Alright guys, sorry this one took FOREVER. It was meant to be pretty serious, but theres only so much angst a writer can take. So enjoy. Its serious, but it gets a little lighter obviously. Love all your reviews, Again im sorry this took forever!
X0 Shay
The blood flowed off her face and into her palms, and as she looked down at her hands, she realized something was different. Jeffrey didn't give her enough time to figure it out, grabbing her shirt collar and raising his fist, ready to land a blow again.
Placing her arms over her head for protection, she felt another bruise-causing punch to the side of her face, but she didn't cry out. Only gasping, she knew screaming and crying would only make it worse, and she wasn't going to give the man a reason to further anymore of his cruel ministrations.
Pushing her to the ground, Jeffrey climbed ontop of her and continued punching. She coughed up a pool of blood as he finished his last punch, and climbed off her sore and bruised body. Tears silently flowed down her cheeks as she crawled over to the bathroom door and pulled herself up off the floor to lean against the counter. Every shade of color was fuzzy, causing her head to pound, and she had to catch her breath. Closing the door and locking it behind her, she hadn't even bothered to look at herself in the mirror. She knew it was bad.
Grabbing a cloth from a cabinet near by, she turned the faucet on full blast to hot water and soaked the cloth, not even bothering to cringe away from the heat. Wringing the cloth out, she brought it to her face and finally looked at herself in the mirror… and dropped the cloth. Gasping loudly, she finally realized what was so different.
She wasn't staring into her green eyes, blue ones stared back at her, tears flowing down her face. Her hair wasn't red. It was blonde. She was horrified to find herself not staring at herself at all. Taylor. She was Taylor. And Taylor was black, and she was blue, and she was bleeding from almost every possible spot blood could pour out of-
"NO!"
Laura jolted forward, screaming, and as hands grabbed the side of her arms, she screamed furthermore, pushing at the mysterious hands roughly, the darkness of the room engulfed her, and she couldn't see a thing. The only thing she could manage was screaming.
"Laura, baby! Stop, stop, it was a bad dream!" a familiar voice rang out, and Laura's muscles instantly relaxed enough for her to stop screaming and slump forward into her arms, "That's right love, just a nightmare… I'm here though, I'm here."
"You…" Laura mumbled against Taylor's collar bone, but paused, trying to regain her thoughts, "You have to stay away from him… you have to stay away from him, Taylor. Don't go to the trial, please?"
Taylor pushed Laura forward and looked at her with a confused expression before saying, "Laura, I'm not letting you go against him alone… That's not fucking happening. He almost took you aw.. he almost killed you, Laura. I want to see the fucker get locked up for good."
Taylor's voice seethed with hatred, and shook as she spoke, and Laura's eyes started to fill with tears as she tried hard to swallow back her frustration.
"You can't go near him, Taylor. He meant to kill you, not me! You can't-"
"Laura, I'm not afraid of him. And neither should you, baby," Taylor cut her off, and Laura's jaw dropped to the comment.
"… Fuck you, Taylor!" Laura spat out, pushing the blonde away from her and settling back into the hospital bed, "I'm not fucking scared for myself."
Taylor grabbed at Laura's hand and scooted forward to sit closer to the brunette, but Laura wasn't looking her in the eye.
"Laur, babe… will you look at me when I'm talking to you? Please?"
Laura bit the inside of her cheek before looking the blonde in the eye, at which the blonde pulled her into a kiss. Instantly Laura wasn't mad, as she grabbed at the side of the blonde's face, desperation crept up on her. Moaning into the kiss, she absentmindedly grabbed at Taylor's breast. To her dismay, Taylor pulled away.
"Not fucking fair. Don't promise me something you can't keep, blondie," Laura whined out, closing her eyes and sighing at the same time. Taylor giggled slightly before scooting even closer.
"Laura, I'm going to this trial, whether you like it or not. That's final."
It had been two weeks since Laura agreed to testify against Jeffrey, and the trial was to be held tomorrow. She bit the inside of her cheek again, as she watched the blonde. Clips of the dream she just had kept playing in her mind. It had been years since he managed to haunt her dreams.
"Alright," Laura stated, settling further into the bed, before passing out again. Taylor curled up on the side of the bed next to her, and fell asleep by her side.
Walking proved to be a little harder than expected, and for the first while Laura had to try really hard not damage the slowly healing gunshot wound in her stomach. To her distaste she wasn't being released from the hospital soon enough, but Taylor stayed by her side, day and night. After getting out of the shower at the hospital, she smiled brightly, excited to wear clothes that weren't the usual hospital attire.
