Silly Pride

Summery: Kurt realizing a mistake at the worst time, cause trouble for Diane.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, sadly

Rating: K

In his whole career, Kurt McVeigh only had to step down from the stand twice. In a profession such as his, one's reputation meant just as much as one's knowledge. When entering a court room, one must do that with a clear conscience and strict moral values. Kurt did not believe in lying. He was not about to lie on the stand. His values simply would not allow him to do so, and, he would admit, his pride was very important to him. This was why he stuck to the general rule of only taking cases where the client was innocent, to save himself from lying. However, there were those rare and unfortunate times when he happened to be in the middle of questioning and would realize his client was guilty. To save anybody from embarrassment and keep his integrity in tacked, Kurt would interrupt the line of questioning and ask to step down. Thankfully he only had to do this only twice, but each time was quite difficult for everyone. Lawyers would be angry, the judge and jury would be left baffled by what he had done.

The first time it happened, Kurt was just starting out in his career. He was still having to go back to his college text books and old professors for advice when working on a case. At first, Kurt thought it was a simple case of his client being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The woman who was on trial explained her husband committed suicide with a gun to the head. After reviewing the photos and doing the math, Kurt came to the same conclusions. Then, he explained these deductions in front of almost thirty people on a very dreary April morning. During the trail, as it rained rather hard outside, the defense attorney was asking Kurt some very basic questions. He handed Kurt a photo of the blood splatter, asking him to explain what it meant.

As Kurt held the photo up and went into detail about the pattern and the distance of the blood, it then hit him. He paused, turning the photo around, analyzing it. It was dead silent as he did so, only the rain from outside hitting down on the court house. It was then, Kurt realized the very small, but extremely large problem. For the first time he noticed a few dots of blood, far away from the body. And the angle of the splatter was slightly unusual. It was at that unfortunate moment Kurt realized this gun was held by a second party and not suicide. His throat began to close up and the room suddenly felt stifling hot. He looked up at the defense attorney who was clearly confused and nervous as well. Quickly, Kurt excused himself, explaining he was unwell.

That was the second worst day of his life. The first was not until over twenty years later….

"Mr. McVeigh, could you please explain what is happening in this visual?" Diane stood very tall in her blue dress, one that Kurt had complimented her on only a few hours before.

"Yes, this blood splatter here shows that Mr. Donald's gun was shot in a close proximity. Now, when Mr. Hanes picked up this gun he had to have shot it by accent, killing himself. Mr. Donald was across the hall, in another room. There was no chance he could have shot the gun from over ten feet away."

"Thank you Mr. McVeigh," Diane smiled gently and took her seat once more.

"No problem."

"Mr. McVeigh," the defendant stood up, looking rather smug in Kurt's opinion. "Could you look at this picture," the man clicked a few buttons on the remote and soon a picture of Mr. Donald's gun was on the television screen. "What is this?"

"the murder weapon, Mr. Donald's gun."

"And how does one shoot this gun?"

"By taking off the safety lock, then pulling back the hammer, and pressing the trigger." As Kurt spoke he glanced over the picture once more, being sure he was correct.

"And you think Mr. Hanes did all that…by accident."

"Objection, your honor-" Unfortunately, Kurt cut Diane off before she could finish speaking.

"Your honor…I-may I have a ten minute break?"

"Well I-I suppose we can do with a break. Ten Minutes." Judge Abernathy seemed a bit curious, but did not hesitate to bang his gabble.

Very swiftly, Kurt stepped down from the stand, walking out of the court room, past a very baffled Diane. He went into the small conference room where his brief case was. All the analyzing and research for this case ran through his mind as Kurt searched through the different pictures and documents he had with him. At some point during this raid, Diane stormed into the room.

"Kurt, what was that?" She asked, growing angrier by the second.

"This," Kurt handed her the photo of the gun, similar to the one he had just seen a few moments ago.

"I don't understand."

"You see this line here, right by the trigger," It was very clear to him once he finally noticed it. The gun had not been cleaned in months, but a silver line ran right across the trigger and the barrel of the gun, "…there was pressure put there. Probably by a paperclip or rubber band. The gun was set to go off when someone meddled with it." He sounded calm, although Kurt was becoming very worried about what he will do with this evidence.

