A/N: Happy Sunday! Trigger warning – this is Regina giving testimony in court and there is mention of domestic abuse.
Her mouth felt dry, tongue heavy. Swallowing hurt. Her jaw clenched. She glanced around, then down at her feet. Sweaty palms rested on the tops of her thighs, the left one jiggling up and down. Her ears were ringing. And yet there was silence. A blanket of quiet. Except … she saw movement and her head snapped upright. A familiar, kindly face offered what she thought was supposed to be a reassuring smile. His lips were moving. And yet no words reached her ears. Forehead creased, she concentrated on his mouth. What was he saying? Why was he peering at her like that? Why did he look concerned?
"Ms Mills?"
Sound rushed back at once, startling her. She leaned back against the firm rigid chair and gasped, heart thundering against her ribcage.
"I'm sorry," the lawyer said, recognising Regina's distress. "I know this is hard. Are you ok to continue?"
Blinking several times, Regina turned her head slightly to the left. Twelve unknown faces stared at her. Her heart beat even faster, racing uncomfortably inside her chest. Slowly scanning the room, she saw rows of yet more unfamiliar people, most gazing at her, waiting for something. For her. But why? A noise to her right made her whip her head around. Above her, drinking from a glass of water, sat a woman dressed like a judge.
Judge. Jury. Her throat constricted again as she looked across the courtroom, exactly where the criminals sat in television shows. He was there, smirking, leaning back in his chair. Cocky, complacent, in control. Her stomach rolled.
"Ms Mills?"
She refocused on the lawyer at the sound of her name. She still hadn't given her answer. What the question again?
"Regina."
"Quiet from the gallery, please," the judge called at the sound of the new voice, a look of disapproval on her face.
But it didn't matter. Regina had heard what she needed to hear. She leaned sideways to get a clear line of sight around the lawyer and saw Emma sitting right at the front, leaning forwards. Their eyes locked. She could feel her lip trembling as relief washed over her. She wasn't alone. She wasn't going through this alone. She had Emma. The blonde did nothing and said nothing more. But it was enough. Her presence was enough.
"Yes, I'm ok to continue," Regina replied at last, sitting upright in her chair again and curling her hands into fists.
"Ok, if you need to stop at any time, just let me know."
Regina nodded her understanding, remembering as she did so that the lawyer's name was Mr Harrison. They'd spent two hours prepping for this the week before. "I'm ok."
"So, I asked you to tell the courtroom how you came to be living in New York earlier this year when you previously lived in Maine with the defendant."
"I moved to New York to protect my son and myself."
"Protect your son and yourself from who?"
"From my husband, Leo. The defendant." The word sounded strange, applied to her husband. Formal, official, ominous.
"And what was it about your home in Maine with the defendant which made you think it was unsafe."
"He was abusive," Regina said, jutting her chin out in defiance as she spoke. "He hit me. He hit our son."
"The defendant was physically abusive to both you and your son?"
"Yes. He was physically and verbally abusive to both of us." She paused. She hated saying these words but the lawyer had told her it was important. "And he was sexually abusive to me."
Mr Harrison nodded gravely, pausing to give the jury some time to digest the facts. "How long had the abuse been going on for before you decided to leave."
Regina blushed. She hated this question, even though she knew she was going to be asked it. They had rehearsed, after all. "A few years. But I left two weeks after he hit our son for the first time. As soon as I knew Henry was at risk, I left."
"But you didn't leave the first time the defendant was abusive you?"
"No," Regina admitted.
"Why not?"
"I don't really know, in hindsight. But at the time, I didn't think I had the option. And he apologised. That first night, he said he was sorry. He promised never to do it again. He apologised and told me he loved me. I believed him. It was only a few months after both my parents had died in a car crash and I had no one else in my life but my husband and my very young son. I wasn't ready to leave."
"I understand," Mr Harrison said. "But earlier this year, when the defendant hit your son, that was the moment you chose to leave."
"Yes."
"And did you tell the defendant of your plans?"
"No. I left while he was at work. I didn't want him to find us. I drove to New York, to a shelter for victims of domestic violence. I made every effort to stay hidden. All I wanted was to keep my son safe and to start a new life where we weren't at risk of being abused."
