At least, semi-so. Contact the mun for more information

*crawls out from under his rock*

Hi. I'm still here, still alive, all that good stuff. I just -- get slammed with wall to wall cases and don't have the time to go out and do things. But I would much rather be going out and doing things. In fact, anything is better than what I've been doing.

When was the last time I saw people? God -- was it Halloween?

Well -- soon after that there was a influx of broke criminals getting tried for misdemeanors that required me to be in court day in an day out. Luckily most of them were just happy to make a deal and be done with it, so I didn't have to do too much actual lawyering -- despite that's what I'm payed to do. So that was the first half of November.

The second half was night court. Which, don't get me wrong, I enjoy night court immensely, it just really screws with my sleep schedule. I spent a good deal of time there, and I got out a week ago. Now, I'm just tying up loose ends on any old cases I might have because the weekend before Christmas, I'm flying out to actually spend time with the family. For the second time in a year.

Hell must have frozen over.

Anyway, I won't be back from that until after the new year, so for the next couple weeks, I'll be spending a lot of time at my desk. If you want to save me see me, feel free to drop by. I'll welcome the company.

I haven't been hiding under a rock. Really.

It's been a mountain of paperwork, actually. Stacks of it. And while that may be no excuse to be ignoring people or neglecting myself, it is my excuse and now that I've finally reached the end of the mountain--

--I don't know what to do with myself.

That being said, I'm much more open to the idea of having a life again. Any takers?

Well--as family reunions go--things could have gone better.

And I think that's all I'm going to say.

Riley finished handing off the last of his open cases to one of the other public defenders, and organized the last few things on his desk, before heading out and locking the door behind him. He had spent most of the night there, but it's a long flight to LA, and he was pretty sure he'd be falling asleep on the plane. Mitch might not let him sleep for long, but Riley was going to try anyway. He finished by taping a xeroxed note to his door which read, in big letters:

ON VACATION

NO NEW CASES!!!


"You've reached Riley Toth. I'm out of town and unavailable to take your call. If it is an emergency, you can try me on my cell phone. If it's not, leave me a message and I'll make an appointment with you after I get back."

The court system is back open, and my desk is back to disappearing under mountains of paperwork, with cases who are getting switched around or moved around and I think I need a whole day of without running to court (which is a hassle and a half) to actually sort through everything and find out what's happening when, or not happening at all. It's a mess.

I really need a vacation.

Riley slipped on his headphones in the break room as he settled in to go over the last few cases he had for the day. The music was mostly for background noise, which he found worked better than the silence of his office. He was just getting into another file when one of the other public defenders, Mike Harrison, burst into the room, the door slamming behind him. He looked up in surprise, pulling off his headphones as he spoke, "What the hell--?"

"You are not going to believe this," Mike replied flipping on the television.

"--a bomb went off in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. We have confirmed that the bomb was planted in the Homicide Bureau, run by Alex Cabot. As of now, the level of casualties remains unconfirmed. Unfortunately, that is all of the confirmed information we have to report at this moment. Authorities do not know who might have masterminded this attack or why. Stay tuned as we will be bringing you broadcasts throughout the day."

Riley's eyes widened and he and Mike just looked at each other, before Riley spoke up again.

"Holy shit."

Ran into Casey and the girls. Very cute, both of them. I offered to babysit if they needed it, and it was nice to see her again.

I know I've been living under a bit of a rock lately, but I've been avoiding Crane, Poole, and Schmidt's new associate, Caroline Parker. I really don't feel like digging up our old issues, and hopefully, if I'm successful at I won't have to run into her for a long, long time.

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day in New York City, and I had the day off. Therefore, I decided to take advatage of this rare occasion and head for a walk in the park. There, I ran into Alex Eames and her little girl, Rachel, who is one of the most adorable babies I've seen in a long time. We chatted for a minute about family (mostly her's and Rowan's) and I'd never thought I'd say this, but I miss my brother's girls. I haven't seen them since August, and frankly--that's longer than I'm used to. I should probably call them, see if they're coming to the city anytime soon. I'm sure Mitch would like to see them as well.

Located in the basement of the courthouse, far away from the rest of humanity is Riley's office. He tries not to be there as often as he can, but over time he has to admit that he has gotten used to the space. There's a couple file cabinets in the corner, and sitting on top of one of them is a stuffed plant that resembles a Venus flytrap.

Buried under a pile of files, (assumedly) is a desk. It's assumed that it's made of wood or some other kind of sturdy material, because sadly, Riley has never seen the bottom of it, but yet, it's still standing every day as he comes in, so it has to be made of something strong. Titanium, maybe?

He's managed to contain the massive piling of papers to a single area, enough so that he could scatter some relics of his life, give the desk a little more of a homey feel. It's photographs, mostly. A picture of him, with two children, girls, standing with someone resembling Mickey Mouse at Disney World, a picture of his immediate family: parents, his twin, Rowan, and his two younger siblings, Laura and Mitch, and, of course, a picture of a blond woman, pretending to be intensely attracted to a statue of Thomas Jefferson, and attached to it, a note that said "Don't ask; you don't want to know."

We have a new public defender, a Nadia Pressman. She seems like a really sweet woman, a little quiet, but nice. She went to my alma mater, so at least we have something to talk about. It also seems that she is expecting as well. There are too many babies going around in my legal circles. I'm probably going to end up broke by the end of the year. I'll probably think it was money well spent--but I'll still be broke.

I went to Liz's fundraiser over the weekend. I met some new people. Defense attorneys mostly--Tara Wilson, the infamous Denny Crane, and a detective, Alex Eames. It was a very nice event, and I got to chat with some people I hadn't seen in a while, Casey being one of them. She looked great, and I hope to actually see the girls sometime soon, instead of just hearing about them. I'll have to carve out some time to actually go see them.

She also told me not to spoil the girls, and I told her I'd do my best. However, that's not really a guarantee. When Rowan and Nadine had their girls, Mitch, Laura and I all gave them whatever they asked for. And, no, being experienced with them doesn't exactly help build up strength of will. I probably won't be as bad with the twins as I was with them (no blood relation), but I probably won't be able to help spoiling them--just a little.

The night ended in a bit of a dramatic manner, but--its not really my place to get involved. Things seem to have smoothed over, so I guess that--that's that.

Talked to Casey Novak yesterday. She got the gifts I sent her, and wanted to call and thank me. She said the girls were doing well, so--that's good. I really can't wait to see them, I bet they're probably adorable. She also mentioned that she was leaving the DA's office. It surprised me somewhat, but then again, it makes sense. Can't raise twin girls on an ADA's salary, even if their other parental unit is a judge. Besides, she also said she was going to be working for Crane, Poole, and Schmidt, which I think is going to be much more interesting than the DA's office ever was. I'd take Denny Crane over Arthur Branch any day.

( The Phone Call )

I heard that Casey gave birth through the office grapevine. She isn't in the city, though, I know that much. I want to send something over for her, Judge Donnelley and the kids (I heard they were both girls, but I could be wrong), but I don't know if there's anyone at the house to bring it in. Guess I'll just wait till she gets back. Seems like the safest way to do things.

Plus it gives me more time to actually figure out what to get her.