"WELCOME BACK!"

Everyone cheered as Officer Russo and Officer Harding walked into the police station.

The two men smiled as they greeted their fellow officers and I looked around the room at the event I planned, smiling at how successfully it had all come together.

"This party is great, Ness."

I looked up at Calum who was standing there with his arm around my shoulders.

"Thanks. I was worried it wouldn't all come together."

"Well it's amazing." He smiled and then moved so he could pull me into a hug. "And I noticed you got catering from the restaurant I took you to on our first date."

"I did." I smirked.

"Maybe we could go back there and recreate that night, just end it a little differently."

I giggled as he pressed his lips to mine.

"Hood!"

Calum pulled away as Captain Sutherland came up to us.

"Your girl planned quite the party, didn't she?" He clapped Calum on the back.

"Yes Sir, she did." Calum grinned.

"Good job, Nessa. I usually hire an outside planner for our banquets but I think I might have you do it instead." Captain Sutherland shook my hand. "We're proud of you around here. You'll have quite the support group at court tomorrow."

"Thank you."

When he walked away I went back to hug Calum, more like cling to him.

"Why are you being like this?" He frowned.

"Because i'm nervous about tomorrow. I don't want this guy to get off the hook."

"He won't." Calum shook his head.

"Do you promise?"

"Nessa," he sighed, "I can't promise that but I can promise everyone is doing everything they can to keep him behind bars."

I nodded.

"Nessa?" I turned around to see Officer Russo and Officer Harding there.

"We wanted to thank you for planning this for us." Officer Russo shook my hand.

"It was the best way to be welcomed back." Officer Harding shook my hand next.

"Were all glad you're back with us." I smiled.

We spent our day celebrating, but when the party was over and everyone went to their separate homes, that's when I began to panic.

I could barely eat dinner and stayed up all night watching crap tv shows, so I felt like a zombie when Calum arrived at my house in his formal uniform the next morning.

"Nessa, did you sleep at all?" He scolded me.

"Um, no." I rubbed at my eyes.

"Go get dressed while I make you some breakfast." He sighed.

"I don't eat breakfast."

"I don't care. Go. And put some concealer under your eyes."

"I was planning on it." I rolled my eyes as I crutched away.

I went to straighten my hair and then apply some makeup, doing as planned and putting a lot of concealer under my eyes to hide the bags.

Then I had to dress presentably so I wore my black skirt and then a white button down to tuck in.

My leg brace ruined the look but I had no other choice but to wear it.

When I made it back to the kitchen Calum was setting down a plate that had pancakes, eggs, and bacon on it.

"You didn't have to do all this." I said as I sat down.

"Well apparently I did because you stayed up all night before you had court and all you know how to cook is pasta."

"Don't be an ass." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sorry, i'm just annoyed that you didn't prepare for this. This testimony is important. Your testimony is important. And I wish you were taking this as seriously as everyone else is."

"This is me taking it seriously! I didn't sleep because I was up all night going over what I was going to say! How I was going to look the man who almost killed me in the eye! That's not easy, Calum! I've never done anything like this before and i'm scared!"

His once tense body language softened and his shoulders dropped.

"If you would've told me this I could've spent the night with you and helped you through this. You have to stop keeping things like this to yourself, Nessa. That's why i'm here."

"I don't want to keep dragging you into my emotional issues. That's not fair to you."

"Nessa, if I didn't want to hear about your issues then I wouldn't be dating you. But here I am, because I care about you and I want to know when you're sad or upset and I want you to tell me why so I can help you. And I want you to do the same with me. I never had that with Meredith, but I can have that with you. So please, just stop being so closed off and tell me when something's wrong."

I took a deep breath.

"I picked up my phone a dozen times last night to call you, but I didn't because I didn't want to bother you."

"I wouldn't have cared."

"I would have."

Calum sighed before walking over to me and crouching down so he was at my level.

"Stop talking." He shook his head.

"What?"

"Stop. Talking. Nonsense."

I gave him a partial smile that he copied before leaning in to kiss me.

