"Well, the good news is, the jury probably thinks that the witnesses the prosecution put up have been stained irrevocably." Alan told her that evening. "The problem is, she's presented enough prima facie evidence so that I can't make a motion to dismiss. I'll move for a directed verdict, but there's no way that we'll get it."

"So how do you intend to mount a defense?" Kate asked.

"Fortunately, my witness list is a bit longer than the prosecution's, and has more famous people." Alan said. "Your friends from the plane crash are more than willing to testify to your character. The problem is, all of that takes place after you went on the run. At some point, Glazebrook's going to cut me off, and the judge is going to let her."

"Have you interviewed any of my friends?" Kate tried to act nonchalant about this, but it was a matter of major concern to her. The story they had told about the crash, their time on an island, and their apparent rescue had never been questioned that harshly by the media. This, however, would open them up to all new kinds of difficulties.

Admittedly, there was nobody who could testify to their lying who was around. But Kate was not at all comfortable with the people who loved her undergoing closer scrutiny and possibly going to jail with her.

"I've talked to five of them. My paralegals have been doing the rest. You come out rather well, which doesn't shock me." Alan looked at her with that same narrow gaze he had fixed Samuels with. "What does bother me is how in lockstep their stories seems to be. And that, Miss Austen, worries me a lot."

Considering all the time that Kate had spent as a fugitive, she had never been a very good liar. It was more of a testament for how long she had been on the run that no one had never called her on it until she had ended up in Australia. And she had seen how easily Alan had ground into the dirt her own mother. So she decided that she had to phrase things very carefully with her lawyer.

"What about our story gives you so much trouble?" she asked.

"As to specifics, I have no idea. You survived a plane crash, spent nearly a hundred days stranded on a desert island, and somehow managed to get off that island and back to civilization. I know for damn sure I could never have done the same in your position. It's heroic. It's part of the reason I agreed to take on this case, because I've never met people like you and your friends." Alan gave a self-deprecating shrug. "I don't know whether that says more about you or less about me. But even knowing everything you've been through before you came to the island, I still can't turn off my IBSD."

"Excuse me?"

"Internal Bullshit Detector. And it's telling me that there's more to your story, something that you and your friends are lying about. To your families, to the media, to me." Alan looked her dead in the eye. "And since you've been very forthright about everything that happened involving you and your mother, I can't imagine why you'd lie about something remarkable like that."

This was what Kate had been worried about. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. I can't wrap my mind around what you might have to do in order to survive on a deserted island. It can't be anything criminal because God knows, if the South Pacific isn't outside the jurisdiction of the country, I don't know what the hell is. And I don't think its anything you should be ashamed of, because there can't be any real limits on what you need to do in order to survive. So I don't know. However, the fact of the matter is, I'm a very good attorney, but I am very good at skating by the ethics of my profession."

This came as something of a shock to Kate. When Hurley had hired Alan Shore, he had done so because the man had a reputation for winning big cases in Boston. He had a reputation for being a firebrand and arguing for those who didn't have a voice. The idea that he might somehow be more sketchy than just about every other lawyer hadn't occurred to her. "What do you need to know?" she asked.

"Talking in hypothetical, is there anything that your friends could testify to that could hurt you?"

"I don't think so. I never told them about what I did in the real world."

"They didn't know you were a fugitive?"

"They did. They eventually found out. But none of that ever affected their opinion of me."

"Did any of them know what crimes you committed?"

"I told Jack and James at various times I was responsible for the death of a man. I never went into details, and they never asked further questions. I never told them who it was."

"Did you tell anyone you killed your stepfather?"

"As far as I know, they only learned about it when we returned to civilization."

"You were with them for three months, and it never came up?" Alan thought for a second. "Then again, if you were rummaging about for food or shelter, the last thing you'd probably talk about was your rap sheet."

"Does that change your mind?"

"I was never going to call James Ford. The man went to prison, and has a longer record than you; not exactly the best character witness. Add to that the fact that he was nearly charged for sneaking you into a hospital, Glazebrook would cut him to ribbons."

Kate decided not to tell her attorney that James was more than capable of taking care of himself. He might even be able to con the jury.

" As for Dr. Shephard..." He trailed off, clearly thinking. "He'd be a very strong witness in your favor. I can't deny that he'd be very persuasive. Of course, there is a fairly obvious problem with his testimony."

