AN: This fic is dedicated to my wonderful friend D'Grace who did a potentially very bad thing and introduced me to Legally Blonde the Musical. This musical brought us so much closer as friends and I now have someone else to constantly fangirl with. This one's for you 3

The crisp late October air carried the smell of autumn that was distinct to the Northeast. Emmett Forrest zipped his sweatshirt higher as he stepped out the door to his apartment building. Not his favorite sweatshirt though, that he had left with Elle and had no hopes of actually getting it back. He didn't need to have a girlfriend to know how girls worked, give them a piece of your clothing and it's gone forever.

Double checking the door was locked, he started his commute to campus. Walking by his favorite coffee shop he pulled out his wallet to see if he could spare the cash for a morning coffee. Seeing the ten-dollar bill and few ones that were left, he decided against the extra expense, saving his money for something important that could come up later.

Emmett's walk was a short one. It was early Saturday morning with not much traffic on the streets of Cambridge. During his commute, he continually played back the words spoken to him the previous night. Would you be willing to tutor me? Elle's face had been determined and confident, yet Emmett could see the slight vulnerability in her asking for help. Of course he had said yes. He'd really only spoken to Elle for less than 24 hours, but he'd known her since the beginning of the semester, and looking back, he was astonished at how easily he had agreed to tutor her. Thoughts of how much of his time it would take up and if she was really serious about law school never crossed his mind.

As he reached his destination he checked his watch and it read ten minutes to eight. He tended to be on the early side whenever he needed to be somewhere, he just hoped that Elle wouldn't mind him showing up earlier than scheduled. She had agreed to an "all-day, getting my life back on track" study session starting at eight that morning. Emmett knocked on the door quietly, bearing in mind the other students in the dorm building who had probably been asleep only a few hours. Bruiser yipped a few times at the knock and moments later a still pajama-clad Elle opened the door.

"Emmett! Sorry, I hit the snooze button a few too many times this morning. Is it okay if you wait while I change?"

"Yeah of course, take your time, I'm early anyways." Elle smiled at him as she turned to head back towards her bathroom. Emmett noticed the different ice cream cones adorning her pink pajamas, thinking they were incredibly cute. "Hey," he called just before she closed the bathroom door, "I like the pj's… Very, middle school slumber party-esque." Elle huffed and stuck her tongue out at him as she closed the door, leaving Emmett laughing quietly to himself.

He sat down on the corner of her bed as Bruiser jumped up to join him, taking the time to observe Elle's room. Emmett was impressed when he noticed the garbage can fuller than when he left it last night. Elle had actually listened to his advice… for now. At 8:00 sharp Elle emerged from the bathroom looking ready to take on the world, all in pink.

"All right, let's do this." She grabbed her bag and bent over to pick up the stack of law books while Emmett caught himself staring but quickly regained his focus, shaking the thought and chastising himself before Elle had stood back up. He was greeted with a mass of textbooks dropped in his lap and let out a humph in response. "That's for the pajama comment. Now, where exactly are we going again?"

"The library?" Emmett responded questioningly, confused as to how they could have been going anywhere else. "Have you never been there before?"

"No, but there's a first time everything." Elle bustled towards the door and opened it, looking back at Emmett who was still sitting on her bed, law books in hand. "Are you coming? According to you I have a lot of work to do."

"Yeah," Emmett shook his head, clearing the mental fog that Elle had instilled just by being herself. "I'm right behind you."

"Bye Bruiser!" Elle waved at her beloved pup as Emmett followed her out the door. "Paulette is going to come over and take him for the day and tonight since I didn't know how long we would be gone."

The air was brisk as they walked across campus towards the library and Emmett noticed Elle shiver more than once. The California girl always lived up to her own fashion standards but had yet to adapt that fashion to Massachusetts weather. The library wasn't too far though and she had an air and stride of determination that Emmett did not want to break. As they entered through the doors of the building he had spent far too much of his life in, he remained continually perplexed with the girl he had met the first day of class, so much blonde and so much pink, yet so very much beneath it all.

