The next step:
Scott felt his face turn red as Peter said, "Henry Walters is here he needs to speak with you." Scott felt him stomach drop, "what's going on?" Peter said, "I'll let him explain, but it's nothing too bad I promise." Scott nodded, as he turned back to Shelby Peter stepped away saying, "I'll just go over here and give you two a few moments, I'm sorry for interrupting you before." Scott's face went even redder and Shelby laughed. Shelby was never really the type to be embarrassed by her own behavior, and she always took great pleasure in Scott's humiliation.
As Peter stepped away Scott turned back to Shelby and stuck his tongue out at her, Shelby said, "Oh, that's real mature, and they're gonna let you be responsible for a baby." Scott shrugged, "Hey, compared to some of the other parents out there I'm practically mother Theresa." Shelby nodded, "Right, and I'm Pope John Paul." Scott said, "I have to go." Shelby nodded, "I know." Then she leaned forward and kissed his cheek, "I'll see you later." "Later" Scott responded then he stood and walked towards Peter who was grinning knowingly.
Scott shot him a look, "what are you looking at?" Peter simply shrugged, "Nothing, it's nice to see you two together again." Scott said, "well, we, uh, I mean we never really agreed, but I suppose we are." Peter laughed, "Scott, you better stop now before you put your foot any further into your mouth." Scott rolled his eyes and they made their way to Peter's office in relative silence.
When they arrived Scott spotted Henry Walters sitting on one of the chairs in front of Peter's desk, he stood and shook Scott's hand again. Scott asked, "So what's going on?" Walters said, "Elaine has recovered from the birth and the doctors say she is fit to stand trial. The judge has set the date, October 1st, so we have about three weeks before it starts."
Scott stood there in shock not knowing what to say, on the one hand he was relieved that he wouldn't have to keep waiting to find out when the trial was going to begin. On the other hand he couldn't help the strong sense of dread at the idea of having to see Elaine again and going through the stress and difficulties that would undoubtedly come up because of a trial. Scott heard Peter's voice as though it were very far away, "Scott, Scott, are you all right?" Scott shook his head, "I just, I need a minute." Walters nodded and Scott stepped onto the balcony adjoining Peter's office, Scott leaned heavily on the large oak railing taking a deep breath. Scott leaned his head down resting it on the cool wood and wondered, rather morbidly, if the wood would break and send him crashing down to his death. Scott wasn't suicidal by any means, but he often found himself thinking strange thoughts like that.
As Scott steadied himself the door opened and Peter came out on to the balcony, Scott stood up and leaned back while still holding on to the rail as though it were the only thing keeping him from flying off into space. After a few minutes Scott said, "I shouldn't stay out here too long." It wasn't a question, but Peter answered anyway, "You can wait as long as you want." Scott nodded as he pulled his body closer to the railing then crouched down, Peter tried to lighten Scott's mood by saying, "But when you do come back inside you will have to leave the railing out here."
Scott gave a small smile and took several more deep breaths before he turned and went back in. Henry stood as they walked back in and Scott asked, "So what's going to happen?" Henry Walters sighed, "I won't lie to you Scott Elaine's lawyer is going to hit you hard and fast on the stand. The woman has a well earned reputation of being a shark and she will be ruthless with you. Remember Elaine has to prove that her version of the story is true and since you were the only other person who can testify to what happened." Scott sighed as he finished, "Then I'm the one they have to make look like a liar."
Henry nodded, "exactly, now I'm going to go over what she's likely to say, but I obviously can't think of everything. Just remember to keep you answers short, to the point, and whatever you do don't answer a question with another question unless you're sure of the answer." Scott nodded as he sat across from his lawyer, Peter gave the younger mans shoulder a gentle squeeze and then sat next to him Scott was going to need all the support he could get to get through this.
Henry started, "All right, now one of the first questions she will probably ask will be something like, "Mr. Barringer, if my client attacked you why did you send her love letters?"
Scott had answered this question before so he had no trouble immediately responding with the explanation he'd all ready given both his lawyer and Shelby.
Henry nodded his approval at Scott's response, "Mr. Barringer do you honestly expect us to believe that my client forced herself on you when she is nearly half your size?"
Scott wasn't sure how to answer this so he thought it over for a few minutes, "I know I should have done more to try to stop Elaine, but my parents raised me to believe that men shouldn't hit women or attack them physically. I guess in the back of my mind I was always worried about hurting her if I shoved her or punched her. Then there's the fact that she would have told my dad I'd hit her without why I'd hit her."
Henry said, "not bad, but you shouldn't say things like, 'I should have done more to try to stop her' it makes you sound guilty." Scott nodded and they continued. The trial prep went on for over an hour before Scott finally declared he'd had enough and wanted to stop. Henry said, "Very good Scott, you did much better than most adults do in their first run through, but remember it's going to be much harder in court." Scott nodded and gave a sarcastic, "No pressure." As Henry packed up his things and left, Peter waited a few minutes before saying, "I am very proud of you."
Scott felt a warmth rush through at hearing those words, no matter how many times Peter said it, it always made him feel better, "Thank you. It's just hard with everyone telling me not to be nervous and then they say, 'things will be much harder when you get to the trial so be prepared' it's just hard to reconcile the two. It reminds me of when I started school."
"School?" Peter asked. Scott sighed, "Both of my parents told me I should reach out to other kids (in less complicated language of course) and to be nice and treat people fairly. Then they'd say that no matter what not everyone was going to like me and some kids would be down right mean. That I needed to keep an eye out for bullies and trouble makers. It was confusing, and I wasn't really sure what to do, my first day of kindergarten I stood in a corner not talking to anyone for ten minutes before the teacher finally spotted me and pushed me into a play group with four other kids."
Peter laughed, "A lot of kids have that kind of problem parents tell them 'don't talk to strangers' then someone the parent knows but the child doesn't says hello and when the child doesn't answer they're punished for being rude." Scott snorted, "that's exactly how I feel like I'm being told two different things and they're both right and I don't know which way I'm supposed to go."
Peter nodded, "Just give it time, hopefully things will work out. Going through a trial is hard Scott. I've had a lot of kids here at Horizon suffer through the legal system and I can promise you it doesn't get any easier and neither does life." Scott sighed heavily, "I know, I just wish the world would slow down a little and let me catch my breath every now and then."
Peter answered quietly, "you're not the only one."
O.k. that's it for now next chap or two the trial starts reviews are welcome.