My dear little broccolis💚💚💚,

💚 So, this is me doing a favour to the same someone who PMed me and asked to upload two of my stories with the FSOG names. I already did it for Forbidden Fruit, and now, here comes the second. The original fic is published under the Mortal Instruments franchise. If you're one of my old readers, well, you already know this story, so only read it if you want to read it with other characters in mind; if you're a new reader, well hang on and let's see how this Ana and Christian work in here.

Chapter 30 ~ The Last Witness (5,4K)

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Christian's PoV.

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This is it. The moment I dreaded the most ever since I decided that I would represent Ana for her trial. The testimony of her mother. To be honest, I always had a sort of resentment towards her mother, every time Ana mindlessly talked about her. I know how conflicted she is about her mother and that a part of her still loves her mother, but I am not as good-hearted as Ana.

Of course, now that I know more about Carla Wilks, I have a little less anger built up against her, and just some good old pity. As I said, I am not Ana. It's like with Franklin. They were the adults, and they did a poor job at it. I know Ana will eventually forgive them, but that's because she is too sweet a person. Or maybe being a lawyer made me too judgmental, and not forgiving enough.

I have to say, Ana's mother is nothing like what I was expecting of her. Ana never directly talked about her mother, but from the few things I got, I always pictured her mother to be one of those women scared of being alone, and willing to sacrifice their child in order to do so. I mean, I do this for a living, I studied so many cases like that. A child being abused by a step-parent, and the legitimate one doing nothing for fear of loneliness.

But of course, Ana's mother doesn't fit in that category. It would have been too easy for me to hate her otherwise.

The day I told Franklin that I would take Ana's case, he gave me a file with the name of Ana's mother on it. He explained to me that he had hired a PI to track down Ana's parents and that the PI came back with this file concerning Carla Wilks. The file that has been crumbling all my theories about her being an awful mother. Don't get me wrong, she is a bad mother, and far from being a good mother; but she is not as awful as I pictured her to be. And the prep I did with her, only confirmed what her file hinted at.

As I'm about to ring at the door, I suddenly realise that this is the house where Ana grew up. I know that she was born and raised in the same household, which means that this house saw Ana's life play. From her first steps to the point she decided that she would be better off somewhere else. And I would be lying if I said that this realisation doesn't affect me in some way.

Ana's mother comes to open the door to me, and once again, I am struck with how much Ana and her look alike. It's like I am looking at a carbon-copy of what Ana would look like in thirty years. Already at the hospital, I was surprised by that fact; but I had other things to worry about at the time than Ana's resemblance to her mother. And still, now that I really look at Carla Wilks, I really wish that Ana will never look like her as she grows older.

Carla looks … absolutely devastated. She is small, like Ana; but it seems that she is even smaller, holding the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her eyes are the same shade of blue as Ana's, but they're haunted, red and circled with dark bags. Her hair is long and wavy like Ana's, but it is tern and lacking vitality. And though her complexion is as pale as Ana's, she has no appeal to her. She looks sick, almost dying with her skin sticking to her bones.

As I follow her into her home, I look for signs of bruises on her. But I don't see any. But then again, according to Ana, Michael Roberts is very clever as to where to hit a person to hurt but not be seen. Ana talked about it only once, but I am not ready to ever forget about it. I'm sure she didn't mean to tell me, she just let it slip out once when we were watching a movie.

"I saw you at the hospital," Carla Wilks says as she sits on her sofa, and I sit on the other end of the furniture, admitting with a professional voice:

"I was."

I can't let my feelings for this woman show. Even if I know more about her, and now understand several holes in her life, or Ana's, I just can't bring myself to feel for this person anything remotely nice. She is the parent. And no matter how much I try, I can't imagine my own mother acting the same way Carla Wilks acted.

I take a deep breath, ready to start my questions so I can get her ready for the trial. I already know that this is the part that I fear the most. Having my feelings get the better of me during the trial while I interrogate Ana's mother. I know I'll be able to remain calm with Michael because I have been preparing for this ever since Ana told me how he forced himself onto her. But I never thought I would have to interrogate Ana's mother as my key witness. I always pictured her alongside Michael on the stand.

"How is Stasia?" She asks me before I can even start interrogating her, and strangely, there is a sort of longing in her voice. Still, that doesn't stop me from coldly replying:

"It is not my place to tell you."

Still, it makes me think a little. How did Ana come up with her name? Ana Steele? When I learned that her true name was Anastasia Wilks, I figured that Ana was her short name. But now, it seems that Carla used to call her daughter Stasia. So where does Ana Steele come from?

