Conflict of Interest (10/?) (Nikki/Morgana)
Title: Conflict of Interest (10/?)
Fandom: Silent Witness/Merlin (Modern AU)
Characters & Pairings: Morgana/Nikki (with side Arthur/Gwen and past Gwen/Morgana)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~ 30,000 so far
Summary: Morgana/Nikki. It's Morgana's bail hearing and Nikki can't stay away.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Merlin or Silent Witness, this is not for profit, just for entertainment!
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9
A week went by, then two. Nikki had taken just about as much of being sensible and lying low as she could. Every day was empty. Harry was helping as much as he could, spending nearly every free moment with her and being with him did give her some relief, a distraction. The problem was, he couldn’t spend every waking moment with her and as soon as he left, her thoughts drifted back to Morgana, all alone in a prison cell. She was trying so hard to stay away; she knew it was the right thing to do, her being around wasn’t going to help Morgana and it definitely wasn’t going to help her own career. There was an inescapable feeling low in her stomach that this was wrong, that Morgana was innocent and that there was far more to this than anyone could see. Someone had tried to frame Morgana - succeeded - but they had also tried to hurt her and it was that everyone seemed to have forgotten.
Nikki glanced down at her watch, rubbed her hands together to try to warm them up and looked expectantly to the dark pine.
The door opened. Silence.
Her entire vocabulary had become suddenly shrouded in a thick mist. “I...” Her mind reached desperately through the haze for something solid, a sentence or even just another word. “We - err - we met the night of the fire, I don’t know if you remember me but...”
Gwen nodded. “I remember.”
“I...” Again her mind went blank. “How is she?”
“You’d better come in.”
Gwen and Arthur’s house couldn’t have been more different from Morgana’s. The walls were covered in photos, old black and white mixed with colour of varying qualities. She recognised younger versions of Morgana and Arthur in most, interspersed with childhood shots of Gwen and older photos with stone walls and rocky hills in the background.
“There are over a hundred up in the house, Arthur loves them, Morgana can’t stand the clutter,” Gwen said, following Nikki’s gaze to an early washed-out colour photo. “Their mother, Vivien,” she filled in.
In the picture, a young woman stood on a beach, no more than twenty-five. She wore a dark swimming costume, her jet black hair blowing wildly in the wind, a carefree smile on her face. If the faded pink-tinged colour and poor resolution of the photo hadn’t aged it, she would have sworn it was Morgana.
“Morgana and Arthur both maintain that Morgana takes after her father and that he takes after their mother, though neither has seen more than a couple of grainy photos of him. He was always the one behind the camera,” she brushed the light layer of dust from the glass, “not that I blame him. Vivien dyed her hair blonde just after her husband died so none of them remember her dark. She’s almost three months pregnant with Morgana there.” Gwen smiled distractedly.
Nikki felt like she was intruding on a moment she had no right to see. No matter how bad she felt, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how Morgana’s family was feeling. “Did you ever meet her?”
“No. There was only Uther by the time I met Morgana.” She looked to another photo, far newer. Nikki smiled when she recognised the backdrop.
“Robben Island.” She wanted to reach out and touch it. The water was bright blue and the grass in the foreground a brilliant green, Table Mountain rose dusky pink on the horizon. Smiling she said, “She looks so happy. The night she cooked me dinner, she told me about your trip to South Africa. She didn’t mention that you went there though, I don’t imagine it would be my first choice on a holiday.”
“She couldn’t bear it inside the prison, it was so claustrophobic. But she stayed through the whole tour, pretending not to be going out of her mind. All of those tiny cells and rusting chicken wire; it was stiflingly hot.” She laughed. “Morgana was so happy to be out in the fresh air again, she ran all the way to the beach and dived straight into the sea.”
“Sometimes I forget how beautiful it can look. I grew up in not far from there.” Feeling that she had engaged in enough small talk, she turned to Gwen. “I know I don’t have the right, but I need to know how she is.”
“Scared,” Gwen said simply. “She’s trying to hide it but I could tell she was crying on the phone. We haven’t been allowed to see her yet.”
“She didn’t do it,” Nikki said, her voice firm “I know she didn’t.”
“You don’t know her,” Gwen countered softly. “Not really. Morgana has a lot of faults; she can be very passionate about something she cares about.”
“And you think she could have done it?” The possibility hit her like icy fist, twisting in her gut.
“Of course not,” Gwen said fiercely. “She’s all bark and no bite. And despite what she might say, she loved Uther like a father. He was her father, maybe not genetically, but he was.”
