A/N: Happy Saturday! Thank you all for the reviews and for reading. Here is the next chapter. Just a warning that we are going into the trial so I'm going to slap a trigger warning here since they will be discussing what happened between Kim and Nick. I know how much you guys must have missed him haha.
As always, I own nothing and please R&R!
January 3rd, 2005
Angel Grove, CA
The rest of the New Years Eve party went without a hitch and was a pleasant time. We stayed until well after midnight, bringing in what will hopefully be a bright and better year for everyone. Tommy came home with us and everything felt normal for once. Mom went home the next day. It took a while to stop hugging and crying so we could get her into her rental car. Before she pulled away, she made me promise to call her after the trial each day to fill her in. It was hard watching her drive away but I knew she would be back in just a couple of months, bringing with her a new chapter in both our lives.
On January 2nd, I mailed in my paperwork to start the process of my divorce. I hadn't thought about doing this until after the trial but I knew that if Tommy and I were ever going to get to a place where we were ready to be together, I needed to get Nick out of my life for once and for all. And according to the law in California, if we were still married when the baby comes, Nick would automatically be listed as the father. I didn't want that because he would have rights to her, even in prison. I was doing my best to not think about him but with the trial just days away, it was impossible. I was having nightmares now, something that hadn't happened this frequently since it had first occurred. I woke up screaming several times, Marci and Tommy taking turns laying with me until I could fall back asleep.
The morning of the first day of the trial, I woke up and immediately needed to vomit. I barely had enough time to make it there before I emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet. After I regained my bearings, I took a shower and changed into a black dress Mom had helped me find in the maternity section at Bloomingdales. I heard movement outside in the hallway and wasn't surprised to see Tommy and Marci there, waiting for me when I opened my bedroom door.
"Thought I told you to go to school today." I said, looking at Marci as I finished braiding my hair.
"Since when do I listen?" She replied, shrugging her shoulders. She wore a modest pair of tan slacks and a dark pink blouse. Tommy was standing by the stairs, dressed in a black pair of dress pants and to my surprise, a light pink button up shirt. I smiled at him, seeing that the tag was still attached to it in his armpit.
"Nice shirt." I said, stepping towards him. He grinned, looking down at himself.
"It was just something I found in my closet." He replied.
"Oh, I'm sure." I said, grabbing the tag and pulling it off. I held it out to him and he scoffed.
"Shit. Thought I got them all."
"Pink looks good on you." I said, giving his arm a squeeze. "Maybe it should be your next color."
"I'll leave it to you." He answered, giving me a wink. We headed downstairs and out the door, heading to Tommy's truck. I had offered to drive but he had insisted it would be better if he did. I had to agree with him. No one knew how I was going to be after testifying and I didn't want to risk killing all of us on the way home. The ride to the court house was a quiet one, no one speaking much about anything. When we pulled up, Tommy parked in the side parking lot of the building. I could see Trini and Jason standing near his truck, Adam and Billy with them. I was surprised to see that they were all wearing a shade of pink in one form or another. I felt tears fill my eyes as I looked over at Tommy.
"We didn't know what else to do to show you we were with you. So, I figured that wearing your color would help."
"Thank you." I whispered, a tear slipping down my cheek as I leaned over and kissed his cheek. The group started towards us as I climbed out of the truck. I moved my seat forward, allowing Marci to climb out. As I shut the door, Trini stopped next to me and held her arms out for a hug. I gladly took it, wrapping my arms around her. She rubbed my back with her hands.
"How are you holding up?" She asked as I pulled away.
"I'd throw up if I had anything left in me to throw up." I replied.
"It's going to be okay. Just get up there and tell them all what happened to you and what he did to you. He can't hurt you anymore and he knows that. I'm sure he's probably more scared right now than you are because he knows his ass is about to head to prison for a long time."
"Trini is right." Jason said, nodding. "He's stupid if he doesn't realize what's going to happen to him this week."
"He is stupid." Marci said, causing a laugh from Adam and Billy.
"There's Aisha and Rocky." Billy said, pointing at Rocky's car that had just pulled into a lot. I could see Zack in their car as well, him sitting in the back seat. We waited for them to park and join our group before we headed inside. We each had to go through a metal detector at the door, the guys needing to remove their belts to pass through successfully. Once we were all cleared, we walked up the hallway towards the courtroom. The court house is a large building with several courtrooms in it. It didn't take a genius to figure out what one we were needed in. Especially since the District Attorney, Miss Kirkland was waiting in the doorway for me as we approached.
"Hi, Kimberly." The taller woman said. If being a lawyer didn't pan out for her, she had a future in the WNBA. She was at least six foot tall and built like she was meant to beat people up. Her long brown hair was tucked back behind her and she wore an expensive dark blue business pants suit.