"Objection." Regina watched as Leo's lawyer got lazily to his feet, buttoning up his suit jacket and waving his hand towards Regina and the lawyer. "This line of questioning is irrelevant to the charges today and prejudicial. Can we move on?"
"Sustained. Move it along, Mr Harrison," the judge ordered.
"Just giving some context, Your Honour," Mr Harrison said before turning back to Regina. "So, you came to live in New York. Did you have any contact from the defendant before the day on which the alleged assault happened?"
"No, I left my cell phone in Maine and switched my son's iPad into flight mode so he couldn't track it using Find My Phone."
"For any members of the jury who aren't tech savvy, Find My Phone is an app from Apple used to locate devices such as iPhones or iPads linked to the same iCloud account," Mr Harrison explained to everyone in the courtroom. "So if you had no contact with the defendant, how did he come to visit New York on the morning of May Eleventh, Two-Thousand and Nineteen?"
"My son connected the iPad to the Wi-Fi in the shelter the day before, without my knowledge," Regina replied. "I believe Leo tracked us down using the Find My Phone app."
"Objection. Speculation."
"Actually, Your Honour. We have records showing that the Find My Phone app was used on the defendant's iPhone and that his son's iPad did indeed reappear on May tenth as a device registered to the family's iCloud account. You'll find the record in your exhibits. Three A, I believe."
The judge quickly flicked through the documents, paused to read something, then looked up. "Overruled. You may continue, Mr Harrison."
"Thank you, Your Honour. So, Ms Mills, when did you first know that the defendant was in New York?"
"When I came up behind me in the bodega around the corner from the shelter where I was living. I was out buying groceries but didn't have enough money. Leo was standing behind me, listening, and offered to pay. My blood ran cold when I heard his voice."
"Objection. Scientifically impossible and purely an inflammatory, overemotional statement said to influence the jury."
Regina forced herself not to react to the heartless objection. She didn't even hear the judge overrule her husband's lawyer and tell him to sit down and stop turning the courtroom into a television drama.
"And when you saw the defendant, how did you feel?"
"I was scared."
"And?"
"And I wanted to protect my son. That's all I could think about."
"Where was your son?"
"Back at the shelter. I was alone in the bodega when Leo found me."
"Take me through what happened next."
Regina closed her eyes briefly, transporting herself back to that morning. It was something she avoided doing at all costs but her subconscious seemed obsessed; filling her dreams with that terrible day most nights since the event. At least that meant it was fresh for the trial questions. She began.
"Leo asked me where Henry was. I refused to tell him. Then he told me to take him to our son. To my son," she added, chancing a glance at Leo who was now listening with apparent interest, curious to know how Regina was going to portray the events which unfolded. "I … um … I …" she paused again, reaching out for a glass of water. As she drank, the lawyer moved casually towards the jury. Emma came into Regina's line of sight once more. Her heart fluttered slightly at the reminder that she was there. Green eyes were fixed unwaveringly on her and as she placed the glass back on the small shelf in front of her, Emma nodded lightly.
"When we left the bodega, I turned in the opposite direction. I didn't want to lead Leo back to Henry. But he already knew where the shelter was. He told me he'd been watching and that he knew I was walking the wrong way. He told me to take him to Henry. But I said no. And that was when he punched me."
"Exhibits 5 C and D," Mr Harrison said, pressing a button on a small remote in his hand. Two images flashed up on the large television in the courtroom. Regina recoiled at the sight. The mottled purple spread from just below her ear, along her jawline and towards her lip. It wasn't the injury itself which she despised seeing, more the fact that it was such a stark visual representation of her husband's abuse. Two pictures, after ten years of marriage.
Her eyes moved from the screen to Emma. The blonde was staring at the pictures of her girlfriend, anger pouring off her. She was red-faced, tense, with lips set in a thin line. Despite the situation, Regina felt a surge of love for the woman who clearly felt so passionately for her and was so vehemently committed to protecting her. In that moment, all she wanted was to gather Emma in her arms, reassure the blonde that she was ok. And, in turn, be reassured herself that Emma was there for her.
"So, after your husband punched you," Mr Harrison paused and turned to the jury, "in the face, what happened?"
Pulled back to the matter in hand, Regina answered the lawyer. "I started walking towards the shelter. I didn't want to lead Leo to Henry but I didn't know what else to do. And I knew Henry wouldn't be in the front reception of the shelter so once I got there, I thought the staff may be able to help."
