The Judge managed to get the rest of the room in order, but Miss Haruki and Mr. Levit were at each other's throats. Nobody could quite make out what they were screaming but it was clear things were about to get violent. It took four of the courtroom guards but the two were finally separated. 

"Now," the Judge proclaimed, "Someone, tell me the meaning of all this!"

Sybill scrambled forward, "You're Honor! My boyfriend killed that boy because he was holding hands with another boy and left me to cover it up! Now he's trying to frame me for it."

"Your Honor!" I shouted above the noise, sharp tongue forcing silence to fall over the courtroom. 

"The defendant was there for the whole thing. He will know who was there."

This sent the court into another buzz. I grimaced, my mind went blank and I tuned the whole courtroom out. Everything was a blur from that point on. I didn't come to my senses until I was sitting on the couch at the Wright and co. law offices snuggled into Wrights side. Wright was leafing through a rather small file labeled 'Hate Crimes', the Steel Samurai blared on T.V., and Wright's assistant was celebrating with another little girl. I believe her name was Pearl. When I stirred, Phoenix smiled at me. 

"You're finally awake!"

"I fell asleep?" I mumbled softly, tracing my fingertips down Phoenix's bicep. 

"Yeah. You fell asleep almost as soon as you sat down."

"Court...what happened in court, Wright?"

"We got Adien declared innocent!"

I blinked, "So we won then?"

"Yep! Thank you for everything, Baby." 

He kissed my forehead and I sighed happily. He continued to read that case file of his and I peeked over his shoulder. 

"Phoenix, what is that?"

"It's Mia's tabs on any murders that she suspected to be hate crimes."

"I see. So why are you reading about it?"

"Just something seemed so odd about the trial today. This random couple, randomly camping in the forest, and they just decide to randomly kill somebody?"

I nodded, it did indeed seem strangely convenient. "So you're going to look into this murder?"

"Yeah, I'm going to look for any patterns. Follow any new cases involving homosexual couples and see if I can find something."

"Without me?" I teased gently, "Come on, Wright. We're partners are we not?"

He chuckled softly, leaning in to kiss me. My heart rate quickened every time we had these intimate moments. How I kept my composure around this man was one hell of a mystery.

"I'm sorry, baby, you're right. We'll work on this together."

Together... Ah, it sounded so lovely coming from him. He placed another kiss on my forehead before continuing to read, this time with me following along over his shoulder. We read for what seemed like hours and yet I couldn't notice a single pattern. The victims would just be existing in public, not even provoking anyone. Sometimes both of them were killed, sometimes one, sometimes they were just beaten to the brink of death but not actually murdered. Sometimes the victims were attacked by a single person. Other times it was by a group. Only one pattern seemed to show, all the couples were homosexual. That's it. 

"I don't get it," I finally snapped. "There's no pattern. Just awful people doing awful things!"

I didn't realize my voice had risen until I saw the alarmed expressions of the Fey girls. I sighed, leaning back on the couch. 

"Maybe we should stop here for today. This is getting pretty overwhelming." 

Phoenix stacked all the papers neatly and smiled at me. 

"Want to stay at my place for the night?" 

I nodded and smiled. The thought of a homecooked meal from my boyfriend sounded blissful.

These problems where getting harder to face but with Phoenix by my side everything would be okay.

[A/N] ABOUT THIS CHAPTER:

It's awful. I hate it. It's filler and I need to stop obsessing over it and move on. Maybe I'll come back and edit it but right now it's trash.