She knew as well as he did what that problem could be. The question was, did the DA know about it as well?

"That's only a minor concern right now," Alan said shrugging off the unspoken problem. "My major concern is this. If I put him on the stand, will I be suborning perjury?"

He was speaking in hypotheticals again. "That depends entirely on how closely you intend to question him about what happened when we were stranded."

"I just need to know is there anything that happened there that was criminal."

The million dollar question. Considering that Kate had shot two people when she was on the island, both times in the presence of Jack, the answer was 'Yes'. However, nobody knew who those people were, and it had no relevance to what she was being tried for - unless somehow Glazebrook was an Other.

"I don't think that there's anything that Jack can say that would hurt me." she said slowly. "At least nothing relevant to what I'm being charged with."

"All right then" Alan told her. "Then we'll go forward."

Glazebrook was sharp, though. She had looked at the witness list that Alan had submitted, and had argued that putting up survivors from the crash were irrelevant to any kind of defense that he might put up. Character witnesses were traditionally something that were only put up during the penalty phase, and obviously they weren't there yet. Alan argued that character was clearly something that was at issue, at least as far as the prosecution had been pushing in its presentation.

In the end, the judge had compromised, and said that he would allow three survivors of the crash to testify in to the defendant's behavior. But if he sensed that Shore was filibustering because he had no major evidence to present he was going to cut him off. Glazebrook reluctantly acquiesced.

The first to testify was Claire, who had been arguably Kate's closest friend on the island. Considering that she had been the most honest person about everything after the crash, it was small wonder that she has pressed for her. Even her edited story was one of the better choices Shore could've picked. She'd had become friends with an eight-month pregnant girl, had helped her deliver her child on a deserted island, had helped her search the island for medicine when Aaron had gotten sick, and had been vital in trying to get them all of the island. When she had found out that Kate was a criminal, it hadn't changed her opinion of her in the slightest.. Glazebrook didn't even bother to cross examine her.

Second was Sun, who next to Claire had been Kate's closest friend on the island. She said, despite the fact that she barely understood English, Kate had gone out her way to befriend her. She had been with her trying to grow a garden, had helped her take a pregnancy test, and had been by her side through the travails on the island.

This time, however, Glazebrook did cross. "Your father is the head of Paik Automotive?" was his first question.

Sun actually seemed prepared for this one. "That's correct."

"You're aware that Interpol has been investigating your father for being the head of organized crime?"

"Considering my husband ended up working for my father, and it nearly destroyed our marriage, yes I am aware of that."

Glazebrook seemed a little thrown by this, but carried on "Your father managed a very effective career lying to the world. How can the court be sure that you're not doing the same to protect a friend?"

"My father is a monster. If it wasn't for him, my husband and I would never have been on that plane to begin with. I know more than anyone else how much damage lying to the world can do to people. For years, I put up a front to keep myself safe. I'm not going to do that ever again."

It was a bold statement. The fact that Sun was, in a best case scenario, being disingenuous, made it all the more remarkable. Kate was glad she'd never played poker with her.

The last witness Alan called was Jack. Kate was really not sure about this part. Jack had always been a terrible liar... when they were on the island. Ever since he had been on TV telling the story of the survivors of Oceanic 815, he'd become much better at it. That said, she knew that of the people her attorney was calling, his was the most important.

"Dr. Shephard, when did you first find out about my clients criminal record?"

"I first learned the nature of her crimes when we returned to civilization," Good legal phrasing. The wanted poster that the marshal had held didn't give the exact nature of her crimes.

"What was your reaction when you learned about that?"

"I was stunned. It didn't seem compatible with the woman I'd come to know on the island."

"What was your relationship with her on the island?"

"I think I didn't treat her as well as I could've while we were there. I was always trying to protect her from the harder choices that needed to be made. And I didn't want her to be in danger when we had to do the stuff that we needed to do in order to survive."

"Could you be more specific?"

"We made treks across the island to try and find supplies, people who got lost, and ultimately the trips that we needed in order to get rescued. I almost never let her come along on these trips, but she always seemed to follow us."

This was pretty vague, but it was just coded enough so that there was truth to it. Jack was leaving out the perpetual scowl he seemed to have on whenever Kate ended up following him, but otherwise there was a fair amount of honesty here.

"Is there anything about her behavior on the island that would lead you to believe that Miss Austen was a criminal?'