Numerous books, papers, and cans of Red Bull were strewn across the library table, looking as if a bomb had gone off with Elle Woods as its epicenter. "Do we have to keep going?" she groaned as she lowered her face into her textbook.

"Well it is," Emmett checked the time on his watch, "after eight o'clock. I suppose twelve hours of work have earned you a break."

"Ugh, good, because I am starving." Elle accentuated the syllables in her final word to further get her point across. "Wait, twelve hours? Have we really been here that long?"

"You did request an 'all-day, getting my life back on track' study session, did you not?" Elle groaned once again, defeated.

"Why do you always have to be right?" Emmett smiled. He thought he should start keeping a tally of all the times she had said that. Elle let out a sigh though, looking utterly exhausted.

"Hey," he said, concern in his voice. Emmett instinctively stood up and made his way around to the other side of the table, not particularly thinking about what he was doing. He put a hand on Elle's shoulder and she looked up at him, eyes showing how defeated she felt. "You made a great start today. I know it seems like this unconquerable mountain right now, but I believe in you. Already today you've picked up information far quicker than I've seen other students do. You've already got me, you've just got to believe in yourself."

That brought a small smile to Elle's face, and her eyes no longer looked like tears would appear at any moment. "Thank you." Emmett returned the smile but realized his hand was still on Elle's shoulder, though she either hadn't noticed or hadn't minded the contact. Now conscious of what he was doing, Emmett quickly removed his hand and ran it through his hair.

"Pizza?" he said quickly, trying to change the subject. "My treat." Elle's eyes lit up at the mention of food and she had seemed to have perked up a bit.

"Yes, please, I need to get out of this god-forsaken building." Emmett gathered the scattered papers and Elle's textbooks as she packed up her bag. He pulled out his cell phone, dialing the number for his favorite pizza place.

"What toppings?" asked Emmett, covering the microphone.

"Ooo, white pizza with broccoli please," replied Elle. Emmett's face turned into one of disgust and confusion.

"Uh, yeah, can you do half broccoli white, half just regular pepperoni? Great, thanks… Yes the address is a Harvard dorm, I'll meet them at the door, just call. Thirty-five minutes, got it." Emmett hung up the phone to see Elle fixing her hair in the reflection in the window. He didn't understand why she felt the need to continually maintain her appearance up to her standards. She was more beautiful than any woman he had met before, just the way she had looked this morning in her pajamas. Not that Emmett cared, but it was kind of hard to not see Elle. Especially when she was suddenly right in front of him, Emmett too lost in his thoughts to notice her moving.

"So the pizza?" Elle looked up at him expectantly.

"Oh, uh, yeah, half an hour or so. I just told the guy to deliver it to your dorm, is that alright? It's been a long day, so I figured you'd want to go home..."

"Of course!" Elle stopped him from rambling. "Let's go." Emmett followed Elle out the doors of the library to meet even colder air than in the morning, and a biting wind to go with. He looked at Elle in her lightweight top, colder than she was probably letting on. He sighed inwardly, hoping that losing his sweatshirts wasn't going to become a habit.

"Elle, hold up, here," he unzipped and removed his sweatshirt, handing it over to her. "You look like you could use it." Their hands brushed as Elle took the sweatshirt, looking slightly perplexed.

"Thank you, you're too sweet. But, I don't want you to be cold too," said Elle, attempting to hand the sweatshirt back. Emmett put a hand up to stop her.

"I'll be fine. I know how to dress for the different seasons," Emmett said somewhat mockingly. "Want to know my fashion secret?" Elle snorted at the mention of Emmett doing anything fashionable. "Layers." And with that Elle let out a full on laugh, one that Emmett had never heard before and one that created an unexpected warm feeling in his chest. Her laugh was infectious and he too broke and joined her.

"If being a lawyer doesn't work out for you, I can get you in with some fashion critics I know," said Elle cheekily as she pulled on the warmer piece of clothing. "Now let's go, I'm hungry!" She marched off ahead of Emmett while he once again remained in awe of little Miss Woods comma Elle.

