When Cathleen saw Tony and I at the end of the steps her solemn look faded slightly, a light smile forced on her lips and I knew then that something was wrong. I tried to control my breathing as she walked over to us, Tony continued rubbing my shoulders but it was no use, I was basically a statue standing there, waiting for the words that would surely end my life.

“How’d it go?” Tony asked from behind me being as I was too busy silently panicking as I stared at her, wide eyed.

She gave us a halfhearted smile. “Well, I have some good news and some bad news.”

“Good news first,” I muttered and Tony squeezed my shoulders.

Cathleen’s smile was more genuine this time. “Well, with your statement on the stands this morning, which Effie, let me just say, that alone is what sold your case.” She started.

She was referring to the way I told my side of the story to the jury, everything from the day of the accident and then on, telling them how I woke up alone in my house when I was thirteen and how I lived pretty much every other day after that, all leading up to the confrontation with my parents in my Mother’s study. It had been extremely difficult and I had to take a few quick breaks, trying to calm the tears that came with it but all I had to do was look at Tony, sitting in the courtroom, giving me an encouraging nod and I was able to finally get it all out there.

“With that, the jury decided against your parents.” She said a proud look on her face.

“What does that mean?” Tony rushed out, his hands locked on my shoulders, almost painfully as he waited for her to explain.

“It means that Effie was cleared of all charges of being their accomplice. Especially when I presented the evidence of your work statements, showing that you and your parents were thousands of miles away from each other when they claimed you had been helping them.” Cathleen said, giving me a reassuring smile.

“So she’s not going to jail?” Tony asked and I almost smiled at the excitement in his voice, almost.

“The bad news?” I asked Cathleen quickly, not wanting to get my hopes up.

“Ah, yes, well, even though we were able to clear your name as an accomplice, there was still the matter that you had those fake ID’s. You committed countless amounts of fraud Effie, always changing your name, assuming false identities. In the state of California, that alone is punishable for up to a year in country jail, not to mention you have done this in different states as well.”

My heart sank, this was it, I was done for. I would be going to jail, permanently marked as a criminal and Tony would leave me, I mean, he was in a band, people looked up to him, he couldn’t have a girlfriend who was in jail.

“But,” Cathleen spoke up, interrupting my inner turmoil. “I was able to plead what I believed to be a very good case on your behalf, noting that the only reason you did such things was so your parents wouldn’t find you. With that being said though, I wasn’t able to completely free you of all charges.”

“What’s going to happen?” I said quietly.

She surprised me, smiling slightly. “Well that’s where you may or may not find this bad news to be honest. You’ll have to pay a fine, they were still discussing the amount, and since you spent the most time here in California you’ll have to complete thirty two hours of community service and you’ll also be on probation for a year and one of the conditions within that is that you won’t be able to leave the state of California.”

I took in her words, a small smile tugging at my lips. I could live with that, I could do community service, I could pay a fine, and even though the thought of not being able to leave scared me, even though I had no immediate plans of running – not like Tony would let me anyway – I would take it. I had been talking to Lucky recently, I explained everything thing to him and he had even offered me my job back.

“So no jail, right?” Tony spoke up again behind me, his hands still squeezing my shoulders.

“No jail.” Cathleen agreed, shaking her head with a smile but she quickly turned serious, looking at me. “Now Effie, I know you have a habit of running and let me just say, it was a miracle I was able to pull this off; if you run again and they catch you, I can’t help you.” She said sternly.

I nodded and smiled at her, bringing my hands up to rest on Tony’s. “I understand and I don’t think I’ll be running away anytime soon.” I felt Tony kiss the top of my head.

“That’s good to hear, now, I have to get back in there and finish up; I just wanted to give you the verdict and let you know that you two are free to go. Expect a call from me later to go over all the terms of your probation and what not.”

I nodded. “Thank you, so much.”

She smiled. “As much as I would like to take credit for this Effie, it was you telling your story to the jury that really sealed the deal. Oh, and by the way, I got a call from an attorney in Florida; does the name Tonya Lawrence ring a bell?”

“Yes, she helped me when my father first contacted me, I had no idea a settlement from the accident had even existed before he told me, Tonya was able to look into it and fill me in.” I responded, furrowing my eyebrows.

