AN

Happy Sunday everyone, its time for a new chapter. Im really happy with how this one panned out and its a little on the longer side to fit everything in. I dont want to say too much and ruin the chapter for you but we hear Callie's side of the story and its time for Earl to take the stand... how do you think he will fair against Johns questioning and evidence.

Id just like to remind everyone that im not a lawyer nor do i work in a court so i have no idea how legal things work, but ive done my best with these chapters to try and make it believeable, in hindsight I think the defense would have been supplied the evidence before the trial but its been written for months and I didnt have the energy to go back and change the entire chapter so it is what it is.

I hope you enjoy this. for those asking for some Calzona moments... well its coming up in either the next chapter or the chapter after, so not long to go now then I will be spamming you with Calzona fluff every week haha.

As always please take a few moments to leave a review, i would love to know how you all feel about how Earl holds up on the stand... peice of shit that he is.

Also I apologise for the language used in this chapter, but I felt it necessary to use such language to make things that little bit more believeable.

AL xxx

-oOo-

After Arizona stepped down from the podium, she returned to her seat behind Callie with a puppy that had been kicked look. She had tried to gain Callie's attention on her way back to her seat but the brunette was looking at a space in front of her with glassy eyes. She put the palm of her hand on Callie's back and flinched when Callie jumped away from her like her touch had scolded her. This was not good.

John glanced at Callie and noticed she was in a bad way and sighed. This was not going as well as he planned and now he had to get a closed off woman on the stand and try to get her to open up in front of her abusive husband.

Callie was called to the stand and remained seated, John tried to get her attention but failed, he glanced hopefully at the judge hoping that he would see the situation for what it was and grant them a break from the proceedings so that he could give Callie a little pep talk but all Judge Rinder did was smack his gravel which seemed to jar Callie from her inner turmoil. She glanced to the podium expecting to see Arizona sitting there and was shocked to find her gone, she glanced behind her at the forlorn look on the blondes face and realised that she had missed several moments of time.

"Miss Torres, could you take the stand please" Judge Rinder called out.

Callie nodded and rose from her chair, she offered a sad smile to Arizona over her shoulder before making her way to the stand, she placed her hand on the bible and swore her oath then concentrated on John and what he was saying.

John eased Callie into her testimony, mainly asking her closed questions which only required a yes or no answer. Did you marry Mr Thompson of your own free will. No. Were you forced into marrying Mr Thompson. Yes. Did Mr Thompson abuse you physically. Yes. Did Mr Thompson rape you. Yes. Did Mr Thompson hold you prisoner at your residence with him. Yes. Did Mr Thompson prohibit you from contacting your friends and family. Yes. Did you have sex with Mr Thompson of your own violation after the wedding. No.

And so the questions went on, each one stabbing Callie's heart as she forced her focus onto John and not Earl who was glaring at her more and more with each answer.

Eventually John got to nitty gritty, asking Callie to describe her early relationship with Earl, then the wedding and how it came about, why she stopped talking to her friends and family. He got Callie to describe the house they had moved into shortly after the wedding, asking her to describe the condition of the house as well as the modifications that had been made to keep her from leaving. He asked her to describe the morning she was found and what led to her being in that alleyway.

It was an orchestra of information, Callie was the instrument and John was the conductor. It went exactly as they had rehearsed it, it was perfect. Callie did her best to hold in her tears but stray tears would run errantly down her face as she would describe the torment she went through.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, John handed Callie over to the defence attorney who as expected tried to tear holes in Callie's statement. John wasn't too worried about this as he still had a few cards up his sleeve. All he wanted for now was to get Callie off the stand so she could be rid of the cruel questions she was being asked. John lost count of how many times he had shouted 'objection' but Callie did her part and held up well on the stand.

Finally it was over and Judge Rinder called a recess for lunch. It had been a long and gruelling morning, and it wasn't over yet. The afternoon would see Earl finally take the stand and John couldn't wait to get into him.