Her mother studies me, making her resemblance to her daughter more prominent. I wouldn't say that they have the same way to look at people. I would say that Ana actually took her way to hold people's gazes and look into their soul from Franklin. But Ana and her mother have the same way to keep their emotions to themselves. You can tell that they are feeling a myriad of emotions, but you can't pinpoint any single one of them.

With a small dry smile, she tells me: "I know that you don't like me. You don't have to pretend otherwise. I know what you think. You think that everything that what happened to Stasia is my fault. That I should have been a better mother, that I am the one to blame."

I don't say anything, because there is nothing to say. I don't like her, and I don't have to like her to do my job well. I don't even have to like her for Ana's sake. With the same disabused smile, she shakes a little her head and continues: "I don't care. You can judge me, or dislike me all you want; you will never hate me as much as I hate myself. I am the one who brought this monster into our house."

I have to admit that I wasn't really expecting this. I don't know what I was expecting. I was expecting her to try and reject the fault on Michael, but having her take full responsibility is … unsettling. So I look at her, trying to keep my thoughts all together. But suddenly, I have this struck of conscience as I am about to start my interrogation, and I ask myself what would Ana do if she were in my position. If the unlikely possibility of us having reversed roles in this existed, what would her kind heart make her do?

She wouldn't go all lawyer on Carla Wilks, she would try a more human approach. She would try to make the woman's heart speak. And so I ask Carla Wilks: "Do you love your daughter, Mrs Wilks?"

She looks at me, her eyes wide with hurt and pain, and I can see that she was not expecting me to ask her this question. She was expecting me to be professional, and not care about the trivial things that are feelings from one human to another. And I can actually tell that she is also hurt that I asked that particular question. But that, I could not care less. As I said, I have no sympathetic feelings for this woman.

Still, as the answer is obvious in her eyes, I let her know: "You are aware that there is a fair chance of you being prosecuted when this trial will be over. At least for duty to rescue."

"I know," She simply states, apparently not caring about this the least in the world; and so, against my better judgement, I let the Ana in me take over and tell her:

"I could negotiate for the charges to be dropped. Or at least taken to the minimum penalty possible."

She shakes head her with disillusion, as she says with insistence: "I don't care about being put behind bars. Do you think that I fear prison after having lived with Michael? All I want is for Stasia to be as far away from him as possible. I want her to be safe, and that's why you were hired. Not to help me, but to help her."

Ana is going to hate me. It's obvious that her mother is in pain, and I'm about to use that pain to my advantage. I've seen her file, and I am pretty sure that Officer Banner convinced Ana into pressing charges by showing a similar file to her. This is how sweet Ana can be. She would rather face her worst fear than to see someone suffer because of something she did.

But … I have no feelings for this woman, and my only priority is to make sure that the man who inflicted Ana with her nightmares can never breath fresh air again. If he could even die, that would be great.

"I can win the case quicker with your help. With your honest reaction to any question I could ask you during the trial."

She blinks a little, trying to understand my innuendo, before stating what I said in half-words: "You don't want to do prep."

"Yes."

Franklin is going to kill me. He hates going blindly at a hearing because you can never anticipate a witness reaction if you don't prepare them, and yourself properly. And this isn't a case like any other, this is the case of his daughter. And this is why, I have to make sure I win it, no matter how. Even if I have to not play by the rules.

"You have to understand that I won't go easy on you, Mrs Wilks. As you said, I am here to help Anastasia, not you. I will be crude, I will be harsh and I will make talk about things you probably don't want to admit. Are you sure you can make it without preparation?" I ask because I can't risk a single variable to that. I have to make sure that I will get Ana rid of this monster. I promised her.

Carla looks at me, and I know that if she agrees to this, I will win the case. I have seen the list of the jury. Most of them are parents material, meaning that they are lenient to Ana's case without even having to go to the trial. And even if they get dazzled by whatever Flynn will go with as a defence, I have the best tactic in front of me. What is better than a weeping mother asking for her daughter's forgiveness in front of an audience? This is me playing with human emotions, but I promised Anna that I'd win the case, and I can't break that promise.

As I startle back to the reality of the present moment, Carla Wilks finishes her oath to the truth, and I swiftly glance in Franklin's direction. Honestly, no matter how much I hate how he handled his paternity, I have to say that I am glad that he is here for Ana. Because he helps her in a way I can't. After all, I am her lawyer, and I can't comfort her like I wish I could. But I still noticed yesterday how Ana used him for support, and how he was a hundred per cent there for her.