"And did they?"
"Yes but we didn't make it to the shelter. Emma was already coming to find us."
"This is Emma Swan, the founder and manager at the shelter, from whom we heard testimony on Monday about how she was held at gun point by the defendant," Mr Harrison informed the jury. "Emma came to find you and the defendant?"
"She came to find me. She knew something was wrong."
"Objection. She's speculating about the thoughts and knowledge of someone else."
"Your Honour, Emma Swan testified to knowing something was wrong herself two days ago. She saw a picture of Ms Mills on the front seat of an unfamiliar car which had been parked outside the shelter and followed Ms Mills to the bodega to make sure she was ok," Mr Harrison argued.
"Nevertheless, your witness is unable to state what Miss Swan did or did not know," the judge declared. "Jury will disregard."
Unperturbed, knowing that the detail didn't matter, Mr Harrison promoted Regina to describe what happened once Emma had caught up with her and Leo on the street.
"Emma protected me. She knew who Leo was because I had talked about him to her in our sessions. She tried to get Leo to leave me and Henry alone and then when he wouldn't she threatened to call the police. Leo didn't back off but Emma didn't have her cell. When Leo realised that Emma couldn't call 9-1-1, he started to come towards us. Emma took him down using her self-defence training before he could hurt us and she told me to go back inside. I didn't want to leave her alone. I was scared of what Leo would do." She took a deep breath. "I know what he gets like when he's angry."
"And how does he get?"
"Violent. Unpredictable. I was worried for Emma's safety."
"And yet you did go back into the shelter, leaving Miss Swan and the defendant on the street."
"Yes," Regina nodded, gut twisting with guilt as she recalled how she did indeed leave Emma alone to deal with a man whom she knew was dangerous. "I didn't want to leave but I wanted to make sure my son was safe and Emma insisted I go. So I left just as Leo got free of the armlock Emma had put him in. When I went inside, Mulan was already on the phone to the police."
"Who is Mulan?"
"She works in the shelter. She's one of the counsellors."
"Ok, and how did she know to call the police?"
"Objection, speculation again, Your Honour."
"Sustained. Mr Harrison, you'll have a chance to ask Mulan her own questions when she takes the stand later in the week. I can see she's on your witness list. For now, limit your questions to Miss Mills to topics she can answer."
"Sorry, Your Honour. Miss Mills, when you entered the shelter, what did you see?"
"Mulan was on the phone to the 9-1-1 operator. She was describing what was happening outside because she was watching everything on the CCTV that the shelter has covering the sidewalk outside. Only a few seconds after I walked in, Mulan started shouting down the phone that the man outside had a gun."
"He had a gun. Did you know your husband owned a gun?"
"No," Regina replied, shaking her head. "We never had any guns in our home in Maine. If I had known he was armed, I would never have left Emma alone with him."
"What happened next?"
"I tried to go back outside. I wanted to help. But Mulan had locked the front door of the shelter for safety purposes so I couldn't leave. I got very upset when I realised that I couldn't do anything and started crying and pulling at the door handle. Mulan tried to stop me and then we both heard a gunshot. After that, I fainted." Despite herself, Regina felt a little embarrassed. She shouldn't have fainted at the mere sound of the gunfire, not when it was Emma who was the one with the gun pointed at her head. But that was exactly why Regina had fainted. Because Emma was the one who was being held at gunpoint. The fear of losing Emma had been the reason she fainted.
"You fainted. Why?"
"Shock? Fear? I don't know, to be honest." Not strictly true but Mr Harrison, who knew the nature of their relationship, had suggested that there was no reason to introduce the fact that the two women were lovers unless it somehow came out. After all, why did it matter?
"What is the next thing you remember?"
"I woke up in my room with one of my friends. She didn't know what had happened and couldn't answer any of my questions. I went to find Mulan and she was talking to some police officers in the reception area of the shelter. That was when I found out that Emma and Leo had both been taken to hospital and that Leo had been shot. I gave a statement to the police and then went to find my son."
"Did your son know anything about what had happened?"
