Chapter Text
"You've changed, Nolan."
With just those three words, Andrea Rankin had pierced through his armor, as she always had.
But it wasn't to try to help him; it was because she wanted to hurt him.
Already, his mindset was beginning to fall back to what it had been like during their days in law school.
He had been a bright-eyed kid, leaving his little nuclear family in the country behind to defend the wrongfully-accused in the big city. She had lived in the city for all of her life-- her family had been rooted there since , and guided him through
She would talk to him as if he were a little boy and not an adult, but he hadn't minded then. He liked that she took charge and seemed to know everything, even if she wasn't well versed on the subject that she was discussing.
He had moved into her place before the end of their first year.
After he had brought her back to Rochester for his family's Fourth of July celebration, his mother made it clear from the beginning that she had never been fond of Andrea.
His father was indifferent to her, exchanging pleasantries and making small talk whenever Nolan brought her along for a visit.
His brother... well, Andrea had dug her own grave there.
She had made it clear that she didn't think much of his brother because of his addiction, and for a while-- because of her-- he had thought the same.
And he regretted it.
But it wasn't just his brother.
It was the little digs when she was tutoring him, the comments, and the looks.
And soon it was just exclusive to their career.
Even at home, she would try to find something that he had done wrong and blow it out of proportion.
At the moment, he couldn't recall exactly what had led to them breaking it off for good, but it could have been any number of things.
Maybe she had dumped him because she had enough of whatever was bugging her.
Maybe he had made it out because he was sick of the constant criticism.
Either way, she was out of his life and he was better for it.
He felt better for it.
But being in the same field, their paths were bound to cross once more eventually.
He barely interacted with her at their law school reunion; she had initiated their conversation, and it should have been clear to anyone that he was uncomfortable.
"You've changed, Nolan."
He would have retorted that she had changed, too, but the truth was that she had always been like that.
But Sam...
He didn't know what made her come to mind.
Andrea had always been harsh, rough-around-the-edges, and quick to blame him.
He thought about when he and Sam had been sitting on the steps of the courthouse as they tried to figure out how to keep Jessica Farrell out of the defense team's claws; Sam's tone had been gentle as she pointed out that their attempt to appeal would be rejected.
She had only suggested that they offer to take the death penalty off of the table because she didn't want him to have it on his conscience.
Even though Sam's stance on this matter had been the same as his and Andrea's, she hadn't treated him as if he had sentenced John Nelson to death.
She understood from the beginning that his hands were tied, though he worried what Sam would think of him after today... especially if Andrea's reaction was anything to go by.
Without any real control over his actions, he unlocked his phone and searched through his contacts for Sam's name.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Sam, uh... um, what bar are you heading to?"
"Cashing in that rain check already?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"I'm heading to Forlini's. Amanda recommended it to me."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."