"The jury is in." Benson tells me coming out into the cold staircase of the courthouse. The rest of the afternoon was for closing statements and the jury returned after 3 hours of deliberation.

I exhale slowly and follow her inside. I take a seat on the outside of the last row next to Benson. Sonny and Rollins sit next to her. After another few minutes, the judge comes in and after we sit she asks the jury "has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have your honor." The women in the first seat says. The bailiff retrieves a piece of paper, hands it to the judge.

The judge looks it over and with a nod she returns it back to the bailiff to return to the juror "what say you?" She asks her once the paper is in her hand again.

"In the charge of attempted murder in the first degree, we find the defendant guilty. In the charge of murder in the first degree, we find the defendant not guilty by reason of mental defect or insanity."

"The state of New York would like to thank the jurors for their time. Mr. Morales, you are remanded to Ryker's until further sentencing." She bangs her gavel and the court people begin to pile out.

"What does all that mean now?" I ask, my mouth gaped open and a sense of some kind of relief washed over me. He was guilty on one have and not guilty on another.

Sonny slaps me slightly on the back "he's going away for life for the attempted murder charge."

I chuckle out, still not feeling completely relieved but that it's okay to finally not have to look over my shoulder every second of the day. Barba comes over and I shake his hand "thank you so much." I say, removing my hand and swooping him into a hug.

He awkwardly hugs me back and says "no problem." He replies and when I release him he turns to lieutenant Benson "we need to talk." He says to her and she excuses them both.

"Thank you guys so much for everything, I can't believe it's over." I semi smile as I thank Sonny and Rollins.

"You know, you still have to testify in the rape case." Rollins reminds me.

I exhale again, nodding my head "I know, but still. He's going away for life, that's good."

"Sure is. Hey Amanda, will you excuse us for a second?" Sonny asks his partner. She smiles and nods, eyeing me for one second before leaving the court room ahead of us. "So, I wanted to talk to you about something." Sonny says as he begins to walk out of the room, towards the front of the court house.

"What's that?" I ask him, already worried about what he's going to say to me.

He looks behind me at the people coming in and out of the court house. He inhales quickly and spits out "my sister has been buggin me to ask you over for dinner?" He meets my eyes waiting for an answer.

He inhales quickly and spits out "my sister has been buggin me to ask you over for dinner?" He meets my eyes waiting for an answer

I drop my head to look at our feet to hide a smile. Of course I want to go to dinner with Sonny, but I can't do that to him. After everything that I've been through, I shouldn't get involved with anyone. I sheepishly look up to him "will you be there?" I ask. I know it's stupid but I can't help but think of Bella and Sonny as my friends. He was the detective working on my case but still, he was nice to me and I got to know both of them pretty well the past few weeks.

"I was asked to be." He smirks back. He head nods to someone behind me and I know he has to go.

I quickly respond with a "I'll let you know" and he nods, grabbing my upper arm and giving it a light squeeze before walking off to greet whomever he saw. I keep my focus ahead, ready to focus on moving forward.

I made an appointment with my therapist when I knew I would have to testify. We both agreed that no matter the out come, it would be best for me to meet with her afterwards to go over everything after testifying in front of him. I knock on the old cream colored door in the broken down New York City building and wait for her to answer. She opens the door with a smile "Addison, come in. You did so good!" She squeezes me with a quick hug before letting me go past her.

I move quickly to the chair and respond "I didn't do anything, it was all the ADA." I respond.

She shakes her head while taking a seat "no. You testified against him. After everything he put you through, you stood in front of him and told them who he was. That takes strength." She encourages me.

"Well, thank you." I say back. "I don't really know how I'm feeling right now." I tell her openly "it's kind of weird."

"Why is it weird?" She asks me to elaborate on that.

"I testified about the murder and the hospital but not about the rape. I know I still have to testify but it's like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I'm ready to move on with my life."

"That's really great Addison. Do you know when the trial for the rape will be?" She asks.

I shake my head "he's going to be sentenced first, then I guess we'll see from there." I explain.

She nods "okay then. So, what do you want to do next? You ready to go back to work?" She asks.

I squish my nose up "maybe." I reply.

"You don't sound to confident about that." She bluntly calls me out.

I shrug my head from side to side "I don't know. I mean, I used to love teaching but now- I don't know what I want to do." I tell her, really feeling lost about that.

"Well, I'm sure there's something going through your head about what you want to do." She starts off "why not explore one of those options."

"What if I became a cop or something? Or like a counselor to help people of trauma?" I spit out, not really sure what I was saying.

She sort of laughs and lowers her glasses "that's quiet the career change, would this have something to do with that detective you told me about?" She pushes.

"Who, Sonny?" I ask as if I didn't know who she's referring too. She nods to confirm "no, I just want to help people like he helped me." I say, quickly realizing what I said "well then, yah, I guess it does have to do with him." I tell her. "He helped me through this whole thing, he made me feel like an actual person after the rape. I think I would like to do that for someone too, help them through something bad like that."

"Do you have feelings for him?" She asks.

"Yah, I do." I tell her honestly. She doesn't say anything, and the silence makes me expand further "he invited me over for dinner tomorrow night. I told him I'd think about it."

"What's there to think about?" She asks.

"He's the first person I liked like this in a long time, but I don't want to go out with him because what if I ruin it?" I ask out loud.

"What makes you think you'd ruin it?" She pushes me to answer.

I quickly tell her my reasoning, thinking about it since the night at the hotel after Rollins talked to me outside. "I was raped, I'm damaged goods. I'll find some way to mess it up and he's someone I don't want to mess things up with."

"So don't." She simply says.

I sarcastically laugh "like that'll happen." I roll my eyes.

"You were just saying how good you felt, how a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. But you talk about your future like your restricted, you're held back by something. If you truly think you're ready to move forward, you should. Don't limit yourself because you're afraid, that's how he wins." She says.

I think about what she said, wondering how I could feel that I'm ready to move on with my life but still feel scared about it. "So, even though he's going to be locked away, he can still win?" I ask her like it doesn't make sense.

"Afraid so, if you let him." She confirms.

"So what? Just call him and agree to dinner? What if I do mess things up, what if I ruin it?" I ask, worried that that is exactly what I'd do.

She looks at me with a smile "then you lived, you moved on, and life goes on. After everything you'd been through, haven't you figured that out yet?"

I sigh, taking my phone out of my bag and calling Sonny. He picks up after the 2nd ring "Is everything alright Addison?" He quickly rushes out his words.

"Yes, it's fine. I wanted to say that Yes, I'll come to dinner at your sisters tomorrow." I quickly spit it out before I could chicken out.

It's like I could hear the smile from the other side "great! I'll pick you up at 6."

"Great." I say back "bye." We say to one another and hang up, replacing my phone back to my bag "Well, there's that." I look to my therapist.

"What do you say we meet back here in 3 days at 1 P.M?" She offers to schedule me in.

I nod, taking my phone back out and putting it into my calendar. "Yea, that works. Thanks a lot Mrs. Foye, I'm lucky I came to you." I stand up to shake her hand.

She takes mine in return "I'm happy to help."