Simply Sonny: An SVU love story

Chapter 77: Helped

"Ms. Collins, what a pleasure to have you here with us" Judge Grover smiles sarcastically at me, probably annoyed I wasn't at my first appointment this morning. She looks to my lawyer and says, "you have new representation?"

My lawyer speaks up, "your Honor, my name is Gary Crowder, I will be representing Ms. Collins from here on out."

"I assume all the paperwork is in order to proceed." She looks over to Barba for confirmation.

He nods, "it is, your honor."

"Very well, then the trial shall proceed. Mr. Crowder, are there any motions you'd like to bring forward at this time?" She directs to my lawyer.

I look at him, Sonny telling me this is the time Lawyers try to get things thrown out, usually a hail mary pass he calls it. My lawyer says, "yes, your honor, I'm pushing for a motion to dismiss, the state has yet to find enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that my client is guilty of these crimes she is being charged for."

Barba quickly stands up form his seat and defends his case, "that's absurd your honor! The state has fingerprint evidence as well as an eye witness stating the defendant was not where she claimed she was."

"Lori? Why would she do that?" I spit out, still not knowing the full extent of her testimony against me.

My lawyer puts his hand on my shoulder to calm me down as the judge looks at me, the judge quickly responds, "Mr. Crowder, you're new to this courtroom. I've looked over the evidence and statements, they are substantial enough to continue." Her voice is firm with the decision, "anything else?" She questions.

He picks up another paper and responds "I have here motion for exclusion of witness testimony, the testimony of Lori Fitzgerald. There is a conflict of interest between her and my client."

Barba defends his case again, "we've vetted Lori, she has nothing against the defendant."

"With all due respect to Mr. Barba, the defendant and Ms. Fitzgerald have both dated the same man--"

Barba interrupts him quickly, "Addison Collins and Lori Fitzgerald's romantic connection is years apart, and there's no evidence that Lori would lie. She is still dating the man and Addison is engaged to someone else. There is no bad blood. Her testimony is covered under corroborative evidence, proving a timeline in our case."

"Your honor, I am working on providing evidence that Ms. Fitzgerald is framing my client for this crime." Crowder quickly retorts.

Barba goes to object or argue or something but the judge quickly speaks up, "Mr. Crowder, you working on making a case is very different than providing evidence of a crime against your client. If you have no evidence to prove this conspiracy, I will be denying your request to exclude the witness' testimony." She pauses for a second, "anything else?"

I look to my lawyer with pleading eyes for something else to throw out but he doesn't look over to me and replies, "that's all your honor."

"Then we are dismissed, jury selection will begin tomorrow." The judge bangs her gavel and moves to leave the courtroom.

I stand up, and ask Gary, "you think Lori is setting me up? Why? How do you know all of this?"

"Addison, we need to talk," Jason says from behind me, Sonny next to him.

I eye the two men and nod, no words forming as I try to wonder what he's going to say. Did Jason ask Lori about me? Did he find something out? Did he call this lawyer? The four of us leave the courthouse and walk a few blocks to a diner. As we walk, Jason starts to explain, "after I talked to you, I decided to find you a lawyer."

"Well, thanks. I don't know how you did that or found him but thank you." I say, feeling lucky as hell.

Sonny responds, "and we'll pay you back for the fee, whatever it is."

Jason answers, "no, it's fine. I'm fine taking care of it. I know you didn't do this, and you deserve a fair trial."

We walk into the diner and order our coffee's. When the waitress goes away, I ask Jason, "so, you talked to Lori?"

Jason sighs, sitting back in the booth, "I didn't talk to her, and I'm not going to. I trust Lori, I do, and I trust you too, I can't betray her by asking her those questions."

"I don't understand." I shake my head, then looking to Sonny, wondering if he does.

He glances at me then back to Jason, wanting him to explain further, "that's why I hired Gary. He's a good lawyer, a great one. If anything is going on, he'll figure it out."

"You hired a lawyer who's trying to prove your girlfriend is framing me?" I ask, so, so confused.

Gary explains, "I am trying to prove that Jason's father is behind all of this."

Sonny sits up further, "so you think he did this?"

"I worked with the Governor back when he was a senator, I know his connections, I know what he is capable of," Gary explains to us briefly.

Sonny and I share the same worried expression, and Sonny says, "well, we appreciate your help, but you worked with him." He looked at Gary when he said that, then to Jason, "how can we be sure we can trust him?"

Jason goes to speak up, but Gary stops him, wanting to explain himself with a small wave of his hand, "Mr. Charles and I did not end on good terms. He tried to ruin my career. Although I haven't been in a New York courthouse in some time, I've kept my license up to date. I've been working in Connecticut. Jason knows how things ended between me and his father, this is why he called me, why I accepted to take your case. I know there is more to it then what the state has and I'm going to prove it."

"Well, thank you," I say, feeling a little bit better about the court, about being represented by someone who believes me.

He looks at his phone and says, "look, I have to go. Addison, I will call you tomorrow after jury selection. Here, take my number" he slides a card across the table.

I nod and take it as Sonny stands to shake his hand and he leaves. Jason then nods and says, "I should go too"

"Wait," Sonny says to him, stopping him from scooting out of the booth, "Jason, we can't thank you enough. Look, I really would like to pay you back for all this. I'm sure we can come up with some kind of payment plan."

Jason shakes his head, "it's fine, really."

I ask, "is anyone worried about what your dad will do when he finds out you're paying for my defense lawyer?" I decide to ask out loud, "I don't want to put you in his crosshairs."

"I haven't spoken to my father in months. There's no way he will find out I'm the one paying for him. I know what my father is and how vindictive he can be. Although I don't believe Lori is involved, I am sure my father is." He says, "please, let me pay for him and help you this way. He'll find anything and everything there is. Consider it a wedding gift."

"Thank you, Jason, thank you so much," I say with a grin. He throws a few dollars on the table to pay for his coffee and excuses himself. After he walks out, I lean my head into Sonny's shoulder and sigh, "I actually feel a little bit of something besides dread right now. Maybe hope?" I think out to him.

"Yeah, I do too." He rubs a hand over my arm, "but you sure you want to trust this Gary lawyer? I mean, I can represent you too."

I give him a slight smirk, "I have a good feeling about him, and as much as I trust you and believe in you, I don't want your first case to be representing me."

He nods, "alright, yeah, I get it."

I sit up and look at him, turning his head by his chin to make sure he's looking at me, "I mean it, I trust you with everything inside of me."

"I know doll, I know." He whispers back, "I just wish I could do more for you."