Actions and Consequences: Part I - Act 3
CIFW - 15-15 Hazel Street, East Elmhurst, N.Y., December 11th, 1987
Niki sat up in her bunk in her cell. Some sort of hazy yellowness had filled the small space. She looked around with the confusion which always preceded the realization that this was a vision. But the visions of late all told her one thing.
She started when a hand touched her shoulder. Turning she saw her mother and father lying on her bunk which was suddenly large enough to accommodate them all. Her father had his arms wrapped around her mother and they were looking at each other very fondly.
Niki felt a pang of sadness. Then the queasy feeling overrode it as her parents’ expressions became blank and they both turned to face her.
“He will betray us,” they said in unison.
Niki’s eyes opened and she found herself staring at the wall. She frowned with fatigue, rolling onto her back. She wasn’t used to a bed this small. Or to being around so many other women. Or to seeing Logan so often.
She groaned as she sat up, touching a tender spot on her forehead. She must have rolled into the wall while she was sleeping. What was with the vision? He will betray us? Yeah... thanks for the heads up! He already did betray us. Whichever he it was: either Jesse or Harrison, though Jesse’s betrayal cut a bit deeper seeing as how she never slept with Harrison and never tried to have Jesse killed. She groaned and rubbed her head. It was all so weird. The only normal thing about the situation was Logan. He was the rock she could count on — the person Jessica had said she should trust. Well... she was trusting him.
Rachel sat patiently, waiting for her husband to explain. He had called her to the table and had met her curious gaze with something which could only lead to trouble.
He took a measured breath. He wasn’t afraid to tell her. He was a big boy. “My new client is Niki Valtaine.” He waited patiently for her to respond, expecting shock, anger, something. Instead she frowned a little.
“...So?” She raised an eyebrow. “Who’s Niki Valtaine?”
He lowered his gaze. Hadn’t expected that. He swallowed, hoping the silence would explain. Obviously not. Finally he looked up again to her confused frown. He took a deeper breath this time. “You remember when I slept on the couch...?”
Slowly the confusion lifted and a coldness replaced it. Her eyes narrowed. Her anger towards him for having cheated on her had begun to fade, but now it was dredged up anew. “You’re seeing that.... that woman again?”
Logan was shaking his head. “I’m not seeing her.” He bit his lip. “I do remember what you said. I was just assigned the case and I couldn’t refuse it— I wanted to tell you as soon as possible.” Almost true. That was an improvement.
“What did she do?” Rachel inquired, subconsciously crossing her arms and leaning away from the table.
“I can’t really go into–” then he met her glaring eyes. “Murder one and attempted murder,” he said quickly. There was always marital privilege which covered for his breach of client privilege. Besides, Niki would understand, and never ever meet Rachel, so it was fine.
Rachel sighed deeply and shrugged. “I don’t see why I should be happy you’re telling me this. I would be satisfied if you lost the case.”
“You’re not the only one,” Logan muttered.
“So... what? Now I know for sure that even when you are working late you’re out seeing her. Am I supposed to thank you for bringing this to me? Do you expect me to trust you now?”
Logan swallowed. That hurt. “That’s not all I had to tell you,” he said, sitting slightly taller across from her. “I have the resources of my firm to work with. Even though I’m working the case by myself, I don’t ever actually have to see her outside of the courtroom. I can arrange for an assistant to conduct the interviews and do the prep work with her, if that will give you some peace of mind.”
Rachel was slow to respond. “Well it wouldn’t hurt,” she said at last. Her expression softened. “Look, it’s not that I don’t trust you...” then she found a new reserve of resentment. “You know, it is actually that I don’t trust you. I’m sorry —this says a lot about me, I know— but I would feel better if you didn’t see her.” Her expression was clouded but no longer precisely on his account.
After a long moment, Logan nodded and took a deep breath as he stood. “Okay, I’ll have that all arranged by tomorrow. I’m glad that’s out in the open.” Wrong thing to say, he winced.
Rachel was nodding, very slightly, in bitterness again. “I’ll bet you are,” she said under her breath. As long as you’re feeling better. As he walked quietly from the kitchen she suddenly stood from the chair, her troubled expression gone. “Logan—”
He turned around. “What?” he said with concern.
“Why?” she asked in earnest.
Logan blinked and considered it. “Why did I take the case...?”
She shook her head once, sharply. Her words were sharp and clear as crystals. “Why did you have sex with Niki Valtaine?” Her eyes were angry and worried at the same time.
Logan dropped his gaze and shook his head bitterly. “Because I’m a fucking idiot. A child... and an idiot.” He looked back up and met her gaze.
“Don’t give me the bullshit answer,” she said quietly. “Tell me why. Why her?”
Logan worked his jaw and brought a hand up to scratch his eyebrow with his pinkie finger as he always did. He blinked, staring at the linoleum floor for a long time. Finally he looked up again at his waiting wife.
“Part of her reminded me of who you used to be.” He held her gaze, letting her examine him for deceit. She would find none. “She was vulnerable. She... needed me.”
Rachel shrugged her shoulders. “What changed in me?”
Logan frowned and shook his head helplessly. Don’t be like that. “No, it’s not—” he scoffed at the cliche. He shook his head with bitter self-loathing. “I slept with another woman because I’m a fucking idiot. I hope it’s me who’s changed.” He turned and stepped from the kitchen. “I’ll go arrange that thing now.”