"You think our client booby-trapped his own gun, to murder Mr. Donald?" Diane did not look relieved or even slightly pleased with this. No, she looked upset. "So now what?"

"I'm going to have to tell the truth." He leaned against the table, as though to brace himself for the wrath he was about to hear from Diane.

"And then I'll lose the case and look like a fool?" She tossed the photo onto the table, not wanting to look at it. "I can't wait to hear the headlines. 'Diane Lockhart losing case because of her own fiancé.'"

"I'm on the stand, I can't lie-"

"No, you can't lie because your pride is bigger than the two of us combined," She ran her hand through her hair, pacing the room now. He tried to think of something to say. "The decisions you make impact me too...and not to mention the millions that Mr. Hanes brings into my firm."

"Of course I know that. I'm not trying to sabotage you, but you are defending a murderer." He wanted to say something, to calm her down, to realize telling the truth was the right thing to do, but at this moment it was probably best for him to shut up.

"It's already ruined for me anyway. Stepping down like that, the jury knows something is going on…and that look Judge Abernathy gave. God, I'm going to lose this case…"

"Diane you're over thinking this."

"No, I'm right on track with this," her cheeks flushed as she gave him a concerning look. "I have three weeks left. Three weeks and that judgeship will be mine. My record has to look perfect. Your silly pride cannot ruin this for me," She paused to take a breath, but was nowhere near done yelling at him, "I haven't lost a case in months and now I'm not about to lose because my fiancé had to save the world, leaving me looking like a fool!" She turned away from him, looking towards the wall as she tried to compose herself.

Kurt knew Diane was stressed, but never realized exactly how much she was holding in. The poor woman was working long hours and giving up so much for this judgeship, even having to fire her housekeeper. All the stress was building up inside of her, but finally she released all her tension. He felt terrible for being the straw that broke the camel's back, especially since they only had two minutes left.

Kurt did not say a word to her, too many words had already been said. No, he stayed silent, something he was rather good at. He came closer to Diane and wrapped his arm around her, turning her to face him, and pulling her into a hug. Kurt rubbed her back and shoulders gently. Already the tension on her muscles were beginning to relax. "We have to get back in there."

Diane nodded and straightened herself out, making it look like nothing ever happened. She was good at that. With Kurt by her side, the two walked back into the court room once more.

Things began to get situated once more while Kurt took his place back on the stand. As the judge allowed the prosecutor to continue his questioning, Kurt knew what he had to do.

"Right, well, Mr. McVeigh…we were talking about this gun."

"We were."

"Do you notice anything about this weapon?" the prosecutor brought the picture back onto the screen for Kurt to see, but his eyes were directly on Diane.

"Yes. There is a mark by the trigger, indicating there was pressure put on the gun so it would go off easily. If you look at the scene of the crime you will probably find a paper clip or rubber band. Someone wanted to kill Mr. Donald and make it look like an accident."

"Thank you Mr. McVeigh, that's all."

"You may step down then," the judge ordered. Kurt nodded and left the stand. He slowly walked by Diane, who would not dare look back at him. Even though he wanted to, Kurt did not leave the court house. He stayed in the conference room, cleaning up the document and pictures while he waited for Diane. It was another half hour, but soon she appeared.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't say that," Diane shook her head as she put her coat on. "Please, don't say you're sorry when you're not."

"I couldn't lie."

"You could have stayed quiet, for me." She walked over to Kurt, to grab her purse that was sitting on the table. He had no reply to that. She pulled her purse over her arm and started for the door. "I'll see you at home."

She was upset, it was understandable. He knew his pride and stubbornness would be tough for the both of them. It was one of the things he liked about himself, but also hated. Seeing Diane leave disappointed in him felt terrible, as though he was punched in the stomach. Nobody had ever left him with this feeling, only Diane could impact him in such a way. This time, he had no pride in what he did and realized that maybe this time telling the truth was the wrong thing to do. It was a very gray area, and Kurt hated anything that was not black and white. With another case to get started on, Kurt packed up his things, put on his coat, and left to his office to work.