Quick footsteps on the stairs made Nikki jump; she had thought they were alone.
“What’s she doing here?” Arthur was obviously not pleased to see her.
“Arthur,” Gwen pleaded, “Let’s just hear her out. Morgana would want her to be there, another friendly face.”
Nikki frowned, she was clearly missing something. “Want me to be where?”
“Morgana’s in court this afternoon,” Gwen supplied. “They’ve been trying to get out of the bail hearing for over a week, thrown up all the red tape they could.”
“We have the best lawyer money can buy, not that it’s made the blindest bit of difference.” Arthur was finishing tying his tie. Gwen batted his hands away and took over. It was only then that Nikki noticed they were both dressed in muted formal greys and backs.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She blushed, feeling foolish. Why would she know? Why hadn’t Harry told her? Would he be there? Of course he would, expert witnesses were commonly called to appear at bail hearings.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Arthur said, his voice tight, “we have to leave.”
“You should come,” Gwen said, putting a hand on Arthur’s arm to quieten him. “Morgana would like to see you.”
“I...” Nikki didn’t know what to say. Harry would be so annoyed with her if she turned up.
“I shouldn’t have asked, we know how careful you have to be - with your job,” Gwen backtracked quickly.
“No, I want to come,” Nikki said just as quickly. “I want to see her.”
Arthur sighed. “Fine, but you’ll have to take your own car.”
~*~
For all the trouble she had gotten into when she was younger, Morgana had never been in a courtroom before. Most of the ones she had seen in films were American, large and airy with white stone, but this was barely the size of her lab and nowhere near as welcoming. Dark wood seemed to be universal decor for houses of law, furnishing the gallery, benches and every other surface, including the walls, bearing down on her like a Through the Looking Glass nightmare. It was the largest room she had been in since she had been arrested, though, and some of her tension eased despite the menacing appearance.
“What happens now?” she whispered to the guard at her side. He was nice; she couldn’t even bring herself to tease him about the fact that his wife starched his shirts to within an inch of their lives.
“Your representation will appeal to the judge for you to be given bail.” Their hands were cuffed together and the cold metal pulled on her wrist when he straightened his jacket.
“I mean, what do you think will happen? You must have seen this hundreds of times.”
“You can never tell. It depends as much on whether the judge has had a good lunch as it does on how guilty you look.”
“How guilty do I look?” Morgana whispered. The gallery was starting to fill up and she was starting to feel claustrophobic again.
“Pretty guilty,” the guard admitted. His name was Devon and he was at least a couple of years younger than Morgana. The presence of his wedding ring unsettled her. Why did everyone else have their lives sorted out whilst she was still running around with her head in a fantasy novel? When had everyone else grown up? She had always expected that it would feel different, that she would suddenly know what to do for the best and how to behave, but she was just as lost as ever.
As she shifted uncomfortably, she caught Arthur’s eye as he entered the court. Her heart clenched. There was fear in his eyes that she knew would be reflected in her own. Gwen was close behind him, her hand in his. She gave Morgana a small smile that said for the two of them everything that Arthur was too afraid to. A kind of calmness settled over her at the sight of them, she had people in her life that she could rely on to always be there. Following Gwen was someone Morgana hadn’t expected to see, someone who drove the butterflies in her stomach wild.
“What’s Dr. Alexander doing here? I didn’t know that your family had employed a second expert witness.” The guard’s interest increased. “You really must be paying through the nose.”
Morgana made a note of Nikki’s eminence. It was the second time she had heard her referred to with that mix of awe and intrigue by people she didn’t even know. She obviously had her fair share of admirers, Morgana could definitely see why.
“We haven’t.”
The door at the other side of the room opened. She felt her cuffs being tugged.
“Stand up.”
~*~
The hearing didn’t take long. The Pendragon family lawyer far outclassed the one provided by the state. Harry had given carefully impartial evidence, his wording making clear both that the DNA match was about as good as it got but that skin could very easily get under your fingernails, especially that belonging to someone with whom you either worked or socialised with. As he stood down, Morgana noticed an extended look passing between him and Nikki. It seemed that he hadn’t known she was going to be there either.
Though Morgana had been given a curfew, been ordered to stay with her brother and had committed to handing over twice her yearly salary, she had been granted bail. Within the hour she was wrapped tightly in Arthur’s arms, not wanting to ever let go.
“I missed you so much,” he whispered into her hair, strengthening his hold on her. “I need you. I can’t do this without you.”
