"~Unconditional Love~" (Law&Order SVU)

Chapter XIX (19): "The trial"

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No one's POV:

It was the day of the trial, and everybody got prepared for the trial. Everyone in the sqaud team and plus the children had arrived a new minutes early before the trial was started. The adults saw the children wearing the clothes that the children picked out themselves, with the adults also wearing appropriate clothing for the trial was well.

It was clear that the children were very nervous about this, these kids have to go up on that stand in front of a lot of people to tell their haunting story in front of strangers then hoping that they will finally be free from everything that just happened.

Dr. Huang was the first one to notice how scared and nervous the children looked. It was heartbreaking to see. Dr. Huang walked over towards the children, which caught everyone's attention. All eyes were now on Dr. Huang, then he looked at all of the children in the eyes.

"Nervous?" Dr. Huang asked. The children nodded their heads, and Dr. Huang hummed softly.

"Don't be nervous, okay? Like I said back at the courthouse, when we first visit there, just answer any questions and be truthful, okay?" Dr. Huang asked. The children nodded even though they still felt uneasy about this.

'ROWF! ROWF!' Mr. Snickerdoodle barked, which cut off the silence between the adults and the children, Mr. Snickerdoodle came rushing over and started to lick all over each kid's face one by one.

Fin glared at Dr. Huang.

"You brought the mutt with You?" Fin asked.

"He is the only one who can help the children to ease their nerves, you would do the same, wouldn't you?" Dr. Huang asked. Fin didn't answer, and honestly, he couldn't argue back since he knew that Dr. Huang was right.

But then, all of the attention was turned towards a pair of footsteps. It was none other than Alexandra and Rafael who walked out of the courthouse and looked at everyone.

"It's starting," Alexandra announced. Everyone nodded, and one by one, everyone went inside, and the trial had begun.

•••

Everyone sat down in their seats, the children were sitting next to the team on the left, along with one of Cassidy's ex best friend, Freya Freeman, Cassidy's parents, Cassidy's teachers Everest and even Cassidy neighbor (remember? The one who called in to complain about the noise).

On the right, there was Cassidy, Dakota and Bell along with their lawyers by their sides, and sitting on the benches was Cassidy's two friends, Her partners and along with other idiot people who believe Cassidy's story as well.

In the front, there was Judge Delilah Washington, looking like a judge more than ever, She took one glance at all of the children, and Her heart just melted once she laid her eyes on them. She gave the children a little wave and a smile before going back to serious mode.

"This is the case of a death of a child, along with abuse of other children, people vs Mrs. Hallows, starts now," Judge Delilah Washington announced, and She banged her mallet, and everything went silent.

"Alfredo Parker, come to the stand please," The announcer called out, Alfredo hesitated, He looked over at Captain Cragen with a worried expression, the captain gave Alfredo a nod, Alfredo took a breath as he got up and started to walk over towards the stand.