SUPREME COURT BUILDING

WASHINGTON, D.C

Merrick vs Hawthorne, Closing Statements

"Members of the jury, I won't take much of your time, because I'm a simple man and this is a simple case." Geneva stared coolly into the distance as Martin George, the lawyer for the prosecution - though who was prosecuting and who was defending in this case was a trial in itself -, began to spout his bullshit. "I would invite you to look at my client." Geneva didn't bother. "A humble man. A Christian man. A father who has simply done everything he can to fight for the rights of his daughter and the against the crimes committed against her, the same way he tried to fight for the rights of the people of this great nation when he ran his Presidential campaign."

From the corner of her eye, Geneva saw irritation flit across her client's face. Remember what I told you, she thought. Focus. Don't let them reduce you to less than what you are.

"My client has faced mockery. Humiliation! Ridiculous, cruel, unfounded claims that this is all in retaliation to losing his previous run for election, that this is a ploy to defame the Hawthornes before the accused's father runs for his second term of governance, when in actuality, it is the accused who used - kidnapped -, brutalised and forced to endure horrific sexual acts with the likes of those around him who are also worthy of investigation themselves! - my client's daughter in a bid to secure his father's campaign all those years ago."

Geneva inclined her head - ever so slightly -, just enough to see Ares' expression from the corner of her eye. No glaring, she'd told him. When you glare, you look like a mobster. So don't.

To her surprise… He was listening. Although shaking his head slightly, with the smallest of sad smiles in disbelief… No glaring.

"We have seen the evidence. Of a girl raised by good, moral values, Christian values that her father taught her, to a complete change in personality that coincides exactly with Mr Hawthorne's involvement in her life." Martin continued. Urgh. Christian values. Geneva wasn't exactly surprised, but was this really where he was going with the entirety of his defence? Alienation of half of the jury? "An experience so traumatic, that she lost her memory - that she had to be hospitalised for her traumas, pulled out of treatment today, whereas the prosecution would have you believe she was wrongfully institutionalised!

This is about more than just one case. This is about an extortion of power by the First Son, who gained that status on the back of my client's daughter's suffering. We have evidence of him holding a gun when she jumped off a cliff face and into the river below to avoid him, of her erratic behaviour prior to that incident, as well as her prolonged absence which the accused himself admits was spent with him! Today, we ask you, the people, to exert justice on a system that has been riddled against my client from the very beginning. My client, a father, a leader and a concerned citizen, as we all should be when faced against Ares Hawthorne's crimes, who is fighting for a daughter who sits before you today a mere shadow of the ray of light she was once was."

She's not dead, Geneva thought to herself, not bothering to look in Rhea Merrick's direction. The fact she was in the courtroom at all was a joke, but considering how much the judge had done based ont he evidence she'd presented, she wasn't going to complain too much. Rhea wasn't sitting with her father - that was why Martin was laying it on so thick, to try and hide the division.

Although she'd promised herself she wouldn't, Geneva mentally… Tapped out for a few minutes. This was the biggest moment of her career. It wasn't just about winning; it was about being right, about the people of the jury believing in the First Son - in President Hawthorne, in the system, in everything. In her. She was the President's personal attorney before he'd taken office at the White House. If the people didn't believe she'd won this case and was right, she was over. They all were.

No pressure.

It was the squeak of Martin's cheap shoes against the weird patch on the floor that let Geneva know his spiel was over. She knew the patch well. She made sure to avoid it, so that she wouldn't look as slimy as he did. Not that Martin George needed the help. He was a far right-wing crusader who used the law to justify all sorts of bullshit acts in minor courts when nobody was looking. He'd probably oiled himself up so well for this case, for the press, that there'd be a rig built on him in a week.

Her turn. Closing argument.

No pressure.

She stood, before walking slowly and carefully to the jury - avoiding the weird spot -, her heels clacking against the floor.

"Members of the jury," She began. No pressure. "At least part of what my colleague has said is true. That is a fact, and that is ultimately what we are concerned with here today - the facts."

She paused, watching confusion flit across their faces.

"Mr Merrick is a father." Geneva began to explain, pacing slowly before them. "That is a fact. He is a man, that is a fact - he ran for Presidential election against our current President, my client's father, and lost - another fact. My client admits to having a gun on the day of his and Miss Merrick's fall, another, indisputable fact." She paused. "Another fact - Mr Merrick's own technological advisor, pre-dating the Presidential election three and a half years ago, not only admitted that the evidence put forward by my client could not have been doctored but also - wilfully, without any prior attempts to secure himself and implicating himself in the process - admitted to being witness to Mr Merrick's attempts against not only my client's life, but his own daughter's, upon finding out about her relationship with my client.