She breathed in deeply. “It’ll be okay,” she murmured. He wasn’t thirteen anymore but she couldn’t fight the urge to want to protect him from the all that was bad in the world.
“Arthur, let go,” Gwen said impatiently, rocking on her heels.
Morgana laughed, tears staining her cheeks as Arthur reluctantly let go and Gwen instantly flung her arms around her neck, kissing her wet cheek before squeezing her again. Never would she have believed that she would have missed them both so much.
As close as she was pressed to her, she swore she could feel the swell of Gwen’s abdomen against her. It made skin tingle. Pulling back, she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Gwen’s stretched shirt inquisitively. It had only been two weeks but she was sure that the bump was beginning to show. A slow smile spread across her face.
Gwen rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing there. What is it with you two?”
“I told you!” Arthur said triumphantly, smiling brightly for the first time since Morgana had been taken away. He turned to Morgana. “You felt it, didn’t you? There’s definitely a bump.”
“Definitely,” Morgana said, chuckling as Gwen swatted away Arthur’s hand as he tried to feel her stomach.
“Will you stop doing that!” she shrieked, clearly not annoyed if her grin was anything to go by.
“We have the first proper scan tomorrow,” Arthur said excitedly. “You are coming, right?”
“It should just be for you and Gwen,” Morgana said pointedly. She couldn’t imagine Gwen being pleased with him just inviting her out of blue.
“Oh,” Arthur said, his smile fading.
“Don’t be silly, Morgana,” Gwen said, watching fondly as Arthur grinned again. “Of course you should come, I wouldn’t have it any other way. You have to meet your new niece or nephew.”
Morgana sniffed, blinking back tears. She was not going cry, she was not going to cry. That would just be ridiculous and she couldn’t even blame it on hormones. Shaking her head to pull herself together, she noticed Nikki standing a few meters away, arms clasped around her stomach.
The blonde waved meekly.
Gwen looked confused as Morgana waved. She looked over her shoulder and formed an ‘O’ of understanding with her mouth.
“We’ll meet you back at home.” Gwen took Arthur by the arm, squeezing it when he tried to protest in bewilderment as she dragged him away.
Once her family were out of sight, Morgana moved to take a step closer to Nikki, stopping when she saw Nikki’s sharp intake of breath.
“I didn’t think I would see you again,” Morgana said, walking over to the stone bench that stood against the wall and sitting down. It was an invitation.
“I didn’t think you would want to,” Nikki said, crossing the marble floor to take a seat next to Morgana.
Silence hung heavy between them. A minute passed, maybe more.
“I’ve been suspended,” Nikki said finally. “The day you were... When we got the results of the DNA results back... everything went so fast.”
Morgana sighed. “I shouldn’t have let you put your job in jeopardy, it was selfish.”
“You know, I thought I would regret it. Before, when I knew this was a possibility, I thought I would regret it if it happened. I don’t.” She looked Morgana in the eye for the first time. “I know you didn’t do it. They will find that out.”
Morgana smiled, dropping her head. “That’s sweet, it really is, but that isn’t how the world works. No one will crusade for my freedom. No evidence will appear at the last minute to clear my name.”
“My colleagues, my friends, they won’t let this happen,” Nikki insisted, her hand subconsciously reaching out for Morgana. “I won’t let this happen.”
“Well, this is cosy.” It was Anderson.
Nikki felt Morgana tense beside her, not out of hatred for the man, but fear. She withdrew her hand.
“Quite a conflict of interest, isn’t it? I heard you had taken a... holiday.”
“I have no involvement in the case,” Nikki said simply, raising her chin. “There is no interest to be conflicted.”
He just laughed and walked away.
There was another silence, longer than the last.
“I’m sorry to ask, but Gwen and Arthur seem to have forgotten that I don’t exactly have any money on me.” Morgana’s voice was unsure and Nikki knew that there was no way she could ever refuse her anything.
~*~
“It’s not as bad as I expected.”
Morgana was lying, of that Nikki was sure. Clean lines and elegant styling had been blackened and burnt; the Derry skyline lay on the floor amongst twisted plastic and shattered glass. Boot prints tracked up the stairs and into the living room, taking the devastation with them into the rest of the house.
“The police aren’t known for their care at crime scenes,” Nikki said, instantly wanting to take it back. “Morgana, I didn’t mean-”
“It’s okay.” Morgana turned away and started up the stairs. “It is a crime scene. It feels like a crime scene.”
