Let It Be Your Shirt (Story 3 of Sev & M)

Chapter 7

Marcus stood outside the bathroom door. He knew Severine was taking as much time as possible so that they would have to leave at the last possible moment for the courthouse. The last week had gone by in a blur, after the initial high of the engagement wore off they had both returned to work and tried to carry on as normally as possible. They would still be working during the trial but their hours would be greatly reduced. The landlady had assured them they had nothing to worry about as far as covering rent if they ran into trouble. As the week had come to an end he had felt Severine becoming more and more tense. He had done his best to try and distract him but he could only do so much. Reluctantly he knocked on the door.

"Sev, come on we have to get going."

A mumbled reply came from behind the door before it slowly opened. Severine was in dress slacks and a dark blue long sleeved button up shirt that made the color of his eyes look practically white.

"You look good. Wish we could skip to the end of the day so I could help you get that outfit off," he said, trying for lightness even though he actually meant it.

"I wish we could just skip this whole thing period," Severine said.

He reached towards him and rubbed his arms. He should have known better, trying to distract him wasn't going to work today. "Hey, we'll just take it day by day like we talked about and everything will work out somehow. Yeah?"

Severine nodded but didn't respond. He grabbed his hand and gently led him from the apartment.

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The courthouse room looked like the ones you see on T.V. There was the judge's seat and stand up front, a spot for the jurors, two tables, then seats behind the table. They took their seats and listened while Mr. Donahue quietly explained that Nora would be the first of the group he questioned. He explained that even though Severine was the main focus the agency would see the kidnapping of Nora as more severe since she didn't have any powers. They assured him that whatever he thought was the best course of action they would be okay with it.

He could practically feel the tension coming off of Severine and was about to ask him how he was holding up when he felt him go completely rigid. Turning to him quickly he saw he had gone pale, staring at the far side of the room. He followed his line of sight and saw Theon and Issac being led into the room. Issac was looking straight ahead but Theon was staring at Severine, a look of amusement on his face. He shifted so he was blocking Severine's line of sight and turned back towards him. Severine's hands were clenched tightly in his lap and he was biting his lip hard, he could see him fighting the urge to shake. He leaned close to him so he could whisper in his ear but keep Severine's eyes off his father.

"It's okay Sev. He can't touch you in here. Neither of them can. And even if they tried I'd never let them reach you," he said.

Severine took a shaky breath and nodded. He was going to say more but was interrupted by the announcement to rise so the judge could enter. After the judge had entered and they had taken their seats Mr. Donahue stood to give his opening statement. He kept it brief and to the point, once he was finished Mr. Ethelberry gave his own. Then Nora was called to the stand. Looking at her, he was surprised to see her look composed. She walked to the stand confidently and swore in, then the questioning began.

"Ms. Arpero, could you please recount what you experienced throughout this plan that was created by Mr. Huxley and Mr. Thorne"

"Of course," Nora started, "this bastard decided..."

Mr. Donahue quickly stopped her, "Ms. Arpero, please try to rephrase."

Nora gave a huff of breath and rolled her eyes. He tried to cover a laugh with a cough. Severine elbowed him roughly in the side and shot a pleading glare towards Nora. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Zandra had an approving smile on her face. He momentarily felt bad, the trial was causing Severine enough stress without the three of them adding to it.