"I love you, Nessa. That's not changing anytime soon. So stop being ridiculous and eat the breakfast I made you before I do."

This made me laugh.

I let Calum share my breakfast and then he led me to his car to drive us to the courthouse.

There were a lot of police cars parked in the lot and even more when we walked inside. It seemed as if the entire Dahlonega Police Department was here.

They all smiled at me and patted my back as Calum walked me in, Luke joining him since he was the other officer at the scene. When we entered the courtroom Michael and another EMT were there and so was Ashton along with Kate.

Calum led me to the row behind the lawyers and sat down next to me, his hand never letting go of mine.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Calum, I can't do this."

"Yes you can. All you have to do is say what happened and answer their questions and then you're done. You can do this."

I nodded and then opened my eyes, looking straight ahead.

I then felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and looked behind me to see Captain Sutherland sitting there next to Luke.

"There's a solid case against him Rothchester. You've got this."

I gave him a small smile before turning back to face forward.

I must've looked stoned as I sat there staring straight ahead, listening as the different witnesses went up to talk and be questioned by the attorneys.

When it was Calum's turn he squeezed my hand before walking up there.

I dared to look to the side and see him already looking at me.

He kept looking at me even when the attorney asked him a question and then he looked back at them, explaining what he saw when he pulled up to the scene.

"When we arrived on the scene there was a black ford focus trapped between a red truck and a silver buick. The driver of the buick told us there was a girl in the ford focus, and when we approached the car we found Ms. Rothchester behind the wheel with critical injuries. We had to move the buick to get her out of the car where we discovered she had a broken leg. The EMTs rushed her to the hospital, I joined them in the ambulance, and when I arrived at the hospital I was informed by my partner that the driver of the truck was texting and driving and that's what caused the accident."

Once he was finished he walked back over to me, sitting next to me.

Luke then went up to tell what he had noticed about the behaviour of the truck driver and how he discovered that he was texting, and then Michael went up to discuss my injuries before Ashton went to discuss the state of my vehicle.

Then it was my turn.

Calum squeezed my hand as I stood up and then made my way over to the stand.

"Ms. Rothchester, can you please tell us what you remember happening on the day of the accident?"

I looked over at Calum who was watching me carefully, and he nodded for me to speak.

"I was driving on Roosevelt and suddenly I felt something hit my car on the right. The truck shoved me into the next lane where the other car hit me. I blacked out after that and the next time I woke up I was in the hospital."

I kept my eyes on Calum as I spoke because I knew if I looked over to my left I would be looking at the man who caused this.

"Did you see the truck hit you?"

"No, but in my defence it kind of came out of nowhere."

"Do you remember seeing the driver of the car?"

"No. Like I said. I blacked out. But they were on the scene and the officers found them."

Calum nodded.

"Can I say something?" I blurted out as they were about to dismiss me.

"Yes." The judge said.

"I know the guy who caused this is over there, and i'm sorry, but I can't look at you." I said and Calum gave me a sad smile as I looked at his face. "What you did was reckless and irresponsible and broke me, literally broke me...but it led to me getting back together with the one person who made me feel whole. This isn't me saying that what you did is okay, because texting and driving is not okay and you'll pay the price the rest of your life whether you go to jail or not; but this is me forgiving you. We all make mistakes we can't come back from, I did, and it led me to this town where I met so many incredible people and a family that loves me and that I love even more. My mistake was unforgivable, and so was yours, but we move on, and forgive each other anyways because if we don't we're no better than the person who wronged us. So I do forgive you, and I hope one day you'll be able to forgive yourself."

The courtroom was in absolute silence as I made my way back to my seat.

Calum reached out for my hand when I reached him and when I took it he gave my fingers a squeeze.

As the discussion began in the courtroom I looked to my left, Calum turning to look at me as well.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too. You did amazing." He smiled, putting his arm around my shoulder.

They broke for recess and we went to have lunch before going back, but when we went to walk inside the courtroom I stopped.

"Calum I can't go in there."

"Nessa-"

"No. Please, please just let me sit out here and then when it's over tell me what happened."