"You didn't look half bad in the hospital gown, baby," Taylor mumbled, smiling at the brunette, watching her carefully getting dressed.
"Oh god, puke! Don't even say something like that!" Laura laughed out as she struggled to pull the shirt fully over her head, and caused Taylor to laugh even more.
"Are you ready, baby?" Taylor asked, merely a whisper as Laura finally finished dressing.
"Yeah, you?" she asked back, as her body started to shake from walking around for one of the very first times since she got shot. And also out of fear.
Making their way out to Laura's car, Taylor made her way over to the passengers door to open it for Laura, and Laura carefully moved into the seat, watching the blonde come to the driver's side.
Once Taylor was in the seat next to her, Laura smirked at her, "It's kinda weird being in the passenger's side of my own car..."
"Yeah well, I'm driving and that's final," Taylor mumbled as she started the engine and backed up out of the parking space.
As they made their way to the courthouse, Laura's stomach muscles clenched. She had tried to eat something before the trial, but her nerves didn't help much with her appetite. The hospital food didn't help either. She was starting to regret not forcing herself to eat anyway, but as they pulled into the parking lot of the busy courthouse, she realized that there were a lot more people there to witness the trial than she had expected. In a way this made it easier for her, it was as if she was just working. Acting.
But she wasn't. As she realized this wasn't anything like a regular job, this was her life, something that had been buried a long time ago, she felt overly nauseous, and spit built along her tongue as she desperately tried to push away the feeling.
Taylor placed a hand on her thigh, making her jump slightly, and she looked over to her with wide eyes.
"I know yesterday I said I wasn't scared…" Laura whispered, glancing down at the dashboard before turning to the blonde, "but I am actually scared… like shitless, right now."
Taylor pulled the brunette into a gentle kiss, before saying, "It's alright… I'm right here, so there's no need to be scared love. We're going to get through this just fine." Taylor pulled the handle to the door open and was bombarded by reporters instantly, in which she ignored. Laura grinned slightly at the thought of how Taylor was becoming an expert at ignoring paparazzi. She slowly joined Taylor once she was standing outside her side of the door.
"Miss Prepon? Please go into detail as to how-"
"Laura, how are you doing medical-wise-"
"Laura, is it true that Taylor was originally targette-"
Questions buzzed around her, and she started to feel dizzy and confused, but continued on to the front door of the courthouse. Her lawyer stood beside a wooden bench in the hallway. The same kinds you always see in television on crime shows in the typical courthouse scenario.
"Laura, good to see you again, unfortunate under the circumstances," the man held his hand out for her to shake, and she reluctantly took it.
"Yes, Steve. Well you know me. Drama!" Laura exclaimed, in an attempt to joke it off but it didn't work very well.
"So Laura, whatever it is you do today, you must tell the entire truth in court. Every little bit of information we can use against Jeffrey is crucial. No matter how hard it is to say in court, you have to tell the truth, everything you told me last week, you need to tell in that room," Steve explained as they walked down the hall towards the courtroom the trial was being held.
"Alright Steve, I got it," she muttered, feeling annoyance creeping up. She just wanted this day done and over with. He opened the door and the two of them stepped into the room. It was already full of people, waiting to witness the trial.
Rebecca, her best friend she had went to after she left Jeffrey, and stayed with her while she went through the process of filing a restraining order against the man, was there. She stood close to the door nervously waiting around for Laura. When she saw Laura, she practically ran into her arms.
"My god, darling, you sure scared the shit out of me over the last two weeks!" Rebecca exclaimed, pulling away from her hug to look at Taylor, "If it wasn't for your beautiful girlfriend here, I probably would have lost my mind!"
"Yeah sorry love, I was stuck in a hospital bed with some strict rules, or I would have called you!" Laura muttered, pulling Taylor by the waist to bump her against her own hip and held her closely.
"Are you two ready to put this fucking asshole behind bars for a very long time?" Rebecca asked, lowering her voice to not be heard swearing in the courthouse. Both women looked at each other, then back at Rebecca nodding seriously.
Taylor sat down in the front, at first with Laura, and as the judge came in everybody in the room stood until he was seated, and as everyone took their seats once again, a police officer came up to her and told her to go into the witness stand.
She slowly stood up, eyes never trailing from Taylor's at first, and Taylor watched the brunettes shaking body move into the front of the room to take a seat near the judge.
Once Laura was seated, their eyes met again shortly before the door opened behind them, and a man in handcuffs walked in. Watching as a police officer behind him pushed him along, Taylor's eyes met his, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of her. In response she glared back at Jeffrey. She realized that the man may seem intimidating, but she knew the only reason he was still alive was because of the officer standing behind him.