Nikki sighed and followed. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“My whole life had become a crime scene,” Morgana’s accent was stronger in her irritated tone. “And I’m not pissed off at you, I’m just pissed off,” she said holding a hand up to tell Nikki that her temper wasn’t directed at her.
“You have every right to be.” Nikki followed into the bedroom and reached out for Morgana’s hand, pulling her back. “Someone is setting you up and I swear to you that I will find out who that is.”
“How can you be so sure of me?” Morgana asked, her entire demeanour a world away from what it had been that night in the bar. The confidence had been knocked clear out of her. “Alone in that prison cell, I even started to doubt myself.”
“I trust you, completely,” Nikki said, her breathing uneven.
“Why?” Morgana asked, confusion etched on her face.
Her heart beating wildly, Nikki leant in and kissed her fiercely. “Because I can feel it,” she whispered. “Because, stupid as it sounds,” her hand came up to cup Morgana’s cheek, “you’re all I can think about. I know we barely know each other but-” She gasped as Morgana kissed her, cutting her off, taking complete control. It was enough to make Nikki’s knees go weak.
“You have no idea how much I’ve needed to do this,” Morgana breathed, backing her slowly against the wall. “How many times I’ve imagined kissing you since that night.”
“Not nearly as many times as I have,” Nikki choked, clinging to Morgana as warm lips traced over her jaw and down her neck. “Christ Morgana, what have you done to me? I was so sure of my life, sure of what I wanted, even if I was too scared of ruining things to do anything about it. I can barely think anymore, everything comes back to you. I - ah!” A cold hand found the warm skin of her stomach, tracing under her shirt, moving higher and higher.
“Are you sure about this?” Morgana asked, a whisperer against her collar bone followed by a gentle nip.
“No,” Nikki admitted, her head falling back as her chest rose in a surging breath. “But don’t stop.” She tangled her hand in Morgana’s hair as her head moved lower. “Please, just don’t stop.”
~*~
Harry took of his scarf and reached for cup of tea Leo was extending towards him. He couldn’t stop thinking about the court, how he had come so close to breaking with his logical conclusions for his illogical convictions, for Nikki. He would do anything for her. Lie, cheat, anything to get her back and to see her smile again. As much as he loved Leo, it wasn’t the same without Nikki. One look from her could melt away any darkness, could wipe any horror he had seen. Nearly every day they had met; lunch, dinner, sometimes even breakfast. She couldn’t stand staying home all day, barred from the work she loved, and he couldn’t stand it without her either. The three of them were a family, Leo, Nikki and him, they had each other’s backs, knew when a case was getting one of them down, knew exactly how to make everything alright again. It wasn’t Leo’s fault, but Harry couldn’t help but resent him.
“How did it go?” Leo asked.
“She got bail.” Harry took a sip of the scalding tea, closing his eyes as it burnt down his throat. “Nikki was there.”
Leo looked down at his feet. “How does she seem?”
“Down, as she has been ever since you suspended her.” Harry’s tone was sharper than he had anticipated. He took a deep breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “I just can’t stand this.”
“Do you really believe that Morgana didn’t do it?” Leo asked carefully.
“Completely,” Harry said.
Leo sighed. “Then we had better prove it.”
Harry smiled at him gratefully. “Leo...”
“This is just as hard for me as it is for you,” Leo said. He picked up the file that lay on his desk and handed it to Harry “That’s everything I could find out about Uther Pendragon and his company. Every single complaint against him, the company or any of its partners. I think I may have found something.”
Harry opened the file, his mouth open in surprise. “When did you-”
“Since that day,” Leo said. “Janet and I have been going through all of it, looking for anything that stands out. Last night we found that.” He gestured to the print out in the front of the file.
“Twenty-two year old student Meredith Emrys found dead in her apartment,” Harry read aloud. After a minute he looked up, confused. “This is in Washington state, what could this possibly have to do with Pendragon.”
“She was getting paid to take part in a trial for new migraine drug, Trabecaline, but she failed to inform the clinic running the trial that she was an asthmatic. The drugs interacted with her Salbutamol causing severe bronchiospasm. She lied on the release form, absolving the company sponsoring the trial of any liability.”
“I still don’t see what this has to do with the case.” Harry said, turning the page, his faced drained of colour. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh,” Leo concurred.
“And you think this means that...” he trailed off.
Leo nodded.
“Have you handed this over to the police?” Harry asked, closing the file.
