Alan sat up and winced as his back cracked loudly in the quiet room. Liz's sniffling stopped, as if she was holding her breath and waiting for his answer. He sighed quietly. He wanted to go to her, but his sense of duty for once in his life was holding him back. Why was he choosing this moment to care?
Maybe because she was different.
He ran his hands through his hair and ruffled it up as he sat there contemplating his options. If he went to her, then their relationship would change; he wouldn't be able to go back to keeping a professional distance. His feelings for her had only grown, and he had only known her for a short time. It was baffling to him. He hadn't felt this way about anyone. Ever.
Liz sniffed again and he couldn't take it anymore. He stood up quickly and moved to the side where she wasn't lying, then sat down gingerly and laid a hand on her shoulder.
She stiffened under his hand for a moment, then turned to face him. Alan's hand didn't leave her body as he moved it to her waist and gave it a little squeeze over the blankets.
"Are you ok, Lizzie?" He winced at the use of a nickname that he wasn't sure she would be ok with him using.
His eyes had adjusted enough to see her wipe her eyes with the collar of her t-shirt. "No, not really," she said thickly. She didn't act like she minded that he had called her Lizzie.
He squeezed her side again, then moved his hand to her arm that was lying outside of the blanket and ran his fingers up and down her soft skin. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She shook her head and wiped her eyes again, but was silent for a few seconds until she said quietly, "Will you lay with me?"
His hand stilled on her arm in pleasant surprise, but he quickly recovered and resumed his ministrations. "Lizzie-" he started.
She cut him off. "Please, Alan. Don't make me beg."
He bit his lip as the muscle under his eye twitched slightly. He was glad it was dark so she couldn't see his internal debate play over face. What the hell was he thinking? There was a woman who he had clear feelings for that wanted him to comfort her. He was an idiot for even hesitating.
Instead of saying anything, he slid off the bed then lifted the comforter up enough for him to lay underneath them.
As soon as he was settled, Liz didn't hesitate to scoot backwards into his body. He wrapped his right arm around her waist and pulled her as closely as possible, then buried his face in her hair and inhaled her strawberry scented shampoo. She exhaled a contented sigh, then whispered, "Thank you" before drifting off to sleep.
He had a hard time keeping still. His body felt wired and on edge, and he wanted nothing more than to move his hand under her shirt and caress her bare skin; but they weren't that far along in their relationship, and he didn't want to screw it up. So he kept his hand in place and resisted everything brain was telling him to do. Instead, he pressed a kiss to her hair and slipped his other arm underneath her pillow and closed his eyes. He fell asleep almost immediately. He had a woman that he was quickly falling for in his arms, he was warm, and he felt safe. It had been the fastest that he'd fallen asleep in years.
OOOOOO
Alan was woken from a deep sleep by a loud bang on the floor above him. He tried to turn over and go back to sleep, but was weighed down and couldn't. Confused, he cracked open his eyes and saw dark brown hair spread out over his shoulder and chest, with an arm thrown across his waist, and a warm body pressed against his side.
Everything came crashing back to him at once.
What the hell was he doing? She was a client. Everything had seemed so much clearer the night before, but in the light of day he knew he was jeopardizing everything.
He carefully pried himself away from her entirely too appealing body and stood up with his thighs touching the edge of the mattress. He watched as she sighed quietly, then turned on her other side and huddled under the blankets to find the warmth that had gone missing.
He sighed. She was so beautiful, and he could definitely get used to waking up with her every morning, but they had to get through the trial first. Then maybe they could see what happened between them; but only then.
Rubbing his numb arm where she had lain on him, he walked over to his drawers and pulled out some clean boxer briefs and a white undershirt, then walked into the bathroom to shower. While he was putting shaving cream on his face, there was a knock on the door. He winced because he was only in his briefs and called out, "What's the matter?"
Her quiet voice came through the door. "I need to use the restroom...badly."
He cleared his throat, uncomfortable because of his earlier resolution to keep his distance from her. "Well I have shaving cream on my face and am barely dressed, come in at your own discretion."
The door cracked open and she peeked inside, then blushed. "Sorry, I don't mean to bother you."
He shrugged and ran the razor over his face. "You're not bothering me. Do you need me to leave while you go?" Some people cared about that and some people didn't, he just wanted her to feel comfortable.
