A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for the favorites and all the views, wow! I'm enjoying writing about Dan and Phil, it's great. But this piece is going to be a bit different. I got the idea for Dan never have meeting Phil and continuing with law school. Phil is in a legal case one day, and needs a lawyer, who, by chance, happens to be Dan. There is some imagery and assault mentions, so please take caution. This is not one of my regular fluff stories. And in all honesty, I think if this piece gets to be longer than five parts, I'll just make it its own separate story, and you can read it somewhere else.
But here we go! Howell the Lawyer, in obviously Dan's POV.
__________________________________________________________________
"Come in."
It was just an ordinary Tuesday at the office. Boring paperwork, bails, and trips to the supply store to buy more manilla folders for my filing cabinet.
I had settled in about a month ago. My work was needed in England, so I persuaded the wife, and picked up our family of four from New York to London. Everything was going swimmingly. My boss even had a bronze Daniel J. Howell desk name plate made for me.
But last week, I had a call from a man who was in trouble. He was filing for something that was urgent. I saved a slot in my schedule for an hour, as I had handled many lawsuits before. I didn't think it would take so long, though.
The doorknob turned slowly, and a head popped out first, followed by a lean, pale body. Nice clothes, a suit and tie. Fixing his fringe, he spoke softly: "H-hello sir, I'm Phil Lester."
"Ah, yes!" I said, extending a handshake out across the desk. Phil shook it. "Mr. Lester. I recall you rang my office last week, yes?" He nodded, replying "yes."
"What's the problem?"
"It... it's quite personal, but I think I can manage..." Mr. Lester said slowly.I placed a hand on top of his jittery one. "Mr. Lester, Phil, if you don't mind me calling you... it's quite all right if you take your time."
Phil smiled a small but sad smile, took a deep breath and continued.
"I... I was, um... I was in an abusive relationship. It didn't start out abusive, obviously. My fiance was so sweet at the beginning. But short trips to the bar turned into long nights. Once I didn't even see the car pull into the drive. And that's when it started. He hit me. He lay his hands on me in physically painful ways. He would persuade me to have rough sex when I didn't want to... and occasionally I would wake up with bruises all over my body. He only made up for it with sweet nothings and a bottle of Pinot Grigio iced on the counter.
"Finally I had had enough. I kept telling myself 'Oh, it's okay... he'll change. He'll find some kindness in him.' But it never happened. And that's when I realized, people don't change like that. So one night, while he was out hunting for drugs, I called the police. They took me into the station and I showed them all the evidence I had. Not much, the bruises had mainly faded away... but the memories didn't."
Phil's hushed voice concluded. I handed him a tissue with a smile of reassurance. "Thank you," he said, "I hadn't realized I was crying."
"It's okay, Phil," I said. "That's terrible and horrible, and I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Have you been seeing a counselor?" "Yes, I have. I'm actually staying in the hospital currently. I needed treatment for skull fractures and a few broken bones. Counselling is part of the treatment procedure," Phil replied. My heart ached for the poor man.
"I... I'm so, so sorry, Phil," I said honestly. Phil closed his eyes. "It's all okay now... I just need a lawyer to help me out with all this crap."
"Well you've come to the right guy."