Taylor's attention went back to Laura seconds later. She was shaking aggressively and she noticed she was on the edge of her seat, watching Taylor back intensely. Beads of sweat started to form above her brow, and she never once glanced away from Taylor.
As the two men made their way past Taylor, Laura instinctively jumped up out of her seat, chest heaving and signs of tears trickling her eyes, but the judge turned to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. This snapped her out of her trance as she glanced at the man, and the judge smiled lightly back at her and whispered something to her. Taylor noticed her step on the spot before taking her seat again. Their eyes met, and Taylor nodded at her. In response, Laura was still shaking but managed to nod firmly back.
As the man was seated, the judge cleared his throat and turned through a few papers on his desk. Taylor had guessed it was evidence against the man's charges when Laura finally left him, and filed a restraining order. There was a polaroid paperclipped to one of the pieces of paper he was sifting through, and he turned to Laura and showed her. Taylor couldn't hear what he said, but Laura nodded to him before looking back at Taylor quickly.
"Alright, court is in session. This is case number 83P03-1703-JS-10389, in the matter of Jeffrey Smith. Present in the court room are the defendant and his attorney, the deputy prosecutor, and the probation officer," the judge rumbled, his voice reaching every ear in the courtroom, as he eyed Jeffrey, who shuffled in his seat.
The Judge sighed, took off his glasses to rub his eyes, and slowly continued, "Alright, we already know Jeffrey Smiths will be spending quite some time in a federal prison. There is already crucial evidence for his reasons to do what he did, the matter is we are all here to determine just how long he'll be there."
The judge said this to everyone in the room, but stared Jeffrey in the eyes with every word spoken, and Taylor shivered in her seat, not envying the man for being the spotlight of scrutiny. Holding the judges gaze, he stared back but you could sense he felt extremely intimidated by the larger more powerful man in his presence. Taylor smirked at the thought of Jeffery cowering in his seat and sat back to watch the judge continue.
Many words were exchanged amongst the two lawyers, Laura's and Jeffrey's, and eventually the attention was brought to Laura's friend Rebecca who sat beside Laura's Lawyer. The papers were brought over to her by the police officer in presence and he showed her the photo to which she nodded and pushed a photo of her own towards the officer. He then took it to the judge at the front of the room. He looked at the photo, and nodded, showed Laura. Laura nodded and started to say something to the judge before Jeffrey's lawyer butted in to say something.
The judge looked at the man, shook his head and pointed at his seat. The lawyer walked away and sat back down, to which Laura continued her statement.
"Now we will question the witness Miss Laura Prepon," the judge spoke up, and turned to her, "Now Miss Prepon, can you please point at the person in this room who, you are certain, is to blame for the assault?"
Laura's eyebrows furrowed together, and her eyes met Jeffrey's for the first time in nearly an hour, as she slowly raised her shaking arm and pointed at him.
"Objection!" Jeffreys Lawyer shouted out, and everyone in the room including the judge glared at him, "My client may be guilty for assault against Miss Prepon, but there is no absolute proof she, or anyone, knows it was him who attempted to murder her!"
The judge didn't even bother to say anything, only swatted his arm in his direction and turned his attentions back to Laura before asking, "Miss Prepon, can you please tell me how many times Jeffrey Smiths physically abused you?"
Laura glanced at the judge, then back at Taylor, then at Jeffrey before staring at the door behind every single person in the room. Taylor could sense she wanted to bolt, and so she sat forward in her seat to catch her attention again.
Once Laura was looking at her again, Taylor mouthed the words "You can do it. Your safe." Laura's lip twitched slightly before she spoke up.
"Too many times, I can't be certain, but possibly a dozen times before I filed a restraining against him," she spoke up finding her voice, and Taylor cringed at the newly found information.
"Was there anything else he did to you when you were in that relationship with him?"
Laura inhaled deeply and her cheeks flushed red, "Mostly he just beat me until I couldn't stand, and then sexually abused me while either unconscious, or close to unconsciousness."
"Is there any reason to believe that this man did not commit the crime made on February 18, 2015?" the judge asked, "Have you made any mistakes that would cause any other person to want to harm you in any way?"
Laura shook her head aggressively, and stuttered once, "I-I've never given anybody a reason to do such a thing. I'm a friendly person, I have tons of friends, and I don't normally go out of my way to aggravate people for fun."
This caused a few people in the room to chuckle slightly, and Taylor smiled brightly at Laura, who was still facing the judge, waiting for more questions.