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Harry nodded, letting it settle in. “I’ve got to call Nikki.”
Fandom: Silent Witness/Merlin (Modern AU)
Characters & Pairings: Morgana/Nikki (with side Arthur/Gwen and past Gwen/Morgana)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~ 30,000 so far
Summary: Morgana/Nikki. It's Morgana's bail hearing and Nikki can't stay away.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Merlin or Silent Witness, this is not for profit, just for entertainment!
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9
A week went by, then two. Nikki had taken just about as much of being sensible and lying low as she could. Every day was empty. Harry was helping as much as he could, spending nearly every free moment with her and being with him did give her some relief, a distraction. The problem was, he couldn’t spend every waking moment with her and as soon as he left, her thoughts drifted back to Morgana, all alone in a prison cell. She was trying so hard to stay away; she knew it was the right thing to do, her being around wasn’t going to help Morgana and it definitely wasn’t going to help her own career. There was an inescapable feeling low in her stomach that this was wrong, that Morgana was innocent and that there was far more to this than anyone could see. Someone had tried to frame Morgana - succeeded - but they had also tried to hurt her and it was that everyone seemed to have forgotten.
Nikki glanced down at her watch, rubbed her hands together to try to warm them up and looked expectantly to the dark pine.
The door opened. Silence.
Her entire vocabulary had become suddenly shrouded in a thick mist. “I...” Her mind reached desperately through the haze for something solid, a sentence or even just another word. “We - err - we met the night of the fire, I don’t know if you remember me but...”
Gwen nodded. “I remember.”
“I...” Again her mind went blank. “How is she?”
“You’d better come in.”
Gwen and Arthur’s house couldn’t have been more different from Morgana’s. The walls were covered in photos, old black and white mixed with colour of varying qualities. She recognised younger versions of Morgana and Arthur in most, interspersed with childhood shots of Gwen and older photos with stone walls and rocky hills in the background.
“There are over a hundred up in the house, Arthur loves them, Morgana can’t stand the clutter,” Gwen said, following Nikki’s gaze to an early washed-out colour photo. “Their mother, Vivien,” she filled in.
In the picture, a young woman stood on a beach, no more than twenty-five. She wore a dark swimming costume, her jet black hair blowing wildly in the wind, a carefree smile on her face. If the faded pink-tinged colour and poor resolution of the photo hadn’t aged it, she would have sworn it was Morgana.
“Morgana and Arthur both maintain that Morgana takes after her father and that he takes after their mother, though neither has seen more than a couple of grainy photos of him. He was always the one behind the camera,” she brushed the light layer of dust from the glass, “not that I blame him. Vivien dyed her hair blonde just after her husband died so none of them remember her dark. She’s almost three months pregnant with Morgana there.” Gwen smiled distractedly.
Nikki felt like she was intruding on a moment she had no right to see. No matter how bad she felt, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how Morgana’s family was feeling. “Did you ever meet her?”
“No. There was only Uther by the time I met Morgana.” She looked to another photo, far newer. Nikki smiled when she recognised the backdrop.
“Robben Island.” She wanted to reach out and touch it. The water was bright blue and the grass in the foreground a brilliant green, Table Mountain rose dusky pink on the horizon. Smiling she said, “She looks so happy. The night she cooked me dinner, she told me about your trip to South Africa. She didn’t mention that you went there though, I don’t imagine it would be my first choice on a holiday.”
“She couldn’t bear it inside the prison, it was so claustrophobic. But she stayed through the whole tour, pretending not to be going out of her mind. All of those tiny cells and rusting chicken wire; it was stiflingly hot.” She laughed. “Morgana was so happy to be out in the fresh air again, she ran all the way to the beach and dived straight into the sea.”
“Sometimes I forget how beautiful it can look. I grew up in not far from there.” Feeling that she had engaged in enough small talk, she turned to Gwen. “I know I don’t have the right, but I need to know how she is.”
“Scared,” Gwen said simply. “She’s trying to hide it but I could tell she was crying on the phone. We haven’t been allowed to see her yet.”
“She didn’t do it,” Nikki said, her voice firm “I know she didn’t.”
“You don’t know her,” Gwen countered softly. “Not really. Morgana has a lot of faults; she can be very passionate about something she cares about.”
“And you think she could have done it?” The possibility hit her like icy fist, twisting in her gut.
“Of course not,” Gwen said fiercely. “She’s all bark and no bite. And despite what she might say, she loved Uther like a father. He was her father, maybe not genetically, but he was.”
