Author's Notes: The OCSFC sort of distracted me for a while - both writing and organizing. But this story is back again and it certainly shouldn't be as long between chapters again. Much thanks goes out to maudgonne for the extremely quick beta once I got it to her.

Sandy and Ryan arrived at the DA's office and were shown into a conference room. They sat quietly waiting for the DA to arrive. Sandy was thinking about his chances of getting the charges dropped today. He'd dealt with Rick Santoro before – Rick was fair, most of the time, but he could be tough and take a hard line if he got it into his head.

He had no idea what Ryan was thinking.

The DA came in and set his briefcase on the table. "So, what are you thinking, Sandy?"

"Well, Rick, I'm thinking it's self-defense and you guys should drop all the charges."

Rick sat down and shook his head. "Sandy, come on. Self-defense? Your client said nothing to the police about being attacked. It was a fight over a girl that went too far. They were both battered and bruised. They were seen shoving each other in the club. In fact, the victim's girlfriend…" He stopped to search through some papers, "… Amanda Jenkins, says your client was being aggressive towards her, which is why the victim stepped in in the first place. I'm willing to go aggravated assault, one to two."

Sandy turned to Ryan. "Is that what happened in the club?"

"She's lying," Ryan said without looking up from the table.

Rick held up the paper. "I've got her sworn statement right here."

"That's not what happened." Ryan shook his head, picking at a scab on his knuckle. "She came up to me. We were just talking when Jake came over. She said they were broken up and he shoved me."

"And then you shoved him back," Rick said.

Ryan nodded. "Then he punched me and we got kicked out."

"And the fight continued outside."

Ryan nodded again.

"Ryan," Sandy said. "Fill in the holes."

"They kicked us out, I sat on the curb to wait for Seth, and he pulled me up and pushed me into the alley. Then the fight continued."

"Ryan, did you say anything to each other?" Sandy hated prompting him but he had to tell the whole story.

Ryan shrugged. "I said we didn't have to fight, he said we did, so we did."

"Sandy, I can't go self-defense on this. There's too much evidence to go forward. And it's not like your client is a typical Newport kid who just got in over his head."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We've got a file on him. His father's in prison, his brother's in prison. He's not exactly sheltered."

"You can't use that. A judge would never let a jury hear that." Sandy couldn't believe Rick was even bringing it up.

"No, but your client never claimed self-defense until after he talked to you. There's no evidence to back up his story. He had plenty of opportunities to tell the police and he never mentioned that he was a victim in it all. He told the police himself that the fight was over a girl. From where we stand, it looks like manslaughter. Aggravated assault is a gift, one to two years. Take it or leave it."

"Leave it," Sandy said. Ryan's head whipped up and looked at him.

"I'll leave it on the table. You might need to talk to your client about it, Sandy. Let me know."

Once the DA left the room, Ryan turned to Sandy. "Why didn't you take the deal?"

"Because I don't want you to go to jail. Because you're not guilty."

Ryan looked back at his hands. "I killed a man."

"Ryan, look at me." Sandy waited until Ryan slowly turned his head towards him. "A man died, yes. But he was trying to kill you first and you don't deserve to go to jail because of it. What happened wasn't your fault. Maybe we can't convince the DA right now, but next we'll try to convince a judge. And if we can't convince the judge, then we'll convince a jury."

"And if we don't convince a jury?"

"We'll deal with it if it comes to that."

"Why do you get to make all the decisions?"

"Because I don't want to see you throw your life away."

"Maybe this is my life."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, maybe the DA is right. My father, my brother. Why fight it? It's inevitable."

"Ryan, you are not your father or your brother. You are better than that."

"Then why am I here, right where they were?"

Sandy didn't know what to say to that, because he couldn't explain it. No matter how hard he tried, Ryan just couldn't seem to avoid the bad stuff.

"What if I want to take the deal?"

"As your lawyer, I think it's a bad idea. I really think you can get off."

Ryan was back to staring at the table. "What if I don't want you as my lawyer?"

Sandy was taken aback by this admission. He tried to push his personal feeling aside. "Okay. I can try to find someone else, if that's what you want. But I can't promise you your next lawyer will tell you what you want to hear either."

Ryan just nodded.

"All right then. I'll take you home now. Maybe we'll stop for lunch on the way?"

Ryan shrugged.

"I'll take that as a yes." Sandy put his arm around Ryan's shoulders as they walked down the hall, out of the building.

Ryan was making supper when Kirsten and Sandy came home that evening.

"You don't need to do that, Ryan," Kirsten said.

He looked up from chopping green peppers and shrugged. "I've got nothing else to do. I thought I'd try be a little useful."

Sandy walked over beside Ryan. "I made some calls today." He pulled out a business card and held it out to Ryan. "The best defense attorney available – next to me, of course."