"If anything, it was the opposite. Every time something needed to be done that might end up getting us rescued, Kate was always the first to volunteer. The island we were on may have been the only place in the entire world where there was nobody chasing her, and yet she did everything she could to help us, even though the end result would have been her ending up being back in handcuffs."

"Now, Dr. Shephard, about two months ago, Miss Austen was captured when she came to your hospital. Prior to that, when was the last time that you had contact with her?"

"Around the time the DA decided that she was going to charge her."

"So, in other words, you hadn't had any contact with her for a year when she showed up again, even though she was aware that three federal agencies were waiting, just on the possibility she might show up."

"That's right."

"Why then, do you think that she showed up at all?"

"Claire was her closest friend on the island. She helped deliver her baby. Those kind of bonds don't go away." Jack paused. "That's the kind of person I knew on the island."

"I have no further questions."

This time, Glazebrook did cross examine. "Dr. Shephard, are you in love with the defendant?"

"Objection."

"Goes to credibility."

"Overruled."

"I developed very serious feelings for her at one point. But that has nothing to do with my testimony."

"Come on. You fell in love with her on the island. You were so damaged by her disappearance that you relocated to a different hospital. You're helping pay for her legal bills."

"Because unlike the rest of my friends, she isn't a millionaire." Jack didn't seem that phased yet.

"You honestly expect the jury to believe that you wouldn't do anything to make sure that the defendant stayed out of prison?" Glazebrook seemed determined to find a chink in Jack's armor.

"I'm not saying Kate is a saint. But she's also not the hardened, cold-blooded killer you make her out to be. Nothing you say here will ever make me believe that."

Glazebrook considered this for a few seconds, then finally said. "No more questions."

At that point, Alan called for a recess until the next day.

"I've done as good a job as I can to brighten up your character, but I don't think it's going to be enough," he told her. "None of this has anything to do with why you did what you did before Oceanic 815, and Glazebrook will bear down on that in her closing. Which means we're here."

"You want to put me on the stand."

"I need somebody to rebut the marshal's charges and your mother's testimony," Alan admitted. "You're the only one who can explain both, and right now, I think the jury wants to believe you. They just need to hear you say it."

Kate was not a fool. "But if I have to testify, they'll want to know why I did all the things that I did. Glazebrook can cut me to pieces on all of it."

"That definitely could happen. And given the amount of charges and evidence that she has, she could keep you up there until she thinks you'll break." Alan looked at her. "I think what you've done is excusable, if not commendable. But you have to be honest. About all of it. Can you do that?"

"Are you going to question me about what happened on the island?"

Alan seemed a little puzzled by the question. "I think I've laid enough groundwork, so that going over it again would be irrelevant."

Kate didn't have to think very long. "I'll do it."

The next day, Alan questioned Kate for over an hour. He started with her relationship with her stepfather from the time she had married her mom. She went into a fair amount of detail as to the decades of abuse Wayne Janssen had subjected her mother to, how frequently she had wanted to run away, but couldn't leave because she felt that she had to protect her mom.

She'd been afraid Alan would ask the exact reason as to what had caused her to finally kill him, but he was clearly a better lawyer then that, and laid out the steps that Kate had been dealing with this level of abuse for so long it had finally erupted. He then asked her about when she had last seen her mother, and what she had tried to do, and then how she had learned from Marshal Mars that Diane had turned her in.

'Were you planning to face the music when Marshal Mars arrested you?" he asked.

"Yes. I probably would've had he not crashed his car. Maybe I should've stayed to face justice, but I saw an opportunity and I took it."

"Six months after Wayne's death, you returned to St. Louis?"

Kate frowned for a moment. "Yes."

"Why did you come back? You had to know the Marshals were watching the house."

"I had rid my mother of a husband who beat her regularly. I bought insurance to set her up for life. I did this knowing I would probably never see her again. And less than twenty-four hours later, she called the police on me." Kate was actually a little pale at the memory. "I had to know why. So I risked my freedom to find out."

"Did you see her?"

"Yes."

"What did she tell you?"

"She thought I'd come back to say I was sorry." The incredulity in Kate's voice was hard even for her to fathom. "She said that I'd killed the man she loved, and that I'd made her life worse as a result."

Alan paused. "Did she say anything else?"

"She said the next time she saw me, she'd scream for help." Kate nearly got weepy. "And the next time I saw her, that's exactly what she did."

