Bad start on the whole update sooner thing, right? Well it's just been a blur of school and family time for the past - what a bit over three weeks? So I apologize for not updating this much, much sooner. As always, Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Clique, everything in the series belongs to Lisi Harrison.

Previously...

"Trial's tomorrow, take the brat and make sure she is presentable." The male ordered his voice fading out. "That is, if you can fit her in that dingy one bedroom apartment of yours."

"Oh ha ha."

A small, slightly wicked smile spread across freshly glossed lips. The small blinking red light reflected this smile throughout the room, as the owner of said smile let out a small chuckle, and pressed a manicured finger down on a button. Now completely encased in darkness, the woman let out another laugh that sounded slightly bitter. "I got'cha bitch."

-O-

"Am I getting wrinkles?"

She blurted out and her hands immediately flew to her mouth - that thought wasn't supposed to be heard by anyone, ever. Derrick turned toward her slowly, with eyes wide, and a bit of confusion painted on his face. "You...you..w-what?"

Well there was no way to reverse time - that she knew of. She bit her lip and mustered up her nerve. "Am I getting wrinkles? You know from all the stress?"

Derrick barked out a laugh and gave her an amused smile. "I really think that's the last thing you need to be worrying about."

Westchester, NY

Westchester County Court

Tuesday, January 9th

11:30 a.m.

Massie Block stood, staring at the white building, in the middle of the sidewalk. Passer byers shoved past her, giving annoyed stares as she blocked stead stream of people. She could care less, this was it. When she went in there, they would decided if she was allowed to be the parent of Sophie or not.

Derrick grabbed her sweating hand and gave a slight smile. His words of encouragement from earlier, brought a small smile to her lips. "Let's get going, we have about fifteen minutes."

She nodded and followed him - still holding hands - across the street. Her heart thrummed in her ears as they neared the building. What she wouldn't give for some gum, to chew out her nerves.

The Westchester County Court building itself was fairly standard and seemingly rather boring to Massie, but the numerous people outside caught her attention. A long line of people lined the walls of the building. Some dressed in business suits, others in, and some even had track suits on.

She wrinkled her nose and scanned them all for cameras signaling paparazzi. There were no cameras, that she could see of, and prepared to run if needed.

No one seemed to care as they shoved to the front of the line. Except the slight widening of one man's eyes nobody even seemed to recognize them. Which was good, considering the fact both her and Derrick were considered celebrities. Having the both of them together would just bring the sudden mess. And they both agreed that having Sophie in the public eye would be nothing but trouble.

The glass doors showed Massie her current state. Once sparkling amber eyes, now glistened with worry. A pinched expression showed on her face, that made her frown with dislike. She didn't like this at all. Not the situation, not the non existent details, and she certainly disliked not having her baby girl by her side.

Bianca met them at the door, a small encouraging smile on her face. "It's about time. Good Luck and just remember to keep calm, okay? I'll do everything in my power to assure that you walk away with your daughter today."

Massie nodded and walked forward clutching Derrick's hand like a life line. He gave her an encouraging squeeze as they walked through the intimidating double oak doors.

The first thing she saw would be committed in into memory for possibly the rest of her life.

Alex stood ready as ever with a satisfied smirk on his face, Claire was next to him looking every bit like the spoiled bitch she had become. Those two were easily ignore, Massie zeroed in on her daughter. Sophie stood next to Claire coming about mid-thigh, her face was red, and obvious traces of tears stood clear on her normally bright porcelain skin.

Sophie had yet to see them enter the room and Massie felt slightly glad. She wouldn't understand why her mother hadn't already rushed over, she wouldn't understand any of this, she would only wonder why her mommy hadn't saved her already.

Massie watched as Claire's talons dug into Sophie soft, pudgy, arm. Claire's eyes narrowed as she watched Massie with Derrick on her arm. She knelt down to Sophie's level and whispered something in her ear.

Several things happened then.

Sophie stomped her foot and started yell-shrieking at Claire, fresh tears welling up in her sparkling amber eyes.

Alicia, Kristen, and Dylan walked in, husbands trailing behind closely. Alicia shouted her name, attracting the attention of Sophie who cried in relief, and gave a yell of "Mommy!"

The judge for the case walked into the room, attracting attention with the loud bang of the previously mentioned oak doors. He gave a sheepish smile and the small indentions in his cheeks confirmed his identity.