He looked at me sadly.

"Is this what you want?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"I'll stay with her."

We looked as Kate stepped up to us.

"Come on. We'll sit right here on the bench."

Calum nodded and then kissed my forehead before walking inside.

Kate and I went to sit on the bench and waited until the hall cleared.

Once everyone was inside the courtroom for the verdict Kate looked over at me with the most serious expression I had ever seen her have.

"When I was 15 I lived in Michigan. I was hanging with the wrong crowd, doing drugs and drinking, I even got pregnant, and I had the pregnancy terminated. I was freaking 15...and one day I robbed a convenience store and stole a car on a dare. I was caught by the police, and when my parents bailed me out of jail and took me home, they found out everything I had done. I ran away because I was so ashamed of what I had done, and I couldn't stand seeing them look at me like they didn't know who I was anymore. I haven't been back since. The grandmother I visit is the lady who took me in when I reached Dahlonega on a bus."

I looked at her in shock.

"That's my story. Now why are you here?"

My jaw dropped but I realised I wasn't alone. I had someone to talk to, really talk to. And I wasn't going to miss the chance.

"My brother is in a gang. I was walking one day to meet a friend and heard a scream from a building, and walked in on some kind of deal gone wrong. He didn't see me but one of his fellows did and tried to take me to my brother so he would punish me, and so I shot him in self defence, and then I went into hiding. He died. I never meant to kill him, but he was hurting me and I was scared and I did what I had to do to defend myself. But they found out where I was hiding and so they came after me, and so I changed my name, got on a bus, and let it take me wherever it took me. That's my story."

Kate took my hand in hers.

"I never meant to kill him."

"I know you didn't." She squeezed my hand. "We all do things we don't mean to, but what you did...you did to protect yourself."

"I know." I whispered. "But everyday I wake up, and I kiss Calum, and he doesn't even know who I really am, and it's breaking me. And Dawson tells me that i'll be okay but I love Calum too much to lie to him."

"Nessa... Calum loves you for who you are. I love you for who you are. Who you were before doesn't change my opinion of you because that was the you before. You don't have to tell Calum, and I won't tell him, but understand that he's so insanely in love with the you that you've shown him, and I highly doubt that Nessa is much different than the girl you were before."

I let out a laugh and she joined in.

"Thank you." I looked at Kate. "Thank you for being the friend I needed."

"You're welcome. Thanks for being the friend I needed too."

I smiled as I hugged her and she hugged me back.

Kate knew what it was like to be in the position I was in, because she was in it too.

"My birth name was Hannah." She whispered, crying like I was.

"Mine was Abby."

She and I both laughed at this.

"I chose Kate after Kate Beckinsale." She continued to laugh.

"Dawson chose mine and I'm pretty sure he chose it after the loch ness monster." I giggled, making Kate shriek in laughter.

Suddenly the doors opened and we looked up to see Calum walking out, followed by other people from the court.

He came up to us as we wiped off our cheeks.

"So what happened? What's the verdict?" I asked him.

He stepped up and took a breath.

"He was found guilty of attempted involuntary manslaughter."

I sucked in a breath before nodding.

"Okay."

"Okay." He said back and I stood up before walking up to him.

I stood in front of him, vulnerable and scared, but in love. I was in love with him.

I threw my arms around his neck and Calum immediately hugged me around my waist.

"I love you so much." I breathed into his neck.

"I love you too." He hugged me back tightly, almost knocking the air out of me.

"Take me home." I whispered.

"Okay." He kissed my forehead before letting me go.

He took my hand so we could leave.

"Calum!" Kate called out to him and we turned around. "Take care of her. She's a special one."

"I know." He smiled before tugging on my hand.

I looked back at Kate who just nodded at me.

I gave her a knowing smile before letting Calum lead me away.

Calum. He was everything to me.

And I wanted to be everything to him.

--

Did you expect Kate to be carrying a secret like that? And do you feel that Nessa is doing the right thing by not telling Calum?

What do you think would happen if she told him?

More to come!

Much love xx-m