“Ah, now it makes sense,” Cathleen said, giving me a smile. “Well, Tonya had heard wind of this trial, she recognized your name and she called me up, explaining the settlement to me. She said that all you would need to do now, especially since you won’t be seeing any jail time, that I could just fax your credentials over to her and she would take care of the rest. So, within a few shorts months you would be able to get that money.”

I shrugged. “Oh, it doesn’t matter.”

Cathleen’s face coated over with shock. “Effie, that’s two million dollars, you don’t want that?”

I just shrugged again. “I mean, I don’t know, I just, it doesn’t really matter I guess.”

Cathleen raised her eyebrows, giving me an appreciative look. “Well, we can discuss it more later but for now, go, get out of here, enjoy the rest of your day.” She said, shooing her hand at us playfully as she started walked away.

“Thank you again,” I called back to her as she headed back up the steps.

I took in a deep breath before I turned around, hugging Tony as he pulled me against him, my head resting on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me as if he was afraid I would disappear if he let go.

“I told you things would be fine,” he murmured against my hair.

I smiled. “Thank you, for being with me, for putting up with me, you didn’t have to.”

“Effie.” He said and I pulled away, looking up into his eyes.

He leaned down, catching my lips in a heated kiss, a kiss that was probably too inappropriate to be having in front of a courthouse but that didn’t stop him.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not going anywhere?” he said as he pulled away, placing a sweet kiss on my forehead.

I smiled. “I love you Tony Perry.” I admitted quietly.

“I love you too Effie Harper.” He said, leaning down and kissing me again.

“Well that’s a good thing because you’re stuck with me for a year,” I joked, pulling away and taking his hand as we started to walk to the parking lot.

“I look forward to it,” he teased, pulling me against him.

I couldn’t help but smile again. I saw a light in my life, a light that I never thought would shine again after Emily died but being here, with Tony, it shined just as bright, if not a little bit more.

---

“I’m just saying, I never thought Tony would be the one to fall for a felon,” Vic said with a laugh.

“I mean, out of all of us, I would have definitely thought Mike, not Tone,” Jaime agreed with a chuckle.

Tony grinned, looking at me. “What can I say? She stole my heart.”

I couldn’t help but grin as everyone laughed. We were all at Vic’s house, having a small celebratory get together once news of the verdict got out. I shook my head as Tony walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me from behind, kissing my cheek before he rested his chin on my shoulder. I laced my fingers with his and I turned my attention to Jaime who was trying to tell some story but he was too busy laughing for me to try and actually comprehend what he was trying to say. I sighed, leaning back into Tony’s chest with a content smile.

“What do you say we get out of here and have a celebration of our own?” Tony whispered in my ear, his breath, and words, causing a slight shiver to run down my spine.

I nodded, biting my lip. Tony and I had been together again for a month now but due to my constant stressing I hadn’t really taken the chance to enjoy it. The thought of being able to spend the night alone with him, especially knowing that I wouldn’t be going to jail anytime soon caused a riot of butterflies to erupt in my stomach.

Tony kissed my cheek again. “Let me just say goodbye to everyone and then we’ll head out.”

“Okay,” I said with another nod as he untangled himself from me.

I took in another breath and stretched as I turned around. I was just about to head over and join Tony, deciding to be friendly and say goodbye as well when I suddenly heard my name.

“Effie.”

I looked over at saw Mike standing at the porch door, a pack of cigarettes in his hand. He nodded his head at me and then stepped outside and I knew that he wanted me to follow him. I thought that things between Mike and I would turn civil again after he had come with me to Seattle but after we got back, he continued to ignore me, only occasionally acknowledging my existence when he had to. I looked over and saw Tony laughing at Vic, the two having what appeared to be a heated debate about a bag of potato chips Vic was waving around so I had a feeling he would be a while.

I sighed and began walking to the door, following Mike into the dark.

Notes

omfg, what is life? this chapter literally killed me guys, ugh! so sorry it took me longer than usual to update I had massive writers block and I had like three different versions I even made Effie go to jail in one of them...haha that was a bad day. but uh, yeah, sorry if this chapter sucks, I literally had no idea where to go with it so hopefully @Lost in Neverland can come up with something to save it

good luck friend!! ;)

once again, thank you guys for reading and leaving us your lovely feedback!!! keep it coming <3