For Karl everything seemed to slow down as he glanced around the courtroom one more time. He could see Miss Armstrong leaning up against the table waiting for his reply, members of the Jury was staring straight at him waiting for his response, somewhere still scribbling into their notebooks. He turned his gaze one more time to the Colliers, he noticed how Jeff ha d fixed his eyes on him, scrawling whilst Dixie was busy wiping tears away from her eyes.

Karl could feel his blood boiling, how dare they try and topple him? He was about to speak when a second voice boomed across the court making everyone stop dead.

'Objection Your Honour.'

'What is there to object?' Miss Armstrong asked Karl's Solicitor as he stood up.

'It is clear that my client is suffering emotionally at having to think about why he decided to take his own life, he is not emotionally able to continue talking at the moment, I would like him to have some time to compose himself.'

'Your honour, may I remind you and the court that Mrs Collier was subjected to the same emotional torment when she was continually questioned about the death of her sons, she was not granted a break then, she carried on. Why should we allow Mr Fontayne to be treated any differently?' Miss Armstrong was firm in getting her point across without appearing rude.

All eyes were fixed on the judge as he sat in quiet contemplation for a few moments. When he opened his mouth to speak, everyone hung on his every word.

'I can see both sides of this argument at the moment. Miss Armstrong has made a valid point counsel, Mrs Collier did not receive any special treatment when she was questioned, and therefore I do not feel it is appropriate to award Mr Fontayne with any. You may continue Miss Armstrong.'

Karl glared at his solicitor who shot both Miss Armstrong and the Colliers a look that could kill making his way back to the table to sit down. He just hoped Karl didn't say anything that would cost them the case.

Miss Armstrong walked calmly around to her table moving pieces of paper around in front of her as she again asked Karl the question, 'Mr Fontayne, you have heard the response to your allegations of Mrs Collier's infidelity and it doesn't add up does it? Mrs Colliers movements on the dates and times given are accounted for, your movements, however, are not. Oh wait, hang on a minute, on three of the dates you gave, you were in Police custody after assaulting an OAP, stealing from the supermarket and being drunk and disorderly. So, I repeat my question, is there anything you would like to say?'

(I squeezed Dixie's hand tightly in my own at that point, our solicitor was costing me a small fortune, but she was good. She had him over a barrel, I knew it, Dixie knew it and so did Karl, nothing he was saying was adding up anymore, I was hopeful that this would work in our favour, Karl will be found guilty and we can move on with our lives. I can recall watching Karl as he was clearly seething at what had been thrown at him, the stunt pulled by his solicitor didn't pay off, Dix wasn't given any special treatment, why should he have done.)

Karl did not speak, he didn't know how to respond to this, he wanted to speak with his solicitor, but no one was giving him that opportunity. Miss Armstrong eyed Karl up again before hitting him with more accusations and questions.

'Mr Fontayne, you seem to have gone quiet, is that a guilty conscience taking over?'

'No.' Karl spat back.

'Then tell us, why did you lie about being in a sexual relationship with Mrs Collier?'

'I am not lying, I am telling you the truth.' Karl tried in one last ditch attempt to win the jury around, but Miss Armstrong was not going to let this happen.

'Oh come on Karl, you know as well as I do, Mrs Collier is in a loving relationship with her husband Look at them.' She pointed up at Dixie and Jeff before she continued, 'Are you seriously trying to tell us that you aged what, 26 are seeing a woman aged 39? Are you seriously expecting us to believe that she was sleeping with you when she only started a sexual relationship with her husband in March last year as up until that time was a lesbian.'

'SHE IS A DISGUSTING LEZZA WHO NEEDED TO BE TAUGHT A LESSON.' Karl shouted back taking the whole court room by shock as everyone inhaled deeply at his outburst. Miss Armstrong, on the other hand, stood smiling at him.

'Is that why you raped her then, why you attacked her in her own home, why you killed her sons?'

'Objection, your honour.'

'Oh what a surprise.' Miss Armstrong muttered as she turned once more to Karl's solicitor who had stood up yet again.

'Counsel, what objection do you have now?' The Judge asked.

'I would like a short break in which I can talk to Mr Fontayne and calm him down before we continue.'

