Liz sat back heavily in her chair with narrowed brows and opened her mouth to protest, when Alan's office door opened. They both turned to see Brad's blonde head poke through the door. Alan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Brad, have you ever hear of-"

He was cut off by Liz shooting to her feet in surprise. "Brad?!"

Brad's mouth dropped open in shock as he stepped all the way inside the office and closed the door behind him. Brad and Liz stared at each other for countless seconds until he suddenly stepped forward and enveloped Liz in an all-encompassing hug. "Liz, it's been what...five years since we last saw each other?"

Alan couldn't stop the surge of jealousy that washed over him at the sight of Brad putting his lips against her ear. Even if Alan was trying to push her away, it didn't mean that he wanted her to hook up with someone else. He narrowed his brows and pursed his lips while he waited for Liz to pull away.

When she finally did, she was grinning from ear to ear; her worries about Tom's case seemingly put on the back burner. "I didn't know you were practicing law. How long have you been out of the Marines?" She said with a wide smile on her face.

He touched her arm briefly. "I was discharged right after we parted ways...injured."

Her smiled dimmed as she looked worriedly at him. "Are you ok now?"

Brad nodded and opened his mouth to reassure her, but Alan interrupted their little reunion by clearing his throat. "As much as I'm enjoying watching you two become reacquainted," he said sarcastically, "was there a reason you came looking for me, Brad?"

Brad managed to tear his eyes from Liz and glared at Alan. "I was "asked" to consult with you about a case. It can wait though." He turned back to Liz and smiled again. "Will you go out for drinks with me tonight so we can catch up without Mr. Big Ears over there listening to everything?"

Liz bit her lip and glanced at Alan before looking at Brad again. "Oh, um.."

Sensing her hesitance, he quickly backtracked. "If you'd rather not that's ok, too."

She twisted her hands together nervously and avoided looking Alan's way again. "It's not that, it's just that we're waiting on a verdict for my case."

Seeing that she didn't want to elaborate further, Brad nodded and reached forward to squeeze her arm. "Maybe some other time, huh?"

A relieved look passed over her face before she smiled again and nodded. "For sure."

Looking somewhat disappointed, Brad turned and walked out the door without saying another word to either one of them. As soon as the door shut, Liz turned back to Alan.

"We knew each-"

Alan quickly rose from his seat and waved a hand in her direction without looking at her. "Yes, yes...I garnered as much. Seems you fall for whomever is convenient for you at the time."

Liz felt like she had been slapped as Alan's comment washed over her. What the hell was he talking about?

"Excuse me?" She tried to mask the hurt she was feeling, but knew he saw it when he turned to look at her from behind his desk.

"Does it matter? Honestly Elizabeth, you're looking a little desperate right now. You're not even divorced yet." Alan couldn't seem to stop the insults that were flying out of his mouth. He knew it was just a coping mechanism for when things started to go sideways, but he always seemed to hurt the people he cared for the most. It was something that was a repeating pattern in all of his relationships.

"You're a bastard," Liz said quietly as she looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "Here I was thinking you actually gave a damn, when honestly you were just preying on a vulnerable woman. Is this what you do? Do you make them think you care, then when they become boring or difficult you throw false accusations at them so they'll leave you themselves so you don't have to do the dirty work?"

Alan's left eye twitched at how close she had come to the truth, and when he didn't refute her claim, she shook her head and turned to leave his office.

With her hand on the doorknob, she turned to see that he was still staring at the wall in front of him. "Call me and tell me when it's time to meet in court. Until then, I don't want to see or talk to you again." She turned resolutely with her heart that was barely hanging together, and walked out of his office.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Alan let out a loud sigh and ran a hand over his face and through his hair. What was his damn problem? Why did he always do this? Liz was someone he could honestly see being with in the future, but that future had suddenly become a lot more clouded because of his idiocy. He slammed two fists down on his desk, then sat down in his chair and laid his head back in defeat.

