|

|
Caleb blushed slightly, chuckling and walking with her to the courtroom. He dropped her hand and went to the defendant's place, sitting there. He shot Morgan a look of slight fear but mostly confidence as the judge entered the room. "All rise." A man said
|
|  |
|
|

|
Morgan giggled softly at his blush. She was just joking, but it was rather amusing all the same to her. She pecked his cheek as he dropped her hand and wished him good luck before going to sit down. She was nervous for him, but she knew he'd done nothing wrong. There was no reason to be worried at all. She hoped not, anyway. She stood when the judge came in, and when they went to sit down and told everyone in the court to do the same, she sat too. She briefly wondered what it would be like to have that sort of power over a room... these peoples lives really only came down to one person. Of course, the jury too, but at the end of the day the Judge decided sentencing.
|
|
|
|

|
Caleb's parents arrived late, his father visibly drunk and stumbling to sit down, his mother pissed off for an unknown reason to anyone including her. She huffed and sat down, arms crossed, and turned to the judge. "How long is this going to take? I have an appointment at 2:30." She snapped
|
|  |
|
|

|
Morgan stayed seated as they waited for everything to start. Caleb... he didn't look nervous, and admittedly she felt a lot more relaxed when his parents came in a state. Surely that made his case easy to argue. Surely, like she'd promised him, he'd be okay. She didn't know what would happen... but she could tell by the way the judge was looking at the woman that their mind had already been made up.
|
|
|
|

|
The court proceeded slowly, the jury casting glances back and forth between timid yet confident Caleb and the harsh, rude adults who accused him of attempted murder. Caleb sighed and said he pleaded not guilty. He explained th whole story with no extra theatrics, though the same couldn't be said about the woman's story. She wailed and snapped the lies and truths of it all, making the jury honestly a little concerned about her. Caleb huffed a breath and waited as Morgan's name was called as the first witness. Caleb looked at her for reassurance as his lawyer approached the small podium. "Ms. Hills, could you please tell us exactly what you saw the night of the event?" He asked softly, gesturing around the room
|
|  |
|
|

|
Morgan sat patiently, her eyes on Caleb the entire time. She wanted tor run up and hug him so bad, praise him for being as brave as he was, but she held back. Or, at least until she heard her name. She'd nearly forgotten what she'd said about taking the stand for him. Still, she stood up and walked to the podium as she was instructed to by the judge. She managed to lock eyes with Caleb for just a second, and gave him a reassuring look before looking back towards his lawyer. "Well, I was up in Caleb's room when I heard screaming..." she trailed off as she tried to remember the night. "So, I went downstairs. Caleb mentioned to me before that he didn't want me around his parents, so I hid the best I could. I saw his mother coming at him with a knife - I saw her stab his shoulder and rake it down. Caleb told me to get out and wait in the car if they showed up, so I did. He came out covered in blood and we went straight to the hospital. He didn't look like he was trying to hurt them... he looked... scared." She tried to explain it all the best she could. She didn't want to babble on.
|
|
|
|

|
The lawyer nodded and thanked her, Caleb's mother's public defendant coming over and asking her a few questions and trying to corner her verbally. "Did Caleb ever retaliate? Did he ever try to harm his mother? His own mother?"
|
|  |
|
|

|
Morgan nodded slightly to the man when he thanked her, although did stiffen up just a little when he asked about retaliation. "Not that I saw. He had a knife, but he didn't use it for anything other than self defence. All he did was hold it, nothing more."
|
|
|
|

|
The man looked frustrated with that answer but marched away. "No further questions, your honor." He snapped, exchanging glances with Caleb's mother. A few other witnesses came and went, were questioned and gave their sides before sitting back down. The jury spoke for a bit before nodding in unison. "Mr.Hunt is not guilty." Caleb breathed a sigh of relief, glad that his mother's faquade hadn't gotten to the jury. The judge left and Caleb practically ran to Morgan, lifting her and kissing her. "That was so fucking stressful." He muttered
|
|  |
|
|

|
Morgan stood still for a moment, although when the jury came back with their verdict, she let out the biggest breath of relief. She stood up when the judge left, and wrapped her legs tightly around Caleb when he ran up to her. She kissed him back firmly and held her hand to his cheek, gently stroking it. God, she wanted him to be okay, and holy fuck he was okay. He'd been so brave. Her eyes started to water with relief, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "God I know," she whispered, pressing her lips back to his. She looked over, and saw his parents being escorted out. "You were so brave," she whispered gently to him.
|
|
|