~ I don’t usually write chapter notes, but this is important: There probably should be a hearing before this trail, but that makes for no fun, so I’m skipping it and going to the juicy stuff. Also, I don’t know if I got all the law jargin right (I don’t watch this kinda stuff) so bare with me. Thanx!!~

 

Chapter Fifteen: Into the Fire She Walked

 

“Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I stand here today in defense of a young woman. Ms. Tsukino is a mother. A loving, caring mother, whom Darien abandoned the same hour he found out she was pregnant. He left her on the street, no money, no home, he left her with nothing but the knowledge that she and her son were not welcome in his presence ever again. And now, four years after he left her alone in a new country, pregnant and hardly able to fend for her self, not to mention a minor,” the jury gasped at this as well “he tries to take away the little boy whom she has worked so hard to raise with good morals and chances to make it in this big world. Ladies and gentlemen, neither Ms. Tsukino nor her” Quatre gulped. “Boyfriend Mr. Yui, did anything short of stopping Darien from taking her son, Ben, illegally. They caused no pain to Darien, physical or mental, yet he has caused pain to Ms. Tsukino and demands to be paid for it. I am simply here to argue that Mr. Chiba’s accusations are false and that he deserves neither custody of his son, nor the money for fake damages that he claims he deserves. Thank you.” Taking a deep breath, Quatre sat down. This would be a long one. The judge from his dais cleared his throat and began his own short little speech.

“Now that we have established the opening arguments for both the plaintiff and defendant, the prosecution may call their first witness.” Darien’s lawyer stood.

“Your Honor, the prosecution would like to begin by calling to the stand Ms. Tsukino’s night job boss, Mr. Eric James.” An older man dressed in a seventy’s style suit stood and approached the bench.

“Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?” The bailiff asked the man.

“Yeah, Yeah, I do.” The man sounded like someone directly from the Godfather movie. Serena shuddered. She never had liked this man.

“Now Mr. James,” Darien’s lawyer began, “is it true you employ a Ms. Serena Usagi Tsukino?”

“I do.” Answered the man.

“And tell me, just what do you employ her to do?” Pressed the lawyer.

“Objection.” Quatre raised his point and stood. “Permission to approach the bench?”

“Granted.” Said the judge. Quatre and Darien’s lawyer, Mr. Apolis, both stood in front of the judge.

“Your Honor, I know what the answer is, and while we expected this, we would like to postpone this particular question until Ms. Tsukino’s son is out of the court room.” Quatre told the judge quietly.

“And why do you wish the youngster out of the court room?” The judge asked skeptically.

“Sir, Ms. Tsukino does not wish to expose her son to what is about to come. If I could just send one of my colleagues out of the room to wait with the boy outside the door until this witness is gone?” There was a long pause.

“Sir,” Mr. Apolis spoke up. “I must agree with Mr. Winner. I too, know what is coming up, and do not wish to expose the child to it.”

“Well, seeing as how you both agree, very well, objection sustained. But I will send a bailiff out to watch as well.” The judge ruled.

“Thank you sir.” Quatre said. Then he signaled to Duo, who was ready to take Ben out of the courtroom.

“Resume trial.” The judge told them.

“Mr. James, the question was, what do you employ Ms. Tsukino to do?” Mr. Apolis continued.

“To work in my fine establishment of course.” The man answered mysteriously.

“And her specific job is?” Apolis prompted him.

“She strips for my club.” The jury went mad.

“And how many nights a week does she work as a stripper?” Apolis went on, ignoring the jury.

“Four nights a week, sometimes five if one of the other ladies can’t come in, but that’s rare.” Mr. James told them coolly.

“How long has she stripped for you?” Apolis pressed.

“Oh, let’s see. I know her pretty well, so she’s been with our club for a while. Hmm, oh yes. She started about four and a half years ago. She only worked for a few weeks. Then after about nine months time she returned and has been with us for about four years since.”

“No further questions your Honor.” Apolis turned to Quatre. “Your witness counsel.”

“Thank you.” Quatre stood. “Now then, Mr. James. You say you know Ms. Tsukino fairly well, am I correct?”