The family group and Mark had lunch at the same restaurant, everyone trying to be jovial to keep Callie's spirits up but the brunette was in a slump and played with her salad until it was time to leave.

As they re-entered the court Arizona led Callie towards the door with a hand on the small of her back, but as they reached the door Callie froze, turning to her family and friends she asked if they would like to come in to hear Earls statement. She couldn't pinpoint what had caused the change of heart, perhaps it was the fact that she no longer had to speak, but as if they were one unit, each member rose from their seat and made their way to Callie.

They entered the court room together, everyone glaring at Earl who was seated behind the wooden desk glaring back at them. He smirked at Callie, but she threw a smile at the man and turned to her family, directing them where to sit behind her. She knew she was fighting with fire by smiling at him but she just couldn't resist, he looked so smug and up himself but she was sure by the time John had finished with him he wouldn't be looking quite so smug.

After Judge Rinder and the jury were brought in, Earl was put on the stand and sworn in. His defence attorney started off the way John had with Callie, asking closed questions. This lasted for around thirty minutes as Earl swore his innocence over and over again, he was then asked to describe his relationship with his wife, his marriage, his sex life. Eventually after over an hour of questioning it was John's turn to question him and John was chomping at the bit to start throwing questions and evidence at the well acting man.

"Mr Thompson, is it fair to say that you believe Miss Torres was a willing participant in your sex life?" John asked, staring Earl directly in the eye, challenging him to lie.

"That's correct, she not only wanted everything I gave to her she instigated it, she asked me to beat her during sex like she was getting off on it" Earl smiled sweetly at the lawyer, his eyes flitting to Callie and having to swallow the smirk at the look of mortification on her face.

"So in your opinion, why do you think Miss Torres is claiming that you raped her?"

"Because she went too far one night and she ended up in hospital because she didn't use the safe word like we agreed. I didn't want it to go that far but she kept begging me to keep going and things just got out of hand" Earl answered, playing right into Johns hands.

"Can you explain to me how Miss Torres ended up in hospital then, I mean how did she get there?" John asked and Earl floundered, he hadn't thought about this part, how the hell was he going to explain this bit.

"I'm not too sure, the night is a bit of a black out to me. I suffered a great deal that night and the stress of it all has made parts of the night hazy" Earl muttered unconvincingly.

"So you claim you have forgotten? So if I told you that you dumped Miss Torres naked in a back alley to die, you would claim that didn't happen?" John asked with interest.

"I don't know how she ended up in that alley but I do know that it had nothing to do with me" Earl stated a little more confidently.

"Your honour, I would like to show a video in evidence, please direct your attention to the screen"

The screen turned on and it was a CCTV footage showing Earl's car pulling into the alley way that Callie was found in, then several minutes later the same car rushed from the alley and pulled away.

"Mr Thompson, was that your vehicle on the screen?" John asked kindly, playing Earl like a fiddle.

"I don't know, I mean that could be anyone's car" Earl offered nervously as he glanced to his lawyer for help.

"Objection, the footage shows a car, it doesn't show the driver" his lawyer disputed.

"Very well, here is a close up of the registration plate" John said with a small smile " As you can see the registration numbers very clearly I ask again, is this your vehicle?"

"Well... yes, I mean it looks like its my car but anybody could have been driving it" Earl stuttered.

"I submit further evidence as shown on the screen that Mr Thompson is the registered owner of the vehicle, and the only insured person to drive it... so Mr Thompson I ask you again, was that you driving?" John said pointedly.

"No" Earl said simply.

"So your claiming your car was taken without consent and used to dump your wives body?" John asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I mean yes... that wasn't me driving" Earl stuttered again.

"Can you tell me at what point you registered your vehicle missing with the police, do you have a crime number you can provide to the court?" John asked, swallowing his smile.

"I didn't know it had been missing until now, somebody must have stolen it and returned it without me knowing, I had been drinking that night and as I said there are moments I just cant remember due to the stress of the situation" Earl almost snarled.

