29

Too soon they're back in the courtroom. Now, with Orianna added on, she and Alice are the only witnesses left for the defense. Alice is up first, though why they're leaving Orianna for last is beyond her. She gets herself sworn in, then takes her seat at the stand. McGowan locks eyes with her, and suddenly her collar feels too tight. What approach will he take with her?

"Alice."

So it's the friendly approach, then. Well, "friendly".

"We've established that you did, in fact, break into Rutledge Asylum, and illegally discharged two patients under Dr. Angus Bumby's care: Mirana Marmoreal Underland and Mason Potter. You do not deny this?"

"No." Alice says, gritting her teeth. "But I had good reas —"

"We've also found that you are a former patient of the same institution. Your discharge was also illegal. Do you deny this?"

"No, but if you'd just —"

"Then how can anything you say be of any credit? You've proven yourself mentally unstable —"

"Mr. McGowan," Judge Sacha says lazily, apparently growing bored of this line of questioning. For once, the lawyer gets interrupted and shuts his mouth. "Miss Kingsleigh is a witness, not the plaintiff. Please keep your questions related to the case at hand and not the young lady's personal state."

McGowan bites his lip, releasing it with an obnoxiously loud smack. "Of course. However —"

"There is no 'however'." Judge Sacha says. "Just do your job."

"Very well. Alice," McGowan tries to regain some sort of dignity. "You smuggled Mirana Underland and Mason Potter out of Rutledge Asylum under an alias and a forged release letter claiming to be from Genevieve Underland, correct?"

Alice swallows hard. "Yes."

McGowan gestures at the projector, which now flashes the document as well as a photograph of Alice as Alan Ratcliffe side by side. "Do you recognise these images as being the same as you created?"

"Yes."

"Then do you admit to forgery as well?"

Alice opens her mouth to answer but is cut off, not by McGowan this time, but by Wilkins.

"Objection, Your Honour." Wilkins says.

"On what grounds?" McGowan hisses.

"Relevance." Wilkins says calmly. "Miss Kingsleigh has already acknowledged her forgery in your previous questions. If that is your only line of questioning, I suggest you withdraw."

"Sustained." Judge Sacha says. "Well, Mr. McGowan? Anything further?"

"Yes, Your Honour," McGowan shuffles some papers around. "Just a moment. Ah. Alice," he says, regathering himself. "Would you say that Miss Underland was mentally unstable before entering into my client's care?"

Alice nearly chokes. "I —"

"Objection," Wilkins cuts in. "Speculation. Miss Kingsleigh has no way of knowing Miss Underland's mental state; she is not a mind reader."

"Yes, but there are outward signs." McGowan counters. "Otherwise you're calling into question several qualified professionals, my client included —"

"That is exactly what we're doing." Wilkins says calmly. "Calling your client's practices into question."

"Objection sustained." Judge Sacha intervenes before the argument can continue. "Mr. McGowan, please continue."

McGowan once again returns his focus back to Alice. "Alice," Despite the situation, Alice has to bite back a laugh at how half-mad he looks. He forces a smile, which comes out more as a pained flash of teeth. "You illegally discharged two patients under my client's care on the grounds that my client was treating them with immoral methods. However, if my client's practices were immoral, why the sneaking around? Why not report him outright? Why go through all this trouble, all this disguising and forging nonsense, if what my client is doing is so irrevocably wrong?"

That answer is easy. Alice straightens up. "No one would have believed us on our word alone. All I had were my memories, then, and I would have been dismissed as too young to remember, too young to be credible. I would have been told it was only my wild imagination acting up again. But now," she smiles, getting ahead of herself. "I have evidence of Dr. Bumby's practices, and I assure you all that once it has been given it will be irrefutable that this man," she says, lowering her gaze to Bumby. "Belongs in prison."

Her eyes flicker back to McGowan, who has turned a deathly shade of white. She watches him glance over at Bumby, who merely smiles at him, quite calmly for what Alice has just said. He clears his throat, steps back. "No further questions, Your Honour."

Judge Sacha nods. "This evidence you've mentioned," he says, leaning down to look at her. "What are you referring to, exactly?"

"There's a pen drive with information on the practices of Rutledge Asylum from many years ago," she says. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Nivens's eyes on her, and she wishes she could shoot him an apologetic look, but it has to be done. "Practices that are still going on today. That alone proves that all our claims are true."

"Very well, have someone bring it forward."

Someone goes off to retrieve the drive from the evidence cache. A soft cough draws everyone's attention. It's Bumby, and he smiles when he sees that all eyes are on him. "Your Honour, if I may speak." Judge Sacha gestures for him to continue. "As Miss Kingsleigh stated, whatever information is on that drive is many years old and therefore outdated. I would question the relevance of this evidence when it isn't even current."

