Chapter 11.5
Pre-trial by Morgan, Slightly edited by Interstella
The jury filed into the court room led by a rather formidable looking Judge. The Judge was a short lady with cropped dark hair and what seemed like black, soulless eyes. She walked up to her podium and began shuffling what little paper resided there. Gail, the Judge, looked over at the currently restless jury. 16 people were sat in the juror chair, and of them, only a few stood out, the two African-Americans, and a young looking man with immaculate hair similar to Wilson's and a red scarf.
From the doorway, a man could be seen talking to House, Wilson and Millie. He was dressed in a tailored Italian suit with new leather shoes and a matching briefcase. He had joyous green eyes and short, jet black hair. Covering his eyes were a set of designer, square framed glasses. He was smiling as he spoke.
"As I see it Doctor House, your biological daughter stands a brilliant chance. There really isn't much that he can say in his defence." His eyes flashed as he opened his briefcase to reveal a sheet of paper to his clients. "First, I just want to re-confirm what I'm going to be using against him in addition to the original charges" he said professionally. "This is what we call a subpoena. I was issued this to do an investigative search into the defendant's background and the New Zealand Police were able to break into his laboratory. If you wish to we can also charge him for the illegal use and possession of certain unnamed chemicals, as well as drug charges, malnourishment and illegal dole payments. Pretty much, that's going to add a lot of time onto his sentence and more in compensation. If you wish to charge him for those I can speak with Her Honour and get the extra charges added to the list of offences being as they are serious enough to do so."
House looked at Millie who gently nodded, "Lets milk this for all it's worth."
"Excellent" the lawyer clapped his hands together in excitement.
Millie smiled nervously at him. "Um... Will I have to say much... I'll probably freeze up..."
The lawyer shook his head, "You may have to say a few statements, but you shouldn't need to say much. I have it all written here down here. You may just be asked 'Yes' or 'No' questions. Can you handle that?"
Millie nodded, "I should be able to..."
Wilson opened his mouth to speak, "Can, I just clarify something," he said cautiously.
The lawyer laughed, "Of course, sorry I forgot to introduce myself again didn't I?"
Wilson made a noise that sounded like a strained laugh mixed with shock that the lawyer had figured it out so easily.
"I do it a lot...I get a bit too caught up in the case and just assume you know who I am. I'm Billie."
Millie smiled, "One of my friend's nicknames is Billie..." she commented, thinking of Morgan, who Abbey and co were always calling 'Billie'.
Billie smiled and led them to their podium and asked them to take a seat, Millie beside him, House next to her and Wilson at the end being as he wouldn't be testifying during the hearing. "I'll be telling you along the whole way what's happening and translating if you want me to." He said taking his seat and flipping open his briefcase again. Out of it he pulled a stack of file work, photographs, handwritten notes, photocopies and Police reports. Wilson looked quizzically past House and Millie and Billie smiled again. "Just evidence"
House leant over, "I want to take a look at the files to see exactly what happened to Millie." he said softly and his attorney handed over much of the stack.
"The rest is my testimony." he assured the older man. Together, Wilson and House looked over the paper work, nodding and paling at the amount of evidence against the scientist. Millie just looked away, not wanting to reread what had happened to her.
"That's incredible" Wilson muttered, "Nobody should have to put up with that, even your patients don't have endure this." he was referring to some of the elaborate tests House performed on his patients, even if they didn't require it. House just shook his head in amazement.
To their left, two people entered, one man wearing an orange jumpsuit with his serial number #009873469 printed in bold black ink, the other was a lady with a professional suit with skirt and sensible heels. She looked about mid-twenties and was a defence lawyer; she wasn't used to winning and knew that this case was exactly the same. All the while, the only thing that kept her going was the enormous sum of money that she could charge, only because no one wanted to do unreasonable defensive pleas. The two took their seats at their designated podium and the judge cleared her throat.
Millie paled, seeing Ricky Morgan. House saw that and gently placed a hand on her shoulder in a small attempt of comfort.
A/N:
Morgan
tells me she will write more for me (Yippie), as she is studying law,
and knows more about this sort of thing than I. I'd like to thank
her (again), for all the help. Arigatou Mor-Chan!! Aishiteru! Full
credit for this chapter goes to Morgan, aka Billie.
