"Tanner, I know you think you have to apologize, but I'm not sorry for our child. There's no murderer in there, just a tiny boy who is never going to know the feeling of betrayal. I'll have him smothered in so much love, I assure you he'll be every bit as kind as you."

"A boy..." Tanner's tone was wistful as he ran his fingers over her skin again and lifted his face to look at her. "How can I rest easy in my grave knowing he'll have no father?"

Mentioning anything about his death tore her apart, and tears escaped both their eyes. She turned away from him a moment, but it was only to have her gaze yanked back to him by a strong grip she was familiar with. Tanner smiled, and her shoulders shook before she straightened up.

"There are plenty of men lining up to take care of him. Don't worry, Tanner. I know you don't like him, but Donovan has volunteered to help with his care and financials. I'm sure Micah and Nathan will enjoy spending time with him as well, though I haven't told Nathan yet. He has his own problems to worry about with Ian. I don't think you want to know that Oliver is supporting me, but it's obvious."

"No, I don't want to know." Tanner sighed and his eyes darkened lightly. "Nathan's okay? I was never really nice to him, and the last I saw of him he was drenched in blood."

"Yeah, he's okay. Walking around and everything, from what I hear. I'm not allowed to see him, but I will eventually."

Tanner stood, and she looked up to him as he pulled her against him and leaned on the table. "I thought I'd never see you again, let alone feel you."

Running his hand through her hair, he lowered his lips to hers, and she needed no more invitation that that. The gentle kiss didn't linger as he wandered down to her chin, laying one there before he found her neck and pressed his lips one last time to her skin. Even with it all, the kiss was too short, but she imagined it would have been no matter how long he had remained. All she wanted was to feel him everywhere on her, so that she would never forget what it felt like.

"Why are you not allowed to see Nathan?" There was a threat in his eyes as he raised his head back up. It was the way they got whenever Tanner perceived someone as doing anything unsavory toward her.

"Oliver thinks it would be bad if the media started poking around into my affairs as well."

"Oliver," Tanner snapped his name in annoyance. "Why does he have so much say in what you do?" It occurred to her with the question that she had never mentioned her move to Tanner, not even in one of her letters. They had been focused on other things, though she had occasionally complained about Halen and Oliver.

"I moved out of my father's house the same day they took you away."

"You moved out?" Concern rang in Tanner's voice, and she tried to calm him with her hands, sliding them up the sides of his face.

"It's okay. I know you don't like it, but I've been staying with Oliver. Donovan is with me too, hiding from the media there, so don't think I'm just stranded alone."

"You can't be in debt to him," Tanner pleaded, and she shook her head.

"It's not like that, Tanner." It was not in her ability to explain to him that she had accepted Oliver's offer to join his family. That would bring up too much stress. "As far as bribing your guards, Oliver said he's not expecting anything back from me. I know he's not 'good people', but my father would have never supported my pregnancy, nor kept it secret. You weren't there for my ultrasounds, but I brought a picture."

Rachel slid it out of her bag and handed it to him. As he held it in his hands, a smile spread on his face and his fingers shook, touching the picture gently.

"It's a pomegranate, I'm told. In size, I mean." Rachel laughed from his strange look, and he chuckled as well. "I know it's bad, but I'm going to need Oliver if and when it's discovered that I'm carrying your child. The man could hide an elephant in a flock of sheep effectively. Plus, I have Halen and he's around my age."

"That poor kid, named after a god awful band and subjected to Oliver's... more private side." Tanner grimaced, thinking of him.

"You don't like Van Halen?" Rachel said appalled. "Let me guess, you like country. 'Ex-wife stole my truck, my dog, and my heart' guy, right?"

Tanner laughed and he squished her against his side.

"Are the camera's off?" Tanner asked into her hair, and she cranked her head up to him with an awkward stare. There was another question behind that question and it made her nervous.

"It's supposed to be surveillance off, no interruptions for this shift of prison guards, so we should have a while. Oliver paid them a lot."

"I see," Tanner murmured into her ear, and it brought heat to her face. "Would you think me shallow, if I wanted something... physical from you?" There was yearning in his voice, and it sent goosebumps down her neck and arms.

"You want to have sex here? Are you nuts?" Rachel asked, though she couldn't escape the grip of his arms around her.

"Pretty damn crazy, yes. I'm at the end of my ropes, and the love of my life is sitting in front of me carrying my child. This is like to be my only unsupervised visit with you. I'm not trying to pressure you though... If it's not safe, or you don't want to, it's all right." A shadow passed over Tanner's eyes, and Rachel sighed lightly, causing him to flinch in worry that he'd asked too much.

"Oliver asked the same question at my last doctor visit. I told him if he was looking to traffic me for sex, he'd have a rough time of it. I guess he was just thinking about you. It's safe, but, how are we supposed to-"

Tanner cut off her speech as he lifted her off of the table and then lowered her back down onto his lap as he sat in the chair. Leaned back against the round table, he ran his hands through her hair.

"Is this uncomfortable?" Tanner smiled, and she narrowed her eyes.

"You're not exactly dressed for a date," Rachel said with an awkward smile.

Briefly, Tanner looked down at his orange jumpsuit and then shrugged. "I'd rather we not be dressed at all." Tanner teased as he slid his lips across her neck. "Allow me to be with you one last time?"

"Stop making things so final!" Rachel growled, and he raised his eyes for only long enough to sparkle them at her and smirk. Then they descended to her lips and she couldn't argue with him any longer.

Just like the first kiss, things were too fast for her. They didn't strip down to the nude because they were still in a prison, but Tanner taking off her pants and ripping the front of her blouse open had been a bit embarrassing.

