Greg stood outside the courtroom all dressed up in one of his suits. Grissom always loved to call them "monkey suits". He wondered why Grissom hated them so much. Maybe it was because the only time he would wear one was to court dates. Taking it from that viewpoint, Greg was starting to agree.
His lawyer, Scott Hill, an older man in his 60's with grey hair and glasses, came up next to Greg, putting his hand on his shoulder. "You ready for this, Greg?" Greg shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I guess as ready as I am going to get. I just want this over with."
"Well I understand and I am sure by tomorrow things will be much better for you." Greg forced a smile. "I hope you are right."
"Stop worrying about it, Kiddo. You'll be fine."
Greg knew his lawyer was trying to lighten his mood, but more than anything he annoyed him.
They filed into the courtroom and took their seats. Greg glanced back when he heard the press commotion from the hallway. The James' were just walking into the courtroom. Immediately Greg felt the heat coming from Aaron James' glare at him. Greg held it for a moment before turning back to face the front of the court. He felt his heart beating faster. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm down his nerves.
The judge was introduced to the courtroom as he took his seat. Judge Richard Cartwright was a good judge, according to Greg's attorney. He told him this was a good sign. Greg just glanced sideways at his attorney and gave him a polite smile. All Greg wanted was this thing to start and be over with just as quick.
The day seemed to drag on forever. The James' attorney kept bringing character witnesses, trying to show what a good kid Demetrius James had been. Greg wondered how such a seemingly good kid got caught up with the gang beatings. He started reliving that night in his mind. He saw Demetrius James turn and look at him with those eerie blue eyes, then proceed to take a large rock and look as thought he would throw it at the victim. But instead he turned around and started running towards Greg in the Denali. What could he have done differently? Letting him throw the rock, shatter his windshield and risk serious injury himself? Or what he did, put the SUV in drive and run into him to stop him. Greg sighed and his lawyer noticed.
"Are you okay, Kiddo," he whispered to him. Greg was sick of being called 'Kiddo' by this guy who hardly knew him.
"Yeah, just tired, I guess," he replied half-heartedly.
"It'll be wrapping up soon for today. Tomorrow is your big day!" Yippee Skippy, Greg thought to himself. He definitely would not get any sleep that night.
About an hour later, the court adjourned for the day. Greg managed to avoid the hounding press on his way out as he did on his way in. They were feeding on the James' party and all the information they were providing them with. Greg did not want to hear any of it.
By the time he got home to his place, he felt exhausted emotionally. It was only a little after 4 in the afternoon. After he took off his 'monkey suit', he sat down on his sofa and turned on whatever came on his TV first. He laid back his head and closed his eyes.
He was startled awake by his cell phone ringing. He grabbed it off his coffee table and answered it without looking at who was calling. "Sanders," he answered groggily. He glanced at his DVD clock and saw it was 5:48pm already. He had dozed off for almost two hours.
"Hey Greg. It's Nick. How did it go today? Did you get on the stand yet?" Greg got up and started walking to his kitchen.
"Hey Nick. It was pretty boring today. Lots of character witnesses for him. Tomorrow is my big day on the stand." Greg grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and went back to his sofa.
"You'll do fine tomorrow. Just do what you did at the coroner's inquest." Once again someone saying the same thing he has heard several times before. He knew they all meant well, but he had grown tired of it.
"Yeah, I know," he responded sluggishly. Nick decided to drop that topic and ask him about something that might go better.
"So how was your lunch date, yesterday?" Greg could not help but grin a bit to himself. "It was kind of different," he said slyly.
"Different good or different bad?"
"Hmmm, I guess I would call it different good, since we decided we would see each other again."
"Sweet! So was she as hot as the first time you saw her?"
"Maybe hotter than the first time I saw her." Nick was interested now in more information about her.
"Hotter, well hopefully she has the personality to match, then?"
Greg was still smiling to himself, glad he had a good friend who was able to pick up his mood. "Well, yeah she definitely has a personality to match. She is actually very fascinating. We had a bit of a rough moment but recovered nicely from it." Greg laughed to himself thinking back on it now.
"Very interesting. Well good luck with her then. Maybe she'll be a keeper." Nick was glad to hear Greg enjoyed his first time out with this girl.
"Maybe she will be," Greg replied, while grinning. He was happy Nick could not see his stupid grin right then.
"Okay then, Greg. We'll all be thinking of you tomorrow. Let us know how it turns out when you get a chance."
"I'll stop by afterward if I can and let you all know, if you are around anyway. Thanks Nick. Say thanks to everyone else for me." Greg hung up the phone feeling a lot better than he had when he first got home.
Maybe he should make another call that night to up his mood even more. He picked up his home phone and grabbed a piece of paper from his tabletop and dialed the number.
