Emmett's POV

I sighed. It's been a whole month since my fight with Royce, if you could call it a fight, anyway. This trial was getting ridiculous. The only witnesses that they had were Royce's friends and Miranda. I had a strong feeling that I was gonna go to jail for this. But Tanya would be calling Rose up soon, and once her story gets out, Royce would most likely go to jail too.

We were countersuing. If I had to rot in a jail cell for a little while, I would gladly do so if Royce got jail time for what he did.

The only thing keeping me sane at the moment was the knowledge that my girl was sitting directly behind me and was definitely going to be my wife someday. Oh well, back to the trial.

"The defense calls Rosalie Hale to the stand," my lawyer said. I heard shuffling as Rose stood up and made her way to the stand. After they sworn her in, she sat down and looked at Tanya. "Miss Hale," she began in her big time lawyer voice. "Can you tell me what happened the day of the altercation between my client and the plaintiff?"

Rosalie shifted and cleared her throat, but it took her a minute before she spoke. "Emmett and I were just walking down the hallway after school. I needed to get into my locker, but I couldn't."

"Why couldn't you get into your locker?" she asked.

"He was in front of it..." she said. "And he was just standing there, as we approached. He was smirking at me..."

"He, meaning Mr. King?" Tanya asked.

Rose nodded. "He was smirking at me. It made me feel like... like... everyone knew about... about... it," she replied.

"It?" Tanya looked confused, although she knew exactly what Rosalie was talking about. "What do you mean, Miss Hale?"

"That he..." she said softly. She shifted again. Her eyes were on me, and she was fighting back tears. She was scared. She didn't want to tell anyone about this. I knew she was scared. I did this. Nobody would ever have known, she would have never been put in this position, if it weren't for me. "That he raped me. He raped me..." She closed her eyes and the side of her face glistened in the sunlight. She was crying. God, I'm such an idiot. I heard a few people gasp lightly behind me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Tanya spoke.

"What happened next?"

Rosalie inhaled deeply and looked at the floor. "Emmett saw him standing there, smirking. He just all of a sudden left my side. It all happened so fast. The next I knew, Royce was out cold.. I calmed Emmett down a bit and we walked to the office, where he alerted the principal of what he had done."

"You didn't ask my client to harm the plaintiff in any way?" Tanya asked.

"No! I just wanted to be left alone! I didn't want the looks of sympathy, or the dirty looks of contempt, or the fragile talking and walking around me," she said. "I just wanted to be left alone..." she added softly.

"No further questions."

Tanya came back and sat next to me. I hated the thought of Rose being questioned by Royce's lawyer, Aro. From what I heard, he could be pretty vicious. He could catch anyone in a lie. Good thing Rose wasn't lying.

Tanya squeezed my knee and whispered softly, "Don't worry, defense of others makes sense now that they know what happened. They have the evidence from her room, no worries."

He approached the stand with a certain swagger in his step. "Miss Hale," he said confidently. "You say that you didn't want... 'dirty looks.' If you were raped by my client, as you had said that you were, why would you have gotten looks of contempt? When someone is... caught... in such a predicament, people are usually oversympathetic to them, are they not?"

"That would be true, Mr. Volterre, but Royce is the most beloved cousin of Miranda, who is the most influential person at my school. They pretty much worship her. Do you really think she'd believe me? Would any of them believe me? She hates me and it's my word against his," Rosalie replied.

Aro opened his mouth, then closed it. He was baffled. Shocked. Disoriented, even. "No further questions."

He sat back down. For the first time, Aro Volterre hadn't been able to catch someone in a fictional lie. Fourth day of trials, and things finally started to look up for us.

Next, Tanya called up my father. He explained to them, both lawyers, about the moment when Rose and I went to him. The damage he saw, the wounds and many bruises she had. He was very confident up there, Volterre didn't scare him.

