Title: It Wasn't Me
Summary: Walker and Alex have been married for five years and Angela just turned four. Everything in their lives is going great until the day Angela gets kidnapped.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. They belong to whoever owns the rights to Walker Texas Ranger.
Author's Note: This story is set in May 2005 right after Angela's fourth birthday.
Thanks to all the Reviewers. I really loved hearing what you had to say.
Also I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.
--------------------------------
Chapter 11: Just Another Day in Court
As Angela sat curled in a little ball in the corner; Sydney sat in a chair taking one punch after another; Gage and Trivette sat in the office, not knowing what was going on anywhere; Walker and Gordon sat in the courtroom, staring straight ahead and waiting for court to begin; and Alex sat in the courtroom, wondering how everything in her life had ended up at this moment, where soon her husband's trial would begin, and she didn't have any idea where Angela was or what had happened to her.
The courtroom was empty for the moment. But soon people would be pouring in; everyone wanting to know how the famous Texas Ranger Cordell Walker had landed himself in court on a kidnapping charge; although most people knew Walker was innocent.
Anderson was still absent from the courtroom. But he still had an hour before the trial and Alex figured he was putting everything together; trying to make sure that there was no way her husband could get off. How Alex just wished that she could hurt him; she knew that he was the one doing this to her family and she longed for the chance to hurt him, make him feel even half as bad as she had felt over the pass few days.
And as Alex watched her husband and dad, she knew something was wrong. There really wasn't anyway to get Walker off on the kidnapping charge, everything was pointing towards him, and as Alex watched her husband talk to her dad, her heart sank. This just couldn't be happening to her family.
Alex just kept thinking. 'This was all a bad dream and any minute I'm going wake up from it. I'll be lying in my bed with my husband by my side. Any minute now our little girl will be running into our bedroom, jumping up and down on the bed, announcing to the world that it was another day and time for her parents to get out of bed. And then we will go downstairs and fix breakfast together. Later tonight we will sit down as a family and eat dinner. Then we will sit down and watch a movie together, with me ending up falling asleep in my husband's arms and our little daughter falling asleep in my arms. And none of this would ever have happened. This is all a dream.' Alex kept repeating to herself, but as Alex sat in the courtroom and looked around at the trial that was about to begin, she knew she was kidding herself. This wasn't a dream, it was her reality.
---------------------------------
"Stop it. Please stop it." Sydney begged with Anderson as he continued to hit her, he seemed content on kicking the sense out of her.
"Sorry, not going to happen." Anderson said as he sent another punch to the side of her face.
"Why are you doing this?" Sydney asked when she found her voice again.
"Lets just say it's a little more pain for Walker to know that he caused. Which reminds me…" Anderson said and then left the room.
He returned several minutes later.
"What'd you do?" Sydney asked him.
"None of your business." Anderson said as he starting hitting her again.
---------------------------
Just then someone came into the courtroom and whispered something into Gordon's ear; he then whispered it into Walker's ear and then got up and told Alex.
"What's going on dad?" Alex questioned her father as she grew more and more worried by the second.
Gordon bent down to whisper in his daughter's ear. "Anderson just called in sick. They are tracking down a replacement but they want you to do it."
Alex sat there in shock. There was no way that she was going to do this to Walker, no way.
"Alex honey, you may have to. They said that if they don't find someone there won't be a pre-trial and then Walker's chances of getting off are slim to none. Walker said he understands if you have to do this. He knows that he can get off if there is a pre-trial, but he's not sure what would happen in the real trial."
"Dad, I can't. Walker's my husband and I won't do that to him."
"Alex, go talk to him. I need to go see Trivette anyways."
"Why?" Alex asked as her dad started to walk away.
"Lets just say that something's not right here and I want Trivette and Gage to find out what."
Gordon left the courtroom and Alex headed up to talk to Walker.
"I'm not doing it." Alex said as she sat down in the chair next to her husband. "Never. I'll never do it."
"I knew you were going to say that." Walker said as he leaned over and gave her a hug.
--------------------------
Meanwhile Trivette and Gage had already started working on what Gordon had asked them to.
They were headed over to Anderson's house, taking the same path Sydney had a few hours earlier.
They arrived there just as the trial was set to start.
They got out of the car and had only one thing in mind: to find Angela and Sydney so they could prove that Anderson had done it and not Walker.
