Chapter 8

"Brittany?"

"Brittany?"

Brittany slowly turns her head to see a guard standing at the door of her cell. She spots the handcuffs in his hands and knows what he is there for. She glances over at Sugar briefly before moving into position so that he can come in and cuff her hands.

He does so and then they start the walk out of the cell and down the hallway. A walk she knows by heart now. Everyday her surroundings become more and more familiar to her. Before long she will be able to map out the whole jail.

But that's not what is on her mind right now. What's on her mind is what Sugar just told her about her lawyer. She mulls over if what Sugar said could possibly be true.

It worries her. She wonders if this will be a problem for her case. She wonders if her lawyer will have an outburst like Sugar said during her trial. If she'll do something that will cause them to lose the case. To cause Brittany to be locked away for a number of years.

That's the last thing she wants. She doesn't want to go to jail or prison for an extended period. She doesn't want that to happen. She doesn't want her lawyer to lose her cool in the courtroom. She doesn't want to see that happen. She feels like Santana is too good of a lawyer for something like that to happen. For her reputation to be on the line because of some outburst.

But at the same time she doesn't even know if any of it is true. Sugar just told her what she had heard. She doesn't know if there is any truth behind it. But what she does know is that she needs to find out the truth. To get the answers to all of her questions. She needs to know if this will hinder the case. She needs to know if she should get a different lawyer.

But as she is led through the hallways of the jail she has to focus on what is about to happen. She can worry about that other stuff later. She needs to focus on the meeting she is about to have.

The guard leads her around the finally corner and down the final hall. They stop in front of a door. He reaches around her and pushes it open with one of his hands. Brittany steps in and heads towards a chair on the opposite side of the table.

The guard follows her before releasing the handcuffs. Brittany turns to him and gives him a tight-lipped smile in thanks. He nods at her and turns and walks out of the room.

Brittany pulls out the chair and takes a seat. She rests her elbows on the table. Her head in her hands. She waits. She waits for her lawyer. She waits for the district attorney. She waits for them all.


Santana enters the room first. She smile kindly at Brittany. The blonde forces herself to smile back at her lawyer. She's a little wary of Santana at this moment. She just doesn't know what to think.

Santana comes around the table and takes a seat next to Brittany. "How are you doing today? I haven't seen you since Tuesday. How are you holding up?" She asks the blonde honestly concerned about how the woman is doing.

Brittany shrugs. "I'm okay." She side eyes Santana but never turns her head to look at her directly.

"Just okay?" Santana asks her.

"Yeah. It's hard ya know. Sitting in a jail cell all day long. Not much to do. My brain running amuck. Sometimes I feel like I'm going fucking insane. It's hard. I'm not cut out for this." Brittany explains to her.

Santana lets out a little chuckle but covers her mouth when she hears herself. "Sorry." She mumbles. "Brittany."

Brittany turns her head to look at Santana when the brunette uses her first name. She's only ever used her first name once before today. "I don't think anyone's cut out for this." Santana uses her right hand to gesture around the room.

Brittany looks away from her again. Looking down at the table in front of her again. "You're probably right."

"Look I know this is hard on you. And no I'm not just saying that because it's my job. I can see it on you. I can see it in your demeanor. I can see it in your eyes. I can see that this is difficult for you. But I feel really good about your case. I am going to do everything in my power to get you out of here as soon as possible." She takes her left hand and rests it on Brittany's forearm. "Okay?" She lowers her head to try and look at Brittany's face.

Brittany keeps her focus on the table. She doesn't know if she can look at Santana without crumbling. It's all too much and now Santana is saying these things and doing what feels like comforting her. If she looks at the brunette now she knows she won't be able to hold it together any longer. She'll probably end up crying like a baby. And that's the last thing she needs to be doing right now.

Brittany lets out a long sigh. "Okay."

The next thing Brittany knows is Santana's hand pulling away from her arm as she hears the sound of the door clicking open.

Rachel steps into the room first. She smiles politely at Santana and then at Brittany. "Good afternoon Santana, Ms. Pierce." She nods.

"Hello Rachel. I don't know what's so good about it though. You're here to badger my client. And that isn't good for me. Or her." Santana raises an eyebrow at Rachel waiting for a response for the woman.

"Calm down Santana. I come in peace." She takes a seat across from Santana and pulls her briefcase up onto the table.

"Are you an alien?" Brittany asks.

Rachel looks at the blonde perplexed. At the same time Santana tries to stifle a laugh. Brittany turns to look at Santana. She sees her lawyer covering her mouth with one hand and shaking her head back and forth. A small smile forms on Brittany's face at what she sees.

It makes her feel a little better. A little lighter. That she could make Santana laugh with a silly joke. She thinks for a second that maybe this won't be so bad. That this meeting will go smoothly. That everything can work out in the end.

"Santana, that's not very professional." Rachel chastises. It brings everybody back to reality. "You shouldn't be laughing right now."

"Shut it, Rachel. I'm sorry but that was funny." Santana gives Brittany a warm smile. Brittany smiles back and then turns to face Rachel again. The DA looks less than enthused about their little antics.

