Much Better Indeed

A.N. This is set, as you might have guessed by the title, right before So Much Better. The plot bunnies got the best of me. It follows Emmett's thoughts and what would have happened if he hadn't left. This is based on the original Broadway production (recorded by MTV) with Laura Bell and Christian Borle, just so that you know. I hope that you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: If I owned Legally Blonde, it would still be running on Broadway.

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Emmett watched with a sigh as Warner proposed to Vivienne. The only thing he could think was 'Elle is going to be so brokenhearted,' followed closely by 'Oh Lord, tell me she got the internship, because that is the only thing that will fix this.' He whipped around to take a glance at the list. 'Thank God.' Behind him, he heard his friend's beautiful soprano ringing out in a song of love and loss. He turned back to her and laid a gentle, consoling hand on her shoulder. When she didn't respond, he tapped her, got her attention, and pointed to the paper on the bulletin board.

When she saw her name, her expression changed fast enough to give him whiplash, and she began an entirely new song. He pinched her at her request, grinned as she shook him in her excitement, and did their secret handshake. She turned to her ex, and Emmett backed up a couple of steps to watch her finally get over the jerk. She crossed back toward him as Warner tried to escape this new reality. As he checked the list, his face showed shock, resignation, and something else rather difficult to identify. The skinny lawyer grinned to himself. 'That's what you get for underestimating Elle.'

He tuned back in to what his friend was singing, and he blanched as she mentioned making love with Warner. Then something in his lower stomach jumped as she let out a series of gasping moans. For some reason, he wanted to make her make those sounds, and he wanted to be the only reason she ever did so again. The fact that Warner had done so in the past grated on him all of a sudden, and he could not explain why. Nor could he explain the images that flashed through his mind, involving quite a bit of blonde hair, pale skin, and those noises.

'What am I thinking?!' He demanded of himself. 'She's my friend! I shouldn't be thinking about her like that; it's wrong!' Wrong or not, the images continued, and they certainly weren't unpleasant. At the moment, they featured Elle squirming against a mattress, and the name on her lips was most definitely not Warner's. Just then, he looked up to notice that everyone else was leaving the hall, and he hurried out as well, lest the girl in question notice him or that his mind was most certainly not on the internship.

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Unfortunately, he discovered a few minutes later, his feet did not seem to be on his side. They had led him to the door of Elle's room, and he couldn't bring himself to leave. Instead, he slid down her door and sat in front of it, sweating and shaking, with his head between his knees. 'I have got to calm down. She'll be here any minute, and I can't let her see me like this.' He began breathing deeply and focusing on relaxing his muscles.

He had almost succeeded when he heard the click of heels on the hardwood floor, and he glanced up enough to see the white pumps that now rested in front of him.

"Emmett? What are you doing? Are you okay?"

"Elle, hi!" He scrambled to his feet. "Yeah, I'm - I'm great. Just a little overwhelmed - with the case and everything, I mean! What else could I mean…" he chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Emmett, seriously, what's wrong? You seem really off, but you were fine earlier. What happened in the last ten minutes?"

"Nothing happened! I mean, what could have happened? I just… um… I just thought I'd congratulate you on getting the internship… again." 'Oh yeah, because that was real smooth and believable. Nice going,' he berated himself.

"That's it. Emmett, get inside." She opened her door and gave him a little shove. In his nervousness, he nearly ran into the desk, but he managed to evade it and resist the urge to just flop on the bed. Elle followed more gracefully, and she swept past him to sit on the bed. "Now tell me what's going on. C'mon, spill!" She grabbed his hand and tugged him down next to her.

"Seriously, nothing is going on! I just…" he sighed and decided to give her at least part of the truth. "I saw you getting all up in Warner's face. You looked pretty glad to finally be over him; I'm just happy for you, that's all."

"First of all, I know, right?!" She squealed. "But second of all, that's not all of it. That wouldn't make you act like this. Just tell me; we're friends, Emmett, you can tell me anything."

"I'm just really proud of you! I mean, you helped Paulette get Rufus back, got Callahan's internship, and stood up to Warner all in one day! You've come so far since that night in the bunny suit." All of this was true, of course, if not the reason for his nervousness, and he had been meaning to tell her that. Unfortunately, the thought of her in the bunny suit was not helping his mental calm, and he began sweating again.

"Wow, thank you! No one's ever said anything that nice to me before. You're the best; do you know that?" She threw herself at him in a hug similar to the one she had begun giving him on Christmas, but this time there was no one to interrupt them. However, he was not particularly balanced or prepared, so when she slammed into him, they both went sideways on the bed a bit, leaving him with a lap full of giggling Elle.

"Sorry," she murmured breathlessly when she managed to stop laughing, but she didn't seem particularly sorry or inclined to move.

"'S okay." He cleared his throat. "And you're welcome. I meant every word; you earned it. You've worked your tail off since you got that chip on your shoulder, and you've proved to everyone that blondes are not always dumb." He looked down at her as she shifted to get comfortable, and his brown eyes caught her blue ones.

"Emmett?" She whispered. He intended to respond, but the words got lost as his thoughts swirled out of control. The only thing he could think of was that she was close, and she looked so much better in this dress than she ever could in that bunny suit. He leaned down, though he couldn't say why, and her eyes drifted shut, her long lashes brushing his cheeks. "What were you really thinking about?" She asked gently.

"You," he admitted before he pressed his lips to hers. She gasped, and he began to pull back with the impression that she didn't want it, but then she began kissing back. His arms snaked around her, one about her waist and one behind her head, tangling in her hair. Her arms went around his neck, fingers playing with the short hairs there. The kiss, though intense, remained fairly chaste. Despite his unclean thoughts, he had no intention of taking it any farther now. If he was going to be with Elle, (and from the way things were going, he was,) he was going to do things right.

Since he was beginning to get a bit lightheaded, he pulled away. Both of them spent a few moments just gasping for air before they were prepared to address things.

"Wow. I am so glad I asked," Elle muttered with a grin. "That was… wow."

"Yeah. I'm glad you asked, too. Wow is a good word." 'I'm pretty sure that made no sense, but I really couldn't care less right now,' he reflected fuzzily.

"By the way, what did you mean, you were thinking about me?" 'Shit.'

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A.N. Now, I could continue this one, but I don't necessarily have to. We'll see, I s'pose. Let me know what you think!