Iris stood alone in her room, too tired to take off her shoes, even though the two inch heels were killing her. It had been a long day, and not because of the endless hours she had spent listening to what felt like an endless court case and defending her client. No, that part was easy. The trouble came when she ran half an hour late to dinner with Ray, her boyfriend. What was even worse than her late arrival was his news.

"Iris, listen," Ray had said, taking both of her hands in his. "You've heard about Creekstone, that movie company that's out in LA?"

She had smiled, wondering what on earth he was up to. "Um, yeah?"

"I applied to a job there, they've got good opportunities."

"In, in LA?" The shock was beginning to hit her. "That would mean moving..."

"It's not ideal, but, there's not much work for me here."

Iris slumped down onto the bed at the memory of those words. We live in New York city. She thought. There's plenty of work here.

For the rest of the meal he had tried to comfort her. "Nothing's certain yet..." "We could make a long distance relationship work."

Iris kicked off her shoes in anger. "I don't care,"  she said to thin air. "I want him here." She sighed and slowly raised herself off the bed and looked in the mirror. "I can't convince him to stay," she told her reflection. "I love him too much to do that." Iris rarely cried but she felt tears well up in her hazel eyes. "But I love him too much for him to leave." She sobbed. "There must be something I can do!" She flopped against the side of her bed like a fairy tale princess whose father has forbidden her from marrying the prince in disguise.

I can't call the company and tell him what a horrible producer he is, because he's good at it. I can't call his parents in Washington to convince them to convince him to stay; they'd probably support the move because he'd be closer, she thought hopelessly. Suddenly she lifted her eyes. "If I can't convince anyone here on Earth, maybe, just maybe, I can convince You, Lord!"

She stood up and started pacing the room. "Now, how does one convince GOD to keep a man in New York City? I guess I just need to prove that we're meant to be together! That we're soul mates, and all that good stuff. It could require a lot of convincing..." Iris laughed, "Oh, I'm a lawyer, this will be a piece of cake!"

Looking up at her ceiling she began, "Dear GOD, or Your Honor, I am here today to make a case for why Ray should NOT move to Los Angeles, and I will be making that case by proving to You" -She pointed her finger up at the sky for emphasis- "That we're meant to be together. Now I know this is probably not what you're used to, but I have won quite a few hopeless cases in the courtroom, so winning my own case right here shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Iris stood up a little straighter. "If two people are meant to be together, than nothing should separate them. Therefore I believe that I can show You that my client, excuse me, Roy, my boyfriend and I are meant to be together. I will be doing this by showing that we have the three things needed in a successful relationship. First, passion and romance. As we can clearly see in the example of every single candle-light dinner date we have ever been on, we definitely are romantic. And we are very passionate about each other, thus the whole reason why I'm presenting this case!" Iris was about to move on what she thought, is that enough evidence? How am I supposed to officially present it?

Then she realized that it was very unlikely GOD received a lot of prayers like this one, so he'd probably be just fine with only verbal evidence. After all, He was all knowing. For a final piece of evidence under her first argument she added, "And Your honor, er, LORD, we did take a very long walk in the park last week, which I think anyone would agree is very romantic."

Iris paused, as if awaiting some response. Realizing that this was pointless she continued. "Another very important thing to have in a relationship is teamwork." For lack of a better word. She added silently. "All couples in life must be teams. Ray and I know how to work well together, like when we made spaghetti." Okay, not the best example, since we nearly set his apartment on fire when we forgot about the garlic bread in the oven. "We also helped organize a charity drive at his old job last Christmas." Though his boss did get pretty upset when the mountain of cans fell over and damaged the new floor. Iris bit her lip. There had to be some example of their teamwork that didn't end in a minor disaster. "We've almost never missed a date together, even when we're both super busy. Even if I'm running late he'll still wait for me. Or if he really has to cancel, I make sure we reschedule." She smiled, thinking of all the happy times they had shared together. "We never even made an agreement about it, we just know how important it is to each other to spend time together, and I think that's a pretty good example of teamwork." She looked up at the ceiling, wondering if GOD was smiling as much as she was.

"Are You convinced yet?" She wondered aloud, all of her typical courtroom formality melting into gentle charm. "I have convinced myself more than enough, but You may not be, so, I suppose I will present one last argument..."

She took a deep breath, her heart beating in bliss. "The third thing that every relationship needs," she whispered, "is love." "He loves me, and I'm not sure how to provide proof of that, because I just know." Straightening, she replaced her lovestruck smile with her everyday lawyer face. "But if You would like evidence, I can provide plenty; he tells me so very often how much he loves me, and he is always sure to spend plenty of time with me." Iris sighed, slipping in between an infatuated girlfriend and a firm defender of truth. "I suppose now, there is just one thing left to prove- how much I love him."

She swallowed hard, not realizing that although she had just poured out so much of her heart here was the final piece. "I've stuck with him for almost two years, through times when he's been rich enough to take me out to nice steak dinners and in times like these past few months, when he's struggling to find employment. I have spent so much of these past few years with him, and only fallen in love with him more every moment." Once more she felt tears form in her eyes, but she wiped away the first one that fell across her cheek. "Maybe I shouldn't have presented this case at all, because I know deep down I could never stop him from pursuing his dream, if that's what LA will be. I don't know if it is, but if so, You may need to just disregard everything I've said. I'm not sure anymore," Iris laughed through the tears. "Anyways, GOD, or Your honor, I rest my case. I do truly believe that Ray and I are meant to spend the rest of our lives together. I have fully convinced myself of that fact, so please LORD, be convinced of it too."