It Was Always You

The Judge

Y/N'S POV:

The room still hasn't said a word and all eyes are on me as I silently walk over to Lauren. I sit down next to her and act as if everything is okay, not wanting to comment on my outburst.

"Well....let's start the trial, shall we?" The judge awkwardly clears his throat and tries to segway out of that moment.

The trial starts with the judge reading the case between Brian and I. Brian inturrputs the judge almost every second, saying something about how he didn't lay a hand on me, but the judge shuts him up each time.

After a while, Brian is called to the stand.

"Please explain to the jury why you think you shouldn't be tried as guilty."

"I didn't lay a hand on this girl and I never have. She's clearly lying for attention. All these f*gs are just dramatic nowadays." Several people gasp and start talking all at once, until the judge bangs his gavel.

"Please refrain from using offensive rhetoric, Mr. O'Connell."

"Bunch of sensitive daisies." He mumbles under his breath.

"Anyways, Y/N has just been depressed and clearly not right in the head after thinking she can date a girl, and has chosen to take this out on me. She's just mentally ill is all I'm saying!"

I look over and Christina and she looks like she's about to rip his head off. If he said one more thing I just know she would go up there and punch him.

Dani looks at me concerned and I nod reassuringly at her. His words can't hurt me. Only his fists can.

Funny joke, Y/N!!!

Lauren grabs my hand and kisses it, which makes me feel warm inside.

I can tell the judge doesn't agree with anything Brian is saying, but he lets him finish. After he's done, I get called up to the stand.

"Now, Ms. Y/L/N, would you like to talk about your experience with this man over here?" He says while pointing to Brian.

"Ever since Brian found out that I was gay, he's hated me. He only used his words up until about maybe 2 years ago, when the first physical abuse happened. I was talking to this girl I liked on the phone and he overheard." I get a little choked up at this moment, but I continue.

"He walked in and called me a lot of slurs and then took my phone out of my hand and threw it at me." I stop and stare at the ground, not wanting to relive the memories.

"What about the most recent time, I believe with your girlfriend?"

"Yes, she was sleeping over and Brian didn't know. He found her and slapped her face and she fell, which dislocated her elbow and gave her a black eye."

"And the time before that?"

"He was drunk and he thought I was making too much noise, so he came into my room and pushed me down. Hard. I fell onto one of my trophy's and got a giant bruise on my stomach and face."

"Has he ever caused you greater injuries in the past?"

"Yes, he's broken my arm one time, and I've gotten many bruises from him."

"Come on, there's no evidence, she's making this up!" Brian yells from his seat.

"Actually, we have documented pictures of a couple times where you hurt her. The bruises were all in the exact spots she said, similar to what abuse looks like. We also found her blood on one of your shirts. I suggest you calm down before you make this worse for yourself." Brian quickly shuts up and I smile.

I walk back to my seat and glance over at my mom. She looks defeated, almost like she didn't know he was abusing me.

Could she have really been oblivious this whole time?

Tears well up in my eyes, but I wipe them away and sit back with the Cimorelli's. They all tell me that I did good and were very proud of me.

I rest my head on Laurens shoulder and she kisses it, which calms me down.

The jurors leave the room and only take about 30 minutes to reach a verdict. It was pretty fast, but I guess they made a clear decision.

My heart races as they all pile back, needing Brian to be convicted. Everyone is silent as the judge starts to speak.

"The defendant, Brian O'Connell, is guilty of abuse of a minor, as well as assault and hereby sentenced to 4 years in prison. No chance of parol." The judge bangs his gavel and a wave of relief washes over me.

Tears begin pouring out of my eyes and I can barely hear the yells of Brian in the background. Everyone starts reaching over to hug me.

"We did it, babe. We did it. We won."  Lauren repeats to me over and over.

It almost doesn't feel real. I can't believe that this actually worked. He can't hurt me anymore and he never will again.

We all start to get up to leave and head towards the door. As I'm walking, my mom steps in front of me. I prepare myself for yelling, but am surprised when she hugs me.

"I....I'm sorry, Y/N. I'm sorry." I don't hug her back for a second, not thinking she meant it.

I then hear the sadness in her voice. She means it. I wrap my arms around her so tight and cry into her shoulder.

"I know, mom." We stay like this for a minute, until I finally have the courage to let go.

We stare into each other's eyes before Lauren walks up beside me.

"You...you guys are very cute together." I did not expect that to come out of my homophobic mother's mouth. I'm speechless, but luckily Lauren isn't.

"Thank you, that's very sweet." She smiles and walks away from us, but we both look back.

We lock eyes for a second time and I can see all the regret she has for what she did. Her eyes are full of love for me for the first time in a long time.

Lauren takes my hand and leads me outside, meeting up with the other sisters.

"You guys go ahead, I wanna talk to Lauren for a second." They all nod and head to the car, and I'm left alone with her.

"I'm so in love with you. I can't describe how much I love you because there's literally not enough words in the world that could do it. You are my everything and I can't thank you enough for this." I wrap her into a kiss and she kisses me with everything she has.

"I love you so much more, Y/N. Promise you'll never leave."

"Promise."

Hi guys!! I cant thank you enough for almost 8k!! You guys are the reason I do this thank you so much for reading my story. I'm so sorry for not updating as much, that's really my bad. After this story is over, sad to think that it's sorta coming to a close Ik, I'm thinking about starting a book of one shots! I've already written a couple that are like depressing and one that's cute! Lemme know what u guys think and as always u can leave me suggestions in my dms or my comments!!