Verdict

Mared stared at the doors of the court as she thought about the next few minutes. She'd been present at hundreds, possibly thousands of sentencing hearings. This one was different. This one affected her; people she loved. She smiled slightly as she felt Tom take her hand.

"Hey."

"I was just thinking."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'd be worried if you weren't." She rolled her eyes, looking back to the front door of the historical building in front of her.

"You don't have to go in there. I can turn the car around. Take us both somewhere else. Anywhere else."

"I know." She smiled slightly. "But I'm sick of running from him. We've done nothing wrong. You said it yourself, I have nothing to be ashamed of."

Tom smiled at her. The first time she had told him about her history with Prosser he had wanted to kill the man. He had known there was something there; buried in the past but he could never have seen what she was about to tell him. Looking at her sat in the passenger seat of his car he knew he had never met anyone as strong as the woman next to her.

"Beth?"

"Dim byd. I." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Tom?"

"Mae ei union gyda phopeth sydd wedi digwydd Fi jyst sylweddoli nad wyf wedi dweud wrthych pa mor falch yr wyf o chi."

Mared blinked. She had never known Tom to talk about his feelings. She could count the amount of times she had known him to be so open on the fingers of one hand.

"Hey." She touched his face; knowing whenever he was deadly serious about something he reverted back to his native Welsh. She smiled as he closed his eyes. Her thumb brushed over the perpetual five o clock shadow he always seemed to have.

"Mared."

"Tom."

""Rwy'n dy garu di."

Mared was stunned for a moment. Her hand still on his face. She bit her lip, smiling slightly.

"I know." She kissed him. "You're not so bad yourself."

Tom rolled his eyes. He kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I mean it."

"I know." She smiled. "You said it in Welsh. Fy cariad." She left the car feeling stronger than she had in a long time. Tom shook his head, knowing that Prosser could never touch them again.

Xxxxxxx

Lloyd parked the small blue Kia behind the court. Siân swore, struggling with the seatbelt as Delyth and Lee approached them.

"Where the Hell have you been?" Delyth snapped as Lloyd stepped out the car. Siân raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, I was worried. Lee said you went after Merion Jenkins."

"Yeah. Well, never saw him." Lloyd answered. The panic on his girlfriend's face made him stop in his tracks. Lee looked at his feet.

"What is this? You called us. Said the verdict was about to be given so here we are." Siân tugged her jacket closer to her. Lloyd watched as Delyth frowned.

"Yeah it is. Mathias and Rhys have just gone in." Lee stated.

"Right then." Lloyd stepped to usher them into the building. Delyth rested a hand on his arm.

"Lloyd, the body of Meirion Jenkins was found in the barn at the Jenkins' family farm hours ago."

"No, we only arranged to meet with him lunchtime." Siân frowned.

"SOCO say he had been dead at least eight hours. Apparently from a self inflicted gunshot to the head." Delyth stared at her boyfriend. "Whoever you were meeting, it wasn't him."

"Inside." Lloyd ushered them into the courthouse. His blood had frozen in his veins. If Delyth hadn't called them there was a chance they'd both would have walked to their deaths.

Xxxxxxxx

The Judge walked into the courthouse, taking her seat as the usher informed the rest of the court they could sit. The Judge glanced at the man in the dock before turning to the Foreman of the Jury.

"On the count of Misconduct in a public office, have you reached a verdict?"

The man in his late twenties nodded as he looked at the Judge.

"Ydw, yes."

"What say you?"

"Guilty."

Mared kept her eyes on Prosser as her grip on Tom's hand tightened. Siân and Lloyd watched the Jury.

"On the counts of assault on a police officer, grievous bodily harm, wrongful imprisonment, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to commit murder, have you reached a verdict upon which you all agree?"

"Yes."

"What say you? Guilty or not guilty?"

Tom kept his eyes on Mared. He didn't really care what the judge said. She was all that mattered. The only survivor of Prosser and Evans he had to be sure she was coping. Following her line of sight he saw Prosser staring at her. The foreman on the jury paused for a moment.

"On all counts, guilty."

Mared jumped as the judge hit the gravel. The public gallery awash with local journalists and relatives of the victims. Tom squeezed her hand; barely registering the life sentence the judge passed before telling the prison officers to take Prosser away. Mared closed her eyes as Prosser yelled obscenities at everyone but her in particular.

"Ma'am?" Siân whispered from behind her. "You ok?"

"Yeah." She wiped a tear away. "Yeah. It's over."

"Only, it's not." Tom looked at his junior officers. "It's not over, is it?"

"For him it is." Siân nodded towards their former boss as he was taken away. "Let's get out of here."

Xxxxxxx

A/N translations

"What?"

"It's nothing. I."

"Tom."

"It's just, with everything that's happened I've just realised I've never told you how proud I am of you."

"I love you."

"My love."