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"cal baby it's time to get up."
calum grunted softly before rolling over and burying his head under his pillow ignoring the gentle voice of his lover.
"c'mon love, you really have to get up. you slept through your alarm."
"nooo." calum grumbled half asleep.
"yeah babe." michael giggled. "tucker is already up and eating breakfast. it's your turn now."
"i don't wanna." calum whined.
"well you gotta." michael replied softly. "just have to get through today and it will all be over."
"fine fine i'm up." calum muttered finally opening his eyes and sitting up.
he rubbed his eyes and looked up to see michael perched on his knees next to him on the bed.
"morning beautiful." michael cooed.
"oh shut it." calum retorted playfully. "i probably look like shit right now."
"never." michael stated. "let's go eat now so then we can get a move on with the day."
"alright." calum huffed holding his hands out to michael. "help me up."
michael chuckled softly and helped calum up to his feet.
the two lovers made their way downstairs surrounded by a comfortable silence only to have that broken by the bustle occurring in the kitchen. tucker was happily yapping his mouth off to mali while stuffing his little mouth with pancakes and joy and david were leaning against the counter in their own little world talking about who knows what.
"daddy!" tucker squealed when he finally spotted calum standing in the doorway.
"morning little man." calum called.
"come eat with me! nana made pancakes."
"nana always makes you pancakes tuck." calum pointed out laughing.
"go on." michael whispered in calum's ear before lightly shoving him towards the five year old.
calum shook his head softly and made his way over to the five year old. he gently picked tucker up and sat down in tucker's seat before placing him on his lap and wrapping his arms around him. tucker quickly got comfortable before digging back into his pancakes, occasionally feeding calum a piece or two. calum lazily drank his coffee while silently watching everyone go about their morning business.
"daddy i'm done." tucker chirped, breaking calum out of his trance.
"alright then let's go get dressed."
he took the last sip of his coffee before standing up with tucker in his arms and leaving the kitchen without another word. the sinking feeling of going back to court had finally set back in and oh how he was dreading it.
***
"all rise, the honorable justice miller presiding."
just like the day before calum and everyone else in the courtroom stood up as the judge made his way to the bench.
"please be seated." he said. "today we are going to begin and hopefully finish the prosecution and examination of evidence and then get on with the sentencing and have this case closed by this afternoon. is everyone ready to start?"
"yes your honor." both lawyers stated in reply.
"let's begin then." the judge said. "mr. wright your first witness please."
calum's lawyer shuffled around his papers before standing up and beginning to speak. "i would like to start by calling calum hood up to the stand."
"alright then. mr. hood if you will." the judge requested motioning to the stand. calum nodded and took a deep breath before untangling his hand from tuckers and making his way up to the seat at the head of the courtroom.
"you understand you are still under oath correct?" the bailiff asked.
"yes."
"okay. mr. wright you may begin."
calum's lawyer placed the paper he was reading down and made his way over to the stand.
"i don't have many questions for you so let's make this nice and simple." he said speaking directly to calum. "i would like to start with the escape plan. can you tell us what prompted you to attempt your escape?"
"it was one of the days after john had turned the power off on us as a punishment and tucker and i were curled up in the tiny bed we had trying to stay warm and tucker asked me if i had tried to trick john and that's when i came up with the idea to attempt to trick him that would help us escape." calum answered.
"you said that he turned off the power as a punishment. what prompted this punishment?"
"um it was right after christmas and john had brought tucker a small candy cane and after we fell asleep tucker snuck out of the wardrobe, which was where i kept him when john came, to get the candy and he tripped and fell which made a loud boom." calum explained. "and um t-that woke me up from the light sleep i was in and i jumped off the bed because tucker wasn't supposed to come out and that w-woke john up and he thought we were trying to escape and uh and he got really mad at me and p-pinned me up against the wall and then he yelled a little and then um left and yeah. i think that was it."
calum choked back a sob trying not to start crying in front of everyone in the courtroom; talking about what happened obviously taking a toll on him.
"so he turned the power off because of those events?" mr. walker asked.
"yes i believe so. he had also told me he got laid off recently so it may have had to do with that as well but i'm not sure."
"okay can you tell us more about executing your escape plan?"
"yeah um i planned to make tucker seem really sick as an effect from the power outage and then i was going to get john take tucker to the hospital and hide a note in tucker's pocket but john didn't think tucker's sickness was serious. he brushed it off and left saying he'd bring back stronger medicine the next day."
"so your first attempt failed?"
"yeah." calum mumbled.
"so then what did you do?"
"i told john tucker died overnight. i had tucker wrapped up in the rug from the room and i told john to take him away and burying him somewhere but tucker was obviously alive and he escaped from the back of john's truck." calum explained. "i don't really know what happened once john took tucker cause i obviously wasn't there."
