Timing is Everything (28)

"All rise!" The bailiff says as we all stand to our feet. After the meeting that was held a few days ago I know this will all be over today!

As Judge Pratt approaches we all stand and I'm grinning from ear to ear when the judge cuts his eyes at me and I then realize who I'm defending and why. This quickly wipes that same grin off my face. This is one bittersweet job for me. I'm great at what I do but I represent scumbags majority of the time.

"Be seated." The bailiff tells us.

"Mr. Hale, is your witness ready?" Judge Pratt asks as he looks Quick's way with the slightest of grins. I look to Quick who is staring at Judge Pratt grinning back at him.

"Um, your honor my client is no longer going to speak. I have spoken with the family and we have discovered Mrs. Harris' testimony would have said anything to get Mr. Ellis convicted of this crime." Hale rises and says with a look of defeat on his face.

Everyone in the courtroom is shocked, they don't even make a sound but you can see by everyone's demeanor that they did not see this coming at all.

"Wow, well, this...this is very surprising. There is no murder weapon, no credible witness, lack of evidence. I'm left with no choices here, this case is dismissed.

You could hear a pin drop.

"You a bad motherfucker Ely." Quick said to me as he turned around to celebrate with his crew.

"I hope you're happy you son of a bitch! What if it was your child? You fucking disgust me." Mrs. Harris was enraged with me. I cannot be mad at her feelings, I can only imagine what she may be experiencing right now.

"Come on baby, let's go." Mr. Harris quickly grabs his wife before she can go on.

"Baby? This was your fucking idea. You won't even tell me why!" She began sobbing right then in there.

"It's for our own protection baby. We're just going to get out of here." He tries his best to calm her down as he walks her out the courtroom.

My phone rings as the courtroom begins to clear and I quickly walk out so that I can answer it.

"Yo, what's up Zach." I was surprised to hear from Zach and happy, I haven't heard from him in a long time.

"Hey man, congrats!" We already heard the news. You won another one."

"Wow how'd you guys hear so quick, I'm literally still here."

"Dude, it's already on the news, people aren't too happy though. Why don't you come back to the office man. We can go celebrate." He says

"I don't know man. I think I should go see how Aria is doing." I tell him.

"Yeah man, of course. Uh, maybe next time." I can sense the disappointment in his tone.

"You know what man, I'll just swing by and we can go get a beer."

"Hell yeah dude, that'll be awesome." Zach of course now is cheerful.

"Cool, I'll just give Ari and call and head over." I say finding a door where I can avoid the press outside.

"Sweet." Zach says as the phone call ends.

"Hey babe, how you doing over there?" I ask Aria.

"I'm great, feels like I'm about to pop though but Bobbi is taking good care of me...oh! How'd the case go?" She asks even though I know she knows already.

"I won. Doesn't feel like much of a win given the circumstances." The entire thing is still hard to
stomach.

"It's your job babe. Sometimes you're going to have to represent assholes. Comes with the territory."

"Yeah I guess you're right. Hey would you mind if I go grab a beer with Zach, you know, little celebration?" I ask anticipating a strong no.

"Go ahead I'm good here, I'll call you if I need anything. Love you." She's very upbeat today, I love it.

"Great, I love you too baby." I hang up.

On my way back to the office I thought about what Ari said, assholes come with the territory. I have to accept that. Well at least try. I am however beginning to get the feeling that I cannot keep representing these guys. It's just really taking a toll on me, like I'm straight up contradicting my morals. I try to put all that to rest as I walk into our office.

"SURPRISE!!!" My entire floor is there to greet me.

"Whoa, what's this?" I ask with a smile on my face.

"You my friend just won a big fucking case, because of that shit is about to blow up for everyone around here. Especially you." Zach comes and put his arm around my neck as we walk to grab some cake.

"How the hell did you get all this stuff here so fast?" I ask.

"These interns move pretty damn fast for fifty bucks my friend. Speaking of which, I would like to see what the new girl is willing to do." Zach laughs and tells me.

"Keep it up man and I will be representing you soon and charging you double." We laugh as we drifts off.

"I knew you could do it." A familiar voice is heard and I turn around to see who it is.

"Oh my God. What are you doing here Viv? I thought...you were gone." My stomach suddenly feels terrible.

