A/N
I'm back!!! Thank God! I've been so lost without my writing, but I'm here for good now…I hope. This chapter is dedicated to the lovely bellaedwardfan78. You've supported this story like crazy, thank you! So here is a new chapter, hope you like it! EPOV!

I was beyond nervous. The court date was finally here, I was in a waiting room, waiting for Bella. She was never late, I'm not sure what had gotten into her.

"Mr. Masen?" I looked up to see a man in black robes, the judge. I stood and grasped his outstretched hand.

"Please, call me Edward." He nodded and pointed to a seat.

"Judge Turpin. Are you ready?" I sighed heavily. I couldn't wait for Bella any longer. The judge already waited ten minutes over our scheduled time.

"Yes sir." He opened the door to the private courtroom and I stepped inside. Victoria, Laurent, James, and his lawyer were already inside. I went to the side of the room that was for the Plaintiff and stood beside Victoria who kept her eyes on the ground. I looked to the Defendant side and saw James glaring holes into my head.

"Please be seated." Judge Turpin told us after we all took the oath and had declared to tell the truth. "Can we begin with you Edward?" I nodded and looked to Victoria. Her gaze met mine and I smiled encouragingly.

"I would like to start, if it is alright with you, by asking James a few questions." The judge nodded and James walked to the seat beside the judge will I stood in front of him. "How long have you known my client?" James rolled his eyes at my question.

"A little over three years."

"At any point when you knew her, were you aggressive?"

"Yes."

"You were?" He nodded to my question. "Did you hit her?"

"Once. We got into a fight and I got angry. She kept yelling at me, I told her to stop or I would hit her. She didn't, so I back handed her."

"And you said you only hit her once, correct?" I looked in his eyes.

"Yes." I leaned forward closely to him.

"That's a lie." I turned my attention to the judge. "May I show you something your honor?" The judge agreed and I got the dated pictures from a folder and handed them to him. "If you only hit her once, why does she have pictures of bruises and scars that range widely in date?"

"She probably got into a fight with someone else. She always had bruises when I would pick her up somewhere."

The judge listened to James and I intently. He tended to nod a bit more when James spoke, I didn't take that as a good sign.

"Laurent, would you take the seat?" He nodded and sat where James was dismissed.

"You too have known Victoria for three years, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"And in these three years, did you ever notice aggressive behavior from James to Victoria?"

"I have sir."

"How often would you say you noticed this?"

"Nearly every day." He admitted.

"And you never tried to stop it?" I was asking him similar questions to the ones Bella and I had asked when we had lunch. Bella still wasn't here. She was a fighter and I knew she could win the case, I needed her help.

"I tried on many occasions. Almost every one. There were times I wasn't present, but for the ones that I was present, I tried to stop it."

"So why did she still get bruises?"

"James is a difficult man to control sir. Once he sets his mind to something, he's nearly unstoppable." He said as he had at lunch.

"And did you ever witness James rape her?"

"Objection!" James's lawyer shouted. I looked to the judge who shook his head.

"Denied." The judge motioned for me to continue.

"Did you?" I asked again.

"I did."

"Your honor, I have a doctors report from my client that shows that sexual activity was forced upon her."

"Bring it to me." He told me. I handed him the report.

"What do you say about this?" He questioned James.

"Sir, Victoria was always one to go to clubs and bars. I wouldn't be surprised if that is where the report came from."

"That's not true!" Victoria spoke for the first time. "I was always stuck at your apartment! You never let me go anywhere. The only people I saw for the longest was you and Laurent and you know it!"

"That is true sir." Laurent said. "Any time I drove by or was at the apartment, Victoria was there. She never left, I once tried to get her out of there, James showed up and kicked me out. That's when I no longer visited or saw Victoria. I only stayed as long as I did because I tried to protect her."

I looked to Laurent, he led me to my next question. "And you told me the other day you've known him since high school?"

"That's right."

"And you said he has always been aggressive and had a temper?"

"Correct."

"That's ridiculous!" James's lawyer shouted. "He was in high school. Many teenage boys are aggressive and have tempers. That doesn't prove anything."

"He did always get in trouble for fighting at school." Laurent replied.

"So do many other boys!" James's lawyer shouted again.

"What's your name sir?" Judge Turpin asked him.

"John."

"Well John, I suggest you stop shouting in my courtroom. If you want to have a chance at winning this case I would recommend you controlling the tone of your voice."

