the trial prep

It had been almost 6 months since olivia was rescued from her abduction. It had taken that long for lewis to heal from his beating and his lawyer to file every motion she could to push the trial out farther but finally a date was set for the trial to really begin. Olivia had been going over her witness testimony for months with Rafael Barba but he was careful not to let her tell him things she did during the beating except for the story she had told IAB which had been a lie. Olivia knew if anyone was ever told the real truth she could lose her job or worse.

That morning was one of her days of and as she sat stareing at a sitcom on the TV her mind wasn't paying attention to it instead the flashbacks were intensifying yet again and she had tears in her eyes as she sat there gripping the couch with one hand and stroking her now larger swell with the other.

"Perfect isn't it?" He said as he used it to cut the tape around her ankles and knees and cut her pants away first then came up close to her face and stroked her arm softly. "Who you thinking about? All the people you'll never see again? No? Someone special. Mom? Dad? No. Someone else. Someone you would give anything to see just one last time." He smirked as she whimpered slightly. "Well get them out of your mind sweetheart. Cause you don't make it out of this alive." He taunted as he cut the rest of her clothes off only leaving her in her bra.

She was pulled out of her flashback by her cell phone ringing as she quickly wiped the tears that had flowed down her cheeks away she answered Barbas call. "Hello?"

Rafael had been dreading telling olivia this news because he knew it would only stress and terrify her more. "Hey liv...so listen I want to go over your testimony once more before trial." He started.

"Why? We have gone over it a hundred times I'm ready I can do this." She said trying to sound braver than she felt.

"Because there has been a change in representation of lewis." He continued as he took a breath. " he's decided to represent himself and the judge is allowing it." He finished.

Her breath stopped momentarily as she absorbed the information she was being told. "What? No ... why would he allow him to do that?"

"Its within his rights liv. I hate it as much as you do but now Mrs. Mayor is refusing to testify as is the mother of the van lewis hijacked. You are now the only testifying witness and I need to make sure your testimony is solid. I also need to go over some new witnesses lewis is calling." He finished.

She began to breath more erratically but did her best to hide it over the phone. "Ok..ok fine I'll meet you in your office in a couple hours." She said before hanging up so Rafael wouldn't get more worried. She felt her baby kick and her tears began again as she thought of haveing to go through the trial alone and be interrogated by the only man who truly terrified her. "God damn it...I don't know if I can do this." She breathed through her sobs to herself.

Olivia showered and dressed and drove herself to rafaels office still trying to fully collect herself before getting out of the car and heading up to his office.

His secretary seen her walk in and said "you can go right in Ms. Benson."

Olivia knocked on the door and walked in once she heard rafaels voice usher her in. She shut the door behind her and took a seat on the opposite side of his desk as he turned around with a sigh. "Olivia I need you to tell me something." He said.

"What?" She asked taking a steady breath.

"Who is Viva Nuñez?" He asked cautiously.

"I...I don't know." She said trying to think.

"Well lewis just added her to his witness list. He says she was there when you broke free." He continued pushing olivia for a real answer.

Olivia sighed deeply "she's a maid who showed up at the beach house. I told her and her daughter to leave."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" He asked annoyed a bit.

"It didn't seem relevant. They didn't see anything." She said trying to defend her actions even though she wasn't telling him the whole story.

"Olivia everything is relevant when it comes to this case!" He said in a frustrated tone. "Will what she says contradict anything you told me?"

Olivia bit her lip slightly "I don't think so."

He rolled his eyes and sighed "that's very reassuring." He said sarcastically. He then handed her a copy of her testimony. "Take this home. Memorize it because if you deviate even slightly and he has an opening he will take it and he will rip your story to shreds." He finished as he stood and walked to the window.

Olivia took the file and put it in her lap and stared for a moment at her hands. "I'm sorry rafa. I should have told you."

"Yes you should have but we will figure it out." He sighed and gently gave his friend a hug before she left his office.