Thank you to Senema for her beta and her great feedback, she makes this story much better to read.

I don't know how it actually goes during such a bail hearing in the US, except what I saw on TV or read in a book, so if it's not true I'll consider that simply as artistic liberty 'lol

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 16

Charlotte paused at the defence table, waiting for Sharon Cosby to address her. However, she seemed more focused on Elijah's family, who were talking quietly amongst each other. It was only when Elijah turned to his family and gave them a look that silenced them, did Judge Cosby concentrate on her.

"Mrs. Richards, is your client standing beside you?"

"Yes, Judge Cosby", Charlotte replied respectfully.

Sharon Cosby nodded to the bailiff, who seemed very nervous and cleared his throat before speaking. "The City of Los Angeles v. Elijah Mikaelson, who is charged with murder."

So far, the courtroom hadn't been noisy but there had been some background murmur. That was no wonder, after all, most of those present were without doubt under a certain amount of stress. Either, because they were waiting for their hearing or they worried about relatives, who were waiting for it. And everyone, be it accused or relative, shared the fear that their bail would be denied and they had to remain in prison for unknown amount of time.

However, at the mention of Elijah's name there was at first dead silence before loud and agitated murmur erupted.

Charlotte watched the prosecutor turn around rather confused; apparently, he wasn't one of those in the know.

Sharon Cosby picked up her gavel and pounded on the pedestal provided for this. "Silence in the courtroom", she called loudly. It was again getting quiet in the courtroom.

Charlotte looked sideways at Elijah but his face remained completely impassive.

Charlotte had to admit she had seldom experienced such a silent courtroom. It seemed as if none of those present wanted to miss a single spoken word.

"How do you plead to the raised charge against you, Mr. Mikaelson?" Sharon Cosby asked next.

Charlotte nodded to Elijah.

"I plead not guilty, Judge Cosby", Elijah replied calmly.

"I'm writing your statement down, Mr. Mikaelson." Sharon Cosby looked at Charlotte. "Mrs. Richards, I assume you want to apply for bail?"

"Yes, Judge Cosby. Mr. Mikaelson has a permanent residence and social ties. His entire family came to Los Angeles to support him." Once again, the audience erupted loudly and Sharon Cosby used her gavel again to silence the crowd.

"He has no criminal record and is a respected businessman, who even owns real estate here in Los Angeles. The evidence against him is merely circumstantial and can be weighed in different ways, against and in favour of my client."

Charlotte looked at the prosecutor. "The caller, who claims to have seen him commit the murder, did not identify themselves, so their accusation is not admissible as evidence and can't be used against my client. Mr. Mikaelson is in no danger of absconding and I request that you grant him bail."

Sharon Cosby nodded before turning to the prosecutor. "What is your answer to this appeal, Mr. Prosecutor?"

"I am against granting bail. Mr. Mikaelson may have a permanent home and social ties, but they are all in New Orleans. He has owned property here in Los Angeles for about a day. It is therefore questionable that Mr. Mikaelson has already developed any attachment to his property in Los Angeles." The prosecutor looked at Elijah.

"That being said, his family is very wealthy and has property all over the world, including in countries that do not have an extradition treaty with the United States. As a respected businessperson, he has also contacts that could help him with his escape. For me there is a clear risk of absconding and I ask that his appeal for bail is rejected."

"Mr. Mikaelson, do you have any comments you would like to add to your attorney's appeal?" asked Sharon Cosby.

Elijah looked at Charlotte, who shook her head. "No, thank you, Judge Cosby, my attorney has already said everything necessary."

Sharon Cosby took notes before finally looking at Elijah. "I hereby set your bail at five million dollars. As long as you are a murder suspect and the police is investigating against you, you can't leave Los Angeles. Do you understand me?"

Elijah looked at Charlotte, who nodded again. "Yes, Judge Cosby, I understand." He smiled. "And I have no intention of leaving Los Angeles until my innocence is proven. And without me my family won't be leaving either."

The audience murmured again but this time it sounded more fearful. Charlotte could understand why, the underlying threat and promise in Elijah's words was clear to hear and couldn't be misinterpreted.

Elijah whispered in Charlotte's ear. "Ask the judge how I should pay the bail."

Charlotte nodded and repeated the question aloud to Sharon Cosby.

"The bail has to be paid in cash", Sharon Cosby replied. She looked at the audience. "Since your family is here, one of them can go to a bank and withdraw the money."

"That won't be necessary, Judge Cosby, I already have enough money with me."