"Hello." I said, stopping in front of her.
"Can I have a word?" She asked. I nodded, turning to my posse.
"You guys can go in. I'll be in in a minute." I said. Miss Kirkalnd shook her head.
"You aren't allowed to sit through the proceeding until it's your turn to testify." She explained. "It could influence your testimony."
"Then where will I be?" I asked.
"There's a secluded room up the hallway. You'll only be there a short time while we get everything started. You're first on the docket to testify. I promise it won't be long." She said. Tommy put a hand on my shoulder.
"It'll be okay. We'll all be in here waiting for you, okay?" I nodded. He gave me a kiss on the cheek before leading Marci into the courtroom. Miss Kirkland put a hand on my shoulder.
"I know this is terrifying but you've already got through the hardest part of this ordeal. I have faith in you that you'll be able to get up there and stop him from being able to do this to anyone else."
"That makes one of us." I replied. Miss Kirkland led me up the hallway to a small room that had a table and some chairs around it. There was a coffee maker on a card table in the corner of the room and a water cooler next to it. She told me that the bailiff would be there to get me when it was time for me to enter. She closed the door, locking me inside with my thoughts.
She was right. I wanted to make sure that Nick wouldn't be able to do this to me or to any other girl out there. But in the same breath, I feared what would happen if he were to get up on that stand and tell the entire world that Tommy was the father of the baby. I knew I had said I would tell Tommy after the trial. I had full plans on doing it as well. But if Nick did before I got the chance, I knew there would be no going back to how we were before. Tommy would never trust me again. I needed to make sure Nick didn't say a word about the baby. I begged and pleaded with God to not have him testify. It was a right he had, right? Perhaps his lawyer would find it in his best interest to keep his mouth shut.
Half an hour past and then an hour. I paced the room, watching the clock on the wall above my head. What was taking so long? I thought it was just opening statements and introduction of the case. Were they having breakfast while they were at it too? I was growing more restless and more nervous with each passing moment. I had tested the door several times, knowing it was unlocked. I could just hightail it out of there and forget about this whole mess. I knew it wasn't an option though. If I walked, then Nick walked. Then it would only be a matter of time before he came looking for me. I couldn't let him get away what he did to me or the baby.
A knock on the door made me jump and I turned to face it. The door opened and an older man in a bailiff uniform poked his head into the room. "They are ready for you." He said.
"Okay." I replied, my hands trembling. He opened the door fully for me, allowing me to walk out. He walked in front of me, leading me to what felt like my doom. We headed towards the courtroom and I took a deep breath before we entered.
Inside, I saw that there weren't many people inside. On the left side of the room, I saw that there were a couple of men sitting in the benches behind the fencing. To the right, I saw the sea of pink that were my friends. The whole group turned to look at me as I entered, Tommy's eyes catching mine. He gave me a smile in which I returned. I took another deep breath, looking forward. I saw that there was a woman judge sitting at the front of the room, her seat higher up so she could look over the entire courtroom. Another woman sat in front of the judge, typing on a small machine. About ten feet away from the judge was the jury box. I could see seven women and five men sitting in there, all eyes on me. There was a box next to the judge where the bailiff led me. He had me stop next to a small door and held up a bible. I placed my hand on it and held up my other hand.
"Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" He asked.
"Yes." I replied. He took the bible and motioned me to sit in the chair inside of the box. In front of me, there was a microphone and a glass of water. Condensation ran down the side of the glass, telling me it was either cold or had been sitting there for a while. I looked out from the box and saw Miss Kirkland standing directly in front of me at her table. Folders and notebooks were open on top of it, a pitcher of water sitting there as well. I dared a glance on the other side of the room and that's when my eyes landed on Nick.
He was sitting with his lawyer at their own table, a shorter man with a bald head and beady eyes behind glasses. I noted that Nick's hair was longer now, the brown locks hanging almost in his eyes. While everyone else in the room was making small talk while waiting for the proceeding to get under way, Nick wasn't. His lawyer was talking to him but Nick's eyes were directly on me. He had a smug look on his face, his orange jumpsuit seemingly glowing under the fluorescent lights. The corner of his lips turned up into a smug smile as he leaned back in his chair. I wanted to look away from him but I knew I couldn't. If I did, he would think he still had power over me and that wasn't true anymore. I didn't look away until Miss Kirkland stepped between us, blocking my view of Nick.
"Kimberly, can you state your full name for the record?" She asked. I nodded.
"Kimberly Ann Anderson." I replied.
"Thank you." She said, smiling at me. "Kimberly, I know this is going to be difficult for you. If at any time you need to stop to take a break or to catch your breath, please just let me know, alright?"
