Chapter 6- The First Court Appearance
Levy's POV.
The judge decided that with all he had learned he was going to go straight to court and not proceed with the rest of the visitations. The first court appearance was going to be 2 ½ weeks after the visitation, a lot had happened since then, the twins were healthy except for the fact that they are small. The doctor was worried about how small Jewel was, they said she was almost too small and that if she didn't get a lot bigger before the due date she would probably have to go to the NICU when she was born, I tried not to worry about it too much. We were going to Gray and Juvia's house tonight to have dinner, we normally go over to someone's house once a week for dinner and this week it was their turn. Tomorrow was the trial and I was on edge about it, this would be deciding the rest of our future, we would go in to make our cases to the judge and then come back in two days to hear the decision.
Dinner at Gray and Juvia's house was a good distraction they announced that they were getting married in 4 months because Juvia was pregnant, and she didn't want to have a baby bump for the wedding. I was so excited for her but I was out of it from worry about Jewel and the trial happening the next day. I couldn't really focus on anything. They understood why I left early, they knew what was going on, I had told everyone about the struggles we were having with Jewel, and they knew about the trial because they were coming tomorrow. The twins were really starting to show, they were showing a lot sooner than Lilly did, but I just put it to the fact that there was two of them in there and Lilly was smaller too. When Gajeel and I got home from dinner I laid in bed as soon as I walked in our bedroom, and Gajeel came and sat down beside me.
"It's going to be okay, you know that right?" he asked me rubbing his hand over my bump causing the twins to kick at his touch, I was only five and a half months along but I already felt like I was running out of room for them. All of my clothes were tight on me and I was having to wear maternity clothes now, which meant I was not able to wear my nice clothes anymore. I had gone to the store yesterday and picked out a nice maternity outfit to wear to court tomorrow though, and I had made sure that Gajeel was going to wear something nice to it. We had to make the best impression possible on the judge so that we could win our girl back. I went to sleep in Gajeel's arms that night after struggling for about and hour or so to get comfortable.
The next morning was hectic, we had to get ready and meet Jellal at the courthouse at eight that morning to get ready for the trial, which started at nine. Gajeel was ready way before me and had to wait about thirty minutes for me to decide that I looked good enough to go before the judge. When we got there Jellal started going over the main points in the case and making sure that we weren't leaving anything out in our testimonies, we had to make this perfect to get her. It was finally time for the trial to start and we went in and got in our places to start. They called for everyone to stand for the judge to enter and things got started. They started off with getting us to swear the oath saying that we would tell only the truth about everything, and they even had Lilly do it. My parents went first and told their side of what happened and then Jellal got up to ask them questions. "What do you say made Levy and Gajeel not fit to be parents when Levy got pregnant with Lilly?" he asked starting off, "They were not married and Gajeel did not have enough money to support and raise a child." my mom said grinning thinking that this would win it for her again. "Mrs. McGarden why did you tell Lilly that her father did not love her and that her mother never wanted her?" He asked next pressing my mom. She looked down trying to think of a good answer, "Deanna, I mean Lilly asked about her mother and father and I thought those were sufficient answers for an at the time two year old." she said with concern on her face. "So you thought that telling a two year old that her mother and father didn't love or want her when they obviously do was a good idea?" Jellal asked next. "Um, well in hindsight it probably wasn't the best thing to tell her, I just wanted it to be easy for her to not be with them." Jellal was pacing now, "And do you confirm that you came to my office April 7th of 2018 to try to bribe me to drop this case?" both of my parents looked down in shame as if they were hoping that this wouldn't have been brought up. "We confirm" they both said.
Next Gajeel and I were brought up to give our story, and when their lawyer got up to ask questions it was obvious they didn't have much against us. "Mrs. Redfox, it is obvious that you are currently pregnant not to be rude but do you two have a house big enough for Lilly and the new addition to have seperate rooms?" he asked looking at my rather large bump. "Yes we do, our home has three bedrooms and two bathrooms so they will have seperate rooms." I said having already rehearsed this answer in my head. "How do you two know that you are prepared to handle a newborn and a toddler at once from not having any children at all?" he asked next and I knew the next answer to this one too, "I have been a nanny since high school and I have kept multiple children at a time, I know it's not the same as them being mine but I feel that has prepared me for this." the lawyer nodded and he seemed to be struggling to come up with questions. "Do you have an income together that will allow you to support a household and the children?" Gajeel took this one " I own a forge that does very well, Levy does work but even without her working we would be just fine on my income, I make plenty to support the children and household."
The lawyer took his seat and then we left the stand.
They brought Lilly up next and the judge asked her a few questions like did my parents treat her well, and if she had fun at the visitation, and then the question that made my heart drop. "Do you want to go live with your mommy and daddy?" and Lilly got excited and said "Yes!" the judge smiled and told her we would find out in two days if she could. She agreed happily and went back to my parents, and then they dismissed for the day and said to be back at 8 o'clock Wednesday morning. We left with Jellal and asked him how we did, he told us not to get our hopes up but that he thought we had it in the bag. After the trial we went out to lunch with all the friends, and to talk about the two weddings that needed to be planned. Gray and Juvia were rushing to get all the details of theirs figured out since they only had four months to plan it, and Lucy and Natsu were putting all of the finishing touches on theirs since it was next month. I was almost glad I didn't have to do any of that for a wedding, they all seemed so stressed, and Erza and Jellal were offering all the help they could since they were the only ones who had planned a successful wedding ceremony so far.
