5 November 1966

"All set for your big day?" my lawyer asked, coming into the conference room and sliding into a seat opposite me.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"I've got some news for you, I've tracked down a witness."

"What do you mean, apart from the Curtis boys?"

"Yeah, a cleaner in one of the buildings. She looked out the window and saw everything. She's been too scared to come forward."

"So why did she now?"

"I have my means of finding people" he said, grinning lazily. "That's good for us, she saw them surround you. Bad for us, she saw you knife that kid. But it'll help on the self defense angle at least…" he trailed off and started rummaging in his briefcase. He always seemed to be distracted, always thinking about something else, looking for the next big thing.

"Fuck it" I snarled, "is this shit gonna help or not? It ain't you that's gonna do the time, quit playing it like a fucking game!"

He shrugged, looking as calm as ever. "You'll just have to trust me to do my job Tim. Now what size are you?"

"What are you on about now?"

"I'll bring you in a suit to wear to court, don't you go in front of that jury looking like a hood. They'll look at you and see the nightmare that could have killed their son or brother. And the prosecution is gonna make little Robert Casey out like he was on his way to church choir when you knifed him, you get what I'm saying."

"I've got a suit, I'll get my brother to bring it in for me."

"Okay, I'll come and see you again before then if anything new happens."

My lawyer stood and put his jacket on. "You have a chance Tim, that's all. But that's all you can hope for in life anyway."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I followed the guard down to the visitor's room, hoping Curly had remembered to bring the suit like I'd asked him. I went in and looked around, not seeing him.

"Tim" a girl spoke from behind me.

I turned quickly. "Julia."

"Hey," she smiled at me, smoothing her skirt over her knees nervously. She looked out of place, like she always had when she was next to me.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, taking a seat next to her.

"You're as charming as ever. I see they haven't reformed you too much."

"Ain't a prison built that can reform me sweetheart. Now what do you want?"

The smile touched her lips again, sad this time. "Are you ever sorry for anything Tim?"

I thought of the first time Curly had come to visit me here, I thought of Robert Casey's laughing image that chased me through my dreams each night. I was sorry for so much shit, she couldn't imagine.

"Yeah, sorry I ever got caught."

"You're always…" she broke off and shook her head. "There's not much in this world you care about is there?"

"What do you want? I don't have time for this."

She shivered and folded her arms across her chest.

"It's so cold in here."

"Yeah, well they ain't too concerned with comfort."

I was used to the cold by now, I didn't feel it anymore. I guess you can get used to anything eventually.

"Your lawyer came to see me, Tony Clark, that's his name right?"

"What the fuck did he want?"

"He wants me to testify for you."

"He must be scrapping the fucking bottom if he's got you up to defend me, what are you gonna say? He cheated on me, burn the fucker?"

"Stuff you Tim." She stared at me, a mix of anger and regret in her expression. "You know I thought you might be better than what everyone said about you. But you only wanted what you could get, didn't you?"

I didn't say answer. It hadn't been like that, but she had wanted so much. She wanted dinner and dances and movies and flowers, she wanted to talk, she wanted a relationship. She had wanted more than I had to give.

"Julia, come on. Give me a fucking break, I'm going on trial for murder next week, I ain't gonna justify myself to you too."

"I know." She sucked a hard breath, reminding me of Curly when he was trying to cover his emotions. "I always knew what you were like, I'm not stupid. I was just stupid enough to think you actually cared about me."

"To hell with this, you say whatever the fuck you want up there okay, I don't give a shit!" I got up and made for the door.

"Tim, hold on, wait" she grabbed my arm. "Don't be so…don't be so like yourself okay? You always were a cold bastard. Your lawyer thinks I might be able to help your case."

"Yeah, how's that?" I sat back down warily, prepared to make a run if she started up on anymore emotional shit.

"I can't talk to you about it, he said not to, in case the jury thinks you told me what to say."

"Hell, what are you talking about?"

"I can't say. I just wanted to tell you that, in case maybe you were getting…I dunno, scared or something." She laughed a little. "Pretty stupid I know, guess I forgot who we're talking about here."

What could she possibly know, about anything?

"I gotta go okay, I've got to catch the bus back."

She stood up then leaned over and kissed me hard on the lips, pushing herself into me, her arms round my shoulders. An instant later she pulled sharply away, straightened and stared down at me, her eyes bright with tears.

"I really loved you, you fucking asshole. You know that?"

9 November 1966

I sat beside Curly in the visitor's room, waiting for him to say something. I hadn't realized how much I relied on him to fill the silence. I didn't seem to have a lot to say anymore, not much changes in here.

"What's up kid?" I said eventually. "Wade's mom still keeping you fed?"

He seemed to have gotten taller since I'd been in here, but it could just be that I always thought of him as more of a kid than he really was.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, what else is new?"

"What's new? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You're in here still ain't you?"

"Life goes on without me though don't it?"

"Yeah, but it ain't the same. You know I thought I wouldn't be able to take it if you went inside for this. But I can."
His voice was flat and empty. "I still get up everyday, and go and hang out, and fight, and hit on girls. So I guess that means I can take it, if I can still keep going."

He tilted his head back and gazed at the far wall, his face expressionless. But this time I couldn't see anything behind it, no fear, no love, no hope. I had always wanted him to grow up, but not like this.

He came to see me every week, without fail. Wade and the other boys came too, even the Curtis boys came a couple of times. I felt more and more distant from them each time they came, the gangs and rumbles and raids and parties seemed like something that had happened a lifetime ago. In a few years time, seeing them would only remind me of the person I used to be.

