The Path to Love: A Sonny Carisi Love Story

37: Unknown

"Trial is tomorrow, starts first thing in the morning." Sonny says once I open the door to my apartment for him to come in.

"Thanks for coming." I say, not needing to respond to his statement.

He nods, leaning in for the slightest kiss on the forehead and moves to sit down at my kitchen table. "So, you ready to listen to what I have to say?" He asks, nothing but patience in his voice.

I sit across from him and say "I am, but I want to apologize first. I acted like a kid when I stormed out last night and I shouldn't have, I'm sorry I was just shocked to hear that you were married, and if I'm being honest, jealous too."

"It's okay Maddison." He assures me. "Me and Melissa got married a year out of the academy. We were together for a few months after graduation and she told me she was pregnant. We decided we would get married, yanno, do the right thing. So 2 months later we went to the court house. Only, a week into our marriage I found out she cheated on me with my best friend, the best man at our wedding and he was actually the father of the baby." He pauses, waiting for me to say something but I can't help but stay frozen at his story, ashamed at how I reacted. "So, we got the marriage annulled and that was that."

"And you haven't dated anyone since?" I ask him. He sort of chuckles and I give him a nasty glare, wondering what is so funny about my question.

"I just told you I was married then annulled within a week and your question is if I dated anyone after that?" His smile grows wider and I keep my mouth closed waiting for his answer. He sighs to stop his laughing and says "no, I didn't actually date anyone after. I just didn't find the right one until you came along."

I try to stop the smile forming on my face, knowing his story is not one to smile about. When I can't, I let it show and say to him "I'm such an idiot."

He stands up to come over to me "you're not an idiot." He pulls me into a hug "maybe a bit over reactive, but not an idiot." We stay embraced for a bit longer until he pulls away from me "wanna go grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure." I say back and we leave my apartment to get dinner.

After dinner, Sonny drops me off at my front door and leaves. When I go upstairs, I notice the door to my apartment a jar and I pull my gun out of my waistband and push the door open, aiming inside in case the perpetrator is still there. "NYPD!" I shout into the apartment, hoping to startle someone inside. I slowly walk inside and begin to check every corner of the apartment, pointing the gun first every turn I make. After clearing the apartment, I lock the front door with both locks and begin to look around for anything that's missing. I search for a while before concluding that nothing is missing or out of place. I decide to just go to sleep and tell Sonny and Benson about it in the morning.

In the morning, I get to the courthouse early. Benson is already there and I sit next to her in the room "Goodmorning Maddison." She says with a grin "how are you?" She asks, making friendly talk before officially starting the job.

I answer back "I'm fine, I wanted to let you know that I think my place was broken into last night."

"What, are you okay? Was anything missing?" She asks.

I shake my head "no, the door was open but nothing was missing or taken."

"You should of called me last night." She says, not happy that I didn't.

"Nothing happened, I just thought I'd let you know." I respond.

"Let her know what?" Sonny and Amanda walk into the room with coffee's in their hands.

Olivia tells them "Maddison's apartment was broken into last night." She says.

"Are you okay?!" Amanda asks worriedly.

Sonny gives me a knowing glare and I know he's upset I didn't call him. "I'm fine. No one was there when I got home and nothing was taken. I might've just left it open when I went out for dinner." I shrug, wanting to ease everyone's tension.

"Maybe." Amanda agree's. She looks up to Sonny and hits him lightly on the chest "you okay?" She pulls him out of his trance.

"Yah, I'm okay." He nods, still stealing glances at me.

The court starts the hearing on Mrs. Briggs and we sit in the back watching. After hearing two different testimonies, there's a recess for lunch and Sonny tries his best to get me away from everyone else to talk. I manage to stay at lunch by talking to Nick and Amanda, knowing how the conversation between us would go. We all go back to the court together to stay for the second part of the trial. Halfway through his daughter, Delilah's, testimony the court is interrupted by a cellphone going off. It's soon obvious, that there could be new evidence in the case and the court is stalled for the remainder of the day. We all reconvene back at the office to watch the filmed tape of Mr. Briggs.

Barba joins us about an hour later after setting up tomorrow's day and asks "what do we have?"

Benson goes first "he spends the first ten minutes trashing his literary rivals."

"Well, God forbid a feud should end just because he died." Barba comments, always good for a sarcastic comment. "Where did this come from?" He asks.

"It's an lnternet service that sends messages to your loved ones post mortem." I explain the company.

"They recorded it three years ago. His obituary triggered its release." Rollins goes on "for an extra fee, they set it to music."

We watch on "now I want to talk to the people I love. My beautiful wife, Charmaine, who saved my life, and my daughters, whom I love despite the way they treated me."

"The way they treated him?" Barba questions.

"He certainly had a different view on it than we do." Nick adds.

Sonny disagree's "he had dementia. I mean, he was confused."

"He doesn't look confused here." Barba utters.

"Their mothers turned them against Charmaine. They were rude to her. Rude to my wife in my own home." Mr. Briggs continues from beyond the grave.

Benson tells Barba "I talked to his daughters. They knew nothing about this. Can the other side use this in court?"

"They'll find a way." He says back to her, knowing it'll be easy for them to get it admitted. "Send it to me, I'll watch the rest in my office." He directs and stands to leave.

The next day, Charmaine takes the stand. It's a good argue from both sides. After, the other side calls Judith, the blonde sister, to the stand. Barba meets up front with the judge and the rest of us look at one another wondering what's going on The judge calls for an hour recess and we all leave, wondering what's going on. There's no chance to ask Barba, as he quickly moves out of the courtroom to figure out what he needs to figure out. An hour later we are not back in the court room but instead back at the office, being told Barba made a plea deal with Charmaine and her lawyer and the trial is off. Some time goes by before Barba walks into the office and to Olivia's office. Sonny quickly follows them in, shutting the door behind him. When he walks out, his face is lowered and I know he's disappointed with the way things turned out.