"tucker will explain that to us. or attempt to at least if he is asked. as well as our other witness." mr. walker replied. "i just have one more question for you and then i'm done."
"okay." calum said softly.
"when you were originally kidnapped what happened?"
"oh um i was walking home from my boyfriend's house and i was almost there when john had stopped me saying that he had a flat tire and he just needed someone to help hold the tire in place so he could finish putting the new one on and i said yes because i never thought something could go wrong helping a person in need." calum choked. "b-but i was wrong and once i had walked to the car to help him, he um, he grabbed me and put a cloth over my mouth and then i b-blacked out. that's all i remember."
"alright that's all i think we need to do." calum's lawyer stated softly.
"can i go sit down now?" calum asked looking up at the judge.
"if mr. cunnigham has nothing to ask you then yes."
"i have no questions." the lawyer said.
"okay. mr. hood you may stand down."
calum quickly stood up and made his way back to his seat, stumbling over his own feet when noticing luke slipping into a seat in the back of the courtroom. calum shook his head and rolled his eyes before sitting down next to tucker and looking down at his lap.
"now who is your next witness mr. wright?" the judged asked looking over at calum's lawyer who was reading through his notes again.
"my next witness is james wilson."
"and who may that be?"
"he is the man who had come across tucker running from mr. bridges and notified the police." calum's head snapped up in shock and whipped towards his lawyer.
"let's bring him up." the judge ordered.
calum turned around to see the blonde man being led by an officer from his seat in the crowd to the stand. calum's eyes never left the man as he was sworn in and interrogated by both lawyers. this was the man who was ultimately responsible for tucker's success. he was the one who kept him safe until officer jones took over.
he was to intrigued by the stranger to pay attention to anything anyone was saying and he was snapped out of his entrancement when the guy stood up to leave. calum quickly turned to his lawyer and interrupted him from reading his notes.
"is there any way we can get him to stay after the trial or during the break so i can talk to him?" calum pleaded.
"i'll see what i can do." his lawyer replied.
"next to the stand is tucker hood." the judge stated from his seat.
calum took in a sharp breath and looked down at tucker who was already staring at calum with a terrified expression.
"it'll be fine tuck i promise." calum soothed.
"daddy i'm scared." tucker cried.
"i know you are but you have to be brave for me." calum said brushing his thumb over tucker's cheek. "can you do that?"
"i think so."
"go be a big boy for me." calum cooed. tucker nodded and stood up to make his way up to the stand. officer jones met him halfway and led him up to the seat and helped him up into the seat.
"alright tucker we're going to have to swear you in. can you do that for me?" the judge asked. "all you have to do is say i do while holding up your right hand after the man is finished speaking. tucker nodded and followed the simple directions.
"mr. wright do you have any questions for the boy that would be relevant in the case?"
"i don't your honor. i don't think it's a wise idea to bring back these memories in his mind. having him explain anything he went through can be detrimental to the progress he's made socially and mentally since coming back into the world." mr. wright explained. "i think we've gained enough knowledge talking to mr. hood, mr. wilson and then mr. bridges when we get to him as well as the officers that will be making statements."
"understandable." the judge replied. "mr. cunningham do you have any questions for the young boy?"
calum looked over at the officer, afraid that he was going to say yes and interrogate tucker.
"i do not. i have to agree with mr. wright on this one. i don't think it's a good idea to talk to the little boy."
"alright then." the judge sighed. "tucker you may go back to your father."
officer jones helped tucker down and led him back over to calum. tucker immediately climbed up in calum's lap and buried his head in calum's neck.
"it's okay bud. you're okay." calum whispered trying to soothe the shaking little boy.
"daddy he was staring at me." tucker cried.
"i know baby i'm sorry. it's all going to be over soon."
"next to the stand is john bridges."
calum tightened his grip on tucker as john was led up to the stand by two officers.
the judge motioned towards calum's lawyer and gave him the cue to stand up. "mr. wright you may ask him questions now."
"alright mr. bridges i'm going to keep it nice and simple for you." calum's lawyer explained walking up to the stand. "do you regret what you did to my client?"
john didn't answer.
"mr. bridges answer the question." mr. wright ordered.
john looked up from his lap and stared calum and tucker down but still didn't answer the question.
"mr. bridges answer the question!" the judge boomed.
"no." john spat. "i don't regret it. the only thing i regret is falling for the stupid fucking trick. i regret letting that pathetic little bitch trick me."
"stop it with the profanities right this instant!" the judge shouted whacking down his gavel. "that's enough from him. get him off the stand."
