*Hands out imaginary lollipops to all the reviewers* YOU'RE WELCOME! You're all going to hate me in the end though. *shrugs* aw well, that's life, anyhack, don't expect another update for a while because i now need to write the next chapter and i have nothing writen, and school starting up again in a few days soooo...

i hope i didn't spell Adam's name wrong this time and i'm sorry about the last chapter, i read his name like that many times so i just assumed, and i asked and no one told me other wise.

i think that's all from my end

TO THE STORY!

Chapter 36: Court part 2

(Adam's pov)

"Now let me ask you this Mr. Smith, why, in your own words, shouldn't Mr. Dahlberg have custody over Ms. Brittany?" The lawyer asked Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith acted sad to gain approval of the judge/jury. "I know I've done things that I'll regret for the rest of my life and I know that I've lost sooo many years in my daughter's life. But I want to try and rebuild a relationship with her but I can't do that if all her attention would be on someone else! Besides, he wasn't there for her just like me, but I'm her father. "Mr. Smith started crying.

The judge just looked at him with a straight face. It seems as if she's been through this before. "Excuse me Mr. Smith, if you could please get a hold of yourself, we would be eternally grateful." I had to hold back a laugh. "You are still in the court room Sr. so if you would please-"

"Sorry about that your honor." He sniffled, although his excuse was totally irrelevant. "You can continue." The judge told the lawyer to continue asking Mr. Smith the questions that were assigned to him.

"It says here that you are indeed that father of Ms. Brittany but it also says that you are the legal father of Mr. Dahlberg. How is that so?"

"I adopted Mr. Dahlberg but then I disowned him and gave him to some other couple that wanted a child. I believe that my excuse for getting rid of him was that I was sending him to a private school. I would visit him every now and then with my wife but he was no longer my child. Hence the different last names and how we look different."

A gasp came from behind me which undoubtedly came from Brittany. His words stung, but it explains why he only looked vaguely familiar. I remember that he was the reason that I considered my childhood abusive but for reason I grew with parents. Now, I know why.

"OK then Mr. Smith, what do you for a living?"

"I work as a engineer and a janitor and I sell nick nacks to help pay for what my two jobs can't."

"OK, one more thing Mr. Smith, do you love Ms. Brittany?"

I leaned forward to hear his answer. Mr. Smith took in a deep breath and said. "Yes, if I didn't I would be here right now."

I had a hard time believing him, but it made sense. Although I knew there was something else that he wanted Brittany so badly, I high doubted that he loved her.

"That'll be all Mr. Smith." My eyes widened. They asked him about half of the questions they asked me, how is that fair? Mr. Smith returned to his seat while the court called another "witness".

"The court calls Ms. Brittany to the witness stand!"

I stared at the table in front of me as I heard Brittany make her way next to the judge. "Place your night hand on the Bible." I looked up, the table wasn't as interesting as I thought it was.

Brittany seemed calm but nervous. "Do you swear to tell the truth, all the truth and nothing but the truth?"

Brittany nodded. "I do."

"It's ok if you're nervous, we don't let anyone under 18 in here but you're old enough to understand." The judge told Brittany. I could that by the signs she was giving that she was trying not to say as little as possible. When I first met her, I remember that she wasn't that big on talking.

"Ms. Brittany, do you know why you're here?"

Brittany nodded. "I'm here to answer any questions that you have for me while MR. Smith and Adam try to gain full custody over me."

"Were you ever informed that you had a sibling?"

"Not directly, but I remember a fight between my mother and my father. My mom yelled at him about trying to get rid of me like he did my brother but I was young so I didn't understand. Throughout the years I didn't pay attention to it and I forgot about it." Brittany put her hands on the table.

"Very well, Ms. Brittany how long have you known Mr. Dahlberg?"

"Depends, personally or in general?"

I mentally face palmed. I forgot she was a recruit, now I regret something's that I've said in my recordings. "In general and how?"

Brittany scratched her forehead. "About 2 or 3 years. As you know he makes videos on YouTube before I knew he was my brother in a sense, I would watch his videos, therefore I knew about him and he acted as my older brother even though he didn't know who I was." Brittany smiled.

"If you say so Ms. Brittany." She raised an eyebrow but stayed silent. "According to your records you were in an orphanage for about 3 years, did your father ever try to contact you in that period time?"

Brittany shook her head. "No he didn't, he actually left my mom and me before I was in the orphanage so it would be longer than 3 years that I've heard from him."

