Alice's POV

A lot had happened in the past few days. The Forks Police Department were notified about the incident that had taken place, and were right away scheduling a court appearance. The police had arrested both Jason and Joelle Shrouder on one account of child abuse. The arrest was very quick easy. The parents of the little girl seemed to make no attempt at hiding or running away. That took me by surprise for some reason.

As for Jacey, she had been at the hospital the whole time and was now able to walk without help. She hadn't said much about her parents, just that they were, "Really mean."

Besides the sadness, I was beginning to see happiness too. Everyday after school, I came to visit her. I watched her smile grow wider everyday as she would tell me about the events that had taken place at the hospital. She told me all about the doctors (who I already knew, of course) and how they were very kind to her. She said it was the nicest anyone had ever treated her. (When she told me this, I thought I was about to cry.)

Now, here we were, on our way to the Forks courthouse. The trial had come up sooner than we had expected, but we were ready. I was in my car with Jacey as we drove to the courthouse. Carlisle had given me permission to after Jacey had begged him to let me take her. I was baffled at the request, but what could I say? Anyways, so here we were in the car. Just me and Jacey driving through Forks on a rainy day.

"Alice, where are we going, again?" I heard Jacey ask from the back seat. I halted the car at a red stoplight and turned towards her. She looked absolutley beautiful. Her blond hair had been washed and combed out. She wore a red dress and black shoes with sparkly white tights. I had purchased the outfit for her a few days after we heard about the trial.

"Well, we're going to see who you will be living with." I answered simply. The light turned, and I flew the car forward. I could feel fear flowing from Jacey's young little mind.

"They aren't going to send me back, are they?" I heard her ask again. I looked into the mirror so I could see her. Aside from the dress, she looked horrible. The large white casts were still on her arms and legs. Bruises still battered her pale skin, and her eyes looked dark. I took a careful glance at the frail body before answering.

"Let's hope, Jacey." I said, finally pulling into the courthouse parking lot. It was easy finding a parking spot, so parking didn't take long. My hand reached for the door but flinched back.

"Hey, Jacey. I've got to tell you something." I said, turning back to her. "Whatever happens in there...just remember, you have many nice people on your side. Whatever your mommy or daddy did to you was sick and wrong. Just promise me that you won't be afraid to tell the truth." Jacey just stared at her knees, then looked back up at me.

"I promise Alice, I really promise."

As we walked into the front room of the courthouse, I stopped to take in the place. I had never been here before. We stood in a casual-looking front room with ceramic tiled floors, and two white couches. Two baliffs stood gaurd at two large double doors. I stood in the middle of the room, holding Jacey's hand. I felt it slip out of my grasp.

"Jazzy! You're here!" I heard Jacey say as I watched her run into Jasper's arms. I smiled and waved at him and Carlisle and Esme, who were sitting comfortably on the couches. Jasper lifted Jacey up and she hugged his neck. I smiled as she giggled happily.

"Hey, Alice!" Jasper said. I walked over.

"Are the others coming?" I asked. Esme looked at her watch.

"Um, they should be here any minute." I had invited Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie to come. They agreed, although they had never met Jacey. Carlisle Looked over towards some people crowded in a corner and then turned to me.

"Alice, Jacey, I'd like you to meet some people." I nodded and Jasper let Jacey out of his grip. We walked over to the people. There was a man and a woman. Both of them looked very proffessional. The man was tall and lean with sandy hair. The woman was dark-skinned with blazing brown eyes. She wore a pretty purple blouse, and the man wore a dark suit. I smiled at them.

"Jacey, this is Ms. Hath. She is your social worker." Carlisle motioned towards Ms. Hath who smiled sweetly.

"Hello, Jacey. I've heard so much about you!" She said. Jacey shyed away. I nodded and shook hands with Ms. Hath.

"Sorry, she seems to be a little shy." I explained.

"Oh, no need to worry. That sort of behavior is expected from..." her voice faltered. I just nodded. The man reached out to shake my hand.

"Hello, Alice...Carlise." He tipped his head. "I'll be your lawyer this afternoon. Do you want to go in and sit down?" Carlisle smiled.

