What's a Girl to Do? (Season 4)

Chapter Eight: Light and Darkness

I tried to ignore the fact that I'd been up nearly all night getting my opening argument formatted correctly, and as I left the house with Iana and Liam in tow, I was dead on my feet. I made a mental note to stop off for some tea after dropping Liam off and getting to court, because I needed that pump in my step to be on my guard. Ever since Pamela Farris had attacked me in the courtroom, I'd felt as if I'd been walking on thin ice with every witness. I didn't want to press anyone, because that would put me at risk for being attacked again, but I also really needed to do my job.

Trudging into the courtroom about an hour after I'd left my house, I handed over some coffee drink that I'd remembered Nicholas telling me he liked as I sat on the other side of him at our provided table, nursing my tea. I felt Nicholas's eyes on me then as I alternated between sipping my hot beverage and organizing all my paperwork in front of me. I didn't want to turn over and look at him, for we only had a few minutes before Judge Charles Newton was due to leave his chambers and call court to order. Finally, after a few moments had passed and Nicholas didn't let up in his staring, I turned over and looked at him.

"What?" I asked.

Nicholas smirked. "Nothing," he replied, obviously triumphant that he'd won in getting me to look over at him. "I just wanted to see your face."

I rolled my eyes. "I know I look like a wreck this morning. I don't need you telling me that," I told him, my tone clipped as I turned back to my paperwork.

"Excited to see the building today?" he asked.

I nodded. "Mmm-hmm," I replied, reading through my notes. "Of course I'm excited. Your mom says that my office was made into an exact replica. I don't know how exact an exact replica is, but we're going to find out later today..."

"I know that some things can be recreated," Nicholas put in, reaching across the space between us and putting his hand on my knee.

Immediately, I felt my cheeks flame as I reached down and pushed his hand off. "Not in court, for god's sake!" I hissed through my teeth. "We're representing your parents here, Nicholas, and we don't have any room for error."

"I thought we'd reached the end of the tunnel during Christmas," Nicholas whispered back to me, his voice riddled with confusion. "I thought that we were okay..."

"We're fine, Nicholas," I replied, "but right now I'm trying to figure out the fine line between inappropriate and appropriate language for opening arguments."

Nicholas moved around in his chair, leaning his back against it so that it squeaked loudly, and caused the opposing side to mutter to themselves. "We still have a moment before Gwen arrives, you know..." He muttered, crossing his arms.

I rolled my eyes. "She'll be here any minute," I replied, automatically moving to the chair on the other end of the table.

"Where are you going?"

I set my paperwork down and turned to look at him. "You know as well as I do that Gwen needs to be in between us so that she can tell us if something is wrong."

The courtroom doors opened behind us then, and Gwen made her speedy entrance, her black business heels clicking on the highly-polished, wooden floor. Her blonde hair, done up in her traditional pixie, had much more volume than it did when we were meeting for strategy back at the firm, and her white pinstriped, black pantsuit looked like a wonderful choice that morning as she stepped into the main area, and slipped into the chair beside us, flashing us apologetic looks from her deep blue eyes.

"Sorry I'm late, dears," she said, sipping her coffee in a moment of nerves. "Grace and I just couldn't agree on what Drew was going to wear this morning... It's a living," she said, turning her wedding ring on her finger. "Grace had to get to the surgery early this morning because a patient got moved up the donor list and so then I had to drive Drew to school..."