Since I Saw Him Last: A Gary Barlow Fanfic

Chapter Sixty Nine

I felt someone brush my face with little pecks. I opened my eyes to a beautiful face with a beaming smile. "Gary, what's wrong with you?" I croaked. "What do you mean what's wrong? I'm happy. Can't you tell?" Gary grinned back at me. I rolled over to the other side of the bed and looked at the time on my phone resting on the bedside table. "Ugh." I sounded. "Yeah, it's time to get up." Gary answered, "I've showered. It's your turn." Gary said as he opened up his wardrobe. "What dress do you wanna wear today? I like this one." Gary held up a plum skater dress. "Mmm." I sounded. Gary made some room in his wardrobe so I could keep some of my belongings for when I stayed over at his place. I felt like this was part of his plan, to move my stuff in slowly so I'd have no choice but to move in with him. What man encourages his girlfriend to move her stuff in? Usually it's the other way round, the girlfriend sneakily leaving items about her boyfriend's place. I jumped out of bed and headed for the shower.

"You okay?" Gary said as he reached for my hand and interlocked my fingers with his. We were almost at the courts. I nodded and squeezed his hand a little. "Here you are." Tony said as he pulled up just a bit away from the entrance. "Ready for round two?" Gary whispered. I responded with a faint smile. Just like the day before, we rushed through the hoards of reporters and paparazzi evading questions. Graham met us at the front entrance. "Morning Gary." He said as he shook his hand. "Natasha." Graham nodded at me. "We ready?" Graham motioned towards the court room and lead the way. The court bustled with people talking creating a loud humming noise. "Good luck." I whispered as I kissed Gary on the cheek. He squeezed my hand as he walked over to sit at the counsel table "Order!" The second magistrate bellowed. No one had noticed the three magistrates walking in to the room. "Silence please! Anyone making a sound will be escorted from court." He huffed. He waited until the room fell silent. "Yesterday, opening statements and evidence were cross examined. Today we will see witnesses on the stand." He surveyed his audience before continuing to make sure they were silent. "Now, Mr King. If you will, bring forward your first witness." Graham nodded and stood up sharply. "Your honour, thank you. I would like to call my first witness." Graham said as he stroked his tie flat, "Detective Constable Paul Jacobs." The DC walked over to the stand and swore on oath. "Mr Jacobs, please tell us what your role was in the incident on 24th May 2015." Graham asked. "I was the DC on duty and got a call early evening to say there had been an altercation at The 84 Hotel. We were having a slow day so myself and my colleagues made our way down to the hotel promptly." He paused. "And what did you find when you entered the hotel?" Graham asked. "I spoke to the lady on reception and she guided me to where the incident happened. I found Miss James being held back by two young males, I found out later they were two of her dancing colleagues. And I found Mr Barlow being crowded by two of his bandmates. He was gesticulating at her and she was shouting expletives at him. I could see that Mr Barlow's face had been clawed at, with rather large scratch marks on the left hand side of his face. His face was also red on the left side of his face. It looked like it was starting to bruise. He was also bleeding." He paused again. "And what happened after that?" Graham probed. "We arrested her on the spot. We took swabs from underneath her fingernails which were tested later. We took statements from Mr Barlow and witnesses on the scene. It was an incident that was short lived but that had escalated quickly. Myself and the officers on duty with me took her to the station to question her and then filed a police report." Paul said succinctly. "And what did the swabs come back as?" Graham questioned. "They came back as a DNA match for Mr Barlow." He answered. "No further questions your honour." Graham nodded and sat back down. "Mrs Lyons." The second magistrate called for Diana to stand. "Mr Jacobs, you mentioned to Mr King that Mr Barlow was gesticulating at Miss James. Could you please so kindly describe what you mean by gesticulating?" Diana bent her head slightly in a quizzical manner. Paul cleared his throat, "Mr Barlow's voice was raised and he was opening his arms out like this in a sort of taunting way whilst his bandmates held him back." Paul paused. "And what kind of things was he saying?" Diana probed. "Well, it was a sort of 'come at me' type of stance but he was repeatedly saying over and over 'What do you want from me?' and it seemed Mr Barlow was getting increasingly upset. We handcuffed her and placed her in the car whilst we took statements from him." "And how did he appear after you questioned him?" Diana asked. "He was calmer after divulging information. We reassured him that Miss James would never be able to go near him and that a paramedic was on the way to see to his injuries. His face was in a bad way and it seemed to get worse the longer I kept talking to him. We said our goodbyes and took Miss James straight to the station." Diana paused and squared her eyes, "No further questions your honour."

