promise. "We are going to work tirelessly to clear your name and make people see that this is nothing but a witch hunt…a vendetta…a smear campaign."

"What is even happening to this country when a God is being questioned by some nobody in Congress?" Homelander muttered and Victoria did everything in her power not to laugh at that. Was he that deluded? She remained stood on the spot, rocking from one foot to the other before Homelander looked to her. He arched his brow as she avoided his gaze, looking over his shoulder and to the door. Moving towards her, he lifted his gloved hand, fingers grabbing her chin and forcing her to look in his direction. "And what do you have to say for yourself, sweetheart?" he questioned.

She forced herself to look at him, telling herself that she had nothing to be scared of. "You really want to know what I think?" she queried and Homelander's jaw clenched before he pushed her chin from his grip, almost sending her falling to the floor with the force of his movement.

"You're such a fucking hypocrite," he complained. "I don't seem to remember you complaining when I killed the men who would have hurt Evie. In fact, I recall you letting me kiss you then."

Victoria glanced to Ashley who clearly had no idea what they were on about. She had the good sense to look away though, busying herself with her tablet. Victoria knew she was listening, but she guessed there was no way out of the conversation now.

"That was different."

"Because Evie is yours and Ryan isn't?"

"Because those men had threatened to kill her. There was a plot to kidnap my daughter and use her as an example…this man…I doubt he had any intention of hurting Ryan. He just-"

"-Just what?" Homelander interrupted, refusing to let her get her point across. "He threw something at my son. He called him a fascist. He could have harmed my child."

"He was angry and upset with you for what was going on with Starlight. He wasn't going to hurt Ryan."

"You can't know that," Homelander defended. "This has always been your problem. It's been the constant double standards with you all the time and I am so fucking sick of it. You…you're a lying, cheating good for nothing-"

"-I'm not the one who lasered a man's head from his shoulders!" Victoria yelled back at him, tired of his insults. She was not going to stand there and listen to him talk to her like that. She deserved better.

"Ashley, get out," Homelander said, voice deep and even.

"No," Victoria said.

"Ashley. Now." He warned her and the CEO did as he had asked, blustering from the room without another word, despite the fact that they were in her office. Homelander waited until the door snicked shut before he lifted his head upwards, swivelling his neck from left to right like he had a knot in it.

"You're so self-righteous," he suddenly hissed and Victoria began to move around him, having no interest in having this discussion. But he was quick. He grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her back, twisting her arm behind her back and frog-marching her over to the sofa, bending her over the back of it. "You think I need this, huh?" he demanded, hissing in her ear as he kept her pressed between his body and the sofa. He bent over her, chest flush to her back as she squirmed beneath him.

"Get off of me," she demanded, hair falling in her face and cheeks heating up.

"All I wanted was a wife to do as I asked," he responded, snarling in her ear. "I wanted you to stand by my side and support me because you have no idea how difficult it is to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. I give you everything. You have a daughter…a home…enough money to do anything you want…and me. I gave you me. I love you and you just can't do it, can you? You can't bring yourself to be the woman I need."

"I'm here, aren't I?" she sniped back at him.

"Under sufferance. Things were better when we were actually working together…when you knew everything but still wanted me."

Victoria laughed then and Homelander let go of her arm, fingers grabbing her upper arms and spinning her around until she was stood up straight and facing him. "You think I still wanted you?" she asked from him and she knew that she was playing with fire, but she could hardly think straight. She'd been silent since they'd landed back in New York, trying to grieve and accept her fate. But she couldn't. "I did what I had to do to survive you. I did what you wanted me to so that I could stay in your good graces because you terrify me. You…you want things to do back to how they were? Well they can't. They can never go back to how they were and that's just the truth. I'm sorry, but it is. You keep me here out of some misguided notion that I'll love you like I did, but that won't happen…it can't happen because I've seen you for who you are."

"And who is that?" Homelander questioned, jaw tense and eyes glaring at her.

"You're broken," she said to him. "But instead of trying to fix yourself…you hurt other people. What happened to you as a child was horrible and no one is denying that, but that doesn't mean that you had to grow up to be this power-crazed supe who thinks he's a God."

Homelander considered her words for a moment, lifting the back of his hand to brush along her cheek, feeling the small shudder she let out at his touch. "You want to talk about being broken?" he asked her. "Have you looked in a mirror, Victoria?"

"Don't turn this back onto me."

"When I found you I didn't think there was any hope for you…came from a broken family…you can't even look at your arms. How is that normal? You were damaged goods and I put you back together. I helped to heal you. I made you feel safe and now…what? You think I'm some monster? Like your daddy? Like Eddie?"

"They hurt people on purpose and you hurt people on purpose. The only difference is that V in your veins," Victoria said.

"You know what? Maybe this is what you enjoy doing," Homelander mused and stepped away from her, giving her room to slide out from between him and the sofa. But she didn't. She remained where she was, arms folded and chin jutting out.

"What's that?"

"Playing the victim…playing the martyr," Homelander mused and she scoffed.

"Yeah, okay," she said with a sarcastic accent.

"I mean, you enjoy being saved, don't you? You think that you're all strong and independent, but really you're not. You needed me to save you. You needed your brother to save you. Hell, you even needed that useless Mexican supe-"

"-Do not mention him!" Victoria interrupted, snapping loudly.

Homelander looked amused then. "Maybe," he toyed with the words he was about to say and Victoria waited expectantly. He knew he was crossing a line. "Maybe I shouldn't have killed Eddie. Maybe I should have asked him just what you were like because honestly I'm wondering if you didn't make him out to be a bad guy because you just love being a victim."

Victoria swore that she'd never felt her chest ache as much as it did then. She was taken back. She visibly took a step back and reached behind her to grab the back of the sofa to steady her. Eyes widening, she swore she wasn't going to cry at what he had said. He'd said things just as horrible, but this stung. This stung more than she cared to admit.

"He raped me," Victoria reminded him.

Homelander's hands dropped to his hips and he shrugged. "So you say."

He didn't know what he was trying to do. He guessed that he wanted to hurt her. He wanted to hurt her just like she had hurt him over the recent months. He knew it was wrong. He loved her, he truly did. But he was fed up with her. He was done being nice. Victoria shook her head and began to move from the room.

"Victoria-"

"-We're done," she interrupted him. "You're worse than they are. You're a monster."

"You think I'm a monster?" he demanded from her.

"I know you are," she interrupted and he let her just walk out without another word. Exhaling a sharp breath, he chuckled darkly. If she thought he was a monster then he would show her. She hadn't seen anything that he was capable of, but she would. She'd see all of him.

...

A/N: Another filler chapter hopefully tying into season 4 if the released reels are anything to go by! Next up we have Billy, Annie and Hughie coming back...and maybe a certain someone else too. Do let me know what you think - I've loved knowing that people are still interested even if I don't update as much as we wait for the new season!