Title: The Life & Times of Sara Sidle

Rating: T

Summary: (You all know by now)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters!

A/N: This chapter takes place in a courtroom. I was and still am very excited about writing this chapter, but I apologize for any inaccuracies and/or errors in the chapter! I tried to make sure most of it was correct, but if not all of it was I apologize!

August 12, 1986- 12:12 pm- Courtroom

Sara sat at a small wooden table next to the lawyer that was handling her case. Nancy and Ted were sitting by Josh followed by George and Frankie. Josh was sitting behind her and had a comforting hand on her shoulder. This did little to calm Sara's nerves as a bile formed in her throat with each glance around the room.

There were two stands in front of her- one for the judge and another for witnesses, etc. Sara knew she was going to be called up there. She was a witness, but she was also a victim. A helpless victim, and here she was today in a court of law about to reveal to complete strangers the details of her rape- something she was hoping would not get out. She had already given her account to a woman who had come to the hospital, and here she was having to do it all over again.

Sara was fumbling with the beaded bracelet on her wrist nervously. The lawyer sitting next to her was talking to himself about what he was going to present to the jury and the judge himself as he went through files and papers on the table in front of him and occasionally took a sip of water from a cup in front of him. Sara looked up at the lawyer every now and then and he just looked at her with a smile before turning back to his papers and folders. Sara didn't see why he was smiling- he was about to present the details of a rape in court.

Sara looked around the room again. She squinted at the large amount of light that was coming into the room through the large windows in the room. The navy blue drapes hanging by the windows weren't helping at all. Next to the two stands of the room was a golden flag pole holding the American flag. Next to it on the other side of the judge's stand was the California flag.

The doors leading to the courtroom opened. A well-dressed woman in a blue business jacket with a matching skirt. Her slender legs moved back and forth with each step she took and she had a confident smile on her face. Her blonde hair had a slight wave to it and her green eyes stared straight ahead of her. She had a pen positioned on her ear just above the pearl earring in her earlobe.

The woman walked to the brown business table to the right of Sara and her lawyer. She put down thick file on the table before turning back around to the door leading to the courtroom. The doors opened again.

Sara had turned around to see who was coming in this time. She felt sick as the person walked through the doors. It was Matthew. He walked through the doors with a sick grin on his face as his eyes scanned the room. They automatically locked themselves on Sara and she noticed his grin seemed to become increasingly large. He walked over to his lawyer, his eyes still fixed on Sara, and took a seat in the wooden chair next to her.

Sara felt a tight squeeze on her shoulder and she jumped. She turned around slowly to look at Josh who had leaned closer to her.

"Don't look at him, Sar. Don't let him intimidate you," Josh whispered into her ear. Sara weakly nodded and she turned back around to face the two stands in the front of the room, trying her best to avoid spotting Matthew's glance out of the corner of her eye.

A door opened near the judge's stand and a female judge walked out. She was a good-looking african-american woman who didn't look a day over 25. Her dark brown hair was tied in a tight bun and she approached the stand, taking a seat and picking up a file that was placed on the stand to begin with. She opened it up and flipped through it as the room quieted down.

"Sara Sidle vs Matthew Dillan," said a security guard, a rather plump man with red cheeks standing to the side of the room. The judge sitting at the stand nodded slowly. After everyone stood up and the standard procedures were finished, the judge spoke.

"So, Ms. Logan," the judge said looking at Matthew's lawyer. "Matthew Dillan is being accused of statutory rape."

"That is correct, your Honor," the blonde woman, now standing, said, still with her wide and confident smile.

The judge was taken aback momentarily at the wide and confident grin coming from the blonde but she turned to Sara's lawyer. "Mr. Woods, Sara Sidle is the accuser."

Sara's lawyer stood up and nodded slowly. "That is correct your Honor- my client claims that Matthew Dillan had sexual intercourse with her without her consent."

The judge nodded. "Your Honor?" This was Matthew's lawyer.

"Yes, Ms. Logan?"

"I would like to call Sara Sidle to the stand."

Sara froze and her stomach dropped. The judge nodded. "Very well." Sara's lawyer looked over at her and she slowly got to her feet. She made her way to the lectern and took a seat, shaking a bit. She tried her best to ignore the smile on Matthew's face.

"So," Mattew's lawyer started as she approached Sara at the stand. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Objection- irrelevance!" Sara's Lawyer said quickly.

"Ms. Logan," the judge said turning to her. "What exactly is the point of your question?"

She just smiled and shrugged a bit. "It's a simple question to determine whether or not the sex was consensual."

The judge nodded slowly. "I'll allow it."

"Your Honor!" Sara's lawyer pleaded. "Please-"

"Sit down, Mr. Woods."

Sara's lawyer's mouth still hung half-way open, but he slowly sat down sighing.

"So," Matthew's lawyer started again. "Did you enjoy it?" she asked Sara.

Sara's eyes widened- was she actually asking her this?

"Please answer the question," the judge said looking at Sara.

Sara turned momentarily to the judge before turning back to the woman. "Of course not!" Sara said.