I don't look in Ana's direction, but I can still feel her gaze on me. I know that's mostly because she doesn't dare to look at her mother. Just like she didn't want to look at Michael yesterday. With a little inspiration through the nose, I inwardly wish that Ana will remember her promise of yesterday night. That she won't hate me for being a lawyer and not taking into consideration the feelings that she would have taken into consideration.

"Mrs Wilks, according to Mr Roberts, you only reported your daughter missing weeks after her disappearance. Why?" I ask with confidence as I place my hands behind my back. I can feel Franklin shooting daggers at me because we both know that me placing my hands like that is a telltale sign that I'm just going with my guts.

"Because I didn't want her to come back home. I saw her leaving early in the morning, and I just hoped that she would find herself a better life than the one I imposed on her. I was hoping that she would maybe go find her biological father."

"Why did you not try to stop her, if you saw her running away? Isn't it what a mother is supposed to do?" I accuse her, and she doesn't look in my direction, her eyes glued on Ana as she explains with a very soft voice:

"What a mother is supposed to do is to make sure her child is safe. I couldn't protect her, so I gave her the motivation to leave."

"What do you mean?"

She closes her eyes briefly, breathing in deeply through her nose, before admitting, her voice now quivering: "I made sure that she would resent me enough to leave and not look back."

I am tempted to turn and look at Ana, but I don't. This is probably why lawyers usually avoid working on cases that are personal to them. Because I am painfully learning that it is hard to be caring over someone, and a cold-hearted bastard to another person in the meantime. I have to admit that this side of me, me performing in a Tribunal is a part of me that I never thought I'd show Ana. I don't know, but this isn't something I was particularly eager to show her.

"Did you know what was happening between Mr Roberts and your daughter, Mrs Wilks?"

"I did," She admits, without even flinching, her eyes still on Ana, and I keep my face completely impartial though I am burning inside. I don't care how mistreated she was, she was the adult, she was supposed to protect Ana. That's the way it works, not the other way around.

"And yet you did nothing?" I coldly ask, my eyes hard on her, but it seems that she won't be affected by anything I'll tell her. She seems hypnotised by her daughter, drinking the sight of her as she eludes:

"You could say that."

"Perjury is a crime, Mrs Wilks," I remind her, just so I don't have to ask a question myself. In a way, it almost feels like she is the one on trial, and just by a swift glance at the jury's stand, I can tell that some of them are resenting Carla more than they should. I need to make sure that the next question will make her talk about her life with Michael and why she could be excused to be such a poor mother.

"I didn't do anything that helped my daughter. I tried to run, but it didn't work. I tried to go to the police, but that didn't work either. I tried … I didn't do anything that helped my daughter in the end. Michael was there, in my house and I couldn't do anything to save my baby."

For a second, I am tempted on digging into that little hesitation she just had; but I decide to forgo that for the moment and I turn my head from her, facing the bastard who raped a little girl of eleven, and his lawyer as I loudly ask: "Could you please tell the Court a little of your relationship with Mr Roberts?"

"Objection. Relevance to the case," Flynn says, with the same blasé voice I used for Ana when he tried to turn my relationship with Ana against her. This is mostly to reassure his client that he is doing something, but as I knew it for Ana, he knows that the Judge will forgo the objection. Which he does, with a tired voice:

"I'll allow it."

It looks like Carla Wilks was barely affected by this tiny setback, her blue eyes still fixated on her daughter. It's like she's trying to have as much of her daughter as possible. And though I know it looks good for the jury, it still annoys me deep down. She could have looked for her daughter on her own. She just needed to step up and do something. Just like Ana did.

"It's … Michael …" She seems to be looking for her words until she swiftly closes her eyes and starts back. "As cliché as it sounds, Michael was actually a charm when I met him. A real gentleman. The kind of men who held doors for a woman, or would walk her back home just because it was 'safer for her'. He was … nice. And charming. And he never seemed bothered by the fact that I already had a daughter.

So he moved in, and … things started to change very subtly. Without me even realising it, he cut me off from my friends, he made sure that I wouldn't be financially independent by joining our bank accounts, he … changed. I just didn't see it all at once. And then … came the first time he slapped me. It was a Friday night when he came back from a night out with his friends. I didn't fuss about it, because he apologised first thing in the morning. He said that it would never happen again.

