Disclaimer:

They are not mine. I don't make profit from this.

Feedback is welcome (be kind; English is not my first language.)

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Part 3 "The old court days"

Flashback: 16 years ago, Four Corners´ Court House

Officer Josiah Sanchez checked that his uniform looked good before climbing down out of his truck. At his side, young Ezra Standish mimicked the officer's mannerisms brushing imaginary dust from his little dress jacket.

"We look good, don't you think?" asked Josiah with a toothy grin.

"Yes, Sir," answered the child. "One must always look his best, especially if you are going to be around important people."

Josiah sighed, he really appreciated that Maude always looked at her best, but wasn't sure it should be a priority for the 11 year old, even if in this case it helped the officer.

Josiah had a court appearance and needed to take Ezra with him since Maude had previous engagements, the Jackson's were out of the city and it was too short notice to call a babysitter.

Deciding to turn the experience into something useful to the continue training he planned for the child, he introduced Ezra to the court's protocols, explaining the role played by each person and then asking the child the names and details of every person he had described along the way.

In the court room the child behaved wonderfully, paying rapt attention to the lawyers, witnesses and judge.

Ezra was awed by the place and the formality of the situation and Josiah had to chuckle when the kid declared that some day he would be at that same place helping the cops get the criminals behind bars.

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In the years after Maude and Ezra left, the officer often remembered that day at the courts and the proud gaze the child gave him while Josiah was at the stand.

*M7 AU*

Part 4 "The Courthouse"

Present year, last week.

When Ezra Standish entered the courthouse, he instinctively took notice of everything and everybody there, his photographic memory noticing every detail.

He quickly found where he needed to hand the papers that the Chief gave him, and was a little disappointed when he was informed that Judge Vaughn was too busy to look at them right away but that the secretary would contact him to give Ezra a date for a hearing.

Nathan knew that Ezra wanted to press the secretary and intervened before his friend's mouth would get them kicked out or arrested.

"Thank you. We'll be expecting your call. Have a nice day," the taller man said hurriedly.

Ezra rolled his eyes at his friend's apprehension. "You really need to learn to relax, buddy!" said Ezra when they were far enough from the secretary.

//With you around? No can do, buddy// thought Nathan. Out loud, he said, "I know you Ez, and I don't intend to get in trouble in the city where I live."

Ezra smiled evilly, "Ok, we can always go back to México and get in trouble there."

Nathan stopped in his tracks.

"Forget it Ez, I'm not going outside of the country with you again." Then, thinking it over, he added, "or to another state, or another city… maybe I'll just avoid you entirely."

Without turning to look at his tall friend, Ezra nodded and chuckled, knowing that over the 17 years of their friendship Nathan had threatened something similar many times, but, fortunately, had never followed through.

As Ezra walked down the corridor, he saw a group leaving one of the rooms by a side entrance and walking towards him.

In just a few seconds Ezra had already determined that the long haired man was the one on trial, that the nervous young dark haired man was the lawyer or at least a legal advisor, that the 3 men behind them were the guards, and that to deserve three guards the charges had to be serious.

While Ezra was watching and musing, a man in an expensive suit passed the group and almost collided with a young woman who, in the avoiding maneuver, dropped her purse and some papers she had in her hands.

In an instant the longhaired man helped her to recover her balance, picked up her papers and purse, handed them to her, then yanked the dark haired lawyer at his side so the young man didn't walked into a column while distracted by the woman.

All without breaking stride.

Ezra, surprised, arched an eyebrow at the man's actions. The woman, also surprised, mumbled a thank you and left in a rush.

The long haired man looked directly at Ezra, and blushed, smiling as if he had not expected the thanks and was embarrassed that the green eyed man witnessed it, but continued his journey with his escorts.

Knowing that Nathan was close behind, Ezra turned slightly and asked the taller man, "Did you see that?"

"Yeah," said Nathan, "she is pretty."

"Not the girl," Ezra sighed. "But if she did something different with her hair she would look gorgeous." At Nathan's knowing smile Ezra shrugged. It wasn't his fault that he noticed ¨everything¨.

"I was talking about the man who helped her."

"What about him?" Nathan asked.

Ezra snapped his fingers as he remembered all the headlines he had seen in the last days. "He's the one accused of killing a guy… some guy in a warehouse," he said, his eyes narrowing.

"The man who was beaten to death? It was gross." Nathan shuddered. "They will need DNA to identify the poor man."

"Yes, that one, but he didn't do it." Ezra stated confidently.

"A witness saw him leaving the crime scene," recalled Nathan.

Blocking the noise and distractions around him, Ezra's hand instinctively went to his temple and he closed his eyes, remembering all he had seen on the news.

"This guy was a soldier with a classified file, probably black ops or something like that, so the people assumed he's capable of violence but, really, those guys are so good that he wouldn't have made such a mess to kill a guy."

Ezra opened his eyes. "That man was trained at covert ops; he doesn't make a sound when he walks... that somebody saw him as he got away from the crime scene is so improbable!"

"Exactly" said Nathan, "Improbable is not the same as impossible."

"Thank you, Mr. Thesaurus," teased Ezra, "but I know he's not guilty, and that he'll need my help to prove it."

"He doesn't have to prove that he's not guilty. The other guys have to prove that he is guilty," Nathan explained.

Ezra rolled his eyes at his friend naiveté. "Not in a case like this one. People only have to doubt his innocence for him to go to jail."

"And how can you be sure he's not guilty?" Nathan asked.

Ezra looked straight at his friend eyes. "The spirits told me," he answered.

"Ezra, cut the crap and tell me or…"

"Or you won't move from that spot," finished Ezra.

"Please Nathan. That was fun when we were teenagers and you grew up like mad and I couldn't drag you anywhere anymore, but we are adults now. I think it's time you acted like a grown up instead of just looking like one."

At that, Nathan did a good imitation of a fish out of water.

"How dare you!" he exclaimed indignantly when his ability to talk returned.

"YOU, accusing ME of being immature!"

Ezra just gave him his most innocent face.

Nathan wasn't fooled. "You can't trick me," he said "I see the truth in the glint in your eyes."

"Exactly!" exclaimed Ezra.

"If you had pay attention to that man's eyes you could have seen that he's not guilty. People that want to look innocent can do a lot of things," he gestured wildly, "they especially avoid direct eye contact because everybody knows that the eyes are the windows to the soul and you can't change that, no matter how hard you try."

Nathan was a little confused, as he always was while trying to follow Ezra's line of thought. "You telling me you saw his soul?"

Ezra paused. "Maybe I did," then smiled brightly and sprinted pass Nathan, toward where the group had headed.

"Let's go offer our services, come on!" he yelled over his shoulder.

"Ezra!" cried Nathan in disbelief, but his friend was far enough to pretend he hadn't heard.

//Well, I always wanted to be a lawyer… I even took that course at law school…// thought Nathan and hurried to Ezra's side.

//Just hope I don't have to see pictures of the beaten man; I can't stand the sight of bloody things.//

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(to be continued)

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