"No but I told him bits and pieces over the coming days. Once we knew that Leo wasn't going to die and that he was going to be charged. Henry still asks about his father. He's only six and he still doesn't fully understand my reasons for leaving. All I ever wanted was to keep my son safe. I never imagined it would come to his father being behind bars for this. I always assumed if he went to prison, it would be for my murder." Dark, sick, but true. "So, I hate what happened that day and I wish Leo hadn't done what he did, but if this trial stops him coming near me and Henry, then I'm grateful."
"Thank you, Regina. You've been very brave today. I know it's not easy to stand up in front of strangers and talk about something so intimate and unpleasant. We appreciate you being here today and I wish you and Henry the best of luck."
Regina offered a quiet 'thank you' to the lawyer who smiled at her before taking his seat. As he did so, Leo's lawyer stood up. Regina sucked in another deep breath. This was the part she was dreading most. She had prepared for Mr Harrison's questions. She knew what to expect. She had no idea what questions she was about to face, however.
"Miss Mills, my name is Mr Hades. I thank you for being here today. I just have a few questions for you based on your testimony. Firstly, you say you arrived at the shelter in April, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"And six weeks later, give or take, the founder of a shelter for battered women is risking her life to save you, correct?"
"Um, yes," Regina said, chancing a glance at Emma who was listening with intent.
"You must have made quite an impression on Miss Swan. Can you tell me the nature of your relationship with her?"
"I … I don't see how that is any of your business," Regina replied.
"It's just a question," Mr Hades said, cocking his head to one side. "Is there a reason you don't want to answer?"
"Objection," Mr Harrison said. "The witness is right. This question has no bearing on the case."
"Humour me, Your Honour. The question goes directly to another line I would like to pursue."
"I'll grant you a little latitude for now," the judge declared. "Witness will answer."
Regina looked up at the judge who was gazing down, waiting for her answer. She looked across the courtroom at Emma next. Their eyes met. After a moment, Emma nodded. The blonde believed in telling the truth. And they had nothing to hide.
"We're in a relationship."
"A relationship? You mean a sexual relationship?"
Her cheeks heated up. "Yes."
"But you were married to Leo, a man, for over ten years."
"So?" Regina snapped, defensive. She didn't need to justify her sexuality to anyone, let alone a lawyer who represented the likes of her soon-to-be-ex-husband.
Mr Hades held his hands up in mock surrender. "So, Miss Swan is your girlfriend, correct?"
"Yes."
"And she was your girlfriend the morning in questions, when you accuse my client of punching you and threatening you and your son?"
"Yes."
"So, is it possible, that in fact, the two of you came up with this plan together, perhaps huddled closely under the duvet late one night," he glanced at the jury and winked, "in order to get my client, your husband, sent to prison, so that the two of you could be together without you feeling guilty about breaking your marriage vows?"
By the end of the question, Regina was seething. "No."
"No, you don't feel guilty? No, you didn't break your marriage vows? Or no, you weren't snuggled up together under the duvet when you came up with this plan?"
"No, we didn't plan this at all," Regina managed to say, voice trembling. "I had no idea Leo was in town. I had no idea he had a gun. Emma and I did not plan this. We didn't want any of this to happen."
"And yet, we just heard you tell us that you want your husband in prison, didn't we?"
"To keep my son safe, yes. And to pay for what he did."
"Even if he was tricked into doing what he allegedly did?"
"Allegedly? There's CCTV footage. Cops were there. The cops shot Leo. They wouldn't have done that without good reason."
"Cops shoot innocent people all the time," Mr Hades said quickly. "I'm sure we can all understand how these mistakes happen, wouldn't you agree?"
"From what I know of accidental police shootings, middle-aged, white men aren't usually the victims," Regina said, carefully. "We're not making up what happened. No one told Leo to pull a gun in the middle of the street and hold Emma hostage. No one but Leo was responsible for what happened that day. Just as it is no one's fault but Leo that our marriage broke down."
"But you were the one that left. You were the one who gave up on your marriage, who broke your vows, who started up a homosexual relationship before you even filed for divorce," Mr Hades shot back.
Regina dropped her chin to her chest, needing a break. She closed her eyes, fingernails of her balled up fists digging into her palms, trying to ground herself. After a moment, she raised her head. "I left to keep myself and my son alive. I feared for my life and I feared for Henry's. I didn't give up on my marriage; I summoned up the courage to leave someone who verbally and physically and sexually assaulted me for years. And yes, I started a new relationship before my divorce was finalised but to allude to the fact that my new partner is now a woman, characterising this as a sordid affair is, to be honest, Mr Hades, a rather pathetic, small-minded low blow."
