'Twas The Night Before... Ch. 02

She looked up as Steve and Amanda walked in, accompanied by a man with a briefcase and a suit that probably cost more than her car was worth. Obviously, their lawyer. Steve wouldn't look at her as he took his seat at the opposite table. Amanda sat in the front row of the gallery, giving her an icy stare.

Kathryn shuffled through her papers for what must have been the tenth time, then checked her watch. Five minutes to go. She wanted to get this over with. She wanted it to not happen at all. She thought of Caitlyn, playing happily at the daycare without any clue of what was happening. She wondered if the judge ordered her taken away from her, how would it happen? Would she just have to hand her over to Steve that afternoon? Would she get a few days to say goodbye? She started to tear up.

Someone touched her arm. She jumped, and looked up to find a woman in her forties with a short, professional haircut and a business suit standing next to her table.

"Kathryn Hayden?" the woman asked.

"Y-yes. Who are you?" Kathryn pulled a tissue from her purse and quickly dabbed at her eyes.

The woman sat in the chair next to her, setting her briefcase on the table. "I'm Mary Jane Stamford. You can call me MJ. This is going to be a little rushed, but we got stuck in traffic. I meant to be here a half-hour ago."

"What? What are you talking about?"

She pulled a sheet of paper out of her briefcase and set it in front of Kathryn. "I'm an attorney with Lampedo Women's Legal Services. I'm here to help you, if you'll let me. I just need you to sign this form authorizing me to represent you."

"But how...? Where did you...? Wait... Lampedo?" She turned in her seat to find Megan sitting in the back row of the gallery, the lone spectator besides Amanda. She was in a suit herself, but her hair was more mussed than normal and she had dark circles under her eyes. Her face was expressionless as she met Kathryn's gaze.

Kathryn turned back to the woman sitting next to her. "You can just step in and do this? You don't know anything about my case."

"I know more than you think I—" She paused and looked up as the bailiff entered the room. "I'm sorry, we're out of time. Kathryn, I need you to trust me and sign this paper so I can help you. I won't let them take Caitlyn away from you." She held out a pen towards her.

Kathryn teared up again, then grabbed the pen and quickly scrawled her signature on the form just as the bailiff loudly intoned, "All rise! The honorable Judge Oscar Hodges presiding."

MJ took Kathryn's arm and gently pulled her to her feet as everyone else stood.

The judge took his seat and everyone sat, except for MJ and Steve's lawyer.

"Your honor, Wendell Pickety for the plaintiff."

"Mary Jane Stamford for the respondent, your honor."

"Objection, your honor. Respondent's counsel is not the counsel of record in this case," Mr. Pickety said.

The judge looked up, surprised. "You're objecting to the presence of counsel, Mr. Pickety?"

"Yes, your honor," Pickety said.

"O-o-o-kay. Miss Stamford?"

"Your honor, I'm with Lampedo Women's Legal Services, with whom I'm sure you are familiar. My client has just signed the notice of my appearance as counsel of record, which the bailiff has just handed to your clerk. I apologize for the lateness of my notice. LWLS was just made aware of Miss Hayden's case last night. Mr. Pickety, here is a copy of the notice for your files." She handed a piece of paper across the aisle to Steve's lawyer. Kathryn was looking at MJ in shock. She was terribly confused at what was going on, but the apparent competence of this woman had taken at least some of the huge weight off her shoulders.

The judge looked over at his clerk, who gave the judge a thumbs up. "Overruled, Mr. Pickety. Now, let's get to the issue at hand. We have before us a petition for a change of custody?"

"Yes, your honor. The plaintiff is the biological father. He has not made claims previously, however the plaintiff has recently become concerned with the financial ability of Miss Hayden to care for the child, whereas the plaintiff has ample means available."

While Mr. Pickety was speaking, MJ had started to pile up different stacks of papers from her briefcase on the table in front of her.

"Ms. Stamford, your response?" The judge asked, then said, "I'm sorry Ms. Stamford, I should have inquired. Do you need a continuance to familiarize yourself with the case, given you just started as counsel of record today?"

"Thank you, your honor, but no, I am prepared to proceed."

The judge blinked in surprise, but nodded. "Very well. You may proceed, Ms. Stamford."