"Okay."
"Kimberly, how did you meet the defendant?" She questioned.
"Nick was working at a restaurant near the gymnastic school I was attending in Miami. Our team would go there frequently and we started talking one time." I responded.
"Your relationship turned romantic at one point, correct?" I nodded.
"About six months later, we started dating. We dated for about a year and then decided to get married." Miss Kirkland leaned against her table.
"Can you describe how your marriage was in the beginning?" She questioned.
"Yeah. It was great. I was happy. I think we had a great marriage. It wasn't perfect but what marriage is? We'd fight about things but it wasn't anything beyond the point of some heated arguments."
"When did things seem to begin to change?" I gripped the hem of my skirt in my hands and wrong it where no one could see it, the sweat from my palms rubbing onto the fabric.
"We started to go through fertility treatments. I was having issues getting pregnant. It took a toll on our relationship. We would fight a lot. Then Nick lost his job and things got harder. All we did was fight then. I asked him to move back here to California because it would be better for us. He fought me on it for a long time but then agreed to go out of the blue one day." Miss Kirkland stepped towards me, her expression soft. I knew what was coming. I could read it on her face and feel it in the room. I took a deep breath, trying my best to stay calm. I didn't want to mess this up. I wanted to make sure everything that I said came out correctly and made sense.
"How did your relationship change once you were here in Angel Grove?" She asked.
"Nick started to get angry with me over everything. He would just disappear for hours at a time. There was no telling where he was going. I didn't seem to do anything right. Then one day, we got into a fight and he slapped me. He told me he was sorry and I forgave him. It felt like things were getting better until the day he attacked me." Miss Kirkland handed me a tissue from a box in front of me. I took it, balling it up in my hands.
"Kimberly, can you tell us what happened that day in your words?" I nodded, feeling tears stinging the back of my eyes. I looked passed her and saw Tommy and Marci looking at me. They both gave me small smiles, Tommy nodding his head quickly in a sign of support.
"We went to a BBQ that day because it was the Fourth of July. While we were there, everything seemed fine. But when we got home, Nick attacked me right when we got through the door. He pulled my hair, threw me on the ground, kicked me and punched me. He started to choke me as well." I felt a tear slip down my cheek and I closed my eyes.
"Take your time." Miss Kirkland's voice said. I felt my legs tremble so I bounced them with my feet. Opening my eyes, I glanced at her.
"He pulled my underwear down and forced himself inside of me. I tried to kick and push him off of me but he wrapped the cord of the curtain around my throat. I couldn't breathe as he continued to rape me. I thought I was going to die. I kept trying to fight back but it was no use. Finally, when he was...finished...he let me breathe again and just left me there, bleeding on the floor." I could feel my words hanging in the air heavily as I saw Aisha, Trini, and Marci wipe their own tears away.
"What did he say to you?"
"That I was his wife. No one else was allowed to touch me. He made all the decisions for me." I said softly, dabbing my nose with the tissue. I heard Nick make a scoffing noise, followed by what sounded like a chuckle. I looked over at him and saw he was leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.
"Mr. Powers, I advise you to remind your client to keep his mouth shut." The judge said, glowering over her glasses in Nick's direction.
"Yes, your honor. I apologize." His lawyer said, turning and whispering something to Nick. Nick rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.
"What happened after he sexually assaulted you?" Miss Kirkland asked.
"He kept doing it. He would tell me that a wife wasn't allowed to say no to her husband and he could do whatever he wanted. He started to hurt me again but it wasn't too bad. Just slaps now and then. I thought I would be able to handle it. He told me over and over again that if I tried to run or tell someone, he would murder my friends. I couldn't allow him to do that so I stayed away from everyone."
"Did you believe he would try to hurt your friends?" She asked. I nodded.
"Yes. He had a handgun he would show me. He told me that he had enough bullets for all of them."
"How long did you go without having any contact with your friends?"
"Almost two months I think." I replied.
"That had to be hard for you considering how involved you are with all of your friends. Did they try to reach out to you at all?"
"Yes. They tried to call me and to come to the house. I never answered the door though. And if Nick was home, he would tell them I didn't want to talk to them."
"Kimberly, can you tell me about September 1st?" I took another deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, I looked down at my hands.
"I came home sick from work. Nick was upset with me about finding a box of pictures I had that he had told me to throw away before. He was so angry that he kept screaming at me and destroyed everything in the box. I asked him to calm down and he shoved me. I bashed my head off of the door jam, causing a concussion. He started to make comments about how he was going to sexually assault the teenager who was living with us, Marci. I slapped him because of this. I don't know why I did it but I did it. This made him snap. He started beating me and he broke my wrist. Then he started trying to drag me down the stairs. I was able to fight him off a little. It wasn't enough though. He managed to push me down the stairs. I went partially through a wall on my way down and broke several ribs."
