A/N: Thank you for being patient with me, I am going to try and update more frequently from now on, although I can't make any promises. I have new ideas for new fan fictions too, so keep your eyes peeled for them! As always I'll let you know on Twitter when I update. :) Please review if you have the time, I appreciate reading your thoughts. Thanks.

I sat down in the court room, Alex was sat down waiting for the Judge to enter. Lillian was already in the court room with her lawyer. That familiar sickness rolled over me again, seeing that sweet old lady face made me angry. I hoped and prayed the jury would see past her elderly demeanour and send her ass to jail. Judge Ruse entered the court room, everyone stood up, then sat back down. The Jury was brought in, they were sworn in again; and just like that everyone's eyes were back on Lillian, Alex and me.

"Miss Cabot, your witness." Judge Ruse instructed.

Alex stood up with her, she took her glasses and removed them so she could looked into every jurors eyes. "Ladies and gentlemen, you're going to meet Toni-Rea, a young lady who was in the," Alex paused, "care of Mrs Parks. She will tell you her story, how she witnessed the defendant murdering another teenager who was in this so called care."

Toni-Rea entered the courtroom, she looked smarter since she'd had a wash and been placed in a foster home, but you could still see that she was rough around the edges and felt uncomfortable in her suit. Toni-Rea sat down, promised to tell the whole truth, then looked straight at me. Alex went over to the witness box. She lowered her voice and gave a small friendly smile, "Keep your eyes on me." Alex took a deep breath, "Toni-Rea I know this is very hard for you, but can you tell me about the night Marni was murdered?"

Toni-Rea kept her eyes fixed on Alex, "Mrs Parks was angry..."

"Objection, how can the witness know how my client was feeling?" Sacks shouted.

"Can you answer the question?" Judge Ruse asked leaning over slightly talking to Toni-Rea.

She nodded, "Mrs Parks was shouting, her face was red. She kept saying 'I'm going to kill her, no one betrays me!'"

"Continue Miss Cabot." Judge Ruse instructed happy with Toni-Rea's answer.

"Please continue Toni-Rea."

"Mrs Parks was angry, she told me I had to go with her to help her finish some business. She took me to an apartment block; Marni was outside the apartment, she froze when she saw Mrs Parks. They started arguing, Marni was begging Mrs Parks not to hurt her. She said she was finally with someone her made her feel safe. She said she wanted a family with Detective Benson and you." Toni-Rea struggled through tears and fear, "Marni said she had everything she ever wanted, parents that really cared for her. Mrs Parks screamed at her, she told her that no one loved her and she was stupid if she thought two cops would ever love someone like her."

"What happened then?"

"Mrs Parks forced a knife into my hands, she told me I had to kill Marni, but I couldn't. She kept pushing me trying to get me closer to her, but I froze. I've never killed anyone and I just couldn't do it..." Toni-Rea started crying, tears spilling down her cheeks, "Mrs Parks took the knife off of me, went up to Marni and slit her throat."

"What did Marni do?" Alex asked.

"Nothing, she just stood there." Toni-Rea answered.

Alex shot a look in my direction then turned back to face Toni-Rea, "What happened next?"

"Mrs Parks took my arm and told me to get rid of the knife."

"Objection Your Honour. The murder weapon has never been found or entered into evidence." Sacks said calmly.

"Counsellors, approach." Judge Ruse said. Alex and Kevin both walked over to the Judge's bench, "Miss Cabot, were you told where the murder weapon is?"

"No, but if you can give me an hours recess, I can get it."

"You have until tomorrow morning. Nine A.M." Judge Ruse said. "Court is adjourned until nine A.M tomorrow morning."

I looked at Alex and then straight to Toni-Rea, as the teen got up I pulled her to one side, "Toni-Rea, you need to tell me where the murder weapon is."

"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, I was scared."

"It's fine sweetheart, better late than never." I said walking out of the court with Toni-Rea.

Six blocks from my apartment, hidden behind an industrial skip was the bloody knife used to kill Marni. I picked it up and logged it as evidence; I drove Toni-Rea back to the one – six, the fear in her eyes were prominent.

"Get this to the lab, I need finger prints, DNA, run anything you find against Lillian Parks." I instructed a lab technician. I looked over to the teenager who seemed a lot more vulnerable now than she did before. I took over a can of cola and sat down next to her. "What's on your mind?" I asked.

"Nothing." she mumbled.

I raised my eyebrows, "That's not true, is it? You can talk to me, no matter what it is." I saw the hesitation in her eyes, "Come with me, we can talk privately." I lead Toni-Rea to the soft interview room where we usually spoke to young children. I saw down and motioned for her to sit down too.

"I feel so ashamed, I don't think I can tell you."

"You can tell me anything, I'm not going to think any differently of you." I assured her.

Toni-Rea took a deep breath, "I didn't tell you I hid the knife because I didn't want you to find it. I don't think I want Mrs Parks to go to jail."

I tried to hide my shock, the knot in my stomach tightened, "Why honey?"

"Because she's the only family I have, if she goes to jail, I have no one and nothing. You loved Marni, no one's going to love me." Toni-Rea stood up in frustration. "I just want a family, I want to be loved. I want what Marni had, I loved Marni but I hate her. Why did she get you? What made her so special?"

