Benny used his time wisely, in the hour he had before Erin arrived he crammed; crammed harder than he did for his Bar exam. He familiarised himself with the research the team had collected the night before and reviewed his case notes. All of that in between daydreaming of Erin. To be frank it was a miracle he managed to cover so much, to think of the word he'd get some if his mind was in the right place.
It was then that he heard the gentle taps against his glass door. In a manic panic, he tried to neaten out his desk a little to make a good impression. Erin knocked a little harder this time encase nobody had heard her previous attempt.
"Com-come in." Benny stuttered nervously, "take a seat." It wasn't until Benny stood to offer her a seat did he notice the chair full of files, "sorry about that." He scurried to clear the chair.
"Working hard I see?" Erin took a gander about the room before sitting down, "I'm glad I got to see you again." She smiled shyly.
"It's nice to see you too." Benny became incredibly bashful.
"Are you feeling okay?" Erin asked upon observing Benny wince as he sat back down. He'd been feeling moderately fine all morning, right up until Erin walked through the door, almost like kryptonite before Clark Kent.
"Just cramps, it'll go away." Perhaps 50 paracetamol and a long walk later.
"Oh here!" Her hands flew to her handbag, digging and rummaging through all of her clutter to pull out a bottle of aspirin. "A girl never leaves the house without them." As written in the Girl's Code, never does a woman leave without pain relief.
"Thanks." Benny took two, dry, trying not to gag as they went down.
"You're very welcome." A heavy silence befell them both. Sparks of attraction zipping around the room. Benny thought it too bold for anybody to be attracted to him, not a look or a sniff from anybody in the last three years. Still, he was beginning to feel that the notion was mutual. Did Erin have a thing for him? Did he really have a thing for Erin - as his co-workers have implied? Or was he getting his signals crossed because of his hormonal imbalance?
He coughed, breaking through the romantic aroma, "Now, the case?"
"Yes, the case."
"We've found a whole stadium 's worth of people who've lost their money in Brannagin Trust." Erin gasped at the shire number, yet at the same time, she wondered how any company could be so deceitful and heartless to such a shire number of people. A bank of all organizations, which many people rely on daily, could defraud even the most vulnerable of consumers, was sickening to think about.
"That just proves it, I'm not lying," Erin replied enthusiastically. Benny's words filled her with an unsolicited overwhelming feeling of hope, which only made Benny more wary about letting her down.
"Not quite. All that proves is that you and 4000 others have made bad investments - or so that's the way the big shots at the bank are going to spin it." Despite his growing need to please Erin, an air of professionalism told him that she was 'just another client' so it would be foolish to get too cocky. Afterall, this case was possibly one to create precedent.
"Then what are we going to do?" As a school teacher, this was completely new territory. She had a vague idea as to how the legal system worked having been called for jury duty on one occasion, but it was different to watching from afar. When her entire savings and the reputation of TAC rested on this one case, the pressure for a solution was immense.
"We have to ensure the jury that there was intent to defraud," Benny stated in basic terms, although in reality achieving such a task would be far from straightforward. Never in the history of class actions, has there ever been a clean trial.
"Can you do that?" That was the million dollar question, one of which Benny did not know the answer. Had he been at the top of his game, he would have already come up with several leading ideas.
"We can try, after all, that's what mock court is for. We create arguments and present them to the jury and see which questions and leading arguments will give us a not-guilty verdict." As long as Benny could indeed convince a jury that there was intent to defraud then he had various case law that would support his arguments. Although, trying to prove fraud was difficult in regular circumstances, trying to prove that a bank committed fraud would be close to grueling.
"That's amazing." Without mock court, they wouldn't be able to do what they are famous for, and that is, defending the innocent and achieving justice. Benny couldn't help but smile modestly, knowing that he was an integral part of the team, "I'm hungry, want to go and get a bite to eat?"
"I would, but I-" Whilst not eating was limiting his morning sickness to the occasional overthrow of bile, he didn't want to purposefully put himself through the gutwrenching pain. Yet, he didn't want to give Erin the wrong impression, that he wasn't into her or that he was always 'too busy'. In all honesty, the intention of going out to eat gave him butterflies.
