“Oh?” Juniper looked up, trying to ignore how her heart hammered at his proximity.

“The natural phenomenon doctrine,” he continued, running a hand through his hair. “Root mean square - it’s like patterns in nature. If we can show the jury that same normalized pattern in our case…”

“You mean like cause and effect?” Juniper asked, buying time as she tried to follow his train of thought.

“Exactly,” Daniel’s eyes lit up. “Every jury understands that fire burns, that water flows downhill. We need to make our argument that simple, that intuitive.”

Juniper nodded slowly, a genuine smile replacing her confused one. “So instead of drowning them in legal jargon…”

“We show them something they already know to be true,” he finished her thought, their eyes meeting for a moment too long.

“Nature’s doctrine,” she said softly.

As quickly as the breakthrough had come, Daniel fell silent again, the awkward tension returning to the room. Juniper shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to say, the moment of professional connection dissolving back into personal awareness.