“Yeah, I’d say so.”

“Describe her attitude at work. Is she nice? Mean? Does she give you or anyone else any trouble? Break any rules?”

“Well, let’s see here now. I’d have to say she’s always cheerful. Oh, except once when her cat got run over. That shook her up fair well, but she still preformed with a smile. She brings in a lot of business for me. Now then, trouble? Never. She never broke no rules; she’s a role model for most of my girls, what with juggling her day job and her son and all.” Mr. James rambled on.

“Is there anything else you’ve noticed about her? Any quirks? Does she seem disorganized or dishonest?”

“No sir, never. Selene over there is as clean as a whistle when it comes to organization and honesty. Why, I remember one time when some guys were asking about her for a one-night stand, and even though they offered her a thousand dollars, she refused. Selene just ain’t like that. Quirks? Well, now that you mention it, yeah, there’s two kind of. You see, she hates the stagehand watching her. She asked him not to cause she felt weird with him being her friend and watching her and all. Her other one is that she never strips more than to her skivvies. Never. Not once. She’s as clean as the come for a stripper.”

“Thank you Mr. James. No further questions.” Quatre turned his back to the witness and found himself drowning in Serena’s beautiful blue eyes. They were leaking big drops of salty water and staring at him. It made him feel good, knowing she had trusted him so much with so much and that now she approved of the way he used it. He sent a silent prayer to Allah that he would indeed win this case for her. Now he knew what Hiiro saw in her; she was full of so many diverse emotional extremes that made you feel so wonderful. Quatre had to wake form his thoughts, however, because they were calling the next witness.

“Your Honor, I would like to call to the stands Mr. Kent.” A tall lanky businessman stood and took his oath.

“Now, Mr. Kent. You look like a successful businessman. Please tell the jury, how do you know Ms. Tsukino?” Apolis began right away.

“I employ her during the day as my receptionist.” The stern man told the court.

“And did you, prior to this trial, know about her nightly activities at the club?”

“No.” He sounded completely livid at only just finding this information out.

“Now Mr. Kent, you say Ms. Tsukino is your receptionist. Tell me about some of her habits.”

“Ms. Tsukino is lazy. She is consecutively late to work in the morning, she falls asleep on the job, doodles little pictures on her stationary, and brings me cold coffee.” Apolis smirked slightly and Darien beamed at the new harmful information about Serena. Serena groaned slightly. And rolled her eyes. She had predicted  he would act like that. She bowed her head in disappointment and though Hiiro tried to comfort her, it didn’t make her feel much better.

“Would you say she is organized and responsible enough to take care of a child?” Apolis was really digging in. There was a long pause.

“Well. That’s more difficult. You see, as much as she is disorganized and lazy and irresponsible, I happen t know for a fact she loves her son more than anything. Anything. She would die for that boy. I do not believe she makes a good receptionist, but I do believe she is the role model mother, especially for being single.” Serena’s head flipped up and she dropped her jaw in disbelief at what her boss had just said. He was always so cold and mean- she had no idea he had given her such high regard as a mother to her son. This new found information helped build hope and fuel a burning to win this court case more than ever.

“No further questions. Your witness council.” Apolis’ face had gone red and puffy, but he somehow managed an evil smile at Serena before he sat to explode. Quatre stood and approached the bench.

“Now Mr. Kent. How often on a weekly basis is Serena late?”

“Oh, once, twice. On a weekly basis you understand. If I were any other employer I would have fired her long ago.”

“And why haven’t you fired her then?”

“Well, regardless of my moaning that she is lazy and late and messy and disorganized, she does get the paper work done quicker than anyone I’ve ever met, she’s always cheerful in the office, even in the mornings, and she does exceptional extra work when I ask it of her. I pay her what most receptionists get. But she earns every penny of it, where as some of the others I’ve had haven’t.”

“Then, Mr. Kent, do you find it hard to believe Serena strips?”

“Very.”

“And do you think she would be capable of keeping her son from Mr. Chiba, her son’s father?”

“Not really. I didn’t know much of the situation before this case, but I did know he left her, not the other way around.”