---------------------------
Luckily the DA's office had found someone else and Alex wouldn't have to work on the case in any way, shape, or form.
Alex sat there and listened to every word the judge said. Hanging on to every word that was spoken in the courtroom. Trying to figure out in her head if there was still anyway for Walker to get off without Angela being there.
Alex soon realized that there wasn't anything that could be done. There wasn't anyway for Walker to get off. All the hope that Alex had was gone. Her husband was going to end up in jail and Angela was…well Alex couldn't even bring herself to think about that. It was to hard to even think of the possibility of her little girl being murdered. The mere thought brought tears to Alex's eyes and as she sat there listening to everything being said, a tear fell down the side of her face.
Alex couldn't even watch the sight before her. Her husband was losing the pre-trial. He was being accused of kidnapping their daughter and he was being found guilty.
-----------------------------
Trivette and Gage had entered the house. They found Sydney upstairs and Anderson still beating her up pretty bad. The sight made both of them sick. Gage took on Anderson and within a few minutes Anderson was lying on the floor.
Trivette had run to Sydney who told him to go to the basement. Angela was down there.
------------------------------
Trivette ran down the stairs to the basement faster then he could ever remember running down anything. He found Angela lying in a corner in the basement. She was sleeping.
Trivette ran over to her and gently woke her up.
"Angela, Angela it's me, Uncle Jimmy." Trivette told her as Angela started to wake up.
"Uncle Jimmy…" Angela started to say as she woke up.
"Yeah honey."
"My arm hurts real bad." Angela said.
"Which one?" Trivette questioned his four year old godchild.
"This one." Angela said as she pointed to her hurt arm with the arm that was okay.
Trivette looked at her arm and realized that it was probably broken.
"And Uncle Jimmy…" Angela started to say again.
"Yeah honey."
"I want my mommy and daddy." Angela said as she started to cry.
"Don't worry honey; I'm taking you to your mommy and daddy right now." Trivette said as he picked Angela up and carefully avoided her hurt arm.
------------------------------
Inside the courtroom, it was a little after two in the afternoon. Things weren't going well at all and Alex now found that she would rather be anywhere but inside it, listening to everything that was being said. The courtroom that she once loved being it was now the worse place on earth to her. And Alex knew why. It was because so much in her life had changed since the last time she truly enjoyed being in the courtroom. She was now a wife and a mother. She had more important things in her life then the courtroom and putting criminals away. And the scene before her was really starting to make her sick to her stomach.
"We will now hear from the defense. Mr. Cahill do you have anything to say?" the judge asked him.
Gordon stood up. His mind was racing. He was so sure that Trivette and Gage would have been back by now, but they weren't. He knew that if they walked in the courtroom with Angela and Angela told the judge that it wasn't her daddy who had kidnapped her and she pointed out the man, that the judge would probably listen to Angela and Walker would be free to go.
"Umm…" Gordon said and Alex knew that wasn't a good sign at all. Never did her father act like that. He always knew what he was going to say but now as he stood before the court, he looked clueless.
"Yes Mr. Cahill?" the judge asked waiting for him to give his answer.
"Well Your Honor, there are many sides to this case that we need to examine carefully. For example the witness has changed his story several times. First he said my client only kidnapped his own daughter, and then he added beating, raping, and trying to kill her. First I would like to know how the witness knows all this stuff if he only witnessed the kidnapping So I personally started to wonder about this…" Gordon paused for a moment before he started again. He could only hope that this was working. Alex didn't know what was going on, but from the looks of it so far, it was working and she now had hope again. Gordon then continued. "I got court permission and looked in William McDonald's bank account to see if there were any large amounts of money being put into it. I found that he had recently put in a million dollars. I couldn't figure out where this money had come from, so I got court permission and looked into his safe-deposit box. This letter that I am about to hand you, was found in that box under a legal search warrant." Gordon handed the letter to the jugde.
'5-23-05 Anything stupid, if you do anything stupid at all, your whole family will die. You tell them you saw Walker taking his daughter from his house last night, not me. You tell them he beat her, raped her, tried to kill her. I really don't care what you tell them as long as you get Walker put in jail. I have your son. You do anything wrong and he will die a very slow and painful death, one that I will bring you here to watch. As a reward for your services, you will be receiving a million dollars. Now usually I wouldn't do that but seeing as I really want to get Walker into jail, I'm willing to pay at any cost. Now remember McDonald, you tell anyone and your son will die. Best of luck to you and getting Walker in jail where he belongs. –DA Anderson'
The judge read and reread the letter several times.