Rachel swallowed and sat back down. “For what it’s worth,” she called out after him, partly hoping he wouldn’t hear, “I hope you win.”
Niki frowned with dismay. “You don’t understand — I need to talk to Logan.”
Aaron shrugged helplessly. “All I know is what Mr. Kilpatrick tells me. He said he wasn’t going to be able to meet with you out of session any more. Anything you have to say to him you’re going to have to say through me.”
Aaron Shields was a slight young man, looking like he was fresh out of grad school. He barely knew his way around a clipboard, let alone a courtroom. That was why Wolfram and Hart had assigned him to assist Logan: to ensure the job was done to the letter of the rule book, but as inefficiently and clumsily as possible.
With Aaron had come three large men who, if they hadn’t been stuffed into uniforms, would have looked much more at home in a pro wrestling match. Niki could tell they weren’t vampires, just goons, and by the looks of Aaron Shields... well, the only thing that made sense was that someone didn’t want her to get physical with him.
Niki groaned. What did Logan expect she was going to say to this kid? I’ve been having visions about betrayal: I think someone else is going to turn on me. Hardly. Then a thought occurred to her which hadn’t all the time she had been here. What if it was Logan himself?
She had dumped Logan, after all. She had thought they were over that —it was years ago now— but maybe... Maybe he had changed. Why was he taking her case? He wasn’t the best at his firm; he was new. If he wanted her to get acquitted, why didn’t he pass her case on to the most senior, most competent lawyer of this firm of his? He was a small claims lawyer as far as she was concerned...
The Slayer shook her head. No, you’re just being paranoid, she told herself. He’s doing fine. He’s going to win. If he isn’t coming to see me, it’s because he can’t, not because he doesn’t want to. Better just sit on this betrayal thing for now.
“Fine,” she said, hanging on to her annoyance at the peon sitting before her. “If I can’t talk to Logan directly, I want to go back to my cell.”
Immediately, the three goons stepped forward. Aaron tensed but they advanced no further than the table. Aaron looked at the three large men as if suddenly realizing they existed. Finally he stood, knocking on the door behind him. The door unlocked and a guard in uniform stepped in.
“She wants to go back to her cell,” he said pointing at Niki but eyeing the muscle.
The guard shook his head, lifting a piece of paper from the inside of his uniform’s breast pocket. “W.P.,” he said challengingly. “She goes in solitary. Court order.”
“W.P.?” The Aaron snatched the paper from the burly guard. “What the heck is W.P.?”
“Witness Protection,” the man said resentfully, snatching the order back. “The judge agrees that she’s in danger in the prison population – she’s a key witness in a case they’re building.”
“What?” Niki stood, her gaze moving quickly from the guard to the young man. “What case— A case against whom?”
“That’s privileged information,” the guard assured, her with a trace of contempt. The three goons stepped forward to surround the Slayer. “It’s safer if you know as little as possible.”
Three pairs of rough hands shuffled the Slayer from the small room towards solitary confinement. The safest place for a prisoner in the entire prison.
Logan set the phone down, his gaze narrowing. Fischer. He stormed into Tawnie Fischer’s outer office, marching straight past the protesting secretary and into the inner sanctum. Someone was sitting across from her, but he didn’t care.
“What’s this I hear about you sticking my client in Witness Protection?” he demanded, slamming his hands down on her desk.
Patiently, she closed the file for the man sitting across from her. “Would you excuse me a moment, Michael?”
The man in the white shirt and blue tie nodded in understanding. Tawnie stood and walked stiffly to the other end of the room. Logan followed.
“Logan,” she said through a tight smile. “What are you doing in my office during a meeting?”
“You got a court order placing my client in solitary confinement?” he hissed, trying to keep his voice low enough that the man in the silk shirt couldn’t hear the words, but could catch the anger.
“For her own protection,” Tawnie said calmly, trying not to sound as angry at the intrusion as Logan did at her presumption. “What’s the difference, you’re not seeing her anymore anyway. She’s a witness in a case—”
“A case against whom?” Logan snapped back.
“Maybe if you started showing a little respect for this firm, you might find yourself in the know more often,” she offered, raising an eyebrow. Her smile disappeared in an instant and she lifted an accusing finger. “And don’t forget your goal here. You’re going to lose this case. Niki Valtaine is going to spend the rest of her life in prison—”
“What is so damn fascinating about this case!?” Logan exploded, no longer concerned with the volume of his voice. “I already know you manipulated the prosecution to get the death penalty off the table— now you’ve got the judge to stick her in protective custody— What’s your obsession with her?”
Tawnie dropped her gaze, as if embarrassed for him. “Logan.” She patted him gently on the shoulder. “Logan, my bosses would like nothing more right now than to have the one and only Vampire Slayer locked away for the rest of her natural life.” She smiled at his ghost-white face. “And the natural life-span of a Slayer? Who knows... Another eighty, ninety years even. That’s eighty or ninety years without a Slayer to pick off our clients or attack our employees.” She took him by the shoulder and turned him towards her desk, leading him to the mess of paper there.
Michael was sitting patiently, ignoring the exchange, pretending he was alone in the room. Logan had not the slightest interest in him. Instead, Logan was looking down at a sheet of paper Tawnie was unfolding.
“This,” she said, as if speaking to a child, “is what’s going to keep Niki alive until she can be indicted.” Logan took the document and Tawnie read it form him just to assuage his disbelief. “It’s an arrest warrant for Richard J. Addison.”
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