“That’s all, thank you Mr. Kent. No further questions.” Hiiro looked at Quatre and smirked. Quatre’s eyes went wide with shock, but he showed no other signs of surprise. Hiiro was on top of the world. After seeing Serena’s face fall earlier had had felt like shit. But now that she was beaming and her tears were gone, he felt good too. And they were winning. Who would have thought that a man like Mr. Kent, who was supposed to hurt their argument, would actually help it? It was truly amazing. Then Hiiro concentrated. New witness time.

“We call to the stand Ben Tsukino, son of Darien Chiba and Serena Tsukino.” Apolis declared. Duo (who had come back in with Ben during Kent’s testimony) helped little Ben to the bench. The bailiff gave Ben the oath.

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?”

“Momma says not to swear. It’s not polite.” Said Ben. The little audience they had laughed, as did Serena, Hiiro, Duo, and Quatre.

“It’s alright to swear this time.” Duo told him.

“I have to ask momma first. Momma? Can I swear please? Mr. Duo says I can!” The little boy called out. Serena looked to Quatre to see if it would be alright to speak, and when he nodded, she spoke.

“Yes baby. This isn’t bad swearing, this is promising. Pinky swearing. Do you pinky swear and promise to tell the truth?” She asked her son. She had a hard time not bursting with pride; he looked so polished in his little business suit and tie.

“Ok. Then I pinky swear and promise to tell the truth.” Ben told the bailiff. Duo helped Ben onto the witness stand and then stood next to him, just in case. Apolis began.

“Now Ben. Think very hard. Do you know who that man is over there?” Apolis pointed to Darien.

“Yes.” Ben nodded unsteadily, as if he were trying to figure something out.

“And how do you know him?”

“I saw him being mean to momma this morning.”

“Only this morning?”

“Yeah. He came in when Mr. Duo was showing me a magic trick and made fun of my momma and Mr. Hiiro.”

“But you don’t know who he is?”

“Nope!” Ben shook his head happily and smiled.

“Now Ben. You mentioned a ‘Mr. Hiiro’. How did you meet Mr. Hiiro?”

“Mr. Hiiro saved my life! He saved me form the school! And he got hurt. He had big ouches all up and down his tummy.” Hiiro blushed deeply at this and heard Serena snigger slightly beside him. He elbowed her gently. She merely stepped on his toes in response.

“Has Mr. Hiiro ever had a gun? Have you ever seen him with one?” Quatre glowered at the nerve of this upstart lawyer. How dare he ask a four-year old if he’d seen an older person with a gun!

“Yes. Mr. Hiiro always has a gun. Except when momma took it and out it in her safe with the lock. She wouldn’t give it back. It was funny!” Hiiro blushed once again. Well, at least this was helping a little bit…

“Did he ever threaten anyone with it?”

“The bad men! Mr. Hiiro got rid of the bad men!” Apolis, seeing this was going nowhere, decided to go onto a new topic.

“What does your momma do at night?”

“She works.” Ben told the man, still smiling. His little legs were swinging off the chair he was seated in.

“But what does she do for work?” Apolis wanted to get out of the little boy that he knew his mother was stripping.

“I don’t know.” There went that thought.

“What do you do when your momma isn’t home?”

“Play with Kelly, the babysitter. She’s nice. Once she recorded my voice and I got to listen to it.”

“Has your momma ever left you home alone?”

“Nope.” Apolis gave up.

“No further questions. Your witness council.” Apolis sat down and rubbed his temples. Quatre stood.

“Hi Mr. Quatre!”

“Hey Ben.” Quatre started. “So Ben, tell me some stuff about Mr. Hiiro. Is he nice?”

“Mr. Hiiro is funny. He saved me from the bad men. He ate chocolate chip waffles with me, caught momma when she fell off the stool, and played with me. He took momma and me out to ice cream too!”

“Has he ever been mean?” Everyone could see Ben was thinking hard.

“He talks in a low voice. But he’s not mean, not ever!” Ben said proudly.

“Would he hurt you or your momma?”

“Never ever never!” Ben said immediately and decidedly.

