A/N

Well we finally made it, the beginning of the trial is here. just a fair warning that the trial will span over the next few chapters, i wanted to do it justice by not rushing it. on the up side, once the trial is out of the way we will finally get some Calzona time whoop whoop.

It's Axel's freedom day today, he was 4 months old yesterday and finally allowed out on walkies, to say that the pair of us are exhausted now is a gross understatement, he is infact sound asleep on my feet as I write this... lets hope he doesnt get a second wind of energy lol.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter... it was tough to write and took alot of research. Some of what is written in Callie's victim impact statement is taken directly from other peoples impact statemements that have been used in court, there really is some horrible people out there in this world of ours. It zapped all my energy writing this trial so I hope that its not too hard for people to read.

Please take a few moments to leave a review and let me know what you think.

Cheers

AL xxx

-oOo-

It was a Thursday morning when Callie's alarm sounded long after she had been awake, not that she had really slept that much. The little sleep that she had gotten had been riddled with nightmares about one husband that she wish she could get rid of for good. She wouldn't wish death on anyone, not even her worst enemy but in moments like this, she wished he was stone cold dead, buried in an unmarked grave in the middle of an abandoned forest where he had been buried alive to die a slow, painful and terrifying death.

With a sigh she rolled out of bed and glanced at her reflection in the mirror, something she had been working on with Dr Warner. She looked into her eyes and groaned at how tired and haggard she looked. She knew that looking into her own eyes was an improvement of itself, something she had only recently been able to achieve and this morning she wished she hadn't, she could see the ghost of Earls torment reflected back at her and it made her shiver.

Rubbing her face with both hands she tried to shake off the feeling of dread in her stomach, she felt nauseous but was determined not to empty her stomach over Earl. She made her way to the shower and stripped from her bed clothes, looking at herself in the long mirror in the bathroom she sighed at the patchwork of scars all over her body, both those at the hands of Earl and those that were a result of the surgeries.

Shaking her head to rid the thoughts of how ugly her body now was, she jumped in the shower and let the water wash over her.

-oOo-

Two hours later she found herself sitting in Arizona's Prius outside of the courthouse with thirty minutes until the trial starts. Her leg was shaking nervously as her mind ran through all the questions she would have to answer in a short time. She knew that Earl's defence wouldn't hold back any punches and that thought made her all kinds of nervous, she still didn't know that her own lawyer had some cards up his sleeve, she knew they had a solid case but that would just make the defence team gun after her even more to try and put a hole anywhere in her 'story'.

She was brought from her reverie by Arizona's pale hand on her thigh causing her to flinch, it was only slight but Arizona felt it and her heart sunk for Callie. She would literally give anything to be in her place today, to go through this for the Latina, but all she could do was be of support and even that didn't feel enough.

"Youve got this Calliope, don't let him get inside your head" Arizona said softly, unsure if it was to reassure herself or the brunette.

"I've changed my mind, I want you to come in with me" Callie said in a choked voice.

"Whatever you need Cal, if you want me to wait outside for you, I will. If you want me to come in, I'll be there. Whatever you need from me you've got" Arizona said as she tried unsuccessfully to gain Callie's eyes. "Look at me Callie"

Callie's sad eyes snapped to cerulean eyes and Arizona could see the depths of pain in them. "Tell me what it is you need and you've got it, anything"

"I want you to come in with me, I need a friendly face in the crowd" Callie admitted as she choked back a sob.

"Then I will be the friendliest face you've ever seen" Arizona smiled. "Come on we'd better go, they will be calling us in soon"

The two women exited the car and make the short walk towards the courthouse in silence. As they entered through the door Callie was met by the sight of her parents and sister sitting with Barbara, Daniel, Timothy and Claire. A couple of benches over sat Dr Sloan, Shepherd, Webber, Bailey and Montgomery even Jo, Arizona's ex was in attendance. Callie knew that a lot of the people here had been called to the court as witnesses of some sort but the fact that so many people had showed up to support her really melted her heart.

By the time she had said hello to everyone and thanked them for coming she was being called into the courtroom, she held her hand out to Arizona who took it proudly and the two women entered the courtroom. Callie's eyes instantly met Earl's and he smirked as his eyes travelled over her body till he landed on her hand and how it was clutched tightly in an alabaster hand. His face churned in fury and he made to stand up but the prison guards on either side of him dragged him back down into his chair.

Callie, having seen Earl's motion, stopped dead in her tracks her body starting to tremble as the fear rolled off of her. She felt Arizona stop beside her, the pale hand tightening around her own as if to inject some confidence in her. She pulled her eyes away from Earl's hate filled face and looked at Arizona, her face completely abstract to that of her husbands.

"You've got this Torro" Arizona mumbled quietly so only the brunette could hear her. Callie nodded her head nervously and made her way to the prosecution table and took a seat next to her lawyer. Arizona took a seat in the pews behind her, resting a hand on Callie's shoulder in support.

The room stood to their feet as the jury entered, followed by the judge. Callie zoned out as the judge began speaking, unable to focus on what was being said until a short while later she felt her lawyers hand rest on her forearm, she glanced to him questioningly and he leaned in to whisper that it was time.