Emmett made his way up the stairs back to Elle's dorm, warm pizza in hand. His stomach growled at the smell wafting out of the pizza box. As he turned the corner he was met by a solid mass rather than the hallway. "Hey, watch where you're going!" came a familiar voice. Emmett looked up to see Mr. Rich Boy III staring down at him.

"Sorry Warner, I didn't see you there." Emmett took a step forward but Warner was blocking his way.

"Does Callahan not pay you enough so you've got to deliver pizza on the side?" Condescension dripped from Warner's voice.

"Actually I-" Emmett was cut off by the sound of Elle's door opening.

"Oh, Emmett, I was afraid you got lost. I'm so hungry!" Warner turned his head at the sound of Elle's voice. "Warner!" Emmett felt the rise of something hot spread throughout his body at the change in Elle's demeanor upon seeing Warner. "What are you doing here?" She twirled a finger through her hair.

"I'm just heading over to Vivian's. Enjoy your… pizza." Warner looked at Elle, still wearing Emmett's sweatshirt, and then back at Emmett with a smirk, moving to let him go through. Elle sighed as Warner walked away.

"Elle?" Emmett was standing in front of her. "Can I uh, come in?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry…" Elle stepped aside and Emmett brought the pizza in, setting the box on her desk.

"Plates?"

"Umm…" Emmett looked around the room. He walked over and sat down on the floor, back up against Elle's bed.

"Is the floor okay? We can just eat it out of the box…" Emmett hoped he wasn't being too forward by just sitting on Elle's floor.

"Sure!" Elle plopped herself down next to Emmett, their shoulders touching, immediately grabbing a slice and starting to eat. "Ugh, I was so hungry. Thank you for the pizza, I so needed this right now." Emmett turned his head to look at her and smiled.

"It was no problem, really. Honestly, you should thank past-Emmett for not buying coffee this morning or else I wouldn't have had enough cash on me for pizza."

"Oh stop it, I'm thanking right-now-Emmett, so just deal with it." Elle took another bite of pizza. "So, tell me, do you do this a lot?" Emmett gave Elle a confused look.

"Ummmm, I'm not sure what you mean-"

"Tutoring other students and buying them food on a Saturday night?" Emmett scoffed.

"Hah, no, I used to spend my Saturday nights doing my own studying. Now that I'm working for Callahan, I tend to have a bit more time for myself. Saturday nights usually consist of catching up on all the reading I couldn't do while in law school, maybe stopping by to see my mom. Nothing too exciting…" As he continued, Emmett realized how boring his life must seem to Elle, the social butterfly who was her sorority's president. "You?"

Elle laughed. "This? I've never done this, if that's what you're asking. Back at UCLA Saturday nights were usually reserved for parties or Delta Nu events." At the mention of Delta Nu, Elle's face dropped.

"I'm sure you miss your friends a lot. I can't imagine moving across the country and leaving everyone I know behind. Though I suppose you knew Warner, so you weren't completely alone…" Saying Warner's name left a bad taste in Emmett's mouth, though he wasn't overly sure why.

"Please, Warner didn't even know I was coming, and seeing me here was a big rain on his parade. The only remotely 'nice' thing he's said to me was last night when he told me his biggest regret was not seeing me in that stupid bunny costume. God, I should've never even come here…" Elle forcefully grabbed another slice of pizza out of the box.

"Elle?" Emmett turned and looked at Elle, really looked at her, seeing what she had to offer was so much more than Warner had obviously ever seen.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to say something right now that you're probably not going to like, but there's more pizza if that's the case." Emmett inhaled, God I should really not be saying this, I barely know her. "It seems to me like Warner was kind of, still is really, an ass." Emmett braced himself for tears, yelling, all of it really, but instead all he got was a burst of laughter.

"You know," said Elle, more half laughing-half crying, "you're not necessarily wrong. To be honest, most of those Saturday nights spent at parties were then later spent taking care of Warner while he hurled up everything he drank." Emmett snorted.

"You sound like quite the devoted girlfriend."