I looked at Toni-Rea, I could see her anger and jealousy building, I stood up and embraced her in my arms, I held her tightly even when she struggled to get away until she stopped fighting me and cuddled me back. Her tears spilled down her cheeks, she was just a child who had lost everything. "You have people here who care about you and want the best for you. I know you're scared and you have every right to be, but Mrs Parks isn't your family, she doesn't love you, she's using you. I know it's hard to hear, but you can't keep living for her. You have your whole life ahead of you, and I'll be here if you need me."

Toni-Rea let go of me and looked at me through red eyes, "You promise? I don't want a mom, no one can replace my mother. I just want security, I want what Marni had, someone she could turn to."

I smiled, "I promise I'll be here if you need me." I took out my card and gave it to Toni-Rea. "Here is my work number and my cell number. If you want to talk, just give me a call."

"Thank you."

I heard a knock on the door and excused myself. Alex was stood by the one way mirror, I smiled at her. It was hard remaining professional around her, "Is everything okay?" I asked.

"A primary match has been maid on the fingerprints on the knife, Parks and Toni's are on there. We're still waiting on a blood match, but I've got enough to carry on with the case." Alex paused, "Olivia what's wrong?"

"I'm just concerned about Toni, she's very angry and jealous. I'm worried she's going to take the stand tomorrow and blow a hole in the case."

"Why?" Alex asked, "Where's this coming from?"

"She's jealous of Marni, she didn't want Parks to go to jail because she had no one to love her. She's confused, she just wants someone to love and care for her. She doesn't care where the attention comes from, as long as she's getting it."

Alex was in deep thought, "Lets just hope she doesn't blow this, so far, with everything we've got this is a slam dunk."

I'd woken up with a very bad feeling, I had open cases I should have been working on, but I needed to be in court. I had to make sure Toni didn't derail this case, I hoped being there would show her I really was there for her whenever she needed me. I got dressed and headed straight to the court, Alex had left early this morning, but not before kissing me goodbye.

Nine A.M rolled around and just like yesterday everyone was in the court room waiting to hear the rest of Toni-Rea's statement. She was lead in and again promised to tell the whole truth.

Alex stood up and straightened her suit jacket. "Toni-Rea, yesterday you showed the police where you had hidden the murder weapon after you were told to dispose of it." Alex picked up a knife held in a plastic evidence tube. "Is this the knife the defendant used to murder Marni?"

"Yes, that's it."

"So after you disposed of the knife, what happened?"

"After Mrs Parks killed Marni, she told me to get rid of the knife. I called her when I'd gotten rid of it and she picked me up. I had blood on my clothes and face, she told me before I could get in the car I had to change and wash so she took me down the ally where I'd hidden the knife, she made me take all of my clothes off. She got a petrol can from the trunk and poured it over me. She put my clothes in a bag, gave me some clean ones then took me back to the house."

"Thank you Toni-Rea, your witness." Alex said sitting back down.

Kevin Sacks stood up, buttoned his jacket and perched himself on the edge of the desk. "Did you ever tell my client to stop Toni?"

"My name is Toni-Rea." the girl replied sharply.

"My apologies, Toni-Rea. Did you ever tell my client to stop arguing with Marni?"

"No. You don't..."

"Did you try and stop her from killing Marni?"

"No, but you..."

"Surely someone as frail as Mrs Parks could easily be over powered by a young, healthy person such as yourself."

"Is that a question?" Toni-Rea asked her eyes shooting to Alex for help.

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

"Because I was scared." Toni-Rea shot back finding herself losing control.

"Scared of what? Being deported? Getting in trouble, you were just trying to save your own skin."

"Objection!" Alex shouted, "Mr Sacks is badgering my witness, please ask him to ask real questions that will help the jury, rather than confuse and upset my witness."

"Mr Sacks, you're on very thin ice. Ask your questions or sit down." Judge Ruse said clearly annoyed.

"Why did you dispose of the murder weapon?" Sacks asked almost disregarding what the Judge had to say.

"Because I was told to and you don't..."

"So when you were taken in to the safety of police custody, why did you still not tell the police where the murder weapon was?" Sacks asked sitting down making it clear he held no respect for Toni-Rea.

"I wanted to, but Mrs Parks is the only person who has given me a house to live in and fed me for the past couple of years. I didn't want to lose her."

"So it would be fair to say that my client looked after you, fed you, made sure you had a roof over your head. She was like a mother to you."

"I suppose."

"Yes or no?" Sacks demanded.

"Yes."

"No further questions." Sacks said.

"Redirect Your Honour?" Alex asked standing up determined to let the jury here the reasons why Toni-Rea acted the way she did.

"Go ahead Miss Cabot." Ruse said.

"Toni-Rea, why didn't you try to stop Mrs Parks from arguing or killing Marni?"

"Because you can't go against her. She'll kill you if you argue with her. I watched her kill Marni, if I got involved or tried to do anything she'd have killed me too."

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

"Because Mrs Parks would've killed me."

"And why didn't you tell the police where the murder weapon was?" Alex asked crisply.

"You don't go up against Mrs Parks, you don't argue you do as your told."

"Thank you. No more questions for this witness." Alex said sitting down. Toni-Rea was told she could step down and left the court room.

Judge Ruse looked at both Alex and Kevin; "Is that all your witnesses Counsellors?" Both Alex and Kevin said yes, "Closing statements in an hour. Court is adjourned."