“No further questions. Come on Ben, you can go sit back down with Duo now.” Ben hopped off the chair and bunny hopped over to Duo and sat down again grinning like mad.

“The prosecution would like to call to the stand Ms. Tsukino herself.” Serena stood and took her oath. Sitting down, she noticed how much she disliked being in the spotlight, especially with Darien’s eyes on her.

“Now then, Ms. Tsukino, may I call you Serena?”

“Please.” Well, at least she would feel slightly more comfortable now. Yeah right.

“Serena. You have two jobs, a two-bed/ one -bath apartment, and a son. Where do you find time to have a boyfriend like Mr. Hiiro?” That was not what she was expecting.

“Actually, Hiiro’s not my boyfriend. We are just friends. How do I find the time to have him as a friend? I don’t know. I guess I just do. I mean, usually whatever we do we take Ben with us.”

“Really? Then why did you tell Darien he was your boyfriend?” Apolis accused.

“Because it was the only thing I could think of to get Darien off of me. Literally.”

“And what about Hiiro? Had didn’t hold a gun to Darien?”

“No. He held a gun to Darien. One that was not loaded with any bullets. Not to mention the fact that it was in self-defense. Darien wouldn’t get off of me, and then he tried to hit Hiiro. Pure self-defense.” Nothing but the truth.

“When you say ‘get Darien off of me’, what do you mean?”

“I mean Darien was pulling off my clothes and touching me without my consent. I am much weaker than him, and was not able to push him off. Hiiro was really injured and couldn’t use very much physical strength either.”

“So he was trying to rape you?”

“I was trying to avoid that word with my son in the room, but yes. He was.”

“Sorry. I didn’t realize that.” Apolis smirked.

“Objection!” Quatre called out. “Your Honor, Mr. Apolis is patronizing the witness.”

“Objection sustained. Mr. Apolis, fall back a bit.” The judge intervened.

“Of course. Now Serena, do you think exotic dancing is a good moral to teach your son?”

“No. That’s why he doesn’t know I do it.”

“Then why do it in the first place?”

“I need the money. My day job doesn’t earn enough to support Ben and I alone.”

“Then you would say you need help with money? Have you ever been in debt? Late on rent?”

“Never. I do not need financial support. Ben and I were living a comfortable lifestyle, we have every necessity and more: phones, TV, computer with Internet access, food, he has toys, I have a car, and new clothes every school year. We live like the rest of society does.”

“Why did you keep Ben from Darien all these years?”

“Darien threw me out. Literally. He told me to have an abortion or put Ben up for adoption. I would never, ever consider that. And now Darien wants custody of the very child he wanted me to kill? I don’t feel safe thinking about it.”

“Just answer the question, no more.” Apolis paused.” No further questions. Your witness council.” Quatre stood and winked at Serena. She winked back.

“Serena. I think we’ve covered pretty much everything, save one detail. How did you get here, in America?” Quatre asked. Serena breathed in deeply. So they were going to play their trump card after all.

“I came with Darien. He had promised me we would get married here. In fact, we were engaged and supposed to get married within the month he threw me out.”

“Why did he throw you out?”

“I was pregnant.”

“Now wait, you were pregnant the same month you were supposed to get married and he threw you out?”

“Yes.”

“And did he give a reason?”

“He said I was an under age whore and he couldn’t be sure about whether he child was his or not. Said I wasn’t fit to be his.”

“Is there any possibility that Ben isn’t Darien’s?”

“None. I loved Darien with my entire heart and soul. He was my only one every. My first and only lover. And he knew it perfectly well.”

“What about this underage business? How old were you when you became pregnant?”

“Fifteen. It was with my consent, but I also didn’t know I couldn’t marry him until I was eighteen  without a parent’s permission. He had lead me to believe differently.”

“So you are nineteen years old, you’ve raised your son for four years on your own, while you were underage no less, and Darien’s never once come back to find you to ask if you need help or pay child support or anything?”

“I didn’t even know he was in the country until I saw him while I was dancing at the club three nights ago.”

“Thank you Serena, no further questions.” Apolis stood. This was his last bid, and he knew it too.*