Charlotte recognized Klaus's voice and saw how Elijah closed his eyes and sighed in resignation. Klaus went forward with a small suitcase, stopping next to Charlotte and handed it to her. Charlotte opened it and saw that it was full of money. She looked at a smugly grinning Klaus.

"I like being prepared. Do you want to bring the money up front?" Klaus asked quietly. "There's ten million dollars in the suitcase, each wad consists of 100 $1,000 bills, so $100,000."

"Where did you get so much money so quickly?" Charlotte asked softly.

"I brought it with me from New Orleans." Klaus shrugged. "I didn't want to go through the hassle of organizing so much money in Los Angeles. In New Orleans, one phone call is enough and my bank will deliver the money to me by courier, even if it's five o'clock in the morning."

"I'm impressed", Charlotte said dryly. She turned back to Sharon Cosby. "Judge Cosby, my client's brother already has the money. May I step forward with him to hand over the money?"

"You may step forward, Mrs Richards. I also need the name of the person posting the bail for the files", said Sharon Cosby, looking expectantly at Charlotte.

"My name is Klaus Mikaelson, Judge Cosby", Klaus said in a loud and clear voice. The courtroom got noisy once more and Charlotte saw from Klaus' grin that he had done it on purpose. She also heard Elijah sigh loudly again.

Sharon Cosby swallowed visibly. "Please step forward!"

Charlotte and Klaus stepped forward and Charlotte held the suitcase while Klaus opened it. He pulled out wad after wad of cash and placed them on the judge's desk. Despite Charlotte's initial misgivings, Klaus remained silent and outwardly respectful to the judge.

When the sum was complete on her desk, Sharon Cosby waved the bailiff over. "Take the money to the court register and get a receipt for it, then you come back immediately and bring the receipt with you."

The bailiff nodded and left, looking very happy about leaving the courtroom.

Klaus closed the suitcase and took it out of Charlotte's hands.

"Mr. Mikaelson, you can go back to your seat. It should only take a few minutes for the bailiff to come back." Sharon Cosby looked at Charlotte. "In the meantime, we can finish the rest of the formalities."

Klaus went back to his place. The prosecutor also stepped up to the judge's desk, and the three law people talked quietly with each other.

Eventually the bailiff came back and handed the receipt to Sharon Cosby. She checked it briefly before passing it on to Charlotte.

"Mr. Elijah Mikaelson, you are free to go." Sharon Cosby looked over at Chloe and Dan. "Your services guarding Mr. Mikaelson are no longer required and you can return to your other duties."

"Thank you, Judge Cosby", Charlotte replied, returning to Elijah. She smiled at him contentedly. "We can go."

Elijah smiled back and together they went to his family, who had all stood up and hugged Elijah one by one. Then they left the courtroom together and Charlotte followed at their heels. As she did so, she watched everyone's eyes follow the Mikaelson family and those present and aware of their predicament looked more than worried about their immediate future.

xxxxx

Chloe and Dan entered the courtroom after Elijah and his family. Chloe noted that their entrance caused quite a stir. What startled her was that it was mostly caution, distrust, and even a little fear. Why?

Surely, the circles in which Elijah Mikaelson usually moved did not intersect with those coincidentally just now present in the courtroom. Especially not in the short time, Elijah had been in Los Angeles. Why did they react like that to him and his family?

Chloe and Dan sat behind the Mikaelsons, where they had a better view of the courtroom.

Chloe could tell Dan was looking rather tense. His eyes roamed the room restlessly. "Is everything ok?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, just have a weird feeling", Dan replied just as softly.

Since Chloe felt the same way, she accepted his answer and observed the judge. Chloe had heard a lot about Judge Cosby. None was as generous as she was with granting bail. It might have been a little suspicious but many of her cases faithfully adhered to the terms and were available for their court hearings afterwards. Although many of them got subsequently acquitted, they were always tried by different judges.

Moreover, she knew that Malcolm Graham and Anthony Paolucci had genuinely loathed her, which spoke only for her. She had once asked Dan about her and he had said that she was a dedicated judge who genuinely cared about the good of all people.

Chloe watched the man, whose case Judge Cosby had negotiated as they had come in, turn around and, after recognizing Elijah, nodded to him. Elijah returned the nod and Chloe would have liked to know how they knew each other.

Although she expected the man to leave the room immediately after his granted bail, he instead sat down on the other side of the aisle. It seemed he wanted to watch Elijah's bail hearing, which felt quite peculiar to Chloe.

Behind them, the door to the courtroom opened and Elijah turned around. When she saw the obvious happiness on his face and when his sisters turned around and responded with delight as well, she thought at first that it was his brother Klaus.