Quick footsteps on the stairs made Nikki jump; she had thought they were alone.
“What’s she doing here?” Arthur was obviously not pleased to see her.
“Arthur,” Gwen pleaded, “Let’s just hear her out. Morgana would want her to be there, another friendly face.”
Nikki frowned, she was clearly missing something. “Want me to be where?”
“Morgana’s in court this afternoon,” Gwen supplied. “They’ve been trying to get out of the bail hearing for over a week, thrown up all the red tape they could.”
“We have the best lawyer money can buy, not that it’s made the blindest bit of difference.” Arthur was finishing tying his tie. Gwen batted his hands away and took over. It was only then that Nikki noticed they were both dressed in muted formal greys and backs.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She blushed, feeling foolish. Why would she know? Why hadn’t Harry told her? Would he be there? Of course he would, expert witnesses were commonly called to appear at bail hearings.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Arthur said, his voice tight, “we have to leave.”
“You should come,” Gwen said, putting a hand on Arthur’s arm to quieten him. “Morgana would like to see you.”
“I...” Nikki didn’t know what to say. Harry would be so annoyed with her if she turned up.
“I shouldn’t have asked, we know how careful you have to be - with your job,” Gwen backtracked quickly.
“No, I want to come,” Nikki said just as quickly. “I want to see her.”
Arthur sighed. “Fine, but you’ll have to take your own car.”
~*~
For all the trouble she had gotten into when she was younger, Morgana had never been in a courtroom before. Most of the ones she had seen in films were American, large and airy with white stone, but this was barely the size of her lab and nowhere near as welcoming. Dark wood seemed to be universal decor for houses of law, furnishing the gallery, benches and every other surface, including the walls, bearing down on her like a Through the Looking Glass nightmare. It was the largest room she had been in since she had been arrested, though, and some of her tension eased despite the menacing appearance.
“What happens now?” she whispered to the guard at her side. He was nice; she couldn’t even bring herself to tease him about the fact that his wife starched his shirts to within an inch of their lives.
“Your representation will appeal to the judge for you to be given bail.” Their hands were cuffed together and the cold metal pulled on her wrist when he straightened his jacket.
“I mean, what do you think will happen? You must have seen this hundreds of times.”
“You can never tell. It depends as much on whether the judge has had a good lunch as it does on how guilty you look.”
“How guilty do I look?” Morgana whispered. The gallery was starting to fill up and she was starting to feel claustrophobic again.
“Pretty guilty,” the guard admitted. His name was Devon and he was at least a couple of years younger than Morgana. The presence of his wedding ring unsettled her. Why did everyone else have their lives sorted out whilst she was still running around with her head in a fantasy novel? When had everyone else grown up? She had always expected that it would feel different, that she would suddenly know what to do for the best and how to behave, but she was just as lost as ever.
As she shifted uncomfortably, she caught Arthur’s eye as he entered the court. Her heart clenched. There was fear in his eyes that she knew would be reflected in her own. Gwen was close behind him, her hand in his. She gave Morgana a small smile that said for the two of them everything that Arthur was too afraid to. A kind of calmness settled over her at the sight of them, she had people in her life that she could rely on to always be there. Following Gwen was someone Morgana hadn’t expected to see, someone who drove the butterflies in her stomach wild.
“What’s Dr. Alexander doing here? I didn’t know that your family had employed a second expert witness.” The guard’s interest increased. “You really must be paying through the nose.”
Morgana made a note of Nikki’s eminence. It was the second time she had heard her referred to with that mix of awe and intrigue by people she didn’t even know. She obviously had her fair share of admirers, Morgana could definitely see why.
“We haven’t.”
The door at the other side of the room opened. She felt her cuffs being tugged.
“Stand up.”
~*~
The hearing didn’t take long. The Pendragon family lawyer far outclassed the one provided by the state. Harry had given carefully impartial evidence, his wording making clear both that the DNA match was about as good as it got but that skin could very easily get under your fingernails, especially that belonging to someone with whom you either worked or socialised with. As he stood down, Morgana noticed an extended look passing between him and Nikki. It seemed that he hadn’t known she was going to be there either.
Though Morgana had been given a curfew, been ordered to stay with her brother and had committed to handing over twice her yearly salary, she had been granted bail. Within the hour she was wrapped tightly in Arthur’s arms, not wanting to ever let go.
“I missed you so much,” he whispered into her hair, strengthening his hold on her. “I need you. I can’t do this without you.”
