That Night

"I'm asking you this, not as my wife, as a lawyer. Can she do this? Is this legal?" Punk asked, standing outside the hospital room with AJ, holding Frankie in his arms whilst Dean and Anna were inside the room. Anna was upset, obviously, as was Dean, but he was trying to reassure her the best he could. The fact it was her own mother made it all the more worse.

"She can do this." AJ nodded to him, "I mean… clearly she's paid some doctor to come up with these fake blood tests. But it's there in writing which means any judge would grant her legal custody of the baby if… if her parents are both on drugs." AJ said.

"But they aren't." Punk shook his head, "She can really just come in and take her like that?"

"Yeah. She also has a lot of money so… rich people tend to favour rich people." AJ said, "Why would she do this? What does she even have against Anna? I know they don't get along, obviously but… I don't get along with my mom, but she doesn't try and take my baby." She said.

"I don't know what's going on." Punk shook his head, "I couldn't believe it was happening in front of me." He said, "I thought Dean was gonna lose it."

"They just need to keep a cool head. They're being watched now so… anything they do from now until the official court hearing, it's gonna be watched and used against them. So Dean losing his head, tearing up a hospital, that's gonna be used against him in court." AJ nodded, "So they need to keep calm, prove to everyone that they can take care of their baby-"

"Obviously they can-"

"I know they can." AJ said, "But I'm telling you this as a lawyer." She nodded, "I will… I'll represent them." She nodded, "We'll suit up and we'll get her back." She said as Punk nodded, shaking his head.

"Why would she do this, though? Is it… is it to prove a point? Or… or get back at Anna for cutting the relationship off? I don't get it." Punk shook his head.

"She's clearly a troubled woman." AJ shook her head, "I'll rip her apart, don't worry." She nodded, "C'mon, we should go back inside and make sure they're ok."

"I know I just couldn't take all the crying." Punk sighed, feeling Frankie rest his head on his shoulder as he sighed, "He's getting tired." He said as AJ nodded, stroking their son's cheek and kissing his nose as the one-year-old smiled at her whilst resting on his father's shoulder.

"Ok, baby. We'll go home soon." AJ nodded, cupping his little cheek, "They need us right now." AJ said as Punk nodded.

They walked back into the room where Anna was laying in the bed with Dean sitting beside on the chair. At first she lost it, she didn't believe them, and then she tried getting out of the bed to hunt her mother down, and then the almost screams and cries came, which is when AJ and Punk stepped outside to give the couple a minute. Dean was trying to keep himself together.

"I am… I'm gonna represent you in court. Obviously we're gonna press for full custody." AJ nodded to them, "I pride myself on not losing cases often, and I promise I will… I'll do everything I can to help you, and get Skyler back with you." She said, "All I need you both to do is lay low. Don't talk to anyone, don't let anyone see you angry." She looked specifically at Dean, "You're probably being watched, so anything you do could be used against you in court." She reminded them.

"How long will it take to get the court hearing?" Anna asked, drying her eyes as tears seemed to continuously stream down her cheeks.

"Normally it's a few weeks." AJ said as Anna cried a little more, looking down as Dean took her hand, "But you should be entitled to a visit. I'll need to look through what the actual agreement is, but as her mother and father, you should be allowed to see her." AJ nodded, "I'll check it out."

"This is ridiculous." Dean shook his head, "How can she just… take her? Just like that?"

"She has all the legal documents for it." AJ said, "She can do it. And the blood work that she's used to get custody, she's obviously paid for." She said, "I don't want to see like your lawyer instead of your friend right now… but… Anna, why would she do this? Do you know? Is there any specific reason I need to know about?" She asked. She felt awkward trying to treat them as clients when they were her best friends, practically like her brother and sister, but it's what she had to do.

"I have no idea." Anna cried, "The last time I saw her was… when she came to me after the first miscarriage. She… She did say about me coming to New York with her and that a baby shouldn't be raised where we live." She remembered.

"Ok, good we can… we can use that." AJ nodded, "You'd be able to testify, yeah?"

"Yeah. Anything I need to do." Anna nodded desperately.

"Ok." AJ said, "Just focus on getting back to good health and when you get out of here, I'll talk things over with you. We'll get her. I promise." AJ nodded. She wasn't going to let her own family down.

"Thank you." Anna smiled softly.

"Anything you need." Punk nodded to them both.

"Thanks, man." Dean said, "Do me a favour and fill dad in, I don't want him coming here expecting to see her now…" He shook his head.

"Yeah I'll let him know." Punk nodded, "We're gonna go and give you some space. But please don't worry." He looked at both of them. He couldn't imagine how they were feeling. Having their first baby, having such a difficult time with two miscarriages previously, and finally having their baby, only for her to be legally taken from them hours after she was born. His heart broke for them, "We'll get her, ok?" He said as they both just nodded.