'Your Honour, I do not feel that having a break will be appropriate at this time, you have heard Mr Fontayne, he needs to account for his actions in his own words, not in his solicitors words.'

(I nearly smacked his solicitor one, I think Dixie sensed this as I felt her hand move around my waist pulling me closer to her as she placed her other hand on my arm. Miss Armstrong was there, she was so there in getting a confession from him, and his poxy solicitor has to stop proceedings again. All we wanted was justice so we could move on with our lives. We hadn't had chance to properly mourn the death of our children, we hadn't had chance to be a couple, the court case had taken over our lives. It was nearly over and now it was being snatched away again. I can remember praying, praying for the judge not to grant the break so Karl was forced to continue.)

'Counsel, we will stop for lunch, in about 30 minutes. Miss Armstrong may continue with her cross examination of your client, uninterrupted.'

'Thank you Your Honour.' Miss Armstrong replied before walking over to stand right in front of Karl.

'So, how did you teach Mrs Collier a lesson then Mr Fontayne? What did you do?'

Dixie sat next to Jeff shaking as tears fell down her face. She couldn't believe this was happening, was he actually going to honest and confess to what he had done? Jeff sensed Dixie was crying and turned slightly in his chair so he was facing her, moving her hair from her eyes, he whispered:

'Dix, babe, did you want to leave?'

She shook her head.

'Princess, if this is all too much for you tell me, don't feel like you have to sit here because if you want to go, I will take you somewhere else.'

Dixie took a deep breath before squeezing Jeff's hand, 'It's OK love, I need to hear it from him, I want to hear him confess to everyone here. I need to do this.'

'If you are sure Dix, if you are sure.' Jeff placed a light kiss on her head and he wrapped his arms around her holding her tightly as they listened to what was going on beneath them.

'Mr Fontayne, how did you teach Mrs Collier a lesson? What lesson were you trying to teach her?'

'She is disgusting, marrying a bloke but not sleeping with him. Lezzas are disgusting in my opinion, they need to be shown and I showed her. '

'By raping her with your friends?'

'Yeah, she needed teaching and so did he, he cannot walk around like his is high and mighty preaching to people about what is right and wrong. He ruined my life, I simply showed the pair of them who was boss and who not to mess with and do you know what. I succeeded, I showed him I could get to him without laying a finger on him, I took away something that he cared about, that was precious to him. Yeah, I raped her, I got my mates to rape her, and she deserved it. He deserved to see someone he cares about suffer, he deserved to feel the pain and do you know what, I am glad. I took the ultimate thing from them, I took their children, they are going to have to live with the fact that their children were taken from them.'

'No Mr Fontayne, you are going to have to live with the fact that you murdered two innocent boys with your actions. You need to live with what you have done. Mr and Mrs Collier are a strong partnership; they will get over this and move on with their lives. You haven't broken them at all; instead you have ruined your own life.'

(He had admitted it, there was no going back now, I felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from us, Karl was going to get what was coming to him and I hope they threw away the bloody key. I cradled my Dixie close to me, she was sobbing, really sobbing in my arms, I knew the reality of everything had sunk in for her, she was getting closure, we both were. I was relieved when the judge adjourned for lunch, I needed to get her out of there, thank our Solicitor and hold her close.

Our Solicitor told us that the likelihood of Karl pulling it back into his favour now were next to nothing, the verdict will find him guilty of rape and assault, she was confident he would get a hefty sentence, at the time, I hoped he would too. Me and Dix sat outside on the wall together, we didn't need to say anything, just being with her was enough. I can remember her asking me if it was over, if we could move on. I didn't want to say yes just yet in case a curve ball came our way after lunch.

Speaking of Dix, she has just come in again to see me, she has been good you know all morning while I have been writing this down, she has given me cuddles when I needed them, cups of tea and loads of biscuits, not once has she asked to read what I have written, she is just pleased that I am writing it all down. I guess she has been right, it does help, I am starting to feel better but there is still a little more to go.)

A / N – Not the best ending to a chapter that I have made you wait so long for. There will probably be another couple of chapters after this before the fic finishes. Thank you to all of you who are following, reading and reviewing.

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