"Yeah I'm back but not like before. I've been to counseling and all. I just want to tell you congratulations." She appears to be sincere as she opens her arms for a hug in which I accept and she also kisses me on the cheek. "I am so sorry for everything." She backs up holding my hands as she apologizes.

"All is forgiven." I was never one to hold a grudge. She walks away and I see Jennifer approaching me, the new intern. I just know that Zach crossed the line.

"Hey Mr. Ely, there was a woman by the name of Bobbi at the front desk looking for you but she took off. She didn't say what she wanted or anything." Jennifer says before she spots Zach and walks off.

What the hell is she doing here? Why is she not with Ari? I sneak by people, shake hands and thank people for there kindness until I'm able to get through the door. I get downstairs and to my car and race home.

When I pull up to the house, the car is gone. Bobbi's car is still here so she could be home.

"Ari please don't tell me Bobbi is out here driving our car." I yell as I come in but get no answer.

I walk upstairs and nobody is there. I walk through the entire house, nothing. Somebody did spill something in on the floor. Why the hell didn't this get cleaned up?

I go back upstairs to the bedroom and begin to call Aria, straight to voice mail. When I sit down on the bed I notice something is missing. Aria's hospital bags are gone and now everything makes sense.

"FUCK!"

I grab my keys and head out the door.

Dirty Hands (27)

"Wait outside." Mr. Harris firmly tells his wife.

"No, if he has som..." Mrs. Harris shows her frustration with her husband. 

"Look I want to hear what the man has to say and if he only wants to speak to me then so be it. So please, wait outside." He says with he eyes on me the entire time. 

But hone..." She pleads.

"Thank you." Still focused me, I see his wife upset but she leaves and shuts the door behind her. 

"What's this about?" Mr. Harries finally speaks to me. 

"You need to keep your wife off the stand." I tell him firmly. If I played poker the face I'm staring at him with would be a killer at the table. 

"Tell me, why the hell would I do that?" He scoots up in his chair to better hear me I guess or intimidate me. Now Mr. Harris is a big man, 6'6 and at least 260 pounds of muscle so I would be lying to say I wasn't scared. 

"You killed him." I say sharply, hoping fear can't be heard in voice. 

"I killed who?" He stood up over my desk.

"Your son, that's blood on your hands." I stand up as well, usually being 6'4 helps me tower over others, not this time. 

Mr. Harris just stands there for a moment then begins to pace. 

"I needed the money. We needed the money. I thought I would be able to get away fast enough but my wife didn't want to budge without an explanation. Women right? You married...no wedding band, I guess not. A boy? He kills a boy? Why not just kill me?" He begins to sob and I get a pain because I know everything but I have to do my job. 

"He's here. Tell your wife to go wait in the lobby and you can ask him yourself." I can see the fear on his face as he turns to walks out. 

"She's gone." He seems like he's not even here with me in the same room as he gazes off. 

"I'll be right back." I get up to leave the office. I can just imagine wages going through his mind as he stands there alone in my office with just his thoughts. 

I had Quick waiting in Zach's office since he didn't come in to work today. 

"He's ready to talk." I say.

"Well then, let's go."

We both leave out, my heart is pounding so fast right about now. I have no clue how this is going to play out.

"Tracy Harris. The boldest mother fucker in Chicago." I'm not even able to close the door before he begins speaking. 

"I'm going to kill you." He replies back coldly. 

"Whoa, you threaten me in front of my lawyer? I'm not the bad guy here. You stole from me man. We had a deal and you stole from me. Now why would you do that." 

"We needed the money." I'm thinking I should've checked them both for weapons before coming in here because it really looks as if he will kill him right here and now. 

"You know I do loans." Quick says extending his arms.

"I also know what happens to people who take out loans from you and can't pay back in full at one time." 

"Now you also know what happens when a dumb mother fucker decides to steal from me." 

"I swear to God Quick as soon as we leave here I'm going to fucking shoot you." I believe him too, veins were popping out of his head as swear from holding his rage in came down his cheek. 

"See I know you would, we all know who you are, well were. I have my guys waiting to hear from me, you know the guys. See if they don't, they kind of kill your wife too. Is that what you want?" He says while stepping to Mr. Harris. 

"Son of a bitch! I hope you rot in jail." 

"Another mistake. If you wife testifies, we kill her. If we don't get our money back, we kill her." 

"Kill me. Kill me right now!" He pleads for his wife. 