And what is that, may you ask? By all accounts, including Mr Merrick's technological advisor, a loving, healthy, relationship between two young, fully consenting adults." Another pause, as the jury stared her down. Geneva looked over to Ares - and he stared at her, full of hope, his face as childlike and optimistic as she'd ever seen it. It was all she needed. "I would invite you to look at the face of my client and consider; is this a man who would kidnap someone? Pretend to love her, as Mr George here claims, to lure her into some false trap, in some form of psychological warfare against his father's opponent? It's an impressive story, one implicating our President himself!

But this is a court of law, not a bedtime horror story. Over the course of these three years, we have undoubtedly refuted so many of Mr George and Mr Merrick's claims. The notion that my client and his family conspired for him to attend the same college as Miss Merrick; despite a public statement by Brown University, highlighting their decision to accept both Miss Merrick and my client to their political sciences programme in the hopes it would shine light on the innovative nature of their department's teaching. Their words. Not mine, or my client's. That is a fact.

Friends of both my client and Miss Merrick have stated, before you all, that they watched a healthy, loving relationship develop between the two of them - and that the reason for the secrecy Mr George claims highlights my client's guilt, was actually of Miss Merrick's doing for fear of her father's retribution." She stepped further out into the courtroom, motioning to the assholes. She was on a roll. "Mr Bennett testified to witnessing and finding evidence via Mr Merrick's server of coded directives against my client and Miss Merrick's life. My client has been entirely open in admitting that yes, he did have a hand in Miss Merrick's silence with her father upon him finding out the truth; to protect her, a completely understandable thought process from the man who loves her.

Gun residue found at the Hawthorne residence has been linked to members of Mr Merrick's private security team. Where Miss Merrick was on the night of the attack. We also have forensic proof highlighting that yes, Miss Merrick jumped into the river upon her father's men coming to collect her - whilst heavily armed and firing - and my client followed her, as well as the injuries she sustained being more consistent with my client's testimony that he tried to keep Miss Merrick close to him after the fall, to shield her from the fire, to the point where he himself was wounded - and, again, as medical opinion has proved, his injuries were much more likely sustained in defence of Miss Merrick than attack, based the trajectory of the bullets that were both lodged in my client's shoulders, as well the bullets that travelled through them both. Further facts, as is another when we consider there is no medical evidence to suggest any kind of rape, or sexual violence, done to Miss Merrick, let alone by my client or any of his associates.

And finally - yes, yes, Miss Merrick was hospitalised. But that is because for the entirety of these proceedings, years worth of your time, Mr Merrick placed his daughter - who he claims to love so much, the very essence of his defence, rather than the facts of the situation - in a so-called religious retreat that left her emotionally vulnerable at best, and psychologically tortured and conditioned against my client at worst, claiming mental health issues when her own journal entries described her relationship with my client. To the point where she was institutionalised by the state and there has remained, for over a year now, without access to her family, her father, as a means of best interest care. That is a fact."

Another pause.

One last push

Geneva stepped forwards, programming her baby blues to go on full force.

"We all have seen with our own two eyes, what Mr Merrick's anger can look like. He claims Miss Merrick's initial distance of him may have come from her leaving for college, something he claimed may have been an overlooking of his parenting in hindsight - to support her education -, yet so violently refuted the notion that perhaps, as any young college student would, Miss Merrick went to Brown with the intent of opening up her mind to new ideas and possibilities and, in doing so, happened to fall in love. Fall in love with, despite his surname and their families' histories and the presidential campaign that sat in the background and the conflict it would have brought to them both, a man who loved her. Cared for her. Put his life at risk for her. A young woman who, as is evident by her psychiatric care and the testimony of her doctors, has clearly struggled to receive genuine love and affection from the man who Mr George has so demanded we scrutinise in his parenthood!

I deal in facts, members of the jury. We all do, and we must, in this court." Geneva sighed, stepping forwards. "And I will admit, I find it difficult to equate love - be it Mr George's definition of a domineering father who is doing what he so claims our President has done with my client, using a child as a pawn, or another - as fact. But when looking at all of the facts - of the testimony against Mr Merrick, of my client's unwavering care and devotion to Miss Merrick who, even now, does not recognise the man she fell in love with-" She turned, motioning exasperatedly between the two… And as if on cue, Ares allowed himself to look at Rhea longingly from across the room - but, upon seeing her staring resolutely at the wall with glassy eyes, swallowing and staring into his lap… Geneva thought that she couldn't have orchestrated it better if she'd wanted to. "… Well, members of the jury, I would argue that the only logical, factual explanation for my client and Miss Merrick's actions is love.

