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Chapter 10
"Why haven't we heard anything yet?" Alex asked the clock on the wall, it was late afternoon and Mitchell had called her to say they were going into court just before 10:30, she was worried and irritated about the lack of information she'd been given. She set back to work as the phone rang.
"Alex Cabot." She answered eagerly hoping that it would be a member of her family.
"Any news?" Olivia asked, the whole squad had been waiting all afternoon to hear something and she'd decided to call Alex on the off chance that she'd been to busy celebrating to phone them.
"I was hoping you were it." Alex sighed, "I don't like this waiting, I expected to hear from someone hours ago."
"How about we all meet for a drink this evening, that way when we do hear we can celebrate or commiserate as a group?" Olivia suggested and Alex agreed, she needed to get away from the office and it'd be easier to wait as a group than on her own in the apartment.
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Maddie didn't want to call anyone or have anyone else called about the verdict, she was shell shocked. She didn't let Hillary turn her phone on as she knew it would go mental with calls from her father and brother. She managed to thank the Major for all his help before hotfooting it back to the hotel to pack and check out, she needed to get back to New York as fast as possible, she wanted to put everything that had happened behind her and to do that she felt like she needed to get away from DC.
"Your father is probably worried sick not knowing." Hillary said as they took their seats on the red eye.
"I need to process things myself," Maddie sighed, "Do you think he'll go pick the kids up from school today?" This question caught Hillary off guard but she answered in the affirmative. "We'll see him then then." Was all she said for the remainder of the trip.
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Geoffrey Madison was beside himself as he stood outside the school waiting for the twins; he'd been checking his phone every few minutes since his wife had called him that morning. He didn't think that the news was good and that Hillary was busy making sure that Maddie was ok and that's why she hadn't phoned, he just wanted to know either way.
"Daddy." Tara exclaimed spotting her father and running to him, she greeted his with a warm hug; she was trying to cheer him up since she knew how worried he'd been about her sister. A few moments later Henry joined and asked if they'd heard about Maddie and when she was coming home.
"I don't know pal, hopefully soon but she's a very busy woman." Geoffrey explained as Henry looked past him at someone stood on the corner. Like a flash the young boy went
running off across the road to the confusion of his father and sister who looked after him and spotted what he'd seen.
"Maddie!" Geoffrey shouted following his son and also his daughter who had by now run across the road.
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"Give me a hug squirt." Maddie said picking Henry up as he reached her, the young 10 year old was beaming and almost jumped into her arms and got span around as his twin and their father reached them. Geoffrey was almost crying with delight as he gave his daughter a hug, and his wife embraced the twins.
"You're home." Was all Geoffrey said and Maddie started to cry.
"Don't cry Maddie." Tara said not sure what was going off. Maddie's response was to pick her sister up and give her a cuddle and start sobbing.
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"What?" Alex asked not believing what she was hearing.
"I said she's back." Mitchell said; his joy clear in his voice, his father had called him from outside the school as his eldest daughter cried all over his youngest daughter. "Arrived outside school to greet the twins."
"How is she?" Alex asked relieved, she was smiling but was still really worried about her cousin.
"Hard to say, dad said she was crying like a baby and looked exhausted, I'm on my way to see them now, we'll be at dads if you want to join us." He offered but Alex declined, Maddie didn't need overwhelming with people at the moment, she'd pop in and see her tomorrow. As soon as she'd hung up with Mitchell she practically ran to Casey's office.
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"Where's the fire?" Casey asked as Alex barged into the office.
"You better make the reservations for that date." Alex replied with a smile and straight away Casey caught on to what Alex meant.
"Thank god how is she? Have you spoken to her?" Casey asked and Alex filled her in on what Mitchell had told her, Casey let out a sigh of relief she she'd been holding since the trial had began. The day suddenly seemed brighter even though it was getting dark outside, and Casey couldn't keep from smiling.
"If you see her today tell her I'll call her tomorrow." Casey said as Alex got ready to leave the office, Alex nodded as she shut the door behind her. Casey put her head in her hands and started crying with relief that things were feeling like they were going to be alright.
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Maddie lay on the grass in the back garden with the twins on either side of her, they'd followed her out into the garden to see what she was doing, she just wanted to look at the
sky from somewhere she hadn't thought she'd see if from that morning. She heard the back door open and footsteps on the deck and soon spotted her big brother standing over her with a huge smile on her face.
"Well what do we have here?" He asked lying down next to Tara.
"New York sky." Tara replied and Mitchell saw Maddie smile.