He wouldn't go after her, not when she was so angry, but he would try to apologize to her later on; maybe after the trial was over.

Alan sat there for what seemed like hours. He couldn't seem to make himself move or even sit up; he hadn't felt this badly in a long time. After a while, his cell phone startled him out of his internal musings, so he leaned forward reluctantly and dug it out of his pocket. "Shore," he said shortly as he closed his eyes tiredly.

"Mr. Shore, the verdict is in. The court with reconvene in twenty minutes." He thanked the secretary, then hung up and hurriedly sent a quick text to Liz telling her to meet him there; he was too cowardly to call her. Not when he knew he would be able to hear the hurt and anger in her voice.

He already knew he was a bastard.

OOOOOO

Fifteen minutes later, Alan strode into the courtroom and saw that Liz was already there waiting for him. He sat down next to her and shot her an apologetic look; she didn't even look at him. He sighed and unbuttoned his suit coat, then set his briefcase on the floor and fiddled with some papers in front of him as they waited awkwardly for Tom and the judge to show up.

He watched Liz out of the corner of his eye; looking for any sign that she wasn't as angry with him anymore. No such luck, though. She held her body rigidly and leaned away from him, as if she wished she could move over to the empty seat next to her; he was surprised that she didn't.

Just as he turned to tell her that she could sit where she wanted, the courtroom doors opened and Tom and his lawyer sauntered in. Tom raised his eyebrows at Liz suggestively, then blew a kiss at Alan as he sat down next to his lawyer. Alan wanted to punch his lips off of his face. Thomas Keen was the worst kind of person; he couldn't believe that Liz had ever married him.

He wondered how her childhood had been. Did she have loving or absent parents, and did she marry Tom in some misguided attempt at normalcy? Those were things that he wanted to know, but knew he most likely wouldn't get the chance to ask because he was a son of a bitch and ruined anything good in his life.

They were asked to arise as the judge strode in and sat down. As soon as everyone was seated, the judge was handed the verdict, then he handed it back and turned to the foreman. "You've reached a verdict?"

The skinny, blonde man nodded. "We have your Honor."

"What say you?"

The man cleared his throat nervously and began speaking. "In the case of attempted murder, we find the defendant...guilty."

Tom stood up with hands on the desk. "What?!" He turned to his lawyer and said loudly, "You son of a bitch. You all but assur-"

"Mr. Keen, you will sit down or you will be held in contempt!" The judge glared at Tom, daring him to say something else.

Tom looked at Liz and all but assured her with his eyes that she was a dead woman. Alan reached over to squeeze her hand, but she pulled away as soon as he made contact.

The judge began speaking, interrupting Alan's thoughts. "We will reconvene for sentencing in two weeks time. Until then, the defendant will be held without bail." He banged his gavel, then strode out of the room without another word.

The court officers quickly walked over and handcuffed Tom. Tom didn't move his eyes away from Liz as they began to lead him out of the room. As soon as they passed by her, he leaned down and whispered, "We're not done. Not by a long-shot, bitch."

Liz stiffened noticeably, but refused to rise to the bait as Tom was roughly pulled away by the officers.

Alan stood and turned to Liz. "Lizzie, please let me-"

She stood up and pointed a finger in his chest. "No, I don't want to hear it.. I'll be coming to get my things in your hotel room, then I'm going home."

Before he could respond, she brushed past him and strode out of the courtroom. He knew she was going to have to take a cab, and wished she would at least let him give her his keys so she could take his car; but she didn't want anything to do with him.

He couldn't blame her really.

AN: I know this is angsty, and short. I was going to continue, but I'm so tired and can't keep my eyes open. I promised a few friends on my FB page that I would get this out tonight, so here's me not breaking my promise. Thanks so much for your support for this fic, I really appreciate it. I'll definitely do my best to update as soon as possible. Thanks for reading. :)