Aiden's POV
Julie has been working on getting the custody paper signed by a judge for almost a week now. It's taking longer than it should and I'm starting to get a little worried. Whenever Blake and I ask she says, "We're getting closer." The school year is getting close to winter break and I'm actually excited for Christmas this year. I don't have to worry that my "Christmas gift" will be an all evening beating. I'm still trying to figure out what to get everyone though. I've found a job washing dishes at a café a couple blocks away, and I've decided to dedicate my first paycheck to getting gifts for Julie, Anna, and Blake. They've done so much for me that I want to repay them somehow. So I'm currently sitting on the couch brainstorming ideas while Blake and Anna are at Basketball try-outs. I heard a car door and looked at the clock, and realized that it was too early for anyone to be home yet, but Julie is walking in the door. "Oh hi Aiden. You are home."
"Yeah. Is everything okay? You're home early."
She sighed and slipped off her shoes and coat. "I was called into the court house today. Do you have to work on Saturday?" I shook my head no. "Good. You need to go in and have a court date."
"What? Why?"
"There has been a minor set back."
"What is it?"
"Your mom found out." I felt my heart drop. "She apparently ran into the court house throwing a riot today. So they called me in and the judge says that they need you to come in and gave a statement about your childhood with her."
I took a shaky breath. "Do you think they'll make me go and live with her?"
"Oh honey." She walked over and sat in the chair next to me. "I don't know. I can't give you an answer. But, what I can promise you, is that I am going to fight as hard as I can for that not to happen." I nodded my head in response. "Okay. I'm going to get take out for dinner. Do you want Chinese or Mexican?"
"Definitely Chinese." She smiled in response. "With extra sweet and sour chicken."
She laughed. "Alright. Sounds good." She gave me a kiss on the top of my head and went to the kitchen to order it.
I stretched out on the couch, my mind unable to stray from this up coming weekend. I don't know exactly what it'll be about but there is no way in hell I'm about to go live with her. I checked the time and saw that there's still an hour before Blake gets home. I went back to trying to brainstorm ideas for Christmas gifts. I should ask Blake what I should get Julie and Anna, he knows more about them than I do. Not getting anywhere, I decided to do some drawing instead. Since I draw whatever is currently on my mind, I started drawing a court room. Half of the time I don't even realize what I'm drawing until I'm done with it. Before I knew it Blake was in the living room walking towards the couch. He picked up my legs and sat down placing them across his lap.
"How was practice?" I questioned.
"It felt like forever. The freshmen are absolute jerks this year."
"Oh really?" I sat my sketch book down, turning my full attention to him.
"Yeah. They think they're on top of the world." He rolled his eyes. "They aren't team players at all. They can't even pass the ball to someone else. Just always have to have it, don't they?"
"That sucks."
"Yeah. Anyways. What about you my prince? What were you drawing?" I rotated my sketch book so he could see it. "Is that you on trail?" I shrugged my shoulders. "What's going on?"
"My mom found out about the custody trail." Blake just looked at me, not saying anything. "They want me to go in on Saturday and testify. I guess against her. I don't really know." He looked down at my legs, still not saying anything. "Blake? Say something."
"I don't want to lose you." He answered quietly.
I set my sketch book on the ground and sat up next to him. I could see tears forming at eyes, I don't think I've ever seen him cry and it broke my heart. "Loves, look at me." I lifted up his chin to look him in the eyes. "No matter what happens, you will not lose me. Ever. Even if I do have to go back to my moms house. We'll still see each other at school, and I'll come over on weekends. I'm always going to be a phone call away, I will always be here. You can't get rid of me that easily."
He chuckled. "I know. Its just that I've gotten so used to you being here, that if you move I'm going to be lonely."
"And we're going to fight our asses off for that not to happen." I wiped his tears off of his cheek. "Okay?"
He nodded and leaned in giving me kiss. "Yeah you can't leave me that easily." I chuckled and he smiled and sighed. "When did you become the confident one?" I chuckled at him. "Looks good on you. I love you."
"I love you too." I curled up into his side and he grabbed the remote, turning on the TV. "Hey, do you have anything planned for the next weekend?" I asked as Blake settled on watching an old college football game that they ocasionally re-run.
"No. Why?"
"Can we go Christmas shopping? Anna said you like to procrastinate until last minute, so it would be a good chance for you to get it done earlier. Plus, I need your help figuring out what to get your mom and Anna."
"Sure. Do you know where you were wanting to go?"
"No."
"Okay we'll just start at the mall then." I nodded my head and then went to listening to Blake's comments of criticism towards the teams, figuring out that he must not like either that are playing, until dinner arrived.
---Saturday---
I woke up to Blake's' alarm. I rolled over, and upon noticing that Blake wasn't there, reached over and turned it off. Once the annoying blaring stopped, I could hear the shower running, an indicator the Blake must've gotten up early. I sat up and looked at our nice dress outfits hanging on the closet door. I've been trying to mentally prepare myself for today, but now that it's here, I think I'm the furthest away from being prepared.
