Disclaimer: I still don't own Law and Order or SVU. Although both Alex and Casey are returning this season, so perhaps the producers are listening to me even if I don't own it.

Author's Note: Sorry this is being posted so late. I had a lot of things come up lately and wasn't able to write until now. I plan to put up two chapters this week to make up for missing last week. Hopefully I will be able to keep up the once chapter a week from now on, but there may be occasional times where I miss a week. Also, I changed my mind about where a certain scene is going to go, so the rating won't be changing quite yet, although it still will sometime soon. Don't forget to review, and thanks to everyone who did review the last chapter- I truly appreciate it.

A sudden thought crossed Abbie's mind as the detectives headed towards the door. No one had told her anything about Tucker's condition. "How badly did I hurt him?" she asked nervously.

"Pretty bad," Elliot told her honestly. "The doctors think he'll recover, but they aren't completely sure. He's still in a coma right now." After a minute of silence, he and Olivia left the room, shutting the door behind them. Abbie sat at the table in silence, waiting for a bailiff to come get her. She wasn't sure what to feel about the news. Every emotion from happiness to horror and pride to shame ran through her head. She still didn't know whether him being dead would be a good thing or not. At the moment it seemed like it might.

Abbie had planned to ask to call an attorney before she was arraigned, but the emotional aftermath of talking to Olivia and Elliot had wiped every mundane thought from her mind. She didn't remember that she still didn't have a lawyer until after the bailiffs had come to take her into court. She had been allowed to change into a suit, although she wasn't entirely sure where it had come from.

It was only a brief ride from the jail to the courthouse, but it was long enough for Abbie to begin to panic. She had been so busy blaming herself and mentally punishing herself that she hadn't really thought much about what was going to happen. Even after talking to the detectives and to Jack and realizing that she did have a valid reason she had still believed that she deserved to be punished severely for what she had done. Part of her still believed that, but another part of her mind was now occupied with the reality that her punishment would be jail time. She had spent enough time visiting suspects and perps in jail to know exactly what jail time would entail. Abbie shuddered at the thought.

She was lead inside the courthouse by two officers and was relieved to note that they uncuffed her when they reached the courthouse. Apparently she wasn't considered to be a threat to others safety, which was largely ironic given that the courthouse was where she had attacked someone in the first place. They were in a different courtroom than the attack had happened in, but it still brought the memory to the front of her mind again and she could practically see Michael Tucker standing there. When they reached the tables in the front of the courtroom she instinctively turned right, heading towards the table for the prosecutions where she always sat. She was jerked roughly to the left by the correctional officers. The sat her at the defense table and then retreated to the back of the courtroom.

It didn't feel right sitting at the other table and Abbie knew she would have to try hard to adjust to being on the other side of the system. She was not here as a prosecutor and she was not to act as an attorney, except, she thought, for today until she could get another attorney. She knew that if she attempted to defend herself she would be more likely to make the situation worse.

Abbie had only been sitting at the table for a minute or so when she heard someone behind her call her name. She turned around to see Jack McCoy sitting as far forward as he could and still be behind the bar.

"Is your attorney running late, Abbie?"

"No," Abbie sighed as she explained. "I was going to call one, but it somehow slipped my mind." She hated admitting that she had been weak enough to let herself forget something this important. "I'll have to represent myself today, it's too late to get anyone I trust right now, but I'll try to get one immediately afterwards."

"Not to worry," Jack told her, a bit of teasing in his voice. He wanted to keep things light, knowing the trauma she had likely been going through. "I knew you might be a bit preoccupied, so I took it upon myself to bring an attorney along in case you didn't." He gestured to the blonde woman sitting next to him. "I don't know if you're familiar with Serena Southerlyn, Abbie. She used to work for our office before she realized that her skills would be better served working for the defense."

"That's a nice way to put it, Jack," Serena said, standing up and walking towards the table. "Nice to meet you," she said, reaching out to shake Abbie's hand. "You were quite the legend around the office when I was there. I'm sure their thrilled to have you back."

It took Abbie a minute to comprehend the drastic change of events. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you both." She paused for a moment before adding to Serena, "Has Jack told you anything about the situation?"

"He filled me in a bit about what happened, but I'd like to hear a lot more from you right after this."

Before she could elaborate any further as to what she was aware of, Judge Petrovsky walked in. As they stood, waiting for the judge to take her seat, Abbie glanced over at the prosecutor. She felt her stomach sink as she recognized the attorney. Any hope she had had for her defense vanished. Standing across the room from her was ADA Alexandra Cabot.

Authors Note: Again, sorry for the delay. I know this chapter is a bit short, there really wasn't anywhere else to end it without it running on way too long. The next chapter will be up in the next two or so days, and after that I will return to my previous schedule. Please review, I love to know what everyone is thinking.