"objection!" the other lawyer yelled as the officers began to lead john away from the stand. "i haven't gotten a chance to interrogate my client!"
"objection overruled." the judge stated. "we've heard plenty from other witnesses. mr. bridges lost his chance to defend himself."
the courtroom was buzzing and tucker was whimpering into calum's neck but calum was frozen in place. he didn't know what to do. he didn't know how to respond.
"the court will adjourn for an hour lunch so the jury can deliberate and come to a suitable sentence." the judge exclaimed before slamming down his gavel again and standing up to leave.
"calum if you would like to talk to mr. wilson i think now is the perfect time." mr. wright said placing his hand on calum's shoulder. "he seems to want to talk to you as well."
calum turned his head to see the man standing by the small gate.
"okay." he mumbled standing up with tucker in his arms. he gave his lawyer a soft smile before turning away and making his way towards the stranger.
"you must be calum." the blonde said once calum made his way over to him. "i'm james.
"it's nice to meet you and of course you've already met tucker before briefly."
"i'm happy to see him safe. and with his dad of course." the man chuckled lightly. "would you like to go get some lunch with me?"
"i would love that." calum smiled.
"there's a small café downstairs. i'm sure you don't really want to go outside right now."
"going outside is less than appealing right now yeah." calum replied. "let's head down there now then."
calum followed the blonde out of the courtroom ignoring luke's pleading eyes and his family's confused ones.
"daddy where are we going?" tucker asked finally lifting his head from the crook of calum's neck.
"we're going to go eat with the man that saved you from john when you escaped from the truck." calum explained as they walked into the elevator.
"the guy with the dog?"
"yeah i have a dog." james chirped. "i'm sorry if he scared you when you met him."
"he only scared me a little." tucker pipped quietly. "he was pretty though. daddy can we get a dog?"
"maybe." calum chuckled. "you gotta talk to nana first."
"okay."
calum and tucker enjoyed the quick lunch with the blonde man who saved tucker. a good portion of the time was spent by james showing tucker photos and videos of his dog on his cell phone and tucker somehow making a mess of himself with just the simple italian sub he shared with calum.
"it was really nice to finally meet you." calum stated as the group of three made their way back into the courtroom for the verdict and sentencing. "i don't think there will ever be a proper way to thank you for what you did. if it wasn't for you who knows what would've happened."
"you don't have to thank me. i just happened to be in the right place at the right time." reassured. "knowing that i saved tucker and that led both of you two to safety is enough for me. no thanks are needed."
"you really are an amazing human being." calum replied. "thank you. for everything."
james nodded and took his seat while calum and tucker walked back up front to the table.
"okay if we may begin this verdict and sentencing this can be over within five minutes and we can all go home." the judge stated as he sat back down in his seat. "if we can have the head juror make his way to the front to announce the verdict."
calum watched as the middle aged woman stood up and made her way over to the front of the juror's section.
"the jury has come to a decision. the defendant has been found guilty and is being sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, no parole."
the courtroom erupted with cheers of happiness while calum just sat back soaking in the relief. john was going away from a long time and calum couldn't be happier.
"court adjourned." the judge announced before standing up and leaving the room. john got led out of the room by two officers without another word and his lawyer quietly packed up his stuff.
"congratulations calum. it was nice working with you."
"thank you mr. wright. you were the best lawyer i could've asked for." they shook hands before they parted ways and calum was left with tucker at the table.
"is it time to go home?" tucker chirped.
"yeah bud. let's go home." calum answered. calum scooped tucker up into his arms and made his way over to his family.
"ready to go love?" michael asked immediately wrapping his arm around calum's waist, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to the side of his forehead.
"yeah let's go home." calum replied softly. they began to walk towards the door but were stopped by an infamous blonde.
"calum?"
calum halted in his steps but refused to look up.
"can we please talk?" luke asked.
"luke? what are you doing here?" ashton asked making his way to stand next to michael and calum.
"i came to apologize."
"i don't want your apology." calum grunted before pulling himself out of michael's grip and leaving the courtroom.
"cal wait!" michael called after him trying to catch up to his boyfriend. "calum!"
"what michael?" calum grumbled walking into the elevator.
"don't just run away from me like that." michael huffed. "i really think you should sit down and listen to luke. just give him a chance."
"i don't want to." calum mumbled. "at least not today. i just want to go home."
"alright then. let's go home." michael replied. "i love you."
"i love you too." calum said softly, a small grin growing on his face.
"and i love you both!" tucker exclaimed. "but daddy the most."
"i love you the most too tuck." calum cooed. "it's always going to be me and you against the world."
"with michael right?"
"yeah." calum sighed happily. "with michael too."
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