She breathed in deeply. “It’ll be okay,” she murmured. He wasn’t thirteen anymore but she couldn’t fight the urge to want to protect him from the all that was bad in the world.
“Arthur, let go,” Gwen said impatiently, rocking on her heels.
Morgana laughed, tears staining her cheeks as Arthur reluctantly let go and Gwen instantly flung her arms around her neck, kissing her wet cheek before squeezing her again. Never would she have believed that she would have missed them both so much.
As close as she was pressed to her, she swore she could feel the swell of Gwen’s abdomen against her. It made skin tingle. Pulling back, she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Gwen’s stretched shirt inquisitively. It had only been two weeks but she was sure that the bump was beginning to show. A slow smile spread across her face.
Gwen rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing there. What is it with you two?”
“I told you!” Arthur said triumphantly, smiling brightly for the first time since Morgana had been taken away. He turned to Morgana. “You felt it, didn’t you? There’s definitely a bump.”
“Definitely,” Morgana said, chuckling as Gwen swatted away Arthur’s hand as he tried to feel her stomach.
“Will you stop doing that!” she shrieked, clearly not annoyed if her grin was anything to go by.
“We have the first proper scan tomorrow,” Arthur said excitedly. “You are coming, right?”
“It should just be for you and Gwen,” Morgana said pointedly. She couldn’t imagine Gwen being pleased with him just inviting her out of blue.
“Oh,” Arthur said, his smile fading.
“Don’t be silly, Morgana,” Gwen said, watching fondly as Arthur grinned again. “Of course you should come, I wouldn’t have it any other way. You have to meet your new niece or nephew.”
Morgana sniffed, blinking back tears. She was not going cry, she was not going to cry. That would just be ridiculous and she couldn’t even blame it on hormones. Shaking her head to pull herself together, she noticed Nikki standing a few meters away, arms clasped around her stomach.
The blonde waved meekly.
Gwen looked confused as Morgana waved. She looked over her shoulder and formed an ‘O’ of understanding with her mouth.
“We’ll meet you back at home.” Gwen took Arthur by the arm, squeezing it when he tried to protest in bewilderment as she dragged him away.
Once her family were out of sight, Morgana moved to take a step closer to Nikki, stopping when she saw Nikki’s sharp intake of breath.
“I didn’t think I would see you again,” Morgana said, walking over to the stone bench that stood against the wall and sitting down. It was an invitation.
“I didn’t think you would want to,” Nikki said, crossing the marble floor to take a seat next to Morgana.
Silence hung heavy between them. A minute passed, maybe more.
“I’ve been suspended,” Nikki said finally. “The day you were... When we got the results of the DNA results back... everything went so fast.”
Morgana sighed. “I shouldn’t have let you put your job in jeopardy, it was selfish.”
“You know, I thought I would regret it. Before, when I knew this was a possibility, I thought I would regret it if it happened. I don’t.” She looked Morgana in the eye for the first time. “I know you didn’t do it. They will find that out.”
Morgana smiled, dropping her head. “That’s sweet, it really is, but that isn’t how the world works. No one will crusade for my freedom. No evidence will appear at the last minute to clear my name.”
“My colleagues, my friends, they won’t let this happen,” Nikki insisted, her hand subconsciously reaching out for Morgana. “I won’t let this happen.”
“Well, this is cosy.” It was Anderson.
Nikki felt Morgana tense beside her, not out of hatred for the man, but fear. She withdrew her hand.
“Quite a conflict of interest, isn’t it? I heard you had taken a... holiday.”
“I have no involvement in the case,” Nikki said simply, raising her chin. “There is no interest to be conflicted.”
He just laughed and walked away.
There was another silence, longer than the last.
“I’m sorry to ask, but Gwen and Arthur seem to have forgotten that I don’t exactly have any money on me.” Morgana’s voice was unsure and Nikki knew that there was no way she could ever refuse her anything.
~*~
“It’s not as bad as I expected.”
Morgana was lying, of that Nikki was sure. Clean lines and elegant styling had been blackened and burnt; the Derry skyline lay on the floor amongst twisted plastic and shattered glass. Boot prints tracked up the stairs and into the living room, taking the devastation with them into the rest of the house.
“The police aren’t known for their care at crime scenes,” Nikki said, instantly wanting to take it back. “Morgana, I didn’t mean-”
“It’s okay.” Morgana turned away and started up the stairs. “It is a crime scene. It feels like a crime scene.”
