Have you ever not wanted something until somebody else you knew had it? This fic sort of goes along these lines. Enjoy!*^_^*
Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order and its characters. Sierra is mine.
Rating: T, for themes and language.
Not Himself
By LTP-girl
Connie sat at the prosecution's table, watching Mike from behind as he had finished grilling his witness, strutting before the jury.
"No more questions, your honour," he said to Judge Morale, before unbuttoning his suit jacket and returning to his seat next to Connie.
Mike glanced over at defence attorney Candice Harley sitting next to her devious client, as she stared down at her notes, her facial expression desolate after he had completely eviscerated her argument. "One in the bag for Mike Cutter," he whispered to Connie, a sense of victory in his tone.
She smiled back at him, equally pleased.
Candice Harley had finished her questioning of the people's witness, and reclaimed her seat at the defence table.
The witness was still shaken by Mike's questioning, and had broken down in a fit of whimpers, unable to fully answer the defence's questions.
"Are you alright, Mr Leone?" Judge Morale asked, concerned for the witness's emotional wellbeing.
"M-m-y wife's gone, and nothing can bring her back," he forced through broken weeps. He started to shout angrily at Mike, his eyes seething with rage. "Nothing! You hear me, Mr Cutter? Nothing! You pompous bastard!"
"I understand," the judge replied, trying to calm the hysterical witness down. He turned towards the caught. "Court adjourned. This testimony will continue on Monday." And with that, he banged down his gavel.
Cutter stood abruptly from his seat. "But I have redirect, your honour," he protested.
"Yes Mr Cuter, so you do," he replied, agreeing with the ambitious attorney. "Which will take place on Monday."
Cutter stood there biting his tongue, annoyed by the judge's hasty decision. He shook his head in frustration as he and Connie set about packing their briefcases with the papers that had been scattered over the table.
"At least Dr Olivet's findings will impeach Mr Leone's testimony, once we subpoena her as an expert witness, and it does look like Mr Melani will be serving a consecutive sentence instead of a concurrent sentence after all," Connie said to Mike with optimism.
Connie and Mike made their descent down the courthouse steps, briefcases in hand.
"It's a nice day out today," Mike commented, looking up at the sky and squinting in face of the sunlight that had embraced the two figures. He seemed to have forgotten about the events that had just taken place in the courtroom.
Connie had noticed something different about Michael Cutter in the past couple of weeks. He had bought a new suit, and had been wearing more cologne than he normally did, these factors certainly not going unnoticed by the female ADA's at the office. He had also let his hair grow a little longer, and had it combed back neatly, and there was a distinct change in his personality that she had also noticed. He seemed more cheery, greeting her each morning at the office with a warm smile and a cup of coffee, and she couldn't quit put her finger on what could have caused this change. It wasn't as if they had been winning a lot of cases lately, and Jack had been hurling orders at him from every direction, not to mention his favourite courtroom drama being cancelled. And although the case they had currently been working on seemed to hinder towards the prosecution, there was one vital piece of evidence that detectives Lupo and Bernard hadn't picked up on, which had to be entered into the trial later. The Michael Cutter she knew would have been pissed, but no, he wasn't this time. In fact, he was thankful that the detectives had uncovered this evidence, despite its discovery being so belated.
Despite it being less than forty degrees outside, Connie couldn't disagree with Mike. The sunshine that had washed over New York City on this particular afternoon did have a certain appeal, but it wasn't like Michael Cutter to make such an uplifting comment. He would usually focus on the negatives, and bitch about how cold the air was. Connie couldn't help but notice the extra spring he had in his step, and still wandered what had put him in such a good mood lately.
Mike led her to the newspaper-stand. "Hey Connie, how about I buy you that magazine you like?" he suggested, digging into his coat pocket for his wallet.
Connie was a little startled by Mike's offer, but accepted nonetheless. "Sure thing," she replied. "But only if I pay for the coffee later." She smiled contently to herself as she noticed the sunlight bring out the few grey flecks and highlights in his dirty-blonde hair. I bet Plenty of female jurors would be on our side... Oh God, where did that come from? She wandered, startled by the wayward thought she had about her boss.
Mike nodded. "The New York Law Review, and a Fashiona," Mike said to the man behind the counter. He payed him the money, and handed Connie her magazine.
Whatever had gotten Mike into such a good mood, she certainly wasn't complaining about it.
At that moment, her blackberry began to buzz inside her pocket. She dug the phone out of her pocket, and put the receiver to her ear, moving away from Mike to answer her phone. "ADA Rubirosa," she said.
"Hey Connie, it's Sierra," the person answered.
Connie's expression had turned into a wide smile. It had been a while since she had heard from her young cousin. "Hey Sierra, how are you?"
"I'm great," she replied. "I was just wandering, do you want to hang out this weekend? Like, go shopping or something like that... that's if, like, you're not too busy with work or anything?"
Connie stared over at Mike, who was leaning over the counter of the newspaper-stand, making friendly conversation with the man who had just served him.
"Um, sure, I'd love to," she replied. "I have no plans so far."
"That's great. I'll drop by your apartment tomorrow, around eleven suit?"
"Eleven's fine."
"Okay, see you then. I've got to go, I've got an art-history class."
"See you." Connie hung up her phone, and slid it back into her pocket.
Mike approached her from behind. "Who was that?" he asked with curiosity.
"Oh, that was my cousin," she replied. "She wants us to get together this weekend."
Mike smiled. "That sounds like a good idea." They continued to walk side by side along the pavement. "Get a bit of time to yourself."
Connie watched Mike as they continued to make their way back to the DA's office, taking note of the slight glimmer in his eyes.
What do you think? Feel free to comment:-)