There is a quiet murmur among the jury, but a few quick raps from Judge Sacha silence the court. "Dr. Bumby," he says. "Was Rutledge Asylum still under your administration at the time these files were recorded?"

That stops Bumby short. "Yes, I was, but I hardly see why that means anything."

"On the contrary, Dr. Bumby, that means everything. Regardless of the time period, if the institution was still under your authority at the time of recording, you are still considered fully responsible."

As this exchange is going on, people are setting up a projector screen. Someone plugs in the pen drive and the file selection appears on screen. Someone else dims the lights to increase the visibility.

Judge Sacha turns to her once more. "Which one should we start with, Miss Kingsleigh?"

Alice looks at the screen. "Open the XX folder, then the XX7 file."

Someone working the computer does so, and the file full screens on the image of a young Orianna. Alice sneaks a glance at Orianna, who only stares at herself, jaw locked. After they've reviewed the basic file, they open another folder that Alice had only looked at once, and for good reason. They are also images of Orianna, but… different.

These are of Orianna post-admission. Her eyes are hollow, a dull gunmetal blue, dark circles carved underneath. Her hair is stringy, dirty, draping around her face like a ragged curtain. In one particular photo, she's lying on her side, her knees drawn up to her chin, hugging her legs. Her face is clearly tearstained, and there is a bruise on her arm that unmistakably follows a pattern of fingers gripping too hard. There is a collective gasp from the jury as they go through the rest of Orianna's photos, each one more devastating than the last. By the end of them, Alice sees Orianna's head is buried in her hands, and Mirana, beside her, is rubbing her back reassuringly. Maybe they should've asked her husband to come, but the drive would've been too long, and Mirana would have to be enough to comfort her for now.

The jury's expressions have changed from sympathy towards Bumby to absolute horror. Judge Sacha's mouth has formed into a thin, hard line, practically disappearing beneath his mustache. "Well, Dr. Bumby?"

Dr. Bumby chuckles, startling Alice. How could he be laughing, now, with evidence so undeniably convicting right before his eyes? "It's a simple explanation, Your Honour. That isn't my name on the pen drive. Dr. Bibwit Harte is the one on the label, not me. He is clearly the one behind all of this."

Bibwit colours and jumps out of his seat. "I'll throttle you, Angus!" he shouts, his face scarlet with rage.

Nivens tugs his father back to a seating position with some difficulty, mumbling something to him that seemed to placate him, barely. He sits quietly beside his son, silently seething.

Dr. Bumby doesn't appear ruffled in the slightest. "Oh my. There you have it. Clearly an aggressive, unstable man."

Alice fights the urge to slam his head into the table he's sitting at and forges on. "Open the Unknown folder. There's a subfolder called the Rebellion," Her eyes shift to Bumby. "With a document that has Dr. Bumby's name throughout."

It's the briefest millisecond, but Alice sees a flash of what Bibwit had mentioned before: panic. Now she's got him.

Before they can open the subfolder, Bumby speaks up again. "And how credible are these documents anyway? How do we know these weren't edited, drawn up beforehand? How do we know these documents are legitimate?"

But no one is listening to him anymore as the document is brought on screen. Judge Sacha asks Bibwit to read it aloud, and by the time he's finished, there's no question about it. The court has turned against Bumby and in their favour. Alice holds back a sigh of relief. It won't be over until Judge Sacha lets them go.

Everything goes by in a blur. They check the dates on the documents just to satisfy Dr. Bumby, and the dates match those on the files. Orianna confirms everything on the drive and supplies some additional testimony. Dr. Bumby grows more and more frantic, attempting to refute every claim, but he's drowning now. Eventually, the weight of all the evidence crushes him, and he concedes defeat. He and Bibwit are taken aside for further questioning, Nivens following at his own insistence, but all Alice can hear is Judge Sacha saying—

"In the matter of Underland versus Bumby, this case is dismissed. Miss Underland and her party are free to go."

As they exit the courthouse for the last time, that's when the celebration starts. Tarrant whoops, mussing up his hair into its usual wild state. He pops out his hat, though where he's been stashing it all this time is beyond Alice, opens it up, and sticks it on his head where it belongs. The Underlands and her mother hug Mirana and Alice tightly, and Orianna gives them a triumphant smile.

"I'm going to call a cab to drive me back to my hotel. Matt will pick me up from there." she places a hesitant hand on each of Alice and Mirana's shoulders, squeezing gently. "Thank you both so much, for everything."