"Speaking of your mother, where is she now? Why aren't with her?"

Brittany clenched her hands into fists. "I'm not with her…because…she's dead. She died in a car crash coming home from a late night meeting in 2010. I was with a babysitter that night; I didn't hear the news till morning." Brittany took in a deep (shaky) breath.

"Back to your time in the orphanage ('heartless son of a –') how did they treat you there?"

"It wasn't all peaches and cream, I hated it there. I was bullied, treated with no respect, and beaten almost on a daily basis because whatever I did, it was wrong and bad. I was the bad kid, the one everyone hated and wanted me to die. I had one friend there, she was mistreated too, but not to that extent. The younger kids were good friends too but they didn't understand why I always had some kind of bruise." Brittany sheepishly smiled and scratched the back of her neck, the lawyer seemed unfazed.

"What happened in your time with Mr. Dahlberg?" The lawyer turned to her.

"Uhhhh….a lot? WE went to PAX, MineCon, VidCon, we moved here to LA…a lot happened in a short period of time."

"Have you been…how do I put this? Have you been raped during your time with Mr. Dahlberg?" I gulped. 'Another deal breaker question.'

"No." Brittany answered surly. Her face showed that she wasn't going to change her mind.

"You sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Well, then, do you like living with Mr. Dahlberg?" The lawyer raised his eyebrow. I raised my eyebrow as well.

"It's the best thing that has ever happened to me." Brittany smiled.

"One last question Ms. Brittany." She nodded. "Who do you believe when they say 'I love you'?"

"Adam Dahlberg." She looked at me, I couldn't help but smile. Mr. Smith sat up in his chair and stared at her. "That'll be all Ms. Brittany."

Brittany nodded and left the witness stand. "Are there any more witnesses?"The judge asked the court room.

"No you honor." Was the answer she received.

"Very well then, the jury will be given a 2 hour period to reach a verdict, then we'll have this matter settled." The judge slammed her grabble on her desk then stood up. The court room stood up as well and we were finally able to sit down once the judge was out of the room.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Smith nod in the direction of the jury, most of the nodded or glanced in our direction.

I mentally cursed. 'He has something planned.'

When all of the jury left, Mr. Smith turned in his chair and looked in the direction of Brittany and the others. I turned myself to see if there was any connection. Mr. Smith mouthed 'you will be mine'. Looking at Brittany, it was obvious that she and Mr. Smith had eye contact.

I growled, Brittany tore her glare from Mr. Smith and leaned against Ian's shoulder. She said something that I couldn't hear (most likely to Ian) and Ian's only response was: it's ok and he put his arm around her shoulders.

Before you ask, I don't think anything's going on between Ian and Brittany, considering Ian had a girlfriend and even if there was something going on, Ian would be arrested.

I looked at everyone and their expressions. Mitch and Jerome both looked nervous but neither of them said anything. It seemed like they wanted to say a joke or do something to lighten the mood, but that wouldn't be considered nice or appropriate. Quinton was on his phone, I don't know how he snuck it in here, doing God knows what. His head was down, so I couldn't see his face but he was playing a game to pass the time, that much was obvious. Brittany and Ian weren't talking until Brittany muttered something causing Ian to look at her weird. Everyone was staring at her. "What?" Brittany asked. "Nothing." Some said with small smiles, while they went back to whatever they were doing.

Jason looked…well…depressed. His head was in his hands and he was staring at the floor for a while. When he looked up, his face yelled sleep depression. Jason ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. Brittany got off of Ian and turned her attention to Jason. "You ok?" She asked.

Jason shook his head, no saying anything. Brittany bit her lip and hugged him. Jason's eyes widened but he hugged her back.

Nothing else notable happened within those 2 hours of agenizing silence. It took a lot of will power not to try and crack a joke and be immature to get rid of the tense atmosphere. 'I'm defiantly going to try and avoid situations like this for the rest of my life.'

When the 2 hours were up, without warning the guard yelled. "All rise!"

We all stood up, as the judge and jury entered the room once more. The judge sat down and motioned everyone else to sit down as well. "Jury, have you reached a verdict?"

A girl no younger than 30 stood up, "We have your honor."

"Well…what is it?" I made a small prayer in my head that it would be what I hoped it would be.

"We…the jury…have decided that the custody go to-"

don't kill me don't kill me don't kill me don't kill me

i bet you didn't read the authors note at all

or even for my other chapters

byyyyyyyy