FYI: idk anything about the justice system dealings with custody battles. What I'm writing about is how I imagine it could go. If you think it's not right and you know for sure, feel free to send me in detail, how it works. Do not just say, "that's not how it goes."
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It had been a month or so since James, Royce and I got served custody papers from Jemma out of the blue. With that being said, I wished I could say things have been great, but then that would be a lie. The truth is, although I've tried to keep my calm and a cool head to be able to deal with this issue, I found myself most of the time unable to do so.
Although James kept promising that things will be alright and even hired one of New York City's greatest family Lawyer, there was still this feeling residing in me that told me that nothing was ever certain.
Custody battles were a gray area for me since I've never had to go through anything like that. We were basically all going into this blind.
Royce kept trying to reassure me that there was no way a judge would look at Jemma and decide to give her Sebastian, but when I asked how he could be a hundred percent sure of it, he couldn't answer. Things like that, Royce and Jame's inability to be prove to me that Jemma had no chances to have my son or even have visitation rights. I didn't want her anywhere near Sebastian or my family, and if I had to fight with everything I had, then I would.
By the time the first court appearance took place, I was a big ball of nerves who wasn't supposed say anything while the lawyers hashed it up in front of the judge, but who couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer while listening to the bullshit coming out of Jemma's lawyer's mouth. And so as expected after many warnings, the judge told me to step outside for a minute and try to calm myself down. James followed me outside.
"Is she kidding me? James is fucking kidding me? Us, not being good parents?" I scoffed, pacing back and forth briskly. "Where the fuck does she get to say that? We are great fucking parents, the goddamn bests." I kept going from one end of the hallway to the other with lightening fast speed.
"Babe, I understand that you're frustrated but you have to calm down." James said, standing by the door he had walked out of to follow behind me, his back leaning on the wall with hands in his pockets.
"I can't calm down, what I want to do is beat her over the head with a goddamn bench to make sure she doesn't ever get up again. I'm a great mother. Has she seen Sebastian? He's happy and smart and witty and balanced and I did that. Not her. Me. So for her to come here and say that we are not good parents to this kid..." I was pulled into a hug by James before I could even finish what I had to say.
I hadn't even realized I was shaking until he pulled me into him. "Shhhhh. It's okay, baby. It's okay." James whispered in my ear while he held on to me tightly which is when I felt the first tear fall from my eyes.
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By the time James and I got home, I was exausted but mostly mentally. The whole day drained me of whatever life source I had, but I knew not to keep that defeated face, not when there was a little boy waiting for me with the biggest smile I had ever seen. He made everything worth it for me. And for a second, I knew why Jemma wanted to experience that immense feeling when that smile was directed at you.
Sebastian was playing in the living room with his nanny when James and I walked into our home. The second he saw me, he ran towards me with a plane made out of legos and gave me the biggest hug. James walked past us and ruffled Sebastian's hair on his way to what I would assume was either the kitchen or the living room to free Betsy, the nanny so she could get home. Bastian laughed his little heart out.
"Hi, mommy." He said and gave me a tiny peck on the lips.
"Hi, baby." I smiled brightly to match the smile on his face. "Watcha doing?" I asked even though I already knew.
He pulled back a little just to be able to show me the plane he had in his hand and pointed at a whole set of Legos on the floor.
"Wow, you did this by yourself?" I asked and finally got up from the kneeling position I had taken to be able to hug Bastian.
"Yup, yup. And Betsy helped me, too because it was a little hard." He answered. I smiled.
"I guess you'll have to say thank you and hug Betsy goodbye because she's going home now." I told him as we started walking towards the living room to find Betsy retrieving her belongings.
"Bye, Betsy." Sebastian said as he quickly hugged her before running behind James who was heading toward the stairs. I shook my head and chuckled before giving Betsy a quick hug and telling her that we would see her next week since it was Friday already.
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There was this scene that kept playing in my head as we were making our way back home from court. It was of this girl that was in my third grade class back in elementary school.
I wasn't so sure why this particular thought kept replaying in my mind until I realized that the reason being was because I used to watch this girl, everytime she would come to school always accompanied by her mom and dad. I used to find this so fascinating the way her parents loved her so much that no matter what, they made sure to drop her off at school together.
That girl, I remember was such a happy girl that I imagined the love of her parents definitely contributed to that happiness. I don't know for certain how it became a thing, but one day, I realized that watching this girl come to school with her parents had come to be part of my school routine.
I would always watch from afar since she and I weren't actually friends, but for some reason, I found great joy in seeing how happy her family was because I've never had anything like this. This to me was proof that it was possible to have that; a happy family.
I think the reason why this was what kept playing in my brain was because I realized that James, Sebastian, and I, though unconventional, we had exactly what I used to stare at when I was younger. We had a family. A happy family. And I would have rather died than to let anyone mess with that.
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"So, what do you think we should do with ourselves today?"
I shook my head and looked up to find Rose moving toward me with a bowl of popcorn and two beer bottles.
It's been about five weeks since we had gone to court and since then, nothing of importance had taken place which had me worried.
People often said that no news was good news, but I wasn't one of those people. To me, no news meant it was taking longer for the bad news to get to you. So, of course I was getting antsy as time went by and we had heard nothing from the lawyers, the court, or even Jemma, which was surprising, to say the least.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked again because I was so far into my own thoughts that I didn't hear what she said. She rolled her eyes and handed me a bowl of popcorn so big, it could literally feed a group of five easily and then some.
"What's with you today?" She asked which I was certain was a rhetorical question so I didn't find it necessary to answer. Rose sat next to me a second later wearing brightly colored leggings and a pink shirt that read "I'm A Hot Mom", and grabbed the popcorn bowl from me before handing me a beer bottle. I shook my head to nicely decline the drink. She frowned and then shrugged before placing the bottle on the coffee table in front of us and instead grabbing the remote to find something to watch.
"I asked what we should do with ourselves since our significant others have taken the boys out for their little 'Daddy and me' outing?" She asked again with her eyes focused on whatever that was playing on the television.
"Uhm, maybe we should go buy a pregnancy test." I answered nonchalantly, trying to keep any sort of emotion out of my voice.
Rose sighed and stopped switching between tv channels for a second to look at me.
"I told you a week ago when you asked me, I already took a test and I'm not pregnant. So can we please drop the subject?" She said, referring my constant pondering of her that took place last week when she told me she felt like she was pregnant.
This though, wasn't it. I smiled and took her left hand in mine since she was sitting on the right side of me.
"Uhm babe," I started, the nerve building up by the second. Rose raised an eyebrow in confusion as she watched me. I took a deep breath and let it out before proceeding.
"So I took a pregnancy test last night, and I think I might be pregnant." And just like that, I finally let the cat out of the bag.
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Hiya guys!. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Finally, our girl is maybe pregnant. 😋😋
Don't forget to please vote. 😚😚
Oh and also, please read "Tangled Love"