"Do you need us to get CJ?" AJ asked Dean.

"No, I'm gonna give Paige a call and tell her what's going on, she'll be fine with him." Dean said as AJ nodded.

"Ok." AJ said, "We'll come see you tomorrow again." She nodded, both of them eventually leaving with Frankie, not feeling like they should have done coming from a visit with their new niece. Their new niece who neither of them even got the chance to hold or meet properly.

Later that night, after barely eating dinner and getting the kids to bed, trying to avoid a lot of Keala's questions about the new baby, JC came around.

Punk explained to him what had happened and he was shocked and angry to say the least.

"How can she do that? Is that legal?" JC asked, standing in the kitchen whilst Punk cleared up the kitchen and AJ sat over at the table.

"Yeah, it's legal. She's got it all in writing. It's the drug thing. She's paid a doctor or someone she knows to tamper with blood work so that she could use it to get custody. It worked. They think that Anna is now a drug taker of cocaine, they also think Dean is, and they think that Anna took drugs whilst she was pregnant, which shows that she was harming the baby, which they will use in court." AJ nodded.

"And you know your way around a court room. You're gonna suit up for them?" He asked.

"I'm not giving them a choice." AJ said, "That's my niece. She has no reason to do this. I'll get her back, and I'll tear her down in the process." She shook her head as JC smiled.

"But what's the deal? Why did her mom take her? What's she got against her?" JC asked as Punk passed him a coffee he'd made for him, "Thanks." JC nodded, walking over to the table and taking a seat.

"We don't know." AJ said, "They've never got a long. She has always been pretty controlling over Anna. Abusive if anything." She nodded, "She made a huge article a few years ago about Phil. How his upbringing destined him to be put on death row basically." She said, "She's hard work."

"What's her name?" JC asked her.

"Jean. Is it Jean?" AJ asked Punk.

"Yeah, Jean Ferris." Punk nodded as JC paused and looked at them both.

"What?" AJ shook her head.

"Jean Ferris?" JC asked.

"Yeah." Punk said, "Why? What is it?"

"She was… she was your mom's best friend. Like… they were like sisters." JC shook his head, "And then when we started dating, she told Vanessa to choose. No one liked me, you all know that." JC said, "I always thought she was jealous of your mom." He said, "She left to go to college and we had you." He nodded to Punk, "They never spoke again after that."

"I'd hate to think that she's doing this because her best friend chose her boyfriend over her." Punk said.

"Well… something else…" JC paused, looking at them both. He didn't want to go down that road with them, "She's always been strange." He quickly diverted as Punk just folded his arms.

"Something else what?" Punk said, "Now isn't the time to hide things, old man."

"Stop calling me old man." JC scoffed, "I'm not hiding anything."

"Yes you are. You're as good a liar as he is." AJ pointed to Punk, "And he's awful."

"It was just stuff that happened when I was a kid, when your mom was still friends with her. Just some kid stuff, you know…"

"We don't know." AJ said, "What happened?" AJ asked him, "C'mon, this is a little baby on the line here. If you know things that could help us-"

"It's not something that is gonna help anyone, trust me." JC said.

"I still wanna know." Punk said, "Tell me." He said as JC just groaned.

"Your mom was four or five months pregnant with you at the time. I invited her out with a couple of friends of mine, and I told her to bring Jean too." He said as Punk sat down beside AJ at the table.

"So they came to the house where a few of my buddy's had people over. It was just a house party. Your mom was good at making friends, Jean… well, maybe she just didn't like the people who were there. They weren't rich kids, as you'd imagine." She said, "So we're having a good time-"

"Wait a minute." Punk folded his arms, "Was mom drinking? Is this why I looked like a bowling ball when I was born?"

"No, shut up. Your mom barely drank when she wasn't pregnant." JC shook his head, "She just wanted out of the house, and she was trying to get Jean to know other people. But… sometimes with those types of parties, people you don't know start to appear until the house is full." He said.

"I don't really like this story." AJ admitted truthfully.

"No you won't." JC nodded, "I was with your mom all night and Jean sort of disappeared. Your mom noticed and started to get worried so she went looking for her. She went upstairs and found her with some guy. There didn't seem to be much consent going on, if you know what I mean." He looked at them both as they nodded, "So your mom freaked out. Like I said, they were like sisters. Anything bad happened to the other, they'd be devastated. So your mom just attacked. The kid was like a year older, I don't know. He struck your mom a few times and tried to go back to Jean but Vanessa just snapped. She grabbed this… ornament thing from the side of the bed and… she hit him across the head with it."

"Oh my God." Jean shook her head, sitting on the bed and looking down at the boy lying on the floor, blood trickling out of his ear and down his head as Vanessa stood with the ornament in her hand, the sound of the loud music from downstairs banging.