Nikki sighed and followed. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“My whole life had become a crime scene,” Morgana’s accent was stronger in her irritated tone. “And I’m not pissed off at you, I’m just pissed off,” she said holding a hand up to tell Nikki that her temper wasn’t directed at her.
“You have every right to be.” Nikki followed into the bedroom and reached out for Morgana’s hand, pulling her back. “Someone is setting you up and I swear to you that I will find out who that is.”
“How can you be so sure of me?” Morgana asked, her entire demeanour a world away from what it had been that night in the bar. The confidence had been knocked clear out of her. “Alone in that prison cell, I even started to doubt myself.”
“I trust you, completely,” Nikki said, her breathing uneven.
“Why?” Morgana asked, confusion etched on her face.
Her heart beating wildly, Nikki leant in and kissed her fiercely. “Because I can feel it,” she whispered. “Because, stupid as it sounds,” her hand came up to cup Morgana’s cheek, “you’re all I can think about. I know we barely know each other but-” She gasped as Morgana kissed her, cutting her off, taking complete control. It was enough to make Nikki’s knees go weak.
“You have no idea how much I’ve needed to do this,” Morgana breathed, backing her slowly against the wall. “How many times I’ve imagined kissing you since that night.”
“Not nearly as many times as I have,” Nikki choked, clinging to Morgana as warm lips traced over her jaw and down her neck. “Christ Morgana, what have you done to me? I was so sure of my life, sure of what I wanted, even if I was too scared of ruining things to do anything about it. I can barely think anymore, everything comes back to you. I - ah!” A cold hand found the warm skin of her stomach, tracing under her shirt, moving higher and higher.
“Are you sure about this?” Morgana asked, a whisperer against her collar bone followed by a gentle nip.
“No,” Nikki admitted, her head falling back as her chest rose in a surging breath. “But don’t stop.” She tangled her hand in Morgana’s hair as her head moved lower. “Please, just don’t stop.”
~*~
Harry took of his scarf and reached for cup of tea Leo was extending towards him. He couldn’t stop thinking about the court, how he had come so close to breaking with his logical conclusions for his illogical convictions, for Nikki. He would do anything for her. Lie, cheat, anything to get her back and to see her smile again. As much as he loved Leo, it wasn’t the same without Nikki. One look from her could melt away any darkness, could wipe any horror he had seen. Nearly every day they had met; lunch, dinner, sometimes even breakfast. She couldn’t stand staying home all day, barred from the work she loved, and he couldn’t stand it without her either. The three of them were a family, Leo, Nikki and him, they had each other’s backs, knew when a case was getting one of them down, knew exactly how to make everything alright again. It wasn’t Leo’s fault, but Harry couldn’t help but resent him.
“How did it go?” Leo asked.
“She got bail.” Harry took a sip of the scalding tea, closing his eyes as it burnt down his throat. “Nikki was there.”
Leo looked down at his feet. “How does she seem?”
“Down, as she has been ever since you suspended her.” Harry’s tone was sharper than he had anticipated. He took a deep breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “I just can’t stand this.”
“Do you really believe that Morgana didn’t do it?” Leo asked carefully.
“Completely,” Harry said.
Leo sighed. “Then we had better prove it.”
Harry smiled at him gratefully. “Leo...”
“This is just as hard for me as it is for you,” Leo said. He picked up the file that lay on his desk and handed it to Harry “That’s everything I could find out about Uther Pendragon and his company. Every single complaint against him, the company or any of its partners. I think I may have found something.”
Harry opened the file, his mouth open in surprise. “When did you-”
“Since that day,” Leo said. “Janet and I have been going through all of it, looking for anything that stands out. Last night we found that.” He gestured to the print out in the front of the file.
“Twenty-two year old student Meredith Emrys found dead in her apartment,” Harry read aloud. After a minute he looked up, confused. “This is in Washington state, what could this possibly have to do with Pendragon.”
“She was getting paid to take part in a trial for new migraine drug, Trabecaline, but she failed to inform the clinic running the trial that she was an asthmatic. The drugs interacted with her Salbutamol causing severe bronchiospasm. She lied on the release form, absolving the company sponsoring the trial of any liability.”
“I still don’t see what this has to do with the case.” Harry said, turning the page, his faced drained of colour. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh,” Leo concurred.
“And you think this means that...” he trailed off.
Leo nodded.
“Have you handed this over to the police?” Harry asked, closing the file.
“Twenty minutes ago.”
Harry nodded, letting it settle in. “I’ve got to call Nikki.”