Por Siempre Y Para Siempre: A Sequel to Take Your Time

Ch. 4 - You Can't Blame Yourself for This

Rafael walks into the courtroom and takes a seat on the last bench, out of sight from where Wilson sat with his lawyer. He locks gazes with Stone before the bailiff announces the arrival of the judge. Rafael notices the worry in Stone's eyes and nods to encourage him before the final day of the trial begins. "Please rise," the bailiff's voice booms and there is a brief noise of shuffling feet when everyone stands up. Justice Smith saunters into the room at a slow pace, scanning the crowd in front of him before he sits down behind the Judge's bench and calls for the large crowd to be seated.

After the recess for lunch, Michael Wilson is called to the stand to testify and Stone questions him without mercy. Wilson notices and locks his gaze onto keeps Rafael throughout the entire line of questioning, narrowing them when Stone brings up his past. "Mr. Wilson, can you tell us why you were expelled from Harvard University?" Stone turns and glances at Rafael before turning back to the defendant. Noticing the look between the two, Rita Calhoun shifts uncomfortably in her seat behind her table before narrowing her eyes at her client, confident of the answer that he will give, the one he gave her and Rafael.

"I was expelled for," Wilson pauses briefly and swallows, making a difficult decision in his head, his eyes darting from Calhoun to Stone and finally to Rafael. Does he perjure himself on the stand or confess to his crime? "I was expelled for plagiarism." Stone shakes his head and chuckles wryly as he looks down at the floor. Rafael shoots a glance at Calhoun's shocked expression before turning his head to look back at Wilson on the stand. He smirks at his ex-partner before Stone's voice fills the room.

"You're sure of that, Mr. Wilson?" Stone looks at him intensely, urging him to tell the truth.

"Uh, yeah, I'm sure of it," Wilson says with pseudo-confidence, looking at Rita sitting behind the table across the room. His voice is sure in tone, but his eyes say that he is anxious about the question.

"Your Honor, I'd like to reference Exhibit 4 from the Prosecution's evidence," Stone starts as he pulls an envelope from under a pile of folders, "as you know, your Honor, this was submitted early yesterday, as we had discovered earlier that day."

"Your Honor, my client and I haven't seen this piece of evidence before," Rita Calhoun is standing up from behind her table, obviously flustered, "we ask that it not be admissible!" She is practically yelling at the judge as he motions for the two to step up to the bench to discuss the topic further.

"Your Honor, we submitted the piece of evidence mid-morning yesterday. By the time we got it, it was too late to submit that day. We did so as soon as we were able to," Stone starts right away in order to make sure Rita is unable to argue her side first, "Ms. Calhoun's team was alerted of the approval as soon as it went through and therefore has had a substantial amount of time to review it."

"That is true, Ms. Calhoun," Justice Smith interjects, "I signed off on it earlier today. It is not neither Stone's nor my fault if you didn't take the time to review all of the facts and evidence relating to the trial before we started."

"Someone in my staff must not have gotten it to me, your Honor," Rita tries to defend herself for being unprepared, "you can't expect me to be able to review an entirely new piece of evidence just hours before the last day of the trial. With all due respect, that is a ridiculous assumption."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Calhoun, but I am going to have to allow this," the judge doesn't give way to her weak argument. Her expression shifts from frustration to astonishment but still, she nods at him before the two attorneys return to their places. Before Stone takes his seat, he turns to look at Rafael, flashing a quick grin. Rafael grins back at him and notices Olivia looking back at him smiling. As Rita sits back down at her table, she shuffles through all of the material in front of her finding the file blatantly marked "Exhibit 4" in large, bright red letters. She rolls her eyes and scoffs as she opens it with an exaggerated rip and starts to scan through the letter. As she looks over the first page, her eyes widen and her jaw visibly clenches tighter causing the vein on her temple to show. She darts her head up glares at Wilson, practically shooting daggers at her client. He swallows nervously and wipes his brow. Wilson then turns his gaze away from her as Stone approaches him again with a copy of the file in his hand.