"Your honor, the respondent appreciates the plaintiff's concern with the financial situation she is in. Everyone here naturally wants what's best for little Caitlyn which is why I am filing a counterclaim against the plaintiff for more than five years of unpaid child support." She lifted a folder of papers and held them out to the bailiff who took it to the judge, while she passed an identical folder to Mr. Pickety. He accepted it with a sour look on his face.

"What?!" Amanda exclaimed, loudly, from her seat in the front row.

"Order," the judge said, mildly, taking the folder from his bailiff and opening it. "Mr. Pickety, is it accurate that there has been no child support paid by the stipulated birth father for the entire life of the child?"

"No, your honor, that is not accurate. The plaintiff has been assisting Miss Hayden for the past two years."

The judge frowned. "I see. Do you have any formalized documentation of this arrangement?"

"It's not a formalized arrangement per se, your honor. The family has been paying her tuition bill each semester. Miss Hayden has been giving the family a copy of her bill from the university at the beginning of each semester, then the family has given her a check made out to the school. This has amounted to a rather large sum. We can, of course, provide receipts."

Kathryn sank down in her seat. Things didn't seem to be going very well for her so far.

"Alright. Miss Stamford?"

"Your honor, we will stipulate to the payments. At present time, Miss Hayden has received approximately thirty thousand dollars in tuition assistance from Mr. Davis' family."

"Okay, then I—"

"Begging your pardon, your honor, I wasn't quite finished. The plaintiffs have been assisting with tuition, but additionally the respondent has to pay for books for her classes, which she is responsible for and can run into the hundreds of dollars per semester. In addition, she is providing housing, food and clothing for the child. She's been working in a daycare facility to provide income as well as a source of free child care while she attends school. None of the plaintiff's financial contributions have been to the direct benefit of the child. Accordingly, our counterclaim is asking for sixteen-hundred dollars a month in child support, a reasonable amount I think you'll agree. Since none has been paid for the entire life of the child, we are asking the court to award back payments for the sixty-seven months of Caitlyn's current age in the amount of one-hundred-seven-thousand, two-hundred dollars. However, we are generously willing to deduct the amount of tuition assistance granted to date by the family and settle for the balance of seventy-seven-thousand two-hundred dollars."

Kathryn's heart flew up into her throat and she stifled a surprised squeal.

"This is outrageous!" Amanda snapped again from the gallery.

This time the judge rapped his gavel, as he barked, "Order!" with irritation in his voice. "Mrs. Davis, I presume? You are not a party of record in these proceedings. If you can't keep your comments to yourself, I'll have you removed from the court."

"But she—" Amanda started, but the words died in her throat as the judge fixed her with a steady glare. Mr. Pickety turned around to made a calming motion with his hand to Amanda, then turned back to the judge.

"Your honor, the plaintiff has additional concerns apart from the financial matters."

"And those are...?"

"The plaintiff has recently been made aware that Miss Hayden has engaged in an inappropriate relationship with another woman. The plaintiffs feel that the child is in a harmful situation and request the child be removed to the custody of the plaintiffs."

"Inappropriate," the judge said. "How so?"

"Well... it's with another woman," Mr. Pickety said, gesturing vaguely, as if the point should be self-evident.

"Your honor, if I may?" MJ said. At the judge's nod, she continued. "There is nothing, nothing, inappropriate about the relationship between Miss Hayden and her girlfriend, Miss Megan Winerock. The couple are in a loving relationship, and have never been inappropriate with each other in the presence of the child, a fact that I'm sure both Miss Hayden and Miss Winerock would be happy to testify to under oath if you would so require. In fact, Miss Winerock is here to—"

"They're homosexuals!" Amanda barked out. "My granddaughter shouldn't be around such perversity!"

The judge slammed his gavel down, the sharp report stunning the courtroom. "Bailiff, remove Mrs. Davis from the courtroom. And if she says one more word, don't take her out to the hallway, take her to a cell for contempt!"

Amanda stood and opened her mouth to protest. "But—"

"One... more... word!" The judge said, staring her down.

Amanda shrank from his stare. Mr. Pickety turned , murmuring something to her. She glared at Kathryn, but then meekly turned and walked out as the bailiff took her arm.

