Chapter XVII: And So It Begins

A/N: Here the trial starts. Hence the chapter title. Not sure how many chapters there will be of the trial. Italics are flashbacks. Hope you enjoy this chapter! SSD

Sabrina felt herself being lightly shook awake, and blearily took in her surroundings. She must have fallen asleep while Connor was driving.

"Sabrina, you awake?" Connor asked.

She nodded. He helped her out of the car and into her crutches. Sabrina felt like she wanted to do nothing but sleep for the next 12 hours. The quick exit from the hospital had taken quite a bit out of her. They had managed to evade Lanik.

Once she got into the house, Sabrina finally could not summon any more energy. She nearly crumpled to the floor, but Connor caught her and was carrying her Gone with the Wind style. Sabrina thought she saw Allegra shake her head and smirk.

Sabrina fell asleep the moment she hit the bed.

Connor felt nearly as tired as Sabrina was. Though after changing out of his tux and into his pajamas.

It was going to be a long summer. What with the trial and all.

Erin was pleased that the judge had thrown out most of the press, only keeping one reporter from the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times each. It had been a madhouse up to that point.

It was time for opening statements. She began to speak: "The three main players in this event all took an oath: Do no harm. Two of them held up that oath. The third, broke it, and broke it for the oldest reasons there are: desire for money and desire for a romantic partner."

"At least I go after what I want," the defendant muttered.

"Mr. Bailey, remind your client that she is already in deep enough trouble without adding a contempt of court charge," Judge Norgull growled.

"Yes your Honor," the man replied.

Erin took her breath and continued on with, "Doctor Bekker not only broke her oath but turned what should be a safe place of healing into a war zone. She fired with intent to kill. She is quite lucky that one of her victims was being careful with how they were shooting. Still, she showed no care for anyone but herself, not giving any thought to the fact that a stray bullet might hit someone besides her intended target."

Even though she had nothing to do with the incident, Monica found herself on paid administrative leave. Someone near the top thought that she was too close to the situation, given her close relationship with Sabrina.

Last night, Sabrina had called her to come on over to the McConnell's place. Her friend and Connor (whatever category he fell in for Sabrina) were confined to the house so as to better avoid the press. Her friend had a "fine Irish temper" that as likely more than ready to be unleashed on anyone who questioned whether she had made the right call or pester her about her friendship with Connor.

Allegra was the one who answered the door saying, "Come on in Monica. How are you doing with this mess going on?"

"About as well as can be expected, thank you. I should be working, but according to that puta of a COO, I'm too close to one of the victims. Has the trial started?" Monica inquired.

"It started this morning. Connor and Sabrina have been in the kitchen for the morning. They seem to find it the most comfortable room in the house for when they want to talk. As they can just go outside if someone is getting too nosey for their liking," Allegra replied.

"Are they nervous about testifying eventually?" Monica asked.

"They both just want to get it over with. I'm glad they figured it out finally. Both of them deserve happiness," Allegra smiled as she thought of the two doctors in the kitchen who she had come to see as family.

"Well, now I know why Sabrina was always so picky about the men she dated. There was a yard stick she held them up against," Monica stated before continuing with, "Did she always have problems with the women Doctor Rhodes dated in high school and college?"

"Pretty much. Except for one in college. Would you have been comfortable with your boyfriend having a close female friend that could pass for Wonder Woman?" Allegra asked rhetorically.

"What about the other way?" Monica inquired.

"What other way?" Allegra replied.

"Did Doctor Rhodes ever have trouble with who Sabrina was dating?" Monica asked.

Allegra's eyes went wide at the memory and began to tell a story…

"Mom, Sabrina's mad at Connor."

Turning around, she asked, "What happened?" Sabrina had been dating Grayson Carmichael for a few months now. It was going mostly well, save for the fact that Connor and he despised each other's presence, only making nice when Sabrina herself was around. To just about anyone, it was obvious that Connor was jealous that Grayson was dating Sabrina. Grayson knew that, and had been riling Connor on that subject.

"When Grayson opened his locker this afternoon, paint exploded out of it. He wasn't alone. Sabrina was with him, so she got a blast of it." Lucas explained.

Allegra then heard the doorbell ring. Sabrina sometimes had trouble with the electronic lock on the front door. Today must have been one of those days. She had to control her reaction when she saw her daughter in all but blood's face covered in fluorescent blue paint, her nut-brown eyes ablaze with rage.

Muttering a quick "thank you" Sabrina stormed up the stairs to her room, to take a shower.

"And how do you know it was Connor that did that?"

"Because I helped him do it. Grayson is not one of her better choices of who to date, and you should hear the things he has said to Connor about Sabrina," Lucas stated without shame.

"Does Sabrina know what he's said?"

"No. He's been careful what he says around Sabrina," her son replied.

"He would have to be." Allegra mused before asking, "What brought on the prank?"

"We heard him that he's only dating Sabrina for a bet. See if he can melt the ice queen," Lucas's eyes were furious.

And so was Allegra. "Does Sabrina know this?"

"No."

"Did you three at least try to tell her about this?"

"Not really." Lucas looked a little sheepish.

"She'd have likely joined in on you pranking him. Instead you got her in the blowback. You will first apologize to her after she showers, then tell her what you overheard."

Her son shivered in fear. Sabrina's anger was not easily roused, but when it was…

Further thoughts were interrupted when they heard an argument break out in Spanish over the phone. Connor must have called Sabrina. The pair took Spanish as their foreign language requirement, and were very good at it.

Allegra didn't know much Spanish, but she knew Italian. And there were enough similarities that she could follow the conversation on Sabrina's end, and what Sabrina was saying was far from civilized.

It went on for a few minutes before Sabrina broke into English saying, "Why didn't you three just tell me?! I'd have helped you!"

"Looks like Connor beat me to it," Lucas said.

"So he only ever got involved it was justified?" Monica asked her.

"No. That one was just the most distinctive," Allegra replied.

In the break in the conversation, they heard Sabrina say, "That was a little hot to handle. The soup that is."

"It shouldn't be too much of a difficulty to swallow," Connor said.

"Did they always talk like this?"

"Hm… Let me think. Yes." Allegra continued on with, "You get used to it after a while. It's just how they talk to each other."

The first day of the trial had gone as smoothly as it could. Other than her outburst during Erin's opening statement, Doctor Crazy (as Mr. Belmont privately called her) had kept her mouth shut. Those that testified today were Doctor Morganstern (who had shown up in his USAF uniform), and the main investigators from the FBI: Agents Ness and Hart. Hwang would be first up tomorrow morning.

Hwang had also said that he wanted to talk to the two victims of the attack. And observe them.

It was highly likely that the defense would try to play the scorned lover card, and push the buttons of Doctors Rhodes and Byrne.

Felix had said that if certain buttons were pressed, both had tempers. Especially when the other was threatened or the nature of their friendship was questioned. The two of them were loyal to each other to a fault.

Going off what her second chair had told her; they were closer than most married couples. Erin had not had a chance to really meet her two witnesses, but that would soon be fixed.

A/N 2: And here it starts. The next chapter will show more courtroom theatrics. So… What do you all think? SSD

PS- Oh, and Happy Friday the 13th!