"So you're a lawyer now, are you, Ms Mills?"
"No, I'm a decent human being who resents you using my sexuality to attempt to discredit my life choices."
"And yet you cannot deny that you are committing adultery," Mr Hades pressed on.
"No, I can't. I am in a relationship outside of my marriage but as soon as Leo goes to prison, I will be filing for a divorce as well as sole custardy of my son."
"So you want to take my client's son away from him too when Henry wasn't even on the street that day? What justification do you have for denying my client the right to be a father."
Regina turned and stared directly at the man she was technically still married to in order to give her answer. "Leo stopped being a father the second he laid a hand on our son. Do you remember, Leo? Do you remember when you hit our son because he missed a catch in baseball?"
The faintest hint of a blush rose on Leo's cheeks. He glanced at the jury, who were all watching him just as Regina was, and then looked down into his lap. On the other side of the courtroom, Mr Harrison leaned back in his chair and smiled.
"So, um, to summarise, um, to sum up," Mr Hades stuttered, "you weren't on the street when my client allegedly pulled out a gun. He never owned a gun during your ten years of marriage in Maine. You didn't see him assault Miss Swan. He didn't even see, let alone hurt, your son that day. And the event which started this was you kidnapping your son, denying my client his parental rights so you could run away to the city to start a sordid love affair as a lesbian, correct?"
"Objection," Mr Harrison shouted, jumping to his feet.
"Withdrawn, nothing further," Mr Hades said, strolling back to his seat.
"Redirect, Your Honour," Mr Harrison asked. When the judge nodded, he circled around his desk and walked to stand closer to Regina. "Just a few yes or no questions for you, Miss Mills, and then you'll be free to go. Firstly, did the defendant punch you in the face on the morning of the May eleventh this year?"
"Yes."
"Was that the first time the defendant had physically assaulted you?"
"No."
"Did you suffer ongoing physical assaults during your decade long marriage to the defendant?"
"Yes."
"Did your son ever receive the same physical abuse?"
"Yes."
"Did you leave Maine to keep yourself and your son safe?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell your husband where you were going?"
"No."
"Did you want your husband to follow you to New York?"
"No."
"Did you start your relationship with Miss Swan before arriving in New York?"
The kiss in high school didn't count, did it? "No."
"Did you tell any of your friends in Maine where you were going?"
"No."
"Did you want to disrupt your son's life in such a way by removing him from his father, friends and everything he knew?"
"No."
"One last question; why did you come to New York, Ms Mills?"
This was it, her last chance. Regina knew what she wanted to say. Her eyes sought out Emma in the gallery before she spoke, needing to feel the connection, the support, the love which Emma's vibrant green eyes always provided.
"Because my husband is a dangerous man and I wanted to keep my son safe. No child should have to grow up in an abusive household and I deserved better than how I was treated as his wife. We needed a fresh start and it turns out that this included a new relationship for me. One in which I am happy and safe and loved." Emma's eyes shone even brighter. "I have no regrets about leaving my husband. I only regret that it took the events of that day to set into motion this trial which I hope will protect me and my son from my husband in the future. He cannot be a part of our lives any more because he poses a threat to our wellbeing and our happiness. I want better for my son and for myself. And I'm determined to make a new life for us both in New York."
"Thank you, Ms Mills. I have no further questions. You may step down."
With trembling legs, Regina pushed herself to her feet. She held onto the side of the witness box as she stepped out. Chancing a glance at the jury, she glimpsed twelve faces watching her. The twelve people whose job it would be to determine the fate of her husband. She walked, a little unsteadily, over to the gallery. As she approached, Emma got to her feet. Regina fell into her arms as soon as she left the main area of the courtroom, a quiet sob muffled in the woman's black blazer.
"Come on," Emma soothed, wrapping an arm around Regina's back and under her arm. "Let's go."
Cradled and supported by the woman she now couldn't imagine living her life without, Regina walked from the courtroom, Emma by her side every step of the way.
A/N: I watch a lot of Law and Order SVU. Pretty much all of the legal jargon came from that. Plus the actor who played Hades used to play a lawyer in SVU – fun crossover fact!