Coffee {Jaya AU}

Chapter 21

***I tried to make a realistically unrealistic court trial here. A lot of this stuff happens in court, but a lot of it doesn't. You'll know it when you see it LOL

There won't be a jury. The way the pleading works here is different than usual. Etcetera, etcetera, blah, blah, BLAH-

Also, I decided to not have a trial, per se, for Nya. She pleads guilty, so I limited the other parties (beside hers) to a prosecutor and a judge. I'll try to explain things as I go.

You know, just don't expect it to reflect a real-life trial. There we go. That's all that needs to be said.

Also, I don't own Shia LeBeouf.

And you shouldn't read the bolded part in this fic if you're triggered by sexual abuse/rape.***

***(Nya's POV)***

"You're going to do great." Jay reaches down and squeezes my fingers as I walk into the courthouse, escorted by two police officers due to the gathering outside.

Yep, today's the day – my court date. My attorney and I have decided to plead guilty to the charges of petty theft and drug abuse posed against me. The charges of evading arrest were dropped as soon as evidence against Sanders began piling up – apparently, he had expressly written to certain colleagues of his how to deal with me if I returned to Ignacia. His plan to frame me or Cole for the other's murder was a spur of the moment decision when Cole refused to help him keep me quiet.

The second-degree robbery charges I faced have also been dropped. Cole gave me bank records that showed him withdrawing a sum sufficient for the running price of Dark Matter right before the robbery. He's also here to testify for me today – I requested that the judge allow me to plead guilty in a private setting with multiple witnesses at hand.

Cole knows who dealt him the Dark Matter, as well, but that guy is in prison from Sanders's drug busts a few years back. As Cole has told me, the police chief struck a deal with him to cover up his part in the armed robbery for two reasons. For one, the chief's daughter had taken a liking to Cole, and the chief thought he could use that to his advantage. That leads to the second reason the police chief pushed all Cole's charges on me: In exchange for the chief keeping Cole's secrets, Cole was supposed to help Sanders take down multiple drug sellers throughout Ignacia. The chief became anti-drugs after what he went through with his son.

His now-deceased son who raped me when I was alone and unable to help myself.

My attorney thinks this hearing and subsequent sentencing should go comparably well for me, but very badly for Cole.

"It's okay, Nya." Jay smiles down at me sympathetically. "At least all those charges of you allegedly leading an armed robbery were dropped. You were only held in jail for two days before they let you out on bail."

I nod. "Staying with you and Kai has been much better than jail, I assure you." It's been a little over two weeks since that fateful day I met Jay, and let's just say jail is not a place I wanted to heal from what happened that night at the cabin. It was much better once I could go home – yes, to the very house my parents used to live in and Kai now lives in. As soon as I got out of jail, Jay came and stayed a night at our place in celebration. It was really just a time for the two of us to have a therapy chat when Kai finally went to bed. We both had a lot of healing to do from Sanders' wicked plans.

And Jay has spent the past two days with me here. He got his shifts covered at the coffee shop and skipped class to come support me. It's touching.

We're not dating. Oh my gosh, I have enough in my life to worry about right now – Sanders's upcoming sentencing, getting to know Kai again, going to the grocery store without stares and questions and reporters, and my own hearing, for crying out loud. Romance needs to wait.