"So you claim that you beat your wife, willingly, until she was unconscious. Then you passed out drunk and somebody came into your home, found your beaten wife unconscious, moved her to your car, stole your car, dumped her body and then returned your car?" John asked as he turned to the jury to see them all glancing at Earl doubtingly.

"I'm saying I don't remember alright? I know that wasn't me driving the car and you cant prove otherwise" Earl snapped then reigned himself in as he realised his error. "I wouldn't do that to my wife, I love her"

"Very well, lets move on" John said, knowing that the doubt had been placed in the jury's mind and he didn't have any solid evidence to prove Earl had driven that vehicle. " While your wife was in hospital she underwent a procedure called a rape swab, as we heard from Dr Montgomery the results of this rape test were positive, how can you explain that?"

"She loved it rough" Earl smirked as he glanced at Callie, forgetting that the jury were watching his every move, all he cared about was making his wife feel as uncomfortable as possible.

"Rough enough that a test proved that she had internal injuries only consistent with rape?" John asked with a perfect amount of shock in his voice.

"Yes, she loved it and kept begging me for more, ask her if she begged me if you don't believe me" Earl grinned knowing that he had forced Callie to beg him for more while he had abused her hundreds of times.

"Miss Torres is not on the stand now Mr Thompson, you are" John reminded him. "Now lets move onto your residence... can you explain to me the bars on the windows and the locks on all of the doors?"

John turned some photographs of the house Callie had been kept prisoner in onto the TV screen, several photos were shown of the windows with metal bars and motion detectors on, the same on the doors front and back and leading into the garage.

"They were to keep intruders out, my wife was a bit of recluse and was scared somebody would break in so she asked me to secure the house, I did as any good husband would and did as she requested" Earl lied with ease.

"So they weren't there to keep Miss Torres in the house?"

"No quite the opposite" Earl lied smoothly.

"Can you explain why in the police report the house was found to have a walk in robe containing entirely your clothing and only a small dresser containing Miss Torres' clothing?" John asked thoughtfully.

"She is a simple girl, she doesn't ask for much"

"But surely she would want more than two changes of clothes, all of which were torn and covered in dried blood. How can you explain the dried blood?"

"She was clumsy and liked it rough like I have said before, are you just going to make me repeat myself over and over?" Earl asked pompously.

"What about the fact that there were no phones or computers in the house?" John asked, his patience wearing thin.

"Callie wasn't interested in either, neither was I really. I had a phone so work could get in touch with me but that's about it"

"and a pager" John reminded him.

"It was all I could get Callie to agree too, that way I could let her know if I was going to be late without her worrying and stressing about my where abouts"

Earl was full of himself, seemingly having a logical answer for every damn question and John was starting to get pissed off about it.

"Has Miss Torres ever been to your place of work?" John asked, deciding to try a different tact.

"Not that I know of" Earl answered simply.

"Can you explain why a standing order was set up to transfer a thousand dollars a month from Miss Torres' trust fund?" John asked, eyeing the jury to make sure he had their attention.

"She set that up, said she wanted me to not have to worry about money"

"So you claim Miss Torres set up the standing order?" John asked to confirm.

"Thats right, I just said that" Earl said through gritted teeth, sick of being asked to repeat himself over and over.

"Can you explain then, how Miss Torres set up the standing order on a computer which IP address is located at your place of work when she has never been to your place of work, by your own statement. Please see the evidence on screen which shows the banks record of when and where the standing order was created and the second slide which shows the address of Peter and Son's Mechanics, Mr Thompson's place of work" John smiled at Earl cockily.

Earl's mouth opened and closed several times as the cogs in his head turned at the speed of light, trying to figure out how they had even traced it and what he could say to get out of this mess.

"Callie asked me to set it up, and because we didn't have a computer in the house I had to do it at work" Earl tried to lie. John scoffed loudly before clearing his throat dramatically.