The next day, Aro called Miranda up. She did something that I never would have expected. When Tanya asked her about her relationship with Rosalie she dropped her shoulders, took a deep breath, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Emmett was my boyfriend. Rosalie was his best friend. I was so... jealous. Jealous of how close they were. I tried cutting them off. It worked for a while. I could tell that she was so in love with him. I didn't want her around him. He would have left me for her if he knew." She paused to breathe. "Well, when I found out that Royce and his family came to town, he saw her picture at Bluebird, the cafe. He wanted her. He thought she was hot, so I told him that I'd hook them up. When they were together, I thought everything was well. But I guess it wasn't. Royce went to pick her up from school one day. He got to school late, but Rosalie didn't come to school that day at all. Something about Royce changed that day, I could tell. so I demanded that he tell me. He told me that he took what belong to him and he never felt better. He said that he would even go back for more of what he owned, and that he had to wait for the right time. When Rosalie came to school, I saw the bruises on the back of her neck." Miranda started to cry a bit. "Nobody knew they were there, I'm pretty sure, well, except Emmett, and Carlisle, I guess. I only saw them because she lifted her hair up in the bathroom and ran her finger across them, wincing a bit. I walked out, right after, quietly so that she didn't see me. I cried for her when I reached my car." She paused for breath again. "It was all my fault. I shouldn't have obliged Royce..." She swatted at the tears.

"The defense rests," Tanya responded.

The trial would be over soon.

"Any other questions, counselor?" the judge asked Aro.

"None, Your Honor."

Tanya and Aro finished up with their closing statements and the court room was silent. When they were finished, the judge cleared his throat.

"So be it. Court will be in recess till 9:00 A.M. tomorrow morning where we will find the verdict. Court is adjourned," he replied, hitting his gavel. I stood up and held my arms out for Jack to cuff me. I looked at Rosalie and gave her a reassuring smile. She tried to return it, but I knew she was just as scared as I was. Most likely more.

Rosalie's POV

I sighed as I sat on the bench just outside the court room. He was strumming knee lightly with his fingertips.

"Daddy?" I asked softly.

"I know you wanna go see him, honey, but you can't. Plus, court starts soon," he replied. I huffed. Five more minutes, and we'd find out the jury's verdict.

I missed Emmett. I want to take him home and hold him close to me until my arms grew numb. Sooner or later, we were allowed in. I didn't realize that I was holding my breath until I saw Emmett and it all rushed out. He looked just as anxious as I felt.

"Mr. McCarty, in the case charged against you, how do you plead?" the judge asked.

"Guilty, Your Honor, but in the defense of another," Emmett's voice replied.

"Jury, what is your verdict?" The baliff walked the little slip of paper to the judge. He opened it, raised his eyebrows and handed it back to the baliff, who took it back to the juror. "Please read it aloud."

"In the case of Royce King v. Emmett McCarty, we find the defendant not guilty, he stated.

The court room stayed respectfully quiet, but I couldn't help the glee I was feeling inside.

"Mr. King, for the charges brought against you, how do you plead?" the judge asked.

"Not guilty of all charges," he replied. I was disgusted.

The judge went through the same things with the jury as he did a few minutes ago. The woman read from the small slip of paper.

"In the case of the state of Texas v. Royce King, we find him guilty of sexual assault and rape," she stated.

The judge looked at Royce and opened his mouth to speak. "The jury has found Mr. King guilty. He is to be taken into custody, where he will wait for his date of sentencing..."

"Uh, Your Honor, my client wishes to be sentenced immediately," Aro said.

"Alright. Counselor, do you have any problem with this?" Tanya shook her head no. "Royce King, I sentence you to nine and a half years in the state penitentiary with no chance of parole. You will have to enter your name into the database and be registered as a sexual offender. Mr. McCarty, you are free to go." He banged his gavel three times, and I silently rejoiced in my head as I felt Emmett's bear arms around me.

"We did it," he whispered into my ear.

"I love you..." I replied.

He smiled softly. "I love you too."