With shaky legs, Callie made her way to the seat beside the judge and swore her oath on the bible. It was finally the moment she had been dreading since this entire thing started, not only did she have to speak in front of Earl, she had to speak in front of a crowd and public speaking was not her thing but her lawyer had convinced her that reading out a Victim Impact Statement was the best way to go about things, so she shuffled around inside her pocket till she grabbed a few sheets of A4 paper and unfolded them.

She glanced around the room, first to the jury who were watching her expectantly, then to Earl who was watching her with a slight smirk, enjoying seeing her squirm in her seat and sweat about what she was about to do. The defence lawyer who was watching her with a beady eye expectantly. Over to her own lawyer who was watching her sympathetically and nodded to her encouragingly, then to blue eyes behind him, those bright blue eyes that could calm any storm brewing inside her, letting Arizona be in the court room had been her best idea lately, she wouldn't have made it without those calming orbs staring at her supportively. She moved her attention to the faces she didn't know in the audience; these were likely legal people who were here to view the case, all of them watching her expectantly. Lastly, she looked to the Judge, Judge Rinder who was sitting beside her watching her sympathetically as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Judge Rinder nodded kindly at her and she smiled weakly at him before looking down to the statement in her hands, she cleared her throat and willed her voice to not fail her.

"Your honour, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I apologise if my statement is a bit long but I've been effectively silenced since the day I married Earl Thompson almost four years ago and now throughout these criminal court proceedings this maybe be my only chance to speak about it so please bear with me.

I will do my best to explain what myself and my family has been through and, in doing so, hopefully explain why I believe that Earl deserves the maximum sentence allowed for each of his convictions.

I had been married to Earl for over three years and being battered and raped by him for the entire duration. He hit me, multiple times during each incident on my face, arms, stomach and legs. He violated me by raping me, sometimes multiple times a day and called me a bitch, whore, slut and much more. He trapped me in a house where I had no access to the outside world, no way to ask for help and no way to escape. There were bars and locks on the windows and doors and all phones, laptops and any means of contacting anybody were removed from me.

It has been almost six months since he last attacked me, leaving me naked and almost dead in a dirty back alley and I still remember that day, it still haunts me. The actions of Earl have completely impacted and changed my life and I cannot even begin to describe the feelings of terror I would feel during the attacks, during that final attack when I thought he had finished me off for good. I don't even remember what I had done to 'deserve' the beating as each day was a different excuse and they have all kind of melded into each other.

There are times that I have even wished that Earl had finished me off as the pain was the worst I have ever felt. It was in moments like this that I have had to remind myself that I have control over what Earl has taken from me. I am a survivor. I am still the person that I was before this happened to me, I still have the same drive and ambition but now I have scars and old wounds that remind me of how strong I have become because of what Earl has put me through.

However, I am a constant prisoner of my thoughts. I suffer from both an anxiety disorder and clinical depression as a result of what has happened to me, I take regular medication and see a psychologist on a weekly basis to help combat what has happened to me. I am unable to sleep and when sleep does come it is often interrupted by horrifying nightmares. Every morning when I wake up I have to remind myself that Earl won't be able to hurt me today. If I don't tell myself that I simply can't get out of bed. It hurts emotionally and physically to even make it to school on a morning. The emotional roller coaster is never ending and I am no longer able to trust people like I did before.

For me, the trauma of the rapes and beatings has impacted every single day of my life since it happened. Even now, months later, I seldom go for more than a few minutes without some image or feeling from a rape or beating popping into my mind. If I say something that I know Earl would disagree with I catch my breath awaiting for the beating to come, or worse.

Earl most likely wished that I would be dead, wounded, and broken. I won't give the defendant that pleasure. I am more alive and stronger than ever. I have a child to look forward to, as a result of the rape, and a bright future ahead of me surrounded by supportive family and friends."

Callie paused, taking a deep breath before she raised her eyes to meet Earl's pissed off and evil eyes.

"You haven't taken away my will to live, you haven't broken my spirit. These scars are a constant reminder of what happened but they do not define my future. You have not broken me beyond repair. I so desperately want my life back, the life I had before you took it away and little by little I am getting my life back without you holding me down."

Callie glanced back to Judge Rinder and thanked him before rising from the podium and making her way back to her seat thankful that the traumatic opening was over.

The defense attorney rose from his seat and made his way into the middle of the room with a smarmy smirk. He turned to glance at Callie, a condescending smile thrown her way he turned to the jury and eyed them all with a kind smile before breaking into his opening speech, telling the judge and jury all about how Callie had been a consenting adult who had enjoyed a rather exciting and surreal sex life where she enjoyed role playing as well as extreme BDSM. He went on to detail how his client had at first been nervous about the tasks Callie had asked of him in the bedroom, explaining that they had a safe word for if things got a little too out of hand, but his wife got a kick out of being hurt and instead of using the safe word had instead begged for more.

Callie felt like she was going to throw up hearing how Earl had spun their relationship. She kept telling herself that the evidence would prove him wrong but the doubts began to manifest in her head and heart and the more the defense lawyer spoke the more hopeless she felt. She glanced at Earl despite her better judgement and found him sitting contritely, with a sad look upon his face as if he were the innocent party in all of this. She glanced at the jury and how they seemed to be biting to the defense lawyers claims and her heart sank. Earl was going to walk free. The bastard would walk out of this court a free man and she would be watching over her shoulder for the rest of her life waiting for him to come and finish her off for good. She couldn't do this, she wasn't strong enough for this.