Contrary to what Mr George would have you believe, this is not a question of politics; of secular preferentialism; of a father. This case is not about Mr Merrick. It is about the suffering of Miss Rhea Merrick at the hands of her father, and a momental case in US law that began with the only man who has ever truly loved her fighting only for his right to see her well and safe - after knowing full well what her father's custody may mean."

Geneva took two more final, loud steps towards the jury.

"Those are the facts of this case. And I would urge you to see that, rather than the cynical, pessimistic, conspiracy-laden theory Mr George would have you believe. Please choose the facts, members of the jury. Not just the ones we've heard in this long, arduous trial, but the facts of your own experience when looking at a man fighting for his love." A perfectly small, sad smile, just like she'd practiced in the mirror. "Thank you very much for your time."

.-.-.-.

The anticipated wait for a verdict was three days.

It took them two hours.

Ares and Geneva didn't look at each other as they stood before the judge, the jury filing in after him. She hid her nervousness. She'd been on her way back to her apartment, sleeping in the back of her town car, when she'd gotten the call - her hair was a little messy from it and she'd just about had the time to reapply her pale lipgloss between a hasty phone call to the judge, informing him she was on her way, and convincing the President that no matter what the outcome, everything would be under control.

The list of charges against Ares read like a law textbook.

"On the charge of conspiracy to kidnap…"

"On the charge of false imprisonment…"

"On the charge of rape…"

"On the charge of forced prostitution…"

"On the charge of battery… manslaughter… murder…"

Geneva held her breath. The others were minors compared to the end and Ares needed a full legal pardon; not just because it was right, but because Geneva's career sure as Hell needed it too.

"We find the accused… Not guilty, of all charges."

Geneva heard a roaring in her ears.

"Mr Hawthorne, having seen and reviewed the evidence extensively for myself, I apologise for both the suffering of yourself and Miss Merrick. I am without doubt that your actions were entirely free of political gain and your actions true in your attempts to protect Miss Merrick - and it is because of this, that I grant your application to take over Miss Merrick's care from her father."

What?!

That was when Geneva and Ares finally looked at each other - in complete surprise, in happiness, in laughter as Ares hugged her tightly, grinning ear-to-ear - only stopping, pulling away with large grins, as the judge hit his gavel.

"Miss Merrick, I wish you the very, very best in your future and that the relationship described to us in this trial may be rekindled once again." Judge Barron said seriously. Geneva squeezed Ares' hand next to her. "Of course, you are free to leave this courtroom with whatever plans you may already have in place - but as there is no doubt of Mr Hawthorne's innocence, I would highly recommend you return to a similarly loving environment wherein you can continue to heal."

Music. All Geneva could hear was music.

Everything was a blur after that. The congratulations from members of Ares' defence, the judge, the hateful glare from Mr Merrick and Martin George.

And there there was the press.

She could see the lights flashing outside of the courthouse from the other end of the hallway; and as her heels clicked against the floor again, as she threw the doors open and was greeted by the screams and flashlights, Geneva allowed herself to smile.

"I only have a short statement!" She shouted, the reporters immediately shutting up and clamouring to have their microphones the closest. "As you can understand, my client and Miss Merrick have a lot of catching up to do - which is why they will spend every movement they now have with each other, reconciling what they almost lost, and will refrain from any statements today regarding the results of the trial."

"But what about you, Miss Romandy? What do you have to say about your win, after Martin George's previous allegations of conspiracy?" One of the reports shouted through the crowd. Geneva didn't see which one.

She didn't need to.

Smiling - a perfect, victorious, triumphant smile that made her whole face light up, that lit up everyone else's faces, a smile that would be infectious as it was spread over every major international newspaper by the next morning, she knew - Geneva nodded.

"What I have to say is that in the face of adversity, libel and malice, all of which will be responded to with future legal action," She raised her hand as the reporters began to shout again. "Truth and justice won today, folks. Truth, justice and love - and it is a good day to work in the American justice system today!"

Geneva kept smiling all the way through the crowd - through the pushing and screaming and shouting, all the way until she was back in the car, her cell lighting up with President Hawthorne all over her screen.

She'd done it. She'd defended Ares Hawthorne in an impossible case - but she'd been right and she'd won, two things that weren't always mutually exclusive.

The First Son of the United States. A Hawthorne.

People had said that in the unlikely moment she won this case, the world would be her oyster. But they'd had no idea.

Winning an impossible case for the prince of the US division of the Russian-Italian mob? Geneva wasn't worried about the world.

The underground was now all hers.