Chloe was surprised when Elijah introduced the young couple as Kol and Davina. Elijah introducing Kol as his brother was completely unnecessary because he looked like a younger version of Elijah.

However, she wondered a little why Kol chuckled slightly when Elijah mentioned Klaus introducing himself to the neighbourhood. She frowned. Why should Klaus introduce himself in the neighbourhood of a building his brother had just bought.

Then the bailiff called up the next case and Elijah and Charlotte went to the front. The door opened again and this time Lucifer and Maze walked in with a young blond man who resembled Freya and Rebekah. She assumed that this time it was Klaus and if she counted them correctly, all his siblings had come now to Elijah's aid.

But where Elijah moved with quiet confidence but unassuming, Klaus walked like someone, who arrogantly assumed that everyone always gave way to him. For Chloe there was something dangerous about Klaus.

From Klaus's greeting, Chloe deduced that Kol's arrival was quite a surprise to everyone, which explained Elijah's happy reaction. And she was also quite sure that, if she interpreted Davina's facial expression correctly, Davina and Klaus couldn't stand each other.

Chloe could see that this commotion was irritating the judge. But before she could do anything about it, Elijah turned around and glared at his family disapprovingly.

Chloe couldn't help but grin a little as that look easily got his siblings to behave.

Chloe listened as the bailiff announced Elijah's case. Coincidentally, she was looking at the unknown man across the aisle when he heard Elijah's name. The utter horror and shock on his face took her by surprise. And he wasn't the only one reacting to the name. The courtroom literally exploded with the loud babble of voices.

The only ones who didn't react at all were Elijah and his family. It almost seemed as if they had expected this outbreak.

After Judge Cosby quieted the courtroom, it was eerily silent. Chloe glanced over at Dan, whose expression was now rather pinched.

For the next few minutes, there was the normal back and forth that Chloe had seen often enough between attorney and prosecutor. But what stood out to her was how the courtroom reacted to Charlotte's words that Elijah's entire family had come to Los Angeles to support him. This time there was a clear undertone of concern in the whispering of the crowd.

Chloe wasn't surprised that Judge Cosby granted Elijah bail, she was even happy about this, but she had to swallow at the bail amount.

Judge Cosby warned Elijah not to leave Los Angeles. When Chloe heard Elijah's reply to this, she shivered a little, it almost sounded like a threat. And this time she could no longer ignore the fearful undertone in the audience's murmur.

When Chloe heard that Elijah had to pay the bail in cash, she only hoped that his contacts were good enough to raise enough money on a Sunday to save him from another night in jail. However, she was surprised how the judge was convinced that Elijah's family could actually get so much money at such short notice.

When Klaus got up and announced that he had the entire bail with him, she had to swallow again. She watched Klaus go to Charlotte and show her the contents of the suitcase. As talented as Charlotte was at controlling herself, Chloe could still see that the contents of the suitcase stunned her.

Charlotte asked the judge if she could come forward with the money and after the judge's permission, they walked forward. When Klaus said his name aloud when asked, the audience reacted again and this time Chloe could see that even the judge was responding to his name.

Chloe then watched in disbelief as Klaus Mikaelson placed $5 million on the judge's desk as if it was peanuts. And she could even see from afar that the suitcase was still half full. She just hoped that none of those present would get the idea of stealing the suitcase.

The courtroom remained unusually quiet while everyone waited for the bailiff to return. Chloe had been in many courtrooms but she had never experienced such an unusual and somehow eerie atmosphere.

After the bailiff was back, the judge announced that Elijah was free to go. Chloe watched Elijah walk over to his family, who gave him enthusiastic hugs before they left the courtroom with Charlotte. The part of her that wasn't concerned about the weird mood in the courtroom was happy for Elijah.

Chloe also noticed how everyone's eyes followed the Mikaelsons on their way out and she couldn't help but see that most of those present suddenly looked very scared.

"Do you see that too?" she asked softly.

"Yes, I see it", Dan replied curtly, his eyes serious.

"Something strange is going on here. Why is everyone reacting this way to the name Mikaelson?" Chloe wondered aloud.

"I have no idea", replied Dan softly. "Let's go, this case won't solve itself alone. We have to do our job. And I have the feeling that the sooner Elijah Mikaelson and his family can leave Los Angeles, the better for everyone involved."

Chloe and Dan then left the still much too quiet courtroom.

Guest = Of course Lucifer isn't scared of Klaus, I think he's more intrigued. From how I understand the angels' mode of movement, they essentially teleport from one place to another, while the vampires actually travel the route. Angels may be able to track the movement of Vampires better than humans, but that doesn't mean Klaus was in sight of Lucifer and Maze.