The Perfect Emma

Chapter Fifty-Four

Grayson Todd

On multiple occasions had Grayson considered doing something like, jumping off the balcony and blasting off like Team Rocket, or the normal route and just leaving, and currently the consideration was running a bath and drowning himself in it.

But.

In the end.

Everything.

Was fine.

In hindsight, he probably should've expected Emma to react that way. She had made progress, a lot of progress, in the last few weeks, but that was in her over-submission, her fear of being beaten for making mistakes or sassing, her adversity towards blond men. None of that had prepared her to expect romantic advancement, when the last person to ever touch her lips was someone who'd done it against her will.

Technically Gray hadn't exactly asked permission either, but these were very different circumstances, okay.

....Maybe he should've had a conversation with someone from Special Victims first.

It also occurred to Gray that she was probably going to have to tell her therapist about this. Fantastic.

Time to drown.

Aside from all the negativeness going on in the brain of this awkward taco, sitting like this with Emma was...nice. It hadn't quite been the first time, technically, if we're counting every time Gray had had to comfort her, but this time the connotation was different. It had been so long since he'd felt this sort of affection for anyone, and he'd missed that feeling.

So there was a hiccup, but shhh.

Eventually, he broke the comfortable silence. "It's, uh....It's late. I have work, you've got a session. We should uh...."

Emma nodded, understanding. "Yeah," she replied, leaning into him a little before getting up. Gray remained momentarily, before getting to his own feet as well. The two of them headed for their own respective bedrooms, however Emma stopped just outside of hers. "Goodnight, Gray," she said with a soft smile.

Gray turned to look at her as he was opening up his bedroom door and smiled back at her. "Goodnight, Em."

"Please don't beat yourself up," she added.

He chuckled with a shake of his head. Yeah, she had definitely started to know him. "I....I will try."

She rolled her eyes, probably realizing that was the best she was going to get out of him, and replied, "You'd better."

They went to bed then, and as he lie himself down, Gray told himself that he would be going through with the drowning if he made Emma have a nightmare.

Thankfully, she did not. At least...if she did, he was pretty sure he would've heard something. The morning was slightly awkward, at least on Gray's end, but it didn't last very long. Mostly because...Emma noticed and scolded him for it.

And so it begins.

Once he'd dropped her off at her therapist's office—promptly cursing himself because he was well aware she would be talking about it—Gray drove to work attempting to appear like nothing had totally happened at all, psh.

Because Sabrina would notice.

And she would ask.

All day.

And that was not a conversation he wanted to have with her. Or anyone. Gray still technically didn't think this was a good thing in terms of the case. If Aaron's defense caught wind, she would use that against them in court.

Speaking of which, there were a few things he had to talk to McFee about.

The first thing Grayson did when he sat down at his desk was pick up the phone. "Wow," Sabrina commented beside him, spreading her arms at the perceived outrage. "Okay. Not even a 'Good morning, Sabrina, how was your night?' Oh my night was great, Gray—"

"Sabrina, please," Gray interrupted, rolling his eyes as he dialed the District Attorney's office. The woman scoffed, and he rolled his eyes again. "Good morning, Sabrina."

"Thank you," she responded smugly. "Who y'calling?"

"DA," he muttered, holding the phone to his ear and extending an index finger to shush her. She leaned forward, listening in nosily.

"Warrick McFee, District Attorney's office," McFee answered.

"McFee," Gray started, leaning against his desk. "It's Detective Todd, I've got a few favors to ask."

"You realize I'm a busy man, Detective, yes?"

"I know," the detective confirmed. "But it's about Aaron's trial."

There was a brief pause. "What do you need? I thought we had this covered."

"We do, it's about Emma's ability to testify."

"What about it," McFee asked warily. "She knows she's what's between freedom and prison for him, right?"

Gray rolled his eyes. "She's not trying to withdraw, McFee, she just needs a few things. She can't be in the courtroom at the same time he is. She'll need video relay."

"As long as her therapist can confirm that, shouldn't be a problem. Anything else, Your Highness?"

Ah, he wouldn't be McFee if he wasn't an ass. "A dog," Gray answered honestly.

McFee made a noise of disbelief. "That was a joke, not an invitation."

"I'm serious. We're both testifying, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you're putting her on first. I can't be her support person, and she has nobody else, not in this state at least, so she would like a dog. Is that a problem?"

"I suppose requesting a dog would be easier than flying her parents in," McFee admitted. "Fine. I'll talk to the judge before the trial. Have all that arranged."

"Thank you, McFee~," Gray replied, with false sweetness.

"Yeah, yeah," the District Attorney retorted. "Goodbye, Detective."

As Gray hung up, he was slightly startled to have Sabrina in his face when he returned to actuality. "Jesus," he muttered, leaning away from her.

"Please, just call me Sabrina," she snarked. "You literally got subpoenaed yesterday. You're already asking McFee for special circumstances?"

Grayson shrugged. "She already decided she needed them," he answered simply.

"You know the defense, and the jury, are going to be all over the fact that your witness chose to stay with you over her own family, right?"

In truth, he had known, and he'd been mildly worried about it. "It's irrelevant to the case," he deflected. "They're supposed to ignore it."

Sabrina gave him a look. "C'mon, Gray. Do you really believe that they will?"

He didn't want to discuss this. At all. "IAB cleared me. I have nothing to hide, and nothing to worry about." His tone indicated that was all he would be saying about it.

She exhaled and leaned back, gazing at him with concern. "That attorney's going to tear you apart to get her verdict."

"She'll try," Gray agreed. "But I'll be fine." He sighed. "It's Emma's cross I'm worried about."