Like Father, Like Son ✔

Chapter 29 - The Underdogs

Fuck, she just hoped things wouldn't go on for too long, and that things would go her way in the end, like Sullivan said they likely would.

Luke would be turning three at the end of the month and she wanted to celebrate.

Cat barely said a word at lunch and Nick wasn't trying to keep up a steady flow of conversation, a sign that he was growing antsy too despite the cool exterior he kept presenting her whenever she started to freak out.

So they ate their meals in almost complete silence and Nick took the check afterward, leaving behind a pretty generous tip for the waitress. Cat noticed it was something he did every time they went out to dinner. While a lot of people would give a couple bucks here and there, Nick would leave behind ten dollars on the table or in the tip jar at the cash register. 

She asked him about it once a few months back and he just shrugged it off.

"It's just nice," he told her.

"Well yeah, but there's nice and then there's giving away half your day's paycheck!" Cat argued back. She tipped also, but she was one of those people that just told the wait staff to 'keep the change'.

Nick's answer surprised her.

He explained to her how waitresses sometimes made two bucks an hour compared to the national average of seven dollars, and they often worked in miserable conditions. They were on their feet all day, serving customers, refilling glasses, basically doing a ton of work for barely anything at all. They were cussed at and yelled at and everything in between. A lot of customers didn't even think to tip, and sometimes on slow nights they barely made anything at all besides their actual paycheck.

"My sister worked in the service industry for years before opening up her own restaurant, so she knows how it is," he chuckled.

Cat's respect for Nick about doubled that day, and ever since then he just surprised her more and more with all of these little things that he did... things he barely even gave a second thought to.

So after lunch, Nick walked her back to work and kissed her goodbye in front of the record store. He said he'd try to leave work a little early so he could come find her and they could head home together at around four. It'd leave them some time to change into something a little nicer before going to see the attorney.

"I'm getting nervous again, it's making me sick to my stomach," Cat whispered.

"It'll be good, we've got this," Nick assured her, but there were cracks in his resolve.  

SULLIVAN

Sullivan McDonald celebrated his thirty-first birthday last March with his wife and two kids.

He loved his job, not because it paid well, although it was an added bonus, but because he got to choose his own clients and he got to make a difference in their lives. He was the youngest to ever make partner at his firm and there was a good reason for that. He was damn good at what he did, with a win ratio of almost 90%.

When the Logan case was placed on his desk in June, Sully didn't immediately see it. It was just one of many in the pile of custody cases handed to him by his boss. He went through the whole lot like he usually did, scanning the first few pages of each folder before forming two different piles, separating the easy wins from the slightly more challenging.

Catherine Logan's case seemed pretty straightforward and to most, an obvious rejection considering she didn't have the means to afford his firm. She was a single teen mother with an ex-boyfriend that was slamming her with papers demanding for sole custody of their son. From what little information he had at the time the case was first brought to his attention, he could already tell it wouldn't be easy. James Knightley had good lawyers – really good, if their reputation and price tag was any indication – and there weren't too many attorneys out there that could compare.

Sullivan didn't care that he'd have to take this one pro bono. He had a soft spot for the underdogs, so despite the better judgment of his colleagues and even his boss, he took the case.

Now it was about a month later; he'd met with Catherine twice in that time and spoken to her on the phone on several other occasions. There was no doubt in his mind they had a solid case. No judge in their right mind would ever deny her custody after he was through ripping Knightley a new one.

That afternoon, they met in his office for their final meeting before the mediation session next week. Sully talked her and her boyfriend through what to expect on Tuesday, going through every step of the process, and explaining to her what were her rights and responsibilities upon walking in there. Cat was a responsible girl with a good head on her shoulders and a steady boyfriend that – Sully could tell despite only meeting him once– loved her very much and was very dependable when it came to taking care of Luke. She had a job and she was putting herself through college. Her transcripts were proof that she was maintaining incredibly good marks. 

Of course, Sully was prepared for Knightley's lawyers to bring out the wild cards and play a very dirty game. So they had some cards of their own.

They had records of text messages between Catherine and her ex dating back three years; they had the fact that James never once paid for child support or even offered to do so despite his family's wealth; they had two instances where James had behaved recklessly and even violently... and if it came down to it, which Sully doubted it would, they had about a dozen solid character witnesses to testify on Catherine's behalf.

"So, have you – have you worked against James' lawyers before? Do you know if they're any good?" Catherine asked him after they were done going through everything, a whole mound of paperwork lying between them on the desk. 

"They're some of the best lawyers in Chicago," Sullivan admitted.

Catherine's face went starch white and her boyfriend reached to grip her hand tightly in his.

"They're going to go at us tooth and nail, aren't they?" she whispered in a choked voice, her eyes filling with tears. "We're going to lose, and they're going to take my baby away from me!" 

Sullivan raised an index finger in the air, grinning. 

"As I was saying," he said. "They're some of the best lawyers in Chicago, but I'm better."