"Oh really?" He asked taking another look at Maddie, "You know what I remember a story that I was told years ago. It was about this little girl who loved looking up at the sky and she got her own Angel star." The twins were intrigued but Maddie knew what was coming. "You see her mummy got sick and the little girl was scared of never seeing her again."
"Did the mummy die?" Henry asked and Maddie answered.
"Yes honey, she died." Maddie replied, "But you know what? Her mummy told her that even if she wasn't around any more she'd always be watching over her. She'd be looking at her from heaven through the New York stars to make sure that the little girl was ok." Maddie sighed. "But as she got older the girl stopped looking at the stars and forgot that she wasn't really alone."
"Did she ever remember?" Tara looked at Mitchell for an answer but Maddie was the one who gave it.
"Eventually." Maddie replied and the twins stood up.
"That was a rubbish story." Henry said leaving followed closely by Tara.
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"I don't think that it was a rubbish story." Mitchell replied grabbing hold of Maddie's hand.
"More of an autobiography than a story I think." Maddie sighed, "You know I think I need to get away for a while." She said suddenly standing up. Mitchell followed suit and looked at her strangely.
"I'm not going to ask why, but I am going to say that you shouldn't be on your own." He didn't think it'd be a good idea for her to go off somewhere by herself but he knew that she'd probably do that anyway. "So when will you be going?" He asked figuring that she already had a location in mind.
"I'll stay for tonight." Maddie replied, "I'll call the Captain first thing and then I'm off."
"The folks aren't going to be happy." She knew that but she hoped that they'd understand, she'd be able to clear her head so that when she returned she'd be able to be the daughter and sister that they all wanted her to be.
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Alex was getting ready to leave when Maddie walked in through the door, straight away the blonde practically pounced on the shorter woman.
"You've lost weight." Alex said taking a proper look, Maddie nodded in response before filling her in on her vacation plans. "I told Casey to make reservations for the pair of you."
"Tell her I'm sorry, and hand her this." Maddie handed over a letter. "And I'll see you when I see you." Maddie finished and Alex looked a little stunned but understanding.
"When will you be back?" Alex asked hopefully, Maddie simply shrugged her shoulders and walked into her bedroom. Alex followed to say goodbye. "So I guess this is going to be it for a while?" Alex asked stood by the door.
"I suppose so." Maddie replied shoving her hands in her pockets. "Thanks for believing in me and for everything else."
"No thank you Eliza, for everything. And don't forget to come back." Alex gave her beloved cousin a hug before leaving her alone to pack.
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Casey,
I assume by now that you've heard the good news and hopefully recollect our dinner plans. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to take a rain check on them. I need to get away from things for a bit and get myself sorted out. The trial messed me up in so many ways and brought up a lot of things that I realise I've been running away from for most of my life. I need to face them; I need to deal with them by myself so that I know I'll be ok. I was worried about losing everything before because of the trial but now I'm worried about how the outcome will affect everything. I want to be strong again, both physically and emotionally and I can't ask or expect you to be there whilst I pull myself together again. I hope you understand.
See you soon.
Eliza
X
Casey didn't know what to think as she read the note, she didn't really understand, but then again she could never begin to comprehend what Maddie must have gone through over the years. With a sigh she placed the letter in her purse, and wondered how long she'd have to wait until she saw the younger woman in person. She'd asked Alex how long Maddie would be gone and the blonde couldn't answer as she had no idea herself, she just hoped it wouldn't be too long.
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Casey stood staring out the window, wondering where Maddie was going when Olivia walked into her office. Olivia sensed that something was wrong by how Casey was stood and the look on her face so asked her what was the matter, she'd been expecting the attorney to be elated about the prospect of seeing Maddie again soon.
"She's gone away for a bit; don't know when she'll be back." Casey replied without turning away from the window. "I can't really blame her, I mean after everything she's been through it makes sense for her to go and clear her head." Casey turned to face Olivia. "And it's not like we even managed to have a first date. It's just that...I don't know...I feel so...she makes me." Casey tried but couldn't articulate how she was feeling.
It was strange, she'd never felt like that before in such a short space of time, it was bad but good.
"She'll come back you know." Olivia offered a comforting hand to Casey. "Cragen told us that her job is still hers at the moment." Although she wasn't sure how long the job would remain Maddie's, but the captain had sounded pretty certain that she'd be back sooner rather than later.
"I hope you're right Liv." Casey replied with a heavy sigh before returning to her window.
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