If I had been a child, I would have pointed and laughed at them, but I couldn't do that, that would lose this case in an instant.

"Continue please." The judge said to me.

"Victoria?" She looked to me. "Would you mind?" I asked as I pointed to the chair. She glanced at James who was glowering at her. She met my eyes again and I smiled, trying my best to encourage her. If Bella had been here, she could have done a better job.

Victoria stood and walked over to take Laurent's seat.

"Do you agree that you've known James around three years?" I questioned her.

"Yes sir."

"And during these years, did he hit you more than once?"

"Yes sir." She repeated. Her eyes were to the ground. I wished I could comfort her, but I couldn't. I had to stay professional.

"And did he rape you?"

"On more than one occasion." She said as she met my eyes.

"How many times would you guess?"

"About…Three times a week after a month of living with him." That broke my heart. I didn't realize it was so often.

"Could you show the judge your wrists?" She nodded and stood, the judge agreed and she extended her wrists.

"What is that from?" He questioned her.

"These scars are from the chains he used to tie me up when he beat or raped me." She said as her head dropped.

"She could have done that herself." John said, he spoke softer, taking to heart what the judge told him.

"First of all, these are scars from many uses. Her bringing you to court was spur of the moment. She wouldn't have had time to create scars that last like these do, they would be scabs. Second, why would she inflict pain on herself?"

"To win this case." He stated harshly.

"That goes back to my first statement. She didn't have time to cause that much damage in so little time."

"Please stop." Victoria said softly. I looked to her and saw tears flowing. "You hurt me. You beat and rapped me many times. How could you?"

"You bitch." James spat at her. "Those tears are fake! She is lying to you your honor! How could you believe these false tales?"

"False tales? I have proof James!" Victoria shouted back.

"It's bullshit!" James retorted.

"Enough!" The judge yelled.

"How could you believe her lies?"

"That's it! I'm taking a break. You need to go outside. I will not listen to you any longer if you do not learn to control yourself." The judge told James and John as he stood and left.

James immediately stalked over to Victoria.

"I told you, you little bitch. You keep your mouth shut, or I'll be sure to do it myself." Victoria stood and glared at him. He started to close in and I immediately stood between them.

"You will not touch her." I growled at him. His eyes narrowed at me.

"Move." He told me, had I been afraid, I might have done it…But I wasn't.

"James." John put his hand on James's shoulder. "You will make this worse for you, let's go outside." James glared at Victoria and I and stormed out the door.

"Are you alright?" I turned to look into Victoria's eyes.

"Thank you." She whispered as she gave me a gentle hug.

"Come on." I led her from her seat to the bench where Laurent just sat.

"You did better than I ever had with James." Laurent told me. "If I had stood in between him and Victoria, it was an automatic fight. One I took on many times. I was about to step in but you seemed to have everything under control." He patted me on the shoulder. The three of us took our seats, waiting until the judge would return.

I was getting worried about Bella. I hadn't heard from her since late last night and I wasn't sure where she could possibly be. I picked up my cell phone and dialed Bella's number. It rang several times, no answer.

"Hey this is Bella, sorry I can't answer…Alice! You caught the stove on fire again!" I always laughed when I heard her voicemail message. She hasn't figured out how to change it and it's too amusing to show her how to change it.

"Bella, where are you? I asked the judge to wait as long as he could. We're taking a break right now, James pissed the judge off." I chuckled lightly. "I'm not really sure how the case is going, he seemed to be leaning to James until his outbreak but, I'm not sure…Anyway, call me when you get this. I'm worried about you." I was cut off with the judge entering. "I've got to go, bye." I hung up and Laurent, Victoria and I stood when the judge entered.

"Please, have a seat." He told us as he waved his guard over. "Go find the Defendants." The guard nodded and exited. Judge Turpin looked to the three of us. "I'll be honest. I'm not sure who I believe. You present wonderful evidence, but James seems to be…degraded by the fact that we're even in court." He sighed and looked up when the doors opened. The three men entered and James and his lawyer took their spots on the Defendants side.

We were about to begin, again.

A/N
So here is part of the court case, I know some stuff is probably not true; I've never been to court so I'm not sure how it all goes. I created things I thought were possible and what I thought the characters would really do…hope you agree : )
Thank you Azalea! You're amazing and to bellaedwardfan78, I hope all went well with you!