Chapter 91
Tyler looked around the courtroom waiting for the hearing to begin. It was more like a battle of the bands than a custody hearing; 'NSync members on one side and the Backstreet Boys behind her. She couldn't believe it had come to this. She glanced at Howie who was holding Scott and couldn’t help but smile. Scott looked just like Howie at that age.
Kevin leaned over to her and put his arm around her. Tyler looked at him, into those beautiful green eyes, and smiled. Kevin had been by her side for it all and she loved him for it.
Kevin leaned to her ear and whispered, "It's going to be okay, baby."
"I wish I had your confidence," answered Tyler. "I can't believe that it's come to this."
The bailiff came in and said, "All rise for Judge Lee."
Everyone stood as the judge entered the courtroom.
"The hearing for the custody of Dwaine Scott Fatone is now in session."
As the proceedings got underway, Christine presented Tyler and Kevin’s case. Kevin and Tyler were both somewhat surprised that Christine had left out all of the evidence that pertained to Joey raping her and the arguments that Joey started whenever they were together at doctor’s appointments. She did, however, point out that Joey had not been to any of the appointments since May and that he had only been to see Scott once after he was born and that was BEFORE Scott had gotten so sick. She was also quick to point out that Kevin had stood by Tyler and Scott from day one.
When Chris was done, Kevin leaned to her and asked, "Why the kid-gloves?"
"You have a good chance of winning this WITHOUT the big guns. Let’s try to play fair first and if Joey starts playing dirty, then we’ll nail him. This way, it doesn’t look like you’re trying to be cruel."
Kevin and Tyler relaxed as Joey’s attorney stood up and began to present his case. As he began to speak, Joey looked at Tyler and gave her a malicious grin. Tyler squeezed Kevin’s hand and he saw it too. Then Tyler heard what the attorney was saying.
".....time and again, Mrs. Richardson has demonstrated that she is unfit for motherhood with her cavorting around with the other three of the members of her husband’s group. The ONLY reason that she has not slept with ALL five of them is that one of them is her cousin. Seems that’s the only place she has any morals as these pictures will show," he said as he placed pictures on the judge’s desk. Continuing, "Furthermore, Mr. Richardson is NO role model for this young child. He is seen in these pictures with several women, none of which are his wife. Your honor, my client requests FULL custody of the child in question. The lifestyle the Richardsons live is no place for a young child."
Tyler was in shock. She looked at Kevin as if to ask ‘What’s he talking about?’ but Kevin could only shrug his shoulders. She then looked over at Lance who was now holding his head in his hands in disbelief too.
Christine whispered, "What kind of pictures could he have?"
Tyler shrugged to say that she had no clue along with Kevin.
Christine stood up, "Your honor. My clients would like to see these pictures as we’ve not had the privilege yet."
The judge handed them to Joey’s attorney. "Let them see them, counselor."
The attorney handed them to Christine who gave them to Tyler and Kevin. Tyler was mortified. They were of her having sex with someone but you couldn’t tell who it was clearly and the pictures looked as though they had been doctored. Kevin leaned over her shoulder to see them.
"Tyler," whispered Kevin. "Some of those are of you and me."
"How can you be sure?"
"Look at the guy’s pelvis."
Tyler looked closely at the picture and could just barely make out Kevin’s tattoos. She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Then she noticed that they were dated. All of the dates were AFTER Lou kidnapped her, meaning that she had the tattoo on her ankle. In some of them, you could clearly tell that there was NO tattoo on the girl’s ankle.
"Chris, some of these are of me and Kevin," whispered Tyler as she handed three to her.
"By the date, we were MARRIED so my question is, how did he get them? These others, they aren’t of me or Kevin."
"How can you be sure?"
"Well, in the ones of us, you can see the Kevin's pelvis and his tattoos."
"Are you sure?"
"I’m positive."
Christine stood up, "Your honor, some of these pictures are of my clients AFTER they were married according to the dates on the pictures. These final ones are not of them at all. How do we know? Well, the tattoos in the pictures."
Christine went on to explain what Tyler had said.
The judge looked at Joey’s attorney and said, "It’s a simple matter to prove. Do you want to withdraw your evidence?"
The attorney looked sheepishly and said, "Yes ma’am." Then he went on to present the rest of his case. When he was done, he had made an attempt to paint Tyler as an unfit mother but had only succeeded in making Joey look worse.
Kevin and Tyler looked at each other trying hard not to get excited.
The judge said, "I’m going to take the information presented into my chambers to review. I will have my decision in an hour."
Everyone stood as the judge left and then Kevin took Tyler in his arms. He kissed her on the neck as he held her and whispered, "It’s almost over, baby."
The whole group gathered around Tyler and Kevin and Tyler took Scott from Howie. They were talking together as the members of ‘NSync gathered around Joey.
Tyler glanced over and heard Lance say, "Joey, you’re such an idiot! Why did you go after Tyler like that anyway?"
AJ had heard them too and said, "Look’s like if the judge wants to hear from them, you will definitely win."
"Let’s not get too overly confident," said Tyler. "It’s not over until the judge passes judgment."
"NO, JOEY....STAY AWAY," warned JC. "This is NOT the place to start something."
"Yeah, man," said Chris. "Do you want to totally blow your
chances of EVER seeing your son again?"
JC and Lance were trying to hold Joey back and Lance said, "You know, Tyler
has done everything to make sure that you were included in Scott’s life. Why
do insist on treating her like this?"
Joey looked at his band mates and said, "Scott is my son and I have the right to see him. They are NOT going to take that away from me."
By now, the five members of ‘NSync were near the BSB group and Howie said, "Tyler never tried to take your rights as Scott’s father away from you."
