Chapter 7: The Drama Begins

Summary: The trial begins
Disclaimer: Don't own anything except Nikki...
A/N: Thank you to Collen DeWitt for all your help!

"The prosecution calls Nikki Freeman," Linda Montgomery, my lawyer called.
I made my way up to the witness stand.
"In your own words Nikki, please tell the jury what happened the night of November 10th."
"Eric and I went out to dinner and then when we were driving around Eric pulled over and started kissing me. I told him to stop and pulled away from him. Eric told me that he wasn't ready to take me home and pulled me closer. When I pulled away again Eric told me to do what he said and slapped me."
"The prosecution submits Exhibit A," Linda said signaling for the roll of pictures on the projector to be shown. "Nikki, how many times has Eric hit you?" she asked when the roll was done.
"Um, 10 to 12 times in eight months."
"Thank you, Nikki. No further questions. Your witness," she said to the defense.
"Eric hit you between 10 and 12 times, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"If it bothered you so much why didn't you do anything to stop it?"
"I tried to but no one in Chicago cared enough to help me stop it. I honestly didn't expect that anyone here would care either, but they did. And they helped me stop what should have been stopped long before."
"So you're saying that this is all Eric's fault, that you had nothing to do with the problem."
"Well I'm sure I...I mean yes. It is all Eric's fault."
Oh man! Now I've done it! I thought to myself.
"Did you ever say anything to make Eric mad at you?"
"I'm sure I did, but that gives him no reason to hit me."
"Did you ever make any gestures that suggested you still liked him after the first time he hit you?"
"Yes I did, but only because I didn't think it was typical."
"Did you show him you still liked him after the second time he hit you?"
"Yes I did because I knew he loved me, or I thought he did anyways."
"Thank you Nikki. No further questions. You may step down."
"The court will take a recess and begin again tomorrow morning," the judge said.
We all rose as the judge left. As we walked out into the hall Alex walked over to me.
"Don't say anything! Just don't say anything!" I snapped, angry at myself for slipping up. "Damn!" I said throwing my hands in the air as I walked into the bathroom.
I slowly cooled my face with a wet paper towel as I started to cry.
"It's okay Nikki," Val said walking over to me.
"No it's not! I cracked and Davis made me look awful because of it."
"You did the best you could," she said slowly.
"No I didn't, but thanks for trying to help. Unfortunately nothing's going to help this."
"It really is okay Nikki," Linda said coming over to Val and I, "Josh knows they've lost the case, but he's trying to get the easiest sentence. In order to do that he had to make you seem at fault somehow. He would have done it anyway, you just made it shorter and probably easier for yourself in the long run. Josh told me to tell you that he's sorry for making you so upset and that he was just dong his job."
"Thank you," I said forcing a small smile. "I feel a little bit better."
"Come on," Linda said leading the way to the door.
Val stayed close by me as we walked out the door.
Alex looked at me steadily. I knew he was disappointed about what happened and about my reaction.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"I do. Look Nikki," he said pulling me aside, "it was going to happen eventually. It's not your fault. I know you're upset but you didn't need to react like that. It's not that bad."
"Yes it is! I slipped and Davis made me look awful because I slipped. You don't understand how bad it is. You've never been in my position!"
"Nikki, calm down," he said gently. "It's going to be okay."
"Nikki, we have to go. We've got a call."
I sighed and followed Val, Tyler, Hank and Jamie out the door.
"What do we have?" Tyler asked Hank as we climbed in the ambulance.
"MVA," he said slowly. "Ten cars involved. Multiple serious injuries."
"Oh man," I said leaning my head against the seat, "I hate these calls."
We reached the scene and climbed out. There were already five ambulances there. Val and I moved to a girl with a cracked skull and started treating the bleeding.
"Carrie!" I exclaimed.
"You know her?" Val asked getting another gauze pad.
"We cheered together in Chicago. She's like, one of my best friends."
"She's got a weak pulse," Hank said checking her vitals while Val and I worked on controlling the bleeding.
"Come on Carrie, you have to get better," I said gently.
"Nikki, go get a Saline IV." Hank told me.
"On it!" I ran to the ambulance and got the IV bag.
"Nikki, I said Saline. This is wrong."
"Sorry," I said taking the bag from him and ran back to the ambulance and grabbed a Saline IV.
Could today get any worse? I thought to myself as I ran back to Val and Hank.
We moved Carrie to the ambulance and drove to the hospital. Carrie's pulse was getting weaker and weaker.
"Don't die Carrie," I said softly, "I need you."
We dropped Carrie off at the hospital. Hank, Tyler and Jamie started cleaning the ambulance while Val came with me into the waiting room. Tyler, Hank and Jamie joined us when they were done.
"Any word," Jamie asked.
I shook my head. "Not yet."
The doctor walked into the waiting room and walked over to us.
"I'm sorry Nikki," he said slowly, "we lost her. She lost too much blood."
"Thank you," I said wiping the tears from my eyes.
"Would you like to see her one last time?"
"Yes I would. Thank you," I said starting to follow him.
"Would you like me to come with you?" Jamie asked me.
"That's okay. You should stay here, but thank you for offering."
"No problem."
I went with the doctor to where Carrie was.
"Thank you for everything," I said hugging Carrie. "I'll tell your parents you got the best treatment possible. Be sure to give my parents a hug for me." I looked at her one last time.
When I was done I went with the doctor and gave him Carrie's parents contact information and then gave him mine.
"Be sure to let me know if you need anything," he said me.
"Thank you for everything, I might take you up on that."
"No problem."
I went back to the waiting room.
Hank, Tyler, Jamie, Val and I walked out to the ambulance.
"Everything's going to be okay," Jamie said, pulling me aside.
"Eventually," I said climbing into the ambulance.
When we drove to the station. When we got there Alex walked over to us. He noticed how quiet and stressed we were.
"Rough one?" he asked.
"MVA. 3 dead including Nikki's friend from Chicago. 5 others were critical." Hank said.
"Jamie, empty the trash. We'll help with the rest later. Call critique, rec room, 10 minutes," he said to the rest of us.
"I don't want to talk about it right now," I said to Alex. "Today really can't be any worse," I said hitting my head on the wall. I started to cry again.
"You know where to find me if you do want to talk about it."
"I know, thank you," I said walking inside.
"Okay guys," Hank said when we had all assembled. "We handled that call very well, all things considering."
"Except the IV bag," I said. "I must've given a Saline IV a thousand times and I couldn't get it right!"
"It's okay Nikki, don't worry about it. It's been a rough day."
"How are you doing?" Tyler asked.
"Great!" I said sarcastically. "How do you thing I'm doing? I screwed up in court today, I gave Hank the wrong IV bag and I lost my best friend." I felt the tears in my eyes.
"It's eventually going to be okay. Today is over. We're just going to take it one day at a time. If we need to, we'll put you on the DL to give you a chance to relax."
We were all quiet. There was nothing left to say.

Well what do you think? Please r&r. More soon...