Brittany brow furrows in confusion. "Wait." She lifts her left hand in the air. Rachel and Santana both turn and look at her waiting for the blonde to continue. "Do you two know each other?"

Santana rolls her eyes and huffs out a breath. Rachel smiles and explains. "Yes. We do. I have known Santana since we were in high school. We were in the same class. But I must admit we were never the best of friends. Friendly? Yes, we could be, but we were not best friends by any means."

"Really?" Brittany ponders the thought.

"Yes. Unfortunately. I've known Rachel for a long long time." Santana folds her arms over her chest and glares at Rachel to show her annoyance in the fact that she had to bring up the fact that they know each other. She would rather have it that no one knows anything about her connections to the people in this town. But that isn't really possible since it is such a small town and everyone seems to know everyone else.

"Wow. I would have never known." Brittany comments. She's still caught up on the fact that her lawyer and the district attorney grew up together.

"Would have never known what?" A man's voice asks.

They all turn to the door to see Sam standing there with a coffee in one hand and a manila folder in the other. He looks curiously between each of them before focusing his gaze on Rachel.

"Just that Santana and I know each other from school." Rachel tells him.

"Oh." He nods and moves towards the table. He shoves the door shut behind him with one of his feet. Careful not to spill his coffee. "Well, it is a small town. And just for your information Ms. Pierce I went to high school with them too. All in the same class."

"Hmm." Brittany hums. "This is some crazy shit."

"Yeah. Sure." Sam deflects. "How about we get this meeting started. I have a five o'clock tee time."

He sits down and takes a sip of his coffee before turning his attention to Santana. "So I heard you had a little sit down with the judge yesterday?" He asks as a question.

"Yes, and?" Santana returns.

"And- what did you do that for?" His voice a little louder than it previously had been. He glances at Rachel before looking back at Santana.

Brittany sinks a little lower in her seat. She knew that Santana was going to meet with the judge about the charges filed against her. She knew that Rachel was probably gonna be there too. She knew that Sam would eventually find out. But she didn't want to be here for this confrontation.

"Because-" Santana shrugs. "-the District Attorney filed the wrong charges against my client. I wanted to get that correct before we went any further."

"She didn't file the wrong charges. Those are the charges I told her to file. Second degree murder is the correct charge." He points his finger at Santana.

"No it's not. You have no proof of intent. I looked over all of the evidence multiple times. I found no proof against my client with intent to kill." Santana tells him. She knows she's right.

"She's right." Rachel speaks up. "I went over the evidence again. There is no intent to kill in there anywhere."

"Fine." Sam drops it. "That's not why we're here anyway today. So while we are waiting for the judge to make a decision we might as well make some progress of our own."

"Yes. I agree." Rachel adds.

"So I'm going lay out all of the evidence against you Ms. Pierce and we will go from there."

Brittany nods.

Sam opens up the folder and starts laying out all of the photos in front of Brittany. Rachel and Santana watch as Sam meticulously lays out of photos.

"Lets start here." He points to a photo of the crime scene. The picture is a wide shot of Brittany's painting with some little yellow numbers marking evidence on the ground.

"So this is your work?" Sam asks Brittany.

She looks to Santana for what to do. Santana nods at Brittany to answer the question. "Yes. I did that painting."

"You say painting, I say graffiti. But that's not important now." Sam shakes his head. "You admitted to being there the night of the murder?"

"Yes. I was."

"But you claim that you weren't there at the time of the murder. Is that so?"

"Yes. I didn't do it." Brittany clenches her fists on the table top. She is already frustrated with this interview.

"You say you are innocent. But then how did this woman die?"

"I don't know." Brittany says angrily. "Maybe someone's framing me." The thought suddenly pops into her head. She had never thought of that before. That someone could be setting her up to take the fall for this crime.

Santana hand comes to rest of Brittany's forearm again. The touch is enough for Brittany to loosen her fists and release an exasperated sigh.

"Detective Evans, why don't you stick to what you know?" Santana tells him. She is trying to get him to go back to the evidence that he has instead of speculating on what may have happened.

"Yeah. Okay. But I'm pretty sure that you aren't being framed here, Ms. Pierce." Sam moves the photo of Brittany's street art out of the way and slides a different photo directly in front of her. "This is your car. It's in your name. We found it about a half a mile away from the crime scene with the inside completely wiped down . So we didn't find any forensic evidence inside the car. We did however find some shirt fibers stuck in the rear bumper of the car that matched the shirt the victim was wearing. Thus proving that this car was used in the murder. That plus smeared blood on the hood of the trunk."

Brittany looks down at the photo and nods. Her eyes go wide. 'Crap. That's not good.' She thinks. That is definitely the car she use to own. But aside from the one other time that Sam showed her a photo of the car she hasn't seen it since she sold it. She looks back up to the man sitting across from her.

He continues. "My witness can place you at the crime scene. She picked you out of a photo array. And she will testify against you in court. I have-"

"Who is this 'witness' you claim to have that puts my client at the scene?" Santana questions the detective.

