Dear John...

CPS Nightmare

-JOHN'S POV-

Nicole looks down at her paper. "To start out, I need information on her family and home life. First, how long have you both been married?"

I look down, "We are not married but we have been together on and off since Emmy was about 6 months."

"Why is that?" She questions looking up.

"A lot happened. Taylor and I had an encounter back in Early 2008 and Taylor got pregnant with Emmy. We did not speak again until I met her in the early part of 2009 and started to try to develop a relationship with her. At this time I did not know about Emmy and I did not find out until her birthday. At that time we broke up and lived in New York in separate apartments, but we both were taking care of Emmy. We got back together after a month or so and were fine until her producer started messing with us last year. During that time we broke up a couple times but we were back together within a week or so."

"What happened when you found out?"

"I was not happy that she kept Emmy hidden from me, but I understand that that was her way of keeping Emmy safe."

"Safe from what?" Nicole asks.

I sigh and look down, "Safe from me..." I pause. "I was in rehab for alcoholism but not because I got mad and started fights. I was just a bad drinker. After Taylor and I first met, I could not get her out of my head and she would not get the phone so I turned to alcohol. As such I was a notorious drunk and problem. So I decided with Steve to go to rehab. While there we discovered that alcohol was not the root of my problem and I have since been working on it."

"So what exactly was the root that you and your doctors found?" Nicole asks, looking down at the paper.

I look over to Taylor because I have not even told this to her yet, "I am a sex addict. I communicate my feelings differently than a lot of people. I am constantly having to improve and Taylor is one of the main reasons that I have improved."

"What type of sex addict?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"It is not so much addicted to s*x as it is that it is my preferred method of communication."

"So you have never, touched-" She starts but I interrupt.

"No! She is my child. I would never touch her that way! How dare you-" I start snapping at Nicole, but Taylor interrupts and squeezes my hand.

"Your line of questioning is out of hand. He already stated all that you need to know. Also, he is one of the best fathers that Emmy could have. He loves her to death and would do anything for her. If you want to know more about his diagnosis then you can contact his provider, but that seems overzealous and like you are phishing for information." Taylor states rubbing the back of my hand.

"I have to ask these questions to see if Emery is being mistreated." Nicole states looking at our faces.

"Look, you don't know us, but you know about us. We might be famous. We might have money, but we are still human. All that happened is Taylor's mom hates me. I was over at her house to talk to Taylor and left when she got home. Taylor's mom proceeded to kick Taylor out of the house once I left. Since she was here visiting, she did not have a car and had to call me. This call lasted maybe 30 seconds, you can check the phone logs. When she went back Emmy had wandered off. By the time I arrived and we found her, only 5 minutes had passed. We immediately called 911 and I did CPR on my own daughter. We have been through enough and your questioning has nothing to do with the situation at hand. Your job is to see if Emmy has been neglected. If you want to know that you would have to ask the 2 year-old, because no amount of questioning is going to get you that information. Are we a screwed up family? Yes, but I would not have it any other way." I say ending the interrogation.

I turn to Taylor and look her in the eye. "Ready?"

"I do have one more question. How did her ribs get broken?" Nicole asks, closing her notebook.

I look at Taylor who starts answering, "My parents own a bunch of livestock, both cows and horses. Emmy has been fascinated with one of the newer foals that was born. We found her in the barn, where the foal was located. I believe Emmy was trying to pet the horse and startled it. As a result Emmy got kicked."

The CPS worker gets up to leave but is stopped by Steve and Tree.

"I hope you realize any information you received in this interview is confidential and only to be seen by the case workers. If we hear of any of this information getting out you and your company will be liable." Steve states.

Nicole nods her head and stands up. "It was nice to meet you, I will be back once Emmy wakes up." She states and then leaves.

Once she is out of the room, I let out a sigh. "That could have gone better."

"Yeah," Taylor replies, "But at least it is over for now."

Steve and Tree look at each other, "We are going to call their office, and see about what is going to happen next. You two, go check on your baby." Steve says, pulling out his phone.

Both Taylor and I walk out and down to the nurses desk.

"Hi again, I need to know what room they moved my daughter to?" I ask.

"Sure," they smile and look up the name in the system. "Emery is in room 1213. That is on the ICU floor upstairs."

We nod our heads and head up. When we arrive we have to check in at the desk.

"Hi, we are here to see our daughter Emery Mayer." The nurse checks the system and tilts her head to the side. "It appears Emery's parents are already back there with her." She responds, looking up at my face.

"Well that is not true, both her mother and I are right here." I reply.

The nurse looks around, "Okay, I will see what is going on, do you have some form of ID."

I nod my head and get out my license. "Will this work?"

"Yes, that is fine." The nurse takes my ID and walks away into the ICU unit. A few minutes later, she comes back, "Sorry for the confusion. Come on back, it is right through those two doors to the left. Wait to pull until the light is green."

Taylor and I turn and we go to the door after a minute we get back in the ICU. When we meet the nurse she explains what happened. "We are sorry there was another couple who the lady claimed was her parents. We had them both escorted out. Sorry about that, right this way." She shows us to a room and we walkin. "If you need anything do not hesitate to ask, here are your wrist bands, these will allow you back here throat the day. However, in the ICU we do have a limit to visitation. Only two visitors are allowed back here at a time so if you would like someone to come in one of you would have to leave. She can have up to 4 pre-approved visitors but then if you need to bring someone else back here you can as long as they are with someone with a wrist band. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask."

We both nod our head and walk in the room. I walk next to Taylor who starts crying when she sees the state the Emmy is in.

"John..." She stops talking at a loss for words.

"I know, she is our baby, and right now she is hurt. All we can do is be here beside her and support her." I wrap my arms around Taylor and place a kiss on her head.

After a few minutes, I let go and retrieve a chair from near the window. I gently move it beside Taylor. "Babe, why don't you sit down?" I ask.

After a few seconds she starts to move and sits down. Once she is sitting she takes Emmy's right hand and holds it in her own. I repeat her actions on the other side of the bed and settle in for the long haul.