When You're Broken On The Ground

Chapter 21

Trigger Warnings: court case and court talk.

Word Count: 1111

Mr. Linel stands up. "I am George Linel. I am representing James Hollten and the police force. Our statement is that Misters Remus Duke and Devin Líar were the killers of William Delaney. They did this under the cover of a date," he declares before siting back down.

Judge Bidson turns to Logan. "Mr. Braine?"

Logan stands up and states, "I am Logan Briane, formerly known as Logan Roboten. I am representing Misters Remus Duke and Devin Líar, formerly known as Remus King and Devin Hart. My clients were on a romantic outing during the time of the murder, which occurred on the opposite side from where these two were" He sits back down, cold and professional.

"The charges are this: one account of first degree murder, one degree of assisting in first degree murder, the disposition of one corpse, the desecration of the deceased's corpse..." she rattles off a couple more, legal terms dealing with the hiding of the body and the actual murder, "...and tampering with the natural environment by leaving a corpse in the State's river." The judge lays down the papers she read from. "Mr. Linel, are there any charges your clients wish to add?"

"No your honor."

"Very well. Mr. Braine, how do your clients plead to these charges?"

"They plead not guilty," Logan replies coolly. 

"Jury, do you call for anything?"

The jury whispers among themselves, then the spokesperson of the jury stands up. "No, your honor."

"Then we will reconvene next week, at 9 o'clock sharp, for the preliminary hearing. Court dismissed." Judge Bidson rises and so does the court. She files out, then the jury does, and then so does everyone else. 

~~~

"Well that wasn't so bad," Emile comments  as the family walks out of the building. "I thought it would be worse."

"Indeed. We were lucky no one pressed for arrest, we would have had to negotiate bail," Logan notes.

Dee sighs heavily and leans against Virgil. "I am so glad I didn't have to talk."

"Yeah well next time have your medication on you, okay?" the younger one recommends. "Remus, make a note to remind you two of that."

"What?" Remus asks from his piggyback ride on his twin. 

"Make a notification to remind you to bring extra medicine for Dee for next time. It'd be pretty bad if he started lying under oath."

"Will do spiderkid."

"It's not like when we swear on a Bible we actually have to say the truth," Remy grumbles as Roman and Remus run away from a yelling Virgil.

"That is an issue," Logan muses. "Patton and Thomas, you two are the only Catholics out of us all, correct?"

"Right!"

"Yeah that's right."

"Alright, what else can we have the rest of us swear on?" Dee wonders out loud.

"A book of law has been sworn upon in the past," Logan informs. "It will be considered valid in court."

"Perfect."

The group stops in the parking lot. "Right. Well, see y'all soon?" Patton asks.

They all confirm and then split up, everyone going into the cars they came in, except for Virgil who grabs his bag from Remy's car and goes with Roman.

~~~

"So how did it go?" Joan's voice pours out from the phone on speaker. Thomas is back home, running through a potential script for a new Broadway production while also catching up with Joan.

"It went well, all things considered. Romans and Patton were called for jury duty for the case, and got out of it. Dee forgot his medicine, but as it turns out he never spoke so it was fine. Everything went smoothly, the jury and judge seemed nice, no one called for more charges or their arrest. But, Joan, there's a lot of charges..."

"Yeah, and? They're innocent—well, not really, but you know what I mean—and they have Logan on their case. Ya know, don't you dare let Logan know that I said this-"

"I won't."

"-you better, but anyway he really is a scary good lawyer. Dee and Remus will be fine."

Thomas takes a deep breath and nods in agreement. Not quite sure why he nodded when it's only himself in the room, but whatever. "Yeah you're right."

"Of course I am, I'm always right." They share a laugh before Joan gets back on topic. "Anyway, how's the new script looking?"

"Really good, though the writer seems to have a slight obsession with trapdoors."

"No Thomas, the new Sanders Sides' script I sent you? The one we need to finalize for the next episode?"

"OH RIGHT!"

~~~

"Ro's proposing to Virge," Remus mentions off hand as he and Dee prepare for dinner.

"When?" Dee asks, chopping up the vegetables.

"Their anniversary."

"I'm surprised he didn't ask for our help."

"I don't know, it's in three days, you know how he is about getting help."

"True." Dee scrapes the chopped pieces into the bowl and sets the knife and board aside so he can add the vegetables into the pot. "Wonder which name they'll take."

"I don't know, but Virge'll probably want to keep his name and Roman's pretty attached to his name."

"Hmm, then maybe they'll just their own names."

"Yeah." They cook in a comfortable silence for bit, until Remus breaks it again. "Hey, when we get married, would we keep our names or would one of us change?"

"I've been planning on taking yours for years."

Remus smirks. "Oh is that so, Mr. Dee Duke?"

Dee laughs and sets down the spoon in his hand. "Yeah that's right, Mr. Remus Dee Duke."

The green haired man giggles and wraps his arms around his lover's waist. They sway for a little while before suddenly Remus spins Dee around and they end up in a full on tango to invisible music.

They strut up and down their kitchen floor, Remus taking a stalk from the rejected pieces to serve as a rose at some point. Eventually Dee slips in his socked feet, and the couple end up on the floor.

"I love you," Dee says between laughs.

"Love you too," Remus replies, stealing a kiss before getting to his feet and pulling Dee up as well.

Hey gang! Sorry for such a long wait and for such a short chapter, school did it's best to kill me with projects! But here I am, and hopefully with this back on schedule (maybe?).

Anyways, while I was dying from school, this climbed to 1.7K views. 

1.7K

THAT'S CRAZY!! Thank you so much to everyone who reads this and I'll see you next week with a new chapter!!!!