Even after all these years Dempsey Solomon was as recognizable as he was 10th Grade year, when he returned from Africa for the second time.

Sophie ripped her arm out of Claire's death grip and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her towards Massie. "Mommy! Mommy! Dat meanie was hurting me!"

Massie's arms twitched to pick up Sophie, but she couldn't. That would breach some technicality of the reasons for Sophie being in Alex's care. Instead, she crouched down so Sophie and her were eye to eye, and made a heart with her pointer fingers and her thumbs. Sophie mirrored the sign and gave a bright smile to her mom, her red face starting to clear. Massie nodded her head in the direction of a furious Claire and a steaming Alex. Sophie sniffed and gave her a sad smile but complied with her request nonetheless.

"Okay, now that's done with. Everyone be seated, please." Dempsey's voice boomed through the room, calling attention to himself. Alicia mouthed "Good Luck" with Dylan and Kristen beside her both showing their crossed fingers. Massie smiled at them and headed to her proper seat, Derrick trailing behind.

They sat for what seemed like an eternity as Dempsey read over some of the case notes. He gave a smile to Sophie and called her up next to him.

"Hey there. Do you mind answering some questions for me, Sophie?"

"Yes. Mommy says I not 'posed to talk ta stwangers."

"Well, my name is Dempsey Solomon and I used to know your Mommy, she went to my school. Does that make me a stranger still?"

Sophie peaked around Dempsey's frame and locked eyes with Massie, asking if that was true. A small smile formed on her lips and Massie gave a nod of affirmation. "Kay."

"What's your favorite toy?"

"My Bratz Doll!" Sophie gave him a look that clearly said she thought he was insane for even asking.

"You know, I have a daughter your age who likes Bratz too. Who's your favorite Bratz Doll?"

"Chloe!" She squealed in excitement.

"Why is that?"

"Cause she looks like me, 'cept the eyes. I have Mommy's eyes!" Sophie told him proudly a smile on her face.

"I see that. Do you like living with Mommy?" Dempsey asked. Massie couldn't help, but notice how he was trying to lead Sophie into that throughout the conversation.

Sophie gave him another look. "Course I do! Mommy is nice and pwetty and feeds me unlike dat meanie lady. Oh and Mommy buys me toys and lets me wear Walph Laren!"

Alicia gave a small laugh from behind Massie. Sophie loved her "Walph Laren".

Dempsey chuckled at Sophie. "Ralph Lauren? Can you tell me who the meanie lady is?"

Sophie nodded and shrunk down to her knees and gestured for Dempsey to do the same. She whispered loud enough that Massie could hear the conversation from her seat. "She's in the room."

"Really, where?" Dempsey rose up a little bit, but a small hand landed on his shoulder, and pulled him down. A serious expression was planted on Sophie's normally cheery face. She pointed towards Claire in a non-obvious way, of course.

"See meanie gurl, she's nex to the kweepie man." Dempsey nodded gravely at her and raised an eyebrow in Massie's direction. Massie shrugged and smiled at Sophie's adorableness, her smile quickly turned into a frown. Claire and Alex were still a threat to her baby's well-being.

"Did they feed you when you were in their care?" Sophie shook her head quickly and then paused.

"Well they fed me when I don't go pee duwing the day." Dempsey frowned at this and looked back at his notes.

"Has your mother ever done that?" Sophie's eyes widened tremendously and she shook her head so fast, she almost fell over. "Mommy always feeds me! Weren't you paying adention!"

"I guess I wasn't paying attention." Dempsey smiled down at her. "Has your Mommy ever hit you?"

Sophie stared at him blankly, not replying. Massie's heart stuttered, she'd never hit Sophie, she couldn't remember a time when she had. Slowly, Sophie's eyebrows scrunched together and an annoyed expression appeared on her face. "Were you not paying adention! I toad you! Mommy is nice! Mommy would never hit me!"

Dempsey apologized and asked Sophie to remain seated next to him. "Well. I'm ready to make my final decision-"

Claire shot up with an indignant yell of "That's not fair!"

Dempsey gave her a steady glare, calmly telling her to sit down. "That isn't helping your situation Ms. Lyons. We have more than enough evidence on you, to send you to jail for six years at the least."