She blushed again and nodded. "If you don't mind." He kind of did. He was going to be late as it was, but he was trying to be a gentleman.
He smiled as he passed her and couldn't help but notice that she was staring at his chest with wide eyes.
After she was finished, she walked back out with a sheepish grin. "I'll just get dressed and meet you at the courthouse so you can get ready without having to worry about me."
Despite himself, he reached forward and squeezed her shoulder lightly. "Don't leave on my account. We can ride over together if you want. You're even welcome to stay here until after the trial." He clamped his mouth shut an swore profusely in his head. It seemed he couldn't stop his thoughts from coming out of his mouth.
She smiled warmly and ran a hand through her tousled hair. "I don't know. We'll see how things go today at trial."
He glanced at the clock and swore under his breath when he saw what time it was. Her trial was in an hour; they were barely going to make it as it was. He looked at her, then down at her pajamas. "Did you bring anything with you to wear or is it all at your hotel?"
"I have clothes in the car." She walked over and slid her jacket and shoes back on. "I'll go get them while you're in the shower."
He nodded and watched as she walked out the door, then he turned and hurried into the bathroom to finish shaving and showering before she returned.
Five minutes later, he dried off and dressed in his undershirt and a clean pair of black boxer briefs, then walked out and stopped in his tracks when Liz suddenly wrapped him up in a hug and buried her face in his neck. He wrapped his arms around her hesitantly and said, "What's wrong?"
She pulled him closer. "Thank you for being so kind to me. I'm not used to that."
He patted her back soothingly, wanting nothing more than to pull her back and kiss her senseless, but now wasn't the time, and they were running out of time. Instead, he pressed a chaste kiss in her hair then pushed her shoulders back. "You're welcome, and I would love to discuss this further but we need to leave in ten minutes to make it to the courthouse on time." He pursed his lips and looked at her from head to toe. "Are you going to be ready in time?"
She stepped away from him and nodded. "I'm used to having even less time than that. Tom would never..." She trailed off and frowned, then stepped around him and shut the bathroom door behind her without another word.
He wanted nothing more than to throttle Thomas Vincent Keen at that moment.
OOOOOO
Ten minutes later they were in his car heading towards the courthouse. They had decided to take one car for parking logistics, but he just made that excuse so he could keep her close. He observed her from the corner of his eye and marveled at how beautiful and put together she looked after having such a short amount of time to get ready.
They reached the parking garage in record time, despite the snow trying to spit out of the gray clouds, and walked together towards the entrance of the courthouse. He put his hand on her elbow and looked at her. "Are you nervous?"
She shook her head, but moved closer to him so that their shoulders brushed as they walked. "I'm just ready for it to be over. I'm tired of living my life in fear."
He didn't know what to say to that. Couldn't say what he was thinking because he didn't want to upset her further, so he just tightened his hold on her elbow and kept his mouth shut the rest of the way.
When they walked inside the courtroom, Tom and his lawyer were already seated. Tom smirked and blew a kiss at Liz as they passed, but Liz didn't see it because she was staring at her shoes so she didn't have to look at her scumbag husband.
Alan unbuttoned his suit coat before sitting down next to Liz. He didn't look at her or try to reassure her, and instead stared straight ahead and waited for the judge to arrive.
A few minutes later they were asked to arise and Alan took a deep breath. He was ready to put this bastard away for good.
For the next hour, Liz and Tom's marriage was put under a humiliating microscope. He tried his best to shield her from having to answer the most invasive questions, but she still had to answer her fare share, and Tom's testimony was the most damaging to her case. He portrayed her as mentally and physically abusive, and that the only reason he had hit her was because of self-defense.
Alan had been furious at that line of questioning, but the judge had allowed it.
When it was Liz's turn to take the stand, Alan showed the court her bruises on big display boards. Then he questioned Liz about the circumstances surrounding the last incident. She had told her story as best she could, but the defense had once again managed to make her look like she had possibly been the instigator.
Liz was furious when it was time for her to step down from the stand. As she sat down, she grabbed Alan's arm and pulled him close so she could speak to him. "We're going to lose this case, aren't we?"
She sounded terrified. He patted her hand and whispered back, "Not if I have anything to do about it. We still have closing arguments. I'll get him there." She sighed against his neck and he closed his eyes at the sensation, but was rudely interrupted by the judge. "Mr. Shore, are you going to keep us waiting much longer?"
