It was almost night time when I brought Sierra back to Elliot’s house. As I walked in, I smelled the food cooking in the kitchen. Strictly Italian. I led Sierra to the kitchen where Caroline was emptying a pot of sauce onto a bowl of pasta.

“Oh great timing!” she smiled and wiped her hands on a towel from the countertop. “And our guest?”

I grabbed Sierra’s arm and yanked her into view. “Caroline. This is my friend, Sierra,” I smiled. Caroline always had this air about her that made me smile. It was so different from Elliot’s. Elliot’s made me spill my secrets and say things I’d never say. We knew that too well.

“Nice to meet you, Caroline,” Sierra shook her hand. “Do you need any help with anything?”

Caroline’s eyes lit up. “Well, you two can set the table. I can have the rest of this out in about five minutes.”

Sierra nodded and took the stack of plates off the counter that Caroline had set up. The edges were lined with grapevines that twisted and turned in a circle. I grabbed the napkins and silverware.

We took them to the next room where we began setting them down in order. “She seems great,” Sierra smiled at me.

“She is,” I nodded. “You can tell Elliot is very protective of her.”

Sierra shrugged. “Well you are protective over Mikey. Not much different.”

I stopped for a second thinking about that idea. “Not at all. But I think protective is an understatement when it comes to how I am with Mikey.”

Sierra nodded. “You have the right to be. There is a lot of shit that wants to take you two down. You are just more used to it than he is.”

I thought about this too. About how I was protecting your innocent sanity more than anything. You were a blank slate when it came to bad sides of people. I had taken the brute ends of our dramas. Not that I was complaining. I’d take them all over again to protect you.

“Ready?” Caroline popped her head in to check on our progress.

“Yup,” Sierra nodded and followed Caroline back into the kitchen to help her carry things out.

“I’ll get Elliot,” I called and paced towards his home library. The room put his office to shame. The bookshelves were taller and had more life. Instead of boring psych journals and textbooks, he had his collections of literary work. I noted his extensive collection of James Joyce and his lack of Hemingway. His chair in here was identical to the one at his office. He must have really liked that one. “Elliot,” I found him in his chair with a small pad in his hands, taking notes on something.

He looked up through his glasses at me, a little scared. This made me really want to know what he was writing. “Dinner?” he asked, setting the pad on his sidetable.

I nodded. “Spagetti night,” I gave a small grin.

Elliot got up and dropped his glasses in his chair. “Good. I am starving,” he rubbed his stomach a little and followed me out to the dining room. “Hello, Sierra,” he smiled at her and took his seat at the head of the table. “How are you?”

Sierra perked up in her seat next to me. “Oh, I’m good, Elliot. Hungry,” she giggled. “Everything looks delicious, Caroline.”

I scooted my chair up to the table and let Caroline grab my plate and fill it up for me, as she did for everyone.

“So what have you been up to, Sierra?” Elliot asked as he began digging into his food.

“Um, not much. Working since I’m on break and everything. Waiting for this case. When is it, by the way? Any word?” she looked up at him.

Elliot nodded and wiped his mouth with his napkin, “I forgot to tell you. We have one week to prepare enough evidence to prove we are onto something. Then if we are cleared for that, we have only three days till the case starts.”

“Isn’t that a little… rushed?” I asked. I felt like I remembered watching Law and Order and it taking weeks, sometimes months for trials to be heard.

“Yes. But Duke found something out,” Elliot sighed hard and I knew this wouldn’t be good. “Klause and his lawyer know one of the main trial organizers at the courthouse. They are working to pay them off to move the trial up.”

“What? Why would they do that? That gives them less time to prepare,” I slammed my fork down.

“Yes,” Elliot nodded, “But it also gives us less time. I think you have to realize that a couple rebel forces going against a long standing educational system like Reynard’s isn’t expected to win. They think the sooner they have it, the sooner they can get it out of the newspapers. Klause’s lawyers aren’t new at the game. They mean business.”

I felt my blood spike. I remembered how you always thought there was no way we could lose. Now I was feeling more defeated than ever. The other team had strategy and experience. What did we have that would pull us though? And the truth didn’t count. Not in this game. “So what does this mean for us?”

Elliot cleared his throat, “means more regular meetings. Probably gonna start seeing everyone on weekends now. Been missing those meetings cause I told Duke I was getting you ready for the stand. I can’t keep lying to him.”

I felt myself lose my appetite. I felt bad making Elliot lie about something so stupid. I thought back to what Sierra said. About how I needed practice. “No I wanna start.”

Elliot shook his head confused.

“I wanna start rehearsing for the stand. I’m done pushing it off, now.”

He nodded, “Well, I’m glad to hear. We will start as soon as possible.”

I had that sinking feeling that I had just made a bad decision. The way Sierra made it sound when she told me to do it sounded so valiant. Like I was really doing it for the good of the cause and for you but when I said it, it felt like I was sentencing myself to death. I made everything hurt all over. I surely wasn’t excited to start the process. I just had to keep thinking that in a week and a half, this would all be over. I couldn’t help but think I might be over by then too.