She goes off to call a ride back, freeing them up to be enveloped by another group hug with both their families and Tarrant. While Alice is relieved and happy that they're finally free of Bumby, all she wants right now is to go back to her dorm, get out of these constricting clothes, cuddle up with Mirana, — in her girlfriend's bed, since she has fluffier sheets — and sleep for a thousand years. With every weight off of her shoulders, it's an immense feeling of lightness that's taking over her, and she can feel herself floating along on a high of freedom, and yet, at the same time, the exhaustion that comes with relief.

They go for ice cream at Tarrant's suggestion at Gialata's, a new parlour that just opened up across the street he found off his GPS. They find a booth towards the front and sit down, the parents on one side, Mirana sandwiched between Tarrant and Alice on the other, Alice sitting on the inside. Alice leans against the cool tile walls, murmuring an order to Mirana that vaguely resembled the words "chocolate" and "peanut butter". The adults chat excitedly among themselves about possibly meeting for a group dinner, Alice's mother inviting Mirana's parents to their Christmas ball, Mirana's parents accepting on the condition that they make an appearance at hers as well. Tarrant, noticing Alice's exhausted eyes, takes that as his cue to go fiddle with the jukebox nearby. He understands that they can catch up later.

Mirana leans into her a little to talk to her without being overheard. "Are you alright?" she whispers.

Alice smiles. "Just emotionally exhausted. But at least it's finally over. I just can't wait to get out of these clothes."

Mirana smirks. "I was hoping I'd be able to do that." she says, her lips at her ear.

Alice flushes. "Mirana," she says, barely above a whisper. "Your parents are right there."

She snickers. "They're too focused on trying to coordinate with your mum for Christmas. They're not even looking at us." She wraps an arm around Alice's waist underneath the table, idly playing with her belt loop. "I really want to kiss you right now." she whispers into her hair. "Do you think we could get away with sneaking off to the loo again?"

Alice laughs, though the desire is definitely mutual. "They'll know something's up. Your father did say nothing until we're married."

"Whoops."

Their ice cream arrives then before Alice can reply. Despite how much she wants to get back to the dorm, she enjoys her ice cream anyway, the rich chocolate complementing the creamy peanut butter rather well in a perfect blend. Tarrant comes back then, digging in immediately into his Candy Land Wacky sundae, a new pink creation from New York covered with cotton candy on top and sprinkled with brightly coloured candies, gumdrops jammed into the sides. Mirana's is a simple mint chocolate chip with dark chocolate chunks. Alice tries a bit of hers and immediately decides that mint and peanut butter is a terrible combination.

Finally, the outing comes to an end, and Alice and Mirana ride back with their families and Tarrant to their dorm. They say goodbye to their families at the parking lot, Tarrant at the divide between their dorms. Alice all but falls inside their room, shrugging her blazer off before flopping straight onto Mirana's bed.

She hears Mirana giggle. "I suppose you've claimed my bed for the night?"

"Mmmm. Soooo fluffy."

"Not in those clothes you aren't." She feels a dip in the bed as Mirana sits down. "Sit up for me."

Alice groans her disapproval but does as Mirana asks anyway. Her eyes land on her, and her breath hitches. In the time they'd gotten back in their room, Mirana had somehow shed all her clothing, save for her undergarments, which, for once, aren't white but a pale baby blue.

Mirana notices her staring and grins. "You're not the only one who wanted out of her clothes." She straddles Alice's lap, undoing her tie first, tossing it aside, then unbuttoning her shirt. "Up." she says, patting her arms. Alice lifts her arms, letting Mirana pull her shirt off. She adjusts her position to slip off her pants, letting them join the tie and the shirt on the floor in a messy pile. She tries to stay still, but her eyes keep going to the clothes pile.

Now it's Alice's turn to smirk. "You want to hang those, don't you?"

Mirana looks away from them. "No, it's fine, lie down."

Alice laughs. "Go hang them. I'll be here."

Mirana rolls her eyes. "Thanks so much."

But she gets off of her to hang up their clothes anyway. It doesn't take long, and she's soon back into Alice's arms. Alice moves the covers out from under them, pulling them on top. She threads her fingers through Mirana's soft, snowy white hair. Feeling her warm body cuddled up against hers, her face finally truly relaxed, the rise and fall of her chest against hers as she breathes, Alice is overcome with love for this wonderful woman and finally does what she's been wanting to do since they got out of the courthouse.

She cups her face and kisses her, lips caressing Mirana's as she pulls her closer, anything to keep her near, to never let go of her again. Her heart sighs happily, content, as Mirana responds immediately, hands moving to tangle in Alice's hair. She rolls them over onto their sides, wrapping a leg around Alice's waist, pushing their bodies flush together. Safety, warmth, happiness at last. Alice pulls back for a moment only to breathe out—

"I love you."