I heard the shower turn off and Blake moving about the bathroom. He finally emerged a couple minutes later, a towel wrapped around his waist. "You're awake. I thought that was the alarm clock I heard." He walked over and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "You ready for today?"
"Not really."
"Ah. You're going to do great," he told me as he walked into the closet. That's the good thing about him having an huge ass closet. Since I'm not fully comfortable with us changing in front of each other, we can change in the closet and still be remotely in the same vicinity and talk to each other.
"Yeah, I'm just nervous of what might happen."
"What do you mean? Talk to me."
"Well like, what if they don't believe what I say? Or if they decide that I'm not I'm credible enough because of how young I was when she left?"
"For one," he started as he walked out pulling on his under shirt. "Unless they have actual, credible evidence that you're lying, what you say is the truth. And two, they've had children as young as four testify before. I think that something that happen only 10 years ago is very credible." He finished buttoning his shirt and walked over to me. "Hey." He crouched down to be at eye level. "We're going to march in there, win this thing, and then you're going to come home with me and we'll never have to worry about you needing to leave because of this again. Okay?" I nodded my head. "Good. Now go shower. We need to leave in an hour and a half." He gave me a kiss and walked out of the room.
I took a deep breath and then got up to quickly shower. Once I was dressed, I walked downstairs to meet everyone else for breakfast. My nerves were eating me from the inside out that I had no appetite.
"Not hungry?" Blake leaned over and asked. I shook my head no. "That's okay." He kissed the side of head, stood up, grabbed our plates, and walked them to the sink.
"You guys ready to go?" Julie asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Well, we need to get going." I stood up, grabbed my jacket and made my way to the car, Blake not far behind me. The car ride was quiet, my nerves picking up as we closer to the court house. "Alright, lets go crush this thing." Julie stated as she parked the car.
We all climbed out and Blake walked over to me and took my hand. "Deep breaths. You got this."
We found the court room and upon entering I noticed that it was pretty empty. Okay, maybe I can do this. Then, I made eye contact with my mother, and she smiled at me. Or maybe not. I sat down next to Julie and took another deep breath. I looked over and saw that my moms husband and daughter were also with her.
"Lets get started." The judge finally spoke out. "We are here, continuing the Aiden Kingsley temporary custody case. Aiden, please approach the stand." I could feel my anxiety raise, which I didn't think was possible. I walked up and did my swearing in. "The main purpose for you being here is so we can learn, and confirm details of your childhood. So lets start when you were young. What was your childhood like?"
"Average, I suppose. I went to school, played with the other neighbor kids."
"Did you get along with your mother?"
"I guess we did. She was at work a lot, so we I didn't see her much. But when she was home we got along fine."
"How old were you when she left?"
"I was seven." I remember that because she left on my birthday and my dad blamed me. That's when i got me first birthday cut. It was a couple days late though, as it took a little bit to know she wasn't coming back.
"Did she tell you she was leaving?"
"No. She left while I was at school."
"How did you find out she was gone?"
"She didn't come home from work. She usually came home at 7, I would watch the clock. When she didn't show, I thought at first that maybe she made an errand. But by 8 I decided to ask my dad."
"Did he know?"
"Not that I could gather. He tried calling her, left messages, but we never heard back."
"Your mother is saying that she sent you things and money. Did you ever received anything?"
I looked over at my mom, then back at the judge. "No I did not."
"Is it possible that your father did and didn't give it to you?"
"No. I was the one who always checked the mail. Everyday when I got off the bus, and 10:00 sharp on weekend mornings."
"Okay. Thank you Aiden, you may return to your seat." I walked back over to Julie and sat down. She placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder as we waited for the judge to say something. "I have heard enough after today. Due to the fact of not being with Aiden, or sending any form of child support, Rachel Walker relinquished all custody rights to him. Since Mel Kingsley has requested that he stay in the care of Julie Arrow until the age of eighteen, that'll be where he goes. Court dismissed."
Julie embraced me in a hug. Blake joining a second later. "You did it baby. You're staying with us." He said and I smiled at him. I am happy, but at the same time, I just feel numb.
"Lets go home. All of us." Julie stated.
I was turning to head to the door when I heard my mom. "Aiden! Aiden, wait." I turned to face her. "Look, I'm sorry for what I did when you were younger. But you know, your father ... he was ... I just had to get out of there. He ..."
"Abused me." I interrupted her.
"What?" She looked at me shocked.
"You have no idea what he was like. Especially after you left. You didn't see him at his worst, you left that for me to deal with. On my own."
"Aiden, I'm so-..."
"And lying to the judge like that! What good does that do?"
"I was trying to fix things."
"Lying and trying to pull me out of the one place that I am happy in, isn't going to fix anything."
"I know but ..." I turned and started towards the door. "Aiden, wait!"
I ignored her and walked out of the room. Blake caught up to me. "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah." I took a breath. "Yeah. I just want to go home."
"Okay." He grabbed my hand. "That's what we'll do then."