After lunch was over and after Juvia was about to pull her hair out from all the
stress we went back home and spent the rest of the day setting up the twins room. We were having the baby shower next month and the girls wouldn't let me help with any of the planning because they say I have too much on my plate already, they only let me pick the theme. It was hard to pick one since I was having a boy and a girl, but I finally decided on a fairy tail book theme. The rest of the day went by slowly and since it was a Monday, after we worked in the twins room for a little while, Gajeel left to go do some work at the forge. While I was at home alone I texted Lucy to see if she wanted to come over with Layla and spend the rest of the day with me. She came over about thirty minutes after that and stayed at the house until Gajeel came home to go to bed. I had to work tomorrow so I went to bed before him and ended up falling asleep before he came to bed.
The next day seemed to crawl by and work was slow and I just knew it was because I was so ready to get to tomorrow, I was so ready to know what the judge was going to decide. The only relief I had was being able to talk to Myra about how the trial had gone, she wanted to hear everything, and after I told her everything she was almost positive that tomorrow the judge would say she was ours. Lucy brought Layla in for a little bit and that brightened the day. After they left it crawled by with not much to do until it was time to sort through and make sure everything was in the right place. When I got home that night Gajeel was already in the shower, he typically takes a shower as soon as he gets home, so I started making dinner to keep my mind distracted. I made katsudon for dinner because I had been craving it for the past few nights, and that was about the most normal thing the twins had made me crave. One night I was craving pickles with oreos, that one made Gajeel almost throw up, and another time I wanted jalapenos on ice cream. We went to sleep that night anxious for the next morning to find out if we won our girl back or not.
The next morning was just as hectic trying to get ready if not more, because this time we weren't sure if we would be bringing home our daughter. We got to the courthouse thirty minutes early and met Jellal to find out if there was anything we needed to know before it started. He told us that the most important thing for us to do is to make sure we kept up the professional appearance no matter what happens. Finally the closing statements portion of the trial began and our lawyers said the closing statements and the judge stood up to announce the decision. "The jury has come to the decision that Lilly Nicole Refox is now under the guardianship of Levy and Gajeel Redfox." And my heart rose into my throat when he finished. We had gotten our girl back, and I couldn't have been happier. Gajeel grinned at me and the rest of our friends stood up and clapped for us, Lilly looked around a little confused as to what was going on. "Lilly will go home with you two and I will send a police escort with you to pick up her things from your parents house. And your parents will have supervised visitations once a month." The case closed and one of the guards brought Lilly over to us, and told us that he would be the escort to go get her things from my parents house. On June 6, 2018 we won our daughter back and that would forever be one of the most special days ever. We went to her parents house right after we left and packed up all her clothes and toys and took her back to her new home!
When we showed Lilly her room she was so excited to be with us it was amazing. She was still sleeping in her lowered crib at my parents house but we had a toddler bed and she was so excited about her big girl bed. I put her suitcase down and didn't take any of her clothes out because we didn't have a dresser for her yet, I let her pull all of her toys out and put them in the corner she wanted her toy box to be in. I called Lucy and asked her if it would be too much for her, Erza, and Juvia to pull together a welcome home party for Lilly tonight. She told me that she was already on it and hung up the phone. I giggled to myself, "Hey Lilly bug would you like to watch a movie or do you want to play in your new room for now?" I asked her walking into her room to see her sleeping on her bed, I smiled and tried not to wake her up and turned off the light and closed the door. I decided that now would be a good time to text my mom and ask her to send me a copy of Lilly's schedule for a daily routine. "Hello, I know you probably do not want to hear from me but I would like a copy of Lilly's everyday schedule, and I would like to thank you for being professional about giving my daughter back. Thanks in advance" I hit send and put down my phone and turned to Gajeel who was in the kitchen, "We should probably take her shopping tomorrow to pick out things for her room, I want her to be able to help with it." He nodded and started eating the sandwich he made, "That's a good idea, we probably need to measure the walls in her room to make sure everything we get will fit." I laughed and told him that was his job when she woke up. My phone buzzed beside me and it was a picture of what looked like her schedule and a few rude words from my mother.
7:30- Wake her up and feed her breakfast
9- Playtime
11- Learning time
12- Eat lunch
1- Playtime
2-Snuggle for nap
2:30- Naptime
5:15- Wake up and go to potty
6- Eat dinner and more playtime
8:45- Bedtime
She had a busy schedule I would need to work hard and find a babysitter who could handle all of this, but I would cross that road in a few weeks. After she woke up Lucy and all the others came over to throw the welcome home part and it was great, she loved everyone and everyone loved her. She got to "hold" Layla and played with the nine month olds for a little while. When everyone left it was time for bedtime we snuggled and read a book just like we did during the visitation until she fell asleep and then we went to bed too, ready for sleep after such a long day.
A/N- I know that it is supposed to be Fairy Tale for the shower theme but I wanted to reference Fairy Tail in some way. This is not the end of the story, I have about seven more chapters planned out and I have decided that there will be a sequel to this after it is completed. I hope that all of you like this chapter and thank you so much for your continued support!