"You should see what the papers are writing about you Tim, they want you to burn for this. Sometimes I just wish we could go back and start over again."

they want you to burn I saw my life before my eyes, like only a drowning man was supposed to.A father who looked at me with death in his eyes, a mother I couldn't save, a girl with a broken heart, a gang without a leader, and a brother who would drown with me if he didn't learn to stand alone. That was what I would leave behind in the world.

"It'll be…"

"Don't tell me it'll be okay."

"Curly," I paused and looked at him, wanting to run a mile rather than see the truth, that no one would ever hurt him as much as I had. "I just want you to be okay, that's all I ever wanted."

"I know" he said, "but all I ever wanted was to be just like you."

10 November 1966

I swaggered into court dressed for a funeral, black pants, black shirt, black jacket. I had worn my suit twice before, both times to funerals, and this trial could be as good as a funeral for me too. There was a word for this situation, but I couldn't think what it was. My lawyer slid into the seat beside.

"Morning Tim" he said, looking tense for the first time.

"What the fucks going on?" I hissed under my breath to him. "What does Julia know about any of this?"

"All rise" someone announced.

Tony nudged me and I stood with him as the judge entered. I glanced back over my shoulder to see who was in the gallery. Curly, of course, slumped back in the seat with a bored smirk on his face. A few of the boys beside him, hair slicked back, arms folded, glaring at everyone in the room, none of them standing for the judge. There was a group of people I didn't recognize, well dressed and standing straight. Robert Casey's family no doubt.

I watched Tony shuffling papers and writing himself little notes while the jury was sworn in and proceedings got under way. I knew I should be paying a little more attention to the event that was going to decide my future, but the truth is that for the most part trials are just plain boring.

Lyle Johnson was how I had expected my own lawyer would look, grey haired, full of presence, his face set in hard anger as he paced before the jury, making his opening statement.

"Don't let him fool you, just because he was cunning enough to clean himself up and put on a suit. That young man you see there is a killer, stone cold…"

The jury, as directed, swung their gazes to me. I gave them a grin, and Tony drove his elbow into my ribs.

"He smiles!" Lyle Johnson's voice raised a couple of notes. "He sits and smiles, knowing he sent a young boy to his grave! Make no mistake about the sort of person you see, he can't clean himself up enough to hide what's inside, whats underneath that suit."

He stood over the jury, and they seemed transfixed by him. I wondered how the hell Tony was going to compete with this.

"No doubt you will be told what a sad, sad life young Tim here has had, how he saw his parents killed, how he spent years in foster care. But he still had a choice, like I do, like you do, like we all do because we have minds and free wills. The choice he made was to be a gang member; the choice he made was to walk our streets armed with weapons. And in August this year he made the choice to take a boys life, and for that he deserves the harshest penalty the law can impose…"

"He's going for the kill ain't he" I quipped to Tony.

"Ssshhh" he hissed, as riveted by Lyle Johnson as the jury was. Shit the guy was probably his goddamn hero. I wished Curly was sitting up next to me, he would have appreciated the joke.

Lyle Johnson finally ran out of deeds to accuse me of, and Tony got up.

"Well," he said conversationally, leaning against a bench in front of the jury. "That was impressive wasn't it? Like something straight out of the movies, right folks? My client is guilty of most of the things Lyle Johnson accuses him of. He's guilty of being a hood that is true. A gang member, that is also true."

A gang member? The fucking president no less, I would have to remind my lawyer of a few goddamn facts.

"In fact" he continued, leaning in toward the jury and dropping his voice slightly. "Don't tell him I said so, but I think he's guilty of being an arrogant, hard headed son of a bitch too."

I heard the boys laughing back in the gallery, and some of the jury members smiled. In a different sort of way, he seemed to have as much of a hold on them as Lyle Johnson had.

"However, we are not here to judge Tim on how he dresses, who his friends are, and what he does in his spare time. We are here to decide whether or not he is responsible for the murder of Robert Casey. And that is the one thing he is not guilty of."

A/N: Sorry this is a bit delayed, I was really stuck on this chapter. As you can see it is mostly setting things up for the next chapter, but I hope I haven't bored you too much. Thanks for reading.

Replies to reviewers:

Starbryte234: Glad you liked him smiling at the cameras, it seemed to me like the sort of thing he would do!

Tensleep: Thanks, I'm glad you liked that part because it was a lot of fun to write too. Funnily enough I got the idea for his lawyer while watching "Hoodlum" where Andy Garcia plays a cool 1930's gangster, and somehow the lawyer came from that.

NittanyLizard: Thanks, good to hear it sounded realistic. I'm glad you liked the prison scenes too, I tried to give an impression of what it was like without going into it too much as I'm not so interested in that side of it.

Aslan: Your review really had me intrigued; I hope you tell me if you were right after the story is finished…I would love to know!

NalunaSolna: I'm glad you got the 'first night' scene, as I was meaning it to apply to both their lives, as you said. Thanks :)

EquestrainKEB: Thanks good to hear you're enjoying it.

Snowgurl54: Yeah I couldn't leave Curly out of it! I'm glad you like reading about him, I like writing him.

Kate: Thanks for your review. Those are my thoughts on it too, just because Tim (and guys like him) don't show their feelings doesn't mean they don't have any. I'm glad you like it, thanks again.

Reviewer: Yeah I guess Tim had to apologize eventually. That was my favorite part of the chapter actually, so I'm glad you liked it.

Sungurl: Okay, since you asked!

Star141: Hope you enjoy this chapter too, sorry it's a bit delayed.

Jesse: I know it's frustrating waiting, I read stories on here too so I know the feeling, but I do have a life apart from writing about Tim and Curly :)

Sarah121: Glad you liked that chapter, hope you liked seeing Curly back in this one.

Greendayrocks: No, haven't forgotten! Sorry for the wait, this chapter was a hard one to write.