"Uh… I need to… lock the door." Vanessa nodded, walking over and locking the bedroom door as Jean looked down.

"Is he… is he dead?" Jean asked as Vanessa walked over, placing two fingers by his neck and gulping as she desperately waited on a pulse that wasn't coming.

"Yeah, he's dead." Vanessa nodded, getting back to her feet, siting the bloody ornament down and placing her hand on the wall, feeling dizzy and nauseous as she looked at the body.

"What the hell." Jean squealed, both seventeen and frightened, "Why did you do that?!" She cried.

"He was hurting you." Vanessa said, "I couldn't just let him."

"But you… you killed him." Jean shook her head as Vanessa turned around, placing her hands on the wall as she tried to take deep breaths, "You have just murdered someone, Vanessa."

"Shut up." Vanessa said quietly, "Let me think."

"Think about what?" Jean stood up, "Turn around." She said, pushing Vanessa around to face her, "We need to call the police."

"No, that's not what we do." Vanessa said.

"It was self-defence." Jean said, "He was forcing himself on me, you tried to get him off and hit him, it's self-defence." She said.

"I can't call the police to this house for obvious reasons. Switch your brain on." Vanessa said, "I need to get JC."

"No, don't." Jean said.

"H-He… he'll know what to do." Vanessa nodded, moving around on pure shock. She wasn't violent, but seeing her best friend in danger, especially in such physical and mental danger, she wasn't going to do nothing. She never intended for it to go this way however.

"No, please don't leave this room." Jean said.

"Just lock the door as soon as I go and I'll call on you when I come back up." Vanessa nodded, "It's fine. It's all fine." She said, still trying to take deep breaths, leaving the room as Jean immediately locked it after her.

She made her way downstairs, brushing by people, feeling like the room was spinning as she looked around for her boyfriend, finally finding him in the kitchen with a few of his other friends.

"Hey, there you are." JC smiled, putting out his cigarette in the ash tray and wrapping his arm around her, "You ok?" He kissed her cheek as Vanessa just nodded.

"You need to come with me for a minute." Vanessa said.

"Where?" JC asked.

"Upstairs." Vanessa said, not even listening as his stupid friends began whistling and talking nonsense.

"Ok." JC smirked, assuming she had something else in mind, following her out of the kitchen and upstairs, looking with confusion as he saw her knock on one of the doors.

"It's me." Vanessa said.

"Wait, who is-" JC paused, watching as the door opened, being pulled in by Vanessa, watching Jean slam the door shut behind and lock it as JC looked around, noticing the guy on the floor, "What the fuck is going on?" JC said, looking at Vanessa who had gone a white shade and looked close to throwing up, "Ok, one of you need to start talking."

"Vanessa killed him." Jean said as JC looked at the guy on the floor, shaking his head and turning to his girlfriend who just nodded.

"He was… he was trying to hurt Jean and I… I hit him on the head but I didn't mean to kill him and I don't want to call the cops." Vanessa gasped, shaking her head as JC looked on in horror. He'd done a lot of things in his life with regret, but he'd never gone as far as taking someone's life.

"Do we know him?" JC asked, trying to act calm, walking over and standing above the guy, placing his two fingers against his neck, trying to look at his face when suddenly, the boy's eyes opened up, grabbing JC immediately and throwing him down to the ground as Vanessa squealed and watched.

She didn't have time to feel relieved that she hadn't killed anybody, because in the process the guy was trying to hurt her boyfriend. Jean watched in horror, turning around as she saw Vanessa pick the ornament back up, sliding it over to JC who picked it up and immediately smacked it over the boy's head, it being the only way for him to let go of his throat so he could breathe again.

JC didn't recognise the guy. He assumed it was just some kid from the other side of town, rivals looking to create damage.

"Are you ok?" Vanessa asked worriedly, watching as JC stood up, helping him as he nodded, staring down at the boy as all three of them looked on. The only reason they knew he was dead, was because his eyes were fixed open.

"You two need to get out of here." JC said quietly.

"What?" Vanessa shook her head, "No, we're not just gonna leave you. What do we do?" Vanessa asked.

"Look at her." JC pointed to Jean who was shaking and crying, "You need to take her away from here. I'll take care of this."

"Take care?" Jean gulped, "What does that mean? We need to call the police." Jean shook her head.

"Vanessa, just get her out." JC said as Vanessa just nodded.

"Ok, c'mon." Vanessa nodded, taking a hold of Jean and leading her out of the room, looking back at JC who was staring down at the body. She didn't doubt he would be lost with what to do, but she felt guilty and responsible for leading him into this.

"Go." JC told her. His main priority was to get them away from the entire thing in the case that someone did see. But he knew what he had to do.

A/N: Lots to come! Thanks for the reviews. Let me know what you think.