"I'm sorry." Ryan wiped his hands on a towel and took the card. "I shouldn't have… I didn't mean…"

"Don't worry about it. I thought about what you said and you're right. I'm too close to it to be objective. But don't think you can rid of me that easily. I'll still be beside you every step of the way. We'll just let Barry take the lead. And we've got a meeting with him tomorrow."

When Ryan and Sandy arrived at Barry's office, Ryan wasn't sure what to expect. It was a small office and he saw only Barry's name on the door. The receptionist told them to go right in and they found Barry behind his desk, files piled everywhere. Ryan looked around apprehensively.

"Sandy, how you doing?" Barry stood up to shake Sandy's hand. He was a big, burly guy whose hand engulfed Sandy's. "You must be Ryan." He held his hand out and Ryan shook it, still eying him warily. "The office is a little small, I know. I do a lot of pro bono work and I like to keep my overhead low. But don't worry – I'm not letting Sandy off that easily." Barry smiled at Ryan, who just gave him a half smile back.

They sat down in the chairs opposite Barry and Sandy leaned over towards him. "Barry and I went to Berkeley together."

Ryan nodded.

"But don't think that means I won't be objective," Barry said. "I've been disagreeing with Sandy since we met. So, he says you want to take the plea the DA offered, but he thinks you can do better. Right?"

Ryan nodded.

"Not much of a talker, huh? How do you survive in Sandy's house? No wonder he let you stay." Barry smiled at him as if trying to share the joke. When Ryan didn't smile back, he got down to business. "Okay, I read over the file Sandy sent me, and I tend to agree with him. But I've got a couple of questions for you."

Ryan looked at Sandy. He wasn't sure he liked this gregarious man, wasn't sure he trusted him. Sandy shrugged. "You can at least listen to his questions before you make up your mind."

Ryan slouched in the chair, and shrugged at Barry.

"Most people I represent, even when they're guilty, are professing their innocence to anyone who will listen. You're not, and you look innocent, if the story you told Sandy is true. Is there something you're not telling us?"

"No." Ryan shifted in his chair. He resented this guy who didn't know him, accusing him of lying.

"You went willingly into the alley? You were looking to fight this guy?"

"No." He straightened up. "He pushed me in. I didn't want to fight him."

"The girlfriend's telling the truth, then? You were in her space, not leaving her alone. Jake was just protecting her in the club?"

"No, she's lying. She came up to me." Ryan didn't like the way this guy grilling him, like he didn't believe him.

"He wasn't hurting you when you kicked him. You kicked him just for the hell of it?"

"He was choking me. I couldn't breathe." He leaned forward and pointed at his neck. "I've still got the bruises."

Barry nodded. "So why are you willing to argue with me about it, but want to give up with the DA?"

"What?" Ryan could hear Sandy trying to stifle his laughter and not doing a very good job of it. He resisted the urge to glare at Sandy, saving it instead for Barry.

"I just gave you the same arguments the DA is using to press forward with the charges. You're willing to defend yourself to me. Why not the DA?"

Ryan leaned back into his chair again. "I don't know. It's just easier."

"It's easier to go to jail than to fight for the truth?"

Ryan didn't want to look at Barry, didn't want to admit that he was right. "Sometimes."

"Look, Ryan. Your case looks worth the fight on paper. Sandy tells me you're worth the fight. But I don't have a case if my client isn't on board with it. I can't fight unless you want to fight. It's no use if you're going to side with the DA."

Sandy joined in. "Come on, kid. Help us fight for you."

Ryan wondered why Sandy was fighting so hard. Everything would just be easier if he took the plea. The Cohens wouldn't have to worry about him anymore; he wouldn't have to worry about messing up anymore. His life would go back to how it always should have been. And he killed the guy. Shouldn't he go to jail for that? He looked at the earnest faces of Sandy and Barry. What had he done to deserve having these people want to fight for him and save him? He shrugged. "Okay."

"You have to be a willing participant, Ryan. You can't just be along for the ride."

"I said okay."

Barry studied him intently for a few seconds. "Okay. The first thing will be filing a Motion for Dismissal with the judge at the Preliminary Hearing on Monday." He pulled out a piece of paper from a file. "Oh." His face dropped.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing major. We just drew Judge Harnett for the Preliminary Hearing."

"Oh." Sandy turned to Ryan. "Judge Harnett is known for being tough on defendants. It just means he likely won't grant our motion."

"So what's the point then?"

"The point," Barry said, "is to let the prosecution know we plan to fight them. If our motion is denied, the next step will be the Grand Jury. But we have no control over that, and we can pretty much assume the DA will get his indictment. And then we'll start preparing for trial."

"And Barry will write one hell of a motion, so there's always the chance this will all be over by Monday," Sandy said.

"But don't get your hopes up too high for Monday," Barry said. "I'm good, but I don't know if I'm that good."

TBC