"I don't know my way around this part of New York." Erin persisted, knowing that Benny couldn't possibly allow her to walk the city by herself.
"Alright, I'll come." It hadn't taken much before he gave in to Erin's charm, not that she had to put up a fight for his affection.
"Can you recommend where around here does the best coffee?" This was New York, coffee shops sat along every road and every pathway. Yet, he knew just where to go.
"I know just the place." He said, grabbing his coat and scarf from the back of his door. Whilst it was hitting September, the temperatures had drastically dropped, the weather channels were even talking about early snow in October.
Not having realized until he walked through the door, the last time he sat at those tables. He had met Chunk in a frantic mess, calling him at work for some lunch with the intention of spilling his guts. It had been straight after his followup appointment with Dr. Huston when it was confirmed, his life would change forever. He still had no clue as to why his first port of call had been Chunk, but he was filled with nostalgia; remembering almost crying giving Chunk the picture of the sonogram. As if by instinct his hand flew to his coat pocket and clenched at his wallet firmly.
Benny slowly caught up with Erin, who was already racing ahead to order, "I'll have a large latte and a slice of your banana bread - your biggest slice." She pointed out the piece she wanted through the glass showcase.
"And for you, Sir?" The Barista asked politely.
"Nothing- nothing. I'm not hungry." Benny reinstated firmly, yet a loud growl from the pits of his stomach gave him away as being anything but well-fed.
"That did not sound like a full stomach to me." Erin laughed coyly.
"Honestly, I'm-" Benny was cut off;
"My treat. Make that two lattes and some apple pie." Erin ordered, handing over a twenty dollar bill. She waited to receive her change and stood aside whilst the coffees were being made.
"Make mine a decaf. You really didn't have to." Benny now felt pressured to eat what Erin had brought him, knowing it came from good kindness, he didn't want to be seen as ungrateful. The smell of the freshly baked apple and cinnamon was extremely appetizing, that was for sure, something he could never ordinarily pass up.
"You and Dr. Bull are taking on my case for free, this is the least I can do." It seemed like an unrepayable debt, despite being told the team wanted nothing from her, she still felt like a burden.
"Well, thank you." Benny grabbed both coffee cups, his hands warming instantly against the cardboard. While Benny was indeed thankful for the coffee, he didn't think it at all possible to become accustomed to decaf. Being a coffee aficionado, the distinct difference in taste between regular and decaf made drinking coffee far less pleasurable.
"You're very welcome." The two took a seat at the window, "So, what's on the agenda today?" Erin took the lid off of her coffee and began adding sugar cubes by the dozen. Benny raised a brow but grinned, believing that Erin's taste in coffee was the same as her personality; sweet.
"Today? We're going to reach out to more witnesses and hopefully, start to meet some people." With many of those conned living in the New York area, some have promised to come down to TAC this afternoon for a briefing. This was the perfect opportunity to begin scouring for witnesses.
"So soon?" Worried about whether they would be ready, whether they had done enough research and prep and most of all, worried about the case's result. Just the same, she wanted to see as much of Benny as she could before they no longer had a reason to be by each other's side.
"Witness prep needs to begin as soon as possible, the vior dire starts Wednesday." Erin had similar reactions as the rest of the team when they heard the news this morning.
"That only gives you today and tomorrow." She replied frantically.
"Precisely." Benny slowly nodded his head, "Fisher wants this in and out of court within a week." Not that it gave them much time, which is exactly his gameplan.
"Will you be able to do it?" Benny would love to state brave and bold, that he had this down, that this would be like any other case, but that wouldn't be truthful. Even he had doubts as to whether they had enough resources or even evidence to persuade the jury to form a majority vote.
"I'll admit, we are outnumbered. There's probably hundreds working to defend Brannigan Trust." With top lawyers at their dense, it would be beneficial if he wasn't the only in-house counsel, not that the team wasn't pulling out all the stops.
"I have faith in you." Comforting and supportive words much needed all around. The felt even more delightful coming from those lips, Benny deemed. "You've barely touched the pie, is something wrong?"