"What evidence?" Alex demanded, eyes blazing as he stared down Dempsey. Dempsey walked back up to his podium and pulled out a disk. He placed the CD into the CD player, on his podium, that connected to a speaker system. A static sound popped through and then two voices could be heard.

"You should take her to the bathroom, she keeps twitching and it's driving me insane." A male voice filled the air. A female's snort could be heard.

"You take her if irritates you so much. I am not touching her, she's probably diseased. No doubt something she picked up from her mother." A woman's voice replied.

"Shut up, like the father is as perfect as you seem to think he is." he replied. "The better question here is what are we going to do with her?"

"Well for one - like you ever so stupidly suggested earlier - we cannot just kill her. She is currently entrusted in our care, if she disappears while in our possession, we will be prime suspects!" she snapped.

Then what do you suggest we do? It's agreed we both want her dead. The problem is how to accomplish this goal." his patience was obviously thinning...

They all listened to the recording, zeroing in on Claire and Alex's reactions to this new development. Both were caught, no denying it, and no way of getting out of this one.

"Now," Dempsey's voice broke everyone out of their shocked state. "I won't be able to tell you the exact time you will be serving in jail. For that, you will have to go through to another judge - you'll probably be getting the letters in a few days time. Alex you also wanted for among various other things, drug possession. Claire you are going to jail for something that should not be even thought of in a child's presence. This should go without saying, but Sophie will stay in the custody of her parents."

"Wait a second!" Claire schreeched, stomping over to Dempsey. Her face was red - from embarassment or anger, Massie didn't know - and her blond hair flew wildly behind her. "How did you get a recording of our conversation!"

"That would be me." A stunning woman stood up from the very back, hidden from their eyes the entire time. Her shoulder length brown hair bounced as she walked towards the group, and her green eyes sparkled in mirth.

Massie threw her head back and laughed. "Layne Abeley. How nice to see you again. It's been how many years?"

"Three years, six months, four weeks. Something like that. It's always nice to see you Massie, but forgive me if I don't count down the exact seconds." Layne smiled brilliantly at her and ran up to Sophie. She started tickling her and Sophie shrieked with delight. "Remember me? I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. You were just a baby when we first met."

"Layme!" Sophie yelled hugging Layne's leg.

Layne's mouth twitched upwards. "Yeah. Layme."

She extracted herself from Sophie's embrace. "While Dempsey has never met Sophie, as you clearly can tell I have. So when I heard what was going on from a little bird, I had to help in any way I could. Of course in my line of work, I have the resources required to gather the evidence that was needed."

"Thank you Layne." Massie gave her a grateful nod. Layne smiled at Massie and nodded in Derrick's direction with a raised eyebrow. She rolled her eyes at Layne, but nodded signaling a yes.

"I believe this trial is dismissed. I wish everyone a good day." Dempsey threw his arm around his wife and they walked out of the room. Massie smiled as she watched them go. "They're so adorable."

"I know! Not as cute as Josh and I of course - or Derrick and you for that matter - but still." Alicia threw her arms around me in a hug and we started bawling. "I'm so glad!"

"I know!"

"What if-"

"Let's not even think of the what ifs okay?" Josh put his arms around his wife in order to calm her. Massie looked over her shoulder to see Derrick spinning Sophie around in the air. Sophie was laughing and smiling as much as ever.

This was good.

This was how it was supposed to be.

Massie could only hope it stayed this way for a while.

Ta da! Again I apologize for the long wait. I may have made a few mistakes, so please tell me so I can fix them ASAP. Two things I want to cover in this not so small Author's note.

(1) I got the second chapter of Despondent. Desperate. Life. up so that's why I took a little longer to get this chapter. Well that, and I was lazy.

(2) I just found out, or rather realized that book 14 of the Clique series will be coming out February 15, 2010. First off, yes I'm quite happy that it's going to be coming out sooner than I thought. Secondly, I'm so depressed it's coming out that soon. This is the last book of the series! I mean this is what all of us write for! And it's almost over! I'll still write and all, but it's just kind of like I said depressing. I have been writing for the Clique series on Fanfiction for a little bit over two years. So yea kinda gets to me. Are you guys upset too?

I looked at the summary for it my depressed level reached maximum when I saw this line (which I guess I need to say, belongs to Lisi Harrison):

The Clique . . . the only thing harder than getting in is saying goodbye.

Is it bad I was close to tearing?

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this long overdue chapter.

-Layta Relient-Only