"A little too devoted maybe. I did follow the man to Harvard Law School."

"Yeaahhh, you did do that." Elle and Emmett both laughed at the somewhat ridiculousness of Elle's situation. As their laughter died down, Emmett noticed Elle staring down at what remained of the pizza. "You can have it if you want," he offered.

"Oh, no," said Elle, focusing again, "I was just thinking." She paused. Emmett felt like he had said enough that he probably shouldn't have already (where did that come from anyway?) so he didn't push further. However, Elle continued: "You're right, Warner is an ass. I'm still in love with him though, I mean I think I am anyways, I thought he was going to propose to me for Christ's sake." Elle pulled the sleeves down on Emmett's sweatshirt and wrapped herself in it more, causing Emmett to realize that she was still wearing it.

"I'm sure he'll come to," Emmett muttered. He pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his arms on top of them. "How could he not?" Emmett smiled at Elle, hoping he wasn't giving away how he actually felt about her ex-boyfriend.

"Thank you Emmett." Elle put her hand over his hand, causing the hair on his arms to stand up. "You're too sweet."

"Oh you know, I try." Elle removed her hand, revealing his watch, and Emmett found himself missing the warmth. Elle had her eyes still stuck on his wrist though.

"Ohmigod, Emmett, what happened to your watch?" Her question was directed to the two large cracks running across the watch face and the multiple scratches and scuffs covering the band.

"Oh," said Emmett, pulling it closer to his face, "this was my dad's watch. He, uh, left when I was seven, but he forgot his watch lying on the bathroom counter that morning." He rubbed the watch face with his thumb. "It's one of the few things I've got from him, so I just kind of, kept it around until it would actually fit someday." A look of sympathy spread across Elle's face.

"He must have meant a lot to you."

"Yeah, he used to take me to the comic book store every Wednesday when I was little." Elle snorted. "I thought that place was magical… I'm over it now though. I don't even know why I even wear this thing anymore."

"Probably for the same reason I still wear stuff that Warner bought me. Just because they're gone doesn't mean they didn't mean something at some point."

"Thank you." Emmett smiled, appreciating her comment. "Now, if I can read this old thing correctly, it's almost midnight. It's been a long day, I should let you get some sleep." He stood up, grabbing the pizza box and moving it to Elle's desk. Emmett turned around to see Elle standing, holding his sweatshirt out to him.

"You did say you wanted it back."

"I'm pretty sure I said I wanted my sweatshirt you took yesterday back," he said. "Though this will do for now." Their hands brushed once again as Emmett took his sweatshirt back, causing his heart to race, and he pulled it on.

"So when will I see you again?"

"I suppose you earned the day off for tomorrow," he joked. "I'll see you in Callahan's class on Monday, though make sure you actually do the reading before then."

"Yes, yes, I will, I promise," Elle said, somewhat insincerely.

"After that we'll pick up where we left off today. I'll see you Monday." Emmett made his way to the door and Elle followed him.

"Thank you so much for everything. You're the first person here who's actually believed I can make it through law school." She was standing in the door frame while Emmett stood just out in the hallway.

"I'm just telling you as I see it. Get some sleep so you don't have to continue living off of Red Bull tomorrow," he laughed.

"Goodnight Emmett."

"Goodnight Elle." They smiled at each other one last time before Elle closed her door. As the latch clicked Emmett let out a loud sigh. This is not what I needed, he thought. I'm just tutoring her, helping her out, so she can win back her jerk ex-boyfriend. She is in no way going to be interested in me. But he couldn't back out now, he had made a commitment to Elle, and he really did believe in her.

As he left Elle's dorm, Emmett realized that she seemed more lonely than at first glance, especially as he seemed to be her only real friend besides the hairdresser she had mentioned the night before. She was so different than what he initially judged when meeting her for the first time. She was intelligent, funny, and she knew how to take a joke and give one right back. He smiled just thinking about her. And suddenly, Emmett Forrest found himself walking home on a chilly October evening, far past midnight, and for the first time in a while, especially looking forward to a Monday morning.