The second of April dawned, and, although he was a bit tired from a combination of working late and spending time on the phone with several of his relatives the night before, he got himself out of bed and ready for the day ahead.
He had a quick breakfast with his family, his mother over to watch the kids once more as Lucy wasn't back yet, and then left early for work as he had a meeting before the Marshall-Lynch trial that same day that Defence Attorney D'Angelo just had to have first thing.
"Talk fast, Mr. D'Angelo," he said with a sneer as he opened his office door. The man with him had a penchant for requesting last-minute meetings. "We're ten minutes from opening statements."
"Well, you can't talk as fast as you, Mr. Barba, but here it goes," the man quipped with his usual lofty tone. "My clients, in the interest of sparing themselves any more humiliation would like to discuss a deal."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I am sure they would," he said, "but I seriously doubt you could offer me anything even worth the paper it's written on."
Counsellor D'Angelo eyed him. "My clients are willing to plea to -"
Rafael frowned. "I swear, Counsellor, if you say anything close to Dis-Con -"
The defence attorney rolled his eyes but then spoke. "No. Something I think you'll like better." Rafael raised an eyebrow at that. "My clients are all willing to plead guilty to aggravated assault and unlawful confinement."
He gestured vaguely. "Go on."
"They do five years," the defence attorney offered, "and both Mr. Lynch and Mr. Marshall will both relinquish all parental rights and waive visitation."
He smirked, although he did actually consider the situation. He knew he could get them all behind bars for much longer than that and defence counsel knew it. They were scared. "Make it eight, followed by one year probation."
Counsellor D'Angelo eyed him coolly. "Seven. Minus credit for pre-trial custody." The man gave Rafael a funny look, clearly considering his odds. His clients could easily get up to ten years if this continued to trial. "Followed by two years probation."
"Make that three years of probation for Mr. Marshall," Rafael said, "and, naturally, I'll need all of them to allocute."
The defence attorney sighed. "I expected nothing less."
Rafael knew better than to push his luck, and nodded, a self-satisfied smile still playing on his face. "Then we have a deal."
The other man gave him a curt nod. "Alright then." The man quickly checked the time, knowing as well as Rafael did that they were currently running rather tight on time. "Let's go inform Judge Catano."
He patted the man on the back. "Always fun doing business with you."
"Asshole," D'Angelo grumbled.
"Funny," Rafael said, "many have said the same about you."
The other man rolled his eyes. "Let's go get this over with already."
He gestured towards the door. "Lead the way, Counsellor."
The judge was already waiting for them as had been expected when they walked into the courtroom. Rafael kept his expression neutral as he informed the judge that counsel would like to request a meeting in chambers regarding a plea.
Judge Catano had quickly agreed, leading both attornies back to the judge's chambers. Once there, the judge immediately took a seat and eyed the pair of them. "So," the judge said, "I understand you've reached a deal?"
Rafael gave a little dip of the head in response. "We have, Your Honour."
"Can't say I'm exactly surprised." The judge eyed them both, but his look definitely lingered slightly longer on Counsellor D'Angelo. "You want to tell me what it is?"
The defence attorney swiftly jumped into explaining the particulars of the deal that they wanted to make. "My clients would-"
Thankfully, it didn't take Judge Catano long to approve the deal, allowing Rafael to get back to his office to get some more work done that he hadn't expected to. He was rather pleased by the fact, honestly.
He spent a good hour or so dealing with various work e-mails, phone calls, and generally getting updates on the ADAs under his supervision, which he, naturally, had to pass on to McCoy, along with updates regarding a couple of his own cases.
Once he was caught up on that, he did some work on his own files, before deciding to take a bit of a break for Lunch, given the time. He chatted with his wife briefly, texted back and forth with Rita some, and, fresh cup of coffee in hand, sat down to FaceTime with his mother and Noah. Noah was more than a little chatty as the boy explained the plans for the afternoon, how his schoolwork was going, and, generally, how his morning had gone.
"Papi, ¿cuándo volveré a la escuela?" (Papi, when will I go back to school?)
He frowned slightly. "Realmente no lo sé," he admitted. Unfortunately, the situation with the pandemic only seemed to be getting worse and worse. "Sin embargo, no será por unas pocas semanas más todavía. Ok?" (I really don't know. However, it won't be for a few more weeks yet. Okay?)
"Sí," the boy said. grumbling slightly.
He sighed. "Sé que esto apesta, Noah." He gave the boy a, hopefully, somewhat reassuring look. "Al mal tiempo, buena cara. Esto terminará antes de que te des cuenta." Noah raised an eyebrow at that, which amused Rafael slightly. "Ahora, tengo que irme, pero estaré en casa para cenar. Compórtate bien para tu abuela, ¿de acuerdo, muchacho?" (I know this sucks, Noah. Keep you're chin up. This'll be over before you know it. Now, I need to go, but I'll be home for dinner. Behave for your grandmother, alright, Kiddo?)
"Claro." Noah smiled more warmly now. "Te quiero." (Of course. Love you.)
He returned the boy's warm smile. "Yo también te quiero, Mijo." (I love you too, Mijo.)
After lunch, he was able to actually work and focus on his own cases. For the most part, at least. He didn't have any scheduled meetings, because he'd been scheduled for court, so he was able to just sit and manage his files. Going through different reports, depositions, and other documents he had.
The work was going well, and he even texted with Blaine a little bit, who he'd only talked to once since the Sosa mess some time ago.
At a quarter to four, he'd had to contact court clerks regarding the hearing status of three of his cases. Once he'd gotten that information, it didn't take long for him to wrap up those files, moving onto another one.
He then reviewed documents for what was a very probable Romeo and Juliet case, in Rafael's opinion, and called several witnesses as well as the commanding officer of the investigating precinct to set up interviews over the next few days.
He kept going until half-past five when he grabbed a couple of files, threw his suit vest on, and started to make his way out of 1 Hogan Place.
"Going home already?" Carmen inquired when she saw him. He didn't miss the pleased look on her face. She apparently agreed he'd been working too much.
He nodded. "Nothing I can't do from home."
"How are the kids?"
He gave a little snort. "Climbing the walls."
She chuckled. "Hang in there." She turned her attention to her computer for a second, turning it off as she was done for the day.
He rolled his eyes. "Walk you out?"
With a small nod, she stood up, and started to throw her jacket on and grabbing her things. "Sure. Just give me a sec."
He gave her a small nod, not minding the short wait in the slightest, sending off a quick text while he waited for Carmen to be ready to go. The pair soon hopping into the elevator, heading to their respective homes.
