I do not own anything. Credits to Hiro Mashima and Laramie Briscoe.


Their Last Hope

29

Irene

"I'm honestly not worried about Acno's past," Ur mumbles as she looks over the paperwork I received. "It's more about someone's character in these cases than what they did to get them in the situations they were in, and from what I can tell you had pretty reliable character witnesses at your last hearing," she gives Acno a glance. "I'm going to need them all to write a statement. The more character witnesses I can get, the better off for the case. I truly think he's posturing, but we won't know for sure until we get before the magistrate."

"My probation officer, Silver, and I'm sure the director of the Companion Program, Layla, would vouch if I needed her to," he grips my hand tighter.

"You're a business owner?" She asks as she makes some notes in her computer. "Do you own the building?"

"I am, and I do, outright. I made the last payment three months ago. I'm looking into buying the building next to it," he admits, and I glance over, my mouth agape. "I have a meeting with the bank next week," he glances at me. "I was going to tell you, but things got crazy."

"So you're looking to expand in the future. You have definite plans to remain in this area?" Ur's typing frantically.

"Yes," he nods. "I'm not going anywhere."

"What is the living situation between the two of you?" She levels me with a stare.

"Erza and I stay at Acno's apartment most of the time, but I still have my own."

She marks something in her calendar. "Make a decision about where you want to live and get it done in a week. That's our first mediation meeting with Shouta and his team. We'll have the discovery there; we'll do some digging and request a deposition and access to personal records. That way we'll find out why he all of a sudden has taken an interest in Erza and what he supposedly is using as justification for his claim. It's going to be a much stronger case if you're not shuttling her back and forth between apartments."

"You're telling us to move in together?" I ask, my eyes wide.

"I'm telling you, you need to give her a permanent home for this to look good. I can't tell you what to do, Irene, you're a grown woman. But if you're spending most of your time with him anyway, make the decision."

"I like her," Acno chuckles from where he sits beside me.

"Your apartment is so small though," I run a hand through my hair. "But I know we can't stay at mine because of your business."

"That's why I want to buy the building next door," he admits. "There's another apartment that shares the outer wall with mine. If I own that space too, we can knock the wall down, and it triples my space. It'd be perfect for all of us."

"I'm putting that in the file," Ur winks at Acno. "You've got yourself a good one, Irene."

I know, and I'll be damned if I ever let him go. "I do," I grab his hand, hanging on for dear life.

"So is this all we need to know?" I ask her, marking the date of the deposition down in my phone. "Does he need to come with me on that day?"

"Yes, I need you both there. Don't bring Erza, I don't want to subject her to any of this," she pushes some paperwork towards me. "I need you to sign this, so I'm able to do a little digging into Shouta's life. I'll be acting as your Power of Attorney while I see if any of my hunches are correct," she winks at me.

I sigh, signing the paperwork. This is all moving so quickly it's giving me a headache. I never thought I'd be in this position again. I thought I was done with this man, thought I'd dodged the bullet when I walked out with full custody of our daughter. "Payment," I say, my bottom lip between my teeth. "We need to work out a payment plan, if that's okay. If I'm not paying rent on my apartment, I can pay you a decent size monthly for whatever it is you're going to have to do to get us through this."

"Irene," she reprimands. "Your money is no good here. I took your first case pro-bono because Shouta Aizawa is a douchebag who gets off on pushing people around, and I'm doing same thing this time. If you want to do something, and you're in the financial position to do it, make a donation to the women's shelter in my name. It'll be my pleasure to wipe the floor with this asshole."

"That can most definitely be arranged."

"Okay," she claps her hands on the desk as she stands up and walks around to us. "Go home, move her into your apartment, and enjoy the next few days as much as you can. I'll see you again at the mediation, and we'll hope he doesn't want to go any further than that."

"Thanks Ur," I stand, reaching up to give her a hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd make it, you're strong, but there's no reason us ladies can't stick together. I'd tell you immediately if I thought you had something to worry about Irene, but I truly think he's posturing for some reason. I don't believe for five seconds he wants any type of contact with Erza."

I shake my head. "I don't either. He's never made an attempt before, and I find it odd he wouldn't have tried to contact me before serving me with papers. I mean, I wouldn't have been happy about it, but I'm not a complete bitch, I would have given her the option of seeing her father if she wanted to."

"That's why I think there's more to this story."

My gut feeling says she's right, but we won't know anything until the mediation. Shaking her hand, Acno and I leave. Once outside, I breathe deeply, already feeling a little better about the situation.

"I think we're gonna be fine," he tells me, putting his arm around my neck as we walk to the truck.

"He has a lot of money, that's what scares me. It's the only thing he has more of than I do. With money comes power, and with power, you can do almost anything."

Acno opens my door and lifts me up into his truck. He stands in front of me, his presence giving me a sense of calm. "Power is addicting, but sooner or later, true colors shine through. We just have to make sure they shine through when someone's listening and people are watching. Let's go get you packed up."