"Mr Thompson, you are aware that lying on the stand is perjury and if found guilty could lead to a longer sentence"

"I didn't lie I just forgot, alright?" Earl snapped, beads of sweat began to drip down his forehead despite the chill in the air from the air conditioning.

"So you conveniently remembered at the moment you were caught out in a lie?" John asked, turning to the jury and raising his eyebrow as if asking them 'can you believe this buffoon is trying to make you believe this crap'

"I'm not lying" Earl yelled. The defence attorney coughed and shook his head at Earl to indicate that he needed to calm down but Earl was seething, and if there was one thing Earl wasn't good at, it was keeping calm when his temper had been frayed.

"Mr Thompson, I absolutely believe that you are lying under oath. The evidence is stacked up against you and still you are denying any wrong doing" John baited the man.

"What the hell would you know your nothing but a two bit lawyer who thinks he's better than he is" Earl growled angrily.

"You want to watch that temper of yours Mr Thompson, you may find it will get you in trouble" John smirked at him.

Earl saw red, standing from the podium as if he were about to jump over it and leap for John. Despite the fright from the sudden action, John remained stood still, staring down the furious man who was being tackled back to his seat by two prison guards.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I introduce you to the real Earl Thompson. The man who cannot control his temper and reacts violently when things don't go his own way" John said, his eyes never leaving Earl's, challenging him to try and come for him again but Earl remained seated, his hands clenching into fists so tight the blood left his hands a ghastly white.

"Enough of the theatrics, do you have any further questions?" Judge Rinder said in a stern voice.

"Apologies your honour, I am nearly finished with the cross examination, if you will allow me a few moments longer of your time?" John asked, waiting for the judge to nod before he carried on.

"Mr Thompson, After your arrest the police did an inspection of your residential premises, would you care to explain what the documents shown on the screen are?" John flicked the screen onto a picture of some letters addressed to Callie from various med schools around the country.

"I don't know what they are" Earl said within seconds of looking at the screen. "Somebody must have planted them in my house"

"How do you know they were planted if you don't know what they are? I will tell you what they are, they are acceptance letters to Miss Torres from seven medical schools around the country, none of which Miss Torres received" John heard the gasps from behind him, turning to Callie with apologetic eyes, he spun back around to Earl. "As you can see Miss Torres has just found this information out for herself, she never received any of these letters apart from one, the acceptance letter for Drew's Medical School which conveniently is located close to where you both lived with your parents and as a married couple. How are you in the possession of these acceptance letters Mr Thompson?"

"I told you somebody planted them in my house!" Earl growled.

"Mr Thompson, they were in a locked safe in your garage alongside the deeds to the house and some of your personal bank statements... unless you are now claiming that as well as stealing your car, abducting your unconscious wife, dumping her in an alley naked to die, then returning your car... that the thief also planted evidence in a locked safe"

"This is fucking bullshit, I didn't have anything to do with those fucking letters, they were planted on me!"

Judge Rinder smacked his gravel against the desk several times loudly, breaking Earl from his fury induced haze. "Order in the court room, I will remind you Mr Thompson that you are on trial and language of that nature will not be accepted"

Earl remained silent, staring at his clenched fists as he fumed about how John had played him. He was furious that he had lost control in front of the jury and was almost guaranteed1323 to be going back to jail now. He was mad with himself, he was furious with his lawyer for not doing a better job, he was livid with John for catching him off guard but the majority of the anger and hatred were directed to Callie, that bitch had fit him up good and proper, he would lose years of his life now due to that stupid cunt.

"Your honour, I have nothing left to say. I believe Mr Thompson has proven his guilt and shown both yourself, the jury and the public what kind of man he is" John returned to the desk, to Callie, squeezing her forearm supportively before turning his attention back to the proceedings. He knew he had done good rattling Earl like that.

Now that every witness had been heard and every piece of evidence shown, Judge Rinder called for closing statements. After both lawyers had made their final plea, he called a recess for the night for the jury to make their decision.