WARNING - MENTIONS OF SELF HARM
After the break for lunch, Kyle was up on the stand, desperately trying to keep himself together. He knew a majority of the case was on him, his daughter being the abducted baby. Not even his brothers were able to convince him that things would be fine, as they'd seen how firm Mr Davis had been with Tori and Casey.
"How did you know Ryan?" Mr Davis asks.
"He was a FED that started investigating my family. I'd never spoken to him, but he questioned my older brothers over some things."
"What things are you meaning?"
"I don't exactly know. Nothing ever came of it because they did nothing wrong. He was obsessed with charging them with things they didn't do but then it just suddenly stopped and we were told it wouldn't happen again."
"And how did you know Jasmine Shaw, Ryan's wife?"
"I didn't, not really. She was a nurse at the local hospital for a while. I went there once for a check up and she was helping the doctor I was seeing but I wasn't even there long. I didn't have Lillie on me and Jasmine didn't talk to me." Kyle says.
"So you never had any conversations with either of them at anytime?"
"No."
"So why were they accused of taking your daughter if you never had any conversation with them?"
"The police found them with my daughter after she went missing, I'd hardly say they were accused of it when they had her and were caught." Kyle frowns.
"Did Lillie come to any harm whilst in Ryan and Jasmine's care?"
"Not that I know of."
"So they looked after her, treated her as their own?" Mr Davis asks, a silence following as Kyle didn't want to answer. "Mr Braxton, answer the question."
"Yes, they did. But they took her from me, she's my daughter!"
"They looked after her, that's what you just said."
"Without my consent! I don't know them, I never said they could have Lillie and they made me think she was dead!" Kyle blurts out, his heart racing.
"Is it true you turned to self harm after Lillie was taken?"
"Not exactly." Kyle mutters.
"Not exactly? So what led to it?"
"The police called off the search after a couple weeks, I didn't want to believe she was gone. At the time, self harming was a release of reality, let me forget about what had happened. It just started happening and got worse, it just helped me forget."
"This led to you being hospitalised, is this correct?"
"Yes, I went too far one day but my brothers found me in time."
"And you were sent to a canine mental health clinic for rehabilitation?"
"Yes."
"Whilst you were there, your brother, Heath, set up a new search that you didn't know about, correct?"
"Yes."
"So your brother set up a new search that you didn't think about doing. So was Lillie abducted or was she taken into the care of people who could look after her properly and give her a good life, you just didn't want anyone to know you weren't coping being a new single parent?"
"No-"
"So why did you not request a new search once you were recovered and out of the clinic?"
"I… I didn't think anything new would come up… Nothing did the first time."
"This all makes me think that this wasn't an abduction at all, it was a way you could give up Lillie without going through the proper channels." Mr Davis firmly says, staring hard at Kyle. "Why didn't you just admit that you weren't coping looking after your daughter and didn't want her anymore?" He asks, not getting a reply. "I need an answer."
"Why isn't he talking?" Casey frowns, looking at Brax who watches Kyle carefully.
"Answer the question, Mr Braxton." Mr Davis firmly says, keeping his stare on Kyle.
"I-" Kyle trails off, gazing over to Brax.
"He needs to breathe." Heath mutters, leaning forward in his seat.
"Mr Braxton answer the question or leave the stand." Mr Davis glares hard, and Brax could see Kyle struggling to catch his breath.
"Objection your honour." Mr Langdon stands up. "My client needs a break."
"He's having a panic attack." Brax mutters, both him and Tori rushing out of the room to get to where Kyle would be taken.
"Court is adjourned." The Judge says, as the Braxton's, Marilyn, John and Justin head out to find them, seeing them outside with Kyle.
"That's it, nice deep breathes." Tori says, keeping her finger on his wrist.
"Is he okay?" Justin asks.
"He will be." Brax says as he moves over to them. "Things just got a bit to much and he had a panic attack."
"I told you he wasn't ready." Casey says.
"It was too late for him to back out and they were going to turn this on him. We had no choice in letting him talk up on that stand." Brax says.
"Court starts back up in 15 minutes, so we've got a bit of time to focus on him." John says.
"We need more time, that's not long enough." Tori says, looking up at them.
"I'll go and see if we can extend it." Heath says, walking back inside to find their lawyer.
"How are you feeling?" Tori asks.
"He's making out like I wanted them to take Lillie from me. It's not true." Kyle mutters.
"We know it's not. You adore that kid and the jury have to see that." Brax says as he crouches back down next to Kyle. "He was just saying that to try and get Ryan off, but it's not going to work. You've done great so far-"
"No, he's going to get off now." Kyle shakes his head.
"You're a great father to Lillie, she's well looked after with you." Tori says. "Parenting is hard at the best of times, and you're doing it by yourself. Mr Davis is just trying to trip you up but it's not working. You've had all of us praise you, the jury will have to take that into account."
"He was just trying to trip you up, it won't go against you." Brax says as Heath and Mr Langdon walks out.
"They don't need you to talk any more." Heath says.
"I've messed it up, haven't I?" Kyle asks.
"No, you did well." Mr Langdon says. "We weren't expecting him to go that far, it was uncalled for. You can go back with your brothers and watch the rest of the case."
"Thanks." Kyle lightly nods, accepting Brax's help to stand up.
"You sure you want to go back in?" Brax asks. "We can go home if you'd prefer?"
"No, it's okay. I'll be okay watching." Kyle says.
"Are you sure?" Heath double checks.
"Yes, Heath. There's not long left today, so it won't be too bad." Kyle says.
"Okay, just let one of us know if you want to leave before the end of the day." Heath says, Kyle nodding.
"I will but I don't think there's long left is there?" Kyles says.
"I don't think so, it's getting late in the day so they might end it soon." Brax says. "Let's just get it over and done with."
When they went back inside, the rest of the case was about why Ryan had taken Lillie, despite him keep trying to put the blame on Jasmine. Kyle had just zoned out the rest of the case, hoping he hadn't messed it up, despite their lawyer saying he hadn't. He just wanted it to be over so he could get back to focusing on Lillie, forgetting about what happened.
When he did focus back on what was happening, he realised the trial was over for the day. When they went outside, their lawyer told them they didn't need to come back in the next day as that was going to be about the other crimes Ryan had been charged for.
