Chapter Text
“Alexander, I'm surprised to see you back here,” Thomas Jefferson greeted him in the entrance to the courtroom. “I was under the impression that Laurens would be representing himself today.” His voice had an icy edge to it.
Alex tried to breathe deeply. He could do this. “Well, I'm sorry to have to inform you that you were under the wrong impression,” he said.
Jefferson narrowed his eyes. “Don't you know what is going to happen?” he said softly, dangerously.
“Yes,” Alex replied. “I know exactly what is going to happen. You are going to lose.” He smiled disarmingly. “I'll see you later, Thomas. Do take care.” He stalked off, leaving Jefferson a bit unnerved and suspicious. Good , Alex thought. It's working .
John ran up to him and pulled him aside. “Alex, I'm scared. What if it doesn't work?”
“It's gonna work,” Alex said confidently, and leaned in to kiss him.
“Alex!” John exclaimed.
“We're going to tell them all anyway in about half an hour,” Alex pointed out.
“I know.” John shivered. “But I can't, not right now.”
“Okay.” Alex’s voice softened. “It's going to be okay. We have Laf, Herc, Eliza, and Angie on our side today. Peggy skipped school to take care of Frances! John, we can't lose this one. Remember what we got yesterday. There's just no way.” He took John's hand and rubbed his thumb over his knuckles gently. “It's going to go perfectly .”
“Knock on wood,” mumbled John, but he sighed and squeezed Alex’s hand once before letting go. “Come on. We need to go get ready.”
“All rise,” the bailiff called several minutes later. Alex tapped his finger against the arm of his seat nervously, the slight movement the only sign that he was anything other than perfectly calm and confident. He waited impatiently for the formalities at the beginning of the case to finish, and for the situation to be summed up briefly. He knew what was going to happen as soon as Jefferson took the stand, and sure enough…
“Your Honor, our first piece of evidence against the defendants pertains reliability of the attorney/client relationship,” he said.
Next to Alex, John shifted anxiously. Alex wished he could take his hand, but that would not have been a wise decision. They simply had to sit silently and watch as Jefferson revealed their relationship, concluding with, “So, your Honor, we would suggest that all evidence presented by the defendants be dismissed immediately on terms of unreliability and personal bias.”
The judge's expression was unreadable. “Thank you. Defense, do you have a response?”
“Actually, your Honor, we do,” Alex said.
“Proceed.”
Alex stood and faced the jury. Half of them looked disgusted, angry. The other half looked either bored, intrigued, or confused. Well, it could have been worse. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I intend to prove without a shadow of a doubt that all of the evidence presented to you so far as to why the Empire Hotel corporation should not be allowed to retain their permit for America Beach is completely and utterly reliable and accurate, and that it is in fact the prosecution which should be held to the standards of honesty that they claim to believe in.” He didn't so much as sneak a glance at Jefferson as he continued. “We call our first witness to the stand. Gilbert du-Motier Lafayette?”
Lafayette, clearly quite a bit uncomfortable in a suit and tie, stepped into the witness stand. They were sworn in to tell the truth, the whole truth, etc, etc, and then Alex began to question them, asking them about the picture and when and why it had been taken. Eliza, too, testified that the relationship hadn't even started until after the last court date. Then, Alex showed the jury the email, and John took to the witness stand.
Alex led John to tell the jury about Jefferson meeting with him after the email had been sent and the threats that had been said there. Jefferson tried to cut them off several times, but the judge overruled him each time. Alex felt more and more confident each time that happened. After Alex had finished questioning John, he turned back towards the jury.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, as you can clearly see from the evidence I have presented to you, Empire Hotels and their representatives are dishonest. They were willing to break the law once to keep their permit, by trying to blackmail my client into losing the case. We are sure that this is not the only time that they have behaved outside the law. Especially when there is no way that they could have attained the permit from the Secretary of Commerce lawfully and honestly since the environmental impact of building on America Beach, as explained by my client and expert witness, John Laurens, would be devastating on the loggerhead turtle population.” Alex took a deep breath. Here was the part that was going to assure them a victory.
“In fact, we have evidence and testimony from the Secretary of Commerce himself, John Jay, explaining that he was indeed contacted and threatened to be taken out of office if he didn’t grant Empire Hotels the permit to build on America Beach. George King has the resources to make sure that would happen. We all wish that corporations didn't have so much sway in our government--” There was a slight reaction and some quiet laughter from the jury. Encouraged, Alex continued, “But nonetheless, they most certainly do. However, you can take some of that power away from the big companies and back into the hands of the people by ruling that Empire Hotels should not be allowed to keep their illegally and wrongly acquired permit.” He paused dramatically. “That is all, your Honor.” He took his seat next to John, who instantly grabbed for his hand. John was shaking, but as Alex glanced over at him, he saw that he was smiling.
It came as no surprise when, after several half-assed excuses and convoluted explanations from Jefferson, the jury ruled that Empire Hotels would lose their permit. John almost started crying, and Alex might have joined him if they weren't in front of so many people. The turtles were safe. John was safe. The storm was over.
As the jubilant friends began to leave the courtroom, intent on heading home and celebrating, Jefferson grabbed Alex by the arm and pulled him aside. “This isn't over, Alexander.”
Alex stared at him coolly. “I just destroyed your reputation as an honest lawyer, Thomas. And won the case. I'm fairly sure that it's over.”
Jefferson glared. “There are more ways to hurt someone than in a courtroom,” he spat. “You won't have ruined me without bringing yourself down, too.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Jefferson?” John interrupted. Jefferson turned towards him. Behind John stood Lafayette, Hercules, Angelica, and Eliza. Alex’s heart swelled. “Please let go of my boyfriend so we can leave with our friends and celebrate our win.”
Jefferson released Alex’s arm. He muttered something as he walked away. Alex heard it, and wanted to punch him.
“What was that?” Lafayette said dangerously. They stepped out in front of Alex and John, hand on their hip.
“I didn't say anything.”
“Oh, really? Because I heard you call my friends here a very rude word.”
Jefferson sneered and repeated, “Fine. I said, you all are just a bunch of queers. You got lucky, but now everyone knows.
Without warning, Lafayette punched him in the face. Alex gasped as Jefferson stumbled backwards. He hadn't expected that from Laf, no matter what threats they had uttered previously. “Come, let us leave this place and this poor excuse for a human being and go do something worth our time,” they said coldly, ushering everyone out the door.
For a few seconds, everyone was just standing in stunned silence. Then, as they all piled into the car, first Alex, then John, then Angelica and Hercules and then Eliza burst out laughing.
“What are you laughing at?” Laf muttered, climbing into the very back of the car.
Hercules sat down next to them. “You are amazing .”
From the middle, Angelica agreed. “That was pretty amazing, Lafayette.”
Alex, in shotgun, wiped a tear of mirth away from his eye. “Laf, I have been wanting to do that again for ages. Thank you.”
“Thank you,” echoed John. “I'm glad that I have friends who will defend me.”
“Of course, mon cher ,” Laf said immediately. “You would do the same for me. You have , actually.”
“Still,” John said. “Thank you. Alex, I didn't actually hear what he said to you before we stepped in, but we could tell he wasn't being a good sport and congratulating you on your win.”
Alex shrugged as they started down the road. “He was trying to convince me that it wasn't over.”
“It is, though,” Hercules said. “Right?”
“Of course it is,” Alex said quickly. “He was just trying to scare me.”
“Good,” Eliza said. “That's good.”
“Dinner’s on us for free,” Angie broke in. “We can all go to Revel’s, and make an evening of it.”
“Sounds wonderful,” John said. He paused. “Thank you all. Thank you so much.”