The woman nodded. "Did you ever flirt with Matthew?"

Sara blinked. "...Excuse me?"

"DId you ever say anything flirtatious? Or look at him in a certain way?"

"Of course not, he was my..." She lowered her head a little. "He was my foster brother."

"You didn't say or do anything that may have been considered flirtatious?"

"No!" Sara said.

The woman nodded. "How well did you know Matthew before it happened?"

Sara grimaced as she knew what 'it' was. "Only one day."

"And the day it happened you were..." She prompted for Sara to continue.

"My...our foster parents were going to visit someone out-of-town for a while."

"And they left you alone with Matthew."

"They thought we would be okay. We have a baseball bat in the closet."

"They left you alone with someone who is almost a legal adult."

Sara froze. She now realized that she was making Ted and Nancy look responsible for this whole thing. "I..."

"Please answer the question."

"...Yes," she whispered.

"So...you were alone with Matthew. You claim that you didn't do anything...flirtatious," the woman continued. "What if Matthew thought otherwise?"

"I..."

"What if he thought you were attracted to him?"

"...I..."

"What if he thought that it was what you wanted?"

"Objection!" Sara's lawyer yelled standing up again.

"Ms. Logan, please make your point," the judge said.

"Did you ever once tell Matthew to stop?" Matthew's lawyer asked.

Sara froze. Sure, she had tried to tell him to stop but he had a hand over her mouth, her screams and cries had come out muffled. "Yes."

"I have no more questions, your Honor," the woman said and walked off, walking back to the counsel table and taking a seat next to Matthew. Matthew just smiled at Sara, his grin still the same size it was when he had walked in.

Sara's lawyer approached the lectern and cleared his throat. "You didn't know Matthew very well."

Sara shook her head. "Like I said...I only knew him for one day..."

"Did you feel uncomfortable around Matthew?"

"Very..."

"How did it happen?"

Sara again grimaced as she knew damn well what 'it' was. "...He had called me into his room."

He nodded for her to continue.

"...I didn't see him...but...it was because he was hiding behind his door, waiting..." She winced. "Waiting for...for me."

"And then what happened?"

"He...slammed his door and slammed me into the wall..."

She could feel his hands wrapping around her wrists again, the fear rising inside of her once again as he looked into her eyes with a haunting look of excitement and satisfaction.

"And...then..."

"Would you like a crash course?"

"He...slammed me onto his bed, and...held me down by...by my wrists..."

She could feel his icey hand clamped over her mouth and hear her muffled screams.

"...I tried to make him stop, but...he...had a hand over my mouth..."

She could feel his hands on her body.

"...He started unzipping his pants...and...then he...took my pants off..."

She could feel the warm tears running down her cheeks.

"He ripped my shirt...and...he...took off his boxers and my underwear...and...he...raped me."

"No more questions, your Honor," her lawyer said and walked back to the counsel table.

"You may step down," the judge said to Sara and she quickly walked back over to the counsel table, tears threatening to fall down her face. Josh put a hand on her shoulder.

Matthew was next and he sat down at the lectern with a grin still on his face. His lawyer walked up and put her hands behind her back, shoulders relaxed as if they had rehearsed this whole thing.

"So, was Sara flirting with you?" she asked.

"Was she flirting with me?" Matthew said with a smile. "No."

"Then why did you do what you did?"

"I could tell she wanted it."

Sara felt sick. Her head was lowered and her arms were clenching her stomach.

"How so?" the woman asked.

"She told me."

"Verbally?"

"No...I could tell...just looking at her...she wanted me to do it. She was begging for it."

Sara was shaking, sweat beading down her face. She had to work to keep her stomach at bay.

"No more questions, your Honor."

The woman walked back to the counsel table and Sara's lawyer walked to the lectern. "She didn't actually tell you verbally."

"No," Matthew said.

"Then why did you do it?"

"LIke I said- she wanted it."

"But she didn't tell you she did."

"Yes she did."

"You may have thought she wanted it," he said. "But she never actually told you she wanted you to do it."

"Not verbally."

"And when you had her in your bedroom she fought against you?"

"Guess she likes it rough."

Sara ran out of the courtroom quickly, clenching her stomach. When she finally reached the bathroom she emptied the contents of her stomach.

The judge pounded the gammel on the stand a few times. "Order! Order!"

Matthew was grinning madly and even chuckled a bit as he watched everyone's shocked expressions.

"Court will take a small recess and be back in session in fifteen minutes," the judge said and walked off after pounding the gammel one more time.

In the bathroom, Sara couldn't stop throwing up- she was reliving it all over again. He was here, she was here- just the thought of being so close to him made her sick. The doors to the bathroom opened and Nancy, Ted, and Josh ran into the bathroom.

"Sara," Josh said. "Are you okay?"

Sara ran over to him and broke down in sobs, holding onto him tightly. "It's okay, Sara," Josh told her. "It's okay...you did good. Shh, it's okay..."

Josh tried to comfort Sara as best he could before the fifteen minute recess was up.