Adopted By Hamilton One Shots

Luke AU - Police Part 4

The trial had been going on for two weeks at this point. I was barely getting myself out of the door, and Kevin couldn't come to court daily due to school. I was confused about the trial as well, Marcus seemed very optimistic, as did my parents, but I wasn't so sure. It just felt like the highest stakes in the world. Sometimes I still felt like they didn't understand, this was the worst thing to happen to me and I felt like it was a game.

I was trying to occupy myself with my little pink promise ring that my boyfriend gave me while my lawyer talked about photos of me that had been entered into evidence. I tried to make a case for why it shouldn't be used, but ultimately lost. They were all pictures taken of me while I was unconscious at the hospital. I knew they were some of the most important pieces of evidence in this case, but I looked so sick and plenty of them were more revealing than I liked. I looked up briefly and saw a picture of my face, a large cut in my lip, and a smaller one on my jaw, along with severe bruising on my temple and forehead. I was grateful they used the ones after I had been cleaned, so at least I wasn't bloody.

"So as you can see here, these bruises were starting to fade, which is an indication that Mr. Simmons had in fact attacked his wife on more than one occasion, which means it was not simply a fit of anger, but was a pattern of domestic abuse in their home. His repeated actions prove that he was not remorseful as he made the decision to continue harming her."

My eyes quickly flitted over to Luke, who, similar to me, couldn't look at the screen. He knew he screwed up. I then looked over at the jury, and saw one woman trying to subtly cover her eyes, and another pretending to take notes. I knew this made people uncomfortable but they needed to watch, they needed to understand.

"This next picture goes to prove that the defendant is guilty of violent sexual assault." Mr. Saunders said, and my eyes widened, seeing a blurred out picture of my chest on the screen. There was a large bruise on the underside of my breast, and I pretty much flopped down onto the table, covering my face. I tuned Marcus out and just wanted to disappear completely.

Over the next twenty minutes or so, I looked up occasionally to see photos of my hip, inner thigh, stomach from when I was still pregnant, and an x-ray of my wrist.

"Is that everything?" The judge asked.

"Yes your honor." Mr. Saunders nodded, then walked back to our table. "I'm sorry pumpkin." He sighed, rubbing my back.

"I know it's important." I mumbled, I just wish it didn't happen and everyone didn't see it."

"I know." He shrugged.

"We're going to take a 45 minute recess," The judge decided, "give the jury time to process that." She shook her head, and slammed the gavel twice.

"Can we, Mr. Saunders, can we drop charges?" I whispered.

"Abi, hun, I mean, we can but why?"

"I just, I hate talking about it. I want to drop charges, get a restraining order, and never leave home again." I whimpered

"Technically you're hiring me so I can't stop you from dropping the case, s—"

"Marcus, no." My mom shook her head, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Lin and I are hiring you to represent her, it's our call, and we're not dropping charges."

"M—"

"Abigail, this isn't your call."

"I'm an adult, and I don't want to keep doing this."

"Sweetie..." she trailed off, "let's get lunch."

"Okay." I mumbled, and took her hand, leaving the courtroom.