"Of course. Jacey, why don't you go with Ms. Hath?" He bent down to Jacey, who was half covered behind me.

"Okay...you'll still be here, right?" She asked, worried. I patted her head before letting her go.

"Of course we will."

Jacey's POV

I walked into these huge doors with Ms. Hath, who kept looking behind her to make sure I was following. We came into a brightly lit room with a large number of benches and some tables in the front. In the very front was a big podium where an empty chair sitting there. Ms. Hath walked all the way to the front of the room and sat down with me at one of the tables. We sat quietly as people started to come into the room.

I saw Alice and Jazz, and a bunch of other people sit down towards the middle of the benches. Then, I saw a man in a police uniform bring in two people with orange suits on. My parents. I gasped. Ms. Hath turned to me.

"It's okay, Jacey. They can't hurt you anymore." I relaxed, a little, but Ms. Hath kept talking. "Jacey, now they may call you up to talk to the judge. If they do, you have to promise to tell the truth." Ms. Hath said. I just nodded.

"It's okay, I know. I made a promise to Alice to tell the truth, so why would I break that promise?" I heard her laugh a little, then turn back around. My parents were sitting in the table across from us with another man. This man had a bald head and a mustache. He looked funny. I didn't want to say that out loud though. Before I knew it, the courtroom was filled with people I didn't know. The man I saw earlier that called himself an attorney was sitting next to Ms. Hath and the empty seat at the front of the room was now filled by another man in a black robe. The man took a large hammer and banged it on the table.

"All rise!" Everybody stood up as did I. The judge had a loud voice. A security person came to the front of the room.

"This is the case of the Shrouder's verses the people. Attorney Scot Micheals is present and States Attorney Louis Monreil is present. You may take your seat." Everybody sat back down and got really quiet. I watched the judge shuffle through papers. My stomach was doing belly-flops. I was nervous and scared at the same time. I dared not to look at my parents. I was too scared. The judge began to speak.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Jacey Shrouder is here as a victim of child abuse administered by Joelle Shrouder. The court is proposing that she be taken out of the custody of Joelle Shrouder. Is this correct, Mr. Micheals?" The man sitting next to Ms. Hath stood up.

"Yes, Your Honor." I noticed that he called the man "your honor." I guess that was what we were supposed to call him. The judge nodded.

"Okay, so according to the records provided by Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Jacey suffered from burns and head trauma?"

"Yes, Your Honor, that is correct."

"And that she suffered from a seizure shortly after being admitted to the hospital?"

"Yes Your Honor, but it was not from any sort of disease. It was more of a 'spazz' that her body endured." What is a seizure? I sure didn't know, but I was starting to get bored. Until I heard my name.

"Jacey, would you please step up here." The judge said to me. I froze in my seat. Ms. Hath bent down towards me.

"Jacey, go up to the podium, sweetie." I nodded, and nervously walked up to the podium. The policeman directed me to the stairs to the podium. Once I got up, I was seated in a chair next to the judge, who took a deep breath.

"Now, Jacey. I need you to tell me what happened before you came to the hospital." The judge spoke slowly and loudly. I took a deep breath and looked out to the people. I saw Alice, who was smiling at me, and Jazz who was doing the same. Ms. Hath was giving a reassuring glance. I was nervous. What was I going to tell them? I couldn't tell them all the horrible things that had happened to me, but I promised Alice I would tell the truth. I stole a glance at my mother who was smiling. It was scary to see my mother act nice in front of all these people. It made me mad that she makes them think she is really nice.

Before I knew it, the nervousness turned to hatred towards her. I knew what I had to do.

I began to tell my story.

A/N- Okay, I was originally going to make the trial one whole chapter, but it's turning out to be a bit long. So, I'm going to cut it to two chapters instead. And one more thing. Thanks to Elisabeth, (TeamCarlisle) who pointed out my mistake on the name of "Dr. Carlisle." It's really supposed to be Dr. Cullen, but for the sake of the story making sense, I'm just going to keep calling him Dr. Carlisle.

Please review!

-Rainy