"Second witness, if you will Mr King." I could see Gary start to fidget. "And now, I call, Mr Barlow." Gary stood up and walked over with his head down. He swore on oath and took to the stand. "Mr Barlow, can you describe to the court the events on the 24th May." Graham had told him earlier to only touch on the start of the party and what ensued. He retold every part of the story accurately up until the point where I disappeared upstairs with Charlotte. "After she went upstairs, what happened next?" Graham asked. "Miss James charged at me in a rage, clawing at my face. I felt my face start to swell and blood started to drip from my cheek." At this point the boys rushed out to help me, sorry my bandmates, they restrained her. Then one of them, I think it was Mr Owen, walked back into the room to fetch two of the male dancers to help restrain her. I just stood there mouth agape, shocked that she could ever be like this." Gary paused. "Like what?" Graham encouraged the truth out of Gary. "I'd never seen such anger in her eyes. She'd never been that angry with me. Not just angry. She was raging. Like a wild animal." "And then what happened?" "Miss James was still struggling to get free. She kept shouting things at me like 'You're not gonna get away with treating me like this you wanker' and 'I'm gonna make sure I fucking destroy you if it's the last thing I do'. Mr Donald, my other bandmate, had called the police by this point and that's when DC Jacobs arrived." "And would you say the testimony from DC Jacobs earlier on today was a true and accurate account of the events of 24th May?" Gary nodded, "Yes." "No further questions, your honour."

Diana stood as straight as a pin. "Mr Barlow, was it true that Miss James tried speaking with you earlier on that day?" Gary took a look at Graham unsure where this interrogation was leading to. He cleared his throat before speaking. "Yes, yes that's true." "And what happened during that conversation?" Gary cleared his throat again, "It wasn't the right time. I was on my way upstairs to my room after a gym workout and sauna session. She accosted me in the sauna room and wanted to talk about 'us'. I'd already spent quite some time away from my girlfriend that morning, she didn't know I'd decided to go to the sauna too and I didn't want to keep her much longer." Diana looked down at her notes and then darted her eyes at Gary, "So you dismissed her." "No, I said I'd talk to her later at the party." "You had no idea what she wanted to talk about?" Diana probed. "No, but I'd received some texts from Miss James the night before. I assumed it was about that. And I assumed she was still angry with me." "Angry about what Mr Barlow?" "She'd been threatening me hadn't she. Blackmailing me. She wanted more money and I knew if I'd given her the time of day she would've tried working her way in like she always does. I'd had enough." "Had enough? So by the time it got to the evening you were at your wits end?" "Yes." "Enough to taunt Miss James?" "Taunt? I never did such a thing. She abused me that evening. I didn't lay a finger on her." "Yes, but your body language towards her was aggressive wasn't it?" "No. No, it wasn't." "But witnesses say you were heard shouting at Miss James?" "Only for her to leave me alone and that I would sue her for what she'd done to me." "No further questions." Gary put his head in his hands. "I think it's time we took a break. We will adjourn for half an hour."

Gary stood up and walked over to the prosecution's counsel table. "You did good." Graham smiled. "I fucked that last bit at the end. She was getting to me." Gary sounded frustrated. I walked over and tugged him around the waist. "No, you're human. And of course you'd be frustrated in this situation. Everything that came out of your mouth was as it happened. Your account corroborates with DC Jacobs. Scarlett will go down for what she's done to you. It all depends on how she handles herself on the stand. If she can put on a performance of the century then she will get a lesser punishment. I will express during the closing statement, that whatever the outcome, she needs a restraining order so this can't happen again." Graham took a breath. "Now you kids run off to grab a coffee or something. Don't forget to bring me one back." He winked.

We left the room and walked to one of the drinks machines in silence, strolling hand in hand. Once we'd reached the drinks machines, Gary started putting money in the machine and selected the coffee button. "You want anything?" He asked. I shook my head. "You okay?" I asked. "Yeah." He nodded. I wasn't convinced. "It can't be easy, drudging all that up again." Gary shrugged, "Yeah, I suppose. I felt like I completely lost it towards the end there." "You heard what Graham said, whatever the outcome, she will pay for what she did." Gary shrugged again, his frown appearing on his face. "I just feel so stupid that I let it get this far. I wish I never met her. I really do pick 'em." He looked to the floor with coffee cup in hand. "Hey, look up." I knocked his chin up with my hand. "You saying that about me?" My eyes looked sad but my mouth curled into a smug smile. Gary chuckled, "Of course not. You've been my rock through all this. I could never be without you." I kissed him softly on the lips. "Remember, once this is all over we can do whatever we want. Just me a and you." I smiled softly. "Just me and you." Gary repeated back what I said with a smile. I grabbed the other coffee cup for Graham and we walked back to the courts.