"You know what? What's sixty thousand? Just have your bitch wife shut her fucking mouth and make sure we never see your bitch ass again and she will live." He says as his tone changes. 

"Why man?" He says confused. 

"I'm guessing that's a broad ass why. I killed your son because I had to take something from you that meant as much as my sixty thousand meant to me. We could've just kept building this thing man, you come in and let a bitch run your shit. Now look! Your life's all fucked up." Quick shakes his head and I'm shocked to learn another new detail to this entire thing. 

"She won't say anything." Mr. Harris just turns and leaves. 

"You know what Mr. Ely, I think we make a good team." He also turns and leaves shortly after. 

I'm just happy I didn't just have to witness a murder in my office. 

Loose Ends (26)

"She just fucked up. Bad." Quick was very upset.

"Wait, I can fix this." I'm still in shock with the entire thing. 

"I'm not leaving this one to chance. I killed the kid, you think I won't do the same to his mother?" He said before leaving the courthouse steps. 

Quick was right. This is bad. Mother taking the stand to take down her sons killer. He would stand a chance. His only positive would be not getting the death penalty since it's was abolished. 

As I'm riding home, I try to think up a solution to this new problem. After much deliberation I literally only come up with one way and it's a reach. I have no idea what this will do. In fact I can actually make things worse for everyone, even myself.

I put those thoughts to rest as I pulled up to my home. I'm still trying to fix all the wrong I have caused with Aria. I have been doing a good job so far if I must say so myself. I gather all of my things and head into the house.

"Babe! You home?" I walk around the house and she is nowhere to be found. Then I hear some movement upstairs so I walk up to the bedroom.

"Babe, what are you doing?" I say as I walk up the stairs. I open up the door and there is definitely someone in my bedroom that shouldn't be there.

"Hey Lance." Bobbi is there sitting on my bed. Never thought I would have to say that again.

"Bobbi what the hell are you doing in here...where's Aria?" The confused state is becoming all too familiar today.

"Oh she ran to the store."

"So why are you not with her? Isn't that the purpose of you being here?" Still very much confused.

"Yeah but I was in the bathroom and she swore she couldn't wait five minutes. You know how pregnant women get. We both know this isn't your first rodeo cowboy." She's clearly amused by this or maybe she is uncomfortable really. Either way some skeletons should stay in the closet.

I am literally standing there in silence, in shock. I can hear that Bobbi is speaking to me but I just cannot process the words. She eventually leaves the room. Why she would ever want to take me back to that day in college when she gave me the news.

"I'm pregnant."

"Damn, hello to you too Bobbi. Uhm. Congrats?" I say not really caring what she had just told me.

"Yeah nigga congrats." She snaps back.

"Wait...huh?" My heart dropped to my stomach.

"Yeah it's yours."

"Shit." My soul is broken.

"We're going to have to tell Aria at some point."

That was really one of the worst days of my life. Till this day I am afraid that one day Aria will find out what happened and almost happened between Bobbi and I. The way Bobbi has been speaking lately it's almost as if she wants her to find out. I can't think too much on it though because if I can't fix what happened at the courtroom earlier today.

"Hey babe, you okay." Aria comes and puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Huh...yeah, yeah, I'm just uh, standing. Looking...at the room. How you doing today baby?"

"I am good now that I have my snacks but I'm tired and my back hurts, my feet hurts. So it'll be great if you can rub those down for me maybe?" She asks me in the cutest way possible.

"Of course babe, let me eat and I will cater to you for the remainder of the evening." I tell her.

Last night was a good way to take my mind off that case but now it's back to reality. I set up a meeting in an attempt to keep the mother from talking.

"I appreciate you all meeting me here today." I start off.

"What exactly do you want from me Mr. Ely? If it's to shut me up then you'd better find another angle. If I can recall correctly I asked you for help and you could not help me, remember?" She is heated. This is not how I expected this meeting to begin.

"Yes mam that is correct but I'm really hoping to speak to your husband, alone." I say respectfully and I can see Mr. Harris is shocked. He hasn't said much the entire case.

"Uhm whatever you can say to him you can say to me." She snaps once again.

"Okay but before I proceed, let me say to you Mr. Harris, what I have to say will bring everything in the dark to the light." I say knowing he understands me.

Mr. Harris face now shows fright.