"I've not been well the last couple of weeks." Something of an understatement.
"Have you been to see a doctor?" She enquired, filled with empathy.
"Yeah, he said it'll go away on its own." Not only was he lying to his friends, he was potentially starting a relationship with a woman based on lies. Despite the guilt that steadily accumulated, he wasn't ready to tell anybody about what he was going through, not even Erin, who appeared open-minded and understanding.
"You should be taking better care of yourself. Your body needs food, especially when you're ill." She spoke with a motherly tone, it must derive from her nurturing nature. None the less, the advice wasn't very appreciated, he was frankly tired of hearing it.
"Maybe if I could keep anything down…" He mumbled to himself.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Erin asked quite abruptly.
He spluttered, coughing, having almost choked on the crust of his apple pie. He washed it down with a large swig of coffee. Erin couldn't contain her laughter, she hadn't been able to elicit such a reaction from a man since her first year of college. "No...why do you ask?" He couldn't help but be amused by his own actions.
"Why don't you come to my house for dinner? I'll cook you a nice and healthy meal." Was this an invitation for a date? Was he being asked out? Benny had to stop himself from getting too excited. At this moment in time, Erin was a client and fraternizing with clients was unethical. He would have to kindly decline.
"I'd love to, but Bull will have us working until all hours tonight and no doubt into tomorrow." A half-assed effort, but putting off dinner was better than a rejection. At least this time he wasn't lying.
"After the case is settled?"
"I'll look forward to it." That he was. It was just about the only thing he was looking forward to this coming week, Erin served as a much-needed distraction, not that he cared to think of it that way.
"Great! I'm a pretty amazing chef, I'll have you know." Erin smiled boastfully.
"I don't doubt you." Before he could continue, his phone chimed, notifying him of an incoming message, "Oh that's Bull, he needs us back." He sighed heavily. He would rather sit in the coffee shop all day than go back to the office and write plans and trial scrips. Yet, the threat of work was not going to suddenly disappear should he choose to ignore it,
"At least you finished your pie." Erin downed the last of her coffee, although cold, still quite tasty.
"I didn't even notice." Sure enough, not even a crumb sat left on his plate. His stomach was no longer growling but at what cost? He asked himself with dread.
"It's just that easy!" The two came through the office doors of TAC with gleaming smiles across their faces, Erin had been giving Benny her basic cooking tips since he'd admitted it himself, that he was a terrible chef.
"I've tried, never been able to get it right." That was no surprise, seeing as he rarely ever cooked or baked anything. He didn't even own a single cookbook or even the most standard of equipment. Still, it wasn't really the tips he was fascinated by. More so Erin and her ability to make anything sound engaging - perfect witness material. He considered.
"Where'd you two run off to?" Bull turned sharply at the sound of their voices, what he caught sight of made him squint with annoyance.
"We went and got some lunch," Erin replied cheerfully.
"At that nice cafe?" He asked bitterly, with a gleam of jealousy in his eyes. Despite this cafe being located only around the corner from the office building, it had been Benny who stumbled across the place a little over a year ago. He swore that their coffee was the best he'd ever had. So far he'd invited many people, of all people, Bull didn't expect to be the bottom of the list. Out of principle, he held off from going, but really, all he was doing was shooting himself in the foot.
"Yeah..." Benny couldn't understand why Bull was being so snippy. It was only lunch, after all, he'd missed breakfast again and it felt nice to get back to some normality.
"I'm going to go and introduce myself to some of the others." Erin could sense something between the two and decided it'd be best if she ducked away so they could talk. At least now she had the opportunity to speak to the others, victim to a cruel capitalist system.
"Good idea." Bull pretty much shooed her away, "So you do have a type?" He grinned as Erin left the range of hearing.
"Excuse me?" Benny chuckled nervously, wanting to obviously deny the fact that he wasn't so predictable – which had been somewhat of a major issue between them recently. Besides, he knew it was inappropriate and couldn't be bothered to listen to a lecture, especially from Bull; King of untimely relationships.
"You and Erin?" He reiterated, smiling smugly as Benny fumbled.
