Fighting to go on

Chapter 31

            Charlie closed his eyes. “I’m always going to feel like I need to keep you safe. It’s ingrained in me after all that we’ve been through.”

            “And how do you plan on keeping me safe if you aren’t living with me?”

            He opened his eyes again. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he asked with a small smile.

            “Nah, I know I’m smart,” I replied with a grin.

            He sighed. “Fine, you have a point. But Ryan is going to teach me to fight better so that I can save you if something happens again.”

            “Well, you’ll have to fight Ryan to save me, but it doesn’t matter anyways. I’m not going to have to be saved again. Now, are you done being stupid?”

            He made a face at me. “Yeah, yeah. Go get your fiancé. I need to talk to him about his intentions.”

            Eleven days later, we entered the courtroom. My lawyer, Robert, took a seat on one side of me and Ryan sat on the other side. Charlie was sitting beside him and all of our friends were sitting behind us. Nancy was there as well, since we’d be living at her place for the first six months or so. Jason was sitting by himself with his lawyer on the other side of the room and I had to keep one hand on Ryan’s knee to keep him from going over there and attacking him.

            The judge entered and Robert stood up. He stated our case, telling the judge that I wanted to gain guardianship of Charlie. The judge listened to Robert and then turned to Jason’s lawyer. “What does your client have to say, Adam?”

            Adam stood up. “My client is willing to relinquish his guardianship of Charlie. He has no desire to have any custody of him.”

            The judge nodded. “Well then, Samantha, why don’t you tell us why you think you’ll be a good guardian to your brother?”

            I stood up on shaky legs. Ryan took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “I have been taking care of my brother for the past two years. I have cooked all the meals, kept the house clean and made sure he got all of his homework done. We’ve been there for each other since my mother passed away, sticking together even through the abuse of our guardian.”

            Adam stood up. “Objection! She has no proof that Jason was anything but a model guardian.”

            I looked at Robert and he nodded and stood up. “Your honor, we have a lot of proof.” He took a file out of his briefcase and handed it to the bailiff. The bailiff then brought it up to the judge. “If you look at in that file, you’ll see pictures of the injuries sustained after Jason beat them both up. There is a letter from a doctor stating that these injuries were definitely the result of a beating.”

            The judge looked through all of the files, his expression going dark. “And does your client wish to press criminal charges?”

            “Yes your honor, she does. We have witnesses as well, and we would like to see this matter taken up in court in due time.”

            The judge nodded. “Agreed. We will set up a date to pursue this. In the meantime, Samantha, how do you plan on providing for your brother?”

            I tugged on Ryan’s hand so that he stood up as well. “Your honor, Charlie and I have recently moved in with my fiancé and his mother. My parents left us both a substantial amount of money, so we’ll be okay financially until I graduate from college. Ryan and I are planning on getting our own place after we finish high school, and we have every intention of bringing my brother with us.”

            The judge regarded me carefully. “You’re prepared to take on this responsibility fully?”

            “Yes, sir. My brother is the only family I have left, aside from my fiancé and his mother. I am more then ready to assume guardianship of him.”

            The judge turned to Charlie. “And you young man? Is this what you want?”

            Charlie nodded. “Yes, your honor.”

            “Very well then. I herby grant guardianship of Charlie Olson to his sister Samantha Olson. The criminal charges against Jason Stewart will be taken up in court another day. Case dismissed.”

            I let out a huge breath of relief and then suddenly found myself being hugged from two sides by Ryan and Charlie. I chuckled breathlessly. “Guys can’t breathe!”

               They both loosened their holds, but neither actually let me go. Ryan kissed my gently. “Now that this is done, why don’t we go and actually celebrate your birthday?”

            I smiled. “Now that sounds like a great idea.”

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This is short, unedited and probably not that great, but it's all I could come up with for this fianl chapter. Only the epilogue left to go!

So, you all know i hate making goals, but the end of the Watty Awards is coming up, so I feel like I need to make a goal if I want to have a chance at doing well. Therefore, I need everyone to go back to my previous chapters and make it so that I have at least 400 votes for each chapter. Shouldn't be too hard, most of them are at least 300 already. Also want 500 votes for this chapter which again shouldn't be difficult at all. Once this happens, I will write the epilogue. Sorry if you guys think I'm being mean, I just want to have the best chance possible for the Awards.

Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!