"She asked to not be identified until the trial begins." Sam shrugs like it's the most logical thing in the whole. It's no big deal to him. "That right there is enough in my mind to lock you away."

He looks to his left towards Rachel. "I just hope that the judge sees it my way and doesn't decide to change the murder charge."

Rachel bows her head. She is still embarrassed that she may have messed up. It's not like her to do something like that. She only briefly looked over the evidence before filing the charges. She went with what Sam had told her and what he suggested her to charge Brittany with. She should have done a better job of looking over the case before rushing to file the second degree murder charge.

"We shall see." Santana says smugly. She knows she has a good chance of getting the charge change but nothing is ever for certain. "The judge said he would make his decision by the end of the day Monday." She says out loud even though Rachel already knows that. And she assumes that Rachel told Sam. So she was really just saying it so Brittany would know.

Santana looks between Rachel and Sam when neither of them say anything else. "Are we done here?" She turns to Brittany. "I would like to have a meeting with my client now, if we are through?"

Sam looks to Rachel and shrugs. "I don't know what else to do. Ms. Pierce hasn't been very helpful. I guess there isn't anything else we can get out of her, right Ms. Berry?"

Santana and Brittany share a look. Something along the lines of accomplishment or success in regards to the meeting.

"I don't think there is anything we can do, Detective Evans. We will just have to wait until trial." Rachel says mostly addressing Santana the whole time.

Sam stands from his seat. "You better be ready for this trial Santana." He turns away from the table and walks out the door.

Santana just watches as he walks out. Once he shuts the door she turns to look at Rachel. "Guess we'll see ya in court." She shrugs.

"Guess so." Rachel stands and takes her briefcase from the table. "Have a good rest of your day. And not just you, Santana." She point to Santana. "You too, Brittany." She points and smiles at Brittany.

"Thank you, Ms. Berry. You too." Brittany says with a polite smile.

"Yeah thanks, Berry. Now get outta here I need to speak with my client, privately." She raises her eyebrows at Rachel waiting for her to move along.

"Okay. Fine. I'm going." Rachel turns away from them and walks to the door. Opening it slowly and then stopping in the doorway. She waits there for a few seconds before she continues on her way closing the door behind herself.

Brittany turns to Santana as soon as the door is closed. "So did you really go to school with those two?" She asks right away. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she couldn't wait any longer.

Santana stands from her chair and walks over to the door. "Hey, where are you going?" Brittany furrows her brow. She has no idea what's happening. Santana said she wanted to talk with her and now she's leaving.

She opens the door and sticks her head around the corner. After a couple of seconds Santana pulls her head back into the room. She turns around towards Brittany. A sly smile on her face. "I wanted to make sure no one was watching us. I wanted to make sure we were alone."

"Oh." Brittany breathes out still confused. Santana shuts the door and goes back and sits across from Brittany this time. "What did you want to talk to me about?" She asks her lawyer. She's nervous now that they are alone. Now that there isn't anyone around as a buffer. She automatically remembers what Sugar told her about Santana. Not that she forgot. She had just pushed it to the back of her mind for the meeting with the district attorney and the detective.

"Well- there are a couple of things actually." Santana slides her briefcase across the table from where she was previously sitting. She situates it directly in front of herself. She leans forward and rests her elbows on top of her briefcase. Santana makes a fist with her left hand and takes her right and wraps it on top of her fist on front of her face.

She sighs before she speaks again. "I wanted to let you know what's going to be happening with your case now. I will be meeting with you at least once a week to start preparing your defense. Once we hear from the judge we will now how to proceed. But until then all we can do is wait. At this point it will probably be Monday afternoon before I hear anything. So that's that."

Brittany nods as she takes in the information. "Okay. What else?" She can tell Santana is holding something back from her. She can see it in her body language.

"Uh- this is the part of my job that actually makes me a little uncomfortable. I feel like I'm being nosy and butting into things that are none of my business." Santana starts to explain. She lowers her head and wraps her palms around the back of her neck.

"Okay. What is it?" Brittany asks trying to encourage Santana to just say it.

"I need it find out about your life. About you. How you got to where you are today. I need to know about your personal life to be able to defend against anything the district attorney might bring up in court." She tells Brittany.

"Okay but can I ask you something too?" The blonde says quietly.

Santana lifts her head to look at Brittany. She furrows her brow. "I guess."

Brittany takes a deep breath. She dips her head so she doesn't have to look at her lawyer when she says it. "I heard something about you."

"Yeah?" Santana rests her palms flat against the table on either side of her briefcase.

Brittany goes on. "And I wanted to know if it is true."

"Okay."

"My cellmate told me that you-" She pauses momentarily. "-that you lost your shit in court one day. And that it ultimately lost you the case."

Santana puffs out a breath of air. Brittany looks up to see Santana shaking her head back and forth. "Does that mean it's not true?" Brittany asks unsure of Santana actions.

Santana stops and squints her eye closed. She shakes her head again. "No." She whispers. "It's true." She pinches her nose. "To a degree."

Cliffhanger? Maybe I will upload the next chapter tomorrow. That is if I finish it.