Alan pulled away reluctantly and cleared his throat, then stood up and buttoned his suit coat. "I apologize, your Honor, I was just answering a question that my client had."
The judge just raised his eyebrows and waved his hand impatiently for Alan to begin his closing argument. "Right." He turned to the jury and gave them a small smile and spread his arms wide as he began.
"Why are we really here? How is Tom Keen's abuse even a question? He brutally beat his wife and left her for dead. You saw the horrific bruising on the poor woman's body. Did we see any pictures of bruises on Tom's body from his wife's "alleged" abuse?" He paused for dramatic effect, "No! We didn't. You know why? Because there weren't any bruises to take a picture of in the first place!" He felt anger rising in his gut as he continued, "It's an insult to Ms. Keen that we're even here. Thomas Keen should be in jail for what he did. He beat her. Just imagine if this was your wife, mother, girlfriend, best friend. You definitely wouldn't be here "debating" whether or not Thomas was guilty of doing what he did. He's not even denying that he did do it. Do you honestly believe that 5'4" , 110 pound Elizabeth Keen could inflict serious damage on that 6'3", 200 pound man? It's highly unlikely. I implore you to please...please remember the victim in this. Don't be blinded to the fact that she was beaten almost to death by Mr. Keen; who's not disputing the fact that he laid his hands on her." He took a deep breath and leaned against the railing and looked at each juror in the eye before turning and walking back to his chair.
Alan sat back down next to Liz and let out a sigh of relief as Tom's lawyer stood up and spouted out more lies to the jury about Liz and Tom's marriage. He watched the jury's faces closely and was satisfied to see thinly veiled disgust and annoyance as the lawyer spoke. Alan had done his job, now the jury needed to do theirs and deliver a guilty verdict.
The judge waited for Tom's lawyer to sit down, then he began speaking. "Court will be adjourned until the jury reaches a verdict." He banged his gavel, then everyone rose as he walked out of the courtroom and into his chambers.
Liz reached over and squeezed Alan's clasped hands in gratitude, then looked up to see Tom sneering at her. He leaned across his lawyer and said in a deadly voice, "So you two are screwing. I knew it. Not even divorced yet and you've already moved on."
Liz stood up abruptly. "Yeah well, it never stopped you now did it?" She shot back, then gestured for Alan to stand up so they could leave. As they passed Tom, he reached out and grabbed her bicep roughly. "I don't like what you're implying, Elizabeth."
Alan grabbed Tom's wrist and shoved it away from Liz's arm. "Don't touch her again."
"Or what? What the hell are you going to do?"
Alan didn't say anything more as he put his hand on the small of Liz's back and propelled her out of the courtroom.
They rode the elevator down to his office in silence; but he could tell she was on the verge of tears. As soon as he shut his office door behind him, she broke down and let out a muffled sob into her hands as she sat in one of the chairs across from his desk.
"Lizzie-"
"Don't...just...don't," she cried as she hugged her her body and curled her feet under her legs.
He sat down in the chair next to her and reached out a tentative hand and placed it on her back; reminiscent of when they had first met.
She didn't shy away at the contact, so he moved their chairs so that they were facing each other and pulled her face up so he could look at her. He wiped her tears away with his fingers, then smiled softly at her. "I know you don't want to talk, but you can listen. You can't fall apart now. You need to stay strong for just a little while longer; can you do that?"
She took his proffered tissue and wiped her nose and eyes, then took a deep breath and nodded. "How long until we know?"
He shook his head and framed her face with his hands. "I can't imagine that it will take them too long, but in case it does, the judge will send them home at ten and they'll resume deliberating again in the morning."
She sighed and closed her eyes. He continued to stroke her cheeks as he waited for her to say something. She opened her eyes and studied him intently, then she suddenly leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his. Before he could react, she had her tongue in his mouth and was coaxing him to kiss her back. His brain finally caught up and he began kissing her back just as fervently; but then his senses came back to him and he pushed her back a little.
"Lizzie, we can't do this."
AN: Evil cliffhanger, I know. Seemed like a good place to stop. ;) Thanks so much for your reviews/follows/faves, I truly do appreciate all of them, good or bad. Thanks for reading and thanks goes to FrostyFingers for her continued help.