"Yeah, that’s why she filed her own custody papers and Kevin petitioned for adoption."
Kevin said softly, "Well, you know, technically, you have NO rights to Scott in the first place. You RAPED Tyler and you know it."
Joey shot Kevin a nasty look and Lance said, "I thought you said you didn’t, Joey."
Tyler looked at Joey, "Well?"
Joey looked around at the group, his band mates and BSB. He couldn’t escape it now and said, "Yes, I raped Tyler. I was drunk and I overheard her talking to Kevin. I figured if she wouldn’t give in to me willingly, I’d take her by force but I regretted it when I sobered up. All I EVER wanted was to have Tyler as my girlfriend but from the day I met her, her heart belong to you, Kevin. She’s been so in love with you from the very beginning and I couldn’t believe what a fool you were not to see it!"
Lance shook his head and said, "You’re damn lucky that Tyler’s attorney didn’t bring that up. You would definitely lose any chances you had of having your son. Now, you’d better be DAMN happy with whatever the judge decides."
Joey looked at Tyler, "I guess Lance is right. Can we talk?"
Tyler looked up at Kevin and he nodded his head to tell her go ahead. "Come on, let’s go to the back of the courtroom."
Tyler took Scott with them and she and Joey went to talk. Kevin stood so that he could see them clearly as the others continued to talk. Despite what was going on with Tyler and Joey and what the press reported, the two groups of men were friends. They talked about the fans and what they had in the future.
At the back of the courtroom, Joey took Scott’s hand in his. "He’s so little. Is he doing okay now?"
"Yeah, he’s fine. We were kinda scared for a while."
Joey looked up at Tyler. His voice softened and he said, "You were so beautiful that night after you’d had him. It hurt so much knowing that it was Kevin you loved and not me."
"I tried, Joey. I really did but we all know now that Kevin has always been in my heart."
"I really wish you all the best, Tyler." Joey reached up and brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers.
Kevin saw this and he tensed at the thought of Joey touching her. He watched and saw that Tyler was okay so he remained where he was.
Tyler said, "Joey, I want us to be friends...raise Scott together. He needs to know his father."
Joey bowed his head. "No, Tyler. Kevin was right. I have no rights to him since I did rape you. When the judge comes back out, I’m going to tell her that I give up all my rights and Kevin can adopt him. Kevin will make a good father to him. He’s already shown that. God knows, he didn’t have to stand by you or Scott at all and you can see it in his eyes how much he loves both of you."
"Are you sure that’s what you want to do?"
"Yeah. I do. It’s the right thing to do and it will make you happy."
Tyler leaned to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."
"Seeing the look in your eyes is worth it."
Tyler handed Scott to Joey and said, "I’m going to go talk to Kevin and the others. Why don’t you spend some time with him?"
"Are you sure you trust me?"
"Definitely."
Joey watched as Tyler went back to be with Kevin then he looked down at Scott who had slept peacefully through the whole morning. "Well, little buddy. This is it. I’m going to do the right thing by you and let your mother and the man who truly loves you...not that I don’t but Kevin will be a much better father to you than I could ever hope to be. And he loves your mother so much."
Tyler was standing with Kevin, her back against his chest and his arms around him. He whispered in her ear, "What’s going on?"
She looked up at him, "You’ll understand later."
Joey brought Scott back to Tyler as the bailiff came into the courtroom and said, "The judge will be returning in about five minutes with her decision."
The guys from ‘NSync went back to their seats as the guys gathered around Tyler.
Howie asked, "What was up with Joey and you letting him have Scott?"
Tyler smiled, "You’ll find out soon enough."
As the rest of the courtroom took their places, Tyler handed Scott to Howie and then they all took their seats. The proceedings got started and Tyler looked over at Joey.
Joey smiled and leaned to his attorney. He whispered something to him and his attorney looked extremely angry. Then Joey stood up, "Your honor, I have something I need to say."
"Go ahead, Mr. Fatone."
Tyler squeezed Kevin’s hand as Joey said, "Your honor, there are a lot of things that Mr. and Mrs. Richardson could have used today to get full custody of Scott but they chose not to. They have been extremely gracious every step of the way but I’ve been a real jerk. That’s why, the only RIGHT thing for me to do now is to give up all my rights to Scott so that Mr. Richardson can adopt him."
"You have thought this out and you’re sure?"
"Yes ma’am. Like I said, they have both been more than willing to let me be a part of my son’s life and I’ve done everything to make life for both of them difficult."
"And you fully understand that after today, you have NO LEGAL rights to Scott?"
"I fully understand."
"Well, that certainly changes everything. Mrs. Richardson, I grant full custody of Dwaine Scott Fatone to you and at this time, I will approve the petition of adoption, Mr. Richardson. He is your son officially."
Kevin looked at Tyler and the joy that was in their eyes would have lit up Disney World. The others were extremely happy as well to say the very least.
******************
The tour resumed almost seven weeks after Scott’s birth and Tyler was with Kevin for it. They had Tiffany and Scott with them as well. Since Kryss and Sonja were touring with Howie and Brian, Tyler was able to go back to dancing which she had missed. On stage, it was evident to those who knew that the couple was extremely happy to be together.
The first night back out, when it was time for the introductions, Kevin stepped up and said, "I want to thank all of you who sent flowers, cards, and well wishes when Tyler and Scott were in the hospital and for all the support you gave us. It meant the world to us both and now we want to give a little back to you. Now, I ask one thing. After I make this next introduction, could you please hold off on the applause and cheering? I think you’ll understand."
The crowd cheered their agreement and Kevin looked around. Howie, AJ, Brian, and Nick were all gathered around Tyler as she made her way out.
"I want to introduce to you the littlest Backstreet Boy....Dwaine Scott Richardson."
