Repose

Eight

Crystal's at work, she called Sierra for a work matter, she needs to push her thoughts about how to manage her relationship aside. She stands up from her desk and exits her office, making her way down two floors to see the criminal lawyer she's sure would be perfect for the job.
"Archie? My favourite criminal lawyer?" Crystal grins, knocking on the door to her office.
"Crystal! My favourite contract lawyer!" the woman grins. She was younger than Crystal, hasn't been a practicing lawyer for long, but she was incredible in local court criminal matters. Very in demand for people with minor charges, who wanted to get away without a conviction.
"Oh stop it," Crystal rolls her eyes.

"Of course not, now what can I do for you?" Archie asks as Crystal casually takes a seat across from her.
"I have a client..." Crystal starts slowly, deciding how much she should let on yet. "She's on bail for offensive conduct, she threw up on the footpath directly in front of the cops when they tried to talk to her."
"And she's on bail for that?" she looks at the older incredulously.
"This is where I come in. She was 18 in February, but refused to get assigned, ignored every bit of contact from the DIR. A few months ago she was charged with failing to meet civic duties, court date sometime next year, so they put her on bail with the sole condition to get assigned."
"That is interesting," Archie hums, "I'm assuming she's been assigned now?"
"Yes," Crystal says curtly.
"Well then you just need all the charges struck out, including the future ones which we need to abridge, to keep her record clean and not jeopardise her future. I'm happy to do it," she shrugs.

"Will you want any material... to demonstrate she'll stay of good behaviour..."
"Potentially..." Archie matches Crystal's wavering and cautious tone. "Why do you ask?"
"Just that—" she pauses, allowing the younger to interject.
"If she has a dominant who's well respected then perhaps I can talk to them, get their word that they'll keep her in line—to an appropriate extent. Her dom could come to court, that would look even better."
"Arch... you see, well, I'm her dominant," Crystal says awkwardly.
"What?" the younger chokes, her eyes nearly falling out of her head.
"She became a client of mine before we were assigned. Friend of one of Ed Hemmings' sons, so he was there when they bailed her and he decided to give her to me. That was Friday, then Monday I found out she was my soulmate," Crystal sighs.
"No one hates the inequality in society more than a submissive like myself, but to explain that she was just a lost and unassigned submissive who is on the straight and narrow now she has a well respected dominant will go over a treat," Archie gripes.
"She's not a sub. She's a switch."
"Oh damn."
"We also have a submissive. There's three of us."
"Oh damn, but also congratulations on finally being paired. That's so exciting!

"Thank you, it is," Crystal starts with a smile, "but this is all why... it's messy... and I'm not sure I would be the best person to represent her," she adds unsurely.
"Yeah, I definitely see that now," Archie murmurs, "I can't believe I'm asking this, but is your submissive in a well off or easily respected position? Whether by profession or background."
"I wouldn't think so... she works in hospitality, is a qualified chef. To my knowledge doesn't come from any notable background. To further your comment about the inequalities in society, the best I can say, is that our submissive is very traditional. Without divulging excessively no, she wants to live like it's a century ago," Crystal replies carefully.
"Hard to know whether that will be of value, depends on the judge. For the sake of equality I surely hope that it won't be of value," Archie supplies, "that's not to say of course there's anything wrong in your relationship or with your submissive just that I don't think that should be expected of every relationship," she adds quickly.
"It's fine, I know what you mean," Crystal laughs gently.

Crystal – Sierra: My friend Archie will represent you in court tomorrow. We've discussed the best approach to the matter and I'm going to attend, as your dominant.

Sierra – Crystal: Okay, I think the support will be nice. I was also planning on bringing Luke.

Crystal – Sierra: No worries, I often forget court is scary for the average person. Hopefully I can make it easier for you.

Sierra – Crystal: Thank you. Can I please have Kaitlin's number? I'd like to talk to her myself about tomorrow.

Crystal – Sierra: Of course, I apologise for not giving it to you sooner.

Sierra – Kaitlin: Hi, it's Sierra. Can I call you and talk about something?

Kaitlin – Sierra: Hello Sierra, of course.

Kaykay doesn't have the time to think about why Sierra would be calling her, let alone what about. It's just before midday on a Thursday, needless to say she didn't see it coming. She was at work, but quickly told the guy she was working with that she had to take a phone call. It was quiet, it was fine.

"Good morning Sierra," Kaykay says softly when she answers the phone.
"Morning Kaitlin, how are you?" the younger asks gently.
"I'm well, and you?"
"Good good," Sierra mumbles, "I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time."
"No, it's fine, what was it you wanted to talk about?"
"I, I'm not sure if you've heard," Sierra takes a breath, "but Luke and I were detained last week. He wasn't formally charged, but I was. Nothing major, just for offensive conduct. I threw up in the street, was quite drunk."
"Oh," Kaykay squeaks, definitely not expecting that. It's a lot to take in that her soulmate is a literal criminal.
"I got put on bail, with the condition to go to the DIR and get assigned. Basically, they found out I was unassigned and made it so if I'm not by tomorrow I can go to prison. Obviously we're now assigned so there's nothing at all to worry about," Sierra explains.
"So you..." Kaykay says slowly, "only went to the DIR because you had to..."
"Well—" Sierra stops herself momentarily so she can make sure she doesn't say the wrong thing, "Luke actually brought it up with me earlier that night. I was going to, now that I'd graduated. Maybe my arrest just sped things up a little."
"Oh."

A heavy silence falls over them; the air down the phone line is thick and tense. Sierra clears her throat, and powers on with what she called to say.
"Luke's father thought last week, before we were assigned, that Crystal would be a good lawyer for me. I wanted to call just to let you know what's going on tomorrow. I have court in the morning, a criminal lawyer Crystal chose is representing me. Crystal is going to be there, as my dom. Not as my lawyer. Luke's coming, just because he wants to. Extra moral support. You're welcome to come, but you by no means have to."
"Everything is going to be okay... for you... legally..." Kaykay whispers, clearly afraid and in the dark about how it all works.
"Of course. Even if this isn't the type of law Crystal does, our soulmate is still a lawyer. She understands everything, and has assured me she's got me the best of the best to represent me tomorrow."
"I don't think I'll come, I think it would stress me out too much," Kaykay says quietly.
"That's fine, I understand," Sierra shrugs.
"I appreciate you letting me know. Will you let me know afterwards what happened?"
"Of course. I'll call you when we leave."
"Thank you," the submissive says with a soft smile that no one can see. Sierra isn't who she expected in her life, but she's really liking her so far.

A/N: look I know it's been over seven months I can count... I'm so sorry. Felt quite unmotivated with this story, then I was really busy and then I kept getting distracted writing other things BUT I'm feeling better now and I can't abandon it. I love the characters and the story too much, I need to tell it all.

Your unwavering support always means the world to me and I'm glad to be back. My plan is to do weekly with about one week a month off, but we'll see what happens. Feel free to leave any thoughts or story ideas in the comments, love you all loads :)

–Grace Williams xo

P.S. What I wrote June–July is a cute/angsty/sorta slow burn Malum short story that at the moment is an Ao3 exclusive if you wanna check it out lovelies