"Thankyou Laura, that is all for now," the judge grinned at her, and turned his attention back to Jeffrey who turned a different shade of white throughout the entire hour.
The judge tapped at the side of the desk and asked the police officer for something, to which the officer walked over to the table and took some papers from the Lawyer. The Lawyer looked down at Jeffrey and glared at the man as the police officer handed the judge the papers.
Taylor could hear faint noises coming from the lawyer, distinctly hearing "… you had kept your mouth shut until I got there, this case wouldn't be a lost cause…"
Taylor smiled vindictively to herself, the stupid fuck gloated his shit before his lawyer was even there. The man was definitely going to be screwed. And Taylor relished in the fact he was so unbelievably stupid.
Laura was watching her again, a look of confusion spread across her face, but Taylor grinned back at the brunette.
"Well…" the judge spoke up, pausing to read what was on the paper, rolled his eyes, slammed the papers down on the counter, "It looks as if the statement from you to the police states clearly that you were… "Jealous and upset and had meant to shoot her blonde girlfriend…"
"Really?" the judge asked, sounding incredibly irritated as he looked up at Jeffrey, "You sir… this right here," the judge continued, waving the papers in the air dramatically, "these papers signed your fate."
"It clearly CLEARLY, states that you admitted to the crime-… why the hell didn't anyone tell me about this?" the judge asked, and Laura's eyes widened to the fact that the judge swore, "We all could have been spared an hour here…"
Everyone in the room laughed, and Laura giggled at this too, and Taylor could sense the brunette relaxing slightly.
"Pardon me and my Judge Judy outburst, there. Policy is policy, so we'll just skip the rest of this painful process now. I will be back shortly," the judge responded, getting up out of his seat, and walking out of the room.
Taylor's attention met Laura in the center of the room, under Jeffrey's gaze. She was staring back at him. Something was different about her posture towards him. She didn't appear as fearful. She stood up, and made her way around the room. In seconds, she was only two feet away from the man, staring down at him, and she paused to listen to what he had to say to her.
Taylor jumped out of her seat and made the short distance to stand beside her.
"You don't get to apologize to me," Laura's voice rumbled, and as Taylor watched her she noticed her pupils were practically all black, "All the shit you fucking did to me… I fucking survived and moved on. But you DO NOT get to apologize for trying to harm someone who is good to me, because you just simply couldn't be good to me! You fucked up!"
Taylor noticed Laura's fists were clenched tightly, her knuckles a color of white she never knew was possible, and as she pulled Laura away from the man and back into the booth, Laura's breathing slowed slightly as she watched the blonde.
"T-Thankyou," Laura muttered, still glaring at the man, and Taylor kissed the side of her face gently, once. Twice. Laura's face went back to a mellow look, and she placed a hand on Taylor's knee.
The judge walked back into the room and stood in front of large wooden desk, taking the gavel in his hand before speaking up.
"So mandatory sentence terms for attempted homicide is ten to fifteen years, this particular case is special and we have added years to his charge from the previous crimes laid against Jeffrey Smiths. Six additional years for sexual assault, and an additional six for the severity of the domestic abuse Miss Prepon had to endure. This case is closed."
Knocking the wooden gavel onto another thick piece that looked drilled into the desk, everyone rose out of their seats. Except Laura.
Taylor stayed seated next to Laura, as she watched Jeffrey, who looked beaten down, get pulled out of his seat and pushed to the front door.
Rushing to her feet, she pushed her way in front of the man, and the police officer stopped, allowing her to have a moment to speak.
At first, she was silent and stared into the man's face, glaring again.
"Have fun rotting in a cell for twenty-seven years, dickwad," she growled, spitting in Jeffrey's face before moving to the side to let the two pass through.
"Wow…" Taylor muttered, "You did amazing Laura, I'm so proud of you!"
Laura looked at Taylor and smiled, "Thanks to you…"
"Your safe now, Laura," Taylor exclaimed, pulling the brunette in for a kiss, and Laura melted in her grip before pulling away slightly.
"I did this for me, for peace of mind…" Laura started, "But mostly I did this for a girl."
"Oh yeah?" Taylor asked giggling, "Who's this girl?"
"Well she's about this tall…" Laura explained placing her hand at a certain level, "she's blonde, has beautiful blue eyes, and drives a nice truck. Kinda looks yours, but hers is nicer."
"Oh shut-up asshole, and kiss me again!" Taylor pulled her in for a kiss and Laura laughed against her lips.
"She's also really good in bed. Like really good! Better than you even!"