Hello, thank you for the feedback! I've taken into consideration many ideas (again; as usual!) and came up with this. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Still not mine…except for the characters I made up.

New Beginnings, Ch. 6

Two Weeks Later…

Ryan tried and tried to get the judge to grant him full custody of Michael and Theresa, but the judge said that without hard proof, that just wasn't going to happen, so the current situation was still in place. It had been a full two weeks since the kids saw Gabi…and Rob. Michael, being so young, was the only one looking forward to going back; he loved his mom and Rob hadn't laid a hand on him; in fact, he pretty much ignored him. Theresa on the other hand did not want to go back. While she loved her mom very much, she also hated Rob a lot. But she knew that it would be illegal to not go visit for the weekend.

"Have everything you need," Ryan asked as Theresa brought her small suitcase out into the living room.

"I guess so," she said, looking at her feet.

He nodded, "Let's get going then."

Once there, Theresa grabbed Ryan's hand. "I don't want to go in," she said in a whisper.

"I'm sorry honey, but you have no choice," he said, smiling weakly at her.

Gabi came to the door, Angela in her arms. "Hi guys," she said, greeting her children. "Hello Ryan," she said coolly.

"Gabi," he said. "I need to use the bathroom really fast; I know that the one down here isn't working, so do you mind if I go upstairs?"

She shook her head, "No go ahead."

"Thanks." He went up the stairs. What Gabi didn't know was that Ryan went left instead right: he went into Theresa's room and placed the small camera that was in the same hand as Theresa's suitcase (which he said he'd bring to her room) on the dresser, behind her stuffed animals. Only the lens could be seen, but even that was hard to see. He turned it on, went into the bathroom, flushed the toilet and came back downstairs. "Okay, thank you." He turned to the kids, "Can I have my hugs," he asked with a small smile. Both kids walked over and gave him hugs. But Theresa wouldn't let go.

"Don't go daddy," Theresa pleaded, a few tears coming down her cheeks.

He kissed her head. "Just call if you need anything," he whispered. He wasn't about to tell her about the camera; he knew she would stare at it thus making it very easy for Rob to find it.

She nodded and watched as Ryan walked out to the car and left.

"Okay, so who wants some ice cream," Gabi said with a smile.

"Me!" Michael exclaimed.

Gabi smiled, "Okay…Theresa? Would you like some?"

She shook her head, "No, I just want to go upstairs," she said quietly.

"O-Okay," Gabi said slowly, watching Theresa walk up the stairs.

Theresa walked to her room and lay down on her bed. She looked out the window and could see that it was a cloudy day outside. She decided to take a nap.

"Theresa," Gabi said a few hours later, "Theresa wake up honey, it's time for dinner."

Theresa slowly opened her eyes. "Okay."

"Why don't you wash up and then come down?"

She nodded, "Okay mommy."

Gabi smiled and walked out of the room and down the stairs.

Theresa got off her bed and walked into the bathroom to wash her hands. As she walked into the bathroom, however, she tripped on the rug and fell flat on her face. She did her best not to cry, but when she saw the tiny blood stain on the rug from the new cut on her lip, she knew that she was in trouble.

"What have you done," boomed a voice from behind her.

She turned around and saw Rob standing over her. "I-I tripped…"

"Right, sure you did. Look at what you have done to the rug," he said as he grabbed her face and made her look at the blood stain.

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I didn't mean to!"

He grabbed her arm and yanked her up and slapped her across the face. "Of course you didn't mean to," he said mocking her tone.

"Rob! What are you doing?" Gabi asked from behind.

He turned around, "Gabi, look at what your daughter did to the rug." He pointed out the spot of blood.

Gabi shot him a look and then quickly went over to Theresa, "Honey what happened to your lip?"

"I tripped on the rug," she said, tears falling down her face.

Gabi could see red marks on her face as well. "Rob, what are these," she asked, pointing to the marks on her face, especially a rather large one from where he slapped her.

He shrugged, "Must be from when she tripped."

Gabi looked at him, "People don't get marks like these when they trip, Rob. What really happened here?"

"I'm telling you, Gabs, she tripped. Now quit with the third degree already." He walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs.

"Are you sure you're all right," she asked, putting a hand on Theresa's sore arm.

"OW!" Theresa cried out in pain.

Gabi rolled up her sleeve. "Oh my…honey what happened?"

"Nothing," she said quickly as she hurried out of the bathroom and down the stairs.

Gabi stayed behind for a moment. Could Ryan have been telling the truth all along? Was Rob really hurting Theresa? She shook her head and walked down the stairs to the kitchen and served dinner.

Later that night, Theresa decided she was thirsty so she took her glass that was on her nightstand and walked to the bathroom and filled it with water. On the way back from the bathroom, some of the water spilled out, causing her hand to get slippery, which then caused her to lose the grip she had on the glass and it fell…CRASH to the floor. She shook her head, "No, please no," she said, trying to pick up the bigger pieces of glass before anyone could…too late.

"What the hell did you do now you little btch!" Rob yelled. (I am one of those people who refuses to use the full curse word, so you'll see an asterisk somewhere in the middle of each one)

"I'm sorry, I lost my grip," she said, walking away from Rob, who simply inched closer and closer to her.