"This was after she was diagnosed with cancer about a year and a half later." Kate nodded. "How exactly did you find out what was wrong with your mother?"

"I received word from someone I had kept in contact with in St. Louis. I knew that the Marshal's would be looking for me, but I felt that I had to see her."

"Even given what she had told you the last time you saw her."

"I thought that maybe enough time had passed that she might have been willing to let it go. That maybe the illness had given her time to reflect on the family she still had left."

"So you made contact with Dr. Tom Brennan."

Kate nodded. This was painful territory for her, even now. "Tom was a doctor at the hospital where my mother was being treated. I had to beg him to get involved, he had a pregnant wife, and he didn't want to risk losing everything."

"But he got you inside the hospital."

"He found out when my mom was having her procedure down and got me past the deputies. She was still under a local anesthetic when I got there, which I can only imagine is the reason that she was quiet as long as she was." Four years past, the memory still stung. "I poured my heart and soul out to her. And then she started screaming. Tom tried to get me out of the hospital. One of the deputies shot at us, and." Now Kate was weeping. "I never wanted him to get hurt."

Ever so gently, Alan guided her through the next couple of years, briefly going through her relationship with Kevin, and the gang she had been with in Phoenix. He knew that Glazebrook would beat her up on that, so he told her to give a truncated version.

"When did you finally leave the country?" he finally said.

"In January of 2004. I figured that there was a possibility that the Marshals might stop chasing me. I hitchhiked across the outback, did a series of odd jobs, and finally ended up in a farm in Melbourne. The man who owned it was a codger named Ray Mullen, who offered to put me up, and pay me for an honest day's work."

"And he's the man who told the authorities that you were in Australia."

"That's correct. I didn't blame him. His farm had a hell of a mortgage."

Once again, Alan barely touched on her time on the island. For one things, her friends had already done a good job at laying the foundation about her character. For another, at this point, talking about the island would just be repetitive.

"When you returned to civilization, why didn't you stay and face justice?"

"I have no real defense. For a while, I really hoped that when the firestorm died down, they wouldn't prosecute. And for six months, it really seemed like I could get on with my life. But then, the DA decided to prosecute me, and..." She shrugged. "I did what I've been doing the last four years. I ran away."

"So why did you go to Seattle where you knew the press and the police would be waiting?"

"One of my closest friends looked like she might be losing her mother. As someone who lost hers a long time ago," here she fixed Diane with a dead stare, "I figured that she needed all the support that she could get."

"One last thing, Miss Austen," Alan finally said. "do you regret the things you've done?"

Kate thought about this for a few seconds. "I'm sorry for all of the pain that I caused. I wish I could take it back. But I take full responsibility for all of my actions."

"No more questions." Alan stepped back towards his table

Glazebrook hesitated a long time before starting. It was as if, having spent so much time trying to land her fish, she didn't know what to do now that she'd finally caught it. Finally, she got to her feet. "Your stepfather, he abused your mother for a long time."

"For as long as I can remember."

"Did he ever hurt you?"

Kate took a deliberate pause before answering. "No, but its not a lot of fun living in the same house, listening to a man berate and beat his wife."

"You lived in the same house as your family even after you grew to adulthood."

"Not a lot of money between a waitress and a drunk."

"Why didn't you go to the police yourself, after you turned eighteen?"

"The laws on how to deal with an abused spouse are very specific." Now she fixed an icy glance at Glazebrook. "But I don't have to tell you that."

The ADA finally got to the point. "Come on, you had a lot of occasions where you could've just done something to him. This took planning and forethought. What finally made you snap?"

"It wasn't enough for me to have to live in that house? Wayne Janssen was a piece of shit. Was I supposed to wait until my mom fell down a flight of stairs? Hell, she probably would've used her last breath to defend him." She shifted her look to the gallery. "She pretty much did that anyway!"

There was clearly no winning with this line of attack. Comparing Wayne Janssen's character to his daughter was always going to be a losing proposition. So Glazebrook took a different tack.

"If you really believed that you were innocent, why did you keep calling Edward Mars? There are records of you calling him a dozen times between your escape and your recapture?."

"I was trying to convince him to stop chasing me," Kate said slowly.'

"You kept calling him on the days of various Catholic saints. That's the kind of pattern we see only with a special kind of criminal."

"I don't have a trail of bodies following me."