"Where are we going to put all my stuff?" I groan. It's not like I have a lot, probably not even enough to fill the back of this truck bed. The couch I have isn't good enough to take anywhere else and the kitchen table I have was a salvage from Goodwill. The only thing I would really want to keep would be my shelving units, and Erza's bed.

"We can store it in the building in the back. It's not huge, but it'll take your shelving units and her bed. We can call the women's shelter and see if they want the rest of it. They'll usually haul for free. If my loan comes through, we'll get that wall torn down as soon as possible so Erza isn't sleeping in the living room for much longer."

I wrap my legs around him, put my arms around his neck. "I can't believe you're trying to buy the building next door and didn't say anything to me about it."

"I wanted to wait, you know, tell you I love you and ask you to move in the right way. All of that kinda got moved up a little bit," his face is red as he admits he had a plan.

"There's never a right way, but I did love the way it came out, and I love you for being the man you are."

He's quiet as he rests his head against me. We have a fight on our hands, and I think we both need a few minutes to compose ourselves. Neither one of us thought we would be here right now. In the grand scheme of things, our relationship is in its infancy and he's making changes some men never make after being with women for years.

"I have a couple of friends who owe me favors," he tells me. "You let me know what exactly you want out of your apartment and I'll make sure it's moved tonight. The rest we'll leave to be hauled off within the next week. You and Erza just go back to my place and make yourselves at home."

"Haven't we already done that?" I joke, as I drop my legs from around his waist. "We've stayed there more often than we've stayed at the place I've been paying rent. All of this makes sense, but I hate the feeling you were forced into something you don't want to do."

"Nobody forces me to do anything, not anymore. Remember me telling you I'm a free man? That means I get to make my own decisions. I don't feel as if I have to do anything for you because I'm obligated. I do it for you and Sprite because I want to."

I hold back tears as he shuts my door and jogs around the side of the truck. We don't deserve him. Nothing in my life have ever prepared me for a man like him. It's disconcerting, the way he says all the right things. But at the same time, I know he's not saying things just to say them. He means every word that comes out of his mouth.


"Mom?" Erza questions as we lie on the couch an hour and a half later.

We did what we said we were going to do. We went and got her, Acno dropped us off, now he's back at the apartment with some friends overseeing everything. It was hard to hand over the reins of my life to him, but at the same time, I'm thankful I don't have to do everything on my own. "Yeah," I push her bangs back, enjoying my time with her. She is snuggled up to me, Tux beside her, while we quietly watch a movie. My rambunctious kid doesn't do this much. It's almost as if she realizes I need to spend some quiet time with her.

"Why did Acky say we were moving here?"

I was hoping she hadn't heard him, hoping we'd have a little bit of extra time to break the news to her, just because I don't want her to feel like I'm making snap decisions. Even though I am. Damn it's hard being a parent sometimes. "Don't you want to move in with him? Don't you like playing with Tux and staying here?"

"Yeah, but don't people who live together get married?"

She's watched enough TV and has friends whose parents have gotten married and divorced to at least know the process. "Usually they do," I nod. "But right now, Acno and I are making sure we like living together. We're going to do an extended sleep over. You know how sometimes you stay with Ms. Anna. We're going to do that here for a few months. Is that okay with you?"

Dear God please let her be okay with it. I don't want to uproot her life any more than I already have. Failure is not something I like to give into, but there's a chance of it happening here.

"I really like living with Acno and Tux. You smile here," she tells me as she rubs the cat up and down. "You laugh here, too. You never did that at our apartment."

I hug her tight because she's way too observant for her own good. I can't believe what she saw that I never knew, which strengthens my resolve that much more not to let Shouta get his hands on her.

"You're right," I agree. "I'm much happier here with both you and Acno."

She tucks her head in beside my arm. "Let's stay here forever, Mom."

I kiss her on the forehead. "If I have anything to say about it, we will cheesecake. We will."


I'm lying in bed when Acno gets home, trying not to cry, because the weight of everything is pressing down on me. The pressure against my chest is almost enough to cause my breathing to become labored. I'm feeling the magnitude of everything that's happened today, and I'm scared. Scared to death.

"You awake?" he asks as he comes into the room, a towel wrapped around his waist. As soon as he quietly came through the front door, I heard him hit the shower.

"Yeah," I answer, turning over so I can see him and he can see me.

"Are you okay?" He has a seat on the edge of the bed. "No matter how well you've held it together today, you've got to be freaking out on the inside."

How can this man know everything about me when we haven't known each other our whole lives? I hide my feelings well, I always have, but it seems as if he can see right through me. "No, I'm not okay, and I'm not holding it together well, not right now. I've been in here trying not to cry for the last hour. Can you hold me?" I sound pitiful to my own ears, and I hate being that weak woman. The woman who has to ask a man for help, but right now I need him to hold me up. I can't do it myself.

"I told you earlier, babe, whatever you need I'm here," he shifts in the bed, the towel falling down around his hips.

"Then make me forget about all of this. Make me forget, Acno, please."


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