Hana's POV

I was so nervous I was shivering about what the judge and jury would decide while we were on recess. Mary, Kris, and I were sitting out in a hallway of the court house. Ellie came over by us -she had come to see the trial even though Carl had to work.

"Are you okay dear?" she asked putting a hand on my shoulder. 

"I'm okay, just nervous about the verdict."

"The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace. -Psalms 29:11" she quoted. 

"Yes, He does. I wish I had more of His strength and peace right now."

"You don't need to wish dear."

"I know, I know, I'll pray now."

"No, dear. We'll all pray now."

"Okay, thanks!" 

"Dear heavenly Father, give Hana the peace and strength she is desiring. We know your hand is upon the hearts of the judge and jury, so we pray for wisdom in their decision. Amen." she prayed. 

"Dear God, I hope Hana gets the peace and strength you promise. She's one of the best examples of You that I know, even though I don't know You very well yet. Help the trial to turn out well. Amen." Mary prayed.

"Dear God, we lift up Hana to you. Her heart is burdened by this trial and I ask that you help her carry this burden by giving her peace and strength. I pray that the judges would allow justice to be served for the injustice that was done to her. Amen." prayed Kris. 

"God, I'm afraid of the outcome of all of this, but I know you have the best outcome in mind for all involved. Ease my heart and give me strength. I ask that you guide the judge and jury in their decisions. God I pray that somehow you would use this situation to show Matt your mercy and grace. Amen." I closed.

"Do you feel better now? You're definitely shaking less." asked Mary. 

"A little bit. It's hard to just let it all go right away." I said. 

"Yes, it is dear, but you'll thank yourself the sooner you let it all go to God's hands." said Ellie. 

"Sit here Ellie," moitioned Kris point to his seat "can I get you girls anything to drink?"

We all shook our heads no. 

"Not even water?" he asked.

"Water would be lovely Kris. Can I give you some money?" Ellie asked. 

"That's okay Ellie. You can buy next time." he said with a wink, walking off to aquire some water. 

"He's a very sweet young man Mary. Keep a tight hold on him." said Ellie after he was out of sight.

"Oh, I will. Letting him go would be too hard." she said as I giggled. 

"Do you know what you're having yet?" asked Ellie.

"No, not for a couple more weeks if Jae and Rob want to know." I said.

"Do you want to know?" she asked. 

"Sometimes yes, but sometimes no -I don't want to get too attached and start trying to pick out names for the baby."

"That's understandable. Do you have a due date though?"

"Yes, they said to expect the baby around June 20th, 2011."

"How exciting!" she said smiling. 

"Are Jae and Rob getting excited for the baby?" asked Mary. 

"Yeah, Jae's been pestering me about eating enough and taking my vitamins almost every day."

"That sounds like Jae." Mary smiled. 

"Here you girls go." said Kris handing us each a bottle of water.

"Thank you." we said in unison. 

"Five minutes before court is back in session" a voice announced over the speaker system. 

"Did I miss anything special?" asked Kris.

"Not really, we were just talking about boring girly stuff." Ellie said with a wink. 

"Oh, I see." he said sounding a little confused. 

"Mary, was telling us all about how much she adores you." Ellie said playfully.

"No we.....we were talking about how she would love to go on a date with you again very soon." I said catching Ellie's drift. Mary rolled her eyes and shook her head, as she quivered with silent laughter at my awkwardness.

"Well, I think I could arrange that." he said with a wink. 

"How about tonight?" suggested Ellie. "Hana can come home with me for dinner and spend the night."

"Let's just see how this whole court case thing works out first." said Mary halting the brakes on Ellie's plans.

"That would probably be best." agreed Kris.

"It's about time to head back in, should we start walking?" I suggested. 

"Capital idea Hana." said Ellie in a phony british accent that made us all giggle. 

Matt's POV

My world had been shaken up enough by the court summons, but the days just seem to grow worse and worse. People had the gall to testify on Hana's side, against me -how could they? They were my friends before they were hers. Who did she think she was?

I hated her more and more as they presented the evidence against me. She even was pregnant by me? She should have gotten rid of that thing. Why was she keeping it? For mercy of the court? She was playing the helpless victim and that just made me sick. 

How could she look so calm and cool about this whole mess? She's the one that caused all of this. She deserves to pay for this.

Hana's POV

Matt kept staring at me when we were back in the courtroom and it was making me uncomfortable. Nothing could happen here though right?! There were so many people around too.

"Order in the court." anounced the judge hitting the gavel on the podium in front of him. "The verdict has been decided for the Lee v.s. Granger case. The assailant or defendant, due to this being a first defense, is charged with a bail of $10,000 and is to have no contact order with the victim or any of the other witnesses of this case. If the defendant is found within 100 feet of the victim, there will be a fine of $500, jail time, a felony, or misdemeanor depending on the severity of the breach. As soon as the individuals leave this court house this will come into place." 

"Your honor may I speak. Will you also make an amendment to the judgement, including the unborn child of Matthew Granger -that he is to relinquish all rights to the child, is to never have contact with the child until it becomes of legal age, and even then only have contact with the child if the child itself initiates it." said my lawyer.

"Those seem to be acceptable terms, so I ammend his sentance to include the unborn child of Matthew Granger and Hana Lee. Matthew Granger due to his history of physical violence and verbal abuse shall have no contact or rights to the child unborn or born. The child may initiate contact with him after it reaches the legal age." said the judge

"Your honor, along with my clients' rights to the child being relinquished, I request that my client be excused from the duty of child support." said Matt's lawyer. 

"Does the plaintiff have any objections to this arrangement?" asked the judge

"None your honor, the plaintiff is reliquishing the rights of the child to her sister and her sister's husband, so no child support will be needed." said my lawyer.

"Then I further amend the sentance to include Matthew Granger being excused from paying child support due to the relinquishing of his rights to the child. The jury is thanked and excused. Court is adjourned." said the judge hitting his gavel on the podium again. 

*Hello all! Here's an update for you. Hope you all are well?! ~AA