"Just the two."

That hurt. "I didn't kill Tom. That was entirely the police's fault."

"You were committing a crime."

"Since when is it a crime to visit your sick mother in the hospital? Besides, the way I see it, if she hadn't screamed for help, the police would never have come charging in. I don't see you trying to charge her."

"Your mother's not the criminal. And she wasn't a fugitive. But lying to a police officer, that's a far more serious crime. And you misled Kevin Callis for nearly six months. Even married him while using an assumed name."

This was one of Kate's biggest regrets. She hoped that it didn't show on her face. "I never wanted that to hurt him."

"But you did do a significant amount of emotional scarring. You basically ruined his career, you forced him to resign."

"Your Honor, last I checked, my client wasn't being charged with being a liar. I believe she's already gone on record with them." Alan spoke up.

"I'm proving a pattern of deception which goes directly to Miss Austen's defense."

"I gave you a fair amount of latitude, Mr. Shore," the judge said. "I'll allow Miss Glazebrook the same. But you better come to a point."

"Actually, I did have one, your honor." Miss Glazebrook said. " I don't believe I've discussed the robbery in New Mexico yet. You infiltrated a well known stickup gang, the Six Foot Five. You began an affair with one of the robbers, you made a plan to rob the Albuquerque National Bank, you carried out the robbery, then you shot all three of your compatriots. All so you could open a safe deposit box there."

"Is there a question, your honor?"

"You were guilty of robbery, conspiracy, and aggravated assault. And in the end, you were lying to your fellow bank robbers. Just so you get what you wanted." Glazebrook walked closer to her.

"I shot them, because they were going to start killing hostages, Miss Glazebrook." Kate said stubbornly.

"You are a criminal, and a liar, Miss Austen," Glazebrook told her. "Given your track record, why should we trust anything you have to say?"

Kate took a deep breath. "What do you expect me to tell you, Miss Glazebrook? That I'm a good person? That I was the victim of circumstances? I've never pretended that I was a good person. But I've always been trying to do the right thing."

"A lot of people got hurt as a result."

"Do you think it would've been good for me to let my husband know that he had married a criminal? Do you think it would've been a good think for those bank robbers to start shooting people? Was I supposed to wait until that drunken bastard beat my mother to death? None of these things may have been the most ethical thing in the world, but you'll never convince me that I wasn't doing the right thing, or at least trying to."

Glazebrook considered this for a moment. "We're not talking about ethical or right, we are talking about legal. And that is at the core of this case. I have no more questions."

After asking him what she thought her chances were before closing arguments, Alan, who had been nothing but honest with her, continued to be so.

"Honestly, I think the jury's going to hang. I'm pretty good at reading them, and I think at least three of them want to acquit, at least on the armed robbery and fraud counts.

"What about the murder charge?"

"They're probably going to acquit on that one altogether. We've already proven beyond all reasonable doubt what scum Wayne Janssen was. The charge that's probably going to cause the most trouble is the involuntary manslaughter in Tom Brennan's case." Alan looked at her. "I know that it wasn't your fault. But the fact of the matter is you pretty much confessed to getting him involved. That's enough for them to convict."

They were finally there. After nearly six years, they were finally about to consider jail. "What kind of time would I be looking at?"

"If she tries to go the distance, five to ten years." Alan told her. "If you want to roll the dice, and go to the jury, I'll let you. But even if the jury hangs, I wouldn't put Glazebrook to put you through it again." He looked at her. "I wish I had better news."

Kate looked at Alan. "When this got started four months ago, you told me I might end up taking a plea. I think now might be the time for me to take your advice. How are you at making deals?"

"I haven't done it as often as you'd think. I've made some great closing arguments in my time. And for someone of your caliber, it would be a doozy." Alan sat down next to her. "But I do what my clients ask, and for you, I will do my best. However, are you sure?"

"Glazebrook never asked what was in the safe deposit box I wanted stolen." She held up a hand. "There was no money or jewels or drugs. When I was twelve years old, Tom and I buried a time capsule together, One of the things that was in that time capsule was a model airplane that he was fond of. The night before" she swallowed, "I saw my mom, we dug it up. After he died, I kept the plane. To remind me of what I'd done. That's what was in the safe deposit box. It belonged to the man I killed."

"You didn't kill Tom Brennan."