MJ filled the silence that had fallen over the courtroom "Your honor, I would like to note how outrageous the bigotry on display here is! Obergefell v. Hodges made gay marriage the law of the land." MJ glanced down at a paper in front of her. "Further, under Virginia state code sixty-three point two, dash twelve-hundred, a gay spouse has the absolute legal right to adopt and/or be a guardian to a partner's child should she so wish, a desire that Miss Winerock has expressed to me personally on several occasions." Kathryn stared up at MJ in shock, then turned back to look at Megan, who still had an unreadable expression on her face.

Mr. Pickety tried to rally. "Your honor, Miss Winerock is also a bartender, which isn't the best example for a young—"

"Your honor," MJ interjected, "Miss Winerock is a paralegal at my firm, in addition to having a second job as a bartender, which is currently allowing her to put herself through Georgetown Law school. She's the most competent paralegal we have. She does better work than several of our lawyers, which is not a disparagement on them but a testament to her work ethic, intelligence and integrity. She is currently in the top ten percent of her class at Georgetown. The founder of our firm has personally expressed to me her fear that Miss Winerock might leave us when she passes the bar to make a literal pile of money at any firm that would be lucky enough to hire her away from us, as she is one of our most valuable employees."

"But—" Pickety tried to interject, but MJ was on a roll.

"Additionally, your honor, while we had not planned to raise issues of character at this proceeding, since the plaintiff has seen fit to disparage my client's character and the character of Miss Winerock, we would like the court to take notice that the plaintiff is currently unemployed. Further," she lifted another stack of papers to hand to the bailiff, "a search of Lexis-Nexus has shown the plaintiff has had three DUI arrests in the last four years, all of which have somehow managed to be taken care of in pretrial diversion programs. I'll note that it is practically unheard of for a repeat offender to be put in a diversion program after a re-offense, much less after having re-offended three times, and I should like to know how that particular privilege was accomplished."

Kathryn looked over at Steve in shock. She knew he drank a lot but had no idea that his drinking had gotten that out of control. Her head was spinning at all the turns that her case had taken in the short time since MJ had sat down next to her.

"Miss Hayden has been raising Caitlyn with primary custody, on her own, for five years, while managing a job, and while taking a full course load at her nursing school for the last two years. The plaintiff has only deigned to assist with her tuition, nothing else. Accordingly, we ask the court to find the petition to remove the child from her custody to be without merit, and that she retains sole legal custody, and further ask for judgement in favor of my client for unpaid child support."

The court fell silent for a moment. The judge looked thoughtfully at Kathryn, then said "Mr. Pickety?"

Mr. Pickety looked stunned by the verbal assault he'd just received. "Your honor, uh... I, uh... I believe we've stated our case."

"Then I find the petition to change the custody arrangement to be without merit and dismiss it as such. As to the child support request, Mr. Pickety, I'll give you some time to read and respond to the respondent's counterclaim. We'll reconvene on... Barb, what's the next free spot on my docket?"

His court clerk looked at her computer and said "Tuesday, October Twenty-Fifth, Ten-Thirty A.M. your honor."

"Tuesday, October Twenty-Fifth it is. Briefs to be submitted to my clerk two weeks prior. We're done." He rapped his gavel and stood.

"All rise," the bailiff intoned as the judge left the courtroom.

Mr. Pickety quickly gathered his papers and strode out of the courtroom, his face red, while Steve slumped in his chair looking embarrassed.

Kathryn ignored them. She looked to the back of the courtroom and found that Megan had vanished. She turned back to MJ.

"How did you—"

MJ patted her arm. "This is what my firm does, Kathryn. I'll help you from here on out. I don't think we'll be in court more than once or twice more, and I'm pretty confident we'll get you that money too."

"But I mean, how did you just show up and have all that ready? How did you know about Steve's DUI's? How did you have that big pile of papers ready for the child support request?"

"Megan's been working on this for the last couple weeks, staying in the office after work almost every night, writing briefs, doing research. What I told the judge was no lie, she does better trial prep work as a three-L than most of the lawyers at our organization. She wouldn't tell me what she was working on, but then she brought the whole pile to me last night and called in all the favors I owed her for all the times she's saved my bacon with last minute research. She asked if I'd come this morning and represent you, which I was happy to do. We spent most of the evening last night reviewing your case together. This is what we do, after all."