It was different than the other time they had been with each other. Instead of the passion she was used to from Tanner, his every touch was delicate, as if she were made of glass. It was slow and sensual, and Rachel ended up crying on his shoulders. That made Tanner panic in his normal manner, but she just brushed him off and kissed him until he shut up.

Her tears were not because she didn't want this.

All in all, the only time Tanner used any sort of force that would be strong enough to bend a wet Q-tip was when his lips found her neck at the height of his pleasure. "Something to remember me by for a while." Tanner teased as he pressed her to him in an embrace that crushed her heart. With him like this, she was drowning. It was blissful having him, and painful knowing this was temporary.

Tanner brought her pants backafter slipping his orange ones back on. At least he handed them to her to put on herself, though she knew in his head he had likely considered putting them on for her. Rachel was tired of people doing things for her. When they were dressed again, Tanner lifted her right back onto the table and sat next to her. It really was closer than the chairs, and Tanner would likely die if she sat on the floor.

"Thank you, Rachel." Tanner's tone was light as he ran his hand through her hair gently. "I know I'm a sick old man to have asked you for something like that, especially when you're pregnant."

"You may be a sick old man, but you're my sick old man." Rachel snarky tone drew a laugh out of Tanner, and he leaned in to breathe against her hair once more.

"Have I ever told you that I love you more than anything?"

"You've barely said you like me at all." Rachel giggled as she relaxed in her chair. "I love you too, and I love the life inside me. I don't want you to be sorry for even a moment because I'm not and never will be. He'll be knowing everything about you someday, the bad and the good. You're not you with pieces missing."

"Thank you, Rachel."

It was nice to see Tanner more stable than when he had walked in. Calm and collected, he was no longer shaking when he touched her, and a bit of his strength had returned to him as he'd sat next to her.

"I won't cry any longer when you can see me," Tanner said, surprising her. I've done that enough, and I want to be strong for you. Behind those walls, I'm going to be a god damn train wreck, but when you see me, I'm going to smile for you. I promise."

"You can cry, Tanner. I cry way too much myself."

That made him laugh pretty hard, but he just pat her hand, looking sadly into her eyes.

"No one told you, did they?"

Why were his eyes so sad right now?

A moment ago they had just been strong and overjoyed by just her presence.

How could they fall so hard?

"Told me? Told me what?" Rachel's voice shook.

"Rachel..." Tanner kissed her gently on the forehead and squeezed her against him. Pulling away, he released her and the skin around his eyes crinkled in pain. "I'm being executed tomorrow evening."

No.

"W-why would no one tell me?"

How could they keep something like that from her?

Why would they do that to her?

Oliver, maybe, but Halen and Donovan had to have known as well. The way she was sheltered, she didn't know anything, and they had hidden this from her.

Something so important.

So devastating.

"Please don't panic, Rachel." Tanner's eyes never left hers as her tears flooded forth. "I know Oliver. He will take you, if you can bear it."

"Of course I'm going!" Rachel snapped with a fury that made her wish her baton was still attached to her belt buckle. Only thinking about the fact that she was pregnant calmed her enough to just clutch her hands against her chest.

"Don't be angry at whoever didn't tell you. I imagine they just wanted you to be... well, you for my last visit. It's okay, Rachel. I know it's hard. You're terrified, I'm terrified, everyone's angry, but there's no way out of it this time. I'd be lying if I said once they take me back to my cell I'm not going to break down into a horrible mess, but when I see you tomorrow... Could you smile for me? I know it's a hard request, but I would be no happier than to see your smile and to smile back at you as I leave this world. You can cry after, as much as you want, but please give me one last smile."

"You're all jerks." Rachel shoved her face into her shirt to try and stop the tears.

"I know." Tanner's voice was soft.

"Is it going to bother you if I start crying now?" Rachel asked, leaning into him and holding him tightly to her.

"Yes," Tanner said, pressing her head against his chest. "But I'll endure anything for you, Rachel." Those words just made it so much harder as she clutched him to herself and released the tears she had been holding onto.

They were sobs, only muffled by his shirt as she pressed her face into it. Though she had always tried to avoid stress so that it didn't negatively affect her pregnancy, she couldn't contain herself as her anguish washed over the man in front of her.

They were taking him away.

The one person she'd ever loved.

The only one to treat her like she was something more than a gangster or a politician's daughter. He had respected her as an equal, fought with her like any normal person would, and then calmed and returned to her side even more desperate for her than before.

Without him, what was she anymore?

All this time she had been holding out hope that somehow it would all be okay, that no one would take him away, and that they could beat whatever this was. This wasn't something tangible that she could fight against though–a lifetime of decisions, unbendable laws and contracts, people's lives that could never be replaced. There was no way to just make everything go away, but she'd been deluded in refusing to accept this as an inevitability.

"I love you, Rachel," Tanner said into her hair

"I love you too, Tanner. I don't want you to go." Rachel trembled as Tanner slid his hand up to her stomach to rest it there once more.

"Make sure you tell our son how much I loved him," Tanner said, pressing his lips to her forehead again and running his hand up the side of her cheek to press her face to his.

"You know I will. Little Tanner will know just how much his father loved him."

Tanner lifted her face to hers, and despite saying that he wouldn't, a small trickle of tears leaked down to his chin, and he kissed her on the lips. Like that, she felt the warmth of his soft skin on hers and breathed him in. Tanner made her feel safe, at home, and she never wanted it to end.

But it was inevitable.

Word count: 2460 -- Edited July 16th, 2020