"Well this changes everything. It looks like one of our own was playing both sides." the judge was saying when Gage suddenly walked in the courtroom with a little boy in his arms.
"DANNY!" McDonald looked up and ran when he saw his son in the ranger's arms.
"He's okay, although he misses you a lot." Gage told him as he handed the little boy over to his father.
Alex walked up to Sydney who had come into the courtroom with Gage. "Sydney, where's Angela?" Alex questioned, she knew they had gone back to Anderson's house and she knew that that was where Angela was but now as Sydney came into the courtroom without her daughter, Alex started to cry. It couldn't be true, could her little girl really be…dead.
Sydney wrapped her arms around Alex. "Alex, Trivette is bringing Angela. I think he was going to stop by the hospital but Angela's not going to let him. From the minute he brought her up the stairs at Anderson's she started yelling. She wants to see you and Walker so much that it isn't even funny. Just sit down for a minute before we cause an even bigger scene." Sydney said as she started to move towards their seats.
"Well, I guess court is interesting sometimes." the judge said, trying to lighten the situation in the courtroom.
Alex sat there lost in thoughts. Time seemed to grow slower and slower at first and then stop completely. Alex was growing worried. Where was her daughter? Why was Jimmy going to take her to the hospital? All these questions ran through her head and none of them were getting answered. Alex wasn't listening to anything around her anymore. Time stood still and she longed more then ever to have her little girl in her arms.
Then out of no where Trivette walked in and in his arms was Angela.
Alex got up and ran from her seat. She had never been so happy to see anyone in her life. After almost a week apart, it had been way too long. She and Walker had never even been apart for that long in their lives. And now as Alex saw the little girl in Trivette's arms, she ran right to him and Trivette gently put Angela in Alex's arms. He told her to be careful of her left arm and Alex hugged her daughter and Angela hugged her mommy and they stayed like that for a while.
Alex then looked down at her small daughter. "Honey, is daddy the one who kidnapped you?" Alex asked her and the judge was listening. Just then Alex looked at the man who had walked in behind Trivette. It was Anderson and he was in hand cuffs. Alex looked into his eyes. She was now sure this was the man she had seen that night in her house. The eyes were the same dark, cold, almost ice filled ones in her home. She was more sure then ever that Anderson was the man who had been ruining her life. And the hatred she felt for him was over whelming. She wanted nothing more then to kill him, but as she looked down at Angela, she knew there were other things that she needed to do right now. Like watching over Angela and making sure she got better.
"Mommy, Daddy didn't take me from home. He did and he hurt me too." Angela said as she pointed to Anderson.
The judge was watching this and had learned one this over the years. A child always told the truth no matter what. And that Anderson was the guilty party here.
"Your Honor, may I go see my wife and daughter?" Walker asked the judge.
"Usually I would say no but this time I say go see your family." the judge told him. The judge knew Walker hadn't done it when he read that letter, so he was more then willing to let Walker see his family.
Walker got up and took both of his girls in his arms. And as he did, Alex knew they were all together again, that their family was safe. Everything was now going to be alright. Angela was back, Walker was going to be found innocent and life would soon be returning to normal or whatever they considered normal in their lives.
"I love you baby." Alex told Angela.
"I'm not a baby." Angela told her mother and Alex couldn't help but laugh. She had longed to hear Angela say that to her for so long.
"I still love you though." Alex told her daughter again.
"And I love you too Angel." Walker told his small daughter.
"I love you mommy. And I love you daddy. And I love Uncle Jimmy and Auntie Syd and Uncle Gage too." Angela told them.
"And we love them too." Alex told her.
"But mommy my arm really does hurt." Angela said as she started to cry from the pain of it.
"Okay Angel, we're going to take you to the hospital and they are going to make your arm all better." Alex told her as Walker went to ask the judge if they could leave and take her to the hospital. The judge said they could, he knew what it was like after all he had kids too.
----------------------------------
Hope everyone enjoyed that chapter. There is still more to come. Like always please review and let me know what you think. Thanks.