Annabelle Luther.

Nine: Comfort and Questions. (Edited)

Comfort and Questions.

The next morning had been less eventful than the day before. Piper and Juno had left long before Evita had woken up, allowing me a proper chance to clean my home and make breakfast for Evita, which consisted of a chorizo and egg burrito with potatoes. It wasn't much, but it was the least I could do for her; after all, she did share a bowl of ice cream with me. Sitting at the counter, I continued to eat my burrito as I looked over the files my assistant had sent to me to look over for this custody battle I decided to take on a while back. The whole case was messy and involved a fourteen-year-old teenager. 

"That smells so good," Evita's voice rang through the silence, causing me to look away from the laptop. I smiled at her and gestured towards the plate that had been next to mine. I didn't know if she wanted it to come in burrito form or not, so I just plated it and left some warm tortillas next to the plat for her to decide. Then, licking my lips, I watched as she stepped into the kitchen and sat down next to me, and began to eat her food. A small moan escaped her lips after her first bite, which caused an emotion of satisfaction to fill me. Then, returning to the file in front of me, I started to reread it, taking in more of the details that the daughter had added and her reason for wanting to be with her dad and not her mom. 

"What are you doing?" Evita asked, filling the silence once more. I looked over at her and shrugged my shoulders before I pushed the laptop towards her. It would be good practice for her. I watched as Evita began to read over everything, completely forgetting about the food in front of her. I could see the disgust start to slowly take over her features as she continued to read about the battle. Cases like this weren't for everyone, and you needed a strong stomach for something like this. 

"What the fuck. Is this a case of yours?" She asked, looking at me as I took another bite of my burrito. I nodded my head and pulled the laptop back towards me. There wasn't much I could really say because, at this point, I wasn't representing the father anymore, but the daughter, who knew that her father's lawyer would not let her speak. 

"How can a mother do that to their child?" 

"The same way some fathers can do that to their daughters and sons. If I were back home, this case would be done and over with, but I have to let Juno handle it here," Closing the file, I put my burrito down. I quickly sent out a mass email to everyone on the case, telling them to focus on the daughter, her testimony, as well as gathering evidence they could. Once the email was done, I shut the laptop down and closed it, getting ready to finish my food. 

"Do you even get cases that are easier than this?" 

"No. I deal with a lot of domestic violence cases, and they never get any easier." Had been my reply as I finished off my food and stood up from my seat to rinse off the plate and place it in the dishwasher. There had been a comfortable silence that filled the air after answering her question, allowing me a chance to clean up the rest of my mess from making breakfast. The sound of the water running filled the silence, and I washed a few of the dishes and then placed them in the dishwasher to go through an extra wash. A weird habit I had picked up back in college from a professor of mine. 

"How do you do it?" 

"Sometimes I can't. The state that some of these men and women are in when they come to see me is so bad; I have to sometimes lock myself in the bathroom and cry. I could never understand how someone could be so evil and hurt this person they supposedly love. Sometimes, the excuses are absolute trash as well. 'He pissed me off, 'I wanted him to feel my pain,' 'She shouldn't have disobeyed me, 'She said no.' It makes you question whether some people are truly meant to be saved and brings you to a reality that some people are just... cruel. But, it also makes me want to fight harder each day, to put away the evil so the good can thrive, as sappy and cliche as that sounds,"