better wise up [katie]

[Damon Croswell]

Early mornings were nothing new for Damon. Oftentimes, court had him awake and in the building even earlier than going into the office had him. Since he could remember, he had always been early to wake. He tended to be up with the sun most days, although particularly long nights at the office or weekends could see him in bed longer than usual. Most of Damon's life revolved around work. There were always files to look over, paperwork to fill out and e-mails to answer. He could be working at any time of the day or the night and oftentimes was. It wasn't rare for him to wake up in the morning with several e-mails flooding his phone from god-knows-what-time the night before. And there were times where he stayed up, even at home, working, because it needed to be done. Now, there was a limit to what needed to be done, but Damon paid it little mind. Yes, he had a family and he had a wife. But, they were taken care of and he didn't need to spend his every waking moment with them or checking on them. That would be a little redundant, wouldn't it? And by now, they should know how important his job was to him. It took a lot to be where he was and to be as renowned as he managed to become in his circles. He had a damn good record, although, like every other lawyer, it wasn't spotless. There were a couple of losses, but his win to lose ratio was far in his favor and there was always a question as to his moral compass because he worked in defense. But, defendants having an attorney was important.

It was around noon, by now and he had been in court since early that morning. Currently, he lingered in the lobby, talking casually with colleagues that were more than familiar now. Today hadn't been all that trying. His reason for being in the courthouse at all had been a bail hearing, in which he managed to get his client out on minimal bail, given the flight risk that they both knew he was. Money and opportunity weren't lacking in his client's life, but he still managed to get him out. The odds of him fleeing when Damon had that verdict wrapped up in a bow when it came time was slim to none. He had that sort of confidence about it. And it wasn't as if it was a dangerous criminal. He was a thief, an embezzler and did a very good job at screwing people's lives up. But, he wasn't evil, nor did he commit any violent crimes that Damon had to be aware of. Although, needless to say, he had defended those types as well. After talking for a short time with another lawyer that he hadn't been in the company of in a quite a while, he said quick, polite goodbyes and watched as the other lawyer walked off.

[Deleted]

Reshelle would rather do anything, be anywhere but here. As much as she liked helping people, she didn't like testifying. The whole courtroom setting was just not for her. She had spent a long, long morning in the courtroom, waiting to be called. Stupid subpena. Reshelle had looked at her watch several times, until the judge took notice and sarcastically offered to hold her in contempt if she didn't stop. Reshelle decided that no judge needed to be in court until after lunch.

When she finally finished testifying concerning the young woman who had her children taken from her, Reshelle collected her purse and was out the door within two seconds of being told that she was free to go. Looking once more at her watch, she discovered that it was now noon. Geez, half a day wasted. She had missed her morning class for this, too.

As she rounded a corner, she heard an all-too familiar voice. Reshelle hadn't actually talked to Damon in a few months; she assumed that as Roxxanne's father, he kept tabs with her. And since he didn't owe her child support or anything, mostly because she was too proud to ask for it, she didn't care how often she talked to him. Reshelle wasn't one of those bitter exes, either. Back when she got pregnant, she had been more interested in her textbooks than in an actual romance, and the only reason she slept with him was for stress relief during finals. Besides, he had a girlfriend--who was now his wife--, and Reshelle always knew that he loved her. It never bothered her. Actually, it was a win-win situation, because she could get the stress relief (as well as the human contact that her body did desire whether she wanted it to or not) without worrying over emotional attachments.

But, since he was there and she was there, the woman decided that she may as well be friendly. Walking over, she waved at him. "Hey, handsome," she called him, though she never really understood why. Sure, he was physically attractive, but the quirky habit of actually acknowledging it was something she would never understand, but it was something she had gotten in the habit of saying. "Does the big-time attorney have time for lunch?" Why bother with small talk? If she was going to ask him to eat with her, she may as well do it and get it over with.