Kathryn looked to the empty seat where Megan had been. "She told you she wanted to be Caitlyn's mom?" Not for the first time, she felt shame at how she'd cut off communication with Megan ever since she'd been served with the custody suit.

"You're almost all she talks about when her personal life comes up, you and Cait. You guys are lucky to have each other." She looked to the back of the courtroom. "Where'd she go, anyway?"

"I guess she had a thing," Kathryn whispered.

"Well, here's my card. Give me a call in the next week or two and let's set up a meeting for us to go over what we need to do for your next hearing. And seriously, don't worry too much. They're not going to take Cait away from you. We've already won that today. They might appeal, but it won't go anywhere. The next big thing is to get you that child support, okay?"

"Okay... MJ, I just, I... I can't thank you enough."

"Thank Megan, she's the one who did all this." She pointed at the stack of papers she'd been shoveling back into her briefcase. "I swear to God, I've never seen so much prep work done for one case. She wrote up four other counterclaims for possible arguments they might raise." She stood up. "It was nice to meet you Kathryn. I'm sorry, but I have to run. I have another hearing upstairs."

"Nice to meet you too," Kathryn said, as MJ left. She continued to sit at the table, stunned.

She looked over and saw Steve still slouched in his chair, looking at her.

Kathryn looked away, then gathered her things. As she stood, Steve did as well.

"Hey, Kathryn," he said.

"Steve," she replied frostily, and started to walk out.

"Hey," he called after her. "Listen, I'm not going to let mom fight you on the child support stuff. I, uh... I think I should apologize for this whole shit-show. It was all mom's doing. And this custody thing is over. I'll see to it."

Kathryn stopped walking and turned, disbelief on her face. "Really?"

"You're a better mom than I could ever be a dad. I know that from how awesome Cait is. I know I'm a fuckup." He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Amanda will never pay that child support willingly," Kathryn said.

"She doesn't have to. I have my trust fund from dad's estate. I'll get you a check by next week if that's okay, and we can set up an automatic transfer to your bank every month. I can afford it. I'm... I'm sorry I haven't been there for you and Cait like I should. Just... just don't take away my visitation with her, please?"

Kathryn blinked at him. "I don't want her around Amanda anymore."

Steve looked thoughtful. "I know me saying this must seem out of left field. Pickety is mom's lawyer and I've always thought he was kind of a dick. I'm sorry he tried to trash you and... what's her name again? Megan?"

"Yes, Megan."

"Does she make you happy?" he asked.

Her breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure if Megan would ever speak to her again. "She makes me very happy."

He looked sad. "About the only thing in my life that makes me happy these days is when Cait comes to visit. Please don't take that away from me. I'll get my own place if that will make a difference."

She walked closer and put her hand on his arm. "Steve, if you really mean all that, I don't want to take her dad away from her, but you should really get some help. With your drinking, I mean. I can't be worrying that you might drive drunk with her in the car sometime."

"I would never do that!" he said, vehemently. "Never, Kathryn."

She looked him in the eyes for a long moment. "Then get some help for yourself, okay?"

"Okay," he said, his voice rough. "Tell Megan that I'm sorry that my lawyer is an asshole and tried to trash her like that in court. She's lucky to have someone like you. And I'm sorry that I was a fuck-up when we were together. When you needed me... you know, when you were pregnant... I'm sorry I ran out on you. Let me know if you need anything."

She looked around the courtroom, her head spinning. Absolutely nothing had gone the way she'd thought it would today, and it had all been for the better. All except... She looked back again to where Megan had been sitting.

"Actually, you could do me a favor, if you're willing," she said, "Could you take Caitlyn out to dinner tonight? You know she loves the Lost Dog Cafe."

~~ Arlington, Virginia ~~

"Refill guys?" Megan asked.

"You know it, Megs," Eddie said. John nodded in agreement and lifted his empty glass.

Megan got two fresh glasses from the freezer and pulled two pints, setting them in front of her regulars. "C'mon. Coasters, guys. How many times do I have to tell you?" She went down the bar, refilling empty drinks as needed, then checked on the tables, taking a couple of food orders. It was busier than usual for Friday night. She was grateful for the distraction, and happy that Andy had asked her to cover his shift. The hurt was still raw, the look in Kat's eyes as she'd shut the door on her still fresh in her mind. She was fairly certain it was over between them, and not just because of what Kat might want.