This Charming Life [Tig Trager] [Book Two]

II. Fighting

"They have nothing physical to tie him to at all" Lowen said as she sat across from me at my kitchen island, "All they have is knowing that you're his wife and you were being stalked by the victim, they're saying with his criminal history it's a safe bet that he killed him to protect you. It's not solid and I can poke holes in that theory well enough to make a jury doubt. The thing that Tig needs to watch out for is his own reactions and words. They're going to try and rile him up, get a rise out of him, he needs to stay level headed, he hasn't been arrested for anything in several years if I can paint a picture of a reformed citizen and he can keep his attitude right then I think we can definitely win this" I nodded, Alex keeping his emotions under check could be difficult. He was a do first ask questions later kind of man by nature, but I was sure we could pull this off. I had now been questioned by the police as well and I had rattled off the same story that I had rehearsed with Jax, putting on my best doe eyes and weak woman look.

"That's good, have they set a date for the trial yet? What about bail?" Alex had been in lock up for two weeks now and the bail hearing was this morning, I hadn't attended at Alex's request, he thought it would be too much for both of us to be able to see each other and not speak too or touch each other, he had also been fairly confident that bail wouldn't be granted or that if it was it would be a ridiculous price that was completely unaffordable for us.

"Bail wasn't granted" she said sadly, I sighed we had expected as much but it was still disappointing, "They haven't set the date for the trial yet, both the prosecuting and defense have one more week to ensure that they have entered any evidence they have, once they've done this then they'll set a date"

I thanked Lowen as I showed her out, she was doing an amazing job and she was very good at reassuring me, it meant that for a little while I would feel more hopeful for a little while. I shuffled back to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of orange juice before I moved out to the back porch holding the house phone in my other hand. It was just after 2pm and Alex usually called me sometime between 2 and 4. So I settled onto the porch swing, patting the seat so that Ranger could climb up and have a snooze next to me. Ranger laid his head on my lap and I stroked his head absentmindedly with one hand, letting the other rest on my stomach. There wasn't a bump there yet but I had found that I has started unconciously placing my hand there whenever I was resting.

I was now around two months pregnant and I could still feel the undercurrent of excitement that I felt at my condition, I had often found myself stood in the doorway of the second bedroom of my house looking around the sparsely furnished room. Currently it only held a small bed and a battered chest of drawers and was painted a plain cream colour. I found myself imagining all the things I could do to make it a nursery. I also found myself looking around the house imagining a baby playing on a mat on the living room floor, sitting in a high chair next to the kitchen table, running around on the lawn. I had been lucky so far with my pregnancy, the morning sickness had ended almost as soon as it started and I hadn't found myself craving any odd foods, I was eating an awful lot of peanut butter though. I was lost in thoughts of what my future was going to become when the phone rang.

"This is a collect call from Stockton Prison. Do you accept the charges?"

"I accept" I tried to speak clearly so that the machine registered my response.

"Alex" I answered once I heard the click, notifying me that my response had been accepted and I had been connected.

"Hey baby" he responded weakly. His mood had been seriously down the last few days, I tried to keep his mood up, it was difficult but I thought I might be able to do it today.

"I'm sorry about the hearing" I muttered, barely over a whisper.

"Yeah, sucks" he sighed in response.

"Well I know what might cheer you up" a little excitement tinged into my voice.

"Yeah?" I could hear the small smile appearing on his face.

"I got permission for another visitation, three days baby" I smiled. The prison had been unusally strict with Alex's visitations as evidence was being collected and he was still being questioned so I hadn't actually seen him since the visit almost a week after he was initially taken to Stockton.

"Fuck baby that's great" Now I could hear the smile that was stretching into a grin, "I've missed you so fuckin' much"

"I've missed you too darling" I smiled sadly.

We then fell into usual conversation, I told Alex about my day, missing out the amount of times I almost burst into tears out of nowhere and he would tell me about how things were going with Lowen and the defence, missing out the details of prison life. I was glad for that, I don't think I could handle knowing how things went down in prison, I worried about him enough without knowing any of that. We ended the call in the same way we always did, reaffirming our love for each other. I knew Alex needed to hear it, I'm sure he was worried that this would be too much for me and that one day he would call but I wouldn't be here to answer the phone and so whenever I spoke to him, I made sure to tell him more than once how much I loved him. He would also tell me he loved me, and I needed to hear that, because if Alex loved me then I knew I could face anything, as long as he loved me I would move mountains, cross frozen seas to help him, I would do anything for him.

Shortly after Alex had hung up Bobby and Chibs arrived for dinner and I quickly began preparing an easy chicken pasta dish.

"Sucks about Tig's bail" Bobby directed his speech at me.

"Yeah it is, but he told me not to get my hope's up he was sure they weren't going to grant it" I replied as I stirred the creamy herb sauce I was preparing.

"I know honey, don't mean it don't hurt" he responded.

"Don't ya worry lass, Lowen is the best ya can get, pretty soon she'll have him released and he'll be back home, and then before ya know it ya beggin' for 'im to go back inside" Chibs winked and I giggled.