Remember When ↠ l.p.

Custody goes to...

I step up to the platform and swear to tell the truth, just like Louis did. My voice noticeably shakes as I do it, however. I take a deep breath and step back. The sun shines through the windows, warming my skin and making me turn my head away slightly. "Ms. Sandoval." the judge addresses me. I nod and focus on her, trying to ignore the way that Liam is watching me. "How long have you known Mr. Payne?"

"Just the few months that I've been watching his daughter. Although sometimes we didn't see each other sometimes we did get to the point that we were hanging out at each others' houses occasionally. My daughter and I usually went over for dinner once a week."

"And would you say that his personality has drastically changed since when you would visit each other?"

I glance over at Louis, he's already confirmed all of this. I nod anyway, clasping my hands awkwardly in front of me. "I would agree with what Louis-er-Mr.Tomlinson, has already said. He's completely different, violent...he's shown up at my house very late at night for no apparent reason. He would act very confusing and it scared me, to be honest."

"He scared you with these visits and his how different he was enough for you to be concerned about his daughter being alone with him?" she asks me.

"Yes." As I agree, I hear a low mumble from Liam and make the mistake of glancing over at him. He's staring me down and makes a shiver run up my spine. I quickly look away and take a deep breath before continuing. "I never saw him do anything to threaten her and he still seemed to want to spend time with her, but I couldn't trust that. Just because it seemed likely that he would continue to tolerate her I hated the thought of leaving her alone with him. He's not himself and he doesn't know how to control himself-" I gasp and jump out of the way as Liam comes running over, trying to grab me. In an instance Colin is beside me, pushing Liam away to the other side of the room. The judge is frowning down at him and Louis pulls me back towards him, keeping an arm around my waist.

"I don't think we really need to question these witnesses any further." the judge shuffles a few of the papers on her desk around and nods to Colin. "We will issue a temporary guardianship over to Mr.Tomlinson until we can run a few background checks on Ms. Sandoval," she glances over to me, "DOn't be alarmed, it's just standard procedure. Even if you were a relative we would be required to check up on you. Most likely you will be able to have her in custody before the week is finished."

I sag against Louis as the judge exits and Colin escorts Liam and Liam's lawyer out of the room and away from us. "It worked. Your plan actually worked!" I turn around to hug him properly as a smile spreads across both of our faces. Louis hugs me back and we pull away to grin at each other as we walk towards the back of the room.

"I just hope that we'll know be able to get help for Liam. I hate seeing him like this. He practically made his case impossible, trying to run you down like that..." he trails off and frown and nod in agreement. We've won a battle, but the endgame will be getting Liam back to himself. It will also most likely be the hardest battle in this war to win.