Full Strength

Fifty Eight-Lillian ❤️‍🩹

        He is seven feet away from me.

        I can't touch him. I can't talk to him. I can't even look at him the way I want to. Because if I could, my eyes would devour him.

        He's dressed for court, wearing a black suit that is all angles and a flawless cut. He's a terrible, beautiful glass sculpture, destined to sit in that chair and be untouchable. Beneath my legs (where they can't cause trouble), my hands feel frantic. I need to scratch my cheek, move my hair, something to simply calm my nerves. 

         He's trying so hard not to look at me. His gaze is laser-focused on the judge, but every so often it slips to his left, towards me. Green eyes that are so soft like to sweep across me, their golden flecks sparkling in the little natural light. Mesmerizing, if not soul-capturing.

        This was the one time in my life I needed to focus. So I wrenched my gaze away from Logan moved my attention to Danny, who had just stood up.

        "Dr. West," he said, checking his notes. "Tell me about your relationship with my client."

        This was the plan: tell the whole story in one giant chunk. Make the jury feel like it was genuine, that we were just unfortunate star-crossed lovers destined to ruin each other. Other questions would be asked, of course, but for now, it was just me talking to the courtroom.

         I started way back when I met Logan. That felt like it had been years ago, not months. How he'd been kind and patient and adorably stupid about trying to do things on his own so I wouldn't have to. Over time, it'd become impossible not to love him. Each little slip-up had led to the next, until finally we'd reluctantly agreed to keep a relationship going that had to be entirely secret.

        Then I dug my heels in a little further, saying how I'd had to be apart from Logan for the past seven weeks. How I'd moved away (I didn't say where). How Jade had smeared Logan's name through the mud, ensuring him unwanted publicity-

        "Objection," Jade's lawyer called out. "Relevancy to the question."

        "Sustained," Judge Matthews said. "Dr. West, is that all?"

         "Yes," I said, realizing that I had slightly wandered away from Danny's original question.

         He then launched into the interrogation. Every little detail about what kind of relationship Logan and I had, when certain events had happened, and he even brought up intentions.

        "What was yours and Mr. Kingston's plan for after your employment at his residency ended?" Danny asked.

         I swallowed. "We would've liked to have kept dating. To see if eventually we would be long-term." Now, now that it was too late, I knew that I wanted him long-term. I wanted Logan to be with me forever. 

          Danny then brought up the contract that I had signed, provided by Jack, that spelled out everything about being the doctor staying at Logan's house. There was not one clause about relations with the patient, just as Jack had promised. There weren't even that many clauses about being a housemate, other than Logan could kick me out whenever he wanted and I would receive minor compensation. Jade's argument was falling apart by the minute.

         Danny then turned to the opposite side of the room. "Does the defense have any questions for Dr. West?" he asked coolly.

          Jade's lawyer stood up, a balding gentleman who looked to be in his forties. "We do. Has Dr. West been receiving any sort of extra compensation that was not outlined in her contract considering her relationship with her patient?"