Time Goes On

Trial by Fire

Due to Kate's crazy, the trial didn't take long to start. I was the key witness and they put a protection detail on me for a few days leading up to the trial. I had just finished my finals when they told me that the trial was starting in a few days.

I stayed with Derek, mostly because I had to move out of my dorm for the summer. The pack wanted to stay around for me, so they found an Air B and B.

I stood outside the doors to the courtroom and was wearing my blazer, a blouse, and some black dress pants. My heels, a pair of nude stilettos, clicked as I paced back and forth. I was about to face one of the few people who made me petrified with fear. Derek came up beside me and took my hand.

"You will do great in there. I know this is scary, but just remember as soon as it is over, you get to come home, you get to know that she can't hurt anyone anymore."

He placed my hand on his heart and I focused in on the beat. Mine started to match up with his. I took a deep breath and I looked into his eyes. "As long as I have you in there, I will be just fine." He smiled and kissed my cheek.

A bailiff came out and directed me up to the stand. I saw Derek come into the back and sit down. I took the oath and sat down on the stand. The prosecutor stepped up and gave me a steely glare. "Ms. Livingston, on what day were you taken off the streets of this city, New York?"

"February fifteenth, the day after valentine's day."

"Could you please walk us through the events of that morning?" He walked closer to me as he spoke.

"I had spent the night with my boyfriend, and he had dropped me back off at my dorm that morning."

"Can you please identify you boyfriend?"

"Derek Hale, he is sitting over there." I pointed to him.

"And Mr. Hale has history with the defendant. Correct?"

"Yes, Derek dated, and I use the word loosely, Katherine Argent. She used him to learn about his family, whom she claims were werewolves."

"Please continue with you recount of the day."

"I was dropped off at my dorm, and I went up the stairs to my dorm and changed after having a shower. I gathered my things that I would need for class that day and left for class. When I was walking to class, I was cornered into an ally by three men. They said that I was a dog, so I assume now that they were under the same allusion as Kate.

"I tried to put up a fight, but they overpowered me and I was tased. When I woke up I was strapped to a chain link fence with a generator not too far away, in a basement. Two men came down the stairs and started to talk to me. I bit one of them and they went back up the stairs.

"Soon after, Kate and the man I hadn't hurt came back down and she harassed me. She said that as soon as Derek arrived to save me, that she would rid the world of the Hale pack. She thinks that we, my friends and I, are werewolves. Derek showed up soon after with my friends. Looking back now, it was not the smartest decision they could have made, but they saved me. I made it upstairs and stopped Derek from killing Kate. I didn't want him to stoop to her level."

The prosecutor nodded along with my words. "Ms. Livingston, can you please identify your captor?" I pointed to Kate who was glaring from the defence table.

"She is right there. Katherine Argent held me captive. She gave the order for me to be kidnapped and held against my will." I took a shaky deep breath. I was still scared.

"Let the record state that the witness has identified the defendant, Kate Argent, as her captor. The prosecution rests your honor." The prosecutor sat back down and the defence lawyer stood. I took another deep breath and looked back at Derek. He smiled for me and I listened to his heartbeat to help me calm down.

"Ms. Livingston, is it true that you knew of my client's past relationship with Mr. Hale before you started dating him?"

"Yes I was aware of the history between Derek and Kate."

"So would it be possible that you took Mr. Hale from my client?"

"She had been gone for six years before I even met Derek, and he and I only started dating in February."

"Ms. Argent had the misfortune to fall in love with a man who was younger than her. Due to a misunderstanding she had to leave town or face an entire town calling for blood. She moves across the country in hopes of starting over. When she happens across a member of the family that she was accused of killing, she is again under fire."

The prosecutor stood. "Objection, where is the question?"

"Do you happen to have a question in there somewhere consular?" The judge asked.

"Sorry, I had a long wined up. Ms. Livingston, is it possible that you accused Ms. Argent of these crimes because you are under the same false assumption as Mr. Hale and the town of Beacon Hills?"

"I have only accused Kate of things she has actually done. I am not under any assumptions from my home town."

The defence lawyer was glaring at me. He moved closer to me and the jury. "Ms. Livingston, do you remember the night of this supposed fire?"

"Not clearly. I was only ten at the time. My father was on shift at the firehouse but I was home with my mother who was dealing with chemo."

"Could your father, a man you are supposed to trust without a doubt, have told you that my client set the fire to the Hale house?"

"My father has made it a policy to not talk about the fires he goes to work on. He did not tell me about the Hale fire. I found out that it happened in school the next day when I found out Derek's little sister, Cora, would not be in school with us anymore because she was in the fire."

My answer seemed to frustrate him. Had he not figured out that his client was crazy? I wasn't sure what he was going to do next. I felt like he should have questioned me for a longer time. "The defence rests your honor."

Soon after I was led out of the courtroom and I ran to Derek as soon as I could.