Chapter 9

Alexander Bennet

"Drifting Further Away"- Powderfinger

(Kyle POV)

I read through article after article online trying to find any new information on Alexander Bennet, which wasn't much. What I had found though, was that he was born in Anchorage, Alaska, his father, Peter was a doctor and his mother, Ann was a first grade school teacher. Alex joined the military after high-school and was discharged for unknown reasons.

I sighed and threw my pen at the desk in frustration and I held my head in my hands. I was frustrated because I felt like a failure. I was a failure to Brice because I couldn't protect him; I was a failure to Gretchen for breaking my promise. But most of all I was a failure to myself for letting all this happen.

FLASHBACK:

The white envelope sat on the counter and I couldn't bring myself to open it. The thing that bothered me about the envelope was the return address 'A. Bennet'. This was the one thing that I had been worried about for weeks, and the one thing Gretchen had warned me about.

I took a deep breath collecting my thoughts and reached for the letter. My hands shook as I opened it and read the letter aloud to my family that surrounded me in the kitchen. I looked at each one of them as I read; Stephen had his arms folded across his chest.

Dear Mr. Kyle Adam Trager,

It has been brought to the attention of myself and my client Alexander Bennet, that you are the adoptive father of Mr. Bennet's biological son Brice Kyle Trager.

Josh clenched his jaw.

Mr. Bennet has started the legal process to obtain custody of his son.

Lori had tears falling from her eyes.

I have arranged for a court hearing to sort out this dispute.

Nicole was fighting tears trying to be strong.

The court date is August 4th, 2009.

Sincerely,

Nicolas T. Marks

I finished reading the letter and no one said a word. I looked at Brice –in Nicole's arms- last and I almost broke down right then and there. I loved him so much yet I was losing him.

END OF FLASHBACK:

"Kyle, Mr. Grant is here." Stephen said knocking on my open door.

"I'll be right there." I muttered over my shoulder not looking at Stephen.

I gathered my things and turned to leave. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Brice sleeping in his crib. It brought tears to my eyes to think that after tomorrow he could possible not be in my life any more. No. I was going to fight for Brice, no matter what happened tomorrow.

I found Mr. Grant in Nicole's office talking to Stephen and Nicole.

"Mr. Grant, it's good to see you." I greeted entering the office.

He stood and shook my hand "Ah Kyle, how many times do I have to tell you, please call me Levi." He chuckled.

"I know, I'm sorry Levi," I replied trying to match his tone but I failed miserably.

I sat down in one of the chairs across from Nicole's desk were she was seated and immediately we got to work.

"As I was just telling your parents here, I was able to track down and email address of Peter Bennet. I have yet to receive a reply but if he is willing to testify against his son in order to keep his grandchild safe than that would help us a great deal." Levi explained as we looked over our information.

"And what makes you think he will?" Stephen doubted.

"Well from the story Gretchen, told Kyle, I think he wants to help his son and if his son is still an abusive person, Peter seems like the kind of person that will want to protect his grandson in order to help his son realize the kind of person he really is." Levi said rolling up the sleeves on his button up white dress shirt.

We spent the next few hours going over information and preparing for tomorrow. Then around 10 p.m. we decided to call it a night and Levi went home.

I quietly crept into my room and over to Brice's crib. I rested my forearms on the edge of the crib. He looked so peaceful when he slept. I tried to memorize everything about him. His little laugh, the way he says 'Dada', and how I just want to hold him and never let him go. I let a few tears fall from my sleep deprived eyes and roll down my stubbly cheeks. I smiled sadly down at him and I couldn't help but go through all the memories I had with him. His first words, when he spit up on Josh, his first steps, the stormy nights he spent in my arms, and when I first heard him giggle. They were just few of the many moments I had with him and I didn't want those memories to be all I had left of him after tomorrow.

I softly reached out and brushed a few hairs out of his face, and pulled the green knit blanket closer to his chin.

I smoothed back his hair and kissed his soft forehead. "Daddy will always love you." I whispered.

AN: Okay so I know that this is a short chapter but it is just the start of a LOT of drama. By the way I'm not really up to date on all the legal terms so please forgive me if I word something wrong.

As you may have noticed I put a song title at the top of the chapter by the usual information. I am going to try to start putting a song title there that I think would fit well with the chapter. I am going to leave up to you to figure out where the song should start playing and where it would fade in and out and things like that.

If you have read all this AN than thank you! Please comment and thank you for reading the new chapter I hope you enjoyed it!