Touching Shadows

The judges ruling

AUDREY

I sat down next to Cohen on the couch, and told him about Brittany, and her threats towards both of us. How Marty had interrupted her before she could physically hurt me.

"He ran off with his phone. I thought he might have taken photos or filmed it. I never realised he had live streamed it!"

Cohen shook his head, taken aback by what I was telling him. He clicked a website link that had been sent via text. I watched as he clicked through to a video, and pressed play.

We sat in silence, and the scene played in front of us. The one that I had lived earlier today.

"If he'd just let it go, instead of running off, making threats to tell Jordans wife, none of this would have happened!"

I squeezed his hand in mine.

"...He is better off without you."

My voice sounded strange on video. I almost didn't recognise it as my own.
The camera shook as Brittany stepped towards me with her hand raised, ready to strike.

"You! I will fucking end you..."

Cohen turned to me, alarmed.

"She was really going to hit you!?"

I nodded sombrely.

The shaking of the camera continued, as Marty jumped out and confronted Brittany. Then there was a scuffle and the feed dropped out.

"What did she do then, Red?"

"She screamed at me then left. I don't know where she went, but I wasn't going to go looking for her. I came home and found Jem on the doorstep."

Cohen wrapped his arms around me and kissed me tenderly.

"Thank God you're alright. Thank God Marty was there."

I shivered. I didn't want to think about what would have happened if he wasn't.

Another call lit up Cohen's phone screen, and he hung up, then turned it off.

"When were you going to tell me about all this, Red?"

I shrugged.

"I didn't want to ruin our night together. I was always going to tell you. Just not tonight. I wanted to spend one night without distractions and dramas. We haven't had many nights like that lately, and I missed it. I missed you."

He leaned down and took my mouth with his.

"I promise, when this hearing is over, I will be all yours. We can go away somewhere and it will just be us. Ok?"

I nodded, and snuggled in against him.

"Sounds perfect."

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The weekend had come and gone. Cohen and I had stayed home, and away from the prying eyes of the media and their cameras. Apart from the phone call to Walt to discuss the possible implications of the video on Cohens' court case, and a few texts to check in on Jemima, we kept our phones off.

Jem had gone home on Saturday morning. She still looked tired and pale, but I had managed to make her eat some dry toast before she left. She was planning to make a doctors appointment, and schedule an ultrasound to find out how far along in the pregnancy she was. Then she would need to work out how to tell De'Laney.

She had squeezed me tight on the way out the door.

"Thanks Aud. You are the greatest."

I held her tight.