"What happened after you fell down the stairs?" She asked.
"He kicked me in the abdomen several times before getting his gun. He told me that he was going to Trini Kwan and Jason Scott's house to teach me a lesson before coming back to finish the job." I felt my body shudder at the memory of the look on his face when he told me that. "He cut the phone line and left me lying on the floor, bleeding to death."
"What occured after he left?" Miss Kirkland asked, handing me another tissue.
"Marci came home from school and found me. She was able to get me help and I was taken to the hospital."
"Kimberly, what had you discovered that morning prior to returning home?" Miss Kirkland asked. I bit my lip, not liking that it was going in this direction.
"That I was pregnant." I said softly. There was a murmur in the room, coming from the jury box.
"How far along pregnant were you at the time of the attack?"
"The doctor at the ER told me I was about six weeks pregnant."
"Objection." Mr. Powers said, standing up. "Your honor, what is the point of addressing the progression of her pregnancy?"
"I'll be getting there, your honor." Miss Kirkland said, addressing the judge. The judge nodded her head.
"I'll allow it for now but please don't stray from the point, Miss Kirkland."
"Yes, your honor." Miss Kirkland turned her attention back to me.
"Kimberly, what occurred after this attack?" She questioned me. I adjusted my position in my chair, my back hurting.
"The police told me they were looking for Nick. I stayed with friends to make sure I was safe once I was released from the hospital."
"What occurred at the residence of Trini and Jason?"
"Someone broke in and trashed the place. They ruined everything possible in the house and made it unlivable." I replied.
"Were they able to identify who the person was?" She asked. I shook my head.
"No."
"Kim, you are doing a great job. I just have a few more questions, alright? Do you need to take a break?"
"No. I'm alright." I took a sip from the glass of water in front of me.
"Okay. Did you have any contact with the defendant between the time you were released from the hospital to the evening of September 3rd?"
"No." I replied.
"In your own words, can you tell the court what happened on September 3rd?" She asked. I let out a ragged breath.
"I returned to my home to retrieve some items I needed to stay with my friends. I was getting ready to leave when I found Nick standing in the living room, waiting for me." I replied.
"What did he say to you?" I let out a dark laugh, shaking my head.
"'Hey, honey. Welcome home.'" I said. "He told me he had followed me from Jason and Trini's house, thinking it had been Trini he was following. He thought it was his chance to get 'that Asain Bitch' as he put it."
"What happened next?"
"I tried to convince him to let me go and for him to just leave town since the police were looking for him. I even told him that I would pretend like I never saw him so he would let me go."
"Did it work?" I shook my head.
"No. He told me he couldn't leave now that he knew I was pregnant."
"So, at that moment in time, Nick was aware that you were pregnant, correct?" Miss Kirkland asked. I nodded.
"He had my pregnancy test I had taken. He told me that we were going to parents and that he was going to stop hurting me. I knew he was lying though. And I told him that. He told me that I belonged to him and so did the baby. I told him I wasn't going to let him near the baby. That made him angry."
"What did he do?"
"He started to attack me. I managed to stab him with the car keys I was holding in the neck. I tried getting out of the house but he caught me. We fought on the floor and I managed to get him off of me. I tried to escape again but he chased me up the stairs. He pinned me down on them and started choking me. He told me he was going to kill me and the baby. I got him to stop choking me but he had me on the ground. He told me that he was just going to take me with him and that he was going to make the baby and I suffer." I felt anger build up in my chest as I recalled the last time he had been near me. "I told Nick I wasn't afraid of him anymore. He said he was going to give me a reason to be and ripped my shirt off. I pleaded with him not to hurt the baby and he started to take his pants off. That's when Jason and Tommy came in and stopped him."
"Nick attacked you after he acknowledged that you were pregnant?" Miss Kirkland said. I nodded my head.
"Yes. He told me repeatedly he was going to hurt the baby."
"Kimberly, if your friends hadn't been able to get into the house, do you believe that Nick would have murdered you?" She asked. I nodded.
"Yes. I believe with everything in me that he wouldn't have stopped until I was dead."
"How is the baby's health now?" She asked.
"The baby is fine. She's healthy and the doctor said she is growing as she should be."
"Have you had any other contact with Nick since that day?" I shook my head.
"No."
"Thank you, Kimberly. Nothing further, your honor." Miss Kirkland gave me a smile before walking back to her table.
"Your witness, Mr. Powers." The judge said. Mr. Powers stood up and buttoned his suit jacket as he rounded his table. He stopped halfway between where I was sitting and where Nick was seated.
"Mrs. Anderson, who is the father of your child?"