"Maybe I didn't shoot the gun, but he was still there because of me. His son would still have a father, if I had just found another way." Kate was alarmed to find that she was on the verge of tears. "After every thing I've done, and everything I've been through, that's what I feel the most guilty about. Even now. That count of the indictment. See what kind of deal she'd been willing to make."

Melissa Glazebrook hadn't gotten as far as she had without being able to read juries, too. But she wasn't going to give away the store, either.

"Manslaughter 2, 2 and a half to 5, with time served attached?" she looked at Alan. "You must think I'm crazy

"You're never going to convict on Wayne Janssen's murder. And considering the nature of the victims in the robbery, you'll be lucky if the judge doesn't instruct the jury that you haven't made your burden. That leaves you with Tom Brennan, and that's a circumstantial case at best." Alan said smugly.

"Man One, Mr. Shore, five to fifteen."

"Have you heard me close, Miss Glazebrook? I've managed to get people who were actually guilty of the crimes off using just my summations. You know my track record. And the one thing you really don't want is to have another LA jury acquit a celebrity."

"You're awfully arrogant considering the evidence."

"When I'm done, the jury will throw Mrs. Janssen in jail." Kate almost wished he hadn't said that. Almost. "You've gone to a huge amount of trouble to prosecute this case. Imagine how bad it'll look if you come away with nothing."

Kate was glad she had never played poker with this man. She had a feeling even Sawyer would run scared against him.

"Three to six. That's as low as I can go to my bosses."

"You don't oppose parole the first time up. And she does it in minimum security." Alan told her confidently. "One of those nice ones they put Martha Stewart in."

Glazebrook looked like she might hesitate. "Come on, Kate." Alan made as if he was going to leave.

"Done." It wasn't until that moment that Kate realized how much Glazebrook was certain that she was going to lose. "I'll draw up the papers."

Kate wanted to talk with Jack, but she knew that the person who she needed to talk with first after she agreed to the deal.

"Got to tell you, Freckles, I never dreamed, after everything we've been through, that you'd actually agree to end up here."

Everyone who had been a part of the Oceanic survivors had been in the courtroom throughout her trial, even Jack, who was still working in Seattle. But the one whose face she had been most surprised to see every day was Sawyer's. Granted, Juliet had been there nearly as often, but still, considering all his past experiences, Kate had been amazed he'd shown up.

"How the hell did you handle it?" she asked him. Alan had told her about James Ford's time in prison, but Sawyer had gone into details as to why.

"Wasn't a picnic," he admitted. "But then again, I managed to get out of prison after just one year."

"How the hell did you manage that?"

He flashed that grin that had sent her reeling. "Take a wild guess."

"You conned your way out. How the hell-"

Sawyer held up a hand. "Story for another day." He looked around. "Anyway, it was a lot worse than where you're going."

"Couldn't be as bad as those polar bear cages."

He raised an eyebrow. "As I recall, you didn't have much trouble getting out of them when you needed to. Please tell me you won't get any more stupid ideas."

Kate shook her head. "No, its time to face the music." She took a moment for her next words. "So, you and Juliet."

"Been wondering when you would get around to that." Sawyer told her. "I know how you would like to think that it had something to do with you, but she makes me happy."

"Really?" Now Kate raised her eyebrow. "Cause I remember how sure you were she'd kill you where you stood."

He actually laughed at this. "None of us exactly make the best first impression, sweetheart." He grew serious. "Turns out there's an advantage to loving someone who already knows your secrets."

That actually stung a little, but not as much as it would've before. "You love her?"

"Same way you love the Doc." Sawyer said it so matter-of-factly that she really got how much he had changed from the man she had first met on the island. "Which is why I'm more than certain he'll be willing to wait for you."

"Three years is a long time." Kate told him. "Look what happened in just one."

"He's been waiting a long time for you, Freckles," he told her. "And there's time now. There's no smoke monsters chasing us, no button to push, no Others trying to kill us. The only one who can stand in your way... well, I think you've figured that much out by now. Question is, are you ready to stop running?"

It was a question that had been bothering Kate ever since she had had her first meeting with Alan Shore. It was the same reason she had gone through the mess of the trial. And now that she was finally face to face with what she had spent more than five years trying to avoid that she realized what she had been running from all that time. It was everything she had dealt with in her past. And now it was time to deal with the future.

"Yeah James," she said, finding a smile crossing her face. "I think I am."