His Saviour ✔️

Accusations

"Are you ready?" Payton asked, noticing the nervous tension in the air. Chase's leg bounced the whole car ride, he didn't want this to go wrong.

"Chase, look at me." Payton grabbed his shoulder, making him look over. She gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's all gonna go perfect, alright? Please don't work yourself up." He sighed tiredly and nodded before making his exit from the car.

"Do you need me there or will I wait in the car?" Payton asked whilst fixing Liam and Skylar's coats.

"W-would you come in? Please?" Chase asked her shyly, receiving a smile and nod in return.

With no further comment, Chase's hand mindlessly grabbed onto Payton's for comfort, in which she let him, soothingly rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand.

The kids walked beside them in a well behaved manner, and as they entered inside, they were ushered across the room to the benches.

They sat behind the tall glass window, confused expressions forming on their faces. Skylar scooted closer to Liam, grabbing his hand for comfort.

She felt scared, being left alone in a strange place with strange people didn't entertain her one bit.

Although Liam felt the same, he put on a brave face and sqeezed his sister's hand gently, letting her know he was there.

Sarah was already stood in black suit, she looked somewhat sober, although just because the judge couldn't smell it from where he was sitting, doesn't mean the alcohol would go unnoticed by Payton.

"Court is now in session." The jury had ascended onto his chair and slammed his gavel on the podium, making everyone take their seats.

"We are here today to recap on the last 4 weeks of care given to Liam and Skylar. I believe care has been split between the father, Mr Chase Johnson and the mother, Miss Sarah Jones. There has been statements given from each party. Not to mention, personal supervised statements were received from both Liam and Skylar." He paused before continuing.

"I believe some accusations have arisen which has postoned one parent off their custodial rights and I fully intend to have these issues resolved at once during today's court session." The judge flicked through documents filed in Chase's case and his eyebrows furrrowed in curiosity.

"As points of these documents are recorded in very specific terms, I would like to go ahead and ask Mr Liam Johnson to the stand." The woman that stood next to the kids behind the screen had told Liam where to go.

Chase and Payton both gave him a reassuring smile, knowing he was confused on what to do. He stood next to the jury where they had a few moments of conversation to loosen the tension.

"Is it okay if I ask you a couple of questions, Liam?" The judge asks, to which Liam responded,

"If it has any math then no." Everyone let out a small laugh at his humour, as did the judge.

"Do you like spending time at home with your Dad?" Chase watched him carefully for his response.

"When he has time off work, we normally go to the parks or swimming, I love living with dad." He said with a smile.

"Who else do you live with?"

"I live with my Dad, my Sister and my Nanny. Oh! and Snookie!" Liam added quickly, making Chase and Payton smile.

"What about when you go to live with your mom?"

Liam paused for a few seconds, the happy smile slowly fading away. Liam looked over to Sarah, a warning glint in her eyes made Liam quickly recover.

"It's okay, I suppose." He mumbled, looking down at his hands.

The judge hummed, taking a few notes from his own accumulations.

"Who do you live with when you're at your Mom's?"

The judge was careful to analyise any change within Liam's body posture, looking for anything that could give things up.

"My mom, my sister and sometimes her boyfriend." Chase became confused once again.

He didn't know about any boyfriend's of Sarah's.

Sure she had flings, everyone knew that.

But someone consistent around his kids that he didn't know of?

That didn't settle well with Chase.

"Is your Mother's boyfriend nice?"

The judge asked but Liam didn't answer, nor to that question and nor to the following three.

The judge gave Liam permission to sit back in the panel next to Skylar, his body slightly slumped.

Next, the judge called Skylar up to the stand. She looked around nervously but when she spotted Payton, she felt safe.

The judge proceeded to ask the same questions to Skylar as he did Liam, although Skylar had a lot more to answer for.

The same excitement was given whilst speaking about Chase and Payton but when she was asked about Sarah and her homelife, her little eyes watered up.

"Is your Mother nice?"

"Is your Mother's boyfriend nice?"

Those two questions were all it took for Skylar to turn into a scared, anxiety filled ball.

"D-daddy?" Skylar stood up, her hands nervously scratching at her neck.

Chase looked at the judge for permission and with a single nod, Chase ran up to the podium, scooping his little girl into his arms.

"Shh. Daddy's got you sweetheart. You're safe." Chase hushed her gently, her head burrying into the crook of his neck as her hands tried to form a tight fist on his suit jacket.

A reviewer who sat during the court session approached the judge, converting her notes before the judge slammed his gavel, a distressed look upon his face.

"Court ajourned. We will review and discuss today's statements in two weeks. For the time being, all parental rights will be shared amongst Mr Chase Johnson and Miss Payton Adams."

Payton looked around for Liam, bending to her knee once he was within sight, letting him run into her arms.

The judge had approached Chase and Payton, shaking their hands after he formally introduced himself.

"I would appreciate a moment of your time, Mr Johnson. I believe there's a few things we must discuss. Also, if it's not too much to ask, I would like a one-on-one session with both Liam and Skylar to review what was passed on in their statements."

Payton's heart dropped, her gut feeling telling her something wasn't right.

"Is there a problem, judge?" Chase asked curious and confused, watching as the judge took a glance at Sarah as she exited the court.

"I believe there might be."