"What makes you say that?" Bull squinted as he examined Benny, "Alright, nevermind." He withdrew his question before Bull's psychobabble dribbled out from his mouth.
"It's not a good idea you know, she's a client and you're…well…" Bull trailed off, not wanting to speak too loudly in a room full of strangers, after all, it wasn't his place to reveal something so huge to anybody.
"Pregnant?" Benny snapped, he turned on his heels and glared up at Bull.
"Not that it means anything, of course." Bull was notorious for putting his foot in his mouth, it was almost like his mouth had no floodgate. He just knew exactly how to push boundaries, and did so without even thinking first.
"Of course not, because I can date whoever I want. Since we're not together, it shouldn't matter who I want to see." Bull was taken back at Benny's sudden outburst, it seemed obvious that there were things on his mind that he hadn't wanted to speak about before now. Benny seemed fine with their arrangement, well at least he thought he was.
"What do you mean by that?" Benny had never mentioned the two of them actually being involved in a relationship before. After their conversation during the morning in question, he had somewhat assumed that everything would be okay, that they would remain as just friends. Now that he actually thought about it, he never stopped to see how Benny truly felt about that deal.
"I'm not keeping it, so there's nothing tying us to each other. If I want to date Erin then I will." Brazen and hurtful, Benny's words were meant to permanently leave a mark.
"Stop saying that!" Caught up in his own words, he had once told Chunk to cut Benny some slack but quite frankly, he had, had enough. He hadn't meant to shout but it seemed impossible to do anything but. Heads turned all across the lobby but Bull seemed too fuming to care.
Bull grabbed Benny by the arm, he dragged him with a tight grip outside of the building as to not create so much of a scene, Benny fussed as he went, "Let go!" Benny yanked his appendage away and shoved Bull's hand in the other direction. "It's my body, not yours."
"You're forgetting that what's in there is half of me." Bull pointed towards Benny's stomach angrily.
"Wow." Benny scoffed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled loudly, fury rising within. Any moment he knew he'd turn into Pitbull Benny, an uncontrollable 5'5" ball of rage.
"What?" Bull coaxed, "Am I wrong?" He tried, at a much lower and compassionate tone.
"So that's it then huh?" Benny shook his head, he blamed himself for being so nieve, having completely believed that he had full control over his own future. Although he could argue, he never had. Izzy and Bull, fighting over the say in what was best for him, never left him with much of a chance to make his own choices.
"What did you expect? Did you really think I'd let you just get rid of the…" He whispered, "the baby?"
"You're an asshole! Last week you told me that I got to have the final decision." He'd relied heavily on Bull's testament more than a week ago, it'd given him peace of mind that Bull would stand by him no matter what he wanted in the end. Now he felt betrayed and trapped, with no escape.
"If memory serves me right, I also told you I wasn't sure of what I wanted. That we both had two weeks to come to an agreement, of which is now almost over. You still don't know what you want to do." Bull felt as if he had been too lenient, rather than pushing Benny to make a decision, they were now in a difficult predicament where neither of them really knew what they wanted to do; do they end the pregnancy or give things a go? They now had 5 days to decide.
"When this case is over, I'm giving Dr. Huston a call. The sooner we can be done with this the better." Benny subtly released his frustration and sadness. "Maybe while I'm at it, I'll hand in my notice." Benny gulped, trust his emotions to be running high at a moment like this, only to be heightened by pregnancy hormones. Whilst he desperately wanted to cry, it would ruin his facade – he was strong. This wasn't him purely speaking from resentment, he meant every word.
"Fine, do whatever you want." Bull watched as Benny turned his back, a symbolic metaphor. He hadn't expected things to stampede out of control and he certainly didn't imagine Benny reacting in such a way.
He hated himself nonetheless, for not going after Benny and apologizing. He knew he was filth, lower than filth. Benny was his only true friend, somebody he could wholly depend on and trust. The only person he truly loved more than himself. He had hurt that person and neglected their needs, thinking only of himself and his own jealousy. Bull simply stood, rather motionless at the door, feeling the cold breeze wash against his skin, totally in awe. He was an idiot.