And of course, I believed him. Each time it happened, I believed that it was the last time. Even when it was obvious that he was fully aware of what he was doing. Even when he was aiming, on purpose, where no-one would ever see the bruises. Even when he was not waiting for my full consent to have sex with me. Even when he started hitting me so hard that I would blackout for several hours, and he would have to put me in the basement.

And … One day, he just went too far and had to put me at the hospital because he caused internal bleeding. I was supposed to stay the whole weekend at the hospital … but I discharged myself first thing in the morning. And when I got back home … I don't know how I figured it out. I don't know. Maybe it was because he was stone cold in his bed, instead of making sure I didn't rat on him. Maybe it was because Stasia didn't jump in my arms like I expected her to. Maybe because I was afraid of this all along, without ever admitting it. I don't know.

All I know is that as soon as I saw Stasia in her bed, I woke her up and decided to take her to a biological father. I knew he was a lawyer, and I knew that … he wouldn't turn his back to a child in need. I waited for her to tell me something about what Michael did to her … but she kept everything to herself. She didn't speak, she didn't smile, she didn't eat when we stopped at a diner.

I just wanted to take her away, but Michael showed up before we could even finish eating, and he brought us back to that nightmarish place I once called home."

Michael is angrily whispering something at his lawyer, probably not pleased by how this is going, and Flynn intimates him to silence. And still, I could swear that he had a small satisfactory smirk in my direction.

I have to admit that having her say those things that I suspected, but did not really think through, make me look at Carla Wilks on another light. I still have no sympathetic feelings for her, but I do have a better approach on her life and on why she acted the way she did. After all, as I said, I am a lawyer and I know how this works. Ana comes from a very small town, where everyone knows everyone. I know how this works, but I still make sure to have Carla Wilks say all the words out loud, for the jury.

"Why didn't you report him, if you knew from the beginning that your boyfriend was sexually assaulting your daughter?" I ask, making sure to avoid the word rape. I am no shrink, but I still noticed the way Ana never actually used this word. She never defined what happened to her with the fitting word, referring to it as 'bad things', or trailing her sentences for me to understand what had happened at that moment. Personally, I think it is a way to keep denying it. To keep a tiny part of herself innocent and untouched by everything that Michael had inflicted on her. But then again, I could be wrong.

"Michael used to be a Marine. He's...considered a war hero in our town. And we come from a very small town. Everyone knows everyone there. Everyone knows that I am the scandalous woman who showed up pregnant with a kid without father, and everyone knows Michael as the nice man I fell in love with. And to top that, Michael's father is the Chief of Police.

I actually went to the Police station the very next day and reported him for child abuse. When I got home, Michael showed me how much he appreciated what I did, and he knocked me out. When I was conscious again, Stasia was crying once again, and there was nothing I could do to help her."

"Why didn't you contact her biological father?"

This makes her blink a little. Not enough to detach her attention from her daughter, but enough to make her lose focus a little. Probably because this isn't supposed to be something a lawyer trying to help her would ask of her. This is something she was more entitled to expect from Flynn ... or from her daughter's angry boyfriend.

"Do you know how many Franklin Lambert (*) there are in the city you live in, Mr Grey? Eighteen. And out of those eighteen Franklin Lambert, half of them are involved in the law at some point. Out of those nine men, I had one chance that maybe one of them was the father of my daughter. I had one probability that one of those men wouldn't call me crazy when I would tell them that their long lost child that they knew nothing about was being raped by a man I brought into my house."

I don't really bounce back on that, because honestly, I don't think this is excuse enough. But then again, if I were Ana, I would say that I don't really know what happened in that house between Carla and Michael. Swiftly, I glance in direction of my table, and I see that Franklin has his tribunal face on. Meaning that he is thinking many things, but that he is not letting any single emotion get through to his face. Still, he catches my gaze and silently tells me to cut it short.

So I turn back to Ana's mother, making sure that I am facing Michael as well, and I ask my ultimate question: "Mrs Wilks, you know how they say that a mother's love is irrational and unconditional. So, in the name of it, why didn't you resort to the worst and kill the man who was tormenting your daughter? It wouldn't have been unseen in a Court of Law."

And finally, Carla Wilks blinks away from Ana to look at me and making me feel that I shouldn't have asked that particular question. Don't get me wrong, I know that she attempted to take his life away. I've seen her file, and as I said, she is a mother. Plus, Officer Banner unofficially gave me Michael's medical file stating that at some point, a few weeks after he started raping Ana, he was poisoned with antifreeze. So I know for a fact that Carla Wilks tried to kill Michael. This is probably the only thing I can give her. The fact that she was ready to do the worst to help her daughter.