"Oh you're going to be sorry, that's for sure," he growled as he hit her shoulder, causing her to fall backwards on to the floor.

"Get away!" She screamed, accidentally waking Angela.

"Now look what you've done!" He grabbed her by her pajama top and threw her on to her bed and slapped her.

Thankfully, the little camera was capturing all of this on film.

"Rob!" Gabi screamed from the door, Angela in her arms. "What the hell is going on in here!" She walked into the room and saw Theresa on the bed, tears in her eyes and broken glass on the floor.

"Everything's fine," he said; the crash you probably heard was the glass Theresa had in her hands. She was carrying it back to her room when it fell," he said, eyeing Theresa.

Gabi faced Theresa, "Is this true?"

Theresa, scared to death that Rob would do something else, just nodded. "I wanted to get a drink of water…but the glass broke," she said, her head hanging.

Rob looked at Gabi and flashed an innocent smile, "See? That's all that happened. I just came in here to see if everything was all right."

Gabi nodded, not sure of who to believe. "Okay…well did you hurt yourself, Theresa?" She then saw a huge mark on her chest from where Rob grabbed her. "What is this?"

"From when she dropped the glass," Rob interjected; everything's fine, honey. You take Angie and go back to bed." He kissed Gabi on the head.

She nodded, "All right…goodnight Theresa," she said as she moved to hug her.

Theresa moved forward to hug her mom, "Goodnight," she said sadly.

Gabi left the room.

Rob turned to Theresa and slapped her again, "That's for almost telling your mother," he snarled in a low voice.

Theresa ignored him and picked up the pieces of glass that weren't too small. There was a broom in the hall closet which she went and got to sweep up the remaining pieces. She then got into bed and cried herself to sleep. What she did not know, however, was that the small video camera had gotten all of this on tape.

Ryan arrived at the house at exactly 3:00 the next day. He was hoping that his little plan to make Gabi believe him and get proof that Rob really was abusive worked. He rang the doorbell.

Gabi came to the door, "Hello," she said coolly as she let him into the house.

"Hi," he said just as coolly. "Where are the kids?"

"Theresa's up in her room and Michael's in the den watching a movie," she said. Her voice sounded a bit shaky.

He looked at her, "Is everything all right?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, everything's fine; Theresa had a little accident with a glass of water last night, but that's about all."

"Is she all right," he asked as he hurried up the stairs to her room.

"She's fine," Gabi said, following him.

Ryan walked into Theresa's room, only to see an emotionless little girl sitting on the bed, another large bruise on her arm. Ryan rushed over to her, "Theresa, what happened?"

No answer.

He picked her up and held her, but she did not hug him whatsoever. Her face was expressionless and there were tear stains all over her face. "What happened," he asked Gabi again.

"She…she was fine an hour ago, I swear," Gabi said, genuinely concerned. "She was playing with her dolls and then Angela woke up and she stopped playing."

Ryan gave Gabi an odd look, "Why would she stop playing because she heard Angela cry?"

Gabi shrugged, "I have no idea."

"Where's Rob?"

"He had to go fix something at work, why?"

"Just wondering," he said. "So how many times did he hit her last night," he asked, setting Theresa back down on the bed; she had yet to utter a word.

Gabi gave an exasperated sigh, "How many times to I have to tell you that he doesn't hit her! Sure there's tension between the two of them, but he doesn't hit her; she said so herself."

"When?"

"Last night, after she dropped her glass…I heard screaming so I came in here but everything was fine," she said, not sure if that was true or not.

"Right…I still don't believe you," he said as he picked her back up.

She threw her hands in the air, "You are impossible! No wonder why we broke up!"

"No we broke up because you were with him."

"Don't start, Ryan," she said, her voice filling with anger.

Ryan looked over at Theresa who had started to cry quietly, "Honey what's wrong," he asked, picking her up again. As he did, she sobbed in his arms, putting her arms around his neck.

"It…was…my…fault," she said in between sobs.

"What was your fault," Gabi asked.

"When he got…mad…last night," she said.

Ryan looked at her and then remembered the camera. He walked over to the stuffed animals and pulled it out. He then looked at Gabi, who had a more-than-shocked look on her face.

"What the hell! You were spying on us?"

"Not exactly; but I'm pretty sure I have the proof I need that your fiancé is a complete jerk," he said, walking out of the room, Theresa in one arm along with the camera and her suitcase in the other. He walked downstairs.

Gabi followed him, "How dare you do this Ryan! I could sue you for what you just did!"

He looked at her, "Not after what you see on this tape," he said as he went into the den, collected Michael, along with his suitcase and left the house. He looked back at Gabi, "You'll be getting a subpoena tomorrow," he said as he walked to the car.

Gabi just stood there for a moment. A subpoena; for what! She followed him out to the car. "What is on that tape?"

"You'll just have to wait until tomorrow," he said coolly as he placed the two small suitcases into the trunk.

She sighed, "Ryan, wait."

He turned around, "What?"

"S-Show me the tape; I want to know," she said quietly.

Wow, what a cliffhanger! So I used the idea of the video camera; I hope you all liked it! The truth shall be known soon! So is Ryan going to let Gabi see the tape before he shows it to the court? If so, what's her reaction going to be? Think she already suspects something? Please review! And as always, thank you for reading!