𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐛.𝐛)

Hypothetically

As I pulled into Steve's driveway, James was already here. I quickly grab my purse and keys before stomping through the piled snow. I make it to the door and was greeted by Riley and Harry. Both in pajamas. 

"Hey you two!" I say while kneeling down as my coat basically eats them. They give me a warm embrace before talking all about the new powers Harry has. I pretend to sound interested while walking into the kitchen with everyone else. 

Peggy looks... awful. I know that sounds mean but she didn't look to hot at the end of her pregnancy with Harry either. Maybe it's just a pregnancy thing. 

"Hey Peggy. How you been?" I ask while giving her a quick hug. She lets her hands fall from my shoulders to her stomach and rubs it in a circular pattern. 

"Little dude and I have seen better days. What about you?" I laugh out a sigh before she joins in. 

"Long to say the least." She nods her head before Steve coughs for our attention. "What's up Steve?"

He sighs. "We are allowed to talk about the case correct?" I look out him with an unlikely look before shaking my head. 

"Unless you make it into a "hypothetical."" 

He nods his head before looking to James who was looking at me. I give him a short smile before meeting his side so we can both look at the laptop Steve placed in front of us. 

"Hypothetically, Person R were to get a rape kit. Person R's rape kit can find the raper's semen, right?" 

"Right." Peggy and I both say. She works in the medical field. 

"Then hypothetically, if we can use Person R's rape kit to prove that Person J didn't rape her, wouldn't that be enough proof for the hypothetical jury?" He asks, holding himself against the counter on the other side. 

I examine the list that Steve had made of ways to debunk Rachel's accusations. 

"What if, hypothetically, there is no semen detected in Person R's rape kit? What if Person R's hypothetical rapist pulled out?" I asked him. 

He shook his head and sighed. "Is there any hypothetical way, Person J's attorney had access to the evidence for this hypothetical case?" 

I look to James. "Person J's attorney would have to go over the hypothetical evidence with Person J privately." I say while looking back to Steve. 

"Back room, down the hall to the left." Steve says before James and I head the way he navigated. I grab my purse off the couch I threw it on while walking in and follow behind James. It was a guest room but had a desk set up. Probably for Peggy while she was still in med school. 

He shuts the door and I plop down on the desk chair. I open the new laptop and start to click my way to the evidence. I felt James behind me, leaning over me. His inhales and exhales sending me signals on my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I open the evidence folder and look for Rachels rape kit. I scroll through the PDF's and James had gotten closer. 

There was semen detected. But it was requested to not be disclosed on the case. 

"What the hell?" James muttered, scaring the shit out of me. "Sorry." He says while planting his arm on the desk next to me. 

"Why would she ask to cover it up?" I ask him, seeing if she had ever done something weird  like this last time they needed lawyers. 

"No clue. Can we still find out who it was?" 

"If we get warrant." We look at each other for approval before I pull out my phone. 

The phone rings a few times before she picks up. "Kara?" 

"Hey Em. I need a favor."

------

Note to self: take Emma to a spa. 

I do some digging into the doctors office Rachel got her rape kit done at. I made a few calls with nurses and doctors and faxed over the warrant before they send me over the full rape test results. 

Semen belonged to Michael Kenston. 

Rachel's step-father.

"Yes!" I shout. James looks to me confused before I go shy again. "I had a theory he raped her. Now we can use this tomorrow when they call him up to stand." I say before standing up and stretching. James walks back to the door but just leans against it. 

"Kara." 

"Yes James?" I ask while resting my hands on my hips. 

"Can I walk you through a hypothetical?" 

"Sure." I ask, wondering what else we would need for the case to prove him innocent. 

He walks closer, and leaves a foot between us. "Hypothetically, Person J asked the very beautiful Person K to dinner after this hypothetical case. If goes to plan. Hypothetically of course." 

I bite back a smile but he lets his beam, making me go all sorts of red. "Hypothetically, Person K would 99.9% accept." I say. 

"Hypothetically, of course." He says with a shit eating grin. 

"Yeah, obviously." I say as the silence and tension rose within those steel blue eyes. Seconds go by before there was a crash outside the door. We shook out of our.. whatever that was before I grab my laptop and purse and we head back to the kitchen. 

Pizza.

Homemade pizza. 

"Good job, Steve." I whisper while walking past him to the dinner table. He gives a proud, simple smile before following me with the wine.