But the way she is looking at me right now, tells me that there is more to it than what I read on their files. And … it is disturbingly scary to see how much she looks like Ana at this moment. She is holding her tears the exact same way Ana does, keeping her eyes wide open and breathing through her mouth as her nose grows red.

"To be honest I did. I tried the non-suspicious way by putting antifreeze in his food. But... it didn't work. He just got a bad stomachache, which resulted in him coming back home from the hospital very angry. So I decided to just get on with it, and … On Christmas night … I made sure that he drunk more than usual. And when I thought that he was passed out on the couch, I took the kitchen knife … and …" She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in before continuing:

"I aimed for the heart. I didn't want him to have any chance to be saved by a 'miracle'. But just as I was about to stab him, he opened his eyes, surprising me long enough for him to take the knife from my hand, breaking my wrist in the process. And without even thinking about it, he turned the knife against me and plunged it in my stomach.

And when I was about to try and get the knife back to finish what I started, … he said .." she takes a deep breath and swallows, tears now streaming freely down her face. "... his voice very clear as if he hadn't drunk a single drop of alcohol: "This is your womb that I just hit. Now that I made you less than a woman, I want you to listen very carefully. See how easy it was for me to kill your future children. If you ever try something stupid like that again or start blabbering around, don't think for a second that I will hesitate on killing the one you already have."

Two women in the jury gasp in horror, but for my part, I have to restrain myself from smirking in triumph. Sure, I hadn't been expecting this answer, but it worked out beautifully. Which jury will doubt Ana's statement after that? Which jury will still say that maybe Flynn is right, and Ana is playing everyone around? As I said, nothing is better than a weeping mother to make the jury's hearts melt in your favour.

And actually, what Michael said starts to make sense, but I still say it out loud to make sure the jury gets it as well: "So the early job, and after school activities that Mr Roberts talked about were a way to keep your daughter away?"

She nods, making me ask her to say it out loud, for the record (I still don't understand why people don't say things out loud directly. They know they have to, for the record). I swiftly cast a look upon the jury, and many are doing what Carla has been doing since the beginning of the trial, they are looking at Ana. And so, I do too, only to see that she hasn't moved from the position I left her in.

She is looking down, her hands cloaking her father's tightly, everything in her position indicating that she is beaten down. I know that whatever issues she has with her mother, she never wanted to discuss them in front of me, let along in a Court of Law.

And still, I ask that last question that will insure me the shortness of this trial: "Mrs Wilks, is there anything you would like to say to your daughter?"

Carla Wilks blinks a little, looking back at me, surprised by this opportunity I am giving her; and I give her a small nod. As I said, nothing better than a weeping mother asking for her daughter's forgiveness.

"I am sorry, Stasia. I am so sorry. I haven't been the best mother, nor even a good mother for you. I just did my best to protect you the best I could. And I know I didn't do it the best way, but it was the best way I could. I don't want anything from you. I understand if you can never forgive me. But all I want is for you to be happy in this new life you made yourself. Because no matter what, no matter how bad of a mother I was, I still love you. Always have, always will."

This time, I can't help the victory smirk from spreading on my lips as I look at Flynn. To be honest, would I have been Ana, I wouldn't forgive her. But I don't care, because this is what is insuring me the jury's decision to go in my favour. Flynn realises this because when I offer my witness for cross-questioning, he declines with a little bow of his head.

He actually looks in the direction of the Judge and asks:

"Your Honour? A word?"

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💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚

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(*) I know that Franklin Lambert is not that common of a name in the US, but we'll pretend it is for the sake of this story.

💚 So, first of all, before some of you start jumping at my throat, don't forget that Christian is a lawyer. If he's being cold, it's normal. He isn't Ana's boyfriend here, but her lawyer. Don't forget that.

💚 Guys, I know I already say I want to know what you think, but this time, I am SO excited to know what you thought of this chapter. hihi.

~ Anyway, question times:

1. What did you think of Carla's testimony?

2. Do you think Ana will forgive her?

3. Where do you think Ana Steele got her name from?

4. And what do you think of the very little we saw of Flynn? And Christian?

5. What was your favourite part?

💚Anyway, E.L James owns the names of the characters from the Fifty Shades franchise, everything else is mine.

Love, Mina 💚💚💚